『Chapter Six』
『the knowhere』

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The sound of music blasted out throughout the entire ship, it was Peter's music taste, though it was something that Peter didn't mind all that much, knowing that it was something that Jace enjoyed at times. The music somewhat confused the others though they didn't complain—mainly because of the fact that both Jace and Peter insisted for the music while the pair of them checked their weaponry. Jace checked the satchel that he had just to make sure that the small bombs that he had was still inside.

He realised that he didn't necessarily have to check, though he still found himself checking to make sure. He'd checked his quad blasters, wanting to make sure that they still work. There was a small part of him that wished that he had his bow and arrow, knowing that he worked best with them more than anything, he liked being able to stay back and pick people off one by one with an arrow. It was something that Yondu taught him to do, something that Jace quickly adapted to quickly, he loved confusing his enemies.

Jace shook his head lightly, knowing that now wasn't the time to think about something that he doesn't have. He moved some of the bombs that he made from his satchel to his belt. There were little bags on his belt which helped hold onto the little things. As much as Jace knew that Peter said that there wasn't any need for anything of the sorts, Jace just wanted to make sure just in case Peter underestimated the need for the Orb.

"Heads up! We're inbound!" Rocket called out. Rocket was the one who was driving the ship, it was something that surprised Jace the most given that Peter never fully allowed Jace to do such a thing—mainly because Jace was too much of a suicidal idiot when it came to driving at times, he'd give Peter many little heart attacks with the way that he drives.

Peter dropped his gun onto the table in front of him while Jace had placed a bomb of which he created not that long ago into a holder on his belt. Jace went to go up to the cockpit, though he shoved Peter up which caused Peter to glare at him and kick Jace ever so slightly. Jace shoved Peter once more and grinned.

Quill got up the set of stairs, moving out the way so that Jace could get into the cockpit. Peter glared at Jace as he did, putting Jace into a small headlock. Jace bit Peter's wrist, causing him to release Jace. Once Jace got out of the headlock, Jace looked out of the window to be greeted with what looked to be some form of skull or head—well, both. Jace found himself tilting his head ever so slightly, was this Knowhere? Was this what Knowhere was? A skull planet-thing?

There was a part of him that wondered whether or not this was truly stunning. Jace knew that there was something beautiful about it, though he couldn't really tell what was stunning about it. He found himself looking between Gamora—who came up behind the pair—and Peter, he wondered just how this was where this buyer was.

"Whoa." Peter said in amazement. Jace wanted to share his amazement, but he wasn't sure whether to be amazed or confused.

"What is it?" Drax asked, leaning against a small post.

"It's called Knowhere. The severed head of an ancient celestial being." Gamora explained. Jace tilted his head. "Be wary heading in, rodent. There are no regulations whatsoever here." Gamora sat in a chair which was centre between the two pilot seats.

"A celestial?" Jace found himself asking. He'd heard small whispers of their existing celestial beings, but he never thought that they existed. Like how he thought that Gods didn't exist. But he supposed that the universe is vast, so there was a chance that things like celestials existed. Which he also assumed things like Gods existed—though that was something that he didn't want to believe, not because he didn't think that they didn't exist, but because he knew that he'd jump to conclusions when it comes to his mother.

Rocket flew the Milano into the broken eye of the celestial head, Jace found himself looking out of the window to see how almost an entire colony was basically built inside it. Jace supposed that anyone would make a home out of anything if it meant something, he supposed no one would assume one lives inside the head of a celestial. It was something that he was amazed by, given the fact that there was so much that was able to fit inside of the celestial head.

Jace found himself grinning to himself as he watched everything going on. It was fascinating, everything that they flew above was something that he was fascinating as a whole. There was a part of him that wanted to explore, that wanted to see if there was anything that he could collect and take with him.

After a few moments, Rocket managed to land the ship, the group walked out of the ship and into the streets of Knowhere. There was hundreds of people who walked by them, though there were times when Jace would keep getting distracted mainly because he wanted to have a proper look around the planet. Peter kept tugging at his arm to make sure that he kept up, as if Peter knew that Jace was going to leave to look around. Of course, the temptation was there, he was wondering whether or not he could get rich enough from whatever he could steal.

