AN: It's time to start the Infinity War!

"Dear listeners, what is about to transpire is a collision of worlds the likes of which the Guardians of the Galaxy have yet to encounter. Thanos, the mad titan and "father" of Gamora and Nebula, has started his conquest of the universe to obtain some of the most powerful artifacts in every universe. Unaware of his advances, the Guardians are about to learn just how dire things are about to become…"

Got speed to move it

Get the rubberband off the ground

He lifted it weeeeeell up high in the sky y'all

And then he- Oh, get with it, y'all

"Hey ya'll, prepare yourself for the rubberband man!" Quill sang along to "Rubberband Man" by the Spinners as he flew the Guardians through the cosmos. "Sing it, Drax!" he exclaimed, though the warrior was fast asleep from the long flight.

Rocket let out a yawn from his shared seat with Lylla as he stretched a bit. "Where are we going again?" the raccoon asked.

"We received a distress signal, Captain Rocket. Someone could be hurt- or worse," Teefs replied.

"Floor want to ask why we're going, though. Bit hazy on details," Floor piped up.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Lylla answered.

"And maybe whoever sent the signal will give us a little cheddar cheese for our effort," Quill added.

"Which isn't the point," Gamora pointed out.

"-Which isn't the point," Quill repeated. "But I mean, if he doesn't pony up…"

"We take his ship," Drax said as he woke up in time for the conversation.

"The Rakk 'n' Ruin could always use a few upgrades- and the Benatar too," Rocket shrugged.

"B-B-B-Bingo!" Quill exclaimed.

"Boys…" Lylla rolled her eyes with a smile.

"We are arriving," Mantis announced.

"All right, Guardians, this might be dangerous so let's put on our mean faces," Quill suggested.

Mantis did her best mean face while Floor gave a soft growl. Groot, meanwhile, was not in his "angsty teen phase" as Quill put it, the tree-teen's face stuffed into his game console.

"Groot, we're about to arrive at the distress signal. Please put your game away," Lylla asked kindly. When he didn't respond she tried again, "Groot, I won't ask you again… Groot."

"I am Groot," Groot said sarcastically.

"Woah, language!" Rocket scolded as the others expressed disgust as the foul words Groot used. "You are not allowed to speak to your mother like that!"

"I am Groot," Groot stuck his tongue out.

"Rocket and I raised you like our own child. You will not use that language with me, young man!" Lylla chided.

"You have some acorns on you, kid," Quill said.

"Ever since you got a little sap, you've been a total d-hole," Rocket growled. "Now keep it up, and I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces!"

"Rocket, be gentle," Lylla whispered.

"Why? If he wants to act all grown up, then I'll treat him like an adult," Rocket crossed his arms.

"We're entering the area of the signal… now!" Teefs called.

The Benatar pulled out of warp speed to the sight of a devastated ship, debris and bodies floating out in the void. It was clear that whoever had sent out the signal, the Guardians were too late to the call.

"What happened here?" Mantis wondered.

"Oh my God…" Quill said under his breath at the devastation.

"Floor not like this…" Floor shuttered, moving to hide behind Teefs.

"Guess we aren't getting paid…" Rocket said, trying and failing to add some humor to the situation.

One of the floating bodies suddenly slammed into the ship's window, making everyone jump in shock. "I knew I should have installed wipers during the last tune-up," Teefs said. The team let out another round of disgusted noises when the body opened its eye.

"That man is alive. Quickly, bring him in for medical attention!" Lylla ordered.

In short order the man was brought into the Benatar and laid out on a table, Lylla getting to work checking for vital signs. He was large and blonde with short hair and missing an eye, his armor looking like that of a Viking of some sort. "How the hell is this dude still alive?" Quill questioned.

"He is not a dude. You're a dude," Drax shook his head. "This… This is a man. A handsome, muscular man."

"I'm muscular," Quill retorted.

Floor made an unsure noise. "Floor not so sure… Star-Lord eat more than work."

"You're one sandwich away from being fat," Rocket snarked.

"Yeah right," Quill scoffed.

"It's true," Teefs nodded sadly.

"You really should follow my meal plans I made for all of you," Lylla sighed, trying to focus on her work.

"Gamora, do you think…?" Quill turned to her, only for Gamora to not answer.

"Mantis, what do you feel?" Lylla asked.

"He is anxious, angry. He feels tremendous loss and guilt," Mantis read the man's feelings.

"It's like a pirate had a baby with an angel," Drax noted.

"It's like his muscles are made of Cotati metal fibers," Gamora observed.

"People, please stop making Quill feel more self-conscious," Lylla shook her head. "Mantis, wake him up."

Mantis put her hand on the man's forehead and whispered, "Wake."

