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Adam was pondering many things as he stared out into the cosmos. Mostly, he was wondering why he was covered in the guts of a space worm as he boarded a ship with a raccoon, a plant, and a child. He flicked his hand and send some of what was maybe an eyeball onto the wall. Rocket huffed snd mumbled something about getting his ship dirty, but Adam wasn’t paying attention.Wasn’t he made to be perfect? Wasn’t he supposed to be...better than all this? Surely his mother had meant for him to be doing something greater. Maybe conquering a civilization—but no, he was learning conquering was rather bad and he was trying so to be good. So perhaps saving a civilization? Becoming their benevolent ruler and god?Instead of doing that and fulfilling a higher purpose, he was listening to the same songs over and over as he trekked across galaxies with a ragtag group that fought each other as often as the suns rose on his home planet. There had to be more than this. There just had to be.He cut a glance at his fearless—and thieving—leader, Rocket. The raccoon kept his gaze ahead as the port closed. It smelled overwhelmingly of blood and oddly enough like the Ramen Kraglin smuggled from earth in bulk.“You got a staring problem, 24 Karat?” Rocket asked.Adam sighed. “It’s just….what are we doing? We’re not exactly helping anyone?”“I am Groot,” the tree creature said. Adam was getting better at deciphering him now and knew this was something akin to, “We were asked.”“Yeah, yeah, I know they asked us, but they could’ve done that.”The rest of the crew gave him an incredulous look.“They could’ve done that?” Phylla Vell, the youngest Guardian, said with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t think they were equipped for it, Adam.”“It’s not that difficult to kill a giant worm! Really, people need to learn to do these things themselves.”“I am Groot.” It was fifty feet long.Adam sighed in frustration. He was acting as beating that thing was a difficult task. Truth was, he could’ve done it by himself.The door dinged and pounding music cut off Adam’s reply. They all turned to see Kraglin dancing to some earth song—he always played a band called Nirvana when they were out.Rocket stepped out and slammed a paw on a screen, bringing the music to an abrupt end. Kraglin yelped, dropping the tool he’d been singing into. Adam saw Phylla Vell and Groot share an amused look. He rolled his eyes and brushed past them all, in desperate need of a shower.“You’re back!” he heard Kraglin say. “And you reek.” In his room after a thorough washing, Adam collapsed on the bed. He didn’t get tired like he assumed most beings did, but this whole Guardians affair was beginning to wear on him in ways beyond the physical. How long could he be expected to be the ever-sacrificing hero? When would he get the opportunity to do a mission on his own?Never, a small voice in his mind said. The voice sounded like Rocket, who had made it clear time and and time again that he didn’t believe Adam was ready for a solo mission.As he drifted to sleep, his mind replayed memories like watching a video. He was told that other beings dreamed, that their minds created new stories and nonsense most nights. His mind wasn’t capable and often replayed what he’d last thought of.In this case, Rocket was flinging a small plastic toy with bright hair and an ugly scrunched face at him. Adam easily caught it and tossed it to the side.“Stop asking me for a solo mission!” his captain snapped.“Why not? I am Adam Warlock, son of the Sovereign and absolute perfection! I can handle anything.”“Real humble,” Kraglin mumbled.“There’s no need to be humble when you’ve been designed as the best—”Rocket slammed the autopilot on, and marched over to Adam.“Look, Golden Boy, the answer is no. Until you learn how to deal with your feelings, you’re listening to me.” He poke Adam in the knee with his sharp little claw.Ridiculous. It was all ridiculous. He could easily overpower everyone on this ship and go do what he wanted. He felt raw power coursing through him, growing stronger with every second he felt the anger Rocket had brought out in him. He heard Kraglin mutter, “Shit,” as he walked towards the door to leave the main deck.Lights flickered as his power began to grow. It was like a fire starting in his chest and spreading to his skin, leaving it feeling almost painful. He looked down at Rocket, who hadn’t moved. The raccoon crossed his arms and stared at him as it saying “do it.” And Adam was much nearer to releasing his power in one burst, but then realized….he’d be alone. His mother was gone. His people had turned their back on him. Who did he have but this band of misfits?He stepped down, the glow from his skin becoming nothing. Rocket scoffed.“That’s what I thought. Get your emotions checked, and then we’ll talk about a solo mission.” He began to walk out, leaving Adam standing there. Then he called out over his shoulder, “And look up the definition of humility before I teach it to you!” He woke with a gasp. His heart raced in anger at the memory, so he closed his eyes and breathed in and out until he could calm down.Only he couldn’t because there was a blinking light somewhere in the room, and it was making it impossible to relax. His eyes snapped open and he scanned the room. The small screen on his wall was connected to the main computer and was blinking with two messages.He stalked over and opened the oldest one first. It was from Groot and Phylla Vell.“Went on an errand. Rocket said you needed to rest. We will be back soon! Xoxo Phylla.” She’d drawn lots of smiley faces around her name. Groot had drawn a picture of himself and Phylla on a ship with Rocket on his shoulder. He assumed that was the plant creature’s way of saying that Rocket had gone with them. A strange feeling, like his chest was wrapped in a belt that was being pulled tighter and tighter hit him. He didn’t always know the words for his emotions, only that some he greatly enjoyed and others made him want to cry or blow up a planet.He flicked the first message away and opened the second. The tight feeling left, replaced by shock….and excitement.The screen showed a bounty—a huge bounty, actually—for a young Terran. Her picture popped up, and Adam immediately committed it to memory. He flipped through her file. No say of why she had such a large sun over her head, only that she was to be delivered to Astros Four to an undisclosed client, but he knew no one had money like that on their name unless they’d done something bad. Something borderline unspeakable.This was his chance. He could prove to Rocket that they were more than just bait and too good for low paying jobs—or at least he was. He tapped the screen and sent the information to his personal device in his pocket before setting out. They’d docked back in the now-familiar Knowhere, and it was only luck that no one saw him as he snuck out. Even Kraglin was distracted as he argued with Cosmo over the proper way to clean a ship’s windows.“You must use Stardin Oil!” Cosmo said with a growl.Kraglin look appalled. “Stardin Oil? Really? I thought you were smart.”“I’m smarter than you.”“Yeah, I doubt it.” The human shook his head. “Stardin Oil. All that’s gonna do is make it greasy.”Cosmo barked at him and began yelling rapid fire in her other Terran language that Adam had yet to learn. The only person he had to teach him was Cosmo, and she most swore in it—he and most of the citizens of Knowhere were quite fluent in Russian swear words.He found the ship he was looking for, a beat-up old number that no one would really notice being gone for a while.Just like him, he supposed. How long would it take for his absence to be noticed? With a shrug, he decided he’d find out soon enough and readied the ship to leave.Soon, he was out where he belonged—among the stars. He felt a smile come across his face as he approached the jump point. Janie Jones, I’m coming for you, he thought. As often happened in the spring, there was a tornado coming. Rain pounded against the trailer so loudly that Janie could barely hear the weather woman on the television set. She turned up the volume and sat the remote on the couch cushion between her and her sister, Dee.“There’s a severe thunderstorm warning until midnight tonight,” Renee Ronaldo said. Despite the serious tone and red-splattered map behind her, the weather woman’s hair was perfectly laid and her makeup untouched by worried sweat, the exact kind that was beading at Janie’s hairline now. “There is a tornado warning in effect for—”The channel changed, and Janie sat up with a start. In the seconds before the new show started, in those brief moments of a blank screen, thoughts of the power going out plagued her mind. She imagined the trailer picked up and her and Dee’s bodies being flung around like pennies in a can.“No shit, Sherlock,” her sister said with a scoff. The channels clicked by at a rapid speed as Dee clicked through the channels. Janie turned to face Dee.“Turn it back. Right now, Dee.”Like the teenage cliché Janie often thought her, Dee rolled her eyes and gave a huge sigh.“We need to keep an eye on the radar,” she said as she reached for the remote in her sister’s grasp. Dee snatched it up and far away from her grasp leaving Janie almost falling against the couch cushion.“It’s raining! We don’t need Miss Sunshine Out Her Ass to tell us that.”“But we need to know where the tornado is.”As if on cue, the wind picked up, and Janie felt the trailer rock a little. Her heart sped up even more—she wondered if she could die of a stress-induced heart attack.Dee snorted. Janie stood, unable to quell her frustration. She lunged with a hand reaching out for the remote. Her sister raised up her legs, eyes wide, and braced her feet against Janie’s stomach. Janie gave an oomph as her sister’s legs shoved her backwards. She didn’t stop reaching and smacked a hand across her sister’s ankles.“Dee! Give it back!”Dee moved the remote even further back, her arm flung out so far it banged against the wood-paneled wall and probably left a dent. I’ll get blamed for that, Janie thought. But in for a penny, in for a pound—she leaned as far as she could, her sister’s heels digging into her stomach.“No! Go listen to the radio and let me have the T.V.!”For some reason this infuriated her more. In a moment of what she would later call childish, Janie put her pointer finger in her mouth, and then shoved it in her sister’s ear. Dee screamed, leapt from the couch, and ran the few feet to their kitchen sink to wash out her ear.“What the hell, Janie! Jesus Christ!”Janie grabbed the remote and held it above her head in triumph. “I win,” she told her sister smugly. She pointed and laughed at Dee, who was coming out of the kitchen with a dish towel held to her head.Then the whole house went black. They stood there for a few moments in shock before Dee laughed.“Yeah. You won.”Thunder boomed overhead. They managed to find their grandmother’s old oil lamp and some candles. Janie dragged the old radio from her mother’s room. Every station was blaring the same warning about the weather. Janie had a pillow clutched to her chest as she listened to the mechanical siren followed by a high pitched whining, and then a robotic voice repeated, “Tornado warning in effect for Pontotoc County. Seek shelter immediately.”“Oh that’s us, Janie. Careful, don’t have an aneurysm about it.” Dee smirked from the floor. Once her phone had died—Janie told her a million times to keep her phone charged—she'd groaned and slid off the couch like a cat and sprawled next to the coffee table.“Shut up. At least we know if we need to run to the cellar.” Her mind flashed to the storm cellar at the neighbor’s house. Should they go now? The neighbor was two miles down the road, so less than ten minutes by car. Could they make it there in time? Or would that be worthless?“God, you worry like an old lady. We’re fine. Nothing’s going to happen.”Of course Dee wasn’t worried. Janie was the adult, the big sister, the one responsible for keeping the house together while her mother was stuck at work because of the storm. She imagined herself absorbing all her sister’s unconscious worry like a sponge sometimes and wondered when someone would have the decency to wring her out.“Just be ready to get in the car.”Thunder boomed loudly enough to shake the trailer. Janie closed her eyes and worked on calming her racing heart—she wanted to live long past her current twenty-five years of life without heart issues.“The tornado will take us to Oz before we get to the cellar. Might as well die calmly.”She knew her sister was just messing with her. She knew that, and yet she felt a tug of panic at her chest.“You know what? It’s time for bed,” she said as she stood and tromped back to her shared bedroom with her sister.They got blankets and pillows from their beds before blowing their candles out. Janie took the couch, while Dee preferred to drag her twin mattress in the living room.Janie tossed and turned, trying to let the rain and her sister’s snoring lull her to sleep. But there was only so long she could stop her brain from conjuring up images of dead and destruction. Every path of torn earth and broken homes she’d seen carved by tornados in her life spent in Tornado Alley played like a twisted movie behind her eyelids.These thoughts led to nightmares of her mother crying over Dee’s body in the wreckage of their home. She noticed the scattered family memorabilia as her mother screamed that she should’ve kept her safe.“Why didn’t you do your job, Janie?” her mother sobbed, clutching Dee’s body to her chest.“I-I’m sorry. Mommy, I’m sorry.” Janie reached towards them, but in her dreams, she could never properly move. It was like she was moving underwater and half the time her limbs went the opposite way of how she wanted.But in the grief of the nightmare land she somehow managed to touch her sister’s lifeless shoulder. Her mother yanked the body back, baring her teeth. All sorrow was gone, replaced by raw rage.“I never should’ve adopted you, Jane.”She stood, and Janie was overcome with nausea as she saw blood smeared garishly across her mother’s pink waitress blouse. More worrying, though, was her mother stalking through the mud and muck towards her.“Mommy?” Janie said hoarsely. “Mom, please.” But her mother gave a howl of rage as she reached and wrapped a hand around her throat. Janie woke with a start. Her breaths were rapid and her arms shook as she pushed herself into a sitting position.The darkness in the room was thick, as it only is out in the country where there’s no streetlights and the nearest town with more than school and four streetlights was over forty minutes away. She let the dark embrace and calm her, and was glad to hear the storm had turned into a dull, average storm. Even the radio was just playing music now.