A/N: Hey guys! Here is the next chapter! Hope y'all like it!
Maria nodded and gestured for everyone to go into the kitchen while she went and got the necklace.
"How do you fare, lady Gamora?" Thor asked, giving the Zehoberian a kind smile.
"I am well, Thor. Yourself? What of your brother?"
Thor's smile faded, " Loki is dead." He stated, not noticing everyone's sigh of relief.
"But I was hoping to teach him another lesson in manners."
Everyone looked at Gamora, "You beat up Loki too?" Bruce asked in awe.
Gamora nodded, "Yes. He was not very pleasant to be around so I put him in his place."
"But if you lived on Titan and those two were on Asgard, how did you meet?" Jane asked, raising an eye brow at Gamora and crossing her arms.
"Peace treaties mostly. Thanos had to meet with Odin and Frigga often while Thor and Loki would accompany me and Nebula elsewhere. My father told me of Frigga's passing, but not of Loki's." Gamora explained, pursing her lips.
Rocket coughed, "Don't work." And coughed again.
"Your victory over Ronan was often talked about in Asgard when I had last seen my father," Thor started before turning to a young man with shorter blonde hair and a muscular build, "He does a wonderful impression of you, friend Steven." He added, earning a laugh from everyone as Maria entered.
She was holding a medium sized metal box with a panel of numbers, similar to the safe that the Nova Corps had. A red light was shining, which indicated that the box was locked. The agent punched in a code and the light turned green and a loud click of something unlocking could be heard as she opened it to reveal a smaller, similar looking metal box and a key that went to it.
Maria used the silver key to unlock the box and she finally revealed the necklace.
The Skrelton looked the same as it had a few years earlier since Gamora had last seen it.
"You keep it here? That's gonna get us all killed, Maria!" Emily exclaimed, crossing her arms.
Maria rolled her eyes at how dramatic the teen was being, "Emily, just go watch Disney movies with Lilith and Jace." She ordered.
Emily was silent, clearly thinking about it before she shrugged and took the toddler and infant with her into the living room.
"Anyway, it's safer here than it is at SHIELD. Especially after what happened in D.C. last April. Director Fury gave me permission to bring it back here. That's actually where we had been keeping it. The Triskelion. If it's here, it's a place that Nebula would least expect. If anything, she'll go to SHIELD first." Maria explained, taking a seat beside Steve as she placed the necklace back into the boxes.
"You realize that once my sister is taken care of, I need to bring it back to Xandar. Don't you?" Gamora asked.
"We know." Clint, Natasha, and Maria answered simultaneously.
"Now, let's show you to your rooms." Pepper said, changing the subject as she gestured for the Guardians to get up.
Gamora and Peter followed Steve and Maria while Rocket and Groot followed Pepper and Tony, and Natasha, Clint, and Drax bringing up the rear.
Each of the floors that everyone lived on were like luxurious apartments, more like a loft. Three to four bedrooms depending on the floor, hard wood floor that made your footsteps echo, a hall closet, small kitchen, and couches and a TV. Why each habitable floor even had a kitchen and a TV was beyond them since everyone congregated on the top floor for meals and entertainment.
Maria and Steve led them up two short steps and took a quick right down a small hallway before finally stopping at a bedroom.
The room was a good size with beige walls and a queen sized bed with a light grey comforter. To their right was a large bay window that overlooked the city, and Steve opened up to let some fresh air in.
"Well, you will be sleeping here. Our room is just down the hall, first door on the left and directly by the steps along with the hall closet. You can find extra blankets and towels. You have a dresser, walk in closet, and a bathroom is diagonally across from here. When Emily sleeps over, which is often, her room is at the end of the hall." She explained, nodding her head to her left.
"I am sorry to disturb you, but Director Fury requests to speak with you, Captain Rogers. Should I send his call to your cell phone?" A voice asked from the walls, confusing Gamora and Peter.
"JARVIS is an AI or Artificial Intelligence. He basically runs the tower," Steve started, sighing as he got his cell phone out of his pocket, "Send his call through JARVIS."
"We'll be in our room. I will be anyway. Just come find one of us when you're settled." Maria explained, turning and leaving the two alone as she closed the door behind her.
Meanwhile, Drax was going through the same process with Clint and Natasha.
"Any questions?" She asked once she was done explaining everything, placing her hands behind her back as Drax shook his head.
"Oh, and if you need anything and we're not around, just ask Lilith. She knows where everything is." Clint explained, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.
Drax nodded, "Lilith does seem like a very sweet but intelligent child. You are doing a good job raising her from what I can see." He complimented them, giving a kind smile.
"Thank you. We're actually very new to parenting. We only adopted her a little less than a year ago."
"How did she come to be in your care?" He asked, interested in what the childs story was.
Natasha sighed, "Well, her parents were murdered in cold blood when she was a few months old. We don't really know much about her parentage. She was in foster care for awhile but none of her foster parents seemed to care for her from what she said and she moved to an orphanage when she was three. Then, shortly after she had turned four, the orphanage burned down. We didn't want her to go through all that crap again because she deserves to have a real child hood." She explained, leaning against the wall. That was all the information she really knew that Director Fury had willingly told her.
She knew that he was keeping something else from her. Something that concerned Lilith.
"It was a wise decision on your part. She seems very happy here and very attached to all of you."
The two assassins only nodded before leaving Drax to get settled, giving him the same instructions that had been given to Gamora and Peter.
"So, bed, closet, bathroom is down the hall next to the hall closet, please don't take anything apart without asking." Tony said, heading the warning that Peter had given him.
"Can't make explosives?" Rocket asked, looking up at Tony as he sat on the white comforter. Tony gave him a look.
"As long as the kids don't get hurt or find them and they aren't left lying around, and it's in the lab...and you don't blow the lab up, Pepper doesn't care." He said, only for Pepper to call to him.
"Yes I do!"
Tony sighed, "There's a list of rules in the lab somewhere if you make explosives." He said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
"I am Groot?"
Rocket rolled his eyes, "No i'm not going to commit arson!"
"I am Groot?"
Tony groaned as Rocket argued with the tree and decided to leave and join Pepper before he got a migraine or did something he'd regret.
This was going to be a long mission.
A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)