Universal Chaos

Chapter 28

The ship hummed quietly, the random beeps and chirps from different systems breaking the consistent hum. The group separated again, for the time being, and Sutton found herself sitting alone on a container. Shock still dominated her emotions; she was still trapped in the suit. Her skin was dirty and itchy after days of being unable to properly breathe.

With Nat no longer on death's door, Sutton felt a portion of the adrenaline that had kept her going evaporate. She felt heavy and dizzy and desperately tried to hold onto whatever attentiveness she had left. She didn't have the leisure of rest; not when her friends were in mortal peril. Maybe even already-

A hand on her shoulder followed by a gasp broke her from a long blink, and Sutton turned to see a teary eyed Mantis staring down at her. Mantis' lip quivered and she blinked to clear her eyes, though one tear ran down her face.

"Are you okay," Sutton asked.

Mantis clutched her hands together in front of her chest and took a steadying breath.

"I am so sorry," she said. "You have so much sadness in you; I did not realize."

Sutton prickled at the statement as she eyed the alien. Perhaps she looked a little worse for wear, but the 'I did not realize' statement implied more than a mere visual observation.

"Why would you say that?" Sutton asked, keeping her tone light.

"I can feel the emotions of others when I touch them," Mantis explained. "You have many negative emotions at the moment."

"Oh. Yeah, well. It hasn't exactly been a fun week."

Mantis didn't know what Sutton needed to hear, couldn't understand, and, if her vocal tone was any indication, she seemed like the type to try and be helpful. Sutton couldn't get defensive about her statement. Especially not when she probably looked just as haggard and distraught as Mantis knew she felt.

Sutton wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Sorry, did you come over here to say something else?"

"Oh! Yes!" Mantis dipped her head apologetically. "I came to tell you that you may use our sonic shower to clean up if you like. It does appear you haven't showered in some time."

She was trying to be nice.

Sutton grimaced and gestured down at her suit.

"I wish I could, but I can't take this suit off unless you want Thanos to be able to track me down."

The Guardian's ship didn't have much privacy outside of their individual rooms; it wasn't hard for others to eavesdrop on someone else's conversation, something they appeared to do with the same energy of a nosy sibling.

Rocket, the raccoon, popped his head around a door frame and eyed Sutton with a new, sharp interest.

"Whaddya mean you can't take the suit off?"

Sutton sighed.

"It's a dampener, essentially, it keeps me from using my powers and, subsequently, from being easily traceable."

Rocket moved closer and eyed her suit doubtfully, his muzzle wrinkling as he got close enough to really scrutinize the wires.

"You need the whole suit for that?" He asked, unimpressed. "Why don't you just install it in this thing?"

He poked at her arc reactor and Sutton swatted his paw away.

"The suit works with the reactor," she explained. "But the arc reactor is mostly there to keep my heart beating."