7961/Milano Tales: Where do we go from here

Milano Tales: Where do we go from here
Date of Scene:	24 September 2021
Location:	Lower Deck - Milano
Synopsis:	Nebula contemplates her next moves and Gamora confronts her about ... what exactly? Nebula manipulates Gamora in to a new level of frustration before reporting back to Thanos.
Cast of Characters:	Nebula, Gamora

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Nebula has posed:
    The Milano sits at the edge of Kree space. Crossing that metaphorical line puts them, once again, in harms way. And for what? another Human. This one wearing the bands of a space hero: the Q-Bands. Nebula has been staring out one of the windows at the stars. The invisible line that divides safe from unsafe is in her minds eye. Her lips twitch from time to time.

    She's not sure why she's still here. Rocket is safe. Rocket and Groot are taking a break from being Guardians of the Galaxy. She's done.. she should go back home to father. She has work to do. But something pulls at her. May be it's Peter's goofy smile or the weird antenna lady's annoying smile. Or may be it's just because Gamora gets to be here and she doesn't.

Gamora has posed:
    For her part, Gamora has essentially beenn laying in wait for Nebula to commandeer the ship again, ready to... beat her up??? To save her??? From her own will and adult decisions???

    Gamora, admittedly, has based this plan largely on emotion, and hasn't worked out all the steps. She's been doing that more and more lately. As if over the last few months, whatever snapped inside of her on the Dark Aster has continued to leak out whatever's drowning the cold serenity she'd forced herself to learn in service of her father.

    Even more frustrating is that she's technically had time to think about it.

    The ship is... so quiet now...

    Gamora finally appears behind Nebula, dimly reflected in the window with her arms crossed; dressed as she usually is, though she seems to have foregone gloves for a pair of green bracers on a semi-permenant basis. She looks tired, and she *sounds* tired when she softly notes, simply: "You're hesitating."

Nebula has posed:
    The subtle sounds of chatting can be heard off in the distance. Possibly Peter. Probably Ava and Fin. The longer she sits here, watching her sisters reflection, the more she is realising her work doesn't need to be done by fathers side. So long as he knows where her loyalties are.

    "I'm strategising," she insists. "Is it possible for you to wear less?" She asks with scorn in her voice. Nebula after a reset is always a lot more direct and blunt. She has no place or time for subtle.

    There's a good chance Thanos wants the heads of everyone on this ship. For the sheer audacity of boarding Sanctuary I and attempting to kill him. "I have a plan," she states after another long pause. And now she knows how father intends to take the stones. Now that she knows how the hyperspace energy is being used. Now the plan has finally come together.

    "You won't like it. You will try and stop me. You will fail." Of course, she could just tell her sister the plan. Then she might not try and stop her... no... she'd still try and stop her. It's an insane plan even for her.

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora frowns. "My boots could be shorter." She says plainly. "My species runs very warm. Apparently." Is her common excuse; not that she knows anyone else of her race to confirm this. Her eyes look down and to the side i a rare expression of dejection, "It was... more empowering when everyone I knew wanted to kill me."

    She's very tired. She already regrets saying that.

    "I'm more likely to try if I *don't* know what it is." She remarks wearily, managing to hold back on the impulse to add 'and I'm not accustomed to losing to you'. Consideration, Gamora! "If nothing else, I'd know you're not just rushing back to Father's discipline." For surely Thanos would not *just* take Nebula back, given the what why and when of her departure.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula's lips continue to twitch. It's hard work keeping the suppressor active. But she needs to keep it so if she's to have this kind of conversation with Gamora. Candid truth. Father must not be allowed to know what she intends to do. And after the last time when she saved the Milano he tries to have this loop hole patched.

    In some ways he succeeded, for now it was excruciating to do. But ultimately, his daughters are stubborn and know that pain is a cost worth paying. A little blood dribbles from her nose as a shiver runs through her body from the effort.

    She lifts up the device to show Gamora. Held in her hand with her thumb pressing down on the button. For the moment her digital memories simply record her silent stare out in to space. The longer this continues, the harder it gets.

    "He'll take me back. He wants the stones and he's almost found them all. I'm going to get them and give them to him." She pauses to let that part of her plan sink in "Because you know him as well as I do. He'll never stop until he thinks he's succeeded... so I'm going to let him succeed, stab him in the heart, take the damn stones and undo whatever crazy he just did."

    She goes silent for a moment before stating what she knows to be true, "It's the only way. I think I can convince him to leave the Guardians and you alone. I'll state the truth, I'll manipulate you all in to helping me get the stones for him."

Gamora has posed:
    Gamora grimaces as she looks at the device, looking away with a feeling not unlike shame before it occurs to her to step aside so her reflection can no longer be caught in Nebula's vision, instead leaning against a wall with her arms crossed. Said arms drop quickly when she hears Nebula's plan, and it's all Gamora can do not to pounce on Nebula and shake her by the neck.

