8478/Which demons must die first

Which demons must die first
Date of Scene:	29 October 2021
Location:	Common Area - Milano
Synopsis:	As the Guardians consider who they want to take revenge on first, Peter reveals he spent the last of their cash and Ava is struggling to find the doctor she needs on Hala.
Cast of Characters:	Nebula, Gamora, Ava Starr, Peter Quill

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Nebula has posed:
Nebula has her back against the common area wall, her left foot propped up against it, and is casually inspecting her twin staves. The electricity arcing off of them seems to suggest they're in proper working order but she doesn't look entirely convinced.

But oddly, also on the common area table are figurines of each of the Black Order members. They're sorted in an order - the order Nebula would love to kill them in if possible, but others may have differing opinions. Ebony Maw is at the top of the list.. followed directly by their most hated sister Proxima Midnight.

Gamora has posed:
Gamora sits at the table with one leg crossed, and a hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword, glancing occasionally from the figures to Nebula and back. This may be as closed to 'relaxed' as they get in each other's company.

"... No." She says finally, breaking a stretch of silence while studying the figurines. "I don't like it. Maw is strongest when he's supported by others. I don't want there to be any chance that he'll have backup from the others when we go after him."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava has been off with Carol and Finley, trying to hone her use of her new q-bands. She's marginally more confident with them, now, than she has been, but that doesn't mean she's hopped aboard the hero train, yet. Her current plan is to go find Yv'Kar and see if he can help her with her molecular disequalibrium. If he can, she'll hang around until he does. If he can't... perhaps it's time to go home where she and Carol can figure out how to deal with the Black Order without worrying about the scattered and crazy crew of the Milano.

The ship is hidden within a derelict warehouse at the edge of the city. It's made it a safe place to hide out. And a good place for Ava to do her practicing. Now, however, she finds herself heading into the common room, mildly surprised to discover the others already there... and considering the problem of the Black Order. Don't tell her they're actually making a plan. She thought they were allergic to plans.

Or maybe it's just *good* plans they're allergic to. She pauses in the doorway and leans against it, arms folding over her chest as she watches the debate.

Peter Quill has posed:
Into the commons saunters Quill, wearing his pants, tee-shirt and a pair of recently acquired fuzzy slippers on his feet and the battered headphones of his walkman on his head. He bobs his head a little to whatever tune he's listening.

In a vaguely deer-in-headlights expression he pauses, seeing the gathering about the table and he slowly reaches up to push the headphones back, "So! What're we talking about!" he inquires as he reaches down to hit stop on his walkman, silencing the faint music coming from the headphones.

Nebula has posed:
Nebula narrows her eyes a little bit as Gamora points out an obviously good idea. "Then change it," she snaps accusingly as if somehow the wisdom of taking on Maw later meant she had to do the menial labor of reordering figurines.

As if to prove the point, purely out of spite, she pushes off the wall, pauses as Ava walks in. A small glare of greeting, she moves Maw to the back of the line and puts Gamora at the front of the line. Oh yes, there's figurines for Gamora and Nebula too. They are, were? part of the black order after all.

Petty? Yes. Necessary? absolutely. She turns her attentions to Peter, somehow she's scowling as she does it. Roughly pushing herself back from the table which jostles all the figurines she returns to her spot on the wall.

"We're determining the best order in which to assassinate our brothers and sisters." No point pussy footing around the familial status of the black order now. That cat is well and truly out of the bag.

Gamora has posed:
Gamora squints at Nebula, arches an eyebrow at the moved figurine, and, once it's placed... glares at Nebula again. Without breaking eye contact with Nebula, Gamora gingerly picks up her own figurine, moves it aside, back out of the victim-lineup, and knocks over the Nebula figurine before she sets her down.

"Hello Quill." Gamora says evenly, not looking away from Nebula, until Nebula's frank answer causes Gamora to drop her head for a moment and sigh. Okay, damage control. She looks to Quill and says "We're planning to *murder* our brothers and sisters. No one has instructed us." There, that oughta do it. "Or rather, *I* am planning. Nebula sees fit only to get angry when you change her ideas, whether you ask first or not."

Gamora could be a little snappier about throwing shade. She's learning.

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava glances over her shoulder as Quill approaches. As she is typically phased in her intangible state, she shifts enough that when he enters the room he brushes partially through her, but doesn't jostle her out of the way. A soft grunt escapes her, nonetheless.

"Carol wants to help," she notes, eyes falling on the order of the figure. "Fin and I can still help. But it'd be nice to go in a little more prepared, next time."

Peter Quill has posed:
Peter Quill comes to rest his hands on the back of a chair and he looks over the little figures on the table that represent the black order, lips pursing a little, "Well.... huh. We gotta get payback, sure, and I've got something maybe relevant to all this I should tell you all..."

Quill pauses for a few moments, giving a quick smile over towards Gamora before offering one of those trademark 'everything is fine' grins.

