Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   The gang once again arrived at Knowhere, except that it is unusually chaotic here. Multiple men were apparently chasing after someone, through the whispers of the people here, Peter Quill soon found out that apparently there was a valuable bounty sighting here in Knowhere. “Shall we go check?” Peter turned to ask his team, which was following behind him. He obviously wanted to know if he and the team could get the bounty first and earn some units.

Gamora gave Peter a side eye. Peter quickly added: “Well, someone might be in trouble! And as guardians of the galaxy, shouldn’t protecting people be our priority?” He looked at Groot, Rocket, Drax, and Mantis, who obviously weren’t even listening. They all know he likes to put a heroic, righteous look to impress Gamora.

And just as he finished his question, an explosion came from one of the towers, people started to run and scream. Peter started to give out orders, asking the gang to check if there’s any casualties, and just as he was about to give orders to Rocket and Groot, he realized both of them were out of sight.

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath as he put on his signature helmet and ran to help the others. He found the source of explosion, apparently some of the bounty hunters witnessed the target jump into the building and threw several hand grenades into the building that just got destroyed, completely disregarding the civilians here.

What’s even worse is that Rocket wasn’t being cooperative, and he dragged Groot, who was merely inches tall, with him.

“Jeez, Groot, knock it off, it’s not that big of a deal! I’m pretty sure Quill can handle those minor bounty hunters just fine!” Rocket said as he ran through the crowds, with Groot on his shoulder, and his giant blaster gun. He was dead set on getting that bounty, since he needed the money to upgrade the ship and the weapons.

“I am Groot!” Groot said in a clearly annoyed tone.

“What? No! I’m not being selfish! I’m finding the source of this mess, and fixing it!” He ran in all fours, and he took a quick turn at a alleyway, and bump into a wall, and a person wearing hoodies was just trying to climb over, face to face with Rocket.

“Jackpot!” Rocket said under his breath as he pulled out of his gun, and attempted to taser the person to the ground. But the figure swiftly ran towards Rocket, and pushed him away, but Rocket reacted fast, and he eventually managed to taser the person down.

The person fell flat to the ground, Rocket then walked towards the person. He poked the body with his gun, and flipped the person around to see the appearance of this person.

He widened his eyes as he realized that the person him and the others were after is a woman. She looks like anything but a criminal, not like Rocket was THAT surprised, since no one should judge someone based on their appearances. She has pale skin that sort of has this crystal glow on her, and her short hair is dark brown, with a single braid tugged behind her pointy ears with star-shaped earring on her right ear, and her eyes are ocean blue.

Rocket honestly was expecting someone uglier, and looks deadlier.

“Uh- Quill, I found the one they are after- can you come to my location and help me move the body?” Rocket said through their shared communication system in an unusually casual tone.

“THE BODY??? Did you kill the target???” Peter was yelling through the comm, and Rocket had to back his face a bit to avoid hearing damage.

“What? No! I tasered her, and now she is out cold.”

As Rocket was talking to Peter, the fainted girl sat up suddenly, and she noticed Rocket and Groot, she immediately pulled out her gun, and pointed it at Rocket. Groot nervously hid behind Rocket as Rocket turned to face her, looking serious as he also pointed his gun at her.

“Easy, lady.” He said in a threatening tone.

The girl looked at him, absurdly determined, like she still believed that she would get away. “Just let me go, and I won’t hurt you or your little friend!” She said coldly.

Rocket bursted into laughter: “You? Hurting me?” He threw a device that was glowing red at her, she caught it with her other hand. Rocket took out a remote control and pushed a button, she was tasered again, but the current wasn’t strong enough for her to pass out like the last one. So she knelt to the ground, now she was almost at eye level with Rocket, only few inches shorter. Her dark brown hair is messy, and few strands of her hair fell in front of her face, she was sweating.

“Now, talk.” He gave her a smug smile, as if he was pleased with how easy she was defeated.

“Did my uncle send you?” She asked, her voice sounding like she was in pain.

“Huh?” Rocket raised a brow, confused. Groot was still clinging on to his leg, hiding behind Rocket.

“My uncle, Varin! He’s been trying to kill me ever since I was like 10, ARE YOU SENT BY HIM?” She raised her voice, she sounded so frustrated, angry, and scared. “ANSWER ME!” She yelled at Rocket, Rocket was kind of startled by her reactions and her question, he could almost feel her pain.

“No! I don’t know who the fuck that is.” As he answered, he heard a voice calling out to him from the direction he came from.

“Rocket!” It was Quill, he ran towards him and Groot, and of course, the girl. Peter stopped dead track as he saw the girl kneeling next to Rocket. He immediately picked up that she is the one those people were after, and as he got closer, Gamora and the others all move closer to check up on her.

“Please, don’t take me to him!” The girl suddenly started begging, it caught everyone there off guard. Peter glanced over to Mantis’ direction, signaling her to use her power on the girl.

Mantis knelt close to the girl, she got startled a bit and she backed her body up, keeping a certain distance away from the people who surrounded her. Mantis gave her a light touch on the back of her hand.

“She is scared.” Mantis said in a empathetic tone, “And angry.” The girl was shocked by the weird feeling when Mantis used her power on her.

“What the hell was that? What did she do to me?” The girl’s voice was shaking.

“Can you put her to sleep, so we can turn her in?” Rocket quickly brushed off what Mantis just said, Mantis immediately put her to sleep, the girl fell flat face down to the ground.

Peter widened his eyes and looked annoyed.

“She clearly needs help!” Peter objected, getting kind of annoyed by how cold Rocket is being. “And who is this man she was talking about? Did she say anything?”

“It apparently is her uncle? I mean, what does that have to do with us?” Rocket put away his gun, and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he asked, absent-mindedly looking at the sleeping girl.

“And don’t you think that is a problem?” Peter sounded almost like he was yelling.

“I thought we only deal with threats that will affect the whole galaxy?” Rocket rolled his eyes a bit.

“Okay, Stop!” Gamora interrupted the two, as she sensed the two of them were about to fight. “First, we get her out of here, and if anyone stands in our way, we take them down. And then we question her in our ship, UNDERSTAND?” She stood between the two of them.

As Gamora finished talking, Peter and Rocket quiet down, Gamora looked at Drax and he then moved to grab the girl by her one arm, and Peter grabbed the other arm, dragging her back to their ship. Most of the bounty hunters that came after her were already taken down by Peter and the others when Rocket and Groot chased after her. So it went pretty smoothly for them to drag her sleeping body back to their ship.

They tied her up in a chair in the med bay, and Peter asked Mantis to wake her up. The first thing she did when she woke up was to reach for her gun, and then she cursed: “I’m gonna kill you if you don’t let me go!” But she soon realized that her gun was in the hands of the Terran.

“Oh I like her.” Rocket said sarcastically before pulling out a smaller taser gun. “Can I taser her, Quill?”

“No! No tasering!” Peter exclaimed. He turned to the girl: “Okay, promise me you will stay calm, and we won’t take you to whoever the heck you just mentioned.” The girl gritted her teeth, and nod. Peter then moved behind the girl, untying her. And as expected, she didn’t hesitate to land a punch on the person in front of her, which was Drax. And the punch did nothing to him, so he just stood there.

“Damn it.” The girl cursed, and shook her hand a bit, as it hurts to punch Drax. Peter moved his head a bit to gesture Drax to push her back to the chair.

“Relax, you idiot, we are not going to take you to who-” Rocket said as he watched Drax push her back to the chair, sitting. He was trying very hard not to laugh at her.

“Varin.” She spoke through her gritting teeth.

“Who is that?” Gamora spoke up.

“My psychotic uncle, and the current leader of my home planet.” She took a deep breath.

“Why does he want to hunt you down?” Peter asked with a frown on his face. She is clearly not a threat to anyone. “Are you a bounty hunter yourself?” He took a few looks of the gadgets they confiscated from her, and determined that she probably was one of the bounty hunters, just not the skilled ones.

“Yes, to the second question. And to answer the first question, it’s probably because he literally murdered my parents to take the throne, and I escaped?” She said coldly, but full of sarcasm, Rocket scoffed a bit, only for Gamora and Peter to glare at him.

“What’s your name? And where is this home planet of yours?” Gamora asked her.

“Why should I tell you?” She glared at them. “How do I know you won’t turn me in?” She squinted her eyes, Peter rolled his eyes a bit.

“Okay, in case you didn’t notice, we literally just saved your sorry ass from a bunch of bounty hunters and assassins who are clearly more capable than you, a little thank you would be nice!” Peter exclaimed as he gritted his teeth as well. “Now, you either tell us what kind of trouble you are in or we can just turn you in, which was the original plan.” He gave the girl a smug smile.

“Okay, I get your point.” She gulped, and sighed a bit, she continued: “The name is Coria. I’m from a planet called Zatari. It was kinda like Xandar, but much shittier, and not as evenly prospered.” The girl, Coria, said calmly, as she sulked in the chair.  

