Chapter 24.

So, I'm back from holiday in the Lake District! This is the twenty-fourth chapter. Hope you enjoy it. By the way, this also includes a deleted scene.

Asgard, 2013…

Mark stood inside the giant royal palace on the left-hand side and in the shadow of a large pillar (which was on his right). He looked as Rocket tip tied and then moved over as quietly as possible, as Mark could hear the sounds of clanking footsteps. However, these sounds were drowned out by the strange liquid splashing sound, which, judging by its volume, was happening very close by. Rocket then moved past him, and faced to where Thor should be. "All clear. Which way?" He asked, as Mark turned rightwards and stepped out of the pillar's shadow, turned his body to look forwards, and the sight of what he saw made his eyes widen. Thor was standing on the brick barrier, and he was peeing over the side! "Ew!" Mark spoke in disgust, slammed his eyes shut, turning his head rightwards and holding up his left hand and arm, realizing that was what he had heard. "Where are his manners?" He asked in his head. "Oh!" He heard Rocket say, as the peeing sounds stopped. "You two say something?" Thor asked, seemingly oblivious to the ridiculous thing he was doing. "I said I want to claw my eyes out." He heard Rocket say, as he turned his head forwards again, opened his eyes and started walking towards Thor, seeing Rocket ahead of him doing the same. "But unfortunately, it wouldn't do anything cause i already saw the awfulness. Will you focus?" Rocket asked Thor, who climbed down the barrier and faced Rocket, who then jumped up onto the railing in front of Thor, who then picked up a drink. "This pretty place is about to get uglified real quick by a bunch of fricking Elves." Rocket added. Mark then also jumped up onto the barrier, which was bit less of a jump because of his Dog body height. He then stood just to the rear of Rocket's left.

"Do you know that I saw all these people die? So this is a little bit difficult for me, okay? So, why don't you two deep reach inside and try and find a small ounce of humanity?" Thor asked, emotionally. "Just give me the thingy." Rocket replied, referring to the device they'd need to extract the Aether/Reality Stone from Jane, Mark nodding as he knew they didn't have time for this. "'Just give me the thingy. 'Give me the thing.'" Thor mimicked Rocket, which made Mark narrow his eyes in anger. "I didn't want to come here. Load of depressed memories." Thor mumbled as he opened the bag he had. "All right. Get it together." Rocket said, as Thor took out the small circular device, and a bar of chocolate, and handed the device to Rocket with his left hand, putting bar back in the bag. "You brought snacks? We're only gonna be here for a few minutes." Mark spoke incuriously. "Your embarrassing. All right, which way?" Rocket asked as he took the device, while Mark saw Thor then moved his hand into the bag and pulled out a beer bottle. Thor then looked at them and shrugged. "I don't know." He answered before drinking the beer. "You don't know?!" Mark and Rocket asked in unison and a frustrated tone. "You used to fricking live here!" Rocket added. "For 1500 years, not forever." Thor replied, before Mark made an annoyed grunt. "It's only been 5 years since Asgard was destroyed, which is nothing compared to the 1500 years you lived here!" Mark spoke in an annoyed tone. "No ethic. Yeah. Maybe." Thor responded before then walked away from them. "We are dead. We are so, so dead." Rocket muttered before he and then Mark jumped down from the barrier and went after him.

Eventually, along the way running through the dungeons (Mark bringing up the rear), they found Jane's room. Mark stood at the end of the stone box (on his left) Rocket was one. They looked past the pillar they hid behind, saw a servant giving her clothes, before she closed the door. "Oh, that's Jane." He heard Thor say. "All right. Here's the deal, tubby. You're gonna charm her,' I'm gonna poke her with this thing, extract the Reality Stone, and get gone lickety-split." Rocket explained the plan. "And I'll stand watch." Mark added. "I'll be right back, okay? There's a… the wine cellar is just down here. My father used to have this huge barrel of Aakonian ale. I'll see if the scullery has a couple of to-go cups." Thor said, before he started to walk away, Mark having a "you can't be serious" face. "Hey! Aren't you drunk enough already?" Rocket hissed, before the sound of a door opening came to Mark's ears, seeing Thor move against the pillar he was by. And Mark ducked behind Rocket against the stone box. He heard footsteps coming from the other side of the hall, heard a woman talking, looked at Thor, who moved out of the pillar with a shocked look on his face. Mark then jumped up onto the stone box with Rocket to see who Thor was looking at. "Who's the fancy broad?" Rocket asked, as Mark looked rightwards at Thor. "Its my mother. She dies today." Thor answered sadly. "Oh, that is today?" Rocket spoke. Mark then noticed Thor started panting emotionally. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't have come. It's a bad idea!" Thor panted, clearly starting to panic. "Come here." Rocket gestured with his left hand. "No, no, no. I think… I'm having… I'm having a panic attack." Thor hyperventilated. "Come here. Right here." Rocket said, gesturing with his right hand. Then as quick as the wind, he then slapped Thor in the face, which made Mark jump. "You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here? Besides Mark, I lost the only family I ever had. Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna. All gone." Rocket explained to Thor, which made Mark glad he saw the Guardians as family.

