The trip to Knowhere wasn't long. Less than two days, jumping through space using the quantum drive—going through the quantum realm itself, which was a new experience for Eli.
His first time doing it.
After the second jump, he almost vomited. His stomach lurched, his vision swam, and for a moment he was absolutely certain he was about to embarrass himself in front of everyone.
He held it in.
Because he definitely didn't want to lose the whole cool-guy act he had going.
Rocket noticed anyway. "You look green, Whitey."
"It's Eli. And I'm fine."
"You sure? Because your face is doing this thing—"
"I'm FINE."
Rocket snickered. Eli ignored him.
---
After the last jump, they were a couple thousand kilometers from Knowhere. The skull was visible now—a massive shape against the stars, still impressive even from this distance. Eli's heart had already started racing. The closer they got, the faster it beat.
Peter was the first to break the comfortable silence.
"So… Earth, huh?"
Eli looked at him. "Yeah."
Peter leaned against the console, trying to look casual and failing completely. "So what's it like now? Do they have flying cars?"
Most of the other Guardians looked at Peter like he'd just asked the stupidest question imaginable. To them, flying cars were normal. Basic. The kind of thing even primitive civilizations figured out eventually.
Peter saw their looks and immediately got defensive. "WHAT?! The last time I was there, there weren't any!"
"How could they not have hovercraft?" Drax asked, genuinely confused. "What do they use to travel around?"
Before anyone else could take shots at Peter, Eli interjected. "No, he's right. We still don't have them."
The Guardians stared at him.
"And space travel is so behind that they haven't even sent anyone to the moon. Not since the seventies."
"Just how primitive is this 'Terra'?" Rocket asked, ears twitching.
Eli thought about it. "We actually just got our first real alien invasion. An army called the Chitauri."
At the name Chitauri, Gamora flinched.
It was small—barely noticeable. But everyone saw it. The way her shoulders tightened. The way her eyes went distant for just a moment.
Drax was the first to ask. "Do you know of this… Chitauri?"
"Chitauri," Gamora corrected quietly. "And yes. I know them."
She paused, composing herself. "They are one of the many armies Thanos commands. Bio-weapons. He uses them to wipe out half the populations of planets he conquers."
At the name Thanos, Drax's face darkened. His hands curled into fists. Grief and rage mixed in his expression, raw and barely contained. The other Guardians looked at him with pity—the kind of pity that came from understanding.
Eli saw this and immediately tried to bring the mood back up. A smile crossed his face. "No, no, no—the army wasn't led by Thanos. It was led by an Asgardian named Loki. And they didn't even win."
Peter's eyebrows shot up. "They didn't?"
"Nope. Because when they invaded, I got together with a couple of other people and formed a team. We called ourselves the Avengers. Earth's mightiest heroes."
He paused for effect.
"And we won."
Drax's eyes lit up. "A team of heroes. Like warriors banding together against a great evil."
"Exactly like that."
Peter, who had been pacing around the cockpit, stopped and looked at Eli with barely contained anticipation. "Is Kevin Bacon in it?"
Eli blinked. "Who?"
Peter's face fell. "Kevin Bacon. You know. Footloose. He's an actor. He was in that movie about the guy who dances."
Eli shook his head slowly. "I don't know who that is."
Peter stared at him like he'd just admitted to not knowing how to breathe. "You're from Earth and you don't know Kevin Bacon?"
"I'm from Earth and I'm nineteen. Whoever Kevin Bacon is, he was probably old when my parents were kids."
Peter clutched his chest like he'd been shot. "That's… that's the most hurtful thing anyone has ever said to me."
"You literally said that you watched your mother die of cancer."
"That's different. That's tragedy. This is personal."
Gamora rolled her eyes. Rocket snickered. Groot said something that sounded suspiciously like laughter.
The conversation about Earth and the Avengers went on for a while—Peter asking questions about everything from music to movies to whether anyone had finally invented a decent pizza delivery service. Eli answered what he could, admitted ignorance on the rest, and tried not to laugh at Peter's devastated reaction to learning that Walkmans were now considered ancient technology.
---
When they finally arrived at Knowhere, the skull was even more impressive up close.
Massive. Ancient. Impossible.
Eli's heart pounded as they passed through the protective atmosphere—he wasn't sure how that worked, some kind of energy field or artificial barrier—and landed on the surface.
He stepped off the Milano and looked around.
The place was massive.
Bounty pods flew overhead, weaving between structures built into the skull's bone. Aliens of every race and species walked the streets—blue ones, green ones, ones with tentacles, ones with extra limbs, ones Eli couldn't even begin to classify. Merchants shouted in a dozen languages. The air smelled of ozone, exotic spices, and something vaguely metallic.
It was breathtaking.
Finally, Eli thought. Time to get a piece of this skull.