The "G" Shield

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In between Jump Gates [June 2015]

–Jack Sullivan–

The silence in the cabin was telling. Everyone had gathered in the same room, calling down Quill as well after it was revealed that he had some idea as to who Quill's father was and also knew about Gamora and her father, and more.

Thor had taken the backseat, content on emptying the alcohol and food stores of the ship while Quill was glaring at him with all the bravado he could muster, even though the longing, the desperation, to know who his father was, was very much clear to him.

Rocket and Groot were both fairly neutral but were standing on the side of Quill and Gamora and then there was him. 

He was sitting on a throne made up of his barriers while waiting for Quill to gather his bearings to ask the question that must have eaten him up for countless nights.

"Alright, so who wants to go first?" He chose to break the silence because he really did not have the mental capacity to do any complicated conversational gymnastics here before they reached Yondu's base and he, once again, had to deal with another asshole in this huge galaxy.

Quill's nostrils flared as he visibly controlled himself, taking a deep breath before looking straight at him, "Who is my father? And what do you want to do with him?"

Instead of answering, he smiled and asked a question of his own, "Tell me, Quill. Did Yondu ever tell you why he kidnapped you? And why he was ousted from the core Ravagers faction?"

Quill's face morphed into one of confusion, "W-What does that have to do with anything? Just answer the damn question," While Gamora's face turned thoughtful.

He smiled, "it has everything to do with who your father is and what Yondu was doing for him. Rocket, can you look up what are the core tenets of the Ravager faction and exactly what could cause Stakar Ogord to banish Yondu Udonta from the Ravager faction?"

Rocket piped up after being addressed and then immediately began working furiously on his tablet, typing away from them for a bit.

Meanwhile, he could feel Thor keeping a close eye on the proceedings while munching on all the food ofcourse.

"Ravager - contact us, member list, apply for membership, jobs, where is it- Aha! There it is, Core Tenets," Rocket muttered as he browsed what could only be the Ravager website.

"Do not take jobs to hurt Ravagers or official Ravager operations. Do not partake in–" Rocket's voice hitched as he stopped reading and looked at him with a narrowed gaze.

He smiled, "Yes. Yondu Udanta was banished from Ravagers because he dealt with something that is forbidden in the Ravager Code of Conduct. Pirates they may be, but even they didn't condone dealing in children,"

The silence was deafening.

"But that doesn't make any sense. If Yondu took Quill from Earth as a job, why did he not complete the job? Why was Quill kept as part of the Ravagers and allowed to rise up in the ranks?" Gamora asked him.

He sighed internally. Well, this has gone on long enough. Might as well rip the band aid off at once.

"Quill, your father was not human. He was an alien. AN incredibly powerful and ancient, immortal alien who fathered you with your mother. Yondu was tasked with retrieving you but for some reason, he didn't hand you over to his client. Now, we need to get to your father and I am sure that Yondu knows his location."

"And his father, is he the threat to Asgard?" Everyone looked back to see Thor looking straight at him, his face set in stone.

He nodded. It would become incredibly easy for his mission if both he and this empowered Thor dealt with Ego. Things were looking up, now all that was left was to find Ego. Hopefully, Yondu kept tabs, even though he had a hunch that they would be chasing his trail for days before Ego noticed them and actually found them on his own. Because hunting down a celestial, even as weak as one as Ego, would be a monumental task but thankfully, they had something that Ego desperately wanted.

A human/Celestial hybrid, someone that could actually act as Ego's battery in his mad plan to engulf the entire universe in his body and become one with the universe, or try to anyway but then again, why leave things to fate or to forces far more powerful and therefore, far more whimsical, when he could nip the threat in the bud on his own?

"Yes. I can't say more right now but once we have his location, we can all have the answers we want." 

Right on cue, the ship began beeping at a soft rate, prompting Quill to get back up into the captain's seat.

