『Chapter Eight』
『the unprepared fight』

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Gamora, Peter, and Jace all walked out of the destroyed building. Jace was somewhat limping, given that he landed on his hop rather oddly. There was the occasion that Peter would give him a look, as if asking if he was okay. The burn mark on his side was healing itself, like most of his wounds, though he could still feel the ache in the injuries. He wondered whether or not he had the worst luck out of all of them to get injured this much, though he tried to not think about it too much.

Gamora was in front of both Peter and Jace, the Orb in her hand. "How could I think Tivan could contain whatever was within the Orb?"

Rocket came over towards them as they came out of the building. He'd noticed the Orb in her hands. "What do you still have it for?"

"What are we gonna do, leave it in there?" Peter shot back.

"Can't we just destroy it, somehow?" Jace questioned. Though his mind still went back to the memory of which he had when he was on Earth. He couldn't stay focused fully. "Wouldn't it be any use to throw the Orb and the Infinity Stone onto a planet with bombs attached to it and then make the entire planet explode?" He looked between them. "Unrelated, the Stone looks like something I'd mistake for a weird purple snack that you'd find at like 3 am."

Peter just gave Jace an odd look as if he'd said something insane. Though, at this point, Jace was in a state where he didn't really care all that much. The ache in his body from everything that happened was hitting him more than anything else and it was driving him insane. He almost felt delirious in some aspects, though all that he wanted at the moment was food, he was really craving food.

"I can't believe you had that in your purse!" Rocket yelled as he pointed towards the Orb.

"It's not a purse, it's a knapsack!" Peter corrected.

"Is this really the priority! Guys come on!" Jace snapped. He knew that he was the one to start saying weird shit, but at this point all that he could focus on was whether or not he was going to drop at any moment. God, he was tired and stressed. "What the hell are we going to do with this shitty as Orb?"

"We have to bring this to the Nova Corps." Gamora suggested. She looked at Peter as if she was trying to convince him the most. "There's a chance they can contain it."

"Are you kidding me?" Rocket asked. "We're wanted by the Nova Corps. Just give it to Ronan!"

Jace shot the raccoon a questionable look, the last thing that Jace wanted was to give that madman the very thing that could wipe out the entire universe, he would hate how Ronan would use the Stone. Jace wouldn't be able to live with himself knowing that Ronan of all people managed to get the Stone. He wasn't sure as to why this feeling was crawling up on him, he knew that the Galaxy didn't do much for him, but he didn't want to be cornered on a planet while Ronan destroyed everything.

"So he can destroy the Galaxy?" Peter asked.

"What are you, some saint all of a sudden?" Rocket shot back. "What has the galaxy ever done for you? Why would you wanna save it?"

"Because I'm one of the idiots who lives in it!" Peter yelled.

Peter had a point with that. Though Jace had more of the taste in the different cultures of each planet, it was one of the main reasons as to why he liked to visit as many planets as he could. The thought that one of them or all of them being destroyed because of a madman was something that he couldn't fathom as a whole. Although the galaxy is nothing but a mess at times, it was still beautiful to Jace, he didn't want to see an end to it.

Before either of them could continue their argument, Gamora turned to Peter. "Peter, listen to me. We cannot allow the Stone to fall into Ronan's hands. We have to go back to your ship and deliver it to Nova."

"Right, right, okay. I think your right." Peter said, while nodding. He then placed a hand on the Orb, looking back down to Rocket. "Or we could give it to somebody who's not going to arrest us, who's really nice, for a whole lot of money."

Gamora backed away as if that wasn't something that she didn't want to hear. Peter decided that it was best for him to justify what he just said. "I think it's a really good balance between both of your points of view."

"Dude, what the fuck?" Jace asked as he shot him a look. Jace had to agree with what Gamora was saying, yeah they were all wanted but if it meant stopping Ronan from getting the Orb then at least they could try.

Seeing the damage that the Stone previously done in the images that Tivan showed was something that disturbed Jace the most. Seeing the damage that the Stone did do to Tivan's shop was another thing that disturbed Jace. The thought of something so small, something that could be nothing more than a paperweight was something that destructive, it was something that didn't sit right with Jace. The last thing that Jace wanted to see was the Stone in the hands of someone like Ronan.

There was a small part of Jace that wondered whether or not that king from his past would even do anything to stop Ronan if Ronan got his hands on the Stone. Though he knew that it was something that was crazy and didn't need another second to be thought about much.

