Chapter Text
Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t belong to me. Just 89P13-15.
Everyone had made it off the High Evolutionary’s ship, the Areta. Everyone except for Sire, his Recorders, and what was left of the Hellspawn, that is.
89P13-15 had been in the middle of the herd of normal animals that Sire had kept, so she’d escaped notice from their ‘rescuers’. She’d first avoided their notice as her cage was very small and close to the ground. The person who’d unlocked her cage had rushed to the next cage without even looking inside. 89P13-15 had managed to avoid being seen the day and a half since, but…
A gurgling noise broke the silence and 89P13-15 wrapped her little arms around her stomach as tightly as she could, trying to… stifle, that’s the word… stifle the noise. She was scared. She’d been scared her whole life but now… Now she was alone.
Sister is gone.
But so is Sire.
A lot of these people on… Knowhere was it? A lot of these people on Knowhere looked and smelled very… similar, that’s the word… similar to Sire and they were built the same too.
But there was a lot of others that didn’t look or smell like Sire. There was one that walked on four legs like a lot of the normal animals did.
And there was even one with mask-like markings who looked just like 89P13-15 herself, but he was bigger and he wore clothes. Sire said Sister and I were the only ones still alive like us. Who is he?
She watched from the roof, her little black nose twitching as she tried to catch the bigger one’s scent while he and the group he was with walked into a building that smelled like food.
89P13-15 had tried to find food there in that same building last night after most of the people had gone to bed. She was able to get into a few bottles of a foul-smelling liquid that had burned her mouth when she’d tried to sip it, causing her to spit it out. But she’d not been able to find food. The smell of food was everywhere, but all she'd found were gray packets covered in some kind of writing that she didn’t understand. The writing on the packets was nothing like the writing Sire had taught her and Sister as part of his puzzles.
89P13-15 had gone back to her rooftop nest and had tried to sleep to escape the growing ache in her stomach. She’d tossed and turned all night.
It was now halfway through day two of hiding and 89P13-15 was getting desperate. She’d decided to risk exploring in broad daylight, even though it terrified her. She’d hopped from rooftop to rooftop, scoured back alleys, even ran across the main street when she was sure no one was looking.
The trash bins in the back alleys were closed, the lids too heavy for her to lift. The buildings that were empty didn’t always smell like food, but when they did, she found the same gray packets. Other buildings she didn’t dare even trying to go into, there were people living there. All the people she had seen were nice to the animals that Sire had owned, but Sire had started out nice too…
The ruins were another place she’d looked. They had been caused by a Hellspawn attack, as 89P13-15 had discovered by listening to people talk as she hid, and they also had nothing… edible, that’s the word… edible in them.
As 89P13-15 thought about the last day and a half and how much had changed, the one that looked like her paused in the doorway of the building and his striped tail, which was longer and fluffier than hers, swished. His ears turned back towards her, like he was listening.
“I am Groot?” asked the big, brown, plant thing that was beside him. The others in the group had already disappeared inside the building.
The bigger one like her turned his head and 89P13-15 ducked her head down, laying as flat as she could. The lip of the roof hid her from view, but she could still hear them down below.
The bigger one like her spoke and his voice sounded older and deeper than hers, but not as deep as the plant man beside him, “I don’t know Groot. Something smells… not wrong. Just off. I thought I smelled one of the baby raccoons, but… It’s not quite the same smell.”
Raccoons? What are raccoons?
“I am Groot.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. There are a whole lot of new animals on Knowhere now, and they do all smell different. Probably one of them was on the roof.”
“I am Groot.”
“I’m not nervous, Groot. Sheesh. The High Evolutionary is locked up. I got nothing to be worried about. And neither do you.”
“I am Groot.” 89P13-15 was getting confused. That plant thing is just saying the same thing over and over.
“Whatever, Groot. C’mon, Quill leaves for Earth in a few hours and Mantis will be shipping out not long-“
What he said next was lost when the sound of a door whooshing closed cut him off. 89P13-15 lifted her little head slightly and, sure enough, the door to the building the group had gone into was closed.
89P13-15 lay there, unable to move more than her head after coming so close to being found out. She tried to control her breathing as her little heart thumped against her chest. It took several minutes before she was able to lift herself to stand, resting her little hands on the lip of the roof.
And then the smell of food filled her nose. Whatever the group inside the building across the street was doing, there was food involved.
Her mouth watered and her stomach grumbled louder than before. Before she could stop herself, 89P13-15 had crawled over the lip of the roof and had begun to climb down to the street. Once her little feet hit the ground she froze, her dark brown eyes glued to the door in front of her. Her little tail swished, much like the bigger one’s had. Her ears flattened to her skull. If one of them walks out, they’ll see me.
Well, she hadn’t gotten into the building last night through the front door. The console to open it had been too high and out of reach of her little arms, even when she’d tried to jump. She’d gone through the ductwork. I’ll have to do that again if I have any chance of getting scraps.
89P13-15 ran to the back of the building, nearly scaring herself when she almost tripped over the duct cover she’d left lying on the ground last night. Relax, you can do this. Sister said we can do anything… But that was back when Sister was still alive, before Sire had tried to… change her again. And Sister only said that to make me feel better about not being able to figure out Sire’s puzzles.
89P13-15 was terrified, but she needed to eat.
She crawled up the boxes behind the building, her little claws digging in and giving her purchase. It still felt weird using her claws like this, but it also felt… natural, that’s the word… natural to her.
Once she reached the top of the pile she hopped up and her little hands grabbed the edge of the entrance to the ducts. She scrambled and pulled herself up, pausing long enough to catch her breath.
I need to be quiet.
There wasn’t room enough in the ducts for 89P13-15 to stand, so she crawled forward on all fours until she reached the grate covering directly over a corner of the big room of the building. The smell of food was a lot stronger, and 89P13-15 hoped her stomach wouldn’t growl again. It would give her away if it did. Her mouth started watering again.
