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impulsivefanwriter · 3 years

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A Tiny Spark Leads to a Roaring Flame (But Flames Can Always be Doused by Water)

Heeyyyyy so y’all know the Reverse Thanos Snap AU for SPBNR? Basically everyone but Smith/S!Kai gets sent to the M!verse. Everyone. The entire population of S!verse Ninjago City & a few surrounding areas. Except poor Smith. Essentially it happens because S!Garmadon tries to send Smith to a place where he can't mess with his plans, and ends up sending everyone away from Smith to take him out of the equation.

The second part to this AU is that the S!Ninja end up searching for Kai in the chaos and grab the Red Ninja before jetting out of there with the Bounty. Except... they didn’t grab Smith (who’s still home), but rather Red (M!Kai).

Red thinks the S!Ninja are babysitter clones created by Garmadon after he somehow turned Lloyd younger without his memories & is trying to raise him to be his new General #1. With this in mind, he pretends to be S!Kai, and waits for the moment he can rescue Lloyd.

What would happen in the S!Ninja discovered his deception/their mistake of grabbing a wrong Kai and mistake Red for a recreated Aki (aka Bizarro Evil Clone Kai) before he could enact his plan?

Well, this is that idea. (Title inspired by how a crack AU spiralled into a beautiful angst-fest)

Enjoy. :3

-----*-----

Red was going to get Lloyd out of here tonight.

Away from these Not-Friends made by Garmadon to emulate the Ninjaforce. Away from this flying ship built to emulate Master Wu's ship, so familiar and yet so off. Away from this false reality and back to the real everything where they could hopefully get his memories back and his age back and everything back to the way it was before the city descended into chaos.

He just had to... bide his time. Be patient.

FSM, he was bad at being patient.

His hands itched to grab Lloyd and run now, but he was horribly outnumbered and without his mech. No matter how badly he wanted to, he couldn't rush this. If he did, he would make everything worse. Like he always did.

But fate- or rather, Lloyd- had other plans.

The little version of his younger brother- yes, they were roughly the same age normally, shut up, Lloyd was still his younger brother- had been... eying him weird all morning. Not like Not-Jay and Not-Cole and Not-Zane, but like Not-Nya. Like he actually knew instead of suspected. These babysitter clones seemed to think he was the Not-Kai, and if that was the opportunity the universe was going to give him, then by the flames of the departed world was he going to skip this chance to save Lloyd.

Currently he stood on the deck of the ship as they parked in the sky a few meters above the docks on the outskirts of the city. It wasn't the docks with the Bounty warehouse, curse his luck, but it wasn't the endless sky or the empty ocean (though it was still too close to that murky, haunting water for his liking. Water was his sister's domain for a reason). At least he could sneak Lloyd off in the cover of night, maybe find someone in the city who wouldn't recognize the Son of Garmadon this way and would be willing to help them hide until they could make it back to the real ninja.

"Kai," Not-Zane spoke suddenly next to him.

Red would never get used to the way his voice... lacked the same effect the real Zane's had. The effect that Kai and the rest of his team had assured their friend over and over was unique, special, but in a good way. To embrace it. That it wasn't noticeable, but when it was, that it was so Zane that his friends didn't care that it was different.

This 'Zane' sounded much too different than his own. He hadn't recognized Kai's tested line of 'road work ahead' when they passed one of the many construction signs littering the city (even more so since the chaos happened a week ago), and instead had responded with 'a great deal of work to fix in the city'.

Seriously, Garmadon, do better research on your clones.

Not-Zane was also much too... calm. Too 'wise' compared to the wild teen that was Zane. And he walked without heelies or whatever Zane used to slide around like a boss, though he was still silent. And that meant, like now, he snuck up on Red fairly often- and Red was training to be a Ninja, so that took serious talent.

"Kai," Not-Zane said again, and Red finally broke his gaze from where he'd been staring over the railing, planning tonight's escape route. "Lunch has been made for over an hour. Are you alright?"

Red forced his brightest smile. "Course I'm alright! Just trying to figure out what happened, as usual."

Why Lloyd was suddenly like, 8, and without his memories. Why the Not-Friends were on this Not-Ship and had mistaken him for Not-Kai. Why the city was in a state of disarray and chaos.

Not-Zane studied him, then turned to give the city a sad look. "I'm not sure myself. My scanners can't seem to figure out what is happening. It is as if... blocked by some force."

Red winced, then expertly disguised the move by leaning against the rail. Zane never would use 'my scanners', despite how often Red and the others assured him it was okay. Yet another reason why this wasn't his friend.

"You know Ninjago City," Red said with a weak laugh. "Always one crisis or another. Always those annoying Garmadon Attacks"

This seemed to satisfy Not-Zane, who nodded thoughtfully. "This event definitely seems to have Garmadon's hand in the mess."

He patted Red on the back. "Well, don't worry yourself ragged, Kai. Come in for lunch soon, alright? We have training for Lloyd later."

Ah, right. Training. AKA what Red assumed was how Garmadon was planning to shape this impressionable version of his friend into his new General #1.

"I'm ready for training now, Zane!"

Speaking of Lloyd-

The little gremlin came up from the hull with the rest of the Not-Ninja. Red hated when the entire group was together; it was way more difficult to act as Not-Kai around them, especially around Not-Nya.

For starters, Not-Jay had a notch in his eyebrow that the real Jay never had. He was missing the iconic freckles, and the scarf, and the fluffy hair, though you could always say it was just a wardrobe change. What you couldn't change was the personality differences. This couldn’t be Jay. Jay was anxious and quiet, his jokes (while plentiful) said more timidly and his newest ideas shared with hesitance that only shrank after years of encouragement. He would never be this loud, ever.

Not-Cole was the leader, probably because Lloyd was so young. But even then, in Red's team, Nya would probably take second-command. Cole was their sturdy support, yes, but he was chill, laid-back. Ready to follow and support his friends to the ends of the earth with his tunes and occasional sarcastic wit, but not lead. Not like Not-Cole, who was more serious and commanding and didn't. listen. to. music. Red hadn't spotted a single record or boombox in the room in the hull. That was a tragic oversight on Garmadon's part. The members of his research team should be Fired.

And then there was Not-Nya. Who wore a dress with confidence that his sister would love but never publicly wear. Who had short hair- Nya had tried that style once, and decided it itched around her neck too much- and jewelry, and a giant flying Samurai mech suit. His sister had the Water Strider Mech, and Not-Nya had a flying combat suit. Sure. Close enough. Personality-wise they were similar.

Similar at first glance. Nya was fluid and adaptable to whatever role she needed filling. She was spunky, and as fiery as him when it came to tempers, though she knew how to keep hers in check (she had to, right? No one called her hot-headed and impulsive and reckless and blamed her temper for mistakes or damage or whatever the news comments liked to say about the Fire Mech). Not-Nya was also adaptable and independent-minded, but she seemed more rigid. More doing her own thing.

Point was, everyone wasn't actually his friends, despite how much they tried to prove they were. And they kept acting like he was this Not-Kai, who was just as hot-headed but apparently more mature and training-oriented and basically the better, cooler (or hotter, perhaps, for the fire theme of the red ninja) him, since his acting never seemed to fully convince them. Trying to impersonate a standard he couldn't seem to reach, some legendary hero he wasn't- er, wasn't yet! Yeah! He just needed to prove himself, be better, and he'd be fine. Just... fine. Yeah.

Mini-Lloyd (Red was tempted to call him L'ilyod in his head, but that felt wrong somehow, like he was infringing on some kind of copyright law) stared at him like a goddamn falcon, and he wasn't talking about the bird that circled the ship. He had this bowl-cut Red would tease him about endlessly after all this was over- seriously, how had Mr. Fabulous Hair started with this mess? Garmadon probably didn't even have hair, so there was no way the guy knew how to style it, and it was very evident based on Mini-Lloyd's hairdo.

Red noticed that all of them were staring, actually. Despite his relaxed rest against the rails, his fingers behind his back clutched the cool bar with a dull shake. He didn't notice how the metal seemed to glow red under his touch.

"Training, right, we should get onto that," Red tried. "What do you want to start with, Lloyd?"

"How about a little game?" Lloyd asked with complete innocence. "What we were playing last week before we got interrupted."

Oh sh!t.

"I-I don't know, shouldn't we start with stretches? Or how about some sparring, that's always more fun than a game!"

"But I wanted to continue our game..." Mini Lloyd said, and FSM's sake, he couldn't deal with that pouting look.

Okay. Okay, don't panic. Think logically. What kind of game would an 8-year-old Lloyd like to play with him? Something physical, so no board games- he liked to test his mettle against Zane on those, and sometimes he would almost not-lose. Logic puzzles also fell more on Jay's area. Trivia, especially music trivia, was a bubble between the anxious motormouth and Cole. Video games fell on team building, and wouldn't classify as a training warmup.

"Well," Red said, taking a hopeful stab in the dark. "There's not too much space on the deck for... tag..."

Lloyd nodded, looking satisfied. The Not-Ninja looked- well, their expressions were hard to read because of how different it was compared to his friends. But Red was a master of deception (well, fire, but eh, technicalities), and he had them fooled, and he just had to keep it up until nightfall so he could rescue Lloyd and explain in a safe location-

"HE'S NOT KAI!"

Orrrrr improvise. Okay, yep, he could improvise.

Red lunged forward and grabbed Mini Lloyd's wrist from where he had his hand extended in an accusatory point. He ducked under Not-Jay's attempts to grab him- fast, but not as fast as his Jay, his Jay who could disappear from an awkward social interaction in the span of a flickering lightbulb- and dragged his younger brother with him as he vaulted over the railing. Not-Zane almost managed to yank him back onto the Not-ship, but his icy grip caught only empty air as Red pulled Lloyd into a tight hold and ducked.

He hit the dock below with a stumble, rolling back onto his feet and taking off with a very stubborn green ninja in tow. It took all his strength to drag Lloyd (kicking and screaming like he was being kidnapped or something when Red was just trying to rescue him, for FSM's sake. Lloyd didn't know that, but he could still try to be at least a little more considerate.)

