Chapter Text
The second they landed, Nebula could tell she would regret this entire journey. The planet she and Mantis traveled to wasn’t an all around bad place, but the location they were told to meet this informant was a cesspool of petty criminals and trash, if the hastily constructed stands with obviously stolen wares was anything to go by. The whole situation reeked of schemes.
Normally, she wouldn’t care about any of this. If she had been with Quill, she would have little need to care about his well being, and she was used to his endless babble of nonsense. She considered background noise by now. Rocket was her usual partner on things like this, as they had a knack for working together in a way that just worked, especially when it came to tech. Even Drax would have made her less nervous.
But she wasn’t here with either of them. She was here with Mantis, which meant all she could think about in a place like this was how the girl beside her was feeling, how she would react. She didn’t know what to say to her or what to do when the girl was around. It disgusted her.
Nebula internally cursed the forces that brought her here, and by forces, she of course meant Rocket.
It happened earlier this morning, after Quill briefed the Guardians about the mission. There was an informant calling himself Adrix that signaled Knowhere a few hours earlier. He claimed to have information they needed about the Sovereign. Quill hardly needed to tell them how vital that info could be, so they all agreed to meet the guy, with caution of course (or as much caution as the people around her could carry).
Nebula thought that was that and left the room without another care. Rocket followed her out and did what he did best. Annoyed her.
“What do you want?” She asked him, clocking the familiar mischief in his eyes.
“Oh nothing, nothing. I was just wondering if you were excited for your date, blue.” He said, idly fiddling with some mechanism in his paws. It looked suspiciously like the detonator for a neuron bomb.
Nebula whipped her head around to look at him fully. “What the hell are you on about rat?”
“You know, You. Mantis. All on your own together for a mission to retrieve information. Who knows, you might even get some. Maybe then you’ll quit it with the solemn, ‘want but can’t have’ gazes.” he said, dramatic as ever.
Nebula growled but ignored the comment. She did not and will not ever have a gaze . “We won’t be alone fool, were you not in the same meeting? Quill will be with us.”
“Well, he would have, but I need his help with securing the place, which means it’s just you an’ bug-eyes.” He said with a wink. Nebula resisted growling at him again and instead just rolled her eyes, turning and storming away. “Yer’ welcome!” He yelled after her. That time she couldn’t help but give him the finger as she stormed off.
Now there she was, traipsing through dirty streets with Mantis and trying to avoid the hoards of pickpockets around them. If Nebula was honest with herself, which she rarely was, she would admit it’s not annoyance or even her own anti-social tendencies that make the situation so bothersome.
It was the nerves that struck her when she thought about what Mantis might realize after grazing her skin, or getting to see that blind naivety Mantis still held onto after all this time fighting with the Guardians. Maybe it was the way the girl smiled at everything, blinking at it with those curious eyes as if everything around her was breathtaking. She cringed whenever the wish for Mantis to look at her like that bubbled up inside her.
Regardless, anything that caused her to drop her guard was a bad thing. She needed to be ready at all times, but especially on a mission.
“What is that?” Mantis asked from beside her, pointing in the direction of a crude stand. It was put together with broken stands that might once have held up the entrance to a ship and clothes sewn together into a tarp.
“What is what?” Nebula asked. “The ugly stand?”
Mantis shook her head. “That green thing, the one the Shi’ar man is holding.” She was still holding up her finger to point it out.
“It’s an instrument, it makes music.” Nebula said and made to keep walking.
“Like Peter’s?” Mantis asked, that excited tone creeping ever closer.
“Sort of, I guess. Music is music.” Nebula said and shrugged. Mantis looked like she disagreed, her face scrunching in an adorable pout. Annoying pout. Whatever.
“Spit it out.” she growled. Mantis simply blinked at the tone, like she knew it was forced.
“I like Peter’s music, but none of it sounds exactly the same. Some are slow while others are fast, some make me happy and some make me sad.” Mantis said carefully. She looked back to the stand just as the man began to play the string of his instrument. There was a slow melody, something she could barely pick up on her sensors, but it was a slow one, like Mantis had mentioned.
She looked back at the girl. Her eyes were closed and there was a small smile on her face. Nebula guessed she could agree that it wasn’t that bad, as long as she didn’t have to say it out loud. Mantis opened her eyes and suddenly that smile was beaming towards her, bright and full of joy. Nebula jerked her head forward and started walking again.
“We should keep going. The informant is supposed to meet us near the bar up ahead.” Mantis sighed wistfully but followed, skipping her way up to Nebula.
