Chapter 2 The Raccoon and Cat

"Guys? Bad news." Everyone was currently in the main control room. Quill was sitting in his chair, while Gamora and Drax stood on either side of him. Groot was perched on a table off to the side. His head was tilted, eyes closed, as if he was napping. Rocket had just walked in and his ears twitched in annoyance. Now what? "Apparently all the smog in the air has jammed the warp drive. It will be a little while before it's up and running, so..."

"Are you serious, Quill?! Your ship is such a piece of crap!" Rocket shook his head in irritation, but he was a little surprised at himself. He was always impatient and grumpy, but his snapping had been caught by the others. They all looked at him quietly with varying degrees of surprise. "Sorry. I'm just a bit on edge..."

Gamora looked between the men and spoke up, brushing some hair behind her ear. "There is a planet nearby that wouldn't take long to get to. It has a hot spring and a spa. Perhaps we can go there for a bit of a refresher? I believe we all need to calm our frayed nerves. We've been very worried about Groot and it would do us some good. It even has a service for pets and animals so the Lera can be cleaned up a bit."

"Oooo I could go for a nice dip in a hot spring...you can always join me, Gamora..." Peter closed his eyes, put his hands behind his head, and leaned back in his chair, grinning like an idiot.

Drax turned to Rocket and spoke in his low, rumbling voice as they heard Peter yelp in pain. "What do you think, friend?"

The furry member of the team shrugged. "Sure. Whatever." He headed for the door. "I'll keep an eye on our pet till then."

In her cell, the Lera's ears twitched as she heard metal scraping on metal, waking her from her slumber. Her eyes opened slowly and her nostrils worked. The creature's eyes settled on a bowl of fruit and vegetables Rocket was pushing through the bars. She sat up and watched it intently until he had taken his paw away and backed up a few feet. Then she pounced and snatched the bowl away, scurrying to the far corner of her cell and devouring the fruit.

Rocket sat, stunned, for a moment before he broke out of his shock. "You don't have to wolf it down ya know." She slowed down a bit, but still regarded him as if he may take the food away at any moment. After realizing he wouldn't, she carefully laid the food out, as if making piles of what to eat. Rocket watched trying to figure out what she was doing before realizing it looked like she was trying to decide how to ration her food. It tore at his heart a little. "Hey..." She looked up at the word and he saw the fear still in her eyes. "No one is going to take the food from ya and when you want more we'll give you more...alright?" She just stared at him, tail swishing back and forth. He sighed. She didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Rocket rubbed a paw over his eyes in frustration, but then he felt something bump his foot. He looked down and saw one of the pieces of fruit. When he returned his gaze to the Lera, she was watching nervously. "Is this for me...?" She made a chirping noise that seemed to confirm it was. "Thanks..." Something about it made him feel really crappy inside, though. Here was this little creature (bigger than him, but still she was smaller than even Gamora, the next shortest member, by a good amount) in a cage and she was offering him some of the food she had just been worried he'd take away from her. He felt uneasy to take it, but the hopeful look in her eyes made him take a bite and he was rewarded with a small smile. The Lera then moved in a circle a few times before curling up and wrapping her tail around her food. He was a bit surprised to see she was sleeping again, but she didn't exactly have much to do and she did seem pretty tired.

Rocket pulled over a box and laid down to lean against it. He was fairly close to the cage, but the fearful look in her eyes earlier told him she wouldn't do anything. The little raccoon stretched out his legs and laced his fingers together on his stomach. It'd be a while before they reached the planet after all. He watched her sleep for a few minutes. No matter the creature, everything always looked more peaceful and happy when it was sleeping. She stirred slightly and her shirt got caught, exposing her back for a moment. There was something written on her skin. When he leaned forward he saw it looked like a barcode with something written above it, but before he could get a good look she had moved and it was hidden under her shirt again. He leaned back and closed his eyes, letting sleep pull him under, but the barcode danced under his eyelids bringing back wicked memories with it.

"Strap it in. It's squirming too much." Hands clamped on Rocket's limbs and held them to the cold metal. He struggled desperately, trying to sink his teeth and claws into skin as he tried to escape. He just wanted to get away. He didn't want to be poked and prodded and opened up for their sick, twisted little 'experiments.' Rocket snapped his head to the side and sank his teeth into a hand. Blood shot across his tongue and the taste sickened him, but he kept his bite fierce.

"Stupid animal!" A hard fist slammed into Rocket's jaw, leaving him dazed and dislodging his jaw from the hand. Before he could fight more, a wrist and ankle were strapped down. He let out a fearful noise as his eyes rolled, his breathing quick. A hand grabbed his small arm and injected something into him. He didn't know what it was, but it was taking the fight out of him and fast.

"There. Now finish strapping it in and we can inspect the cybernetics."

