Chapter 339: The Ravagers

16th May 2013, Knowhere

(Peter Quill POV)

He pointed at Hela and Morrigan who simply shrugged, "I am not leaving an infinity stone unattended. I am not a thief who would steal the stone. I am not willing to take the stone to Terra, since there is already a stone there, and we don't need to be made even more of a target. Asgard is messed up because of the war so they can't take care of one properly. You will need to deal with the stone by yourselves."

Gamora seemed to nod in agreement, "Yes, having two stones in the same star system, let alone the same planet, would be foolish. And Terra is quite primitive compared to the rest of the galaxy. It would not hold up against a proper outside invasion. We need to get the stone to the Nova Corps; they could protect it from Ronan and my father."

"Are you insane? We just escaped from a prison of theirs. We would be arrested in seconds. We could just leave it to Ronan."

"Unacceptable, Ronan would destroy planet after planet to satisfy his bloodlust. Billions would die because of that decision." Gamora interjected.

Unfortunately, alarms started to blaze, and an explosion occurred. Peter looked up and felt dread at the sight of the giant warship flying in the sky, "We're dead. Ronan is here."

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(Jasmine Sayre POV)

Well, as I expected, shit hit the fan. I let Quill take the orb to continue his test, and let him deal with the bloodthirsty Kree, that's hunting it. I honestly chose not to involve myself. There wasn't really a point in me fighting Ronan. There were no stakes, not for me, at least.

I had used the time they were knocked out to replace the infinity stone with a vibranium pellet that had absorbed its energy. It didn't even come close to the original's output, and anyone who has experience with the stones would notice it, but for idiots like my companions and Ronan, it was enough to fool them.

Vibranium can be very handy in these situations. I learnt long ago how to store energy inside it, and by the time I was done, the pellet was glowing purple just like the Power Stone. Oh, it was impressive enough, and probably had enough energy to destroy a mountain, but terrorizing the galaxy, or even destroying a planet, just wasn't possible using my fake stone. Honestly, what I've done is accurately replicate Zola's experiments on the Tesseract, but with far better results – since, you know, I know what I'm doing.

Because as much as I want to test Quill, I don't want to risk the Power Stone falling into the wrong hands, that would just be stupid. I wasn't going to let a Kree warlord just get it just for the sake of Quill's test. As long as they all believe the stakes are high, the test would still work.

Well, I was right to do it. As Drax ended up calling Ronan to his location, and ended up almost dead with Ronan leaving with the orb, and Quill and Gamora being taken by Yondu. So, yeah, replacing the infinity stone was a good idea, all things considered.

I sat with Hela by my side, still sipping my tea, and looked amusingly at my glaring companions. Rocket was practically snarling at me, "Where the hell were you?"

I shrugged, "Around. You made quite the mess of things."

"You didn't even try to help us." He complained.

"It wasn't my fight, not really. I'm not particularly invested in the orb, and I am not the one who called a damn battlefleet to his location thinking that he would destroy it with just two knives." I drawled back.

Drax looked down in shame, "You're right. I was a fool. All the anger, all the rage, was just to cover my loss."

Rocket didn't seem to appreciate his self-pity, "Oh boohoo. 'My wife and child are dead' I don't care if it's mean! Everybody's got dead people. It's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!"

Well, the talking raccoon was somewhat right. Everyone has issues, be it big or small, but ignoring everyone's safety just for the sake of revenge was a dick move. I had no idea what the lunatic was thinking of.

Still, Drax looked pitiful, looking down at himself, so I gave him a comforting smile, "You know, I sort of understand it, your loss. I have lost children of my own, over the years. It's the rage inside of you, burning everything away except the thought of revenge. I remember cursing the unfairness of it all, that my children die while so many monsters get to live on. I'm not telling you to move on, because it's just foolish to tell you that, only for you to not make it your sole purpose, because whether you achieve your revenge or not, you will not truly be victorious. Should you fail, it will eat you up until you try again and again, until you finally perish. Should you succeed, you will become nothing more than a shell of a man with no purpose, having lost everything, and yet, gained nothing in return."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Drax gave me a sad smile, "You truly understand…"

I gave him a smile, but Rocket interrupted our conversation, "Alright, enough of the feely crap, we need to get as far away from the galaxy as possible before Ronan destroys the damn place."

"I am Groot!" Groot responded. I could feel the intent of indignation and protest, mixed in with warmth and friendship. He wanted to rescue Quill and Gamora. I could see what he was doing. Groot was trying to guilt Rocket into rescuing the two prisoners.

I gave the sentient tree a small smirk, while Rocket groaned, "I know they're the only friends that we ever had, but there's an army of Ravagers around them."

I pressured the talking raccoon even more, "the question is, are you really happy to leave them to their fate, or do you just think that you can't do it? There is no shame in admitting that you can't get them out of there. It's completely understandable, you know."

Rocket glared at me, "Of course I can do it."

