[Heroes Assembled] Groot Fan Fiction - I Oa You 1 AI Brain

 

5777/I Oa You 1 AI Brain

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I Oa You 1 AI Brain
Date of Scene:	29 March 2021
Location:	Oa
Synopsis:	Scott and the Guardians enact a daring, stealthy heist on Oa. The kind of stealth that leaves giant craters in the street.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Lang, Groot, Gamora, Peter Quill, Nebula, Rocket

---

Scott Lang has posed:
It was so easy in his head. He'd broken into plenty of places even before he had the Ant-Man suit. Walking amongst the hordes of aliens on Oa though Scott realized quickly he was out of his depth. He needed a heist crew. Thankfully there was one already on Maxima's flagship.

"Look I've done this lots of times. Cut the power, make a distraction so everyone looks over one way, sneak in the other side, grab the loot, get out. It works every time. You guys help me out, I get my stuff, you get everything else worth taking in there. Easy peasy lemon squeezy," Scott declares as they move as a not so inconspicuous group down the glistening city walkways. Half the planet was Green Lantern facilities of some sort or another, but the lock-up that loomed in the distance was more imposing than most, a blocky and sturdy looking structure that seems made to take an orbital bombardment and keep standing. At least a couple Lanterns flying on patrol overhead at all times, more sure to be inside. To fully alert even one of the super-powered space cops what they were up to would be disastrous, and bring an army down on their heads in short order. No sweat.

Groot has posed:
"I am Groot." Groot looks to Rocket to translate as applicablle but nods to Scott's plan....well, mostly, except for all of the parts that his primitive but well meaning hooman brain doesnt grock about advanced alien technology, and that's hardly HIS fault. He will let Rocket explain that, and looks forward to the sarcasm as he always does. He crosses his arms and leans against a pole, waiting. The shrinking thing is neat though.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora knew she was outvoted before the voting took place. That's the idea behind her voting 'yes', anyway, which may or may not have been self defeating, but... she didn't want to have to run down the motives behind a 'no' vote.

    Not with her rap sheet.

    So the otherwise immodestly clad Zen-Whoberian walks with the others with her cloak pulled closed around her body, and the hood pulled over her head. Only the lower halves of her eyes are visible as she peers intensely at Scott for a long moment, and, rather intensely, demands: "... What is a Lemon."

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter is walking down the street grooving to the beat of his headphones while his magic Awesome Mix vol 3 plays in his walkman, he shoots finger guns at a couple people who looking at the weird half walking half dancing terran before he pulls down the headphones to listen to Scott.

"Sounds like something that'll get us killed, but what the hell if we," he drops his voice. "Rob Oa we'll be legends, so," he hand wobbles. "Worth it. So, who's on the distraction?"

"A sour yellow Earth fruit," he supplies to Gamora as she asks her question.

Nebula has posed:
    This was, without a doubt, a terrible idea. They flew all the way to Oa inside of Maxima's ship to avoid detection in the first place. But then there was something about this Scott guy. He had that same infectious optimism that Peter had and her recognition of that meant Gamora was likely to fall for it. She did vote yes.. so she voted yet.

    Besides, there was something worth far more value than a silly AI brain that Scott apparently wanted. She was going to make father proud after all. "These memories are for you father," she said in the mirror before heading with the crew down to the planet.

    Her hood is up too and she is pondering the numerous ways in which they will have to contort their skill set to beat Green Lantern security. It wasn't too late to turn around and go back to the ship.. and she could alway 'accidentally' let some of them get captured. No huge loss, so long as it isn't Gamora.

Rocket has posed:
"For starters, these guys are about as annoying as the Nova Corps, if not more," Rocket's saying as he walks along, needing more steps to keep the pace with those taller than he is. "One side of me is thinkin' why don't we just blast our way in, take what we want, take /out/ whoever gets in our way, and scram." His eyes narrow, and he gives a long look at the guy in the costume that takes after ants as a moniker. "The other side of me knows those guys ain't pushovers, most of them. Their whole thing is based on willpower, concentration, and all that. If we get in some hot water, we're gonna need to be able to get out quick and probably keep 'em from using those fancy rings of theirs."

If he's packing any heat, which he just about always is, it's stashed away in an inconspicuous spot. He peers up at Groot as they walk along. "What's that? A surprise to keep them away? Yeah, I guess it's better you don't have to, whatever it is, but you gonna fill your pal in here or what?"

With that interlude done, he jerks a thumb toward Lang. "Thing is, if this /does/ go south, we don't know you and we got lost. This is your idea. I got no love for these assholes, so I'm gonna stick it to them if I can whether I get something good outta it or not. 'Guardians of the Universe?' Those flarkin'..anyway. Quill, you should call up one of your space lawyer pals - a /good/ one, not some idiot - and sue them for infringement."

He checks Gamora and Nebula with a nod each, at least involving them even if he hasn't had anything to say to them directly yet.

Scott Lang has posed:
     "See I knew Pete would get it. But, lets keep the legend stuff you know, on the downlow. The point is people DON'T know we did this," Scott hastens to add with a glance over his shoulder at the target and then back at Rocket who is putting up the most protest, a slight scowl on his face.

"It will be FINE. They're not gonna know we were even here. Alright look I noticed one thing same here as on Earth, everyone likes water. So there are water lines going in there! I can shrink one of you with me long enough to slip inside, we pop out a faucet and that gets us past most of security. Another couple of folks go and knock out power to the block. The building probably has backup but it should give us a few more seconds to find our way through inside. Then while the power is out the others go and start up a little riot or something at one of the restaurants around here, something to get a few Lanterns to leave the lock-up and come check it out. I shrink the stuff inside, we pop back out, everyone fades into the crowd and we meet up back at the ship to split the loot. It's EASY," Scott assures, his plan high on general ideas and low on details.

Clearly he knows NOTHING about what's inside the lock-up, hardly surprising but not exactly good to hear minutes before things kick off. He claps his hands together and gives his best endearing smile. "So who wants to take a swim with me?"

Groot has posed:
Groot nods to Rocket, "I am Groot." He looks at Scott and blinks and then looks at Rocket and says, "I am Groot." He shrugs and waits for the others, but seems...resolved, more so than he usually does. He cricks his neck and his knuckles.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora wrinkles her nose briefly as the humble Lemon becomes a part of her understanding of the universe. There's no time for followup questions, though; there's heist talk afoot.

    "... I concur." Gamora says carefully. "The less people know about this the better. If not merely for the fate of The Guardians' Galactic Adventure Tour." She says with absolute straight faced sincerity.

    That fate looks a bit bleak as a distinct lack of details come in. Gamora crosses her arms slowly. Oh well, in for a penny. "... I am well experienced in moving unheard and unseen. I can do that much." Offhand, she's not sure how she'd start a riot, so...

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula hates this plan. Then again, the kind of plans she usually come up with are solo missions. Working in a team is still something she's getting used to. "I'll go with you," she says to Scott not at all trusting his motives on this mission. Then again, what can an Earthman really get up to all the way in the center of the galaxy. She figures he'll need her anyway.

