Quill's voice carried above the noise. "How long before the bomb goes off?"
Rocket's reply came just as quick. "In the unlikely event Groot doesn't kill us all, about six minutes."
Yondu touched the comm pinned to his lapel. "Kraglin."
Quadrant Flight Deck
Kraglin jerked awake in the pilot's chair, blinking himself alert.
"We need the Quadrant for extraction in T-minus five minutes", Yondu's voice crackled over the comm.
"Aye, Cap'n!" Kraglin answered, straightening as his hands flew to the controls.
Below the Self Chamber
The ground shuddered. Above the gathered Guardians, the surface of the planet peeled apart like splitting stone, the bright sky opening overhead.
"Someone needs to be up top when Kraglin arrives," Quill called. "Drax, take Mantis."
Drax gave a short nod, lifting Mantis as Quill tore the aero-rig from his own back and slapped it onto Drax. The rig sprang to life, wrapping around his torso.
"Ahhh! My nipples!" Drax bellowed as the jets engaged, carrying him skyward.
Beneath them, the ground fractured into massive cracks, glowing light spilling upward. One split surged toward Quill and Gamora. She turned toward him, then the earth beneath her feet collapsed entirely.
"Gamora!!" Quill's shout was swallowed by the roar of the planet tearing itself apart.
Pillars of earth exploded upward around Yondu, Rocket, and Quill as enormous tentacles of rock and matter coiled from the ground, lashing toward them.
Lower Rift
Gamora plunged into the abyss, debris tumbling alongside her. A flash of movement, Nebula, falling close behind. She reached out, locking a hand around Gamora's arm while her other hand snagged the jagged edge of a cliff.
Both bodies jolted hard at the stop. Nebula hauled Gamora upward, tossing her onto a flat ledge before pulling herself up after.
Gamora looked at her, breathing hard, surprise flickering across her face.
"Oh, get over it," Nebula said, brushing past her.
Gamora's eyes met Nebula's, her voice cutting through the chaos. "We have to get up to the extraction point!"
They turned toward the edge. Below, a massive rift of land surged upward, tearing free from the ground as if pulled by some unseen force. The two glanced at each other once, then leapt, Landed on it, but because of the sudden acceleration they got flung of, like bugs hit by a stone hand.
They plummeted further down, Nebula able to catch onto a wall again, but losing Gamora out of sight in the same moment.
"Gamora" She screamed desperately, looking downwards but not seeing anything except for the planet, moving on its own, like a living labyrinth.
The stone she held on to was no exception from the rule, against what she hoped for, it also began moving, upwards, even farther away from her Sister.
Then suddenly, the Stone she held onto crumbled and she began to fall again, facing the abyss.
Tenno POV:
Seeing as Gamora lost her footing and fell down the cliff I jumped also, seemingly not the first though with that Idea, also seeing Nebula jumping after Gamora, before loosing sight contact through some walls that came between us.
"How fortunate, now I have to rescue two and climb up the walls without any hands, that's going to be an experience"
I thought as I adjusted my flight path and crashed through some stone floors, my scanner showing me the thinnest ones, simultaneously keeping up with the position of the two.
Nebula seemed to catch up and even safe Gamora from falling further, which I happily accepted, still falling my own path through, steering against a wall and coming to a hold on it.
"Ordis, any Idea on how to get on the other side of this wall"
I asked while scanning my surroundings.
Ordis voice replied quickly.
"Scan successfullOperator, I found a weak spot where you can blast through to get near them, but I'm sorry to report that I can't see further than that." He said and put his scan results directly into my Hud.
"That's enough, thanks Ordis, but keep scanning for weaknesses and possible paths once I'm through" I instructed him as I took position to break through the wall activating my dash again.
As I neared the last wall I saw that they tried to climb up on their own, a good Idea in theory, but as it seemed not a practical one, as they bounced of the stone platform, they we're trying to piggyback ride, like they were made of rubber.
As I activated Dash again I aimed at Gamora falling figure, seeing her infrared body through the wall first, then her real self, intercepting my flight path, as I catched her mid air, holding her waist as I looked after Nebula falling further, out of my sensors reach.
She said something, but I tuned it out, civilians getting rescued normally don't speak about mission important stuff, more of the "thank you so much" or "help her please, my daughter is still in there".
In theory interesting information, but most of the time not as important as keeping my eyes on my sensors and getting THEM out of dangerous situations first, they are still in at the moment, even though they feel rescued, as I am here now.
The next second though I saw Nebula shooting past me, holding onto one of these unpredictable stone elevators again, they seemed to love so much.
I threw Gamora over my shoulder onto my bag and activated my magnetic weapon holder, now empty as I threw the sniper away while falling, knowing something like this would happen. It held onto her Belt and anything else metal about her clothes as she held onto me like a koala onto its mommy's back, again screaming something at the point where rhinos ear would be, would he have any.
As I made shure she was securely attached to me, I jumped over to the Stone elevator, riding on the other side from where Nevula was holding onto, as you could just walk there, always watching out for her through the floor.
Finally as I was nearly above her, the stone under her hand crumbled, probably from the weight of us three being to much for it, which made her loose her grip as she fell again.
"Well, here we go again" I thought as I jumped after her, being way faster than her by a huge margin, catching up pretty easily.