“So are you like a princess or something?” Rocket spoke up, looking up at the sitting girl.

Coria looked at Rocket with a frown, and a unspeakable expression, it kinda caught him off guard. “Well, am I really a princess if both of my royal parents were brutally murdered?” She said in a monotone tone, Rocket could only scoffed a bit. “But, yeah, before that, I was a princess.”

“Ah, ha, I won.” Rocket exclaimed, everyone else frowned and glared at him.

“Win what? Nobody was even competing against you, and what was the competition about?” The Terran raised his voice.

Coria glanced around, observing everyone around her. The Terran, “Quill”, is most likely the leader, he seemed to be the main one giving the orders, with the green lady being the voice of reason or some sort? And the big green guy with red tattoos all over is not the talkative type, he is probably the muscle of the group. As for the little guy, “Rocket”, with fur all over his face and body, god knows what he is, is probably the smart one, and the rude one. The girl with antenna, Coria had no idea what she does, as for the tiny guy on Rocket’s shoulder, he appeared only to be able to say “I am Groot”.

“Are we gonna go back to the actual subject matter or not?” Coria looked towards the direction of Gamora. She had no idea who these people are. And she already watched them acting like idiots multiple times.

Peter soon cleared his throat, and he proceeded to look at Coria: “So, what do you want us to do?” He said to Coria, though he was extremely annoyed by Rocket, he still managed to put on a sincere look.

Coria’s eyes widened. It was kind of out of character for him since minutes ago he was calling her “incapable”. She frowned, and give Peter a doubting look.

Rocket then interrupted: “Are we seriously gonna help her?” He stood between Peter and Coria. Then he turned to Coria, inching his face closer to stare at her: “What’s in it for us?”

Coria backed away a bit, as Rocket gets closer to her, squinting his eyes with doubtful glint in his eyes. “Nothing? I really don’t know. I don’t want to take the throne, everyone knows I’m not suitable for the position, but my aunt is. However that would essentially mean that I ask you guys to help me rebelling against my uncle.” Coria sighed, she has no clue what to do, at the moment she was just thankful that these people aren’t turning her in.

“Okay, let’s just turn her in then!” Rocket threw his hands in the air.

“Rocket-” Peter sighed, choosing to ignore Rocket this time. He turned to Coria: “How psychotic is he, besides the fact he murdered your parents to take the throne?” Peter tried to lighten up the mood a bit as he spoke in a lighter tone.

“He did some terrible experiments on his servants before, and I was told by someone that he likely did the same to me, but I just couldn’t remember and I don’t know what else he did except fixing my spine.” Coria scratched the back of her head.

“Fixing your spine?” A look of disgust appeared on Peter’s face.

“Yeah, I think I was in a critical accident when I was much younger? And my uncle is good at stuff like that? I really don’t remember. The point is, when I turned 10, he hired someone to assassinate both of my parents and me. But I was saved by someone who was hired to kill my uncle, and he helped me escape. Not only that, but take me somewhere where I was taken cared of.” Coria said all these things in such a monotone way it’s almost heartbreaking. She was sorta used to it, she can’t complain, it’s not like anyone was there to help her other than that assassin who was there to kill her uncle.

“Jeez.” Peter muttered under his breath. He took a deep breath, then he spoke up again: “How are you so casual about this?” He sounded frustrated, which was pretty reasonable. Gamora looked worried, Drax zoned out, Mantis and Groot frowned at the sight of Coria, and Rocket, who was kind of prideful, now looking unease.

“How the hell do you expect me to react?” Coria glared at the Terran. “It’s not like I can do anything, and not just that, I can barely keep myself alive. Oh, and in case you forgot, you just saved my sorry ass back there, remember?” She quoted what Peter just said to her in a snarky tone, and it managed to get a small laugh out of Rocket, which made Gamora and Peter glare at him again.

Peter took a deep breath: “What are you planning to do?”

“My mentor, that assassin, disappeared couple months ago, and because of that, I kinda lose protection, and other bounty hunters are now fighting for his place, and guess what? They think turning me in will be a big step up for them. So I have been on the run for months. I thought Knowhere would be safe, but I was wrong!” She said with an awkward smile on her face.

Rocket bursted into laughter: “You are an idiot for thinking Knowhere is a safe place.” His response only gained him more glares from Gamora and Peter, but Coria didn’t do much but only look at him briefly, almost made him feel embarrassed.

“Okay. Maybe I am?” Coria blinked, unmoved by his words. Rocket flinched a bit, most of the time when he said something like that people get really mad, and threaten to punch him. She turned back to Peter and Gamora: “All I’m saying is that I heard from some sources that he is in The Garden, and I could use some help, since my ship was blown up back there.” Coria said calmly, she fidgeted a bit in the chair, obviously unease.

She’s been on her own for quite a while, and her mentor, though provided her somewhere to go, didn’t really do much else, either. It’s not like he is a loving father figure, she was more like a pet, he trained her to defend and fight, and gave her food, that’s about it. All of her stuff, spaceship, weapons are all earned by herself whenever he brought her out for hunting, and she had to do all that with a small sword he lended her. He gave her her part of the share, and she collected them day by day, and finally she had enough credits for ship and weapons.

“And what if we never find him?” Gamora asked, it wasn’t like she has no faith, she is just genuinely worried about what Coria could go if things didn’t go as planned.

“She can stay with us.” Drax said calmly as if it was something extremely normal. “I mean we could always use more babysitter for that little tree.” He said as he reached to a higher shelf to grab a pack of Zarg Nuts, and he looked at Groot, who is now sitting on Rocket’s shoulders.

“No- no! That is a stupid idea! The Sovereigns are already up in our asses, we can’t just bring another wanted person with us!” Peter objected at Drax’s idea, Gamora rolled her eyes.

“I am Groot!” Baby Groot replied, sounding like he was pouting. Coria looked super confused, all she heard is “I am Groot” but somehow Rocket and the others can always understand him.

“Of course you don’t mind an extra babysitter, as if all of us aren’t spoiling you already!” Rocket said to him, scratching the back of his ears.

“Just take me to The Garden, and I’ll get out off your guys’ hair.” Coria stood up, sighing. The last thing she wanted to be was a bother to them. “Do you guys have an extra place for me to stay? I can sleep anywhere, really.” She let out an awkward laugh.

Peter felt sorry for her, a teeny-tiny bit, but that’s still something. And he was telling the truth, they pissed off The Sovereigns pretty bad a couple months ago, they literally put over one million credits on each of their heads. He cleared his throat a bit: “Yeah, we have.” Peter returned Coria’s gun back to her.

“We do?” Rocket sounded surprised.

“Rocket, clean up your work station a bit will ‘ya?” Peter sighed as he waved his hand dismissively, heading back to the pilot seats, Drax, Gamora and Mantis following behind him, leaving Coria, Groot and Rocket at the med bay.

“Didn’t she just say that she can sleep anywhere?” Rocket objected at Peter’s order, he was so annoyed.

Coria wasn’t really expecting much, she sorta expected to be treated like an outsider since, well, she sort of just bumped into them, and they were trying to turn her in for credits as well. “Hey, Rocket, right?” She suddenly spoke up, her back was turning against Rocket as she was looking around the med bay.

“What do you want?” Rocket said, his voice filled with frustrations.

“I can just sleep at the dock, if it bothers you.” She turned around and face Rocket, with a soft and tired look.

Rocket involuntarily flinched. “You being here is already a bother…” Before he could even finish, Groot pulled his fur lightly, with a semi-angry look on his face. It’s so adorable, Coria thought. “What?” Rocket looked at Groot, shrugging.

“I am Groot!”

“Okay, I guess she is a guest, and someone we need to help, so I should treat her nicely…” Rocket‘s voice softened. “But it’s my work station, come on!”

“That work station was originally a bunker room, remember?” Peter objected from the piloting pod, Rocket rolled his eyes a bit. Peter was right, they literally cleaned a bunker room for Groot even though he is just a baby, and the room for Groot now was originally Rocket’s workstation, and Rocket has a lot of stuff, like A LOT. He leaves them around in the ship all the time, no matter how explosive and dangerous the things he is working on are, he just forgets, hence the workstation.

“Okay, fine! I will clean it up a bit, hold on.” Rocket was persuaded by both Peter and Groot, so he gave in. And It’s not like Coria was being an insufferable douchebag, she’s been pretty polite to him, surprisingly, yet she seems pretty hostile towards the others, which is kinda funny to him. She has this snarky attitude whenever Peter talks, and it makes Rocket can’t help but scoff and laugh.

Rocket started moving towards his station, and as he realized Coria wasn’t following him, he immediately turned around and said in a semi-annoyed tone: “Are you coming or not?”

Coria jumped a bit, there wasn’t a single trace of emotions on her face, however, she is grateful that she now has a temporary place to stay. She quickly followed Rocket’s footsteps as the two walked down a small set of stairs. Groot kept glancing back at Coria, who noticed, and can’t help but thinking how adorable he is.

