“It’s more of a contract—”
“Point is the same. You help people. You don’t want to be responsible for a war.”
“If there’s an attack, I can’t just let it happen—”
“You’re not letting it happen. Do you know who we are?”
She nodded.
“Then you know we’ll stop it.”
She held his eyes for a long moment, then looked to Kiya, and then to the DiMavi patients. A long sigh escaped her. “All right.”
He nodded his gratitude. “You and Kiya, check out the other patients together. Make sure any who might’ve been working with Baran and the Grootling are kept unconscious—so they can’t tell doctors what’s happening, and so they can’t hurt anyone else. And you.” Peter turned to Ka-Lenn. “Let me make this clear: I know you’re high up on the food chain. I know you work with weapons. I know you’d probably profit off a war. But if you tell any of your people about Baran’s plans? Or that DiMavi are behind today’s incident in the park? We’ll tell them about your trades with the Collector.”
It was a gamble, but the alarmed look on Ka-Lenn’s face told Peter he was right on the money. Ka-Lenn’s trades weren’t sanctioned by the Kree government. “Low,” he said. “Real low.”
“All is fair in love and war prevention. I do appreciate the save in the hallway, though. So where’s Porovi Hall?”
“Downtown. It’s part of Vadin’s primary military and government complex. Today’s ceremony will be held in the central courtyard.” Ka-Lenn looked over Peter, Rocket, and Kiya. “You’ll leave the planet once you find Baran and his Groot?”
“Sure. We’ll head straight to Kree-Lar to have a drink and do Groot business.”
Ka-Lenn tightened his lips. “I have access to Porovi. I’ll get you in. It’ll be faster. Which means you’ll be gone faster.”
“Sweet,” Peter said, all brightness. “Let’s go.”
36
GAMORA could not quite tell whether Ka-Lenn was a threat, but at least he seemed honest about his priorities.
Ka-Lenn didn’t object to being forced to ride along with Quill in their crappy hovercar so Quill could keep an eye on him.
He didn’t object to Gamora searching him for communications equipment so he couldn’t contact his fellow Kree.
He didn’t even object to the group taking his own hovercar along so they’d have an extra getaway vehicle.
What he did object to was Rocket climbing in the driver’s seat of that car.
“One: Is that safe?” Ka-Lenn asked in horror. Rocket was so small the vehicle practically dwarfed him.
“Safe is overrated,” Rocket called back, starting up the engine. Drax entered the car and sat down beside him.
“Two,” Ka-Lenn told Rocket, “one dent, and you pay up.”
“Like we don’t have enough debtors following us,” Gamora said.
It was a nice ride, though: sleek paint job, extra lines of maneuverable thrusters along the bottom for maximum flexibility, programmable solid-holo roof and windows. Too bad it only had room for two.
“Three: After all this, I’ll need to ask about your…unique…physiology.”
Rocket gave him a look that was part disgust, part incredulity. A moment later, the windows zapped up, stealing him from sight.
“Is that a no?” Ka-Lenn turned to Gamora, one eyebrow raised. “Is it entirely genetic? There must be a cybernetic component, no? I’d love to take a closer look.”
“You can ask him.” Gamora planted herself in the passenger seat beside Quill in the main car. “But please hold your questions until we’re done with you. You’re no good to us as a corpse.”
“Very well.” He thumped into the back seat, beside Kiya and behind Gamora, and let out a breath. “What about you? I’ve always been fascinated by your—”
“No.”
“I only want—”
“One more word, and I will consider ways your corpse could be useful to us.” She said it absently, watching as the other car rose and slid smoothly into traffic on a fastdeck above them. “Kiya, if he asks any more questions about your implants”—like he’d been doing the past several minutes—“do as you please.”
Their car rose up from the ground, hovering unsteadily before Quill got it under control. Within moments, they were on the deck. Gamora brought her hand to her ear to establish a private comms line.
“Annay?” she said.
“Good. I was just about to call. I have a location for Baran.”
