Shine Again (An Avengers: Infinity War/Endgame Story)

Chapter 24: Meeting The Guardians

    Thor stared at the ship that had landed next to theirs from a distance as he, Loki, Layla, and Anja approached carefully. He hadn't seen one like it before, and that alone was enough to cause him to worry slightly. They had no idea what kind of ship Thanos would be using, so it was possible they were walking right into a trap.

He raised an arm cautiously to the side, halting the other three in their tracks as a group of beings emerged from the new ship. "Be ready to fight," he warned quietly.

Thor didn't need to see his brother's face to know Loki rolled his eyes when he replied, "Always ready."

Before anyone else could answer, their attention was drawn back to the group standing outside the ship. Thor stared at them, trying to get a read on them. They were an odd bunch. A human, a green woman, a blue gray muscular man with red scars covering his body, a small furry creature Thor hadn't seen before, a tree-like humanoid, and a woman with antennae on her head. They made for a strange group of companions, but then again, so was their group of friends. Now, were they here in peace?

"Quill, you absolute idiot!" the small furry creature yelled up at a human, lowering a weapon down to its side. "There's nothing happening here!"

"How was I supposed to know that the raids were over?" the human male asked back, exasperated. It was then he noticed Thor, Loki, Layla, and Anja standing there and called out to them. "Hey! Are there still marauders here?"

"Uh no?" Thor responded. "You're very late. I put an end to their raids many years ago."

    "Oh," the man, Quill, said. "Well, err... thanks for that. For some reason we just got some calls about it. Damn machinery... Who are you?"

    "I'm Thor, King of Asgard," he introduced, gesturing at each of them. "And this is my brother, Loki, and our consorts, Layla and Anja."

    "Consort? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Anja questioned, indignant. "We aren't a bunch of concubines."

    "He doesn't mean it like that," Loki insisted quietly, trying to calm her down.

    Thor shook his head at her, but continued his focus on the newcomers. "Who the hell are you guys?"

    Quill, whom Thor was guessing was the leader at this point, spoke up again. "I'm Peter Quill, and we're the Guardians of the Galaxy!"

    Thor barely resisted rolling his eyes. Some job they were doing. Seems like Thanos would be someone the galaxy needed guarding from. He was going to say something, but Layla spoke up first.

    "Doing a pretty shitty job of it then, since Thanos is trying to kill all of us," she sassed. "Kinda seems like a huge threat to the galaxy."

    Thor swore she was going to get them all killed one day for snarking at the wrong person. Luckily, it seemed that today was not the day.

    Quill ran a hand through his fluffy brown hair, and then rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanos? Oh." He sighed, and glanced between his crew and Thor. "I think we have a lot to talk about."

*****

    Thor had led the Guardians onto The Frigga, and introduced them to the remaining members of their crew. It was a little cramped in there now, but the sixteen of them all squeezed into the lounge as they discussed the danger that threatened the universe as they knew it. It was nice to see there were others working against Thanos, and Thor was interested in seeing what they knew.

    "The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal: To bring balance to the Universe by wiping out half of all life," the green woman, Gamora, explained as she slowly paced the room. "He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre...."