Rocket hit a few buttons on the pad stuck to the doorway, entering passwords to his workstation, and all three of them entered the workstation. “Don’t touch anything, if you touch anything, let me know.” He climbed up a stool that clearly was not designed for someone his size, and started putting away some shiny gears and trinkets into a big box. He made a lot of things, things Coria can’t name. Many of them are clearly functional, as the blinking or glowing lights suggest, they all seemed pretty rough on the edges but that’s what fascinates Coria. On Zatari, they all strive to be precise, and all the things they made are smooth and shiny. It looks beautiful, of course, but Coria was tired of them. Yet, because of her upbringing, she couldn’t help but made all her customized weapons as smooth and elegant as possible.

“These are, fascinating!” She looked at Rocket, he was busy cleaning up his formerly private space, with a tired and annoyed look on his face. Groot jumped off his shoulder and landed on the work desk as he helped Rocket clean up the desk.

“Really?” He gave Coria a sarcastic and doubtful response through his gritted teeth. He obviously wasn’t too keen on this arrangement, but Coria doesn’t seem to mind him taking it out on her a bit, she knew she was an outsider, and most importantly, a burden. She probably can’t offer them anything in return, yet Peter and Gamora still wanted to help her get to her mentor, even though initially Rocket was trying to turn her in for credits, which she completely understands, because she does that as a living as well.

“Yeah, really! You are a genius, Rocket!” She meant that, by the way. And of course, Rocket can’t tell, it’s his first instinct to doubt anyone who is nice to him.

He scoffed at her response. “Don’t even think that I would give you extra room for this, you only get to have the bed, the rest is still my space.” He continued cleaning, he jumped off the stool, and started putting away the stuff on the floor.

His smaller frame somehow managed to carry the machinery bigger than him, but it’s hard to look at, so Coria went to snatched the thing and help him put it on top of a shelf. He growled: “Did I ask?” He squinted his eyes and glared at Coria.

“No, you didn’t. But I should do something to help if I’m taking up your space.”

“Well, how nice of you!” Rocket said sarcastically. Coria could hear the sarcasm in his voice, but like she said, she couldn’t be too mindful about him taking it out on her, since she is just an outsider who temporarily seeks shelter from them. Coria didn’t say anything further, she just quietly helped Rocket with all the stuff.

Peter then jumpstarted the ship, and took off, taking all of them out of Knowhere.

Chapter Text

  “Look, kid, you have to go.” The assassin snuck out of the palace, with a little girl pursuing closely behind him.

  “No! I have nowhere to go, Varin clearly tried to kill me, and he already had someone killed my parents! I can’t just go back!” Tear stains covered her face, she looked so exhausted.

  “Okay, but I’m not the one you should follow, just leave me alone.” He sounded cold but gentle, it was apparent that he didn’t want to get too close to the girl, he has his reasons.

  “Hey!” A voice pulled Coria back to the present day. She tried very hard too make sure she forgets the things happened before she started training as a bounty hunter, that is the time when she was living on Zatari. A lot of the times, she’d rather be someone with no past than whatever this is.

  The voice that called her was Rocket’s, apparently he had already finished cleaning the floor of the bunker Coria would be staying.

  “Sorry, I was thinking about stuff…” Coria apologized profusely, even though she didn’t exactly do anything wrong. It was just her being, well, her. “Are we done?” She said, following was her yawn.

  “Yeah, pretty much.” Rocket seemed to soften his attitude because he was too tired after all the cleaning and organizing. “What, you tired or something?” He asked with a raised brow.

  “No, why would you say that?” Another yawn escaped her mouth.

  “Good, because I’m going to keep working on my stuff, and you’d better be quiet.” Rocket said to Coria, who took off her dark purple leather jacket, wearing only pants and a gray tank top, is now sitting in her bed, with her back leaning against the wall of the bunker, she proceeded to take off her boots.

  “Don’t worry, you will forget that I’m even here.” She said it casually. Coria was extremely tired, this is the first time in the last few months that she finally gets to rest, she had to seize this moment. As she settled in bed, Rocket climbed up the stool, with his back turned to Coria. Groot was sitting on the desk, he was yawning as well, Coria’s yawn was definitely contagious.

  “Okay, Groot, maybe it’s time for you to take a nap?” He said in a oddly gentle tone, obviously he didn’t mean for anyone to see this side of him, so even though Coria found it cute, she chose to say nothing. And he was definitely right about spoiling this little tree baby earlier.

  Coria was getting sleepy. Groot noticed, and he softly asked Rocket to put him on the floor. He thought he could climb to Coria’s bed and maybe sleep there and he could, at the same time, accompany Rocket. Rocket was surprised by his request, but he couldn’t refuse Groot, so he gently lifted Groot up, and put him on the floor.

  As Groot’s small feet touched the ground, he ran towards the bed Coria was in. He grew some tree branches out to help himself up and get in the bed.

  Coria noticed the small shuffle noises made by Groot as he carefully climbed up the bed, she leaned closer to use her palm to help the little guy. “There you go.” She said softly, almost in a whisper. Groot stood in bed, smiling brightly at Coria. Coria almost felt like screaming, because he is just so cute.

  “I am Groot?” He said, clearly was asking a question based on his tone, he pointed at the bed, Coria still wasn’t sure what he was requesting, so she frowned a bit.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know…” She replied in the most polite way possible.

  “He is asking if he can take the spot next to you.” Rocket said, as he continued working on whatever he was working on. “You are very welcome to say no, by the way. He sometimes lacks the concept of personal space and stranger danger.”

  “It’s okay, I don’t mind. I mean, he is just a baby.” She said softly as Groot moved closer to the spot next to her. Coria grabbed the duvet a bit to help Groot settle in bed.

  “I am Groot.” He said in a soft voice, and he curled up a bit, positioning himself better for sleeping.

  Coria looked confused again, but she still had this soft smile on her face. Rocket quickly noticed that she didn’t respond because she doesn’t understand. “He said thank you.” Then followed a big sigh of his. “Sorry, by the way.” Rocket wasn’t sure why he decided to apologize, maybe for Groot? “Groot is just… Groot. He thinks that because we don’t fire our guns at you then you are one of us, and someone he can do things like that to.”

  “You mean being a baby?” Coria asked, with a smile on her face.

  “Yeah, being a baby.” He cleared his throat.

  Coria smiled at the back of Rocket, she could sense that he felt uneasy, awkward, very likely because Groot tried to cuddle up with her, who they just met, and is a wanted person. “What are you apologizing for?”

  “What?” Rocket said, kinda annoyed that she actually picked that up.

  “You just said sorry to me, why?” She asked as she crossed her arms, keeping her back leaned against the wall, while she stretched her legs.

  “Because Groot was being a baby. And this mess I created, you gonna have to tolerate these.” It was kind of out of character for him, even himself was shocked.

Maybe it’s because she didn’t treat him like he was something less when they first met, Coria really just treated him like a normal being. She never called him anything else than “Rocket” since they met. He almost felt bad for being his sarcastic and cruel self around her.

“Oh, you don’t have to apologize for that. I’m the outsider here, I should be thankful that y’all helped me.” She said calmly. Rocket felt like choking, What is this woman? Is she real? Rocket thought. For a bounty hunter, she really is too nice, maybe that’s why she was getting hunted down, and how easily it was to capture her. She is either really that nice or just plain stupid.

  “Are you stupid or something?” Rocket turned around in his stool, he sounded almost frustrated.

  Coria widened her eyes: “What do you mean?”

  “How did you survive on your own for this long?” Rocket looked at, he was genuinely curious. “No wonder you got a bunch of people up in your ass, you are too nice and soft!”

  “I’m not nice and soft! I’ve killed many people before, I’m only nice to the people I want to be nice to!” She frowned, wanting to yell, but keeping her volume low in order not to wake Groot up. Coria was telling the truth though. She had to kill to survive, but she is not that stupid to not know who deserves to be treated nicely. If there’s anything she is really good at, it’s reading people.

  “Yeah, sure.” Rocket said sarcastically.

  “But whatever you say, I guess.” She said as she laid her head against the wall.

  “Can I see your gun?” He requested, he was done with the whole conversation about Coria’s personality. He isn’t good at talking about stuff like that.

  Coria yawned a bit, and leaned over to hand her gun that was strapped on her waist to Rocket. “Sure, why not?” As Coria handed out the gun, her hands and Rocket’s much smaller hands touched a bit.

  He was extremely delicate with her gun, or any other things he works on, and he can always put things together fast. It’s just how his brain works, his brain is like gears that are always turning when he wants it to be.

  “Did you build your weapon yourself?” He asked Coria as he turned the blaster around to observe it.

  “Some are modified by myself, why?”

