Chapter 19.
This is the nineteenth chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
The pod flew to Nidavellir for some quite some time. Mark was a bit bored, but he just stared out the viewport, now sitting in the right-hand side chair, since Thor had gotten out. "I am Groot." Groot said, saying he needed to tinkle, or pee. "Tinkle in the cup. We're not looking. What's there to see? What's a twig? Everybody's seen a twig before." Rocket said to him. "I am Groot." Groot said again. "Tree, pour what's in the cup out into space and go in the cup again." Thor said from the back, understanding what Groot said, which surprised Mark. "You speak Groot?" Rocket asked in surprise, as he and Mark turned their chairs leftwards to look at Thor. "Yes. They taught it on Asgard. It was an elective." Thor explained. "I am Groot." Groot said. "You know when we're close. Nidavellir's forge harness the blazing power of a neutron star. It's the birthplace of my hammer. It's truly awesome." Thor said to him. Mark kept looking and saw him sit down with a lot of sadness on his face. "Okay. Time to be the captain." He heard Rocket say before Rocket got out of his chair and waked over to Thor.
Mark unfastened his seat belts and followed. He stood on Thor's left, looking up at him. "So dead brother, huh? Yeah, it can be annoying." Rocket said, starting a conversation, as Mark saw him press some button on the console he was facing. "Well, he's been dead before. Now this time, I think it might be true." Thor answered sadly, Mark seeing Rocket walk in front of Thor. "And you said you had your sister and your dad?" Rocket asked. "Both dead." Thor replied. "But still got a mom, though?" Rocket asked again. "Killed by a dark elf." Thor answered. "A best friend?" Rocket asked, though Mark feared what the answer would be. "Stabbed through the heart." Thor answered. "So you've lost basically everyone that meant dear to you. I'm very sorry." Mark spoke solemnly. "You sure your up for this particular murder mission?" Rocket asked, with concern. "Absolutely. Rage, and uh, vengeance, anger, loss, regret, their all-tremendous motivators They really clear the mind. So I'm-I'm good to go." Thor replied. "Yeah, but I mean this Thanos we're talking about, he's like the toughest there is." Rocket said. "From what Gamora told us." Mark added, remembering the stories she told him about Thanos. "Well, he's never fought me." Thor said with a smile. "Yes." Rocket quickly said. "And lost." Mark reminded him. "Well, he's never fought me twice. I'll be getting a new hammer. Don't forget." Thor said back, pointing his left index finger at Rocket. "Well, it better be some hammer." Rocket said. "You know, I'm 1500 years old. I've killed twice as many enemies as that. And ever one of them would have rather killed me, but none succeeded. I'm only alive because fate wants me alive. Thanos is just the latest in a long line of bastards and he'll be the latest to feel my vengeance. Fate wields it so." Thor said, though Mark thought he was being overconfident about Thanos, though he was shocked at how old Thor was. "Hmm. And what if you're wrong?" Rocket asked with concern. "Well,' if I'm wrong then, what more could I lose?" Thor answered/asked, before he sniffled and then got up on his feet and walked away. "I could lose a lot. Personally, I could lose a lot." Rocket said as he looked at Thor, with a hint of emotion. Mark nodded. "You and me both, buddy." He said, as he headed back towards the front, sitting in the centre chair again, think about what he could lose.
