𝖲𝗁𝗈𝗈𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖲𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗌 -𝖱𝗈𝖼𝗄𝖾𝗍 𝗑 𝖥𝖾𝗆! 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝖽𝖾𝗋-

【 S T R E S S】

CHAPTER 5

• • •

OMNISCIENT 

  ''A kill switch?''

  ''A device set to destroy if anyone goes poking around inside him, or even if we use the Med-Paks.''

  ''And why would Rocket have a kill switch?''

  That's the same question she had. After the unsuspected incident with the Med-Paks and an injured Rocket, everyone rushed to the Med-Bay. Peter with the small figure in his arms. It didn't take long, but Rocket was a dead mammal walking. 

  Nebula was able to take a peek at what had happened, what was there that allowed the Med-Paks to malfunction, throwing the mammal into an unconscious state. [Y/n] was panicked on the inside. Her fisted paws shook in her lap, sitting on a stool at the end of the bed. Everyone else crowded the sides. 

  ''Apparently,'' Nebula continued, her usually pitch eyes glazed over with a differentiated color hue. ''someone considers him proprietary technology and sent that golden lunatic to get him.''

  Mantis was saddened, brows turning upwards. ''So he'll die if we operate on him?''

  ''And he'll die if we don't.'' 

  ''There has to be some way to bypass it.''

  Nebula found that out, too. ''It looks like there's a passkey that could override the kill switch.''

  From a screen, they were all able to look without Nebula having to explain it in great detail. It was the beating heart of Rocket, alive for now and beating steadily. The obstruction to the precious sight was the kill switch, attached and still going. 

  [Y/n] kept a watchful gaze on the screen. If his heart was to ever suddenly stop moving, she didn't know if she could hold herself together. Would she be able to do anything about it? Or would she have to watch as Rocket perished before her? The former seemed like a crude thought, making her wince and scrunch her features in disgust. 

  Mantis turned back to Quill, ''What do we know about where Rocket came from?''

  ''He won't talk about it.'' He never did. Rocket refused to share much of anything, besides gloating. Not even [Y/n] knew most of what he's been through. 

  Nebula continued reading the words that glazed across her eyes. ''Much of the tech was developed by a company called OrgoCorp. And there's a cod on all of it, 89P13. He's got, maybe, 48 hours.''

  The room was dead silent. The room was but her head wasn't. Her head pounded, she allowed whatever metaphorical man was drilling into her head to continue. Since they reached the Bowie, she blamed herself.

  Maybe if she hadn't been acting like Quill, sitting around and mourning all the time. Barely moving from the couch, only moving when Rocket had come back from a day's work in Knowhere. She was useless to them now, she always had been. The only reason she has stuck around with them is because of Rocket. And now, that reason might not be around longer to keep her. 

  ''Where are you going?'' Nebula shouted. [Y/n] snapped her head up, watching Quill walk down the hall with large strides. Mantis followed closely behind.

  ''OrgoCorp have to have records, right?'' 

  Hopping down from the stool, she scaled her way onto Nebula's shoulder, her legs too tired to follow after them when she could just hitch a ride. Nebula didn't bother chewing her out about it, already focused on Quill's growing turmoil.  

  ''Maybe they'll have a way for us to override the kill switch and save Rocket.''

  ''They won't just give us that information,'' Mantis claimed.