(Jared's POV)
EXT. THE ECLECTOR - OUTER SPACE…
The Ravagers' massive ship floats in space. SUPER: RAVAGER TERRITORY HE2 6SM6R16617+6241023
"You can't do this!" Tullk yelled, nearby.
INT. ECLECTOR CENTRAL AREA - OUTER SPACE…
Ravagers laugh as they drag Tullk across the floor while he struggles to get free.
"This is mutiny! Mutiny!" Tullk said, worried.
They shove Tullk into a cylindrical room as a glass door closes on him.
He continues screaming and slamming on the glass, but we can barely hear him. Half-Nut smiles and presses a button. The outside of the compartment opens so that Tullk is sucked into space.
EXT. THE ECLECTOR - OUTER SPACE…
Tullk floats away, opening his mouth to scream, but he can't. His face and body swell quickly and he expires there. I looked at his lifeless body, then at the countless other corpses of Ravagers loyal to Yondu, leading like bread crumbs toward nothing at all.
INT. ECLECTOR CENTRAL AREA - OUTER SPACE…
Yondu and I watched this, helplessly. Yondu's in a chair, his hands tied behind him. I am in a chair, my hands tied behind me. Yondu's a wreck, his headpiece destroyed, wires hanging from a gap in his head where the fin used to be.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I said, while Yondu and I see the mutineers grab the innocent Oblo, dragging him to the same fate as Tullk. "I wish we could help."
"Cap'n, help me! Cap'n?!" Oblo exclaimed.
Yondu drops his head in shame.
"You're the one what kilt those men by leading `em down the wrong path." The monstrous Ravager said, punching Yondu. "Because you're weak." He punches him again. "And stupid."
The Monstrous Ravager turns towards the Ravagers, who listen, rapt and vengeful. Nebula leans calmly against a wall, watching. Kraglin watches too, seemingly concerned.
"It's time for the Ravagers to once again rise to glory with a new Cap'n... TASERFACE." The monstrous Ravager said.
"Rocket, his name is Taserface." I said, laughing a lot. "I forgot he existed."
The Ravagers shout in approval. Taserface throws his arms up in glory - when he hears snickering. He stops. He and the other Ravagers turn and see Rocket, also in a chair with his arms secured behind him, giggling with me.
"I'm sorry. Did I hear Jared correctly? Did he say your name is... it's`Taserface'?" Rocket asked.
"That's right." Taserface said.
"Do you... shoot tasers out of your face?" Rocket asked.
"It's metaphorical!"
"For what?" Rocket asked.
Taserface thinks for a new answer, "It's a name what strikes fear in anyone what hears it!"
"Really?... Okay, sure." Rocket said, doubtful.
"That's how it was when I first met him months ago." I said, still laughing.
"So you agree that it's funny."
"Absolutely."
Taserface screams at us, spit flying everywhere, "You shut up! You two are next!"
Taserface goes back to Yondu, bringing out his blade.
"Udonta, I been waiting to do this for a long ti…" Taserface said.
Again they hear snickering. Rocket and I are burying our mouths in our chests, trying to stop from cracking up.
"What?! What?!" Taserface exclaimed.
"We're sorry, we're so sorry. We just keep imagining you waking up one morning, looking in the mirror, and, in all seriousness, saying you know what would be a really kickass name? Taserface!'" Rocket yelled, still laughing with me.
"Oh, look at me. I'm more scary than a Dalek. I'm going to be more threatening than a Dalek. I'm not going to be a pepperpot that has a whisk and a plunger that yells 'Exterminate'. I'll rule over the Ravagers and call myself 'Taserface'!" I cheered, still laughing with Rocket.
Nebula smirks. The Ravagers are trying not to laugh. Rocket and I can't stop laughing.
"Jared's right. You are trying to be more threatening than a Dalek! What's next? Trying to be more threatening than a Slitheen? What was your second choice?! Scrotum Hat?!" Rocket exclaimed.
The Ravagers all burst out laughing.
"New plan. We're killing you and your friend first." Taserface said.
Taserface shoves him back, ready to plunge the knife in him. Rocket's smile disappears. He stares at Taserface with dead eyes.
"Well, dying is certainly better than having to live an entire life as a moronic shitbag who thinks `Taserface' is a cool name." Rocket said, sadly.
Taserface goes to stab Rocket, when Nebula interrupts.
"That's enough killing for today." Nebula said.
Taserface turns toward Nebula, irritated, "Thought you were the biggest sadist in the galaxy."
"That was when Daddy was paying my bills. The Priestess wants to kill the fox herself. And he…." Nebula said, looking at Yondu. "…has bounties on his head in at least twelve Kree provinces."
Taserface glares at Nebula. It's obvious he's considering attacking her.
"I assure you, I am not as easy a mark as an old man without his magic stick or a talking woodland beast." Nebula said, as Taserface decides not to risk it. "I want ten percent of the take, and a couple more things."
INT. ECLECTOR DOCKING BAY HALL - LATER…
Nebula is trying out a brand new hand as Kraglin leads her through this hall.
"We got a whole box of hands if that one don't work out." Kraglin said.
"It's fine." Nebula said.
"You think them Kree is gonna execute the Cap'n?"
"The Kree consider themselves merciful. It will be painless."
Kraglin comes to an open doorway beside a huge docking bay, and an m-ship decked out with lots of weapons.
"Well, there it is, best ship we got. The location of Ego's planet's in the nav. We'll wire you the ten percent when we's paid. What you gonna do with your share?" Kraglin asked.
Nebula stops at the doorway.
"As a child my father would have Gamora and me battle one another in `training.' Every time my sister prevailed my father would replace a piece of me with machinery, claiming he wanted me to be her equal. But she won, again and again and again. Never once refraining. Because of them, I am this. So after I murder my sister, I will buy a warship with every conceivable instrument of death." Nebula said, looking at Kraglin. "I will hunt my father like a dog and I will tear him apart slowly, piece by piece, until he knows some semblance of the profound and unceasing pain I know every single day."
Kraglin stares at Nebula, weirded-out.