The group that had walked in were at one of the tables, all talking over each and laughing, loudly in the case of the big gray bald man with the red markings, as they ate. 89P13-15 sniffed as hard as she could and placed both of her little hands on the grate.
Two things happened.
First, her stomach growled loudly.
Second, the grate, which 89P13-15 just now remembered she hadn’t fully secured so that she could get back in, gave way under her weight.
89P13-15 squeaked and went tumbling head-first down the stack of boxes she’d climbed the night before and then hit the ground, stunned for a moment. She lifted her head slowly and shook it, trying to clear it. When the room stopped spinning, she realized that everyone was quiet.
The group, one that looked like a human but lighter-skinned than Sire, the gray bald man with red markings, one that looked like another pale human but with some kind of antennae, one built like a human woman but colored with different blues and bald, the big brown plant-thing, and the one that looked like her, were all looking at her with shocked looks on their faces.
She felt her eyes get big and she squeaked again, jumping forward, and running on all fours to hide behind the bar. The bar was closed on the other end, and she squeaked yet again when she realized she would be cornered. There were no open shelves back here that she could climb to get over the top of the bar. It was all glass covered cases for that foul-smelling liquid.
“I am Groot!”
“Yeah, I guess I did smell one of the baby raccoons. Poor thing must have got stuck up in the ductwork.” The voice of the one that looked like her sounded like it was getting closer. 89P13-15 stood up and pushed herself as far into the corner as she could, her little ears flat against her skull.
“Is it okay, Rocket? It fell pretty far for something so little,” came a higher pitched voice that had to belong to one of the women.
“I’m sure it’s okay,” came the voice of what sounded like the normal man. “It took off pretty fast as soon as it saw us.”
“But none of the babies are scared of us,” said the big bald man’s voice. “Why would this one be?”
The other woman’s voice answered, “The fall must have scared it.”
“I am Groot,” said the plant man in his rumbly voice.
“I don’t know how it got away from the nursery, Groot, but- Oh man.” The one that looked like her had come around the bar and had stopped, staring at her. His tail drooped.
89P13-15 whimpered and tried harder to push herself into the corner, her ears still flat.
“It’s okay, kid. You’re okay,” the bigger one said softly, kneeling to be closer to her level. He hadn’t come any nearer to her, but 89P13-15 started to panic and tried even harder to push herself as hard as she could into the counter.
“I ain’t gonna hurt ya.”
“I’m not supposed to be out of my cage,” she whispered back. 89P13-15 didn’t know why she said that. Her cage on the Areta was gone, just like Sire was. There was no reason to say what she said, no reason to be afraid that Sire would be mad. But, cornered like she was, it was the only thing she could think of.
The bigger one looked upset. He sighed and his ears tilted back, “The cages are gone, kid. You don’t have to be scared.”
She whimpered and sat, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her little arms around them.
“Rocket, who are you talking to, what’s- Aww damn,” the normal human had come up around the bar behind the one who looked like her. “Rocket-“
89P13-15 squealed, pushing herself back onto her feet as she turned away from them. She tried to jump to reach the ledge, but it was still out of reach of her little hands.
“Back off, Quill,” Rocket said firmly, but he kept his voice level.
“But-“
“I see, Quill. I got eyes too, ya know. Just back off until she calms down, okay?”
“What’s going on?” asked the woman with the higher voice.
The normal man answered as he backed away, “We missed one, Mantis. It’s a baby raccoon alright, but not one of the ones Rocket rescued and not as little. It looks like that sick bastard did the same thing to her that he did to Rocket. I don’t know how the poor kid got off that asshole’s ship.”
The others started whispering in the background, but 89P13-15 couldn’t hear them anymore. Her heart was now hammering so hard she could hear it in her ears. It was making her head hurt. She jumped once more, but the ledge was still out of reach. She slumped down and sat again, back pressed to the counter behind her. She grabbed the end of her tail and pulled it into her lap, her little hands wringing it as she panted.
“I’m not gonna hurt ya”, Rocket repeated. “It’s okay,” he said softly, moving closer by an inch. “You’re gonna hurt your tail if you keep doing that. C’mon, come here.” He extended a hand toward her.
She let go of her tail but made no move towards him.
“Humans lie.”
He sighed again as he pulled his hand back, his shoulders slumping and tail drooping, “He did.” 89P13-15 knew exactly who Rocket meant. “But not all of them are like that. And besides, do I look like a humie to you?”
“Humie?”
“Human.”
“Oh.” She whimpered, “No. You look like me. Just bigger.”
“He did to me what he did to you, kid. The number on your chest…” he moved closer, lowering his head and shoulders a little more to meet her eyes easier, “that’s my number. At least, the first part. Are there any more like us, kid?”
89P13-15 sniffed and hung her head. “There were… before Sister and me.”
“Sister? Is she here too?”
“No,” her voice warbled as she sniffed again and started crying, her little hands coming up to rub away the tears as they came pouring out of her eyes. Sire always got mad whenever her and Sister had cried.
“Aww, kid. C’mere.”
She shook her head. “G-got t-to st-stop. Cr-crying is b-bad. Sire h-hates i-it,” she hiccupped, trying to control herself. The memory of Sire screaming at her the last time she’d cried only made the tears come faster, blurring her vision. “I-I’m s-sorry. I c-can’t st-stop.”
A hand the same as hers, but larger, rested on the top of her head, between her ears. 89P13-15 flinched, but Rocket didn’t move his hand away from her. Instead, he ran his hand over the top of her head as she cried. His voice broke a little, “It’s gonna be okay. You’re safe, I promise.”
Then her traitorous stomach rumbled again.