In an instant the man jumped up in a fright, back up on his feet and breathing heavily. Everyone pulled out their weapons in case of a fight as the man turned around slowly to face the Guardians of the Galaxy. "Who the Hel are you guys?" the man questioned.

"…We're the ones that found your sorry ass floating in space. You tell us who the hell you are first," Rocket countered.

"I am Thor Odinson, God of Thunder," the man introduced himself.

"Thor? Like the lightning guy on rock albums?" Quill questioned.

"This is not some man from your music, Peter Quill. This is a god," Drax said in awe.

"You're not going to turn out like Ego, are you?" Teefs questioned. "We've killed supposed gods before, be warned."

"He doesn't have the same feelings as Ego did," Mantis said.

"Before we get into any conflicts, would Thor like to tell us how he got trapped out in space first?" Lylla chimed in.

"It was Thanos that did this. He and his men took my people by surprise and massacred them," Thor explained.

The Guardians all tensed at that name. "Why would Thanos attack you? Even when we fought Ego, we barely got out of there by the skin of our teeth," Rocket questioned.

"He was after a great artifact of the Asgardian people: the Tesseract, or as he called it an Infinity Stone," Thor answered.

"An Infinity Stone? You let Thanos take an Infinity Stone?" Gamora said in alarm.

"We fought him the best we could. Not even the Hulk was strong enough to stop him from taking what he wanted," Thor shook his head.

The Guardians all looked worried. "Thanos bad guy, yes?" Floor asked.

"A very, very bad guy, Floor," Lylla nodded.

"Sounds like we might be on the same side, Thor," Quill said.

Thor was quickly given a blanket and some soup to help with his recovery, the Guardians all digesting the news that Thanos had an Infinity Stone in his grasp.

"The entire time I knew Thanos he only ever had one goal: to bring balance to the entire universe by wiping out half of all life," Gamora stated. "He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre."

"Including my own," Drax noted.

"If he gets all six Infinity Stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers like this," Gamora warned, snapping her own fingers for emphasis.

"You seem familiar with this Thanos," Thor noted.

"Gamora is the daughter of Thanos," Drax replied.

Thor looked at Gamora with anger. "Your father killed my brother."

"Stepfather, technically," Quill muttered. "And she hates him as much as you do."

Thor sized up Gamora before putting a hand on her shoulder. "Families can be tough. Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hel. And then she returned home and stabbed me in the eye, so I had to kill her. That's life though, isn't it, I guess. Goes round and round and… I feel your pain."

Quill put himself between the two. "I feel your pain as well, because… I mean, it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot. My father killed my mother, and then I had to kill my father. That was hard. Probably even harder than having to kill a sister. Plus, I came out of it with both my eyes, which was…"

Thor wasn't listening, instead looking down at his spoon. "I need a hammer, not a spoon."

"Floor have hammer!" Floor said, offering one of Rocket's work hammers.

"I need a real hammer. One made for killing someone as powerful as Thanos," Thor shook his head, moving to the back of the ship where the Rakk 'n' Ruin was docked. "How do I open this thing? Is there some sort of… four-digit code, maybe? Maybe a birthdate."

"Uh, what are you doing?" Rocket questioned.

"Taking your spare ship," Thor answered.

"No you're not!" Quill and Rocket said at the same time.

"You will not be taking our spare ship today, sir," Quill continued.

"Friend Star-Lord, why voice deeper?" Floor tilted her head in confusion.

"It's not…" Quill shook his head.

"You are making your voice deeper. You're imitating the god-man. It's weird," Drax said.

"No I'm not," Quill muttered.

Mantis gasped. "He just did it again!"

"This is my voice," Quill argued.

Thor got up in his face. "Are you mocking me?"

"Are you mocking me?" Quill parroted.

"Stop it. You did it again," Thor frowned.

"He's trying to copy me," Quill smirked.

"Enough!" Gamora groaned. "We need to stop Thanos! Which means we need to find out where he's going next."

"Knowhere," Thor replied.

"He must be going somewhere," Mantis said.

"Thor means Knowhere, the severed head of a celestial. We went there before you joined the team, Mantis," Teefs recalled.

"Yeah, and it sucks," Quill added. "We almost died multiple times that day…"

"Thor, why would Thanos go to Knowhere?" Lylla asked.

"Because for years the Reality Stone's been safely stored there with a man called the Collector," Thor answered.

"That flarking hoarder already had a stone when we met him!?" Rocket exclaimed in disbelief.

"Only an idiot would give that man a stone," Quill said.

"Just going to leave out how we were going to sell him one I see…" Lylla said under her breath.

"How do we know he's not going to go after one of the other stones?" Gamora questioned.

Thor explained, "There are six stone out there. Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it last week when he decimated Xandar."

"No…" Lylla gasped.

"Floor have friends on Xandar! Can't be gone…" Floor whimpered.

"There, there, Floor. I'm sure Dey and some of other Nova are still alive… at least, what's left of them," Teefs said with worry.

