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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟐
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍 𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐀𝐂𝐊
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"Alright, let's get baldy to Xandar and collect that bounty!" Rocket exclaimed after he started the Milano and began its ascent into the air.
Primrose sat in her seat directly behind Peter's chair with a smile on her face and a book in her hands. Her foot tapped along with her brother's music and her eyes stayed glued to the window beside her as they flew over the Sovereign civilization. It wasn't long after that when they broke through the planet's atmosphere and made it back into open space. Primrose scanned over the stars that surrounded them for a moment before returning her full attention to the book in her hands.
As she flipped through the pages of her story, Peter climbed up the ladder to join them in the cockpit and walked through the small area to his seat. Along the way, he spun Primrose's chair in a circle, making her let out an irritated sigh in response. It wasn't long after the Quill man sat down in the pilot's seat when the alarms began to blare. The sound caused the brunette woman to jump and almost fall out of her seat before her attention fell on her brother.
"What did you do?" she questioned, earning an annoyed look from Peter in response.
"I didn't do anything," the redheaded man told her as he turned back to the screens in front of him before Primrose noticed his eyebrows scrunch together, "this is weird. We've got a Sovereign fleet approaching from the rear."
"Why would they do that?" Gamora questioned, who had just come up from below deck and sat down in the chair next to the Quill woman.
"Probably because Rocket stole some of their batteries," Drax casually stated, causing everyone to look over at the raccoon with irritation in their eyes.
"Dude!" Rocket exclaimed while glancing back at the Kylosian man.
"Right. He didn't steal some of those," Drax announced after seeing the look on the raccoon's face while he continued to evade eye contact with everyone around him, "I don't know why they're after us. What a mystery this is."
Before anyone had a chance to say another word, a beam from one of the Sovereign ships skidded over their ship. The close contact caused the Milano to shake and Primrose to let out a surprised yelp. Once he regained control of the ship, Peter began flying away from the Sovereign as fast as he could while evading their attacks. Primrose's grip around her armrests became so tight that her knuckles turned white while her brother did barrel rolls and sharp turns through space.
"What were you thinking?!" Primrose shouted at Rocket, who kept his eyes glued to the window in front of him.
"They were really easy to steal, Prim!"
"That's your defense?!"
"Come on!" the raccoon shouted while glancing back at the Quill woman before turning his attention back to the glass, "you saw how that High Priestess talked down to us. Now I'm teaching her a lesson!"
"Oh, I didn't realize your motivation was altruism," Peter said after spinning out of the way of an oncoming blast and diving down into space below them, "it's really a shame the Sovereign have mistaken your intentions and are trying to kill us."
"Exactly!" Rocket responded with a smile on his face while Primrose stared at the back of her brother's chair with confusion in her eyes.
"How do you know what 'altruism' means?" the Quill woman questioned as if they weren't being chased by five dozen Sovereign ships.
"That's not important right now, Primrose!" Peter shouted in annoyance before his attention fell back on the raccoon sitting next to him, "and I was being sarcastic!"
"Oh, no! You're supposed to use a sarcastic voice! Now I look foolish!" Rocket responded, making Primrose and Gamora share an irritated look then turned their attention back to the two in the pilot seats.
"Can we put the bickering on hold until after we survive this massive space battle?" the Zehoberei woman questioned while tapping away on the screen closest to her.
"More incoming!" the Quill woman announced after spotting an army of Sovereign ships coming toward them.
"Good! I wanna kill some guys!" Rocket responded as a sinister smile formed on his face before he began firing at the ships flying at them.
The raccoon continued to shout and fire at their oncoming enemy while Peter swerved them through the ships and the destruction Rocket left behind. Primrose let the raccoon have his fun for a moment longer before she decided it was time to break the news to him. "You know you're not killing anyone, right? All those ships are remotely piloted."
It wasn't long after that when the Sovereign began firing at them faster than before. Peter did his best to dodge all their shots but one or two managed to hit the ship, causing the Milano to rapidly shake. They continued flying through space toward no particular destination until Primrose caught her brother looking back at her through the window's reflection.