And yet, Jace managed to fall behind while they walked through the crowd, if there was one thing of which he wanted to do, it was the fact that he wanted to look around and see what the planet was like. He wanted the chance to know what the culture was like on this celestial head, knowing that it was something of interest to him, he wanted to know what it was like to work here, wondering whether or not he could make a life out of this. Though his plans had to be forgotten as Peter had called for him to catch up which had resulted in a sigh and running to catch up.

Jace just managed to catch up to hear how Gamora explained Knowhere. "Hundreds of years ago, the Tivan Group sent workers into mine the organic structure within the skull. Bone, brain tissue, spinal fluid. All rare resources, highly valued in the black markets across the galaxy. It's dangerous and illegal work, suitable only for outlaws."

"Well, I come from a planet of outlaws." Peter spoke. "Billy the Kid, Bonnie and Clyde, John Stamos."

"It sounds like a place, which I would like to visit." Drax commented.

"Yeah, you should," Peter said with a small shrug.

Jace somewhat snorted in his distraction. "You came from Terra, Quill, there wasn't that many outlaws."

"Shut up." Peter hissed slightly under his breath. It was something that made Jace grin ever so slightly.

He still found himself looking around the place while trying to make sure that he stayed with the group. He wondered if after they make this deal, they could stay on this planet-skull place that they could look around. He knew that it would take him months to look around and do anything that he wanted to, though he supposed that he wouldn't get that chance given that he still needs Peter to give him a lift back to Xandar to get his ship.

The one thing that quickly snapped him out of his thoughts was that he had managed to accidentally bump into a child who'd ran past their group with a small group of children cutting between them. He'd heard Peter say, "Watch your wallets." Which was something that Jace didn't really do given that there was nothing in it anyway. Jace looked down at the small child he bumped into to see how a small boy was standing in front of him, holding his nose.

"Sorry kid, my fault." Jace apologized as he gave the small boy a sympathetic look.

The small boy just gave Jace a small look as if the boy were assessing something, which made Jace kneel down to be at eye level with the boy. Jace opened his hand, sending up multiple little balls of light like fireflies. The small boy looked around with a wide smile, looking surprised at all of it, as if he hadn't seen anything like it before. The other children were looking around at the small balls of light grinning as they did, there were some that bounced on the balls of their feet.

"How'd you do that?" Drax asked Jace, noticing.

Jace just shrugged, making the balls of light disappear, the children ran off. "I can bend light to my will." He just smiled at Drax. Drax just gave Jace a look which he couldn't read.

A small girl was with Groot, who held out his hand and a flower grew out of his hand. It was something that somewhat amazed Jace to watch, though he smiled at the little girls smile. Groot then picked the flower from his hand and give it to the small child in front of him.

"Get out of here." Peter said towards the kids, not really wanting to be with them anymore. It was something which made Jace roll his eyes, though he knew that Peter would want this job over and done with.

With that, the group of six departed from the small group of children as they then noticed a building of which was brightly lit up. Jace found himself tilting his head slightly, there was a small part of him which wondered whether or not they were about to walk into some sex-based building, though realised that it was something too drastic and that he needed to get his head out of the gutter. He wondered whether or not this buyer was actually in there out of all places.

"Your buyer's in there?" Rocket asked, as if the rodent could read minds. Jace found himself looking at Rocket wondering whether or not there was something else that he needed to know about this raccoon.

"We are to wait here for his representative." Gamora explained. She was the one to lead the group towards the building.

From the door of the building they were walking towards, a bouncer was shoving someone out of it. "Get out of here." The bouncer was yelling.

"This is no respectable establishment." Drax spoke. "What do you expect us to do while we wait?"

With a small grin on his face, and a desire to drink until his kidneys failed him, Jace pointed towards a club. "There's a club there, might as well get a couple of drinks."

Peter gave Jace a small look as if that were something that Peter knew Jace would say. Though the pair of them knew that it was something that Jace wasn't going to change his mind on. Jace just grinned as they all entered the club, though Peter muttered something about getting fuel for his ship and left the group. Gamora vanished after entering with the rest of them—Groot, Rocket, Drax, and Jace—leaving to stand on the balcony as if spending time with them was something that she didn't want to do.

There was a part of Jace that wondered whether or not he should talk to Gamora, though there was that voice inside his mind that told him that Gamora would rather be left alone. So Jace done what he did best, he drank as if it were his last day in this universe, like he had no plans tomorrow when the hangover would hit him and make him regret ever drinking.