"Shouldn't we use anesthesia?" That was the only question that had ever come anywhere close to kindness, but it was said with a simple analytical mind. "We don't want the cybernetics to get damaged." Of course. Why would they worry about if he was in pain or uncomfortable or in pure, uncontrollable terror? The cybernetics were what mattered to them.

"Its whole body is paralyzed. It's fine." But it wasn't fine. IT WASN'T! Rocket knew that somewhere in his frantic mind as he saw the scalpel closing in on his stomach. "Let's begin..."

Rocket's eyes flew open and he felt himself shaking, but he realized the majority of the shaking was a hand on his hip. The Lera was watching him with fearful eyes as she shook him awake. The smallest Guardian tried to calm his ragged breaths and racing heart. His fur was damp with sweat. He froze as the hand slid up his hip. She gently cupped his cheek, running her thumb over the tuft of fur and whiskers there. The gesture was simple, but it helped him calm down.

"...nightmare...?" The voice startled him. The Lera gave off the impression of being gentle and timid and her voice kind of fit. It was sweet, gentle, and silken, but to hear her speak had surprised him. Plus, she had asked if he had had a nightmare meaning she was intelligent.

Rocket shook his head, then shrugged. "No. Kind of. It was a memory...a freaking bad one..." He pressed a fist to his forehead. His mind was still trying to free itself of the awful flashback. It had been when he was still fairly young, so there was the added confusion and fear of being young and alone in a scary situation. The bastards that had decided to install cybernetics into him had had to inspect them often to make sure they were fusing to him and growing with him correctly. They didn't exactly put a high priority on his not being in pain during these check-ups either.

"I'm sorry..." Before Rocket even knew what was happening, she had pulled him to the cage. Her arms slid through the bars and she held him as well as she could with the cold metal in the way.

He sat frozen for a moment before turning and giving into what he would never freely admit to his fellow Guardians: a deep lonely sadness in his heart. Groot had helped that sadness lessen quite a bit and his fellow Guardians closed that painful hole in his heart further, but it was there nonetheless. Rocket pressed his face against her and felt his fur on his face growing wet, but this time it wasn't sweat from a fearful nightmare. It was the sad realization that the nightmare was still true, but... "It wasn't a nightmare...because when I wake up I'm still this monster..." He mentally cursed himself when he heard his voice crack on the word 'monster.' Peter had once told him he wasn't a monster, but it was when he was drunk and angry, ready to shoot Drax and possibly Gamora too. The man would have said anything to calm him down, so deep down the fear that he was truly a monster remained.

"Because you're different...?" He blinked at her words, rubbing a paw against his eyes. "Being different doesn't make you a monster...it just means you're you." He looked up at her and for the first time saw she was smiling a true smile, not a timid and unsure one like earlier. She had sharp looking fangs, but her whole face was softneed by the smile and even more kind looking. "You don't seem like a monster to me..."

Her gentle acceptance of him felt good, but only for a moment because his paw brushed the bar of the cage and reminded him of who was outside the cage and who was in it. "You're in this cage because of me, so that means I'm either a monster or a jackass."

Instead of answering his question, she raised a hand to pet his ears. Her eyes widened as she stared at them. "Your fur is really soft..." The Lera's hand began to stroke the soft fur on his head.

Rocket felt embarrassed at the attention. Admittedly, her touch felt nice. Drax had once pet his ears when he was upset and the gesture was both comforting and relaxing, whether it was then with a muscular man or a sweet girl now. So, he didn't really mind, but he had a reputation to maintain. "Heyyy...paws off..." She laughed, which sounded the opposite of his hard rowdy laugh. It was more like a giggle or something innocent. He tried to pull away again, but she clung and pet him more. "Let go!" She just laughed as she held the squirming, furry male.

"He said let go." They both froze and looked up to see the other Guardians looking not terribly happy in their direction. Peter was holding the still sleeping Groot and set his pot down carefully nearby. That guy could sleep through anything. Gamora narrowed her eyes. "I don't like repeating myself. Let. Him. Go." The women stared at each other fiercely, but the Lera just tightened her grip on Rocket. It didn't hurt him, but it showed her resolve at not letting him go. "Fine." Gamora reached into her pocket at the same time Rocket realized the metal pressed to the back of his head wasn't the cage. It was the metal shock collar. No one had taken it off of her...

"Gamora! Stop, you..." Rocket didn't get to finish as Gamora pushed the button. She hit one of the lower settings, but he still felt the Lera shudder against him and let go. He spun to see her curled up, grasping the collar, clawing at it. She made a short, sharp noise and darted to the far corner of her cage. Rocket turned to his teammates. "What the hell, Gamora?! She wasn't hurting me! We were just..."