“I have to tell Peter about that instrument when we get back. I think he would like it, don’t you?” She asked.
“Sure, bug.” Nebula said, trying her hardest to hide the affection behind a blank expression.
___
Nebula wasn’t sure when this started. Whatever the ‘this’ was between her and Mantis. She supposed they were friends, though she wouldn’t have been able to admit that to herself a few years ago. But, after living with the Guardians for so long, Drax who is incapable of keeping anything to himself, Rocket who loves to bring up anything that puts her on edge, and especially Groot who brings up nothing but his feelings and expresses his love for her every day, she would be a fool by this point not to realize she was a part of their family.
But with Mantis? Something was…different. As much as she tried to avoid the thought, she couldn’t help but ponder it as they waited beside the bar for the informant. It was especially hard not to while Mantis passed the time doing various cartwheels and somersaults. The girl was incapable of sitting still.
A small snap from behind them caused Nebula to turn, guns pointed at a man. Krylorian by the pink skin, unarmed, hands raised in surrender. Mantis jumped from her handstand over to Nebula and put one hand on her shoulder while the other raised a wave at the interloper.
“Hello. Are you Adrix?” She asked pleasantly. Maybe this was why Quill wanted her to meet with the guy. She had a knack for getting people to lower their guard.
“Uh, yeah. That's me. Do you mind?” He said, gesturing to Nebula’s weapons.
She grunted and holstered the pistols. No matter how many times she did it, she hated meetings like that. She would much rather go into missions knowing exactly who the enemy is so she could enjoy the pleasures of shooting first and asking questions later.
The Krylorian, Adrix apparently, let out a breath and lowered his hand. “So, I heard you were looking for info on the Sovereign?”
“And we heard you had something useful. I hope for your sake that’s true.” Nebula shot back. She earned a frown from Mantis for the curt tone, but she’d really rather get this over with. Ever since he lowered his hands, she could hear a high pitch whine coming from inside the bar. Someone must have activated a crude short-range teleport. Idiot.
“Right,” He reached into his pocket slowly, clearly recognizing that Nebula wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him if provoked. If that buzzing got any louder, she probably would just to focus on something else. He pulled out a hard drive and held it out for Mantis to take. “This has everything you need to know about their newest project. Apparently it was created with the Guardians in mind.” He told them, putting special emphasis on the last part.
Mantis smiled at the man and grabbed the disk. “Thank you.” She said and Nebula rolled her eyes.
“Not like he’s doing for free.” She said, accepting the drive as Mantis handed it to her and plugging it into her arm unit. “This better be the real deal if you want your money.” The man just smirked.
She inhaled deeply and let the data enter her processing unit. The information took a second to load across her interface, but while it did, Nebula felt a rumbling in her base codes. There was something…wrong here. Maybe it was that damn sound, or-
Adrix decided this was the time to pipe up, interrupting her line of thought. “You know, I would have been fine helping the Guardians. They’re good for the galaxy and what not. I supported their whole shtick. That is, until they chose someone like the daughter of Thanos for their team.”
“What?” She heard Mantis ask, but she was already pointing a charged gun at the guy. Before she could pull the trigger, the pistol flew from her hand with a sting of pain. She looked over to where the shot came from, clocking two people hidden in the alley. How the hell did they get there without me noticing , she thought before she realized. She knew exactly how.
The short-range teleport.
Mantis unsheathed her knives and jumped at the two on the side, yelling furiously. The bug can be naive and way too trusting at times, but if you break that, well. Nebula would be lying if she didn’t like this part of Mantis the most. Her unfailing ferocity for those she cared about. Nebula raised her hand to fire the blasters from her hand, but nothing happened. They charged for sure, but when she tried to fire, they simply fizzled out.
She felt cold fear deep in her stomach as she tried again, only to be met with the same result. “Having trouble there?” Adrix asked from behind her. She growled and turned to him in time to catch a punch aimed for her jaw. She could hear Mantis fighting in the background, but she had to focus on the man in front of her as she began to realize what he’d done.
“It was easier than I thought it would be, you know?” Adrix said. She ignored him and dropped, going to sweep his leg but glitching at the last second, freezing just long enough for him to jump back. “I was warned it would be almost impossible to upload a virus into the systems of the most paranoid person in the galaxy. Guess that was grossly exaggerated, huh?”
