#starmoranet

So...they're pretty much screwed at the moment. Sure, the Collector was pretty creepy and his odd obsession with Rocket and Groot was disturbing, but it seemed harmless. They were wrong. The orb turned out to be an infinity stone, remnants of six singularities that were forged into concentrated ingots after the universe exploded into existence. The small tale didn't phase Rocket as he continued to urge the creepy man to pay them. It wasn't until Carina, the Collector's servant, grabbed the infinity stone to escape from his control, causing the entire building to explode.

Now, here they were, covered in soot and ash and debris from the building. Peter and Gamora untangle themselves from each other after the explosions stop. Gamora is the first, however, to get up. She speed-walks to the orb and closes it, exiting the building with Peter trailing closely behind.

"How could we think Tivan could contain whatever was within the Orb?"

"WHAT DO YOU STILL HAVE IT FOR?!" Rocket asks in exasperation as he and Groot regroup with them.

"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO, LEAVE IT IN THERE?!" Peter steps in.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU HAD THAT IN YOUR PURSE!"

"IT'S NOT A PURSE, IT'S A KNAPSACK!"

"We have to bring it to Fury or even the Nova Corps. There's a chance they can contain it."

"Are you kidding me?! Groot and I are wanted by the Nova Corps and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gonna experiment with it. JUST GIVE IT TO RONAN AND NEBULA!"

"So he can destroy the galaxy?" Peter's face wrinkles in disbelief.

"What are you some saint all of a sudden? What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?"

"BECAUSE I'M ONE OF THE IDIOTS WHO LIVES IN IT!"

Gamora desperately grabs ahold of one of the lapels on Peter's maroon jacket. "Peter, listen to me. We cannot allow the stone to fall into Ronan's hands." The soft, brown irises in her eyes, look deeply into the souls of Peter's. He returns the gaze with just as much concern. "We have to go back to your ship, and deliver it to Nova."

"Right, right, okay. You're right."

"You've got to be kidding me! Are you serious right now, Quill?!" Rocket crosses his arms in disbelief.

"Listen, we're leaving. With or without you." Peter slips his hand into Gamora's and starts to guide her to his ship. They stop in their tracks when they notice Drax in front of them, knives unsheathed and prepping for battle.

"Oh no." Gamora mutters under her breath.

"At last!" Drax shouts after letting out a loud, maniacal laugh. "I shall meet my foe and destroy him!"

"YOU CALLED RONAN?!"

As if things could get any worse, Yondu happened to be on Knowhere at the exact same time and place as them. "Quill! Don't you move, boy!" He yells after spotting the ex-Ravanger. Peter and Gamora exchange a quick glance before letting go of each other's hands and running towards a bay of mining pods. "Don't you move!" He repeats, pushing through a crowd of people and running in the direction of Peter.

"Please tell me you know how to work these." Peter makes his way to one of the pods. He faces Gamora as she rips a man away from the pod he was exiting from.

"I'll figure it out." She replies coldly, powering it up.

Nebula figured out Gamora is in one of the pods and begins to chase after her, ordering the Sakaaran soldiers to shoot at her, Rocket, and Peter. They split up, going through obstacles the Sakaarans' pods wouldn't fit in. Rocket and Peter devise a plan to get Gamora and the orb to the Milano safely. One after the other, they took out the soldiers. However, there is too many and Gamora gets trapped.

"Peter, I'm trapped! I can't make it to the Milano. I have to head out." She maneuvers the pod into the Sakaarans' that were trapping her and begins to make her way towards the void of space.

A small rush of panic fills through Peter's veins as he drops the Sakaaran pod he was using for a weapon and begins to follow her. "Wait! These things aren't meant to go out there!"

Nebula trails the tail of Gamora's pod. She fires up the weapon on her pod and begins to aim for Gamora. "You are a disappointment, Sister." The luphomoid says through the coms. "Of all our siblings, I hated you least."

"Nebula, please." Gamora responds, the pleading semblance in her eyes reflecting through the windshield of the pod. "If Ronan gets this stone, he'll kill us all."

'Not all. You'll already be dead.'

Without even a second to process Nebula's words, Gamora's ship is blasted into pieces as her body floats limply in the vast of space. Peter witnesses it in front of his very eyes and freezes in shock. All he can focus on is the ice beginning to form over her. He doesn't even notice Nebula retrieving the orb and taking off. A tear falls from his eye as he realizes he's going to lose another significant person in his life. He can't lose her. He can't.

