A Diplomatic Mission
Carol entered the room with a confident smile on her face. She knew that was key. For a few seconds, she simply regarded her crew with a mix of pride and uncertainty, but she made sure to hide all of the uncertainty.
There was no question that that was likely the most powerful team ever assembled, with the possible exception of any team Dr. Strange was ever a part of.
Thor looked at her more or less passively, with his arms crossed in consideration. It was very rare that he was actually considering anything, but he was into the habit of looking like it.
Right next to him was Nova, looking excited as usual, and that was easily discernible despite his Nova Corps helmet -- by his grin. He was leaning forward on his legs and looking around the table at the others. He had clearly been talking just before Carol entered the room. She was conflicted about having someone so young, but despite his age, he was still the representative of galactic law and justice. Because of that, they needed him on the team.
“Hello Carol!” greeted the member who was, by far the oddest pick for the team. Mr. Immortal was waving excitedly. “Nova was just telling us about when he fought Thanos with you! That’s amazing!”
Nova blushed and looked down, but Captain Marvel focused on the chatterbox that had been assigned to her team. “Well, he’s still kicking about so let’s hope we don’t have to do that again.” Mr. Immortal was, shocking as it may seem, immortal. He wasn’t supposed to ever leave the ship, being the designated driver that they could count on since nothing would kill him. The cockpit could very well explode and be swallowed by the void, and he would just keep going.
It had been a pain to teach him the necessary skills, but possible.
“Our mission’s diplomacy,” said Simon, the Wonder Man. Carol still remembered him as a man of charm and smiles, but a lot had happened to turn him into a surly walking superpower who found it hard to get out of bed and do something with his life. He had been her pick, for old time’s sakes, because he was both a powerhouse and really needed someone to keep him from wasting away. “What was their name? Anolians?”
“A silly people,” said Thor, scoffing. “They eat grass and lounge around.”
“Well not anymore, now they’re in the middle of a civil war,” Carol let them know.
“Why are we getting involved?” A thick accent asked. Carol looked over at Shiro, the Sunfire. The mutant representative who was nevertheless a power that could rival that of Johnny Storm. The once Japanese vigilante stared back from behind his sun-themed mask with a disgruntled lack of appreciation.
“We’re a neutral party,” she answered, ignoring his combative tone. “The Anolians have a small system of planets that have been allowed to live in peace and independence amidst the Kree territory, because they’re pacifist, lazy, and their planets have little to no resources. Once they started fighting each other, most all of those reasons went poof. The Kree are poised to invade and take over, which usually means genocide, but folk back home managed to propose a diplomatic mission, first.”
“Hell of a team you got here if our only purpose is diplomacy. Shouldn’t we have one diplomat?”
She smiled at Rhodes, who was completely outside of his armor. The NATO representative, but mostly Stark’s overseeing eyes. With him, they had three people capable of piloting that ship. Including her, of course.
“Well, there’s an additional complication.” She waved at the one person she knew nobody would recognize. A young woman with wild brown hair who was a hundred percent earth human, and at the same time, not from earth at all. “This is Geena Drake, a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy from the year three thousand.”
Geena waved in greeting. “Hello.”
“I was wondering since I have never heard of her,” Sunfire said, almost in protest. Geena glared at him, but he continued. “What is this crisis, then?”
“Well, we don’t exactly know. But Geena’s pretty unique. She can sense time anomalies. Something is happening with the Anolians that shouldn’t be happening.”
“Nobody has ever heard of them,” Geena said with a shrug. “Ever. They’re supposed to be irrelevant, you know? Just another planet of people who’s swallowed up in some war, eventually. If anything, they’re a footnote in some history books that want to make fun of pacifism.”
Wonder Man scowled with his sunglasses on, unhappy to hear that, but said nothing.
“So I think this civil war has something to do with what I’m sensing,” Geena said. “With why I’m here.”
“Where did you come from, Geena?” Nova asked, directly.
“Not where, when!” She said, happily, and he snickered.
“Come on, you know what I mean.”
She giggled somewhat, but it was Rhodes who answered. “The Guardians brought her to us. Starlord was adamant that they were the last people who should try their hand at diplomacy, and we’re inclined to agree. The Guardians’ rap sheet doesn’t really vibe with their appearance. As in, almost no power. We put together this team to handle intergalactic issues that will, or even just might, affect our planet. Get ahead of this kind of thing before it comes knocking on our door and blowing up our continents. There’s only so many times we can bring Earth back from apocalypses.”
“Has,” Geena chimed in, uncertain, “has it happened a lot? I only know of the one.”
The whole table shuffled and shrugged and coughed in discomfort.
“We don’t even know which one you’re referring to,” said Mr. Immortal. “It’s almost a seasonal thing. Doesn’t it happen every year? Right around summer time? I get the impression everything starts blowing up right around the time I’m thinking about hitting the beach, every time.”
“Well, that’s why we’re here. The Earth’s mightiest heroes,” Rhodes said, chuckling. “Nobody is going to underestimate us, and they’ll always know some of us, so we actually have a decent chance at making diplomacy work.”
“When you are as mighty as Thor, your foes will always fail to estimate your might,” Thor said with a smirk. “I am surprised to see Hulk absent from this team.”
“We thought the Hulk wouldn’t be too keen on being sent off-planet by the Avengers,” Rhodes said, a bit ironically. “Besides, we figured we should make a team of fliers.”
“I can’t fly,” Mr. Immortal said, raising his hand.
“You’re not leaving the ship,” Rhodes said.
“I can’t fly either,” Geena said, also raising her hand.
“You’re not a selected member, you’re the VIP we’re carrying. You’re part of the mission.”
“Oh, a very important person!” She said to Nova, elbowing him in a friendly manner, and making him giggle at that.
Carol was a bit put off by the fact Rhodey was taking control. This was her team and her operation. As such, she cleared her throat and stood up, to gather their attention. She hoped that would leave them with the impression he had allowed her second to tell them the things they needed to know, and that was it.
“We’ll arrive at their planet soon. I want everyone to know their role when we go out there, we can’t mess this up. We won’t mess this up. So listen closely.” She glanced at Mr. Immortal, “and pay attention.”
