Rocket

This whole plan sounds crazy as shit, and Rocket is thoroughly on board.

While the finer details of the plan is being hammered out by those with the patience for such things, the raccoon is hard at work building the actual devices that're gonna make it possible in the first place. There's a lot of work to be done, and they're not exactly in a time crunch, but the sooner they get this over with, the sooner Rocket gets his family back.

The huge, empty room used to be a garage of some sort, but now it's home to the skeleton of an enormous platform that's slowly taking shape. The sound of tools is partly drowned out by the rock music blasting out of what must be a very expensive sound system, giving Rocket a rhythm to work to, his ears twitching in time with the music as he hangs from the underside of the platform to install one of several dozen crystalline focusing panels. Somewhere on the other side is Stark, looking much less starving than the last time Rocket saw him, whistling along with the tune as he installs what looks like several miles of cable and circuitboards.

There's a loud thud as Banner sets down a heavy crate on the floor, damn near dropping it, and Rocket raises his goggles to glare at the humie. "Hey, watch it. You break those panels, we're gonna end up spaghettified in the time vortex, pal. Why not get all big and green if you're gonna carry the heavy stuff?"

Banner grimaces and rubs the back of his neck. "I don't think that's a good idea. Using Hulk for manual labor's like using a nuke to kill a mosquito. He's more likely to trash this whole thing. He doesn't understand this kinda stuff."

Rocket pauses, and drops from the frame onto his hind feet, turning the world rightside-up again. He doesn't know Banner and this Hulk persona at all, but people are people, no matter how big and green they are. And even though scientists make his skin crawl, this one's as much a freak as Rocket is. Maybe more. And freaks gotta stick together. "You ever consider that maybe the reason he don't like you is because you talk about him like a dumb animal?"

Up on the platform, Stark's whistling comes to an abrupt stop, but Rocket doesn't bother looking over his shoulder to see what the look on his face is. Instead he focuses on Banner, whose expression flits between embarrassed and angry, cheeks flushing faint pink. "Excuse me?"

"Nah, don't think I will." Rocket drops his wrench into the toolbox, and treads forward to jab the human in the knee. "Look, I don't gotta know all the nitty-gritty details between you and your bigger half. And I get hatin' what you are. Believe me. But you gotta learn to live with it. Big Green's a part of you. So what if he ain't so bright, plenty of dumb folks can get shit done. But maybe he'd do better at it if you'd help him out instead of shovin' him in a closet all the time and pretending he's got nothing to do with you. Folks are stronger together, isn't that the whole point of this? Put the brain and the brawn together, or you're gonna be stuck hating each other until you die, and that's a long fucking time for you humies. If you can't trust yourself, who the hell can you?"

Banner just stares at him, mouth agape, and Rocket rolls his eyes and climbs back into the frame, tail swishing irritably. It's not until he gets down there and clinging to the scaffold by his feet that he realizes he's forgotten to pick up his wrench, and he's already cursing under his breath when a big green hand reaches out to him with the tool cradled on the massive palm.

Rocket looks at Hulk upside-down, the green giant peering back at him with naked curiosity, and an almost childlike smile on that massive face. "Mouse talks a lot," Hulk grunts, grinning as Rocket swipes the wrench out of his hand.

"Yeah, well, sometimes talking gets you further than fists," the raccoon answers, tipping the goggles back over his eyes. "Get me that power screwdriver thing too, will you? We got work to do."

Stark had estimated it would take a further two weeks to fully construct and calibrate the time travel machine. With Hulk's assistance, which gets more and more helpful as they go, only eight days pass before the platform stands finished in the belly of the Avengers complex, waiting for the travelers to venture forth on the most important mission they will ever undertake.

Rocket holds up a little hand in triumph, and the jolly green giant taps it in a high-five.