"What's the nearest habitable planet?" Peter questioned before making the ship do another barrel roll to avoid a blast.
The Quill woman didn't hesitate to start tapping away on the screen closest to her. She scrolled through all the information they had on the planets in the galaxy before she finally found one close enough for them to land and survive. "It's called Berhert."
"How many jumps?"
"Only one," Primrose announced as her eyes continued to scan over the information on the screen in front of her, "but the access point is forty-seven clicks away...and you have to go through that quantum asteroid field."
The Quill woman watched as her brother looked over at what she was referring to before he made a sharp turn and began flying toward the asteroid field. Everyone braced themselves as their destination continued to come closer and closer to them. It wasn't until they were only a few yards away that Drax decided it was time for him to voice his opinion. "Quill, to make it through that you'd have to be the greatest pilot in the universe."
"Lucky for us-
"I am," Rocket concluded Peter's statement before flipping a switch on the dashboard, causing the pilot controls to move to the raccoon.
The sudden change of command caused the Milano to spin out of control until Rocket regained authority over the ship. He flew them through the asteroid field while avoiding the space rocks flying at them with ease. Behind them, the Sovereign weren't so lucky and about a dozen ships fell victim to the asteroid field. Just as Primrose thought they were finally in the clear, Peter grabbed the lever closest to him and moved it back and forth twice, moving the pilot controls back over to him.
"What are you doing?" Rocket questioned as soon as he realized he was no longer flying the ship.
"I've been flying this rig since I was ten years old," Peter responded without taking his eyes off the window in front of him.
"I was cybernetically engineered to pilot a spacecraft," the raccoon retaliated before pulling on the lever to regain control.
"You were cybernetically engineered to be a d**cheb*g!" the Quill man exclaimed then pushed the lever to become the pilot once again.
"Stop it!" Gamora demanded, only to be ignored by the two males sitting in front of her and Primrose.
"Quill. Later on tonight, you're gonna be laying down in your bed and there's gonna be something squishy in your pillowcase. And you're gonna be like, 'what's this?' And it's gonna be because I put a t*rd in there!" Rocket ranted before once again taking control of the Milano.
"You put your t*rd in my bed, I shave you."
"Oh, it won't be my t*rd. It will be Drax's," the raccoon stated, earning a disgusted look from Peter while the latter used the lever to regain command over his ship.
The Kylosian man's laughter instantly cut through the air in response to Rocket's announcement before a giant grin appeared on his face. "I have famously huge t*rds."
"We're about to die, and this is what we're talking about?" Gamora questioned while Primrose pinched the bridge of her nose and silently wished she was anywhere else but there.
The Milano continued to shake and twirl through space as Peter and Rocket fought over who was going to fly them out of the quantum asteroid field. Primrose simply listened to their childish bickering while holding her armrests as if her life depended on it. Not much time passed before an asteroid hit the back of the Milano, causing the door to fly off and the ship to spin out of control.
Groot tried his best to hold onto Rocket but the force of the spinning was too much for him. His grip on the raccoon's ear soon failed, making him fly through the air. Peter instantly trapped onto the tiny tree and tossed him back to Drax, who caught him in his hand with ease. As soon as he knew Groot was safe, the Quill man turned his attention back to the screens in front of him and pressed a few buttons. It wasn't long after that when a shield covered the hole in the back of their ship before Peter stabilized the Milano.
"Idiots!" Nebula screamed from below deck, causing a smirk to form on Rocket's face.
"Well, that's what you get when Quill flies," the raccoon announced, earning another glare from the man sitting next to him.
The annoyance flowing through Primrose's veins instantly doubled as she grabbed a wrench from the floor by her feet and threw it at the back of Rocket's head. The raccoon let out a yelp as soon as the tool made contact before he sent a glare the Quill woman's way. Primrose simply ignored the look she was receiving as her attention fell back on her brother. "We still have a Sovereign craft behind us."
"Our blasters are down!" Peter announced not even a second after his sister finished speaking.
"Twenty clicks to the jump!" Gamora declared while the Milano continued to shake as Peter evaded the attacks of the ship behind them.
