Rocks Fall Everyone... (Closed to Quill, Peter, and Alec)

[st_hotflashes]

Liz was, again, dressed in the leather outfit that Quill had 'designed' in order for her to look and feel more like a superhero. Today was a training day and so she was following Quill out into the wilderness for whatever task he had planned for her. After what happened in Europe, Liz really wanted to be sure she could hold her own. She wanted to be Peter's equal, not a hindrance.

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[st_hotflashes]

Liz was trying to figure out a way to help. If they had been trapped in a way where it wasn't Peter keeping the entire thing from caving in on them, then maybe they could do something. Find some sort of lever to get the bigger rocks out of the way or something. As it was, they were stuck and she wasn't sure how much longer Peter could keep this up.

The amount of guilt that swelled up inside of her chest was immense and she heard Kitty's words at the beginning when she had first started to date Peter - she had promised Kitty not to put herself in a situation where Peter would do something rash and hurt himself. And yet, here they were.

"I love you." Which was said in a way that sounded like an apology, but maybe also a 'goodbye' in case they couldn't make it out alive. She was vaguely aware that her blinking was getting longer and there were longer pauses where her eyes closed before she managed to open them. "I just... I need to rest for a second." A nap sounded really good right now.

[st_arkintern]

Panic shoots through Peter, even more pronounced than it was before.

"Liz?"

He swallows hard, working his way through the Table of Elements. He pushes back again with more success, but when he does, the rocks on top of him shift and a few of the smaller ones roll underneath him, landing at Liz's side.

Peter can't keep pushing up like this. Not unless he's absolutely sure he's going to be able to get them out. If the rocks keep shifting, he's going to end up with more than a few small rocks at Liz's side.

"Hey!" Peter shouts out, trying to sound less panicked than he sounds. "Hey! Can you guys hear me?"

[st_x5_494]

At first Alec thought he was hearing something. Sometimes people heard things when they were hoping for something, but then he heard the second 'hey' and there a rush of relief, though minor, goes through him. At least Peter can talk under there.

"Peter?" He pulled back another big rock. "Peter, we're getting the rocks off." Slowly, but at least they were. "You okay?"

[st_arlord]

Quill couldn't hear anything. He didn't have super-human hearing like Alec, but he did see a shift in Alec's body language.

He has to be hearing Peter...

He renewed his efforts in pulling the rubble away from the big mass.

[st_hotflashes]

Liz is sort of aware that Peter is shouting. Or maybe he's not? Maybe she's dreaming. It's all kind of hard to tell. She managed to open her eyes again, like when you're groggy from a nap, but you still really want to sleep. She can't maintain it, though, she her eyes close again.

Liz knew she needed to stay awake, but it was just so hard.

[st_arkintern]

"I'm okay!" Peter shouts out through the rubble. "Liz -- Liz's hurt, though!"

He braces himself against the rubble on top of him. He doesn't feel the shift of rocks above him yet; there has to be a lot of rock separating them.

"I can't push up yet," he shouts. "I've tried, but it's too much and the rock keeps shifting every time I move, and it might hurt Liz!"

[st_x5_494]

Alec cursed under his breath. What he wouldn't give to have Max here with him and Joshua - their combined strength would move this quicker.

"We're working on it. Hold on." It felt only a little weird to shout at a pile of rocks, but he knew, now, Peter could hear him and that made a world of difference.

His movements were faster now, if that was even possible. He concentrated on pulling ones off from the top.

There was a really big slab. Alex pushed and it was hard. "Hey idiot, come here and help me push!"

[st_arlord]

"You know, you could ask nicer." He said, but there was little fire behind the statement.

He moved over and helped to push a larger slab off of the mound with a loud groan.

[st_hotflashes]

Liz was still breathing and she could hear Peter's voice, though she didn't know what he was saying. She wanted to tell him she was okay, but while she thought she said it, her mouth never moved. She winced, eyes closed.

[st_arkintern]

Peter stares down at Liz intently, trying to keep his focus on her and on the periodic table and on how people are trying to help them. That's more that he had at the warehouse, he tells himself, but he find considerably less comfort in that than he probably should.

Compounding those feelings is the increasing level of fatigue he's feeling at holding the weight of everything off the both of them. He wants to try again, but not if it means potentially hurting Liz.

[st_x5_494]

Alec couldn't feel the rocks under him shift. There was no indication that Peter was trying again. He did some mental calculations and tried to figure out if they had run out of air already, or if Peter was too tired.

He pulled off another rock.

"Dammit, Peter!" He sounded angry, but he was trying in the only way he was taught how, like a drill sergeant with tough love. "You're both going to die if you don't try again. We have magic people who can heal Liz. You need to get out."

He pulled at another piece.

"You're going to kill her if you can't be the hero she thinks you are."

[st_arlord]

Quill knew what Alec was doing. Is that really necessary?

