"So this is the kind of person who bewitched you? Have you got pig brains? Playing the emotional card, for crying out loud?!"
Yondu slapped Quill on the head, looking like a father furious at a disappointing son.
With a sharp whistle, a metal arrow shot out from Yondu's waist and stopped right in front of Quill's throat.
"Kid, you've betrayed me again and again. Before, I let it slide because you were young. But now I'm the boss—I have to keep my authority. Do you know what happens to people who betray us?"
The Ravagers around them immediately nodded in agreement.
"If you kill me now," Quill quickly said, scrambling for leverage, "you'll lose the biggest deal of your life."
He had no desire to actually die here.
"You mean the Infinity Stone?" Yondu turned to look at him. "You'd better think of something more convincing. As far as I know, nobody steals from Ronan."
"We have a secret weapon!"
Quill spoke with forced confidence, though inside he was panicking. There was no secret weapon at all—he was just betting on the fact that Gamora knew some of Ronan's secrets.
"Secret weapon?" Yondu clearly didn't buy it.
Quill immediately shot Gamora a look.
"She—she knows everything about Ronan. His ship, his army, even his weaknesses."
Gamora picked up the cue instantly.
"That's right. I used to work for him. I know everything about him."
"So what do you say?" Quill pressed on. "You and I fight side by side again, just like the old days. We rob Ronan blind—and we'll make a fortune!"
Quill stared at Yondu, unsure of his reaction. This was a gamble.
After a long pause, Yondu suddenly burst into laughter and pulled Quill into a hug.
"Haha! You've still got guts, kid. All that effort raising you wasn't wasted!"
Suddenly—
BOOM!
The ship shook violently.
They were under attack.
---
Outside the Ship
Rocket was flying Quill's ship, firing continuously at the Ravagers' cruiser.
But compared to the massive Ravager vessel, Rocket's ship was tiny. The attacks barely scratched the hull.
Yondu and his crew rushed to the bridge.
Through the window, they saw Quill's ship hovering outside—with Rocket piloting it.
"Listen up, idiots over there!" Rocket's voice crackled through the comms. "The lunatic standing on top of my ship is holding a quantum cannon. It can punch straight through your oversized junk heap!"
On top of the ship stood Drax, wearing combat gear and holding a massive cannon mounted on his chest.
Inside the cockpit, Karl sat beside Rocket, looking toward the blue-skinned Yondu on the opposite side.
Karl's cloak allowed him to fly in space, but as a human he still couldn't survive there for long. Unless he turned into a summoned creature—which wasn't practical to maintain—he had to stay inside the ship. That limited his movements somewhat.
"What the hell is that thing?" Yondu squinted.
The sight of a small animal piloting a spaceship left his face twisted in confusion.
"Release my companions right now," Rocket shouted, "or I'll blow your junk ship into space trash!"
Receiving no response, Rocket continued yelling.
Quill and Gamora quickly squeezed forward and activated the communicator.
"Wait, Rocket! It's me—Quill! Everything's under control! No danger!"
"What?! You call this under control? You're challenging that guy—what was his name—Ronan? Have you lost your mind?!"
Rocket stared at Quill in disbelief while sitting on a crate.
"I already have a plan," Quill insisted.
"A plan?" Rocket scoffed. "Your plan is to steal the Stone from Ronan and sell it to someone even worse?"
"We need the Ravagers' fleet if we want to stand a chance against Ronan's army," Gamora said.
"So you're giving the Stone to Yondu? What if he turns into another Ronan?" Rocket snapped.
He didn't believe there were any good people among the Ravagers.
"We can argue about that later," Gamora replied. "Stopping Ronan comes first."
"Stopping him? How? With the five of us?"
Rocket knew exactly how outmatched they were.
"I told you—I've got a plan," Quill repeated.
"You? A plan? With that pig brain of yours? Give me a break," Rocket shot back.
"I really do! A big plan!"
"What's the success rate?" Rocket asked immediately.
Quill hesitated.
"Uh… about twenty percent?"
The moment he said it, his confidence visibly deflated.
Rocket exploded into laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! Twenty percent? You've got to be kidding me!"
He laughed so hard he nearly fell off the crate.
"Honestly," Gamora added dryly, "that's more like a suggestion than a plan."
"Whose side are you on?" Quill protested.
"Yondu will be here soon," Quill whispered. "We need something that sounds like a plan."
In truth, he had nothing. He was hoping they could improvise something convincing enough to fool Yondu.
At that moment, Karl spoke up.
"Actually, we don't need a plan."
Everyone turned to look at him. Until now, he had been almost invisible.
"I'll handle Ronan's ship," Karl said calmly. "You guys deal with the rest."
"What?!"
Everyone shouted at once.
"You can take down Ronan's ship by yourself?" Gamora stared at him in shock.
She knew exactly what Ronan's ship was like.
"Carl, I know you're strong," Quill said cautiously, "but destroying Ronan's ship alone might be a little… unrealistic."
Karl rolled his eyes.
"Trust me. I'll deal with Ronan's ship. You just hold off the rest."
The group exchanged uncertain looks.
Still, they needed some kind of plan to present to Yondu.
"The plan is simple," Karl continued. "Warn Xandar and have them help you hold off Ronan's fleet. I'll take care of his main ship."
Karl wasn't any better at planning than Quill. In fact, he was even worse.
Once he realized he was terrible at strategy, he completely embraced the brute-force approach.
If it was a fight, why bother with complicated tactics? Just crush the enemy head-on.
Against Thanos with six Stones, Karl might struggle.
But Ronan with only one Stone?
That was easy.
After the discussion, everyone began preparing.
And for the first time, the five members—except Karl—put on the red uniforms of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you enjoyed Marvel Manifestor, please give it a Power Stone and leave a review! Your support means everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~