A/N: So there is a reason why I haven't uploaded any chapters till now... I had finished this story and some a-hole hacker destroyed my computer. Yup, I lost everything, even stories that weren't here. I wanted to cry and was really angry and everytime I tried to write this story again, it made me remember what I lost (pictures, stories, stuff for college, etc) and just couldn't. But... it's time to continue, I guess.

Thanks for all the support and I will correct the last chapter and this one in a few minutes, so excuse me if I messed up something, but I wanted to post it as soon as possible.

Chapter 12

Gamora starred at the ugly looking blue guy in the screen. She narrowed her eyes as she carefully analyzed his every move to see what would be his next and to figure out what he was up to. She bit the inside of her cheek to control her own body movements. She knew she had tails about her nervousness like how she caressed her neck every once in a while or how she bit her lip for a couple of seconds before she let it alone while clicking her tongue twice, so she had to focus on not doing them or else they were all doomed.

She kept watching carefully as the ugly face moved around the screen without even saying a single word making her impatient and in need of answers for questions she was not going to ask. She kept her eyes narrowed while she counted in her head. It was not until she reached a hundred that a voice behind the big guy spoke.

– "We are not here to harm you in any sort of way, ma'am." – the voice spoke gently, but somehow she guessed that was not their real intention.

–"Then why don't you leave then?"

–"You see, that is not an option because you have taken something from us and we want it back." – the voice spoke again while the ugly looking creature smirked at her with such venom in his eyes that she almost had to take a step back.

She hated the creature in front of her: he had hurt Peter in many ways and she wanted to destroy every single cell that creature was made of, but she needed to reason with calm assessments right now or their entire lives could be at risk, even Peter's. She tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow as she continued her silence assessment and allowed him to continue.

–"You see, ma'am. We have quite an issue here: we have at least four ships with the intent of destroying yours as soon as the call is given and you have something we want. So why don't we cut to the chase? It's as simple as this: you give us what we want and then we can both go our ways and pretend this never happened."

– "And what would that be?"

–"We want our disc…–" he began but was interrupted by an angry yell from the vicious creature. The voice seemed to vaporize into thin air as tension grew on the other side of the screen and before she could say something the dreaded words came to life. –"…and the boy, of course."

There is nothing worse than being put on bed rest without your own consent. The bed sheets seem to clung to your skin while you try to make the best of it. Minutes turn into hours and you are overly aware of everything surrounding you. The aching seems like eternal and hell is right behind you. Even the need to get a hair out of your eye seems like the worse thing ever, but that was how Peter continued every time he got to wake up.

He opened his tired eyes again to find himself alone in his bedroom. He smirked and thanked his lucky star as he pushed himself painfully out of bed. He wanted to puke and faint at the same time, though he was not sure how his body was going to manage doing so, but his curiosity about the world was too great for him to allow himself any more rest, so he pushed it.

He gently sat on his bed before he pushed his legs to the left and towards the floor. Instantly pain erupted on his leg, but he was quick enough to shut his own lips before a groan escaped them and ruined his small chances of getting out of the room.

Smirking he counted to three before opening his eyes. He wished the pain would go away, but he was already so used to it that it seemed to be part of his persona, already soaking deep within his core. He tried to stand up almost regretting it as soon as he did, but his mission was to get the hell out of that room and he was going to succeed even if it meant to cut his leg off… well, maybe he was not ready for that much of a radical solution, but the idea was still there.

It took him a couple of minutes to finally be able to stand on his own two feet – though in all honesty he was on one feet with a shaky hand resting on the wall while the other was barely able to rest on the floor, not even thinking to sustain his weight. His breathing was in short breathes as he tried to focus on something more than the pain and the sweat covering his back when he suddenly heard whispers. He frowned deeply as he tried to listen to them, but the voices were too low for his ears to catch any of the sound waves coming towards him, so he guessed this was his new mission… find out what was going on and not pass out trying.

He quickly put some clothes on, just a plain shirt and some loose pants before he continued his journey.

– "One foot in front of the other… just one step at a time" – he kept repeating in a low voice as he moved his hand a few inches forwards and them almost hopped towards his destination. Each and every single time pain soaked his body and sent shivers towards his spine, almost making him wish he did faint and end this stupid little game, but he was Star-Lord, and he was not going to be troubled with some tiny little injury, right? So he kept going until finally the voices turned into natural words and he was able to understand every single one of them.

– "I'll bomb our way out of here!" – came Rocket's characteristic voice, which made Peter smile a little bit, though he was never going to say that out loud.

–"They have five ships, Rocket, we will not be able to do so in time." –came the tired response from a female voice he could tell was Gamora.

Peter frowned as he pushed his body one step closer to them. What were they talking about? What had happened that had changed their optimistic smiles to dreadful voices filled with concern and hopelessness? He swallowed hard as he felt a shiver run his spine. He shook his head, he was not going to allow fever to get the best out of him, specially right now. His team needed him and he was going to make the act of a life time if it was needed, but he was not going to let them down.