"So Dudettes... I've got some good news, and some even greater news about our quest for revenge... what'd ya like to hear first?"

Nebula has posed:
Nebula redraws her weapon and points it at Gamora. Not one to do things half way, the weapon powers up threateningly. "How dare you strike me down. Restore me to my upright position." Clearly.. this is not about the figurines. She stares daggers at her sister though.

Nebula presses her lips together tightly and her black eyes stray from Gamora slowly to regard Ava, someone she is still not quite sure about. That's a two-way street of course, "The who determines the how. And if we're to take out Proxima, we'll need to take out Supergiant first because Supergiant won't let us corner Proxima. Father needs Supergiant more than he needs Maw, Maw just thinks he's the most important."

As Peter offers good news, her finger remains on the trigger and she turns her attention to him, "There's no such thin gas good or greater news, just news. Usually bad. What is it."

Gamora has posed:
Gamora keeps eye contact with Nebula. She takes a very deep, slow breath... and lets out a very long slow sigh. She picks up Nebula's figurine with the tips of two fingers, and very gingerly sets it down on its stand. One gets the impression this sort of thing is not new.

She has not yet fully set it down, however, and it is still lopsides enough that when Gamora turns sharply to face Ava, she 'accidentally' bumps the table in a manner that makes Nebula's figure fall over and roll off the table.

Gamora gives Ava a very terse look, opens her mouth... and... visibly stifles herself. So at least one of them has a sense of time and place. Instead of the angry retort that first animated her, she very evenly says, "We brought two of the most powerful - and willing - beings in the Galaxy to fight the most powerful man in the galaxy. We diverted the most lethal killers in the Galaxy away from him to even the odds. We caught him off guard. The plan was sound. There were merely two elements that worked against us."

"One: Father was... father." She says for one, and sighs, "And two... we ourselves were divided. By the Black Order."

Gamora reaches out and switches Supergiant and Proxima's places without a word.

"Father will be lacking in strength, and facing greater numbers the next time we confront him.

Gamora blinks owlishly at Peter as he abruptly changes the mood, and offers. "... Any of it? Anything at all. Or..." Gamora tilts her head, "... perhaps... context, with which to choose."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava, oddly enough, is rather of the same opinion as Nebula, when it comes to Peter's idea of news. She's learned not to trust his framing of things. She moves into the room, crossing toward one of the storage units, she fishes out a bottle of blue alcohol. She doesn't know what it is, only that it's one that won't poison her and doesn't taste like horse piss. She grabs a glass and splashes some into it, choosing just to listen for now.

Peter Quill has posed:
That charming smile is flashed towards Gamora, then Nebula and Ava as he leans there, "So, I went shopping and got some us some food... Those little Hala cakes you guys like... and everything, so we're all stocked up in the kitchen for our journey.. no problem at all!"

His smile remains as he looks towards everyone, "So that's great news right? Plenty of good food..."

Nebula has posed:
Nebula narrows her eyes and glares at Gamora. She 'tried'.. the same kind of try she knows is deliberate failure. Is she really going to shoot her sister over this? no, her bluff is being called. She holsters her weapon and hmphs. "That's the same news twice!"

She pushes off the wall and moves back to the figurines. She moves Black Dwarf to the top of the list, "You can't go after Supergiant without first taking out Black Dwarf. He's an idiot but a loyal one." The figurines are rapidly becoming a circle.. only Corvus Glaive sits out amongst itself with no place to go, making him the most obvious choice for a first strike.

Nebula having placed the figurine, picks hers up and places it back on the table next to the Gamora figurine. "Where are the cakes," she demands in a slightly calmer voice. "I'm hungry," she adds as if context were necessary. Said though in the same haunty way one might expect a well fed cat to demand their bowl is almost empty and they're soon to starve.

Gamora has posed:
Gamora huffs once and says, "But killing Dwarf will alert Supergiant quickly! He never misses a check in!" Gamora folds her arms on the table and sighs. Who to put first? Gradually the eyes of both sisters fall on the last remaining figurine left undiscussed. After a long moment, in an odd kind of harmony, Gamora and Nebula both determine "Nobody likes Corvus." And Gamora places Corvus Glaive in front.

Blinking at Peter, she reluctantly agrees, "That is... news."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava regards Quill as he announces his 'news'. He restocked the ship. "I take it you intend to bug out of here soon?" She wonders, now, just how long she has to deal with finding Yv'Kar. Then again... Perhaps with Carol's help, she doesn't *need* the ship to take them home. She's fairly certain they don't want her help, or Fin's, to take on their enemies. Perhaps that's for the best.

Her expression tightens, regardless. She's outstayed her welcome, obviously.

