Chapter 22.
This is the twenty second chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
I MADE A MISTAKE IN THE LAST CHAPTER: STARK THOUGHT THAT MARK WAS A DOG MANNAQUIN!
5 YEARS LATER, 2023…
Mark, now 27, aboard the Benatar, stood in view of the hologram that was Romanoff at the Avengers Compound back on Earth. He stood in front of Nebula on Rocket's right with his arms folded and a grumpy look on his face. Holograms of one of their African allies' names Okoye, Danvers (who had a new hairstyle), and Rhodes. Mark now wore a red long-sleeved t-shirt with a red bandanna tied around his dog forehead, below his ears, the knot on the back of his head. He also now wore a belt across his dog waits with 3 rectangular box shaped pouches, one on his front, the other two on his left and right sides. "Yeah. We boarded that highly suspect warship Danvers pinged." Rocket explained. "It was infectious garbage scowl." Nebula said immediately. "And a complete waste of our time." Mark said in a grumpy way, slightly joking. "So that's for the hot tip." Rocket said to Davers. "Well, you were closer." Danvers replied. "Yeah, and now we smell like garbage." Rocket said back. "And, trust, me, when you have a nose like mine, that's a smell you do not want to smell like." Mark spoke. "You get any readings a on those tremors?" Romanoff asked Okoye. "It was a mild seduction under the African plate." Okoye answered. "Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" Romanoff asked, Mark thinking she was overreacting about an underwater tremor. "Nat. It's an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it by not handling it." Okoye replied sharply. "Carol, are we seeing you here next month?" Romanoff asked, changing the subject. "Not likely." Danvers asked. "What? You gonna get another haircut?" Rocket asked he, which made Mark turn his head leftwards to face him. "Listen, fur-face, I'm covering a lot of territory. The thinks that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere. On thousands of planets." Danvers replied. "That's a good point." Rocket muttered, Mark nodding in agreement before he looked forwards again, then moved his dog head downwards and rubbed his eyes with his right paw. "So you might not see me for a long time." Danvers added to the others. "All right. Um, well, this channel's always active. So, if anything goes sideways, anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't, comes through me." Romanoff said, before Okoye addressed her in her native language. "Ok." Rocket acknowledged. "Right." Mark added with a nod. "All right." Romanoff finished, before Mark, Rocket and Nebula turned away from the hologram and it then switched off.
Mark went down over to the viewpoint, picked up Quill's Zune music player up from the table, turned on some sad melancholic music, and went down the stairs to the lower seats, and sat in the right-hand side chair. He then signed heavily, looked out into the vastness of space before something grey and silvery then landed on his lap. He looked down to see a silver bag of food, stopped the music and then looked up to see Rocket standing at the top of the stairs looking down at him. "Have those, pal. You haven't been eating much for days." Rocket said to him. "I'm fine. I'm not hungry." Mark shook his head. Rocket folded his arms and had a serious look on his face. "Fine." Mark signed before he opened the bag and then did a yawn. "And I know that you haven't been sleeping well either." Rocket said, before he came down the steps and sat in the opposite chair as Mark started eating. "You think you're the only one upset? No. I am too. But you're taking it too extreme." Rocket said, Mark turning his head leftwards to see him staring at him. He swallowed the food he had in his mouth, looked forwards and downwards and signed again. "We both lost the Guardians, Rocket. And we both miss them. But you havent had the experience of finding out that the ones that raised you, conceived you, birthed you, to die without you knowing." He spoke sadly, before he looked at Rocket again. "You know what was the last thing I said to my parents was? "See you soon." That was the day before I got kidnapped and… became this. I never saw them again." He added sadly, a tear flowing down his face. Rocket didn't say anything, so Mark just looked forwards again and kept eating.