  “It’s trash.” Rocket said it bluntly, Coria raised one brow. “The set up is good, but where did you even find these… junky parts?” He then laid her weapon on the desk, as he opened the drawer and take out two or three small shiny, golden pieces. Coria didn’t say anything, she just gave him a questionable look.

  With a swift movement, Rocket easily took apart of the barrel part of Coria’s blaster. Her weapon was about the size of Rocket’s laser cannon, but a bit smaller, so naturally, he could take it apart with no problem. As he took off the barrel of her blaster, he smoothly installed one of the pieces to the original place of the barrel and put back the one he took so the new golden parts will serve as an extension to the barrel.

  Rocket then pointed at the part and said: “This is the part that can be served as an extension, making your shooting range longer, and it can detect when you need to aim, when you hold the extension part like this.” He said as he made a move that looks like he was about to aim as he hold the extension part.

  “Thanks.” Coria didn’t know what else to say.

  As he finished showcasing the function of the new part he installed, he then take off the handle of the blaster, clamping another shiny golden part onto it, before putting it back. “And this,” He pointed at the new part he installed. “It can help you with the recoiling, so you don’t hurt your arm.” Coria could only nod. There’s something oddly fascinating about Rocket putting and taking the parts together. It genuinely impressed Coria.

  “And the last one…” He said as he released the magazine of Coria’s blaster. Then he put the last golden part at the bottom of the magazine. He pointed at the part: “It can help with cooling down, and enhancing the power of your shot.” He tossed the gun back to her, Coria caught it smoothly.

  Coria was beyond grateful, her mentor wasn’t exactly the educating type. So it’s always she figuring stuff on her own. “Thanks, Rocket.” She smiled softly as she observed the new, modified weapon of hers. Something about the golden color not fitting with the original dark color of the weapon makes it look imperfectly beautiful.

  “Don’t mention it. I don’t want you to give us trouble when the blaster unintentionally discharge and hurt you or the others. Because those parts you used were some shitty parts .” Rocket waved his hand dismissively, and turned back to his desk. Coria found his gesture of modifying her weapon extremely endearing. She was almost certain that he is a sweetheart underneath all that snarky, sarcastic, and cruel personality.

  “Thanks, anyway.” Coria said softly.

  “You can give it a try when we stop for fuel.” He continued with his work. Coria could feel her eyelids getting heavier, so she carefully lay on side in order not to wake up Groot.

   The ship was flying steadily in the universe, the steadiness something Coria longed for. She wished things could stay like this forever. Her habit of waking up suddenly was there for a while, so as usual, she woke up in the midst of her sleep. Groot was sleeping so soundly, she carefully sat up, as her vision slowly became clearer, she noticed the desk light was still on, with Rocket fell asleep on the desk, with him remaining seated in the stool.

  Coria rubbed her eyes a bit as she moved to the edge of the bed to stand on her two feet. She grabbed her dark purple leather jacket, and put it on the sleeping raccoon gently in order not to wake him. Coria leisurely put on her boots, and pressed the button on the metal doorframe, opening the door.

  She walked down the quiet hallway of the ship, the soft sound of music playing flowing from the pilot deck. She cautiously walked towards the pilot deck, finding the source of the sound. It was the Terran, or Peter Quill, as Coria recalled. He was humming along with the tones of the music, his back turned to the direction of Coria, wearing the headphones with volume so loud that he apparently didn’t hear Coria walking. He was wearing his normal attires except he wasn’t wearing the red leather jacket he always wears.

  Coria quietly sat down next to Peter, she grabbed the seat for the co-pilot, then she looked around the control panels, Peter still hasn’t noticed her presence. It was kind of funny. And the sight of the universe is amazing especially when you are sitting in the pilot deck.

  Peter was humming to the tones with closed eyes, and his upper body danced a bit while sitting, and as the chorus of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” hit, he noticed that Coria was sitting next to him, he jumped a bit.

  “Jesus!” Peter quickly removed the headphones from his ears. “How long have you been there?” He was gonna yell, but Peter realized that most of the crew are asleep, so he lowered his voice.

  “Long enough, don’t worry, I won’t laugh at you.” Coria said calmly, with a warm smile on her face.

  Peter widened his eyes as he heard her response, he looked at the side of her face, aside from her pointy ears, she looks just like a Terran, like himself. Except that her fair skin sometimes have this iridescent glow whenever she enters a room with more lights. She looked more calm than before, which made Peter feel kinda glad. “Rocket didn’t give you a hard time, did he?” He asked with a smirk on his face.

  “Oh, no, not at all.” She smiled as she looked outside the window of the pilot deck. “In fact, he actually helped modifying my weapon, and gave me some advice.” That’s such a polite way to say it, advice. Rocket straight up called her stupid.

  Peter looked absolutely surprised. “Oh, woah! That’s something.” He chuckled.

  “What do you mean?” Coria turned to look at Peter.

  “He was pretty hostile towards me and others when we first met, I was his bounty at the time, so he was slightly nicer to me, and we ended up saving the galaxy, and Xandar.” Peter chuckled at his own words. “But yeah, it’s nice to see that you actually get along with him.” Peter looked at Coria with a look that Coria couldn’t describe. It was a very sincere and soft look, no one has ever looked at her like that.

  “Oh, so you guys were the ones defeated Ronan?” Coria said as she widened her eyes. “Holy shit, that’s cool. I have heard some things about you all.”

  Peter chuckled: “I hope you heard good things though, because like I said to others before, we weren’t really heroes.” He said as he leaned a bit back to the pilot chair. Seeing Coria acting like this only made him feel much worse for her.

  Coria seemed distracted, she genuinely likes this ship, it was much bigger than hers, and definitely much cozier, since it has more people. Before Coria’s ship blew up, she didn’t even bring anyone on her ship, it was her private space, and she is always a private person. She hate sharing things with people, especially when it’s something that matters to her, her memories, thoughts, and emotions.

  They had stayed quiet for a while until Peter broke the ice: “You’ve got a code name?” The question was definitely out of nowhere, it caught Coria off guard.

  “Code name?” She looked at him, smiling awkwardly.

“Yeah, like I have Starlord as my code name, Drax- well, the big green guy is The Destroyer, do you have one of those?” He said in a casual tone.

  “No, why would I?”

  “I don’t know, it’s cool? Like when people see me, they will just be like: Hey, it’s that Starlord guy!” He said the whole thing with pride, it managed to get a few silent chuckles out of her. Peter silently laughed along with her, then he asked: “So what keeps you up?”

  Coria looked at him, slightly confused.

  “It’s technically bedtime, it’s late.” Peter said as he took a bottle on the ground. He was drinking, as the bottle was half empty when he picked it up from the ground.

Peter took a sip of the drink, then Coria answered: “What keeps you up then?”

  “Don’t answer my question with another question, young lady.” He said, even though the light was dim, Coria could still tell that his face was red because of the alcohol.

  “You do realize I’m actually like 31 in Terran years, right?” Coria rolled her eyes a bit. She answered: “It was just, a habit of mine.” She said as she rested her elbow on the armrest of the pilot seat.

  “You are not a heavy sleeper, I see.” Peter took another sip.

  “I never was. What about you, Quill?” She started to look everywhere but Peter’s eyes, and well, Peter. She barely had any expression on her face, so it’s really hard for Peter to read her, he wasn’t even sure if this whole ordeal is flirting or not. He likes Gamora, a lot. But at the same time, he sometimes just can’t help but flirt with other girls if she’s not around, but Coria is making this really hard because he wasn’t sure if his drunk flirting is working or not. A lot of the times he can catch Gamora slipping, but Coria? She barely showed any emotions other than sarcasm ever since she arrived here several hours ago.

  “Just recently, I’m not.” He smiled at her, Coria didn’t seem to notice.

  “Do you usually just go around and flirt with people like this?” She looked away from the control panels of the ship. “And use being drunk as an excuse?” She smirked a bit, it caught Peter completely off guard.

So she knows I was flirting? He thought as he widened his eyes. “Maybe?” He said in a cheeky tone.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Quill. But my current situation doesn’t allow me to be with anyone.” She said as she searched for an unopened bottle of alcohol on the ground, Peter noticed, and passed a new bottle of alcohol to her. Coria took the bottle and gave him a little nod: “Thanks.”She twisted the cap off, and took a sip.

“So if we got your situation sorted out, then you will be with someone?” Peter smirked through another sip of his bottle.

“Maybe. But aren’t you with the green lady? Gamora, is that her name?” She took another sip of the drink.

“Oh no, I don’t think she would want us to be an actual thing. But at the same time, I always feel bad flirting with other girls in front of her.” He smiled.

“See, that’s why I think you two are together.” Coria smiled a bit. “But in all seriousness, I’m not saying I think you’re not attractive, it’s just, my mind is not in that place.” Her expression turned serious, and worried.