'Quill, come on. 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.'

Rocket begins to head back to Knowhere until he realizes Peter isn't following him. "Quill?"

Peter wipes his eyes and turns on the intercom of his ship to channel Yondu's. "Yondu! Yondu. This is Quill! My coordinates are 227 K324." He can hear Rocket shouting his name through the coms-telling him to stop and warning him that he'll die if he leaves his pod. However, his mind is focused on one thing and one thing only. "Just outside Knowhere. If you're there, come get me. I'm all yours." With that, he turns the intercom off and activates his mask. He opens the door to his pod and exits, using his jet boots to float to Gamora and sweeping her up into his arms.

The desperate cries of Rocket's voice stops when he takes a deep breath, removes his mask, and activates it on Gamora. When he hears her gasp for breath, taking in the oxygen in the mask, the weight pushing on his chest is finally lifted. Within seconds, Yondu finds him and beams them inside the ship.

As the airlock opens, Peter is tossed on top of Gamora. They both gasp for air, trying to catch their breaths. Peter pushes himself off of her, cupping her cheek in his hand as he watches her cough. She grabs onto the lapels of his jacket and catches his gaze. "Peter?" Her grip tightens on his jacket.

"You're okay."

The events that happened right before they were beamed in, flash right before her eyes as she remembers everything. Instead of receiving a relieved hug or kiss, Peter is greeted with weak slaps to his chest. "You're such an idiot! You could've died!" Too exhausted to do anything more, Gamora gives up on hitting him and falls limp to the metal floor. "Why would you do that, Peter? Why?" She chokes, tears welling up in her eyes.

Peter wipes away the single tear that trails down her cheek. "Because you're my best friend," His voice is low and it's almost inaudible. "And I couldn't live the rest of my life, knowing that you died when I could've saved you." Gamora closes her eyes, allowing another tear to fall as Peter leans in to kiss her.

"It's my sister-she's insane." Instead of looking at the girl in crouched in front of her, her gaze is towards the dirty floor.

"Gamora, you told me Thanos-"

"She's adopted." She snaps, immediately regretting it and finally giving Nat an apologetic look. Her eyes rip away from Nat's and shift back to the floor. "I'm not the only one Thanos took from their homeworld."

Shuri crouches down besides Nat, resting an assuring hand on Gamora's bare knee. "Your sister-what does she plan to do?"

"I don't know exactly what she's up to, but I know she's after this orb. I was on a mission to find it before I crashed here. She thought I had it-" Gamora takes a deep breath before standing up and walking towards the piano. "If it's anything like I think it is, we might be in trouble."

"Then, we need to stop her." Peter chimes in, slowly approaching her.

"It's not just her we need to stop-she joined Ronan."

"Wait, who's Ronan?" Peter asks with a raised brow, the rest of the group watching their conversation intently.

"A Kree fanatic who works for Thanos."

The mention of the name sends chills down Peter's spine. Gamora has told him of the pain Thanos inflicted, not only on her, but millions of innocent people around the universe. She has told him what he's capable of and his one and only goal: to eradicate half the universe.

"Ronan may have killed my lover, Hovat, and my younger sister, Kamaria, but Thanos is by far the strongest being in the universe. I will accompany you on your quest to find this orb. Then, I will kill Ronan and avenge my family's deaths." Drax was very silent until that moment. He crosses the room to join Peter and Gamora near the piano.

"What exactly is this orb?" Peter asks, completely brushing off Drax's entire speech. "From what it sounds, it seems like some kind of weapon."

"I don't know what it is."

"If it's a weapon, we should use it against Ronan."

Gamora's head whips around to Drax. "You fool! You'll destroy us all!" Maybe snapping from a comment as small as that wasn't her best move, but it was too late.

"Or just you, MURDERESS!" Drax steps closer, pissing Gamora off even more so.

"I LET YOU LIVE ONCE, PRINCESS!" Gamora finds herself looking straight up at him, baring her teeth.

"I AM NOT A PRINCESS!" The tattooed boy stands up straighter, glaring at the smaller girl in front of him.

"WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! Nobody is killing ANYBODY in my CHOIR ROOM!" Peter puts himself between them as they continue to glare at one another.

"It ain't your choir room, dumbass." It's that stupid raccoon and giving tree whom always manages to find themselves in the same room as him.

Peter rolls his eyes and turns his head to said duo. "Can we help you? What are you even doing here?" The raccoon doesn't reply, giving Peter a vexing smirk instead. "Let me guess? Profit?"