After hearing the Zehoberei woman's announcement, Drax handed Groot over to Gamora before making his way below deck. The Quill woman watched the Kylosian man with confusion in her eyes until he was out of sight. A long sigh passed over Primrose's lips as she went back to tightly gripping her armrests while the raven-haired woman next to her made sure Groot was secured.
A few moments of them continuing to evade the attacks from the Sovereign ship passed until the Milano stopped shaking completely. The sudden stillness caused a large smile to appear on Primrose's face as a wave of relief washed over her. However, all of that soon faded away at the sight of what was in front of them. Two huge hoards of Sovereign ships came out of nowhere and were flying at them from both sides, leaving the Guardians with nowhere to go.
"Son of a...they went around the field!" Peter exclaimed after watching their attackers begin to surround the ship.
A shaky sigh passed over Primrose's lips as she closed her eyes and braced herself for what was to come. It wasn't long after that when the Sovereign began to fire at them, causing the Milano to shake once again and the windows to crack. The attack continued for what felt like an eternity and made the Quill woman believe that all hope was lost. That was until the trembling suddenly stopped. Confusion began to flow through Primrose's veins as she slowly opened her eyes, only to find the space around them completely empty.
"One click!" Gamora announced, drawing Primrose's attention back to the situation at hand.
"What is that?" Rocket questioned while staring out the side window.
"Who cares?!" Peter shouted then pointed toward a glowing hexagon in front of them, "that's the jump point! Go!"
Whatever the raccoon said in response went unheard as the Milano soared through the jump point. As soon as their ship made it through the portal, a loud explosion was heard before the Milano was covered in flames. Peter and Rocket tried their best to safely fly them through Berhert's atmosphere and find them a safe place to land. It wasn't long before a faint screaming was heard over the loud rumbling of the ship, causing Primrose and Gamora to turn their attention to the screens closest to them.
"He's still out there?!" the Quill woman questioned after seeing Drax flying around behind the Milano with only a single tether keeping him in place.
Gamora didn't say a word as she handed Groot over to Primrose before getting out of her seat and going below deck. The brunette woman kept her eyes glued to the screen as Drax uncontrollably moved through the air. It wasn't long after that when the tether broke, making Primrose jump before she saw Gamora grab the other end of the line to keep him from soaring through the planet's atmosphere. Out of the corner of her eyes, the Quill woman saw her brother glance down at the screen showing him the same thing she was watching. As soon as he realized what was happening, Peter glanced back to see only Primrose and Groot sitting in the seats behind him. After turning his attention back to the window in front of him, he pushed a few buttons on the dashboard and tightly gripped the steering wheel.
"Prepare for a really bad landing!" the Quill man shouted right before the Milano descended and crashed into Berhert's forest.
Primrose's grip around Groot instantly tightened as their ship continued to smash into the tall trees. It wasn't long before the Milano made contact with the planet's surface and began skidding in the dirt. What felt like an eternity of shaking and smashing into trees passed until the ship finally came to a stop in the middle of a clearing, which was partly made by their destruction. The Quill woman's breathing began to slow until she felt the Milano beginning to tip to the side, causing her to look out the window to see one of their wings hanging onto the ship by a couple of wires. She and Peter simply stared at the wing until it snapped off of the main part of the ship and fell into the dirt.
The Quill siblings exchanged a look before getting to their feet and walking toward the back of the ship to make sure Gamora and Drax were okay. Rocket instantly followed after them, making sure to pick up Groot along the way. Once they made it outside, the Zehoberei woman turned her attention toward them before sending Peter a harsh glare. When he looked over at his sister for an explanation, he found Primrose staring up at him with a hint of annoyance in her eyes.
"Where is the other half of our ship?!" Gamora shouted while gesturing to what was left of the Milano as soon as Rocket joined them.
"My ship," Peter corrected, earning a hard elbow in the side from Primrose. The Quill man instantly flinched in response to his sister's actions before he sent her a glare, only for the Quill woman to elbow him in the side again.
"Either one of you could have gotten us through that field had you flown with what's between your ears instead of what's between your legs!" the Zehoberei woman continued as she pointed at both Peter and Rocket before taking a few steps away from them to cool off.