“Just a nightmare,” she whispered. Her mother loved her. She didn’t regret adopting her.Dee was alive; Dee was alive; Dee was alive. That was the most important part. As if to reassure her, her sister gave a loud snore, flopped around on the mattress, and mumbled something about being late to school again. The thought of her irritating sister not being there to steal the remote and “borrow” her clothes made Janie sick to her stomach.No, she wouldn’t dwell on that or how realistic the nightmare had seemed. She grabbed her phone from the end table shoved tightly between the couch and wall. The brightness of the screen made her eyes water, and she had to blink the blur out.Three missed calls, two voice mails, and seven text messages. All from her mother.Shit.MOM: Stuck at work because of storm. Call me.An hour later, another text came in, presumably after her mother’s phone call.MOM: Bad storm!!! Get to cellar!! Already called Bobby.She felt dread and guilt wrap around her bones in that way only parents can cause. Her mother was probably freaking out.The other texts were demands to know where they were. Why wasn’t Dee answering her phone either? Bobby had said they never showed up.The one that stood out was: car not working. Staying at Auntie’s. CALL ME!She typed out: Safe. Fell asleep. Sorry.Then she disregarded the voicemails and called her mom, not caring that it was almost midnight. Somehow, despite being a biological niece and not a blood daughter, Janie had inherited her mother’s ability to worry—and her mother’s ability far surpassed hers.The phone rang. Once, twice, three times. Her mother was probably asleep, but Janie would leave a voicemail just to reassure her.“Please leave a voicemail at the beep,” a pleasant woman’s voice said.“Hey, Mom, we’re fine. Don’t worry. We’ll call when we wake up. I’ll get Dee to school, I promise. Love you.”Then she hit the red button and stuck her phone in her jogging pant pocket as she laid down with a plop. She closed her eyes, determined to fall asleep for the rest of the night. She tried counting sheep and was beginning to feel the fuzziness in her mind that would hopefully take her to better, happier dreams.That was when there was a massive boom and the wall ripped away.Janie shot up off the couch and immediately ran to cover her sister’s body with her own. Dee yelped, but wrapped her own arms around Janie’s waist, which was the only thing Janie focused on. It was as if her sister’s arms were keeping her grounded and reminding her this wasn’t another nightmare; this was real, and she had to survive.“What’s happening? Janie!” Dee yelled over the noise. They weren’t real questions—they were the fear and confusion seeking a way out, so Janie hugged her sister tighter, waiting for something to hit her, the sensation of being lifted, or anything really.It was her nightmare coming true—a tornado tearing her home and family apart in the blink of an eye. She wished so many things in that moment. She wished she’d gone to college straight out of high school, wished she’d left her small hometown, and wished that she’d said more to her mother as last words.But then it stopped. Beyond the plink of metal and plaster falling to the linoleum floor, it was silent. Her heart dropped. Were they in the eye of the storm? She’d always heard it was quiet there.She slowly lifted her head from where it was buried in her sister’s old Winnie the Pooh sheets. Dee’s arms shook and tried to pull her back down as she sat up.“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” Janie whispered as took in the scene. “We’re okay, Dee.”There was a big hole in the trailer, near the roof. Maybe a branch had fallen in? Or maybe that old cedar tree had finally given into gravity. But wouldn’t there be evidence of that?Even in the dark, she could tell there wasn’t much out of place. She reached towards her phone with a shaky hand and turned on the flashlight.“What the hell?” Dee mumbled.There was no sign of whatever had broken through their wall. Pictures were askew, the windowpane was cracked, and she could hear rain softly falling. But no branch or tree or any reasonable thing.Then her sister gasped and tightly grabbed her arm.“Janie,” Dee said, lifting a finger and pointing towards the darkest corner of the room, “over there.”With a mounting feeling of unease, she shone her light that way. Just before her phone battery died, plunging them back into darkness, she saw a man. A strange, big man whose gaze hardened when he saw her face.“You’re coming with me,” he said, pointing a finger at her.
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The girl, Janie, stood and put her body between him and the other girl Adam assumed from same oval faces and dark brown eyes was her sister, though he knew so little about Terrans she could well be her daughter or pet or something. Then the littler one stood from her mattress and began throwing things at him. Pillows, pens from the coffee table, and a remote control bounced off him as she let out a yelp with each throw. He was almost amused by it as he swatted them away. Janie was seemingly frozen, staring at him with wide eyes. “Don’t make this difficult," he said.She blinked. The other girl’s aim was well-placed as she threw her phone at him. It hit him square in his forehead and made him huff in frustration. For the moment he was distracted—how dare this little Terran do that to him—his mark sprinted towards one of the other rooms of the small house. “Hey! Get back!” Running from him? What was the point? Janie kept going. He heard her bare feet as they made their way from the plastic floor to carpet. He was so distracted he didn't notice her sister had unplugged lamp and threw it at him with. It smashed against his chest, and he looked at her in irritation. He respected that she didn't let her fear show on her face, but it was present in the shakiness of her hands and the sheet of sweat on her forehead.“Stop doing that!” He held out his arms to show the lamp had done little other than get his suit dirty, which he knew Kraglin would yell at him about. She turned and grabbed a whole couch cushion at him. He knocked it to the side. “You’re running out of things to throw,” he pointed out. Unless she was strong enough to pick up the couch and throw it, she would soon be out of ammo. “Janie!” the girl yelled, voice ragged with fear. Adam rolled his eyes and stepped towards her, wanting to explain that this Janie was a wanted criminal. But the girl screamed so loudly it made his ears hurt. “Can you please stop— ”Then he was abruptly cut off as Janie came back into the room wielding one of those primitive guns Terrans loved so much. She was shoving brass bullets into the chamber before pulling it shut with the small knob attached. He opened his mouth to say it wouldn’t do her any good, that it’d hurt her more to fire the thing than it’d ever hurt him, but she had brought the end of it to her shoulder, aimed, and fired before he got a word out. The bullet whizzed through the air and hit him in the center of his chest. He watched in morbid fascination as it burned through his suit, flattened against his skin, and fell to the floor with a dull thud. He looked up and met her gaze, smiling at the shock on her face, which had blanched. He stalked towards her, and she fired two more times before he got his hands around the barrel of the gun and pulled it out of her grasp. He yanked so hard that she collided with his chest when she wouldn't let go. She kept an iron grip on the thing, but he managed to pull it away and toss it aside. Never one to waste an opportunity, he wrapped an arm around her, pinning her frame to his. She yelled and squirmed, unable to free her arms trapped between the two of them, but he ignored it as though she were a mildly annoying mosquito. “Diana!” she yelled, the words muffled against his suit. “Diana, run!” He was getting ready to fly them out of there and to the ship he’d landed about a mile away, but his curiosity got the best of him. What did humans do when distraught? Why was Janie crying? Surely she knew she’d get caught for whatever she’d done—and clearly from the size of the house it wasn’t anything for money. He looked over his shoulder and saw the other girl running towards him, screaming Janie’s name. Before she could cling to his back and cause more problems for him, Adam took off into the night through the gaping hole in the trailer he’d left earlier. Janie managed to get a hand over her shoulder and reached back for the girl and her home. He simply adjusted his grip so she didn’t fall to the ground; he knew she wouldn’t survive that. The cries from both the girl he’d left behind and the one he cradled to his chest echoed in his mind as he landed beside the battered ship. He let Janie go, assuming she’d walk with him, but she immediately collapsed and he only just managed to stop her from falling into the muck. He swore as he put one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees to carry her inside. Terrans. So delicate. They really couldn’t handle a little flying? He was so scared of hurting her that he was overly gentle as he put her in the bed. He stared down at her for a moment. Criminals rarely looked the way so many thought they did, but he thought even she looked particularly harmless. Her features were soft and her pale skin spattered with freckles. Her body was lank in a way he thought suggested she’d gone hungry more than a few times in the past few years, what with the painful sharpness to her shoulders and wrists. Her hair was a shocking white that fell to her shoulders but the roots of it were dark brown, like Groot’s bark. He liked the way it looked, and when he grabbed a lock of it between his fingers it proved it wasn’t as soft as he’d imagined.With a shake of his head, he dropped the bit of her hair and took a step back from her to clear the useless sentimental thoughts. And to try and quell the deep guilt he was feeling about taking her. The other girl’s cries still rang in his ears—he wasn’t sure he’d ever heard anything so desperate. As he took the ship out of orbit he tried and failed to forget what the girls had looked like as he’d separated them. Janie’s vision was blurry when she opened her eyes. But it was so dark that for a moment she convinced herself it had been a dream. No one had taken her, and she was going to drive Dee to school before she studied for the test she had coming up. But something in her—maybe the part that was aware her couch wasn’t this soft, that the dull thrumming wasn’t the box fan that sat in the corner, that her body ached like she’d run a marathon—knew it had been painfully real. She sat up and her head spun. She blinked to try and clear her vision. The room was small with dangerous-looking gadgets scattered about. The floor was shiny and metallic, though the walls were a reddish color. At what she could only assume was the front of the room, there was the man sitting with his back to her. Her panic quickly morphed into something more manageable—anger. She quietly got up from the soft bed, picked up a wrench-like object from the ground, and padded towards him. She willed her feet to make no noise as she came up behind him, raised the makeshift weapon, and swung down. Hot pain started in her wrist and radiated up to her shoulder. It was like she’d taken a bat to a cement-filled mailbox. She dropped the wrench with a clang and brought her arm to her chest, sucking in a breath between her gritted teeth. “Son of a bitch,” she hissed as she fought the urge to hunch over. Without even having the decency to seem phased, the man stood. She was taller than average, but he towered over her and was large enough to make her feel small. Fear pooled in her stomach; her legs shook; and her pain was momentarily forgotten. As her mother would say, he was built like a brick shithouse. And he was...gold. He was so strange to her eyes that she found it hard to even look at him straight on. She lived in a world of aliens and superheroes, but they didn't come to Texas of all places. She'd only see their destruction on television, and even the Blip hadn't taken anyone she'd loved. It was all as distant as a fairytale to her. Until now. Until this strange man had put a hole in her childhood home. He smirked at her before putting his forearm up against the wall to lean. But he actually put his arm on a shelf and only sent papers and knickknacks to the floor. Her brow furrowed as she saw several Troll dolls land near her feet. She frowned at him, fear slowly dissipating as he looked rather embarrassed by the whole ordeal. He could fly and was invincible, but there was something so guileless about him that it was making being scared difficult. He crossed his arms and looked at her, clearing his throat. She thought if he could blush, he would’ve been. “I heard you sneaking up. Terrans aren’t known for subtly.” “Who are you?” Tears of pain welled up in her eyes, but she held them in. “I’m Adam Warlock, son of the Sovereign and Guardian of the Galaxy.” “The Guardians? Those B-list Avengers?” she asked incredulously. His cocky smirk fell. “We are so much better than those airheads!” “I’ve been kidnapped by an alien and he’s not even an Avenger.” “The Avengers just deal with Earth. We deal with the whole Galaxy; hence the Guardians of the Galaxy title. And I didn’t kidnap you.” Her throat was too tight to ask any more questions, and the tears trailed down her face, much to her humiliation. She wiped them away with the back of her hand that wasn’t throbbing in pain. Adam’s face once again morphed. Something like sympathy showed in his golden eyes. Every emotion showed on him. What a shitty poker face, she thought. “Look, don’t cry. I don’t like people crying. It makes me feel...” He trailed off and then sighed in frustration. “...bad?” she supplied weakly. “Yes, but more than that.” She stared at him in utter disbelief before giving a thin laugh. “Don't you have names for emotions, Mr. Guardian of the Galaxy?" “We do, but they’re seen as obsolete. They’re ineffectual.” “Despite that, you seem to feel them.” She said the words harshly, wanting him to hurt for taking her. She wanted him to feel some measure of the pain she felt at knowing her family was panicking right now. He had no words for this. His gaze left hers and he looked at the floor. She tried to brush past him, but he put his arm out and stopped her. She let her eyes slowly slide from his arm to his face. “Where do you think you’re going?” “Where do you think I could go, hmm? I have two options: the back of this hunk of junk or the front,” she snapped. He stared at her. She could see muscles working in his jaw as he ground his teeth. Good, she thought. She was getting to him, though the thought made her feel a bit guilty. Making this big, naive man feel bad was like kicking a puppy. He stared at her with innocent, hurt eyes that made her feel guilty. Get it together! He kidnapped you! You get to be a bitch, a voice in her head said. The voice sounded oddly like Dee.He moved his arm so she could move past him. There were two chairs facing a black wall with panels that began at arm level. They all blinked and buzzed and had a language she didn’t understand written on them. It all made her more confused and anxious, so she sat in the co-pilot's chair. It had stuffing spilling out and was barely held together by duct tape. She ran her fingers over it and picked at a corner—it was either duct tape from Earth or someone in space had stolen a patent. She heard Adam sit in the other chair with a huff. “You are incredibly frustrating. I'll be glad to be rid of you.” “Where are you taking me and why?” “I’m taking you to Astros Four. And you know why.” “I really don’t—” she stopped. He had hit a few buttons and what she had thought was a wall transformed. It was like blinds had been raised to reveal stars and inky blackness that stretched on forever. There were colors richer than anything she’d seen on Earth twining in the cosmos like thread through a blanket. “Have you never been to space before?” he asked quietly. She shook her head. She wished she had a photographic memory so that she would never forget a single second of that endless space. Then there was a lurch that had her pressed against the seat. The stars flew by like trees outside a car window. She looked at Adam, whose lips were pursed together. She was so awed by the stars that for a moment she forgot she’d been kidnapped. “This is the worst day ever.” The bite was gone from her voice now. She was just...tired. He sighed. One hand left the handle he was using to direct the ship and tapped at the console between them. It was a bad picture taken from a strange angle. She could also tell it was several weeks old because her hair was freshly bleached—her little rebellion before her student teaching began. It was undeniably her on the screen, though.