Mischief

Chapter Twenty Three- Squabbles and Invasions

"You're cheating."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"I swear to God I will fly us home."

Quill paused, his finger still raised aggressively in an irritated Loki's face as he turned to face his girlfriend. "But... babe. He's cheating."

"No I'm not," Loki slapped the finger away, throwing his cards down and storming from the room. A loud crash resounded from the corridor, along with angry muttering in a language Gamora couldn't place. She turned back to Quill, hands on hips, a stern frown pinching her eyebrows.

"Would it really hurt you to act like an adult for two fucking minutes?"

"Gamora, he is literally over a thousand years old! If you should be yelling at anyone, it's him!" Quill pouted. Gamora's frown deepened. She raised a hand and jabbed a finger into her partner's chest.

"This. This is exactly what I'm talking about. You need to grow the fuck up, man child, or I will throw you off the ship."

"It's my ship!"

"It won't be for much longer!"

"Woah woah woah, what with all the yelling?" Tony edged into the room, hands raised as the pair turned to shout at him.

"He is acting like a child!"

"She likes Loki more than me!"

"What the FUCK?"

"SHUT IT!"

The pair turned, staring at Tony in childish petulance. Quill's bottom lip stuck out, Gamora had crossed her arms and was glaring side-eyed at her boyfriend.

"Are you not supposed to be professionals? An ex-assassin and ex-ravager acting like toddlers. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Now apologise to each other and act your age," Tony scolded, having horrible flashbacks to the the few times he'd caught Morgan and Pepper squabbling- Tony loved his wife, but she sure hated to lose an argument.

"I'm not apologising. I haven't done anything wrong," Quill whined, sounding terrifyingly like Morgan. Stark felt his eyebrow twitch.

"Now you listen to me-" he cut off with a gasp as the ship lurched to the side, his stitches pulling painfully. He grabbed hold of the doorframe, fingers turning white in his vicelike grip. Quill tackled Gamora into a stack of boxes, pinning them to the floor. Gamora hissed at him, raising her hands before the ship shuddered to a stop and the lights flickered out.

"What the fuck is it now," Quill moaned, pushing himself up off the floor. Stark could just make out his silhouette, rising with Gamora in one unidentifiable mass. He inhaled through his nose, waiting for the nauseating pain in his shoulder to fade. Banner had warned him about excessive exercise after the surgery, though not against crashing spaceships.

"Is everyone okay?" he ground out through clenched teeth, pushing off from the doorframe.

"I'm fine, just scrapes and bruises," Quill assured, patting himself down. Gamora flicked her wrist, a loud crack echoing through the room.

"I'm fine now," she stretched, winding over to the wall in search of a control box. "What happened?"

"Sounds like we were attacked. We should find Yondu and Elsa and go investigate."

Tony snorted at the nickname, stumbling through the dark to Gamora as the ache in his shoulder dissipated. Luckily, it didn't seem as though his stitches had torn. He pulled a flashlight from his key ring, illuminating the box. The interior was a mess of jumbled wires and rusted fuses, but it could have been in that state already- in fact, it probably was. The circuits were nearly indecipherable, not making any sense with their connections; he briefly registered Quill disappearing out the door in search of their crew mates as Gamora began fiddling with the wires, hands dancing across with practiced ease.

She flicked a switch and the emergency lights slowly lit up, dim and weak, as though they would die at the slightest touch. Stark sighed and flicked the torch off. Gamora shut the circuit box, surveying the room before pulling out a small dagger Stark hadn't realised she'd had. She jerked her head towards the door and placed a finger on her lips. Stark nodded.

Together, they crept down the hallways, checking each room before moving on. It was slow going but thorough, they left not an inch uncovered in case they missed something. It took them half an hour to search the whole ship, and they hadn't found anything- including their missing crew mates. Gamora didn't say anything, but the tensioning of her shoulders spoke volumes about her concern.

"Where could they have gone? Outside?" she muttered, fingers skimming along the buttons on the console. Her brow tightened in frustration at what she read. She pressed more buttons, jamming them harder as her anger rose. She slammed her hand on the console, taking a juddering breath. Stark felt his heart constrict.

"Gamora?"

The green skinned alien turned, her hand gripping the dagger painfully hard. She shook her head.

"They're gone."

A/N: I'm aliveeeeeeeee

So yes, I've been on a slight hiatus as I've started uni. Not as fun as I expected, though that could have something to do with the whole, y'know, pandemic thing. This chapter is a little crappy, I'll admit, but it was hard to build up any kind of motivation. I tried.

Question of the Week:

Not really a question, this time. It's a vote. I've been thinking of changing my name, and I've decided to let YOU decide. So, pick you're favourite, and comment on the name which you prefer:

1. fangirl_asylum34

2. trash_panda34

3. ultimate_fangirl34

4. 13capjacksparrow (no change)

Interested to see what you guys decide on. Whatever you think, I'll go by- though the vote is open to my other stories as well.

Hope you guys are all doing well. How have you been keeping busy? I hope you're all okay and are enjoying this story so far. I'll see you in the next chapter. Stay frosty 🤟🏻