[video]

[toldyouso]

Oh for the love of--

[One blue-eyed, human-looking guy in a weird helmet, squinting at you all. Pete's having trouble with the netbook. It's actually too primitive for him to figure out easily, and he only meant to do voice.]

...Flark. This is broadcasting, isn't it?

[He scrubs a hand over his face.]

Right. I'm Star-Lord, and unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I would still like to take this opportunity to ask how I ended up here, and to go on record as saying I am really ☠☠☠☠☠☠☠ sick of time travel.

[Because swearing on an open broadcast is the absolute best way to make a first impression, Pete. He cuts the feed after a second without saying anything more. Anyone he wants to see right now will get in touch.]

Comments

[gamora]

[ They're taking the possibility he could wake up and decide to rule the universe very seriously. ]

Tell me we're breaking into somewhere.

[ Make her day. ]

[awarlock]

[He turns Gamora's netbook towards him and stares at Peter.

Hey there, long time no see]

Like I said to Gamora, if there's a chance that these people do need our help for the right reasons, we should. It would be unwise to oppose them when they are the ones who has the technology to send us here.

[toldyouso]

['Sup Adam? You're alive, Pete's alive, he'll deal.]

You know what we're not doing? We're not having this discussion over a comms network they control, no matter how pure their motives might turn out to be.

[And pure motives don't necessarily lead to pure outcomes, Adam.]

Could you maybe...?

[He trails off, but his meaning is clear enough. Do your teleport thing, Warlock. Pete's got a Knowhere passport bracelet on his wrist, but there's no signal here and no cheerful psychic Russian dog to call for a ride.]

[awarlock]

Of course.

[Well, no. It's not that easy, not with his energy so drained.

Adam and Gamora does appear in Pete's space a while later, but it was a rocky ride. He looks queasy, though not blue. He turns to Gamora to make sure she's in tact.]

I'm sorry, it's not usually like this.

[Now for the awkward part.]

Peter.

[action] now, bitchez

[toldyouso]

[Pete hasn't seen Adam looking this drained since...well. Any awkwardness is subsumed under concern--which is in turn hidden by anger. You can tell the concern's there because he's herding Adam toward a chair as he scolds.]

Flark, Adam, if you'd told me you were feeling this out of it, I'd have walked! We don't need the Magus showing up because you're too tired to fight him!

[Pete's not entirely sure how the whole deal works, but Adam was complaining about being exhausted right before he turned purple.]

we're so badass!!

[gamora]

By the time you'd have gotten to us, he probably would have fallen asleep again.

[ Look who's talking like Adam isn't right there! Consider it revenge for not giving her the go ahead to fight her way to wherever they need to go yet.

But she's just going to be leaning up against a convenient wall or something. ]

Whatever it is you want to do, you're going to have plan for minimal magic. I'm not lugging him around if he faints.

..i have the fainting guy

[awarlock]

[He is appropriately vexed about this. Teleportation should not be this hard or draining or end with Pete guiding him to a chair. At least he can still brush off some scolding and Gamora's jabs.]

I'm fine.

[No, he suppose that's not very convincing. But what else could he say. He'd rather get them home first, so yell later.]

We should focus on the matter at hand. You were saying something about arranging a power source, Peter?

[toldyouso]

Oh, right.

[Pete rummages for a second and comes out holding a Cosmic Cube, unlit and seemingly quiescent instead of glowing blue-white like it should. It's not clear where he was carrying the thing, but it's a Cosmic Cube, so that's the least of the questions about it.]

It's out of juice right now, but if I leave it alone, it seems to charge itself back up from ambient cosmic power or whatever. I dunno, not my department.

[He smacks the Cube against his palm a few times, in the manner of someone trying to get a piece of recalcitrant tech to start working, and it fizzles with faint electric blue light for a moment before going dark again.]

[awarlock]

[gamora]

Are you trying to get us killed?

[ Shoving herself off of that wall in a second, one hand out like she's going to grab it from him. Because you know what, anyone who can't treat a Cosmic Cube with the respect it deserves should have it taken away from them. ]

Or are you just going to keep it around and refuse to use it again.

[toldyouso]

[NO. HIS CUBE. Pete instinctively draws back.]

This much firepower isn't a good idea for anyone, Gamora. If I throw around a Cosmic Cube, it'll be as a last resort.

[That's a "yes, I'm going to keep it around and refuse to use it again," more or less. He squints into the depths of the Cube.]

Relax. It's a paperweight right now.

[Pete says it with total assurance.]

[awarlock]

[Children, please. Stop making that evil side want to come out and kill you both. He rubs his temples then holds up his hands for a cease motion appeal.]

I agree with Peter. Whatever he does with it, it must be used when there are no other options. The Cosmic Cube is not something to toss around and used lightly.

[He feels a bit better than it's Pete holding it and not himself. Still, godhood is hard. He'll have to keep his eyes on Pete -- when he's not stopping Gamora from rushing in and destroying things.]

It'll take time to get enough charge back to transport us back to our own universe. But it's be a better bet in getting us home than I am right now.

[gamora]

Fine.

[ Not that she likes it, but Gamora's smart enough to realize when she's outnumbered. Even by idiots. ]

Or we could simply get back to the room we arrived in. Try to reverse the process instead of waiting Pama knows how long for the Cube to charge. The technology shouldn't be that difficult to understand if it's the same as the stuff we've been given.

[ You know, like she's been itching to do since she got here. ]

[toldyouso]

That seems like our best bet right now.

[Since Gamora can kill her way through basically anything and he doesn't need a Cosmic Cube to shoot his guns. Speaking of Cosmic Cubes, Pete puts his back wherever he got it.]

Adam, how soon will you be up to a good old-fashioned infiltration run? I'd rather sneak than smash, at least to start. We can always switch to smashing if the sneaking doesn't work out.

[awarlock]

Soon. Give me two days. I need more energy.

[And staying grounded on Earth doesn't really give him the option of absorbing cosmic energy that he needs for a swift recovery. Now brace yourselves, everyone. Adam is getting up and not turning purple.]

We need to avoid confrontation at all cost. Nothing lethal.

[At look at Gamora then Pete. But mostly Gamora.]

There's a chance that this Initiative can return us at their own will, we can't let ourselves be seen as the ones with heavy aggression.

[gamora]

[ Excuse you she's capable of not killing people when she wants to. ]

They started it by bringing us here and expecting us to do their work for them. If they expected people to not mount a resistance of their own then that's their fault.

[toldyouso]

Gamora, if for some reason we're stuck with these people for longer than a few days, I don't want to be "that guy who hangs around with the green woman who killed our friends."

[He's mostly keeping an eye on Adam.]

[awarlock]

It doesn't matter who started it, Gamora. We take the path of least resistance. We ensure our own survival and freedom, and that's it.

[He takes a pause to look at both of them.

Then sighs. What is his life.]

There seems to be missions that you can do for these people. I would refrain from it, but if it helps you take the edge off, by all means.

[gamora]

I'm not that bored. Yet.

[ Nor does she have any real desire to help the Initiative. But she'll definitely keep it in mind if she finds she can't go without causing a little bodily harm to others here and there. ]

But at least they'd be sure to remember you, Quill. [ Why couldn't she have been stuck here with Drax? ] We go in, we get out. Won't be that simple, but I'm up for the challenge.

[ The non lethal challenge. Spoilsports. ]