    She nods to Rocket and Groot and says, "I suspect they would be good at causing a distraction. They don't even usually have to try." Which would leave Gamora to take out the power.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket just gives Groot a long look, one that turns thoughtful before he nods slowly. "I see. I seeeee. Well, you just keep it handy just in case. I don't plan on any of us dying today or any time soon." Whatever are they talking about?

Crossing his arms, he listens to Lang's plan the whole way through, and there is a side of him that even ends up looking mildly impressed. "For a humie, that ain't bad. I can tell you've done stuff like this before. You're short on some of the specifics, but you got a few contingencies in mind to keep them distracted longer. What you're missing is a place like that probably has security beyond just the Lanterns or whoever they got watchin' it, so you wanna be careful you don't get spotted on some feed of theirs."

With Nebula volunteering to accompany Scott, he nods. "Nebs is good backup, but cross her and she /will/ give you a new orifice or two."

Did he just call her 'Nebs?'

"Now huddle 'round and let ol' Rocket show you something. Watch." He heads over to a spot he can use for a little cover and pulls out a datapad, which features a three-dimensional holo-display of the area. He drills down to the building in question, and as his little hands fly over the screen he certainly seems to be hacking into some sort of network. The reasoning? Full schematics of the building. "I'm gonna patch this through to the two of you." He points out a few locations on the images. "Here are a couple good spots in, there's where you want to be, and this is probably the best spot to come out of. They got cameras here, here, and here, and I /should/ be able to hack into their systems to run these on the lockup on a loop long enough for it to look like everything's nice and quiet."

Shrugging, he adds, "But if you guys need a diversion at some point, Groot and I can see to that."

Scott Lang has posed:
"You are certainly Groot," Scott agrees with the tree before Rocket starts pulling up the building schematics and his eyes widen. "That's perfect!" he hisses excitedly, his eyes drinking in the details. He was used to working off building blueprints, this was a hundred times better and it was clear for a dumb humie he knows what he's looking at all the same. "OK, so Gamora you sabotage their power and whatever else you can screw up out here without getting seen, maybe hang close if anyone needs backup. Rocket keep hacking their stuff and if need be kick up that fuss with Groot. And me and Nebs was it? We'll get in through the waterline. Red and Blue. We can be Team Gen 1," Scott making a Pokemon reference even most Earthlings would give him a long hard stare for.

One more look at the fortress like structure and he reaches up to his collar and presses a hidden button, his helmet snapping up into place. "Lets go rob the space cops. For justice," he makes sure to add as he hurries off down a side alley. It may be an alien city, but waterlines worked the same no matter what tech was involved, and they all needed a way to be accessed from above ground if anything went wrong. The hatch might not be a typical manhole but it was close enough as he hefted it aside and turned on a light on his helmet, climbing down and examining the multitude of pipes in search of just the right one, trusting on Nebula to follow and everyone else to get on their part. It would EASY.

Gamora has posed:
    "Very well." Gamora concludes solemnly as her part is laid out for her. "Nebula." She regards her sister evenly before she goes, "... Abandon him, if neccesary. Everyone else... Good luck." She says, and turns around with a sweep of her cloak, moving away to do her part.

Groot has posed:
Groot thinks a moment and nods solidly, "I am Groot." Groot does not think this plan is automagically going to get him killed now but moves with Rocket to the hacking/distraction area that they are pointed to.

Nebula has posed:
    The short furry one is trying to be familiar with her. She narrows her eyes at him when he refers to her as 'Nebs'. Then again, it's better than being called 'angry smurfette' and some of the other names Peter and Rocket have come up with. She corrects Scott and says, "My name is Nebula."

    She gives a small nod to Gamora as if it were the obvious and completely normal choice to make given the situation they're entering. Nebula's cloak billows out as she stands back up giving Rocket a brief glimpse at some of the things she has concealed within it. Her stun staves, energy balls, shield destabalisers, site to site transport pads which will only work on Oa, an interfacing kit to Green Lantern computers, and a stun gun of sorts.

    She gives him another brief look of warning.. obviously she's thought this heist through long before they landed down here and she probably has an ulterior motive for being here. "Let's go," she says and follows after Scott - down in to the sewers. It'll be EASY.

Rocket has posed:
It probably won't be easy. These things rarely are. But, hey, if it /does/ end up more quiet than not, it'd be welcomed.

Rocket gives Nebula a thumbs-up after seeing what she's got on her. She's certainly got options. "C'mon, Groot. Let's go look natural."

He ambles over toward the wall of a building that gives them a clear view of the target in question, continuing to monitor a few different feeds. It's like Five Nights at Freddy's, only different.

Scott Lang has posed:
     "Nebula, got it. Here's the one we want," Scott says, barely paying attention to one of the galaxy's most lethal assassins about what might very well annoy her. He's focused now on his work as he works a valve on a smaller pipe, lessening the flow a bit so it wasn't quite so fast. That done he punctures a small hole in it with nothing more than what looks like a sharp shiny chisel of a tool. Sometimes low-tech was fine. The hole is small enough to barely cause a dribble as looks back at her.

"OK, I'm going to shrink you down now. It's not something you wanna do without a suit for very long. I'll jump in, you come in after me. I've got the timing pretty well worked out so I'll grow enough to stop myself and catch you, then we climb out and get you back to normal before...well you'll be fine," Scott worryingly not delving into what happens to someone if they shrink for very long without a suit. What looks like a fancy coin, or a fidget spinner, flashes in his fingers. "Here we go, 3, 2, and 1!" giving her at least a couple seconds to ready herself before he flicks it at her, the shrink disc imparting a dose of Pym Particles directly to Nebula.

Groot has posed:
Groot has control of his own appearance and so adjusts his a bit and looks more bioluminscant to include the green lantern symbol on his chest and look all Green Lanterny. He even makes a 'ring' on his finger and chuckles at his cleverness, following Rocket to wherever he leads.

Nebula has posed:
    The world shrinks around her rapidly and she stares up at a giant Scott Lang. Catching her breath, so many of her sensors are going wild from the experience and her schematics overlaying her visuals of the world are disorientatingly at the wrong scale completely.

    Shaking her head, she grits her teeth and begins to run down the pipe as instructed. If there is a time limit on this, she can imagine how horrible it would be to de-shrink in the midst of a pipe. Her mostly cybernetic body is quite good at the short distance sprint.

    At the other end of the pipe she jumps out and falls down to the sink with a fist to the bottom and one knee. Classic squirrel / superhero pose. Even without a suit, she is very sturdy.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket squints at his tall, tree buddy. "Groot!" he hisses under his breath. "That's the worst possible disguise you could do here!"

No sooner does he finish saying that than a pair of actual Green Lanterns descend toward them, causing him to stash his pad so they can't see what he was in the middle of doing, for they are quite curious.