The wooden docks creaked and shuddered underfoot and Red grimaced; whoever rebuilt them after the latest Garmadon attack had shredded them like newspaper clearly hadn't wasted any unnecessary change. It certainly didn't help that Lloyd packed quite the punch for someone so small. Red definitely would come out of this with bruised shins and arms from where Mini Lloyd tried to push him away, but it would be worth it to keep his teammate, his younger brother, safe.

Then green filled his vision and broke his hold on Lloyd's wrist, sending him skidding across the dock planks as he was sent flying. When he finally rolled to a stop, neck and shoulder stinging from where the blast had caught him (no burns, just jitters like he'd been shocked), he had to take a few seconds to re-orient himself. Did the Not-Ship have cannons or something? What hit him from behind, so close it could have hit Lloyd?

Lloyd. Was Lloyd okay?

Red pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the bleeding scrapes on his hands and legs from where he'd gotten banged up by the splintered docks. His gaze, sharp and frantic, searched for signs of green. The warning of more blasts, the flash of the fabric of a gi, anything.

He spotted his brother in the arms of Not-Cole. No, no, no-

And suddenly Not-Nya was there, given a boost by Not-Jay. Her grip was as if she were wearing the robotic mech suit, harsh and powerful and near in-human. She threw Red back to the dock floor as her face twisted with the fury of a storming ocean. A resounding crack rang out over the harbour.

Red couldn't tell if it came from the planks under him or his own shoulder.

She pinned him to the wood, barking accusations and threats in his face faster than Not-Jay could talk. Red blinked through a haze of pain, trying to focus on her face and words. She was missing the beauty mark on her face, he noticed. Yet another tell she wasn't his sister.

"-scar on the wrong side-" And it was hard to hear again over the ringing in his ears. He tried to throw her off, get back to Lloyd, anything, but he was-

Useless.

Her hands suddenly got in his face, slamming his left cheek to the wood. She was close- close to his face, close to his eye, close to his scar- pushing and prying as she tried to do something. Red picked up in his struggling, his attempts to free himself turning to desperate shoves and wild clawing like a trapped animal. He wouldn't let this creation of Garmadon's finish the job that teen had started all those years ago.

"Or better yet, he needs to shut his damn mouth."

The flash of a knife. His vision half-blurry. Blood- so much blood- and a lasting scar.

"-contacts-" "-red-" "-struggling-" "-we know what he- it- is already-" "-not the real Kai-" "-wish-" "-Garmadon-"

He had to get away. Get Lloyd away from them now.

In one surge of strength- and yep, his shoulder definitely wasn't okay after that move, as if he'd ripped it not just from its socket but from its very attachment to his body- he knocked Not-Nya aside. If he could’ve seen through the red haze, he might have noticed red embers dancing around his fingertips as his desperation and fear tapped into something deep in his soul.

He tried to shoot to his feet, tried to run for Lloyd (held so tight in Not-Cole's grip, surely they were hurting him, he couldn't let that happen-). He roared, "LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!", but before he could take another step through Not-Jay and Not-Zane in his path, the docks gave one last ominous shudder before deciding it had finally had enough.

The planks crumbled underfoot like charred firewood in a crackling campfire, and Red was sent tumbling into the frigid ocean water below.

#spbnr #reverse Thanos snap au #reverse thanos snap #ninjago #lego ninjago #same People but not really #kai ninjago

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terriblygrimm · 3 years

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fatws anon here: first of all agreed to everything you said i share your sentiments on all of that. i wanted to mention that the "captain america and winter soldier" title card at the end of ep 6 really threw me off and it really felt like marvel was hinting that this is the new cap and buck duo (which i hope to god isn't i want cap 4 to be about sam and torres as falcon tyvm) idk why marvel didn't just make a separate project on bucky exploring his traumas and transition from wakanda to modern life and GOOD THERAPY and his life between ws and cw..so much potential to explore and yet they just didn't. with the way bucky has been handled, i honestly think they can only do proper justice to his character either by pairing him up with steve or just going more in depth by himself. this whole one sidekick to another is not doing it for me and feels like a big disservice to bucky.

i completely agree!!!!! imagine if they legit made bucky a sidekick to ANOTHER cpt america???? omg lmaoooo... the cringe would be off the mf charts..

bucky felt SO out of place to me in tf.atws! like his relevancy is so obviously fading within the mcu - they need to reinvent him & and that’s why i eventually changed my opinion on the whole ‘forever sidekick’ schtik.

i’m thinking they didn’t change the tws titlecard because he’s going to grow more and they were kind of saying they knew they didn’t focus on him/finish his arc. they wanted to just focus on sam becoming cap! (and rightfully so!) they also made a point to name drop white wolf AND brought in the dora milaje - yet told him to stay away from wakanda. so to me- that, alongside sam’s “stop looking to other ppl to tell you who you are” comment makes me believe that in the absence of steve, and the absence of wakanda, and the absence of the sam/cap influence, bucky will TRULY become white wolf on his own terms- be it through his own installment or other projects that we’re not expecting him to be in (space!!!!!!)

once he does they’ll bring him back around and reunite him with steve (☺️🥺). bc even shipping aside.. its factually undeniable that steve and bucky are one of THE linchpin duos of the mcu. like romantic or not they’re established and ppl love them together. they work well together and personal growth is easy to do between them bc they’re each other’s narrative sounding boards. they simply belong in each other’s spheres bc they’re literally the team of the cap series. marvel can’t deny that i do really believe they’re gonna put them back together.

so that being said, i can 100% believe that steve is off being a space daddy nomad, traveling thru time on secret missions dealing with/fixing the fallout of thanos, or maybe he’s lost in time!! (one of my favorite hopes and dreams that marvel is gonna crush is that steve is lost in time & bucky was over here thinking he retired but he eventually finds out steve is lost and he’s DEVASTATED that he hasn’t been looking for him all this time- paralleling tws with the roles reversed 😭) or maybe he’s aiding fury on the dl (& eventually taking fury’s place as the orchestrator and head honcho - he did in the comics!) so i can see once bucky’s new identity is fully formed they’ll wrap him up with steve again in those storylines. nomad has already been copyrighted by marvel so something is definitely in the works w steve!

like making bucky a sidekick to another cap would not only ALWAYS put he & sam at odds (like it did in tf.atws) because they’re both title characters & they’d ALWAYS be fighting for screentime, but they might as well just write him out?? bc his growth would forever be stunted since he’d no doubt take a backseat to cap. also they made a point to show sam getting a new falcon! like there’s his future lesser-known sidekick right there! i think they’re retiring the cap/bucky duo by name, it’s old hat at this point. sam can have his new falcon & since they can both fly, they’ll be an aerial duo.

that way when they all reunite (epic) steve will have a new identity, bucky will have a new identity, and sam will be an established cap 😁

(also i agree with your comment about just giving bucky a separate project to focus on his trauma and time in wakanda 😌- what a beautiful show that would be!!! but this is marvel and things move irrationally fast & they don’t give a rats ass about mental health unfortunately)

#ask #anon #i rambled again i’m sorry lol #i hope any of that is coherent lmao #also the tf.atws head writer said something about bucky being free to become something new for who ever handles that character next.. etc #which made me 🤔 bc hes writing for cap4 #so i really dont think they plan on him sticking around sam

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artsyrean · 6 years

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Why Youtube Rewind 2018 was such a mess...

I wanted to post this on twitter, but I don't wanna have a giant threat with paragraphs of what I want to say devided by how many letters I could fit in one tweet. So here you go:

I am not the first nor will I be the last person to say that youtube rewind this year was a disappointment to say the least. But a lot of people bring up the same points and don't necessarely see the whole picture. There are multiple reasons to why that video was so bad. People who liked that video might be confused to why it is so hated. So for those who like it, I want to explain why it is, compared to the other years, such a disaster. It's okay if you liked it, but it's always good to be able to spot some mistakes in things you like and understand other people's perspective

I made some calculations first , watching every rewind starting from 2012 making notes and it is not only the most disliked video of the rewinds, but it's also the less viewed one among them. Just for fun I looked at the gaps between the likes and dislikes, which for 2018 is about 2.6 million, which is the second biggest gap after 2016, clearly showing the majority of people disliking the video. Considering the low views, it isn't a surprise that of 50 million, more than 11% have actually judged the video with likes and dislikes, inwhich most videos have maybe 2%.

Now away with the propably unecessary math bit, let's first talk about things the video couldn't have had in it directly, regardless of how much we wanted it to be in it.

1. Pewdiepie was left out. I am in the same opinion as everyone else that this was not fair. However, due to media having him stand in such a bad spotlight, it was clear from the very start that he wouldn't have been able to be in it. It's dumb, but you have to sometimes look in the perspective of people who work in youtube. No "year review" was to be expected.

2. The Paul Brothers. I personally don't give a damn, but I know a lot of kids like them, so I'll make it very clear by saying NO ONE WANTS A GUY LIKE JAKE TO REPRESENT YOUTUBE WITH HIS OBNOXIOUS ASS AND LOGAN EVEN BE REMOTELY MENTIONED AFTER WHAT HE PULLED BACK IN JANUARY. Alright? Alright :)

3. Johnny Johnny meme. I'm not really sure about this one, but I heard that the copyrights of that is very strict, videos would just be deleted or copyright claimed. Do tell me if I'm missinformed. It's just a theory anyway. And I mean, we're all cringing enough about the babyshark bit, so I'm not really disappointed.

Looking aside the fact that felix wasn't in it(let's be real here, most people only look at that), there are multiple reasons to why this was not only in it's content, but also in it's execution the worst rewind video:

1. Will Smith. Look, I like Will like the next guy, but when you hear youtube, he isn't the first person that comes to mind. It seems that people misunderstand the difference between a celebrity being on youtube and a youtube celebrity. And I know I'm not the first one to point that out. It was weird enough in 2016 with the Rock, so the video already starts off bad.

