Meg

THIRTEEN

I lean against the balcony's railing.

"Man, you wouldn't believe what they charge for fuel out here. I might actually lose money on this job," Peter remarks, coming up to stand next to me. I jump, a little startled. Peter smirks. "Did I startle the big, scary assassin?" In a second I have a knife pressed against his throat and I push him against a wall. "Kinky." I groan as I pull back and sheath the knife.

"My connection is making us wait," I tell him.

"It's just a negotiation tactic. Trust me, this is my specialty. Where yours is more, 'Stab, stab. Those are my terms.'" I stifle a laugh, he's not wrong.

"My father didn't stress diplomacy."

"Thanos?" I flinch at his name.

"He's not my father. When Thanos took my home world, he killed my parents in front of me. He tortured me, turned me into a weapon. He... sent me on a mission not too long ago. I learned something I shouldn't know, something he has yet to learn. I had to get Meg out."

"So why go after the orb?"

"If Ronan gets it... Thanos is going to destroy an entire planet for him. Then destroy more and more life. I couldn't let that happen." I glance at Peter's belt and see the weird machine thing on it. "Why would you risk your life for this?" I pick it up and hold it, turning it around to try and discover why.

"My mother gave it to me. My mom liked to share with me all the pop songs that she loved growing up. I happened to have it on me when I was...the day that she... You know, when I left Earth." I nod. He takes it out of my hand and puts it back on his belt.

"What do you do with it?"

"Do? Nothing. You listen to it. Or you can dance."

"I'm a warrior and an assassin. I do not dance." Maybe one day, I could. Once I am safe with Meg, maybe I will dance then.

"Really? Well, on my planet, there's a legend about people like you. It's called "Footloose." And in it, a great hero named Kevin Bacon, teaches an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that dancing, well...it's the greatest thing there is." I look at him strangely.

"Who put the sticks up their butts?"

"What? No, that's just a..."

"That is cruel."

"It's just a phrase people use," he says as he puts it on my head. He pushes a button and a wonderful melody fills my ears. I close my eyes and allow myself to imagine the future. One where I can afford to dance. One where Meg lives to be old. One where Thanos is not allowed to win.

"The melody is pleasant," I tell Peter, still not opening my eyes. I feel the distance between Peter and I shrink. I sense him leaning in. I react instinctively. I open my eyes and see Peter frozen in fear, my knife to his throat. "I know who you are, Peter Quill! And I am not some starry-eyed waif here to succumb to your...your pelvic sorcery! I have a mission! One that I must complete!" I remove the knife from his throat and he rubs it.

" That is not what is happening here," he mumbles. I raise a brow and he sighs. "We might want to stop that," he says looking over my shoulder.

"Stop what?" I turn and see Drax, Groot, and Rocket fighting inside. We rush over and break it up immediately. I drag Drax off of Groot. "Stop it!" I yell but still I am ignored. Peter joins in on the fighting. Finally Drax breaks away from the group. Peter starts to go after him, but I grab his arm to stop him. "Let him go. We don't need him." Just as I finish, Carina, the collector's assistant, comes to get us.

Meg's POV

"We have heard from Ronan," Thanos informs me that evening. "He has located Gamora and her crew."

"How was he able to locate her so quickly?" I can not tell if this is good or bad for me.

"Some idiot crew member contacted him, wishing to fight him as revenge for his wife and daughter. We shall have the orb by tonight."

"I shall await the good news." I start wandering the halls of the ship. Everyone avoids me. They have since I first arrived here. It is nothing new. In a way, I enjoy it. It allows me to think.

Gamora said a lot of things to get me to come with her. She insisted Thanos can not have all the stones. She insisted that for Thanos' mission to succeed he would have to kill me. But what if she was lying to get me to go with her. I wouldn't put it past her. Afterall, it wouldn't be the first time.

Loki lied to me two years ago. He used me to get what he wanted. What if Gamora is doing the same? She didn't come for me in prison. What if she forgot about me like Loki. He never came for me either. I waited for two months for him to come for me. He didn't. I don't know if he knows where I am or even who I am now. All I know is he did not come. And neither did Gamora.

But Thanos did. And he answered each question I had.

What if Gamora lied? I don't know what the truth is anymore. I don't know who to believe. All I know is who came for me.

And it wasn't Gamora.