"You're despicable." Gamora said. Peter went to say something before he was cut off. "Dishonourable." She began to walk away. "Faithless!" Though, Gamora didn't get far before she stopped. "Oh, no."

In front of them was a lot of ships which they could assume were Ronan's ships, given the way that they were facing them. Not that far in front of the group was Drax who stood there with his daggers out in both hands while his arms were stretched out. Jace found himself cursing under his breath, knowing that this need inside of him to fight was something that was going to come back. It didn't help that he still didn't feel right after everything.

"At last!" Drax yelled, he laughed as well, as if this was one of the most amusing things to ever happen. "I shall meet my foe and destroy him."

The people who roamed the streets of Knowhere all ran off, none of them wanting to get in the way of a fight. Jace stood there, so tempted to join the people of Knowhere and run, but he knew that it would be the wrong thing to do. Jace really wanted to run away, knowing that he was already tired as hell from everything already, he didn't need this as well. He found himself glaring at Peter as he mentally cursed.

"Ooo, look at me, I'm Peter it-wont-turn-into-a-fight Quill," Jace mimicked in a slightly higher pitched voice before his voice turned back to his normal voice, "well looks like we're going to fight against Ronan and his goons!"

Peter gave Jace a glare as he then stuck up his middle finger towards him and then proceeded to punch Jace in the side. Jace let out a small grunt of pain, the burn mark still hadn't healed yet and Peter managed to hit the mark on his side. Peter didn't look back as he took a few steps forward.

"You called Ronan?" Peter asked.

One of the ships landed near the group and Jace just wished that they just left already so that it didn't end in a fight. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and wish that everything was a bad dream. Yet, who could ever get what they asked or even wished for?

There was a part of Jace which wanted the fight, which craved something to hit despite the fact that his body was exhausted from the explosion, from getting that beating from Drax, from the memories that hit him like a truck. And yet, despite the exhaustion that hit him, there was this strong part of him that wanted to fight, that welcomed some form of fight.

Yondu's voice caught both Peter's and Jace's attention even from a distance. "Quill! Taylor! Don't either of you move boys!"

"Ah, shit." Jace muttered.

There was a small sense of dread that then filled Jace, knowing that once Yondu got his hands on the pair of them, they were going to be in big trouble. Peter, for stealing the Orb before they all had the chance to, and Jace for not brining Peter back to him in a timely manner. It was the one thing that Jace was dreading, he couldn't even think of what Yondu might say to the pair of them and yet it was something that he didn't want to find out fully.

It was then that they noticed how there were a row of ships which were lined up as far as they could see. Jace assumed that they were the miner ships, the ones that Gamora mentioned when they arrived, he remembered how she talked about the Celestial head that made Knowhere was a place for miners. Jace thought it was a good idea to run towards them in order to avoid Yondu and the Ravanger's, as well as Ronan.

As much as Jace wanted a fight, as much as Jace wanted to get his hands bloody, as much as he wanted to use his abilities, he knew that now wasn't the best time for it. He knew that they needed to get the Orb away, he knew that they needed to stay out of the clutches of Yondu at least for now.

Jace heard Yondu's voice call out. "Don't you move! Get out the way!"

They rushed towards the ship and as they did, there was a small part of Jace that thought to do what Yondu wanted, he felt a little bad by disobeying Yondu. However, he knew that maybe it would best to avoid getting yelled at by Yondu if he ran away from him. That and the fact that if Yondu knew that they still had the Orb then there was a chance that Yondu would take it away and try and sell it once more, not caring all that much.

Jace shook his head as they went towards the line of ships, Jace noticed how there were a few people who were getting out the ships. He found himself going over to one ship as a person was getting out of it, he grabbed hold of the person and threw him out the way before he then got into the small ship. He closed the door behind him, staring at the console for a moment to try and get an idea on how to fly it.

"Ah, fuck. I'm fucked, I'm either going to get killed by Yondu, or maybe by Ronan. Or I might just murder myself, would actually get me out of all of this." Jace muttered to himself, "Oh how I regret doing what Yondu told me to do, I wouldn't be in this mess."

Jace found himself pressing the same button that closed the door, meaning that the door slid open once more, he cursed under his breath, pressing it once more. He looked at the console once more, trying to calm his nerves as much as he could before getting everything sorted for liftoff. Once he knew what he was doing, he managed to get the ship into the sky. Rocket, Quill, and Gamora all seemed to know how to pilot the small pods as the four of them proceed to fly up and out.

