"Ok. Say it again." MJ leaned forward to concentrate.

"I am Groot."

MJ pursed her lips deep in thought. "Now say the other one."

"I am Groot."

She looked over at Rocket. "I can hear a difference but I still have no idea what he's saying."

Rocket leaned over a placed a device behind her ear. "Ok, Groot. Say the first one again."

"I am Groot."

MJ jerked back. "That's amazing." She looked at Groot. "Yes, human babies are like saplings."

"I am Groot." Groot gestured towards the door.

MJ looked over. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I've seen him before." She sat back and watched the man pause at the door.

Remy froze at the entrance of the common area and stared at its occupants. There was indeed a raccoon. And a tree. Taking a deep breath he walked over to them. "Fury sent me to find either some guy named Quill or 'the raccoon'"

MJ frowned. She knew Peter had disappeared and just figured he and Tony got wrapped up in something. If Fury was here it meant there was more going on. She gestured to Rocket. "His name is Rocket."

Quill, hearing his name had moved over. "Who's Fury?"

"Former head of SHEILD, currently running SWORD. Can both of you come with me?" Remy knew he probably should explain a little better but he barely knew what was going on plus he wasn't sure who was supposed to know what's going on.

"ILYA, can you ask Karen or FRIDAY what's going on?"

Remy, Quill, and Rocket stared at MJ until her watch started talking. "You have an AI too?" Rocket shook his head. "Now I have to get one."

"Director Fury needs our guests to assist Captain Rogers." ILYA paused before continuing. "MJ, Peter is currently outside of MedBay. Karen has indicated that you might want to check on him."

MJ frowned. "Is he hurt?" She pushed herself out of her chair.

"No."

MJ looked over at Remy. "What's going on."

"Look, I barely know myself." He looked over at Rocket and Quill. "Will you please come with me to see Fury?"

The trio left the common area with MJ trailing behind them. Quill watched her split from their group and head to the elevator. He wondered what Peter was doing in MedBay but figured it would have to wait. "Why does Fury want to see us?"

"I honestly have no idea." Remy pushed open the door to let Rocket and Quill into ops. He frowned down at Rocket when he froze at the door.

"Why in the hell is there a Flerken here?" Rocket stared down at orange creature that had jumped down off of the table to check out the visitors.

Quill looked down as it rubbed against his legs. "He looks friendlier than the one we encountered on Arago-7."

"Don't let him fool you." Fury turned around and looked at their guests. He pointed to a screen. "Does your ship have anything that can help clear this?" He pointed to the rocks that had collapsed, covering the entrance to the cave system. The Hulk was currently throwing boulders but wasn't making a dent in the debris.

Rocket climbed on the desk to get a better look, carefully avoiding the Flerken. "Anything important on the inside that needs saving?"

"They were retrieving some alien tech. It's small enough that it can probably survive." Fury crossed his arms and looked at Rocket and Quill. "Can you do it?"

Rocket shrugged. "Probably. Do we get to keep whatever's inside?"

"No."

Quill looked at the image. He thought he could see Steve assisting the green creature. "You don't have anything you can use?" He had seen some of their fire power. He would have thought Tony could have taken care of this easily.

"All of the options that could have taken care of this are otherwise occupied." Fury had already gone through his options. The War Machine armor was severely damaged. Tony was unconscious in MedBay. They had pulled up the SWORD defense system but since it was mainly designed to thwart attacks, it was bound to do way more damage than they needed. Fury didn't think the neighboring villages 100 miles away would appreciate being obliterated. He knew Tony had drones but from what he knew of them he didn't think they'd be able to accomplish what he hoped Quill could. All he needed was for them to pulverize the stones in the cave so they could get to the ring.

Natasha walked into the room and slid behind Quill and Rocket. She took in the screens that currently just showed a still view of the site. She could see a very battered Steve, Bucky, and the Hulk. The view looked like it was coming from one of the cameras from a Quinjet. She leaned on the desk next to Maria. "Status?"

Natasha took the table that Maria offered her and tapped the screen to pull up each teams' status report. Sam and Rhodey had been evacuated. Rhodey wasn't hurt, he just had non-functioning armor at this point and had opted to go with Sam. Sam was another story all together. He had been hit in the side and then his wings had been hit with a weapon of "undetermined origin". The Hulk had stopped his free fall. The same weapon had caused the cave system to collapse with the bearer of the ring inside. Now they just needed something to pulverize the mountain and allow them to use the tracking device to locate the ring.

The Hong Kong operation had caused a complete power grid loss and on top of it, they had lost their target. Casualty reports were still coming in. Natasha put the tablet down and looked at Quill. "Let's go. We'll plan on the way." She looked over at Remy. "Escort the rest of their crew to the hanger. We'll meet you there."

Rocket crossed his arm. "You know, ever since meeting you people we keep doing things for you and no one ever pays us."

Natasha smiled. "I'm fairly certain you negotiated a better price for the jump drive." She put her hand up when Quill started to protest. "Which we assumed you would. What do you want for this?"

"I want an AI. Your ship has one, Peter has one. Even MJ has one."

Quill looked at Rocket in disbelief. An AI was so far down on his list of "things to ask for".

"Done. Let's go." Natasha slipped her hand in her pocket and pulled out the two rings. She dropped them in Fury's hand and walked out of ops smirking. She'd figure out how to get them an AI later.

A/N: Typically I aim for about 1,500 words per chapter. This one is a little short but the next section got much longer than I anticipated. So stay tuned! Reviews are appreciated! I can't ever figure out how you all are taking the story!