“We know. Porovi Hall. We’re on our way.”
“Oh,” Annay said, disappointed. “Good to know I went to all this trouble for no reason. Am I off the hook?”
“Go back to the embassy. Find a high-level individual and tell them what’s happening. If they can delay the ceremony without suspicion, tell them to do it.” If the Guardians could trust anyone to be on their side now, it was the DiMavi: They would be just as eager to stop Baran from attacking the peace ceremony, and just as eager to resolve the situation without the Kree finding out.
“I’ll see what I can do. Hey, is Peter—”
Gamora killed the connection.
Porovi Hall was only minutes away. Gamora hoped to let those minutes pass in silence, mulling over the situation and considering ways to subdue the poison Grootling without giving him enough time to release his spores.
They might need to take him out permanently.
She kept coming back to that, and she hated it.
Ka-Lenn leaned forward, propping his elbows on her and Quill’s seats. “You have to leave Kiya.”
“Excuse me?” Gamora said.
Sitting beside Ka-Lenn, Kiya kept silent, but her position shifted, turning tense. She was paying attention.
“Between the ceremony and the incident in the park, security is up. I can make up a convincing story to get to get the four of you inside; people know who you are. They don’t know her, and she’s a DiMavi child to boot. And if they scan her, the Collector’s reward might come up.”
Kiya’s lips tightened, but she didn’t object.
“Hate to say it, but…” Quill glanced sideways at Gamora.
Ka-Lenn had a point. Kiya would invite questions the Guardians didn’t have the time to answer and suspicions they wouldn’t have the time to assuage. She could be an asset, but at this stage, it might not outweigh the risk.
“I can go back to the Grootlings,” Kiya said.
Quill took a moment to run through his options. Gamora knew that face—he’d made his decision. “Rocket?” he said. “Fly up from traffic for a sec. We need you and Kiya to swap cars.”
The two cars rose to hover side by side, above the traffic and the rooftops below. Gamora turned in her seat, watching as Drax took the wheel and slid into the driver’s seat. Rocket leapt across the empty space between the cars to land almost in Ka-Lenn’s lap. Rocket skittered away in disgust, pulling his tail close to his body. A moment later, Kiya nimbly jumped across and landed inside the other car.
“Drax, get her to the ship,” Quill instructed.
Good. Kiya wouldn’t have to travel alone—nor would she have to endure Rocket spending the entire ride to the ship complaining about babysitting her and missing the action. And as reluctant as the Grootlings had been to sit out this mission, Kiya seemed fine with it. Gamora didn’t mind, either. Kiya would be safer on the ship.
Jumping into danger was the Guardians’ job. Not Kiya’s.
Drax didn’t waste words on agreement. The car swerved and tore off toward the ship, haphazardly merging into another fastdeck.
“Tell me he’s at least a decent driver.” Ka-Lenn watched the car go, his face pained.
“You know?” Quill said, taking off at high speed. “I have no idea.”
Rocket stood up on the back seat and dusted himself off. “So, if I got this right, the plan is to get into Porovi Hall, find Baran and his Groot, and get out.” He looked at Ka-Lenn. “Who would be giving Baran the security walkthrough? Ge
t in touch. He’s gotta be kept busy till we arrive.”
Gamora tossed Ka-Lenn the communicator she’d taken from him earlier.
Ka-Lenn fiddled with it, then called a name. There was a moment of silence. He repeated the name once, then again.
Gamora turned. “Nothing?”
“Something is wrong.” He looked at the communicator, his lips pursed. “I talked to him earlier today.”
“And we’re supposed to believe you?” Rocket snatched the communicator, studying it up close.
Gamora’s eyes met Quill’s. Ka-Lenn could be lying, but if he was going to the effort of bringing them to Porovi, this seemed like a strange time to start deceiving them.
And if he wasn’t lying…if something was blocking communication with Ka-Lenn’s contact, or even all of Porovi Hall…
“They’re speeding up their plans,” Quill said. “Between Baran urging for the security inspection to be moved up and this…”
Gamora pursed her lips, thinking. “They must’ve been transporting the Grootling when he escaped in the park. Maybe already taking him to Porovi Hall.”
