The drill jolted hard, stabilizing for a moment as Nebula and Groot braced themselves against the deck while Rhino took his heavy Sniper and started scouting the golden ships, test shooting them for weak points. Blaster fire pounded the hull in rapid bursts, each hit rattling through the ships frame. Rhino held his hand out testing the strength of the lasers, getting hit, then taking back his red with heat glowing hand into hiding, as his body suddenly started glowing with a blue shimmer as if a film of something covered him.
Quill glanced down from the cockpit, Rocket was on the floor, satchel upended, spilling an assortment of gadgets, scrap metal, and weapons parts across the deck.
"Why aren't you firing the laser?!" Quill demanded.
"They blew out the generator!" Rocket snapped, shoving aside a mess of wires. "I think I packed a small detonator."
Nebula's eyes narrowed. "A detonator is worthless without explosives."
Rocket grinned, producing a pair of glossy blue Anulax batteries. "We got these."
Quill shoved the controls toward Yondu and dropped down beside him. Rocket's claws worked fast, stripping insulation and twisting wires into place on a compact, ugly little bomb.
"Is it strong enough to kill Ego?" Quill asked.
"If it is, it'll cause a chain reaction through his whole nervous system," Rocket said without looking up.
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning the entire planet's gonna blow. We'll have to get out quick. I rigged a timer."
He stuffed the finished device back into his satchel. Groot scrambled up onto Rocket's back, curling his roots into place like a makeshift harness.
Quill and Rocket pulled on their aero rigs in unison.
"Go!" Quill barked.
They sprinted to the open side of the drill past Rhino, who just looked at them baffled about the idiocy of jumping straight up into enemy fire, leaping into the air. The aero rigs kicked in, blue jets flaring as they weaved between the golden streaks of incoming fire.
Below, the gaping wound they'd burned into the Self Chamber yawned wide. The two of them angled downward, diving toward it.
Rhino looked around, seeing the rest of the Team that fell out of the Ship earlier, seemingly struggling with the barrage, then decided that the Bomb was more important for the Mission and jumped to a wall, then jumping from golden ship flying by, to golden ship, inbetween activating his dash, flying through them, completely obliterating them upon impact, trying to hold up with the airborne glass-cannons that flew straight up through enemy Fire.
Inside the blast hole:
Rocket and Quill hit the ledge hard, momentum sending them tumbling over the rough rock, Groot flying of his position, sliding slowly down a wall. Dust plumed into the air, the glow from Ego's core casting strange shadows over the jagged interior.
Rocket's pen-light cut a narrow beam through the dust and shadow, illuminating the inside of the Self Chamber's wound. The walls were pocked with dozens of small, glowing holes, like molten Swiss cheese, each radiating Ego's white light.
"The metal's too thick," Rocket muttered, squinting. "For the bomb to work, we'd have to plant it directly on Ego's core. And our fat butts aren't gonna fit through those tiny holes."
"Well…" Quill said slowly.
Rocket followed his gaze. Groot stood a few feet away, completely oblivious, fiddling with a fresh leaf sprouting from his arm.
"That's a terrible idea," Rocket said flatly.
"It's the only kind we've got left," Quill shot back.
Rocket sighed in defeat, scooping Groot onto his back. As he stepped deeper into the blast hole, he grumbled under his breath. "Unbelievable. 'Rocket, do this. Rocket, do that.'"
Quill turned toward the opening, the chaos of the hollow roaring outside. He drew in a deep breath. "Uh… what a day."
Then he jumped into open air, as he suddenly got tackled away by a rushing Rhino, the Position he stood before exploding from a barrage of lasers, disintegrating the metal he stood on before.
His aero rigs giving up with the extra weight as they plummeted to the ground, Rhino shielding the fall with his Body, soling down a hill.
"The fuck was that for" Peter asked Angrily, not realizing the situation he was in before, Rhino just nodding at the position he would have been a few seconds ago and positioned himself so that most of Quill was covered by his body or otherwise blocked by the Terrain.
Peter looking at his last position got big eyes, adrenaline finally spiking at the realization of how close he was to his end.
"Thanks ma…" He tried to say, but the barrage started again, so he covered again, looking up at Rhino, who repositioned himself again for maximum protection of him.
Finally sure that Peter was secure for some time, before he could gather himself again, from the shock he was definitely in, Rhino pulled his Rifle and started shooting at the Golden marbles, slowly getting the hang of it, downing more and more.
He had to admit though, these guys were good for what they were worth, almost hitting him multiple times when they saw what he was doing, now targeting him more than before.
With every hit he took though, he got the rhythm they were shooting at and began dodging more and more of the shots, that would not end up hitting Quill while he was still recovering.
Suddenly from a hole next to Quill, Rockets snout came looking out, causing a light giggle from Peter.
"Don't laugh" Rocket said, actually pushing him over the edge with the sentence.
"Do you even… Know how you look… like right now" Peter managed to say between laughs, Rocket pulling back his snout and looking at him with one angry looking eye, which also made Peter only laugh even harder.
"Shut now, we are trapped in here and we need some Tape"
Quill slowly coming down from his shock induced laugh attack, slowly started realizing what situation they were in and sobered up.
"Hey, big guy, you got any Tape" Rocked asked Rhino, who, strongly under fire, looked back, shook his head and then again, started shooting down the golden pigeons like they were made of clay.