“That’s me,” she mumbled. “Yeah, that’s you. I know you can’t read that, but it says there’s a thirty million credit bounty on your head.” She felt her mouth pop open as she looked at him. Her heart pounded so loudly that he probably heard it with his super ears, but he kept his eyes locked forward. “That can’t be right. I haven’t done anything to make someone want me that badly.” “Well, a bounty like that doesn’t get put out for no reason.” Her mind buzzed. She shook her head, desperate to clear it, to make him see reason somehow. The rushing stars didn’t help her sudden dizziness. “You have to believe me, I have no idea what this is about.” He paused for a moment. The ship tilted to the side, and when she glanced out the giant windshield she noticed a golden, hexagon shape in the sky. It looked so strange, like someone had cut a piece of the sky out. She knew enough about space travel to know she was reaching the point where coming back to Earth was going to be a near-impossibility. “Adam.” He looked at her, conflict warring in his eyes. “Please, you have to believe me.” For a moment, they said nothing. They only stared at each other, both unable to look away. Then he turned the ship at the last minute. The portal was behind them, and she sank into the seat in relief. Her captor drummed his fingers on the console, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth.“I don’t know what to believe. But I do believe this is your first time in a spaceship and that there are too many odd things about your bounty for me to think this is all normal.” He ran a hand through his hair—she was shocked it moved since it looked so stiff—before turning them back around to face the portal, which had almost completely closed. He typed in new coordinates and it flashed open again. “What are you doing? Just take me home. I’ll be safe; I won’t even tell anyone what happened!” “I could do that. But you have a thirty million bounty on your name. I'm not the only one who knows about, and the next person will take you to Astros Four no questions asked. Now, do you want me to turn around and never think about you again, or do you want to stay with me and try and figure this out?” His face was so earnest. These were the options laid out, and she knew he’d fully commit himself to whichever one she answered. If she went home, he’d never think of her again and she’d be left to fend for herself against more aliens and bounty hunters. Most of whom wouldn’t be like him. Not only would she be in danger but her family would too. But the thought of diving into some space adventure made her whole body feel like it was buzzing. She could feel the anxiety sitting at the edge of her brain, and a million questions ran through her mind. She didn’t get to question whether she was made for a grand adventure because the ship suddenly went red and an alarm blared. Adam began punching buttons, brow furrowed. “What’s going on? Adam?” She swiveled her head to look out the glass, but all she saw was more space. Adam swore. “We’re being tracked.” “W-what? What does that mean?” He swiped her picture away and typed in new coordinates. The portal opened again, shiny and gold. It revealed a green, dank planet in the distance. “Make your choice, Terran. I can leave you here for whatever bounty hunters are coming or you can come with me.” “I—” The beeping got so loud she covered her ears. Something hit their ship, sending her forward. She barely managed to catch herself on shaky arms. She looked out and suddenly felt as though the blackness of space was going to swallow her up. “Choose!” he yelled. Something snapped in her. With her nose still almost touching the glass, she commanded, “Go. Go, Adam!” He needed no further instruction. There was a great lurch that sent her flying back into her seat, and Janie was going, going, gone.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
They snapped through the jump point with a stomach-turning sensation. He glanced over at Janie long enough to see her squeeze her eyes shut and then snap forward as the ship stuttered for a moment. She didn’t have her seatbelt on so she shot forward again, barely catching herself on the control panel. He resisted the urge to reach over and yank her back into the chair, far too focused on steering the ship towards the seedy planet in the distance. They lost some speed, but he managed to get them back on track, even if they kept speeding up and then slowing down again. The monitors were beeping wildly, which was standard when a ship of such low caliber went through a jump point. He could feel it rattling throughout the framework and knew without a doubt they weren’t making it far. He looked at the screen to his left to see where the bounty hunters had hit their ship and with what, and his stomach dropped. The same two ships had followed them through the jump point. That meant they were fast and most likely held dangerous beings. Shit, he thought, along with a string of Russian cuss words. He had changed their coordinates to Knowhere under growing suspicion of the bounty on Janie’s head, but had taken them to Kremin at the last minute instead. Showing up at the Guardians’ doorstep with a scared Terran, a shady bounty, two hunters after them, and a busted ship? Oh, he’d never live it down. Better to take her to this defunct mining planet while they figured out their next step. He glanced over at his Terran and saw she still had her nose pressed against the glass, eyes wide and mouth agape. He huffed, reached over, and pulled her back into her seat. “Buckle up. This isn’t going to be pleasant.” His voice warbled as the ship entered the atmosphere. He began to worry that it’d hold together long enough to get them to the ground. He’d be fine, but humans couldn’t survive something like re-entry...could they? Looking at her blanched face and fingers digging into the armrests, he decided to not find out today. “It’s been pleasant up to now?” she snapped through gritted teeth. He noticed she closed her eyes as she put the clasps together. “Not particularly,” he mumbled, trying not to think of what a disaster this was turning into. His arms shook as he eased the ship through the atmosphere. The ships behind them were fast, but Kremin’s atmosphere had so much pollution trapped that it all became a thick, greenish fog that provided them ample cover. The biggest downside was that it made it impossible to see and made all navigational technology go haywire. He was flying completely blind as he turned the nose of the ship down to try and go faster. The ship stalled, leaving them floating halfway between the planet and space before gravity took over and began pulling them down. He heard the ships thrusters fire up, propelling them forward a bit, and then stop. He wondered if his heart had stopped too with how quiet it suddenly went. Even the lights and control panel flickered as power went rapidly in and out. He had a near perfect memory. Could recall with aching clarity when he’d been yanked from his birthing chamber and thrown on the floor before the High Evolutionary. However, if all his memories got wiped within seconds, he knew he would never manage to forget two things. The first look he saw on his mother’s face was on of barely contained anguish and the sensation of a ship losing power when they could see nothing—both were a strange sensation of falling into something unknown and terrifying. Just as he was about to tell Janie to hold her breath and fly her down to the surface, the ship lit up and the thrusters miraculously worked. But they were going full speed, throwing him and his copilot—bounty, mark, partner, all meant the same in that moment—against their seats and causing the swirling green clouds to fly by in a blur. “Hold tight!” They broke through the pollution, and he saw with a jolt the barren, dusty ground was much closer than he’d anticipated. If it had just been him, he could hit the ground going however fast and be fine—he wouldn’t even need a ship, for crying out loud! But with the Terran he was having to make split-second choices to figure out how to safely land them so she didn’t get hurt. He was trying to save her life, but found he still had the capacity to get a bit more frustrated with her fragility. It became more difficult as they got closer to the ground. He pulled up on the controls with a yell as they got precariously close, and he found himself straining, he noted with some degree of surprise. Very little made him strain with his superior strength. This woman was taxing him to his nth degree, and they’d only been around each other for an hour. Would he even survive her long enough to figure out what was going on? The ship hit the ground with an ear-splitting crash. Metal was dented, glass busted, Janie screamed, and they slid for so long, pebbles smacking against the hull and both jostling roughly in their seats. There were mountain ranges scattered throughout Kremin, and with the dust kicking up as they sped precariously fast through it all, he feared they’d run smack into one and flatten against it. But then they came to a bumpy stop. The reddish-yellow dirt was swirling around the cracked windshield, but it slowly cleared. He could hear the Terran’s heart beating almost in sync with his own in the near-silence. He slowly pried his fingers off the controls, though they still shook as he brought them to his lap. He had felt panic when he’d realized his mother was going to die and pure anguish and guilt when he wasn’t fast enough to save her, but he had never felt fear like he just had. It made it so he was still reeling from it as he looked over to Janie. “You can open your eyes now,” he told her. Her eyes were squeezed so tight he thought she was going to hurt herself. He found it fascinating how she slowly opened her eyes, as if that would make whatever she saw different or more pleasing to her. The view was mostly clear now, and he saw confusion flash on her face as she took in the seemingly endless desert and spiraling green clouds. He wondered if she’d ever left that little corner of the world he’d picked her up from. It was clear she’d never been to space—one of the reasons doubt had been cast on this whole bounty situation—but had she ever explored her own planet? He couldn’t imagine not having whole galaxies to explore. It seemed so...small. She wiped her cheeks despite no tears falling and stood. She lost her balance and stumbled as she walked back to where she’d woken up. He was at her side in a flash, stopping her from falling and injuring herself. He didn’t have many medpacs to spare on her frail Terran body. He put his arms around her and lowered her to the floor. When she was kneeling on the ground, she shook him off, slapping at his arms. He gave an irritated huff as he raised his hands in surrender and stood. She wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned so her forehead was touching the floor. He shoulders hitched and her breath caught in a way that made him uncomfortable. He didn’t really know what to do when someone cried, so he left. The second his feet hit the planet floor, more dirt kicked up, making him cough. He scanned the horizon, letting his long-distance vision take over. There was absolutely nothing for almost as far as he could see. But then—there! Some of the craggy mountains that were far enough away the bounty hunters would take hours, if not days to find their hiding spot. Without thinking too much of it, he went to the back of the ship, hefted it up, and began flying it that way. “Hell fire!” Janie yelled, followed by a thump. Unseen by her, he smiled and laughed a little. He flew them until he reached the mountains and saw he was right. It had several large, unnaturally made caves that looked like gaping mouths. They’d been used for mining the planet’s precious core, but whatever it had once held was long gone. Oh, well, he thought. The industry was gone, but he and Janie were here now and needed a place to hide their ship while they thought of a plan—well, while he thought of a plan and Janie...moped, he supposed. He flew the ship as deep as he could into the largest cave before setting it down. It was markedly cooler in the darkness, though still hotter than he was used to and the dirt still kicked up and irritated his senses. He banged a fist on the back of the ship. “Terran! Get out here.” Something hit the wall inside where he’d just knocked. He jumped back in surprise before marching to the door. “Ungrateful, ill-mannered—” he mumbled, stomping his feet as he walked around the ship, “—spoiled, bad-tempered—” The door opened before he could grab the handle. Janie shoved him and took off running. He growled in frustrated before taking off after her. “Help! I’ve been kidnapped! Help!” she screamed. She didn’t even make it to the mouth of the cave before he caught her. He grabbed her and pushed her up against the cave wall, grabbing her wrists and pinning them above her head. She tried in vain to wriggle her hands free, and when that didn't work, she tried to shove him out of the way with her body. Irritated, he pressed his chest to her, truly caging her against the wall. “Where exactly are you going?” he asked softly. Her irises were swallowed by her pupils. Her hair fell in her face, and she tried to move it with a shake of her head. He resisted the urge to just brush it back himself, annoyed that it was in her face for some reason. “I was going to find someone to help me. There’s gotta be someone who'd take me home.” That was why? Foolish woman! He didn't realize he was getting closer to her face, practically baring his teeth at her in frustration, until something in him noted just how unnervingly close their faces were. He could count the freckles that speckled across the bridge of her nose. He stood straighter so there was more space between them. “You agreed to come with me, Terran.” “That was before you nearly killed me.” Her voice was tight. “My chances are better back on Earth.” “Your chances are nonexistent on Earth.” She glared at him. “Then my chances are better with some random alien than letting you parade me around!” Anger made him unwrap his fingers from her wrists and dig them into the cave wall, sending bits of the rock onto her shoulders. She just needed to trust him! After what he'd just proved to her, why wasn't that enough? He pushed off the wall, giving her plenty of space. “Be my guest. Go out and wander the desert. But this is an abandoned mining planet, and you won’t find anything more helpful out there than abandoned machinery and bounty hunters.” She said nothing. Her shoulders tensed as she looked at the mouth of the cave where the sickly green light danced. “I’ll be in the ship when you’re ready to talk.” He turned on his heel and walked back in, desperately fighting the urge to look over his shoulder at her. Were all humans this stubborn or was it limited to the ones raised on Terra? In the time it took her to swallow her pride and rejoin him on the ship, he’d managed to change into loose-fitting black pants cinched at the ankle, a flowing beige shirt, and boots, and picked up most of the ship. After he did all that, he laid on the bed with his hands clasped behind his head. He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep when he heard her feet clomping up the stairs. He didn’t move or give any indication he was actually awake as she stood over him and sighed. “Adam. I know you’re not asleep.” “Hmm,” was the only response he gave, keeping his eyes shut. She tugged on the blanket under him. It barely moved him. “Come on, this isn’t funny. We need to talk” He opened his eyes to see she was a bit dusty. He glanced at her feet and wasn't surprised to see they were dirty. “I see you braved the desert.” “There really is nothing out there.” He sat up. She moved back. It was like they were magnets flipped to the wrong sides--every step he took towards her, every little bit of effort, sent her the other way.