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C300 Spider-Man
🕑 Added 2023-04-02 11:06:01 +0000 UTCEdited By ChatGPT.
"I’m not buying it,” Quill frowned suspiciously. “I mean, give me a break! After all this time, he’s just gonna show up, and all of a sudden he wants to be my dad?”
“I agree, it’s suspicious,” Peter nodded as Quill complained. “He gives me bad guy vibes. Trust me, I’ve got a sense for these types of things.”
“And by the way, this could be a trap. The Kree purists, the Ravagers... They all want us dead,” Quill added in a huff.
“I know, but...” Gamora frowned in contemplation as she looked Quill in the eyes.
“But what?” Quill asked.
“What was that story you once told me about Zardu Hasselfrau?” she asked.
“Who?” he asked in confusion.
“Do you mean David Hasselhoff?” Peter guessed with a raised brow. “What the hell does this have to do with some old actor from Earth?”
“Right,” Gamora nodded. “And as a child, you would carry his picture in your pocket and tell all the other children that he was your father.”
Peter frowned sadly under his mask as he recalled this from the movie.
“That’s really pathetic...” Drax commented without understanding the vibe of the room.
“Shut up!” Quill shouted at Drax before turning back to Gamora. “I told you that when I was drunk. Why are you bringing it up now?”
“I love that story,” Gamora admitted.
“Yeah? Well, I hate it. As a kid, I used to see all the other kids off playing catch with their dad and I wanted that more than anything in the world...” Quill felt embarrassed as the whole crew heard this.
“That’s my point. What if this man is your Hasselhoff? And if he ends up being evil... we will just kill him,” Gamora shrugged uncaringly.
“Then let me be the bearer of bad news,” Yondu stepped up and ruined the moment. “That f*cker is evil.”
Peter smirked under his mask as Yondu finally spoke up.
“Care to explain how you know that?” Peter asked as all eyes turned to Yondu.
“Well, it all started back before I picked up Quill. Ego got in touch with me and hired me to traffic some kids for him,” Yondu's words caused a few pointed looks to be thrown his way. “At first, I refused.”
“What changed your mind?” Peter asked.
“The money,” Yondu admitted in shame. “Though he also promised that the children wouldn’t be hurt. But that was a damn lie.”
“So, you were kidnapping kids and bringing them to my father? And he was hurting them?” Quill was beyond confused. “Guess I should be glad that I was a skinny kid. Otherwise, you’d have delivered me to him too.”
“You still believe that’s the reason I kept you around, you idiot?” Yondu didn’t look very happy.
“That’s what you told me, you old Smurf!” Quill responded in kind.
“Once I figured out what happened to them other kids, I wasn’t just gonna hand you over,” Yondu said in his defense.
“You said you were gonna eat me,” Quill glared.
“That was me being funny!” Yondu shouted in exasperation.
“Not to me!” Quill yelled back.
“Damn, you got some serious Daddy issues...” Rocket commented.
“I am Groot...” Groot nodded from his seat on Peter's shoulder.
“Keep quiet, you trash bandit!” Quill just kept yelling.
“Alright, let’s all just calm down,” Peter interjected as he turned to Yondu. “What happened to the kids?”
“They...” Yondu choked up on his words for a moment. “They... He killed them all.”
“What?!” Quill exclaimed.
He wanted so badly for Yondu to be lying that a small part of him couldn’t help but doubt this story.
“After bringing him hundreds of kids, I started getting suspicious. I thought, ‘Where are they?’ So I put a tracker on one of the little gremlins, hoping to find a school or a town where they lived, but...”
“But what?” Rocket asked in curiosity.
“I found a pit, filled with hundreds of skeletons. All of them kid-sized. I brought them to be slaughtered by that monster,” Yondu explained in shame and self-hatred. “And that’s why Stakar and every other Ravager in the Galaxy will never forgive me...”
“Then I will forgive you in their stead,” Peter said as he walked up and rested a comforting hand on the blue man's shoulder. “Everyone deserves a second chance, and this is yours.”
“...” Yondu remained silent as he looked at Quill.
“How do we know you aren’t lying?” Quill asked suspiciously.
“We don’t,” Peter said with a shake of his head. “Which is why I say we go along with Ego and see what he’s planning. We also need to figure out the other half of Quill's heritage, and his father is our only link to that.”
“So we’re just going to walk into what’s most likely a trap so that Star-Douche can learn about what kind of alien his Daddy is?” Rocket asked with a frown.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Peter nodded.
“Alright,” Rocket nodded as he walked off.
“Where are you going?” Quill asked.
“To clean my guns!” Rocket yelled as he disappeared into the back of the ship.
Smiling to himself, Peter turned to Yondu.
“Is there anything that we should know before heading out?” he asked.
“Yeah...”