Hailing Groot, they look quizzically between the two of them, then at him. "New to the crew?" one of them asks. "What's your name, and which sector have you been assigned to?" Rocket just rubs his face, then pretends to go about washing the area as he covers for it by licking his hands to wipe through the fur.

Scott Lang has posed:
"You know being small and blue I can't help but think of this character called Smurfette, you ever...oh you're gone already," Scott notes from above before he follows after, shrinking with a bit less disorientation and hurrying after Nebula. He pops out of the faucet with only slightly less grace and looks around from their miniaturized vantage.

An alien restroom, oh how exotic. No signs of anyone occupying it though which was good as Scott hops to the edge, waiting for Nebula to follow before he says, "Back to normal before anything starts to go loopy," he tells her, another disc flicked her way restoring her to her normal height. Scott meanwhile for the moment remains teeny on the sink's brim as he pulls up the schematics Rocket had so neatly stolen.

"We're already past the first couple layers of security. A few cameras and a manned checkpoint to get by, should be one Lantern there. We get past them and we should be outside the lock-up...I'll be honest it's less security than I thought. I guess they figured nobody would try and steal anything on a planet full of energy projecting space police," Scott conjectures. Does that make this plan brilliant or idiotic? He taps into his communications. "Rocket. You got those cameras taken care of? Hey, little hairy guy, you there?"

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot." He lies pretty well actually, but most people dont know it. He looks them up and down and smiles, "I am Groot" and waves to Rocket as if he were introducing a friend, which he is."

Nebula has posed:
    Wompf, back to full height. She shakes her head again as reality starts to make sense with her augmented reality once more. "I have been called smurfette by Peter. I do not get the reference, but it is some stupid Earth thing I suppose," she says with annoyance in her voice.

    From her cloak she takes out a small pin and places it on Scott's chest, her other hand offering a tiny remote control, "You will need this. Personal hologram." Just like from Total Recall. The remote turns it on and off and the holograms position is where the remote is pointing. "There will be automated guards and you are incapable of fighting them. If a Lantern turns up, a battle of wills will always be lost - we must come at them sideways. Always."

    She cocks her head and says, "Rocket. Cameras."

Rocket has posed:
Rocket scowls, but keeps it to himself. He can hear them nagging him through the comms they share, and he opens his up in order for them to catch on to what he's saying to..someone else. He also goes a little off script with what Groot mentions. "Yeah, I'm his translator. This is Lantern Root ah'Bega from Sector FML867-STFU5309. He's here for some orientation thing. First of his kind as a Lantern and all. You know, he always wanted to be a 'Guardian of the Universe' an' shit, but he's a little shy. Seen more than heard."

He looks up at the two space cops pointedly. "When he's /real/ nervous he starts dropping seeds all over the place, and nobody wants to see that in public. So if you don't mind...?"

The real Lanterns exchange glances with each other, and the one who didn't speak first rests a hand against the shoulder of the other one, guiding him back. He says, "Ah, I remember those days. I don't know which sector that is, but I have a feeling you'll be a fine addition to our ranks."

As they move off again, the first one can be heard calling something in. "Yeah, can you check on something for me?"

Rocket curses under his breath and quickly pulls up his pad again, but he's not able to answer them immediately.

Scott Lang has posed:
"I mean, Smurfs aren't THAT stupid," Scott weakly defends as he hops to the floor and also restores his height for the moment, taking on the hologram tech from Nebula. The remote twiddles along his fingers a moment, an absent-minded practice of his sleight of hand skills before he nods his head in agreement. "Sure. Avoid the fight. Better we avoid being seen at all really," Scott confirms as he moves to the bathroom door and takes a peek outside. Empty, the restrooms apparently weren't a high security target worth guarding and there's little noise beyond. The lock-up really was mostly just that, the entire building meant simply to house all the dangerous things the Lanterns collected around the universe. As such there was very little in the way of staff or extraneous employees worth worrying about running into, just the guards and automated security. Scott was fairly sure some casinos on Earth had more security systems in place. But those casinos weren't surrounded by an army of space-faring super-powered cops. If they were seen it was all over. THAT was the real security.

"C'mon, no cameras in the bathroom hallway, lets get a look at that checkpoint," Scott whispers as he slips out of the bathroom, listening to Rocket and Groot talk their way out of trouble over the comms. Moving to the end of the short hall he shrinks down to quarter-size to make himself harder to see before peeking around the corner.

Cameras sure enough watched here, a single Lantern on duty at what looked like an armored door. He was sat behind a desk, a large red alien with devil like horns. Not exactly hard at work, clearly this guard duty wasn't the most exciting task as he seemed more interested in playing a game on the space equivalent of an Ipad. But a couple of scary looking armed robots stood sentry on either side with more attention.

Groot has posed:
Groot follows Rocket's lead (of course be does) and says quite nervous "I am Groot" His left arm falls off and begins sprouting seeds and flowers at a dandelion like rate, "I am GROOT!" His right arm falls off as he looks even more nervous.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula moves along with Scott and says, "Please stop talking about smurfs." She's being very patient with him. He is paying them for the privilege. She grabs his shoulder, "Important. Take this," she says and hands him one of the Oa-only teleportation pads. "Put it on the ground when I tell you."

    "Also," she says and pats his shoulder, "stay here." She peeks out to look at the lantern and the twin robots. Her hand ducks behind her and then she is off around the corner with swift movements. Scott gets to see one of the best assassins play her game.

    She tosses a device at the roof above the Lantern as she pushes off the wall. One stun baton strikes in to chest of the first security bot and through the chassis. Sparks erupt even as she tosses another device toward the big armoured door. It sticks to the middle and springs to life with energy as she kicks the robot in to it, frying it, even as it too fries the shielding protecting the door.

    She comes to rest in front of the lantern who looks aghast and stands, holding out his ring - just as the device above his head emits a pulsing field over him and he wobbles for a moment, then drops to the ground unconscious.

    Cracking her neck and rolling her shoulders back, she looks back to Scott and says, "This is where we diverge from your plan. Continue on your way - I will join you. Soon," she says mysteriously and heads down the corridor in a different direction.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket grabs the first arm and exclaims, "Root! Pull yourself together! Not in front of the kids!" Fortunately the space cops didn't question the Groot/Root part, but he was ready to handle that as well. Lowering his voice, he adds, "Okay, that's enough. We gotta get back to making sure they have a clear path!"

His voice comes in more clearly again. "Groot, in his infinite wisdom, thought it'd be a good idea to pretend to be one of the flarkin' space cops, and sure enough a couple of them keyed in on him to come ask questions. As I am telling you this, one of them is soon going to find out I just made all of that up, so you'd better move like they're already on to us. I see you got a single guard and a couple sentry bots. You guys on it?"

He catches a glimpse of Nebula moving into the view of one of the video feeds and quickly alters it to loop the last minute or so starting from prior to her showing up. Unless someone happened to be watching in real-time, security will be none the wiser. "I got the camera. You're clear. Which way are you going, Nebula..?" This is important, unless she doesn't mind potentially showing up on another feed.

