Some time has passed

"So your sister kept trying to kill you, and your father, the Titan Thanos, is behind special stones and he wants to rule the galaxy with them?
Why should that sound crazy?", I ask.
"He's not my dad", she says.
"He kidnapped me from my home planet".
"Then your kidnapper", I say.
She just starts laughing,
"Strange girl", she says.

"If that sounds normal to you, what's unnormal for you?", Rocket asks.
I raise an eyebrow,
"Recently it was a talking raccoon".
Drax begins to laugh, Rocket says nothing.
Slowly I get up and look into space again.

Later

"Sing it, Drax!", Quill shouts, while music is playing in the background.
"Why are we doing this again?", Rocket asks a little later.
"It's a distress signal, Rocket.
Someone could be dying", Gamora just looks at him annoyed.
" I get that, but why are we doing it?" , he just asks.
"'Cause we're nice. And maybe whoever it is will give us a little cheddar cheese for our effort", Quill says, while I'm just looking at him questioningly.
"Which isn't the point", Gamora interjects.
"Which isn't the point ... I mean ...
If he doesn't pony up..."
"We'll take his ship", Drax says, who has just woken up.
"Exactly!".
"B-b-b-bingo!", Quill looks at Gamora and shakes his head in disapproval.
"We are arriving", Mantis says suddenly.
"All right, Guardians. Don't forget, this might be dangerous, so let's put on our mean faces.
Groot, put that thing away. Now.
I don't wanna tell you again", Quill says, annoyed by the noise that Groots console makes.
"Groot!", he repeats.
"I am Groot!", he says, I'm looking at him startled. Now, I also understand what he says.
"Whoa!", Quill looks at him.
"Language!".
"You got some acorns on you, kid".
"Ever since you got a little sap, you're a total d-hole.
Keep it up, and I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces!", Rocket shouts.

The ship is slowing down. Suddenly a field of parts of a shredded ship appears in front of us, countless bodies float in space. "
"What happened?", Mantis asks horrified.
"Oh my god" Quill says softly.
It's quiet now.
"Looks like we're not getting paid", Rocket only before a body crashes against the ship.
"Wipers!
Wipers! Get it off!", Rocket yells.
But suddenly the man opens his eyes.

"How the hell is this dude still alive?", Quill asks after we've gotten him into the ship and put him on the table.
"He is not a dude. You're a dude. This... This is a man.
A handsome, muscular man", Drax says, I'm just looking at him questioningly again.
"I'm muscular", Quill says.
"Who are you kidding, Quill?
You're one sandwich away from fat", Rocket says, which makes me laugh softly.
"Yeah, right", he just says.
"It's true. You have gained a little weight...", Drax says pointing at his chin and belly.
"What?
Gamora, do you think I'm...", Quill asks, but she doesn't listen to him.

Mantis puts a hand on the man's forehead,
"He is anxious. Angry. He feels tremendous loss and guilt".
"It's like a pirate had a baby with an angel", that could only come from Drax again.
"Wow. This is a real wake-up call for me. Okay. I'm gonna get a Bowflex.
I'm gonna commit. I'm gonna get some dumbbells", I look at Quill just annoyed.
"You know you can't eat dumbbells, right?", Rocket says mockingly.
"It's like his muscles are made of Cotati metal fibers", Gamora says, fascinated.
"Stop massaging his muscles", Quill says softly, whereupon she releases his arm.
After that finally seems clear, he asks Mantis to wake up the man.
She puts her hand back on his forehead and says 'wake', whereupon the man wakes up and jumps off the table.

"Who the hell are you guys?", he asks suddenly.

After a while, I sit down to the stranger who's eating soup. He seems familiar to me.
"Aren't you Thor, the god of thunder?", I ask.
"That's right, little girl", he says.
"What's happening on earth right now?"
"Unfortunately, I haven't been to Midgard for a long time", he says, I just nod.
"I just wonder how Steve and the others are doing", I say softly.
He looks at me questioningly,
"Rogers?".
I nod,
"He saved me and I've been fighting on his side since a few months, so I hope to become an Avenger someday", I say.
"Good luck, kid", he says with a smile. Now I'm smiling too.

