[Heroes Assembled] Groot Fan Fiction - The Lost Branch World - Part 2

 

Groot has posed:
(Radio Announcer Voice) When last we left the Guardians of the Galaxy, they had agreed to perform a dastardly deed on Thoote, a snooty galoot whose ideas would not take root on The Lost Branch world. This world, moved from Planet X's orbit centuries ago by a powerful alien force stopped being an aristocracy and became the Republic of Branches; and they get along with their local mammelian helpers. Both ideas are total anathema to Planet X, so Groot knew if Thoote returned, Planet X wouldn't give a hoot; and would send an armada to kill them all to boot. The only question is; how dastardly will the deed be, and can the group keep Peter occupied while they blow a bad guy up for great Justice!

Rocket has posed:
(Previously)

"If I told any of you what I was gonna do, you'd either wanna help me or try to stop me, so I ain't telling you a thing 'cept to say I can be discreet when I need to be, and I ain't doing nothin' that'll get back to the rest of you," Rocket says, keeping his voice low so only those in his circle, namely the other Guardians, can hear. "And if he objects," he adds, noting Peter, "tie him down, knock him out, get him drunk, all of that in whatever order it takes. But I'm doing a good thing here and you're just gonna have to trust me."

He walks past Groot, patting him on the leg. "Don't worry. I got this. The rest of you just enjoy yourselves. I ain't afraid of getting my hands dirty. Just remembered something back on the ship I need. In fact, keep that guy busy a while." He indicates Thoote. Like a generic mechanic's jumpsuit. And a bomb. And something to do a little rewiring with. It will be grand, and nobody will know any better.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora leans back into her seat very slowly. "... My concerns have not abated." She states plainly, then looks over her shoulder at Throote thoughtfully "... How does one distract a tree man whose language you do not speak?" She ponders. "Without violence, I mean." Gamora looks forward again and wrings her gloved hands on top of the table, brow furrowed with thought. "... Who among us is the most seductive?"

    Eject! Eject!

Nebula has posed:
    That she is starting to realised she can understand a bit of what Groot and Thoote are saying is besides the point. The point is Gamora just gave her the easiest win of the trip so far. "Then it's settled. I will distract Quill while you distract Thoote," she says. Check and mate. Of course, that does mean getting very drunk. The sacrifices she makes for Gamora's little spaceship adventure time.

    Nebula's demeanour changes and she pats Peter on the shoulder, "The next round is on me.. Captain." She lifts up two fingers for the orange stuff since he's decided to get in to it even though he clearly doesn't like it. It must be a human trait to drink terrible things. She lifts up a class and *tinks* it to his, "To Groot finding his lost planet." Even when she's trying to be nice there's a dark edginess to her voice like she's hiding something. Which she is.

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter clinks glasses with Nebula but only makes a show of drinking the foul orange liquid in his glass. "To Groot," he agrees but looks back at Rocket. "Yeah, gotta agree with Gamora, my concerns are not abated or whatever, seriously Rocket, what gives?" he asks brows raising as he looks back at him from the bar.

Groot has posed:
Groot raises his glass and blinks in confusion but in the interest in going along with the flow he says, "I am Groot!" It has the distinct tone of 'sure sure of course sure' He drinks some but there is some genuineness to it as well.

Rocket has posed:
"Don't /worry/ about it, Quill. Just sit back and take a load off. Stay." Rocket points. It works on earth canines, he's found. In some cases.

As he approaches Thoote on the way out, he stops and sizes the thing up before saying, "Hey, big guy. Why don't you take a load off and go hang out with my pals over there? Drinks and snacks are on them. Knock yourself out. They'll cover it. It's our way of sayin' we're all friends here."

Then, he leaves while muttering under his breath, "Gotta do this all myself, otherwise at least one of them would try to stop me. But it's for everyone's own good." It's a fortunate thing that most of the ships are docked in the vicinity of each other, and Rocket ducks into the Milano to collect a few things and swap out his more familiar jumpsuit for one he keeps for special occasions like this, one that's much more basic and unassuming. There are a lot of mechanics and ship repair types that look abnormal in space. What's one more?