Scott Lang has posed:
"Hey what are you...Nebula. Nebula!" Scott keeping his voice and still at his quarter size as the assassin rushes around him and dispatches of the checkpoint with extreme violence. He could only hope whatever she hit the guard with also scrambled his memory a bit. Walking down the corridor as Rocket gives him the all clear on the cameras he gives the guard a brief check to be sure he was actually alive as well only to scowl as Nebula deviates from his master plan. "What do you mean join me? Nebula, this isn't part of the tour! I...Rocket you know you and your crew have reliability issues right?" Scott huffs as he checks the door over.

He was a master electrician but trying to figure out alien wiring was a bit beyond him. Perhaps a clever plan, or use the guard's palmprint or a retinal scan or...he turns around to look at the guard's desk and sees a large green button set into it. His eyes narrow. No. He reaches out and gives it a push, there's a chime noise and the door slides aside. "Anyone familiar with the phrase 'too easy?' by chance?" he notes as he steps through and approaches the vault area. There was still one more door to get by, surely IT would require all his talents.

Groot has posed:
Groot stops looking like a lantern and chuckles like it is a practical joke, "I am Groot!" He then gets the hell out of dodge as fast as he can, grabbing Rocket if he can and then ducking around a corner while seeds flout from his arms obfuscating their escape.

Nebula has posed:
    The lantern is out like a light, but certainly still alive.

    Nebula says over the comms to Rocket, switching back to regular Guardians of the Galaxy channel, "To the control room. Make me a quiet path." She doesn't wait for him, she just assumes he'll keep up - that's her version of giving him respect. She respects Rocket's ability to be an excellent thief and general naredowell. "I will strive to be quick," she informs him rather matter of factly.

    She rounds several corners and then opens the door to the control room. The workers in there aren't lanterns and aren't security bots, but they are extremely surprised when Nebula enters.

    One gets shot by the stun weapon as the other rushes toward the alert button on the wall. She tumbles forward and throws her shock baton at him, knocking him on the head and his head in to the wall with force; knocking him out.

    She sits down at the console and connects herself in to the system. Whispering to herself as her eyes leave the real world and dive in to the digital, "Where are you hiding..." She dips and dives through the system, through history, looking for a single file, just one, that details the history of Thanos.

    Everything the Guardians of the Universe didn't realise they knew about him. Because it was under a different name. And Nebula needs it - she needs it more than they do. Firstly, to gain points with father for deleting it, but also because she wants to know what it says to use against him. It could be vital to her lifes mission.

Rocket has posed:
"Yeah, bye!" Rocket allows Groot to pick him up so they can relocate. Had he more time, he'd have left them a nice note saying 'Suckers!' But, Nebula is on the move, Ant-Man is figuring out things aren't going according to his plans, and he snickers over the comms. "Coast's clear, Nebula. Keep doin' what you're doin'. And, bug-boy? Nobody ever said we ain't got our own motives. We rely on ourselves, nobody else. The cameras are taken care of. You might wanna speed it up before someone figures out what's going on."

/He/ may not even know what Nebula's really after, but depending on what kind of scans she's running, she might just come across some information on another planet: Halfworld, in the Keystone Quadrant. Not much there, but there /is/ something in the data about service animals and patients of some kind, and genetic engineering among other things.

Scott Lang has posed:
"I thought you had enough motive getting to steal things out of galactic lock-up. This is the last time I trust shady aliens to help me rob the police," Scott whines as he hurries on, back to normal size now as he enters the vault room. Vaults really, the Lanterns had been confiscating stuff for a very long time after all, a room filled with what were essentially colossal safes stacked on top of one another, at least three dozen high and down a corridor that ran a half mile or more. Doors that now stood between him and every piece of dangerous tech the Lanterns had ever confiscated. Very large, very mechanical looking doors with odd-shaped slots strewn across their surface. Keyholes it takes Scott a moment to realize and then a horrible realization. "I think these things takes a Ring to open, maybe even a few working together to make the keys and operate them," he bemoans. They had 1 Ring back on the fallen guard, but there was no time to try and figure out how to use it, clearly making the keys out of thin air for the vault was more than just brute force of will. Scott rubs a hand over his face and thinks. There was little doubt the things weres made to take a pounding, he doubted the Kryptonians could tear them open in one clean go and was sure whatever metal they were made from would be nearly invincible.

"Hold onto your butts, I'm doing something stupid," is the warning they get as he locates the one the schematics indicated held Brainiac's tech among others. The building rumbles soon after he says it and then there's a sound of many very large, very heavy things falling and crashing in the depths of the bunker like building. In Scott's hand was the single shrunken vault he had plucked out of the wall. A load-bearing vault as the rest of the series keep collapsing and crashing to the ground. "We need to leave now. QUICKLY," he suggests, the racket and damage no doubt going to attract attention.

Groot has posed:
Groot does not, in fact, hold on to his butt, but does randomly search the nearest computer terminal, looking for something in the Oa database, "I am Groot." He sounds pensive, memorizes it and closes the terminal watching Rocket do...the awesome things Rocket does.

Nebula has posed:
    Damn.. information on an rumour about an infinite stone. That's the last thing she wants to have seen.. what's this? species uplifting and experimentation on animals? curious. Halfworld in the Keystone Quadrant? might be worth checking out sometime. But there.. there is it, the information about Thanos. She smirks as she deletes it.

    When Scott.. unbalances the vaults, suddenly the door to the control room shuts tight and her access in to the computer is cut off. Over the comms she says to Scott, "If you are in the vault, place down the pad I gave you." Her way out was planned after all. She takes out her pad and puts it on the ground and waits for the link between the two before stepping on it to teleport over to where Scott is.

    "Did you find what you were looking for?," she asks. Because she certainly did.. and more.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket scoffs, with both Nebula and Ant-Man able to hear, "Listen, humie. Nebula might not get along with the rest of us much, but she's part of my crew. If it comes down to someone needing to take a fall, guess what? It's gonna be you. Don't wanna be that guy? Then pick it up, 'cause the space cops are probably gonna be getting wise to what's going on real soon. I thought you had it all mapped out. Guess not."

He's tracking both of them, and while security control is seeing what he wants them to, he's got an eye on what's really going on in there. He can see Nebula, but not the screens she's accessing. He can pick out all the vaults, and.. "You sure you and Quill ain't related? 'cause I'm pretty sure I heard him say something just like that before." Doing something stupid, that is. Then comes the rumble. "Yeah, if they weren't already on their way over, no question they are now." Leave quickly? "Ya think? What happened to 'in and out, not a sound, nobody will know a thing?' Hurry it up, then. We got a ship to get back to, and they're starting to realize someone's in their systems. I ain't got much longer before I gotta back out or they'll pinpoint who's behind it."

Scott Lang has posed:
"I never said I had it ALL mapped out. I just had, you know, the base outline. The strong bones of a plan!" Scott protests as Rocket berates and threatens him in equal measure.

