Second Chances Rpg

Who: Gamora, Pepper, then at the end Tony, mentions of Morgan!
What: training got interrupted by real life
When: after this
Warnings: Chucky violence!
Status: Completed GDoc - Operation Jalapeño is a go ~



“Nice job Sprout,” Gamora blew a piece of stuffing off her face, as the insides of the toy she had bought Groot to show off his vine sword skills on floated across the roof. She was impressed at how sharp he had been able to get a vine he grew and based on the way he already moved when he was fighting, he watched her nearly as much as father did. “You're a natural…. You want to show Freiki and Geri the pelt of the slain monster? Okay, but remember that we don't stab our friends.”

As Groot ran across the roof to the garden, trailing stuffing behind him, Gamora picked up her aero rig, securing it to the back of her shirt. Pepper was going to need to work on drills while flying, which meant they both needed to be in the air.

Pepper was unsure of this whole thing. She knew she needed to try to learn how to be, if not useful, competent enough to not get anyone killed because of her. It was a lot more than she was expecting when she started the week.

She made her way up to the roof, taking a moment to appreciate the view before she went to find Gamora. She could do this, it was just getting over the fact she didn't like to do this. "Thank you again, Gamora"

“It is honestly the least I can do,” Gamora shrugged. “Most people aren’t like us. They run away from dangerous situations. You don’t need to run into them, you can leave that to people like Thor, but if you’re going to stand your ground, you need to feel confident in what your skills are.”

She intended to ask Pepper if she had a full rundown of the capabilities of the suit, but figured she should probably bring up her little vandal. Gamora liked Pepper, and she’d never had any occasion to have a female friend, Mantis was more like a pet than a confidant, but she knew enough to know that in order to have one, you probably needed to be honest. “Listen, it sounds like my kid was playing in the parking garage… he insists he was fighting monsters, I don’t really know, since that is entirely possible right now, but it sounds like he did some damage, possibly a lot. We thought he was just making up stories, but if there are a lot of expensive cars with a lot of little dents, Peter and I will cover the repairs.”

Pepper blinked, "Oh. We have insurance for that. I figure I'm leaning on that a lot this month. But thanks, I'll make sure everything is documented." She smiled a bit, she could handle wrecked or dented cars.

Even if the repairs hurt.

"No, you're right. I couldn't imagine myself running into danger again. I did that once and it was the hardest thing I've ever done. But I don't want to get anyone else hurt because I couldn't handle mostly if I had to."

“First thing, I think, is feeling steady while your feet aren’t on solid ground,” Gamora said, activating the aerorig so that it fit around her chest and shoulders.

She lifted up off the ground, hoving about 10 feet off the rooftop and waited for Pepper to join her. “I want the rundown of what the suit can do, so we can decide what you want to do, but we’re gonna do it hovering, so you can get a sense of how to adjust.”


Pepper nodded, "okay. Yeah I'm not used to how that feels." She'd more or less acted on instinct and impulse in the battle. She'd done what she'd had to. But doing it on purpose was a lot harder.

She put the helmet on, pulling up the HUD so she could see how everything was set then she lifted off. The suit did a lot of adjusting for her and she leveled off after a second. "The suit does a lot of work, which is nice but I can override if you think I should?"

“Not yet. Let's get used to the tech the way it is first. But you will need to practice in case of malfunction.” Gamora had been concerned the suit would be clunky and difficult for Pepper to maneuver in, but it looked like Tony had made up for it with software. “Okay, give me a rundown, what does she let you do?”

She nodded, "okay. That's a good point. I hope I never have to worry about it." She found her balance, then sighed, the fact she was doing this still scared her. "A lot. I can shoot beams, I have an array of sentries that'll help, um, stuff like that."

“I should have set up stuff for us to shoot at,” Gamora said, looking around the rooftop. “You know, we need to figure out training equipment and a schedule. Valkyrie and I have taken on several students, some who are serious about the hero gig and others who just need to be able to defend themselves, and the gym could use some upgrades. I can make a list of what we need.”

Her phone lit up on the arm of the chair 10 feet below. Gamora ignored it at first, knowing that Pepper’s suit likely had a head’s up display.

"Whatever you need I'll make sure you have." She said carefully, then smiled, "I am glad people are trying to learn. It is not a bad thing." She looked around then back to Gamora "give me a list and I'll make it happen."