"Anyone else think we're going to die?" Jace asked the others in a slight yell. As much as he knew that he didn't need to yell given the comms being on, he still couldn't help himself. He found himself panicking a lot more than needed too, feeling as if it was overwhelming him in some way.

"No one's gonna die." Peter retorted back. Jace could almost feel the way that Peter rolled his eyes at Jace's comment, which made Jace want to say something but didn't. "If it comes to it, Jace, let it loose."

Jace found himself smiling at that, feeling the instant waves of calm hit him more than anything else. Both Peter and Jace knew what that meant. It was something that Yondu and Peter came up with when they needed Jace in a desperate time. It was something that let Jace know that there was no limits that he could take on anything of the sorts, whether it was the little gadgets that he made or using as much as the full extent of his abilities. It meant that Jace didn't have to hold back or pull his punches anymore and that was something that Jace liked to do, there was a part of Jace that always hated holding back.

The simple use of that line was enough for Jace to know that he didn't have to worry about getting in trouble by Yondu. An example of Jace getting in trouble with letting loose would be when he killed and blinded that one guy who was after him before all of this happened, Jace knew that if Yondu knew about that he'd get into trouble.

Jace shook his head, knowing that now wasn't the time nor place to think of that. He could let loose with everything that he had. And that was something that got him more excited than ever before, it was almost enough for him to not focus on the exhaustion that filled his body.

The four pods all flew around Knowhere while Ronin's ships slowly started to catch up with them. Jace tried to make sure that he had dodged anything of which was in the way. Jace found himself grinning like an idiot, knowing that he was about to get what he wanted, that he could actually let loose fully. Though the one thing that caught Jace by surprise was the way that Ronan's ships started to fire at the four pods.

"OH SHIT!" Jace yelled as he then tried to dodge the attacks. As much as he knew that he should've expected the shots, it was still something that surprised him more than anything else.

Jace tried to then head towards the sky, in hopes to get some distance only to see how Ronin's ships were mainly targeting Gamora's pod. They must have known that Gamora was the one with the Orb, which was something that didn't surprise Jace all that much. Jace noticed how both Rocket and Peter were beside each other, and Jace tried to get to them.

Between all the crossfire and such, Jace managed to join both Rocket and Peter. "What's the plan?" As much as Jace knew that he could let loose, there was still a part of Jace that just wanted to know if there was any specific details that he needed to know.

After a quick few moments of thinking, it was Peter who spoke. "Rocket, keep them off Gamora until she gets to the Milano. Jace, try and not get yourself killed, please. Keep to the idea that you don't have to hold back."

"Uh, excuse me, Quill." Jace muttered sarcastically.

"How?" Rocket asked. "We've got no weaponry on these things."

Although he didn't need to listen to the conversation, Jace still felt the need to listen into whatever the official plan was just to be on the safe side.

"These pods are industrial grade. They're nearly indestructible." Peter informed.

"Not against necroblasts, they're not." Rocket countered.

"That's not what I'm saying." Peter said, "Jace remember back on Terra—"

"—Bumper cars, hell yes." Jace cut off with a grin.

"Oh." Rocket said to himself before launching his pod against Ronin's ships beside them.

The raccoon managed to make both of the ships crash against a building, causing one of them to explode. Rocket's pod spun round as an effect as he was then faced with the other ship of which seemed to stumble slightly in its flight. Rocket flew the pod straight towards the other ship of which then fired necroblasts towards him, the pod went straight through the ship as it caused the ship to explode.

Jace found himself focusing on one of the engines of Ronan's ships, just enough to make the engine explode with a ball of light. Jace grinned to himself, knowing that this was going to be as much fun as it possibly could be. This was something that he'd wanted to do for a while and now he had the chance to do such a thing.

Gamora, on the other hand, was struggling to lose Ronan's ships which were firing against her pod. She let out a groan as she hit a building, though she tried to keep going to make sure that she lost them. However, in whatever direction she seemed to go in, Ronan's ships seemed to follow closely behind her.

As one of Ronan's ships were about to hit Gamora's pod, Quill had used the claws of which were originally used to pick up valuable stuff and had managed to use the claws to pick up Ronan's ship and rip off part of the roof. The pilot of the ship had flew out as the ship then began to descend from the sky.

