〘 :*¨༺ 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 ༻¨*: 〙

"Quill...shut up."

ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

" and i don't want the world to see me
'cause i don't think that they'd understand
when everything's made to be broken
i just want you to know who i am "

ELLIE PRESSED HER back against the wall, waiting for Gamora to look around the corner at the front desk. Her heart jumped with a mix of anticipation and nerves to possibly find the information about her and Rocket's lives.

"That manager should have access to the records," Gamora informed them quietly, leaning against the wall. Peter stepped away from the wall, moving around the corner to look at the said manager. "If the passkey is here, she can get it for us."

Peter smirked, nodding his head. "All right. I'll handle this one."

"How?" Gamora asked, her tone dull.

"Pure Star-Lord charm."

Blake rolled his eyes with a short groan. "Oh, give me a break."

Ellie rubbed the crease away from her brows with shut eyes.

Peter's smile unwavered at the young adult's protests, keeping his eyes on Gamora. "I'm excited for you that you get to see this again for the first time."

Gamora rolled her eyes as Peter passed her around the corner. She turned to the others, gesturing to where Peter once stood with a wave of her hand.

"Was he always like this?"

Ellie sighed. "Yeah,"

Blake raised his brows with a shrug of his shoulders. "But you were into it, so..."

Peter straightened his shoulders and quickly fixed his hair as he walked up to the desk. With a quick clearing of his throat, the red-skinned lady with short black hair glanced up at him.

"Hi, Yura." He greeted her, reading her name tag on her uniform.

"Ura." She corrected, almost robotically.

"Oh, Ura."

"Hi,"

"Hi, my name's Patrick Swayze." He continued, leaning onto the desk. "I've been noticing you for quite a while, and the way that you smile to yourself when you think nobody is looking,"

Gamora scoffed, pulling a gun from her waist. "All right, I'm done with this,"

"-it makes my every day a bit brighter."

Gamora raised her gun over Peter's shoulder to point it at Ura. "We need your hand," Gamora demanded. "And it's your choice whether it's on your body or not!"

"What are you doing?" Peter asked through shocked disbelief.

"She was never going to fall for that," Gamora explained, grabbing Ura by her neck and shoving her face first into the desk.

Nebula looked around for guards whilst Ellie and Blake went over to Peter and Gamora, standing with their backs to them in case the guards showed up.

"Dude, she was totally into me, man!"

"I kind of thought you were a douchebag." Ura corrected.

"Oh, come on." Peter groaned.

"We need a file." Gamora started.

"What file?"

"89P13," Ellie answered, turning around. "Could that be something?"

"No," Ura answered weakly.

"Then your use to us is over."

At the cocking of Gamora's gun, Peter raised his hands. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!"

"It sounds like a species tag." Ura quickly said. Gamora grunted, throwing Ura to stand back up.

"Show us!" She demanded. Ura's eyes were wide, quickly retreated her steps behind the wall of the desk.

The group followed her, staring at the giant wall of orbs and gears. Ura put her hand into the control waiting for the gears to turn with Gamora's gun pointed at the back of her head.

"What is all this?" Gamora asked.

"Species patented over the years using OrgoCorp tech. Every species Orgocrop has created has its individual file."

"I'm so sorry about this," Peter muttered to the woman, who began typing on a group of keys. "Listen to me, this is not the kind of thing we do."

"Oh, please, stop it with the subtle jabs!" Gamora scoffed.

"Old you would have never done this. You had a purpose higher than yourself. A calling to help people." Peter explained.

Gamora rolled her eyes. "Give me a break."

"That's why you left Thanos and formed the Guardians."

Gamora turned, now pointing the gun at Peter. "Except, I didn't form the Guardians. And I barely left Thanos."

Ellie sneakily stepped to the side of Ura, watching the gears turn around the orbs.

"While you're at it," Ellie started, using the argument as a way to distract the others from her request. "-would there by any chance be a file labeled 156?"

Ura glanced over at the girl for a moment, nodding her head quickly. Ellie wasn't sure if Ura was bluffing, only agreeing with the girl in fear of being killed.