Once Jace had a few drinks in his system—he was sure that the number of drinks that he had was already reaching twenty-five—him and the other three along with everyone else within the club was gathered around a table of which had small creatures running from one end of the table to another as they tried not to get eaten.

Everyone around Jace, and including him, were all cheering as if this were the best thing that they'd seen. All of them wanted to see if these two-legged creatures could be able to get from one side of the table to another. Jace wasn't even sure what the game was called, but it was something that he didn't really care much for, given that he was already a little tipsy to care. He could always drink far too much and yet still remain tipsy which was something that annoyed him, like his body healed itself before allowing him to get drunk, it made him wonder whether or not he needed something stronger.

As this one two-legged creature ran, the thing of which was chasing after it had managed to catch up, therefore managing to eat it. The squealing noise of which had come from the smaller creature had made a small, unsettling feeling linger in Jace's stomach, even in his state. He noticed how surprised Groot looked about all of it as if this were something that he didn't expect to see as a whole.

Jace finished the rest of his drink and got another one as another two-legged creature cape popping up from one end and had begun its course of getting to the other side. The creature was close of actually getting to the other side before the chubbier creature managed to grab hold of it by its tale and throwing it in the air, before then eating it.

"My Orloni has won, as I won at all things!" Drax cheered. He rose his cup. "Now, let's put more of this liquid into our bodies."

From beside Groot, Rocket turned to Drax, spilling his drink as he spoke. "That's the first thing you said that wasn't bat-shit crazy!"

Jace found himself agreeing with the Raccoon on that one, throughout the entire trip, Drax had been nothing more than a complete weirdo. There were moments where Drax had annoyed Jace to the point where he wanted to either shot him or himself. Though, there was a part of Jace wondered what was wrong with Drax, though wondered whether or not it was the case that Jace might not understand Drax.

Jace realised that he'd zoned out of the conversation, he'd followed the others when they moved to get more alcoholic drinks, though he realised that he wasn't paying much attention to anything going on. He shook his head ever so slightly as if to kick his brain into gear to snap back into reality. The one thing that Jace realised when he brought himself back was how the conversation between Rocket and Drax turned into something sour, Jace wasn't sure how this started, though Rocket looked as if he was seconds away from trying to kill Drax or anyone.

All of which Jace heard was Rocket yelling at Drax. "You'd do nothing to avenge your family!"

And with that, Drax was suddenly filled with nothing but anger as he then proceeded to charge towards the Raccoon. Within an instant, Jace found himself stepping in the way, though as he went to get his Quad Blaster out, Drax had saw him as a threat therefore knocking the blaster out from Jace's hand and then throwing him across the table.

Falling back, Jace landed on the floor after getting thrown across the table by Drax, the bigger man was on top of him, landing punches on Jace whether it be his face or his body. All that Jace could feel, though when he found any opportunity, Jace tried to hit Drax only to get a shooting pain through his hand. It was something that Jace tried to ignore, wanting nothing more than to get away from Drax before he done something drastic with his abilities—the quick flash of what he did to that guy in the alley came to his mind.

Jace found that something snapped inside of him ever so slightly, catching Drax's fist with a grunt. "Maybe Rocket's right! Maybe all this pathetic anger will lead to your death!"

Just as Drax was about to hit Jace again and how Jace's hand started to glow with light, both Gamora and Peter had come running through the crowed of which formed around them as they pulled Drax off of Jace. Already there was a bruise coming up around Jace's eye as his nose bled, though that was something that Jace didn't care much about, his hand was still glowing as if he were about to blast Drax.

Peter held onto Jace's hand which glowed, his face somewhat twisted in pain. "Jace," Peter winced. "Stand down."

Jace found himself snapping his head towards Peter, his jaw clenched, though the light faded from Jace's hand. He stared at Peter for a moment, as if using it as a way to calm himself down before he done anything that he might regret. Peter just sighed, shaking his head, while taking his sleeve to wipe the blood dripping from his nose, treating Jace like a child though both know that Jace wouldn't sort himself out.

Both Jace and Peter knew not to worry about whether anything was broken for Jace, given that both knew that in some twisted way, Jace's healing was a lot better than Peter's. Jace remembered when Peter asked him whether or not he was some form of mutant though both knew that he wasn't, but it was something that they both joked about when they were younger. Now, the pair of them were just thankful for Jace's decent healing speed, given that there had been too many times where Jace got severely injured.