"Yeah... I was talking about, like, a pretty necklace. Or a nice hat. Something that'll make the other girls go `oooooo, that's nice.'" Kraglin said, and Nebula gives him a look of pure death. "Anyway, uh, happy trails."
(Open POV)
INT. PALACE COURTYARD - DAY…
Quill looks up at a giant sculpture of his mother. He is upset. Ego is behind him, watching him, sadly.
"My mother told everyone my father was from the stars." Quill said, while he turns to look at his father, somewhat accusatory. "She had brain cancer - so everyone thought she was delusional."
Ego looks sad, ashamed, "PETER…"
"Listen. I'd love to believe all of this, I really would - but you left the most wonderful woman ever, to die alone!"
Ego has tears in his eyes, "I didn't want to leave your mother, Peter. But if I don't return regularly to this planet, and the light within, this form will wither and perish…"
"So why didn't you come back?! Why'd you send Yondu, a criminal, of all people, to fetch me?!"
"I loved your mother, Peter! I couldn't stand to set foot on an Earth where she wasn't living! You can't imagine what that's like!"
"I know exactly what that's like! I had to watch her die!" Quill yelled.
Ego stops, seeming to hear his son. He touches him.
"Over the millions and millions of years of my existence I have made many mistakes, Peter. But you're not one of them. Please give me the chance to be the father she would want me to be." Ego said, as Quill looked at him, vulnerable. "There are so many things I need to teach you. This planet, and the light within... they are a part of you."
"What do you mean?" Quill asked.
Ego takes Quill's hands in his own, gently, putting them in the correct position.
"Give me your hands, son. Here. Hold them like that." Ego said.
Quill holds his hands apart. Ego steps back, holding his hands in the same way.
"Now close your eyes and concentrate. Take your brain to the center of the planet." Ego said.
Quill concentrates. He holds his hand out. A white light emanates from it.
"Yes! Yes!" Ego said, excitedly.
"Whoa." Quill said, in awe.
The light disappears as quickly as it came.
"Yes, yes - it's okay. Just relax. Concentrate. You can do it. Bring it back." Ego said, and Quill concentrates and the light, once again, bursts up from the palms of his hands. "Yes, yes, now - shape it…" He shows Quill, pulling in the molecules around him, so that the light itself forms into the shape of a ball. "Feel the energy." Quill tries to pull molecules into the ball. And, little by little, they come, and the ball glows brighter. "Yes."
Quill laughs. Ego is joyous. He almost looks as if he's going to break down in tears.
"You're home, Peter." Ego said, cupping his hands. "Here."
Quill, smiling, throws him the ball. Ego laughs. He inspects the cosmic ball of light, and he throws it back to Quill. Quill laughs, catching it, and throws it back. Ego moves back further. And Ego and Quill continue tossing the ball back and forth there, laughing, a friendly father and son game of catch in the middle of a palace courtyard.
EXT. PALACE - DAY…
Drax and Mantis sit here, soaking in the sun and gazing at the lush, flowing hills, like something an alien Maxfield Parrish would paint.
"How did you get here?" Drax asked.
"Ego found me in my larva state, orphaned on my homeworld. He raised me by hand, and kept me as his own." Mantis said.
"So you're a pet?"
"I suppose."
"People usually want cute pets. Why would Ego want a hideous one?"
"I am hideous?"
"You're horrifying to look at, yes."
Mantis seems sad about this.
Drax notices this and feels bad, "But it is a good thing."
"Oh?" Mantis asked.
"When you are ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust." Drax said.
"Well, then I am certainly grateful to be ugly!" Mantis said, thinking. "Poor Gamora. She can never trust anyone."
Drax nods and stares out at spattered patches of water, "Those pools remind me of a time I took my daughter to visit the Forgotten Lakes on my homeworld. She was like you."
"Disgusting?"
"Innocent." Drax said, staring out at them without expression.
Slowly, Mantis touches Drax's shoulder. And, as she does, tears instantly flow from her cheeks. She stares with Drax at the hills. They feel the sadness together: she cries while he's stoic.
"I have never met anyone like you, or your friends. You are filled with such... love. It is a thing I did not know existed, not like this, and I think... I think it may be the very finest of all things. It both hurts and soothes the heart." Mantis said, looking at Drax. There is something she wants to say, but she is torn. Drax, there is something I must tell…"
"What's going on?" Gamora asked, nearby.
Drax and Mantis turn to see Gamora behind them. Gamora smiles.
"I am learning many things. Like I am a pet and ugly." Mantis said, happily.
"You're not ugly." Gamora said, admonishing. "Drax." Drax, confused, points at Mantis, as if her ugliness proves itself. "Mantis, can you show us where we'll be staying? I'm getting eye-strain in this place."
Mantis nods, yes.
EXT. PATH TO SLEEPING QUARTERS - MOMENTS LATER…
Gamora, Drax, and Mantis walk across the sunset.
"Why are there no other beings on this planet?" Gamora asked.
"The planet IS Ego. A dog would not invite a flea to live on his back." Mantis said.
"And you're not a flea?"
"I'm a flea with a purpose. I help him sleep."
Gamora curls around Mantis, cutting her off, "What were you about to say to Drax before I walked out?"
Mantis looks around, worried, "Nothing."
Gamora and Drax share a look: why is she so scared?
Mantis moves on, "Your quarters are this way."
(Jared's POV)
INT. ECLECTOR CELL - OUTER SPACE…
Rocket and I hit the ground hard. Yondu lands equally hard onthe ground beside us. We look up to see Taserface, Gef the Ravager and an obtuse Ravager locking the cell door.
"We'll deliver you to the Kree in the morning. The three of you ain't gonna last much longer after that." Taserface said.
Rocket crawls toward them as they walk away.
"Okay, Taserface. See you later, Taserface. Hey, Taserface, tell the other guys we said hi, Taserface!" Rocket yelled.
"This is going to be a long day." I said, letting out a sigh. "One thing I have been in a lot with the Doctor. Prison cells."
Taserface glances back, perturbed, as he disappears around the corner.
(Open POV)
INT. ECLECTOR HALLWAY - OUTER SPACE…
Taserface, Gef, and Obtuse come around the hall.