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora nods her head firmly as Nebula speaks. "Yes. Make sure that Quill does not..." Gamora looks confused. She tilts her head. She looks at Quill. She looks at Nebula! She looks at the orange substance she has imbibed. She looks at Nebula again.

    She squints. She keeps on squinting as she clinks her glass with everyone else's.

    "Very well, then." Gamora says, and stands up, leaving her cloak behind and moving towards Thoote.

    Gamora stands next to Thoote, facing the bar.

    She turns and props one elbow on the bar.

    She turns her back to it and puts both elbows on the bar.

    She removes her elbows from the bar.

    She frowns.

    How does this work? How does she start? What part of the standard bipedal mammal formation would a tree find attractive? ... What part of that does ANYTHING traditionally find attractive?! It's never really come up! One time one guy told her her hands were pretty, right before she plucked his eyeball out! That was just bad timing, but...

    Gamora takes off her gloves, and frowns.

    Just do what comes naturally, Gamora.

    Gamora pounds her fist on the bar and demands, "How often do you come to this place?!"

Nebula has posed:
    "Ignore the small fur monster. He is harmless today. We must talk about your choice of music. I am concerned for you Quill," she says in tones never before heard from her by the crew of the Milano. "You have been repeating your favourite songs more than usual. It's like you're stuck in a loop ever since the Kryptonians left," a small head tilt. She learnt how to ingratiate herself with her target just like Gamora did.

    Gamora did it 'naturally' (ahem *cough* ahem). Nebula.. has analytical software, which is currently working hard trying to second guess Peter's next moves and emotions. It's hard because he's human. She'd been saving this for a special occasion, a time when she really needed to flaw Peter, to take him off of his game and confuse him. This is not that time but it's a great play and she is curious to see how he'll react.

    She takes out a small disc and places it on the bar in front of him. "While on Earth, I hacked in to their planetary music repository titled 'Pandora'. I opened this box and copied all of their tonal constructs. This is all of Earth's most recent music. For you."

    She stares at Groot for a long moment and says, "This will only end in strong negative emotions Groot." Her look darkens as she considers the last time she ran in to people from her home planet and how badly that went for her.

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter looks at Nebula then looks at his drink. "Is this stronger than I thought it was or are you being nice to me?" he asks her brow furrowed deep with confusion. That confusion doesn not preclude him from quickly grabbing the offered disk. "Wait, you;re saying this has ./all/ recent Earth music?" he asks her. "How recent are we talking here?" he asks.

Rocket? Who's Rocket? There's only Peter and the disc right now.

Groot has posed:
Groot says, "I am Groot," he nods to Nebula, he raises his glass to Peter and says, "I am Groot" holding up his finger. One could IMAGINE it said something like "I will be right back." Maybe?

"I am Thoote." Thoote looks with disdaine at Rocket and only seems to have more disdaine for Gamora as Groot slides up as casual as you please, deftly placing a flower in Gamora's hair. Suddenly, the attitude of all of the individuals at the table except one of them who looks at Groot with a look of utter shock and a little bit of disgust. At that point, Thoote crosses his arms and then opens them wide, speaking just like every two bit aliens with gold chains on their chest in every space bar the Guardians have ever been to, as he says, "I am Thoote."

Rocket has posed:
While the party is going on, Rocket gets to work doing the dirty work. Once the jumpsuit is swapped out for a basic dirty green, complete with authentic oil spots and other stains, he tucks a cloth into the back pocket that trails behind him much like a second tail. "A little of that, and a little of this..." he hums to himself, slipping on a pair of thick glasses that serve no purpose whatsoever, yet oddly enough they fit and cause his eyes to seem like they're bugging out. A worn baseball cap is added, turned backwards.

Grabbing a tool bag, he stuffs various and sundry items in it, the purposes of which will soon become clear - but not too soon - and he surveys the mental checklist in his mind. "Feels like I'm forgettin' someth...ahh, right." Trotting back to his quarters, he finds and affixes a fake mustache at his nose. "Perfect."

