Hello again! This chapter deals with more team bonding and Tony trying to get the strongest Avengers ready for the final battle.

Hope you all like it!

As Rocket and Carol lifted the ship back into space and off Xandar, Tony began to think some more as it would still be a while until the next jump point.

So Squidward, the big dude and their "friends" were back. An alien woman with long blue hair and horns or something on her face and a goblin looking guy in a cloak. Great. Reminds him of that goblin masked guy Peter was telling him about. Flies around on a glider and has bombs that look like pumpkins or something. He would look more into it once Peter was back, of course. The kid was smart and dependable, after all. He's the reason Toomes didn't steal all of The Avengers' equipment and Tony even offered to make him an Avenger for it, but it was all just a test. Or so he likes to think. But that's beside the point.

Apparently, aliens in New York wasn't bad enough, now it's these other aliens, while clearly not as many, they were unquestionably more powerful. Squidward was such a pain. His annoying little antics were beyond frustrating to listen to. He may have problems with Strange, but at least he didn't go on ego stroking tangents before battle like Squidward did. He would deal with him again when the time comes.

Then the big dude. For whatever reason, he has yet to talk. He wasn't sure what that was about, but he did remind of someone on his side while looking at Bruce. Though he was thinking of The Hulk when looking at Bruce. Tony needed him to snap out of it. They needed The Other Guy when they face Thanos again. He needed all the heavy hitters on the ship ready to go for that showdown.

The other two, Tony didn't have clear thoughts on Squidward's other pals yet, but from what he saw back on Xandar, they both are just like him and the big dude.

Xandar was a pretty interesting place for sure. Despite the damage, it almost reminded him of earth. Even that really nice Dey guy looked human. Though the stories he talked about were kinda crazy. This Ronan guy for one thing. Apparently the two pilots on the ship knew him as well. He would definitely ask them about that in a little bit. Though one of the pilots, the new Captain, while awesome and will totally be of great help in the final battle against Thanos, she seemed to be down a lot. Tony could understand guilt perfectly well. He saw what Stane was doing with his weapons in that cave and he shut it down. But while he was more or less good with hiding his guilt, she seemed to show it all the time. He needed her to snap out of this as well. He can't have his heavy hitters in a state like that. Not with Thanos still alive.

And Pointbreak at least seems fine. Still in shape and the new weapon he had was pretty rad he would say. Though the story behind the creepy old man that gave him that new haircut was pretty funny. His sister seemed like she would be very useful too. Past aside, but that's not his business, of course. He guessed everyone just had daddy issues like him.

But now is not the time for that. Thanos is who he must be focused on right now. His haunt and curse for six years now. The plague inside his head. Tony had to stop him. He would not rest until the universe was free of that disease once and for all.

It was time to start getting his team ready and clear the minds of his heavy hitters for the final battle against the monster that knows his name.

"So pilots! What's the deal with this "Ronan" guy?" Tony asked to get a conversation started with Carol and the entertaining raccoon.

"Oh just a blue alien crazy with a hammer." Rocket answered remembering that nutjob.

"Yeah? Why did he attack Xandar?" Tony asked wanting more information.

"Because Ronan likes to carpet-bomb planets since he's bloodthirsty." Carol answered remembering and regretting not stopping him sooner.

"Right. Uh, you mentioned to Rocket here at "The Garden" you had him running scared from earth. When did that happened?" Tony asked curious.

"About twenty five years ago after I forsake The Kree and they sent him to try and kill me and a group of people I hurt. I went up and destroyed part of his fleet and let him retreat, but that was a mistake now that you know what happened at Xandar." Carol explained guilt-ridden.

"Yeah, but you don't need to worry about that crazy anymore." Rocket said trying to cheer his co-pilot up. "Did you know this other Kree crazy with him named Korath?" Rocket asked, interested if she had crossed paths with him before as well.

"Oh yeah. He was on the "team" I served on. A real jerk among a team of jerks." Carol answered in disgust remembering Starforce.

"Heh, you got that right! Know why he was like this weird cyborg thing? My friend said he had like wires in his head or something after kicking his ass. " Rocket asked wanting to know if she knew that as well as it been bugging him for like four years now.

"Oh that must be because of the fight I had with him right after I disowned The Kree. We were on a battlecruiser and I knocked him into this spinning cylinder thing, but I couldn't just leave him there, so I got him out of it and knocked him out. I guess I should have taken care of him sooner too." Carol said sighing.

"Nah, if you did, then I would have never had all this joke material!" Rocket exclaimed out to which Carol laughed a little bit at that.

