Steve and Bucky reach the end of the dining table and, after a brief glance at Nebula, Steve decided it was probably best for Bucky to sit on the outside. Natasha and Clint passed the two on their way around the table and sat next to Drax.
"After you." Clint offers Natasha a seat.
Natasha gives him an annoyed teased look. "Still trying to be the southern gentleman, I see."
"Someone has to be." Clint responds. "After that warm welcome, we've got to lighten the mood."
"Do you think Tony is going to be alright?" Natasha asks as he tries to look over the table toward him.
Clint tries to peer toward Tony also, but cannot see very well. "He'll be alright. He just needs some time to adjust."
"Hi, I'm Drax." The woman sitting next to Natasha says, as she reaches a hand out.
Natasha looks at Drax's hand and stares at her mighty bossom before deciding it was safe to shake hands. "Hi, I'm Natasha, and this is Clint."
"Nice to meet you Clint." Drax says leaning into Natasha to shake Clint's hand. Her exposed breasts bump into and cover Natasha's arm, who responds with a Whoa!
"Ah, I apologize young man." Drax says to Natasha. "I am still not used to having milk glands."
Natasha starts to chuckle embarrassingly while Drax tries to read his expressions. She chooses to laugh loudly. Natasha can suddenly smell the alcohol on Drax's breath. Drax turns toward Nebula and introduces him. "This fascinating specimen is Nebula."
Nebula nods toward Natasha and Clint. "Nice to meet you." He says, despite meeting Natasha once before.
"This is Steve Rogers." Natasha offers, as an introduction, to Drax.
"Nice to meet you Steve Rogers." Drax says. "Is this your partner? You were holding hands." He gestures to Bucky.
"No," Steve chuckles. "He's just my friend." Bucky seems more embarrassed by the question than Steve.
"Hey Cap, you want a drink?" Sam says as he approaches. He pats Steve on the shoulders instinctively, which earns him a glare from Bucky.
"Yeah, sure." Steve answers. "What is everyone drinking?" she has to flip her curls to get a look at the table.
"It looks like beer, but we can order something else." Sam offers.
"No, beer's fine." Steve says knowing the alcohol won't affect her.
"What about you, baby blues?" Sam says tapping Bucky's arm.
Bucky looks up, annoyed at the comment, but chooses to ignore it. "It doesn't matter." he says.
"Of course it doesn't matter" Sam says jokingly. "I was just gonna get you a beer anyway." He looks up to Drax next. "You guys watch out with this one. He likes to glare at people." Instinctively Bucky begins to glare at Sam while Drax nods.
"How about you ladies?" Sam asks Natasha and Clint.
"I'll have a beer." Clint says.
"Yeah, me too." answers Natasha. Sam gives a thumbs up and rushes off.
"So, you two are women also?" Drax asks enthusiastically.
"No!" Hawkeye protests.
"And yes." Natasha answers. "I was a lady before the change, not Clint."
Drax takes in the information with an amazed open mouth. "I may not look it," Drax responds, "but I was a male warrior as well."
"You don't say?" Natasha asked with feigned disbelief, looking Drax up and down.
"Are all of you from the same crew?" Steve Rogers asks, looking along the table.
"Yes," Drax answers. "We travel the galaxy protecting it with strength, wit, song, and dance."
"Song and dance?" Steve asks with a smile, wondering if he's being pranked.
"Yes." Drax insists. "Our captain, Peter, " Drax points to Star-Lord down the way. "He once saved the entire universe, with the power of dance. Much like your mighty Kevin Bacon."
"You've gotta be joking." Clint says over Natasha.
"I don't joke." Drax says.
"It's true." Nebula interjects, verifying Drax's story. "I was there." The others turn toward Star-Lord and look at her with amazement. "He looked like an idiot!" Nebula adds as consolation.
Drax suddenly starts laughing loudly. "He did look like an idiot! Ha ha ha! And Ronan's face!"
Nebula lightly chuckles, catching himslef off guard.
"Now, I've gotta know more." Natasha says. "What else have you guys done?"
***meanwhile further up the table***
"So you're telling me, this guy is the Champion of Sakar?" Rocket asks Thor, while pointing at Bruce. "Bull Shit!"