Gamora lowered the gun with a short defeated sigh. "Whoever it was that you were in love with, it wasn't me. It sounds more like her." Gamora added, waving her gun at Nebula before pointing it back at Ura.

"HER?"

"What?"

Ellie and Blake chortled, covering their mouths to bite back their laughs.

"That's ridiculous! Don't even..."

Nebula forced a laugh. "Do not bring me into this."

Ellie looked over at Peter as silence fell over them. She gagged at the look overtaking Peter's face whilst he looked at Nebula, a longing in his gaze.

"Oh, gosh, Quill," She muttered, shaking her head.

Feeling the heat of his stare, Nebula slowly turned her head to Peter, glaring harshly at him. She waved her hand at him to snap him out of his state.

"Knock it off!"

Peter's eyes widened, taking a step back. "What?"

"Don't look at me like a lost puppy needing a soft place to lie down." Nebula crossed her arms, widening her stance as she looked away.

"I didn't say anything!"

Blake rolled his eyes, wrapping his arm lazily around Ellie's shoulders and drawing her closer. Ellie shifted her weight and sunk into his side, fitting perfectly against the curves of Blake's body.

"I just never noticed how black your eyes were." Peter continued.

Nebula slowly looked at him, tilting her head. "They were replaced by my father...as a method of torture."

"He...He picked a pretty set."

"Quill," Ellie called, leaning around Blake's torso. Peter raised his brows at her with wide, almost hopeful eyes. "Shut up," She added shortly, trying to save everyone, including Peter from his embarrassment.

"There," Ura stated, staring at two balls flipping around the gears. "Those are the files for 89P13 and 156."

"156?" Gamora questioned.

"My subject number," Ellie exhaled softly, taking a step away from Blake. Her eyes followed the files across the wall as they made their way down to a tube.

"Heads up," Gamora advised, the ball falling fast through the dark yellow tube. They landed at the bottom in a pool of jelly-like substance. Ellie grimaced, reaching for the files. She turned them in her hands, feeling the cool metal around the orbs against her fingertips. Her eyes strained staring at the subject numbers etched into the the plastic. It glared at her as a harsh reminder of where she came from, and who she really was. It was different than the scars that were etched into her tan skin underneath. It was her identity. It was who she was for nine years whether her mind let her forget it or not.

A red flash across the facility ripped Ellie's attention from the files in her hands. She turned in her stance, turning to the ceiling as if it would answer her questions.

"Shit," Blake muttered, grabbing Ellie by her arm to follow the others.

"Walk!" Gamora demanded harshly, grabbing Ura by the back of her neck. She pushed the red-skinned woman out into the open office as they walked out, the sounds of guards' footsteps growing louder.

Ellie kept the files close to her chest. Her head whipped around, watching a large group of armed guards surround the office, their guns raised at them.

"What are we gonna do?" Nebula asked.

"I got a plan," Gamora answered.

Peter raised his brows, carefully watching the guards cock their guns. "What is it?"

A guard stormed at them, his gun pointing at Gamora. "All of you, come with me..." The man was cut off by Gamora firing her blaster at him, hitting him in the chest.

She grabbed Ura around the shoulders, putting her at gunpoint. "Everybody, lower your weapons or I blow this woman's brains out!" Gamora demanded. The group circled each other, watching the guards from every angle. Blake and Peter pulled out small blasters from their pockets, quickly cocking them.

"That's the plan?" Peter questioned.

Nebula's arm morphed into a large blaster, raising her aim at the guards.

"Lower your weapons!" Ura screamed, frailing her hands.

The guards slowly lowered their guns, glancing warily at one another.

As the group slowly inched their way towards the door, Gamora quickly waved her gun at one of the guards. "Let's kill that one that looks like a carrot to show we mean business."

"God! Past Gamora's just mean!" Peter huffed.

"She was always like that, and yet, I was the bad guy."

Ellie furrowed her brows at Nebula's comment. "She was not." She argued. "Gamora was caring and selfless. You were just a batshit psychotic robot bitch," Ellie paused, tilting her head. "No offense."

