IV. THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

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IV. THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
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Luna knew something went wrong the moment they entered Titan's atmosphere. Some turbulence was to be expected, but this was too much. First, the left engine went out. Then the second. Within seconds, they were spinning and turning as the ship raced towards the surface. Tony and Luna leaned on each other for support as they sped back onto the bridge, trying to figure out the controls to steer the ship.
           
"Luna, there!" Tony yelled, pointing to two identical glove-like machinations.
           
She quickly caught on to what he was saying and ran to the other one, pushing the heavy machine into place. "Peter, come on, grab the other one!" she ordered. "Put your hand in the steering gimbal and close those latches!"
           
"This thing was made for one very big guy, so you two need to listen to my directions and move at the same time, got it?"
           
"Got it!" the two said, looking at the enormous window in front of them, taking in the fast-approaching image of Titan with racing hearts. The terrain, from what they could glimpse, was strange and alien, with large objects and the ruins of other ships that had crashed getting in the way of their crash-landing.
           
"Turn!" Tony yelled, managing to just barely avoid a head-on collision. "Come on, guys, you can do better!"
           
"Sorry Tony, you wanna switch?" Luna yelled back in frustration.
           
"You should learn to listen better!"
           
"Guys!" Peter screamed frantically, being the only person paying attention. "We should turn! Turn! Turn!"
           
They looked ahead barely on time and Luna swerved, together with Peter, to avoid whatever it was that was suddenly in front of them. The tail of the ship crashed against it, breaking off, basically making a good landing impossible.
           
"Down!" Tony said. "Just down, guys, just land this fucking thing!"
           
"Preferably without killing us," Dr. Strange added from where he stood comfortably, watching the three of them struggle.
           
Luna and Peter shared a glance and pulled down at the same time, the ship following. The ground got clearer and clearer, closer and closer when Tony said, "Up!" and the two of them pulled up again, steadying the ship, making it so the back-end crashed into the ground and not the front-end they currently found themselves in.

The ship rumbled as it touched down roughly, holes being ripped in the outer walls, any protrusions on the outside of the ship breaking off, being flung into the distance. It skidded for a good minute across the planet's surface, pieces of ship being shredded and torn by the environment. Dr. Strange stood in the middle of the group, moving his hands in strange motions, his orange, mystical magic protecting them from harm.
           
When the ship finally came to a stand-still, the four picked themselves up from the floor, catching their breath. Luna ran to what looked like the control panel and began pressing buttons, looking for anything that still had some juice in it, to no avail.
           
"Fuck!" she screamed, slamming her hands down. She turned and faced Tony. "There goes our only fucking way of ever making it back to Earth! Fucking—Fuck!"
           
Tony rubbed a hand across his face, sighing deeply.
           
"Are you two okay?" Dr. Strange approached them.
           
Tony nodded. "Physically, as well as could be. I owe you one."
          
Luna yelped as Peter suddenly spoke from behind her, hanging upside down from one of his webs. "Let me just say, if aliens wind up planting eggs in my chest or something and I eat one of you, I'm sorry."
          
Tony held up a finger. "I do not want a single pop culture reference out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?"
           
He opened his mouth to protest, jumping down and standing upright. "I'm trying to say that something is coming."
           
A sound of something rolling across the metal floor broke the awkward silence. A ball rolled between Tony's legs and came to a stop in the middle of the group. Before anyone had any time to react, it went off, blasting them through the air. Luna crashed against one of the metal pillars before tumbling to the ground in a heap. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her shoulder, she gathered herself back up. A group of three invaders charged through the entrance of the ship.
           
"THANOS!" the biggest of them yelled, throwing a dagger at Dr. Strange. He quickly put up a shield to block the dagger from embedding itself in his face. Shaking off the surprise, he sent his cape to deal with the alien-looking man.
           
"Who the fuck are these guys?" Luna yelled above the chaos, pushing the air beneath her feet to charge forward at an impressive speed.

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