"What about the little plant? Can I smash it with a rock?" Gef the Ravager asked.
"No, Gef! It's too adorable to kill. Bring it to the tailor." Taserface said.
(Jared's POV)
INT. ECLECTOR CELL - OUTER SPACE…
Yondu, Rocket, and I settle. Yondu looks like a beaten man.
"No offense, but your employees are a bunch of jerks." Rocket said, looking at Yondu.
"More than that, they're absolute dicks, Yondu." I said, frowning.
"I was a Kree battle-slave for twenty years when Stakar freed me. He offered me a place in the Ravagers. Said all I needed to do was adhere to the code. But I was young and greedy and stupid - like you stealing those batteries, rat." Yondu said.
"That was mostly Drax." Rocket said, sadly.
"No. That was mostly you, Rocket." I said, rolling my eyes. "You stole the batteries and showed Drax."
"Of course you told him."
"Sorry. I kinda had to."
"This is why I like you, Jared. Your honesty." Yondu said, happily. "Me and Stakar, and the other captains - we weren't so different from both of you and your friends. The only family I ever had. But I broke the code. They exiled me." He looked between Rocket and I. "These ones here are the ones who followed - of course they're jerks. Which is what I deserve."
"Slow down, drama queen. You might deserve this, but I don't. We gotta get out of here." Rocket said.
"Where's Quill?" Yondu asked.
"He went off with his biological father." I said, trying to get access to my sling bag. "His old man."
"Ego?" Yondu asked, looking concerned.
Rocket stares at Yondu, picking this up.
"Yeah. It's a day for dumbass names." Rocket said, while Yondu snickers. "You smiled and for a second I got a warm feeling, but then it was ruined by those disgusting-ass teeth. Ever heard of floss?"
Yondu's smile disappears, "Rat, you're like a professional asshole. Or…?"
"Pretty much a pro. It's the complete opposite of Jared's honesty. Why didn't you deliver Quill to Ego like you promised?"
"He was skinny, could fit into places we couldn't. Good for thieving." Yondu said, as Rocket nods, grumbles. "I got an idea on how to get outta here. But we're gonna need your little friend."
(Open POV)
INT. BAR/QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
Baby Groot is wearing a tiny Ravager uniform. He reacts to clothes like a cat, struggling to take them off but unable. Ravagers are gathered around him, drunk and laughing. They are chanting 'Mascot'.
"Lil' feller's all worked up! Needs a drank!" Retch yelled.
Retch pours alcohol on Groot. The Ravagers laugh more as others pour drinks on him as well. Groot screams at them, furious but helpless.
"Lookit how cute it is when it's all riled up!" Retch yelled.
"It's Goddang precious!" Half-Nut said, excitedly.
(Jared's POV)
INT. ECLECTOR CELL - LATER…
Groot, in shadows, mops down the hallway, looking traumatized. His clothes are torn and he's soaked in alcohol. As he passes the cell, he hears Yondu.
"Hey, twig. C'mere." Yondu said, smiling.
Groot sees Yondu, Rocket, and I looking at him in the cell. He steps toward us.
"Oh, man. What'd they do to you?" Rocket asked, looking down at Groot, then over at me. "What did they do to Groot?"
"They put Groot in Ravager clothing and kept pouring alcohol on him, expecting him to drink it." I said, looking down at Groot.
"That's awful. Groot, you didn't deserve that."
"I'm sorry, Groot. I am so sorry I couldn't stop it."
"Hey, you wanna help us get outta here?" Yondu asked.
Groot nods. Rocket and I look unsure. Yondu speaks slowly.
"There's something I need you to get, and bring back to me." Yondu said, and Groot nods. "In the Cap'n's quarters, there's a prototype fin, like the thing I wore on my head." Groot nods. "There's a drawer next to the bunk. It's inside that. It's red. You got it?"
Groot nods emphatically and darts off to get it. Yondu looks at Rocket and I, pleased. Rocket and I look more than a bit uncertain.
(Open POV)
INT. CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - MOMENTS LATER…
Baby Groot creeps into this dark room. Drunken Ravagers are sprawled everywhere. He spots a bureau. A drawer is half open. His face lights up.
MOMENTS LATER…
Baby Groot stands outside of the cell, beaming, holding a pair of shorts.
"That's my underwears." Yondu said, at a loss for words.
"Yeah. We knew Groot wouldn't know what you were talking about." I said, laughing a lot. "You have to explain it carefully, Yondu."
"All right. It's a prototype fin…" Yondu said, looking down at Groot.
MOMENTS LATER…
Groot is back in front of the cell, holding a wriggling Orloni in his hands.
"Groot, that's an Orloni. It's a fin, Groot." I said, rolling my eyes.
"You explain it this time." Yondu said, looking over at me.
I start to speak, "Okay Groot…"
MOMENTS LATER…
Groot looks hopeful, holding out a cybernetic eye.
"That's Vorker's eye. He takes it out when he sleeps. Go look again." Yondu said.
Groot starts to slink off.
"But leave the eye here." Rocket said.
"Why?" Yondu asked.
Rocket can hardly speak, he finds it so funny, "He's gonna wake up tomorrow and he's not gonna know where his eye is!"
"Eye see what you did there." I said, laughing again.
"That is a good one."
MOMENTS LATER…
Groot is dragging a large piece of furniture to the cell.
"That's a desk. We told you it was this big." Rocket said, showing Groot how small it is with his hands.
Groot makes a face like 'Oh!' as if now he gets it. It's all coming together.
MOMENTS LATER…
Groot is holding a severed toe.
"Tell me you guys have a refrigerator somewhere with a bunch of severed human toes." Rocket said, while Yondu subtly shakes his head. "Jared, do you know someone that has a refrigerator with a bunch of severed human toes?"
"Sherlock Holmes." I said, happily. "The famous consulting detective."
"The one you showed me off of John's blog. Can we go to Earth to get that collection?"
"Maybe someday."
"Okay, then let's just agree to discuss this later, Jared."
Yondu rips the Ravager patch off his jacket, "The drawer you want to open. Has this symbol on it, okay?"
