〘 :*¨༺ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐝-𝐦𝐚𝐧 ༻¨*: 〙

"He's a god. A hot, muscular, chiseled god."

ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

" you're bound to lose control
when the rubberband starts to jam "

ELLIE BOBBED HER head, lip-syncing to Rubberband Man playing through the speakers of the Milano. Blake tossed a gummy into his mouth, dancing in his seat to the music. His seat was across from Mantis's, diagonally behind Ellies, at the request of Rocket of course.

Ellie looked to the seat beside her, finding Groot still staring at his Gameboy. "Come on, Groot, get into the jam!" Ellie told the teenage tree, swaying her shoulders at him. He glanced up at her, the ends of his mouth curling up while she continued to lip sync dramatically at him. Groot sighed and bobbed his head to the music.

"Why are we doing this again?" Rocket asked after a bored yawn.

"It's a distress signal, Rocket. Someone could be dying." Gamora replied simply. Her booming voice woke up Drax from next to her.

Rocket shrugged. "I get that, but why are we doing it?"

"'Cause we're nice."

Ellie scoffed at Peter's answer.

"And maybe whoever it is will give us a little cheddar cheese for our effort," Peter added, knowing that was something Rocket could get on board with.

"Hell yeah," Blake called through a mouth full of gummies.

"Which isn't the point." Gamora firmly added, pointing a finger at Peter.

"Which isn't the point." Peter seconded, pointing his finger back at Gamora. "I mean if he doesn't pony up"

"We take his ship." Drax finished, Gamora glaring at the man.

"Exactly!" Rocket cheered. "Alright!"

"B-B-Bingo!"

Blake whooped from his seat, a fist in the air before grabbing more gummies from the bag.

Ellie rolled her eyes and turned in her seat to face her boyfriend.

"Really?" She said, squinting her eyes at him with a head tilt.

"What?" Blake asked with a shrug. "I'm only joking."

Ellie just shook her head at him before turning back around in her seat. Groot reached his arm behind him at Blake, growing his arm to reach into the young Quill's bag of gummies.

"Hey!" Blake shouted, trying to swat Groot's hand away. Groot turned and stuck his tongue out at Blake while he successfully grabbed a handful of treats and dumped half in his cup holder. He grew his arm out once more, across from him to Ellie's seat.

Ellie looked down at Groot's offering, smiling as she stuck her hand out and caught all of the gummies. Her smile dropped as his hand retreated and she gave the tree a suspicious look.

"You didn't put anything on these did you?" She asked, recalling the time Groot had put spicy powder into one of her cookies.

"I am Groot!" (That was one time!)

"It never hurts to be cautious," Ellie reasoned, shrugging her shoulder and popping a gummy in her mouth.

"We are arriving," Mantis stated, watching her screen for the destination spot.

"All right, Guardians, don't forget this might be dangerous so let's put on our mean faces," Peter told them, shutting off the music. Mantis hissed from beside Blake, putting on a mean face.

"Wow, Mantis, you're really getting the hang of your mean face." He complimented. She turned to the boy with a huge smile.

"Thank you!" She told him before putting her mean face back on.

Peter turned in his seat to quickly look back at Groot, hearing the sounds of the video game he was still playing.

"Groot, put that thing away, now. I don't wanna tell you again." Groot continued to play his game. "Groot," Peter said more sternly.

"I am Groot!" Groot sassed back, continuing his game.

"Ooh, damn," Ellie chuckled while Blake laughed loudly.

"Whoa!"

"Language!"

"Hey!"

"Wow."

"You got some acorns on you, kid," Peter grumbled.

Rocket turned in his seat to look at the unbothered teenage tree. "Ever since you got a little sap, you're a total d-hole."

"Hey! Don't call him a d-hole, d-hole." Ellie defended, pointing her finger at Rocket.