The display chimed in, "It appears my daughter has a Chucky in her closet. Can we take care of that?"

“I don't know what a chucky is, but if you can't take care of it yourself, I definitely can, so it'll be good practice either way,” Gamora landed, picked up her phone and typed a message back, then headed for the stairwell door. “Try staying aloft down the stairs, it's good navigation practice and I actually think it'll be faster than clomping around in the metal suit.”

She took the stairs at a sprint, and pushed open Morgan's door without knocking. It didn't seem like a time for politeness.

She nodded, then started down the stairs, trying to navigate it flying instead of walking. It was effort to do so but she was a quick learner. She liked flying, it was an interesting feeling.

She made it to the door of her daughter's room and headed inside. "She said her closet, right?"

"Yup," Gamora smiled confidentially at Morgan as they walked in. "Get to safety, okay?"

There was a loud thud in the closet as the doll flung itself against the door and snarled "I'm Chucky, was a play?" Gamora drew Godslayer, prepared to take over if things went sideways. "This is not a time to have that blaster set to stun."

She moved silently to open the closet door, signally to Pepper to be ready to shoot.

Pepper smiled and gestured to Morgan to get out of the way. She lifted her hands to take aim at the door. Buildings were replaceable. FRIDAY wouldn't let any fire damage get very far. She ran the list through her head then nodded.

"Do it."

Gamora swung open the doors. A 2-foot tall, solid looking doll with wild red hair, blood stained overalls, and cuts along its face stood ready to attack, gripping a power drill in one hand. The buzz of the drill filled the room as he growled again, "Wanna play?"

"I really didn't like that movie." She rolled her eyes and hit it with a blast. She didn't get dead center but it was better than nothing.she was still learning. "No I don't want to play."

"Never seen it, " Gamora flanked the murderous doll as it moved toward Pepper, seemingly oblivious to the fact that even his power tool wouldn't do much to her metal super suit. She was ready to step in and run her sword through the creature if she needed to at any point. But this thing had threatened Pepper's kid, so it was her right to take it out.

"Does that blaster crank up any higher? Center mass is good, just keep it steady and bust a hole right through his torso."

"Really wasn't worth the time I spent watching it." She quipped back as she faced chucky, it was one part horrifying and one part hilarious. It made grabbing him by his hair easier. Ignoring the drill, all he might do was scratch the paint, she put her hand to his chest and fired again.

Charred bits of stuffing floated in the air and Gamora could see the wide hole through the doll’s body as Pepper let it drop to the floor, the drill clattering next to it. The scratchy voice of a wind up toy came out of its now immobile face ".....wanna play?"

"And that," Gamora said, kicking the drill away from the toy in an abundance of caution, "is how this hero gig is done. I think our first lesson went better than I could have planned." She looked around, noticing an audience at the door. "Is there an incinerator in this building?"

Pepper let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding as it hit the floor. She closed her eyes for a moment, breathing. "That thing is so creepy." She looked at Gamora, "Yes. Basement."

"Learning by doing is a valid lesson plan." She picked it up by the hair, shuddering a bit. That was rough but this was a toy. And looked back to the door, where her daughter was, safe. That's all that mattered: Morgan was fine.

“Looks like you got this all sorted,” Tony said as he came up behind them, decked out in full Iron Man gear. “Impressive, really.” He leaned over and kissed his wife’s cheek. “I think we need to talk though.” He wasn’t half-retired just to watch his family put themselves at risk. Saving their daughter was one thing, but...what now? How much “heroing” was enough?

She offered her husband a tired smile, she let chucky drop so she could hug him, she was in no danger of doing this all the time. "Are you worried I'm going to take over being the reckless one?"

Then she looked to Gamora, "I think I'm calling it for the day on lessons." She grinned.

“I know you have that streak,” he teased as he wrapped a protective arm around her. “Thanks, Gamora, for helping.”

“I honestly can't top that for today, anyway. I had planned on mostly flying.” Gamora considered suggesting that Tony and Pepper hit the showers together but thought better of it. Maybe some men didn't find the heat of victory an incredible turn on?

She picked up the limp body of the doll and made a move for the door. “I'll take care of this guy. You've got the blasters down, Pepper, next time we can go back to defensive flight maneuvers.”

She headed down to the basement to throw the creepy little bastard into the incinerator and make sure it burned.