“But the ceremony isn’t for hours.” Ka-Lenn cocked his head. “Except for the Ono Circle, of course.”
“Of course,” Quill echoed. “What in the krutack is the Ono Circle?”
“It’s a ritual in a prominent DiMavi religion—a group prayer often performed in advance of events like tonight’s. We offered to host it in the basement of Addil Hall since the place could easily fit a few hundred DiMavi.”
“Are there many Kree at the Circle?”
“Aside from security personnel, maybe two diplomats. No one high-ranking.”
Not a good target for Baran, then. Still, Gamora didn’t like having that many civilians on site.
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say we’re in the right neighborhood.” Rocket stood with his hands on the side of the car, wind rustling his fur.
The area ahead seemed like a clearing in the woods. One moment, the Guardians were stuck in the crush of traffic on the middle deck of five levels of skyway, buildings towering on all sides. The next moment, the buildings fell away, and most of the road decks above and below them veered aside to make a wide half-circle detour around the nearly empty space ahead. Only a handful of raised roads entered the area directly, headed toward the complex at the very center of the clearing.
The complex was made up of gleaming silver-glass buildings standing in a half-circle around a wide courtyard, which was part park and part sparkling-clean pavement. A few transparent walkways connected the buildings to each other at various levels. With so few skyways and no other buildings around, the area seemed easier to secure than the frantic mess of downtown. The Kree could see anyone approaching.
Gamora scanned the courtyard as they passed by—a handful of Kree and bots working together to set up a podium and fences; a group of DiMavi walking into the central building—then looked at the buildings and skyways ahead.
“Look,” she said. “One deck up, left and ahead of us.”
“They have Accusers as guards now?” Quill said, blinking in surprise.
The Accuser hovered several feet above the deck of a neighboring road, keeping a close eye on the skyways and courtyard both. His armor was impossible to miss: the bulk, the flexibility, the sheer power.
“This is unusual,” Ka-Lenn said.
“It’s an impressive demotion,” Quill said. “One moment, you’re a badass judge-jury-executioner type tracking enemies of the Kree Empire; the next, you’re babysitting a prayer circle.”
“Embarrassing,” Rocket said.
Gamora had fought against Accusers. Gamora had fought alongside Accusers. Gamora had, one time, slept with an Accuser. She knew them well enough to know: “I don’t think this Accuser is acting as a guard, Quill.”
As they watched, the Accuser let two vehicles ahead of the Guardians through without more than a cursory glance. He was looking—waiting—for something or someone in particular.
“I’m getting that,” Quill said.
Could be the Kree had learned about the threat against them.
Could be Guardians-related.
Gamora would put her money on the latter.
The Accuser spotted them. A split second later, he leapt down toward the Guardians’ car. He didn’t land straightaway—for a moment he hovered nearby, studying them. Then he crashed down, directly ahead, blocking their path.
Quill jerked the steering wheel. The car spun 90 degrees and came to a halt mere inches from the Accuser.
He didn’t flinch.
“Hi, you.” Quill raised a hand in greeting. “Are you here because of the mess at the hospital? Sorry about that. Wow, you work fast. But isn’t it kind of overkill to send an Accuser over that little tussle?”
There wasn’t the slightest chance this was about the hospital instead of Levet. Quill sounded like he didn’t really believe it himself.
“Guardians of the Galaxy.” The Accuser looked them over, perhaps wondering where the rest of the team was.
Gamora’s hand went to her sword. They didn’t have time for this.
“Let me guess,” Rocket said. “We stand—what was the word? C’mon, say it. You know you’re itching to say it. Aaa…aaaaaaa…”
The Accuser narrowed his eyes.
“You stand accused.”
37
KIYA did not talk too much. Drax liked that in a person—it was one reason he got along so well with Gamora.
Peter Quill talked too much.