“I haven’t lied to you once.” “You haven’t known me long enough to really lie to me yet.” He sighed as he stood. She was shorter than the other Terrans he’d met, but his experience was limited to the males of her species. As her head came all the way up to his chin, he assumed she was on the taller side, though. “I don’t lie. I’m very bad at it,” he confessed. “It’s one of the only things I’m bad at.” She blinked up at him. “Are you serious?” “Yes, I’m quite perfect.” He wasn’t sure why she sighed at this when it was only the truth. He was literally made to be the epitome of his people. “Okay, look, I just...I need to know what we do now. The ship isn’t going anywhere, so is a space tow truck on the way? Or the Guardians?” At this he looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “Adam?” she asked in an accusatory tone. “No, no one is coming—” “Are you serious?” She raised her hands, and he feared she was going to hurt herself trying to slap him. She only put her hands to her temples. “I couldn’t tell them about this.” “Oh God, I’m gonna die out here.” She bent over and put her hands on her knees. He reached out his hand, brought it back, and then decided he might as well follow through and put his hand on her back. He rubbed up and down like he’d seen Phylla do to Groot when he lost his favorite toy. Adam had spent two hours retrieving from the cold recesses of space. “You’re not going to die,” he reassured her. “I’m going to die out here with a gold alien. I only have one semester left before my student teaching, and then I graduate. Why did this have to happen when everything was starting to go right?” “Janie, you are not going to die. I’m not going to let you.” She laughed but it didn't sound joyful. She stood, and he let his hand slide from her back."This is a mess," she mumbled."It is. But I'm going to figure out why someone put a bounty on you.""So you believe I'm innocent now?"He couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "I believe you've never been to space before today. And there's nothing you could do on Terra that would warrant such a price."He saw her fight a smile, but slowly, she lost. "I don't think anyone's after a twenty-five-year-old college student who's just now managing to graduate.""Well, someone is. And I can figure out who." He held his hand out towards her. "Truce?"She stared at his hand. He wished he could read her thoughts or feel her emotions, because her face was unreadable.Then she grabbed his hand and said, "We work together."He wasn't sure what use she could be. But, he admitted to himself, it was her life on the line, so she could help--however much Terrans could do so.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Sand swirled in her vision. This planet was how she’d imagined the dessert as a child but infinitely gloomier. The dirt was a sickly yellowish color under the green clouds, and it stretched until it met the horizon. The only thing that broke up the landscape was the occasional husk of a tree, a craggy mountain, or some random bit of metal. As her boots—borrowed from Adam, as was the suit she now wore—bit into the ground, her mind conjured up the unwelcome sensation of sand between her teeth and she adjusted the mask on her face. It was clear around her eyes for vision but dark red metal with a humming ventilation system covered her mouth. She’d raised an eyebrow at Adam when he’d handed it to her, offput by the weight of it. “It’s an uncomfortable walk, staying with the ship, or dying a painful death after hours of breathing in the polluted sand,” he’d told her with a shrug, as if it didn’t matter to him which she picked. She’d stuck her tongue out at him before putting it on. She had a lanky frame due to times where she’d had to survive off canned vegetables and beef jerky, but her body had grown into the proportions it was naturally meant to be at so Janie had rather big hands and feet. She’d flushed red when Adam’s boots and gloves had nearly fit her perfectly—this giant of a man’s clothing almost fit her! She couldn’t shake the shame of not being dainty enough. Now, though, trudging through this mess, she was grateful the boots fit. She couldn’t imagine the blisters. “How much further are we?” she asked in a voice muffled by the mask. She glanced at him, but quickly looked away, still unused to his odd appearance. In the green tinted light, his skin reflected green. “About twenty minutes’ walk.” His voice was clear because he wore no mask and still had on the flowy loungewear from earlier—when she’d asked why he didn’t need any protective gear, he’d said he had no need when he was perfect. Her calves burned at the thought. “Why can’t you fly us there? At speeds within reason.” “Because flying creates a dust trail that’s all too easy to follow. I’m sure the bounty hunters followed us, and I'm not trying to make their job easier.” “But you flew earlier,” she pointed out. He sighed. “That was a dire situation. I prioritized getting the ship hidden.” She didn’t quite know what to say, so she kept quiet. Dee called her boring, but if only her sister could see her now! The thought made her smile, and she pushed down the pain at the thought of Dee. She was going to see her sister again and tell her all about these adventures; she was going to finish her degree and teach. This was just a near-unbelievable detour to the rest of her life. They walked for a while without speaking. Janie’s ears had begun ringing with the silence, and her thighs throbbed from walking. Her feet felt like they were dragging, and she wondered if maybe this place had higher gravity than Earth. “This planet sucks. There’s nothing but dirt.” “Don’t speak ill of it. Many people died here.” Keeping her feet moving, she turned her head to look at him, brows pinched together. What she supposed was the sun had crept across the sky and was dimly glowing behind his head. The image it created couldn’t get stranger in Janie’s eyes—golden skin, painted green with the clouds, framed by a weak sun. “This planet was all forest and ocean once.” She let her eyes drift from his face and to the landscape beyond him. She found it hard to believe. “What happened?” Her mind trailed to what sort of disaster could cause this much destruction. “It had a very valuable core, and it was mined to desolation. The planet was abandoned when the pollution seeped into the ground, poisoned the water and dirt, and built up so heavily in the skies that the sun couldn’t grow anything. The ones who could leave did. The others...” He trailed off and looked upset. It turned her stomach to imagine. “Where are we going?” she asked softly. “One of the last settlements is nearby. The buildings should still be up, and we can salvage metal to repair the ship enough to leave.” “Right.” She shook her head. The absurdity of the whole thing hit her again. These things were supposed to happen to Tony Stark or Thor. If she’d learned anything, it was that these adventures were reserved for the ones deemed important—what or who decided they important, she wasn’t sure. Twenty minutes, her ass. She didn’t have her phone or a watch, but they’d been walking far longer than that. They walked so long that Janie began sweating. Adam, of course, didn’t sweat. She was sure it was another reason he was perfect—only imperfect being sweated. Droplets trailed down her back and beaded at her hairline. She could see something poking up in the distance and felt hope in her chest. Her breath was coming hard so she lightly tapped Adam’s forearm and gestured to the distance. “Yes, that’s it. We’re very close.” She felt his gaze linger on her and suddenly felt self-conscious about how hard she was struggling. “Do you want me to carry you?” The part of her that was sweating with shaking thighs desperately wanted to say yes. The part of her that maintained her pride and dignity was repulsed at the idea. “I’ll walk,” she huffed. She glanced at him and saw him shake his head. God, not a hair was out of place. Maybe he really was perfect. Stupid, perfect alien man, she thought bitterly. When they were close, she could see the buildings were made of metal and hodgepodged together. Though they looked undeniably sturdy, Janie couldn’t help but think something about it was almost like children had built them. Perhaps it was in the way the buildings leaned and their uneven nature. Then she chastised herself. This had been some poor miners' homes, and she was judging. They got closer and closer, and she was beyond pride now. She knew when they stopped she was going to sit on the ground while Adam collected whatever they needed. But as they got closer, she ran straight into his arm. It was like running into a steel bar, and it knocked the breath out of her a bit. She’d been staring down at the ground and watching misshapen pebbles get kicked by the toes of her borrowed boots and hadn't even noticed he’d throw his arm out to stop her. She looked up at him and saw his face tight with worry. Any frustration she’d felt was quickly replaced by fear as she finally moved her eyes to the ramshackle town, which was less than a hundred yards away. There was life there, moving slowly out into the open from the safety of the homes. Hardened, weary creatures who stared at them out of their doorframes. She found herself moving a bit closer to Adam, who had yet to put his arm back to his side. He might be a strange gold man who kidnapped her, but she figured the devil she knew was better than any of them. These people reeked of a desperation she’d seen all her life growing up in poverty. Some took it and found joy; others let themselves fall into darkness—this town was on the side of danger. “I thought this place was abandoned,” she said hoarsely. Her throat was dry from the sweating and now from nervousness. “It should be. There’s no way to survive here.” “Well, they found a way.” She didn’t want to consider just how they’d survived, because it was immediately dark imaginings. “Come on.” His voice was soft but firm. He began walking towards the town. She kept her feet firmly planted. It only took him a few steps to realize he was walking alone, and he turned back with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t like this. We don’t know how they survived or if we’ll be able to scavenge anything now. Let’s just go back.” She gestured for him to return to her side. She was beginning to feel he was almost a bodyguard and didn’t like him standing so far away. She certainly had no way to defend herself the way he could protect himself, and it irked her because he clearly didn’t consider she was in a wildly different position than him.“And do what?” He raised his hands as if to emphasize the emptiness of the planet. “We have to find something to repair the massive hole blown in the ship, and I'll remind you I'm doing this for your benefit.” “How was any of this for my benefit? You took me, decided to not go to the Guardians, and now we’re stuck.” She tried not to raise her voice, but she was tired and hungry, and the anger just seeped out. She hadn’t even realized she’d been moving until she was toe-to-toe with him, head thrown back to look at him. The look he was giving her reminded Janie of how her mother would look at Dee when her little sister wouldn’t leave the park.“No, you’re stuck. I can fly in space with no space suit. This is for you because you’re my responsibility, Terran.” She scoffed and brushed past him. “Keep telling yourself that.” All for her. As if! This was all for his benefit, whatever it may be from keeping her alive, she was sure of it. They may have struck a truce in the ship, but she wasn’t naïve enough to think he was doing this all from the goodness of his heart. She marched towards the town, feeling her calves trembling from walking for what she felt was almost an hour. Her face ached from the mask and her neck was getting sore from the weight of it. She felt someone at her back and knew Adam had joined her. As she got closer to the town, she got a good look at the inhabitants. They were all medium height, stoutly built, and had craggy gray skin. One of them in a battered red jacket made their way over to meet them halfway. Janie stopped six feet away from him. His eyes were fully black and took up a large portion of his face. He had no nose and a very small mouth, which he opened and strange sounds erupted from. It was like listening to wind through a tall tree. Adam began to speak in the same language. She was beginning to feel very left out when there were now-familiar hands at her neck, and before she could ask him what he was doing, Adam pressed a device under her ear. She felt pressure as it suctioned to her skin and the strange sensation of cool metal covering her ear. A chill went down her spine at how cold it was. Before she could turn and ask him what he’d done, a voice rang in her covered ear. “...are you doing here?” Her eyes widened in shock as the device in her ear translated for her. “We crashed. We’re looking to repair our ship and leave.” Adam’s voice was tinny in the covered ear. The alien man gave a slow blink. She had never been so out of her depth. Even when she’d lost her footing on Earth, she could always find her way back to it. But here? She knew nothing of alien body language or culture. “We’ll see what we can do,” the man said. Then he turned and walked towards the town. Adam nudged her back, and she stepped forward on legs that now trembled from fear rather than exhaustion.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
