#while i write jess FINALLY GETTING ROGER TURNED BACK INTO A HUMAN LIKE FINE IT TOOK EIGHT YEARS BUT YOU FINALLY DID IT

[aparticularbandit]

I shall give you a character, and that character will be...!

Jessica Rabbit. *wiggles eyebrows*

untitled? ask? meme?

it's because you knew i was writing jess stuff isn't it i'm taking a break from writing jess stuff to answering jess memes it's like 2014 up in here again wow

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you

How I feel about this character: You really. You really just going to ask me this one. You really just gonna ask me a question I can write a book on how I feel about Jessica Rabbit and how she deserved exactly nothing I put her through and really she is happy for me to not be writing her anymore because it means she's not in pain but she's still around do you know I have a character in a book named in homage to her do you know I named one of my kittens after said character do you know that I now have a pet literally named after her without being named after her that is the biggest deal that is the big cheese that is so important I don't even write her anymore and yet I'm sitting here answering this question taking a break from writing a fic to give a character a potentially happy ending because I actually can even though it has been YEARS since I wrote her Jessica Rabbit keeps finding her way into my fandoms even when I switch them do you know she was in one of the first fics I wrote for Roisa do you know that I had an entire arc based around her do you know that she just--

All the people I ship romantically with this character: YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO ANSWER THIS ONE FRIENDO?! -SOBS- We're doing best hits because I'm not gonna go into all of the Jess ships. YOU ARE CRUEL. Roger, obviously. Like. Duh. The Jess/Scully ship wrecked me, and I miss it. So much. SO MUCH. (Also if we're throwing blame, I'm gonna blame @fictionpenned because I can.) And I will not elaborate because I honestly don't think I can. The Jess/Regina ship ALSO wrecked me, and I blame @notoriousjae for this entirely. I also will not elaborate here except to say that Claude didn't deserve half of what we put him through. I miss Ducky and our Jess/Annie and Jess/Evanora ships. The soulmate timer universe I keep going back to was created for Jess/Annie, and they were cute together. I miss the vulnerability of Evanora with Jess. (Alana shall not be mentioned because that is OC!Jess and her relationship with actual Jessica Rabbit was so fucking toxic that I can't actually ship it. Like we literally had to create another alternate universe to make up for the shit we did to those two.)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Jess/Eddie. Give me more Jess and Eddie things. Always give me more Jess and Eddie things. (Also Shadow. OBVIOUSLY. I MISS THEIR BANTER. SO MUCH.)

My unpopular opinion about this character: I know that the Jess is Ace headcanon is really popular, and I love it, you know as an ace who writes Jessica Rabbit, I love this headcanon, and I hold it dearly to my heart...but also it is not my headcanon, Jess is pan, she was created with a very specific purpose and being pan fits with how she was designed. I love your headcanon very much please keep it I love Jess as an ace icon, mine just isn't. ><

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: ...in the movie? Honestly, I don't want changes to movie Jess. She's great. That was an excellent movie. I would not add anything to that. The book is its own special form of.... It's a weird fucking book, y'all. Not bad, just. Weird. Good? Subjectively? Disney kept...names, mostly, and the barest of bare concepts (Jess is still humanoid, Roger is still a rabbit, Herman is still a baby, and Eddie is still a detective) and that is about it the plot is entirely different the book is about finding out who killed Roger and there is no Judge Doom it is so wild but I don't...know if...I would change it...either? I'd have to reread the book to think of things to change. (JESS DESERVES BETTER IN THE BOOK, TOO, ACTUALLY.) And honestly...I don't really - like I'd love more WFRR stuff but I don't think...I don't think it would capture what the original did. So I actually...don't have an answer for this one. Whoops?

My OTP: Don't make me choose, I literally have one Jess funko pop between Scully and Roger and another (different) Jessica figurine between Scully and Regina (and yes I guess this means Scully gets both of them, don't judge me) like. Don't make me choose between them. (I love Jess/Roger, but it's Jess/Regina and Jess/Scully I have a hard time choosing between.)

