Chapter Text
No one wanted to be considered a coward, but Mantis didn’t know what else to call herself. For decades, she had bitten her tongue and bided her time while her father committed cruelties in the name of his grand plan. Ever since she was a child, she had watched in silence as her other siblings were tested, found wanting, then killed.
Finally, one day there was Peter Quill.
He had exceeded their father’s expectations with his quick control over the Celestial energy. The joy on his face as Ego rained praise on him had been beautiful and horrifying. Mantis had thought it was finally over, that their father had won. That the reunion between father and son would bring death, destruction and the end of all things.
Then Peter had found out about the arranged marriage to Asgard and, worse still, about Ego’s true intentions. Ego had been clever hiding that inner darkness but Peter, desperate as he was for paternal approval, was fundamentally a good man.
That goodness nearly destroyed him because Mantis was afraid.
“Come with me,” he had pleaded.
“No.” Her limbs were frozen, her antenna drooped with terror. “I can’t.”
“‘Course you can.” Peter’s confidence was easy, earned from a lifetime of struggle and victories, victories Mantis had never experienced. It was simple for him to grasp her wrist, to tug on it and reassure her. It was in his blood.
It wasn’t in Mantis’s. “Peter,” she whimpered, “I’m afraid.”
Peter’s brow furrowed. “Dude, so am I. But that doesn’t matter when the galaxy’s at stake; we need to move before Dad wakes up.”
It was in that moment that clarity hit her. Mantis would not move and neither would Peter. Through that simple touch on her wrist she could feel it, that determination, that stubbornness. He wouldn’t abandon her, he would not leave her behind.
So she would have to do it for him. Mantis reached out with her free hand, her antenna bobbed and glowed. “Forget me,” she whispered, the words torn from her throat. “Do not even see me,” she added. Her eyes grew wet as she could sense that brotherly affection fade, as it turned to indifference.
Peter stepped back, letting her go and stealing away his warmth. He was blind to her, it was as if she didn’t even exist.
As he ran to Ego’s ship, Mantis felt her legs collapse out from under her. Her despair made her see nothing of the universe outside of her own pain, she was merely an observer and not a participant in her own life. She knelt on the surface of her father’s world, her fingers clutching at the cool unnatural soil. With a mighty roar, Ego’s vessel, a physical extension of himself, soared into the sky.
Her tears salty, yet free, moistened her cheek. She’d done it, her singular act of bravery. She had let Peter go, forced him into a destiny he would have forsaken for her. The loss of her other siblings was abstract in its tragedy but Peter, oh losing Peter was like losing a part of herself she didn’t know was missing.
She was alone now, she would face their father’s wrath if he ever found out. Her hand clenched into a fist. Perhaps he wouldn’t find out. She could feign ignorance, it wasn’t as if Ego thought much of her intelligence anyway. A small act of rebellion, yet another act of bravery. She could manage it.
She would satisfy herself with thwarting Ego’s will and never letting him know she had taken part in it. Mantis could simper and smile, pretend that she had absolutely no idea what had happened.
She could watch as Ego fumed and try to reassure him that he would prevail in the end. Maybe it would even be fun.
As long as Peter was loose, Ego would never, ever get his way.
Which is why, weeks later, she was very surprised to see a strange ship on the horizon. Shaped like a strange metallic hawk, it looked like no vessel she’d ever seen before. If Ego saw it—
Without hesitation, she bent one knee to the ground, pressing her hand on the naked earth. Using strength she didn’t know she had, her body glowed. “Sleep,” she commanded, willing her father into a temporary comatose state.
As he was caught off-guard, she was able to subvert him. She could sense him slide into a deep sleep. If Ego had been aware and resisted—
Mantis shivered just thinking about it.
The vehicle landed with a roar of raw power. Mantis stood, ready to face the strangers. There wouldn’t be much time, her abilities only lasted for so long. She needed to warn them and force their retreat. There was danger here, one incomprehensible for those who never dealt with gods.
When the first stranger stepped off the gangway, her stomach sank. There was no way, he couldn’t have bypassed her command, could he?