This was surprising to say the least. This planet had allegedly been evacuated almost fifteen years prior. But looking at the inhabitants in their homes, tugging their children inside their mismatched homes at the sight of him and Janie, it was clear that he and the rest of the galaxy had been lied to. But why? He tried to come up with reasons but found himself failing. What use was there in lying about the population of a planet in the middle of nowhere? His thoughts were muddled as they walked. Then Janie bumped into him, causing him to miss a step and stumble. He gave her an irritated look, but when he saw her eyes wide with fear, the annoyance lessened. He gently put a hand on the small of her back, and she moved closer to him. She was clearly trying to appear brave, but he could hear her heart pounding. “It’s going to be okay,” he said softly in English. He was pretty sure no one here spoke any Terran language. “I thought you said no one lived here,” she mumbled through gritted teeth. Her voice sounded strange and a bit garbled by the mask. “I was under the impression it was uninhabited. Someone lied.” She turned her head ever so slightly towards him, eyes darting to meet his. “Why?” “I’m not sure.” She stumbled again on the rough terrain. He assumed she’d catch herself, but then she was on the ground on all fours. He saw her arms shake, and when she tried to stand, it was as if someone pushed her back down until she was flush with the ground. He knelt next to her, kicking up more of the annoying dirt that obscured his vision. Luckily, she was still breathing, but for the first time, he noted the sweat dampening her hairline and paid attention to her wheezing breaths. Her lungs struggled, even with the mask, and he felt a tinge of panic. He felt so stupid. The gravity on this planet was greater than Earth’s! He reached his arms out and was about to scoop her up when she sat up and slowly began to push herself to her knees. Her arms still trembled, and he worried for how fast he could hear her heart beating. “Janie?” Her eyes were wide through the clear visor of the mask as she whipped her head to look at him. She turned on one knee and set a shaky leg out as she grabbed his arm to brace herself. He nervously looked around at the beings peering out at them. He knew with a sudden certainty that he didn’t want his Terran to be seen as weak on a harsh planet. He put his free hand on her face. It was a testament to how exhausted she was that she didn’t wear his hand away and instead let him bear the weight of her for a moment. “We have to move,” he said softly. “I know. I know. I just feel so tired.” “It’s the gravity. It’s stronger here than on Earth.” He took in her state and weighed their options. There weren't many. "I know it's hard, but you have to keep walking.""Something wrong with her?" the alien asked. Adam's head snapped up. It was a testament to how distracted he was that he didn't hear the being walk up to them. Then again, they were strangely quiet on the shifting sands."Is there somewhere she can rest? Somewhere safe," he added pointedly, eyes scanning the aliens around him, though they seemed to be losing interest in their visitors.The creature blinked."This way."He scooped up Janie and began walking behind him.His voice was quiet as he promised her, "I'll keep you safe."He barely heard her response of, "You better." Her dreams were strange and confusing. They were filled with sand, green skies, and a golden hand brushing her palm. The sun started to come out from behind the clouds, and it was more beautiful and warm than any sun she'd felt before. Having someone wrap their hand in hers wasn't entirely unpleasant, as she threw back her head and soaked in the sun.Then a shadow fell over her. The hand was gone, as was the warmth of the sun. She kept her eyes closed as cold metal hit her back. The light returned, but it was cold, sterile light. She opened her eyes. A shadowed face was above her. She tried to scream, but the shadow slapped a clammy hand over her throat."Quiet," it hissed. "It won't hurt long."Then it raised a scalpel that gleamed in the light as it sliced slowly down her face. She wasn't sleeping well on the piles of quilts and blankets that were stacked in a makeshift bed. Even in the low light of what was the Sirrah's--he'd learned their name in passing--medical house, he could see her twitch and sweat. He put a damp rag to her forehead, and wondered what was going through her mind. This was one building with a filtered air system for the elderly or sick children, so Janie could be without her mask.The door, a hodgepodge of welded metal, opened with a heavy scrape against the floor. He knew the footsteps already. It was Trayock, the Sirrah who'd been leading them earlier. He went and sat on the ground behind Adam, who couldn't bother to be concerned about it at the moment. He listened to Janie's staggered breathing, until it was grating on his ears. He turned so his back was to her, and spread his long legs on the floor towards Trayock.“May I ask why you’re still here?” Adam asked. The question had been burning at him, and now he needed some distraction.Trayock took a deep breath. It was clear the question troubled him, and Adam wondered if he'd crossed a line. “The company that mined here said they’d send ships for us. We waited days at the port. Families slept on the ground. The ships never came, and no one could afford a ship off.” He motioned with his craggy hands to the shabby building they were in. "And now, we're here.""And food?"He had to admit that his thoughts had strayed to cannibalism and other barbaric things the desperate resorted to for survival. But from what he’d seen and the fact that they were still alive, these people were only downtrodden, not so distraught they’d resorted to the unthinkable. As if Trayock could read his thoughts, he gave a grim smile. “We aren’t entirely alone. There are a few kind souls who bring us food in exchange for places to hide.” “When they’re running from the law, I presume.” Adam’s voice held no judgement. He himself had broken his own fair share of laws and would've been caught without the kindness of people like the Sirrah. “Where better to hide than where no one lives,” Trayock said bitterly. “None of them will take you somewhere you can start over?” “And go where, Sovereign? We have nowhere.” Nowhere to go. He knew how that felt. Despite being with the Guardians, it never felt like home. Nothing felt like home, not even the planet of his birth if he were honest with himself. He'd accepted his life as an outsider, but found he despised the idea of these people being displaced.Janie gave a cough. He immediately turned and checked on her. He sat a hand on her chest and was relieved to feel a steady heartbeat, if fast, and even, deep breaths.Then her eyes opened. She whipped her head furiously around, breathing turning rapid. Her pupils were blown with what he knew had to be fear.He moved to his knees and put a hand on either side of her face. She grabbed his wrists in an iron grip, but he was pleased to see she calmed down some at the sight of him, though he didn't understand why it pleased him."Janie," he mumbled, "it's okay.""Where am I?" Her voice was breathless."You're safe. You're in the Sirrah's medical building."She slowly, painfully sat up. He removed his hands and let her sit up on her own. When her eyes landed on Trayock, he wasn't sure of the emotion in them. Was it more fear? Anger? Sadness? He wanted to know, but also knew it wasn't proper to ask.She sat back in her seat, shoulders hunched. Adam found his hand straying a few centimeters towards her, as if to grab her hand in comfort. He flexed his fist in his lap. "How soon can we get off this planet?" she asked, eyes locked on Trayock.He smirked, as much as a creature of such thick, rock-like skin could. "As soon as possible." The bag slung over Adam's back was loaded with parts and bits she couldn't even dream of naming. She barely knew how to change the oil on her car. Trayock added another chunk of metal into it. She knew it was heavy, but her partner in crime was a Sovereign so he was obviously strong and perfect. She almost rolled her eyes at the thought.He tightened the straps with one fluid motion, making the bag sit between his shoulder blades. She straightened the mask on her face, dreading the long walk. “May I carry you?” Her eyes went wide, and she looked up at him. “If it means we get back to ship sooner, then yes,” she said. She immediately reached up to throw her arms around his neck, and just as he was about to pick her up, he went stiff. His head tilted to the side in a motion that was strangely cat-like to her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.Then she was on the ground. Her hands burned with the impact, and she looked at Adam in shock. She was feeling betrayed and confused, when suddenly she realized her ears were ringing. There had been a noise, a bang, just as he'd pushed her. A dark spot grew on the front of his shirt, over his stomach.They were being attacked. He'd heard a noise just as he'd been about to pick Janie up. A noise he knew all too well. He had a split second to push her several feet away before pain exploded in his lower back and gut. He went to his knees, hand covering his new wound. “Adam!” Janie crawled over to him. He noted the dirt became red as the sharp rocks hidden beneath it cut her palms. She pressed her hands over his. His golden blood spilled over both their fingers, mixing with her own as it dripped to the ground. “Jesus Christ,” she mumbled. Then she looked up. He watched her eyes go wide, and turned his head to look over his shoulder. A woman was walking towards them. She wore all black, from her shoes to her long coat. She was currently reloading the long, slender gun in one of her hands. Her white hair whipped in the wind that had picked up, and her face was covered by a mask similar to Janie’s, except it was tinted so he couldn’t get any identifying details. But he knew enough to know the gun was stolen and she was a bounty hunter. His head snapped to her. He felt his Terran desperately trying to get him to stand, saying his name, and begging him to move. The helpless feeling that had overcome him when his mother had died reared its ugly head as his vision began to go fuzzy, but he shoved it down. He would not fail someone. Not again. He had enough blood on his hands. He put his hands on either side of Janie’s face, a parody of the motion earlier when she'd been sick. She grabbed his wrists so tightly he could feel her nails digging in. “Janie. Run.” Then he stood, and turned to face the bounty hunter.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Janie watched Adam stand tall against the strange figure off against the horizon. The Sirrah were hiding in their homes. She could hear them hissing in fear, and the sound filled the air like a dissonant soundtrack to the fight. He began to walk towards the bounty hunter as if he weren’t injured. If she hadn’t seen him get shot and still had his blood on her hands, she never would’ve known he was hurt. “Come on then!” he yelled to the figure. Janie watched her cock her head to the side, analyzing the situation, before she began sprinting towards Adam. She was fast and moved in such a fluid manner it gave Janie chills. She ducked behind a rock as the fighting began. She heard fists pummeling flesh, shouts, and other horrible things. She was sick to her stomach as she clamped her hands over her ears. Dee would be disappointed in her. She knew that much. Her sister would probably be in the fray, but Janie had seen what these beings were capable of up close now. She had never felt so small as she brought her knees to her chest. She just wanted it to stop. She wanted to go home. I can’t go home . The thought popped into her mind and sat there. There was no going home because she’d endanger her family. No, there was no leaving this story until she fixed this. She couldn’t fix this alone, not in this strange new world of space travel and bounty hunters. Without him, she suddenly realized, she would never see her mother or sister again. This made her leap up and face the fight. She couldn’t tell who was winning, only that her kidnapper was hurt and struggling, but it looked like fighting such a formidable opponent was taking its toll on the white-haired woman. Her punches were growing shaky, and her feet seemed to slip in the sand. Not Adam. He had one hand now patching the wound in his gut, but, had the bounty hunter not been so fast, his hits would’ve landed and ended the fight. His eyes were steely as he watched every movement the woman made. As much as she found him something of a joke in the short time she’d known him, Janie suddenly realized just how terrifying he could be. She heard a hissing that stood out from the rattlesnake chorus the Sirrahs were singing. It was lower in pitch. She looked behind her and saw a child staring at her with his dark eyes wide. He pointed a stubby finger at the fight. At first, she thought he was just trying to point at the fight, but she had an inkling there was more. She used the rock she’d hid behind as a prop to lean her shaky body on and look closer. There had to be something she was missing! There! Knocked out of the bounty hunter’s hand and resting in the dirt about two yard in front of Janie was the hunter’s gun. Her blood became electric as she eyed it. She heard the child’s hissing get louder as her body tightened with anticipation. Enough watching this fight! This wasn’t a movie. If she wanted to go home, she was going to have to contribute to the heroics. It was a lot of open space between her and the gun. Adam continued fighting and wearing down his enemy. Their enemy, she supposed—ha! The thought was so ridiculous it almost made her laugh. She'd now become someone with enemies. “You got this,” she mumbled to herself. Before she could let herself think, she pushed off the rock and began sprinting towards the gun. He was tired, which, like the pain in his gut, was an unusual sensation. It slowed him down and made it too difficult to concentrate long enough to use his powers. His punches were sluggish enough that the bounty hunter dodged them again and again, though he knew it was wearing her out. That was his goal. Wear her down. “Give me the Terran,” she huffed, fist raised defensively. The very thought filled him with rage. He let out a haggard yell before throwing another punch at her. She, of course, moved under it quickly, but then the unmistakable zing of a lazer gun. Time stopped. Both paused, unsure who had been shot. He put a hand to his stomach, but there was no new pain. He looked at the bounty hunter, who was pulling her hand away from her shoulder in shock. Her purple blood covered the hand. She stumbled back. Adam whipped his head in the direction of the shot, and was shocked to see his Terran there with the gun. She held it confidently up to her eye to aim. She marched forward, never letting it fully drop. He moved behind the bounty hunter quick as a flash. He kicked her knees out, and they both went to the ground. He grabbed her wrists as their knees hit the sand and planted his own knees on the insides of her. He felt satisfied when the lunatic who thought she could beat him struggled and went nowhere. He felt a strange, new sensation when he saw Janie put the barrel of the lazer gun to the woman’s chest. He stared at her wide-eyed, unable to shake the shiver that went up his spine at the sight of her. “Who are you working for?” she asked. The bounty hunter gave a haggard yell as she struggled against his hands. He chuckled, but it caused a wave of pain to go through his body. His vision was beginning to go fuzzy. “If you want to live, I suggest you answer her question, bounty hunter,” he said, eager to get back to his ship where there were med packs. And, frankly, he was growing bored with this whole planet and interrogation business. He tightened his grip on her wrists until she gave a hiss of pain. “Tell me who put the bounty on my head. Now.” The woman didn’t answer. There was a click as Janie prepared to fire the gun. He wondered if she’d do it. She didn’t strike him as a killer, though he hadn’t known her long. Her eyes, however, held a hint of fear. Oh well. If she didn’t want to kill the woman, he could—anything to get him back to the ship, really, as the pain was starting to get unbearable. “Talk,” he hissed, tightening his grip once again. “I don’t know!” she yelled. He loosened his grip. “I don’t know,” the bounty hunter repeated. “Now tell your guard dog to release me, Terran.” Janie shook her head, frizzy white hair shaking around her. For one deluded moment, he thought the sickly sun behind her head made her look like an angel, her hair a halo. “He’ll release you when you tell the truth.” “I am.” His Janie said nothing. He watched her dig the barrel deeper in the bounty hunter’s shoulder. She stiffened.