Off he goes, acting like he's having some trouble seeing where he's going, which is partly true as he calls out to another mechanic-looking being, "Yo! Which one'a these heaps is Thoote's? They sent me out here fer some tune-ups! Said somethin' was goin' 'whrrrr' when it should be goin' 'wheee' an' another thing was goin' 'ah-wooooga' when it was s'posed to be goin' 'beep-beep!' So whatcha got fer me?"

The poor guy looks utterly clueless as he merely points. "Uh..that one over there."

Rocket squints again. "Dat hunk of junk? Well, sheeeeeit, I better roll these sleeves up an' get crack-a-lackin'!"

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora's eyes peer up and to the side in the general direction of her new ornament, one eye narrowing with confusion, before the entire atmosphere of the bar appears to change.

    ... Oh! Okay...!

    This seduction crack's easy!

    "Yes, well. Hmm." Gamora leans against the bar, hesitates for a moment, and then flips her long nearly-black-dark-green hair back over her shoulder. "... I am Gamora."

Nebula has posed:
    She has him. It was easy. She could stab him in the spleen right now. She also downloaded wikipedia pages about the anatomy of humans because learning to kill different species isn't just a hobby, it's her profession.

    There is a nod and she says, "Yes Peter. Including what are referred to as 'mashups' of popular Earth noise and a significant number of what are termed 'remix' which I believe is a polite way of saying 'stolen'. Next time Rocket steals from the collector, we can simply claim it is a remix."

    Being conspiratorial with Nebula is not the usual kind of interaction one gets unless their name starts with a G and ends with amora. "Most human music appears to be small variations on similar themes, their primitive compression algorithms were easily optimised by our superior technology," she explains, "But I have kept it in its original format so your machines can play it." Yep she just called human music 'basic'.

    "I took the liberty of arranging the music based on organ fixation as most modern Earth music seems to describe wealth and body parts. You might find the section on the rear end of particular interest. It seems to be of interest to Terrans as that contains the most music."

Peter Quill has posed:
Yep. Totally won over, even if he can detect a hint of shade being thrown. Okay more than a hint, but ALL THE MUSIC. It was more than enough to let that slide and Peter's expression doesn't shift for but a moment from his wide-eyed appreciation for the gift. "Wow Nebula this is really amazing," a beat. "And it's butts right?" he asks about the body part before getting back on track. Especially for you, no offense. I didn't think you did gifts..." a frown forms on his lips. "Wait a minute, who did you kill I'm going to be mad about?" that had to be the reason right?

Groot has posed:
The small beaver creature is easily fooled by Rocket's disguise and is guileless. Indeed, were the guardians to stay here TOO long, the explotation potential might be frightening on at least half the population. The ship is mostly unlocked though there is a security system. For Rocket, of course, this is merely chuckle worthy to bypass.

Thoote is all eyes on Gamora and smiles, "I am Thoote."

The one who say Groot do what he did said, "I am Berry!" She looks disgusted.

"I am Spatula!" The person right next to her says and stands between Berry and Gamora, several others declare their names and Thoote looks at Berry, his eyes cold and hard, "I am Thoote."

Groot, looking worried looks back and forth and steps back, raising his hand, "I am Groot."

"I am Berry."

Thoote takes off a glove and slaps Berry acroos the face, "I am Thoote."

Rocket has posed:
Such a shame Rocket is missing the shenanigans in the bar, but he has a higher calling, which comes in the form of lyrics he begins to sing to himself, from a song he heard while on Earth:

I can't stand it, I know you planned it
I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate
I can't stand rocking when I'm in here
'Cause your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear
So while you sit back and wonder why
I got this fucking thorn in my side
Oh my God, it's a mirage
I'm tellin' y'all, it's a sabotage

So, so, so, so listen up 'cause you can't say nothin'
You'll shut me down with a push of your button?
But you, I'm out and I'm gone
I'll tell you now, I keep it on and on

'Cause what you see you might not get
And we can bet, so don't you get souped yet
You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage
I'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage

What kind of sabotage? For starters, poking the smallest of holes into parts of the fuel lines once he's disabled the ship's security through a little hacking tool of his. Nothing that would cause an immediate problem, but once the ship's taken off and the fuel is circulating...