2. A LOT of significant memes were left out. Sure, bongo cat was included, but the way they did include it had nothing to do with it's original intend. In the past, memes were included in the video the way they were famous for. Take for example the flappy bird craze in 2014. They just simply did a scene with everyone playing it. If they had done it the 2018 way, the equivalent would have been the bird replacing the scary doll bit. I had this in a seperate point, but why was the royal wedding included? It has NOTHING to do with youtube in general. Back to memes being excluded, there was a great lack of thanos memes here. Maybe they wanted to avoid spoilers for others(which is dumb), but a simple snap from Smith doesn't cut it. Tiktok, Tidepot(with he guy saying don't eat them), Uganda Knuckles, Disintegration, KSI vs Logan, T-Series(which also the previous one could have at least been referenced) and much more were completely ignored. The only bit that included some of this was in jaidens animation as background items, but nothing more. Pretty sure she'll actually get in trouble as soon as the staff notices too.

3. In other videos, you could tell that a story was told just by an item being tossed around or people actually having clear and creative transitions to different places or something in common. For example, in 2014, a flag was carried around to different places, or the x-ray skeleton in 2015 would bring people to other places. Or even the part in 2014 with the icebucket challenge. This year, they were in a fireplace randomly shooting videos to completely different locations. So there was no smooth or exciting transition whatsoever. This is what happens when a game like fortnite gets so much traction and all you can do is youtubers to be stuck in an island with nothing to do.

4. The circle of political correctness. In 2015, superwoman walked beside a wall with rainbow colours. Was it a bit on the nose? Maybe, but it didn't distract the viewer from the experience. If you want the people to celebrate lgbt, show it! Show don't tell is a powerfull tool that was missing in this video so badly. I don't mind the bit where they talked about mental health, it was important this year for sure, but the rest was a bit too much. And I think the "for the moms" bit confused me the most. Do tell me if something important happend, otherwise it just, to me, came out of nowhere. Why were the drags not filmed doing fun stuff? I just didn't understand that bit at all.

5. The oddball effect. No I'm not talking about james or any of the animators. Aside from the cringy dances in between, that is without question the best bit of that video(even if cropped out bad that DaftPina pointed out on twitter). No, what I'm talking about is how differently this video was executed. Notice how in all the videos before, everything went by fast and only the songs would go on for a few scenes. People themselves had individually with maybe one to five other people a few seconds. While last year, the problem was how no one had the chance to shine, this time certain themes went on for longer than necessary and fewer people were included. In past videos, everyone was seen and had a role, short enough to not get obnoxious, but long enough to be remembered. But this time it was a slow mess, with dancing in the middle of it all that didn't make sense. For example the k-pop bit. Guys, k-pop is fine and all, but the theme went on for way longer then it was needed. It overstayed its welcome and nobody like it(I also heard on twitter how the song or something brought some outrage among bts fans. Not sure so I can't say more about it). There was also a lot of talking. While that by itself doesn't have to be 'bad', it was very striking to go from a video in which the only word that was said was "I'm Poppy" to endless talking around the fireflace.

6. "Give the people what they want". As I said already, despite the massive traction that the T-Series vs Pewdiepie war had on youtube, he just could not be put in the video, which is understandable to a certain degree. That being said, the "let's do what the audience wants" theme is propably the worst subject to pick with this rule of excluding felix. It's just a big middle finger towards people who actually said their wishes a million times and still weren't listened. If it had been a normal theme, like let's say "stay together" or "don't let fame shape who you are" or whatever, that would've maybe gotten just a little backlash. But saying "we did what you asked for", is just an insult towards anyone who was genuinly excited for this years rewind.

As I said already, if you liked this years rewind, that's totally okay. The production of it was definitly impressive, but considering all the missed opertunities and false sense of inclusion, you have to understand the disappointment that most of us felt when watching this years recap. It is without a question the worst Rewind yet.

With all that being said, all the calculations, comparisons and "analysis'" made, from the perspective of a viewer, this is why Youtube Rewind 2018 was such a mess.

I am aware that not too many people will see this or respond to this, but I'd like to know how other people felt about it. You can't always say "this video is bad because this person was not in there".

#2bluefox5 #2blue fox5 #youtube #youtube rewind #youtube rewind 2018 #rewind 2018 #why youtube rewind 2018 was such a mess

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overwatch-imagines-hub · 6 years

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Got Tagged, So Here’s a Thing

Tagged by @punken316 (Eyy bby, if u want to get to know me, all you have to do is talk to me!).

Rules:

Pick three fandoms

Answer the questions about them

Tag ten people you’d like to get to know better (We’ll see if I have that many; if not I’mma start calling out my anons.)

Three Fandoms:

Overwatch

Hamilton

Marvel/MCU

(I write for those last two over at @imagines-hub and no, I will never stop shamelessly promoting my other blogs here.)

The character you never expected to love so much:

I almost put Zenyatta but definitely the Junkers (who come as a unit so shhh); I didn’t really see the hype for them when I first got into the fandom but honestly, I get it now

Honestly, everyone in Hamilton like who are these trashy people and why do I love them so much; especially Aaron Burr though, like I l o v e h i m (I completely stumbled onto Hamilton, btw; had absolutely no actual interest in it when I decided to start listening to pieces of the soundtrack)

The Grandmaster; sure, he’s a sassy trashman but I love him and I think we would get along

The character you relate to the most:

Loki because I too feel detached from my family and also want to fight people at all times

Aaron Burr because I just get it, yanno? I understand.

Alternatively, Alexander Hamilton because I too am short and want to fight people at all times (but I would make better decisions because I’m not a dumbass and Eliza deserves t h e w o r l d)

Soldier 76 because I too am an old soul who’s tired of the world’s bullshit, as well as the bullshit of the people around me but fuck it, let’s fight people all the time

The character you’d slap:

Reaper but I wouldn’t slap him, I’d give him a gentle shake and tell him that he’s worth so much more than he thinks he is

Alexander because stop making stupid decisions and ruining everyone’s lives including your own, you fucking prick

Tony but I wouldn’t slap him, I’d give him a tight hug and tell him that he’s worth so much more than he thinks he is (and that nothing is h i s f a u l t)

Alternatively, Deadpool but it’d be on the ass

Three favorite characters in order of preference:

McCree, Zenyatta, Lucio (These literally always change.)

Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette

Loki, Heimdall, Tony/Peter

The character you liked at first but not anymore:

Alexander Hamilton; not that I don’t like him, he’s just literally my least favorite character and it’s his musical

Death; she’s not in the MCU but she manipulates Deadpool and is the cause of Thanos’ mission to kill half of everybody (also I get copyrights but fuck what MCU did to that storyline; let Thanos be a petty fuqboi) so

Literally no one in Overwatch, I love them all

Three OTPs:

I don’t really ship anything but Me x Character, so I’mma just list the first three ships that come to mind.

McHanzo, Gencio, MercyKill

Lams, Hamgelica, poly!Hamilsquad (I couldn’t remember other ship names <’DD)

Spideypool (not involving minor Peter), StarkPotts (what’s their ship name I don’t knooowww), Stucky

I’m t e r r i b l e with ships, can you tell?

Tags:

Guys, I only have three tagable people that make sense on this blog, I’m coming for the anons.

@krenee1drful

@yakovwasntred

@professionally-homo (who I can’t fuckin’ tag for some reason)

@imchrisevansshoe

Prof. Gay, tell E to do it too

Boxer

Disney Queen

Roo

Fuckin’ idk man

I feel like I’m missing people but my brain is fighting be so fuck it here’s eight I suppose, over half of which I can’t even tag cuz anons

Listen, y’all, do it or don’t I don’t rlly care but I hope you enjoyed my thing.

#tagged #this was horrible #hamilton #overwatch #marvel #mcu #enjoy

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therearemonstersinthedark · 7 years

Text

Astronautical Ch 4: Hey Brother

A Guardians of the Galaxy Fanwork

Pairings: n/a

Genre: Adventure, general

Word Count: 5k +

Rating: T to be safe, minor violence and swearing

Links: Fanfiction.net || Ao3

Summary: Peter's found Drax, but finding him is only the start. This Drax may not be the same friend he remembers. Meanwhile his tentative partnership with Nebula continues to develop, but how will bringing in a stout hater of Thanos and his children change that?

Author’s Notes: This chapter marks the 20k word mark! I know that's not much for some people, but this is my first story so it's a big deal for me. Anyways, this is the first chapter that's not named after one the songs from Peter's Awesome Mix. I decided back when I first started this that all the chapters would have a song that correlated with the text, but since I plan for this to be a very long project, and not all of the songs always fit, I will be using some songs from my personal playlist as well. For obvious copyright reasons these songs will have no place in the text, like the canon songs sometimes will. Some will be chosen for literal meanings, others for deep metaphorical meanings, and some will be puns. I love puns. For this chapter I have chosen 'Hey Brother' by Avicii. It's a bit of all three and a fun nod toward both Peter's meeting Drax and developing friendship with Nebula. You do not have to like or listen to the song, but I enjoy choosing them and they help keep me motivated.

Chapter 4: Hey Brother

"The Contest of Champions?" Nebula repeated, raising her eyebrows at the man sitting on the couch across from her. The blue assassin was reclining on her own couch, legs thrown up carelessly on the priceless table next to an emptied plate. "It's just some stupid pit fight the locals use for entertainment. The ship will be stocked and repaired in a matter of days. I don't see any reason why we should attend one."

"Because I recognize the Champion! I'm telling you, that giant head sticking out of the tower we're sitting in right now is my friend, Drax. I can't believe he was here all along. It's so perfect!" Peter was leaning forward earnestly, knees bouncing as he spoke.

"So you're telling me one of these 'friends' of yours is just some glorified cage fighter? What's next? A petty thug and an embezzler?"

Peter was momentarily caught off guard by Nebula's reply. Did she just make a joke? Was she capable of that? Did Nebula even understand humor beyond her regular sarcasm?

"No, well... No. Look. He's the 'undefeated champion' of these cage fights so that's got to count for something right? This guy is tough, believe me. He'll be a huge asset to us and I need him if I'm going to wield that infinity stone again."

That last argument seemed to make at least some impact as her brows lowered into a more normal height.