"Yeah, Rocket is right. You're too hard on yourself. I mean you went out by yourself and risked your life to save me and Nebula, so you're totally a hero in my book." Tony told Carol trying to get to be more confident as he needed her ready for the fight against Thanos. "Look, forever ago now, I found out my business partner was selling weapons to the bad guys and I shut it down after fighting with him, of course. I felt terrible about it, and I've made many mistakes since then." Tony told Carol while looking at Steve and Natasha. "But despite that, I always try do what's right regardless of what I did in the past. You can't change the past, but you make your future better than what it was. I know Fury would not have called you in if you weren't hero worthy material, so just stop thinking about the past all the time and just worry about the future. Specifically with that douche, alright?" Tony said concluding his message of trying to get this guilt out of her head for a while. There was too much at stake and he needed his entire team confident and focused.

"Alright. I'll try. Thanks." Carol said feeling better. Who knew being on a team of actual good people could make her feel so much better?

"Nice! Now, Bruce, why won't he come out?" Tony asked Bruce. He needed The Hulk back.

"Oh uh, I think he's upset and scared after we lost to Thanos back on Thor's ship a few weeks ago." Bruce answered still remembering crashing into Strange's house and warning him and his friend, "Thanos is coming. He's coming."

"Right. Well, how do we get to come back out?" Tony asked determined to get The Hulk back.

"I honestly don't know. Maybe if we could promise him he won't lose again or something?" Bruce answered trying to think of ways to get The Hulk out. He thought it was nice being just Bruce for once without having to worry about him coming out, but he knew The Hulk was needed for what was to come. And plus, he thought it would be nice for both of them to get payback against Thanos.

"Well, how do we that? Do I tell you that we will have his back and he'll come out or what?" Tony asked annoyed The Other Guy hasn't been available to fight against Squidward and his pals twice already.

"I don't think it works like that, Tony. But I guess we'll just have to see. Maybe we can convince him he's welcomed and accepted in the team too somehow?" Bruce said pondering how to get him out.

"Of course he is. I mean when I say when we're a home and family for everyone on this team. The Hulk has earned his place too as far as I'm concerned." Steve said to Bruce who greatly appreciated that comment.

"Thanks, Cap. I'm sure he'll come back when we really need him too. Let's just give sometime." Bruce said while looking at Tony.

"Well, okay. I know he'll be back when it's time. Anyway, Pointbreak! You doing good?" Tony asked Thor next to start a conversation about his sister.

"Oh yes. As best as I can be." Thor responded somewhat cheerfully.

"That's good! So is your sister reliable or what?" Tony asked needing to know. The more heavy hitters the better.

"I do not know. She is pain from her past like the rest of us. Only she takes it out the worst possible way. It is unfortunate father raised her that way." Thor said sighing.

"How could any father treat their daughter like that?" Scott asked thinking of Cassie and beyond horrified of even the thought of doing to her what Thor's dad to his sister.

"I'm afraid I don't know. My whole family is a mess." Thor said sighing again.

"At least we're not, man. I mean, yeah we're screwed up sometimes and do some dumb things, but at the end of the day we got each other's backs." Clint said trying to cheer Thor up.

"Thanks, Barton." Thor said with a smile.

"Sheesh. Bad families are the worst! Quill's crazy ass dad put a tumor in his mom's head, killed a lot of his own kids, and then tried to Quill as a battery or something to assimilate the universe. And he was an actual planet as well. Creepy as hell." Rocket said remembering that other crazy adventure with his friends.

"A living planet?" Rhodey asked dumbstruck.

"Yep. A real jackass like my friend use to say before we killed him." Rocket answered sadly remembering Yondu's sacrifice.

"Are things like this common out here?" Natasha asked bewildered.

"Oh yeah, lady, you have no idea the crap we've seen out here." Rocket said with a smirk.

"Wow, that's, um, crazy for sure." Tony remarked after hearing that. He guess had talked enough to the team for now, but would bring more of this up later. He needed to ask Nebula soon about weaknesses Thanos had and other things that could be of help.

"Hey, guys I'm picking up a distress signal nearby. Coming from a ship. Something about them looking for their king?" Carol told the team confused as she looked at the screen on her pilot's chair.

"Oh it must be what's left of my people! Take us there right away Rabbit and other good Captain!" Thor exclaimed happy that some of his people have survived after all. Rocket and Carol then flew the ship towards the source of the distress signal to help.

I hope you all enjoyed that!