Fraying a few wires near some of those openings he created ought to help with sparks to set off an explosion. It pays to have a backup plan.

Yet another backup plan comes in the form of a small bomb he affixes to the ship's engine core once he's inside. It's set to start its countdown in tandem with the engine firing up, so it won't blow prematurely if Thoote is enjoying himself too much with the Guardians.

Last, but certainly not least, he fiddles with the lines that circulate whatever Thoote breathes in here, carbon dioxide perhaps, and replaces it with some herbicides. And more fuel. And more spots that could spark and touch off a conflagration.

Because you can never really have too much fire, can you?

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora's eyes bounce around the room from one declaration of a tree person's name to another, back and forth as the repeated introductions grow more and more agitated, and she winces as one of them strikes the other.

    Maybe she should try to stop this.

    She crosses her arms and stays silent.

    ... Is it weird that having men fight over her is kind of exhilarating?

Nebula has posed:
    "Yes Peter. All the songs about Terran butts ordered by popularity. The top two songs about rear ends are Baby got back, and Fat Bottomed girls," she says but then starts to notice his suspicions rising. Possibly, her software suggests, due to the tensions being created by her sister.

    With a tsk of annoyance, blaming Gamora for ruining her perfect manipulation of Peter, she says to him. "There is no one you would care that much about that I would _apologise_ to _you_ for killing them Quill," she snaps back and then glances past him at the confused mess Gamora has managed to generate.. by slamming a fist down and demanding to know if they come here often.

    Her eyes narrow in annoyance at how easy it is for her to do _everything_. "Ridiculous," is her description of what she's seeing to Peter. Then again, she can probably keep Peter occupied if he's vying for Gamora's attentions, "Soon she will mate with one of them." There, that should do it.

Peter Quill has posed:
Yep. Nebula's not wrong. At her words he turns to the various tree people around Gamora and lets out a whistle as he gets up on the bar both blasters in hand. "Nice of you all to introduce yourselves like a million times over, so let me get my turn. I am Star Lord, and these are my quadblasters, and you see these fingers here," he wiggles his index fingers where they hover over the main trigger of his guns. "Are not on the stun triggers, so how about you guys move it on down the road before you need to call Smokey the bear to put your asses out."

Groot has posed:
Groot holds up his hands calmly, "I am Groot"

Thoote looks at Groot and sneers, "I am THOOTE."

A large (the largest local yet seen) with some kind of armor and a large wide brimmed hat and two blasters comes in and says, "I am Avarite."

Thoote sneers wider, "I am Thoote."

Berry looks from Starlord to Gamora to Groote and then Nebula and says, sighing, "I am Berry."

"I am Avarite." He snaps his fingers and suddenly lots of people in the bar, including Thoote and Berry start filing out with purpose.

The Mischief on Thoote's Ship is most thoroughly managed.

Rocket has posed:
Blissfully unaware of what's taking place back at the bar, Rocket checks and double-checks his arrangement inside the ship, then he runs a line from a datapad he's got in his possession, hooking it up to a universal port on the side of the cockpit's main display. "Just a little something extra.."

Tapping his screen, he watches as a cartoonish headshot 'logo' of himself materializes and makes a show of chortling laughter. It's silent, but it's animated. Then it flashes a message a few times: 'BLAM! MURDERED YA! KABLOOEY IN YER FACE!'

It's not something he really says that much, but special occasions call for a little extra effort. It'll probably be the last thing Thoote sees, as it's set to display just as the ship's integrity begins to fail.

"What else.." he wonders, the mustache having fallen off and become forgotten along the way. He heads over to the area Thoote keeps his food, to see /what/ he considers edible.

Gamora has posed:
    Blushing very slightly, Gamora gently says, "Peter, I have this under control." Only to immediately watch as the gathered crowd shuffles out of the bar with a confused look on her face. She's left standing somewhat awkwardly for a long moment before she retrieves her gloves. "... I must learn their language posthaste, to have better context for how fearsome they find you." she says to Quill.

