• Across The Stars •||• Peter Quill X Female Reader 2 •

Chapter 9 - But First, The Sovereign

We continue drilling down to Ego's core. So far, nothing terrible has happened. But he could be down there already, waiting for us. I can only imagine the possibilities as we dig deeper and deeper. Something tells me that beating Ego is gonna be the hardest thing that we ever beat.

As we get closer, Peter explains to Yondu why Ego needs him. "He needs my genetic connection to the light to help destroy the universe. He tried to teach me how to control the power." "So, could you?" Yondu asks. "A little," Peter shrugs. "I made a ball." "A ball?" Yondu echoes, mocking him. "I thought as hard as I could. It was all I could come up with," Peter retorts. "You 'thought'?" Yondu says. "You think when I make this arrow fly, I use my head?"

Before Peter can say anything else, we bump right into a rock formation. Most of the passengers stumble forward as the ship loses control. But just as soon as it starts, someone regains control. Not before a wall of the ship is ripped off by rocks.
But it gives us a view of what we're here for. Mantis walks over to the window behind us. "There," she points out. "That's Ego's core."

Ego's core is a big formation in the center of this area. It still looks heavily fortified despite how much we went through to get here. Damn. How are we supposed to drill through that?

"That ore is thick, Rocket," Gamora says, voicing her concern to Rocket, stepping toward him. "I got it covered," Rocket replies, pressing some buttons. "We must hurry. It will not take Ego long to find us," Mantis warns. "He doesn't know where we are right now?" I question. She nods, pursing her lips in fear. "A being does not know a virus is in their body until they feel what it's doing to the body," she explains.

"Keep it steady," Rocket says and begins to blast through the thick coating of the core. "We drill into the center, we kill him!" Peter shouts. I swallow and watch intently as we get closer and closer. A transmitter in the cockpit makes a crackly sound, and then a clear voice appears. "Captain?" "What is it, Kraglin?" Yondu responds. "Hey..." Kraglin sounds hesitant. "Remember that Ayesha chick?"

Oh, shit. 

I look to the side and spot a bunch of Sovereign pods coming our way. "Yeah, why?" Yondu asks, unaware. "Uh..." Kraglin murmurs. "Oh, hell!" Yondu suddenly exclaims. The ship quickly moves to the other side. Now, we're being shot at by the Sovereign again. Great. "How did they even find us?!" I yell.
A shot lands on the back of the ship, causing an explosion. The ship turns to the side and dumps out Gamora, Mantis, and Drax. I start to fall a bit after them. I reach for the exterior of the broken ship, but my hand barely misses it.

My stomach drops as I quickly fall. I don't have an Aero-Rig on me. I keep falling, my legs underneath me. The ground is getting closer.
Before I can maneuver my body, my feet hit the ground hard. An orange glow blasts from my feet and expands over the glowing cracks in the ground. For a moment, the glowing flickers away. Mantis, Drax, and Gamora all stare at me.

Well, my legs aren't broken. That saves me a lot of time. "How... how did you do that?" Mantis asks me. "I don't know," I chuckle. "It's just a thing I do sometimes."
The ground suddenly rumbles, the glowing returning. The blue glow expands in front of us, branching into a new form. "He's coming," Mantis announces. "Didn't you say you could make him sleep?" Drax asks her. "When he wants. He is too powerful. I can't!" Mantis cries. "You don't have to believe in yourself," Drax says. "Because I believe in you."

The glowing branches turn into the shape of a face. Ego's face. He roars at us and delivers a beam of energy. The blast rolls closer to us. Until Mantis gets down on her knees and places her hand in the cracks of the terrain. "SLEEP!" she commands.
Just like that, the glowing stops. And everything comes to a halt. Drax glances at me and Gamora, smiling. "I never thought she'd be able to do it with as weak and skinny as she appears to be," he says, contradicting his speech from a few seconds ago. "I don't know how long I can hold him!" Mantis is putting all of her energy into keeping Ego asleep. "Hold him as long as you can, Mantis. You're doing great," I assure her. I open up my bag and search inside. My camera is still intact. And I have an Aero-Rig right next to it. "Of course," I sigh, exasperated. I didn't think to look in my bag while I was falling...