"I'm sick and tired of you teenagers ganging up on me!" Rocket shouted, throwing his arms out. "I was doing okay with one but now I got two of you, plus the moron back there. Now, keep it up, and I'm gonna smash that thing to pieces!"

Groot rolled his eyes, setting the video game down in his lap. Ellie looked over at Groot as he made mocking faces at the back of the raccoon's chair.

The Milano slowed down after its last click jump, flying into the aftermath of a destroyed ship and a massacre.

"Holy shit," Ellie uttered, watching the debris fly past them.

"What happened?" Mantis asked, leaning in her seat.

"Oh, my God," Peter mumbled.

"Looks like we're not getting paid." Rocket stated. Everyone shouted as a large, muscular man with an eye patch slammed into their front window, sticking to it as they continued to fly. "Wipers! Wipers!" Rocket yelled desperately wanting to get the dead man off their ship. "Get it off."

To everyone's surprise, the man opened his eye, making Ellie jump in her seat.

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

AFTER RETRIEVING THE man, they laid him on their medical table, Mantis examining his condition as he slept.

"How the hell is this dude still alive?" Peter questioned, poking the passed-out man's face.

"He is not a dude." Drax exhaled. "You're a dude. This...This is a man."

"No way," Ellie sighed, looking the body up and down. "He's a god. A hot, muscular, chiseled god." She listed, running her finger down the man's bicep.

"I should be upset about that," Blake commented as, he too, examined the man's muscles. "-but I completely agree with her."

"I'm muscular," Peter said, still offended at Drax's comment.

Rocket rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest."Who are you kidding, Quill? You're one sandwich away from fat."

Peter scoffed. "Yeah, right."

"It's true, Quill. You have put on weight." Drax added.

Peter's face fell. "What?" He quickly looked over at Blake, who shrugged.

"Eh. Just a little," Blake said, gesturing to his chin while Ellie gestured to her stomach.

"Gamora, do you think I'm..." Peter's mouth gaped open as he looked at the rest of the guardians.

"He's anxious, angry. He feels tremendous loss and guilt." Mantis announced, the tips of her antennas glowing white

"It's like a pirate had a baby with an angel," Drax stated, Ellie and Blake nodding from beside him.

"Wow," Peter sighed, still hung up on the comments about his weight. "This is a real wake-up call for me. Okay. I'm gonna get a Bowflex. I'm gonna commit. I'm gonna get some dumbbells."

"You know you can't eat dumbbells, right?" Ellie quizzed, earning an offended gasp from Peter.

"Damn, I was gonna say that." Rocket mumbled.

"It's like his muscles are made of Cotati metal fibers," Gamora said as she stroked the man's arm.

"Stop massaging his muscles." Peter quipped. Gamora dropped the man's arm instantly, making it land on the table with a loud thud. "Wake him up," Peter ordered to Mantis.

Mantis gently placed her palm on the man's forehead once again, her antennas glowing white. "Wake," She whispered.

The man yelled as he awoke, scrambling off the table as the Guardians jumped away, pulling out their weapons.

The man grunted, catching himself on the wall as he panted to catch his breath. Everyone, but Groot, stood in a fighting position as the man turned to them, brows knitting together.

"Who the hell are you guys?" His low voice grumbled.

Ellie put her arms down, seeing the man wasn't going to attack them. "Damn, his voice makes him hotter."

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

ELLIE SAT NEXT to Groot on the medical table, her head resting on his shoulder watching him play his video game while Blake's head lay in Ellie's lap as he played with the rings on her fingers. Rocket had finally let Blake and Ellie be more affectionate with each other around him, but he still had his limits on what he would allow.

"The entire time I knew Thanos, he only ever had one goal." Gamora continued to explain after the man, who they now knew as Thor, explained to them what had happened. "To bring balance to the universe by wiping out half of all life. He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre."

"Including me own," Drax added solemnly.

"If he gets all six Infinity Stones he can do it with the snap of his fingers like this." Gamora snapped her fingers.