“All I know is you’re to be taken to Astros Four, where someone will be given a hefty sum.” “Who gave you the information?” Adam asked. He saw Janie’s eyes glance at him. She paused. He heard her heart stutter. “I received on my comm.” Getting annoyed with this game, he wrapped his arms fully around her. He began to squeeze with a fraction of his strength, which he knew was easily enough to kill her. Her breath huffed out. She began struggling to fill her lungs, and she weakly moved against him. It would do no good against his superior strength.“Enough!” The words from Janie barely reached his ears, but once they did, he loosened his hold. The bounty hunter took a deep inhale. “The truth.” Janie’s voice was trembling. The bounty hunter paused. He flexed his arms just to remind her of what could be happening. “Armen Fiad told me of the bounty minutes before the message came through.” Adam swore in Russian as he released her to the ground. He stood on shaky legs. Armen Fiad, the old aristocrat who dealt in black market weapons and upper-class secrets. If she’d known before anyone, it meant the dealer of the bounty was someone much more powerful than he’d anticipated. But he couldn’t think of that now. Not when his vision was swimming and his wound throbbed with every heartbeat. “Who is—Adam? Adam, what can I do?” He grabbed Janie, scooping her up behind her shoulder blades and under her knees. He began flying towards their ship as quickly as he safely could. She held onto him, face turned into his chest. When he was finally crossing the threshold of the ship, relief washed over him. Still carrying Janie, he went to the back of the ship. He set her down as he slammed the panel in the wall next to the bathroom door open. The med packs were right there, but his vision began swimming again. He swayed. Hands touched his back to keep him steady, and a voice was asking him...something... The world went black as he tried to decipher what was being asked. There was a jolt through his body. It almost made him open his eyes. Strange images played on his mind, things he hadn’t seen before. Janie was there in his arms as he spun her around a grand room of gold. She wore a dress of royal purple. It swooshed on the floor as he spun them in precise circles. The dancers around them moved in perfect sync, like a perfect clock. Janie smiled up at him. In the dream, he kissed her. In the real world, he woke.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Space had inspired awe the first time she’d seen it not-so-long ago. Now, as their ship floated in a nebulous pink cloud, the peeks of space she saw through its spindly gaps made her shiver. It all seemed so empty, so unending, and now she knew that things out there wanted to hurt her. It wasn’t in the mindless way an animal might hurt her but in a deliberate, precise way. She moved from the big window up front—what was it even called—and meandered back to the bunk. Adam was breathing soundly in the bed, hair still wet from the shower. His shirt had rucked up enough that she could see where he’d been hurt. The wound had been miraculously healed by the med pack so swiftly she’d thought she’d done it wrong, because she knew good things that came quickly were normally just bad things in disguise. No, though, it was just technology beyond her own understanding, and had fixed him up in the blink of an eye. There wasn’t even a scar on his admittedly perfect skin. Feeling like her eyes were lingering on the taunt stretch of exposed skin too long, she blushed and went into the bathroom. She locked the door behind her, and then double checked it to avoid awkward encounters. Imagine him walking in on her naked! It made her face get even hotter to even consider. She stripped off her dusty suit. Pebbles and clumps of dirt hit the floor. She turned the water on full heat, stepped into the shower, and jumped back with a yelp. It was scalding hot. She lifted her leg and used her foot to turn the knob until it turned to a more tolerable temperature, carefully pressing herself to the wall to avoid getting hit with the piping hot water. Ugh. Water was supposed to take time to heat up and never get so hot it felt like she was being boiled alive, but on a spaceship it obeyed neither of the rules she was familiar with. It seemed all her familiar rules of reality were being callously thrown away or at the very least bent into shapes she didn’t understand. She stepped under the water and let it wash away the dirt. She wished it could wash away the memories racing through her mind. She replayed everything, from the moment, Adam had showed up at her home to when he’d been shot. She didn’t like how her feelings towards him had been in flux since she’d met him. From fear to hatred to now...she didn’t know. Fondness, maybe? Perhaps that was too friendly a word. She couldn’t quite describe the feelings that that cropped up when she looked at him. Anger for taking her away. Uncertainty for the way he treated her. After watching him get hurt, there was also a strange protectiveness she felt now, despite having been shown how dangerous he was. When he’d passed out after flying them to the ship, she’d yelled his name. With shaking hands, she’d taken the puffy-looking belt and followed the pictures printed on the panel. When she’d pressed the button down, it had sent a horrible jolt through him, making his body jump up and muscles go stiff. Rigor mortis was the only phrase that ran through her mind in those horrible few seconds. Then he’d fallen back to the ground with a thump. She’d warily put her hand on his shoulder, feeling a bit relieved with how warm he was. Surely if that’d killed him, he’d be growing colder, right? Later—it could’ve been a few minutes or hours for all she knew—his eyes had opened so slowly, but they had opened. If she’d had less pride, she would’ve cried. She didn’t want to be alone on a barren planet with no way off, and he may not be her friend but he was all she had right then. “We have to fix the ship,” he’d mumbled before stiffly sitting up. She helped him with hands on her his back, despite her own stiffness for sitting on the floor with her eyes fixed on the door for so long. She'd been just waiting for the bounty hunter to appear and end this all. Her mind had played horrible scenario after horrible scenario, like a movie she couldn’t turn off no matter how hard she pressed her hands to her temples. He'd had the ship operational in an hour. She'd raised an eyebrow at the patch job. Even to her inexperienced eye, she knew it wasn’t going to last long. He’d only said it’d get them where they were going, and flown the ship into the gaseous cloud they now hid in. She tilted her head back to the water. The tiles in the shower were dark gray, but she could still watch the dirt swirl down the drain. She scrubbed her body with a rag doused in sweet-smelling soap—or what she hoped was soap—until she was raw and red. She washed and rewashed her hair with, shockingly, a normal 2 in one shampoo/conditioner from a brand she recognized. It was a dandruff control brand, but she supposed even aliens got dandruff. It was an oddly comforting thought. When she finally felt clean, she stepped out, dried off with a scratchy towel, and put on the spare clothes she’d found in the drawer under the bunk. They were a matching set of flowing black pants and shirt. She wiped the mirror clear of its steam and stared at herself. She was still a regular human. She was still Janie. The face that stared back was the same one she’d seen her whole life, but she knew she would be changed by this. This trip would leave her a new person on the inside; she could already feel the shift beginning. She only wondered if it’d be a change like a caterpillar into a butterfly or a forest burned to the ground. Acting purely on impulse, she slid the mirror aside and found a pair of scissors. She grabbed a lock of her bleach-damaged hair and chopped. She did the same to the other side, and then kept cutting away until it looked even. It had fallen to her shoulders, but now ended at her chin. She smiled at the reflection as a sense of calm washed over her. Odd as this story may be, she still had some control. She cleaned as best she could and went back out to the sleeping area. She threw the dirty clothes in a pile on top of her old clothes and looked at the bunk in the wall. The strange feeling she couldn’t name was creeping up on her again as she looked at the smallish bed. Adam had his head turned towards the wall, an arm flung over his eyes. His shirt had ridden up again, and she let herself be indulgent and look at the muscles cording his body. They were lean on his stomach, and his arms were muscular in a way she’d only seen on pictures of statues from great artists. She shifted on her feet as she considered her options. She supposed she could sleep on the floor...the cold, hard floor...without a blanket. She also supposed it was more practical to share the bed. He probably wouldn’t mind, she told herself. He was so haughty she figured he’d only be upset from having slept next to an imperfect being, as if her humanity could infect him. Her arms and legs were heavy. Her eyes were starting to close of their own volition. Screw it, she thought. She crawled under the blanket, keeping as close to the edge of the bed as she could, and curled up in a ball to fall asleep. When he woke, it was to a strange sensation. He was on his side for one thing, and he never slept on his side. It was a small anomaly compared to the feeling of his arms wrapped around someone. He smelled Kraglin’s hair products and soap, and for a wild moment, thought it was the pilot in his arms. He slowly opened his eyes to see Janie before him—well, the top of her head, anyway. His heart raced as he realized their bodies were pressed so tightly together there wasn’t any space between them. One arm was locked around her middle, and her own arms were tangled up around it, cradling it closer. His other limb was under her head like a pillow. He could feel one of his knees pressing into the mattress, and the other between either of Janie’s. He was surprised to find he didn’t dislike the feeling of holding her and being held. In fact, he quite liked it. It made him feel as if he could keep her safe like this, like he could wrap his body around hers and keep the world away. He also felt...safe, he admitted to himself. Her body blocked out the larger part of the ship and gave him the sensation of closeness. He tugged her tighter for a moment, closing his eyes. As he took a deep breath, getting a whiff of Kraglin’s shampoo but also hints of lavender, he had the oddest urge. He wanted to kiss the top of her head. The kiss in the dream had been extremely odd, but he chalked it up to him having a dream in the first place—nothing was unusual in the unusual, he told himself. The dream kiss had been chaste, but the thought of kissing the top of her head now, however innocent, had other connotations. They were in bed together. Their bodies were tangled up. He knew deep down that he wanted to kiss down to her jawline, along her neck, and further. He’d never done anything like that before, and the urge to do so was unnerving. His Janie was bringing up all kinds of feelings and thoughts. His Janie. His. He let himself gently kiss the top of her head. An indulgence, sure, but the only one he’d permit himself. Carefully, he pulled himself away from her. She stirred and seemed to halfway wake up before going back to sleep. The bunk was set into the wall, so getting his long body out was a bit of a trial, but he managed. She flopped over onto her back when he’d moved. She'd cut her hair. He smiled down at her because he could see her face better now. Perhaps her thoughts that were so carefully guarded would become clearer to him. This want to know her startled him so badly that he went up to the front of the ship. He spun in the pilot’s chair as he tapped on the commpad. He swiped away messages from Phylla asking where he was. There were many from Rocket telling to get his ass back to Knowhere, lest he want to lose an arm. He snorted. As if. Groot simply sent “I am Groot” several times. He had to focus. He'd tell them all about this adventure once he was sure Janie was safe, but too many eyes on one mark meant there were also too many mouths to spread secrets. He went to the databank of Armen Fiad’s home planet. She had very little information available. He supposed money could buy privacy, and Armen had lots of it. All he had was her ten addresses on various planets and, after quite a bit of digging, an encrypted invitation to a party at one. He rolled his eyes at the address. It wasn’t a terrible distance, but it was a planet full of hoity-toity upper-crust elites. They all had more money than was even imaginable, and they all vacationed on the same planet. The party was in two days, and that would be their only opportunity to speak with her. He rubbed his eyes. So much work, so little time. He wished he could simply punch his way to answers. “Ow. That would be my foot, not the floor, you just stepped on,” Adam said in a monotone voice. She knew she didn’t actually hurt him, but he enjoyed expressing his disdain every time she stepped on his foot. She didn’t apologize. She simply straightened her back and reset her feet. They'd been working at this dancing for a while now. She only had two days to learn how to dance so as to not stand out at the part they were crashing. She'd looked him up and down at the mention of standing out."I'm quite average-looking anywhere that's not Terra," he assured her with an eye roll."So you admit you're average at something," she teased. "No. I mean I don't stand out. I'm quite beautiful." His tone was matter-of-fact.She hated that she couldn't deny it. He was beautiful—she actually found herself thinking that his unique coloring made him even more lovely. She didn't tell him this, though.He grabbed