–"Well, what's your idea then, uh? Let those ugly assholes take Peter and hope for the very best? That's your idea?" – he asked making Peter stop on his feet now very interested in the conversation –"Well I'll tell you what, I ain't lettin' that happen! He might be a stupid human, but he is our human and I ain't lettin' him out of my sight anytime soon."

– "I am Groot." – came the voice of the tree like creature that Peter guessed had decided to agree with Rocket.

– "I would never give Peter away to them!" – Gamora yelled her voice raised in a danger tone that froze Peter to his spot while his mind tried to understand what was going on. –"I already told them that, so now we have to figure out how to get out of here alive… all of us."

Rocket mumbled something unintelligible before silence filled the air.

Peter shook his head trying to understand what was going on, but his mind was blank. He tried to remember the last couple of hours and times he had been awake, but nothing there seemed to have the answer to this new threat his team was having trouble dealing with. He bit his lip as he frowned and concentrated on the task at hand: maybe someone had attacked them? Maybe the Nova Corp was not coming to get them? Maybe… well, that was about as far as he went with ideas and before he was able to start imagining weird scenarios, another voice spoke.

–"We will fight them." – Drax spoke suddenly. –"We will aid our friend Peter and leave this place with the disc and him intact."

Oh…, so that gives something up…

Peter swallowed hard as he realized what was the most possible situation they had gotten themselves into: ugly acidic dude was here and he wanted the disc and, apparently, his ass as well. Well, fuck.

He closed his eyes as his heart raced against his chest and his skin grew even paler than before. He really wanted to say he was not into the idea of allowing some ugly dude to take his life and probably hurt him even more before deciding he was good to go, but… what was the other option? They had five ships, probably at least three aiming at their position right now and they really didn't have much going on for them. In all honesty, Peter felt like a caged animal waiting to be killed for others to serve him and there was nothing he could do about it.

He bit his lip as he gently rested his back on the wall to his right and thought about the possibilities he had at hand: A)he allowed himself to be taken and die in a rather ugly way B) he becomes the biggest coward in the world and pretend he did not just listen to this conversation and go back to his lovely bed C) try to fight the ships off and die with his crew in the most pathetic way ever. Yeah, saying he didn't like his options was an understatement.

What would a hero do? Well, give themselves up as martyrs and look from up in the sky to the lovely statue they would built in his memory. What would a captain do? Give themselves up and hope his crew get them in time to survive or get themselves out of their own mess. What could Star-Lord/Peter Quill do? Well, that was about to be seen.

The cold ship seemed even colder than before as the four friends stood next to each other.

The message had been delivered to them almost ten minutes ago and they had given them thirty to give an answer and they were as closed to one as they were ten minutes ago. Gamora stood in the middle of the room starring at nothing as her mind tried to find a way out of this mess, but there was just nothing there. No ideas, no hope, no nothing.

Rocket on the other hand kept himself busy with making bomb after bomb with materials no one wanted to know where they came from while he tried to think of a way to destroy five ships that were closed to them while allowing their own tiny ship to survive.

Groot and Drax both stared at the floor as if it had somehow changed into something interesting while the others weren't looking, but the tilting of their eyebrows, the look of despair in their eyes and how Drax's body twitched every once in a while told a very different story.

– "So we fight 'em, right?" – Rocket asked finally breaking the silence.

–"I guess we do…"– came Gamora's whispered words, not because she didn't want to fight them but because she had been trained to understand battles and to retrieve if she knew she could not face them and this was one of them. She knew they had not a single chance to come victorious and somehow she guessed everyone else thought so too.

– "Right…"– Rocket continued as he played with another bomb in his paws –"So who will tell the idiot down on the other room about the plan. uh? 'Cause it ain't be me."

– "Tell him? There is no need for that." – she replied with shock in her eyes as if the very idea seemed to shook her.

– "Well, excuse me Miss know it all, but I guess with all the fightin' and you know… explosion, he would wake up." –he replied with narrowed annoyed eyes –"Besides, if he's goin' to die I guess he kinda needs to know."

Gamora closed her eyes as she realized he was right. She didn't want to wake Peter, he was to hurt to understand anything right now and telling something of the sort would just break him. She wanted to help him, to cover for him and never let him go, but now… now Rocket's words sunk in her and deep down she knew he was right.

–"Well… uh… no need to go and, you know, explain anything." – he voice startled everyone as their heads shifted towards the new companion in the room, who was smiling at them with the biggest smile they had seen in a while. –"Hello, there." – he added awkwardly as he knew they were about to yell at him for getting out of bed without their knowledge.

– "Peter!" –Gamora rushed to his aid, but he was pretty comfortable leaning on the wall, so he simply shook his head and made her stop on her tracks. – "What are you doing out of bed? You could have injured yourself!"

–"Yeah well… not really keen on staying in bed right now, you know…"– he replied with a smirk –"So I decided to take a stroll."