    It could be important!

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula watches with amusement as Peter gets guns out and is ready to throw down with the plant people. This would be most amusing to watch.. if the sheriff didn't just waltz in and break it all up. Too bad. They could have ended Thoote right here and now in a duel with none the wiser.

    <Rocket, you have run out of time> she says in to her comms quietly and slips off the stool. It only cost her the ultimate 'distract Peter' trick she had up her sleeve though. She doubts Rocket will appreciate her efforts.

    Nebula approaches and folds her arms glaring at Gamora. "As I said. Ridiculous. Even in a bar full of foliage..." she shakes her head and turns to the bartender, "Your drink is atrocious and you should feel ashamed for serving it."

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter puts away his blasters as the sheriff comes into the bar. "I have no idea if you're Ava dude," he replies to the introduction hearing as I am Ava right? "But not going to start any trouble here." His weapons are secured and he holds up his hands. "See, nothing to worry about."

Groot has posed:
The Barkeep, one of the beaver people grunts and says, "What's wrong with it?" He looks at it and sips, "It tastes great, and we even made it less filling. It's the holy grail ale! Less great and more...I mean tastes great and more filling..is that it?"

All the plant people (except Groot) and a lot of the beaver people and some aliens file out, but if not followed by the Guardians, no one bothers them.

From the ship, Rocket would see a bizarre procession from one side of the station (the food court) while people were going to the far end, which looked like some kind of a large...park?

The message is set without problem.

Rocket has posed:
<Ain't no such thing as out of time, sweetcheeks, just less time than before> is Rocket's reply to Nebula over their comms. Did he just call her..? Yep. <But, good lookin' out. I just left a little personal touch, something to remember us by> he adds, before closing up shop, resetting the security systems, and bailing out. After finding the fake mustache during his final sweep.

Just in case, he takes a side route back to the Milano to ensure his path doesn't cross Thoote's, and the glasses are stuffed back in his tool kit. That act is over. Time to change back on the Milano. <There still a party goin' on back there for me to get into, or you wanna bring me something for later? Gonna be some fireworks at some point. I saw a bunch of the not-Groots headed to a big park-type place.>

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora furrows her brow at Nebula's comment, but then, somewhat uncharacteristically, shrugs her shoulders with a dismissive "Hmph." as she grabs her cloak from the back of her chair and slings it over her shoulder, holding onto it with one hand as she says, "Jealousy does not become you, Sister." With absolutely zero irony. "Perhaps you would fare better with sugar, rather than salt."

    Oh dear god, she's proud of herself.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula cuts off her communications and forms a fist in both hands. "I'm going to kill that stupid rodent," she says with violence in her voice. She draws her blaster instead and starts storming out of the space tree tavern with intention to maim or possibly kill Rocket.

    She spins the gun in her hand in agitation, "I'll show you a _personal_ touch." The posture and set shoulders of Nebula and the way she tilts her neck to crack it is all common visuals for Gamora. She knows when her sister is out for blood. It might also be the slightly twitching eye or the fact that she didn't respond to Gamora's jab back at her.

    She peers out the windows and gets an infrared overlay to track his movements.. back the Milano. Good, she can murder him there and not get in too much trouble with the local authorities. The hanger door to the Milano snaps open and she lifts up her gun, "Rocket! NO body calls me 'sweetcheeks'."

Groot has posed:
Elsewhere in the station, the tree people move to the dueling ground. They take positions where Thoote chuckles. He is master of the Flame Wand and will burn...

"I AM THOOTE!" . o O "What is this?"

He looks down at the boffer larper weapon in his hand.

The Sherrif looks at him, "I am Avarite." . o O ("You didnt think we still used the ancient barbaric ways did you?"

"Barbarian!" Thoote reaches out and strangles the sherrif right in front of him, causing him to shrivel up and die.

The locals all frown at him, and Thoote backs away in fear, running back to his ship.

Groot puts his hand on Gamora's shoulder, casually hiding what, among his people is considered Not Good and reabsorbing the bloom into himself.