My OT3: ...did I have an OT3 for Jess? ...I don't really think...the ships I mentioned above...have OT3 potential. Roger is way too jealous for that (Jess could share Roger; Roger couldn't share Jess). I mean. OT3 doesn't have to be sexual in nature, so then, like, Roger/Jess/Eddie would be...yeah? Kind of? (But also I'm feeling intrigued by the idea of a Jess/Alana/Scully thing because like. There's potential in that. Would have smoothed out some things. Remember how Jess actually went to therapy and it didn't fix anything and actually in fact made things worse because I DO. Reasons you don't have sex with your therapists, kids; it might just add to their trauma and end up with them turning into a cannibal.) Actually, I could conceivably Annie/Jess/Evanora because there are some interesting things that could be played around with in that, but then that gets weird because Annie and Evanora were twin sisters - or probably would have been if they were both involved (their verses were usually separate, so it wasn't an issue), so it would be more Jess being involved with both of them. I could bring Haruko back, but that's a bad plan. You know what, actually, Miyo and Jess could easily be open to a third person. Can I just say I don't know? Because I don't know.

[darthwheezely]

okay im backkkkk 💌 anything kinda angsty for fred pls (like a break up but theres a bit of making up at the end pls

resentment and reconciliation- f.w. hcs

Warnings: this one kinda hurt to write I’m ngl, I love you Jess but DAMN - cussing probably, mentions of slut shaming, actual smut, a lOT OF ANGST, hateful!fred

THIS WILL BE SO UNGODLY LONG THIS IS BASICALLY A PSUEDO ONE SHOT

people that might like this(?): @whiz-bangs78 @vogueweasley @theweasleyslut @loony-loopy-lupinn @lupinsclassroom @vivianweasley @oh-for-merlins-sake @kitwalker02 @tatesimper @gcdric @slytherinsunrise @lumosandnoxwriting

you and Fred were friends...

...simply friends

yep

mhm

only friends

friends that liked to casually dominate each other multiple times a week

sometimes multiple times a day

but regardless of your entirely messy relationship, you were best friends

...weren’t you?

“Fuck, Y/N, you’re so goddamn tight me,” Fred hissed as he was pounding inside of you, determined to release some kind of frustration from seeing you with George for the whole day when you both knew you had really just wanted to spend the day with Fred. Right?

“Freddie, you feel so good” you said airily as he hiked up one of your legs onto one of his shoulders.

“Yeah, princess? You like the way I fill you up so good, make you fucking mine?” When you moaned in response he threw your other leg onto the opposite shoulder, determined to show you just how much you were his, and what that meant for him. He had been watching you for months pretend nothing was happening outside this room, and regardless if you knew it or not, it had been killing him the day he agreed to your rendezvous the first time.

“Yes, Freddie, fuck, yes”

“Gonna come for me, sweet girl?”

“God, yes, Fred-“ and with a harsh thrust to your g-spot you clenched around him tightly, your body releasing onto him in a massive wave. He put his free hand that didn’t have your arms pinned above you to your clit, determined to have you as overstimulated as possible.

“Fred, please-“ you whined vehemently at his rough touch.

“I’m coming baby, I’m right here” and with a final pound he had smoothed your walls with him, the throbbing finally subsiding. He rolled his hips slowly to ride out his high, and he then pulled out, falling to your side and pulling you into his arms. He could feel your heart pounding as your breasts heaved against him, desperate for air flow where he had rid you of it all.

“We haven’t held each other like this in a while, Freddie...it’s...it’s really nice.” You whispered against his bare chest, pressing a kiss or two there. He nodded and buried his mouth in your hair, fluttering his eyes.

“I promise I’ll take every opportunity to hold you, okay?”

that was tuesday

let’s skip to Thursday morning

you had only told one other person about your complicated relationship with Fred, and that was Hannah Abbot

you trusted her, you saw her as your BEST friend

but unfortunately, good ol’ hannah didn’t really feel the same

she had it out for you when Roger Davies had confessed he had a crush on you at the Yule Ball, kissed you even, against your consent

see, he was Hannah’s date

and she didn’t like that very much

to top it allllll off?

she had been casually crushing on Fred ever since she had her heart broken by Roger

so now here you all were, seventh year and you assumed as per usual that everything was fine

when clearly, unbeknownst to you

this bitch saw you six feet under

so Hannah did what she knew would hurt you the most

she told Roger :)

“Please he’s absolutely balls deep in love with her, but poor thing doesn’t know she’s using him for a roll in the sack.” Said Hannah, filing her nails in the courtyard. Roger looked at her absolutely dumbfounded.

“No, Y/N, isnt like that. And besides, Fred’s a good mate of mine and...She just wouldn’t do that to him. Feelings or not, she’s not one to use people.” He shook his head starting to get up from the tree he’d been leaning on.