"We are about to reach our destination," Gamora explained to him as the Guardians of the Galaxy left the room, leaving just him and Thor in the room. HE nodded at him and sat down in front of Thor, various assortments of finished food packaging on the table in front of him.

"So, the threat, his father, how hard is he to kill?" Thor rumbled, and he had to raise a forcefield almost immediately when he realised where the conversation was going. He couldn't risk Quill finding out that they were going to kill his dear ol' dad, because if the events that happened in the future had taught him something, that it was never a good idea to let Quill know anything that might hamper the plan.

"Yes. His father is Ego. He is a Celestial."

Thor's eyes widened at that, the can in his hand being crumpled on reflex, the shock of having to kill someone of that vaunted race would do that to anyone.

"Don't worry, Ego is not strong, not for a celestial anyway. I also know what his weakness is and with you & me both here, he will be killed in no time," He had to hastily clarify everything lest he get other ideas.

"I will trust you on this, Green Guardian but I have been taught ever since I was a little child that Celestials are the one race that must never be provoked. A race that even my father fears, such is their terror. It would be wise to proceed with caution."

"I know, but that only applies to Celestials that have been named and have full control over their powers. Ego doesn't have any of that. Don't worry, I have a plan in mind," He reassured Thor who nodded, and only then, he noticed Mjolnir who had appeared at his side, shuddering and then slowly landing on the ground.

Thor's powers really had evolved a lot if he was comparing him to the canon timeline. Well, butterflies and all that.

He left the lower level and came up right in time to see them exiting the Gate and come in front of a massive complex of ships and loading bays, all with two small moons being connected loosely with landing ships with ships zig zagging all around.

He could see the signature Ravager logo with a slash across it, showcasing Yondu's disgraced status as a Ravager. Honestly, it was a miracle that Yondu was even alive, considering that he had earned the ire of multiple powerful enemies and the only thing that could have kept him alive, his Ravager status, was also taken away from him.

Stakar Ogord must really love Yondu since he practically raised the man, only for him to be disappointed to see that Yondu's greed had overtaken his morals, sparse as they were.

Ravagers as a faction was really huge, governed by four captains, who head the largest factions with several smaller factions serving under the four captains. Yondu served under Ogord, who was the current leader of the entire Ravagers organisation, something that made him quite an influential figure in the galaxy.

Some words from him would have staved off the worst of attacks that Yondu would have had to suffer.

RING! RING!

His gaze snapped to Quill whose entire body radiated uncomfortableness when the peculiar ringing sound was heard by everyone.

Quill gulped before a nervous smile adorned his face as he opened the communication link.

"Well, well, well, look who it is, Mr.Guardian of the Galaxy himself. Finally grew a pair, huh, Quill? It's about time we have a chat, boy," Saying so, Yondu cut the call and the ship smoothly swerved to the left as a set of directions appeared on the screen for Quill to follow.

___xx____

Whatever it was, he was not expecting this. A full, guns on, approach to welcoming old members of the faction should not have been a surprise for him but he expected Yondu to be more…agreeable, considering the call.

"Oh well," He muttered to himself as he let the Ravagers cuff him and throw him in a cell, Thor following his cue and letting them cuff him as well, even though, realistically, this wouldn't hold both of them even at their base stats, let alone their empowered forms. 

Mjolnir was kept aboard the Milano because, frankly? Thor didn't need Mjolnir to deal with the entire faction that Yondu was keeping around him because that's how absurd the difference was between the future God King of Asgard and normal baseline aliens.

"What are we doing here?" He looked back at Gamora who was with them as well, Rocket and Groot being separated from them but with Groot being his old adult self, he was not really worried about Rocket's safety.

"I don't know, really. Haven't really thought of a way to approach this whole issue. For one, I am sure that Yondu would never voluntarily give up any information he has on Eg-Quill's father so I am hoping that Quill confronting him will break Yondu's defenses," He said and then immediately did a double take as, in front of his very eyes, a very bruised Quill was brought to the cell in front of him by two guys and just dumped into it.