Peter noticed. “Hey,” Peter’s eyes softened. He wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol or not, but he sure as hell was feeling even worse for her. He’d been through a lot lately, Yondu’s death, knowing that his biological father, Ego, killed his mom by putting a tumor in her brain, and he had to kill Ego because he wanted to reshape the universe by destroying it. He kept telling himself that he is over those, but he hasn’t. That’s why ever since then, he often wakes up in the middle of his sleep, and results in him drinking and falling asleep. So maybe that’s why he feels bad for Coria. “We will help you, don’t worry about it.”

“Well, I don’t know what you want in return, because I can’t promise you guys anything, I’m basically a fugitive to the Zatarians.” Coria smiled as she drank up from the bottle.

“Hm, well, we sure love some credits, but maybe we can put that on hold.” Peter chuckled at his own words, Coria softly laughed at his words. “And who knows, maybe some people in the galaxy want your uncle dead, too.”

“You think so?”

“I mean, didn’t he perform experiments on you and a lot of people?” As the question slipped out Peter’s mouth, Coria’s face fell.

Coria almost felt like lashing out at him, but she kept her composure as she answered through her gritted teeth: “No, he saved my life, and he only performed those experiments on other people.” It almost made things sound worse, and made herself look bad. She mentally felt like a drunken man who kept drinking and had been told to sit down when he could barely stand.

“It’s okay to be in denial when shit like that happened.” Peter took a sip of the drink.

“Why would you think I’m in denial, Quill?” Coria asked coldly.

“There’s clearly some manipulative shit going on here. I mean, if he really care about you, would he even hire someone to kill you in the first place? That’s some basic logic here, lady.” Coria couldn’t tell if this is Peter’s drunken spewing, or he genuinely meant it, alcohol kinda got her train of thoughts mushed up, too. “He clearly did something to you, you either really don’t remember, or you are just in denial, for over 20 freaking years.”

“Please shut up.” Coria said coldly, for some reason, that’s all she could muster out.  She didn’t want to lash out at Peter, or anyone on this ship. They helped her, moreover, they decided to help her find her mentor. She felt like screaming, crying, it’s an indescribable feeling.

The truth is, her memories are very vague. It’s to the point where she is unsure if those things she remembers about her days on Zatari are real or not. Maybe she suppresses those memories too hard? Or maybe she just genuinely doesn’t remember?

Peter wasn’t feeling like arguing with her, he knew she had enough crap like him as well, and it would be unfair for Coria if he take it out on her. “Okay, whatever you say. I’m gonna head back to my bunker, the alcohol finally made me sleepy, just don’t touch anything, I have already set the course for the fuel stop.” Peter sighed as he grabbed the half empty bottle with him, and left the pilot deck. He gave one last glance at the side of Coria’s face, she looked upset and angry, but Peter could tell she was upset by his question, and confused.

Peter stumbled back to his bunker. He couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Coria. “What the fuck am I doing?” He mumbled. Then the door to Rocket’s workstation opened, Rocket stepped out and yawned, with a dark purple leather jacket in his hand, which Peter recalled, belong to Coria.

Rocket was rubbing his eyes with his other hand, and he stretched his neck a bit, the two walked past each other briefly in hallway to their bunkers.

“Where is the girl?” Rocket asked as he walked past Peter, in the middle of his question, he yawned again.

“Pilot deck.” Peter yawned as well, he pushed the pad next to the door of his bunker and entered his bunker. He took off his boots and crashed into his bed, setting the bottle on his bedside table. He immediately fell asleep with the help of alcohol.

Rocket climbed up the stairs to the pilot deck, he didn’t see Coria, but he did see a hand settling the bottle on the floor next to the seat he usually takes whenever he flies the ship with Peter. He stepped closer quietly, and because he didn’t wear shoes, there’s barely any noise when he walked towards the pilot seats.

“You are in my seat.” He said as he walked closer, standing next to Coria, who was looking at outside through the windows of the ship.

Coria saw him, and sat up a bit. “Sorry.” Rocket noticed her face is red, and the bottle was empty. Coria immediately stood up, and walked over to where Quill was sitting.

Ah, great, another Quill, he thought. “We are almost there. The fuel stop.” He said as he hit a few buttons on the control panel of the ship with one hand, his other hand was clinging onto Coria’s jacket. As he finished the setting for landing, he tossed the jacket back to Coria. “You gonna need this when we land the ship.”

Coria caught the jacket, and put it back on. “You slept well?” Coria asked, Rocket only turned his head a bit, giving her a small glimpse.

“I wasn’t planning on sleeping, I had set an alarm when we almost reached to our destination. It was just a small nap.” The truth is Rocket barely sleeps, he could hear many small noises on this ship, that’s one of his genetically modified abilities, super hearing.

The two stayed silent for several hours.

Several hours passed, Coria then said: “What were you working on when me and Groot fell asleep?”

“None of your business.” Rocket sat down in his usual seat, making sure the setting for the ship was correct, and they wouldn’t crash into the planet.

“Okay, sorry.” She compressed her lips into a thin line. She stayed silent for a while. “So where is this planet we are stopping for fuel?”

“Contraxia. Quill’s got people there, so it’s a safer option.” Rocket said as he kept checking the status of the ship.

“Isn’t that planet famous for its brothel?”

“You do realize it is a whole planet, and there are other things than that, right?” Rocket scoffed at her question.

“So Quill’s got people there, a planet famous for its brothel?”

“Quill was a Ravager before he became the guardian of the galaxy, and that place regularly serves Ravagers. So naturally, he has people there.” Rocket’s tiny hands roamed across the panels.

“Oh, I thought he was a pimp as his side job or something.” Coria joked. That was horrible, half-assed joke. Gosh, I really need to work on my sense of humor, Coria thought.

“They use androids as prostitutes, no need for pimps, except maintenance teams.” Rocket didn’t think it was funny, and he didn’t even notice that it was supposed to be a joke. “It is a cold planet, I highly suggest you put extra layers of clothes on before you died of hyperthermia.”

Rocket had no idea why he act so cold towards her, even though she offered him her jacket when he fell asleep. A complicating emotion was formed when he woke up from his nap, finding himself covered with Coria’s leather jacket.

“What about you?” Rocket’s ears perked up as he heard her question.

  “I will be fine.” He said, putting it as simply as possible. Rocket doesn’t know how to do small talk, most of the time Peter does the small talk and the diplomacy. “Worry about yourself.”

  “Kind of hard not to, because I literally need you guys’ help.”

  “We can take care of ourselves.”

  “Okay, tough guy, I believe you.” Rocket turned his head to look at her briefly, he wasn’t exactly annoyed, but he sure as hell wasn’t enjoying the nickname.

  The planet soon made it into sights, Coria fastened the seatbelts as Rocket started lowering the ship. As the ship landed, frost started crawl over the the windows of the pilot deck. Even though the ship has a ventilation system, Coria could still feel the temperature drop, even just a slight bit, and the ship definitely became colder as they landed.

  Jeez, it’s freezing, Coria thought. Most of the time, she just travels to certain planets that she doesn’t hate or can endure for bounties or commissions, it’s enough for her to feed herself and upgrade her equipments, so places like Contraxia was never one of her options, since she is always kinda frigid.

As the ship got through the atmosphere of the planet, Rocket then pressed a button, making an announcement: “Ladies and a-holes, this is your captain speaking, we are reaching the ground of Contraxia, please grab all your essential gears, so we can get out of this freezing globe as fast as we can.”

  As Rocket finished his announcement, he steered the ship a little to the right, and then he landed in a open field with tree covered in snows, and the ground was all white. Coria zipped up her jacket. She put them on as Rocket finished landing. After the landing, he then went to the center hallway where there’s a round table and few chairs, with a big metal box in the corner, Coria followed behind him. Rocket opened the box and took out a dark blue suit and a pair of small boots. “I’m gonna go wake up Groot, don’t go anywhere.”

  “Okay.” Coria said as she looked around the possible conference area. Some books are laying around, some are comic books and some are magazines. Along with some unopened bags of snacks. And there are small doodles paste on the wall, which was probably made by Groot, he drew Quill, Gamora, Drax, that antenna girl, and of course, Rocket. It was absolutely adorable.

  Coria could hear multiple footsteps coming out from below, the gang started emerging from the bottom of the stairs, all suited up.

  “So, are we going to stay here for a long time?” It was the voice of that antenna girl.

  “No, Mantis, we only stopped here for fuels and other supplies.” That was Peter’s voice. “And please don’t wander around.”

  Peter put on his longer leather coat, with a grey sweatshirt underneath, a pair of leather half-fingered gloves with a red scarf around his neck. He looked tired, he was having one of the worst hangovers, so his head hurt like hell. Gamora looked nearly the same Coria saw her couple hours ago, except she is now wearing a black coat with thicker layer. Drax was wearing only a sleeveless hoodie and his usual black pants with two daggers tied to the belt. And Mantis was wearing a long, green leather coat. Rocket put on the suit and boots he picked up from the metal box couple minutes and a red bandanna around his neck. As for Groot, he was only wearing a tiny scarf and a beanie, and sitting on Rocket’s shoulder.

