Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 54: Gifted Freaks

*WARNING: Spoilers for Jessica Jones + Small instance of self-harm!

"Jessica!" I screamed, letting myself into her apartment. I ran from the kitchen, to the office, to the bathroom and back, praying that she was here somewhere. But it was clear that she wasn't home. "30 seconds," I mumbled to myself, catching a glimpse of the clock in the office. The seconds ticked by quickly, and I was overcome with the urge to grab a knife from the kitchen drawer. I couldn't stop myself from raking the knife over my skin, gasping as it cut me, the red spots of blood dotting my skin and dripping to the floor, almost in slow motion. Tears came to my eyes as the pain hit me and I waited for the next 30 seconds to hit.

5 minutes and 10 cuts later, the broken front door was finally forced open and Jessica walked in. I dropped the knife quickly and ran to her.

"Jess!" I said with relief.

"What are you doing?" she asked, taking in the cuts on my arm, the bloody knife and the pool of blood staining her hardwood floor.

"Kilgrave," I said breathlessly.

"You saw Kilgrave? He made you do this?" she asked, her eyes wide with terror.

"He said that if you want to find him, you have to go to his favourite restaurant. There will be something waiting there for you."

A weight lifted from my chest and I sank to the floor, shaking and cupping my bleeding arm. Jessica ran to her bedroom and came out with a bandage. She carefully wrapped my arm, taping it so that the bandage wouldn't come loose.

"Where's his favourite restaurant?" I asked, trying to take my mind off of the pain.

"It was called Il Russo, but it closed down 8 months ago," she said as she finished wrapping my arm. "I don't know what's there now."

"Well, let's go and find out," I said, making my way towards the door determinedly.

"Um, maybe you should..." she started.

"Kilgrave just made this personal, I can't rest knowing he's out there," I answered honestly. If Kilgrave could control me, what was stopping him from targeting the rest of the Avengers?

***

"I'm sorry, we're not open yet," someone said as we walked into the restaurant, formerly Il Russo, now 'Niku'.

"We're looking for something. Someone said they left something here for me," Jessica said. The guy looked around himself as if something was going to magic itself from thin air.

"I haven't seen anything, I'll check with the manager," he said, leaving us alone in the empty restaurant.

"There has to be something we're missing," I said, taking a walk around the restaurant. "What do you think Jessica?" I heard no response. "Jess?" I turned around and saw her rooted to the spot, her face pale. "What's wrong?"

"No," she whispered, shaking her head and making her way to the door. I followed her outside and watched as she sat on the ground with her head between her legs. "Main Street," she mumbled to herself. "Birch Street, Higgins Drive, Cobalt Lane."

After this, she seemed to calm down and compose herself.

"You OK?" I asked anxiously.

"Fine," she said, standing up shakily.

"Excuse me," a woman said, coming up to the restaurant. "Are you Jessica Jones and Rogue?" she asked. Jessica and I caught each other's eye, her looking suspicious, me hopeful that maybe we'd found what we were supposed to be looking for.

"Yes," Jessica said.

"I'm Audrey Eastman – I have something for you," she said, abruptly walking away from us. We followed her, struggling to keep up with her quick pace – it was almost like she was running away from us. Eventually, we got to an apartment building. Audrey opened the door and we followed her inside. "Wait here," she said, leaving us in her living room and walking further into the house.

"Think she's been Kilgraved?" I asked, wondering what she could possibly have that we could need.

"No idea, but we're about to find out," Jessica replied in a whisper as footsteps started making their way back towards us.

All of a sudden, Audrey Eastman was standing in front of us with a gun in her hand. She fired a shot at Jessica.

"Goddamn it!" Jess said, holding her arm. Audrey aimed the gun at me and I encased both Jessica and I in a force field. "You couldn't have done that earlier?" she asked.

"I hate you," I replied with a scowl, turning back to Audrey. "What is this? Kilgrave?"

"This isn't Kilgrave," Jess said. "He's smarter than her."

"Then what's this about?" I asked Audrey.

She chuckled, keeping her gun held high. "You saved the city. That's what the papers said, saved the city from aliens. Well I was there, I saw what really happened."

"What's she talking about?" Jess asked me.

"The battle of New York," I answered, casting my mind back to what Agent Hill told me all that time ago. 'They did it. They defeated Loki'. "Why are you attacking us, we weren't even there!"

"I was trying to pull my mother out from the rubble, watching her bleed to death. Crushed under a building that you people destroyed!"

"So go after the big green guy or the flag waver!" Jess shouted, still cradling her arm.

"No, don't," I argued. "But come on, Audrey, you're really going to take that out on us?"

"Gifted," she spat. "Everyone said you were gifted. You're not gifted, you're freaks! The sooner we get rid of you, the better!"

I electrocuted Audrey and she dropped the gun in shock. Letting my force field down, I lunged for it, throwing it away from her before she could use it on either of us again.

"You think you're the only one who lost someone?" Jess asked. "You think you can take your shit and dump it on us?" she picked up the heavy-looking wooden kitchen table and threw it across the room, as if it weighed nothing. "You lost your parents? Welcome to the goddamn club!" She picked up a drawer of kitchen utensils and threw them across the room, a loud crash causing both Audrey and myself to jump. "I lost mine in some random accident. Do you see me trying to kill every shitty driver?!" She punched a window and it shattered instantly.

"Disappear," I said to Audrey, looking her in the eye. "Go as far as you can, and make sure that none of our 'gifted' friends ever hear from you again. Because they hate attempted murder." I said menacingly, not waiting for her to repeat my words as I pulled Jess out of the house and onto the street. After a few minutes of walking, she seemed to calm down. "So, what should I ask about first? Your parents? Or how you threw that table across the room?"

"You're not the only 'gifted' person here," she said, the first time I'd seen her with an almost-smile on her face.

"Good to know," I said, replicating her smile. "But if that wasn't about Kilgrave, what did he want you to have?"

"I have no idea, but we're gonna find out."

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Thanks for reading my first chapter of the new year! I'll continue to update on Saturdays!

Do you agree with Audrey Eastman? What do you think Kilgrave wanted them to find?

Please vote and leave a comment! xx