"None taken. We are not killing anyone!"

The group watched the guards carefully as they made their way closer to the elevator doors.

"Back off!" Gamora demanded, eyeing the guards that dared take a step closer to them.

"Groot," Nebula started, raising her communicator to her mouth. "Bring the Bowie to us. Now."

They stepped through the elevator opening, only relaxing once the doors morphed closed in front of them. The others lowered their weapons whilst Gamora kept the end of her blaster against Ura's back.

Ellie shifted her weight on her feet, softly nodding her head to the elevator music playing in the background.

"I'm so sorry about this, Ura." Peter began, leaning towards Ura to speak more kindly.

Gamora scoffed. "Oh, please."

"We're here to save the life of our friend, that is all," Peter explained. "We paid her to help us get in and get out. You'd think that'd mean, 'Oh, I'm gonna help you do it in a way that no one knows it's happening.' But no, what she means is, 'I'm gonna shoot people. Threaten people's lives."

"Shut up!" Gamora cut in sharply.

Despite the interruption, Peter kept going. "And I know you're probably asking, why would I trust her? Well, that's a good question. The answer is, we used to be in love. Yeah. She was my girlfriend only she doesn't remember it, because it wasn't her. Because her dad threw her off a magic cliff and she died, and then I lost my temper and nearly destroyed half the universe-"

"You did destroy half the universe." Blake correctly bitterly, keeping his stare firmly forward. "For five years...dickhead."

Peter ignored the insult. "Anyway, then she came back, out of the past. And there she is. Everyone else who died in the past stayed dead, not her. Why? Was it the magic cliff? I don't know. I'm not some freaking Infinity Stone scientist. Just some dumbass Earth dude who met a girl, fell in love, that girl died, and then came back a total dick."

Nebula slightly nodded, awkwardly rocking on the balls of her feet. "He left out some important information, but...that is the gist of it."

Gamora glared at the back of Nebula's head, harshly grabbing Ura by the back of her neck as the doors to the elevator opened.

Ellie stayed behind, letting the others lead the way out to fire at the guards.

"Get to the security hub!" Nebula shouted over the sound of blasters.

"Okay!"

Blake stayed close to Ellie's side, firing at the guards surrounding them whilst Ellie held the files close to her chest with one arm and held the other hand out to create shields in front of herself to block blasts. The couple stayed close, following Gamora and Ura to the security hub with Peter behind them.

"Everybody, down on the floor, or we blow your brains out!" Gamora warned, making the workers scramble around, their hands quickly raised to the air.

A woman with her hands raised walked around the desk, quickly trying to calm down the situation.

"Hey, hey, hey, we don't want any-"

Gamora shot her in the thigh, making the woman fall to the floor with screams of pain.

Another worker scrambled over to her, grabbing her under her arms and dragging her to the side whilst she let out hysterical screams.

"Come on! Would you please stop doing that?" Peter begged, exasperated. Gamora grunted in annoyance, throwing Ura out of her grasp.

"Get on your knees and show me your hands now!"

Ellie looked back out into the central area of the facility, spotting Drax lying on the floor with Mantis on her knees beside him, her hands raised. Nebula was a few yards behind them, her hands raised and on her knees.

"We gotta get out of here," Ellie stammered, panic rising in her tone.

Peter stepped up to Ura, folding his hands out in front of him in plea. "Ura? Please listen to me. We need to get out of here with those to save my best friend's life." Peter pointed to Ellie holding the two files. "If you could get us into the system of those sentries out there they are good people, like you. I'm certain of it. And if I just had an opportunity to speak to them..."

"They're corporate shills, you idiot." Gamora hissed, moving her blaster around the room at the workers. "They're not gonna listen to you."

"They will listen if I speak to them from my heart." He argued before turning back to the red-skinned woman. "Ura. Please."

Ura glanced over at Ellie, then to the orbs in her grasp before swiftly turning towards the desk. She sat down, placing her hand against the control panel.

"Hey!" A large man in a blackguard outfit shouted, storming towards the security hub. He raised his rifle, along with other main guards in orange suits. "Come one now!"

