dream on,
dream on,
dream until your dreams come true!

- aerosmith

_________________________

THE SUN SET and rose again, and the day was upon them. They had hashed out a plan last night, but Amada predicted that it would serve as only a loose guideline. The Guardians were never very good at sticking to script.

The Milano was in the air, along with many other airships headed into the heart of Asgard. There was a massive party in honor of Thor, and people from all over the galaxy were flocking in for the festivities. There was drinking and fun to be had, and Amada expressed her dream to attend one of these legendary parties. She doubted she would ever be allowed back to Asgard after today, but she still dreamed.

Amada was looking like out of one of the windows, simply observing the door people on the ground. They were all dressed to the nines, some people danced, and kids were playing without the gleaming eyes of parental supervision. It was as if all the people of Asgard were one family today. Amada smiled and thought of Earth.

"We're coming up on the loading dock," Gamora called to the crew as she began to spilt the Milano from the pack of incoming ships.

Amada shifted her gaze to the prison they were approaching. It was a large, square building made of stone. There was little decoration on the outside; it merely stood as a massive, imposing block.

The dock she mentioned was their point of entry. The file Humar had sent mentioned that there was a loading dock at the rear of the prison that was used to receive shipments of supplies. Due to the festivities, there would be no deliveries or workers there today, and it served as the perfect break-in spot.

Amada was checking the blaster that belonged at her hip as the ship landed at the dock. There was a little jolt as the landing gear collided with the ground, but it was a smooth landing overall. As promised, it seemed to be abandoned. The bay door of the Milano opened, and Quill, Rocket, Drax, Mantis, and Amada all shuffled out into the warm, summer air. The breeze carried in scents of delicious foods that made Amada's mouth water.

"We'll be waiting right here," Gamora promised, leaning back in the pilot's chair and kicking her feet up onto the dash, Groot settling into her lap comfortably. They had been assigned the role of getaway driver.

Quill did a double take. "So you're the one whose been leaving dirty bootprints on my dash!" He accused pointedly, sounding betrayed, and Amada flushed behind him. That had definitely been her.

"That's not what we're focusing on right now," Amada punched his shoulder as she jerked her head towards the staff door. Rocket had already begun hacking the locking mechanism. They would have an entry point in a minute or so.

Quill narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "So uncool," he muttered dejectedly, kicking a rock on the ground. He was such a child, but Amada smirked a bit. She loved her kid brother.

Rocket let out a little celebratory whoop as the lock hissed in retraction and the door swung wide to reveal the storage room. Quill and Amada joined their team - Quill taking his post as the head of the group - and they pressed into the building. Quill tapped his mask, and it concealed his features. The bright red eyes of the mask were like beacons in the dark room.

Boxes of clothes and rations were piled high, almost to the ceiling, against the stone walls. The room was cold and dark, and Amada swore she could hear dripping water somewhere. It smelled of mothballs. She hoped the rest of the prison didn't hold this charm.

There was a map of the prison in Humar's file, and it had highlighted Loki's cell. Luckily, the storage room was damn close to the cells. They just had to go out the storage room door and take a right down the hallway, and they would find themselves at the top of the staircase that led to main battery of cells. That's where they would find their target.

Wordlessly, the unit moved out into the hallway. Amada walked next to Mantis, who was uncomfortably palming one of Drax's knives. Since the crew had sensed Amada's lie and knew their target was dangerous, Quill required that everyone be armed - including sweet Mantis. Drax had been very reluctant to give one of his knives to the "disgusting bug lady", but he eventually folded under the pressure.

The hallway was just as bleak as the outside of the building. Instead of lights, the hall was dimly lit by torches on the wall. It seemed Asgard had a flair for the dramatic as this prison looked like some medieval nightmare.

Quill signaled them to halt as they came to the staircase that separated the administration wing from the cells. He looked to each of his crew members to see if they were ready. He was satisfied when he noticed how each of them clutched their weapons, and he led them down the stone staircase. They were unsure just how many guards were to be on duty on the day of celebration. Amada hoped it wouldn't be many.

Amada, who had spent hours studying the map, knew exactly where Loki's cell was located. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, his cell was the very first one on the right side. When she glanced over to it, she saw the yellowish energy field that acted as the door and main viewing window, but she didn't spot Loki. He must have been lounging farther back in the cell.

