And the Snap Echoes

Cosmic Chase

"Steve, the Benatar is ready for departure," Thor announced.

"Excellent work, Thor! Everything's going according to schedule as of now." Steve replied. "Scott will be done with the suits by the day after tomorrow, after which we'll go down there. Meanwhile, you guys continue your search."

"Carol, Rocket, Nebula and I will be departing in a few minutes. I came to tell you that."

"Okay, Thor. I wish you the best of luck."

With a nod of his head, Thor headed towards the aircraft hangar, where the Benatar was parked. Carol, Nebula, and Rocket were already on board.

"Where are we going to first?" Rocket asked.

"I was going to check out Xandar first, see the scale of destruction which it incurred. Then we can just hop from world to world. I also want to search for the other half of my people. They fled with Valkyrie before Thanos attacked our ship." Thor replied.

"We'll keep our search for Thanos the main priority, and you can search for your people in the way," Carol planned out.

In the next five minutes, they were off, headed towards Xandar.

"So Carol, how long has it been since you've been to Hala?" Thor asked.

"I don't really remember much about my past life," Carol replied. "All I know is that I am never going to return there."

"That bad, huh?" Rocket asked. "Well, I know better than to ask. My story's kinda similar to yours - genetic modification, memory cleansing, all that crap. Let's just say that I have no love for the High Evolutionary."

The rest of the ride was spent in silence, and after the Benatar jumped out of hyperspace, the group found themselves flying over a desolate Xandar.

"Oh my god... what happened here?" Carol asked.

"Thanos happened," Thor replied. "He took the power stone from here and killed off half the population, including the Nova Corps. Literal annihilation."

"There was a period when this planet used to be Groot and my home. This is actually where I met Groot," Rocket added.

"C' mon guys, we can't be lost in past memories. We need to search for Thanos!" Nebula intervened.

"Well, I think it would be the right thing to say that he's not here anymore. Why would he be here anyways? He just came here to get the stone." Rocket said.

"He always used to say that once his goal had been achieved, he would settle down on some lone planet and become a farmer, seeing the sunset every day." Nebulae reminisced.

"Thanks, Nebula. That narrows it down to, I don't know, maybe a million planets?" Rocket jabbed.

"Shut up, both of you." Carol chided, " We know that he's not here, so I guess we must move ahead with the rest of the planets. Where are we going next?"

"I'd say that we continue left from here. I guess we'll come in a full circle, and when we're done, we'll head back to Earth. Rabbit, can this ship file a flight plan?" Thor asked.

"Of course it can! Just give me a name and we're good to go."

"Just our in any name. We're going to have to check all of them out anyways." Carol replied.

Okay! First stop, Contraxia."

But Contraxia was fruitless, as were the next forty-seven planets. Rocket has already lost his patience by then.

"How the hell are we supposed to search for Thanos on all of these planets? It's short of impossible." He complained.

"Relax, Rabbit. There's no other way we're gonna do this, so we might just as well do things the way we are already doing them."