  “Hey.” Peter said to Coria, he looked like crap.

  There was an unspoken awkwardness in the air when he said hi to Coria. Coria only nodded at him. He gave her an apologetic look, even though Coria really wasn’t mad at him, she just doesn’t like people bringing up her past and general stuff about her days on Zatari, she doesn’t even talk about it with the man that raised her. The gang walked towards the back of the ship, Coria followed them to the cargo hold. Peter was the one walking in the front, so he punched few buttons on the small screen next to the big door for cargos. He then tapped lightly on a device behind her ear, and said: “Kraglin, we about to grab some supplies, watch the ship.”

  Who is Kraglin? Coria thought, and it appears that there’s another member that she wasn’t aware of.

  The cargo door opened, and as Coria was about to step out with the rest of the crew, Peter stopped her. “I don’t think it would be wise for you to come along, Cori.” Coria frowned, he was right, and Coria didn’t like that he was right, but she wanted no trouble for her and them. “We will handle the supplies, just stick right here.” Peter said in a firm and gentle tone. “We will be back soon.” As he finished, him and the rest of the crew left the ship and walked towards the snowy planet. Coria wasn’t happy with the arrangement, but she still obliged, despite her growing curiosity about this snowy planet that she had never been.

“I would advise you listen to Peter.” An voice that wasn’t heard by Coria before suddenly spoke up behind her. Coria turned around to look at the man who just spoke.

She looked at him, confused.

“The name is Kraglin, Kraglin Obfonteri.” He said as he looked at Coria all seriously. Coria didn’t say anything, she just looked at him like she was studying him. “Though he seemed to be not very serious a lot of the times, but listening to him will be a wiser option if he did give you clear instructions.”

  “Okay.” Coria looked at Kraglin, not knowing what else to say. She took one last glance at the white and snowy outdoor, and headed back to the ship.

Chapter Text

  Peter led his team to tread carefully through the snowy city of Contraxia, most people that come here are for, you know, Iron Lotus. It’s a brothel with only androids serving their customers. Yondu used to come by here sometimes with the rest of the Ravagers when he was younger. He was always ordered to stay in the ship whenever the Ravagers came by, and as he grew up, he sometimes joined them as well.

  This whole thing about coming Contraxia is just a stupid idea especially after what had happened. But with Coria, he thought it was a safer option especially when this planet was mostly littered with different factions of Ravagers.

  “Just grab the essentials, let’s not linger for too long. God knows if the news spread that fast.” Peter told the crew. He was wearing his helmet, in case of frostbite. Before he left the earth, he spent some winter times in Missouri, and it definitely wasn’t as extreme as the weather here on Contraxia. The crew then split up for the supplies they need for their trip to The Garden.

  Groot was shivering when he was sitting on Rocket’s shoulder. “I am Groot…” He said as he yawned and trembled.

  “What do you mean I shouldn’t have woken you up? I woke you up because I need to tell you we are about to land and I want you to stay alert, in case crap like when we were on Berhert happen again.” Rocket said as he walked through the crowd at the small flee market. He then took out a small tablet, checking who is on the bounty list, it wouldn’t hurt to make some extra money whilst they are here, right? “And you were the one insisting on going with us, so don’t give me that crap.” He said as he checked the bounty list, then he started scanning around, the system then picked up someone.

  “Zorrark, the shape-shifter, huh?”

Occupation: assassin. He has pointy ears like Coria, and the similar skin texture. Zorrark was put on bounty list after multiple counts of attempting murders and assassinations. He was a fifty thousand unit bounty. And he is wanted by Xander. He used a device to disguise himself as multiple people.

Rocket’s eyes lit up. “Holy crap, imagine all the supplies we can buy with that money!”

“I am Groot!” Groot sounded annoyed.

“Buying supplies only takes like five minutes, and catching this guy shouldn’t be that hard.” Rocket said to Groot. As Rocket scrolled through the bounty list, Coria’s name was in it as well. Rocket then contacted Kraglin.

Kraglin was chilling in the pilot deck, while Coria was fidgeting with one of Quill’s action figures, then she heard Rocket talking to Kraglin: “Hey, yo, Kraglin, prepare a spot for our captured bounty, will ‘ya?”

“Bounty, who?” Kraglin asked as he gave Coria a glimpse, and Coria was listening to him talking to Rocket attentively.

“Some shape-shifting guy named, Zorrark?” Rocket spoke through the comm, the strong storm outside made his voice barely recognizable.

Coria’s face fell, she grabbed the comm from Kraglin’s hand. “Rocket, don’t chase after him, you hear me?” The only noise that responded was a series of static noises. “Rocket!”

“Dammit, why is shit like this always happens when it’s something important.” Coria cursed under her breath. Then she immediately rushed to the cargo door, and opened it, carrying Kraglin’s communicator. “Kraglin, keep the comm open.” Kraglin stood there, he remembered what Peter said to Coria before he left, but he couldn’t do anything to stop her. He hates that about himself sometimes. A lot of the times, he fails to seize any chance to act. And Peter did order him to watch the ship, but he never ordered him to stop Coria from leaving.

Coria wasn’t even sure if it’s his name, but she really wasn’t in the mindset to care at the moment. From her observations, Rocket is definitely the type to try to catch Zorrark himself, and Zorrark isn’t someone to mess with.

Coria knows, because Zorrark is her cousin. And he is always the black sheep of the family.

Zorrark is the only son of Varin. Zorrark only inherited the “best” parts of Varin, and that is intelligence and ruthlessness. It goes to say that Coria and him had never gotten along, Zorrark oftentimes serves as Varin’s killing machine, and well, executioner. It took Coria nearly a decade to find the proof that Varin were the one hired the assassin, and before that, though many suspected, wouldn’t dare to oppose Varin, partially because of Zorrark. Zorrark is wanted by Xandar because back when Ronan was still alive, he was hired by some of Ronan’s extreme followers to serve as mercenaries and slaughtered Xandarians. And before that, he’d done so many things. When Varin first took the throne, many people were rebelling against him, and Zorrark was sent to kill all the people involved in it, regardless of age. And whenever someone try to get their hands on him, they usually fail, and end up dead.

The last thing Coria wants at the moment now is the people helping her dead. She rushed out of ship, forgetting the weather condition of Contraxia. Coria ran through the snowy planet for a while, until she finally had sightings of people. But she couldn’t find Rocket or the others.

The people in the market started to put away their things, as Coria heard them mentioning about a blizzard coming. I gotta find them, fast, Coria thought as she pushed away everyone in her way, and she heard a familiar voice, but she kept going forward.

“Hey, watch your…” It was Peter. He was with Gamora, Drax, and Mantis, they all have small boxes of supplies in their hands. “Coria!?” Peter nearly yelled, he tossed the box he was carrying to Drax before he chased after Coria, then Gamora tossed her box of supplies to Mantis as well right after Peter started running through the crowd as she chased after Peter.

“I swear to god, I will kill her before her uncle does.” Peter said through gritted teeth, Gamora was running behind him, rolling her eyes.

“Someone should have stayed behind and watched her!” Gamora yelled at Peter as the two pushed everyone in their ways.

“Well yeah, no shit. Kraglin basically did nothing.” Peter replied as he chased after Coria, nearly losing the sight of her.

“Because you only told him to watch the ship, and didn’t tell him that Coria was strictly not allowed to leave!?”

“Oh okay, so it was my fault!” Peter said in a snarky tone.

Coria continued to rush through the crowd as she looked up and down, searching for the sight of Rocket and Groot. She pressed the red button on the communicator again: “Rocket, where the fuck are you? Send your location to Quill, now, please!” There was no response. And as she treaded through the crowd, some people at the far front started running towards the opposite direction, tripping several other people on the way. Coria nearly fell onto the ground when multiple people bumped into her, but she moved forward without saying anything as she knew something went wrong.

“Crap.” Peter said as he ran after Coria, noticing something went wrong. Peter ran faster in order to catch up with Coria. “Coria!” Coria turned around, watching Peter get closer, she froze a bit, suddenly remembered that Peter told her to stay on the ship since she is a huge target to any bounty hunters now.

Peter grabbed Coria by the arm as he yelled: “What are you doing?! I told you to stay in the ship!” Peter’s voice pitched a bit.

“No! You don’t understand, Rocket and Groot are in danger! We have to get to him! He doesn’t know who is he against with!” Coria tried to yank away from his grasp, but failed, so she kicked Peter hard in his right knee, so he could only let go because of the pain.

“Dammit, Coria!” He yelled at her, Gamora stopped as she saw Peter was kicked in the knee by Coria, running to his aid.

“I will go after her.” Gamora said, giving Peter a determined look.

“Crap, okay…. I will catch up with you soon.” Peter said as he watched Gamora run away, with him trying to recover from the pain.