"If what's between my legs had a hand on it, guarantee I could have landed this ship with it," the Quill man told Drax, making Primrose let out a scoff before her brother's eyes landed back on her.
"We almost died because of your arrogance, Pete," the brunette girl stated, only for Peter to point at Rocket like a child would during an argument.
"More like because he stole the Anulax batteries!"
"They're called Harbulary batteries," Drax corrected before both of the Quill siblings looked over at him with annoyance in their eyes.
"No, they're not!" Peter and Primrose shouted in unison.
"Do you know why I did it, Star-Munch? Hmm?" Rocket said as he stared up at the redheaded man with anger in his eyes.
"I'm not gonna answer to 'Star-Munch,'" Peter muttered under his breath while Primrose did her best to hold back a laugh.
"I did it because I wanted to!" the raccoon shouted with his teeth bared before gesturing around at the world that surrounded them, "what are we even talking about this for? We just had a little man save us by blowing up fifty ships!"
"How little?" Drax asked.
"Well, I don't know," Rocket responded then held his thumb and index finger up in the air a short distance apart from each other, "like this?"
"A little one-inch man saved us?" Gamora questioned in a condescending tone as she stared down at the raccoon with her hands on her hips.
"Well, if he got closer, I'm sure he would be much larger," Rocket responded in a tone that made it seem like he was the only one smart enough to understand what he was saying.
"That's how eyesight works," Primrose stated while crossing her arms over her chest and letting out an irritated sigh.
"Stupid raccoon," Peter mumbled, causing Rocket to look over at him with anger in his eyes.
"Don't call me a raccoon!"
"I'm sorry. I took it too far," the Quill man said, making his sister look over at him with her eyebrows scrunched together, knowing he wouldn't give in that easily, "I meant trash panda."
Confusion replaced the anger in Rocket's eyes as he stared at Peter before the former began looking around at everyone else that surrounded him. "Is that better?"
"I don't know," Drax responded then looked over at Peter for an answer.
"It's worse," the redheaded man announced through his laughter, "it's so much worse."
Not even a second after Peter finished speaking passed when Rocket attacked him. While they continued to shout and argue at each other, Primrose's attention fell on Nebula, who had been extremely quiet since they landed. However, instead of finding the Luphomoid woman watching their conversation with annoyance in her eyes, Primrose found Nebula staring at something in the distance. Without thinking twice, the Quill woman walked around her brother fighting a raccoon and stopped next to Nebula. When she looked in the direction the woman was staring in, Primrose's blood ran cold.
"Someone followed us through the jump point!" the brunette woman announced after watching a white ship fly through the sky, causing the two males to stop arguing before everyone stood in a circle and prepared for a fight.
"Set me free, you'll need my help," Nebula said, only to earn a scoff from her sister in response.
"I'm not a fool, Nebula," Gamora stated while keeping her eyes glued to the ship approaching them, "you'll attack the moment I let you go."
"No, I won't."
"You'd think an evil supervillain would learn how to properly lie," Peter muttered under his breath loud enough for them to hear his comment.
"It's just like in that book...when the tornado took Dorothy to Oz!" Drax exclaimed with a large grin on his face, "I bet it's the one-inch man!"
No one else said a word as the ship flew closer and closer to them until it landed on the other side of the clearing. Their circle instantly dispersed and they were now standing in a line as they watched the ship sink into the dirt. It wasn't long after that when the engine turned off and the door opened, revealing a man and a woman standing on the other side. Primrose's grip around her blaster tightened as the newcomers started walking toward them until they stopped just outside of their ship. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of Primrose's stomach as the man stared at her brother with a large grin on his face. That caused her to glance up at Peter to find his eyes glued to the man with a confused look on his face.
"After all these years, I've found you," the unknown man said, drawing the Quill woman's attention back to the two strangers in front of her.
"And who the h*ll are you?" Peter questioned while Primrose adjusted her grip around the blasters in her hands.
"I figured my rugged good looks would make that obvious," the man responded before letting out a laugh and letting the smile on his face grow, "my name is Ego...and I'm your dad, Peter."
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