"Sometimes you have to do something that sucks before it gets better," he shouted into the rocks with a grin expression.

Sometimes, you can't save everyone...

[st_hotflashes]

Liz couldn't hear Peter anymore. When she called out to him, she didn't hear a response. Her breathing was slow and steady, but it was on the cusp of starting to become laboured. Her body was going into shock from the pain in her foot which had been crushed by debris.

[st_arkintern]

Peter can make out the sound of their voices above him. He knows what they're saying is true. He knows he has to try. But he's already scared -- everything that happened in the ventilation ducts back in Europe paled in comparison to what was happening right now.

Maybe he could fearlessly push himself out of this if it were just him. But it wasn't just him. And his fear of being crushed extended now to a fear of Liz being crushed -- and if something happened to Liz, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

But he knew -- he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep this up forever.

"Okay," Peter says to himself. "Okay."

Peter looks down at Liz. He isn't even sure she can hear him right now, but he has to say it anyway. Just in case he can't do it.

"I love you."

He takes a breath and then another one, and pushes back and up with all the force he can manage. True to his worry, as the rocks shift above him, a few tumble down on top of Liz.

He braces one of his arms, his muscles tightening painfully as he wraps an arm around Liz to pull her to him; he knows that this is just going to make things more difficult, but she's less likely to get hurt if she's pressed tightly against him.

And when Peter pushes back this time, it's with more force than any of his previous attempts. He can hear the sound of rock and Earth moving above him, not just around him.

Just a little more.

[st_x5_494]

Alec can finally feel the rocks shifting. With Peter moving it, it's a little easier to tell where Peter was and what he could do to help the kid out. He moved around to where it seemed Peter was pushing and started to hurriedly pull stone after stone, trying to make it easier for Peter to push out. He hadn't this so much.

He was going to kill Quill after this.

[st_arlord]

Quill saw the rocks moving too and went about helping Alec from the other side. His movements were audible as he dragged off large pieces of rock. How did we even get into this predicament?

[st_arkintern]

Through the combined efforts of Quill and Alec, Peter finally manages to burst out through the rubble with an audible gasp --

-- and pulls, then pushes Liz out ahead of him.

[st_x5_494]

When Peter pushed Liz out, she let out another cry in pain and her eyes opened from the surge of adrenaline. It was the only reason why Alec reached for her rather than for Peter.

"You okay?" He pulled Liz to him, but was looking at Peter.

[st_arlord]

With Liz taken care of, Quill went on pulling a few more rocks away and held out his hand to Peter.

"Knew you could do it," He said. Thank God you're not dead.

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, yeah," Peter says, breathless. "I'm fine."

He's not fine.

But when Quill offers him his hand, he doesn't take it; instead, he unsteadily pulls himself to his feet, looks briefly over at Liz, then turns his attention back up to Quill.

"What were you and Liz doing?"

[st_x5_494]

Had it been any other moment, Alec might have smirked at the response Peter gave to Quill, but at the moment he was still in triage mode. His eyes scanned over Peter - he'd be fine. He has seen the kid in worse. Then he started to inspect Liz. Concussion for sure. Maybe a rib broken - that would be hard to tell unless he prodded further, but he wasn't sure it mattered because they were going to have to go to the clinic and find someone like Pike or Kash unless Liz didn't want to use her foot again. It was bad. He could see bone.

Alec pulled off his shirt and started to tend to her foot, mostly to cover it up so Peter couldn't see the extent of the damage. He'd see the blood, but that could just be from a cut.

[st_arlord]

A beat passed when Peter didn't take Quill's offered hand. He tried not to look like that bothered him, but it did. Suck it up, Quill, you almost killed his girlfriend, you idiot.

"We were just training," He started to explain apologetically. "Then this, whatever it was - bird bear thing - showed up and it looked like it was going to attack and things got confusing."

[st_arkintern]

"You were just training?" Peter echoes; it's clear from how he says it that he's angry.

"If I hadn't been here, Liz would have died. She would have been crushed under all of that."

Peter gestures at the pile of rubble.

[st_x5_494]

Alec had to bite back an 'I told you so', but he was at least thankful that Peter seemed to see how a nonchalant attitude was dangerous.

"Even with you here, you both could have died." Alec looked pointedly at Peter for a moment, then glared at Quill, before looking around to for something to set Liz's leg. Even though it would be healed back at the Inn, they needed to get her there first and putting it in a splint would minimize the pain she felt.

He left Liz on the ground and walked to the nearest branch. He ripped it off the tree and headed back to prepare the splint.

[st_arlord]

"I know," He said, almost defensively. "I know I messed up, okay? I wasn't actually planning for animals to show up. She's not actually ready to deal with living things."

If she had just pulled the trigger when I said...

Quill could feel Gamora glare at him from wherever she was.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" He said, "I didn't mean for all this to happen, but you were here and she's not dead, so that's something."