"Just what?" The assassin barked out the question with annoyance. Rocket's eyes nervously flickered to the remote in her hands. They didn't know she was an intelligent being like them. He couldn't let her shock her again, but he was also hesitant to admit what he suspected had been happening...he had been having stupid goofing around fun for once. They'd never let him live it down.

"We were talking!" His frantic mind tried to think and Peter saw the tension in his small body. His tail and ears were stiff and his whole body was rigid. The man reached over and plucked the remote from Gamora.

"Talking about what?" Peter held the remote carefully so Rocket knew he wouldn't hit a button.

"She's smart. She started talking to me and she hugged me randomly. I don't know. The point is she's not some animal because she can communicate and think." He turned and looked to where she sat curled up in the corner, ears and tail flicking nervously as she watched them. "Come on..." She just stared with wide frightened eyes.

"I believe she is too scared." Drax moved over to the cage and balanced on one knee. "We will not hurt you, young one. We were afraid you were hurting our friend, so Gamora used your collar, wrong as it may be. Come here and I will remove it." Her eyes darted to the different faces in the room and then she slowly slinked forward. Drax patted her head like a child. "I will not hurt you. You seem to be a bit older than my daughter when she died, but you have a gentle smile like she did." He gave a sad smile and her face changed to match his, but with a frown instead of a smile.

"I'm sorry..." The other Guardians froze as they heard her voice for the first time.

Drax's eyes widened, but he nodded. "Thank you..." He reached forward and the Lera tensed, but she didn't pull away. After a moment, the metal collar fell to the ground. Drax collected it and backed up. There was a slightly discolored ring on her skin where the collar had been and she rubbed the exposed skin.

She looked up at Drax. "Thank you..." The words expressed such relief and gratitude, everyone in the room relaxed a bit now that the tension was gone.

"Rocket." The smallest member turned at Quill's voice. "We're going by what you say here. Should we let her out of the cage?"

Rocket looked back to the Lera. She was watching him with an understanding look as if she accepted whatever he chose. "I feel pretty crappy keeping her in a cage, but I know firsthand that creatures experimented on can be unstable and not show it. I don't want to put everyone at risk." He felt the inner turmoil bubbling inside him and couldn't meet his gaze.

"What about a trial run?" Everyone turned to Gamora. "At the hot springs, we can let her out and if she behaves, we can keep her freely aboard the Milano. If she causes trouble or tries to escape, then back in the cage."

Drax raised an eyebrow in confusion. "If she tries to escape, won't it be hard to find her in the crowded hot spring?"

A laugh was suddenly echoing in the open area and everyone looked to Peter, sure he had gone mad. "Did you forget the Guardians are all ex-felons? We have a bounty hunter, assassin, destroyer, and the legendary Star-Lord. It'd be a piece of cake to catch her."

"Why does a dumbass like you get the 'legendary Star-Lord'?" Rocket rolled his eyes.

Peter scowled at him then crouched in front of the cage. "Well, we can't keep calling you Lera, so what's your name?"

She sat cross-legged in front of him, grasping her ankles. It certainly seemed she was growing more at ease. "I don't have one, unless 24Q13 counts." Her statement was matter-of-fact as if she didn't realize how sad this was.

Quill swallowed sadly. "Then let's name you. Any ideas, guys?" The team thought on it and began to chime in.

"Star?" Gamora shrugged. The Lera wrinkled her nose.

Drax made a face as if pondering the question. "Darla?" She shook her head.

Rocket crossed his arms and looked at her. "Hmmm...she's pretty quiet. What about Whisper?" She made a face like she was considering it, then shook her head, hair flying back and forth.

Peter groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. The Lera watched curiously. "You guys ever name anything before? She looks like a cat or something. What about Cat? It's simple and sweet like you." He smiled at her with a smile that had dazzled many girls before the Guardians were formed.

She tilted her head, the nodded. "I like it! I have a name..." There was awe in her voice as if she thought there'd never come a day when she had a name.

Quill smiled at her reaction. "Now we're going to let you out, but you need to stay in the storage area, alright? And if you come to the hot springs you can't run off, okay?"

Cat nodded. "I'll behave. I just want to be able to move around..." There was a desperate ache in her voice, like a blind person asking to see.

Drax walked over and unlocked the cage, opening the door. Cat eased by the giant and stepped outside of the cage. She stretched and her face spread into a huge grin. "Wow..."

There was a tap on Peter's shoulder and he looked at the green-skinned assassin. "We're probably close to the planet with the hot springs by now." He nodded and they all began to file out. Rocket picked up Groot and glanced back at Cat. She was stretching and clearly enjoying the larger space. The storage area was spacious, but not terribly big. If it was compared to the cage, however, it was huge. He let the door close to allow the girl her time to run around. At least she'd be allowed to go to the hot springs. Rocket hoped more than anything he wouldn't be the reason someone ended up in a cage again...never again.

Well, there's chapter 2! Hope everyone liked it! Please review!