And that was everything he'd gotten in his new space life. His Raccoon friend, his second family, the Guardians, and he could even lose his life. He was afraid to admit it, but Quill was right. He had gone with them because it was somewhere Thanos wasn't. But if Thor had that axe, then they will eventually encounter Thanos anyway. "Well, if fate does want you to kill that crab sack, you're gonna need more than one stupid eyeball." Rocket said as Mark looked rightwards and saw him walk around Thor's chair to Thor's left and held something up to him. "What's this?" Thor asked as he tok it with his right hand. "What's it look like?" Rocket asked back, as Mark realised Thor was holding an eyeball. "Some jerk lost a bet with me on Contraxia." Rocket explained. "He gave you his eye?" Thor asked, as Rocket got back in the pilot seat. "No, he gave me 100 Credits. I snuck into his room later that night, stole his eye." Rocket answered. "Thank you, sweet Rabbit." Thor said. "Yeah, though it's disgusting, but it's a nice thing to do." Mark said, as he kept looking forwards, not wanting to see Thor put his new eyes in. "Oh, I would've washed that. Ahem. The only way I could sneak it off Contraxia was up my…" Rocket began saying, when suddenly an alarm rang. "Hey, we're here." Rocket said, though Mark could see much through the viewport, even being in the centre chair. "I don't think this thing works. Everything seems dark." Thor spoke, before he stood up. "It ain't the eye." Rocket spoke. Mark seeing ahead some massive structures surrounding a large metal sphere. "Somethings wrong. The star's gone out. And the rings are frozen." Thor said, confused. "So whatever happened, it wasn't recently." Mark spoke, judging by how frozen the rings were. Rocket then steered the pod to one of the large structures and landed the pod. They then all got out and started looking around. The place was filled with equipment, but was a mess, and was deserted. "I hope these Dwarves are better than forging then they are at cleaning." Rocket spoke, Mark sniffing his nose, but could smell anything useful. "Maybe they realised they live in a junk pile in the middle of space." Rocket added, and Mark rolled his eyes when he heard sounds which meant Groot was still playing his game. "This forge hasn't gone dark in centuries." Mark heard Thor say, before he then spotted something nearby which made his eyes widen. "You said Thanos had a gauntlet, right?" Rocket asked, which made Mark figure he saw it too. "Gold, with 6 holes in it?" Mark asked, seeking clarification. "Yes, Mutt. Why?" Thor asked him. "It look anything like that?" Rocket asked. "I am Groot." Mark heard Groot say. "Get back to the pod." Thor spoke, but before Mark could move, he then suddenly saw Thor being thrown forwards, then bump into a structure then land on the floor. Mark turned around to see what had thrown him, but the moment he turned around, before he eyes could process what was in front of him, he was then suddenly kicked backwards, flew through the air a few feet, before landing on the floor on his back with a groan, feeling slightly dazed. "Eitri, wait! Stop!" He dizzily heard Thor say. "Thor?" He heard a deep voice asked, as he recovered from his throw. "What happened here?" He heard Thor ask. "You were supposed to protect us. ASGARD WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECH US!" The deep voice then shouted coldly. "Asgard is destroyed. Eitri, the glove. What did you do?" He heard Thor ask, as he then bent his upper body upwards, then got up on his hind paws, turned around and saw a large long hair figure towering above Thor.
The figure, Eitri, then walked away from Thor, his footsteps loud and thumping. He then sat down on the floor, loud clangs coming from his movement. "Three hundred Dwarves lived on this ring. I thought if I did what he asked, they'd be safe. I made what he wanted. A device capable of harnessing the power of the stones. Then he killed everyone anyway. All except me. "Your life is yours," he said. "But your hands…your hands are mine alone."" Eitri explained showing his hands, which were fused with metal. "Eitri, this isn't about your hands. Every weapon you've ever designed, every axe, hammer, sword, it's all inside your head. Though I know I feels like all hope is lost, trust me, I know. But together, you and I, we can kill Thanos." Thor said, Eitri looking at him. A few minutes later, after apologising for attacking them, Eitri led them all to the main workshop. They watched a machine placed a metal box on another machine. "This is the plan? We're gonna hit him with a brick?" Rocket asked, confused. "It's the mould. A king's weapon. Meant to be the greatest in Asgard. In theory, it could even summon the Bifrost." Eitri explained, though Mark didn't understand what he meant, he assumed it meant it was a powerful weapon. "Does it have a name?" Thor asked. "Stormbreaker." Eitri answered. "That's a bit much." Rocket said, which made Mark shake his head. "No, it's a pretty good name." Mark spoke. "So how do we make it/" Thor asked. "You'll have to restart the forge. Awaken the heart of a dying star." Eitri answered. "Rabbit, fire up the pod." Thor ordered Rocket.
