"I'm such an idiot. I actually believed Tivan could handle the Power Stone!"
Gamora cursed as she emerged from the ruins with the Power Stone in hand, Quill and the others following behind her. The ruins had clearly once been The Collector's territory, but now more than half of it had been blasted into collapse by some powerful force.
Gamora knew that The Collector was the mysterious buyer who had purchased the Power Stone through Broker, so she had brought Quill and the others here to sell it. For some unknown reason, perhaps because he was preparing a special vault, The Collector had not met with them immediately.
A few minor incidents had occurred during that time. First, there was Quill. The kid had practically been openly lusting after Gamora the entire way, shamelessly flattering her nonstop, and after arriving here, he had finally made some progress.
He had taken out his idiot pleasure machine and put the headphones on Gamora so she could listen to music. Gamora was immediately affected by the wicked machine, her intelligence plummeting as she became instantly absorbed in it. Then their eyes met, their fingers touched, the mood was perfect, and their lips drew closer and closer.
But just as Quill had reached the final stage where everything should have fallen into place, Gamora suddenly snapped awake. She shoved Quill away and pressed a dagger to his throat. That had been too dangerous—she had nearly fallen for him!
So although Quill had not come away entirely empty-handed, his gains had been limited. Still, Gamora had genuinely run off with him. If word got out, he would have to seriously consider how to deal with his future father-in-law's rage.
Meanwhile, Rocket and Drax had been having a great time in the bar, but a verbal