THOR AND STAR-LORD
INRUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE
The Milano hung over the dead planet as the two men sat and caught their breath. Whatever those creatures were below, they were not indigenous to the planet. Thor would have remembered them. No, they had been left here in case he or any of the other Asgardians came looking for a weapon to oppose their enemies. What was even more frightening was the fact that meant their enemy knew more than just Ragnarok. They knew of the ancient caches, and possibly more of the Asgardian's weapons. That was a terrifying thought. If they were to find the most powerful of them, there would be no one that could stop them.
"So I take it there was no treasure down there?" Quill grumbled after moments of silence. Thor knew the man was annoyed. He had promised Peter riches, and he had failed to deliver. If he continued to do so, Thor assumed Quill would sell him to the highest bidder. There had to be people out for their heads, and if Thor's enemy had the kind of resources he seemed to, it was bound to be substantial.
"Aye," Thor shook his head in disappointment. "Whoever killed my people seems to be a step ahead of us yet again. Not only did they clear out the cache of Asgard, they left us that charming trap."
"What the hell were those things?" Peter asked with disgust in his voice.
Thor didn't lie, "I do not know. Not for sure."
It had shaken Thor to the bone that he knew not what his foe had tried to kill him with. Thor had been to every corner of the cosmos, yet had never come across the insectoid creatures that had ambushed him. Were they some horrible creations of whoever was trying to kill him? Or were the beasts some sort of monsters that his enemy had found in the deepest part of the shadows of the universe?
Quill chuckled, "Thought you knew everything."
"So did I," Thor admitted.
He didn't want to betray how nervous he was to Quill. If he was going to get anywhere, he needed the ship, and he didn't want to have to take it from Peter. Thor's normal disdain for spending too much time with mortals seemed to be washing away, much to his chagrin.
Suddenly and violently, the ship rocket to one side, spilling Thor out of his seat. Alarms blared through the Milano, warning of another imminent attack.
"What the hell!?" Quill cursed as he threw the ship into a roll. "I thought we were the only ones out here."
"It must be our enemy," Thor seethed. He had walked straight into a trap, and was now going to die for it. He cursed his own desperation for revenge. "I sprung the trap, and they are here to finish the job."
The Milano danced around the fire from its opponent, and Quill shook his head, "It's just one ship. A small Thanagarian attack skiff. Couldn't have destroyed your planet, but they're sure trying to kill us."
"How did they find us?" Thor was perplexed.
"Well, we got a price on our heads the size of the galaxy. They probably followed us from Knowhere," Quill shrugged sheepishly. "Was gonna tell you, but we were too busy playing like Ripley down there."
"Ripley? I do not understand," Thor shook his head.
"That's the part that you focused on in my sentence!?" Quill grumbled loudly as he threw the Milano into another roll. "We need to get out of here, but they have us cut off from the Knowhere jump point."
"Is there another available?"
"Yea, but I don't know where it goes!" Quill responded in a panic, as the ship indicated their shields were beginning to fail.
"Tis better than being destroyed in the void of space!" Thor protested. "Take the jump!"
"Fine, but if we end up getting eaten by space cannibals, it's your fault."
Their craft screamed towards the jump point as their pursuer did the same, firing incessantly in order to bring them down. As they were mere meters away from the jump, their shields failed and a shot ripped through the Milano's wing, sending them into a spin. They hit the jump backwards, allowing the pair to see their assailant enter as well.
When they came out the other side, they found themselves in the thick atmosphere of the planet. The sudden pull of gravity contributed to the already prominent spinning of the ship, causing Thor to be pinned to the bulkhead of the ship. He watched as Quill was thrown around like a ragdoll, still strapped to his pilot's chair. As the front of the ship spun, Thor could see their attacker had also been thrown off course. It two was spinning uncontrollably towards the planet below.
He could hear the ground approaching, even if he couldn't see it. Before he knew it, a huge crunch roared through his ears, and the world went dark.
**********
Dim light began to filter in through Peter Quill's eyelids, and a steady dripping sound was all he heard. He tentatively opened his eyes, and realized only one of them would do so. He found himself hanging upside down, the dripping sound being blood from his head dripping to the metal below. Carefully, he unhooked himself from the seat, flipped himself over, and dropped down to solid ground.
The damage to the ship was bad. That much was clear. The cockpit had been crumpled, one of the wings was holding on by a thread, and he was sure he smelled a burnt out engine capacitor. None of that was good. But what was even worse was the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was.
"Computer," he called out to the ship's AI, "where are we?"
"-zzzzzbljkbnhj-" was the computer's only answer.
"Great," Quill grumbled to himself. "I hope you're happy. You told me I could blame you. So I'm blamin' you."
Peter turned to look where he had last seen Thor, but instead found the other man to be gone. Quill cursed under his breath. Thor hadn't been strapped into a seat when they crashed. He could have been thrown half way across the planet when they were going down. If that was the case not only was Peter gonna lose out on that bounty, but he was probably gonna die here on some uncharted planet to boot.
Before he could curse Thor again, something ripped through the hull of the Milano. An electrified mace passed through the metal like butter, and behind it came a fierce, armored woman with wings like a bird of prey. She slammed into Quill, and pinned him down to the roof of the Milano, "Where is the Asgardian!"