“Well, she used you, didn’t she?” She purred demurely. He turned to look at her, jaw clenched.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He gritted out.

“She’s making him her personal whore, exactly like she did when she rejected you at the Ball...I mean...cmon, Rog. Don’t people deserve to know who she really is?”

everyone had heard the next day how Y/N was fucking Fred Weasley like an Olympic sport

and how he wasn’t the one coming out on top for the first time

at first he didn’t know what he did when he walked into the Great Hall to stares and whispers

George had tried to get him to go back to bed so he could bring him food

but fred demanded answers

and when he found out what it was

...he was crushed

You walked into the cascading staircase, bounding up the stairs. It was Thursday night, you and Fred’s night to be alone while George and Lee would be hanging out. You walked into the room to see Fred, throwing things onto his bed and looking angry and...hurt?

“Fred, what-what is all this?” He didn’t look at you, just continued to pick stuff up off the floor, and got one of your bras. He threw it at you.

“It’s all your shit, Y/N. Might as well help since this is the last time you’ll ever be in my room. Or around me again quite frankly.” He started to look down again and keep working but he heard you whimper and his eyes flashed up to yours. He started to laugh harshly. “Oh my god, stop.” He rolled his eyes and threw his arms out. “You got what you wanted from me didn’t you, Y/N? Quick shag and no feelings and knowing you had an entire fucking human being completely and utterly devoted to you with, what did Ron say? ‘Half the commitment’?” He smiled at you but it was one with rage, with tears pooling at his eyes, pain emitting off his body in hot waves. He didn’t even know he was shouting.

“I mean, Jesus, I’m in love with you and you got to go on and-and fuck whoever you want because guess what at the end of the day you get to tell everyone that Fred fucking Weasley is your own personal whore and would do anything for you and that just got you where you wanted it didn’t it? Didn’t it?” He had stopped yelling, his heart pounding as he took in the sight of you fully in tears now, flinching at him quietly. He felt immediately then like he was going to throw up, something wasn’t right, you usually were so fiery and assertive and here you were looking like a dog that got kicked repeatedly. He swallowed thickly. “Get your stuff and get the fuck out I can’t stand the sight of you.”

Without looking at him you reached onto his bed and grabbed everything you could carry, and swiftly left the room. Everyone in the Gryffindor common room, except George, looking at you with pure unbridled disdain.

George was the only it seemed, that cared about you at this time for the next couple weeks

He didn’t tell Fred, but it had been George that had been sneaking up food to you in your dorm room

It had been George that had sent you little notes in class that said things like

I love you, Y/N. I believe in you, okay?

He even visited your dorm one day when you couldn’t move so much as one leg off your bed, and he caught you then, while you were sobbing about the loss of Fred and yourself and he held you and put you back in bed

and waited until you fell back asleep and moved the hair out of your face

he needed to tell Fred the truth

meanwhile, Fred was floundering

he had fallen back into his coping mechanism of sex and violence, mostly the first one

he had started hooking up with virtually everyone in his year that he’d ever rejected

after all - fred was labeled as a slut so why not act like one

if there was anything Fred was good at, it was being loud

in bed it had never been an issue - in fact, it was a talent now, yeah?

he’d been hearing it around school for weeks now

how easy he was

how much he would do to get in a girl’s pants

how he dipped his wick in anything that moved

anything and everything

he got it from girls

“c’mon freddie can i take a ride just once”

to the guys

“Oi freddie, you let your mates hit it for free too?”

if it were from a guy he’d usually swing a punch

or 12

he’d gotten in his most fights that he ever had in any of his years at hogwarts

but then Georgie came along:

George had waited on Fred’s bed, as his twin was in the shower. Lucky for Fred, George had been able to trace Roger’s little dip in the gossip system all the way back to Hannah Abbott, who everyone knew was bullshit, and had decided to let his brother know exactly what kind of a supreme asshat he was being to their best friend (and the love of Fred’s life, let’s be super honest.)

“Georgie, what the hell are you doing-”

“About to give you the whip cracking of your life, dear brother.” George swung his legs off the bed as Fred continued to dry his hair in the mirror, rolling his eyes.

“Is this about the last girl I had by? We didn’t fuck on your bed if that’s what you’re so worried about.” Fred quipped and George took everything in his power to not bitch slap the hell out of his older twin. George clenched his jaw and rolled it.