"No, it's true!" Valkyrie says, leaning over Thor. "You should have seen the way he walloped the ice giants during his first battle royal. He quite literally launched one out of the stadium."
"I did see that!" Rocket answers. "I bought a clip the last time we went through." Rocket turns toward Bruce now. "I'm pretty sure we saw one of your matches! Didn't you fight a devil-dinosaur?"
"Yea. Big red guy, wasn't it?" Bruce asks.
"No way!" Rocket says.
"He's the guy we saw?" Mantis asks, very surprised.
"I still don't believe it!" Star-Lord says.
"Neither do I!" Rocket says loudly. "I mean look at him. He's not even green!"
"It's him, alright." Thor says. "Bruce and I, we've had a bout or two, and he's got a mean right hook."
"Right hook?" Valkyrie asks. "He literally mopped the floor with you, back in the arena." He chuckles as he says this."I don't think the stadium ever looked so clean.
Shuri, Pepper, Rocket, Peter, and Mantis all laugh at this comment.
Thor chuckles also. "I was taking it easy on him. He's my friend. I didn't want to hurt him."
"Right, that's exactly what happened." Valkyrie says making fun.
"I didn't know you were on another planet, Bruce!" Pepper says, taking a drink.
"Yea, it's pretty wild." Bruce responds shyly, not used to all the attention. "I still can't believe it myself."
"I can't believe it, and I've seen it myself." Valkyrie says. "You used to be so big, now I could sit you on my lap like a toddler."
"Oh, that would be adorable!" Shuri says loudly.
"No, thank you." Bruce says, with a blush.
"How did you even get this guy in the Arena?" Thor asks. "He didn't have one of those slave neck things when we were there."
"Slave neck things?" Pepper asks, as both him and Shuri look at Thor in shock.
"She didn't need one." Bruce says before they could inquire about it. "Valkyrie here, talked me into it."
"No way!" Thor says, in disbelief, sloshing his drink.
"I don't remember that." Valkyrie says.
"You chased me halfway across the planet trying to capture me." Bruce says. "You were so stubborn that after a while, you were the only person I knew."
"You," Valkyrie says pointing, "were a pain in the ass!" Bruce smiled mischievously. "After a while, it wasn't about the reward for you, but a matter of pride."
"You know you were having fun." Bruce says with a giggle.
"What did he do to get on your good side?" Pepper asks.
"Well," Bruce starts, "Everyday, Valkyrie would show up and we'd go at it. Fighting, you know. Then one day, these other guys show up and start really pissing me off."
"They kept calling you Monster." Valkyrie says. "I could tell you didn't like it."
"That's right." Bruce says. "Then you show up and starts wailing on them also."
"They didn't stand a chance!" Valkyrie laughs.
"Afterwards, I turn to you expecting another fight and instead you asked me..." Bruce pauses for a moment and looks at Valkyrie. "You asked, "Are you okay, Big Guy?""
"Oh, that's sweet." Pepper says, hugging Bruce's arm.
"After that, I didn't want to fight with you anymore." Bruce says. "You didn't like that at first, I could tell, but I was calm around you. You told me that if I went with you, I'd meet people who'd love me..." Bruce turns toward Valkyrie and smiles. "You were right. They absolutely loved me."
Valkyrie raises his glass and smirks with pride.
"Wow!" Thor says. "You actually talked down the Hulk. Why didn't I think of that?"
Pepper, Thor, and Bruce all start laughing loudly.
"You're lucky he didn't kill you." Thor says patting Valkyrie on the shoulder roughly.
"You're lucky he didn't kill you!" Valkyrie says in protest. They both start laughing.
***At the front of the table***
"So this dropship the Asgardians came on, could be our lifesaver!" James Rhodes says to both Tony and Nicky Fury looking back and forth between them. "Commander Fury's friends say the power source is mostly drained, but they can swap it with good ones salvaged from the drop ships."
"Remind me again," Tony interrupts Rhodes. "Why do your friends know so much about alien technology?" Tony gives Fury a questionable look.
"Because my friends are not from here." Nick Fury answers. "They have experience working with similar technology."
"And by not from here, are you talking about not from Earth?" Tony asks.