He huffs a bit as he watches the vaults continue to fall, smashing into the floor which takes far more damage than the nearly invincible safes...though who knew who well their contents were holding up to the crashing. Indeed at least one was showing signs of swelling, probably containing a blast that would have leveled everything in a half mile or more if not for the well-made construction. Following Nebula's instructions he sets the pad down...then jumps back as she teleports in beside him. "CRIPES. Warn a guy a bit what you're doing will you? Yea I got it," briefly holding up the shrunken vault before it vanishes like in one of his card tricks. "We'll get it open later, right now we need to leave." Indeed there is the sound of hollering in the building now as the vaults stop falling, maybe a quarter of them now in a heap in the middle of the massive room, the floor beneath them a shattered, cracked mess but solid. They hadn't built their most secure lock-up on top of any secret tunnels alas.

"Time for that power outage Gamora," Scott hisses. For a second the lights go out before backup power kicks in, the lighting a bit less bright and more sporadic but still there. More importantly it locks down some of the doors behind them and causes chaos on the surface. "We're coming out the hard way!" warns Scott.

Moments later on the surface above there's a minor explosion as several of the massive vaults come crashing up from underground through the street as Scott fastballs them after growing to a rather larger scale, the vault room running far out beyond the building. On one of those vaults clings Nebula for the rough ride up who just looks like a bit of blue debris as she's given plenty of chance to drop off and meld into the panicking crowd. Scott follows moments later, little more than a speck when he surfaces through the hole and does his own vanishing act in a different direction.

Nebula has posed:
    It wasn't her preferred way of escaping the vaults, but it'll do. Her eyes seeking out debris as they fly out of the vault and then she finds the right moment to tumble down and back in to the crowd. Her hood goes back up and she walks casually at the same rate as everyone else as if nothing even happened.

    "I'm out," she says mostly for Gamora's ears but it's useful information for the whole operation. Her fists clench and unclench though as pain rips through her body from the sudden and unexpected acrobatics. She didn't have time to mentally prepare herself.

    "Heading to rendezvous," she says.. her voice is all business like this. The angry tends to happen more in person. And the weirdly touching sentiment from Rocket - as if somehow being crew meant something. Does it? is that how it works out here in the real universe and not in the mind screwing cult of personality called home.

Rocket has posed:
"Yeah, I'm not even gonna ask what percent of a plan that was, but I think I got enough fingers and toes to cover it," Rocket gripes, and by the time things are really getting active around the place, he and Groot have vacated the area.

Good thing, because that pair of space cops come flying back in. "Hey! We know what 'FML' and 'STFU' mean, and '867-5309' too! Wait. Where did they go?"

That's when they see the results of the heist.

The first: "FML."

The second: "STFU."

[Heroes Assembled] Groot Fan Fiction - Origins: How Rocket Met Groot And Became Best Buds...Get It

 

5598/Origins: How Rocket Met Groot And Became Best Buds...Get It

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Origins: How Rocket Met Groot And Became Best Buds...Get It
Date of Scene:	15 March 2021
Location:	Somewhere in Space
Synopsis:	How Rocket and Groot met and went off on great adventures together before joining the Guardians. Everything here is all true!
Cast of Characters:	Rocket, Groot

---

Rocket has posed:
"I said I wanted it! That means I have a right to it!"

The voice belonged to a small creature wearing a mostly orange jumpsuit. It could pass for someone's idea of prison attire, except for it having a variety of pockets and attachment points built into it. It's more like something an engineer or handyman might wear, but this would have to be one of the stranger examples of that in the known galaxy.

Why? Because the creature is, for all intents and purposes, an upright, talking raccoon. A raccoon that, in fact, is scampering away from the owner of a food stall at a market at an unknown little moon of an unknown planet somewhere in space (hey, there's a lot of these podunk places. Who can be expected to remember all of them? Some don't even have real names!)

"Give it back! Give it back or I'll shoot! I'll call the Nova Corps, you raccoon..thief!" the shopkeeper shouts, brandishing a small laser pistol. He is also of alien origin, a bird-like beak, purple skin, hair more like feathers. Poor thing hasn't even got any wings.

That's when the critter stops in the middle of chomping down on the still-alive morsel he swiped, looking like a giant blue shrimp. "Whaff waff fhat? Mouf iff full!" he retorts, and after swallowing he glares. "I ain't a raccoon! I'm Rocket! And I'm about to murder ya!" Out comes his own version of a gun, but after pulling it off a mounting bracket at his back, it articulates into something larger. "Heh heh heh..." He aims it at the guy, who has stopped dead in his tracks. "You really think the Nova Corps even knows or cares about this place?" he taunts.

Groot has posed:
Groot doesn't tell people a lot but when he was younger, before he was exiled, he visited Earth once and recognizes the Racoon. No one here understands him, not his landlord, not his initial jailers, not the thugs who run it but all leave him alone now unless he doesnt want to be. They learned that the hard way. Still, it gets lonely. He was released on good behavior but he is looking to start trouble again. This place is boring and exile is pointless. He is adrift.

Also, he wasn't aware Earth had more than one talking species. "I am Groot?" You are from Earth? He doesnt expect an answer but does say, "I am Groot." You look like a racoon from Earth. He immediately pays attention to the gun but chuckles at the look on the man's face.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket puts the guy directly in his sights and squints through the glass, pretending to really need to focus on his aim as the poor sap turns tail and starts to run, shouting, "No, please! You can have it! My treat! I like raccoons!"

"I /said/ I ain't a raccoon!" He pulls the trigger, but just before doing so he flips a switch to go from 'kill' to 'stun,' and rather than lethal ordnance blasting the alien, an arc of electrical current shoots out and hits home. The shopkeep goes rigid as he gasps, then the zap courses through him and leaves him a quivering mess on the ground. A few onlookers make themselves scarce, while others go about their business like nothing happened. They've seen stuff like this before.

"Direct hit. Still got it," Rocket preens, pretending to blow smoke away from the multi-faceted barrel. That's when he realizes someone else is nearby, apparently addressing him, or repeatedly introducing himself. As he lowers the business end of the weapon, he eyes the much taller, woodsy thing. "What the fuck is a groot?"

Groot has posed:
Groot chuckles. Oh this again? Gee, its not like he hasnt had this conversation before, "I am Groot." My species has limited vocal abilities as we get more mature. Its fine, no big deal. Nice to meet you though, I actually AM called Groot. He extends his hand in greeting. He is impressed at the fact that Rocket switch to stun at the last possible moment.

Rocket has posed:
Sometimes, scaring the piss out of someone and letting them live is more entertaining than killing them. Besides, Rocket just busted out of prison before flying over here. Besides besides, if he ever comes back here, he's going to want more of that tasty snack and the alien ought to be smart enough to simply give him a freebie in exchange for sparing his life.

It's a great Rocket Racket when it works.