She didn't have much time to investigate the cell, however, as the two guards positioned in this wing had taken notice of the intruders. They had been sitting on the ground, backs against a stone pillar, playing some sort of card game. Now, they sprung into action at the sight of the threats, crying out commands for the Guardians to stop. Before they could get very far, both Amada and Quill aimed their blasters and discharged one shot into the guard nearer to them. They both went down like a sack of bricks.

At this point, Amada was feeling pretty confident. The plan had been working! They felt little resistance breaking into this decrepit place, and all that was left was to capture Loki. This was going to be a success, and she didn't even have to get her team worked up about this so-called danger. Maybe all this time in the hole had made Loki soft.

"There," Amada pointed to the cell that belonged to their target, directing the team to the next step of the plan. As Rocket took to hacking the little side door to the cell, Amada got her first look at her adversary. As she suspected, he was laying in his bed towards the back of the cell, his back to the glass, a blanket pulled up to his shoulders. His black hair fell back in a sweeping mass. He looked to be sleeping. That was a tad odd. They had made quite a lot of noise when they dispatched the guards.

"Are you ready, Mantis?" Amada beamed to her empathic friend. This was her time to play her role. It would be pretty easy if Loki kept up his sleeping.

"I am ready," Mantis grinned back, feeding off the confidence of the younger woman. Her antenna twitched and began to glow in anticipation of her work.

Rocket made quick work of the simple lock and the small side door hissed open. They sent Mantis in to put Loki to sleep - er, keep him asleep, rather -, which would make his body easier to transport. Drax stood outside the door, waiting for his part.

As Mantis made her way into the cell, Amada watched the scene before her. She was proud her plan was running so smoothly. Quill was over examining the guard's bodies for loot, and Drax and Rocket were arguing about who had the real power - Thor or his hammer. Amada was the only one watching the show.

But, something odd happened. When Mantis entered the room, Amada didn't see her. She had been visible on one side of the door, but she disappeared once she crossed the threshold. It was as if she disappeared behind a curtain. All Amada saw in that room was the figure of the sleeping Loki. It looked like an image being replayed on a loop.

Something else occurred to her then.

Gods didn't need sleep.

Icy blood ran in Amada's veins as she realized the trick being played on them. She had studied his file for hours, yet she let his powers slip her mind. She had gotten too confident!

"Mantis!' She cried out as she bolted towards the doorway, heart thumping in her throat. Mantis was fine, she had to be fine. Amada had promised everyone that this would be an easy mission. As Amada threw herself into the room, the saw the terrible scene before her.

Loki, very much awake, stood over Mantis's lifeless body, Drax's knife sunk deep in her neck. She laid in a heap on the floor, blood still spurting out of the artery like a demented fountain. Her usual black eyes were clouding over with white, and her lips were still and pale.

The illusion that had blinded the team fell, and the remaining members of the party saw the terrible deed that had been committed, but they saw it far too late.

Mantis had been like the mother of the Milano. She was kind and caring. Whenever someone was sick, she would tend to them hand and foot, and she would always use her powers to put her patient to ease. Amada knew her to be the sweetest, most peaceful thing in the galaxy.

And Loki had stabbed her in the neck.

Amada balled her fists, tears brimming her eyes. She threw her blaster on the ground with disgust, sucking in deep, shaky breaths to replace the air that had been knocked out of her. She forced her eyes off Mantis's corpse and trained them on Loki's impish smirk.

She was overcome with blind rage and shattering defeat. This blood was on her hands, but Loki smeared it there. She wanted him dead - now!

"You'll die for this," she growled, hearing the distant footfall of her brother approaching from the rear. She wasn't going to wait for his backup. Amada, clouded with emotion, thought she could take Loki herself.

Amada ran at Loki with the intent to strike, but her rage made her predictable. Loki side-stepped her attack easily, kicking her knee forcefully to bring her to the ground. Amada looked up to him defiantly, expecting a crushing blow. Instead, he placed his palm on her forehead.

"I'm terribly sorry for your loss," the god remarked with mock sympathy.

The last thing she heard was her brother calling her name. Then, everything went black.

____________________

That damned beeping noise had replaced her voice. That beautiful, silky voice that has sung her sweet lullabies. Her mother's voice.

The doctor sent her in to say goodbye. He said it was 'time'. That's what everyone kept telling Amada. They kept repeating that same line - that it was her mother's 'time'. To Amada, the only time that mattered was that it was eleven at night, and that mattered very little to her.

