REBEL FOR KICKS
v. KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR
❝I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU. . .❞

ISABELLE QUILL DID NOT SEE HERSELF AS SOME SORT OF HERO. In fact, for many years, she had only thought about herself and her needs. She used to not care about who she walked over to reach for her prize, but things felt different now. Isabelle was thinking about the fact that she was putting her own life on the line to possibly save Gamora's — a couple months ago, she was willing to kill the woman herself. And, now, here she was, attempting to be Gamora's knight in, well, prison garb.

She kept her footsteps quiet as she trailed downstairs to the showers where they said that they were taking Gamora. She could hear Gamora's angry shouts and the prisoners' laughter as she neared the showers. She stayed against the wall as she peeked inside. A group of men held Gamora against the wall as they trailed knives against her skin. Isabelle was finally realizing how poorly planned her rescue operation was. She had no weapons, armor, or courage. She was going in empty-handed and there was no way that could defend herself against the prisoners. But, she had to do it for Gamora. If Gamora died, then it would be on Isabelle and she didn't want Gamora's blood on her hands.

Isabelle took in a deep breath, building up all her courage. She had to do this. Finally, she rounded the corner. "Let her go!" Isabelle ordered as she tried her best to appear strong.

Gamora's eyes widened as she struggled against the tight grip of the men. Her frantic eyes met Isabelle's. "What are you doing here?" Gamora shouted.

Isabelle frowned. "I, uh, I'm here to save you. . ."

One of the prisoners laughed as he let go of Gamora's arm. His skin was a dark blue while his eyes were a pure black. He twirled his knife in his hands as he grinned slightly, putting his yellowed teeth on display. "Well, look who's here to save the day — the girlfriend."

"Look, she's not my girlfriend," Isabelle muttered as she fought the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't mind being called someone's girlfriend since she took pride in being into women, but she didn't want to be called Gamora's girlfriend. "We're barely even friends! But, I am here to save the day, so please, just let her go and we can all — I don't know — talk this out? Like actual grown-ups?"

"Talk?" He asked, almost shocked at the words that were pouring out of Isabelle's lips. "The fuck are you on, bitch?"

Isabelle had to think fast. Her best option was to convince the six prisoners to not kill Gamora. "Look, you'll only be adding to your sentence if you kill Gamora."

"I got life," one of the prisoners spoke out as he adjusted his tight grip on Gamora. He seemed to be made out of rocks, so Isabelle could only assume that he was Kronan.

"Yeah, me too," another prisoner added. His skin seemed to be made out of complete gold. He was somewhat attractive and stood out against the rest with his perfect teeth and golden hair. He was obviously from Sovereign and Isabelle wondered what he did to land up in the Kyln.

"Plus, the guard, Iago, is cool with us slaughtering Gamora," the same Kronan from before added.

"Well, I'm not cool with it," Isabelle said, shaking her head at the prisoners. It seemed as if the prisoners were taking her words in consideration. "Look, why kill Gamora when you can torment her in other ways? Steal her food during lunch? Shove in hallways? There's no actual need to kill her."

The prisoners stayed quiet and even Gamora wore a confused expression. Isabelle stayed still as she tried to see as harmless as she could. She wasn't professionally trained, but she knew how to throw a punch or two. But, it had been a while since she had eaten or drunk anything, and her energy levels were currently at an all time low.

"Why don't we just kill her too?" another prisoner — one with scales for skin and fangs for teeth — suggested and the other prisoners agreed.

"What? No!" Isabelle shouted as two of the prisoners grabbed her arms. She managed to get one arm loose and she took the chance to roughly kick him, but he grabbed her leg before giving her stomach a punch. She groaned softly as she doubled over and into the man's arms. He dragged her closer to Gamora before he held a knife to Isabelle's throat. Isabelle sighed softly. "I'm so sorry, Gamora."

"You should have stayed in the cell," Gamora whispered, but that caused the prisoner to slam her into the shower wall. Isabelle winced as she watched a gash appear on Gamora's cheek.

He dug the blade into her back. "Gamora, consider this a death sentence for your crimes against the galaxy."

Isabelle's eyes widened as she stared at Gamora. Finally, Gamora looked over at Isabelle and the blonde saw one thing in her eyes — fear. Isabelle squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see Gamora get slaughtered.

"You dare?" a deep voice echoed throughout the showers causing Isabelle's eyes to snap open. A man emerged from the shadows and Isabelle immediately took in his ashy skin and the red accents that appeared on his skin. He approached them slowly and the prisoners began to panic. "You know who I am, yes?"

"You're Drax," the Sovereign from before answered, "the Destroyer."

"And, you know why they call me this?" Drax asked as he took a couple of menacing steps toward them. He stood directly in front of the prisoners and Isabelle watched with wide eyes as they cowered before him.

"You, uh," the Kronan holding Isabelle started. "You slayed dozens of Ronan's minions."

"Ronan murdered my wife, Ovette, and my daughter, Camaria," Drax muttered as he snatched the knife from the Sovereign and examined it closely. His deadly gaze moved back to Gamora. "He slaughtered them where they stood, and he laughed!"

"I know you're hurting," Isabelle blurted out, causing everyone to quiet down and look at her. "Look, I know how much it sucks to lose family. My mother died when I was young and I'm still not over it, but you can't go around killing people! I don't go around killing every doctor because one couldn't save my mother."