– "A stroll? A stroll?! Oh well that changes everythin'!" – he answered sarcastically and rolled his eyes –"Well by all means do so, you stupid Terran."

–"Aww, and I thought you missed me." – came Peter's response with a huge smile on his face while he placed a hand over his chest and pretended to be hurt by the comment.

– "Peter, why are you here?" – Gamora quickly changed the subject before Rocket decided to detonate a bomb on Peter's face.

Peter smiled at her and pushed his body carefully towards his friends. It took him a bit and he knew everyone wanted to help him out, but he was glad no one moved, or else he would have felt like a little child during their first steps or something.

He was happy now, he had an answer to his friend's problem and he was more than welcome to accept his fate. He had been worried at first, but now that he thought about it, was there anything else he could possibly do? Was there really a chance for them to get out of there in one piece? No, so why don't point out at the giant elephant on the room and make a decision with that knowledge? No, he was not suicidal, but he really cared about them and since he had met them he had finally realized he needed to take care of someone else than himself. Wasn't that what his mother had taught him all those years ago? To be good and aid others?

He finally got to where Gamora was and stopped for a moment before he spoke. He needed to choose his words carefully or else they might not go with his plan, but if he was good at something, it was at convincing others and swindle. He had cheated in so many moment in his life that he could barely remember a moment when he had not gotten himself out of trouble by lying, so if he had done it to save his own ass, why not do it now?

–"So, I kind of heard the issue we have encountered… and I have a plan." – he started and watched every one of them before continuing. – "Let them have me–".

–"WHAT?! NO!" –came the frantic answer from everyone there, though Groot of course did not choose exactly those words, but Peter guessed he was with them on this one.

–"Hold on, hold on!" – he countered with his hands in the air. He took a deep breath as pain erupted into his side, but he tried to hide it as best as he could. –"That's not the entire plan. Don't worry… I'm not giving up on life right now." – he added with a smile, but none of them changed their narrowed eyes and closed postures, so he kept going. –"Let them have me and the disc, but before we do it, we put a tracker on me and call the Nova Corp, who might be here in just a few hours…"– he said as if he truly meant every word. He tried to continue with strong words and confident as if he really believed they would get in time to save him. –"That way you can rescue me and the disc as soon as they arrive."

– "That is a suicidal plan."

– "That's your worst plan till now, and you've had really bad ones, Quill."

–"I do not agree with this."

– "I am Groot."

Peter rolled his eyes at them before pinching his frowns. He really need to get more cowardly friends.

– "Guys, guys! It is NOT a suicidal plan. Yours on the other hand, most certainly is. Look, I am not looking forwards to seeing squishy guy there again, but it's the only chance we've got." – he continued and smiled to himself when their faces started changing as they really put thought into this. –"I trust you and I trust that you'll get me out of there."

– "You need medical aid, Peter."

And if they had meant for it to happen, he started coughing. He stopped after a few seconds and nodded. Yes, he needed medical aid, he was feeling more like a truck had hit him with each passing second and he was not really happy about it, but there was nothing more to be done. They needed to do this. They really did,

– "I can have whatever Groot gave me before for the fever and for the rest, I don't think they'll let me die anytime soon anyway." – he smiled grimly

It took about five more minutes for them to accept Peter's idea. Not because they wanted him hurt but because when they put everything on the table, this was the best way to do things. They would hurt him, but not kill him and this way they had a chance to survive, slim, but a chance none the less.

Peter stood nervously as the door to the connection bridge between the two ships opened. They had already called the Nova Corp (which would arrive soon, hopefully) and placed a tracker on Peter's neck.

Gamora had barely spoken to him before Groot gave him his beverage, one that again, he never wanted to try in his lifetime. He almost puked but kept it in as they helped him into some decent pants and shirt. He didn't want his jacket there because they might break it but he kept the apparatus for his mask if he needed to save his ass somehow in the end.

The doors opened and slowly moved upwards as they watched the feet of men on the other side become the ugly looking dude and his companions. The guy was smiling as he saw Peter, who could barely stand on his own anymore.

His leg was killing him, his wounds were bleeding again and his arm was burning from the injury there that the fat guy happened to give him. He held the disc on his hand, which was trembling a little bit, before he turned to his friends, winked at them, just to reassure them and began walking towards the dude.

He was worried, he was frightened, he was panicking, but his posture was one of a relax dude. He could scream when his team was not there and he knew he was going to scream a lot.

Rocket grabbed Groot's roots as if his life depended on it as he watched his friend and captain move forward towards his doom. He knew he had been coward for not deciding to die with him, but hope was the last thing you lose right? He wanted to believe in Peter's words, he trully wanted to believe they could save him and that had been the only reason why he had allowed his to happen.

Peter kept going until he was face to face with the guy. He swallowed hard as he felt the foul smell of his breath and smiled.

–"Hey, long time no see… you know if you wanted a date you could have just asked me." – he smirked to the guy in front of him. If he was going down, then he was going to do so on his own terms.