It seemed to surprise her quite a bit as we crashed into her, me taking her hand, stopping the fall of all three of us with my hand in the wall, before pulling her up, holding her in a reverse Koala position, the girls facing each other.
"You guys seen anyone else falling? My scanners are clear"
I said, starting the sprint upwards, grabbing into the stone and jumping from wall to wall as if with no gravity intact.
Gamora shook her head, which Nebula translated into another shaking head, but now visible to me, both of them clearly in shock because of the situation they were in.
Realization seemed to have hit them hard this time.
I nodded and restarted the climb upwards.
At some point it was pretty level and I coul run for some time, as suddenly tentacles started to form all around us.
"Ego is fully awake now" Gamora said afraid.
"Just stay put, and maybe close your ears"
I said, the girls looking at me confused, but as they saw the tentacles creeping closer, they closed each others ears, to not fall down from their positions.
As I made shure they had their ears shut, I was just a tiny bit less concerned about what was about to come.
So finaly as they were near enough, I activated another one of my abilities.
"RRROOOOOAAAAAHHHHHH"
A incredible load roar came out of the Warframes deepest parts, making the girls shrink and pull on each others ears in fright which caused both of them to also scream.
A golden shine was now pulsing around all three of us, while the tentacles around us began to stagger and break apart.
Then there was silence for some time, the girls shook their heads, still disoriented by what happened a few moments ago, before I started to jump and run again, destination, Rondevu-Point.
Suddenly quill and his dad came flying straight past us, his dad clearly staggered and Peter glowing with a golden hew, which complemented his glowing blue form, clearly beating his old man to a bulk, while they both had a blue streak of energy seemingly coming out of their legs.
I didn't stop my movements, which didn't stop the girls though, to look around and play on a knife's edge with my balance for quite some time, till they came down again, as the father and son pair shot out of my sensor range again.
"It seems Rhinos roar is even stronge enough to stagger a Planet" I said to Ordis who in return hummed happily, not understanding though how or why this was happening, as These abilities normally were not that strong to begin with.
As I finally reached the surface, I saw Drax standing there, looking like a mess with Mantis in his Arms, but staring to run straight towards the ship as he saw me, something seemingly reigniting his spirit.
I just chose a mild tempo and went after him, only hearing him scream in rage as I passed and he started his full sprint, seemingly his warrior honor on the line or something like that.
I wasn't that petty though, so I slowed down a bit, the immediate threat seemingly somehow being confined, letting him have his moment, as we wouldn't start without him anyway, so what would it help if I were there before him, waiting for his slow ass.
At the end I decided though, that maybe I was this petty and didn't give him the win, still him being just one or two seconds behind me, breathing like an ox as he fell on the ground, Mantis head bouncing as it hit the Metal floor, a blood patch clearly forming under her head on the ground.
"You had a… head start" He managed to stammer between breaths, but I ignored him.
I let Nebula down and deactivated the weapon holster, which made Gamora also meet the floor with her own feet again, before I kneeled down, turned mantis head and started spraying some of the Healing-Mist onto her wound I normally used to Heal Incapacitated Kubrows or downed Warframes.
After some seconds she jolted awake, the adrenaline shot from the mist, clearly not being well for her biology, eyes wide open, scanning her surroundings, as I chopped her neck, making her fall back to sleep again.
"You got to teach me how to do that" Drax said with honest interest as he slowly stood up, catching his breath again "She talks so much sometimes, an off button would be just what I needed" He stated without any shame.
I looked at him, then just picked her up and walked away towards a bench shaking my head in total shock along the way, at his audacity, as he just shrugged and climbed up the ladder to the flight deck.
On the open loading bay of the Quadrant, Gamora and Nebula sat beside Mantis, lying on the bench, watching her fascinated as she slept peacefully in all this Chaos, the constant rumble of the planet echoing underfoot, they themselves trying to rest.
Finally, Rocket and Groot arrived from the bay entrance, both streaked with soot and dust.
Gamora rose, eyes locking onto Rocket, eyebrow raised. "Where's Peter?"
Rocket didn't respond. His gaze stayed fixed somewhere else, not really there.
"Rocket," Gamora said again, sharper now. "Where is he?!"
He glanced down. In his hand, a timer counted away the last moments, each second pulling tighter.
"Rocket! Look at me! Where is he?!"
He gave a small shake with his head.
Beside him, Groot lifted one arm, pointing toward the chaos outside. His expression said the rest.
Gamora's jaw set. "I'm not leaving without him."
She stood, snatching a rifle from the rack along the wall. The weapon's slide clacked sharply as she chambered a round, and she strode toward the bay doors.
A flash of blue light cracked against her back. Electricity arced, and she crumpled to the deck.
Rocket lowered his weapon, ears flat. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I can only afford to lose one friend today." He raised his comm. "Kraglin, go."
"Wait," Drax said through the comms. "Is Quill back?" After getting no answers he yelled, "Rocket, where's Quill?!"
The bay doors began to close, sealing off the view of the fractured planet beyond. Rocket stood still, watching the gap narrow, Drax's voice echoing through the ship.
"Where's Quill?! WHERE'S QUILL?!"
The door sealed with a final, heavy thud.