“You fucked up, Freddie.” He said quietly. Fred turned slowly to look at him. “Excuse me?”. “You. Fucked. Up.” George said a bit louder. “Y/N got played. By Hannah Abbott and Roger Davies. She’s had a crush on you this whole time, you absolute dumb piece of shit.” And then George did push Fred then backwards onto the bathroom wall, but he was too dumbfounded by the usually sensible twin’s behavior to do anything back.

“That’s-I don’t understand-“

“Oh my god, Fred. Hannah’s been in love with for ages, she lied. To everyone. Roger did too, he’s wanted to get with Y/N since day 1 you know that just as well as I do.” Fred tightened his arm, thinking about Roger with his lips and arms on you that night last year-

“Your point? She still said that shit about me” he said gruffly, but a pool of anxiety swirled in his stomach all the same

“Don’t you get it? Y/N is in love with you. She didn’t say or do anything to hurt you. At all. She hasn’t been eating, she hasn’t been doing homework, she throws up constantly, she’s barely left bed but to go to the library and usually all she does there is sleep anyway, she cries all the time and it’s been me making sure she still is present if not to just see people every damn day! So quit youre moping and fix this shit or I swear to God, Freddie, I’ll knock your block off.” George was heaving, pools of water in his eyes as he swallowed. “She’s my best friend too, you know.”

Fred looked up at George then and had started to cry. All of those things he said, all of the words he spat at her like they could burn her skin and cause some of the pain he believed she had caused him, when in reality you had-you had done nothing wrong.

“Georgie, I’m sorry” he choked.

“I know you are. But I’m not the one to say it to right now...you’ve gotta find her, Freddie. Please.”

you had been in the corner of the quidditch stands

the wind was blowing against your hair

you couldn’t be in your room anymore, it started to smell like you

and you, prior to an hour ago, didn’t smell too appetizing

you reeked of sweat and tears and your own sick

you took a shower so hot you wanted it to burn you alive

maybe sanitize the last of your fear and your hurt away

you had lost weight, you had lost feeling

you all in all had just lost

and you had never wanted to go home so badly, already considering writing home

you hated being reminded that your best friend and crush hated you

wanted you to be hated by everyone else too

but then, you heard footsteps

“Y/N?” Fred whispered to himself as he saw you in the stands. You looked so worn, so lifeless sitting there - he almost didn’t recognize you from the way your hair, usually scrunched up and bouncy had fallen flatly against your face, further slapped around by the wind outside. You had been wearing an oversized sweater and your sweatpants had pooled around your ankles. Simply put, you were miserable. 

“Y/N?” He called again once he was standing in front of you. You turned to look at him in what felt like slow motion, but when you locked eyes with him, you immediately felt fearful. 

“I-I’m sorry, I’ll leave now” you sputtered

“No, hey, wait, please” he reached out to grab your arm and you froze, letting him take it. He looked at you, with a flash of fear and worry on your face and he wanted to throw up knowing he was the one that made you feel like that.

“Fred, please let go” you hoarsely whispered.

“No, love, I’m not going to let go I have some things to apologize for.”

You started to cry, eyes dropping again to his hand on your arm and breathing feeling suddenly like a very hard task. “You hate me now: you sobbed and you pulled yourself from his grip, turning away from him and gathering your bag. He started to scramble for your hold again tears starting to stream down his face

“No, angel, please, I could never hate you”

“Oh? What about those things you said to me in your room-” you were walking faster over the benched seats, making your way to the other side.

“I know I know I said those things in my room but I can’t believe them because you have to believe me when I tell you I’m in love with you” and he was sobbing at your body turned away from him. You turned to look at him with a skeptical quirk of your face.

“No, no you don’t.” You spat.

“Yes, Y/N, I do please let me explain” he said earnestly taking in your bright eyes and the furrow of your brow.

“People who love each other don’t scream at them and throw things.” You said flatly. You wanted him to be true but you couldn’t make yourself believe him.

“Just give me five minutes of your time and-and if you hate me you never have to see me again. Please.” He closed the gap between you two and motioned for you to sit down. You licked a tear from your lip and nodded siting on a bench besides him.

“Hannah and Roger told everyone-”

“I know what happened. What they did. I want to hear about you. And what you said. And are saying” you looked at him in the eyes with steel burning behind your irises.

