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0=change focus to a different character
00=scene change (no matter how big or small)
000=timeskip
F000=this means that we move back to the next avengers time.
P000= No this is not poo. it's moving back to the past.
~
Chapter 4: Hawk
It's been several weeks since Rogue had run into the two Avengers at that diner. During this time he had mostly been doing recon and collecting data on how they fight and work together.
"DRAKOSTA, pull up yesterdays fight," he ordered. A holographic video of said fight was projected from the gauntlet like device on his arm and he studied the fight.
"They don't really even need orders. They just fight and understand each other...and trust each other. Their movements and fighting styles produce a pattern, but at the same time are unpredictable. If you rely on that pattern then they'll turn the tables just to defeat you. How do you win against the perfect unity they have?" He muttered out loud to himself.
My team works like that. It's not that much of a wonder as you might think.
Easy for you to say. The unpredictability and completely different personalities make you wonder how they even live together let alone fight together.
Some people just mix. You think Me, Pym, Torunn, and Azari got along all the time? Heck me and Hawkeye have clashing personalities, but we still fight together. It's just... Right.
Rogue sighed. Peaceful times like this often made him a little more chatty. Unfortunately it usually didn't yield much fruit for his labor.
"If I don't complete the mission soon Ultron'll come and do it himself. So maybe you could say something less cryptic and more in plain English so that doesn't happen," Rogue said to him, only to be met with silence. "Play the fight back again." DRAKOSTA complied once more and restarted the video clip. However, his focus was diverted from the clip by the overwhelming feeling of being watched. He didn't move nor did he tense a muscle. He wasn't about to let whoever was there know that he knew they were there. "Again."
A figure in the rafters of the storage house Rouge had been using for a bit watched him. The mysterious person drew out a bow and took an arrow from the quiver on his back, aiming it at the boy. As soon as the arrow left the bow the world seemed to slow down. Rogue swung around and activated his shield. The arrow hit and fell to the floor, but released a type of gas. He quickly sucked in a breath of fresh air and held it. Another arrow came his way, which he blocked with his shield before launching the shield in the direction it came from. A clang and a yell indicated that the shield hit the person and a further thud told him that they had hit the ground. Rogue leapt off the box he had been sitting on and strode over to the person, only to get kicked back without a chance to see his attacker. His focus went from the attacker to his lungs which where screaming for air. The gas was still around though. If he breathed it in he'd be toast. Quickly he activated his self-retracting grappling hook and fired it at the ceiling, allowing it to pull him up. He barely made it out before he took a big gulp of air followed by a few coughs. His super-soldier genes had been acting up lately, otherwise he would have been able to hold it longer than that. The sound of two feet landing in front of him made him freeze. Looking at the feet of the person, he found they were covered by two black boots. His first thought went to the archer and if this was the Avenger then he wasn't about to be caught by him. Just as he was about to activate his shield again, the person spoke;
"Man for someone trained by Ultron you sure are sloppy." That voice. He knew that voice.
Hawkeye! Francis you need to run!
Rogue lifted up his head and glared at the almost white haired boy a little older than himself, wearing a black t-shirt with a white pocket vest over it and black pants. Black fingerless gloves and combat boots adorned his hands and feet. A quiver full of arrows was attached to his back. He held an old bow with an arrow pointed at Rogues head.
"No wonder you haven't completed your mission yet," Francis said with a cocky smirk. Rogue stared at him and then smirked. He swept his feet under Francis, effectively knocking him off balance. Then grabbed his bow and aimed the arrow that had previously been in it at Francis.
"Don't count me out of the game yet Francis. I thought you were one of the Avengers. What are you doing here?" Rogue asked, never lowering the bow and arrow. Francis glared at him for using his first name.
"You wish I was the Archer. I'm looking for you James," He spat back. 'Rogue' nearly let loose the arrow.
"Don't call me that!" he snapped. "My name is Rogue."
"Riiiight. Well if you get a different name then so do I. Call me Hawk and I won't use your full name in front of the Avengers," Francis, a.k.a Hawk, threatened.
"You're in no condition to make threats Hawk," Rogue said.
"Relax will ya?" Hawk said, lowering the red glasses that had been covering his eyes, revealing red irises. "I'm here to help out, not to take you back." Rogue lowered the bow finally.
No...
"Yes, James. Looks like your friend is with me now," He smirked with Hawk.
000
"So you're saying you were in their tower. Their center of operation; and the other guy caused you to get caught," Hawk summed up what Rogue just told him as he fiddled with one of his home made arrows.
"Exactly. The minute he saw Thor he started fighting back. Caused me to loose my chance at getting Captain America while I could," Rogue said, pausing the fight he was watching and letting out a sigh. "Before that I thought I could beat them as easily as Ultron did. Now I see that this'll be a lot harder. I barely made it facing all of them!" He fell back against the crate with a frustrated sigh. Hawk raised an eyebrow at him.
"You know, Ultons program doesn't really leave room any emotions," he said, pointing an arrow at Rogue accusingly.
"Yeah well I've been away from the controls for almost a month. Can you blame the signal for being kinda weak?" Rogue answered with a shrug. Hawk glanced at him; "Still, it might be better if Ultron comes here. At least then you'll be hooked up right."
"Yeah but he'll punish me for extending it so long that he had to come here! It's better for everyone if we just get the mission done," Rogue stated, crossing his arms as he sat up and looked at Hawk. "Besides I've got you here now to watch my back and help me out when he gets in the way."