A few days later…
Mark was lying down on the floor, trying to get some sleep, but he had kept having nightmares about the last time he saw his family, and about Groot and imagining how the others disintegrated, from how Stark had told him. "Mark." He heard Rocket's voice faintly say, drowned out slightly by sleep, then felt his muzzle and face being poked, then opened his eyes to see Rocket standing above him. "Ugh, Rocket, what is it? I'm trying to get some sleep." Mark said groggily, before rubbed his eyes with his right paw. "We're on our way to Earth. We got a message from them. They think we might be able to bring everyone back." Rocket spoke, and Mark stopped rubbing his eyes and moved his paw away from his face, put both paws on the ground and moved his upper body up, processing what he'd just heard. "What?!" He asked, in shock. "I'm telling you! We can get our family back." Rocket said to him, in a tone which told Mark he was telling the truth. Rocket then turned around and headed to the cockpit. Mark was still, processing what that meant. If it worked, they could get the Guardians back! He could get back some of what he'd lost! And for the first time in a while, he cracked a smile. He got up on his feet and went to the cockpit, seeing through the viewport that the Benatar had just arrived at Earth. They entered the atmosphere and flew to the Avengers Compound. The ramp descended and Mark went down, behind Nebula and saw an unfamiliar black-haired man sitting on a bench. He stopped at the last step of the ramp. "Hey, humie. Where's big green?" Rocket asked, referring to Banner, who had recently merged himself and Hulk into one. "In the kitchen, I think." The man replied, looking shocked. "Judging by your face, newbie, this is your first alien ship?" Mark asked, point with his right index paw finger behind to the ship. "That' awesome." The man nodded, pointing to it. "Rhodey, careful on re-entry. There's an idiot in the landing zone." Mark heard Nebula say as she walked in the Compound, before Rhodes landed by the man. "Oh, my god." The man cried when Rhodes landed. "What's up, regular sized man?" He heard Rhodes ask him. He then saw come came out and then give Scott what he recognised as a Taco.
Banner then came over to the ship, and they then flew it to Norway to get Thor. They landed the Benatar and hitchhiked a pickup truck to the village of New Asgard, where Thor and the remining Asgardian people now lived. Mark sat parallel to Rocket, with his hind legs bent upwards and his paws touching his knees. The stopped in the village and got up, Mark getting up on his feet same moment Rocket did, went to the left of the open rear door and jumped off it. "Kind of a step down from golden palaces and magic hammers and what not." Rocket spoke. "Hey, have a little compassion, pal. First, they lost Asgard, then half their people. Their probably just happy to have a home." Banner said to him. "You shouldn't have come." A voice said behind him, and he turned to see a dark-skinned woman facing them. "Ahhhh, Valkyrie, good to see you, angry girl." Bruce said to the girl, which meant to Mark he knew her, as he and Rocket (who was on his rear right) followed him to her. "I think I liked you better either both ways." She said to him. "This is Rocket and Mark." "How you doing?" Rocket greeted her. "Ma'am." Mark greeted with a nod. "He won't see you." She said to Bruce. "That bad, huh?" Banner asked her. "We only see him once a month when he comes in for… supplies." She answered, looked away, and when Mark looked in the direction she was looking, he a saw a load of alcohol kegs, which made him wince. "It's that bad?" Banner asked, and she nodded. They then over to Thor's house.
Rocket knocked on the door a few times, but no response as he looked at Mark, who was behind him, then Banner. He knocked again and still no response so he then opened the creaky door. Mark followed Rocket into the house, followed by Banner. "What the…?" Rocket began staying, seeing how dirty the house was, before he sniffed. Mark also sniffed and winced loudly, grasping his nose with his left paw. "Uggghh!" He exclaimed in disgust. "Whew! Something died in here." Rocket also said about the smell, before they all heard a clatter. "Hello? Thor?" Banner asked. "Ah, you here about the cable? The Cinemax went out two weeks ago. And the sports are all kind of fuzzy." They heard Thor's voice, before they all moved to the living room entrance and Mark's eyes almost popped out at the sight. Which was Thor, but with long hair and was very fat! "Thor?" Banner asked in surprise. Thor turned around from looking at Beer bottles and turned to see them. "BOYS! Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh! Its so good to see you!" Thor laughed happily as he embraced Banner, before he looked at Rocket and Mark. "Come here, cuddly little rascals." He said before he began cuddling Rocket and Mark (on Rocket's right). "Oh, come on Thor! I just cleaned this shirt!" Mark cried out as Thor was stroking the top of his furry head and cuddling his shirt. "Yeah, no, I'm good. I'm good. That's not necessary." Rocket spoke as Thor let go of them, Mark feeling the back of his bandanna being pulled up slightly, so he straightened it with both paws. "Hulk, you know my friends, Miek and Korg, right?" Thor said, gesturing to the two aliens who were sitting on the sofa, one playing a video game on the tv, the other eating a pizza. "Hey, guys. Long time, no see." Banner said, giving them a little wave. "Beer's in the bucket. Feel free to log onto the Wi-Fi. No password, obviously. Thor, he's back. That kid on the TV, just called me dickhead again." The big rocky alien, Korg, said, gesturing to the TV, the name making Mark chuckle slightly. "NoobMaster." Thor said, before he walked over to Korg. "Yeah, NoobMaster59." Meik added, before Thor took his headphones, brought it up to his right ear. "NoobMaster, hey, its Thor again. You know, the God of thunder. Listen, buddy, if you don't log off this game immediately, I'm gonna flyover to your house, come down to that basement your hiding in, rip off your arms and shove them up your butt! Oh, that's right, yes, go cry to your father, you little weasel." Thor said into the headphones before giving them back to Korg. "Thank you, Thor." Meik said, as Thor gave him back the headphones. "Let me know if he bullies you again, okay?" Thor asked. "Thank you very much. I will." Korg replied, before going back to his video game. "So you guys want to drink? What do you want to drink? We've got Beer, tequila, those sorts of things." Thor said as he grabbed a Beer bottle and drank some. "From God of thunder to God of alcohol. What would his family say if they could see him now?" Mark thought in his head. He was reminded of his own grief, which was clearly what Thor was going through, but how he'd been taking his grief had been nothing compared to Thor's.
