He’s stupidly hard to kill. He’s disproportionately strong. He is ridiculously loyal to Rocket. He can only say his own name. Rocket, like Ash with Pikachu, can understand him just fine even though he can only say his own name.
Destiny nags at Rogue about her choice in men and occupation but Rogue tells her off with some metaphors. Destiny is cowed a bit, but leaves with some information regarding on Gamesworld and “a small blind”. Rogue interrupts Gambit’s poker game again (which is becoming a running gag) and calls him over for something important. This turns out to be a reference to Rocket, whom Rogue charms into giving her some information regarding their favorite space Las Vegas.
This is my Rocket and Groot tribute to Steve Steigman’s Blown Away photo. I loved Guardians of the Galaxy. It had such a retro sci-fi feel, with the colors and the music. This seemed like a perfect way to show Rocket and Groot’s friendship.
Rant about people ruining endgame. I’m aware not everyone will be interested in this I just want to get it out my system.
So today was my first day back at school after Easter. At break someone came down to where me and my friends sit just to tell us who dies in Avengers Endgame. I tried my best to block out what he was saying but I still heard what he said. Don’t worry I’m not a prick who is going to ruin it. Some people go so out of their way to mess up someone’s experience. Some people even went out their way to find spoilers and shout them out but I didn’t hear those.
It annoyed me and made me upset that someone is so inconsiderate to ruin a good film for some people that they have been waiting to come out for a year and have been so excited about it. I’m sure he wouldn’t have wanted it ruined for him so I don’t know what goes through his mind to ruin it for someone else.
It baffles me so much at how self centred and self absorbed some people are. Only thinking about themselves and how they can get some entertainment for a few minutes without caring about how other people might feel. And not respecting other people enough to even consider now it might affect them.
Sorry this isn’t what I normally post it was just something that upset me and I wanted to get if off my chest. I’ll be back to my normal posts after this I hope you can understand my reasons for posting this.
⚠️if ur super sensitive to mentions and brief descriptions of surgery/implants/anatomy , probably dont read this or the linked post, but i kept it as non-graphic and canon-typical as possible!
-
Rocket agrees to let Tony scan him after some negotiating, mostly Rocket asking for various pieces of the Avengers’ cybernetic prosthetics and Tony turning him down.
What seals the deal, really, is Tony huffing and softening his voice to say, “Look, you let me run these scans, then I call in Cho and Banner and maybe we find a way to make it hurt a little less, alright?”
Rocket uncrosses his arms and grumbles something that sounds like fine.
“How many units for the surgery?” he asks reluctantly.
Tony looks at him for a second, then busies himself with something else. “Free of charge if you act nice.”
-
“Hey, earth genius, how’d you learn to use this thing anyway?” Rocket asks, laying on the narrow table.
“My buddy Rhodey had a bad fall seven years ago,” Tony answers distractedly. “I got a master’s in prosthetics and orthotics to make leg braces for him and learned to operate the CT scanner while I was at it.”
Rocket goes quiet as he’s fed through the gantry, holding his breath as the tube rotates and X-rays cross his body. He feels like a little monster again and he almost regrets letting Tony do this, but he doesn’t say anything because he’s already here. Might as well make the humiliation worth a shot at hurting less.
“I used to have a way shorter temper,” he says gruffly when he changes from the gown back into his own clothes.
Tony’s got his back to him, but Rocket can almost hear the smile in his voice when he says, “Yeah, pal, me too.”
What are you smiling about? Rocket wants to demand, but he knows. A few years with a couple of idiots in the world-saving business will do that to you.
-
Tony shows Bruce the scans, pulling up a few photos and diagrams of other raccoons for reference.
“Quill said something about—torn apart and put back together,” Tony says. “I didn’t think he meant it literally. Look, he’s got metal implants modifying his spine, pelvis, shoulder blades, up here.”
“To make him look bipedal,” Bruce says, enhancing the scan to get a closer look. “He’s got metal mods on his elbows and knees, too. They would’ve had to pull his arms and legs out of their sockets. That's—wow.”
“Yeah. Wow.”
Helen flies in from Seoul a few days later and they work something out after all, starting with putting Rocket on a pre-surgery diet that he hates.
“I don’t actually want to look different,” Rocket says to her when they run tests to make sure the new metal will be compatible with his body, and for all of his habitual aggression, he sounds a little vulnerable. “I’m me. I don’t want to come outta there crawling around like a trash panda.”
Helen tilts her head and smiles the same confident, soothing smile she had when Clint came in all those years ago with a hole in his side.
“You’ll look like you,” she promises.
Rocket doesn’t want anyone to make a big deal out of his surgery, but Steve catches him in the morning, gives him a fist bump and says “good luck, captain.”
They remove as many of the pins and rods as possible without changing the ways Rocket can move and replace the rest with an iteration of titanium that Tony developed, with thermal conductivity properties closer to Rocket’s natural body and minimal grinding, leaving potential for Rocket’s bones to eventually grow around the new implants.
They transfer Rocket to post-anesthesia care and switch him to a post-surgery diet, which he hates even more.
“How’s it feel?” Tony asks a week later, when Helen’s team stops monitoring Rocket almost twenty-four hours a day. He gets Rocket his first cheeseburger since this whole process started and gets one for himself, too.
“Like normal, ‘cept better,” Rocket says. “You know I would’ve rigged this whole place to blow if you lied.”
Tony just laughs.
“Thanks,” Rocket says, moving his arms and shoulders around a little to show that everything is easier now. It hurts less now.
-
When the Guardians land their ship to pick Rocket up for their next intergalactic adventure, Rocket stops to say bye to Tony.
“I’ll see you around, earth genius.”
When Rocket hops onto the ship, Tony hears Quill laugh and say “hey, someone’s lookin’ good” and Drax asking “who?” before the doors close and they’re off.