Without another word, the guards fired at the security hub, cracking the glass windows surrounding it.

"Damn it!" Gamora cursed, turning her blaster aim towards the windows. Ellie rushed over to Gamora's side, throwing her hand out to create a shield just as a blast was fired at her. Gamora straightened from her somewhat crouched position, her eyes flickering from the young woman in front of her to the blue crackling shield.

"You are in," Ura said simply to Peter, getting up from the desk. Peter sat down, nodding his head. "Tell them your truth."

"Yeah, I'm not that big of an idiot," Peter muttered. "I just needed to get into the system."

Typing away on the panel, Peter dismantled the laser guns on the guards and activated their anti-gravity, making all the guards outside float up into the air.

Ellie lowered her hand, smiling at the guards comically flying around and hitting each other around the facility.

Peter stood from the chair, smiling smugly at Gamora. "Told you she was into me."

The four of them joined the others outside. With Ellie at the tail end holding the files, Mantis and Blake helping support an injured Drax, and Peter and Gamora supporting Nebula, they walked towards the platform where Groot drove the Bowie into a rough landing.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

ELLIE'S FILE ORB sat on an empty desk on the Bowie, untouched since Ellie had put it there while Nebula held Rocket's file in the palm of her mechanic arm.

The Guardians stood in a circle in the Med-Bay away from the bed Rocket lay on, a projection from Rocket's file, powered by Nebula, played in front of them. Ellie stood beside Blake, her hand tight in a grip around his forearm, tears already streaming silently down her face.

The projection showed a small medical table with a baby raccoon and two surgeons in long white lab coats.

Ellie's chest ached and pounded all at once, her head becoming light and heavy. Her mind itched to both know and forget, to push away anything and everything in her mind trying to take her back to that life she had before. The one she had before she was truly born into the world with Rocket and Groot at her side.

"Start the incision here."

The baby raccoon screeched in pain.

Ellie covered her mouth with her free hand. Her breath hitched in her throat whilst her lungs begged for more air.

"Keep calm."

Ellie's mind flashed to a time that had once been fuzzy in her memory. The words pounded against her skull.

~

A little baby with raven black hair cried loudly as it squirmed in the hands of the surgeons.

"Keep calm! Stop squirming!"

"Get it to stop!" A man with dark skin ordered from the corner of the room.

"Calm!"

The surgeon pulled on its wrist harshly, breaking the baby's small and fragile bones hardly yet developed.

"Get it to calm down!"

"Hold it still!"

"I'm trying sir! It won't stop moving!"

~

Ellie swallowed hard.

"Hold it still!" One of the surgeons in the video demanded.

"I can't! It won't stop moving."

Ellie choked out a sob, clutching her chest. At the heart-wrenching sound, Blake tore his eyes away from the hologram to look down at the girl beside him.

"Els," He spoke softly, ignoring the short glances he knew they were getting from the others. He only focused on the girl beside him. Without another answer, Ellie's grip on Blake's arm fell away as she turned and rushed down the hall. Tears flushed down her cheeks and her throat strained, begging for air that her lungs wouldn't grant her.

"I got her," Blake told the others, who watched the door with concerned stares, before quickly following after her.

Deeper into the hall, Ellie stumbled and gripped the alls, suddenly feeling claustrophobic in the space that had always given her peace in the past.

"Ellie," Blake called, soft but urgent. He held his arms out to her in worry. She was turned away from him, her back and shoulders rigid and shattering together.

Ellie's gaping mouth choked for air as a sob rumbled through her chest. Flashes of memories come to her, a flood of terror that her mind had pushed her to forget for over nine years.

~

A little baby girl cried out a green creature pulled on her aching limbs, breaking bones the creature didn't know were there.

"Very good," A dark man loomed in the corner, his arms behind his back.

~

A young toddler's eyes slowly opened and closed as tears fell down her cheeks, watching a bald man and a green creature open her arms with long skinny blades. A pair of tweezers or pliers replaced the blade in one of the doctor's hands.

The looming creatures murmured their thoughts, pulling and inspecting different