Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 6: A Mission

*Phone Ringing*

"Ugh," I said, feeling around my bedside table for my phone without opening my eyes or lifting my head from my pillow. "Ugh," I said again, this time into the phone.

"Rough night?" I heard Nat ask with a laugh.

"Ugh. Remind me to never drink again," I said in response, causing her to laugh harder.

"This is what you get for going out with Stark!" Immediately I was transported back to the night before. The niceness, the great conversation, the drinks, the kissing... the kissing. Was that a dream or did I kiss Stark? Tony Stark, major douchebag. Tony Stark, major douchebag with amazing CEO girlfriend Pepper Potts! "Rogue, can you hear me?" Nat asked, bringing me out of the past and back to the present.

"Um, yeah, sorry. Were you saying something?" I asked sheepishly.

"Yes! We've been called in, we have a mission."

"What are you talking about? The Avengers-"

"No, not the Avengers. Me, you, Cap and Hawkeye, strictly agents involved with S.H.I.E.L.D only," she warned me. "So don't tell Stark."

"What? Why would I tell Stark?" I said defensively.

Nat was silent on the other end. Then she said "OK Rogue, what's going on?" sounding really suspicious.

"Nothing!" I said quickly, my voice three octaves higher than normal. There was silence again as she worked out whether to let it go or to push the issue.

"Just get to S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters," she said, letting it go, much to my relief.

***

"Where are you going?" Stark asked as I passed him on the way out. I immediately felt on edge. Not only did I have to lie to him about where I was going, but we hadn't spoken properly since the kiss, and I didn't want him to bring it up.

"Out," I said, avoiding eye contact.

"Wait. Can we talk for a minute... about last night?" he asked.

"I can't, I have to go," I said, completely determined to get out of Stark Tower as fast as possible so that I could stop thinking about him.

"Please," he said, reaching out to put his hand on my arm. I jerked back quickly as if the thought of his touch burned me. In a way, it did.

"Stark, we can't talk about that. You have Pepper, she's good for you. So stop being so nice to me, just treat me the same way you treat everyone else. Please," I said, looking him straight in the eye.

"I'll treat you like I treat everyone else," he said, eyes glazed over, his voice monotone. I didn't mean to control his mind, but I couldn't have him messing with my head. I joined the Avengers because I had a job to do, I had to save people. Tony Stark could not jeopardize that.

***

"Sorry I'm late," I said, walking into headquarters and sitting next to Nat who gave me an odd, suspicious look. "What's the mission?"

"We have a group of 14 civilians taken hostage by a group that claim to be part of HYDRA," Hill said, filling me in. HYDRA were a terrorist-criminal-paramilitary group that were bent on world domination. Steve had had experience with them during World War 2, but the rest of the team had nothing to do with them.

"They claim to be part of HYDRA?" Steve asked. "What do you mean?"

"We have reason to believe that some members of the group are S.H.I.E.L.D agents that have been brainwashed to fight for HYDRA," Hill said.

"What do you want us to do?" Nat asked.

"Get the civilians out of there, find out which agents are from S.H.I.E.L.D and bring them back here. Hopefully once we get them here we can reverse the mind control. Just remember, a lot of people are counting on you guys."

***

I crouched, looking through the window. I could see the civilians, they were tied up and surrounded by their captors.

"What's the plan?" I whispered into my earpiece, the only way that I could reach the other Avengers.

"Remember we can't kill anyone, some of them might be from S.H.I.E.L.D," Steve said. I was glad, I wasn't ready to kill anyone yet. And killing pretend aliens was a much better option than killing actual real human beings – even if they were the bad guys.

"I've blocked the exits, the only way they can get out is through the window or off the roof," Nat said confidently.

"I'm on the roof," Hawkeye hissed. I could imagine him, bow and arrow poised, ready to take out anyone who got in his way.

"I'm at the window," I replied.

"Good. Steve, cover me," Nat said. I watched as she ran into the room, holding two guns. Each of the captors pointed a gun at her. "Calm down guys, I just want to talk," she said innocently. Some of them automatically lowered their weapons, others were more guarded. "Now, why don't we just let these people go and no one has to get hurt."

They laughed at her. "Are you saying that you could hurt us?" one man asked between chuckles.

"Yes, I could," she said seriously. All of a sudden, two of the guys dislodged themselves from the group and grabbed her, one on each arm.

"I'm going in," Steve announced.

"Wait Cap, if you go in there now, these guys will go crazy, and they'll kill hostages. We need to get the hostages out first," Hawkeye said.

"I have an idea," I said softly, knowing that, as stupid as my idea was, it might work. I opened the window that I was standing behind, slowly, while they were all facing Nat. When it was opened halfway (any more and they would have felt the breeze) I gestured to one of the hostages to come towards me slowly. They had only tied up the hands of the hostages, pointing guns at them to ensure that they wouldn't run away rather than just tying up their legs. 'Maybe they ran out of rope' I thought with a chuckle.

"Please, don't kill me," Nat said as a distraction, pretending to be a typical 'damsel in distress', noticing what I was doing.

I helped the first hostage out of the window and on to the boat that we had come on, which we had set up to take them back to S.H.I.E.L.D, others caught on and began making their way. I had helped 7 out before I saw them punch Nat in her stomach, winding her. I wanted to kill them – I had never felt an urge to kill as strongly as I did just then. "Steve, get in there," I said, sure that I could get the other 7 out.

Steve ran in via the same door that Nat used, throwing his shield to catch the HYDRA agents off guard. With that distraction, Nat wrapped her legs around one off their heads, flooring him and pointing her gun at two more until they dropped their weapons in shock. I gestured for the civilians to run.

"Hey, Captain America," one said in disgust.

"The hostages are getting away!" another shouted at the same time, aiming his gun towards the back of one of the hostages. I put my hands out, using a force field to protect the hostage as they climbed out of the window. They shot at the force field twice, angry that their plan hadn't worked. One of the bullets rebounded and I heard a grunt.

"Steve!" Nat screamed as Captain America fell to the ground, a bullet hole in his chest.

"No!" I screamed, alerting them to my presence. As they came towards me I had two choices. Run away, or stay and face them. I knew that I only had one option. I had to stay.

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Thank you for reading!

Rogue's in the middle of her first mission and it seems like there's no way out - check out chapter 7 next Saturday to see how the mission ends... and who gets away!

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