her hands again, placing her left on his shoulder and grasping her right. The dance was similar to a waltz, but there were some turns and twirls in that she couldn't quite grasp, and her coordination was being hampered by her nerves."Two, three, four," Adam counted as their feet moved. She let him lead her around the cramped ship and spin her out, but she forgot she was supposed to spin back into his arms.He sighed."I'm sorry! I'm not good at this."He ran his hands through his hair. "It's okay. Let's take a break."She nodded and sat down on the floor. She wanted to get this down, but it was proving harder than she'd thought. It was just a dance! She'd danced all the time with her mom when she was growing up. She put her face in her hands.A body slid down beside her and a comforting hand fell to her knee and began rubbing circles on it with his thumb. Goosebumps erupted on her skin where he touched her, and she prayed he couldn't feel them through the thin fabric."You're doing fine, Janie. By tomorrow, you'll be perfect."She let her head fall back against the wall and let it turn so she was looking at him. "Perfect, huh?""Of course. I'm teaching you, so perfection is the only option."He smirked at her, and she realized he was joking. She snorted and felt a reluctant smile growing on her face."How do you know how to dance?"The teasing nature fell away. Something hardened in his eyes, but he didn't stop his gentle touches."My mother taught me. She assumed because I'm the Son of the Sovereign that I'd be attending parties and balls every week. I'd say it was wasted, but we're using it now." He shrugged."And you're going to parties and flirting with pretty girls because...?"Most of his emotions played on his face. The sadness she saw all the sudden floored her. He looked away and to the wall, as if to hide it."Because I let my mother die. My home planet blames me, and I've been exiled.""Oh, Adam. I'm...I'm so sorry.""When you make a mistake, you're not perfect. You're sent away to not blemish the society if it's a big enough one.""Everyone makes mistakes.""Not us." His tone was final and left no room for questions. She looked at her feet stretched out in front of her, on his hand on her.They sat in silence for a few moments as she mulled over his words. What a horrible place! If he felt so much guilt over this, he clearly had tried to save his mother. And then to be exiled from your home after that...it was unfathomable. She reached out and put her hand over his. She felt his muscles grow tight at the contact before he relaxed."My parents died on the way home from the hospital," she began. Her voice was soft, as it always was when she told this story. It deserved the reverence of a soft tone. "They got in a really bad car wreck. The cops said it was a miracle I survived. My mom, the one who adopted me, was only twenty-one when it happened. She lost her sister and got a baby all within a year."He'd turned his head and was watching her carefully. "She sounds very strong."Janie laughed and shook her head. Tears were threatening at the thought of her mother. "You have no idea."She stood suddenly. She offered her hand to him, and he slowly took it."Let's try again. One more time."He nodded and used her hand to pull himself up. God, he was disconcertingly tall. His gaze didn't break away from hers. It was like he was trying to find some answer in her eyes.She put her left hand on his right shoulder, her right hand in his left. He moved his free hand to her waist and tugged her closer. A slight gasp left her at the way their bodies were suddenly pressed so tightly.He stared at her with an intensity she wasn’t used to. He leaned toward her a bit, and she found herself moving towards him like a magnet.”Close your eyes,” he told her.“Excuse me?”He squeezed both hands on her. “Close your eyes, and let me lead. We’re never going to get this down if you don’t trust me.”Face getting hot, she looked towards the wall, shaking her head. ”But I—“”Janie.”He released her hand and used his now-free hand to gently grab her chin and bring her gaze back to his. Her mind flashed to the way he’d fought the bounty hunter. He’d moved deadly fast, and when his arms had been around the other woman, he’d put almost no effort into squeezing the life from her before he’d stopped.He was capable of much more than he’d shown her, even when taking her from Earth. Yet, here he was being so careful with her. She, who’d always taken care of someone else, wanted to be angry about it, but she decided to try what he said. To try…trusting him. She closed her eyes, and he grabbed her hand again.They began. Their steps were light and free.She let him lead, not worrying about running into something or stepping on his feet. If she did, so what? It'd be okay. She'd recover.The first twirl came, and she did it perfectly, feet spinning in what she felt was an elegant way. They continued. Two, three, four...two, three, four...She lost track of where they were. All she focused on was the steps, which she realized her feet knew when she wasn’t focused on critiquing herself, and Adam’s body adjacent to hers. She didn't even know the spin had come until it was happening. She did open her eyes at this, seeing the blurry interior of the ship. Her vision became steady for a split second, and then she spinning back into his grasp.Her back landed against his chest. His arm was wrapped around her waist and entwined with both of hers. He moved his other arm to wrap around her waist. She moved her head so she could look at him, and found he was already staring at her. “You opened your eyes,” he mumbled, voice breathy and harsh.”Couldn’t help it.””Cheater.” They both laughed a little before silence pressed in on them.Their faces were so close. She was painfully aware of where they touched and the slight space between their lips. They stayed frozen like that, until Adam pressed their foreheads together, and then she swiftly pulled away.She was suddenly so cold without the warmth of his body. Her fingertips tingled; her skin was on fire. When she looked at him, she saw his pupils were blown and imagined hers looked similar. Yes, he was very dangerous, but at that moment, for entirely different reasons. He cleared his throat. "I'll go...uh...I have to...check something.""Yeah," she mumbled.He was going to the cockpit when he stopped. He seemed to be mulling over something, and she was about to ask him what he was thinking so hard about.Finally he said, "I like your hair."
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Take me with you,” she demanded as Adam maneuvered the ship into port, though that might’ve been a generous description. She hadn’t seen much of this ever-changing world she’d been thrust into, but this docking station was mismatched colors of metal, and it was attached to what looked like a giant, floating, vaguely spherical shape. There was one person in an orange space suit welding on the outside of it. This place was, frankly, the dumps. “Buckle up!” Adam snapped. She angrily snapped the seatbelt together, and then glared at him. “And no. You’re staying here.” The ship began to rattle as it flew into what Janie could only think of as a ramshackle parking lot. If she were on Earth, she wouldn’t have parked even her beat-up old car here. All the ships were patched together like Frankenstein’s monster, and only a few bare bulbs were giving off light. It left many dark corners for anyone or anything to hide in, and she wasn’t eager to learn if there were any secrets in those shadows. She gripped the armrests and fought to keep her teeth from rattling as they slowly came to a stop beside a ship that somehow looked worse than theirs. He began pressing buttons, and she unbuckled so she could fully face him. “Why can’t I go?” “Because it’s dangerous.” “You’re wanting to take me to a party where the person who put this bullshit bounty on me might be! How is this more dangerous?” He groaned and pressed his hands to his face. Like this whole conversation pained him, he slowly dragged his hands down until they limply rested on his chest. “Because here there are lowlifes and bounty hunters. There won’t be anything of the sort at the ball. They’re all rich and don’t care about a measly 36 million credits.” They sounded like douchebags to her, but she could admit to herself that she was biased, being a trailer kid who’d had to sneak her food onto Dee’s plate when their mother wasn’t looking. Even now when her mother had a job that put food on the table, she found it hard to finish her plate if Dee was nearby—her brain always made her save some of it until her sister said she was done. The last meal she’d shared with her family had been a serving of microwaved Salisbury steak, instant mashed potatoes, and canned peas. It hadn’t been the best food she’d had but it was also far from the worst. The mere thought of food had her stomach growling. She blushed as Adam raised his eyebrows. She threw her hands over her midsection. “I’m starving, okay? I haven’t eaten in forever.” “I’ll bring you back food. You can eat meat, right? Doesn’t matter what kind?” he asked as he stood. She followed right behind him. “Let me go with you! I know what I can eat, and I won’t bother you! Adam, come on, just let me get out and see this place.” They walked to the back of the ship. He knelt by the bed, pulled open a drawer near the floor, and drew out a dark brown jacket of leather-like material and shrugged it on before grabbing his boots from against the wall. He stayed kneeling as he pulled on the boots. She stomped her foot, knowing it was childish. He shoved a boot on."Adam!" “No!" he snapped. "No, no, no. You’re staying here where it’s safe.” She cast a doubtful glance at the viewport, where something stumbled around before sloppily falling against the wing of one of the ships. She looked back to him. He tightened his laces and made a vague gesture with his head. “Well, it’s safe as long as you don’t leave the ship.” She wanted to scream. He was treating her like a child. She had to experience this wild and crazy space flea market, despite the trepidation she felt towards the whole thing. If she was here, then she might as well explore—besides that, the very thought of just sitting there alone made her want to claw her skin off. She knelt so they were eye-level. Without thinking, she put her hands on either side of his face. She noticed jumped a little at the contact but didn’t pull away. “Please, Adam, I’m begging you. This stuff is old hat to you. It’s just normal, everyday life, but to me? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ll never be in space again! I’ll never be able to see and do these things. So please take me with you.” Her stomach growled loudly again. “And I really am starving.” She looked at him and hoped he could see the desperation in her eyes. She removed her hands from his face, clasped them at her chest, and smiled at him. She could see his thoughts racing in his eyes. She hoped he knew that if he tried to make her stay, she’d probably just leave anyway. Perhaps he reached this conclusion too, because he reached a hand out, grabbed her chin, and mumbled, “You’re going to kill me.” Then he stood and used his foot to slide her boots from near the bathroom door to just in front of her. She stood and threw her hands above her head, victorious. “But,” he told her as he pulled more clothes out of a drawer above the bed, “you listen to me, Janie. You stay by me. If I say run, you run. If I say duck, you duck. Do not question me in there.” He tossed a silky purple shawl on the ground by the boots. “No questioning, boss. You got it.” She did a mock salute. He looked like he was already regretting this. He shook his head and walked to the front of the ship. She happily slid the boots on and wrapped the shawl around her shoulders. She quite liked the color, even if her captor had picked such a conspicuous one. As she knotted it at her chest, she wondered where it had come from. Did Adam have a girlfriend? What would he be like as a partner? She couldn’t quite imagine him being the tender type. She was tying her other shoe when he came back and sighed. She straightened, shaking her foot to make the boot fit better. “What?” He raised a hand and motioned vaguely towards her. “That’s not...here. Let me.” He stepped close to her and undid the knot at the front of the shawl. He took it from her shoulders and folded it so it was in an even smaller triangle before draping it over her head. She kept her eyes firmly focused on his shirt collar, ignoring how her heart raced. “You act like you’ve never made a disguise before,” he mumbled. “First time for everything.” He took the two long ends of the shawl and tucked them around her neck. She gasped as he closed what little space there was between them grab the two ends now on her back. Despite her best efforts to focus her thoughts elsewhere, she felt every little brush of their bodies as he dragged the ends down so the whole shawl tightened around her face. “It’s a pretty color,” she blurted out as his hands brushed her face to bring the soft material around her mouth and nose. She swore his cheeks got darker, as if he was...blushing. “All set. Let’s go.” He spun on his heel and exited the ship. She followed after him, feeling off-balance. The shops were wild and colorful, crammed together like books on a tight shelf. Creatures of all sorts milled about. She saw a man with a frog-face arguing with a lanky, scaly beast. Vendors were selling food, trinkets from all different planets, and fine fabric by the yard. It was loud, bright, and chaotic. This was all so strange and yet she felt excited by it. She smiled as several children with horns spiraling from their heads ran by. She felt small hands brush her pockets and realized they were trying to pickpocket her. She would’ve been upset, had she had anything of value on her person. Adam put an arm around her waist and drew her close. “Watch your pockets,” he muttered in her ear. She only nodded. They passed a stall with a sunny yellow door—it was the only sunny thing in this place with its slate gray dome that became a point of darkness it was up so high. The sounds of grease popping and a delectable smell wafted out. She closed her eyes and drifted into Adam’s chest as she moved her body towards the smell. Without a word, he led them over. He spoke rapidly in some other language, using large motions with his free hand. She wasn't sure if he was arguing or bartering with the woman inside. Soon enough they were being handed what looked like turkey legs. She was hungry enough to not question it. She moved the shawl down and dug in. It was the best thing she’d ever tasted, smokey and with a kick of spice. It was so delicious, she could’ve eaten twenty—or maybe she was just hungry. She ate as they walked. When she was down to the bone, the other one appeared in front of her. She looked at Adam. “Take it.” “But—” “Just take it,” he sighed. What was the saying? Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth? It didn’t make much sense, but she knew it meant not to question good things, like extra food. She grabbed it and sank her teeth into it. Hunger sated, she looked around with wide eyes to really take it all in. The beings here were so strange-looking to her, though she must’ve been getting somewhat accustomed to it after spending so much time with Adam, as no one made her stare. Even the being who looked like a Troll doll come to life didn’t immediately stand out to her. She took another bite of the meat before. “Where are we going again?” “Just a bit further.” She raised her eyebrows at him. “The last time you said that we walked for, like, an hour.” “There’s not enough here to walk for an hour.” She opened her mouth to make a quip, but he wasn’t wrong. She tossed the remaining bone into a bin she assumed was a trashcan until a tiny, wrinkled thing with bulbous yellow eyes popped out. It waved its tiny fist at her, yelling what she could only assume were swear words at her. “Oh! I—sorry!” It continued to yell before throwing the bone back at her. It bounced off the pavement near her feet before huffing and ducking back inside. Little bits of garbage flew out of the top of the bin and pelted her. She quickly backed up until she was out of range. The bin rattled and with a final, swear word, it stopped. She looked around, but no one seemed to take notice of what had happened. She turned and Adam smiling and a raising to his mouth to stifle his laughter. She pointed a finger at him. “Not funny.” “I didn’t say anything—” “Your face said it all.” He began walking in the same direction they’d been heading. “My face can’t talk. My mouth does,” he snarked. She fought the urge to slap him. Her cheeks were still flaming by the time they reached the shop. He found he quite liked this shorter hair because it really did give him a fabulous view of the emotions passing over her features. Once they reached the squat, faded building, he pushed the worn blanket that served as the door aside, holding it open for Janie. While he was happy she was finding her footing, he missed the look of awe that would wash over her features at anything new, though he supposed the shelves lining the walls filled with Terran junk wasn’t particularly interesting to her. There was a long counter against the back wall, and a haggard old woman popped out from behind it. This made her jump and clutch his bicep, a feeling he let himself enjoy.“Poppy!” he said happily. The woman gave a gap-toothed smile. She was human of indeterminate age, though he drew the reasonable conclusion she was old. “Adam Warlock!” she cried. She tottered over from behind the counter and embraced him. As she pulled away, she cackled before giving a delighted cry at the sight of Janie. “Poppy, this is Janie. Janie, this is Poppy.” “A Terran?” Poppy clicked her tongue. “And one whose face looks very familiar.” He saw Janie pull the shawl up around her face out of the corner of his eye. “What have you been up to, Warlock?” “Nothing too interesting.” “Liar!” She laughed again, the sound reminding him of a witch from the old movies he’d seen. “You only come here when you’re in trouble.” “Poppy, Poppy, Poppy,” he mumbled as he shook his head. “My love. My friend. Can’t I just come visit someone I’ve missed?” “No. Now, what is it you need?” He smirked. He liked the old woman, even with her quirks—she was also good at keeping secrets. “Well, since you asked, my friend and I are going to a rather...prestigious ball tomorrow, and she hasn’t a thing to wear. Do you think you have anything in her size?” Poppy brought her gnarled hands to her chin, tapping her fingertips together. She looked Janie up and down, cocked her head to the side, and then propped her. His Terran jumped and yelped. Then Poppy grabbed the purple shawl and yanked. It unraveled and pooled on the floor. “I suppose I have something that’ll work on short notice. Don’t expect it to be perfect,” she warned. “Anything from you is perfection.” Poppy rolled her eyes at him, mumbling something young haughty Sovereigns. She grabbed Janie by the upper arm and hauled her in the past, past another flimsy blanket. Janie reached her arm out towards him, eyes wide with terror. “Just do what she says,” he mouthed. He wasn’t sure if she trusted him or if Poppy’s grip became too strong. Either way, Janie vanished behind the curtain. The mirror before her was cracked in its gilt frame. She stood in the one spot free of clutter. Every inch of the backroom was covered in trinkets and garbage from all different eras on Earth, though it was hard for her distinguish it all in the low light. Even the cot tucked in the corner was covered in old clothes like some sort of nest. Despite the state of the room, the dress that was clinging to her was a very old style. It reminded her of the 1940s or 50s with the way the dull golden material clung to her body and was pulled to drape over one hip. It only had one strap that went over her left shoulder, and she felt oddly exposed. She gasped as Poppy brought the dress in again. “Too tight.” She sighed and let go of the material. Janie took a deep breath. “Oh well. I guess this’ll work.” Suddenly there was cool air on Janie’s back as the dress was unzipped. She clasped it to her front as it went loose. Her sports bra was somewhere on the ground, and she prayed she could find it.“This is a beautiful dress, Poppy,” she said sincerely. “It is. Not my favorite here, but definitely beautiful.” “And you’re okay with me taking it?” “What am I gonna do with it? Wear it to the gala?” She cackled. “Alright take it off. I’ll get it to Adam.” Reluctantly, she let the dress drop off her completely, holding her arms over her chest. She stepped out of it, and Poppy took it to the front. Thankfully, she'd been allowed to keep her underwear on during this impromptu fitting, but she still felt naked as she squatted to try and find her sports bra. Why couldn’t she have worn her neon pink one or the green one? Black just blended in with the long shadows of this room. She squinted her eyes, feeling around with one hand. Her hands went over several soft things, some of which made her hands feel dirty. She told herself not to think about it and kept looking. Suddenly the blanket opened, letting in just enough light for her to spy it. Ah-ha! She yanked it up and quickly slipped it over her head. She was adjusting it when she was suddenly pulled down to the floor against Adam’s chest. He clamped a hand over her mouth. She strained her neck to look at him. His eyes were wide, and she spied fear in them. It made her tense up. He shook his head, lifted his hand from her mouth, and put a finger to his lips. Quiet, he was saying. A few days ago, she might’ve screamed to spite him. Now, though, she trusted him, as impossible as it seemed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
He could hear her heart pounding, and more than that, he could feel her pulse thrum beneath her skin. She was terrified, and he certainly couldn’t blame her. He only hoped the unseemly types who’d walked in didn’t have as good of hearing as him—he'd ducked in the back so fast he hadn’t had a chance to even glance their way, so there was no way to tell their abilities. “How ya doin’, Poppy Dear?” a nasally voice asked. “Worse now that you’re here, Minos,” the old woman scoffed. Adam stiffened. Minos was a dastardly old bounty hunter he’d had a few encounters with. None of them had been pleasant, though his presence confused Adam. As far as he knew, the hunter had left the life of tracking down criminals and joined a shady corporation as a security officer...which is to say he'd become a contract killer for oodles of money. He heard the sound of nails tapping against the counter. If it were anyone else, he would’ve been worried about them giving into fear. Poppy, however, was made of tougher stuff than most. “That’s no way to treat an old friend.” “Why exactly are you and your pet here?” Whoever was with Minos scoffed. “I know you’ve seen her,” Minos said softly. “The bounty. She’s travelling with the Warlock. I heard a few whispers of them on my employer’s planet, and now, I must say, I’m rather intrigued by this whole thing. So's my employer, but that bounty on her head is so enticing...” A harsh laugh broke through the end of his sentence. It made Janie flinch, and she grabbed onto his forearm for support. Quietly and gently, he wrapped his free arm around her front so she wouldn't fall. “Do I look like I’m collecting any bounties?” There were two snickers. “I suppose not.” Minos—at least Adam presumed it was him—sighed. “I know he’s a friend of yours. If you see him, my darling Poppy, I think it would be in your best interest to let me know.” From his tone and the way Poppy’s heart sped up, he knew there had been some threat made. Probably a weapon flashed with a silent promise of violence. He felt a familiar heat in his chest, and he fought to quell it before it started dancing on his skin. He closed his eyes and breathed in and out. In and out. He focused on his grip on Janie. He worked to keep it soft; the thought of accidentally hurting her was very sobering. Then she was tapping his shoulder. He opened his eyes to her wide gaze. Without thinking, he reached his hands to touch her face. “You need to get moving.” His head snapped to Poppy, who was standing over them now. Her face was pale, and he noted the tremor in her hands. He stood, intertwining his hand with Janie’s as he did so. He felt her behind him. “Thank you for all you’ve done,” he told her. Then he threw his arms around her in a hug that he was surprised she returned. She gave him a few pats on the back before pulling away. Janie, who’d pulled on her old clothes and bundled up the dress, rushed to his side. She looked between either of them. “Yes, thank you so much.” Poppy nodded as she began to usher them to the back, which was decorated with quilts hanging from the wall. She moved aside a red and blue one, revealing a rusty door. It was surprisingly quiet as it swung open to a shady alleyway. Without a word, he put his hand on the small of Janie’s back and began to guide her out. She blinked in the harsh light outside. She kept glancing over her shoulder, which she was sure wasn't helping them blend in. But Adam said nothing about it or instructed her to stop. That worried her more than anything because it meant he was far more concerned about the two who'd been in Poppy's than about being spotted by a lowly bounty hunter. They skirted through dank alleys, her companion's eyes locked forward."Adam," she mumbled, knowing he could hear her. "Who was that?""A contract killer named Minos.""Definitely not a good sign."She felt his hand bunch up the back of her shirt. No, it was a very, very bad sign that this Minos was looking for her too.She forced herself to focus on the task at hand: making it back to the ship. She didn't let her eyes stray from the grimy bricks or notice the shadowy spots where someone could be lurking. She chose to keep her feet moving even when there was a rustling and something ran across their path. She only clutched the dress tighter to her chest and kept moving. Finally, after the longest minutes of her life, they were in the lot. Each of their footsteps sped up as their ship came into view, but a sudden imposing feeling of dread overcame her. She stopped, arm flying out across Adam's torso. He paused, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye."What's wrong?" he asked. His voice was quiet, yet it sounded so loud in the cavernous space."I...I don't know," she admitted. "Something's wrong, though."She waited for dismissal or for him to tell her it was just nerves. Instead, he nodded and pulled her behind another ship, near enough for them to still see but far enough away that they could still make a getaway if necessary. it was wide and rusty, and something about it reminded her of a minivan.And they waited. It felt agonizing, and sweat began to drip down her back. She was doubting herself, about to tell Adam she'd overreacted, but then she heard it—the sound of boots tromping through the lot. She froze in fear."Do you think they're still here?" an unfamiliar voice asked."I think they just left." That was the voice from Poppy's. Minos. "They'd be stupid to stick around here much longer. From what I've heard the Warlock's an idiot"—she felt Adam stiffen at her side at this—"but the girl's smart."The other person sighed. "Let's get going. They can't have gotten far."There was the sound of a ship starting up, and once again, Janie was left standing in tense silence with Adam. She cut her eyes towards him. He stared hard at the floor."Adam, are you okay?"His head snapped towards her. "Fine. Let's get moving." He didn't speak for a long time. It was...concerning to say the least, and it did nothing to make her calm down. She fiddled with the beautiful dress in her lap, admiring the way the strange lights of the cosmos caught on it. She turned in her seat to look at Adam, who was still staring straight ahead, face blank."So what's the plan?"He paused for so long that she thought he was going to ignore her. She was about to repeat herself more forcefully, until he finally said, "Go to the ball. Corner whoever put this bounty on you. Kill them, I guess."Her brow furrowed. "I don't think murder is the solution.""You haven't been in many challenging situations, have you?""None that have required murder." She reached over and put her hand on his arm. His muscles jumped under her palm, and she saw his eyes flit towards her. "What's wrong, Adam?"He clicked a few buttons before letting go of the steering mechanism. Then he spun the chair to face her. She hadn't known him long, but it was clear his face wasn't used to pulling such strained expressions. It was like he was wearing a mask of his own face.He reached out and grabbed her hands in his. Her heart leapt. "Minos and his crony said I was stupid. Janie, what if they're right? What if this plan is just the half-baked idea of a...of a fool?" His hands twitched around hers. "What if my plan gets you killed?""Well," she began with a sigh, "the way I see it I'm going to get killed by someone in this mess. We can either keep running until that happens or face it head-on." She paused, taking in his brightening eyes and the rush of warmth she felt over her skin. "We have a lead and an opportunity. Let's take it."He nodded. His shoulders loosened, as though she had soothed him.She was stunned by her own words, as if they'd left her mouth without her permission. Dee would be so proud! For once in her life, Janie was taking a risk.For once in her life, she was trying to live. The realization almost made her laugh—to really embrace living, she had to face death, which was an irony not lost on her."Let's do it—together," he said with determination. She was swiftly brought out of her thoughts, and her face flushed before the real meaning of his words hit her.Why her mind had gone there, she didn't know, nor did she want to analyze. Instead, she tried to pull her hands out of his, only to find that he had them in an iron grip. "Are you okay? Your face is very red." His brow furrowed. He reached one hand out and brushed her cheek, making her blush grow even more prominent. She grit her teeth and tried to calm herself. Then he said, "And your heart is racing, Janie. Do you need to lie down?"It was the genuine concern in his voice that almost made her laugh. "I-I'm fine. Actually, no—you're right; I do need to go lie down."
He freed her hands, but she felt his eyes on her as she went to the small sleeping area. It took far too long for her heart to return to normal.