Banner then went up to him. "Buddy, you all right?" He asked Thor. "Yes, I'm fine. Why?" Why is this? Do I look all right?" Thor asked. "You look like melted ice cream." Rocket replied, and Thor chuckled. Mark was about to say Thor looked like crap, but he thought Rocket's description better suited him. "So what's up? Just here for a hang, or what?" Thor asked, before he drank more beer. "We need your help. There might be a chance we could fix everything." Banner answered. "What, like the cable? Because that's been driving me good honest for weeks." Thor said, slurring like a drunkard. "Like Thanos." Banner answered. Thor's happy and drunk looks suddenly melted, turning into a traumatized look. looking downwards and then at Banner, grabbed him with his right hand, and pointed his left index finger at him. "Don't… say that name." Thor said, in an emotionally and traumatized way. "Um, yeah. We don't actually say that name in here." Korg said, standing up. "Please take your hand off me." Banner spoke, and Thor removed his right hand. "Now, I know that…guy… might scare you." Banner said to him. "Why would I be? Why would I be scared of that guy? I'm the one who killed that guy, remember? Anyone ese here killed that guy?" Thor asked back, before shaking his head. "Nope. Didn't think so. Korg, why don't you, uh, tell everybody who chopped Thanos's big head off?" Thor asked, before he walked away from Banner. "Um, Stormbreaker?" Korg asked. "And who was swinging Stormbreaker?" Thor asked, but Mark needed no reminders of what had happened, as Thor stopped walking and drank some more beer. Banner walked up to him again. "I get it. You're in a rough spot. I've been there myself. And you want to know who helped me out of there?" Banner asked him. "Natasha?" Thor asking, slurring drunkenly. "Man, it's you. You helped me." Banner answered. Mark felt a similarity, as he'd also been a tough spot, which was after he was kidnapped and became a Dog, before he met the Guardians, but they'd helped him out. Thor then looked as if he'd ignored Banner, and walked over to a chair. "Why don't you ask the Asgardians down there?" Thor said as he slumped in the chair. "The ones that are left, anyway." He added. "I think we could bring them back." Banner said, before Thor grasped a bag of chocolates. "Shut up. Stop. You know, you think I'm down here, wallowing in my own self-pity, waiting to be rescued and saved, but I'm fine, okay? We're fine, aren't we?" Thor asked Korg. "No, we're all good here, mate." Korg answered, holding up his left hand. "So, whatever it is you're offering, we're not into it. Don't care. Couldn't care less. Goodbye." Thor said, and began eating some food. "We need you, pal." Banner said, but Thor said nothing and kept eating and then drinking.
Mark, feeling like nothing was gonna make Thor come, and that they've wasted their time, then tilted his head slightly rightwards and spotted a few Beer bottles. He figured if anything could get Thor to come, it was that. He tilted his head the slightest as possible leftwards towards Rocket, who noticed and looked at him. Mark then gestured with his head towards some of the bottles, and Rocket nodded and got the idea. Mark then moved silently sideways to the right towards the bottles he saw, and picked some up with his right paw and hid them behind his back. "There's Beer on the ship." Rocket asked, his arms folded. Thor sat silently for a moment before he spoke. "What kind?" Thor asked.
And that's the twenty second chapter, and, if ive counted correctly, the longest chapter I've done for this story. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you like Mark's new appearance. By the way, if any of you notice an change in appearance in Rocket Racoon for most of the movie, especially his face, which is due I think to the fact that the Racoon they used died, and his new suit, which I like, was inspired by the "Guardians of the galaxy" comics. I'm gonna try and get the next chapter out next week as quickly as possible because me and my family are going on holiday for a few weeks. Not abroad, but to the Lake District in the North of England.