"What are you eating?" Gamora asked, walking over to join them, with Drax following.
Quill set the drink in his arm down on the table that wasn't being used for the card game, and then cascaded the rest of the snacks, which tumbled onto the table. He pulled the stick from his mouth, but there wasn't anything on the end.
"It was a corndog."
"What's a corndog?" Drax asked.
"Hot dog on a stick," the younger Peter told him, handing him one from a bag that he had. "Try it?"
The bulky man looked at it, suspiciously.
"Dog?"
"Not a real dog," Peter assured him. "It's beef."
Maybe.
"Covered with cornbread," Tony added, helpfully. "Then deep fried."
Groot walked over, as well.
"I am groot?"
"Yeah we brought you one," Rocket told him. "They might not be as warm as they started – but if the kid didn't have some crazy rule about no one eating in his car, there probably wouldn't be any left."
He glanced at Quill, who gave him an innocent look.
"Peter had one, too."
"Yeah. One. And I had one, and you've had four."
"It's a corndog, Rocket. You can't eat just one. They come in twos for a reason."
"They don't really come in twos," Peter pointed out, handing Groot a corndog from the bag. "It's just a gimmick to sell two instead of one."
"I am groot."
"Don't eat the stick," Rocket told him, reaching for another one when Peter offered it to him. "But I could get used to the taste, really. They're almost addictive."
Peter offered one to Gamora, but she shook her head.
"I'm not eating that."
"And you're not eating all of that junk food and spoiling your dinner," Pepper told the boy, amused.
"I'm not eating any of it," Peter replied, rolling his eyes and setting the corndog bag on the table. "None of it's for me." He looked pointedly at Quill, who shrugged.
"I may have gone a little overboard," he admitted. "It's been a long time since I've seen a Ding Dong."
"I am groot."
Quill made an annoyed face.
"Not that kind of ding dong, smart ass. It's chocolate cake, and some kind of cream filling. Better than a Twinkie – and that's saying something."
"I am groot?"
"No clue," Rocket told him.
"Did anyone see you?" Tony asked as Peter sat down at the table beside Mantis.
"Just the people at the gas station," the boy assured him. "And we were only there for a few minutes. Rocket stayed in the car."
Of course.
Quill beamed as he looked over at Gamora, who was pleased to see how happy he looked, even though she was uncertain about the pile of treats that he had in front of him.
"You had a good time?"
"I forgot how much fun a road trip could be," he said. "Space trip isn't quite the same thing."
"The music was the same," Rocket corrected.
"I am groot…" the tree said, taking another corndog from the bag and heading back to the sofa to return to his video game.
"Want to play?" Tony asked Peter. "We can switch to something else."
They knew he wouldn't want to play cards, after all.
The boy shook his head.
"I'm going to go to my room and call MJ."
"Thanks for the ride, Peter," Quill told him, cheerfully.
That made the boy smile.
"You're welcome."
"And the food. I'll pay you back. Seriously."
Obviously, Quill didn't have any money, so Peter must have paid for it.
"It's no problem. Really. I needed to get gas, anyway."
"I'll call you for dinner," Tony told him.
"Thanks."
He left and Quill turned to the others, losing a little of his cheerfulness.
"We haven't heard from Danvers, yet?"
"Not, yet," Tony confirmed.
"It's a little soon, though," Gamora pointed out.
"I don't expect to hear from her," Tony told them, looking up from the cards in his hands. "We're not set up for subspace communications, so she'll have to return here to let us know what she finds out. If anything."
"We're not worried that she'll run into any trouble?"
It was Steve who shook his head.
"No. She has a few tricks up her sleeves."
"More like at the end of them," Clint added. "Let's finish our game…"
He walked over to the dart board, followed by Drax, Gamora and Steve. A moment later Rocket walked over, as well, munching on another corndog. Quill hesitated, but eventually stayed at the table – and the mountain of snacks.
He could play darts any time, after all.
OOOOOOO
The man was immobilized, although what held him was uncertain, since there wasn't anything obvious holding him in place against the crumbling wall of the massive chamber. His intelligent face looked concerned, but not really afraid, as he looked at the being that walked toward him, his face impassive, his eyes everywhere, looking around.
"You have something that I want, Taneleer Tivan…"
"Oh… yeah?" Affecting nonchalance that he didn't really feel, the man tried to shrug. "I have so many things," he said.
"The infinity stone."
"I had an infinity stone," Tivan said, and now his expression was pained. "But it was taken from here. Only days, ago."
"Where?"
"I don't know. Word came through my contacts that someone…" he paused, looking at the golden gauntlet that was on the being's hand. Huge, and decorated with a single, purple stone on the back of it that glowed, dully. "That someone had overcome the Nova Corps, and that the stone they possessed was taken. Someone took mine – probably thinking that they were protecting it by concealing it."
The being scowled.
"Who did this?"
"I'm not sure. So many of my people have scattered in recent weeks. Many of my precious items vanished with them. I can't keep track of it all – or them all."
"You're lying to me."
"I wouldn't dare, Lord Thanos. I'll find it, eventually, and you can be sure that I'll call you and let you know when that happens."
The titan clenched his fist, the gauntlet in his hand gleaming in the light of the collection.
"And what stops me from destroying this place – and you?"
"Nothing can stop you," Tivan said, placatingly. "But… perhaps something in my collection will be of enough interest to you that you might be willing to spare me… and my pretties. Something that might help you discover the whereabouts of not just my missing bauble, but the others, as well…"
The small, merciless, eyes narrowed.
"I'm listening."
"There's a scroll," the Collector said, looking toward a far corner of the room. "Beyond ancient. Tucked away."
"How will a piece of paper lead me to what I seek?"
"It won't," he said. "But it might lead you to someone who can find them all for you. And control them for you."
"An ancient scroll? Anyone mentioned in it would have been dead for years."
"Not in this scroll." The Collector's smile was out of place, considering the danger that he was clearly in. "It's a prophesy."
The titan snorted in disbelief.
"Prophesies are undependable. Written by charlatans."
"This is no ordinary prophesy," Tivan said. "If it were, would it be in my collection?"
Those evil eyes narrowed, once more, and he looked at one of his underlings.
"Release him." The invisible bonds vanished, and the Collector dropped to the floor with a grunt. "Find me this scroll," Thanos told him. "Then I'll decide if the information is worth sparing your life."
"And my collection."
"You're in no position to make demands."
"Someone has to read the scroll to you."
"Bring me the scroll."