"Look. You said the ship won't be ready for a couple days at least. There's no harm in attenting at least one of these matches and finding out if it really is my friend."

"Fine." She relented, dropping her feet from the table with a thunk and standing from the squishy couch in one swift movement. "We can attend one match. There's nothing better to do in this heap anyways."

"Where are you going now?" He asked as she bypassed the smaller doors that Peter had since learned lead to a pair of mirrored bedrooms, heading instead towards the main door.

"To speak with the Grandmaster." She said with her hand paused on the door handle. "I am not sitting in those filthy stadium seats. Get some rest, Star-Lord. You look terrible." With that she was gone and Peter was left to struggle his own way out of the cloying couch cushions. How did she make it look so easy?

With nothing to do but wait for her return it finally hit Peter how tired he was so he slipped into one of the bedrooms and washed his face in the ajoined bathroom before crawling under the duvet and quickly falling asleep.

He awakened the next morning in a pile of tangled limbs and blankets. One of the sheets had been tossed entirely to the floor, and there was a puddle of drool forming on his pillow. Sitting up with a groan and wiping the drool off of his chin he grimaced at the reflection staring back at him from the mirrors on the closet doors across the room. His hair stuck up in a wild halo and the dark bruising across his face had faded into an ugly yellow giving him a sickly appearance.

For a period of time he just stared blankly ahead while he adjusted to the bright morning light filtering in from the window. He eventually convinced himself that he had better things to do with his morning than stare at his own disheveled reflection, and he fumbled his way towards the bathroom to wash up and brush his teeth. Once presentable it was time to face the day.

Upon opening the door to the main room he was met with a pile a clothes thrown into his face so forcefully he actually stumbled back a couple steps.

"What the he-"

"Get changed. You've been living in those clothes for days. I hope you didn't sleep in the bed in those things. They're disgusting."

A blush spread across his cheeks. Any argument he had prepared died on his tongue at the bemused expression on the blue assassin's face, arms crossed and hip cocked.

"Fiiine." He grumbled, throwing his head back dramatically and turning back into his temporary bedroom to get changed. The clean clothes were honestly not an entirely unwelcome change from his sweaty, sticky outfit, even if they weren't exactly his normal style. The inky black pants were made of some sort of heavy silk that gave him the feeling of wearing pajamas rather than real clothes, and the over-sized gold shirt was embroidered in an odd pattern with maroon glass beads that matched the furniture. It was hideous. He hated it.

Stepping back out into the main room he gathered that Nebula felt much the same way as she failed to completely hide a snicker behind a mug clasped in her hands.

"Ha. Ha. Ha." He retorted, tugging his jacket on over the outfit self consciously. "What about your clothes? Aren't they dirty, too?"

"My suit is comprised of a specialized material and maintained by nanobots. It doesn't get filthy." She looked much too smug about this for Peter's liking, leaning over the kitchen bar to grin over her mug at him.

"Well, Lucky you. Where's the washing machine? Not that I don't love this new look, but I'd like to get back into my own clothes sooner rather than later, thank you."

"Just leave them on the bed," She said with a dismissive wave. "Someone will be in to clean them. Or incinerate them."

Peter just glared at her as he slipped into the kitchen to fill up his own mug of the Sakaar eqiuivilant of coffee. Admittedly It was pretty good. It had a pleasant aroma and he found that he didn't have to mix in much of the sugar or dried creamer set out on the counter to enjoy it.

"So what's the news on the Contest of Champions?" He asked tenatively. His optimism from yesterday was now a heavy mix of hope and dread swirling around in the pit of his stomach. What if it wasn't Drax after all? And even if it was, what would have become of his friend in this place? Sure he was undefeated, but that didn't exactly mean he was unharmed.

"The next tournament will be held tonight as soon as the sun sets. We'll be joining the Grandmaster as his honored guests in his viewing room."

Peter nodded and swirled his drink around in his hands. Sunset seemed so far away right now.

"In the mean time I have some more arrangements to make. I trust you can keep yourself out of trouble for another day?"

'Staying out of trouble' found Peter browsing through some sort of a bazaar down on the streets. Mostly he kept himself entertained just window shopping and stopping occasionally to ask more questions about the wares sold by some of the more attractive saleswomen.

After dropping off a large bag full of delicious smelling sweetbreads and candies -and one sparkling silver bracelet with a little jade and gold sword charm wrapped up in paper that a salesperson had rather easily conned him into paying an outrageous price for after it reminded him painfully of Gamora-, he checked the time to find he still had a couple hours before sunset and left the room again to make his way back to that tavern from yesterday. It seemed as nice a place as any to kill the rest of the time until he had to meet up with Nebula and the Grandmaster.

The tavern was much quieter this evening. The patrons murmured contentedly across their tables, hunched over their drinks and picking at hot meals between them. His friend the scrapper didn't appear to be here this evening, so Peter made himself cozy with a warm drink at the bar corner and just soaked in the atmosphere as he waited. He'd been hoping to ask her a few more questions about the games and the so called champion, but instead he settled for listening to the idle gossip of people discussing upcoming games and placing bets, occasionally asking a question from a more friendly looking neighbor.

From what he gathered, the games mostly consisted of several shorter fights which were geared more towards incapacitating an opponent and rarely included fatalities. There were several 'favorites' among these games who had been battling for years, and were quite likely to stay alive as long as the people still found them entertaining. Then there were occasional 'tournaments' which sounded much more brutal and bloody. Death wasn't a guarantee, but it was a pretty common occurance to place bets on the decapitation or dismemberment of these competitors. Finally, there was the Championship matches where a contendor could challenge the current reigning champion to a one on one battle. It was battle to the death, and if the contendor won they could earn their freedom from the tournament. No one had won their freedom in a very very long time.

Time slipped away in a heady blur and before he knew it, Peter found himself standing in a skybox overlooking a dirt arena so large one could land a small flight of Nova ships with room left over for a couple battle vessels. The box was furnished comfortably with a long couch and several chairs, all facing out a window which was so impecably clean and clear he could practically smell the sweaty crowd below them. Peter had his palms and forehead pressed up against this glass as he watched the games below.

The smaller fights had almost been entertaining, if one forgot they were watching prisoners and slaves. The combatants displayed a wide array of skills and tecniques from all across the galaxies, some weilding weapons that he had never even heard of before. Some of the later battles, however, left him squirming uncomfortably. He'd never had the stomach for bloodsport despite some of the Ravager crew's best attempts to turn him. Still, like an eager dog staring out at the empty mailbox on a Sunday, he couldn't look away for fear he would somehow miss a glimpse of Drax.

Nebula appeared in all ways unfazed by any of this; reclining on one corner of the couch with her arms crossed, one knee thrown over the other.

Eventually the arena light's dimmed and an excpectant hush fell over the crowd.

"Oh! That's my cue!" The Grandmaster leapt up from the far side of the couch, rubbing his hands together in excitement as Topaz handed him a microphone.

"Lllllllllladies and Gentlemeeen!" A gigantic holographic Grandmaster errupted over the stadium. "Welcome! To the one-hundred and fifty-SEVENTH challenge match against your current reigning champiooooooooon!"

The crowd roared to life all around them, making the floor beneath Peter's feet vibrate as they stamped and screamed.

"Our challenger of the night is none other than Artrax the Disembowler!" A solitary mint green figure stepped out of one side of the arena while another wave of excited whooping rolled over the crowd. "You know the rules; Two gladiators may enter, but only one may leave! Who. Will. It. BE!?"

Peter had to admit the man had a flare for showmanship. The citizens around them ate up his words, and he found himself bouncing on the balls of his feet, eagerly awaiting the appearance of the champion. This was it. Either it was Drax or it wasn't.

"Oh ho! Here he comes! This is it folks! You know him! You love him! It's the one-the only-THE DESTROYER!!!!" The whooping was deafening even through the thick glass as the heavy doors on the far side of the arena opened. Peter smashed his face against the window as he strained to get a look at the Champion.

Out of the darkness strolled a large and imposing figure. His head was covered in a thick brass helmet, and a big ugly scar cut across his right shoulder like a jagged lightning bolt, but the swirling red tattoos dancing across his stubbornly bare chest were a dead giveaway. Before he realized what he was doing, Peter found himself whooping and cheering along with the crowd. He couldn't believe his luck. He thought he'd have to travel halfway across the galaxy to find his friends but here was Drax, so close he could watch his muscles ripple as he waved around the wicked looking short sword in his right hand.

A cheer caught in his throat as the curved edge of the blade flashed in the stadium lights. He was so swept up in the relief of finding his friend, that he had forgotten what this meant. What had the Grandmaster just said? 157th challenger? Did that mean Drax had killed 156 other challengers on this field? All of them prisoners just trying to fight for their freedom from this slave pit? The deep dark wrongness that had gripped him way back when he had first awoken on the wrong version of his Milano made another appearance. He wanted to grab the Grandmaster and demand he stop the match right then and there, but his body remained frozen where it was, eyes glued to the arena as the challenger hurdled themselves at Drax, a long red spear gripped tightly in two of his four arms.

The match was long and brutal. Peter had seen Drax fight in many battles, usually shielding his back or standing shoulder to shoulder with him as he used his greater strength to pick off any foes who got past Peter's long range weapons. While his Drax had always fought with the same cold efficiency that tore through most opponents in a matter of seconds, the champion down in the pit toyed with his challenger. As Peter watched, Drax passed on several killing blows, turning his sharp blade at the last second so that his opponent was instead batted away with the blunt side, and laughing at them as they struggled to right themselves and try again. It was like watching a cat toy with a mouse. Letting it go and catching it again over and over.

Sure, his Drax had never had any qualms with violence. In fact it was his first solution to everything, and yes, he had murdered uncountable aliens both before and after his associations with the Guardians, but he had always been swift and deliberate with the killing its self. And he had even refused on several occasions to fight opponents who he deemed too weak to be an honorable battle or who had not personally slighted him in some way. Drax was violent but he had his own code of honor to prevent this kind of cruelty. Peter had never seen him take quite so much enjoyment out of watching an opponent who had done nothing especially wrong crawl about in the dirt and suffer.