Groot takes it. He looks at Yondu and nods. And then, slowly, he places it on top of his head.
"What? No." Yondu said, annoyed.
"Groot thinks you want him to wear the patch as a hat." I said, smiling.
"That's not what I said." Yondu said, while Groot takes it off his head.
"I am Groot." Groot said.
"He's relieved that you don't want him to." I said, translating for Groot.
"I am Groot."
"Groot hates hats, Yondu."
"I am Groot."
"He hates it on anyone. Not just himself."
"I am Groot."
"Rocket. Groot spoke too fast here. Can you take over?" I asked, looking over at Rocket.
"Okay." Rocket said, rolling his eyes. "Where were we? Oh, right. 'One minute you think someone has a weird-shaped head. The next minute, it's just because you realize part of that head is a hat.'"
"Wow." I said, looking down at Groot. "That's a pretty good reason."
"That's why you don't like hats?" Rocket asked, looking down at Groot.
Groot nods.
"This is an important conversation right now?" Yondu asked, looking between Rocket, Groot, and I.
"Nope." I said, looking down at the floor.
"No. Let's try again." Rocket said, sadly.
(Open POV)
INT. CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - MOMENTS LATER…
Taserface is snoring and slobbering in his bed. We see the Ravager Patch tossed up onto the bed beside him. Then Groot's vines grow up the bed, and he pulls himself up beside the sleeping giant. Groot clasps the Ravager patch in his hand and looks fearfully around. He spots the Ravager symbol on a night stand drawer.
Groot stares at the symbol in his hand, then at the drawer, then at the symbol, and then at the drawer again, and then one more time for good measure -- he wants to be very, very sure they're the same. He creeps carefully towards the drawer, growing his vines out to grab the handle and pull it slowly open...he peers inside. Beside some writing instruments and a tin of candies, there lies a red fin, taller and more shark-like than Yondu's current model. Groot smiles hugely, picking up…tthe tin of candies. Groot's found it.
"That ain't it." Kraglin said.
Groot swirls to see Kraglin, backlit in the doorway, looming over him, intimidating as hell.
(Jared's POV)
INT. ECLECTOR CELL - MOMENTS LATER…
The red fin plops down at Yondu's feet. Yondu, Rocket, and I look up to see Kraglin, holding Groot. Kraglin stares at the ground.
"I didn't mean to do a mutiny." Kraglin said, pausing then, he spoke sadly. "They killed all my friends."
"Go get the third quadrant ready for release." Yondu said.
Kraglin salutes.
"Hey. I have a request." I said, as Kraglin stared at me. "Do you have copies of Peter's mixtapes that I helped make copies for him? That is laying around the ship."
INT. ECLECTOR BATHROOM - OUTER SPACE…
Brahl is shaving, when, suddenly, Jay and the Americans 'Come A Little Bit Closer' starts playing over the intercom. He looks up, confused.
INT. ECLECTOR HALLWAY/CELL - OUTER SPACE…
Two Ravagers outside the cell hear the music. They turn, unlocking the cell door. As they enter, with me looking at them, arriving before they do at…Yondu is sitting calmly.
"And done." I said, finishing attaching the big-ass fin to Yondu's head. Its electrical systems pop on. "They're all yours, Yondu."
I am looking at the two surprised Ravagers trying to unholster their pistols in time. Too late. Yondu whistles.
INT. ECLECTOR CLOSET - OUTER SPACE…
The arrow flies off a shelf of supplies and shoots toward a wall.
INT. ECLECTOR CELL - OUTER SPACE…
The arrow punches through the wall behind the Ravagers. They swirl to see it….it shoots through one Ravager and then the other…and then to Yondu; he catches it, and stands. Yondu saunters past the two Ravagers as they wobble and fall. Rocket, Groot, and I follow. On the way out the door, Rocket looks down and sees two pistols beside the dead Ravagers. He smiles.
INT. CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS - OUTER SPACE…
Taserface is awoken by Jay and the Americans on the PA. He glances over to see the open drawer beside him, sans gargantuan fin.
Taserface scrambles for the comm, yelling into it, "He's got it!"
INT. BAR/QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
The hoard of Ravagers hear Taserface's voice.
"HE'S GOT IT! YONDU'S GOT THE DAMN FIN!" Taserface yelled, over the speakers.
"GO!" Retch siad, angrily.
INT. ALL OVER THE SHIP - OUTER SPACE…
All of the Ravagers all over the ship, in a panic, load their weapons and head toward the cell.
"For once, I don't have to do anything." I said, smirking.
INT. ECLECTOR HALLWAY - OUTER SPACE…
Yondu, Rocket, Groot, and I come around this corner in slow-motion, I looked over at the three biggest badasses in the history of cinema. A hoard of Ravagers, led by Brahl, file in at the end of the hallway. But Yondu whistles and the arrow twists quickly back and forth, slicing through each of them.
"Yeah. I really don't." I said, using my magnetism to open a door into another room. "Except that."
INT. ECLECTOR DOCKING BAY - OUTER SPACE…
We step onto a catwalk in this, the biggest space in the Eclector. There are catwalks throughout and dozens of docked M-ships.
The scurrilous Ravager sees us from above, "Down there!"
I am watching the arrow flying up and down, backwards and forwards, cutting through all sorts of Ravagers, closer and further away from me. I am walking behind Yondu and Rocket, as bodies fall around us in slow-motion like fireworks. Groot looks up and sees Retch looking down at him. Retch flees in terror as Groot grows branches to pull himself up behind him. Groot howls furiously, taking chase. Retch yowls like a child as he frantically runs. But Groot grows his branches around Retch's legs, tripping him. Bam! He falls, face first to the floor. And, with a war cry, Baby Groot flings the sadistic Ravager off the edge towards the abyss below. As Retch falls past Yondu, Rocket, and I, Baby Groot drops back down onto Rocket's shoulder, and we push our way through the doorway.
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
Yondu, Rocket, and Groot move into this area, where we look up at dozens of security monitors encircling us showing Ravagers filing toward us from every part of the ship.
