I wanted to gasp in shock when I saw the baby tree. He looked traumatized and ready to cry, his clothes torn and soaked in alcohol. I slowly stood up and limped over to the door, using the wall for support.
"I am Groot?" he asked me sadly, taking in my haggard appearance. I crouched down so that he didn't need to strain his neck to look at me.
"Yeah, they got me good," I agreed with him. "Don't worry, I put up a fight."
"I am Groot."
"I can tell they hurt you, and I'm sorry I couldn't protect you back there," I apologized, and the baby tree gave me a small nod of forgiveness, knowing I did my best.
"Hey, twig," Yondu greeted him. "You wanna help us get outta here?" Groot looked at me and nodded again, and I could see him rise a little from hope. Yondu gave the instructions slowly, pulling himself next to me so that he was in the tree's view. "There's something I need you to get, and bring back to me. In the Cap'n's quarters, there's a prototype fin, like the thing I wore on my head. There's a drawer next to the bunk. It's inside that. It's red. You got it?"
Groot smiled and ran off, and Yondu gave me a grin (I tried not to stare, but his teeth were gross). I turned to Rocket with a small smile, but the raccoon looked uncertain. A few moments later, I knew exactly why.
I turned around, hearing Groot's footsteps, only to see him holding a dirty pair of briefs.
"That's my underwears," Yondu muttered, and Rocket scoffed.
"Yeah, I was pretty sure he didn't know what you were talking about," he dissed, making his way to my left side. "You have to explain it more careful." Yondu sighed in annoyance.
"He's just a little kid, try using words that would work for him," I offered.
"All right. It's a prototype fin." A minute later, Groot came back with a wriggling orloni in his hands.
"That's an orloni," Rocket said in an annoyed tone. "It's a fin, Groot." If the situation wasn't as intense, I probably would have laughed.
"Well, you explain it to him this time," Yondu gave up, and again the tree was sent sway. He came back with a cybernetic eye, looking hopeful. When I saw it move in his hands, I gagged.
"That's Vorker's eye," Yondu sighed. "He takes it out when he sleeps. Go look again."
"But leave the eye here," Rocket added before Groot disappeared, and we all stared at him. The raccoon looked like he was about to burst out in laughter. "He's gonna wake up tomorrow... and he's not gonna know where his eye is!"
Groot came back, lugging a large piece of furniture to the front of our cell. "That's a desk, Groot," Rocket told him, rubbing his snout anxiously. How long was this gonna take?
"A fin," I said slowly, moving my hands over my head as if I was feeling one. I quickly moved my hands back in front so he could see them and made a measurement. "This big."
Groot held out a giant toe, roughly the size of my palm. We just stared at it in awe, not knowing how we had confused him this much. I dumbed down my words, and Groot brought me a toe.
"Tell me you guys have a refrigerator someone with a bunch of severed human toes," Rocket grumbled, and Yondu shook his head subtly. "Okay, then let's just agree to never discuss this again.
"Isabel..." I turned around to see Hugonyn standing behind the four of us. The Frost Giant didn't have any blemishes on his face, and he looked at peace. "They can't hear me; I'm too far to project my thoughts. The only reason I can reach you is because you're telepathic."
"Where are you?" I replied back, ignoring my group. I stepped closer toward him. "You escaped, right?" Hugonyn chuckled darkly, his eyes full of hate.
"That Taser fellow let me go a minute or two after I opened your mind," he responded, not able to meet my eyes. "As much pain as I have felt in my lifetime... that memory of yours entered my top twenty."
"You felt my pain?"
"Every second of it." Hugonyn crossed his arms, and I noticed the small strain marks on his muscles. "Whenever I bring someone's worst memory out, I experience it as if I was there myself. That's where I got my bruises while on that retched space craft. Anyways, I came here to check on you. You're okay, right?"
I smiled and rubbed my arms; my jacket was taken by the Ravagers when I was stuck in my past. "I guess. Got an inhibitor stuck on my leg, so until I find a key, I can't use my powers. They took my boots and my jacket, so now my feet are freezing, which is something I never thought I would say in outer space." Hugonyn laughed at my comment.
"I have one last lesson to show you, one that I think you're gonna appreciate it." I looked over at Yondu and Rocket, the two of them currently bickering with each other on how to make Groot understand what they wanted. "I doubt your... companions... will have to wait long for it to be over. To think about it, you'll probably be still waiting on them."
I smiled at that and turned back to Hugonyn, who had his hand outstretched. As soon as my extended fingers touched his, the world disappeared. I was stuck in a world of darkness. Hugonyn grinned at me.
"Welcome to the Extension, Isabel," he greeted, and I took a double-take when I heard him speak. His mouth moved, and a voice came out of it. He sounded so similar to Loki, but his voice had a more soft-spoken tone to it. "Oh, surprise, I guess?"