Coria rushed forward, and all she saw was Rocket jumping around and climbing around the walls to dodge bullets and explosions. His movement was swift, but Coria could tell he was barely catching his breath, and Groot was nowhere to be seen. Dammit, Coria thought as she rushed through the panicked crowd, and making herself shown.

Rocket saw her: “You idiot, what are you doing here?” He ran to her in all fours, with smokes behind him, and with his weapon strapped behind his back, a small pack of things around his shoulder.

Coria frowned, she almost felt like yelling at him as well, but she contained herself: “Where is Groot?” She somehow felt relieved that Rocket is still living and breathing. But all her worries and concerns were all written on her face, Rocket noticed but he couldn’t help but being his usual, sarcastic self.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking.” He said sarcastically as he stood his ground next to Coria. He loaded his gun, then he answered: “He is fine, he is hiding, he will find us.” Rocket was surprised by how much Coria cares for that little twig, most people who meet Groot the first time will consider him annoying for repeating the same phrase, or like the Ravagers, considered him as a pet, mascot, or anything like that.

“We gotta go, Rocket.” Coria was ready to turn back, but Rocket wasn’t going to leave.

“And let that psycho on the loose? I don’t think so! Besides, I want something from him.” Rocket grabbed some things from the small pack, and threw them into the smoke, Coria could barely make out what was thrown and what did that do as the smoke and blizzard all swirled together in from of them.

“You are the idiot here, by the way.” Coria said coldly as she pulled out her newly modified gun. “We have to find Groot.”

“How am I the idiot?” Apparently he only heard that part.

“You could have made things simpler but you just gotta earn that money.” Coria said as she tried to usher Rocket to leave and go find Groot with her. “Rocket, we seriously gotta go!” She was half yelling.

Then a man emerged from the smoke. As expected, it was Zorrark. He was kind of wounded, with some scratch marks on his face, instead of looking furious, he was grinning. Coria involuntarily pushed Rocket behind her, defending him with one arm. “Rocket, let’s just go, please.” She wasn’t even looking at Rocket when she was talking. Rocket glanced up at her, she looked frightened but the absurd determination still was there in her eyes.

The gears in Rocket’s brain started turning: “You know this guy.” He said seriously, sounding a bit shocked.

“Yes, and you don’t know what you are up against.” Coria’s voice turned cold.

“I have fought against Ronan and a living planet, I think I’ve got this.” He said as he prepared to aim. Coria didn’t say anything about what he just said, she just kept her gaze locked on the man came out of the smoke.

“Where’s that hideous little monster?” Zorrark exclaimed. He scanned the crowd, and then he saw her, Coria, stand right in front of Rocket, who just attacked him. His grin became wider. “Coria!” His eyes was glowing, but it wasn’t a kind glow, it was sinister and deranged.

“Rocket, please go find Groot, I’ll meet you then.” Her voice turned soft, Rocket was now a bit frightened now, but his anger still overtook his fear.

“What? No, are you seriously gonna go fight that guy alone?”

“Just. GO!” Coria didn’t say anything else, Rocket unwillingly obliged. He had to leave to get Quill and the others for help, and he had to protect Groot.

Coria stood her ground as Zorrark walked closer. He then started laughing: “Hey, cousin.” He smiled at Coria. It was a twisted, and insincere smile.

Coria didn’t reply, as Rocket was about to leave, he pushed a red button on a small controller, then the “things” he threw started to form into some sort of electric field, holding Zorrark in his place, buying Coria some time to run. Zorrark was in pain, but it was more like an inconvenience than an actual obstacle to him.

“Come on!” Rocket looked briefly at Coria as he turned to run towards the direction of where they came, ushering her to move along with him. It was clear to Coria that Rocket would not leave her stranded.

Coria soon started running with him, and as she ran, she could hear Zorrark maniacally laughing and yelling her name.

  She hasn’t felt fear for a while, and her rushing adrenaline was making her feel dizzy. Even back when she was on Knowhere, her being hunted by several bounty hunters, it wasn’t enough to make her feel scared, she was just annoyed by them. But the thought of being taken to her home planet is what really scares her, and now she can add a new one to the list.

  “What is his problem?” Rocket asked as he ran, Coria ran after him.

  “Let’s just say it’s a bit of royal rivalry?” Coria ran, barely catching her breath as she talked. “He never likes me.”

  “Why?”

  “You are really asking me that, NOW?!” Both of them kept running, the crowd already started clearing out as all of them ran away frantically for their lives, making Zorrark see Coria and Rocket easier.

  “Coria, why are you running away? I thought we are family?” He said in a patronizing tone, Coria felt sick in her stomach. She could feel him getting closer, but she had to get Rocket to the others, she couldn’t risk hurting anyone else but her.

  As the two of them ran towards the original direction where they came from. They met Peter and the others halfway.

  “Quill, we gotta go!” Rocket ran towards Peter and the others, whilst Coria kept turning around to see if Zorrark got any closer, Rocket successfully stalled him.

As they started running, Rocket looked around frantically, searching for Groot.

  “Have you seen Groot?” Rocket asked Peter.

  “WASN’T HE WITH YOU??” Peter asked, half-yelling, as all of them ran towards the direction to their ship.

Rocket hissed: “Oh well, as you can see… I WAS UNDER ATTACKED! So we got separated!”

“Why would you provoke that maniac?” Peter’s head ached.

“He was on Xandar’s bounty list, I just thought we could earn some credit for the money.” Rocket shrugged, his voice became kinda high-pitched, which is clear indication whenever he knows he did something stupid.

“Fantastic!” Peter said, tones filled with sarcasm.

“Thank you!” Rocket responded with the equal amount of sarcasm.

“Can we just figure out how to make the current situation go away?” Gamora once again was the rational one.

Coria didn’t say anything throughout the run, she only turned around once more to see if Zorrark was still chasing them, only to find that he disappeared. But none of the others noticed. Now she grew more worried. Not only because the blizzard started to get more and more intense, but also the fact that Zorrark somehow disappeared into thin air.

He was always kind of cunning when he fights or plays games. Though Coria escaped Zatari when she was 10, before that she basically grew up with Zorrark. Zorrark’s mother died while giving birth of him. So he was raised alone by Coria’s uncle, Varin.

Coria was a humble child despite her father being the king. But somehow that doesn’t stop her from being Zorrark’s target. Whenever Zorrark had wronged her, her parents always asked her to forgive and be kind to him, since he was born without a mother. It sounded extremely unfair, especially when she was physically wounded by Zorrark multiple times during their little “playtime”. But Coria never hated Zorrark or Varin before her parents’ assassination.

After their passing, Coria realized how stupid her parents were, and how blind they were.

Her train of thoughts stopped as she felt her body shiver from the blizzard that was slowing forming. Without telling Peter or anyone else, she rushed back to where they were before, searching for Groot. Rocket first noticed, then so did the others. 

“Peter, we gotta go help her.” Gamora said to Peter. “The blizzard is getting stronger, she can’t be facing that maniac alone…” Before Gamora even finished talking, Rocket already rushed back to Coria’s direction. “ROCKET!” Gamora yelled, she growled annoyingly.

And as Rocket left, Peter, Drax, and Mantis all chased after him.

“You have got to be kidding me!” She said loudly as she took out her sword, chasing after them. It’s like babysitting a bunch of kids and teenagers, she thought.

Coria walked through the growing blizzard, tracing back to the direction of which Rocket and Zorrark came from to search for Groot. “Groot! Where are you?” The blizzard grew stronger every minute they stayed here. She looked for every small corner, fearing that he might went to seek shelter for the blizzard. Then she suddenly heard a small crying noise, it sounded like a baby crying.

Coria raised her hand to block the snow from getting into her eyes, as she frantically looked around her white and snowy surroundings. Coria tried to pay close attention to find the source of the sound but the sound of wind was very distracting and interrupting.

“Groot? It’s me, Coria! Everyone is looking for you!” Coria yelled, the faint sound of crying seemed to stop as she announced herself. A small figure appeared from underneath of a trash can. Coria immediately rushed to the spot without hesitation. And it’s Groot, he was shivering and there are tears in his small eyes. Coria knelt down a bit, holding Groot up with both hands, she unzipped her jacket a bit and gently put him in the inner pocket to keep him warm.

“It’s okay, let’s get you back, okay?” Coria stood on her feet, she could feel Groot’s tiny hands clenching on the fabric of her jacket.

As Coria turned around and ready to leave, someone jumped from the roof of a building, landing few inches in front of her. Coria backed away unconsciously, as she began to see clearly who that person is.

“Hey, Cori.” It’s Zorrark, he had that shit-eating grin on his face. Coria backed away even more. She could feel her muscles stiffening as she tried to reach her gun.

Coria didn’t even bother to respond, she bent her knees a bit to help steady herself. “Get the hell out of my way.” Coria barely finished her sentence, then someone shot down Zorrark, he knelt right in front of her. It was Rocket and Quill. Coria was shocked that they came back for her, despite her telling them to get back to the ship.