Eventually Artrax could no longer stand, crawling desperately across the bloody arena on his knees and remaining three arms. Hacking and wheezing, he hardly even seemed to notice as Drax strolled up to him, raising his short blade above his head and pausing as the crowd around them lost their minds in excitement before plunging it straight into his opponent's skull, ending the match.

Trinkets and flowers were showered into the arena by the adoring fans as Drax swaggered his way back into the doorway which had reopened upon his victory. It was only after the shadows had entirely swallowed him up that Peter could tear his eyes away from the arena and glance around the skybox. He first turned to Nebula who was still reclined on the couch as she had been before the match, staring down her nose into the field below with a thoughtful expression. When she offered no help or answers to his swirling mind he sought out the eyes of the Grandmaster instead, but he was busy sipping something carbonated out of a delicate wineglass and discussing the battles with his crowd of friends in an airy tone as though they had just watched a delightful play, and not just witnessed the same atrocities below.

"So that was your companion?" Nebula's voice broke through the silence that had reined over the pair since leaving the arena. They had just returned to their rooms and Peter had spent the whole walk with his shoulders hunched over and staring at his feet while he tried to make sense of this new information.

"Yeah. That was Drax." His voice sounded hollow and paper thin even to his own ears.

"He is a skilled fighter. That much was obvious even against his unskilled opponent. I can see why you would believe him to be an asset." Peter winced again at the mention of the unskilled opponent.

"Yeah." He had been so excited at the prospect of meeting his friend just a couple of hours ago that he could hardly even wait, and now he was almost dreading what he would find up close.

"So when can we see him?" He asked in something just above a murmur.

"I have already arranged a meeting for the morning. As far the Grandmaster is to be concerned we will be accosting this Champion of his for my father's army."

"Great. I'll see you in the morning I guess." He gave her a half-hearted wave and retreated into his room, barely bothering to take off his coat and shove the folded pile of his now cleaned clothes out of the way before crawling under the covers and willing himself to go to sleep.

The next morning he was relieved to be back in his regular, much less sticky and smelly clothes. In fact, they were cleaner now then he could ever recall them being since first purchasing them. As he adjusted his shirt and pulled his leather jacket on he made a mental note to stock some of whatever laundry soap they used here onto his ship before they left. It even smelled crisp and clean and not at all like the heavy perfumes of the locals like he had feared it would.

With the return of his clothes, Peter found a return of some of his usual optimism as well. He'd found Drax and that's what was important. So what if he was little extra violent? He had managed to convince him to curb some of his enthusiasm over the matter before, surely he could do it again?

With that in mind he steeled himself and made his way to the kitchen to rummage up some sort of breakfast. As usual, Nebula was already there, leaning against the counter with a mug set off to her left. A pile of papers were strewn about in front of her while she studied what appeared to be an old star map.

"What's that for?" He asked, pouring himself his own mug of fresh coffee and pulling a bowl down from one of the cabinets.

"It's a map of the Blackmoon Quadrant. Once we gather your friend and leave this place we'll want to find somewhere outside of Thanos's reach."

Peter nodded his head as he poured something like cereal into his bowl and grabbed a spoon from a nearby drawer, intending to eat his snack dry. He had learned long ago to not trust the many versions of milk the galaxies had to offer.

"I think I have an idea about that, actually. I know of a place that's pretty far off of everyone's maps that might be a great place to look for information about the rest of my team."

Nebula didn't answer, but she did look up from the map in her hands to give him her attention.

"It's a place called Knowhere. It used to be some sort of mining colony, but now it's like a back-alley smuggler type of place, so I doubt it's anywhere on Thanos's to-do list."

"I know that place," She muttered. "I've been through there a few times for information, but Thanos holds no sway that far out and I doubt he will think to look for us there."

"So it's settled then." Peter said, perking up now that he had a clear plan set out before him. "We grab Drax, give this place the slip, and head straight to Knowhere."

Nebula just made a noncommittal grunt as she leafed through the pile of papers, pulling out a new map that she spread out on the island between them. It seemed to be a representation of the planet they were on. A small dark blob in the center boldly labeled 'Sakaar' in a flowing print. The rest of the map was filled with a topograph of the dunes of trash that they had first entered from, the holes through which the garbage perpetually fell seemed to be represented by fanciful swirls superimposed over the land.

"These are the gateways that lead directly from Sakaar into various points throughout the universe." She told him, pointing towards one close to the center. "This is the one we came through."

Peter nodded as he leaned over to get a better view. Her finger slid across the map stopping on a smaller swirl on the very edge.

"This one will get us the closest to Knowhere. From there it will just be a few jumps."

"Sounds like a plan." He grinned, leaning back on the counter behind him to enjoy his breakfast. "When are we leaving?"

"Your ship should be fully repaired some time tomorrow morning. It has already be stocked with basic provisions. I suggest you gather all of your things by then, StarLord."

"Peter."

"What?"

"My name is Peter Quill." When he looked up from his bowl Nebula was staring back over the island at him suspiciously. "It's just, I figure if we're going to be hiding out from Thanos for now it would be best not to go by Star-Lord for a while." He muttered, rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Peter, then." She agreed, something in her expression softening almost imperceptibly. "Make sure you're ready to go by tomorrow."

When breakfast was finished and the maps tucked away into Nebula's room Peter made his way down to the stadium once more, deciding it was probably better that he met with Drax alone. This time he entered through a dingy copper door, rather than the extravagant elevator from the last night, and into an apartment-like building that was constructed against the far side of the coliseum wall. Another elevator took him up and dumped him directly into a large airy apartment on the top level.

Peter sauntered into the large space with an appreciative whistle. The decor here was a bit less extravagant than in his and Nebula's suite, but it felt more homey. An oversized hallway lead him into a larger main room with a plush King-sized bed pressed up against one wall, and what looked to be a hot-tub. No fair! His room didn't have a hot-tub.

To his right was a massive window that looked down on the city, and silhouetted against the late morning light was the unmistakable hulking shoulders of just the man he was looking for.

"Drax! Hey buddy!" Peter cried with a huge, toothy grin. He had to remind himself that this Drax would likely not know who he was, and so running up and clasping him on the shoulder was more likely to turn him into a smudge on that window than earn him any favors. The sillouette crossed its arms and stepped away from the bright window, details fading into focus as Peter's eyes adjusted to the change in contrast.

"I am Drax The Destroyer, who dares address me with such familiarity?"

"Hi, I'm Peter Quill. You might not remember me, but I assure you we're going to be great friends. I'm here to bust you out of this place." Peter puffed out his chest and placed his hands on his hips, doing his best Star-Lord pose.

Drax's response to that was to throw his head back in laughter, causing Peter to deflate slightly. That wasn't quite the reaction he was hoping to inspire here.

"I do not need to be 'busted out' of this place." Drax laughed, holding his stomach loosely as he bent forward as though Peter had just shared with him a wonderful joke. "I could break these walls easily on my own!"

"That's... That's not what I meant. Come on man. You know what I meant. I'm here to help you escape, so you can help me take down Thanos."

The laughter came to a sudden halt. A darkness overtook the Destroyer's face, eclipsing out the humor from only a heartbeat before.

"Do not mention that name here." He warned, stepping forward again to tower over Peter. "And I have no intentions of leaving this place. There is nothing left for me outside of the arena."

Peter took an unconscious step back. He had forgotten how imposing Drax could be. They had been partners for a long time, and perhaps Peter had taken it for granted that the maniac had never meant him any true bodily harm. This Drax didn't know that they were friends and so would have no similar aversion to harming him. This made things a bit trickier for Peter who had stupidly come unarmed.

"Look, I don't want any trouble here, man. Just take it easy. How did you come to this place anyways?" Maybe if he could get some answers he could find a way to reason with him.

Drax relented slightly at Peter's surrender, stepping back and relaxing his shoulders but still staring at his visitor through narrowed eyes. "When the Titan-" Peter had heard many beings curse and spit out that word in varying levels of hatred and disgust over the years, but the venom with which Drax spat it out would have made even Nebula proud. "-took my homeworld, he sent Ronan to do his dirty work. That filthy Kree bastard slaughtered my people. He killed my family and I could do nothing to stop him. Those few who survived were enslaved. I was sent here to die on this filthy planet in the middle of nowhere, but I tore apart every challenger they set before me."

Peter could vividly imagine the man standing in front of him, desperate and wounded, taking out all of his rage and agony on his opponents in that field. It was not a pretty thought.

"Now I am the Champion." He hissed through clenched teeth. "The Destroyer. Because that is the only thing I can do. Destroy. I could not save anyone. This is where I belong." As he spoke he held his hands up, staring at his palms as though blaming them for the loss of his loved ones.

For some time Peter was stunned speechless. The only sound in the big empty room was the harsh breathing of The Destroyer as he clenched and unclenched his hands.

"Drax." Peter's voice was soft as he tried another tactic. "I know. I know that nothing anyone can say or do will bring back your family, but, if you come with me we can stop them from doing it to other families-"

"I do not care about other families." He was cut off harshly.

"Yes you do. I know you do." Peter pressed. He was getting frustrated by Drax's apparant complacency in all of this. How could he want to stay here? This wasn't right.

"NO I DON'T!" Drax roared back, stepping into Peter as the smaller man hastily retreated. "I don't care if they slaughter every other family in the universe because my Hovat is GONE! My Kamaria is GONE!"

The coat tail of his duster caught on the sole of Peter's boot and he landed hard on his ass, scrambling back another pace as Drax's voice broke over the name of his daughter. As Peter lifted his hand to shield his face from whatever was coming next the larger man suddenly stopped, his shoulders slumping and his eyes sliding back to his empty hands.

"I should have died with them." He rasped out.

Just as suddenly as the rage had possesed him it had vanished, leaving the warrior looking lost and deflated as he turned and made his way back towards the bed, sitting down on it with a heavy sigh.