Rocket talked too much.
Groot talked too much.
(Although right now, Drax thought Groot talked rather too little.)
Kiya, however, sat silently beside Drax as he drove, occasionally peering sideways. She seemed to be observing him. Mulling something over, perhaps.
He was content to spend the rest of the trip to the ship in silence, but he suspected the Accuser who landed on the ground before them when they entered the desert outskirts had a different idea.
Kiya let out a warning shout.
Drax considered evading the Accuser. He decided against it. Anyone who decided to land in front of a moving vehicle did not have good intentions—and could likely take a hit from said vehicle, anyway.
The Accuser held out her Universal Weapon, pointing the hammer end at the front of the car. Drax stretched out a hand toward Kiya beside him, bracing her against the seat.
They hit.
The Accuser didn’t move a hair.
The car crumpled around the hammer, easy as the crack of a skull. Kiya and Drax hurtled forward—but only barely. A rush of artificial gravity shoved them back into place, while a puff of near-solid air cushioned them from impact.
The passenger cabin stayed in shape—more or less—although the windshield had cracked. Illegible data stuttered across its broken surface, half the symbols missing.
“Kiya?” Drax still gripped her shoulder.
“I’m all right, I’m all right,” she said, though her breathing was shallow.
“Impact detected,” the car AI finally bleeped. “Running vital scans. Vital scans complete. No sign of injury.”
“Is that a…? That’s a Kree Accuser.” Kiya stared at the figure before them. “That seems bad.”
The Accuser stood at the center of a cloud of sand dust. She pulled her weapon free from the crumpled wreck of the hood with a sickening metal crunch. “Drax the Destroyer: You stand accused.”
“This is vexing,” Drax announced. He attempted to open the door. It did not cooperate. He kicked it open instead, then climbed out, stalking toward the Accuser.
“You stand accused of crimes against the Kree Empire.” The Accuser did not flinch at Drax’s approach.
Impressive.
Unusual.
And extremely unwise.
“The Guardians of the Galaxy knowingly interfered with the Kree penal system and committed violence against members of our esteemed military. For this, you shal
l stand trial.”
“I am busy,” Drax told her. “Try me later.”
“You will accompany me now so that you may stand trial as a group.”
“No.”
The Accuser’s grip on her weapon tightened.
As a group.
This could mean the Accusers planned to round up the other Guardians next. It could also mean they already had.
Drax considered calling Quill. The status of the team would not change Drax’s own situation this minute, however. And Drax knew the team’s priorities: to stop Baran, to prevent casualties, to avert a war, to protect Kiya, and to restore Groot. Cooperating with the Accuser would accomplish none of those goals.
It would only slow them down.
Decision made. Drax rushed the Accuser, daggers in hand.
(He hoped the Kree would not take this too badly.)
The Accuser raised her weapon, leaving behind a sheen in the air where it passed.
His daggers bounced against the energy shield. He spun, trying again. The shield trembled, but held.
“You will not win this,” the Accuser said.
“I am the Destroyer.” He lowered his body, throwing himself into the shield. It splintered into nothingness. He slammed into her, knocking her off her feet. “I destroy,” he declared.
They were almost on the ground when she swept her hammer up again. It flared. A wave of energy hit Drax in the chest, flinging him back. The force of the blow knocked the air from him and sent him scraping over the desert ground.
The Accuser caught herself mid-fall, not touching the ground. She maneuvered upright and, within moments, rose high in the air. “Stop this. I am armed and armored. You are neither.”
He was already on his feet again. He flashed his blades by his side, one in each hand.
“Those…don’t qualify as being armed,” the Accuser said.
“We shall see.”
“Let us go,” Kiya shouted. Drax had not noticed her leave the car. “He said he’d cooperate later.”
Drax was already sprinting forward. “I said that she could try me,” he corrected her.
“I don’t think that’s actually helpful to point out!” Kiya yelled back.
Guardians Of The Galaxy: Collect Them All Prose Novel Page 23