"Okay, first, does the Wicked Witch know you're missing?" Quill managed to get out through her forearm on his throat.
"Do you want me to close your other eye up too?" she snarled at him, the mask covering half her face accentuated her ferocity. Thanagarians were famous across the galaxy as warriors. He had never fought one, but Quill knew he'd lose, and that was something he rarely admitted. "Where is he?"
"I dunno!" he protested. "You were the one trying to kill us."
"Yea, the two of you," she sneered. "At least I'll be able to collect one bounty."
She raised the mace over her head, and as she did he yelled out, "Wait! Waitwaitwait. You need to get off this rock, same as me."
"And I can do that on my own," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Not if whoever trapped us here kills you!"
With that her grip on him loosened, just a little. Not enough for him to escape, but he could certainly breath easier.
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, you're smart," he looked at her sideways. "Who positions a jump straight into an atmosphere? It was a trap. Who knows what for, or set by who, but it's a trap. Whoever set it is gonna come for us. Or just you if you kill me. Either way, they're gonna come. Maybe they already got Thor."
With that, she got off of him, and helped him up, "That make sense. If you're thinking about killing me, know two things. First, you won't. Second, I will bash you head in until I get to whatever the molecule you call a brain. Understood?"
"Loud and clear," he shrugged and looked her up and down. She certainly was in the shape to kick his ass. Everything about her yelled "toned". In another life, one where she didn't want to kill him and turn his corpse in for a ridiculous amount of money, he would absolutely get turned down by her at a bar. "I'm Star-Lord, by the way."
"There is absolutely no chance in the universe I'm gonna call you that," she looked at him with disdain.
"Why does everyone keep saying that," he mumbled under his breath. "Then I'm Peter. Peter Quill."
"You can call me Hawk. Just Hawk," the Thanagarian growled at him. "Let's get moving. Scavenge what you can from the ship. We'll need all we can."
**********
The sound of a crackling fire was the first thing Thor heard when he regained consciousness. His entire body hurt, but he seemed no worse for wear. Being an Asgardian certainly had its benefits, even lacking Mjolnir as he did. That crash would have killed a mortal, easily.
He found himself in a cave, warm, humid air clinging to him. The dim light of the fire revealed a jungle habitat outside. On a spit above the fire was the leg of some creature roasting. Thor had to admit he was surprised. He didn't take Quill for one that could hunt his own food. But he was thankful. He snatched a handful of the meat and ate greedily.
"That's not very regal of you," a rumbling, deep voice said from deeper into the cave. "I know for a fact you weren't raised to eat in such a way."
Thor could not believe what he was hearing. It was a voice he figure he would never hear again.
"It cannot be," Thor said through the food in his mouth. "It simply cannot be."
"It is, Odinson," the other man said as he stepped into the firelight.
"Is it so strange that more than the Odinson survived the destruction of Asgard?"
Thor said nothing. He sprung to his feet, ignoring all pain he may have been feeling. He embraced Heimdall with all the strength he could muster, tears flowing from his eyes, "My friend. I never thought I'd see you again."
"Aye," Heimdall said warmly. "Yet I always saw you. I have seen all our people that survived the doom of Ragnarok."
"There are more?" hope truly filled Thor's voice for the first time since the ordeal had begun.
Heimdall nodded, "But there will not be for long. Our enemy gathers strength. They move to snuff us out. And after that, they will move to all that call themselves gods."
"Heimdall, who are they?" Thor pleaded for information.
"I know not, Thunderer," he shook his head. "Whoever they are, they can cloud their presence from my eye. But I know what they seek."
"What is that?"
"The Destroyer," Heimdall answered grimly.
"No," Thor gasped. The Destroyer was a weapon of old, something Odin's father Bor had designed to fight back the dark things of the universe. Thor knew no weapon that was more powerful. But his father had told him it had been dismantled. "It no longer exists."
"It does," Heimdall assured him.
"Then we must find it first," Thor had his goal.
"That will be quite difficult," the guardian of the bifrost shook his head. "We're trapped here. And not just because we don't have a ship."
"What do you mean?" Thor asked.
"You'll see shortly," Heimdall motioned outside.
The two of them stepped out into the jungle, and Heimdall pointed to the sky. Suddenly, the sky lit up in a blaze like one of the mortals' view screens. On it, a yellow, square, smiling face greeted them. It talked in a rumble, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's midnight, and you know what that means! It's time to check in on the day's highlights!"
The screen cut out to scenes of violence. Groups of people slaughtered one another in the jungle, and in clearings. Thor had never seen anything like it. It went on and on, but it focused on a large, grey humanoid creature dressed in gladiatorial gear. He tore through his opponents like hot steel through snow.
"Look at Draaga go!" the voice of the yellow skinned being boomed over the violence. "No one can stop my champion! Mongul celebrates Draaga, the champion of of...WARWORLD!"
With that, he disappeared and the night sky took over once more.
"This is no normal planet, Odinson," Heimdall explained. "In order to escape we need to find wherever this Mongul is. So far, I have been unable to do so."
"Good news, my friend," Thor smiled and clapped his hand against his friend's shoulder. "The God of Thunder is here. And I have a friend. It's time we find him, and band together. This Draaga. He'll know where to find Mongul."
Simple Unicycle
Izurich
Morden Man