"Man, I'm hungry." I said, taking out some mango mochi out of my sling bag to snack on them. "There's nothing better to do."
Yondu whistles as he watches the monitors. On a monitor, the arrow flies out the wall. He whistles so that it strikes two Ravagers running towards us. It zips out of that room and into another hall.
INT. DARK HALL - OUTER SPACE…
A hoard of Ravagers come running down a hall. The arrow zips overhead, smashing out all the lights so that the hall is completely dark, except for the dim red light of the arrow. And I can just make out the red light smashing through the body of every Ravager there and then on into another hallway.
INT. SPACEPORT - OUTER SPACE…
A yelling crowd of Ravagers come, hungry for war, when the arrow shoots through the chains holding a giant spaceship in place over their heads. It falls, instantly crushing them all, and then zips on into another room.
INT. BAR - OUTER SPACE…
Gef the Ravager is drunkenly drinking a mug of beer, when the arrow zips past him and through the mug, shattering it. As Gef looks at the shattered mug, confused, the arrow comes flying back, ripping through Gef himself, flinging him off the bar stool.
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE
Rocket and I also use the monitors to pinpoint where our attackers are. Rocket methodically shoots through the walls and I keep tossing coins in the air, releasing Railguns through the walls, with the two of us, striking the Ravagers as they get closer.
Hoards of Ravagers get close to Yondu, Rocket, and I, but the arrow, gunshots, and Railguns zip through the walls, taking them all down, one by one. Then Yondu stops, seeing something on one of the monitors. Taserface, clutching a big ass gun, is marching down the hall towards us. Yondu whistles, loudly and angrily.
INTERCUT - INT. ENGINE ROOM/SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
Taserface sees the arrow coming around a corner towards him. Yondu whistles again. The arrow bursts into flames. Taserface dodges it. He turns to watch it go, cackling pridefully over his agility. But his smile quickly dissipates. The arrow plunges into a giant tank - which explodes, engulfing him.
EXT. ECLECTOR - OUTER SPACE…
A huge portion of the giant spacecraft explodes, leading to a domino effect of one part of the ship bursting after another.
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
"Okay. Sending numerous Railguns were no biggie." I said, at a loss for words. "But that is just…wow."
Rocket and I are dumbfounded as we see on the monitors, the numerous explosions throughout the ship.
"You maniac. The whole ship is gonna blow." Rocket said, looking over at Yondu.
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
A door swings open and Taserface falls onto the floor, engulfed in flames, but furious. He angrily slaps off the flames as he reaches for a communications module.
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
"Not the whole ship." Yondu said, catching the arrow and walking out.
INT. BAR/QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
Kraglin enters, pulling latches and flipping switches and twisting dials on elementary flight controls.
(Open POV)
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
With pained effort, Taserface pulls up on a video screen with a Sovereign chambermaid.
"Who is this? You're not supposed to be on this line." The chambermaid asked, on screen.
"I'm sending you the coordinates for Yondu's ship." Taserface said.
INT. QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
"I can't believe I ate mochi and released Railguns like that!" I said, excitedly. "Mikoto will be a bit impressed when I tell her."
Yondu enters with Rocket, Groot, and I.
"Release the quadrant." Yondu said, looking at Kraglin.
"AYE CAPN'." Kraglin said, smiling.
(Open POV)
INT. ECLECTOR SECURITY DOCK - OUTER SPACE…
"I only ask one thing. That your High Priestess tells him the name of the man what sealed his fate: Taserface." Taserface said.
The chambermaid laughs uncontrollably at his name. Taserface looks really sad as he explodes.
(Jared's POV)
INT. QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
"I don't like this." I said, grabbing the strap of my sling bag.
As Rocket, Groot, and I, frightened, feel the ship exploding around us, Kraglin pulls up one final latch.
EXT. ECLECTOR - OUTER SPACE…
The entire rear upper quadrant of the Eclector detaches from the rest of the ship, while the remains continue exploding.
I/E. QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
"Wow…" I said, in awe. "This is why I travel through time and space and see the universe. To see stuff like that."
Rocket, Groot, and I are amazed as the ship thrusts forward, away from the explosions. Kraglin keys into a jump point ahead. Nearby, I pull up the Navigation panel.
"Where to, Cap'n?" Kraglin asked.
"We're heading towards where Peter, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis are." I said, setting the destination. "We're going to Ego, Kraglin!"
"NO, BOY!" Yondu said, worried.
The Quadrant trembles as we hit the jump point. It bloops out of present space, making the jump to our destination.
EXT. DESERT - DAY…
The Quadrant pops into a blue sky above a desert with two fighting Kronans.
INT. QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - VARIOUS OUTER SPACE LOCATIONS…
Inside the ship, Rocket, Yondu, Kraglin, baby Groot, and I hold on for dear life as the ship violently shakes and the locations outside of the window rapidly shift. Our bodies distend slightly.
Yondu is furious, "It ain't healthy for a mammalian body to hop over fifty jumps at a time."
"I know!" I cheered, grinning madly. "But this is our quickest way to them!"
"We're about to do seven-hundred."
"Jared…" Rocket said, while he looked bummed. "You could have made it more."
"I know." I said, smirking.
EXT. PINK SKY - AMOEBA BLOBS - OUTER SPACE…
The Quadrant pops out of a jump point into this Pepto Bismol pink land, smashing through an amoeba-like blob, and then through the next jump point.
INT. QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - VARIOUS OUTER SPACE LOCATIONS…
Kraglin, Yondu, Rocket, Baby Groot, and I all scream, our entire faces and bodies distorting as if in some evil funhouse mirror.
EXT. RED PLANET LANDSCAPE - VARIOUS…
The yellow sun curves slowly west to east over this magnificent landscape. 'Bring It On Home To Me' by Sam Cooke plays.
(Open POV)
EXT. SLEEPING QUARTERS - VERANDA - DAY…
Quill, on this veranda, is gazing out at the beauty. The Walkman is connected to small, jerry-rigged speakers nearby, playing Sam Cooke.
"So I guess this could all be mine someday." Quill said.
Gamora isn't paying attention. She's fooling with a communications device, which has no reception.