She seized the chance to take out her gun, and pressed it closely against Zorrark’s forehead. “You are going to rot in prison, cousin.” Coria said, gritting her teeth.

As Coria finished, Zorrark pressed a few buttons on the device on his wrist, then a glow started forming around his entire body, he turned into someone else. Then he stood up slowly, as if he wasn’t even phased by Quill and Rocket’s attack.

So he doesn’t shapeshift, he just uses holograms to disguise himself, Rocket thought as he widened his eyes. Zorrark turned into someone Rocket and the others had never seen before. The man Zorrark turned into was dressed in an attire like Peter and any other bounty hunters in the galaxy.

Coria widened her eyes as she realized who he changed into, she seemed shaken at first, but she soon hardened her attitude. “Screw you, Zorrark.” Coria tried to knock him out using the handle of her gun, but Zorrark soon blocked her movement by grabbing her left arm.

She then used her right hand, it formed into a fist, as she was about to pull a right hook right into his stomach, he then grabbed her right arm, bending her arm backwards. It’s enough to hurt but not enough to break. He smiled widely, he enjoyed all these way too much.

Coria growled under her breath in pain, but it didn’t last long. She head butted Zorrark’s nose, purple colored blood running down from Zorrark’s nose. His holographic disguise started to glitch, but the man Zorrark disguised as still felt so real to Coria. If it weren’t the fact that she was desensitized, maybe she would feel worse.

As Zorrark let go of Coria’s hands due to the pain he temporarily felt, he stumbled a bit, but managed to stand up on his feet. He then docked a bit forward, grabbing Coria by the false ribs, then he dug his fingers into her skin, squeezing the bones inside. All Coria could do was gritting her teeth, then she angled her hips, steadying herself.

Coria stretched her leg out, launching her knee directly at his waist despite how much Zorrark’s grip hurt her. Zorrark had to let go again, Coria then seized the chance, and grabbed him by the neck, she wanted to kill him right then and there. She should’ve done that a long time ago.

“Coria!” Peter called out to her. Coria glanced back at him and the others around him. Zorrark is a wanted man, if anything, handing him out alive for units is a great way to pay back the Guardians.

After some quick thinking, Coria then slammed him down to the cold, icy ground, knocking him out.

He laid flat to the ground, Coria knelt down and pressed few buttons on the device he used to shapeshift, or more accurately disguise himself, then Zorrark turned back to his original appearance. Coria took away all weapons he was carrying and the shapeshifting device on his wrist.

Peter and the others moved forward, with a handcuff in Gamora’s hand. She cuffed him up, and then they all looked at Coria, they looked worried, which is something Coria really wasn’t expecting, especially from Peter, who she failed to listen to.

“Let’s carry him back to the ship.” As Peter spoke, Drax grabbed Zorrark by the collar of his jacket, dragging him around the snow. Mantis was carrying almost all the supplies by herself so Gamora walked towards her and offered her a helping hand, silently following behind Drax.

Coria felt sorry, they weren’t even mad at her, they were worried. She walked towards Rocket, then she reached to her inner pocket, allowing Groot to climb into her palm, as she let Groot return to Rocket’ side. And she handed him the shapeshifting device to him.

“I assume you would want this?” She said softly but there was no clear emotion in her tone.

“Yeah, and units.” Rocket answered calmly as he reached his hand to take the device she gave him, their hands brushed against each other’ softly during the exchange. Rocket noticed how the knuckles on her hand were all red because of the low temperature. And so was her face. Rocket handed Coria a metallic bottle-looking thing. From its exterior, you can’t tell what is in it. “Here.” Coria took the bottle-looking thing in both of her hands.

“What is this?” She asked.

“Open it and drink it, it will ease the pain on the redness of your face and hands.” Coria tilted her head, looking kinda confused. Rocket sighed as he reached for Groot, allowing him to climb onto his shoulder. “It’s not alcohol. It’s just something they sell here.” Rocket started arranging his things a bit as he slowly turned around to the direction of the path to their ship.

Coria smiled subtly, without Rocket noticing it. “Thank you.” She said, but Rocket only gave her a small exhale sound in response.

Throughout the small exchange of interactions between the two, Peter was looking at Coria attentively. He couldn’t get mad at her, since he could feel her intention through her reckless behavior. That’s what he would do if he was in her situation.

Just as Rocket left, Coria started walking towards the same direction, Peter was the last one to move. As Coria walked closer to him, he took off one of his gloves.

“Hey.” He stopped her, Coria looked at him briefly. She looked tired, and her glowing face was now red because of the coldness, and it looked like she had frostbites. Without saying anything else further, he took her right hand, and gently put his glove on her hand. The glove was a tad bit bigger but enough to let Coria felt the warmth.

Coria’s eyes fluttered a bit, not only was she surprised but she was also extremely confused by his action. Then as she kept her gaze on her now-gloved right hand, Peter reached out to take her non-gloved left hand in his right hand. Coria flinched at the sudden touch, but other than that, she showed no emotions on her face. But the warmth of his right hand did make her feel more peaceful.

“We gotta move, Cori.” Peter said in a more serious tone as he started to walk towards the original direction. Coria looked at the back of his head as the she was still walking behind him though the two were holding hands.

What is he doing? And why? Coria thought to herself. She provided him nothing, and she already made it clear that she couldn’t promise the rest of them anything. So what gives him and the others reasons to even be worried about her? It boggles her mind. Growing up in the Zatarian royal family, everything has to be about “benefits” and “best interests”, and she was raised to believe that when someone other than your family is nice to you, then they definitely want something from you. But these people almost crushed everything she was taught growing up as a child.

It’s almost her first instinct to doubt whenever someone is nice to her.

The two silently walked back to the ship together, hand in hand. Peter wasn’t thinking much when he held her hand. He found it endearing that she was being reckless because she was worried about Groot and Rocket, despite the fact that Rocket tried to turn her in and get some units.

As they entered the much warmer ship, the rest of the gang was already help organizing the supplies they just got at the market, and Gamora was busy ensuring the restraints on Zorrark were strong and secure enough for the remainder of their trip. Peter completely forgot about his glove still on Coria’s hand as he set off to the pilot deck.

But Coria remembered. “Quill, your glove.” She took the glove off with her left hand as she stretched her arm out, giving Peter’s glove back to him.

“Oh, right!” He felt a slight embarrassment as he took the other glove in hand. Then he moved to the pilot deck.

Coria then looked down at her hands. The knuckles were still kinda red, and she could feel a bit of sting every time she grazed her fingers over them. She had never felt this before, because Zatari or any other places she had been to weren’t as cold as Contraxia.

She likes it though.

As the ship started to take off, Coria walked down the stairs to her temporary bunker. She felt at eased, despite the fact that she shared the same ship with Zorrark. Zorrark was the closest thing to her sibling. Sometimes she grieved about the fact that things turned out this way. They could have been an unstoppable force that bring their home planet to its past, peaceful glory.

However, it’s nearly impossible to Coria. Varin not only “modified” Zorrark physically, but also mentally. No matter what could’ve been, it’s not going to happen. Coria has this passive attitude towards her own people and family, maybe this just happens when you were betrayed by your own family, not believing that people can change.

Coria sat down at the small bed, and took off her jacket, revealing the strong hand marks Zorrark left on both of her arms. “Damn it.” They were more than marks, they were hand-shaped bruises, she could barely breathe regularly because of Zorrark’s grasp on her false ribs. She then slowly grabbed the hem of her tank top, lifting it up a bit to check if there are marks there. There are, of course there are, she thought.

Coria tossed her jacket to the side, and gently rubbed the bruised skin of hers. “This hurts, that fucking asshole.” Feeling kind of thirsty, Coria grabbed the metallic bottle Rocket gave to her, and she set it on her bedside table when she entered. She twisted the cap off, and took a huge sip. It’s herbal, and definitely soothing. Somehow it helped easing the pain Coria’s entire body is feeling right now. It’s almost enough to make her entire body fall asleep, but the bunker door was soon opened.

It’s Gamora. Coria looked at her, unconsciously trying to hide her bruises subtly. Gamora immediately picked up on that. She didn’t say anything, she understands how it feel to not wanting to show your weaker side or the fact that you can get wounded.

“We bought some food, you can come up and join us if you want to.” She said calmly, then exited out off Coria’ sight.

Coria secretly thanked her for not voicing anything about her bruises. She slipped on her leather jacket, but she folded the sleeves up to her elbow, just enough to hide the bruises but also not seem weird to wear a jacket in a well, air-conditioned spaceship.

Coria stood up from the small bunker bed, checking herself a bit on the reflective, metallic wall of the spaceship. She looked kind of tired, and her face cheeks were still kind of red because of the coldness. But she at least looked alive. There were a short period of time where she felt like a walking corpse, head empty, only hunting for survival.

Coria dragged herself upstairs. She was used to doing anything by herself, that includes eating.