Young Amada, only seven, look upon the face of her mother with a slap of sadness. She only got her mother for seven years. Seven short years.

The clock was impossibly loud. Every tick of the second hand was like a loud footstep. Maybe it was footsteps, after all. The reaper was coming for her mother now.

It was time.

They had just taken the ventilation tube out of her mom's throat. Her mouth was parted slightly, a mixture of blood and drool at the corner of her lips. Amada had the urge to wipe it off, but she felt as if it might send her queasy stomach over the edge, so she left it.

Momma, she thought dejectedly. Momma, it's time to go home. You never finished the book you were reading to me. I know you coughed blood on the page, but we can clean it up.

She gripped her mother's cold hand. Amada felt no reassuring squeeze back. She quickly released her mother's hand, unsatisfied by her ghostly touch.

"I love you, momma," Amada whispered. "Please, don't leave me here all alone."

Her mother answered with silence. That was her usual response.

The beeping stopped, suddenly replaced by a high-pitched whine of the machine.

Flat-line.

At seven, Amada was truly alone in the world.

__________________

Amada shot up with a gasp. Her heart was thumping in her chest, and her throat burned with the sudden intake of air. Her limbs felt hot and numb; it was a very unpleasant feeling.

As she came to, she noticed the difference in her surroundings. They were no longer in the prison, but back on the Milano. Amada hoped for a split second that it had all been a dream, but the panicked state of the ship showed it was reality.

Amada had been placed in one of the seats in the cockpit, and she noted Quill at the wheel. They were in space, but they were driving at top speed, as if they were being chased. Judging by Quill's erratic driving and worried expression, they were being chased.

Gamora was in the co-pilot's chair, bent over a tablet. "Ten clicks to the jump!" She shouted, her voice taunt with tension.

Amada couldn't see Drax, Groot, or Rocket.

Or Mantis.

Oh God. Mantis.

Amada was stricken with an overwhelming feeling of guilt. This whole shit-show was her fault. She put her team on this deathcourse. She had been greedy and arrogant, and people had died.

Mantis had died.

If Amada knew anything, though, it was that she couldn't allow herself to play the pity game right now. She needed to contribute to the escape.

A blast shook the ship as the Milano absorbed a hit. It must be the Asgardian fleet. An alarm must have been triggered whilst Amada was out, surely. But then again, she was so confident that Rocket had overridden the security...

"The ship can't take many more hits," Gamora warned.

"How far?" Quill replied desperately. He had to keep this bird in the air just long enough to make the jump.

"Five clicks!"

Amada pushed herself to a sitting position, and then she stood cautiously. Once she discerned that she could walk normally, she made a path towards the makeshift prison. They had held Nebula there many times. It was located at the very back of the ship, just one room away from the rear bay. She needed to know if the mission was a success.

It had cost them so much.

As she pressed towards the back of the ship, she felt the anger rising in her again. This asshole killed her friend. This asshole.

She stomped into the room in question and found him there. Loki's wrists were handcuffed around a pole in the center of the room. The trickster was dressed in something similar to what he had worn during the New York episode - it was a green tunic and pants, but he was missing his cape now. Loki now had a cut above his brow and blood had made a river out of his busted lip. He stood there, brooding, until he made eye contact with Amada.

"Have a nice rest?" He jabbed with a false grin, his dark hair falling in his face as the Milano took a tight turn.

Amada approached him slowly, unsure of what she wanted her next move to be. She wanted to shoot him. One bullet between the eyes, and another between the legs. Not in that order.

Yet, she knew that wouldn't bring Mantis back.

"I'll personally see to it that you burn in hell for killing her," Amada grumbled with a shake of her head. She needed to get back to the cockpit. She had to help her brother land this ship.

"This place is about two shades shy of hell itself," Loki remarked back pointedly.

That made Amada laugh. "You don't want to say that, because if this is hell, baby, that makes me the devil, and I don't think you want-"

The ship was rocked with another blast. Red lights flooded the air, and Amada felt sick to her stomach. These lights meant the engine had failed, and they were currently free-falling. Had they made the jump?

Amada gripped the nearest heavy object and prepared for impact. She waited for what felt like hours, doing her best to ignore Loki's glare as he copied her moves and braced himself. Finally, with a slam, the Milano came in contact with the ground.

And, again, everything went black.