Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 69: I'm Sorry

"Not on my watch," a voice I recognised all-too-well said. I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Stark?"

The Iron Man suit flew into the room and Stark stepped out of it.

"Tony Stark?" Jackson asked, not able to hide his surprise.

"In the flesh. I'd tell you to run, but I've got the Iron Legion waiting just outside to tear you limb from limb. You're not walking out of here no matter what what you do, but I thought I'd give Rogue the choice," Stark said.

"The choice?" I asked.

"Do you want to kill him yourself?" he asked

I stood up, looking into the face of the man who took my memories - who made mine and my mother's lives miserable, the man who was going to kill me himself. Without even thinking about it, my hand clenched into a fist, and I hit him as hard as I could. But once wasn't enough. I hit him again and again, unexpected tears pouring down my face as I took out every ounce of my anger, grief and frustration on one of the men who had caused it. He couldn't take the sole blame - without Kilgrave, everyone I loved would still be here. But in that moment, using everything but my powers to bring Joshua Jackson down was satisfying enough.

I stopped while he was still breathing, allowing Stark to grab him and throw him from the room, where the Iron Legion could finish the job.

"Are you OK?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"You?"

He shook his head. "Um, Rhodey died. Fury and Pym, too."

Hank Pym was the first person I ever met who knew my mother, the one who'd started me on the path to finding her. And now I was more convinced than ever that his warning not to go looking for her was a warning of protection.

Fury was the father I'd never had but always wanted, the one who took me in when no one else would. I'd never be able to repay him for turning me into a hero, when all I could see was a rogue.

"I'm sorry."

I reached out for Tony and hugged him. I hadn't hugged him in so long I'd almost forgotten what it felt like.

"Thank you for coming," I said.

"Jessica Jones said you needed me, how could I not?" he whispered. "Wanna get out of here?"

I nodded. "But what about Bucky? Kilgrave's control must have worn off now that he's dead."

"I'm right here." We turned around to see a sheepish-looking Bucky standing behind us.

"I'll leave you guys alone," Stark said, exiting the room.

I walked towards Bucky, standing in front of him. Even though I knew that he was back to his old self, something had changed. After everything that had happened with Kilgrave, we were different. Maybe we weren't the people we thought we were.

"I'm sorry for all of this," he said.

"It's OK, I know Kilgrave made you do it." I said, still wary of him.

"Listen, don't take this the wrong way, but I'm breaking up with you," he said.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"Well, I don't know if you know this but, I have a habit of turning into a psychotic assassin and trying to kill the people I love." He smiled and I forced myself to smile back. This was the ultimate 'It's not you, it's me' speech. "I'm going back to Wakanda. I think, going under the ice again could be good for me. Maybe, when they figure this thing out, you and Steve could come and wake me up?"

I couldn't tell him about Steve. I couldn't send him to be frozen knowing that his best friend wouldn't be there when he woke up.

"We will," I promised. We hugged, and a part of me never wanted to let him go. But the bigger part knew that I had no choice. He had to do this, for him. And I had to let him go once and for all, for me.

He left the room and Stark came back in.

"You didn't tell him about Steve?"

"I couldn't. Steve's one of the only reasons that he wants to be better, I can't take that away from him."

"I get it," he said. "And, I'm really sorry about Romanoff. In fact, forget that, I'm sorry for everything. Everything I've ever done to hurt you in any way, I'm sorry. I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot," I told him sincerely. "We were both as bad as each other. We were selfish, we made the wrong decisions." I gave him a small smile. "But we've been here for each other, through everything. And that matters more than the things that we can't take back."

He nodded, mirroring my smile. "Come on," he said. "We have a team of people coming here soon, and they just lost their leader."

We walked from the room and through the tower hand-in-hand. Everything had changed and yet, here was Stark, back with me in the place where everything started. I just wished we hadn't lost so much along the way.

****************************************

Thank you for reading. I hate to say this, but this is the penultimate chapter of this fanfic!

So this time next week I'll be uploading the last chapter(s) of this story - thanks so much for reading up to here!

How do you think it will end? Vote and leave me a comment xx