"Let me borrow your ride." Peter said as he flew his pod into Ronan's ship and had attempted to try and fly it so he could use the weapons on it. Peter had successfully managed to use the pod that he was in to fly Ronan's ship. Quill had used the guns on the ship to fire at any of Ronan's ships of which were following Gamora's pod.

Jace tried to use Peter's idea of ramming into the ships, yet they all tried to shoot him down. Jace had let out a small growl as he then proceeded to almost throw his pod into the ships which then proceeded to explode. The cause of the explosions had made the pod shake round for a little before stopping.

Jace found himself almost laughing at all of it, he felt like this was the cure to his insanity, like he'd been waiting for this the entire week. He found himself looking around as he tried to find where the others could be so that he could help. Jace wanted to make sure that the others weren't in much trouble.

He was about to make his way towards the Milano, only to stop when he heard Gamora's voice through the comms. "Quill, I'm trapped. I can't make it to the Milano. I have to head out."

Jace took that as his queue to then fly up in order to be some help if it meant for all of them to make it out of this alive. He didn't care for anything else, knowing that he wanted to make sure that his new friends—he hoped that they were his new friends—were as safe as they could be. He didn't want to lose these new people in his life.

Peter was quick to respond, "Wait! These things aren't meant to go out there."

Both Jace and Peter managed to get out of Knowhere in time to see how Gamora's ship exploded. The pair shared a small look with each other as they then looked back at the now destroyed pod. Gamora's body floated there amongst all the now scrap metal while the Orb was then picked up by Ronan's goons.

There was a part of Jace that wondered whether or not there was anything that he could do, but he wasn't sure. He'd never done anything of the sorts and as much as he wanted to try, there was a part of him that was afraid that he would mistakenly hurt or burn Gamora and that wasn't something that Jace wanted to do.

He found himself staring at Gamora, a sense of panic washing over him, knowing that there must be something that he could do in order to save her but there was nothing of which came to mind. He wished that he knew what to do, he wished that he didn't go into a small panic wondering what to do and how to help. Despite not having a decent conversation with her, Gamora seemed like a nice person underneath everything else.

"Quill, Taylor, come on. Her body mods should keep her alive a couple more minutes, but there's nothing we can do for her. These pods aren't meant to be out here. In a second, we're gonna be in the same boat." Rocket told as he then turned his pod around. Jace wanted to do the same, but he couldn't.

Jace found himself looking over to Peter's pod, noticing the way that Peter hadn't moved either. Rocket noticed this as well though he'd already turned back and stopped after a few feet. Jace wondered what was going through Quill's head, though there was a part of him that didn't want to fully know what truly was going on in his head.

"Quill?" Rocket asked.

Jace frowned ever so slightly. Though he tilted his head when he heard Peter talk through the comms. "Yondu! Yondu. My coordinates are 227K324."

Jace finally snapped out of whatever trance that he was in just to snap at Peter. "Peter!" Jace knew what Peter was doing was rather stupid, knowing that Yondy was going to do whatever he wanted to Peter for what he did. Jace wanted to knock some sense into Peter but knew that it was something that wouldn't work all that well.

Rocket seemed to have the same thought of snapping at Peter. "Quill, what are you doing?"

"—Just outside Knowhere." Peter finished giving Yondu the coordinates for where he was. "If you're there, come get me. I'm all yours."

Peter opened the door of his pod, his helmet had covered his face. Peter used his jets to fly towards Gamora, Jace felt the way that his heart dropped as he watched everything unfold. This was way worse. He didn't know if Yondu would come, he didn't know what to do. There was no way that he could do anything, no matter what he did, he knew that there was a chance that one of them would die.

"Quill, don't be ridiculous. Get back into your pod!" Rocket yelled towards him.

Panic filled Jace as he watched everything "You can't fit two people in there. You're gonna die. Pete, I can't lose you!"

He couldn't lose his brother. He didn't want to lose his brother and yet there was nothing that he could do. He tried to think of what to do in order to prevent this, but there was nothing. What could he do? He tried to scan his brain for something, anything, but he couldn't think. The one time that he needed a good thought, his mind couldn't come up with anything, but panic and it was something that annoyed him more than anything else.

Peter took off his mask as Rocket yelled; "You'll die in seconds!" Quill removed the earpiece which held his helmet as he then placed it on Gamora.

"Quill!" Jace yelled as Peter's helmet formed over Gamora's face. He found himself leaning up in disbelief.