"Yeah, you said that already," he informs Groot. "You're Groot and I'm Rocket, but I don't go around just saying that all the time." He peers at the branchy, leafy arm that slides closer, and in that moment he fails to see yet another alien deciding to play the hero. A gun is pointed at Rocket's back from diagonally behind him, and it looks set to kill.

Groot has posed:
Groot is not about to let that happen. Rocket might be a five minute friend until he gets exasperated but its a connection and Groot will take it. Groot is surprisingly fast for someone so large, and in a blur he tries to grab the gun and crush it into a ball. Unless stopped will also grab the owner of the pistol and hold him up close to his face, nice an intimidating.

"I am Groot!" Listen bub, he spared the other guys life. I like life. It's a thing I do. Like I could REALLY really easily crush your skull, just like this; putting his fingers on the guy's skull and squeezing it (if able) but I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to throw you in the middle of that lake down there, isnt that nice of me? "I am Groot."

Rocket has posed:
Rocket turns at whatever Groot's doing, staring as the gun is easily snagged and repurposed into something completely useless. The weaponsmith in Rocket may lament the destruction of what was probably a perfectly good gun he could have used, but it's not like there won't be other opportunities. He plants his hands at his sides as Groot reads the riot act to the alien with signs of a porcupine about him.

"Watch it. Quills suck." For just a moment, he looks off in a random direction and winks, as if there's something behind it. Probably nothing.

Back to Groot introducing himself again, Rocket realizes the way the words are said carry a different tone of voice, and he blinks. It wasn't understood, but given the body language and the overall demeanor, there's a message being conveyed.

In spite of the alien's protests, Rocket watches him soar, chucked into the distance where he lands with a little splash. At that moment, the gears turn in Rocket's head and he scrambles up to scale Groot and stand atop a shoulder, resting a hand against the side of his head for a grip. "Saaaay, you ain't got anywhere specific you gotta be, do you? I happen to have a ship over that way. You might say I'm a bit of an explorer."

Groot has posed:
Groot blinks in confusion at the scrambling. He has never had anyone over the age of five CLIMB him before though animals obviously do so. "I am Groot." . o O "I do not, Rocket." He is curious about this exchange and pleased that the alien he hurled the better part of a hundred yards didn't land on the rocks that were a hundred and ten meters out. He is kind and not violent but he is not a saint.

He sees the other expression on Rocket's face at the bent gun and unbends it, so that it is vaguely gun shaped but only an idiot would fire it since it is looks like some kind of alient sculpture or the likes thereof. He hands it to Rocket and says, "I am Groot." . o O "I have no idea why you would want such a thing, but I certainly don't need it."

Rocket has posed:
"What? No, no..this gun is useless now. Forget about it." Rocket takes the now unbent weapon, shakes his head at it, and lobs it over his shoulder. It happens to glance off the head of someone walking past them, and the sound of a yelp leads to a little snicker escaping the little monster's muzzle. The trajectory was too perfect to be blind luck.

Rocket continues, "So I'm gonna guess you were saying you ain't got a ship. I could use a flying buddy, someone to watch my back when I need it..like you did with the guy out there takin' a swim. Even if I can't understand you, but I got a feeling I just ain't listening the right way." He motions toward the ship, expecting Groot to move in that direction.

Groot has posed:
Groot also finds himself chuckling at the indigation from the alien with the very annoying voice. "I am Groot." . o O "No, no ship. No destination either, so never tried to get one. Watching your back?" He looks off into the lake and thinks a moment as the sun starts to set in a green and bluish hue, "I am Groot." He starts moving in the direction Rocket is trying to get him, . o O "Aye. I could do that."

Rocket has posed:
Rubbing his little hands together, Rocket is feeling the beginnings of a great plan taking shape. Someone like this on his side would make a lot of things much, much easier.

Before they go, he points back to the blue shrimp stand. "Hey, I'm still hungry. You wanna grab a couple more of those for me? The guy there, he won't mind. We got ourselves a little understanding. While you're at it, grab something for yourself, too. My treat." Technically he isn't paying for it, so it's just basic theft. No matter. They'll be back in space in no time.

---------------------------- ELEVATOR MUSIC, FADE OUT/IN ----------------------------

"You wanna try repeating that? I think I got part of it this time." Rocket is in the small common area of his ship, which isn't a very big thing to begin with. Barely above shuttle status, at least it's been retrofitted with some weaponry, because who flies a spaceship without guns?

He's standing on a chair, and while Groot might have to duck a little or sit to get comfortable, it's not awful. The front of his jumpsuit is zipped down enough that a few of the remnants of the past..lab work can be seen in the form of metallic bits near the collarbones, in particular. Toward one corner is a stash of loot from their last successful scam.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot" . o O "My name is Groot. Your name is Rocket." He's trying to keep it simple, since the effort is more than what ANYONE has tried to do since his exile. This is what they counted on when he spared the life of the mammal, his slow descent into madness in a galaxy that could not understand him. But he would return, and they would pay. He would claim what they had stolen from him! But until then, this was delightfully distracting. He found himself enjoying Rocket's lazze faire views on things, his casual irrevert humor and his bizarre obsession with stealing cybernetic arms."

Rocket has posed:
There were a few of those in another corner. Even a cybernetic leg. What he was going to do with them, he didn't even really have a plan. It just entertained him to see the expressions on the faces of others when they ended up missing the limbs. Even less than a whole limb meant good times ('I gotta /hand/ it to ya...')

It's taken weeks just to get this far, to the point of figuring out the basic lines of communication when Groot says those three words. You have to listen past it, to follow the sound of it, the body language, every little part. Fortunately, as something who's mostly an animal, Rocket has some natural instincts to help.

A lot of time has been spent flying, and eating, and sleeping, and causing trouble in different sectors, but times like this, at a rest stop on some backwater planet...a little bit of quiet isn't that bad. "I got my name outta that, and yours too. Say something else this time."

Groot has posed:
Groot says, ""I am Groot." . o O "We are on a spaceship. This is a pen." He found the latter to be one of the most common things in any language he had picked up and held a pen in his hand. He enjoyed the progress that they had made so far and was exceptionally patient.

He looked at the loot from their last gig in the corner with satisfaction and smiled. It was odd really, while he would NEVER give up his claim to the crown, the immediacy of it, the burning thirst for revenge was replaced by a friendship he hadnt felt since leaving his home.

Rocket has posed:
"Say that again," Rocket tells Groot, so he can repeat the identification of the pen. "Again." It takes a few times, but he begin to better understand the connection between how Groot says what he does. "A few more weeks, and I ought to have you able to tell me anything you've seen on this ship and I'll probably be able to get it without seeing the thing." That would help a lot once they start doing more, especially when Groot identifies things that are similar.

They are beginning to make this work. Rocket is starting to learn how to read Groot and follow his unique language. It's..actually pretty awesome. Having more of a back-and-forth conversation would be another step up, but very much in line to happen with enough time. "So you ain't really got a better place to be? I probably shouldn't be asking this and looking a gift horseworm in the mouth - tasty by the way, if you've never had one - but why'd you bother helping me out back on that shithole anyway? You didn't even know me."