    "Fighting father is suicidal at the absolute *best* of times, and your plan is to give him unlimited power?! Sister..." Gamora shakes her head and just repeats, "*Sister!*"

    Apparently you were right the first time.

Nebula has posed:
    Nebula twitches again and the wince is palpable as Gamora raises her voice. Her teeth grind a moment and she says, "And you will tell no one. Because if I record even the tiniest hint of this plan in ear shot or eye shot, or anyone acting out of the ordinary.. then he will know and he will win."

    Why must she put her sister in such impossible situations? Certainly not out of love.. but it is the first time Nebula has ever trusted her with the plan before. Ever. Not even as children did she lay it all out like this. Whatever happened to her on Half-World hit her deep in the feels and snapped her out of her zealotry faster than any time before.

    "You will try and stop me and you will lose. Because you must. Because there is no other way to have father let his guard down - even from his children. You know it's true."

Gamora has posed:
    "You... you..." Gamora struggles to speak, feeling like two many words are bottlenecking in her throat for any of them to get out. Gamora frustratedly swings her arm downward and bangs her fist on the wall behind her. "*Twice* now you've forced me to stay silent while you endanger our friends!" She seethes with frustration. That may be the first time she's called them friends; certainly the only time in confidence with Nebula. "You... just... *refuse* to be cared for! To take any sort of chance that you could be..."

    Be what? Be happy? Does Gamora really think her crew is capable of doing that for Nebula? The thought is a deflating one, and Gamora closes her eyes slowly, lightly grasping her left upper arm with her right hand.

    "... I think I could have. He was... warm. Around me, sometimes. I think I could have killed him if I'd wanted. If I'd known then what I know now, I... would have. I wish I had. Before any of this."

Nebula has posed:
    "Don't delude yourself. Quasar couldn't kill him and she brought this whole crew to help her out. That.. Captain Marvel person too. You couldn't have. I couldn't have. No one could. Not until he thinks he's won." She shakily lifts up her other hand and wipes the blood dribbling down over her lips off of her face and on to the back of her top.

    "I'm going to turn off this device in a moment. You're going to walk away and you're going to say nothing because if you do - this will be all over. He won't play nice any more. He won't be... warm. Then I'm going to call him and give him a reason not to blow this stupid ship in to a million pieces. And you will still say nothing. You will go enjoy your... friends... and say _nothing_."

    She turns away from looking at Gamora and lowers her hand with the device back to her lap. The shivers run down her spine again and she hisses in pain. "Because you're stronger than I am. You know it must be done."

Gamora has posed:
    Trust Nebula to crush even the fantasy of there ever having been hope. In her damaged way, she was trying to say... *something* to Nebula. That she's sorry? That she has regrets? Neither of those seem to hit the exact spot she's coming from, so the nicest thing she could say was 'I wish a man had died in the time before he'd hurt you.'.

    It's really never good enough.

    Grimacing, teeth bared with frustration, her clenched fist shaking harder and harder with every word Nebula speaks, Gamora feels ready to explode at the absurd, helpless situation she's been put in. She doesn't believe in Nebula's plan. She really, genuinely doesn't. Somehow this gaggle of fools have infected Gamora with enough hope that she thinks there could ever be a tactic that would defeat Thanos, even if killing him may always be off the table in her mind.

    Maybe that's why she doesn't lash out, in the end. She simply speaks, in a voice that would sound dangerously cold if not for what she was saying.

    "... I'm going to save you, Nebula. I'll do anything to make it happen. I'd have fed a thousand Quasars to him if I could have. I won't stop until I'm dead."

    With that, she simply turns, and storms away, unwilling to prolong the pain of the suppressor any longer.

Nebula has posed:
    Save her? .... since when has that ever been part of the equation. And why? She waits until the foot steps are gone and then releases the button. Her hand slides the device in to her back pocket and she is once again recording the universe so that father may review her loyalty later. It's an old game now, a tiresome game. But a game that must be played.

    -- Thanos kneels down before a confused little Nebula. "Little child, you have to choose. Left.. or right.. it's a simple choice."

    Not understanding the question or the implications she looks at the large man before her. She's scared of him and she knows she should be too. Her mother and father are.. missing. Because of this man. "Left".

    The plasma weapons fire rips through the captured citizens on the left side of the grand parade and Thanos places his hand on her shoulder, turning her head away from the sight. "Little one, come I'll make you strong so that you don't need to cry."

    -- Nebula grits her teeth a moment at the faint reflection of herself in the window and punches at it. The energy barrier deflects her anger and she rises up from where she sits. With a touch of a hidden button on her arm her father appears - Thanos, the Mad Titan, seated on his throne. He is wounded and bandaged still from the battle with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and his expression is one of annoyance when he sees Nebula.

    "It worked. They trust me again. Even Gamora. I'll let you know when I have the first stone."

    His look becomes contemplative, "Good work Nebula." The feed cuts off from his end and she slowly unclenches her fists. Time to act like she gives a damn about this 'family'...