Chapter 266: Empty
Chapter 266: Empty
Chapter 266: Empty
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?Insert Fighting GIFs here - Most likes wins?
Just as Peter and the Guardians started their journey toward Knowhere, Yondu Udonta was still on the hunt for Quill and the Orb.
Stepping into the Brokers shop on Xandar followed by a few of his more intimidating crew members, Yondu casually perused the Brokers goods.
"Do you got any other cute little buggers like this one? I like to stick 'em all in a row on my control console." Yondu asks as he eyes a tiny blue figurine.
"I can't tell if you're joking or not." The Brokers spoke nervously.
"He's being serious." A Ravager spoke up from the side.
"In that case, I can show you." The Broker nods as he walks over to the figurine, but he was stopped by Yondu, who stepped in front of him.
"But first, you're gonna tell me what this orb is, and why everybody cares so damn much about it. Then you're gonna tell me who out there might wanna buy it." Yondu says with a smile as he straightens the Brokers suit for him.
"Sir, the high-end community is a..." He says but Yondu interrupts.
"Havena kal jann shibek." Yondu started speaking absolute gibberish, which both confused and somehow intimidated the meek broker.
"T-The high-end community is a..." he tries to speak but Yondu continues to make up his own language. "It's a tight-knit... Tight-knit... The high-end community is a very tight-knit..."
Yondu kept acting like a crazy man, making All of his men laugh as they crowded around the shaking broker.
"I cannot possibly betray the confidentiality of my buyers!" The Broker had enough and shouted in order to finally get his point across.
*Whistle*
Yondu stops speaking gibberish and whistles, calling his trademark arrow out of its holster.
"Don't raise your voice at me." Yondu turns seriously in an instant as his arrow hovered inches away from the shivering broker's face. "That's disrespectful."
"M-My apologies..." The Broker looked like he was about to sh*t his pants.
"Now, who is this buyer of yours?"
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In the center of the carved-out habitable portion of Knowhere sat parked a large ship, which belongs to the collector.
Inside the ship, the Collector himself, Taneleer Tivan walked through his museum with a scrutinizing eye.
Tivan wore expensive clothes made from the finest silks and furs. His skin was pale and his white hair stood straight up, defying gravity.
[Insert picture of the Collector here]
"Carina." Tivan calls out as he swiped his finger across a nearby table, finding a tiny speck of dust on his glove.
"Yes, Master?" A scared-looking pink Krylorians girl answered readily.
Behind her was a big glass display case, where a pale Dark Elf lay trapped.
"Your people do have elbows, do they not?" The Collector asks pointedly.
"We do, Master." Carina answers in confusion.
"Then use them. I don't have to remind you what happened to the last attendant who disappointed me. Do I?" The collector lectures her as he gestures to another display case.
Carina fearfully turned around and looked at the Collector's previous servant, who looked almost exactly like her.
The poor girl was locked up in one of the glass cases, bound and connected to some sort of torture device.
Carina shook with crippling fear as she stared at what could be herself if her master deemed it so.
"Chop chop. Our guests will be here soon." The Collector says, snapping the poor girl out of her fearful state.
Acting quickly, Carine grabs a rag and goes back to cleaning the glass cases with much more attention to detail than before.
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Walking the streets of Knowhere, Peter and the Guardians admired the alien metal city before them.
Due to the fact that they were currently in a floating Celestial Skull in the middle of space, the city didn't have any dirt, grass, or stone.
It seemed to be completely crafted out of metal, from the floor underneath their feet to the shops and buildings all around them.
"Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers in to mine the organic matter within the skull. The bone, brain tissue, and spinal fluid. All rare resources, which are highly valued in black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work. Gamora explains and she turns to Quill. "Suitable only for outlaws."
"Well, Spider and I come from a planet of outlaws. Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, and John Stamos." Quill brags with a smirk.
"Robin Hood, Rambo, Captain Jack Sparrow..." Peter continued the list.
"Oh, I know Robin Hood!" Quill sounded excited that someone could finally relate to him. "Who's Rambu and Captain Jack? Is he like Captain Crunch?"
"No." Peter chuckled as he shook his head. "You know what? Once we're done with this, I'll go pick up some movies for you to watch. Rambo and Pirates of the Caribbean is probably a good start."
"Can we eat Mcdonald's again too?" Quill gave Peter his best puppy dog eyes, though it wasn't cute at all.
"Fine, just stop looking at me like that." Peter shrugged as his head whipped to the side and he reached out to grab the hand of a small raggedy looking homeless child. "Give it back."
Holding out his other hand expectantly, Peter waited as the kid reluctantly handed over a black wallet.
"Here." Peter says as he hands it over to Quill.
"What the..." Quill muttered as he felt his empty pockets and realized what happened.
"Keep a look out for pickpockets." Peter reminds everyone as he pulls a bag out of nowhere and hands it to the kid. "Here, enjoy."
Reluctantly taking the bag, the young thief didn't stick around for long and disappeared into one of the many maze-like alleyways.
"What did you give him?" Gamora asks curiously.
"Just some food."
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As the young pickpocket found a safe place to stop after quadruple checking for anyone tailing him, he hesitantly opened the bag with a hopeful yet scared look on his face.
On one hand, the oddly dressed man could have been kind and given him something good, but on the other hand, he could have given him trash or something dangerous, like a bomb.
Peeking his little head inside, the ragged alien child was shocked to find it full of both food and credits.