Slowly, cautiously, Peter got back to his feet. Drax gave no indication of even being aware that his guest was still here, and Peter chewed on his lip as he considered the wisdom of just retreating to the elevator and coming back to try again later once he had had some time to re-collect himself. But honestly, what good would that do? Later, his family would still be gone. Later, he would be no closer to convincing this broken man to move past his grief and help him; he would only be closer to the next tournament.

Like a spooked deer Peter picked his way across the room, eyes not leaving the still and silent form of his friend. Watching carefully for any warning signs in the grieving man's posture, the outlaw slowly lowered himself onto the bed as well.

"I'm sorry."

Still nothing. But nothing was better than the violent threats of before.

"There is nothing I can do to bring them back." Peter opened his own hands in front of him, mimicking Drax's desolate pose. "And I know that there is no replacing them, either. And I know this is going to sound insane but you told me about them once, and I know that wasting away here in this honorless pit isn't what they would have wanted for you."

Something stirred in Drax and Peter paused briefly to gague whether or not it was safe to continue.

"In another universe you and I were friends. We- and our other friends- held an Infinity stone and we killed Ronan the Accuser during his assault on Xandar. You killed Ronan and took revenge for your family. I don't know how, but I woke up in this universe where apparantly that never happened. My friend and I are getting off this planet tomorrow morning, and we are going to gather the rest of my -our- team and set this straight, but we need you if we're going to take on Ronan again."

"..."

"Well? What do you think?"

"I think you are mad."

Peter opened his mouth to protest, but was stopped by Drax holding up one palm.

"But, I also think that you are right. I have moped here on this planet for far too long. It is time to make Ronan suffer as he has made me suffer, and if the only way to do that is to put up with your madness then so be it."

"Oh, uh. Thanks. I think." Well, it wasn't ideal, but Drax was agreeing to come with them and Peter decided to just focus on that victory for now.

"So where is this friend of yours? I hope they are a more fearsome warrior than you." His words were harsh, but Peter could hear a touch of the old Drax's humor shining through.

"Actually, about that..."

"CUR OF THANOS!"

"MEATHEADED PITSWINE!"

Honestly, this meeting was going better than Peter had dared hoped. Everyone still had all of their limbs, and most of the furniture was still intact. There would be no saving the poor Sakaarian coffee maker that Nebula had hurtled into the wall, missing Drax's head by a centimeter at best, and half of the stools from the bar had been reduced to some very expensive kindling.

Nebula and Drax were now stalking eachother around the open living room like a pair of angry cats. He practically expected them to start hissing at each other. Peter stood between them, hands held up and spinning with them as he tried to keep them both in his sight at the same time.

"Come on guys, this is getting us nowhere. Let's sit down and talk this out like adults." He barely ducked in time to miss being decapitated by the loveseat as it sailed across the room. "DRAX! That is not how polite conversation works!"

"Crawl back to your master's feet! Hound of the Titan!"

"Did the Orloni eat out whatever pitiful brains you had down in that pit!?"

"ENOUGH!!!"

The earsplitting scream seemed to gather at least some attention as they both paused in their pacing to glare at him instead. "Look. We all hate Thanos here, Okay? We're all on the same side, with the same goal, so can we please stop trying to kill each other long enough to acheive that?"

"I don't know what you were thinking recruiting this idiot." Nebula hissed at him, pointing an accusing finger at the large man across the room. "I have no desire to be crammed onto your undersized ship with him."

"Oh, come on-"

"The blue bitch finally speaks sense. Surely we would not all even fit on an undersized ship."

"Drax, that's not-It's not helping." He groaned hopelessly.

"Come, Peter Quill." Nebula suddenly straightened up and slipped her daggers back into their hilts. "Surely we don't need this... Destroyer. Let's leave this place already and gather the rest of your team. They can't be any less reasonable than this."

Peter had his doubts about that last statement but wisely kept his mouth shut on the matter.

"Fine." Drax snorted, "Go without me! Ronan will tear you two apart."

"See, now he's making a good point. We need allies if we're going to do this."

Nebula looked for a moment like she was ready to just storm out the door, accost his ship, and leave both him and Drax stranded on this planet without her. Instead she made a very undignified noise and stomped one of her feet as though it physically pained her to relent.

"Fine. We will take him with us, but if he so much as points his hideous swords at me I will take his head off."

"I would like to see you try, you-"

"NO!" Peter was going to be lucky to have any voice left at all by tomorrow. "No. Nobody is decapitating anybody, okay?"

"What about Ronan?" Drax asked, turning a perplexed look on Peter even as he relaxed his grip on his own twin blades and straightened to a more normal stance.

"What?"

"Can we not still decapitate Ronan? That was how I planning to kill him. I was going to mount his head on a pole and wave it about for all to see."

"That's horrible. But yes, you can still decapitate him, I guess."

"Then why would you say that-"

"Just- don't kill me or Nebula, Okay?"

"I will try."

"Good."

"But I make no promises."

Peter was going to cry. He was going to have a breakdown in front of the two least warm and comforting beings in the entire galaxy.

Taking a deep breath to center himself as Gamora had taught him, Peter turned to Nebula to ask her for a similar almost-but-not-really-a-promise. He was interupted, however, by a sudden knocking on the door. Oh great. Just what he needed right now; angry neighbors complaining about the noise levels.

Shooting Drax and Nebula each a warning glare, Peter carefully picked his way across the room through the remains of the furniture.

"Look, I'm sorry about the noise. It's over now, I promise." He offered in his best apologetic voice as he pulled open the door, blocking the wreckage inside as best he could with his body.

"Oh, hello... you." The Grandmaster himself stood in the doorway, giving Peter a rather obviously forced grin.

"Grandmaster?" He asked as the Grandmaster shoved past him and into the room, wiping the hand that had touched his shirt off with a white handkerchief that Topaz handed him.

"Is my ship prepared yet?" Nebula asked, stepping forward, entirely unrepentant about the trashed room. "My father hates to be kept waiting."

"Yeah, about that..." The Grandmaster muttered, handing the handkerchief back to Topaz. "You see, I was quite upset about the prospect of losing my most beloved champion, so, you wouldn't be-lieve my relief when I get a message from none other than The Mad Titan himself." Oh flark. Nebula visibly stiffened.

"It seems he didn't send you here for the champion after all. In fact, it seems like it's you he's after. He even sent you your own personal escort for the trip back." As he spoke a team of Kree soldiers dressed in heavy black armor streamed through the doorway and stood at attention. A dark skinned Kree man in matching black armor, but with obvious augmentations implanted in his helmet-less skull stepped through the door after them.

"Hello sister." The man greeted Nebula, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"Hello. Korath."

Ch 4 end.

#gotg #gotg2 #guardians #guardians of the galaxy #vol2 #Peter quill #Nebula #Drax #Drax the Destroyer #grandmaster #fanfiction #fanfic #fanwork #Astronautical #gotg astronautical #Chapter 4

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toldnews-blog · 5 years

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/world/how-to-make-an-avengers-film-in-11-steps/

How to make an Avengers film in 11 steps

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption The Avengers cast and crew (L-R): Joe and Anthony Russo, Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner and Brie Larson

Avengers: Endgame, the fourth instalment in Marvel’s superhero crossover franchise, made an unprecedented $1.2bn at the box office last weekend.

It’s the biggest three-day haul in movie history; and a testament to the strength of Marvel’s serialised approach to story-telling.

Directors Joe and Anthony Russo said they were “definitely surprised” by the film’s “runaway success” – but also announced they were taking a break from the superhero genre, after making two Captain America and two Avengers films in the space of seven years.

“One of the most important things we learned is that when you’re shooting two of the largest movies ever made, and you’re shooting them back to back… is don’t shoot ’em back to back,” Anthony told BBC News, confirming the duo’s departure.

Joss Whedon experienced similar emotions after writing and directing the series’ first two instalments.

“Why on Earth would I make another Avengers movie? They’re really hard,” he mused on the DVD commentary for Age of Ultron. “It was ill advised. I see that now.”

But Marvel’s Cinematic Universe will continue – with new instalments of Spider-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy already confirmed; and a new configuration of The Avengers almost a certainty.

If you somehow end up in the directors’ chair, how should you prepare? Here are 11 key lessons from the people who made the originals.

This article does not contain spoilers for Avengers: Endgame, but will discuss plot details from the preceding films.

1) Start out on a TV show

Image copyright Fox

Image caption The Russos directed the pilot of Arrested Development, and have referenced the show in both Infinity War and Captain America: Civil War

All three directors of The Avengers made their names in TV. Joss Whedon created Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly; while the Russo brothers worked on cult comedies Community and Arrested Development.

Those experiences were invaluable when it came to wrangling a cast of more than 20 characters, “because they are all ensemble shows,” says Joe Russo.

“Those were shows that had to be executed in 21 minutes, they had to be funny, and they had to have a plot. And sometimes, like in an episode of Community, you’d have 30 speaking parts – so that’s an exercise that certainly trained you in trying to contain as many characters as we do in two hours.”

“We’re drawn to multiple points of view and group dynamics, because we grew up in a very large Italian-American family,” adds Anthony, “so we’ve always loved working with ensembles.”

2) Know the characters inside-out

Image copyright Disney

Image caption The first Avengers film brought together six heroes, now there are more than 20

The joy of the Avengers is seeing how these disparate characters, and the actors who play them, interact.

“There is a natural competition when the leads from two different franchises get together and it plays right into the competition of two heroes getting together – so it is delightful,” observed Infinity War script-writer Chris Markus last year.

“A very compelling element of crossovers is who has primacy. They’re all leaders, they’re all used to leading their own worlds, and once you put them into the same room, who gets to call the shots? That is a notion we revisit several times.”

Still, it’s a challenge to give 23 separate characters a distinct voice in the confines of a three-hour film.

Luckily, there’s an old screenwriting tip that comes in handy: If your characters are well-written, you should know how each of then would react if they accidentally fall into a swimming pool.

“Thor from Infinity War would mess that pool up,” says Anthony. “Whereas Rocket – he’s not exceedingly self-deprecating, so I think I could see him gag and spit. He’d be a little irritated.”