"You seem to know a great deal about Thanos," Thor grumbled, spinning the spoon he was using for his soup in his hand.

"Gamora was the daughter of Thanos," Drax explained.

Ellie looked over at Gamora who had her gaze set on the ground.

"Your father killed my brother." Thor snapped, standing up and walking over to Gamora. Groot looked up from his game and Blake sat up.

"Oh, boy."

"Stepfather, technically." Peter quickly said. "And she hates him as much as you do."

Thor stood in front of Gamora, a sigh escaping him. "Families can be tough," he said, placing a hand on Gamora's shoulder. "Before my father died, he told me that I had a half-sister that he imprisoned in Hell. And then she returned home and stabbed me in the eye so I had to kill her."

Ellie sucked in her lips to stop a laugh from escaping her at Peter's face as he watched Thor rub his thumb on Gamora's shoulder.

"That's life though, isn't it, I guess. Goes, round and round...I feel your pain."

"I feel your pain as well, because..." Peter injected himself into the conversation, putting himself between Gamora and Thor. "-well, because, I mean, it's not a competition, but I've been through a lot." Peter rambled, Gamora walking away whilst Thor slurped his soup loudly. "My father killed our 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 with both my eyes, which was..."

"I need a hammer, not a spoon." Thor interrupted, walking over to the entrance of their pod.

"How do I open this thing? Is there some sort of, uh...a four-digit code, maybe?" Thor spotted a keypad and began typing various numbers in. "Maybe a birthdate."

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

"Taking your pod," Thor responded simply, continuing to type in numbers. Peter cleared his throat loudly, stepping up to Thor as he puffed his chest out.

"No, you're not." Peter boomed in a deeper voice making Ellie and Blake choke on their laughs.

"You will not be taking our pod today, sir."

"Uh...Quill, are you making your voice deeper?" Rocket asked, resisting the urge to laugh.

"No," Peter replied, keeping his voice low.

"You are!" Ellie said, unable to contain a small laugh.

"You're imitating the god-man. It's weird." Drax added.

"No, I'm not."

Mantis gasped, pointing at Peter. "He just did it again!"

"This is my voice!"

Thor stepped down from the pod platform, stepping up to Peter.

"Are you mocking me?" Thor asked lowly. Ellie's jaw dropped, fanning herself dramatically as she fell onto Blake's side who rolled his eyes, hiding his mild jealousy.

"Are you mocking me?" Peter asked, copying Thor.

"Stop it. You did it again."

"He's trying to copy me." Peter laughed deeply at the Guardians.

"I need you to stop doing that."

"Enough!" Gamora yelled, tired of their stupid antics.

"He's doing it first." Thor defended.

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

"Knowhere," Thor answered immediately.

"He must be going somewhere," Mantis said, clueless to the knowledge of all the planets in the galaxy just yet.

"No, no. Knowhere?" Peter questioned his voice back to its normal pitch. "It's a place. We've been there. It sucks. Excuse me, that's our food." Peter quickly added as Thor rummaged through their fridge.

"Not anymore."

"Thor, why would he go to Knowhere?" Gamora asked calmly.

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

"If it's with the Collector, then it's not safe. Only an idiot would give that man a stone." Peter countered.

"Or a genius." Thor rebutled.

"How do you know he's not going for one of the other stones?" Ellie asked, pushing herself off Blake.

"Because, tiny girl-" Ellie furrowed her brows at that. "-there are six stones out there. Thanos already has the Power Stone, because he stole it last week when he decimated Xandar. He stole the Space Stone from me...when he destroyed my ship and slaughtered half my people. The Time and Mind Stones are safe on Earth. They're with the Avengers."

"The Avengers?" Blake questioned.

"Earth's mightiest heroes," Thor explained.

"Like Kevin Bacon?" Mantis asked.

"He may be on the team. I don't know. I haven't been there in a while. 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." Thor finished explaining.

