Aria was originally from the now-defunct planet Cortez. She was the princess, but she fled after the Mad Titan and his minions destroyed her world, forcing her to travel the universe in search of freedom and a new family. When she was just fourteen...
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CHAPTER FOUR| the collector ▂▂▂▂▂▂▂
"ROCKET, YOU'RE drunk. All right? No one's laughing at you." Peter says this in an attempt to reassure him.
"He thinks I'm some stupid thing! He does. Well, I didn't ask to be made! I didn't ask to be torn apart and put back together over and over and turned into some—" He pauses. "Some little monster!"
"Rocket, no one's calling you a monster."
"He called me "vermin"!" Rocket accuses Drax and points towards him. "She called me "rodent"!" He points to Gamora. "Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your frickin' face!" He says it angrily, beginning to raise his gun. Aria hides behind Groot, watching the scene unfold as Gamora gives her a scolding look.
"No, no, no, no!" Peter stammers, attempting to get Rocket to lower the gun. "Four billion units! Rocket! Come on, man. Hey! Suck it up for one more lousy night, and you're rich." From afar, Aria watches as Rocket lowers his gun and turns it off completely, muttering a soft "fine."
"But I can't promise that when all this is over, I'm not going to kill every last one of you jerks." Rocket admits accidentally speaking his thoughts aloud while still looking at the floor.
"See? That's exactly why none of you have any friends!" Peter says this, turning to the rest of the group. "Five seconds after you meet somebody, you're already trying to kill them!"
"Gee thanks, Starshit." Aria thanks sarcastically, rolling her eyes and staring at the man who is her sending daggers.
"We have travelled halfway across the quadrant. And Ronan is no closer to being dead." Drax furiously exclaims while Gamora tries to hold him back. Drax then storms off in anger, refusing to make eye contact with the group.
"Drax!" Peter calls him watching as he walks away.
"Let him go." Gamora tells Peter. "We don't need him."
Right on cue, a door opens swiftly to reveal a woman with pink skin and a light pink dress standing there.
"Milady Gamora. I'm here to fetch you for my master." She bows, allowing them into the building. Gamora led the way into the building, and every time her feet touched the floor, the metal clanged, making Aria feel uneasy.
"Okay, this isn't creepy at all." Rocket tells the group looking up as he climbed up the stairs.
"We house the galaxy's largest collection of fauna, relics, and species of all manner." The woman informs the group as Aria walks past a cage, watching as a dog stares at them dead-eyed with no emotion whatsoever. "I present to you, Taneleer Tivan, The Collector."
The man turns around and is wearing an oddly peculiar outfit. His grey hair and eyebrows clashed violently with her white skin as he took off his goggles and looked towards Gamora. His outfit was also unique, decorated with white fur and a leather jacket and trousers underneath.
"Oh, my dear Gamora." He says he is kissing her hand as a greeting. "How wonderful to meet in the flesh."
"Let's bypass the formalities, Tivan." She says she's getting right to the point. "We have what we discussed."
Tivan raises his eyes, looking behind Gamora towards Groot. "What is that thing there?"
"I am Groot." Groot replies, causing Aria to snicker as he inches closer to him.
"I never thought I'd meet a Groot. Sir. You must allow me to pay you now so that I may own your carcass. At the moment of your death, of course."
"I am Groot."
"Thrilling." Aria jokes as Tivan turns his gaze to her, looking her dead in the eye.
"My, oh my, Aria Cortez. A pleasure." He whispers, holding a hand out for her to shake, but she simply ignores him, giving him a dirty look.
"Why, so he could turn into a frickin' chair?" Rocket perks up referring to Tivan's 'conversation' with Groot.
"That's your pet?"
"His what?"
"Tivan." Gamora scolds as Rocket throws a tantrum. "We have been halfway around the galaxy, retrieving this Orb."
"Very well, then. Let us see what you brought." He says facing the woman as she faces Peter who had the Orb secured in his bag. He drops the Orb as he takes it out immediately picking it back up to hide himself from embarrassment.
"Idiot." Aria whispers as Tivan takes the Orb from Peter's holding gesturing for the group to gather around the table.
"Oh, my new friends. Before creation, itself, there were six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of these systems were forged into concentrated ingots. Infinity stones." Aria furrowed her brows in complete confusing as the information overlapped itself in her brain. "These stones, it seems, can only be brandished by beings if of extraordinary strength. Observe." He orders the group as they turn around the face the projection. "These carriers can use the Stone to mow down entire civilisations like wheat in a field." The projections shown a man clearly in power destructing villages as civilians ran away from the person panicked. It then shifts to a image of the planet being completely wiped out giving Aria a sense of deja vû.
"There's a little pee coming out of me right now." Peter mumbles scared shitless.
"Ew." Aria sighs in disgust at his immaturity.
"Once, for a moment, a group was able to share the energy amongst themselves, but even they were quickly destroy by it." Tivan the begins shaking his hands into astonishment causing Aria to roll her eyes. "Beautiful." He mumbles
