Team: Rogue, Nat, Hulk, Spider-Man
Banner had already transformed into the Hulk when Rogue and Nat got there. Their Winter Soldier was huge, much bigger than they had expected. Thousands of New Yorkers were fleeing for their lives, desperate not to be caught in another of the Avenger's messes.
The Hulk was taking out the Soldiers with ease, not even needing to use half his strength to either end their lives, or send them scurrying away, so they'd never have to tell Kilgrave that they failed his mission.
***
Rogue and Nat worked on the remaining soldiers, Nat using her expert hand-to-hand combat and Rogue using her electricity to blindside them. They hadn't fought on the same side since Sokovia, so it felt good to fight with each other rather than against each other.
"I've missed this," Nat said.
"What? Fighting mind-controlled assassins?" Rogue questioned.
"Being on a real team."
"Yeah, the threat of imminent death really excites me!"
They both burst out laughing, Rogue throwing her electricity at another of the Soldiers who was coming towards them. She wondered if anyone else was having as much fun fighting the Soldiers as they were. It felt like this is where she was meant to be, this was her life's purpose.
***
Spider-Man swung from building to building, revelling in the fact that he was going to be the first one to take on the Winter Soldier. When he was near enough, he used his webs to entangle the Winter Soldier, disorientating him. Wrapping the webs tightly around his legs, the Soldier was stuck in the same spot. Rogue, Nat and the Hulk appeared, standing around him.
"Where's Kilgrave?" Rogue asked him.
"I can't tell you," he said, his eyes flashing with anger.
"Of course he can't tell us, he's being controlled, remember?" Nat said. Rogue rolled her eyes.
"Well, I hope your life is more important than Kilgrave's command! Because if you don't tell me where he is, I'm going to kill you."
"He said I can't tell you," the Winter Soldier said again.
"This is your life!" Rogue said. "Break free of his control! We'll let you go, and you can start your life over a million times as a free man. You'd never have to be controlled again."
"You'll let me go?" he asked.
"I promise," Rogue said. "Tell me where he's hiding and we'll let you go; you'll never see any of us again."
"I can't! Everything in my body tells me that I can't tell you where he is," he said. Rogue knew the feeling all too well, but that didn't mean she was giving up.
"You're been away from him for hours, his control is weaker. You just have to push yourself!"
His face showed signs of an internal struggle. But finally, he pushed out the words that he'd been holding in. "He's in New York."
"He's here?" Nat asked.
"Where in New York?" Rogue asked.
"A-Avengers Tower."
"He's been here this whole time?" Rogue said angrily.
"Can I go now?" he asked.
"Are you going back to Kilgrave?" Rogue countered.
"I never want to see that man again in my life. There's no way I'd ever go back to him."
Rogue looked at Spider-Man. "Get him out of that, please."
"Right," he said, fiddling with the webbing until the Soldier was free.
"Thank you," he said to them, running off in the opposite direction.
"How do you know he won't go running back to Kilgrave?" Nat asked, wrapping an arm around Rogue's shoulders.
"I don't. But I'll find Kilgrave no matter where he goes."
"Wait, you're still going after that psycho?!" Nat asked incredulously.
"He has Bucky."
"Oh, so you're going after one psycho to find another psycho, great!"
"You don't get it. I won't let Kilgrave destroy him." They started walking the way they'd come, noticing the way that the area had completely cleared out since the Soldiers had come through it.
"I just want you to be OK, is that too much to ask?"
"I'll be fine!" Rogue argued. As she walked, she stepped on what looked like a wooden board and heard something click underneath her. "What did I just step on?"
"Don't move!" Nat ordered, crouching down to get a closer look. There was a sharp intake of breath before she answered. "It's a bomb."
"What?"
"You activated it when you stepped on. If you step off, you'll detonate it."
"Can't you... disarm it or something?" Rogue asked.
"What do I look like, a bomb expert? Do we live in 'The Hurt Locker'?" Nat asked, still crouched down in front of the bomb.
"Shit!" a voice said from behind them. Spider-Man.
"Get out of here Spidey, Stark will kill me if anything happens to you!" Rogue warned him.
"Take anyone you can find with you, clear the area. We won't be able to stop the bomb from going off!" Nat added.
"I'm gonna die," Rogue said. She'd thought she was going to die a thousand times before, but it had never felt so real.
"Don't think like that!"
"Well, I can't stand here forever! Get out of here, I don't want to get you killed too!"
"Will you stop?!"
"I can't die before I find Bucky. Before I find my mom." Tears pricked at her eyes, but she held them back. She wanted to be strong in her last moments.
"I have an idea. I think I know how to disarm the bomb."
"Really?" Relief flooded Rogue's body.
"Take one foot off," Nat ordered. Rogue did what she was told, removing one foot and placing it on the ground. Nat instantly replaced Rogue's foot with her own to keep board steady. "Great. Now slowly, very slowly, take your other foot off." Rogue did what she was told, taking her other foot off the board, which Nat quickly replaced with her own.
"OK, now what?" Rogue asked.
Tears welled up in Nat's eyes. "Now, you need to get out of here and find your mom."
"Wait, what?" Rogue asked. "You said you could disarm the bomb!"
"If I told you that I wanted to take your place, you'd never let me."
"Jump off, I can put a force field around us, we'll be fine!"
"The second my feet leave this board, the bomb will go off and you won't be able to protect us both. One of us will die no matter what, and I know you'll try to save me. I won't let you die."
"OK, then let's find something heavy to keep the bomb from detonating," Rogue said, looking around frantically.
"There's nothing here," Nat said. "We have no choice."
"Nat, you can't do this! Please don't do this!"
"Look, Rogue... when I was growing up in Russia, I thought I'd never get out. I thought I'd die there and never know what it was like to have a family, to have a normal life. Then I found S.H.I.E.L.D, and I met Clint and Laura, I met you, I met Steve. I had the best life. But you never got to live yours. Your life has been clouded with missing people and lost memories. I want you to live the life that you should always have lived."
"I can't do that without you!" Rogue cried.
Nat reached up and unclasped her necklace. It was a dainty arrow in homage to her best friend. She placed it in Rogue's hand. "I love you."
"No! What about Steve, you can't leave him!"
"Steve will understand why I'm doing this. He sacrifices himself for other people all the time."
"You can't do this! I can't live without my big sister."
"Yes, you can." Nat said firmly. "You can go and destroy Kilgrave, and then you can live a normal life. Go on dates with your boyfriend, hang out with your friends. Get engaged, get married and have babies, name one of them after me. Find your mom and don't think about me too much. Don't let me, or anyone, hold you back. I love you, little sis."
"I love you," Rogue said, her voice barely a whisper.
"Now get out of here, run as fast as you can, don't come back here. Live, Rogue."
Rogue took one last look at her sister, before taking her advice and running as fast as she could away from the bomb. She heard it go off. Sinking to the ground, she dug the arrow necklace into the palm of her hand, crying and thinking of her sister, the best spy she'd ever met. She couldn't imagine a world where Nat wouldn't be there, fighting with her, fighting for her. Now she had to find Kilgrave and kill him. For Nat.
***************************************
Thank you for reading what was definitely one of the hardest chapters to write!
That's the end of the Winter Soldier chapters! From now on, it's back to Rogue's p.o.v. How do you think she'll deal with the deaths of her loved ones?
If you liked this chapter, you know what to do!