Ignoring the food for now, which was hard as he hasn't eaten since yesterday, the kid did his best to count the money, but sadly there was just too much of it for him to know for sure.
It's not like he went to school or anything.
Though he did know one thing, it was a lot of money.
(A/N: I just realized that this is the Authors equivalent of a bad 'I fed/gave $ to the homeless' youtube video. Lol)
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After walking the streets for a while, Gamora led Peter and the Guardians to a rundown bar with a lot of shady-looking aliens inside.
"We have to wait here for the Collectors representative to pick us up." She said as everyone spread out among the bar.
Although some of the shady characters tried to pick a fight here and there, the Guardians could easily handle themselves in a place like this.
Taking a seat at the bar, Peter looked over the bars menu, which was written in a language he didn't understand, and ordered himself a drink at random.
...
Sipping his bright green drink, which tasted far better than he thought it would, Peter watched through the window as Gamora and Quill talked outside the bar.
They seemed to become fairly intimate as Quill put his Walkman's headphones on Gamora, who seemed pleasantly surprised by the music that played.
Soon enough, the two were swaying back and forth in each other's arms, like real lovers.
'Quill's got some game, I'll give him that.' Peter thought as Quill leaned in for the kiss. 'Well, maybe not...'
Just as their lips were about to touch, Gamora pulled a knife from her belt and held it against Quill's throat.
'Maybe next time, bud.' Peter thought as he noticed a familiar pink woman entering the bar, taking a seat in the corner. 'Isn't that the Collectors slave girl?'
A moment later, Gamora came back inside after what appeared to be a bit of an argument.
As soon as Carina laid eyes on Gamora, she left her seat and rushed over.
"Milady Gamora, I'm here to fetch you for my master." She says with a respectful bow.
...
As Carina escorted the Guardians to the Collectors ship, Peter was wondering what he should do about this pink alien girl.
First of all, he doesn't like slavery, no one does.
Second, she kills herself with the Power Stone in the movie in order to free herself, but sadly for her, the Orb is empty this time around.
Although her death was tragic, it also freed her from a life of hellish servitude at the hands of a sadistic and cruel master.
Now she wouldn't have that opportunity anymore.
While Peter was thinking of how to save this poor slave girl, they arrived at the Collector's huge ship and were swiftly taken to his museum.
"I present to you, Taneleer Tivan, the Collector." Carina introduces the man himself as he cane strolling in.
"Oh, my dear Gamora. How wonderful to meet in the flesh." Tivan leans down to kiss Gamora's hand as his eyes wander around her body.
"!" Quill did not look happy about the way his love interest was greeted.
"Let's bypass the formalities, Tivan. We have what we discussed." Gamora felt annoyed at the way he was looking at her, though she wouldn't say anything about it.
At least, not until the money was in her hand.
Eyeing the group behind Gamora, Tivan's mood seemed to brighten as he noticed Groot.
"What is that thing there?" He asks with a look of awe and wonder in his eyes.
"I am Groot." Groot answers as the collector rushes to his side.
"I never thought I'd meet a Groot." The Collector poked Groot's body a few times. "Sir, you must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass. At the moment of your death, of course."
"I am Groot." Groot looked to Rocket for advice.
"Why, so he could turn you into a frickin' chair?" Rocket didn't like the idea at all.
"Is that your pet?" Tivan asks Groot.
"His what?!" Rocket exclaims angrily as he reaches for his gun.
The Collector laughed as Gamora rushed to Rocket and stopped him from ruining the deal.
"Tivan, we have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this orb." Gamora says as she got Rocket under control.
"Very well, then. Let us see what you brought." The Collector acted as if his fun was taken away.
Gamora looks to Peter, who pulled the Orb out of thin air and tossed it over to the Collector, who scrambled to grab it out of the air.
"This is a priceless treasure. Do not throw it around like a child's plaything." Tivan turned serious as he held the Orb like a loving mother would hold her baby.
'It's empty anyway...' Peter thought with a shrug.
As the Collector put the Orb into a device, which started unlocking it before everyone's eyes, he goes into a very dramatic explanation.
"Oh, my new friends. Before creation itself, there were six singularities and then the universe exploded into existence..." He tells them all about the Infinity Stones and their beginning.
"Dude, every sketchy bad guy I've ever met explains stuff like this." Quill whispers to Peter.
"You're telling me..." Peter has dealt with dramatic villains like this more times than he can count.
Alongside Tivan's detailed explanation of the Infinity Stones, he also showed them a video of giant beings, who used the Infinity Stones as weapons.
"These carriers can use the stones to mow down entire civilizations like wheat in a field." The Collector explains as the video ends with a giant planet-covering explosion.
"There's a little pee coming out of me right now." Quill comments half jokingly.
Ignoring the snide comment, the Collector turned to the Orb, which was finally unlocked and slowly opened, revealing...
"?" Tivan stared in confusion as he found absolutely nothing inside the Orb.
"That was anticlimactic..." Peter mutters.
Instantly, Tivan turned to the Guardians with a suspicious glare, though they all looked just as confused as him.
After all, none of them but Gamora knew that the Stone was inside the Orb.
They didn't even know that it could open.
"What's the meaning of this!"
A/N: 2114 words :) Long boy chapter once again.
?GiMmE Da StOnEs Or I'lL cRy?
?DONT FORGET MY STONES!?