After he saw Carol leave for home, he smiled sadly for a second but then pulled himself together and flew downwards again.
This time, he flew to the lower deck, though, as he had to check some things at the foundry.
As he arrived, where the whole roof had been pulled off the ship, he slowly drifted in and turned towards his destination.
He began searching for the foundry's emergency generator button and, once he found it, pressed it.
The generator activated, and the cracked display lit up.
-Emergency repair list was the option he chose, and in the next second, the machine already began to show the necessary parts he needed to activate it again.
The real problem, though, was that a lot of the materials he needed probably weren't even invented yet in the universe Rhino and the Liset were in.
So he chose to show their atomic composition and memorized them one by one before the emergency Generator began to go into energy-saving mode. It seemed like he had to invent everything from scratch again.
As he walked back to his chair, he passed the Helminth room and through his
Peripheral Vision saw something which made him stop in his tracks.
He floated in place and turned his head as he witnessed something truly unexpected. The Helminth had begun to grow a body.
But not anybody, it had a green hue to it, so he recognized it the next instant and smiled.
The Technopath he had banished here, as he had just newly awakened his Void powers in the new universe, seems to be processed into a new Warframe.
But it seemed like it would take some time to finish, so he floated past it and stopped at the closed door, which led to his transfer room.
That was an issue he had thought about for quite a while. The door was closed due to emergency protocol, but since there was no need for oxygen in the void, it was no longer needed. He could blow a hole in it, no question, but if he returned to real space, he would need air to breathe, and the door would be one more part to recreate.
It was not a light decision, as the door was made of one of the most durable and difficult-to-produce materials known to the SOL system. Understandably so, as the Captain was right behind it in most situations.
Then he had an idea. He focused on the other side of the door and connected the two places with a void sling. The range he had in the Void was immense and enough to reach out of the ship and inwards through the hole into the Transference room multiple times.
But he had something else in mind. He had both positions in his mind, and just as he had learned back then in the SOL system, he changed places with his Warframe, just that this time, there was no Warframe, so he just changed places with the void that was over there.
It took an immense amount of focus and a lot of Energy, way too much to replicate it outside the Void. Still, after some headaches slowly started to build up, he felt the same old feeling of slipping into oneself and popping out somewhere else, while the next second, he was in the transference room.
He smiled. Indeed, this was one of the things he missed most about being in the real world with a Warframe. After such a long Time, he really became accustomed to always having one at his side. Now, having to remote-control them over such distances, even across different dimensions, with just his astral self, was pretty taxing on his mental state. He even started to feel a bit lonely up here, as even Ordis was not really at his side anymore.
To escape these depressing thoughts, he pulled out his mental list of things he needed to do once he jumped into Rhino again.
First and foremost, he has to write down the foundry's emergency list so there are no errors due to false memories over time.
Second, he had to look for his Railjack. His best guess was still Earth and the Solar System of that universe, and since his Liset could now use jump points, that would probably be his next destination.
When he is there, he should definitely visit the Kamar Taj and search for the ritual Wanda and Strange used to breach open a rift into the Void, preferably, though, one big enough for his ship to follow him through.
Then, depending on the situation of transporting Materials, next on the list would be repairing the foundry and crafting some mining and repair drones, so he could plunder a small moon somewhere and repair the orbiter.
He still had the maps of the rare minerals from his SOL system, and where to find them, maybe they overlapped with this one, but even if not, he knew where to look for them.
After having given enough thought to his plans, he sat down in his chair and pulled the shell shut.
The next second, he let go of his senses and began to meditate, as the feeling of leaving his body took over, and he closed his eyes.
The next thing he witnessed was his surroundings. The interface of his Warframe came online, and with it came Ordis Voice in Rhino's head.
"Operator, Ordis is so incredibly Happy that you are well and again with us. I will tell the others," he practically screamed into his head.
"Please don't, I want it to be a surprise," he replies, looking around the room, realizing where he was.
He continued to look around till
He looked downwards, and there in his lap sat the little sapling, reading him a picture book.
"I'm Groot, I am Groot, I aaam Groo…" he spoke melodramatically, before looking upwards, to find Rhino looking down at him and then patting his head, making his chin fall.
"I AM GROOT," he happily screamed, raising his arms and throwing himself into his chest for a big hug.
Then he suddenly let go, climbed down his leg, before running towards the door and leaving, but sticking his head in for a short,
"I am Groot," and then vanishing completely, only his little foot steps left echoing in the hallway.
Rhino went over to the Rockets' workbench and took a holopad before beginning to type down the Materials and their composition for future reference.
"Yeah, I know, I know, I'm coming, what is it that you want to show me so badly, did you blow a hole into the ship again or what?"
Finally, he comes to a stand, while Rhino is still standing next to his workshop, drawing some schematics.
"You're back, where have you been, and what are you doing to my workshop?"
He turned around with the holopad and downloaded the list to the frames' visual files, then pressed the pad against Rocket's chest.