"Rocket? Jared? Rocket, Jared, you there? Dammit." Gamora said, while Quill comes up behind her, messing with her. "What are you doing, Peter?"
"Dance with me." Quill said, happily.
"No. I'm not…"
"Come on. This is Sam Cooke, one of the greatest Earth singers of all time."
Gamora lets out an exasperated sigh, but, reluctantly, starts dancing with him. She is incredibly light on her feet. Quill smiles and Gamora, despite herself, does as well. He twirls her and brings her back in.
"Drax thinks you're not a dancer. But Jared knows you're a dancer. That's why he plays love songs on the ship for us to dance to it." Quill said, looking at Gamora.
"If you ever tell anyone about this, I'll kill you." Gamora said.
They look at each other.
"When are we going to do something about this... unspoken thing between us?" Quill asked.
"What unspoken thing?" Gamora asked.
"THIS CHEERS-SAM-AND-DIANE-GUY-AND-GIRL-ON-A-TV-SHOW-WHO-DIG-EACH-OTHER-BUT-NEVER-SAY-IT-'CAUSE-WHEN-THEY-DO-THE-RATINGS-WOULD-GO-DOWN sort of thing?"
"There is no unspoken thing between us."
"Well, that's a Catch-22. Because if you said there was, it would be spoken, and then you'd be a liar. So by saying there isn't, you're telling the truth, and admitting there is.
"That's not…" Gamora said, pulling away. "What we should be discussing right now is that something about this place doesn't feel right. I guess that's why Jared told me he wanted to stay behind with Rocket, Groot, and my sister."
"What are you talking about? You were the one who wanted me to come here!" Quill yelled.
Gamora moves into the bedroom.
INT. SLEEPING QUARTERS - DAY….
"That girl, Mantis. She's afraid of something." Gamora said.
Quill follows Gamora. He stops, staring at her, hurt and frustrated.
"Why are you trying to take this from me?" Quill asked.
"I'm not…" Gamora said, frowning.
"He's my father. He's blood…"
"You have blood on earth. You never wanted to return there."
"Again - you made me come here! And Earth?! Earth is the place my mother died in front of me."
"No, it's because that's real, and this is a fantasy."
"This is real. I'm only half human, remember?"
"That's the half I'm worried about."
"Oh, I get it. You're jealous because I'm part god! You like me being the weak one!"
Gamora adds some pieces to her transmitter, "Uh. You were insufferable to begin with. I haven't been able to reach Rocket and Jared. I'm going to see if I can get a signal outside."
"You know, this isn't Cheers after all. It's whatever the show is where one person is willing to, you know, open themselves up to new possibilities, and the other person is just kind of a jerk who doesn't trust anyone! It's a show that doesn't exist - it would never be made, it would be so horrible! It would get zero ratings!" Quill said, angrily.
"You're having a conversation with yourself! I don't know what Cheers is!" Gamora yelled.
"I finally found my family, don't you understand that!?"
"I thought you already had."
"So this is how it ends, then? Our whole story. Like this? You and me?"
"Get it through your head, Peter. There is no you and me. There never was."
Quill watches her leave.
EXT. EGO'S FIELDS - SUNSET…
Gamora sits, alone in the fields, pouting, fuming. She stops, staring angrily inward. Two plants, nearby, flitter against one another in the wind, making a clicking sound. She side-eyes them. They don't stop. She slices them off with her sword.
"Dammit." Gamora said, hearing something.
Gamora turns to see, in the distance, an M-ship flying toward the planet. She watches as it gets closer and closer, and realizes it is flying directly at her. Gamora runs.
INT. NEBULA'S SHIP - SUNSET…
Nebula hollers as she blasts her guns, diving towards Gamora.
EXT. HILLSIDE - SUNSET…
Gamora flees from Nebula's ship like Cary Grant from the crop duster in North by Northwest as huge chunks of lands explode on either side of her. She leaps into a ditch, landing hard, as the M-Ship swoops just a couple feet above her.
"You psychopath." Gamora said, seeing the M-Ship banking and flying back at her again.
She stands and runs along the hillside as gun blasts burst behind her. But Gamora sees a cavern, leading down into the earth. She darts into it.
INT. EGO'S CAVERN - FIRST/SECOND LEVELS - SUNSET…
As Gamora runs down the cavern, she glances back over her shoulder where Nebula, insane with rage, continues flying towards her…the M-Ship enters the cavern, which is too small for it, clipping its wings - but it keeps flying. It again blasts at Gamora as she flees…the blasts cause the ground to collapse around Gamora, and she falls, smashing down through one level, to another level below, slamming hard on the ground. The underside of the M-ship gets scraped apart as it flies above her, and pieces of it come raining down around her. Nebula zooms towards a huge cavern wall. She tries to turn her ship in time, to no avail. She sideswipes it, falling down, crashing on the ground, where she is now on the same level as Gamora. Gamora sees something beside her: it's one of the enormous blasters from the M-ship, attached to an ammo rig.
INT. NEBULA'S M-SHIP - SUNSET…
Nebula sees Gamora, through the canopy, picking up the blaster, and clutching it. It is comically enormous. Nebula struggles to get free and out of the way, but her legs have been pinned in the crash -
INT. EGO'S CAVERN - SECOND/THIRD LEVELS - SUNSET…
Gamora clamps two metal switches together, machine-firing the gun as she walks forward. The front of the M-ship is peppered with blasts and then explodes. The explosion causes the thin ground around it to collapse, and the entire ship falls backwards to an even lower level - bursting some more as it hits the ground. Gamora gazes down at the ship.
I/E. NEBULA'S SQUASHED M-SHIP - SUNSET…
Nebula is a mess. Her legs are broken, trapped in the ship. There is a fire at her feet. She struggles, trying to get out, but her machine parts are sparking and she can hardly breathe. It seems as she's going to die, when… part of the ship is torn away. She sees Gamora. Gamora grabs her, unceremoniously pulling her free, just as the M-ship explodes, pitching them both to the ground. They lie next to each other. Nebula coughs as her legs are healing, cracking back into place. She looks over and eyes Gamora. And then she hollers and attacks her.
