The Terran and The Raccoon

The Terran and The Raccoon

Long ago, on the planet Earth, lived a baby raccoon, who was abducted from his home by a mad scientist. This mad scientist experimented on this helpless raccoon, making him capable of highly developed thought processes and speech. The raccoon only three friends, who shared the experience of captivity with this raccoon, until one night the four creatures attempted to escape the mad scientist. The raccoon’s friends were unfortunately murdered by the mad scientist, but the raccoon still managed to escape. All alone now, the raccoon had to fend for himself and found that all the other species that made up the galaxy would all make nasty faces at him and call him disrespectful names. He took to crime and found himself locked up in numerous of prisons, but always managed to escape. As time passed, he decided to hide away from the rest of the galaxy, hoping no one would look upon him, knowing that nobody could ever love someone as hideous and repulsive as himself.

Ten years later, in a large city, a young, handsome and intelligent man named Nate, left his home to head to his temporary job, that has turned into a not so temporary job. When he arrived, one of his coworkers said, “I see you decided to grace us with your presence after all today.”

“Yes, I know I’m late” Nate said, “I’m afraid I stayed up later than I had meant to again.”

“What are you doing that causes you to constantly be running late every day?” the coworker asked.

“Have you not heard me constantly talking about my dream to one day travel into space and see what else is out there?” Nate replied.

“That dream again?” the coworker questioned, “Look Nate, it’s nice that you have a dream, but you have to realize that something like that happening is about as likely as you marrying a woman as beautiful as my wife.”

“What does me being gay have anything to do with my chances of getting to space?” Nate asked.

“Let’s just say you’re better off chasing a more realistic dream” his coworker stated, “like not being late to work tomorrow.”

Later that evening, back at home, Nate was daydreaming about going to space again, when the door to his apartment opened. He snapped out of his daydream, noticing his roommate walk in. “Nate, have you moved from that spot since I left for work this morning?” she asked.

“Yes, Jill” Nate replied, “believe it or not, I actually got dressed and went to work today.”

“Very impressive” she replied, sarcastically “you need to stop living with your head in the clouds and focus on trying to actually get a real job. I mean aren’t you sick of going to that place you said was only a temp job?”

“Of course, I’m sick of it” Nate replied, “why would I be happy that my intelligence is going to waste at a mind-numbing company like Wendy’s?”

“Then on your next day off, I want you to start applying for jobs again, like you use to do” Jill insisted, “you’ve got a degree in freaking astrophysics! How you don’t have a job involving space is beyond me.”

Before he could respond, they heard a knock on the front door, so Jill opened the door. “Hello, can I help you?”

“Good evening, ma’am does a mister Nathan Coulson live here?” one of the people, standing outside the apartment door asked.

“Yeah, why, what’d he do?” she questioned.

“Nothing that you should be concerned about” the other person stated, “we’re with SHIELD and would like to talk with Mr. Coulson, in private.”

She led the two SHIELD agents into the apartment and said, “Here he is. I’ll be in my bedroom, waiting for you to finish your conversation.”

After they had heard the door shut, the male agent turned to me saying, “Agent Nathan Coulson, you are wanted back at headquarters to brief you on your next assignment.”

“Really, Hunter?” Nate asked, “No hey Nate or how’s it going Nate? Just straight to business as always?”

“Nate, I was sent here by Coulson himself, so you can either come right now, willingly or I’m going to knock you out and drag you there myself” Hunter stated.

“Shush up about that sort of stuff” Nate whispered, “Jill doesn’t know I’m an Agent of SHIELD.”

“Come on, Nate” the other agent, with long blonde hair stated, “you really don’t want Hunter of all people to embarrass you in front of your little friend in there, do you?”

“Fine” Nate sighed, “let’s go.”

Back at HQ, Hunter and Bobbi led Nate through the building to the main office. Nate hesitated outside the door looking at Hunter, who said, “He only wants to talk to you.”

“Hey, dad” Nate said, bluntly, walking into the office.