"Oh, hell yeah!" Rocket crawls off Groot's shoulder and scales up the piano to gain the attention of the others. "I know someone who's very trustworthy and is willing to pay a whole lotta units for that orb."

"How much?" Peter asks in curiosity, oblivious to Gamora's annoyed eye roll.

"Four. Billion. Units." The emphasis on the three words captures Peter's attention as his eyes widen.

"Holy shit!"

"Yup! About a hundred thousand times the amount of Yondu's bounty on you. Groot and I were gonna go after it, but when we heard Greenie over here mumbling somethin' about the orb, we thought we could use a few extra humies."

"And what makes you think we'll help you?" It's the first time Gamora speaks up since Rocket started talking.

"Cause', I have a big gun that could disable your mods and kill you in an instant."

"I am Groot."

"Shut up, Groot."

"I. Am. Groot." The tree says with more force.

After a few moments, Rocket crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. "Fine. Groot says we'll split the profit between everyone who gives us a hand."

"If I gave you my hand, it would require me to sever it off, disabling the ability to be helpful with it still attached." Everyone's jaws drop at the amount of stupidity they had just heard.

"It's an expression, dipshit." Rocket explains with another eye roll.

"I will never understand Terran sayings."

"It's not exclusively from Terra. People say it all the time."

"We're getting off track!" Gamora interrupts, watching as Drax and Rocket exchange a look and shrug their shoulders in unison.

"Are you in or not?"

Gamora's brown eyes find Peter's. He looks at her with the same grave expression, subtly nodding at her. There's that look in his eyes. The same look he had when she came out of the dressing room at Forever 21 in the outfit he picked out for her. The same look he had when he noticed she was finally able to start reading paragraphs on her own. The same look he had when she finally joined in on the choir ritual. The same look he had when he finally had the guts to ask her to homecoming. The same damn look he had when he kissed her. That genuine, caring look in his hazel eyes that she trusts more than anything in the universe. There's nothing selfish in them either, meaning he has a ethical reason behind agreeing, and he would explain later. She knows him and she trusts him.

With that, she turns to Rocket and sighs. "Yes, but if you do not undertake your part, I will be sure to skin you alive, Rodent. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Greenie, I do."

"If you guys are really considering this, you better make sure this buyer is trustworthy. If something happens that this 'orb' is a weapon and it's in the wrong hands, who knows what could go wrong." Nat states, putting a hand on Gamora's shoulder. The green girl nods in unison with Peter.

"How do we get off this dumb planet without confronting the director?"

"Well, Big Guy! I have a plan-"

Although Nat is training to be a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D., she has very awful plans, which is why Gamora, Drax, Peter, Rocket, and Groot are fully equipped to leave Earth and are on their way to headquarters. The entire building is built underground as a bunker at the edge of the city. The only section visible is a small dome-shaped structure made entirely of one-way glass, and the secret hangar roof behind it. Two men in S.H.I.E.L.D uniforms, guard the steel double doors to the structure.

It was a long drive from their dorms to headquarters-approximately four hours to be exact. So, yeah. It was a long drive. Not to mention being in a small Volkswagen van with seven people, three of which were not as friendly as the others (well, the tree's okay). It's a miracle to get out when they arrive.

Nat's plan was simple: she and Gamora will gang up on the guards and knock them unconscious. Then, they would all sneak into the docking bay and board Peter's ship.

Therefore, they put the plan into effect. Within seconds upon reaching the small structure, Gamora and Nat sneak up behind the guards and kick them square in the back of their heads, watching as their bodies fall limp to the ground.

Peter flinches a little as their bodies hit the pavement. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt." He whispers as Nat grabs a key card from one of the guard's pockets and unlocks the door, following the group inside.

They all scuttle into a confined elevator, uncomfortably close to one another as they ride down to the docking bay. As they exit, they are spotted by two more S.H.I.E.L.D agents, who immediately get swept off their feet, due to Gamora's quick reflexes.

"What does your ship look like?" Shuri asks as they spread out, scanning each of the unique aircraft.

"It's the Milano-the blue and orange M-ship."

"The Milano?" Nat asks with a raised eyebrow. "Like the cookies?"

"No, Alyssa Milano, duh!" Nat pinches the bridge of her nose.

Gamora crosses her arms and glares at Peter. "So, who's this 'Marissa Milano'?" She asks skeptically. Of course, it wasn't out of jealousy. Gamora wasn't the type to be 'jealous'.