3) Take a lot of toilet breaks

Image copyright Shutterstock

Image caption Even superheroes need the bathroom

Scott Derrickson recently tweeted how he “ran into Joe Russo outside the men’s room,” while he was editing the Doctor Strange film in 2015.

“He pitched me the basic story for both Infinity War and Endgame [and] I told him that if he could make the first movie work, the second movie would be incredible.”

Which begs the question: How long did Joe keep his colleague waiting for the loo?

“I think it was like a 10-minute pitch,” he laughs.

“But the funniest thing is that people are like, ‘Do you guys get together at Marvel all the time and have meetings about the storylines?’

“And the answer is, ‘No, it all happens on the way to the bathroom’. That’s where everyone runs into one another and starts exchanging information.”

In other words, don’t hold it in.

4) Keep the story simple

Image copyright Disney

Image caption The search for the Infinity Stones is the key plot device of Avengers: Infinity War

For all of the acclaim heaped on Infinity War, the plot can be boiled down to three words: “Thanos wants stones”.

“We have so many characters in the movie that we knew if the plot was complicated, it would take too [long] to explain and that would take away from the characters and the action,” said screenwriter Chris Markus on the DVD commentary.

Even the number of Infinity Stones caused a headache, said co-writer Steve McFeely.

“Had we invented the idea of Infinity Stones in a vacuum, I’m sure we would not have decided there were six of them. Six MacGuffins is a lot for one movie.”

To keep things moving, the Russos dictated that every scene “had to do more than one thing”.

So the opening sequence – in which Thanos crushes the Hulk, kills Thor’s brother Loki and steals one of the Infinity Stones – conveys three plot points in two minutes.

“It establishes Hulk’s journey – he’s been defeated and doesn’t particularly want to help [Bruce] Banner over the course of the movie,” explained Anthony Russo.

“It establishes a vengeance story for Thor by taking out his brother, and it establishes the plot for stone collection.”

5) The odds should seem insurmountable

Image copyright Disney

Image caption Just another day at the office

“I wanted to make a movie where being a superhero wasn’t a free pass,” said Joss Whedon, about scripting the first Avengers film in 2012.

“Where things were tough enough that you would be as strong as you could possibly be and still not be enough to deal with what was going on.

“The stakes,” he added, “are always the same.

“The stakes are: You could die.”

6) Acknowledge the ridiculous

Image copyright Disney

Image caption He’s behiiiiind you

When your heroes are up against a sentient robot who’s ripped an entire city off the face of the planet, it pays to acknowledge that everything’s a bit far-fetched.

And so, at the climax of Age of Ultron, Hawkeye takes stock of the situation and says: “We’re fighting an army of robots and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense.”

“I refer to that as ‘inoculation,'” Whedon explained. “He says the thing we’re all thinking, and it plays.”

7) Talk to the animators

Image copyright Disney

Image caption Hulk and Thanos are based on motion-captured performances by Mark Ruffalo and Josh Brolin

The Avengers films are some of the most effects-heavy movies in history, with four major characters – Thanos, Hulk, Rocket and Groot – created by computer animation.

Making them believable is a crucial task, so both Whedon and the Russos started working with artists before the scripts were written.

“Thanos was difficult,” says Joe Russo. “We knew we were sunk if Thanos wasn’t photo-real, so we spent two years doing research and development on Thanos and making sure that he would work correctly.”

For his debut as the Hulk, actor Mark Ruffalo even wrote a letter to the effects team, stressing that his motion-captured performances were only the first stage of creating the character.

“We are all playing this part,” he wrote. “I have taken it as far as I can and you guys have to use what you can and then forget about me and become the Hulk.”

“It was incredibly inspiring to the animators,” recalled Whedon, who set aside a day to explain how the movie portrayed two different aspects of the green-skinned monster: “The one Bruce Banner becomes unwittingly and the one he decides to be”.

“What I found out later was that most of them – in fact all of them – had not been able to see the script, so they were just animating things in a vacuum,” he said. “So it was incredibly productive.”

8) Always put the raccoon on a chair*

Image copyright Disney

Image caption Size isn’t everything…

Have you ever noticed that Rocket – the CGI raccoon played by Bradley Cooper – is almost always standing on a chair?

“That’s a great point,” says Anthony. “When you’re dealing with characters of radically different sizes, it presents a lot of framing challenges.

“You start to learn tricks in blocking [staging the scene] to keep everyone in the same relative plane, so you can actually shoot them.”

(* or a table)

9) Ban t-shirts

When we first meet Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow in Avengers Assemble, she’s tied to a chair, barefoot and in a vest top, apparently being interrogated by shadowy Russian forces.

Of course, she breaks free in spectacular fashion… but her outfit made it one of the hardest stunt scenes to choreograph.

“Whenever you say ‘she has no sleeves’ to your stunt co-ordinator he cries man tears,” Joss Whedon noted afterwards.

“It’s very difficult to do a lot of these things if you can’t pad up the knees and elbows.”

10) Embrace the darkness

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Joss Whedon clashed with Marvel during the making of Age Of Ultron

Making these films is “incredibly physically demanding,” says Joe Russo, and there will inevitably be dark days.

“When you start out, it’s all perfect in your head,” Whedon told BBC News in 2015, “and when you work with the actors, it gets better.

“Then at some point you’ve been editing for so long you start thinking. ‘Who am I? What’s happening?’ and you forget why you ever showed up, and what you’re trying to say. And you despair. It’s a very bleak experience.

11) Emotion > action

Image copyright Disney

Image caption Thor is sad

Adding character beats to action sequences has been Joss Whedon’s calling card since Buffy – and he pulls it off perfectly in Age Of Ultron’s climactic battle, where Hawkeye stops whaling on the bad guys to discuss home improvements.

“You know what I need to do? The dining room,” he tells Black Widow. “If I knock out that east wall, it’ll make a nice work space… What do you think?”

“That sequence is, for me, the reason I show up,” Whedon said in the commentary. “Where two people in the apocalypse are talking about re-doing the dining room, that says more about their relationship than anything else I could have done.”

The Infinity War team made a similar decision. Their film doesn’t end with a battle but the emotional fallout of Thanos’s “snap” – scenes that left some viewers in tears.

So what will they feel when they walk out of Endgame?

“Catharsis,” says Joe Russo.

“We realise how impactful the Infinity War ending was,” adds his brother.

“We saw how difficult it was for many people and that’s something that we really respect. So we were very committed to paying off that kind of a story.”

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at Toldnewsnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected].

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zhumeimv · 5 years

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Why One Of The Most Emotional Scenes Was Cut From Endgame

Date: 2020-01-09 15:00:05

[aoa id=’0′][dn_wp_yt_youtube_source type=”101″ id=”YhJktDkGgTE”][/aoa]

When it comes to the creative process, there’s a method to the madness of Avengers: Endgame co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo.

During a Reddit “ask-me-anything” session, the ace filmmakers responded to a fan who asked why one of the flick’s more famous deleted scenes, in which all of the assembled…

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braveclementine · 2 months

Text

On the Spaceship

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

"In all the time I've served Thanos, I have never failed him. If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be judgment."

The needles that were around him, slowly pierced him. Stephen flinched, holding back his cries of pain. He brought up the image of Sam laughing in his head, focusing on that memory only. He was doing all of this for Sam.

"Give me. . . the stone."

Stephen could feel his entire body vibrating in pain. The needle in his cheek was the most painful, feeling like it was going to explode. Sam's face was starting to become blurry. He need to hold on.

If only for Sam.

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Tony leaned over the edge to see far below the wizard was being tortured. Something tapped him on the arm and he immediately reacted, pointing his blaster at the floating red cloak in the air. It held up its end flaps, almost in a surrendering gesture to show it was harmless.

"Wow, you're a seriously loyal piece of outerwear, aren't you?" Tony asked, heart beating a million miles an hour, but slowing. It started to speed right back up again though, when another voice suddenly cut in.

"Yeah, uh, speaking of loyalty." He watched the spider kid drop from the ceiling, his mask coming off.

"What the-"

"I know what you're gonna say."

"You should not be here!"

"I was gonna go home-"

"I don't wanna hear it."

"But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way-"

"-and now I got to hear about it."

"-and kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way-"

"Damn it."

"-So if anything, it's kinda your fault that I'm here."

"What did you just say?"

"I-I take that back." He said very quickly. "And now, I'm here in space."

"Yeah, right where I didn't want you to be." He stepped right up to the kid and said quietly. "This isn't Coney Island, this isn't a field trip. This is a one-way ticket. You hear me? Don't pretend you thought this through."

"No, I did think this through."

"You could not have possibly thought this through."

"You can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider- man if there's no neighborhood." There was a pause where they stared at each other and then he said, "Okay, that didn't really make sense, but you know why I'm trying to say."

Tony sighed. "Come on. We got a situation." They walked to the edge and he pointed, "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go."

"Um. . . Okay, okay Um. . . Okay. Did you ever see this really old movie, Aliens?"

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Stephen cried out in pain. It wasn't so much seeing Sam's face as a human now, anymore. It was now when he had met Sam, when he had been a stoat. It had been so strange, turning into a creature like a stoat. Sam had found him just adorable.

Stephen found he had loved the affection and pets that Sam had given him, after he learned to accept the care. It had been hard at first, always thinking he was the most dominant, the smartest, all of it. But maybe he'd needed it, maybe that was why he had been the animal. To tone his ego down a little bit.

He loved Sam. So much. And if he didn't get to see him after this, at least he would be safe. Sam would be safe.

"Painful, aren't they? They were originally designed for microsurgery. And any one of them-" He paused and Stephen saw Iron Man standing behind him, fully equipped in his suit and blasters pointed at the alien, "Could end your friends life in an instant."

"I gotta tell you he's not really my friend." Tony said and Stephen fought the urge to roll his eyes, even with the pain he was in. "Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy."

"You've saved nothing." The alien said, calling up a box behind him to throw at Stark. "Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine."

"Yeah, but the kids seen more movies." Tony said.

Kid? What kid?

