Lines | Guardians of the Galaxy |

Chapter Four

The group gets in their old clothes—something that Avenna thrills at—and make their way through the halls of the Kyln and take out several of the guards. They find their way to the places that the ships are stored and Avenna does not hesitate to slash the eyes out of another man, the rest of her newfound allies assisting while they attack the guards who fight them as they board the ship.

The ship itself is lovely; the engines sound healthy and everything seems to be working well, but there's trash everywhere. Gamora gets into one of the pilot chairs and the raccoon gets into the other. They leave the Kyln, and for the first time since she got there, Avenna sees her prison from the outside. It's a surreal experience.

"Well how's he gonna get to us?" Avenna hears Rocket asking in an incredulous tone. She's sitting in one of the chairs behind the raccoon, examining the damage done to her bracelet. The more she sees and the more she notes down in her head, the angrier she gets about it.

"He declined to share that information with me," Gamora sighs.

"Well, screw this, then!" Rocket says, tossing one hand. "I ain't waiting around for some humie with a death wish."

"Shut 'er trap, Rocket," Avenna snaps, guiltily taking out some of her anger on him. "He'll be here soon enough, I hope."

"Key word there is hope," Rocket snips back. "If he doesn't die before he gets here! Gamora, you got the Orb, right?" He twists in his seat and looks at the green woman.

"Yes." Gamora says confidently. She pulls out the bag that Avenna assumed the human had given gave her. It resembles a purse. She pulls out some wrappers and tosses them aside... and... "It's not here," she exclaims. "That fool took it."

"What even is the Orb? Y'all were talkin' about it when I first met ya." Avenna leans over the armrest of her chair.

"I dunno," Rocket speaks. "All I know is that we can sell it for a whole lotta money and we need it to get the units."

"I am Groot." Avenna glances over at the tree, wondering briefly why that's all he said. It wasn't beneficial to the conversation whatsoever, and just about everyone knew that already.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're waiting for Quill, too," Rocket says scornfully. "There's more than one reason for waiting."

The fox looks from the raccoon to tree for a moment, then shakes her head and settles back in her seat.

There's a few minutes of silence before Rocket breaks it again.

"If we don't leave now, we will be blown to bits," he says harshly.

"No!" Gamora shouts. "We're not leaving without the Orb."

"Just for the record, I pick my life over some... Orb, whatever that is," Avenna speaks up but is, again, ignored.

"Behold!" Drax announces suddenly. There's a figure that's swooping through the vacuum of space, small rockets allowing him to swoop through it. It's Quill. He approaches the ship, and they let him in through one of the entry chambers below the cockpit.

"This one shows spirit," Drax notes as he and Gamora help him up through the circular opening. "He shall make a keen ally in the battle against Ronan. Companion, what were you retrieving?"

Quill does not answer, just waits for the warmth to return to his bones as he pulls out a small rectangular... thing... and gives it to Drax. Avenna's muscle-bound friend turns it over in his fingers, looking at it, and then glares at Quill. "You're an imbecile."

"We all are," Avenna replies.

Quill gets into his seat and they begin to leave the Kyln. Avenna is very, very happy to see it be left behind. But now she's gotta figure out who is who.

"Okay, names, please," she requests. "I've gotten the gist of who y'all are but I wanna know for sure."

"Drax," he says and gives her a confused look.

"I know who you are, doofus," she snorts. "I meant everyone else."

"I'm Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord."

"Better known as the local moron. I am Gamora."

"Rocket," the raccoon says shortly.

"I am Groot." The tree is the final one to speak.

"Can someone explain him to me?" Avenna asks, gesturing to the walking plant. She feels a bit bad about not addressing him directly, but she's almost certain that the answer will just be the tree introducing himself again.

"He's my buddy. His vocabulary is limited to 'I' and 'am' and 'Groot,' exclusively in that order." Rocket speaks and stands up, stepping towards the strange, uneven stairs that lead down below the cockpit.

The fox watches him. "Good to know," she says. One of her fingers runs across her bracelet, which she had stopped messing with. She has some questions still, but decides to just save them for later.

"What's your name?" Quill asks.

"Avenna."

"We've got two rodents now," Gamora says, and though she doesn't say it in a cruel tone, the words burn.

"She is not a rodent," Drax defends her, which she appreciates. She'd had to show him early on that she loathed that term, especially when it was used to describe her.

The moss-green woman does not reply.