The boy gives her a small smirk, notching the hint of jealousy in her brown eyes. "Alyssa Milano." He corrects.

"Whatever."

"She's an actress. I had a huge crush on her when I was a kid."

"You're still a kid." She points out, glaring at him more intensely.

"No reason to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

"Okay."

"Can you makeout later, Lovebirds? We found your ship." Rocket announces, rolling his eyes.

"This is your ship?" Peter nods his head proudly. "No offense, but it looks like a piece of shit."

"Wow. Thanks Nat." Just then the alarms start blaring, meaning that somebody spotted them. "Hurry! Get on the ship!" Peter yells over the alarms as he lowers the ramp. Groot, Rocket, and Drax quickly obey, the original four staying behind for a moment longer.

"Go." Shuri says, gesturing to the ship with her head. "We will stay behind and cover you."

"Thank you." Gamora wraps her arms around their necks as Peter makes his way up the ramp, not completely entering the ship until Gamora follows him. The ramp closes behind them as Nat and Shuri start running for the exit.

They arrive at the temple on Morag, only to find out that Ronan's right hand beats them there. Luckily, it seems as if they haven't exited their ship yet.

Gamora whips her head around to the group. "Korath is here."

"Lemme guess? Ronan's henchman?" Rocket asks, crossing his arms.

"You could say that."

Peter eyes Gamora again as if they read each other's minds. "Okay." He says, staring her in the eyes a moment longer before focusing on the rest of the group. "Here's the plan: Gamora and I will break into the temple and steal the orb. Drax, you'll follow and cover us. Rocket. Groot. You two will stay here, protect the ship, and get ready to take off as soon as we get back. Got it?" Everyone nods. "Good. Let's go!"

It's eerily easy to obtain it, only requiring the use of a gravity mine. However, there's never any sign of Korath or his Sakaaran soldiers. That's what puts Gamora on edge. "Peter, something isn't right." She states, reaching for her Godslayer.

"Okay, well, let's go!" He begins to walk out of the temple bumping into a Sakaaran soldier. "Oh, shit."

"Drop it!" A deep voice booms as a man, who looks partially like an android, enters.

"He will do no such thing, Korath!" Gamora spits through her teeth, extracting her sword and charging towards the man with a loud war cry. Drax follows suit with his daggers. "DRAX! PETER! GET TO THE SHIP!" Drax jabs one of his daggers into one last soldier and obeys almost immediately. "PETER!"

"NO! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU!" Peter shoots another Sakaaran that had entered the temple.

"GO, PETER!"

Peter hesitates. "Shit." He mutters under his breath, shooting one last soldier before bolting to the ship. With one last cry, Gamora drives her sword into Korath's abdomen, immediately following Peter. The boy pulls out another gravity mine, throwing it at the Sakaaran soldiers running after them. Gamora ducks and rolls her eyes as Peter yells back an apology. As soon as they have boarded the ship, Rocket turns on the thrusters and flies them to safety.

After the coast is clear, Peter meets Gamora on the lower deck. She watches as he places a small box into a weird contraption built into the Milano.

"What is that?" Gamora asks in curiosity with pursed lips.

"It's called a cassette. It plays music, see?" Peter presses a button and turns a dial as music begins to fill the ship. A huge grin creeps onto his face once he notices the corners of the green girl's lips twitching up. It only grows when she begins to subconsciously bob her head to the beat.

"What?"

It doesn't take long before Peter realizes he's staring. "Nothing." He scratches the back of his neck. "Um...just-do you trust them?"

"The only one I trust in this ship, is you."

Peter glances up at the stairs leading to the cockpit before focusing back on Gamora. "How much you wanna bet they'll ditch us after we receive the payment?" He asks almost inaudibly.

"As long as they don't give us a reason to be suspicious, we shouldn't worry too much about it."

"So, we're partners then?" Peter closes the distance between them.

Gamora crosses her arms and stares up at him. "We had an agreement, but I would never be partners."

"Does that include me?"

The green girl leans in as if to kiss him. She pauses, lips only millimeters away from his. "Especially you, Peter Quill."

He feels her breath against his lips and opens his eyes to see that she had snuck away before they could kiss. A slight chuckle escapes from him as he turns around to see her walking up the stairs with an extra sway to her hips. "Oh, it's on."

