Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 29: Come Now, Come Alone

"I'll be there for youuuu!" I sang along to the FRIENDS theme tune two weeks later. After hearing that Layla Miller wanted nothing to do with me, I had decided to give up... partially. I would stop looking for her. Unfortunately, her name still came into my mind when I least expected, so I blocked it out with numerous menial tasks and old sitcoms.

"Hey, you OK?" asked Steve from the doorway.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I responded.

"Well, the whole thing with your mom... we're worried," he said.

"She doesn't want to see me, I get it, I need to move on," I said, not being entirely truthful. I knew that I'd never be able to move on from this.

"And this is how you move on? By watching re-runs of this... weird show about six people who sit and drink coffee all day?"

"Hey! FRIENDS is a classic!" I said defensively, to which Steve rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you go out and do something? Do some fight training with Sam or Wanda, get out of the room for a bit," he suggested.

"I'm fine," I said. "Thanks Steve, bye!" I shut the door, locking it so that no one else could come in and disturb me.

After a while of sitting through episode after episode after episode of the show (Ross and Rachel had broken up, gotten back together and broken up again by the time I was finished) I heard an email ping into my inbox. With a lazy grunt, I reached to the bottom of my bed for my laptop and opened it, staring at the message in front of me.

I know where she is.

My heart rate picked up as I tried to work out who the email came from. The 'From' section was a random combination of letters and numbers, keeping the sender's identity a secret. My fingers found their way to the keyboard before I had even decided what I was going to say.

Rogue - Who is this?

Their reply came quickly.

I'm a friend of Layla Miller. I can take you to her.

Rogue - I know where she lives, I went there. I'm not looking for her anymore.

That's a shame... because she'd love to see you.

Rogue - I thought she didn't want me to look for her?

You believe everything Pym tells you?

I frowned. This person knew things that only the other Avengers knew – no one else knew what Hank Pym had told me, or the message that he'd sent with Scott Lang. Who could this be?

Rogue - OK, I'll play along, where is she?

I'll send you an address – on three conditions...

Rogue - What?

Come now, come alone, and tell no one.

Rogue - I don't know who you are. What if this is a trap?

I'm the only person who can reunite you with your mother, do you really want to risk ignoring me?

Rogue - No. I'll be there.

I immediately regretted my decision. I didn't know who this person was, and I couldn't be sure that they knew where Layla Miller was. But, they knew things that no one else could know. Could I pass up the chance to be reunited with her?

Within minutes, an address came through and I made my decision. I wrote it down on the back of my hand, quickly changing and leaving my room for the first time in hours.