And if Groot /did/ know Rocket before, would he have still helped? Yet, here he is, with the furry little thing.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot." . o O "I am Groot. You are Rocket. We are on a spaceship. This is a pen." He chuckles and nods, and then says, "I am Groot" . o O "In a few more wees you will either have it or go space mad and toss me out the airlock but since I can regenerate limbs, I will rip on off and leave it in a planter to remember with my friend" he grins widely and chuckles.

Groot sighs and doesnt want to bore his friend with politics so he keeps it simple, "I am Groot." . o O "I was a leader where I came from. I stood up for someone who had no defender and ended up killing one of my own. I broke our one law and they banished me. Until I have an army to conquor my world and take it back, I have nowhere else to go. And I helped you because I liked what you did with the weapon not killing them. I value life and help people when it isnt too much of an inconvenience."

Rocket has posed:
Rocket holds up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Overload!" Doing the 'This is..' stuff is one thing. He hasn't yet graduated to full conversation. All in due time, assuming they get the chance. "I'm gonna need you to repeat some of that, and I ain't gonna eject you out the airlock. You could go around someplace pretending to have some of those for arms and legs, though." He gestures toward the cybernetic limbs. "We could tell people you were made in a lab by crazy scientists trying to create some robot plant and we need credits for more treatments."

This would hit a little too close to home if his memories weren't all messed up about things in his past.

"But if I'm hearing this right, you..protected someone? And killed someone? Hey, killing is okay. Sometimes there's a good reason for it. Sometimes there's not and you just wanna do it because you can." If this draws a scolding reaction, at least it'll be a chance to learn.

Groot has posed:
Groot chuckles wildly at that. "I am Groot." . o O "You mean like this?" He puts on the leg and drops his own limb slowly working around into it. "I am Groot!" . o O "No one will defeat the mighty Rotorbot!" He does a pretty good immitation of the person they took the leg from. He nods, and repeats part of it, "I am Groot."


. o O "I am Groot. You are Rocket. We are on a spaceship. I have a pen." He pauses, "No. I don't have any place else to go." He listens to Rocket and then thinks, "I am Groot." He looks out the window . o O "It was them or the asshole. This wasn't a good reason but it was a necessary one." He looks back at Rocket and nods at the last statement.

Rocket has posed:
Repeating the common phrase of the day is helpful as a way of reinforcing that much. What Rocket gets out of the rest of the conversation /might/ only be 25% of it or so, but it's better than what it used to be.

He doubles over with laughter as Groot models the leg and shambles around a little with it on, and it's enough that he falls off the chair to land on the floor with a little thump that only interrupts the giggling for a couple seconds. "Ohhh, that's great! We ain't gonna get rich on that, but there's enough idiots out there who fall for the sympathy thing that we'll be living well for a while offa that idea!" he predicts.

He sits up to focus more on the end, sobering up quickly. "I ain't much of a saint, either. I've been in and out of a bunch of different prisons. So if you, I dunno, want me to drop you off somewhere, I get it. There's a reason I got no friends. I ain't easy to put up with, and sometimes it's safer for everybody that way." His ears turn back at this, flattening. He /expects/ Groot to move on at some point. And yet, Groot's accepted him so far.

Groot has posed:
Groot chuckles and does a passing job of looking harmless and infirm. He shrinks to the smallest he can go, about twice as high as Rocket and gets wide and an anime like, "I am Groot?" . o O "Please sir, may I have another bowl of space gruel?" He chuckles and resumes his normal size. "I am Groot?" . o O "If we don't get rich doing that, what can we get rich doing? This hand to mouth thing gets old my mechanically inclined friend."

He nods to Rocket's statement. He knows Rocket isnt a saint but he sees more of who Rocket is when no one else is around. "I am Groot." . o O "Even if I had somewhere else to go, and I don't, I'm in no hurry to get there." He is enjoying their time together. It's a strange life, but it is THEIR life.

Rocket has posed:
"We're all out of space gruel," Rocket says. That is definitely an item Groot's learned how to describe for him. "That as small as you can get? Meh. You're still double my size," he grumbles. Raccoons aren't bears, though. They're naturally small critters. At least he's bigger than one, even if he's not one (he totally is). "Look, we'll figure somethin' out. I can fly the shit outta anything, but there's only so much someone into the kinda things we are can do. But the longest I've ever gone without a meal is..three, four days maybe? At least I can just water you..right?"

He looks to the walking, talking tree, and hesitates before making a quick patting gesture at an arm. "I guess I ain't, either." He might not have got all of that yet, but he did get the general feel behind it. So, commiserating felt like the way to go. "You're not a bad partner, but don't tell anybody I said that. I don't need them knowing I got a soft side. Or, tell them whatever you want. Without a translator, they probably ain't gonna get it anyway."

---------------------------- ELEVATOR MUSIC, FADE OUT/IN ----------------------------

The prison wasn't much, as far as prisons go. Barely more than a beefed up processing center at an intergalactic jail. How they got there was really embarrassing. They were going to make off with a stash of weapons after a long night full of partying, drinking, and sneakily scouting out the depot, but Rocket overslept and forgot to check the charges on his own. Then, he went into it with a hangover and passed out the moment he tried to do anything strenuous. Reminder to self: don't do that next time.

"The good news," he said to Groot next to him in the cell, "is it should be a piece of cake gettin' outta here. But how'd they get you, too? I woulda figured you'd have gone wild on them. I honestly don't even remember what happened." He /is/ in a standard jail jumpsuit, sized more for the smaller of criminals. There are multiple other people and aliens in lockdown with them, many watching the pair with open suspicion.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot." . o O "I can get drunk, its just a lot harder than it is for most, but last night I found something that works. We'll need to take some of that one the ship." He chuckles, . o O "I could just but open the walls, but...I think your idea is a better one." He considers, and says, "I am Groot." , o O "You know I find the idea of breaking out of prison fun...its the kind of thing that might increase our street cred if we do it enough and between the two of us I doubt there are many places we couldn't get out of. Maybe we stumbled into someting good here?"

He looks at a larger man looking at them and grows to 12 feet. He doesnt even say anything and just flexes an arm as thick as an oak tree, plant muscles bulging. He is just daring the asshole to try something.

Rocket has posed:
"That's why you're all right. You even like getting drunk," Rocket says. By now, enough time has passed that the gaps in understanding between them are few and far between. It's not the first time they've shared a spot behind bars, but even when jailers have the foresight to separate them, either of them are capable of staging an escape. It's just more fun to do it together.

A lot of what they get into and out of is based on the potential for fun.

"I got a few ideas already working out in here," he says, tapping the side of his head as a look of mischief takes shape. He puts a hand out to get Groot to ease back down a ways. Both of them know Groot could probably just bend the bars, or extend himself enough to slip a key loose to bring back over. That's too easy, and only meant as a last resort. The guy stepping to them certainly looks like the toughest sumbitch in the room, and he's got enough metal plating over his subsequently bald head that you could probably cover it with magnets.

