Now or Never

Chapter 15 ~ Where's Fury?

"Who's Quill?" I ask.

"The family I was talking about. He loves to listen to music all the time just like you do, but he doesn't listen to this depressing mess." He says as he climbs onto my bed.

"What can I say? I'm in a depressing mood." I answer him.

"You're always in a depressing mood."

I shrug. "What kind of music does Quill listen to?" I ask as I toss Rocket the phone.

Rocket catches it and thinks for a while before putting 'Southern Nights' on.

'Southern nights

Have you ever felt a southern night?

Free as a breeze

not to mention the trees

Whistling tunes that you know and love so.'

"I love this song." Rocket says as he nods his head to the beat.

"I do too actually," I say to him.

"We should have a dance-off." Rocket suggests.

"What? Uh, no. Dancing isn't something I do."

"I don't usually dance either, so we can both look like fools trying." Rocket shrugs.

I smile at the raccoon. "You always know how to cheer me up," I say as I get up and drag Rocket off the bed.

Rocket and I just act like fools for the next couple of hours until there's a rumbling sound that shakes the whole compound. The both of us share a look and Rocket quickly climbs onto my shoulder as I take off outside. We get out there before anyone else, but Dad, Natasha, Pepper, Rhodey, and Bruce come running out shortly afterward. Dad shaved his beard off and cut some of his hair, having it nicely combed back. We look up at the night sky to see Rocket's ship being carried by Carol as she lands the ship. The landing gears deploy as they touch down. Carol nods at us before walking away and the hatch to the ship opens to reveal a weak-looking Tony carried by a blue robotic looking woman. Rocket hops off my shoulder as Dad and I rush over to Tony.

"Tony!" I reach him first and lunge at him, causing him to stumble and almost fall.

He hugs back as tight as he can and buries his face in my hair. He exhales shakily. "Thank God you're okay." We pull away and look at each other. He has tears in his eyes but doesn't let them fall.

"Don't worry. I'm right here, Uncle T." I say and cup his cheek. He puts a hand on top of mine, rubbing his thumb against it as he gives me a small smile.

I let go to let Tony grab onto Dad's arm as he helps him stand and walk down the hatch.

"Couldn't stop him," Tony says to us.

"Neither could we," Dad says.

"Hang on," Tony says, stopping us in our tracks. He turns to me. "I lost the kid."

My hands clasp over my mouth because I know he's talking about Peter. "Pete?"

"Tony, we lost," Dad says to him.

"Is umm...?" He starts, but then Pepper runs over to him. "Oh, good." He sighs.

"Oh my God!" She exclaims and hugs Tony.

"It's okay." He whispers to her.

I look back at the ship to see Rocket place a hand over the blue robotic woman's. Nobody else came out of the ship beside them two, meaning Rocket lost all of his family. Not a single one made it.

We all head back inside to get some rest, especially Tony. We all decided to give him time before pestering him with questions. Everyone went to sleep, but me. I'm wide awake and have nothing better to do. I walk around the compound and find Rocket still up in the living room.

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

He looks back at me before looking back at the computer. "I'm trying to track these stones down."

"Want some company? I might be of great use." I say to him.

"Yeah. That would be nice." He says.

So Rocket and I spend most of the night trying to track down these stones. Seeing if there was anything we missed or any clues to help us.

It was four in the morning when we finally found it. Rocket and I look at each other in excitement and give one another a fist pump.

"Found you." Rocket mumbles.

"It looks like he used the stones two days ago on that planet," I say.

Rocket nods. "Should we wake up the others?"

I shake my head and yawn. "We can tell them after we get some sleep." I lean back in my seat, too lazy to get up to move. Rocket jumps on my lap and curls up, making himself comfy as the both of us drift off to sleep.

—ASE715