That time his hit landed, and landed hard. Nebula was smacked to the ground. She glitched again, her systems boiling inside her. She can always feel the pain of her artificial attributes, but this was something different. This was something that had wormed its way into her and was dissolving her defenses from the inside out.
“Nebula? What’s going on?” Mantis asked from somewhere off to the side. Nebula turned her head slightly, trying to find the girl. She was fighting a girl with green skin and four arms.
“He implanted a virus into my system when I uploaded the data.” Nebula barely managed the explanation as she glitched through the words. Mantis looked back at her with wide eyes, clearly realizing how bad this could be for them and suffering from the distraction as a fist hit her in the stomach. She let out a small ‘oof’ and jumped back.
“Mantis!” Nebula yelled. She wanted to help her, but there was a heavy weight on her chest. She turned to address it, realizing it was Adrix’s foot. He was looking down at her with acid in his eyes, the kind of look that screams for vengeance.
Nebula grits her teeth as she resists another spasm. Where the hell is the team , she thought, they were supposed to be surveilling the area and following the informant. Nebula manages to push him off and jump to her feet as he stumbles. There’s no way this greasy nobody took them out. Suddenly, a sharp pain in her abdomen shot through her. Looking down, she thought it was probably due to the knife piercing her skin.
“Nebula!” Mantis screams. Nebula breathes deep, trying to ignore her impulse to turn to Mantis. She needed to focus, she needed to fight through the pain, like she used to. Like she did every day. Breathe Nebula, you know how to do this, she thinks to herself and readjusts her stance, fists clenched and raised to defend herself.
Adrix laughed and raised a device. Then Nebula was on the ground, shaking from the aftershocks of electricity. She looked up through the hazy colors and saw Mantis, or the green and black blur she assumed to be Mantis. She was fighting Adrix, knives flashing in quick thrusts. Did she already take out the other two? I’m so useless to her , she thought, blinking slowly.
Mantis grunted. If she did take out the others, she must be pretty tired. Nebula needed to help her. But even as she thought to do so, her body, even her mind refused to cooperate. Nebula’s blood ran cold as she heard a shriek of pain, and then Mantis joined her on the floor.
“Mantis” She mumbled. She knew she had to get them out of this, but someone was tying her hands together, then her feet. Beside her, Mantis seemed to be getting the same treatment.
“What about this one?” Someone asked.
“Let her go.” Nebula growled. There was no way she was getting Mantis killed.
There was silence for a moment as Adrix lowered himself close to Nebula, so close she could feel his hot breath against her ear. “She means something to you?” Adrix asked, false sympathy staining his words. “Then I think I’ll keep her. It’s not like you cared about others' loved ones when you attacked my home.”
Nebula couldn’t find the words to respond, and that seemed to satisfy the man even more.
“We can sell her too. Did you see that ability of hers? I’m sure plenty of people would pay for that. Not to mention it comes with a pretty girl attached.” Adrix said and gripped Mantis’ chin. She replied by spitting in his eye. He growled and threw her back on the ground, kicking her once for good measure.
Nebula wanted to rip him to shreds. Slowly and painfully until he no longer drew breath. But she could barely move her own legs, let alone save both of them.
“Nebula? Nebula please tell me you are ok?” Mantis said, her mouth right next to Nebula’s ear. She startled a bit, not realizing the girl had gotten so close as she dreaded of murder.
“Good as I can be in this situation.” Nebula responded. Mantis chuckled and Nebula shivered at the feeling so close to her ear. Then she tensed as a familiar and irritating buzzing filled the air.
She turned to Mantis as best she could so that it was her lips now pressed against Mantis. “Listen to me carefully. They’re going to teleport in a matter of seconds, and this is the only thing I can think to do. Tell the team the teleport is short range and the virus hacked my system but not the hardware, Rocket will know what that means.” Nebula explained quickly, her voice becoming warbled at the end. She ignored it, trying to focus on the sensation in her legs.
“What? Nebula, what are you talking about? If they take you they take me. I won’t leave you.” She said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She wished she had more time to look, to memorize that face that made her feel such unfamiliar things.
The three smugglers pushed together as the buzzing got louder, and Nebula looked for the lines, tracing their beginnings and ends.“Sorry Bug, you don’t have a choice here.” Nebula managed to smile at her, something she’d never been good at. She hoped it looked ok.
“Nebula-” Mantis tried to say, but Nebula curled up and kicked her as hard as she could, pushing the girl from the range of teleport.
The last thing she heard as the space around her turned white was Mantis screaming her name like it meant everything to her. She tried to imagine it was true, but she knew better by then.