As the Guardians of the galaxy was seated in this pizza place called Pizza hut with a good chunk of their welcoming committee Quill was starting to get the hang of this.
The dude in the robo suite was one Tony Stark, son of famous Howard Stark whom Quill did in fact vaguely remember from his childhood, being on television and stuff. Apparently he was a crime fighter now.
The guy looking like Captain America actually was the real Captain America! Dug out from the active ice and somehow alive.
King Thor was an alien, but currently had asylum on earth with his people. The nerdy guy was some Bruce Banner and apparently he had super powers. They weren't supposed to make him angry.
And then there was the dude with the bow and the lady with the red hair, both shield agents. And those were the ones now sitting at the opposite side of the table which had five huge pizzas plopped unto it.
"This is indeed good!" Drax proclaimed as he was stuffing his face with Pizza.
Gamora was sitting with a more modest piece nibbling at it… And Rockets fur was already covered in cheese and grease.
Quill probably should have realized introducing pizza to a racoon wasn't a good idea, the greasy cheese was like cocaine for Racoons.
"So." Tony Stark commented leaning forward while sucking on a straw to his coke. "Human living in space huh?"
"Well… Technically I am only half human." Quill admitted. "My mom was a human. My dad was something called a Celestial."
"What?" Thor asked. "There are still Celestials?" he asked.
Tony blinked. "You heard of those big guys?" he asked.
Thor nodded slowly. "Their powers are on par with Odin. At least according to legend. They have other names as well. Eternals and so on."
Tony blinked as he looked at Quill again. "You got super powers dude?"
"Well erhm." Quill halted. "Yes and no…" he halted. "I mean, supposedly there is some sort of power inside of me. But it has only ever come out in extreme circumstances. I seem to function like a normal human most of the time."
Tony frowned. "So you know of this Thanos."
"Heh, know of him? We fought against him." Quill informed.
There was silence.
"We managed to push him back and make him flee, but only because we had the Power stone." Quill admitted. "And we could only use it because I am half celestial." he informed.
"Where is the power stone now?" Steve asked.
"Hidden. In a safe location at the edge of the Galaxy." Quill replied. "Don't worry, we did it on purpose so Thanos couldn't get to it. Most of us have reasons that we want to see Thanos gone. This is Drax." he presented Drax whom was chewing on his Pizza. "Thanos came to his planet, killed half of the population. And that included Drax's wife and child. Drax has sworn revenge since then. This is Gamora… She is Thanos's daughter."
Everyone turned to the green woman who looked down, she put the pizza down on the plate and looked up.
"I've seen it." Gamora said in a sombre tone. "Not just seen it, I helped him… As Thanos went from planet to planet. Talked about how he was saving them while murdering half of everything. Anyone who stood in his way, he would kill without mercy. He would say it brought him no joy, but I know him… I've seen his eyes. He does enjoy it. He has convinced himself that his actions are just, they are not. Thanos is nothing but a cruel monster, he only destroys and kill, never create. The universe will be greatly served with him gone…. Even if it wasn't for the infinity stones. Earth would be planet Thanos is aiming at. A planet with a exponentially growing population that seems to have reached it peak and now consumes more resources than it creates. Only one thing has stopped Thanos from attacking earth until now."
"And that is?" Tony asked.
Gamora looked up. "Earth is Asgardian territory. Odin is one of the few who would have been able to defeat Thanos and seal him away. But if I understand correct… King Thor of Asgard." she turned to him.
Thors eye was wet as he swallowed. "Odin is gone." he said. Then he swallowed. "That's why you send my brother isn't it? Why you send Loki. So Asgards attention would be on him and not the puppet master…. Thanos. A scape goat."
Gamora nodded.
"Wait, you know of this Loki?" Quill asked.
"Loki was indeed the person who asked us to help him at the forge." Gamora admitted.
"You knew who he was all along?" Rocket asked.
"I did." Gamora nodded. "I didn't say anything because… I thought I owed him. The things my father and siblings did to him was." she halted. "Unforgivable. My brother Ebony Maw takes pleasure in taking people and twist them, turn them into something they weren't before. He calls it his art and Loki was his finest art work, in his own words. I was surprised to see Loki alive." Gamora admitted. "And seemingly free of the curse of the sceptre, if he wanted me to move a few stones for him. It would be the least I could do."
Thor huffed as he looked down, his entire body suddenly looking odd and dark. Static.
"You okay there big guy?" Tony asked.
"Thanos…" Thor breathed. "Thanos did this. To my brother!" he said. "I'll kill him… Whether it'll be the last thing I'll do. I will kill Thanos." and he looked up. "Thank you, Guardians. For bringing me the weapon I need! I swear to you you will be repaid. And I will kill Thanos."
"Easy there big guy. We are in this together yeah?" Tony asked. "This Thanos dudes, he's out for all of us. He send Loki to attack us. The real villain of New York. So, don't be a solo hero man. Let's work together, just like we planned."
Thor nodded. "Aye, I apologize. I have grown up being told a true warrior needs to be able to stand on her own. But what I have learned these years is that truth strength does indeed come from working with others. No one is strong when they are alone."
"There you go." Tony smiled. "It's all good see."
Quill sighed deeply. "Well, I'm glad we could all sort this out and be friends." he grinned picking up another pizza piece. "Man I missed earth! Pizza even better than what I remember!" he grinned. "Yo guys!" he turned to the other guardians. "When we have beaten Thanos we should go on a tour, Disney land! I always wanted to go to Disney land!" then he turned back to the Avengers. "Disney land is still a thing right?" he asked unsure.
"Oh yes. It's a thing." Tony nodded. "Sadly the Star Wars section is only about all the new Star Wars movies and is kind of shit."
"THERE ARE NEW STAR WARS MOVIES!" Quill shouted standing up. "Holy shit, GUYS! We need to go watch those, right now! Oh my god that's the best news I heard yet."
Tony blinked as he looked at Quill. "Man it's refreshing seeing someone being so excited about it." he admitted while Quill was oblivious as he grinned happily with a childish innocent glee.
