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

TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE
' I WILL BE ONCE HE'S DEAD . '

Yondu thrust the ship upward for takeoff, but tentacles wrapped around the rig, yanking it back down and destroying the palace foundations. Everyone fell forward from the sudden change in momentum, but Ash managed to fight against it and follow Peter to the top deck.

"Thrusters are out!" Yondu shouted.

Ash dropped to her knees and pulled off a board covering an array of wires. "There are purple wires?"

"No, that's blue," Peter corrected, falling into place beside her, their shoulders pressed together. He glanced at her as she rubbed her forehead, wince clear on her features. "You okay?"

Ash clicked her neck. "I will be once he's dead."

They looked at each other before Ash went back to rewiring, and Peter glanced at Yondu. "I guess I should be glad I was a skinny kid. Otherwise, you would have delivered me to this maniac!"

"You still reckon that's the reason I kept you around, you idiot?" Yondu shot back.

"That's what you told me, you old doofus!"

"Once I figured out what happened to them other kids, I wasn't gonna' just hand you over."

"You said you were gonna eat me!"

"That was being funny!"

"Not to me!"

"You people have issues," Rocket spoke, eyes flickering between them with a look of judgement.

Ash pushed herself further under the control panel, trying to rewire it with a frown on her face. Her eyes flickered up to see through the windshield where Ego's skeleton was growing in front of them. "Of course, he has issues that's our fucking dad!" Ash shouted. She clicked two wires together, and the spark shot through her. Feeling the roots of her hair tingle, she blinked rapidly for a moment. "I think I did it."

Peter thrust the ship forward instead of up, crashing through Ego and down the sloping floor. They burst through the pane of glass, causing Ash to brace herself against the control panel, not managing to escape before Peter began his assault on their father.

"We should be going up?"

"We can't. Ego wants to eradicate the universe as we know it. We have to kill him." They plummeted towards a hole in the earth below, but it was too small for the ship. Peter looked around. "Rocket!"

"Got it." Rocket blasted the lasers, chipping away from the pieces of rock while Peter twisted through the tunnels and around corners.

"So, we're saving the galaxy again?" Rocket asked as he obliterated the rock.

"I guess."

"Awesome. We'll really be able to jack up our prices if we're two-time galaxy-savers."

Peter shook his head. "I seriously can't believe that is where your mind goes."

"He's not wrong," Ash called, knuckles paling as she held onto the panel for dear life.

"It was just a random thought, man! I thought we were friends! I care about the planets, and the buildings, and all of the animals on the planets."

"And the people," Peter added.

"Meh."

Mantis giggled. "The crabby puppy is so cute he makes me want to die!"

"Your suicidal thoughts sadden me, but your wish will likely come true," Drax replied.

Ash and Peter looked at each other with raised eyebrows.