Chapter 20: Tony

The explosions were what woke Tony. They caused the spaceship to shudder every few seconds, and they were joined by the sounds of fighting inside the ship as Tony pulled himself slowly into a sitting position.

What was going on?

Tony got to his feet and steadied himself against the cell wall as the ship continued to shudder. His entire body ached and he blinked hard, trying to clear his fuzzy vision.

The sounds outside died down slowly and then ceased. The silence was unnerving. Tony moved to the door and tapped against it. "Hello?" It would be just his luck if the Chitauri had mutinied and he was now the sole living being on the ship.

Muffled voices came from beyond the door. Tony banged his fist against it harder. "Hey! What's going on?"

The voices stopped.

Then a blast like a small cannon going off tore through the cell door's locking mechanism. Tony leapt back to avoid the blast with a startled yelp.

The door was pushed open and Tony found himself staring down at a raccoon holding a large gun. The creature was flanked by a green-skinned woman and a burly man with pale, red-marked skin and two long knives.

They stared at Tony.

Tony stared unashamedly back. The electric shocks he'd received had definitely damaged his mind.

"Who are you?" the raccoon asked bluntly.

Tony blinked. "Iron Man," he replied automatically.

The raccoon eyed him up and down cynically. "Aaaah, nope. Not buying it."

"Do you work for Thanos?" the green woman demanded.

Tony eyed her drawn sword. "No. Do you?"

The shirtless dude cracked his knuckles menacingly. Tony guessed that meant no.

The raccoon yawned, turning to his companions. "It's boring. Can I shoot it?"

Tony frowned. "Is the furry thing actually talking or have I hit my head?"

"That's one of life's great questions."

A thirty-something year old man walked into the hall outside Tony's cell, smiling warmly.

Tony let out a relieved sigh. "Finally. Another human."

The raccoon burst into raucous laughter. "Dude, his dad was a planet!"

"Seriously, Rocket? You're bringing that up again?" The man turned to Tony. "Sorry about him."

"Yeah, no, it's all cool." Tony knew his expression conveyed the opposite opinion. "Uh, I assume you've taken over the ship?"

The man nodded. "Yeah. A few Chitauri got away in two escape pods though."

"You have your own ship?" Tony asked.

"Yup."

Tony threw his fortune to the winds. "Could I catch a ride?"

The raccoon called Rocket snorted. "Sorry, pal. We don't give rides to stray humies."

"I have to get back to Asgard," Tony insisted.

"Asgard?" Rocket snorted. "Boy, are you lost! Asgard's halfway across the galaxy from here."

"We could drop him off on Terra," the green woman suggested. "That's close enough."

The man gave her a look that clearly said he wasn't pleased with the idea.

"What's 'Terra'?" Tony asked.

"Earth," the big dude replied bluntly.

Tony felt relief flood through him once more. "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great."

"Look," the other guy said. "I'd love to help you out, but we're on a tight schedule."

"Come on, Quill," the woman insisted.

The man – Quill – sighed. "Fine." He turned and yelled down the hall, "Hey, Groot! What's the verdict?"

A half-grown tree with legs stepped through a doorway and approached the group, glancing at Tony with large brown eyes before it addressed Quill. "I am Groot."

Quill slapped his thigh angrily. "Nuts! We'll have to scrap it then."

Tony couldn't take his eyes off the walking, talking tree. "What is that?" he asked.

"I am Groot," the tree replied.

Tony nodded. "Okay. Sure." 'Cause that totally answered his question.

"We need to leave," the green woman said. The others fell in behind her as she started down the hall.

"Wait a moment," Tony insisted. "Who on earth are you people again?"

The group paused. "We're the Guardians of the Galaxy, man," Quill replied. He seemed slightly put out that Tony didn't recognize them. "I'm Peter Quill, also known as Star-Lord, and I'm these guys' leader."

"Sort of," Rocket added under his breath.

Quill ignored him. "This is Gamora" – he gestured to the woman – "Drax" – he indicated the burly dude – "Groot, and Rocket." He indicated the tree and raccoon. "You are?"

"Tony Stark," Tony replied.

"Never heard of you," Drax said.

"Well, then you're the first person who hasn't," Tony replied standoffishly.

"We need to get moving," Gamora insisted.

"Okay, yeah. We're going." Quill took the lead, adding to Tony, "Follow us."