A few minutes later, Rocket manoeuvred the pod to one of the main rings that surrounded the main sphere, with Thor on the outside, as somehow, he could survive in the vacuum of space! "I don't think you get the Scientifics here. These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, your gonna need something a lot bigger to yank 'em loose." Rocket said to Thor, Mark hearing over the comms, as he stood to Eitri's right and watched them. "Leave that to me." He heard Thor reply. "Leave it to you? Buddy, you're in space. All you got is a rope and…" He heard Rocket reply, before he then heard Rocket yell at lot. He looked closer and saw Thor was turning the pod round and round, moving it like it was a ball. He then moved the pod forwards, flying forwards, him after it. "Fire the engines!" Thor ordered, Rocket blasting the engines as the pod headed towards the closest other ring. Mark saw the pod go along the ring, Thor acting as an anchor and then they stopped. "More power, Rabbit!" He heard Thor say, straining. After a few seconds, he saw all the rings then began moving, and as they moved, the sphere began giving off orange and blue light, before it then shone brightly and was then completely alight. "It lives." Mark said quietly, his eyes and mouth wide in awe. "Well done, boy." He heard Eitri say. "That's Nidavellir." He heard Thor say on the comms. He then saw a mechanism open on the sphere, after which a beam of light then came from it into the main forge. Suddenly, a few seconds later, the beam suddenly went off. "Uh… what just happened?" Mark asked, looking left/upwards at Eitri. "Damn it." Eitri said. "Damn it? What's "damn it"?" Rocket asked over the comms. "The mechanism is crippled." Eitri answered vaguely. "What?" Thor asked. "With the iris closed, I can't head the metal." Eitri added. "How long will it take to heat?" Thor asked. "A few minutes, maybe more. Why?" Eitri asked. "I'm gonna hold it open." Thor answered, which made Mark's eyes widen. "That suicide." Eitri said. "So is facing Thanos without that axe." Thor said back, before Mark saw him then jump towards the mechanism area.
Mark kept watching the area he saw Thor jump to, but couldn't see much due to the distance. "Allfathers, give me strength." He heard Thor over the comms, but Mark couldn't help but worry. "You understand, boy? You are about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you." Eitri said with worry. "Only if I die." Thor replied oddly. "Uh, Thor, in case you didn't know, that's what killing you means." Mark replied, narrowing his eyes in confusion. After a few seconds, hearing Thor scream, he then saw the beam start up again. He turned around and saw after the beam struck the forge, everything came back on, including the fire. "It's working!" Mark cried out, slightly in triumph. "Hold it! Hold it, Thor!" He heard Eitri say as he saw Eitri run towards the forge. Mark ran after Eitri to the big bucket where the metal was being heated. He stood by the bucket, and could feel the heat coming from it. Eitri then moved to the large metal wheel beside the bucket, leaned his back against it, slowly tipping the bucket over. Mark moved besides Eitri and grabbed the wheel with both paws, and pushing it, straining, the wheel heavier than he thought. He saw it was working, as the hot molten metal liquid then flowed out of the backet into the mould. He then heard the beam stop, looked outside to see Thor flying towards the structure. He saw that Rocket was close behind, though Thor did hit a structure hanging from the roof, which made Mark cringe as Thor fell on the ground. Mark ran down and over to Thor as Rocket got out of the pod and got to Thor just before Mark did. "Thor? Say something. Thor, you okay?" Rocket asked, but Thor didn't move. "I don't think he's breathing." Mark said fearfully, as he heard loud clanking and crushing sounds. "I think he's dying." Rocket said, as he and Mark looked over at Eitri, who was punching the mould, which was on the ground. "He needs to axe! WHERE'S THE HANDLE!?" Eitri cried out. Mark didn't know what handle would be needed, but he ran over to some of the equipment, and began scouring it, looking for anything, but couldn't find anything that looked useful for an axe. "Tree, help me find the handle!" He heard Eitri yell. He then heard Groot yell, which made him then move back to the area where Thor was lying, and saw Groot standing by him, with a bit of his arm missing, then he looked down to see Groot had made a rudimentary handle out of his arm. "Man, he made the right choice." Mark thought in his head when he then saw Stormbreaker levitate just a foot off the ground and flashed some lightning around it.
And that's the nine tenth chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. I was originally planning to write a little bit about their arrival on Earth, but then I decided to just do that in the next chapter. Which will be out soon. Please leave a review.
And does Mark survive or dies in the snap? Wait and see.