“Nice to see you again, Nate” his dad replied, “how’s life in the big city?”

“I’m surprised you’d have to ask seeing as you’re the director of SHIELD now” Nate stated, taking a breath before he got carried away. “What am I doing here?”

“You are wanted for a mission” his dad said, “not for SHIELD, but for SWORD, in space.”

“Are you serious?” Nate asked, “I’m wanted up in space?”

“I take it you’re willing to go?” his dad questioned.

“Can I go now?” Nate asked.

“A spacecraft will be here momentarily to bring you up there” his dad replied, “I just wanted to see you again just in case you don’t make it back home.”

“I’ll be fine, dad” Nate replied, “I’ve been trained by both Romanoff and Barton to be able to take care of myself in any situation.”

“Perhaps, but aliens are more unpredictable than humans” his dad stated.

“Again, I’ll be fine, dad” Nate rolled his eyes.

The spacecraft that Nate had been waiting for finally arrived and he got in as fast as he could. When they arrived on the SABER space station, Nate was brought face-to-face with none other than Agent Nick Fury. “Fury, we have brought Coulson’s son for you as requested” one of the SWORD agents stated.

“Thank you, I’ll take things from here” Agent Fury said, dismissing the agents. “Welcome to SABER, Nate. I hope the ride up wasn’t too disorienting.”

“No, I loved it” Nate replied, “I had been dreaming about coming to space for such a long time. Anyway, what’s the mission?”

“We have received a request from an anonymous being to find his pet raccoon” Fury replied.

“Really, you dragged me all the way up to space to have me go look for someone’s pet raccoon?” Nate asked, “Is this anonymous being sure it’s somewhere in space?”

“We haven’t had any contact with the being in question aside from the initial message he sent” Fury said, “everyone else within SWORD and SHIELD are busy with other missions at the moment and we knew you were intelligent enough to be able to figure out where to find the raccoon.”

“Fine, I guess it’s better than going to my boring temp job” Nate replied, “when do I start?”

“The sooner, the better” Fury said.

“I’ll start first thing in the morning” Nate determined.

In the morning, he gathered his gear and made his final preparations to leave the space station. Nate had asked around the station where he should start looking for clues and they all said to start on the planet Xandar. So, Nate set the coordinates for Xandar and let autopilot take him to his destination. Upon arrival, he could tell that the citizens of Xandar we a lot more diverse than the people of Earth were. He began to ask some of the local citizens if they had seen or heard of the whereabouts of the raccoon he was looking for, only to get many different variations of the word ‘no’. One of the Xandarians directed Nate to the headquarters of the Nova Corp, thinking that if anyone would know what he was asking it would be someone from there. Nate walked into the building only to be approached by some tall and buff-looking warriors. “Halt, Terran!” one of the warriors exclaimed, “Who said you could just walk into the Nova Corp headquarters?”

“Sorry, one of your citizens told me to come here and ask for your help” Nate explained.

“Alright, what do you need help with?” the warrior asked.

“I’ve been sent on mission to find someone’s lost pet raccoon” Nate said, “I was wondering if you had any idea if one had been on this planet, or even in this system?”

“What is a raccoon?” the warrior asked, seeming genuinely confused.

“Let me see if I can find an example of what they look like” Nate said, reaching toward one of his pockets for his phone.

One of the other warriors drew his weapon exclaiming, “Keep your hands where we can see them, Terran!”

“I was just reaching for my phone” Nate said, holding his device in one of his hands “I have a picture of a raccoon in here somewhere.”

After scrolling through his phone for a few seconds, he found the picture he was looking for. “Here, look, this is what a raccoon looks like” Nate stated, turning his phone in the direction of the warriors.

“Hey, that looks like 89P13” the second warrior stated, “who told you to come find this creature?”

“My boss got an anonymous request” Nate replied, “I have no idea who is looking for the raccoon.”

