The Soulmate Initiative: Book 2

7. Pirate Angel

LOCATION: SPACE

The Guardians Of The Galaxy, as they call themselves, are flying through space in their ship. A being which looks like a raccoon, asks a green skinned woman named Gamora "Why are we doing this again?" "It's a distress signal, Rocket. Someone could be dying." "I got that, but why are we doing it?" Peter Quill, or Starlord, a man, replies "'Cause we're nice. And maybe whoever it is will give us a little cheddar cheese for our effort." Gamora points out "Which isn't the point." "Which isn't the point. I mean, if he doesn't pony up…" Drax, another man, continues "We take his ship." Rocket nods "Exactly!" Quill laughs "Bingo!" "Alright!" Mantis, a female with antenna, speaks up "We are arriving." Quill takes charge "Alright, Guardians, don't forget this might be dangerous. So let's put on our mean faces." A young tree-being, isn't paying attention and is instead playing a handheld video game, called Arcade Defender "Groot, put that thing away, now. I don't wanna tell you again." "He's not listening "Groot." He responds sassily "I am Groot!" "Whoa!" Rocket shouts "Language!" Gamora protests "Hey!" And Drax gives him a disapproving look "Wow." Quill shakes his head "You got some acorns on you, kid." Rocket joins in "Ever since you got a little sap, you're a total d-hole. Now, keep it up and I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces!" 

They enter the correct portion of space and all go silent, looking out the window in shock. There's just debri and dead bodies floating everywhere, no sign of an intact-ship anywhere. Mantis asks "What happened?" Quill can barely speak "Oh, my God." Rocket finally comments "Looks like we're not getting paid." A body hits the front window and they all scream. Rocket shouts "Wipers! Wipers! Get it off." It's Tasia and when she opens her eyes, they all gasp. By the time they get her inside, she's unconscious. Rocket gives her a sniff and Quill asks "How the hell is this girl still alive?" Drax replies "She is not a girl. This… this is a woman." Mantis lays a hand on her forehead "She is anxious, angry. She feels tremendous loss and guilt." Drax comments on her outfit, which is her black armoured dress, red cape and black eyepatch, with her golden blonde hair "It's like a pirate had a baby with an angel." Quill nods to Mantis "Wake her up." Mantis lays a hand on her forehead again "Wake." Tasia wakes up instantly, she screams as she sits bolt up right, everyone else jumps back in fear and shock. Tasia hurries off the table and stumbles several metres away, she then holds herself up against a wall as she tries to catch her breath. She turns to see the group watching her cautiously, many of them ready to draw a weapon. She asks, her angelic voice just adding to Drax's conclusion "Who the hell are you guys?" 

It takes a while for everyone to calm down and talk, but once they have, Gamora is left in shock "The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal. To bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre." Drax sadly adds in "Including my own." "If he gets all 6 infinity stones...he can do it with the snap of his fingers." Tasia, who's been given a blanket and soup, notes "You seem to know a great deal about Thanos." Drax explains "Gamora is the daughter of Thanos." Tasia takes a better look at Gamora, who doesn't look happy "Your father killed my sister." She stands up and Quill mutters "Oh, boy." He stands "Stepfather, technically. And she hates him as much as you do." Tasia approaches Gamora, looking down at Gamora, being a bit taller than her. They're all expecting her to attack, but she does the opposite, she lays a hand on Gamora's shoulder "Families can be tough. Before my father died, he told me that I bad a half-brother that he imprisoned in Hel. And then he returned home and stabbed me in the eye. So I had to kill him. That's life though, isn't it, I guess. Goes round and round and… I feel your pain." Quill seems to be a bit jealous of the way Tasia is giving attention to his soulmate "I feel your pain as well, because-" He steps between the pair "-well, because, I mean, it's not a competition-" He moves Gamora away a little and Tasia gives her a sad smile as she moves "-but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother-" Tasia stays where she is, but goes back to eating her soup, realising they're together and that he's just being jealous, because she's gorgeous and he has every right to be jealous "-and then I had to kill my father. That was hard-" Rocket sighs and rolls his eyes "-probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I came out with both my eyes, which was-" Tasia interrupts her, really not listening. She's looking at the spoon in her hand "I need a hammer, not a spoon." 

She walks to the back hatch of the ship "How do I open this thing? Is there some sort of, uh, four digit code, maybe?" She goes over to some controls and tries to find a way to get out "Maybe a birthdate." Rocket asks "Uh, what are you doing?" "Taking your pod." Quill clears his throat and speaks in a posh accent "No, you're not. You will not be taking our pod today, Miss." Tasia narrows her eye at him "Are you moving me?" "Are you-?" Gamora takes charge, since Quill is clearly not with it right now "We need to stop Thanos. Which means we need to find out where he's going next." Tasia responds immediately "Knowhere." Mantis questions "He must be going somewhere." Quill realises "No, no. Knowhere? It's a place. We've been there. It sucks." Tasia starts raiding their fridge "Excuse me, that's our food." "Not anymore." Gamora asks "Tasia, why would he go to Knowhere?" "Because for years the Reality stone's been safely stored there with a man called the Collector." Quill shakes his head "If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe. Only an idiot would give that man a stone." "Or a genius." Gamora interrupts the pair yet again "How do you know he's not going for one of the other stones?" "There are 6 stones out there. Thanos already has the Power stone, because he stole it last week when he decimated Xander. He stole the Space stone from me, when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind stones are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers." Quill asks "The Avengers?" "Earth's mightiest heroes." Mantis asks "Like Kevin Bacon?" "Who? No."

"As for the Soul stone, we'll, no one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore Thanos can't have it. Therefore he's going to Knowhere. Hence he'll be getting the Reality stone. You're welcome." "Then we have to go to Knowhere now." "Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir." Drax speaks "That's a made up word." "All words are made up." Rocket asks "Nidavellir is real? Seriously? That place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the universe." He chuckles in excitement "I would very much like like go there, please." Tasia smiles "The rabbit is correct and clearly the smartest among you." "Rabbit?" "Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need." Tasia looks to Rocket "I assume you're the Captain, Sir." "You're very perceptive." "You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?" "Let me just ask the Captain. Oh, wait a second, it's me! Yeah. I'll go." "Wonderful!" They grin a each other, but Quill ruins it "Uh, except for that I'm the Captain." But they have have time for him "Quiet." "That's my backpack." "Go sit down." "Look, this is my ship. And I'm not goin' to… wait, what kinda weapon are we talkin' about here?" "The Thanos-killing kind." "Don't Don't think that we should all have a weapon like that?" "No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as your minds collapse into madness." Rocket grins "Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" "Mmm, a little, yeah." 

Gamora says "If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he'll be too powerful to stop." "He already is." Rocket adds in "I got it figured out. We got two ships and a large assortment of morons. So me and Groot will go with the pirate angel here. And the morons will go to Knowhere to try to stop Thanos. Cool? Cool." Tasia smiles "So cool." As Tasia gets in the smaller ship, Peter says one last thing to Rocket "For the record, I know that you're only going with her because it's where Thanos isn't." "You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to your Captain, Quill. Come on, Groot. Put that game down, you'll rot your brain." The three of them get into the smaller ship and buckle in, Tasia talks over the speaker "I bid you farewell and good luck, morons." Rocket flies them away.