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

"Wrong." Thor cut in. "Where we have to go is Navidavellir."

"That's a made-up word." Drax accused.

"All words are made up." Thor and Ellie said in unison.

"Nidavellir is real? Seriously?" Rocket chuckled, getting on top of the medical table next to Ellie. "That place is a legend. They make the most powerful, horrific weapons to ever torment the universe. I would very much like to get there, please."

"The rabbit is correct and clearly the smartest among you." Thor smiled.

"Rabbit?" Rocket questioned, giving Ellie a look when she hid her laugh.

"Only Eitri the Dwarf can make me the weapon I need. I assume you're the captain, sir." Thor said to Rocket.

"You're very perceptive."

"You seem like a noble leader. Will you join me on my quest to Nidavellir?"

"Let me just ask the captain. Oh, wait a second, it's me! Yeah. I'll go."

"Wonderful!"

Peter held up his pointer finger. "Uh, except for that I'm the captain."

"Quiet." Thor boomed, grabbing supplies.

"That's my backpack," Peter muttered.

"Go sit down." Rocket ordered, jumping off the table to join Thor.

Blake hopped off the table, grabbing Ellie's hand as she got off as well.

"Look, this is my ship. And I'm not goin' to...Wait, what kinda weapon are we talkin' about here?" Peter asked, a bit in a fuss with all the new information and his irritation at being dismissed as the ship's captain.

"The Thanos-killing kind," Thor answered.

"Don't you think that we should all have a weapon like that?" Peter asked, gesturing to everyone behind him.

"No. You simply lack the strength to wield them. Your bodies would crumble as your minds collapsed into madness." Thor explained, causing Ellie to tilt her head and furrow her brows.

"Is it weird that I wanna do it even more now?" Rocket asked. Ellie shook her head, also thinking the same thing as him if she were being honest.

"Mmm, a little bit, yeah." Thor shrugged.

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

"He already is," Thor replied, sending shivers through Ellie's body. As if sensing her discomfort, Blake squeezed her hand.

"I got it figured out." Rocket declared. "We got two ships and a large assortment of morons. So me, Ellie, and Groot will go with the pirate angel here. And the morons will go to Knowhere to try to stop Thanos. Cool? Cool."

"So cool." Thor nodded with a short smile, turning to get into the pod that Rocket had opened. Blake and Ellie shared a look, squeezing the other's hand.

"For the record...I know that you're only going with him because it's where Thanos isn't." Peter said quietly to Rocket, glaring at the raccoon.

"You know, you really shouldn't talk that way to your captain, Quill." Rocket smirked. Ellie watched Groot join Rocket by the pod but remained where she stood. "Come on, Ellie." Rocket called.

"I think I gonna stay with the morons Rocket." She told him, staying in her place.

Rocket laughed. "You're staying with me. I'm not letting you go fight an angry giant purple alien. Come on."

"No, Rocket. I can help." Ellie said sternly, walking up and kneeling in front of him. "I don't want to be away from you and Groot either but you know I can help them."

Rocket stared at her, his arms crossed over his chest. He sighed heavily, running his paws over his face. "Ugh, fine!" Rocket looked behind Ellie, glaring at Blake. Even after being with the team for a year and dealing with Rocket daily, the raccoon's glare still made the teen squirm. Blake nodded, understanding the message Rocket was trying to send.

If Ellie got hurt, he'd be in deep shit.

"Is the tiny girl coming or not?" Thor asked from inside the pod.

Rocket sighed once more. "No, she's not."

Ellie stood up, quickly grabbing Groot in a short hug as he continued to play his game.

"Put that game down. You'll rot your brain." Rocket said to Groot as they got into the pod.

"I bid you farewell and good luck, morons. Bye." Thor said with a wave of his hand as Rocket powered up the pod. Ellie waved goodbye with a short smile.

The pod fell through the bottom of the ship and into the space below.