Lines | Guardians of the Galaxy |

Chapter Nineteen

"This is literally across the city." Quill waved his tracker with the map at Avenna. "We'll have to go back to the hangar to get my ship."

"Or just take one of the sky buses." Drax pointed upward, where, well, a flying bus was leaving one of the taller buildings, the faint silhouettes of passengers visible inside.

"I can't help but imagine how disgusting those must be," Gamora notes.

"I wanted to ride the sky bus," he complained.

"Why not?" Avenna glances up at the green woman, who hadn't called her any names since their venture out to shop together. They hadn't quarreled in a while, which was a genuine relief. "It'd probably be quicker than going all the way back to the hangar."

"Alright," Gamora relented. "Let's go, then."

They went into the building, and thank goodness this one had working elevators to get up to where the buses were coming and going.

Their group stepped into one of them and Avenna ran her fingers across the worn buttons. She could feel computer programming throbbing underneath them, begging to be pulled out and released into the world, but she didn't give in to it. What form it would take was uncertain and there was no reason for her to do that.

She pressed one of the floors that had the label of "BUS STOP" on them, and then nearly vomited at the pulling in her gut.

"Ugh," she groaned and reached over to grip Drax's pant leg. "I hate elevators."

Especially this one. This one moved way too quickly for comfort.

They stopped at one of the top floors and Avenna stumbled out first, eager to get out of there.

"Alright, how do—" Avenna cut off as something struck her in the side. Wires extended from a small tennis-ball-sized device and wrapped around her. There was a horrible cold heat that shot out from the metal tendrils and she let out a startled scream as she tipped over onto the ground. The electricity from the device caused her fur to prickle up, standing on end.

"HEY!" Quill shouted. Avenna writhed on the ground, hissing in agony, the wheels in her mind already clicking and turning as she attempted to figure out what the crap had just happened.

She managed to catch sight of a pair of masked figures, standing in battle stances, one with guns, and the other with a bow and arrow.

There was the sounds of blasters going off as Drax knelt beside her and tore the wires off, letting out furious huffing noises. She groaned as the last bit of the electricity fizzed away, evaporating into the air, and then stood up and snarled at the figures.

"Who the hell are you?" Quill asked. His blasters were pointed at them, but he wasn't firing anymore, likely out of fear of hitting some of the innocents who were watching on with fearful expressions.

"Bounty hunters," one of them, who both looked and sounded female, answered. She had the bow and arrows. "We're here for her." She gestured to Avenna.

"Do back off, we don't got any reason to get at it with y'all." The other, definitely a man, took a step in front of the other. He had the guns.

"Bounty? What bounty does she have?" Drax demanded.

Avenna pulled out the small knife she bought. It was more of a pocket knife, honestly, but it was better than nothing.

"You're traveling with her, why didn't she tell you?" the woman asked.

"She's got a hundred thousand units on her head." The man hefted one of his guns.