"He stole the Space Stone from me when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people," Thor continued. "The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers."

"The Avengers?" Quill questioned.

"Earth's mightiest heroes," Thor clarified.

"Like Kevin Bacon?" Mantis asked.

"He may be on the team- I don't know, I haven't been there in a while," Thor shrugged. "As for the Soul Stone, well, no one's ever seen that. No one even knows where it is. Therefore, Thanos can't get it. Therefore, he's going to Knowhere, hence he'll be getting the Reality Stone. You're welcome."

"Then we have to go to Knowhere now," Gamora stated.

"Wrong. Where we have to go is Nidavellir," Thor said.

"That's a made-up word," Drax scoffed.

"All words are made up," Thor pointed out.

"Nidavellir is real? Seriously?" Rocket asked with excitement. "That place is a legend!"

"They're said to make the most powerful, most dangerous, most horrific weapons to ever torment the universe," Teefs said with similar enthusiasm.

"I would very much like to go there, please," Rocket said with a grin.

"The rabbit and manatee are correct and clearly the smartest among you," Thor said.

"Rabbit?" Rocket tilted his head.

"No, Floor rabbit! Friend Rocket is raccoon!" Floor shook her head.

"And I am a walrus, Mr. Thor," Teefs added.

Thor ignored them and went on, "Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need." He looked to Rocket. "I assume you're the captain, sir?"

"You're very perceptive," Rocket said with a wink.

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you and the manatee join me on my quest to Nidavellir?" Thor offered.

Rocket hummed. "Let me just ask the captain- oh, wait a second, it's me! Yeah, Teefs and I'll go."

"Wonderful!" Thor smiled.

"Uh, except for that I'm the captain," Quill pointed out.

"Quiet," Thor dismissed.

"We'll see you all soon!" Teefs said, giving hugs to Lylla and Floor as he opened up the Rakk 'n' Ruin for Thor.

"Lady, you're in charge of keeping the team safe and alive while I'm gone," Rocket ordered, giving Lylla a kiss.

"Ah, the rabbit has a wife. Cute," Thor mused.

"Look, you guys can't just… Wait, what kinda weapon are we talking about here?" Quill asked.

"The Thanos-killing kind," Thor answered.

"Don't you think we should all have a weapon like that?" Quill asked.

"He does make a good point," Teefs hummed.

"No, you simply lack the strength to wield them," Thor shook his head. "Your bodies would crumble as your minds collapsed into madness."

"…Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket said.

"Just a little bit," Lylla giggled.

"If we don't go to Knowhere and Thanos retrieves another stone he'll be too powerful to stop," Gamora argued.

"He already is," Thor countered.

"Floor has solution!" Floor piped up, everyone looking at her. "Guardians have two ships, yes? God Man go with Friends Rocket Teefs to get Thanos-killer, and rest of Guardians go get stone before Thanos! Win-win!"

"That's… actually what I was gonna say. Good thinking, Floor," Rocket complimented. "A lot nicer way of saying it, but it works. Teefs, Groot, and I will take the pirate angel and you guys get the stone on Knowhere. Cool? Cool."

"So cool," Thor grinned.

"For the record. I know you're only going with him because it's where Thanos isn't," Quill said.

Rocket looked offended. "Then why would I leave Lylla- my wife, mind you- to go with you guys to face Thanos? Face it, Quill, splitting up is our best option, and when it comes to making god-killing weapons, Teefs and I are more useful going with Thor."

"The rest of the team is powerful enough in a fight without our firepower, Mr. Star-Lord. We believe in you," Teefs assured him.

"And besides, you really shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill," Rocket said smugly before hopping in the Rakk 'n' Ruin. "Come on Groot. And put your game down! It'll rot your brain."

"I bid you farewell and good luck, Guardians," Thor said with a wave.

"Stay safe, Rocky!" Lylla called as the hatch closed and the Rakk 'n' Ruin blasted off. She let out a sigh and looked off into space with worry. "At least Groot will be safe and far from Thanos with them…" The otter didn't know why, but she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that facing Thanos was going to be harder than anything the team had done yet.

Author's Note

The Guardians have met Thor and are aware that Thanos is on the move, meaning there isn't a lot of time for them to prepare for their greatest fight yet.

Batch 89 don't add much to this scene, but it was fun getting to have Rocket and Lylla be more openly parents for teen Groot. Teefs will be joining Team Thor as well so we can have some time for him and Rocket together as well as Lylla and Floor on Team Guardians. This also gives me an excuse to write the Team Thor side of the story as last time I did a GotG story I skipped over the Thor subplot and focused solely on the rest of the Guardians.

We'll be cutting back and forth between the Guardians and Team Thor from here on out, so next time we'll see the Guardians on Knowhere as they confront Thanos!