"So your name is Felix now?" Samantha asked curiously, as she sat in the cockpit. Felix sat beside her.

"It's Felix Agreste," he answered absentmindedly.

"Is it?"

He turned to face her, and saw the single raised eyebrow that showed her disbelief.

"All right," Felix smiled, but it was a fake smile, "I guess I shouldn't have used a surname from a fictional character if I was trying to hide my real one."

"You have the hair for an Agreste," Samantha grinned, and involuntarily Felix put his hand on his hair.

"That's true, but it was still too obvious, sorry. It's Felix Quill."

The other eyebrow joined the first one in an expression of scepticism.

"I know who you are, Felix. And I know your surname is not Quill."

Felix sighed.

"Then let's not talk about it."

Samantha shook her head slowly.

"It's not something to be ashamed of."

"And I'm not!" Felix exploded, "I love my dad, that's not the problem."

"That's not what I said the problem was."

Felix gritted his teeth.

She's messing with your mind.

The moment that thought hit him, he got up and walked to the back of the jet, leaving Samantha alone in the cockpit.

She sighed. Why did he have to be so closed?

-

The mission had been a simple one. They were to travel to several different planets, to collect materials for The Science Duo and check up on local peace treaties, as far as they existed. Just because Earth was prepared for war didn't mean they wanted it.

Jotunheim wasn't on the list, to Samantha's relief. She hadn't thought it would be, but the thought of the icy planet scared her, even if it should be uninhabited since the extinction of the Frost Giants. All except for Loki, of course.

"How long until we arrive at out first destination?"

Samantha turned around.

"So you're back?"

Felix shrugged.

"I'm supposed to be your bodyguard, there's not much to that if I can't even see you. Besides, I asked you a question."

Samantha glanced at a dashboard.

"Two hours."

Felix nodded, sinking into a seat.

He took a deep breath. He wanted to apologize for his behavior, but wasn't sure what he was apologizing for. He began to formulate a sentence in his mind, but before he could say anything Samantha spoke up.

"So... How many people has your father killed?"

It was mean.

Outright mean.

Samantha realized later that she shattered their chances at a friendship with those few inconsiderate words. She had only been trying to figure out how sensitive exactly he had become, but afterwards she figured that she should've started more tactfully.

"Does it matter?" Felix answered bitterly, "he's left that behind him. There's no need to start a war over something of the past."

"Well, he is your father."

"Yes, but I'm not my father. He is."

"We weren't talking about you."

Felix took a deep breath. It was at moments like this that he wanted to hit something, really really hard. The perfect target was the straight face in front of him. But he held back.

"Well, could we agree to not talk about my father then?"

Samantha nodded slowly.

"I guess."

They were silent.

They arrived at Traxona just under two hours later.

-

Felix sighed, sharpening his long dagger. Their mission was completed — they had collected everything they needed, passed every planet that needed visiting. It hadn't been very eventful, except for the time they landed in the middle of a small rebellion on an equally small sandy planet whose name he'd already forgotten. They had had to make a quick escape, and for a moment Felix and Samantha functioned like a team.

But the moment they had ensure their combined safeties, they returned to their cold attitudes towards each other. He'd taken to calling her "Miss Maximoff", distancing them even further.

In the cockpit, Samantha echoed Felix's sigh. She wanted to be friends, and she knew she'd ruined her chances.

She missed the younger Felix that she'd known years ago, the Felix that loved his father to pieces and didn't care what the world thought.

The Felix that had been proud of the wars his father had fought, even if he was on the wrong side at times.

Who had laughed every time someone made a reference to winter, rather than scowling and looking away.

What had the world of peer pressure done to that boy?

Perhaps nothing would've changed. Maybe Felix would've stayed the same, and Samantha would've dismissed him from her mind when they arrived back on Earth.

Maybe... if not for the unexpected twist of events that destiny had in mind for them.

"Felix?" Samantha called out uncertainly as a few red lights began to flash.

"What is it?" Felix grumbled, shoving his dagger into his left boot.

Samantha pointed to a few dials that were swinging wildly from side to side.

"Does this look normal to you?"

Felix shrugged.

"You're the pilot, aren't you?"

"Stop being like that!" Samantha shouted fustratedly.

"Like what, Miss Maximoff?"

"So... So cold!"

She knew she'd only made it worse.

"It's what I do," he answered icily, "but if you need my opinion; no. I don't think that looks normal."

Samantha turned back to the buttons and switches scattered all over the cockpit.

"I wasn't trained for this..." she mumbled, "why on Earth didn't I get myself a bodyguard that could at least fly a jet?"

"Maybe because we're not on Earth," Felix answered sarcastically.

"Oh sorry," she answered just as sarcastically, "I didn't know that."

Suddenly the jet jerked dangerously, and the stars around them seemed to blur as if they were going into lightspeed. Then the stars disappeared altogether, before reappearing as if someone had switched a light back on. Something was wrong.

Terribly, horribly wrong.

Samantha swallowed.

"Listen Felix."

He could tell by the change in her tone of voice that she was serious.

"I have no idea where we are. The autopilot has gone haywire, as as the navigation system. All I can do is land us on the closest planet we come across, and hope we find a way to fix this thing."

"You might want to fast with that," Felix answered calmly, "because I think I figured out why those lights are blinking."

She looked at him expectantly.

"The fuel tank is down."

It made sense. Slowly Samantha was losing control over the jet, and she glanced around to see if there was a place to land.

"How about behind us?" Felix suggested.

Samantha turned the jet 180 degrees, and they were faced with a large, blue planet, that had definitely not been there before. It had a few continents scattered over it, that made it look a whole lot like...

"Earth?"

Felix studied it scrutinizingly.

"I... no. Something about the continents is off. They look... Smaller? I don't know. And emptier, anyway."

He glanced at the dark side of the planet.

"And there is no lighting visible anywhere. Usually you'd be able to see exactly where the bigger cities are, right? But there's no light at all, except for there."

He pointed to what had to be North America. There was a small area that wat lit up, but the rest of it was shrouded in darkness. 

"Let's aim for that," Felix decided, and Samantha nodded.

"I don't think we'll make it all the way there, because we're on the Southern side of the planet. But I'll try."

She steered towards it, and the jet seemed to come to life as she pulled a few switches and it sped up.

"Just in case, why don't you see if we have any paracutes in this thing?" Samantha requested casually. Felix nodded.

"On it."

Dangerous situations have been bringing people together for centuries. Somehow, the spurt of adrenaline, the fact that one's life is on the line, has always been able to unite people.

Without knowing it, Samantha and Felix were heading towards a planet that was a perfect example of this.