"Yeah, I guess that's right," Hawk said after a moment of contemplation. Then he turned his attention back to his arrow. "Since I'm not the one with control problems here I guess I'm your only defense against James." Rogue let out a bitter laugh.
"Give yourself a few weeks. Then we'll see how well you're doing," he half challenged, a darkness clouded his eyes as he spoke. He knew the longer they stayed here the harder it would be for him to remain in control and the tougher the completion of his mission would be. And seeing Ultron as close to angry as the machine could get was not something he was looking forward to.
00
"He's certainly been trained by someone way too good. That much we know," Widow said as she sat in the lab with Tony, Steve, and the others. Pretty much everyone had hopped in on their project after Steve had revealed the shield for their own reasons. Widow because this was a lead and the kid had been skilled enough to get by her in that hall. Tony and Hawkeye because of their curiosity and pride. Hulk because he still had a score to settle with him. Sam because of his own curiosity and the nagging feeling at the back of his head that he should know that symbol. Thor because he thought his knowledge of different Asguardian magics as well as the technology from his realm could aid in their search.
Then there was Steve. The Captain was a mixture of all of them, aside from Thor, and a little extra. From the moment he had met Rogue he had had a nagging sensation that he should know this kid. The way he fought, carried himself, the shield...it was pressing on his mind. All of it combined reminded Steve of...well himself. However this made no sense to the 90 year old man. Rogue had only met them about 3 weeks ago. There was no way or reason to see himself in the enemy. Unless...
Steve narrowed his eyes; "We're missing something," he said, breaking the silence between them.
"We can tell that Cap, but-" Tony was cut off by Jarvis.
"Sir, I have the results of the scan you did of the infinity stones," the AI informed the billionaire.
"Great, pull them up," Tony replied as a hologram of a screen came up in front of the others around them. The footage showed the stones flying from Skulls ship in different directions and disappearing. However a type of energy spike showed up for one. "Gotcha." Steve looked at the footage.
"Tony, what about Rogue?" he voiced his thoughts. Tony turned to look at his team.
"I want to find out more about the kid as much as the rest of you, but since Skull returned and the stones scattered it needs to be our top priority to find them before someone else does," The billionaire spoke, setting them straight on what needed to be done. Steve sat back, thinking on this. He wanted to know more about Rogue. No, he needed to, however he couldn't deny that Tony was right. The stones were much more important than Rogue. At least for now.
"So which stone does that frequency belong to?" Sam asked.
"Good question, wrong person to ask," Tony said to avoid saying the words 'I don't know'. He picked up his Stark Tablet and transferred the video to it.
00
"That was evil mastermind Skull. This is cosmic brain-fry Skull. I prefer this one," Tony said as he walked into the prison section of Avengers Tower with Cap and Hawkeye, each having their weapons. They headed to a particular cell containing a red skinned man in a special grey suit who was pacing around and mumbling gibberish. He seemed to be focusing on more gibberish that had been scratched into the wall at the back of his cell.
"Skull," Tony began, gaining the mans attention. "Your Infinity Stones are playing hard to get," he stopped and held up the Stark Tablet for Skull to see, then showed the frequency. "Except for this energy spike. Either you lost your cell phone, or this is some kind of homing signal." Skull stared at it a minute as if he had just realized something. Suddenly he rushed up, pressing his fingers against the glass and looking eagerly at the tablet.
"Time!" He shouted. Hawkeye quickly reached for one of his arrows to load into his bow.
"Great, got him all railed up. Got any other brilliant ideas Tony?" Clint said sarcastically, weary of the man despite his inability to even touch them. Tony raised an eyebrow as his attention was brought to the chicken scratch on the wall that Skull had turned to look at. He noticed five words written within the gibberish and in a semi-circle pattern.
"Time. Space. Power. Mind. Reality," he read them out loud. Things clicked into place in his mind. "He just gave me everything I need," the billionaire informed the two Avengers with him and he turned to leave. "Thanks Skull," he addressed the crazy man as he walked away. Hawkeye looked at Cap confused.
"Did you know that Tony speaks gibberish?" The archer asked the soldier, pointing at the area Tony had just been in. Behind the glass of his cell Skull was glaring at Tony's back.
00
Rogue had been in the vents, listening to everything they had talked about. He waited until The two Avengers started to take their leave to activate his com in his ear.
"Did you get that Hawk?" He whispered, not wanting to alert anyone to his presence.
"Yeah. Looks like we might have something to help with our mission," Hawks voice buzzed over the com.
"Ultron will be pleased," Rogue smirked, proud with his work. However looking down the vent cover, he noticed Captain America had stopped. Suspecting that the super soldier had heard him, he quickly but quietly moved away from the vent cover, preventing Cap from seeing him when he looked up. Steve scanned the vent a minute, before turning back around and heading out the door. Skull, however, stared straight up at the vent. It creeped Rogue out, so he started crawling away from the vents in the prison block. "I'm heading back to the warehouse. We need to come up with a plan."
"Got it. See you when you get back. Oh and Rogue?"
"Yeah?"
"Try not to get caught this time, okay?" Rogue rolled his eyes at Hawks chiding and continued through the vent system.
~
Hehehe... This is where things start getting fun. With Hawk on board, things have become interesting. What comes next? We'll seeeeeee...
~November 23, 2020~