I look up at the sky, where a bunch of Sovereign ships are still chasing Yondu. I place the Aero-Rig on my back, forming it across my torso. With my two guns in my hands, I take flight. The air hitting my face feels so weird. Everything feels foreign without my helmet on.
I land myself on top of a branch-like rock and start shooting at the Sovereign ships.

"Hey, Y/N?" Peter calls out, flying above me. "Do you have any tape?" I look up at him, confused. "Tape?" I echo. "Yes! Tape!" he confirms. I'm not even gonna ask him... "Um, let me check!" I call back. I open my bag and search inside. All I see is my camera, a few photos, snacks, and my broken earpiece. But there's no tape in there. "Nope! Sorry, babe! No tape! Why?" I yell to him.

A beam hits the surface I'm standing on, causing me to fall back. "Ah, shit!" Quickly, I start flying back up and land next to a cave of some sort. I stand my ground and keep shooting at ships passing by. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Peter land at the cave.

"Nobody has any tape!" he shouts. I move next to him and look inside the cave. Rocket and Groot are sitting across from each other with a bomb in front of them. "Not a single person has tape?!" Rocket responds, turning around to face him. "Nope!" "Did you ask Nebula?" he insists. Peter hesitates for a second. "Yes!" he replies. "Are you sure?!" Rocket questions. "I asked Yondu, and she was sitting right next to him!" he explains. "I knew you were lying," Rocket sneers.

"Relax! Relax. I'll ask her," I volunteer, flying my way toward the ship. As I begin to chase after the ship, some Sovereign notice me and start shooting in my direction. The ship starts to come to a stop, and I make my way inside. My body slams into the wall on my way in, but I quickly get up. I climb up the ladder to the cockpit and peek my head through. "Hey. Nebula."

She looks down at me. "Do you have tape?" "Why would I have tape on me?" she shoots back, somehow defensive. "I don't know! Do you have tape?" I repeat my question. "No!" she suddenly shouts. I'm about to comment on her anger, but I stop and look down and see Peter fly into the ship. I step off of the ladder and watch what's going on outside. Sovereign ships are surrounding us at every angle. None of them are shooting. They're only grouping up.

"Guardians," Ayesha announces in her remotely piloted ship. "Perhaps it will provide you solace that your deaths are not without purpose. They will serve as a warning to all of those tempted with betraying us... Don't screw with the Sovereign." All ships begin to fire at once.

My focus switches to Nebula, who has connected her cybernetic arm to a couple of wires. Yondu flips a few switches. "This is gonna hurt," he warns. "Promises, promises," Nebula quips. Yondu chuckles and pulls on a lever, activating the weapons through Nebula. She's serving as a generator for the weapons. She screams out in pain as electricity runs through her body.

The lasers on the ship beam out, destroying many ships in their paths. Yondu turns the ship around, getting as many ships as possible. I hold on to something, trying not to fall out. A flaming piece of a Sovereign ship makes its way inside. "We're gonna blow!" Peter warns. I hear Yondu whistle just as I activate my Aero-Rig.

A huge explosion follows as I narrowly escape with Peter. Yondu slowly makes his way toward us, holding his Yaka arrow up to the sky. He floats down with us, looking down and smiling. As the smoke slightly clears, I can look down and see everyone else.

Peter looks back up at Yondu and laughs. "What?" Yondu looks back down at him. "You look like Mary Poppins," Peter teases. I smile at this comparison, seeing it for myself. He's floating down gracefully. Except for Mary Poppins' umbrella, it's Yondu's arrow. "Is he cool?" Yondu asks Peter. "Hell, yeah, he's cool," Peter sincerely tells him. "I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!" Yondu declares.

As we finally get to ground level, we regroup with everyone.

Peter. He grabs my hand and squeezes it. Gamora. She walks closer to us and gives us a nod. Drax. He stands up in front. Rocket. He's keeping himself up high on his Aero-Rig. Yondu. I never thought he'd be by Peter and I's side in a battle ever again. Nebula. I now fully believe she's changed after seeing her save us from the Sovereign. Mantis. She's on the ground, keeping Ego at bay for us. 

A broken-off piece of the ship comes flying and hits Mantis right on the head. She's immediately knocked out. Oh, shit... "Mantis! Look out!" Drax shouts, despite what's already happened.