Jace wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it was then that multiple bright lights appeared from multiple ships which all belonged to Yondu and his Ravagers. In front of the duo, Yondu's ship appeared as it then took both of them away, leaving nothing but the scrap metal from the explosion.

Jace cursed under his breath, as much as he didn't want Peter to be with Yondu given everything, there was a part of Jace that at least knew that Peter was somewhat safe. Jace found himself groaning slightly, flying the pods back into Knowhere. Rocket followed after Jace, as if knowing that there was nothing else that they could do.

The two didn't bother with a proper landing as the pair seemed to almost crash onto the soil of the planet. Jace opened the pod door as he climbed out as he mumbled stuff under his breath. Jace found himself kicking the side of the pod, causing a large indent in the pod and caused the pod to move a good couple of meters. He needed to punch something. How could this have happened? Not only does Ronan have the Orb, Peter and Gamora are with Yondu.

He could feel the way that his hands heated up, he couldn't control himself, it was like all of his anger about everything seemed to come out within an instant. He wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to burn something or watch someone die while he strangled them. He never thought that he'd feel this frustrated over something like this, though he knew that he wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for Peter in the first place.

"Blasted idiot. They're all idiots!" Rocket yelled, clearly anger took over him. "Quill just got himself captured."

The pair of them walked over towards both Groot and Drax. Drax looked as if he'd been knocked down during the fight and was getting help from Groot, not that he cared much. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for Drax calling Ronan and his goons. Peter wouldn't be with Yondu if it wasn't for Drax, Ronan wouldn't have gotten the Stone if it wasn't for Drax. As much as Jace wanted to fight Drax for this, he tried his best to calm down as much as he could.

Jace let out a growl. "I'm gonna kill him! He's a complete moron!"

Rocket gave Drax a cold death glare. "None of this would have happened if you didn't try to single-handedly take on a frickin' army!"

What surprised Jace the most was Drax admitted that he was wrong. "You're right. I was a fool. All the anger, all the rage, was just to cover my loss." Groot placed his hand over Drax's shoulder as if to comfort the man.

"Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. 'My wife and child are dead.'" Rocket mimicked sarcastically while Groot then let out a gasp. "Oh, 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!"

There was a slight pause as the anger still built up in Jace, he wanted to help Peter and Gamora to get away from Yondu and the Ravagers. Yet he also felt the need to kill Peter for risking his life and almost getting himself killed. Not only that but he felt like he was going to take on the world with the amount of anger that rose within him. He wanted to take on the entire galaxy with how he felt right now.

"Come on, Groot. Ronan has the Stone. The only chance we got is to get to the other side of the universe as fast as we can and maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to live full lives before that whack-job ever gets there." Rocket said.

Groot stood up saying, "I am Groot."

Rocket gave the tree a look. "Save them? How?"

"I am Groot."

"I know they're the only friends that we ever had, but there's an army of Ravagers around them. And there's only three of us." Rocket told.

Drax stood up correcting the raccoon. "Four."

"Rocket, you're forgetting, there might be an army of Ravagers around them, but you've got someone who knows all their tactics on your side." Jace spoke, smirking slightly. He knew that it was crazy, but it was something that he could at least direct his anger towards, at least for now. "Come on, attack the main ship, the one where they have both Peter and Gamora, then maybe, they'll come to an arrangement."

Rocket let out a groan as he turned around and started to kick grass. "Aw! You're making me beat...up grass!"

Jace just gave the racoon a look before shaking his head slightly. If there was one thing of which Jace knew, it was the fact that they had to think of a plan to get both Gamora and Peter out of there. At least it was something for him to focus on for now, something to direct his anger onto. If worse comes to worse, he'll just threaten Yondu to give Peter and Gamora back.

Yondu is the only one to know the full potential of Jace's abilities, even Jace wasn't aware himself how far he could go, so he was sure that if he threatened Yondu with that, then there was a chance that he'd get his brother back. He felt bad that he'd left Peter behind, knowing that he wanted Peter safe, so the thought of him being with Yondu somewhat scared him. Jace feared what Yondu might do to him, so, Jace will do the one thing that he knew would make Yondu afraid. At least he hoped that it would make him afraid.

He had a feeling that this was something that was going to go either extremely well or be the worst thing that he could ever do. But he was doing this for Peter and Gamora, he was doing this for them and for their protection, nothing else. That was something that he was trying to convince himself of. He was doing the right thing in the name of his friends.