Mark then stepped up to Thor, feeling it was his turn. "Rocket's right. Besides him… and maybe Nebula, I lost everyone that was dear to me. The Guardians, my family from Earth, all gone. My Earth family died years ago, before Thanos. That means they can't be brought back. I understand that you miss you mother, but, like my Earth family, she's gone. Really gone. But there are plenty of people who are only kind of gone, like the Guardians. And you can help them. By bringing them back." Mark explained sadly. "So is it too much to ask that you brunch the crumbs out of your beard, make shnoppy dog to pretty pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone, help us get our family back?" Rocket asked. "Okay." Thor signed. "Are you crying?" Rocket asked, as Mark noticed his eyes were watery. "No. Yes. I am, gonna lose it." Thor said, desfinetly crying. "Get it together. You can do this. You can do this!" Rocket encouraged. Thor then took some deep breaths and moved his shoulders. "All right?" Rocket asked. "Yes, I can." Thor spoke, which made Mark give a little smile. "Good." Rocket said before he jumped down to the floor, while Mark looked at Thor. "That's the spirit." He said proudly, before also jumping down to the floor (thought it was a shorter fall). He went to Rocket's right as they both walked towards the room. "All right, heartbreaker, she's alone. This is our shot." Rocket said, before they both turned around and saw the corridor empty. Mark hoped what he saw was just his imagination, so he rubbed his eyes with both paws, saw the same thing and knew he wasn't imaging it. "Thor? Thor?!" Rocket asked, before he and Mark both groaned, clenching their hands/paws to fists, moving them upwards and bending their heads down. "Guess we'll have to do this ourselves. Again!" Mark moaned, after moving his fists down and moved his head up. He then turned rightwards to face Rocket. "Like we said. You keep watch, I'll get the stone. Got it?" He asked Mark, who nodded in response. Rocket moved towards the room, while Mark turned around to face the corridor.

A few minutes later, Mark looked over his shoulder when he heard a few sounds coming from the room, including a loud thump! A few seconds later, Rocket came out the door, and Mark turned his body around, noticing the centre of the device was read, meaning it contained the Reality Stone. "Got it. Let's find Thor and get the hell out of here!" Rocket cried, before Mark then heard running footsteps coming from down the corridor, turned around as quick as he could and saw 2 golden armoured guards sprit into the corridor. They looked towards them and then ran down the corridor. "Run!" Mrk yelled before he then got down onto all fours and ran, saw just a few centimetres ahead of him, Rocket was doing the same. They ran around the place, while more and more guards came after them. "Thor, I got it!" Rocket yelled as they ran. "Thor, where the hell are you?!" Mark also yelled. "Get those rabbits!" He heard guard say, which slightly ticked him off, but he knew this wasn't the time to get angry, so he suppressed the feeling as they turned into another corridor. He then sniffed his nose, hoping to find Thor, and caught his scent. "I've got his scent! Room at the end of the corridor!" He yelled directions to Rocket, before he stopped running, stood up and faced the guards. He then fired a Paw Blast at the stone floor in front of the guards, which exploded and made a dozen pieces of stones fall around the blast zone. The guards stopped running due to the explosion and the rubble, which gave Mark time to run, getting down on all fours again. He ran down the corridor to the last room, started catching up to Rocket, who opened the door and ran in, Mark right behind, both panted and grunted, and Thor with his mother, both looking down at them. "Hi." Rocket said as they stopped and stoop up on their hind legs, Thor's mother waving her left hand. "You must be mom. I got the thing. Come on, we gotta move." Rocket said to Thor, showing the device. "I brought us some time, but the guards are after us. We need to go now." Mark added strictly, as Thor looked back at his mother. "I wish we had more time." Thor said to her. "No. This was a gift. Now, you go and be the man you were meant to be." She said, coming up to him. "I love you, mom." Thor said. "I love you." She said, before they hugged. Mark did fell a bit of pity for him as it was also a long time since his mother hugged him, and he felt a moment of sadness at the sight. "And eat a salad." She spoke when they let go, as Thor walked backwards to Mark and Rocket. "Come on, we gotta go." Rocket said, Mark looking downwards raising his right arm to begin activated his suit. "3…2…" They counted down in unison.

"Wait!" Thor cried out, which made them both look up as he held out his left arm. "Wait? For what?" Mark asked in his head. "Wh-what am I looking at?" Rocket asked, confused. "Oh, sometimes it takes a second." His mother said. A few seconds later, a grey hammer literally flew into the room and into Thor's hand. He heard Thor laugh with joy as he moved it to his right hand. Mark narrowed his eyes in confusion, but they were pressed for time for questions. "I'm still worthy." He heard Thor say, as he looked down again and activated his suit, which formed over his body, minus the helmet. "Oh, boy." He heard Rocket as he activated his and Thor's suit's. "Goodbye, mom." He heard Thor say, as their helmets then formed over their heads, then a second later, they all shank and headed back to their time. In the future.

And that's the twenty-fourth chapter done. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope the deleted scene (the first 2 paragraphs) was good. The next chapter will be out soon. Please leave a review.