"The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal:
To bring balance to the Universe by wiping out half of all life.
He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre...", Gamora explains.
"Including my own", Drax add.
"If he gets all six Infinity Stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers, like this", she says snapping her fingers.
"You seem to know a lot about Thanos," says Thor.
"Gamora ... is the daughter of Thanos", Drax says, standing next to her.
Now Thor looks up.

"Your father killed my brother", he says furiously, getting up and walking towards her.
"Oh, boy. Stepfather. Technically, she hates him as much as you do",
Thor calms down,
"Families can be tough.
Before my father died, he told me I had a half-sister...that he imprisoned in Hel. Then she returned home, and stabbed me in the eye, so... I had to kill her. It's life, isn't it, I guess. Goes round and round and... I feel your pain", he says.

Now Quill interferes again,
"And I feel your pain, as well. I mean it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, then I had to kill my father. And that was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I, came out of it with both of my eyes-", Quill says, Thor doesn't really pay attention to him and goes on.
"I need a hammer, not a spoon ...", he says quietly.
"How do I open this thing?
Is there some sort of a four-digit code maybe... Maybe a birth date or something...", he asks and starts typing on the button.
"What are you doing?", Rocket asks.
"Taking your pod".
Quill clears his throat,
"No, you're not!
You'll not be taking our pod today, sir".
"Quill. Are you making your voice deeper?", Rocket asks.
"No" he just says.
Ha, caught.
"You are. You're imitating the god-man. It's weird", Drax says.
"No I'm not", Quill says, again in a deeper voice.
"He just did it again!", Mantis shouts.
"This is my voice!".
Thor walks towards Quill.

"Are you mocking me?"
"Are you mocking me?", Quill imitates him.
"Stop it, you did it again", Thor looks at him angrily.
"He's trying to copy me", Quill says boastfully.
Before it gets even more embarrassing, Gamora intervenes
"Enough!
We need to stop Thanos. Which means we need to find out where he's going next".
"Nowhere".
"He must be going somewhere", Mantis says.
"No.
Knowhere. It's a place. We've been there. It sucks.
Excuse me, that's our food", now he looks back to Thor, who is standing in front of the fridge.
"Not anymore", he says.

"Thor...
Why would he go to Knowhere?", Gamora says.
"Because for years, the Reality Stone has been safely stored, there with a man we call the Collector".
"If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe. Only an idiot would give that man a stone", Quill says.
"Or a genius," Thor adds.
"How do you know he's not going for one of the other Stones?", Gamora asks.
"There are six stones out there.
Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it last week, when he decimated Xandar. He stole the Space Stone from me when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers".
"The Avengers?", Quill asks.
"The ones you talked about earlier?", he looks at me. I'm surprised that he noticed that.
I nod,
"I was with them when I these guys kidnapped me".

"They're Earth's Mightiest Heroes", Thor says.
"Like Kevin Bacon?", Frowning, I look at Mantis.
Where did she get that from?
Probably from Quill.
"He may be on the team. I don't know. Haven't been there in a while.
As for the Soul Stone, well, no one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can't get it. Therefore, he's going to Knowhere. Hence, he'll be getting the Reality Stone. You're welcome".
"Then we have to go to Knowhere now", Gamora says.
"Wrong!
Where we have to go, is Nivadellir".
"That's a made up word", Drax says.
"All words are made up".
"Hold up, Nidavellir is real?
Seriously?...
I mean, that place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the Universe. I would very much like to go there, please", you can almost see Rocket's eyes sparkling.

"The rabbit is correct, and clearly the smartest among you", Thor says.
"Rabbit?".
"Only Eitri the dwarf king can make me the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, sir?", he asks Rocket.
"You're very perceptive".

After it's finally clear who's going to Nidavellir, we get ready to go. I definitely go with them, more exciting than hanging around here on the ship.

Then Quill asks what kind of weapon it is.
After Thor explains, Quill asks why not everyone should have such a weapon.
Thor answers:
"No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies will crumble as your minds collapse into the madness".
"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?", Rocket says.
"A little bit. Yeah".
"If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone, he'll be too powerful to stop", Gamora says.
"He already is".
"I got it figured out. We got two ships, and a large assortment of morons. So me and Groot will go with the pirate-angel here, and the morons will go to Knowhere to try and stop Thanos. Cool?"
"So cool", Thor agrees.
"For the record...
I know that you're only going with him because it's where Thanos isn't", Quill.

After the whole thing, we get into the pod.
"I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye."

Now let's go to Nivadellir!