Peter Quill has posed:
"Yeah, we've got those berry ones.." Quill says as he walks over to one of the cabinets, opening it up, very quickly slamming it shut. "Wrong one..." He says turning to the group with a little smile, then turns to pull open a drawer. "Here, yeah, the meat ones.." He pulls one out and tosses it over towards Nebula, "The.. ahh..." His brows squint, "Squigswaflle?" That one is tossed over to Ava, "And uh, some kind of berry." That one is tossed over to Gamora, another is pulled out and he lifts it up a little. "Dig in everyone!" He says, then coughs a little as he murmurs under his breath, "And I accidently spent most of the rest of our units on it all.."

Nebula has posed:
Nebula catches the cake and takes a bite. She doesn't mind it, it's surprisingly pleasant considering it's from Hala. Her eyes fall upon Corvus. The best target. The simplest target. The one no one will miss. The first step to thinning Thanos down to his bare bones.

"They won't be expecting Quasar 2.0," she says as the notion of strategy comes to the forefront now that a target has been selected. "We can lure him out - tell him we need to talk. He'll come alone, he thinks he's untouchable. He knows our moves though," she says waggling a finger between herself and Gamora.

Her attention then turning to Ava, "But he doesn't know what you can do. For that matter, neither do I. Have you solved the q-bands? I expect the moment you've been cured of your ailment you'll be leaving but you could prove very useful in this fight if you stayed."

It's a rare moment that Nebula lets her anger become a mere simmer and she speaks with a calmer voice. It doesn't last though as she visibly twitches from a pain running up and down her side. Her hand forms a fist and she looks like she wants to punch something. Instead, she moves back to the wall to sulk and eat the cake.

Gamora has posed:
"Oh." Gamora says softly, catching the offered cake. There's the light crinkle of a wrapper being fiddled with, and then suddenly Gamora is on the other side of the room, shoving Peter against the wall by his shoulders. "You *what?!* How! How is that *physically possible?!*"

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava catches the packet reflexively, becoming tangible in a nanosecond. Quill's confession makes her arch her brow. "So... I'll take that as a *no*." Because no units equals no refueling. She sets the packet aside and glances over to Nebula.

"I'm working on it," she replies. "I've still got all my original abilities -- which means I'm an untouchable, invisible assassin, even without these things. Give me a powerful enough weapon, I can take care of him." She looks at the q-bands on her wrists. "Which, I suppose these are. As long as you don't mind that I only leave a smoking crater." A sardonic smile touches her lips. "I've discovered it's very easy to make big booms with these things." Finesse, however. That's harder. She misses finesse. They used to be such good friends.

Peter Quill has posed:
"Not in front of everyone Gamora.." Quill murmurs in a hushed little tone as Gamora slams him against the wall in a not so gentle way and he offers another one of those 'everythings okay' smiles to Ava and Nebula before lookng back over to Gamora.

"It's not as bad as it sounds.." He murmurs... "Good news everyone... we get to go on another little job to fill up our pockets again!"

Nebula has posed:
Nebula huffs a moment and finishes the -expensive- cake. The last of their credits on food? you steal food.. even Drax knows that. She peers at Ava and shrugs her shoulders, "The less of him there is left over the better." The look she gives Ava is one of... admiration? atomising her enemies seems ideal to her. Especially her annoying brother.

Gamora has posed:
Quill's reliable ability to confuse Gamora is perhaps all that keeps him alive, as Gamora gives a perplexed look and eventually backs off a step. Maybe she's not comfortable killing someone when she doesn't feel like she understands the situation. Though she may end up slapping him when he least expects it.

"... You're taking us to Earth, aren't you. You're going to make us pick up more tourists."

Ava Starr has posed:
Ava snirks. "Hey. This *tourist* kept you from getting your asses shot up on your way to this god forsaken planet." She chooses not to mention that they were only going here because she needed them to. Then again, she *did* help them rescue Nebula. At least, she tried. And she succeeded in getting Maw's attention in the process. So... not useless.

Peter Quill has posed:
"Sooooo...." Peter says as he lands back on his feet as Gamora lets him go, a little squeak coming from the fuzzy slippers on his feet and he cracks a little smile, "Well.. funny you should mention that Gamora..."

"So... We need time to come up with our plan to take out everyone, right?" Quill says with a little gesture at the table and the figures, "And we need money... and well, we maaaybe need some information too right, so... I've found a little job, someone needs something delivered and it just so happens that it brings us near earth and... the best news is it pays well! What could go wrong?"

Nebula has posed:
Nebula rolls her black eyes. It's more the head motion than the eyes. "Great. Back to that planet.. that you're addicted to," she mutters and pauses.. Ava, Finn, Peter.. they're all from Earth. This is turning in to a Human ship, which is disturbing.

"I take it we're leaving as soon as Ava, Finn, and Carol are done here with their doctor?," she asks Peter and pushes off the wall. She swipes the Gamora and Nebula figurines off the table and starts to walk to the door, "...I liked the bit where you put aside time to plan for the black order, but not this delivery. Ever the optimist. And by like I mean hate." Somehow this'll go wrong, especially now that Peter's jinxed it.