Drax stared at her. "You should have killed the one that did not save your mother."

Isabelle fought the urge to roll her eyes. She bit her lip as she tried to think of a response. "No, uh, look, Drax, what I mean is that killing Gamora won't take your pain go away."

"She's one of them!" the Kronan shouted causing Isabelle's face to pale as she glared at the man holding her. "It's why she's so defensive of Gamora. She's one of Ronan's pawns."

"What? No! That ain't the truth!" Isabelle shouted. "I was a prisoner on Ronan's ship too! I hate the guy as much as y'all do!"

Drax narrowed his eyes as he towered over Isabelle. "You will wait your turn for slaughter."

"She's innocent," Gamora spat out as she struggled against the grasp of the prisoners. "And, I am no family to Ronan or Thanos! I'm your only hope at stopping them!"

"Woman, your words mean nothing to me!" Drax spat out as he swung to hit Gamora, but Isabelle quickly gave him a swift kick, knocking the knife out of his hands. Drax quickly rushed to retrieve it.

The Kronan tried to regain his grip on Isabelle's arms, but Isabelle quickly evaded him. Isabelle rushed to the Sovereign and tried to get him away from Gamora, but Drax charged toward her and knocked her to the floor.

Isabelle's eyes widened as she struggled against him, but Drax held a knife to her throat. "We shall kill you first before we move on to Gamora."

"Get the fuck off my sister!" a familiar voice shouted and Isabelle felt relief hit her hard as Peter rushed into the showers and shoved Drax off her. He quickly helped Isabelle up and pushed her behind him. He glared at Drax. "You touch her again and I swear to God that I will kill you."

Isabelle watched as some of the prisoners rushed off at the sight of Peter and Rocket — who was standing in the background and watching everything unfold — while Drax and the Sovereign stayed. The Sovereign held onto Gamora who was still on edge due to the fact that Drax still had a knife pointed at her. "Peter, do something," Isabelle begged. "He's going to kill Gamora."

Peter stole a glance back at Isabelle before looking at Drax and Gamora. He cleared his throat as he straightened out. "You know, if killing Ronan is truly your sole purpose, I don't think this is the best way to go about it."

Drax frowned. "Are you not the man this wench attempted to kill?"

"Well, I mean, she's hardly the first woman to try and do that to me," Peter chuckled while Isabelle wrinkled her nose in disgust. He moved closer to Drax and began to show him his scars. "Look, this is from a smoking-hot Rajak girl — stabbed me with a fork. Didn't like me skipping out on her at sunrise. I got, right here, a Kree girl tried to rip out my thorax. She caught me with this skinny little A'askavariian who worked in Nova Records. I was trying to get information. You ever seen an A'askavariian? They have tentacles, and needles for teeth. If you think I'm seriously interested in that, then... you don't care."

"Nobody cares, Peter," Isabelle added as he crossed her arms over her chest. Peter shot her a glare before he turned his gaze back to Drax.

"But, there's the point," Peter continued. "She betrayed Ronan. He's coming back for her. And, when he does that's when you. . ." Peter took his finger and sliced it across his throat to gesture that Drax would kill Ronan.

Drax wrinkled his nose in disgust as he glared at Peter. "Why would I put my finger on his throat?"

"What?" Peter asked as confusion set in and Isabelle sniffled a laugh — even Rocket was rolling his eyes. Gamora, however, looked annoyed. "No, it's a symbol for you slicing his throat."

"I would not slice his throat. I would cut his head clean off," Drax countered.

Peter groaned. "It's a general expression for you killing somebody!" He looked over at the Sovereign. "You've heard of this, right?"

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, yeah!"

"See, everyone knows," Peter said as he turned back to Drax. "But, look, what I'm saying is, you want to keep her alive. Don't do his work for him."

Isabelle watched intently as a thousand thoughts ran through Drax's head before he nodded. He looked over at the Sovereign. "I like your knife. I am keeping it," He said before he walked off.

"That was my favorite knife," the Sovereign muttered before walking off as well. Gamora didn't stick around as she rushed off as well to her cell and Isabelle sighed as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Well, show's over, so I'm heading back to bed," Rocket muttered as he waved goodbye before walking off as well, leaving Isabelle and Peter alone.

It was quiet between the two as neither one of them dared to speak. Finally, Peter sighed. "Are you okay?"

Isabelle nodded as she looked up at him. She could see the dark circles underneath his eyes and the countless tiny scars that were littered across his face. "Yeah, thanks for coming in when you did."

"Iz, it may not always seem like it," Peter started slowly as he debated on what to say, "but I got your back."

Isabelle nodded again. "Uh, thanks."

"We should head back to our cells before the guards notice us missing. I'd rather not get another beating," Peter said before he walked off, leaving Isabelle alone with her thoughts.

♡

Peter being an overprotective older brother? — more likely than you think! I really liked writing this chapter tbh! I feel like relationships between Isabelle and Peter have slightly approved while Gamora is a little ticked off, but grateful that Iz and Peter came to her rescue! I've been juggling around with some ship names and I got three — Izzymora, Isamora, and Gambelle! I don't know how I exactly feel about them yet tbh, but if y'all have any suggestions, please comment them!

Also, are y'all proud how fast I got this update out? I sure am! I think I'm going to focus on this story quite a bit because I honestly have so much inspiration and I love my baby, Isabelle, so much! 😍

— AMARA
PUBLISH DATE — 08.12.2018