The Girl Who Held the Universe in her Hands | marvel [1] ✔

TWO

CHAPTER TWO
' MY BAD ! '

Ash sat on the Milano, her head resting against the wall with Groot curled up on her shoulder. She watched the scenery go by as they landed on a large platform, and she passed Groot to Rocket before standing. Reaching the door, Ash entered a code into the keypad, causing it to open slowly, letting Ash jump out. As she reached the centre, she lowered to the ground with her legs crossed. She took a deep breath and placed her hands on the floor, letting her eyes flutter shut. After a moment, black ribbons started to thread from her hands, slithering towards the edges of the platform and weaving around themselves. The force field rose until it protected the entire area in a dark, translucent dome.

Eyes opening, she pushed herself to her feet and created a ball between her palms. She launched it upwards, and the ball shot up and collided with the top. The field rippled as it impacted but seemed, overall, intact. A dimensional crack snapped overhead, and Ash looked up before scrambling towards the ship.

Peter looked at a tracker as a red dot approached. "Showtime, a-holes! It'll be here any minute!"

"Which will be its loss," Gamora replied.

Ash walked over to Rocket and Drax and smiled as the racoon handed her a flying rig. She pulled it over her shoulders, rolling them before cracking her neck.

"I thought your thing was a sword?"

Gamora turned to look at Quill with raised eyebrows. "We've been hired to stop an interdimensional beast from feeding on those batteries' energy, and I'm going to stop it with a sword?"

"Ash uses daggers."

"No-no-no-no, do not bring me into your little domestic. Ash occasionally uses daggers but guess what? I have this, dumbass," Ash intervened with a slightly raised voice, gesturing to the force field covering them.

Quill looked over, and they aimed their middle fingers at each other in synch. "Don't look at me like I'm stupid. You're the one being all inconsistent," he grumbled.

Another crack erupted from the sky, and their attention moved from their argument.

"Drax, why aren't you wearing one of Rocket's aero-rigs?" Gamora asked.

"It hurts," he replied.

"Hurts?"

"I have sensitive nipples."

Ash snorted loudly, and she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. "Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't be laughing." She cleared her throat, but Rocket continued to show his amusement, causing Ash to giggle behind her hand.

Quill furrowed his eyebrows as Rocket worked on the speakers wired to his Walkman. "What about him? What's he doing?"

"If I finish this, we can listen to tunes while we work," Rocket replied distractedly.

"How is that a priority?" Drax questioned.

"Blame Quill and Ash! They're the ones who love music so much!"

"I agree with Drax. It's hardly important right now," Peter spoke, and Ash nodded.

"Oh, sure, okay." He dragged his words out, winking at them.

"No, we really agree with him," Ash answered.

"Sure, I know." Rocket winked again.

Drax sighed. "I can clearly see you winking."

"Damn. I'm using my left eye?"

A growl caught Ash's attention, and she looked down at Groot. He angrily threw aside some foraging Orlon before he turned to her, gesturing at the creature with a huff. "I am Groot," he explained.

Ash sighed. "Like father, like son," she spoke quietly before addressing the little tree. "They were not looking at you funny."

Another crack sounded, and they looked up as a gigantic breast broke through the interdimensional rift. The four with aero-rigs flew away as it created a thud at its impact. The others shot at it while Ash blasted it with magic. Drax hollered, charging at it with his twin blades at the same time as Quill turned on his mask.

Ash landed on the floor and circled her hands. She pushed one forward, forming a rope which captured one of the beast's tentacles, and she pulled back. It flew off, and she stared wide-eyed as it hit Quill, causing him to land on his back with it sitting across his chest.

"Shit! My bad!" she called awkwardly, offering him a thumbs up. She clenched her fist, and the limb exploded, drenching Quill with slime. "Fuck! Sorry!"

Ash went to rush over to him when a tentacle batted her across the platform. Skidding backwards, she flipped herself onto her front, and she used the momentum to stand, magic darting back to steady her. Another came to take out her legs, and Ash used her jetpack to jump over it. She lifted her hand, and black mist shot out to encircle it and stop its attack. A grimace formed on her features as she strained to keep it in check.

Her eyes found Groot dancing to the music blasting from the speakers. "Get out of the way, Groot! You're going to get hurt!" He stopped dancing and waved at her. "Hello, child." She let her grip on the tentacle go and pushed her hands out, forming a black shield in front of her. As a tentacle came straight toward her, it pushed her back by an inch, but her eyes shifted black suddenly, and the flesh touching the shield darkened to black before it disintegrated.

Drax stood and glared at the creature. "The beast's hide is too thick to be pierced from the outside. I must cut through it from the inside," he declared.

"Huh?" Gamora asked.

Drax hollered and charged toward the creature.

"Drax, no! That doesn't make-"

The creature opened its mouth, and Drax jumped inside it.

"What is he doing?" Quill shouted, the group meeting in the air for a moment.

"He said the skin is too thick to be pierced from the outside, so he..." Ash explained, trailing off, gesturing to the monster.

"That doesn't make sense!"

"I tried to tell-"

"Its skin is the same thickness from the inside as from the out!"

"I realise that!" Gamora yelled.

Quill reloaded his pistol as he thought.

Ash's eyes fell on the incision on its neck, pursing her lips as she hummed. "Gamora, there's a cut on its neck - Rocket, Quill, get it to look up." The trio flew up high and blasted the creature repeatedly.

"Hey, you giant Sea Monkey, up here!" Quill taunted.

The beast screeched at them, and as it was distracted, Gamora plunged her sword into the cut in its throat. She slid down with the blade held tightly in her hand, and the creature wobbled before falling over heavily.

Drax fell from the stomach with a triumphant look on his face. "Haha! I have single-handedly vanquished the beast!" he cheered.

Quill scoffed, and Rocket snorted while Gamora stared at him, dead in the eyes, with Ash holding a blank look on her face. Groot threw a rock at him for good measure.

"What?"