He sighed and rubbed his jaw. “I thought that what we had was purely sex in your eyes. And I was too much of a coward to ever ask you, so when I heard someone tell me that my own insecurities could possibly be true,” he inhaled a harsh breath as tears started to fall “I-I was crushed. By the idea that you saw me as what other people saw me as...as a toy? I guess? Or a sexual prop? To use when you wanted. But I hide my feelings a lot as you know, so even if you did feel that way, it would’ve looked like I agreed because I hate you knowing how sad I am,” he started to choke on his tears, the anguish of knowing he hurt you this much was too much for him to ever be able to handle. “I just wanted to hold you and whisper in your ear and tell you how much I love you and the thought of my own fears being true pushed you away. And you never have to forgive me. I-when I yelled at you like that I wanted to see you hurt, I think. I wanted you to see how sad it made me to think about you with other people like you had been with me and” he took a final breath and you pulled his body into you. “Y/N, my love I’m so sorry.” His sobs shook your body, the feeling and angle of the destroyed boy you love shaking you everywhere. You pressed kisses to his head. “Freddie, I love you” you repeated “I love you here and here and here and here and here” and with every kiss you gave him, you were determined to soothe him. “I-I’ sorry too, for not being as forthright with you about how i felt too. It’s always been you, Freddie.” He choked out a watery smile and he leaned in to kiss your face everywhere he could, his tears stinging against the wind and your cheeks. 

“If-If you could ever be with me I will always be open to it at any time, you know that don’t you? I-I understand if you can’t.” He held his forehead to yours, his nose brushing yours ever so slightly. 

“Freddie, I love you. You were who I missed when I couldn’t get out of bed for fuck’s sake you’re all I want,” and he leaned into you then fully, capturing your wet and chapped lips against his. Your arms wrapped around his neck and he melted into you like this

this

this was fred weasley

[somethingjustsouthofbrilliance]

Reach Across the Stars. Part 2

Part 1 (the masterlist) here.  One or two more chapters after this.

Tagging @dixiehellcat @jess-b-thot @tonystark5ever @elphierix

Part 2

“Boss?” FRIDAY’s voice chirps warningly in her ear, and she forces herself not to flinch at the moniker, at the harsh, soul-wrenching feeling of how wrong, wrong, wrong it is.  

 It’s been months since Tony disappeared, the crackled whisper of his apology fading in her phone’s speaker as the spaceship took him father and father away beyond her reach. Months since The Snap, when half of all living things turned to dust, plunging cities into chaos and hearts into despair.  Months since she donned the suit Tony had made for her – back when he was with her, back when they were happy, back when they … were – and began helping with the daunting and seemingly unending recovery effort.  

Search, rescue, assist.

 Rescue.  If only….

 She helps secure the wall of a building, while workers pull another body from the wreckage.  A young man, practically a kid, whole life ahead of him.  She flies away when they’re done, moves on to the next task.  She can’t cry.  Not anymore. She’s run out of tears.  

 She wants to go home.

 “Boss,” FRIDAY repeats, pulling her out of the misery of her thoughts.  “There’s an… intruder at the Compound workshop.”  

 The odd hesitation in the AI’s voice puts her on edge as much as the warning itself.  The Compound is empty, has been for years now save for the maintenance crew that Tony’s kept on staff there to keep the place in shape.  “Just in case,” he had told her once when she asked why he bothered.  And there was so much pain in his eyes when he said it, that she never brought it up again.  

And then Rogers called her out of the blue a few days ago to ask if they could return (apparently, the clean-up effort in whatever hellhole they had been hiding until now has finally been brought under control and they were ready to come offer their services in New York).  And she thought about that haunted look in Tony’s eyes that had never quite gone away after Siberia, about the fading crescent-shaped scar on his chest that had disappeared eventually under the imposing new reactor, about the defeated droop of his shoulders and the pronounced tremble of his hands when he sat outside fiddling with the flip phone as he waited for her to join him on their afternoon jog….  

 She told him to drop dead and hung up the phone.

 Two days later, tired, cried out and slightly drunk, she called him back and told him the Compound was there for them to return to.  It was what Tony had wanted, even hoped for, all along, after all.  The least she could do was honor his wish.

 Still, the workshop, Tony’s workshop, has always remained off limits and would remain so even after their return. Especially after their return.  She made it clear to them.  So whoever it is that had broken the rule, they were gonna pay dearly for their trespass.

 She takes off toward the Compound at full speed.  Makes her way down to the workshop, the repulsor aimed and ready.

 And freezes at the sight of a raccoon-like creature huddled in front of the holoscreen, a partially disassembled mess of wires and circuitry spread out over Tony’s table before him.  What the hell…?

