Panic Attack

Untitled Part 7

               Rocket's head hurt. Actually, that was a lie. Rocket's head was pounding with agonizing pain when he woke up. He wasn't exactly sure when he had gotten back to the Milano, let alone in his own bed, but when he finally decided to open his eyes, the raccoon found himself in his room, the covers pulled over him and the recently demolished door propped against the hole in the wall to keep the hallway light from streaming in, most likely thanks to Groot.

He sat up and peeled the tattered sheets off of himself, wincing when his headache decided it wasn't quite ready to leave. "Ugh, what hit me?" He asked himself, pressing his small hands to the sides of his head, trying to relieve himself of the pain.

Allowing the pounding in his head to fade to a dull thudding, Rocket glanced about the room. Groot was nowhere to be found, but he couldn't help but let a small smile escape his otherwise aggressive demeanor when he saw the small flower that had been placed at the side of his bed.

It was obvious that the two were the oddest of friends, and the other guardians, although having come to terms with it, still often watched the pair with great interest. And who could blame them really? They were practically polar opposites. Rocket, the aggressive, trigger-happy, escaped criminal, and Groot, the gentle giant that had, for some unknown reason, dedicated his life to protecting the small creature.

His feet hit the metallic floor with a soft thud and Rocket made his way towards the leaning door, slinging one of his oversized guns over his shoulder as he did, not wanting to forget it again. Once the weapon was secured around his orange jumpsuit, he ducked out of the small opening between the door and the wall, careful not to knock it over as he slipped through the small opening lest it fall and hurt him further. He quickly closed his eyes tightly upon seeing the bright light and he silently swore to himself that he was going to kill whoever hit him.

A knot formed in his gut as he opened his eyes again, he knew that he had fallen into another episode again. Weakness. It pained him to know that the others saw him as fragile now, so much so that they had to knock him upside the head just to get him on the ship without killing himself... he bet it was Drax.

But the raccoon's proud demeanor kept him from turning back to his room, knowing that hiding wasn't about to help anything. He strained to remember exactly what had happened before he had been thrown back into his delirious mentality of the laboratories again and almost tripped over his own feet.

The scientist at the bar.

...

"Is he okay?" Peter asked Groot when the large being entered the room.

"He's fine Quill." Gamora answered, nodding towards Groot for confirmation before turning back towards the front of the ship where their 'guest' was sitting.

"I still don't understand why we had to knock him out." He muttered, the guilt gnawing at his gut just thinking about Drax's large hand whacking the raccoon into unconsciousness.

"He was panicking Quill. There was no way we were going to get him to cooperate with us while in that state. What were we supposed to do?" Gamora retorted, still weaving through the hallways and up the stairs to the upper part of the ship.

"Um, I don't know, wait for him to calm down maybe?" Peter stated incredulously. He really didn't see how the others didn't find just knocking Rocket out was a problem. "You don't just go around giving people concussions because they don't 'cooperate.' That's not how we solve our problems around here!"