"You... you're voice," I said slowly, and the frost giant massaged his neck self-consciously. "No, I'm not saying I don't like it! It's just... something new to me."
"In the Extension, everything that visits here are clean," Hugonyn explained. "You come here without any scars or mutilations you've experienced in your life. I never knew you had brown eyes by the way." I blinked in surprise.
"They're brown again?" I asked him, and he nodded. It seemed weird, almost, to think they were like that here. Everything just seemed a little off, knowing I was 'clean' here. "So what is this place anyway?"
"Right," Hugonyn nodded, and he started to walk forward as if taking a stroll. I quickly followed along, hurrying with his long strides. "The Extension was created a long time ago, the creator unknown. Mind readers have used this place for generations."
"Yeah, okay," I nodded. "What I'm trying to say is... what do you do here?"
"Listen to myself speak; I miss the ability. I also visit people, which sounds a lot creepier than it is." We both chuckled. "There's an entire universe out there, and we're stuck in the confinement of ships. You wouldn't believe the things I have seen through here, the people I've met and the languages I've learned." Hugonyn's voice died off a little, and I stared at him curiously.
"What?"
"When I first figured out how to use this place, the first people I sought out were my parents. Even though they had sold me, I still had this... hope they wanted me back. When I confronted my mother..." the frost giant stopped in his tracks, caught up in what he was remembering. "She... she told me that dear old Dad passed, and she didn't want a freak to ever visit her again. Mother was so loud, she disturbed the person who was upstairs. My sister."
"You have a sister?" I said in shock. Hugonyn shook his head.
"About five years ago, Jotunheim was mostly destroyed. It took my mother and sister. I didn't know them well, but it still hurt."
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be," Hugonyn replied, giving me a soft smile. "Yes, it was sad, but you can't always focus on the past. If you get stuck in it, you'll never move forward. You'll miss all that's around you." Before I could respond, he pointed out in the darkness. "I have to go now, but keep walking in that direction. You'll find what you need most. When you're finished, simply think of returning back to your companions."
With his words said, Hugonyn vanished, and I was alone in the darkness. He said to walk ahead to find what I most needed, but what was that? Giving a sigh, I stepped about three feet before I was whisked out of the Extension.
____________________________________________________________
I grabbed on to the desk beside me for support as the world around me materialized. I was in a very familiar office, but I couldn't place where or who's it was. That is, until I heard its owner's voice.
"Ross, I've told you already, I don't know where Cap is, so stop-" I turned around when I heard the office door open, and my father's jaw dropped a little in shock. "I've gotta go." He ended the call and stared at me. "I'm not hallucinating, am I?"
I shook my head slowly, in shock myself. Last time I had seen him... almost two months now? He looked so different now. There were more bags under his eyes, showing the lack of sleep he had been receiving.
"So... are you actually here?" my dad pondered out loud, and his hand slowly reached for mine. As soon as I felt my fingers touch his, I couldn't help but choke out a sob. "Oh my god."
"Hey, Dad," I smiled sadly, tears slowly sliding down my face, and I raced toward him and wrapped my arms around his neck. My father pulled his around my waist as the two of us embraced.
"I-I-I didn't think you would ever come back," he stuttered as we held each other tight. Hearing his words made my heart break. I wasn't even truly back, but he had been thinking this entire time that I would never return.
"I'm coming back, I promise," I told him, and I felt him tense slightly. "I'm only here through your mind, it's something I just recently learned. As soon as I can, I'll be back. I'm just stuck."
"Where are you?" my dad asked me, letting go so he could look me in the eye. "I'll help you out."
"It's not as simple as that," I shook my head. "I'm farther away than anyone here could think possible."
"So Parker was right," he mused. I tilted my head in confusion, not understanding. "Happy told me about his call. Trying to reach me about... you being abducted by aliens?" There was a laugh at the end of his sentence until he saw the look on my face. "He's serious?"
"I have to go," I realized, looking past him. "I've already been here too long, and Groot's probably understood what we wanted by now..."
"Who the hell is Groot?"
"I have to go," I repeated, but I looked at my father as I said it. "My body is still there, or at least I think it is, and it's been so long. Taserface or one of his goons could be back. I know this all sounds like gibberish, but if Peter calls you again about it, trust him."
"Isabel-"
"Dad, I have to-"
"Isabel!" I stopped talking when my dad yelled at me, grabbing my hand. His eyes were beginning to water. "Just stay safe, okay?" I paused, not expecting those words to come out of his mouth. "Stay safe, Water Girl?" I felt a smile creep up on me.
"Sure thing, Metal Man."
Finally, the Expansion has now been written!!!! I have been wanting to write about it for six months, and I feel like a huge weight was taken off of my chest.
Chapter Question: If a scientist made a breakthrough and created a pill that could transfer a person to a fictional universe, would you take it? If you did, you would never be able to return home.