Avengers: Endgame [4]

6

Asgard, 2013

With a flash, Astra, Rocket, and Thor landed in a dark, empty corridor. Their time travel suits deactivated and they looked around at their surroundings.

"So this is Asgard, then?" Astra observed. "Where are we? The palace? The dungeon?"

"Probably. Come on," said Rocket.

The three of them ran through the corridor, sneaking past the cell in which Thor's brother Loki was imprisoned in.

They stopped in another hallway, watching Thor's ex-girlfriend Jane and a few Asgardian maidens walking by.

"All right," said Rocket as soon as they were gone, "here's the deal, tubby. You're gonna charm her, Astra's gonna talk and distract her, and I'm gonna poke her with this thing and extract the Reality Stone and we'll get gone lickety-split." He was holding a device he would use to get the Aether out of Jane.

"I'll be right back, okay? The wine cellar is just down there. My father used to have this huge barrel of Aakonian ale." Thor began to walk away. "I'll see if the scullery has a couple of go-to cups."

"Hey. Hey! Aren't  you drunk enough already?" Rocket asked frustratedly.

A door banged in the distance and the three of them hid behind pillars. When Thor saw who was coming into view, he walked closer to see. Astra turned around and saw that Thor was looking at a woman who looked a lot like him, with long curly hair and wearing clothes way fancier than the others with her.

"Who's the fancy broad?" Rocket asked.

"That's my mother," said Thor. "She dies today."

"Oh, that is today?" said Rocket.

Thor breathed heavily and started to hyperventilate. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I shouldn't be here; I shouldn't have come. It's a bad idea."

"Come here." Rocket motioned for him to come closer.

"No, no, I think I'm having a panic attack," said Thor.

"Come here. Right here."

"No, I shouldn't be here, this is bad-" Thor took one step closer and Rocket slapped him in the face.

"You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here?" Rocket demanded. "Me and Astra, we both lost the only family we ever had! Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antennae-"

Astra cleared her throat. "She's got a name, Rocket, it's Mantis." She turned to Thor. "But he's right. And Gamora, too." Astra's voice cracked as she thought of her dead sister. "They're all gone! It's just us now."

"I get you miss your mom," said Rocket, "but she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kind of gone, and you can help them. So, is it too much to ask that you brush the crumbs out of your beard, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants, and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help us get our family back?"

Thor hesitated. "Okay." He lowered his head to wipe something from his face.

"Are you crying?" Rocket asked.

Thor shook his head. "No." Then, "Yes. I feel like I'm losing it."

"Well, then snap out of it!! Get it together!" Astra hissed with a snap of her fingers.

Thor continued to hyperventilate.

"You can do this!" said Rocket. Thor stopped crying and brought a determined look to his face.

"All right?" Rocket checked.

"Yes, I can," said Thor.

"Good." Rocket began to walk in the direction Jane was heading, noticing that she was alone. "All right, heartbreaker, she's alone. This is our shot." He and Astra turned around.