One Marvelous Guidebook to Defeating Galactus

Mini-Meeting: The Distress Signal

The day after the meeting, the Guardians and Masters of the Mystic Arts start focusing all their time to finding out more about Galactus. So far there hasn't been any big breakthroughs, but they continue to work for a straight week.

Tony tries to trace back the signal of the message they got to send a message back, but it's almost as if the person who sent it has disappeared. There are no traces of past radio waves or anything of the sort. Tony traced it back as far as the planet Saturn, but after that, there is nothing to follow.

Steve immediately starts a training routine. He makes a special schedule for everyone so each member of the team can work side by side different members on different days. The more they know each other's moves, the better they will fight.

Stephen and Lauren pace the library of the building endlessly, looking for any clue on who Galactus is. They found only one book that mentioned him, but all it said was that he consumes planets to live. They already knew that.

"Urg! This is hopeless! There's nothing here. It's as if Galactus doesn't exist!" Lauren throws a book across the room in frustration.

Stephen sighs and uses his Sling Ring to retrieve the poor book. "It's not hopeless, we just haven't found anything yet."

"It's been a whole week and we haven't found squat. Tony hasn't found anything, and neither have the Guardians. I'm starting to think Quill was right, that this is a prank!" Lauren huffs and crosses her arms, dramatically falling onto a chair.

"Sounds like you need to meditate." Stephen closes his book and raises an eyebrow.

Lauren hates meditating, but she knows Stephen is right. Without another word, she quickly stands up and leaves the library, making sure to slam the door on her way out. A second later, the door opens slowly to reveal two scared looking Avengers. It's the two Peters.

"Uh, hey, magic man." Peter Quill closes the door softly behind him and the other Peter. "Do I wanna know why Lauren looked like she wanted to murder me?"

"Probably not." Stephen, not amused by the nickname Quill gave him, stands up from the desk he was working at. "Have you found anything?"

"Not quite." Quill unhooks a very old looking tablet device and pulls up a map to show Stephen. "As we were looking for any possible location of this Galactus guy, we found a distress signal. It's so far away that we almost missed it."

"Nick Fury gave the Guardians and me the thumbs up to go and investigate." Peter Parker steps out from behind Quill and twiddles his thumbs. He's not sure that he's ready to go back into outer space, but he knows that as long as the Guardians are with him, he will be fine.

Suddenly, the door bursts open and Tony Stark rushes up to the trio. Behind him, Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner are trying to get him to settle down. Tony grabs Peter Parker's arm and points at Quill. "No. He's not going back in space."

"Tony, we have been trying to tell you that Peter is more than qualified to accompany the Guardians." Bruce puts a hand on Tony's shoulder and looks at Steve for help.

The super soldier understands the silent message and backs the doctor up. "Peter has fought alongside the Guardians the most when we were fighting Thanos. It would make sense for him to go with them and answer the distress call."

"But," Tony's grip on Peter's arm tightens, "why can't I go too, then?! I fought on Titan with them, so I should go instead of Peter."

"Mr. Stark, you need to be here to keep tracking the message from that guy. Doctor Strange and Lauren can't go either because they're figuring out stuff about Galactus. You don't have to worry about me." Peter gives Tony a reassuring smile, but the billionaire doesn't let go.

The older Peter puts a hand on the younger's and locks eyes with Tony. "I'll protect him, Tony. I promise. He might not even have to get into the fight if there is one."

"Yeah." Peter Parker nods, glad that everyone else is on his side. "Rocket told me that most of your distress calls just end up being trips to bring resources and other things to the planet."

"Then why do you even have to go?!" Tony refuses to go down so easily. If Peter is going back into space, then he needs every question answered.

"Because Nick Fury thinks it's the perfect opportunity to merge the Avengers and the Guardians." Steve relays the message from Director Fury for the third time to Tony. "Plus, it gives us a better chance of finding any clues out in the cosmos for any sign of Galactus."

"I'm sorry, Stark, but I have to agree with the Captain on this one." Stephen speaks up for the first time about the matter at hand. "The only other person I would send with them is Carol Danvers, but that wouldn't be smart. In case Galactus does come while the Guardians are gone, it would be better to have her here with us."

Finally, Tony lets go of Peter Parker and glares at Quill. "You better keep your promise."

With that said, Tony quickly leaves the library. Peter Parker feels a tug at his chest and knows he has to reassure Tony. He rushes out after the adult and finds him climbing the stairs. Peter uses his super strength to skip four steps at a time and reaches Tony in seconds.

"Mr. Stark-" Peter turns Tony around, but stops himself as he sees tears streaking down Tony's face.

Shamefully, Tony looks away and sits down on the steps, holding his face in his hands. Peter quietly sits down next to him and leans his head on Tony's arm. "I'll be alright, Mr. Stark. Quill said that he'll protect me."

Keeping his head down, Tony wraps one arm around Peter's shoulders. "I know, but...I can't lose you, Peter. I don't want you to go..."

"M-Mr. Stark...I promise that I'll do whatever it takes to come home. You'll see me again when I get back. I won't leave forever. P-plus, Quill has these cool tablets that can keep us connected. I can ask him to give you one...i-if you want." At Peter's suggestion, Tony hugs him tighter. He's right, Peter will be fine. He'll come back. Quill promised.