Peter Quill stood there, resplendent in a uniform Mantis didn't find familiar. As his green eyes scanned the area they alighted on her, startling in recognition. Wait, was it even possible?
Suddenly, Mantis found herself enveloped in a hug, pulled tight against her brother’s firm chest. She could feel his relief and worry bleeding through his hands. She couldn’t breathe, she had missed him so.
“Why’d you do it, dummy?” Peter asked, his face buried in her shoulder. “Why’d you do it?”
Overwhelmed, Mantis worked to pull herself together, her voice hitched from the sobs. She returned his embrace, frightened at her own sudden outpouring of emotion. “Because you would have stayed,” she told him. “You would never have left.”
She felt him shake his head. “No, I–” Though he denied it, she knew better.
“You had to go,” Mantis insisted. “You’re too stubborn to leave me behind.”
“Mantis,” he said, pulling back to look at her, “I’m so sorry.”
She felt herself smile for the first time in ages. Her cheeks ached. “You’re here now.” Even if it meant the doom of all things she was glad to see him again.
“Are we interrupting something?” A richly accented voice cut in, scattering the gathering energy.
There were others who had come on the ship, all looking at Mantis and Peter with differing expressions of curiosity. The group consisted of a singular female shaped humanoid and a small gathering of males. Of the males, it was the giant blond one with a large beard that seemed the most disapproving. Mantis felt herself shrink away from that glare. Had she done something wrong?
Peter jerked back from Mantis, smoothing out the front of his uniform. He cleared his throat. “Oh, uh guys, this is my sister,” he said with particular emphasis on that word as if to dispel any notions of impropriety, “Mantis.”
The suspicion on the big blond’s face shifted into instant sincere joy. In that split second, he had gone from intimidating to inviting and charming. “Sister?”
Then, before Mantis could blink, she found herself picked up in the blond’s mighty arms, carried as easily as if she weighed nothing.
The blond’s smile was infectious and Mantis found herself smiling back.
“She must come live with us,” the blond man insisted. The way he said it there would be no discussion, merely acquiescence.
Peter rolled his eyes. “Well, duh.”
“Us?” Mantis asked.
The blond set her down carefully before yanking Peter into a crushing side-hug. “We’re married.”
Mantis gaped at the news. This was all so sudden unless—
“Wait,” Mantis asked, “did you actually marry the Asgardian?” Was the blond Prince Thor of Asgard? Had Peter done what their father had wanted despite the evil plotting? She was very confused.
“Long story,” Peter muttered.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt,” it was one of Peter’s other companions, a bookish sort wearing a purple button up shirt. “Can I borrow your— sorry what’s your name again?” the man asked.
“Mantis,” Peter introduced again, “she’s my sister,” he jerked his thumb at his companion, “this is Bruce, he’s a huge nerd.”
For a second, Bruce’s face scrunched up then smoothed out again. “Yeah, not gonna argue with that. Listen, you know this planetoid/man-guy better than any of us,” Bruce said. “Maybe you can help me and Tony figure out where to plant this thing?”
“What thing?” Mantis, quite reasonably, asked.
The “thing” in question turned out to be a giant mechanical device that oozed green gamma radiation. Mantis’s knowledge of electronics was limited to what Ego deigned to teach her so she had no idea what it was for.
An older man, one with dark hair and a goatee, was tinkering with final adjustments. Presumably, this was “Tony.” “This fun-sized jury-rigged piece of shit is designed to put your old man into permanent beddy-bye time. We figure the closer we get to the core, the more effective it’ll be. So,” Tony leaned against the device, staring her down from over his shades, “you know where that might be?”
Burdened with her fears, Mantis had been slowly crushed under the weight of her own terror. Years of anxiety and inaction had stifled her, marring her every moment with passivity. Now, she had a chance to change all that. Now, there was a new offer on the table, one for renewal, one for hope. All she had to do was take it.
She glanced over to her brother, the one who had forgotten and still fought his way back to her. She saw his lover, nay husband, look upon her with fondness and the others, the ones she had yet to meet, glance at her with curiosity and hope.
That hope she could cling to, that hope was one she could share.
“Yes,” she said, her heart expanding, “I think I know the way.”