Rocket has posed:
When Nebula comes in all anger and aggression, she finds Rocket turning toward her with a sizable gun of his own pointed her way. "I'd think twice about that, Nebula. If you want to play the 'call someone names they ain't gonna like' game, I've heard it all. If I went off an' blasted someone every time they called me a rodent or a rat or a trash panda or vermin, there wouldn't be a lot of you left."

He's got her completely lined up in his sights, too. "Thing is, an' I kinda hate to admit it, I'm seein' a little bit of you in me an' I dunno if I like that or if it weirds me out a little. We all got some fucked up stuff in our pasts we gotta deal with, an' I'm actually starting to like most of you in a tiny way. I just set that idiot's ship to blow after he takes off because I didn't want to get the rest of you in the middle of a bigger mess by killing him in front of everybody else. I know what he was gonna come back to do here. I'd hate to see that all fall apart over stupid shit like this. Right?"

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora's air of pride diminishes when she notices the flower disappear, casting a confused look at Groot, before Nebula's reaction causes her some alarm. "NebulaaaaaaaAAAAA!" She calls, her voice rising in a warning tone as she quickly follows after the blue woman. "There is no outcome to this that favors us! Consider a minimal beating! Or perhaps a flesh wound!"

    Talking it out still doesn't occur to her as an option very often.

    Gamora is given tremendous pause when Rocket points a gun at her sister.

    "... Rocket..." Gamora begins to speak tersely, "Nebula is not stupid enough to actually attack you..." at least she doesn't think so, "... and you will not benefit from pointing that gun at her very much longer. I have NOT been trained to fight non-lethally, and there are *limits* to what I will endure for peace on this ship. So everyone would do well to calm down very quickly."

Nebula has posed:
    The look of desire to pull the trigger on Nebula's face is evident. The anger is palpable. But he's making sense and the truth is.. she kinda sees it too. They are more similar than the others on the ship in some very specific and scary ways.

    "I used my best Quill distraction today.. for you," she sneers as if somehow he had betrayed her by calling her sweetcheeks. In a way. Then again, learning she was a daughter of Thanos was perhaps a worse betrayal from her.

    She lowers her weapon and puts it back in on to her belt and stares at him. "I call you Rocket and you call me Nebula and we figure the rest out later. Deal?" she frowns deeply and says, "Also.. I know where Halfworld is. I stumbled across it in the computers on Oa. If you want to go there." There, olive branch. There's time enough to murder them all later when it matters.

    Her angry look turns on Gamora as somehow she gets her way.. Gamora always wins. "I'm going to enjoy dragging your lifeless body across the floors of the Milano, sister," she says with an oddly specific threat.

Groot has posed:
Groot follows the others to the ship. Peter follows as well.

He looks at the others and says, "I am Groot." He looks at Rocket and smiles, "I am Groot."

Speaking of Stupid, Thoote runs into his ship with a mob of locals after him, shots firing in the hanger with local mammals scrambling around trying to put it out. He enters his ship and guns the engines, trying to leave in a hurry.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket explains to Gamora, after she shows up on Nebula's heels, "We're havin' a moment here." Those beady raccoon eyes flit her way just enough to note everything about her in an instant, then they return to Nebula herself.

"Did you? What was it? A knee between the legs? Tell me you got a recording of it. I wanna see," he says, his tail briefly dancing with interest and anticipation before they both start to put their weapons away from each other at roughly the same time. "I like being called Rocket," he affirms.

However, the mention of Halfworld turns his expression to a more troubled one. "I know where Halfworld is. There's a reason I ain't told you guys about it, because there's a bunch of stuff I don't remember and I didn't want to go back there." The fact Nebula knows about it and where it is...he takes in a deep breath and lets it back out, looking away from them all of a sudden as if he's trying to hide a sort of vulnerability from them.

To Groot, he merely adds quietly, "Yeah, yeah. You're welcome." It's all he can bring himself to say.

That is, until a beeping sound emanates from that personal device of his. He didn't even get the chance to swap out of the generic jumpsuit before Nebula came seeking him out. "Who wants to see a show? Follow me to the cockpit, fast."

