Gamora sobbed as she looked at her sister's floating, almost lifeless body. Peter watched her. "Come on", Rocket said. "Her body mods should keep her alive a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna be in the same boat". He started to fly away but Peter and Gamora stayed, staring at Astoria. "Aw, damn it", Peter muttered, pressing the button next to him. "Yondu! Yondu. This is Quill. My coordinates are 227K324". "Quill", Rocket said. "Quill, what are you doing?"

"Just outside Knowhere. If you're there, come get me. I'm all yours"

He put on his mask and got out of his ship, heading towards Astoria's floating body. "Quill, don't be ridiculous", Rocket said. "Get back into your pod! You can't fit two people in there. You're gonna die".

He grabbed Astoria's waist and took off his mask.

"You'll die in seconds! Quill!"

He put the mask over her face.

Astoria gasped, finally able to breathe again. Peter turned his head towards a light as many ships came towards them. They were sucked into one of them and toppled in, with Peter falling on top of Astoria.

He gasped, trying to hold himself up so he didn't put his full weight on her. She started coughing and he put his hand on her cheek. She looked at him, breathing heavily. "Peter?" she said. "What happened?"

"I saw you out there. I don't know what came over me. But I couldn't let you die. I found something inside of myself. Something incredibly heroic. I mean, not to brag, but, objectively..."

She sighed deeply. "Where's the Orb?"

"It's... Well, they got the Orb"

"What?"

The door opened. They looked over to see a small group of Ravagers, pointing guns at them. "Welcome home, Peter", Kraglin said.

"You betray me?" Yondu questioned Peter. "You steal my money?" He punched him in the face. "Stop it! Leave him alone!" Astoria yelled as two Ravagers held her back.

"When I picked you up as a kid, these boys wanted to eat you. They ain't never tasted Terran before. I saved your life!"

"Oh, will you shut up about that? God!" Peter exclaimed. "Twenty years, you been throwing that in my face, like it's some great thing, not eating me. Normal people don't even think about eating someone else! Much less that person having to be grateful for it! You abducted me, man. You stole me from my home and from my family"

"You don't give a damn about your Terra! You're scared because you're soft in here. Here, right here!"

"Yondu!" Astoria said. "Listen to me. Ronan has something called an Infinity Stone".

"I know what he's got, girl"

"Then you know we must get it back! He's gonna use it to wipe out Xandar. We have to warn them. Billions of people will perish"

"Is that what she's been filling your head with, boy? Sentiment?"

All the Ravagers started laughing.

"Eating away your brain like maggots! That's it". He whistled, his arrow leaping to Peter's throat.

"No!" Astoria screamed.

"Sorry, boy. But a captain's gotta teach his men what happens to those what cross him"

"Captain's gotta teach stuff!" Kraglin repeated. All the Ravagers murmured in agreement. "If you kill me now, you are saying goodbye to the biggest score you have ever seen", Peter stated. "The Stone?" Yondu asked. "I hope you got something better than that. Because ain't nobody stealing from Ronan".

"We got a ringer"

"Is that right?"

"She knows everything there is to know about Ronan. His ships, his army"

"He's vulnerable", Astoria added.

"Hey, what do you say, Yondu, huh? Me and you, taking down a mark side-by-side, like the old days". He chuckled.

Yondu whistled and the arrow went back into his jacket. He started laughing and Peter joined in. "Let him go!" he said and they all started laughing. "You always did have a scrote, boy! That's why I kept you on as a young'un". Suddenly, there was a rumbling and the ship jolted. The ship was shot at so they all ran to the front to look. "Captain, the shot was non-damaging". "Attention, idiots", Rocket's voice said over the intercom. "The lunatic on the top of this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer. It's a weapon of my own design". "What the hell?" Yondu said.

"If you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear your ship a new one. A very big new one"

"I ain't buyin' it"

"I'm giving you to the count of five. 5, 4, 3..."

"No! Wait, hold on!" Peter said, pushing through the Ravagers and holding down the microphone button. "Rocket, it's me, for God's sakes! We figured it out! We're fine!"

"Oh, hey, Quill. What's going on?"

"You call that "figured it out"?" Rocket questioned as they sat in a circle on the ship. "We're gonna rob the guys who just beat us senseless". "Oh, you want to talk about senseless?" Peter replied. "How about trying to save us by blowing us up?"

