Chimera [][] GotG [][]

9. [][] The Race [][]

Unedited

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Marisol flopped down in one of the chairs on the bridge, staring out the front window, bored out of her mind.

She'd shoved all the unwanted thoughts and memories to the back of her head, at least for the time being, long enough to keep Kale at bay anyway.

Starlord and the others were slowly trickling in behind her, preparing for take off when another ship made its way over, hovering just beside them.

It was smaller, newer looking. The wings were a lot shorter, and the mast was a lot more narrow. Judging from the pipes on the sides, Marisol assumed the thing had been built for speed.

The white platings were reinforced with dwarf star alloy to see to it that the little vessel could take a hit; though Marisol imagined the puny thing could venture too far out of this world's atmosphere.

It was surely be crushed by the air pressure should its altitude become too high.

The ship's lights began flickering the slightest bit, wings curving inwards, engine revving up.

Gamora frowned, scowling at the smaller ship with distaste. "What are they doing?"

Rocket chuckled lowly, climbing up to the pilot's chair. "They wanna race." He gripped the controls eagerly, glancing at Quill. "Can we race 'em?"

Quill looked apprehensive about the idea, especially since Rocket appeared to already be overly ecstatic about it. "The Milano is a thieving ship. It's not really built for racing."

Though based on his behavior, Marisol doubted he even cared. It was more likely that he was just trying to impress Gamora enough so that she'd sleep with him.

"I say we do it," Marisol said, ignoring her cousin's protests. They hadn't done anything remotely exhilarating since escaping the Klyn, and she was in desperate need of some adrenalin.

Gamora gave her one of those looks of disapproval she liked handing out so often. "What happened to disliking senseless behavior?"

Marisol slipped into the copilot's seat next to Rocket, giving her a small shrug. A smirk was beginning to form over her lips. "Racing isn't senseless. It's strategizing for when we need to outrun the authorities."

"Uh, we're gonna need to out run the authorities in a few minutes, because you two are gonna draw attention to us!" Peter insisted.

"Eh." Marisol had to admit: he made a good point for once. It was just that she didn't particularly care at the time.

"The imbecile and murderous are correct," Drax put in. "We should be focusing on finding and killing Ronan, not partaking in ludicrous games!"

Marisol waved the thought away, flicking the Milano's lights back at the smaller ship. "Relax, we can do both, amigo."

"Yeah, you guys need to learn to live a little!" Rocket smirked, revving up the Milano's engines.

"I am Groot," Groot said, covering his eyes.

Rocket scoffed. "I am not going to get us killed! Shut up."

Outside, the smaller ship flicked its wings twice, indicating that they'd go for the next two blocks, until they reached the next rest stop.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Peter asked nervously as he and the others hurried to sit down and strap in.

"Rocket was cybernetically engineered to fly ships and has extensive knowledge on weaponry," Marisol reminded her cousin.