Knowhere is practically a place for outlaws, or so Gamora says. It's a grungy place and highly polluted. The streets are packed with aliens of all species, most of them looking homeless, mean, and dirty. They pass a building with a colorfully lit-up sign as a bouncer throws a patron out.

"The buyer's in there?" Peter asks staring as the patron slowly gets up.

"He told me we have to wait for his representative or whatever." Rocket explains as they continue walking.

"This is no respectable establishment. What do you expect us to do while we wait?" Drax asks with a hint of a pout.

"The museum is inside of a bar." Rocket states, stopping in his tracks and turning towards the group.

"There's no way they're going to allow us to drink. We're underage."

The raccoon bats a paw at her. "Psh! They don't care as long as they get units." He starts walking back to the bar with Groot following closely behind.

Drax shrugs and follows suit, leaving Gamora and Peter alone. "I'm gonna fill up the Milano. You coming?"

A sigh escapes the Zen-Whoberian's mouth. "I would, but I still don't completely trust those three. I'll keep an eye on them and meet you inside." Peter nods and plants a quick kiss to her temple before walking back in the direction of the Milano.

It's barely half an hour when Peter returns to the bar, finding her out on the balcony as she cleans her sword. He walks out casually and stands next to her. "Man, you wouldn't believe what they charge for fuel out here. I might actually lose money on this job."

"Doesn't surprise me." Gamora says dryly. "They're making us wait." She sheathes her sword and turns towards Peter with a perturbed expression. "Why did we agree to this, Peter?"

"You wanna escape from Thanos. I wanna escape from Yondu. We're gonna want to leave the academy eventually." He takes a deep breath and sets his forearms on the top of the balcony railing, leaning against it. "I also thought maybe we could leave together." He mutters it under his breath, hoping Gamora would hear it as much as he didn't want her to. He stares out into the void and snaps out of his thoughts as a green hand is gently placed on top of his. Turning his head slowly, he realizes that Gamora is gazing at him with a soft smile upon her lips.

"I-" She was cut off by the sound of a rousing bar fight, involving Rocket, Groot and Drax.

"Oh no." Peter moans, walking past Gamora and entering the bar. She follows suit, noticing Drax being strangled by Groot.

The muscular teen rips himself free of Groot's vines as Rocket powers up his gun. Before he can go after Groot again, Gamora pulls him up by his arm. "STOP IT!"

However, it doesn't stop Rocket from aiming his weapon at Drax. Peter steps in with a defensive hand, blocking his view. "WOAH, WOAH, WOAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"THIS VERMIN SPEAKS OF AFFAIRS HE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT!" Drax yells trying to push out of Gamora's grasp to get to Rocket.

"THAT IS TRUE!"

"HE HAS NO RESPECT!"

"THAT IS ALSO TRUE!"

"HOLD ON! HOLD ON!" Peter steps closer to Rocket as he starts to aim his gun again.

"KEEP CALLING ME VERMIN, TOUGH GUY! YOU JUST WANNA LAUGH AT ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!"

"Rocket, you're drunk, alright? Nobody's laughing at you." The Terran does his best to calm the raccoon down, but the small creature continues.

"HE THINKS I'M SOME STUPID THING! HE DOES! WELL, I DIDN'T ASK TO GET MADE! I DIDN'T ASK TO BE TORN APART, AND PUT BACK TOGETHER, OVER AND OVER AND TURNED INTO SOME...some little monster-"

"Rocket, no one's callin' you a monster."

"HE CALLED ME VERMIN! SHE CALLED ME RODENT!" He screams, pointing to Drax and Gamora respectively. "Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your FRICKIN' FACE!" Rocket starts firing up his weapon again, causing Drax to try to go after him again.

"NO, NO, NO, NO! FOUR BILLION UNITS! ROCKET! Come on, man. Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich."

The raccoon hesitates for a moment, finally lowering his weapon with a sigh. "Fine." He says with a slight crack in his voice. "But I can't promise when all this is over I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks."

Peter rubs his temple until he hears the last part of the sentence and throws an accusing hand in his direction. "SEE! THAT'S EXACTLY WHY YOU THREE DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!" He looks around at the other two, finally giving Gamora a sympathetic glance. "Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!"

"We have traveled halfway across the quadrant, and Ronan is no closer to being dead." Gamora pushes him away as he pulls out of her grasp.

"Drax!" Peter calls, watching as the musclebound teen walks away in anger.

"Let him go." Gamora says, placing a gentle hand on his arm, not taking her eyes off of the direction in which Drax was headed. "We don't need him."