Stark shot the blaster at the spaceship, which ripped the alien out. Consequentially, it ripped Stephen out too. His cape grabbed his arm, but couldn't keep the grip. He felt something grab him from behind and then went out into space. His breath caught in his throat and then jolted before he heard someone shout, "Yes! Wait, what are those!"

Then he was being pulled inside again, and he landed harshly on metal. He wasn't even up on his feet when he heard a young, teenage voice said, "Hey, we haven't officially met." And then, "Cool."

"Gotta turn this ship around." Stephen muttered, pushing to his feet, his cloak settling on his shoulders.

"Yeah, now he wants to run. Great plan." Stark snipped as he walked by.

"No, I want to protect the stone." Stephen said. He could feel blood running down his face and knew Sam was going to kill him when he got home.

"And I want you to thank me." Stark responded. "Now, go ahead, I'm listening."

God, all of the advice that Y/N had given Sam on how to deal with egotistical dickheads really was true experience.

"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?"

"Who just saved your magical ass? Me!"

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet." Stephen responded.

"Admit it, you should have ducked out when I told you to." Stark snapped. "I tried to bench you. You refused."

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you." Stephen snarked.

"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles from Earth with no backup."

"I'm backup." The kid said, raising a hand.

"No, you're a stowaway." Stark responded. "The adults are talking."

"I'm sorry. I'm confused as to the relationship here. What is he, your ward?"

"No." The kid said. "I'm Peter, by the way."

"Doctor Strange." Stephen responded, not wanting to bring any anger out on the kid. It wasn't his fault. Although he also knew that Stark probably just wanted to get home to his wife and two kids. Although Stephen was also still pissed that Tony was the reason Sam was on the run.

"Oh, you're using our made-up names. Um. . . I'm Spider- man then."

"This ship is self-correcting its course. It's on autopilot." Stark said from up front.

"Can we control it." Stephen asked, not really wanting to end up at the location it was going for. "Fly us home?" When Stark didn't answer, Stephen barked, "Stark?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get us home?"

"Yeah, I heard you. I'm thinking I'm not so sure we should." Stark finally said.

"Under no circumstances can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos." Stephen growled through his teeth. "I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."

"What? No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years. Since he sent an army to New York and now he's back." He was inches from Stephens face, spitting mad but Stephen didn't move an inch. "And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his, but you saw, what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?"

Stephen felt a rush of emotions towards Stark. There was still anger over making Sam run and hide. But there was an admiration there on his thinking, and also a small rush of affection towards the first bit. Or perhaps not necessarily affection more. . . leniency?

"All right, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand, if it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die." Stephen said slowly and firmly. "I can't, because the universe depends on it."

"Nice. Good, moral compass." Stark responded, patting him on the arm, though Stephen could see the pain in the eyes as he moved away, his fingers touching his wrist where Y/N's animal name would've been. "We're straight." Stephen watched him walk away with his eyes. "All right, kid." He touched both his shoulders, "You're an Avenger now."

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Tony and Stephen had been standing at the front of the ship for a while. Tony was staring at a photo of him, Y/N, Everleigh, and Arlo. It was a new picture, only taken a few weeks ago. Professional pictures done on the Avengers Compound since Y/N couldn't leave.

It was an old fashioned thing to do, carry a photo of your family around. One that you could actually touch. One that if it was bent or folded over and over would crease. But he treasured it. And now he was glad that he had it.

He noticed then, that in the very back he had photos of some of the Avengers. He had never been sure why he hadn't tossed them, but something stopped him every time. He glanced over at the wizard and sighed a little, quickly flipping through them.

With the photograph face down, he held it out without looking at the wizard. When Stephen took it, he walked forwards to see that they were almost touching down on the planet.

"Hey, what's happening?" The kid asked.

Tony turned to see the kid and saw Stephen looking down at the photo. "I think we're here." Stephen said, tucking the photo into his pocket.

"I don't think this rig has a self-parking function." Tony said, walking back and looking at Peter, "Get your hand inside the steering gimbal. Close those around it." He closed it around his own arm, getting ready, bracing himself.

"You understand?"

"Yep, I got it."

"This was meant for one big guy, so we gotta move at the same time."

"Okay, okay. Ready." They neared what look like a big star. "We might want to turn. Turn! Turn! Turn! Turn! Turn!" Peter repeated frantically over and over.

Tony closed his Iron man suit around him to help him out and the kid let the entire Spider-man suit close around him. Orange shield appeared around all of them as the wizard protected them, the ship coming apart around them.

"You all right?" Stephen asked, helping Tony to his feet.

"That was close." Was all he said. "I owe you one."

Peter came down from the ceiling, hanging upside down, "Let me just say, if aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something and I eat one of you, I'm sorry."

"I do not want another single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Tony asked, not wanting to think about aliens planting eggs in anyone at all.

"I'm trying to say that something is coming." Peter said, pointing his thumb behind him.

Well, maybe that's all he should have said.

Something suddenly landed by their feet, exploding. Tony went flying, as well as the wizard.

Tony flew around as another guy flew around. He tossed him off of him, but he pressed a button, an electrode attaching Tony to a piece of the ship. He grunted, trying to push off it. Tony finally managed to get off, planting his foot on another alien man with red lines on his chest.

"Everybody stay where you are. Chill the eff out." The man who had been flying said, his blaster pointed straight at Peter's head, his arms tied together. The man let his helmet down to show that he looked like a rather normal human being, "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?"

"Yeah. I'll do you one better." Tony said frantically, also letting his helmet come down, "Who's Gamora?"

"I'll do you one better." The man below his foot grunted, "Why is Gamora?"

"Tell me where the girl is or I swear to you I'm gonna French fry this little freak."

"Let's do it. You shoot my guy and I'll blast him. Let's go!" Tony shouted angrily.

"Do it, Quill! I can take it!" The guy below his blaster shouted.

"No, he can't take it!" The strange alien girl with feelers on her head, tied up by Peter's ropes shouted.

"She's right. You can't." Stephen said, almost in a bored tone.

"Oh Yeah? You don't wanna tell me where she is? That's fine. I'll kill all three of you and I'll beat it out of Thanos myself. Starting with you."

"Wait, what, Thanos?" Stephen asked quickly. "All right, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?"

"What master do I serve? What am I supposed to say, 'Jesus'?" The Quill guy taunted.

"You're from Earth?" Tony asked.

"I'm not from Earth. I'm from Missouri." Quill said stupidly.

"Yeah, that's on Earth dipshit." Tony responded. "What are you hassling us for?"

"So you're not with Thanos?" Peter asked, letting his mask come down too.

Quil sounded disgusted as he answered, "With Thanos? No, I'm here to kill Thanos." He lowered his gun a little bit. "He took my girl. Wait, who are you?"

"We're the Avengers man." Peter said.

"Oh! You're the ones Thor told us about." The creepy insect girl said.

"You know Thor?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good looking, needed saving." Quil answered.

Needed saving. . . well if Thanos had blasted the ship apart, yeah he probably had needed saving. As for the good looking part. . . well Quil was probably just jealous because he wasn't much of a looker, in Tony's opinion.

"Where is he now?" Stephen asked.

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"The hell happened to this planet?" The guy, known as Peter Quil or Starlord, asked as they all stepped off the ship and onto the actual planet. "It's eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place."

"Yeah, we got one advantage. He's coming to us." Tony muttered, looking around. "We'll use it. All right, I have a plan." He was dismayed when he turned around and saw insect girl- Mantis fittingly enough- jumping up and down in a pocket of less gravity. "Or at least the beginnings of one. It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don't want to dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet." He spun around, "Are you yawning?"

Drax was indeed yawning and Tony went off on his rant, "In the middle of this, while I'm breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?"

"I stopped listening after you said, 'we need a plan'." Drax said calmly.

"Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page." Tony sighed, looking back at Starlord.

"See, 'not winging it' isn't really what they do." Quil explained.

"Um, what exactly is it, that they do?" Peter asked quickly.

"Kick names, take ass." Mantis replied.

Drax agreed with her.

Tony sighed. There were a lot of things that he could say, but quite frankly, he didn't want to waste the energy. He just wanted to finish this, kill the stupid bastard, and get home to his family. Maybe saving the universe would get Y/N off house arrest and they could go out to an amusement park or something.

"All right, just get over here please. Mr. Lord, can you get your folks to circle up?"

"'Mr. Lord'. Star-Lord is fine." Quil answered calmly. He nodded his head so Drax and Mantis came forwards. Peter backed up a few inches.

"We gotta coalesce. 'Cause if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude-"

"Dude, don't call us plucky." Quil interrupted. "We don't know what it means. All right, we're optimistic, yes. I like your plan. Except it sucks, so let me do the plan and that way it might be really good."

"Tell him about the dance off to save the universe." Drax encouraged.

"What dance-off?" Tony asked, intrigued.

"It's nothing." Quil said quickly.

"Like in footloose, the movie?" Peter asked.

"Exactly like Footloose." Quil said excitedly. "Is it still the greatest movie in history?"

Great. There were two of them.

"It never was."

"Don't encourage this, all right?" Tony asked. "We're getting no help from Flash Gordon here."

"Flash Gordon? By the way, that's a compliment." Quil said from behind him. "Don't forget, I'm half human. So that fifty percent of me that's stupid, that's one hundred percent you."

"Your math is blowing my mind." Tony retorted.

"Excuse me." Mantis interrupted. "But does your friend often do that?"

Stephen was floating above a rock, green tendrils wrapped around his wrists. His head was jerking back and forth, side to side, up and down in weird movements. "Strange are we all right?" Tony shouted at him. Tony walked over to him and when Stephen dropped down, Tony put pressure on him so that he didn't fall off the rock. He knelt in front of him.

"You're back. You're all right." Tony said firmly.

"Hi."

"Hey, what was that?" Peter asked, sounding a little frightened from behind them.

Stephen was still breathing heavily as he explained, "I went forward in time to view alternate futures. To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict."

"How many did you see?" Quil asked from behind Tony.

"Fourteen million six hundred and five." Stephen replied.

"How many did we win?" Tony asked, dreading the answer. He could already read it on the wizards face.

"One."

6 notes · View notes