They moved quickly along the halls of the ship until they reached a large, heavy-looking door. Gamora hit a couple of buttons and the door opened, revealing what Tony took to be an airlock. They stepped in and the door began to close again.

Before it could fully shut, Rocket unclipped a small ball-shaped device from his belt and threw it back into the hall. It rolled to a stop, a small light flashing. Tony didn't need to be an expert on alien tech to know what it was.

The airlock sealed and Quill opened the second door, leading the way through into a second, much smaller spaceship.

Tony stared around at the rows of controls and levers, the large windscreen, and the seats for the ship's passengers. He felt a strong urge to pull everything apart to see how it worked and possibly replicate it.

"Hey, humie, you might want to buckle up right about now," Rocket called, and Tony realized that the Guardians were all strapping themselves into their seats at top speed. He quickly sat down in an empty seat and followed suit.

Quill glanced back from his place in the pilot's seat, nodded when he saw that Tony had done up his harness correctly, and started the ship's engines. There was a loud metallic clunk as it disconnected from the larger Chitauri craft.

"Here we go!" Quill called.

Tony was thrown back in his seat as the ship leapt from stationary to faster than an F-1. Quill turned the ship around when it was a decent distance from the Chitauri craft and Tony watched as the bigger vessel exploded through the front window. He had to admit, it was an impressive sight.

Quill turned back and caught his eye, grinning. "Welcome to the Benatar, Stark." He tapped at a touchscreen, highlighting a few places on what looked like a map. "Next stop: Terra." He hit one last button and loud 80's music started up.

Tony settled back in his seat and prepared for the ride. Boy, was he gonna have news for Pepper when he got home.

After several hours' travel, Tony began to realize he had the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back" stuck in his head – and it wasn't ever coming out. The Guardians' music playlist seemed to be made up entirely of hits from the late twentieth century, and it had already repeated itself thrice.

Oh, for some contemporary stuff.

The view out the Benatar's windscreen did something to relieve the boredom. In the stretches of time between leaping through what the Guardians' referred to as "jump points" to new areas of space, Tony was treated to the sight of alien planets and solar systems, asteroid belts and nebulas. They were breathtakingly beautiful. They also made Tony feel very small.

During one of those periods of quiet flight, when the music had reached its end once more, Quill twisted in his seat to face Tony. "So, Stark," he began, "Where you from?"

"Earth."

"Then why do you want to go to Asgard?" Gamora asked.

"That's where my friends are," Tony explained. "Thanos showed up and we were fighting him."

"And you got captured," Drax added.

"Yeah."

Gamora frowned. "Why was Thanos in Asgard?"

"That was kinda our fault," Tony admitted.

"'Our' meaning…?" Rocket queried.

"My friends and I," Tony elaborated. "The Avengers."

Drax shifted in his seat. "Never heard of them."

Tony shrugged. "We've only just branched out into otherworldly derring-do. What's Thanos got to do with you guys anyway? Aside from being your dad," he added to Gamora. "I didn't even know he existed until this morning. What's his thing?"

"He wants to take over the universe," Quill supplied.

Tony shook his head. "How very original. Why?"

"He thinks he can make it better if he destroys everything and starts afresh," Gamora replied.

"He's not called the Mad Titan for nothing," Quill added grimly. He pulled a small metallic orb out of his jacket pocket and chucked it in his hand absently.

"What's that?" Tony asked.

"Infinity St–" Quill began.

"Quill!" Gamora cut across warningly.

Tony sat forward in his seat. "An Infinity Stone?"

"You know about them?" Drax asked.

Tony made a so-so gesture. "I heard a Chitauri talking about them on the ship. What are they?"

"Extremely powerful," Drax replied.

"Unparalleled destructive force," Rocket added.

Tony's mind went to a couple of other objects he knew of that fit that description. "Where'd you get it?"

"I found this one years ago," Quill answered somewhat smugly.

"Then we gave it to the Nova Corps," Gamora reminded him.

"And stole it off them when we learnt Thanos was interested in it," Rocket added.

"Soon as we get the chance, we'll use it to take out Thanos," Quill said. "We were hoping he'd be on that ship back there."

"It would help if we had a couple more Stones," Rocket added.

Quill nodded. "Yeah, but we don't know where they are, do we?"

Tony looked around at his rescuers and came to a decision. "I know where we can get one," he said.