I tilted my head, "So, you're choosing not to, then?"

The talking Raccoon was growling, "Fine, I'll do it."

A few minutes later, we were inside the Milano and flying next to the Ravager ship. Hela was grimacing and murmured to me, "This plan is idiotic."

I snorted, "Of course it is."

"Then why are you going with it? You're more than capable of rescuing the target yourself."

I replied while shrugging, "I'm still testing the boy…"

"No, you're not. His stunt of sacrificing himself for the green woman was enough proof of his character. You have already decided that you will recruit him, we both know it. Why don't you just teleport to the ship and bring them back?"

I sighed, "Well, considering Asgard's state, I thought we'd secure an army for the coming fight. Thanos will have the spacial advantage, why can't we have a fleet of our own?"

"You're talking about recruiting the Ravagers…"

"Why not?" I said, "they have a code of honor, and the Ravager Captain that kidnapped Quill was being threatened by the Celestial I lobotomized. From what Quill said, Ravagers can be surprisingly honorable."

"And yet, Rocket is planning on blowing them up," Hela drawled back.

"No, he isn't. He's bluffing, and if he does end up shooting them, I'll intervene."

The second I finished my sentence, Rocket fired a small shot at the Ravager ship and yelled you, "Attention, idiots. The lunatic on top of this craft is holding a Hadron Enforcer. It's a weapon of my own design. If you don't hand over our companions now, he's gonna tear your ship a new one. A very big new one! I'm giving you to the count of five. 5, 4, 3..

Hela protested, "Is he seriously only giving them five seconds to release them?"

I shrugged, "Well, you did say that they were idiots."

"You need to stop him," Hela demanded.

Before I could do anything, I heard Quill's voice, "No. wait, hold on! Rocket, it's me, for God's sake! We figured it out! We're fine!"

I grinned at my new student, "Told you everything was going to be fine…"

I snickered at Hela's grumbling as we boarded the Ravager ship. I ended up leaving Hela with Rocket and the others, and chose to meet with Yondu instead. I snuck into his office and hid inside. The moment the blue skinned captain entered I spoke up, "Yondu Udonta, we need to talk."

Immediately, the man stiffened and whistled. A golden arrow, which was glowing red from the tip, ended up being banished towards me. I just tilted to the right and avoided the projectile and raised an eyebrow. After the Ravager Captain realized who I was, he relaxed slightly and summoned his weapon back, "You're the woman the animal brought with him."

I nodded, "One of them, yes."

"What are you doing here? No, better yet, how did you get here?" Yondu demanded.

"Like I said, we need to talk."

Yondu glared at me, "We have nothing to talk about. You're just as much of a prisoner as the rest of them."

I snorted, "I am here because I wish to be. If I choose to leave, there's very little you can do to stop me."

"Just get the hell out of my office, bitch." He answered back.

I gave him a slight smirk, "Well, Yondu, I didn't know you had such an Ego…"

I put an emphasis on the word 'Ego' to make sure he understands what I was talking about. It worked as intended since the blue skinned alien stiffened and glared at me, "How do you know that name?"

"You mean Quill's father?"

"Don't mess with me. That name has haunted me for decades and if I have even a whiff that you're working for that nutjob, I'll kill you myself. I raised that boy myself and I ain't giving him up."

I chuckled at his response, "Oh, you're very protective of young Peter, aren't you? Quite the softy you ended up being. No, don't worry, I don't work for Ego. I am the woman who killed him, after all."

Yondu sagged in relief, "You sure about that? Because it would be a great weight off my shoulders if that monster is finally gone."

"Yes, I am. I destroyed his mind, shredded his very consciousness. Trust me, there's no going back from that. However, I'm not here to talk about that abomination, I'm here to talk about Peter."

"You're not taking him," Yondu protested loudly.

I stifled a laughter, "You're talking like I want to abduct him or something. Look, he's practically the only one left of my kind, and I'll need his help. Something is coming, something bad that will destroy the entire universe if I do nothing. A fully trained Celestial hybrid will help me bridge the gap between me and my enemy."

"You want him to be a Hero?" Yondu sneered.

I snorted, "Hero? No, I want him to be a survivor. My enemies make Ronan look like a child with a tantrum. I'm talking about a universe ending threat. If he doesn't fight, he'll die like the rest. So, which is it? Cower and die, or fight and maybe die. I won't lie. I'm kind of desperate here, and I just observed him to make sure that he wasn't some nutjob like his father. But right now, my chances aren't looking good. And think of it this way, if Quill survives and knows the truth about his abduction, you will have a very powerful Celestial owing you big time, and trust me that's far better than the silly stone you're fighting for that can't do anything but blow things up."

Yondu looked hesitant and I continued, "You don't need to answer me right now. Just think about it. I'm going to give the offer to Quill later either way, but whether you support him or not will severely impact your relationship."

I then turned and walked out of the office with a smug smile on my face, leaving the Ravager Captain to his thoughts.

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