“The only one we’ve ever come across that looks anything like what you’ve shown us, has been detained recently for indecent exposure” the first warrior explained, “if you’d like we can take you to him.”

“That would be awesome, thank you” Nate said, following the Nova Corp warriors.

Nate was led to, what seemed to be a secure prison facility. They walked up to what seemed to be an empty cell and said, “Subject 89P13, you’ve got a visitor.”

“I don’t ever get visitors” came a rough and rugged, almost New Yorker accent.

Nate saw the shine of eyes flash from inside the cell, hidden in the shadow. “Would you like for us to leave you alone with him?” the first warrior asked.

“Sure, that’d be fine” Nate smiled.

The Nova Corp warrior opened the door to the cell, causing Nate to think they were going to take them to another room, but without warning, Nate found himself shoved into the prison cell and the warrior closed the door shut and locked it. “What are you doing?” Nate asked, getting up from the ground.

“89P13 was part of illegal genetic experimentation” the warrior stated, “if you were sent to find him, then we can’t allow anymore illegal activity occur involving 89P13.”

“So, now I’m your prisoner?” Nate asked.

“Yep” the warrior chuckled, “such a naïve little Terran we have here. Better get comfortable, you’re going to be here for a long time.”

When the warriors had left, 89P13 began to talk saying, “That went well for you.”

“How was I supposed to know they’d throw me in here?” Nate asked, “I was just trying to find someone’s pet raccoon.”

“Well, now you’re stuck in a galactic prison with a little monster” 89P13 stated.

“I wouldn’t know” Nate said, “I haven’t even had a good look at you to see whether you’re a monster or not.”

89P13 stepped into the dim lighting enough for Nate to have a better look at the being he was sharing a cell with. As soon as Nate saw his face, he said, “You don’t look like a monster to me.”

“I don’t?” he questioned.

“No” Nate shook his head, “from the small amount of light I have, you look relatively more normal than a lot of the Xandarinas I’ve come across today.”

“So, you have a name, humie?” he asked, sitting on the bench in the prison cell.

“I’m Nate” he replied, “and your name is 89P13?”

“That’s what my creator called me” he said, sounding irritated “names Rocket.”

“Rocket?” Nate repeated, “That’s certainly a lot easier to remember than 89P13.”

Rocket snickered, “So, what brought you to Xandar anyway?”

“I think I was sent by your creator to find you” Nate replied, “but I wasn’t told all the details.”

“Do you want to get out of here?” Rocket asked.

“Yeah, why would I want to stay in prison?” Nate replied.

“Well, I was planning on escaping today” he stated, “do you have a getaway ship close by?”

Nate sat thinking for a second trying to remember where he left his ship and said, “It’s not super close to the headquarters but I remember where I left it.”

“We’ll make it work” he shrugged, “now I think we should wait for nightfall to enact my escape plan.”

As the day went on, Rocket explained to Nate in depth what his plan for escaping prison would take. The whole time, Nate could feel himself getting more comfortable being in the cell with Rocket. One of the Nova Corp came to their cell and said, “Okay you two, it’s time for dinner.”

He couldn’t see either of the cellmates, with how dark the room was now that it was night. So, he opened the cell door and walked in. Nate watched the large Nova Corp warrior walk to the center of the cell and swiftly grabbed him by the arms and Rocket quickly grabbed the pair of handcuffs the warrior had on his beltloop and closed them, locking the warrior’s arms behind his back. Then Nate stuffed something in his mouth to keep him from shouting. They grabbed the two guns that he had on him and locked the cell door. “Good job” Rocket said, “but that was only step one. Getting out of here undetected will be really difficult.”

“I’m not going to lie” Nate whispered, “I thought you were going to handcuff me to the Nova Corp and ditch me.”

“I don’t know if I could’ve held him down like you did” Rocket said, impressed “I think we could make a good team.”

The two of them made their way through the halls and were surprised to have met zero resistance. “Okay, Nate, we’re almost at the exit. Once we get outside, we need to run in the direction of your ship” Rocket explained.