And by the way, Quill was not getting up…

"I didn't say that it was a good plan," He offered weakly before shrugging and breaking the handcuffs in a single smooth motion.

Thor doing the same moments later, as the handcuffs fell to the ground sparking red.

Alarms began blaring the same moment before he remembered what Yondu was best known for and created a series of barriers around the entire Guardians of the Galaxy and also around Thor, but he got a feeling from his barriers that there was already a thin, but absurdly potent, layer of energy surrounding Thor at all times.

He was just in time as well, as with a whistling sound, a thin glowing red stick appeared in front of their cell.

Yondu, along with his lieutenants appeared moments later, looking at their green clad forms with raised eyebrows. He cleared his throat and took a step forward.

Yondu looked fairly confident in dealing with him right up until he walked through the bars of the call, ignoring them as if they were not there at all.

With a thunderous sound, Thor followed suit, melting the entire cell door with arcs of electricity that just passed through his barriers, with the Guardians following suit.

Yondu looked like he was about to run away so he boxed them all in with a green barrier.

So, he said, smiling, even though he had a hunch that the smile did not look welcoming to them, "Can we talk, Yondu Udonta?"

Yondu looked at him before a crooked smile adorned his face, "Hey! I know you, you're that Terran kid, the same as Quill. I've seen you on video, bashing Ronan's face in. Anyone who hurts the pesky Kree is all alright in my books. Come on, this is no place for a discussion,"

He didn't know if it was due to Yondu sensing that he and his men were no match for him, or if Yondu genuinely hated the Kree that much, but he found himself going with Yondu's words, mainly because it would be better if Yondu gave the information voluntarily.

Information extraction after torture was more often than not, inaccurate on Earth. He had no reason to believe it would be different here.

Quill was left unconscious in the cell after he scanned him and found him mostly alright with his hardier than average body making sure that no permanent damage would be done and seeing the injuries, he had a hunch that Yondu purposefully made sure that Quill was not harmed all that much.

"So, what do you want?" Yondu asked, nursing his own drink after everyone sans Thor had refused a drink, probably worried about Yondu poisoning them.

"Ego." The mere mention of that name had Yondu straightening up.

"Leave." He ordered all his men to leave, despite their vehement protests.

"You are alright in my books so let me give you a warning. Stay away from Ego. You might be stronger than Ronan but Ego is a whole other beast. He will chew you with up and not even burp," 

He rolled his eyes at the warning.

"I know who Ego is, much more than you do. I only need his recent whereabouts, something that no information broker seems to have. I know that you didn't deliver Quill to him and he must have kept some way of contacting him, with you."

"He is bad news, I tell you. Nothing good will come out of Quill knowing about who his father is," Yondu replied, nervous about the situation.

"I understand but people are in danger and stopping Ego is paramount. So, I will ask again, where is Ego?" He didn't outright threaten Yondu but Yondu knew about his powers and with the smell of ozone that was rapidly filling the room along with the flashes of blue he could see being emanated from behind him, Yondu eventually caved in.

"Fuck, man, that's the Asgardian Prince!" Yondu sword, after which he began speaking as if he was a record player at 2X speed.

Damn, Thor's fear of the wider galaxy was much higher than his.

He might have to rectify that in the near future, once Thanos is taken care of. Although, just doing that might just make the entire galaxy avoid Earth like the plague.

"Alright, who will wake up Quill?" he asked the gathered team members while Yondu had left the ship entirely, leaving his ship for them to use, something that told them exactly how scared Yondu was about the entire thing.

Ego probably scared Yondu but they were here right now.

Rocket grinned and left the room in a hurry, which did not bode well for Quill. It would have been even worse if Quill had any prosthetics on him.

He mentally noted to himself, to never let Rocket meet Bucky, all by themselves.

Word Count - 2545

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