"Mr. Rocket...?" Rocket's furry ears twitched. He straightened instinctively, smoothed the fur on his chest, and couldn't help smiling.
"Hmm... even in Centaurus, you don't meet many people that polite."
Homelander immediately seemed a lot more likable to him.
But a moment later, he caught the second half of what Homelander had said.
"Wait. Did you say... teach a class?"
Rocket burst out laughing as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the universe. He even slapped his thigh.
"Ha! You want me to teach this cutting-edge technology to primitives who are still boiling water?"
"Hahahaha! Are you dreaming?"
"...Maybe?"
Homelander's smile didn't fade. Two crimson lights simply flared in his eyes.
Rocket's laughter stopped dead.
"Well... I'm not a stingy guy, really."
His eyes darted around, and he quickly put on a generous face.
"Knowledge is meant to be shared, right?"
"I'll teach them! Absolutely! I'll make sure they learn it!"
"But..." Rocket rubbed his paws together, his greedy nature resurfacing. "Technology is technology, and labor is labor. This is an interstellar technology transfer. That costs extra!"
"Money?" The red glow faded from Homelander's eyes, and his affable expression returned. "No problem. How much?"
"Fifty thousand... no, a hundred thousand!" Rocket held out a paw. "Two hundred thousand Units! Or the equivalent in rare metals!"
"We don't use Units here," Jane cut in.
"Then pay me with something else!" Rocket pointed at the hammer in Jane's hand. "That looks good. It's Uru Metal, right? Just cut off half for me!"
"Not a chance!" Jane hid the hammer behind her back.
"Money's easy enough to sort out."
Homelander smiled, turned, and looked at Thor.
"Thor."
"Huh?" Thor had been staring blankly at a wrench. Hearing his name, he looked baffled. "What do you want? Are we fighting?"
Homelander walked over,