"We were only going to blow you up if they didn't turn you over!"

"And how on earth were they gonna turn us over when you only gave them a count of five?"

"We didn't have time to work out the minutiae of the plan. This is what we get for acting altruistically"

"I am Groot", Groot said.

"They are ungrateful"

"What's important now is we get the Ravagers' army to help us save Xandar", Gamora said. "So we can give the Stone to Yondu who's just gonna sell to somebody even worse?" Rocket said. "We'll figure that part out later", Peter said. "We have to stop Ronan", Astoria stated. "How?" Rocket asked. "I have a plan", Peter said.

"You've got a plan?"

"Yes"

"First of all, you're copying me from when I said I have a plan"

"No, I'm not. People say that all the time. It's not that unique of a thing to say"

"Secondly, I don't even believe you have a plan"

"I have part of a plan!"

"What percentage of a plan do you have?" Drax said. "You don't get to ask questions after the nonsense you pulled on Knowhere", Gamora said.

"I just saved Quill"

"We've already established that you destroying the ship that I'm on is not saving me", Peter pointed out.

"When did we establish that?"

"Like three seconds ago!"

"I wasn't listening. I was thinking of something else"

Gamora groaned. "She's right. You don't get an opinion", Rocket said. "What percentage?" "I don't know. Twelve percent", Peter said.

"Twelve percent?" He started laughing.

"That's a fake laugh"

"It's real!"

"Totally fake"

"That is most real, authentic, hysterical laugh of my entire life because that is not a plan"

"It's barely a concept", Astoria agreed. "You're taking their side?" Peter said. "I am Groot", Groot said. "So what, it's better than 11%?" Rocket said. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" "Thank you, Groot. Thank you", Peter said. "See? Groot's the only one of you who has a clue". Groot chomped on a leaf that he ate off of his arm. Rocket scoffed. "Guys", Peter said. "Come on. Yondu is gonna be here in two seconds. He expects to hear this big plan of ours. I need your help. I look around at us. You know what I see? Losers. I mean, like, folks who have lost stuff. And we have. Man, we have. All of us. Our homes, our families, normal lives. And, usually, life takes more than it gives. But not today. Today, it's given us something. It has given us a chance". "To do what?" Drax said.

"To give a shit. For once. Not run away. I, for one, am not gonna stand by and watch as Ronan wipes out billions of innocent lives"

"But, Quill, stopping Ronan, it's impossible", Rocket said. "You're asking us to die".

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I am". He stammered but couldn't bring himself to say anything else.

"Quill", Gamora said. "I have lived most of my life surrounded by my enemies. I will be grateful to die among my friends". She stood up. "Me, too", Astoria said, standing up and grabbing Gamora's hand. Gamora smiled softly. Drax stood up. "You are an honourable man, Quill", he said. "I will fight beside you. And in the end, I will see my wife and daughter again". "I am Groot", Groot said, standing up. They all looked over at Rocket. He sighed. "Oh, what the hell. I don't got that long a lifespan, anyway", he said, before standing up. "Now I'm standing. Y'all happy? We're all standing up now. A bunch of jackasses standing in a circle".

"The stone reacts to anything organic", Astoria explained to everyone. "The bigger the target, the bigger the power surge". "All Ronan's got to do is touch the Stone to the planet's surface and zap", Peter added. "All plants, animals, Nova Corps".

"Everything will die"

"So Ronan does not make the surface. Rocket will lead a team to blow a hole in the Dark Aster's starboard hull. Then, our craft and Yondu's will enter"

"Won't there be hundreds of Sakaaran soldiers inside?" Kraglin asked. "I think Sakaaran as paper people", Drax replied, unfazed. "Once they know we're on board, Ronan will isolate himself behind impenetrable security doors on deck", Astoria continued. "Which Gamora and I can disable by dismantling the power source". "We'll make it to the flight deck, and I'll use the Hadron Enforcer to kill Ronan", Peter said.

"Once Ronan is dead, we will retrieve the stone. Use these devices to contain it. If you touch it, it will kill you"

"I'll contact one of the Nova officers who arrested us. Hopefully, they'll believe we're there to help"

"There's one more thing we need to complete the plan", Rocket announced. "That guy's eye".

"No! No, we don't. No, we don't need that guy's eye"

"No, seriously, I need it! It's important to me". He giggled.

hope you enjoyed! comment your opinions!