Rocket may be a bit obsessed, but really, at this point, who's going to stop him? Enjoy his continuing ascent, but you can see the ultimate shortstack right now at Big Stories!

Art by  silver-stag

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"C'mon baby, c'mon, pull together for daddy…" Rocket rumbled. His own modified power gauntlet was still inert; even with his augmented strength it still felt awkwardly heavy and bulky on his hand, but as he slotted in each of the shards he had found, it began to hum to life. First Power, Reality, then Mind, and then Rocket held his breath— when he had tried to hone four of them in the previous prototype, he had blown up half his face. The fur had only just grown back, and he wasn't keen on facing any smart-ass comments from Groot, or one of Quill's mealy-mouthed warnings that he shouldn't be messing with the Infinity shards. What was he going to do to stop him, really?

Sucking in on his teeth, he dropped the Space shard into an open slot, and screwed his eyes shut in case it did blow up… instead, he felt the power of the gauntlet beginning to pulse and bubble up, flowing through his veins, that now-familiar rush of power starting to push his already bulky frame out once more.

"Oh, baby, YES!" Rocket roared, his body galvanized from the sudden charge, thick veins glowing with the power of the shards pulsing like rivers about to overflow their banks as they spread across the expanse of his growing body. He felt his chest expand like a solar sail basking in the light of a star; his arms, already heavy ordinance, felt like they were getting strong enough to punch meteors as his triceps billowed out into swollen masses hard as steel, and his biceps were close to eclipsing his entire head. He felt his neck sink deeper into the deep swells of muscle along his sprawling shoulder line, and his arms propped up by his engorged, bulging flanks. His belt groaned as his torso solidified, the duraflex mesh of his pants stretched to their breaking point as earth-shaking legs filled out, thighs thick as jet turbines.

Rocket grinned wide, a manic glint in his eye. How far was he going to be able to push this? He already had the Time shard in hand… one thought rushed into his head, as he still needed one more shard to complete the gauntlet. What would happen if he made the snap? The bulwark of a raccoon chuckled low— he had so many ideas, it was going to be hard to pick just one.