"Are you kidding me?!" Gamora exclaimed.
They fight. Nebula snatches Gamora's blade from her, and tumbles on top of her as she gains the upper hand. She holds the blade above Gamora, ready to plummet it into her. She wants to - she really does - but now that the moment is here...she screams in frustration, and falls back.
"I win." Nebula said, as Gamora eyes her, a little surprised. "I win. I bested you in combat."
"Uh, no, I just spared your life…" Gamora said, sadly.
"You were stupid enough to let me live so…"
"You just let me live!"
"I WIN!"
"Nebula, I really don't need this. My day has been bad ENOUGH…" Gamora said, at the same time Nebula said this. "I don't need you always trying to beat me!"
"I'm not the one who just flew across the universe because I wanted to win!" Gamora said, worried.
"Don't tell me what I want!" Nebula said, terrified.
"I don't have to because you make it OBVI…"
"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO WIN, I JUST WANTED A SISTER!" Nebula cried, and Gamora stops suddenly, struck. Nebula is cracking. "You were all I had, but you were the one who needed to win! Thanos pulled my eye from my head and my brain from my skull and my arm from my body because of you!"
Gamora doesn't know what to say. Nebula is almost instantly embarrassed. They sit there for a moment, saying nothing.
EXT. SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT…
The Quarters are entombed in stars. The dim sound of 'Brandy' comes from within.
INT. SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT…
Quill lies in bed, unable to sleep, listening to the song.
"You all right, son?" Ego asked.
Quill turns to see Ego in the doorway.
"I saw your girl stomp off earlier in quite a huff." Ego said.
Quill sits up, nodding, "Yeah."
Ego sits beside him, "It's fortuitous you're listening to this song."
"You know - ?" Quill asked, at a loss for words.
"`Brandy' by Looking Glass. A favorite of your mom's." Ego said.
"Yes."
"One of Earth's greatest musical compositions. Perhaps its very greatest."
"Yeah, it is."
"You and I, Peter, we're the sailor in the song." Ego said, speaking along with the lyrics as they play. "He came on a summer's day, bringing gifts from far away - like the child I put in your mother, or the freedom you brought Gamora." Quill listens. "Brandy, you're a fine girl, what a good wife you would be. But my life, my love, my lady is the sea. The sea calls the sailor back. He loves the girl, but that's not his place. The sea calls upon him as history calls upon great men, and sometimes we are deprived the pleasures of mortals."
"Well, you might not be mortal, but ME…"
"Death will remain a stranger to both of us as long as the light burns within the planet." Ego said, smiling.
"I'm immortal? That's... really?" Quill asked.
"Yes, as long as the light exists."
"And I can use the light to make cool things? Like how you made all this?"
"It'll take thousands of years of practice before you get really good at it. But, yes."
"Well, get ready for an eight hundred foot statue of Pac Man, then. With Skeletor. And Heather Locklear. I'm gonna make some weird shit."
Ego puts his arm around Quill, smiling kindly, "I can't wait to see your weird shit."
"Wow, that…" Quill said, frowning.
"Came out a little disgusting." Ego said, chuckling with Quill. "It is a tremendous responsibility, Peter. Only we can remake the universe. Only we can do it better than the Law of Cycles did. Only we can take the bridle of the cosmos and lead it where it needs to go."
"How?"
Ego holds up his fingers, letting forth a flame of white cosmic light. Quill holds up his fingers, letting forth a smaller, less intense flame of white cosmic light. Mantis is in the hall, around the corner, looking at Ego and Quill and the light emanating from their fingers.
"Come with me." Ego said.
Mantis looks like she's having a panic attack.
INT. DRAX'S SLEEPING QUARTERS - MOMENTS LATER…
Drax is sound asleep.
"Drax! Drax!" Mantis said, as Drax wakes to see her packed sitting on the bed beside him. "Drax, we need to talk…"
"Ugh. I am sorry, but I like a woman with some meat on her bones." Drax said, letting out a sigh.
"What?"
"I tried to let you down easily by telling you I found you disgusting."
"No! That's not what I…" Mantis said, and Drax starts to gag. "What are you doing?!"
"I'm imagining being with you physically!" Drax said, excitedly.
"Drax, that's not - I don't like you like that. I don't even like the type of thing you are."
"Hey! There's no need to get personal!" Drax said, offended.
"Listen! Ego's gotten exactly what he wanted. I should have told you earlier, I am stupid. You are in danger."
EXT. NEBULA'S SQUASHED M-SHIP - NIGHT…
Gamora and Nebula still sit here, quietly and awkwardly. Gamora glances down a twisting tunnel, where phosphorescent lights shine brightly.
"What's that?" Gamora asked, moving towards it.
Nebula, hesitantly, follows.
INT. PALACE - NIGHT…
Ego and Quill enter the palace.
"You need to readjust the way you process life. Everything around us -including the girl - is temporary. We are forever." Ego said.
"Doesn't eternity get boring?" Quill asked.
"Not if you have a purpose, Peter. Which is why you're here. I told you how all those years ago I had an unceasing impulse to find life." Ego said, standing underneath the diorama of him facing the little alien girl. "I didn't tell you how when I did find it, it was all so...disappointing."
INT. TWISTING CAVERNS - NIGHT…
Gamora and Nebula move further down the cavern, stepping into light, getting closer.
"And that is when I came to a profound realization." Ego said, nearby.
INT. PALACE - NIGHT…
"My innate desire to seek out other life was not so that I could walk among that life." Ego said, looking at his son, moved by the memories. "Peter, I had found meaning."
Quill is taken aback. But Ego sets his finger lightly on his forehead, and the white light bursts through his son's body. He sees the cosmos in Quill's eyes.
Quill looks ecstatic, far beyond where he stands, and seems to finally understand, "I see it. Eternity."
INT. TWISTING CAVERNS - NIGHT…
Gamora and Nebula stop, in horror.
"Oh my God." Gamora said, horrified. "Now I really see why Jared stayed behind with you, Rocket, and Groot."
