Guardians Of The Galaxy

P1 : C5

"I'll smack her! I called it!" I heard Rocket shout. I snapped out of a dream and sat forward. "Or pinch her, or whatever. I'll wake her up though."

"No one is slapping anyone." Gamora said.

"I already called it." Rocket said again.

"No one is smacking, slapping, pinching, kicking or hitting anyone awake." Peter said.

"Oh come on! Please? That girl's been out and we're here. Nova Prime's been waiting for hours. Come on man, I'm tired of waiting too." Rocket begged. Their voices were coming from above. I sat up and stood, walking over to the ladder. I felt fine. I climbed up and through the floor. Once up top I found everyone crowded around a table that showed a large map.

"I am Groot." Groot stood the farthest away but he was smiling and looking towards me.

"What'd he say?"

"Said she's up." Rocket said without turning around.

"You all just don't know how to keep your voices down do you?" I said. Rocket slumped over against the table and groaned.

"Sorry Rocket, maybe next time." Gamora patted Rocket's head.

"Don't touch me!" Rocket straightened up, swatting her hand away. "You know I don't like that."

"You doing okay?" Peter asked. It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me.

"I'm fine." I nodded to him and Peter nodded back.

"Should we get a move on it now? Nova Prime's probably pissed we kept her waiting this long." Rocket said, he sounded annoyed.

Peter shrugged and then nodded. "If you're ready, Vele, we can go."

"Might as well." I reluctantly pushed myself up onto wobbly legs, stretching out my arms above my head.

We left the ship. Outside it was grey, the sky and the air. The world here was different. There was light and space and so much more than just a grimy alleyway. Everything around me felt cool and frozen compared to the place I knew with The Collector.

On Nowhere, the technology I was surrounded by seemed so much harsher than the sleek designs of the far of buildings beyond the landing pad. A part of me was surprised that it could be created in such a calm way, whereas Nowhere was constantly on the very edge of being too rough.

"First time?" Drax asked me as he came to stand beside me at the edge of the landing zone.

"I never left Nowhere until you all showed up." I answered. "This is all very new."

"There are much more beautiful things to see out in the galaxy." He gestured out to the faded horizon, "But this is not a bad place to start. At least it is much safer."

"C'mon you two, we're late!" Gamora called, waving for us to catch up with the four of them.

Drax and I quickly caught up, following them up a flight of silver steps into a well guarded atrium. 

"Ah! Finally!" An older woman with silvery white hair stepped away from a pod of guardsmen. "Trouble on the way over I assume? We were expecting you hours ago."

"Afraid we ran into a checkpoint, had to keep Vele under wraps until we cleared it." Peter said, stopping to gesture to me.

"So this is she?" She turned to me with a smile, lips stained a deep red and eye wide with curiosity.

"Vele, this is Nova Prime." Gamora introduce. "Nova Prime, this is Vele."

"Pleasure to finally meet you, my dear. I'm sure you have many questions." Nova Prime circled me like bird of prey, scanning me over up and down again and again like she could hardly believe I  was standing before her. "We'll walk and talk, this way if you please."

We followed her from the atrium into a mirrored hallway, only to take another flight of stairs up into a meeting room. 

"So, I suppose you have many questions for me?" She turned, sitting at the head of the table, gesturing for us all to take a seat. Gamora was the only one to oblige, the others seemed to take defensive stances.

"Well, I'd like to know why I'm being targeted, why there are people after me." 

"I think we should start with a better question, what is it that you remember of your family before Tivan?" She folded her hands neatly against the glass table. "Or do you remember anything prior?"

"I don't remember much of anything. My memories are faint." I answered, shaking my head. There had been many nights in the past where I thought too long and hard about what my life before could have been life, wondering if I had a family who missed me or a family who gave me up for drinking money. "He raised me, taught me most of what I know."

"What these bounty hunters are after, dear Vele, is you. You happen to be the daughter of a very dangerous man, who has vast amounts of knowledge and power at his disposal. Many of these people are looking to exploit your relationship in order to get a foot into a greater plan." She explained carefully, her voice flat and quiet.

"Who is my father?"

"Thanos." Gamora answered without missing a beat, her eyes glued to the table. "We are sisters."

"Thanos...Thanos?" I asked as my tongue swelled just trying to say the name. 

"You should sit down, Vele." Peter approached the table, gesturing to the chair beside me.

"Y-yeah." I pulled out the chair and flopped onto the cushion. "He can't be my family. Thanos isn't my father."

"Oh but he is." Nova Prime stood and an image illuminated from a pod in the center of the table, a diagram of my DNA profile beside another of Thanos. "Sources confirmed it long ago, Vele."

"Why am I just finding out about that?" I felt on the verge of hyperventilating just trying to process the information.

"Would have mattered sooner?" Nova asked.

"She's going to pass out." Rocket's voice got closer

"I am Groot." I felt Groots hand on my head as he tried his own variation of comfort.

"Vele, you need to breathe." Drax grumbled.

"Give her some space, everybody back up." Gamora spoke up and suddenly the room went quiet. 

I looked up and saw her slide across the table, dropping down to kneel at my feet. She turned my head to look at her, gripping my cheeks. "Take a breath. Fainting will help nothing at this point."

"He can't be...there's no way." I shook my head, freeing my face of her grasp.

"I'm sorry, Vele, but he's your father. Your real father. Flesh and blood."

She even seemed to regret saying the words allowed. I felt every heart string I had snap, every knot in my stomach tighten, and every inch of my skin crawl. There was no way I could be related to that monster. I refused to believe it.