"Yes!" Nick Fury answers, annoyed. "They're refugees from another planet."
"So you're saying, you've had access to alien technology the entire time," Tony starts asking aggressively, "and never once thought it could help us?"
"Just because they're an alien species, does not mean they're more advanced than us." Nick Fury says matter-of-factly. "Hell, Thor over there is a king who can travel between worlds in an instant, yet he still can't even figure out how the hell to text back!"
Thor laughs loudly at something else entirely, but it times well with Nick Fury's comment.
Tony thinks about what Fury just said, and can't help but feel it makes sense. "You can't tell me they've contributed nothing to our cause."
Nick Fury thinks about Tony's comment before responding. "Fiber optics, phone satellites, adamantium, lithium Ion, amongst other things. They've been here a long time Tony. You were making more advanced equipment than that when you were still in school."
"We've been trying to figure out this equipment for six year." Tony stubbornly presses on. "And you have friends who could have helped us this entire time."
"Six years?" Nicky Fury asks in feigned fascination. "I was under the impression that the great Tony Stark has known how to work a repulsor engine since he was that exact same age."
Tony Stark was beginning to get really annoyed at his inability to get a good argument in, but he could not protest Nick Fury when she was right. "Alright," Tony relents. "What are our plans?" He asks, trying to calm his nerves.
"As I was saying earlier." James Rhodes jumps back into the conversation. "The dropship Thanos provided the Asgardians with, may have just saved us a lot of time. It's huge! We can just use that, load up with supplies and troops, and ride straight to Thanos. Maybe if we're lucky, they don't take spaceship inventory, and we can just sneak in."
"I doubt it'll be that simple, James." T'Challa says. "Tony was telling me, Thanos lives on an asteroid belt. It could take up all our resources just navigating it."
"James?" Nick Fury asks, changing the subject. "When did you two get on first name basis?"
"James Rhodes is an international diplomat now." T'Challa informs Fury. "There is even talk of making him the Secretary of Defense."
"Really?" Nick Fury asks, legitimately surprised. "Look at you. Moving up in the world. Are they still going to be calling you War Machine, because that might affect your public image?"
"No, I'm going by the Iron-Patriot these days."
"The Iron-Patriot!" Fury says, thinking about the name for a moment. "I like it."
"Can we get back on track?" Tony asks in an annoyed voice.
"Oh yes," Rhodes says, casually. "Anyway we can probably ask one of our space friends for directions. I'm sure a good lot of them will know something helpful. You don't sport an army like Thanos without being noticed."
"Why don't we ask baby Thanos over there?" Nick Fury suggests as she points with her SHIELD flask, no longer trying to hide it.
"Baby Thanos?" James Rhodes asks, confused. T'Challa makes a very similar face.
"That one." Nick Fury says pointing at Nebula, who is now letting Drax massage his lower arms. "Odinson over here tells me, he is the child of Thanos." Fury refrences Thor.
"Yes, that is Thanos' daughter, Nebula." Tony Stark says. "He was Thanos' daughter. He also helped us on Titan."
"So that's Thanos's daughter?" Rhodes asks as Happy and T'Challa turn to get a better look.
"I can kind of see the resemblance." Rhodes says.
"I thought Thanos was purple?" T'Challa asks.
"I don't think any of Thanos's children are directly related to him." Tony says. "Hey, can we focus here?" Tony snaps as he says this. Nick Fury gives Tony an annoyed glare.
"That's amazing." Rhodes says, looking back toward the table.
"Speaking of daughters," T'Challa says, directing her conversation back towards James Rhodes, "How is yours doing?"
"Oh, she's great." Rhodes answers. "She didn't get affected by the snap."
"Wait a second..." Nick Fury interrupts them. "Since when do you have a daughter?" She asks loudly.
"Who has a daughter?" Pepper asks, turning away from Bruce.
James Rhodes raises his hand to give a light wave.
"You have a daughter, James?" Bruce asks excitedly. "How old is she?"
"Oh for the love of..." Tony throws up his hands in frustration and leans back on his chair, giving up. He takes a bite of his sandwich then grabs his pitcher of beer having another large drink from it. The only person who seems to notice his frustration is Happy who just sympathetically pats him on the shoulder.