"I'm also happy to see you, Rocket. Do you know any of these materials by any chance?" he replied. At the same time, he walked to the common room, little Groot climbing up his shoulder while happily repeating his catchphrase over and over again in various iterations.
As he finally steps into the room, the other members look at him, first with an annoyed look because of Groot's antics and then in amazement.
"Tenno is back," Drax cried out while charging at him and bumping into his chest with his head, after which he fell to his ass, holding his head in disbelief. "You just came back and are still so strong, that's not fair," he complained, as the others slowly came to their senses and stood up to greet him.
"We missed you," Mantis said, speaking out what everyone felt deep within their heart, as all the others just shut up and nodded. She then began to hug him, while waving the others to her side; Kraglin was the first to follow, and the others shortly after, ending in a big group hug, where Mantis connected them with her empathic abilities.
"Ok, now let's come to the real surprise," Tenno said as he suddenly stood a few feet away from them, but in his own Body.
"Who are you and what are you doing in our ship, unknown enemy combatant?" Drax jelled while taking a fighting pose.
"And I thought you would be more intrigued by seeing my real form for the first time, Drax."
Tenno said, leaving everyone with their mouths open except Drax, who obviously didn't get it.
"I will make you regret this," he said as he began charging at him again, everyone around him trying to stop him, but this time he just passed through him and crashed into the wall behind him.
"Drax, stop the crap, that's obviously Tenno," Rocket said as he came near him and began to poke at his body.
"Sorry about that, but I'm not really here after all. This is just a projection of myself, now given some form to control that Warframe," he said, with an apologetic smile towards Drax, who was lying on the floor in the fetal position.
"Yeah, you did say you connect to that Warframe of yours. We always thought you were in there, though," Gamora said as she also came over to look at him from up close.
"Well, no, I'm far away, but this is really how I look and sound. I wish I could meet you for real, but I think that will take a while," Tenno continued as Mantis came over and activated her empath abilities to feel for him.
"I don't feel anything," she says, turning to the others.
"That's probably because of my powers' innate traits. I will explain another time, but this was why I was gone so long and suddenly disconnected," He said as he showed them his nega bands.
"The artifacts from the Cree vault," Quill said in astonishment.
"You got us into quite some trouble, as you shut down your big walking tank over there in the middle of the heist. In the end, we only fled with Ordis' help," Gamora explained as she looked upwards, seemingly a gesture she took on when talking to Ordis.
"Always happy to help the operators' teammates, especially if it's connected to rescuing a Warframe of his."
"I like your Warframe body much more, he looks like the ideal fighter, not like your real, small, and fragile little body," Drax said as he slowly began to circle Tenno.
He just ignored him and continued to explain.
"They somehow connected to me and sucked me out of the frame, and it took some time to adjust to the new powers I gained through them, but now I'm back up and running," he finished his explanation with a smile.
"Why did you never tell us you were human?" Quill finally said, as he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"The question never came up, and I'm not exactly from Earth either; we are not related in any way or form."
"How does that even make sense?" Quill replied, but Gamora just laid a hand on his arm and shushed him.
"He will tell us when he is ready. Till then, we will give him his time," she says as she turns towards him again. "I'm thrilled that you're back," and gives him a big smile.
"By the way, we got the money, and you also have one part of the pool reserved for you," Mantis said happily, as everyone else looked at her angrily, which she blissfully doesn't seem to notice.
"Good, thank you. Ordis will do the paperwork, I have bigger plans to follow."
Tenno said as Ordis spoke up at the mention of his name.
"Yes, Operator, what is the plan now that we have a ship that can use jump points? Will we search for the railjack?"
"What is a Railjack?" Rocket asks, interested, and Ordis begins to explain.
"Railjacks are large interceptor spacecraft used by the Operator. These spacecraft feature a plethora of weaponry and defensive systems that allow them to face even large capital ships head-on in direct combat. Chephalon CY serves as the Railjack's navigator and executive officer, a nice guy, but he sadly never allows me on board while on Missions. He says I don't have the nerve to serve in the Military personally, and my specialty lies in guiding the Operators' Missions outside of deep space."
Rocket's eyes began to grow more and more the longer he listened. "I need to see that, where is it?" he asked, typing nervously on his pad.
"As I said, we are searching for it. I lost it," Tenno responds.
"How do you lose such a ship?" Rocket nearly screams, but then gathers himself and calms down. "Never mind, I will help you find it."
Rocket said as he began to murmur and sit down on the sofa, while typing in some parameters on his pad.
"That would be a big help. I have a hunch, and I will go there first. I have to do some other stuff there anyway, so it doesn't hurt," He said as he vanished, and Rhino began to move again.
"So you're leaving already?" Mantis asked, and her antenna lowered as she obviously began to cry.
"That's not fair, let's at least have a little party before you go," Quill said, taking Mantis into his arms. The rest of the Guardians nodded in unison.
Rhinos' shoulders slumped in defeat as Groot took his hand and guided him to the sofa, where they began popping some bottles and pulling out stories of what had happened since he was gone.
It truly was a night to remember.