STARGIRL

twenty-eight

THREE YEARS LATER.
2026.

Eleanor stood back, shielding her eyes from the sun as she tried to be helpful to Nebula and Groot about their new sign, "A little to the left... my left," she said, and Groot pushed it towards Nebula, "Perfect!"

Groot turned around and gave her a smile. He had grown so much bigger than the small, skinny twig he was before. He was now big and bulky and much older than Eleanor was but she still considered him as her younger brother.

As the sign lit up, Nebula turned around and gave Eleanor a thumbs-up with her robotic hand. Eleanor nodded only to herself, and she held the ladder for the woman to get down. She and Nebula had gotten a lot closer over the past three years. They were both still drowned in the loss of Gamora and somehow managed to bond over that. Eleanor finally forgave her for almost killing her back 12 years ago. The blue woman had proved herself since.

"Hey, let's go to your dad." Nebula suggested to Eleanor, and she nodded. Peter was also not doing good. He was also deeply missing Gamora so he drowned himself in alcohol, yelling at people who got too close to his music and sometimes to him. Eleanor found herself spending less and less time around her father.

Nebula sighed as she and Eleanor stared blankly through the window to see Peter slumped on the ground with Rocket standing over him sipping the drink that was in his paw. "Oh, Dad." Eleanor whispered sadly, as Nebula went inside and scooped him up.

She walked beside Rocket as Nebula carried her father out of the building. The raccoon was still sipping on his drink. Groot gasped and rushed over, placing his hands on Peter's face.

"Again?" Drax asked looking slightly exasperated at Peter's body, and Eleanor nodded solemnly. He, Mantis, Kraglin and the newest member, Cosmo the dog, joined the group walking towards the little building that was Peter and Eleanor's house.

Nebula tucked him into bed and he reached out, grabbing her arm, "I love you, Gamora." he muttered. Nebula pulled her arm away and Eleanor placed a kiss on his cheek, "Love you, Dad."

Nebula placed a hand on Eleanor's shoulder and slowly lead her out of the room.

"So, what are you gonna do about Quill?" Rocket's voice said, and Eleanor looked up to see him standing upside down on the underneath of a walkway.

"Me?" replied Nebula, "Why not you?"

"I got emotionalistical issues," Rocket said, walking after the duo, "What am I gonna do?"

Eleanor added, "You're his friend."

"You're his daughter."

Nebula broke up their conversation, "Why are you on the ceiling?" she asked the raccoon.

"I wanted to see if these new gravity boots worked on a slope." Eleanor rolled her eyes at his reply.

Eleanor yelped and moved swiftly to the left as an arrow whizzed around the corner. It stabbed Nebula right in the chest and she glared at Kraglin. Rocket slowly stood up as he quickly crouched as the arrow flew round. Everyone around Kraglin started to laugh as he gawked at her, "Sorry." he apologised, and she pulled it from her chest and shoved it into his arms.

"Bozhe moi, Kraglin," Cosmo said, shaking her head slightly, "You must know you will never learn."

"You think you can do better?"

Cosmo used her telekinesis powers to lift a tiny stone and the crowd exclaimed as she managed to hit every little target. Kraglin's face dropped as Cosmo looked very proud of herself, "Telekinesis is cheating! That's a stupid little pebble! I could do that with my dang finger!" he shouted, trying to get everyone on his side. He looked down at Cosmo, "You're a bad dog!"

She stopped smiling and whined up at Kraglin, giving him an annoyed look, "Do not say that to me."

"You are," Kraglin shrugged, "You're a bad dog."

"Take that back! Come on, that's not cool!" Cosmo said, running up to Nebula and Eleanor, "Nebula, Eleanor, did you hear? He called me a bad dog, and he refused to take it back."

"I don't care, Cosmo." Nebula replied, and Eleanor shrugged.

"Sorry." she said, and Cosmo huffed.

Mantis caught up with them, "Is Peter okay?" she asked Nebula. Her eyes were wide with worry.

"I don't know." Nebula looked over at her.

"What are you going to do?"

"Me?" questioned Nebula, and she grabbed six fried Orloni and started to pass them out. Groot didn't take one, "He's your brother."

"It doesn't matter, he still doesn't listen to me." replied Mantis, passing one along to Kraglin.

"Yeah, he has been pretty mopey ever since Gamora died." he added, and Eleanor's chest tightened as she looked at the floor.

Nebula stared at him, "She's not dead," she chucked the seventh one over to Cosmo, who caught it in her mouth, "She just doesn't remember anything from the past few years."

Eleanor chewed on her Orloni slowly as Kraglin looked at Nebula, "Nobody tells me nothing." he complained.

"Mantis, why don't you just touch him and, you know, make him happy?" Rocket suggested, as they started to walk away from the Orloni booth.

"I am Groot?" Eleanor looked at Groot with a look of absolute horror. "Dude!" she exclaimed.

"Gross!" Mantis added.

"No, not like that," explained Rocket, "Touch him with her powers."

Eleanor took another bite of her Orloni. "It is wrong to manipulate the feelings of friends." Mantis replied.

"'Bout that time you made me fall in love with my sock?" grumbled Drax. Mantis smiled, "That was funny."

"I guess it's back to one of us touching him the other way," Drax concluded, and Eleanor fake gagged, "Maybe we should draw straws."

"Please don't touch my dad like that," she said, shaking her head trying to clear the mental image from her mind, "I - I don't need to imagine that."

Nebula agreed with her, "Nobody ever meant that, Drax." she sighed, and Eleanor threw her used stick in the bin.