Chapter Text
“Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do,” instructed Woody, beckoning his friends to huddle closer around him. He began to quietly outline his Sunnyside escape plan. Mid-way through, Jessie’s thoughts drifted back to the events of the previous night.
Since Buzz went to try and persuade Lotso to transfer them over to the Butterfly room, she and the rest of Andy’s toys had become exposed to Lotso’s true, perverted colours. Lotso had managed to brainwash Buzz into thinking they were all his enemies in need of torment and imprisonment. It was this fact, in particular, which devastated Jessie the most, seeing that Woody’s second in command (the Space Ranger who had captured her heart) would want to hurt his family like this, all while believing Lotso’s cruelty was completely justified. The look of pure disdain that crossed Buzz’s features when she last looked him in the eye made her tremble right down to the soles of her boots!
During the last several years she had spent with Andy and the gang, Jessie thought that nothing could ever come close to the trauma she experienced after being thrown into the donation box by Emily all those years ago. She had been so sure that she’d never be abandoned or betrayed like that ever again. That hope seemed to shatter right before her eyes when she and her friends found themselves thrown into makeshift cages at Losto’s command. That same feeling of extreme claustrophobia she’d experienced long ago in the donation box flooded straight back more sickening than ever. She couldn’t think of anywhere worse than to be under the contemptuous gaze of their supposed strawberry-scented teddy bear saviour and her beloved space ranger, let alone being played with by the merciless Caterpillar kids, who liked kicking her around the nursery like a soccer ball till her head felt as though it were on the verge of splitting in two.
“Uh, Jessie?”
Woody’s voice abruptly cut into her spiralling thoughts. Jessie blinked up at him in surprise. She then caught herself absently twiddling with the tip of her hair braid, her signature nervous tick. Woody was staring straight at her, eyes glistening with brotherly concern. “Everything okay?”
“Why of course she ain’t okay, college boy!” Mr. Potato Head cut in insensitively. “Her boyfriend has just been brainwashed by a tyrannical, strawberry-scented pink teddy bear! Of course she’s gonna freak out!”
Jessie felt a flurry of heat rise straight to her cheeks at the word ‘boyfriend’. If her whole body hadn't frozen up, she would’ve hopped onto Bullseye and sprinted away in an instant.
“D-Don’t be silly, Potato-Head!” Jessie stuttered back defiantly, though the furious burning in the cheeks only intensified. “I ain’t got a crush on nobody!”
Potato Head rolled his eyes at her. “Oh, give it a break, cowgirl! We’ve all known you’ve been smitten with that ridiculous space toy since you first stepped into Andy’s room. Heck, that very same space toy practically short-circuits whenever you try making eyes at him!”
“Oh, you’re just exaggeratin’...” Jessie dismissed with an awkward chuckle.
“Yeah, and pigs fly,” Mr Potato Head snorted back, earning an incredulous look from Hamm, who murmured “Wait, we do?”
“Alright, that’s enough, Potato Head!” Woody snapped with an exasperated sigh.
“What? I was just stating facts!” Potato Head objected.
“Well it wasn’t relevant, and it was Jessie who I was asking for an opinion. Not you!” Woody turned to face Jessie again, placing a grounding hand upon her shoulder. “You sure you don’t wanna help out with a less technical part of the plan?”
Jessie held his gaze for a long moment, before responding with a small, affirming nod. “Ya bet ya boots I’m still on board! I’m willin’ to do everythin’ I can to help us all flee from this hell-hole once and for all, even if it means gettin’ my fingers dirty!”
Woody studied her face closely.
“Jess—”
“I mean it, Woody!” Jessie assured him with a squeeze of his hand. “Lotso thinks he can scare us all into fallin’ in line with the rest of ‘em? Well, he ain’t! We’re gettin’ outta here some way or another, whether he likes it or not!”
A flicker of relief passed over Woody’s features, though Jessie knew all too well that his brotherly worry for her would never erase entirely. “Okay,” the sheriff nodded, turning back round to face the rest of the toys. “In that case, we stick to the plan. Rex and Hamm will distract Buzz and while he’s busy, you can break for the case, grab the tortilla and slip it under the door ready for Potato Head to use as a spare body!”
At the mention of the tortilla, Mr. Potato Head perked up again. “Finally, a role that appreciates my versatility!”
Hamm shot him a bemused look. “You mean your secret carb-dependency?”
“Oh shut it, you uncultured swine!”
Jessie barely heard them. Her mind was already racing several steps ahead, mapping out the hallway and the exact timing of the security camera by the door. She knew Buzz. Like, really knew him! Even in this deluded space ranger state, she knew his swift instincts as well as she knew the back of her hand, something which no other toy, apart from Woody himself, knew as intimately as she did!
She decided to put the matter into her own hands.
“Woody,”
He glanced back at her. “Yeah?”
“Scrap what ya just said back there about Rex and Hamm tryin’ to distract Buzz…”
“Hey, what’s the problem?” Rex protested incredulously. “I can be very distracting, actually! I once chased my own tail for a whole ten minutes!”
“That ain’t the real issue here,” Jessie reassured him. “It’s just that Buzz is smart enough to know when and how you’ll both strike. He’ll anticipate you from a hundred yards!”
Woody’s brows furrowed slightly. "Jessie… what’re you saying?”
“I’m sayin’ that I want to be the one to distract Buzz!”
Woody let a few moments pass before reluctantly shaking his head. “Not a chance, sis,”
Jessie scowled. “Ya didn’t even think about it!”
“I don’t have to,” he shot back. “He’s far stronger than you are right now - both mentally and physically. One wrong move and he'll happily rip you to shreds.”
“Which is exactly why it's gotta be me being the one tryin’ to distract him!" Jessie argued. “He won’t see it comin', and even if he does, I bet he wouldn’t dare try to hurt me!”
Woody’s expression darkened. “You don’t know that.”
Jessie sighed. “Woody, despite all that ego, I know there’s still somethin’ in there. Sure, he may not call us his friends no more, but he may still remember me, even if it’s buried under all that ‘Space Ranger authority’ nonsense!”
Woody hesitated.
She pressed on. “I’ll figure out how to keep him talkin’. Rile him up if I have to!” A faint, wry smile tugged at her lips at the image. “While he’s busy focusing on me, one of you makes the run for the tortilla. In and out as quick as a whistle! I’ll have it under control, Woody! I’ve handled far worse than a confused spaceman with a hero complex.”
Woody frowned. “That’s not funny.”
“Well, I certainly ain’t joking!”
“I don’t like it,” Woody admitted with a reluctant sigh. “But I’ll let you off the hook just this once. Just so long as you promise me one thing…”
“What’s that?”
“That you don’t get yourself hurt!”
Jessie’s eyes softened with love for her worrisome brother. “I ain’t tryin’ to be a hero, Woody. I’m simply tryin' to do the very best that I can to help ya'll out, that’s all!”
Woody closed his eyes briefly, before nodding with a grave finality. “Alright, it’s settled. You distract Buzz, while Hamm and Rex fetch the tortilla.”
Mr. Potato Head let out a dramatic gasp. “Wait, so the dinosaur and pig are the carb courier now?”
“Well, someone’s gotta do it,” Woody muttered back wearily, before moving onto discussing the last part of their escape plan.