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"This is not a good idea," Grim says, sharp and bitter.
"Which of us is in charge again?" her Father asks, cool, the threat implicit in his tone.
"I- you, sir, I know but- this isn't going to-"
"We are being well paid to take Thanos out. So make it happen. Or do I have to remind you what happens when you defy me?"
Grim ducks her head, breathes out carefully, doesn't let her reaction show beyond that. "No sir. I understand."
"Then get it done." He hangs up without saying anything else.
(Part of her wants to reach out to comfort Gamora, but she can't, not right now.)
"Honesty is one of the most precious gifts we give each other." He walks past them. Gazes out at the stars beyond the Sanctuary II's frontal observation grid. "I had not lied to you once before, not in all the decades of your lives, and I do not intend to ever again."
Nothing short of that can sustain the sort of trust that they'll need to succeed as a family, in the face of the countless trials--both internal and external--still to come.
A covenant. The runes spell out a covenant: a lie for a lie, a shock for a shock, and then honesty henceforth without exception.
She doesn't know if she can keep to that.
But... she wants to?
Nebula stares at the Kree writing as though mesmerized.
"Now, the truth: you are young, still growing, and I can forgive the mistakes that led you to this point."
It goes without saying that forgiven does not mean forgotten. He will take measures to better discipline them in the future--they'll face years of restricted autonomy, restricted privacy, intensive education in proper conduct--but he will carry no anger and enact no reprisals.
They are his children and he wants them to succeed.
"You hurt me terribly. You endangered our family. I believe that we can weather this, just this once, though should any of you transgress further it will shatter our bond of trust quite irrecoverably."
He turns back to face them. "Do you understand?"
"I understand, sir." There's really nothing else to say, not in front of everyone else.
"Take the rest of today off, to think about things." He makes eye contact with Corvus, Cull and Proxima. "If, during that time, any of you wish to speak to me further? I'll be waiting downstairs in the throne room."
He strides back across the room, headed for the hallway beyond.
"Tomorrow, I hope we can pick our work back up with no further doubts--not in ourselves, not in each other."
Neither Gamora nor Nebula rise from where they're kneeling until their father has departed.
Neither does Grim, although she's twitchy. She needs to move, wants to go back to the gym, wants to burn off the excess energy that's leaving her jittery and unsettled.
She tilts her head at him, a question, whether he wants to spar - not quite willing to speak right now.
Gamora stands up as well. She feels like she should say something, before Grim leaves as well, but she can't think up any good words and she doesn't want to be the first to break the silence.
(Nebula doesn't respond to any of this. She's still running her fingers absently over the ornate siding of the hammer she'd been so sure would end her life.)
They head downstairs!
Cull's tread gets a little lighter as they skirt the edge of the throne room on the way to the gym.
(Thanos, seated in that room's center, either doesn't notice them or doesn't respond to their presence)
Cull ducks into the residential wing, and then a minute later they've arrived at the edge of the sparring pit.
Cull obsidian hops into the ring and takes up his position across from her.
There's less joviality to his movements than usual.
Though he doesn't rumble anything to this effect, he's clearly still a bit shaken by what happened on the command deck.
And so they can spar.
Grim's shaken as well, although it's manifesting itself as her not recognising the point at which she needs to stop in this sparring bout - or just ignoring it entirely.
Things play out, at first, very similarly to how they did when Grim first go her upgrades.
Cull takes things a little cautiously at first, then throws himself fully into it, then after dozens and dozens of near misses manages to tag her in a pretty substantial way.
She gets back to her feet anyway, stretches to check how her body's responding, and looks ready to start again.
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