“Got it” Nate smiled, turning and getting a better look at Rocket, now in better light than before. “I don’t know who said you were a little monster, but whoever said it needs to have some sense beaten into them.”

“Save the complements for when we get to your ship” Rocket smiled.

The two of them got to the door that Rocket had been directing them to and just as Nate was about to push the door open, an alarm began to sound and a voice came over the sound system saying, “Subject 89P13 and his cellmate have escaped their cell. All personal block all exits of the building!”

Nate froze having heard the alarm sounding and Rocket shouted, “What are you waiting for? Open the door and let's get out of here!”

“Oh, right” Nate said, “I guess I’m just not use to being the one escaping from prison rather stopping the ones who are escaping.”

Nate put his hand up to the door to open it again and saw something ricochet on the door just inches away from his hand. He spun around to see a large group of Nova Corp warriors slowly walking toward the with guns trained on them. “89P13 and Terran, freeze!” one of them shouted, “You have no way out of this.”

Nate smiled, lifting his own gun and said, “I wouldn’t say that. We have these after all.”

“Nate, do you even know how to use that?” Rocket asked, looking at the humie concerned.

Nate aimed at one of the warriors’ legs and pulled the trigger. The warrior dropped to the ground clutching his leg in pain. “I’ll take that as a yes!” Nate shouted, “Rocket, go! My ship is north of here. It’s not cloaked. You’ll know it when you see it!”

“No, I’m not leaving you here!” Rocket said, shooting a Nova Corp warrior right in front of him.

Nate shot a few more warriors then said, “Rocket, cover me!” He ran toward the warriors who were shooting at him and dodged past them all. Once he got close, he started fighting them with hand-to-hand combat similar to what both Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton had taught him.

After a few minutes, the group of Nova Corp who they were fighting were all knocked out and Rocket said, “We should go while we have the chance.”

So, the two of them ran out the door and Nate pointed in the direction his ship was located. As they were running, Rocket suddenly tripped and began spasming, as if he had been electrocuted. Nate looked up and saw someone standing on top of one of the towers of the building. “Of course, they have a sniper!” Nate shouted. He aimed his gun at the sniper who ducked out of the way long enough for Nate to pick up Rocket and carry him back to his ship, without any more interference.

Nate immediately brought Rocket to his med bay and lay him on the table. Nate put his head on Rocket’s chest to check for a heartbeat and sighed with relief when he heard the steady beating of his heart. “He’s okay, Nate” Nate said to himself “he’s breathing and is just unconscious.”

Nate quickly got the ship off the planet and set autopilot to keep them flying away from Xandar for the time being. Once the ship was far enough away from Xandar, he went to go back and check on Rocket, who had still not come to. Nate looked at the anthropomorphic raccoon that was unconscious on his med bay table and placed his hand gently on his shoulder, softly shaking him to see if that would wake him up. Then the only other idea came to his head, he should do mouth-to-mouth to see if that’ll do anything.

So, after mentally preparing himself, Nate hovered over the raccoon and placed his lips on his muzzle for a second and didn’t notice anything different. So, he did it again and held himself there for a bit longer. Suddenly Rocket’s muzzle began to move and seemed to have kissed Nate. Nate got up and Rocket said, “I wondered how long it would take for you to do that.”

“What?” Nate questioned, “You weren’t unconscious?”

“No, I was unconscious” Rocket explained, “when I was electrocuted. I came to sometime before you started shaking me.”

“So, what, you were faking for the last twenty minutes?” Nate questioned.

“I just wanted to see if you would actually be willing to do mouth-to-mouth” Rocket smiled, looking at Nate with eyes that he’d associated with flirting.

Nate smiled back at the raccoon and leaning in kissing Rocket on the muzzle, who put one of his paws on the back of the Terran’s head. “So, how about we actually get something to eat?” Nate asked, “We can figure out was to do after.”

“Sounds like a plan” Rocket chuckled, after kissing Nate again.