"Something we can help you with, chrome dome?" Rocket asks, giving Groot the wink now as he stands up so he's between the man and the bars of the large cell. "Looking for a polish? Maybe that guy over in the corner can take care of a shiny head that big." Oh, a dick joke.

Groot has posed:
Groot chuckles. He could throw this guy through the wall, and the cool thing is, with that plate on his forehead, he could do it in a way that wouldn't even kill him. Sure, break a few bones but...he waited though. One of the most enduring things of their friendship is that Groot just enjoyed WATCHING Rocket operate. So many idiots underestimated him and had no idea what thehy were dealing with. Groot was more than willing to let Rocket handle this situation. He didn't get intimidate when, frankly, given enough plant matter he could grow bigger than the building. He was better than this guy. Hell, he was better than most people but his empathy let him see the side of the little guy.

Almost no one in here was the little guy and if they ended up fighting all these guys, Groot wouldn't end up with even a molecule of guild. After a few moments of staring between the idiot and Rocket, Groot quietly whispered, "I am Groot." , o O "Why don't you show him why its a really bad idea." It would be the highlight of his evening.

Rocket has posed:
The goal here is clearly to get the man angry enough to charge like a bull at Rocket. "What did you say?" he challenges menacingly, to which Rocket gives Groot a look of boredom, rolling his eyes. "When they did all that," he says, gesturing to the shiny head as he cups his hands as if mimicking the shape, "did they replace your brains too, or did you just never have any? I /said/ I ain't putting my mouth around that or any other part of you. There's a lot of shit you couldn't pay me to do - okay, that part's probably not true - but the point is, I don't swing that way in jail. Ain't nobody gonna get me to sink that low, least of all a dumb humie like you."

By this point, the general din of conversation has cut out. The furry little creature is talking, and antagonizing the one guy in here they haven't messed with. Rocket, standing on the bench for a couple extra feet of height, still comes in well short of the seven feet Mr. Shiny Baldy Head towers at, and both of them make a show of cracking their knuckles. Gonna be a throwdown here! Maybe. Wait for it, Groot. It's gonna be hilarious.

Groot has posed:
Groot crosses his arms and smiles, trying to look harmless. He can't really, since he is a walking talking freaking tree, but he just looks non challant. He loves the build up, and even decides to be nice and 'warn' the man, knowing full well he isnt. "I am Groot." This is said in a tone that SHOULD be understood universally, . o O "You will be SOOORry." He already has his eye on two chuckleheads who already think they're going to protect their pack leader slowly trying to flank around Groot to get at Rocket. Groot eyes both of them, letting them know what happens if they do.

Rocket has posed:
The lackeys pause, for the moment. They don't act further without a cue from their boss. "Oh, I get it, guys. He's the /head/ honcho? Leader of the /sack/..I mean, pack? The /cock/ of the walk? The guy with the biggest /tool/ in the bag? I don't want to sound like a /dick/ here, but your name ain't /Peter/ is it? You runnin' a /members/ only club in here?"

That's more than enough for the guy to actually roar at Rocket, "That's enough! I'm gonna fuck you up, you little shit!" He lowers his head, the one connected to his shoulders, as he shouts, "I'm not even into that stuff! I like women! And my name's Woody!"

"Suuuure ya do," Rocket taunts, and when the name is given he almost loses it. "/WOODY?/ That's perfect! You hear that, Groot? His name's /WOODY!/" At that point, he charges and Rocket hops to one side, assisting with a trip at just the right point.

*CLANG* goes the sound of Woody hitting the metal bars, bending them enough that he gets stuck. Waving his hands frantically before gripping the bars to shove, his voice grows to a panic. "Help me, guys! I can't get it out!"

Rocket crosses his arms as the room erupts into mayhem. "I don't even need to say anything else to that."

Groot has posed:
Groot explodes. He was waiting for the chance to unloosh some pent up frostration and picks them both up and tosses one into the group of toughs considering joining the fight like bowling pins and picks the other up and throws him into the wall right next to their leader. He roars and smiles wickedly. These idiots are about to realize that they are messing with the .....well, they didnt have a gang name really but Rocket and Groot was a name they would know soon enough. The Notorios RG....GR.....GRR? Groot sighs. Leave the clever quips to his friend.

"I am Groot." . o O "Now might be a good time to leave."

Rocket has posed:
Rocket keeps himself off to one side. He could bite at hands and ankles and scratch out some eyes if he really wanted to, but part of this is about letting Groot have some fun instead of hogging it all for himself. The commotion is dealt with almost as quickly as it begins, and without any guards even responding. Must be getting some coffee. Nobody expects a sudden breakout, but in their defense nobody there had dealt with Rocket and Groot before.

Once it's all over, Rocket positions himself within Woody's line of sight and keeps his arms crossed, staring up at him with disappointment in his furry face. "Just think. If you kept a bottle of lube on you at all times, just in case of situations like this, you could get yourself unstuck a lot easier. Think about that next time. Groot, be a pal and.." He gestures, intending for his tree teammate, his plant-based partner, his sappy sidekick, his budding..buddy to lend a hand, or a branch.

Once Woody is freed up and the opening in the bars is left behind, Rocket squeezes through and motions for Groot to follow. "Come on, pal. Let's grab our stuff..well, my stuff, get outta here, and go find something else to do. Oh, wait." He counts it off on his fingers. "That's..seventeen escapes now."

Groot has posed:
Groot obliges his friend and knocks a hole in the wall. He beams and says, "I am Groot." . o O "Seventeen. But who's counting?" He waves at the idiots as he bends the bars BACK into place.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket giggles one last time after Groot's put the bars back. "You know they can just get out through the hole, right?" Maybe that's what Groot intended all along. "Heh..hole."

After Rocket's swapped the jail jumpsuit out for his more familiar one and regained possession of his weapons, a knocked-out guard or two left behind, he climbs Groot again for the walk back to the ship, casting out all sorts of threats and promises about what they'll do if anyone dares to get in their way.

Nobody does.

Once he's nestled comfortably back into the pilot's seat, he pulls up a local map and expands it out further. "Anywhere you want to go next? I could use a little R&R on one of those resort planets, myself." He gives Groot a grin, which for him still looks more like a grimace or a show of anger. Rocket doesn't smile all that well.

"I'm glad we found each other. We make a good pair. Me with the brains, you with the brawn. Nobody can stop us. But if you tell anybody that, I'll burn you in your sleep." No, he won't. Not any more.

Groot has posed:
He could try to close the hole but doesnt care to. He closed the bars, maybe the prison in their own minds will keep them inside? As it is, he walks with Rocket considering, "I am Groot." . o O "Maybe Xandar one of these days? I hear that they have neat museums and fantastic bars if you can get past the annoying law enforcement.