 “Get out of here, whoever the hell you are,” she demands sharply, the whine of the repulsor punctuating her words.  Because, raccoon or not, no one has any business being here.  No one but Tony.

 The creature turns toward her, furry face scrunched up in an odd mix of curiosity and frustration. “No can do, lady,” it responds with a shrug, and, holy mother of god, that thing actually talks.  “I got a ship to find and I hear this place might just have what I need to find it.”

 She frowns inside the helmet, her gauntleted fingers twitching in indecision.   She had heard reports of alien sightings across the globe, of savage beasts descending from the sky like locust on unsuspecting towns. The reports were disturbing, the pictures – the stuff of nightmares.  The raccoon-like creature sitting at Tony’s desk, on Tony’s chair, fiddling with Tony’s computer looked nothing like them, didn’t look threatening at all, in fact.  But he is sitting at Tony’s desk….

 “Get out.”

 The raccoon sighs, dropping a tool he was fiddling with onto the desk.  Clenches his little paw into a fist.  

“Look, lady,” he begins, his voice strained and shaky in a way that only the voice of someone who feels raw, bottomless grief can be, “I had to watch someone I love like a son turn to dust right in front of me and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.  I spent the last few months helping the morons that lost the battle with the purple asshole clean up the mess he left behind.  And now those same morons want me helping them here.  I don’t like helping humans. I don’t even like humans!” His voice rises, anger momentarily pushing out the grief.  

Then it drops once more, tired, frustrated.  “The only reason I agreed to come was because the rest of my crew is still up there in space and I heard that this Stark fellow was obsessed with monsters from space and been tracking the skies for years.  Guess he was one of the smarter ones on this backwards planet.”

 The raccoon huffs in disdain, unaware of the way she flinches at his words.  Because Tony knew, he knew.  He tried to tell them, all of them, and they wouldn’t listen!

 “Look,” the creature starts again, his dark beady eyes startlingly intense, sincere, “I’m sorry I broke in, but I figured Stark might just have the technology I need to find my ship.  And I really, really need to find them. I got my pod here.  As soon as I find them, I’ll be out of this room and off this planet, I swear.  So, please, just… just let me try.” The last part is a barely audible whisper, a cracked plea.

 She lowers her gauntleted arm, lets her helmet fold away – a small show of trust.  “How?”

 “I hacked into his tracking program,” the raccoon explains, already turning back toward the monitor, his clawed fingers clacking frantically on the smooth surface of the keyboard.  “All I need to do is modify the program to track for a specific signal and … voilà!”

 The holoscreen comes alive with images of stars and strings and strings of data, rushing past faster than she can register them. They mean nothing to her, but the raccoon stares at them intently, paws gripping the edges of the desk, his little body virtually vibrating with tension.  She wonders dimly if any of those stars are where Tony is now, where he was when The Snap happened, where he…

 “I’m picking up an SOS message at the targeted frequency,” FRIDAY pipes up suddenly, startling them both.

 The raccoon swivels back toward her, dark eyes pleading. “It might be them.  My team.”

 She nods, acquiescing. “Play it, FRIDAY.”

 The speakers crackle obediently, the room filling with static.  And then a voice breaks through, faint and distorted and so, so familiar that she has to suck in a panicked, convulsive breath because she suddenly finds herself without air.  

 Tony

 “…’ship The Benatar…  we’re… ‘randed about… years from Earth….”

 Tony

 “…’nd water … oxygen… ‘ning out…”

 Tony…

 “…we need… ‘stance… ‘ship The Benatar… we’re…”

 Her knees wobble and she is suddenly absurdly glad that she’s got the suit on, because without it she’d have already been on the floor.  As it is, she takes a heavy, mechanical step forward, closer to the monitor where a single blue dot is now flashing in the middle of the screen – the ship, Tony.  Grips the edge of the desk, feeling the metal bend under the impossible pressure.

 “You… you said you have a pod,” she manages, turning sharply to the raccoon who finishes writing down the coordinates and scrambles to hop off the chair.  

 The creature blinks up at her, eyes wide with grim understanding.  “That your man?”

 She nods, grips the desk harder.  “The pod?” she demands again.

 The raccoon considers her a beat longer, shrugs, imitating her earlier show of reluctant permission. “Fine, Suit Lady. Let’s go save us some castaways.”  

 “Pepper,” she corrects him as they rush toward the exit.

 “Rocket,” he grumbles back.