——————————————
After having a quick strategy meeting, Peter, Quill, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, and Drax were led to Ego's ship, which immediately took off upon their arrival.
Yondu and his Ravagers were left with the ship and would meet them at Ego’s planet soon enough.
Of course, Mantis was confused when they woke her up, but Peter just shrugged and blamed her ‘fainting’ on lack of sleep and overwork.
As they took off, Peter couldn’t help but admire Ego’s ship...
‘Once this is over, I’ll add this ship to my collection.’ Peter thought as he took a seat in a milky white room alongside his crew and Mantis.
“I am Mantis.” Mantis introduces herself with a smile and a small bow. “Master is sleeping, so I will keep you company in his absence.”
Since Ego is just a giant brain encased inside a planet of his own creation, the human form that he projects his consciousness into grows weaker when he’s away.
Which is why he needs to sleep.
“What are you doing?” Drax asks as he eyes her warily.
Although she was trying to be nice, the smile on Mantis’ face looked creepy, to say the least.
“Smiling.” She answers as her smile intensifies. “I hear it is the thing to do to make people like you.”
“Not if you do it like that.” Rocket said, wiping the freaky smile from her face.
“Oh...” Mantis mutters sadly. “I was raised alone on Ego’s planet, so I don’t understand the intricacies of social interaction.”
(A/N: Me neither, Sister.)
Although she seemed sad for a moment, that seemed to fade as she eyed Rocket in infatuation.
“Can I pet your puppy? It’s adorable.” She asks, eliciting a glare from said puppy.
“Yes.” Drax nods with a mischievous smirk.
“Grrr...rraaahh!” Rocket growled as her hand grew closer before snapping his fangs at her.
“Aahh!” Mantis screamed in fright as she pulled her hand away.
“Haha! That is called a practical joke!” Drax laughed boisterously and was soon joined by Mantis, who had no idea what was happening.
...
“Hey, can I ask you a personal question?” Quill asks after everything calmed down.
“No one has ever asked me a personal question.” Mantis nods for him to ask.
“Your antennas. What are they for?” He asks curiously.
“Their purpose?” Mantis mutters as she goes on to explain her empathic abilities. “If I touch someone, I can feel their feelings.”
“You read minds?” Rocket mutters as he looks at Peter, realizing that their Captain wasn’t lying earlier.
“No. Telepaths know thoughts. Empaths feel feelings and emotions. May I?” Mantis holds her hand out to Quill.
“Alright.” He shrugged and grabbed her hand.
Instantly, Mantis’ antennas lit up as she felt his feelings.
“You feel love!” She exclaimed with blushing cheeks.
“Yeah, I guess I feel a general, unselfish love for just about everybody around me.” Quill started pulling out excuses as he looked toward Gamora, hoping that she wouldn’t catch on.
“No. Romantic, sexual love...” Mantis clarifies explicitly.
“No... no, I don't!” Quill denied it in embarrassment.
“For her!” Mantis exclaims as she points at Gamora.
“No!” Quill shouts as Gamora looks surprised by this revelation. ”That is not...”
After all, she thought of Quill as more of a playboy, who simply wanted to get into her pants.
Drax suddenly starts laughing uproariously and points at Quill in unending amusement.
“She just told everyone your deepest, darkest secret!” He continued to laugh in Quill's face.
“Dude, come on! I think you're overreacting a little bit.” Quill said in annoyance.
“I am Groot...” Groot seemed to agree with Quill.
“Eh, it’s a little funny...” Rocket admits with a shrug.
“You must be so embarrassed!” Drax continues cackling as Gamora smirks in amusement. “Do me! Do me, do me!”
Mantis reaches over and touches Drax’s chest and immediately starts laughing uncontrollably as well.
“I have never felt such humor!”
...
After everyone was done having a laugh at Quill’s expense, Mantis continued her explanation.
“I can also alter other people’s emotions to a certain extent.” She admits.
“Yeah, like what?” Peter asks.
“If I touch someone who’s sad, I can ease them into contentment for a short while. I can make a stubborn person compliant, but I mostly use it to help my master sleep. He lies awake at night, thinking about his progeny.” She explains further.
“Oh, really? How many other children does Ego have? I thought Quill was the only one...” Peter asks in interest.
“Umm...” Mantis froze as she instantly realized that she spoke too much. “I don’t know... Master doesn’t talk about them very much.”
‘She isn’t a very good liar is she?’ Peter thought with a smile. ‘Though she’ll make a good Guardian when this is all over.’
Everyone else couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. They decided to keep an eye on Mantis and made a mental note to look into Egos other children.
...
As the ship grew closer to Ego's planet, the Guardians of the Galaxy prepared for what was to come. They had no idea what kind of dangers awaited them, but they were ready to face them head-on.
A/N: 1742 words :)