They are staring at piles and piles of skeletons of various species, thousands of them, seeming to go on forever.
"We need to get off this planet." Nebula said, looking at Gamora.
(Jared's POV)
EXT. GALAXY/UNIVERSE - OUTER SPACE…
We see traces of the Universal Neural Teleportation Network,the Quadrant a blinking light popping in and out on a trail across the cosmos…I looked over at the universe, the same blinking light making its way while Rocket, Yondu, and Kraglin, and I scream.
(Open POV)
EXT. ASTEROIDS - OUTER SPACE…
Watchers swirl to the Quadrant, Swish past them and jump out. They turn back to Stan Lee, in a spacesuit with a fishbowl helmet.
"Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted, that time I was a World War II vet…" Stan Lee said, happily.
(Jared's POV)
EXT. RED PLANET - OUTER SPACE…
The Quadrant pops into space, Ego's planet nearby.
INT. QUADRANT FLIGHT DECK - OUTER SPACE…
"Okay. That was worse than the TARDIS." I said, sadly. "Never gonna do that again."
Yondu, Kraglin, Rocket, Groot, and I fall out of our seats, retching, clutching out stomachs.
"What the hell you and Shay doing, boy?!" Yondu exclaimed.
"We could tell by how you talked about him - this Ego is bad news. We're here to save Quill." Rocket said.
"For what?" Yondu asked, derisively. "For `honor'? For `love'?"
"Nope. Honor is Avatar:The Last Airbender. And love is Senki Zesshou Symphogear." I said, happily.
"No! I don't care about those things! Jared cares about those things! I want to save Quill so I can prove I'm better than him! I can lord this over him forever!" Rocket said, while Yondu laughs bitterly as he pulls himself up to the controls. Rocket yanks himself up beside him. "What are you laughing at me for?!"
"You can fool yourself and everyone else but you can't fool me. I know who you are." Yondu said, looking at Rocket.
"You don't know anything about me, loser."
"I know everything about you. I know you play like the meanest and the hardest `cause you actually the most scared of all."
"Shut up." Rocket said, annoyed.
"I know you steal batteries you don't need and you push away anyone who's willing to put up with you, `cause just a little bit of love reminds you how big and empty that hole inside you actually is!" Yondu said, angrily.
"I said, shut up. Jared, can you shut him up?"
"Nope. Sorry." I said, looking down at the floor. "You need this, Rocket."
"Thank you, Shay." Yondu said, smiling. "Rat, I know the scientists what made you never gave a rat's ass about you…"
"I'm serious, dude…!" Rocket yelled.
"Just like my own damn parents, who sold me, their own little baby, into slavery! I know who you are, boy, because you're me." Yondu said.
Rocket and Yondu stare at each other there, as they are a mirror of each other.
"What kind of pair are we?" Rocket asked.
"You guys are the idiotic ones." I said, looking up at Rocket and Yondu.
"We are." Yondu said, smirking. "The kind that's about to go fight a planet I reckon."
"All right, okay, that's - Wait. Fight a what?" Rocket asked.
(Open POV)
INT. DRAX'S SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT…
Gamora, furious, bursts into the room. She sees Mantis standing with Drax. She runs to her, grabbing her by the neck.
"Hey!" Drax said, worried.
Gamora slams Mantis against the wall, "Who are you people?! What is this place?!"
"What is she doing here?" Drax asked, looking at Nebula.
"Just watching the fireworks." Nebula said, scoffing.
"Gamora, let her go!" Drax said, terrified.
"The bodies in the caverns, who are they?!" Gamora exclaimed.
"You are scared." Mantis said, sadly.
Gamora, whose skin is touching Mantis, lets go of her neck, terrified.
INT. PALACE - NIGHT…
The dioramas all around Quill and Ego transform into a map of the universe. Quill stares in his cosmic reverie at the planets around him - thousands of them with pieces of Ego's lifeform - glowing cosmic plants - buried within them.
"I call it the Expansion. It is my purpose. And now it's yours as well." Ego said.
"It's beautiful." Quill said, staring up at a diorama: Ego grabs handfuls of his own body, engulfed in light, and plants the wriggling pieces on various planets.
"Over thousands of years I implanted thousands of extensions of myself on thousands of worlds." Ego said, and in the dioramas, the cosmic plants overgrow and cover each of the planets, like chocolate on a malt ball. "I needed to fulfill life's one true purpose: to grow and to spread, covering all that exists, until everything... is me."
INT. DRAX'S SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT…
Gamora backs away, recovering, "What did she do to me?!"
"She already told me everything." Drax said, guiltily.
INT. PALACE - NIGHT…
"I only had one problem. A single Celestial doesn't have enough power for such an enterprise. But two Celestials - well now, that just might do." Ego said.
INT. DRAX'S SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT…
"The bodies are his children." Mantis said.
Gamora is horrified.
INT. PALACE - NIGHT…
On the dioramas, Ego is with hundreds of species of female aliens.
"Out of all my labors the most beguiling was attempting to graft my DNA with that of another species. I hoped the result of such a coupling would be enough to power the expansion." Ego said.
INT. ECLECTOR HALLWAY - NIGHT…
Yondu, Rocket, and Jared walk here.
"I had Yondu deliver some of them to me. It broke the Ravager code - butI compensated him generously. And, to ease his conscience, I told him I would never hurt them." Ego said, as a voiceover.
INT. PALACE - NIGHT…
"That was true. They never felt a thing. But, one after the other, they failed me. None of them had the Celestial genes. Until you, Peter. Out of all my spawn, only you have carried the connection to the light." Ego said.
Peter smiles, an enchanted idiot, the cosmos in his eyes.
INT. DRAX'S SLEEPING QUARTERS - NIGHT…
"We need to find Peter now and get off this damn planet." Gamora said.
"Ego will have won him to his side by now. He has a way of…" Mantis said, sadly.
"Then we just go." Nebula said.
"No. He's our friend." Gamora said.
"All any of you do is yell at each other. You're not friends." Nebula said.
"You're right. We're family. We leave no one behind." Drax said, looking at Nebula. "Except maybe you."
"Oh my god." Nebula said, annoyed.