Gamora has posed:
    As Rocket walks away, Gamora releases a heavy breath she didn't realize she'd been holding in a sigh of relief. That worked out about as well as could be hoped for. Threat of murder aside. She glares at Nebula out of the corner of her eye, "... Not if you get yourself shot with a temper tantrum first." Says Gamora icily; the lady who has eviscerated men for even implying her strength was lacking. But there are different rules out here; and sometimes they even sort of make sense to Gamora.

    Without further word, Gamora silently follows Rocket, to watch.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula has a recording alright. But Rocket wouldn't appreciate it. Not enough physical violence. Still seething that Rocket managed to push one of her buttons. Usually it's Gamora doing that. The worst part about it is.. she almost did it. She almost pulled the trigger.

    Rocket is not the mission. Gamora is. She has to stay focused. She has to stay -plausible-. Though, she caught that strange little expression after she mentioned Halfworld. A weakness, a real one, not just the usual weaknesses that sentient men have.

    A small shrug is given to Groot in response to his tree-language which it is evident she seems to understand some of now. She moves in to the cockpit to watch what she hopes will be a glorious explosion. "This better be good," she warns. It might be the only thing that'll salvage the day for her.

Groot has posed:
Thoote flies his ship out of the hanger at maximum speed. Planet X's tech is MUCH more advanced than the locals or most galactic standard, and gets out rather fast, its shields making short work of the tractor beams that try to latch on to the ship but slide off it like oil.

Thoote mocks the station, "I am Thoote" it is oiled and arrogant and extremely noble" and then, he calls back in a panic, "I am Thoote!" There are unusual sensor readings on the ship which then lights up like a candle and the death star explosion.

Inside Thoote's ship, he is briefly helped by a surge of carbon dioxide, except that Rocket actually KNOWS what Groot breathes and so the oxygen count goes way up, which incidently helps the ship go boom even MORE as the last thing he sees is Rocket's chuckling face, "I am Thoote" . o O "No, not a MAMMAL!!!!!"

"I am Groot." Groot crosses his arms and shakes his head, and looks at Gamora, "I am Groot.

Rocket has posed:
Rocket leads the way, getting to the cockpit before anyone else so he can set up a couple things, which includes one-way visual and audio feeds he established, tapping into the ship's controls in order to allow the Guardians to see that much. "Show's just getting started."

They can see smoke beginning to form in the cockpit of the other ship, and a fire suppression system kicks in. Meant to spray water everywhere, instead it showers Thoote with a mixture of the herbicides and fuel. So /that's/ what Rocket was doing there. Or did he just add more as a backup to the other lines? He's nothing if not thorough.

They can see another bit from the outside as the ship soars away. Sparks are visible there as exposed wiring touches, causing some power fluctuations in other systems. The fuel lines that run nearby begin to leak more fluid as the holes expand.

Suddenly, the grand finale. Thoote flailing inside, the toonish Rocket on the screen, and from within and without a massive fireball lights up the screens before they all see beyond the cockpit windows the explosion of Thoote's ship, followed a split second later by an even bigger one. The bomb, Rocket's final touch.

"Oh, what a shame," Rocket lies. "Guess he ain't coming back to destroy everyone after all. And Gamora, I ain't repeating the last part Groot just said." He looks pleased enough with himself for the big boom, but the Halfworld part has him...quieter.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora crosses her arms as the light show takes place in front of her. "... Well." She says softly, and smiles just a little. "... That wasn't so bad." She looks at Groot sidelong as she's addressed, and ventures a guess at his intentions and says, "... Thanks." And just has to hope for the best that that was an appropriate response.

    Gamora looks at Rocket for a moment, and nods her head. Then a moment later she looks at him again, "Wait, why not?"

    Several silent seconds pass in peace.

    "... Why not?"

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula folds her arms and watches with a slightly tilted head at Rocket's master piece of death. Truly monsterous. She nods in approval and says, "Most satisfying." She narrows her eyes a little and sniffs the air roughly in Gamora's direction, then shrugs.