Gamora was holding Drax back who looked as if he wanted to go back into the fighting. "Stop it!"

Jace hadn't noticed until now how Rocket was standing where Jace's head was just laying with his gun pointing towards Drax, ready to shoot. A small smirk found its way onto Jace's lips, as if he wanted to encourage Rocket to shoot at Drax. Groot looked concerned.

Noticing the gun and Jace's smirk, Peter instantly cut in. "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?" He then stood in between both Drax and Rocket so that if either of them tried to hurt one another then they would have to try and get passed him. Of course, Peter would occasionally look at Jace as if waiting for Jace to do something.

Drax then proceeded to yell, "This vermin speaks of affairs he knows nothing about!"

"That is true!" Rocket retorted.

"He has no respect!" Drax yelled.

"That is also true!"

"Hold on! Hold on!" Peter yelled.

"Keep calling me vermin, tough guy!" Rocket warned Drax. "You just wanna laugh at me like everyone else!"

"Rocket, you're drunk. All right? No one's laughing at you." Peter spoke.

"He thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does!" Rocket yelled. "Well, I didn't ask to get made! I didn't ask to be torn apart, and put back together, over, and over and turned into some-" He paused for a moment as if he was trying to think of the word, "Some little monster!"

For a moment, Jace froze, as if that were something that he didn't expect to hear Rocket say. There was a small part of him that wondered whether or not this was something that Rocket thought about when referring to himself or whether or not there was something else entirely to it. Jace wondered if Rocket thought of himself as a monster.

"Rocket, no one's calling you a monster." Peter told the raccoon.

"He called me 'vermin'!" Rocket yelled as he pointed towards Drax. He then pointed towards Gamora, "She called me 'rodent'! Let's see if you laugh after five or six good shots to your frickin' face!"

Rocket then proceeded to lift up his gun as Drax threatened to get closer to attack. Jace found himself helping Gamora hold Drax back. As much as he knew that there was a chance that Drax might attack him once more, the last thing that Jace wanted was for anyone else other than him to get hurt.

"No, no, no, no!" Peter yelled, standing in front of Rocket, "Four billion units, Rocket! Come on, man. Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night and you're rich."

Rocket was somewhat hesitant to put down the gun though after a moment, he put down his weapon. Gamora, Jace and Groot all shared a look with each other before they stared at the raccoon. There was a small part of Jace that was somewhat relieved that he didn't have to worry about being shot, that was the last thing that he wanted as a whole.

"Fine." Rocket huffed as he disarmed his gun. "But I can't promise, when all this is over I'm not gonna kill every last one of you jerks."

Having enough, Peter rubbed his forehead a little, saying, "See? That's exactly why none of you have any friends!" He turned back to Drax and the others. "Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!"

"We have travelled, halfway across the quadrant. And Ronan is no closer to being dead." Drax spoke and with that, he walked away from the group. He shoved some people that stood in his path.

"Drax!" Peter called out after him.

"Let him go." Gamora told. "We don't need him."

Peter came towards Jace then, giving Jace a small pat on the shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"You know that I've had worse." Jace told with a small smile.

Peter just gave him a small sad look, the pair of them remember the one time that Jace got taken only to be tortured because they thought that he belonged to this planet of Gods, and the ones that kidnapped him wanted to use Jace as their weapon against them. It was the hardest few months of Jace's life, knowing that he had no idea what any of it meant. Peter and Yondu were the ones that saved him, who dragged his half-dead ass back to the ship and to safety, where they both thought that he was going to die at any point.

Jace still had a small scar across his back from the one time that they tortured him with some form of device, there were times where it still ached. It was one of the few scars that never truly healed like all the others. Jace remembered how there were times where Peter saved him from himself because of how much the memories of that time hurt him more than ever, it was a time that he didn't want to think too much about.

A moment later, a door opened revealing a pink—maybe red—skinned woman who stood there with her hands in each other. She neared them—Rocket, Peter, Gamora, Groot, and Jace—though she mainly looked towards Gamora as she spoke, "Milady Gamora. I'm here to fetch you for my master."

With that she bowed and turned, both Peter and Jace shared a small look with one another as they then followed after her. There was a small part of Jace which wondered whether or not this was some form of trap, though it was something that Jace didn't want to think too much about it. He wasn't sure if he could cope with something being a trap, especially after the beating that he just took. He somewhat leaned against Peter as they walked, his face really hurt.