Peter shrugged helplessly, activated his helmet and slowly looked over the Terrain, after saying "I will ask the others, wait a sec" after flying over to them.
Quill vanished from sight, jetting out into the hollow. Rhino stayed crouched in the blast hole, the muffled chaos of blaster fire echoing through the cavern as he stayed to protect the payload, while finally getting the hang of it, again, downing one target with every shot he Took.
Rocket, bored, watched Rhinos back, eyes widening as he realized he took only one shot per turn, putting together what that meant.
Somewhere beyond the crater came Quill's voice, faint and strained:
"Yo, Yondu, do you have any, ow! Do you have any tape?!"
Gunfire answered him, followed by the garbled murmur of voices.
Rocket tapped his foot, impatient. Groot shifted restlessly beside him, the way a kid might fidget in a waiting room, plucking at the loose wires on the bomb, getting his hand swatted away by the nervous Rocket.
"Hey Drax, do you have any tape? Yes scotch tape would work. The why did you ask me if scotch tape would work if you didn't have any?"
Quill landed in the crater, spinning midair to shoot down a passing Sovereign envoy. "No one has any tape."
Rocket blinked. "Not a single person has tape?"
"You've got priceless batteries and an atomic bomb in your bag! If anyone had tape, it would be you!"
"That's exactly my point!" Rocket snapped. "I have to do everything!"
"Dude, you're wasting time!"
Rocket turned back and froze. Groot had already snatched the bomb, toddling toward one of the narrow glowing holes. The little tree grinned over his shoulder, made a cheerful "Wheee!" sound, and dove in, sliding away like it was a carnival ride.
Rocket's eyelids lowered in resignation as he watched the tiny figure disappear into the core. "We're all gonna die," he muttered.
The crater's lip shook under Rhinos's boots, the constant thump of blaster impacts rattling the rock beneath him. Smoke and dust swirled past in hot barrages.
Quill had returned to the Drill while he stayed behind at the target.
Below were a mess of gold-plated Sovereign ships sweeping and circling, spitting Lasers continuously into the battered drill.
Through his scope, he could just make out the cockpit windows. Yondu's silhouette moved sharply, jerking the controls, while Nebula hunched forward, metal arm exposed, fiddling with something deep in the console. Their mouths moved, but the only thing Rocket caught over the din was Yondu's raised voice, something about being "done for."
Then the drill's hull lit from within, like a fuse burning bright. Lasers punched out in every direction at once, beams slicing clean through the Sovereign ships. The air shimmered with heat, fragments spinning off into the hollow like glowing confetti.
He caught a glimpse of Drax far below, leaping back from a near miss, bellowing something Rhino couldn't make out, probably a complaint. Above, Yondu spun the drill in a slow turn, the beams catching craft after craft until they came apart midair. One Sovereign ship exploded in a blossom of fire so bright Rhinos anti-flash lenses activated.
Rhinos Sensors pinged, picking up the rising whine of something going wrong. Sure enough, Quill's figure blurred through the drill's doorway, and a bloom of orange fire spilled after him, chasing toward the rear engine.
Yondu whistled, his arrow flying straight at him, as the drill went up.
The explosion tore the air apart, hurling flaming debris into the cavern. Rhino crouched even lower against the crater wall as heat washed overhead.
Out of the fireball, shapes shot free, one small and black, landing across from Gamora, and two others trailing light. Quill, aero-rig flaring, and Yondu, dangling from the arrow.
He didn't hear the words between them, but he saw Quill grin and Yondu puff himself up, arms spread in some kind of declaration before they touched down beside the others, while Gamora marched straight for Quill.
The rest of the team filtered in. Rhino still protecting the mission's objective, debris still raining all around. Mantis came last, her face locked in focus, until a jagged hunk of Sovereign ship slammed in from the side, flattening her to the ground. Everyone stared.
"That's bad" Rhino said through his Voice interface, readying himself.
While Rocket just looked at him through the tiny hole before pushing out his snout and asking, "What's bad?" but Rhino just stared through his scope not answering.
Mantis wasn't moving. The rumble that followed, It came from deep down, beneath their feet. The hollow itself shifted, walls pulsing, the ground rolling under them like the planet was breathing.
"Ego is waking up" he finally said.
"Well Fuck" Rocked said and then suddenly with a panicked voice,
"Well then what are you waiting for, get me the Fuck out of here, im literally inside him"
Rhino just leaned his head, then retorted, "We all are".
"Not helping there" Rocket said panicking a bit.
"Get back, I will break through the wall"
"You know this is straight up, very hard metal"
Rhino just looked at him, Rocket nodded and pushed back inside where he came from.
Rhino readied himself turning completely silver all of a sudden, activating his dash and charging right through the Metal.
"That armor of yours is pretty handy" Rocket said while touching Rhinos, now silver skin, fascination clearly on his face.
Rhino shrugged him off and looked around.
"Oh, Groot, he will take some time till he's back, let's get out of this tiny hole first" Rocket said pushing him to the exit.
Rhino helped Rocked up, then they went over, where the others stood, Rhino getting some side-glances for his new coloring.
"Is that some kind of ability to be stealthier around gigantic mountains of silver" Drax asked without a hint of sarcasm.
"No Time to joke around now Drax" Gamora yelled at him angrily,
"I wasn't…" Drax tried to reply but was shut up by her angry glare.
"Ok, I will ask later" he replied, again focusing on the battle at hand.