Marvel Takes a Vacation
The city was safe once more. As the Avengers headed back to Avengers Tower, each nursed different thoughts in their heads. Tony was thinking of ways to equip his suit better for the next battle; Steve was thinking of his enormous bathtub in his room, and the magnificent bath he'd be taking in a few short minutes; Clint and Natasha were considering their debrief with Director Fury, and what he'd say about the Avengers' performance; The Hulk was focusing on calming down so he could return to normalcy, and therefore fit though the doors; Thor was fantasizing about raiding the fridge; and Peter Parker was thinking about his AP Chem homework, and ruminating on why New York seemed so popular to supervillains.
I mean really, he thought, there are much better, less obvious places to hatch plans to take over the world.
Each of their thoughts were interrupted when they stepped out of the elevator onto the main floor, however, because Nick Fury, Director of SHIELD, was standing in the middle of the room with an unpleasant look on his face. He wore his trademark trench coat, and the ever-present eye patch covered his left eye.
"Well done, everyone," he said, the sarcasm in his voice lethal. "I love how you always manage to defeat the bad guy with no team coordination whatsoever. Really impressive."
The Avengers, standing just outside the elevator, shifted awkwardly and glanced at one another, wondering where this was going.
Fury sighed and continued, pacing across the floor: "This team cannot work without each of you working together as one whole, cohesive unit. You need to learn about each other: your strengths, your weaknesses, how you think-everything. You need to know each other as well as you know yourself." Here he paused, to let what he'd said sink in. He noticed that Natasha looked rather awkward after that last sentence. "I know it won't be easy, but I've arranged for you to have some time off away from the city. A vacation."
"WHAT!?" Tony shouted. "What about the city? Who'll protect against the inexplicably high amount of crime and villainy?"
"Rest assured, Stark, SHIELD is on it," replied Fury. "We've put together other teams of superheroes for situations like this-Spidey's New Warriors are especially ready for a chance to prove their mettle. The city will be in good hands; we have more heroes than you realize."
"But-But-But they weren't in our movie!" shouted Stark.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, the team shied away from Tony, and Fury shouted, "STARK! FOURTH WALL!"
"Sorry, sorry, I forgot. My bad, guys," said Tony meekly.
Fury pinched the bridge of his nose. "I've arranged for you all to go camping together in Washington. A week of fishing, hunting, boating, kayaking, whatever you want. But you WILL bond, and you WILL come back a better team. Do I make myself clear?"
The team nodded sullenly, dreading the coming week.
"I SAID," shouted Fury, "IS. THAT. CLEAR!?"
"SIR, YES SIR!" yelled the Avengers in reply.
"Good," growled Fury. "Now go pack your things."
/
Elsewhere, the Milano glided through the dark emptiness of space with the Guardians of the Galaxy onboard. Gamora lounged in the cockpit, Groot was regrowing on the tabletop, Drax was pigging out in the kitchen, Rocket was fixing a coolant system valve, and Star Lord was "helping" him.
"Hey Quill, hand me that spanner, wouldja?"
"Busy, Rocket," said Quill, not looking up from his phone.
"No you aren't," Rocket exclaimed. "You're texting that Terran chick again. How do you even get service out here?"
"'That Terran chick' has a name, furball. I suggest you use it, unless you enjoy breathing space."
"Urgh, fine, are you still texting Molly?" Rocket asked in a mocking tone, rolling his eyes.
"I am. In fact, she just invited us to Earth for a vacation. Who likes camping?"
"Meh," said Gamora.
"Not particularly," responded Drax around a mouthful of freeze-dried spaghetti.
"Nope." That was Rocket.
"I am Groot!" came the small voice of the tree.
"Great! Let's get going," said Star Lord. "Gamora, set us a course for Washington."
/
