Lines | Guardians of the Galaxy |

Chapter Six

An hour or so later, Avenna wakes up. Her head jerks up as she hears music and then an unfamiliar voice.

"Heads up! We're inbound."

She's confused and disoriented as she pushes a blanket away, shaking sleep from her body and blinking exhaustion away from her eyes. Then she remembers.

She and Drax are out of the Kyln.

Drax.

She looks around for a moment. He's not here. She was laying down on one of the storage crates with a blanket wrapped around her. She takes a breath, then stretches, smoothing out some of her fur.

"Get a good cat nap?" Quill asks. She twists and looks at him; he's messing around with a gun, but pauses to speak to her.

"Yeh," the fox replies. "But I ain't no cat, so 'less you want me to call you somethin' you ain't, shut your dull-toothed trap." She pushes the blanket away and jumps from the crate, feeling no remorse about her threat whatsoever. It probably wouldn't be very effective, but no matter. "Where's Drax at?"

"Up. We're gettin' close to our destination." He sets his gun down and starts to step up the weirdly made stairs, and Avenna follows.

When she looks out the windows, she stops short, feeling her breath snatched away from her.

Looming before them, the figure of a familiar, massive bone structure sits in space. It resembles a skull.

"Woah," Quill breathes.

"What is it?" Drax asks.

"No," Avenna says. "Oh, stars and saints, no! Why would you bring us here?" The fox whirls around and snarls at Gamora. "This is called Knowhere. It's the head of some ancient being where a buncha criminals hang around. And YOU BROUGHT US HERE!?" She's breathing heavily now.

"I know it's dangerous and all," Gamora says. "But it's where my buyer is. Rocket. Be wary headed in, rodent. There are no regulations whatsoever here."

"That's why I'm—we can't go here," Avenna hisses and she genuinely sounds frightened. "No amount of credits is worth this."

"Are you okay?" Drax asks.

The fox pulls at her own ears, nearly breaking the scab over her nicked ear. "You morons," she growls. "This is not... Quill, we need to turn around."

"We can't," he says. "If this is where our buyer is..."

"Shut up, skunk," Gamora orders. "We're going here whether you like it or not."

"I don't like it, not one bit!" She waits for a response, but nobody does. She groans and slams one tiny paw against the metal of one of the ship walls as it swoops in through one of the massive openings to Knowhere. "You realize just how awful this place is, right?"

Still, nobody replied. The took a breath and forced her emotions back down, attempting to reclaim a more aloof, reserved look. It worked for the most part.

They landed on one of the landing platforms for their ship and even though she truly did not want to go with them, Avenna followed behind, staying close to Drax. She'd have to rely on his strength here; she was pretty much helpless right now.

She decided to focus on marveling at the wonderful people here; the many different races, species, skin colors, and appearances. And the wide-open areas. Although it was strange to be back here--she'd been here before, long ago--she couldn't help but feel twinges of excitement mixed with fear at some familiar sights. She still felt an undying anxiety but attempted to push it down with the other traitorous vipers of feelings. When they'd been leaving the ship, Drax had questioned her about her violent reaction to coming to Knowhere, but she shut him down pretty quick.

"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull," Gamora said as they walked along one of the many crowded streets. "Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws."

Avenna was watching everyone and everything, feeling a sensory overload. It was too loud here, too much to see, too many smells and tastes in the air.

"Well, I come from a planet of outlaws," Quill says. "Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."

"It sounds like a place which I would like to visit," Drax comments from the side. Avenna folds her limbs closer to herself.

"Yeah, you should," Quill says.

A group of four kids begin to run by and Avenna can't help but think about the way that even though this place was meant for outlaws, adults, there are still children here that have to grow up in this environment.

"Excuse me!" one of the kid says as they run through the group.

"Can you spare any units?" One of them asks.

Another stops in front of Groot as he extends one long limb, holding it out to one of the children. A small flower begins to grow from the center of his palm, sprouting up from within the bark. He gently plucks it off of himself and holds it out to the little girl, who takes it and stares at it with some kind of wonder.

Maybe he's not the violent thing she originally thought he was; he obviously doesn't share her loathing for children.

"Get out of here!" Quill was saying. Avenna snarls at one of the kids who attempts to pet her and he screams, pulling back. After that, their little group of grubby tiny humans leave.

"Jeez," Rocket says, and the fox glares at him.

"You know fully well how that feels, don't you," she says scornfully. "I am not a pet, and their hands are disgusting."

"Yeah, I know, and it pisses me the frick off. The pet behavior, I mean." Rocket agrees. He turns to Gamora as they continue walking towards a large building. "Your buyer's in there?"

Avenna feels that familiar sinking feeling in her stomach. "Who is your buyer again?"

"We are to wait here for his representative," Gamora speaks, ignoring Avenna again. She'd have to resort to louder methods if this green woman didn't start acknowledging her soon.

Someone shoves a man from the doorway of the building and he falls to the ground, standing up and glaring back at the doorway as he brushes himself off.

"This is no respectable establishment," Drax growls, and Avenna eyes the man. "What do you expect us to do while we wait?"

"There'll be things," Gamora says shortly. "A lot of them."

They get into the building without much trouble, Gamora just tells the bouncer who she is and he lets them in. Inside, it is absolute mayhem.