Hearing Homelander call out to him, Rocket answered without looking back. "Don't call me sir. Whenever you call me sir, nothing good comes of it!"
"This time it's something good," Homelander said with a smile. "I need your technical support."
"I need a communications rig that can transmit live HD video across half the Milky Way, regardless of distance."
"A livestream across star systems?"
Rocket grinned, baring his sharp teeth.
"Now that's interesting. It'll take a high-powered quantum entanglement array, and I'll have to hack into the Kree relay network..."
"You can do it, right?" Homelander smiled at him. "After all, you're the smartest genius in the Milky Way."
"Ha!" Rocket scoffed. "Obviously! I could cobble together something that simple from scrap metal!"
"But..."
Rocket rubbed his paws together. "This is high-end technical work. It'll cost extra."
"No problem."
Homelander waved a hand toward Thor.
"Put it on his tab."
"Pfft—!"
"Why me again?!" Thor nearly spat out the Vought energy drink he was drinking.
"Put it on Odin's tab." He recovered quickly and passed the bill straight to his father. "Asgard has enough money to buy half the Milky Way!"
"Deal!" Rocket leaped up in delight. Once he finished this job, he'd have enough saved for a new spaceship.
Everyone watching couldn't help laughing.
But there was no mockery in their laughter, only warmth.
Steve shook his head and said to Natasha with a smile, "He really is full of himself sometimes, and he loves the spotlight... But I have to admit, at times like this, he almost seems..."
"Kind of adorable?" Natasha finished for him, smiling. "Maybe that's why everyone's willing to follow him. At least he isn't a hypocrite."
Everyone knew Homelander loved attention and putting on a show.
So what?
He was getting things done. He