Rogue: Annihilation (An Avengers Sequel)

16. Staring Death in the Face

The slow beeping of the heart rate monitor reminded me of a hospital; the harsh sound starting to give me a headache. Of course, Banner's equipment could put some of the best hospitals to shame. Tony groaned softly, opening his eyes and looking around the room. Finally, his eyes landed on mine.

"Hi," he said in a quiet voice, holding his hand out. I took it immediately, shaking my head at him like a disappointed parent.

"That was unfair," I told him, my tone gentle. "Steve didn't deserve any of that."

He shifted his position slightly, groaning again. "We could have stopped this," he told me, running his thumb across my knuckles in a soothing motion. "Ultron could have-"

"Ultron wasn't the solution to our problems," I cut him off. "Neither was Vision, or any of your other creations. Thanos had a plan, Tony. And nothing we could have built, created or invented would have stopped him."

He sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "You know, when I was up there with the kid and the magician, all I could think about was how stupid this whole thing is." He shook his head. "Just because I built a suit, I thought I could compete with Gods and monsters. I risked everything, and for what? He won without even trying."

"You risked everything because it's your job," I reminded him. "It's our job. We have these... gifts, training, experience, whatever you want to call it. We're the ones that get called when everything goes to crap, when the world needs saving. People trust us. Who would we be if we didn't use our powers for good?"

"I know it's our job," he acknowledged. "But... I don't think I wanna do it anymore. I don't think I can." He looked me in the eye. "I did a lot of thinking while I was trapped up there, staring death in the face... I've spent so much time over the years trying to save the world. But the world's still in danger, and I don't want to die with regrets. I wanna hang up the suits, have a house with a backyard and a swing set, and maybe a kid or two." He paused for a second. "I wanna marry you."

My insides froze. For a moment, I wasn't sure if I'd heard him right. I raised my eyebrows, tilting my head to the side. "Did Banner give you too many pain meds?"

"I'm serious," he said, in a voice that told me just how serious he was. "I'd get down on one knee but..." he trailed off, gesturing to his weakened state. "I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life doing dumb things that you're contractually obligated to forgive me for."

Despite my shock, I giggled, feeling almost guilty that I could be even remotely happy when the rest of the world was in pieces.

"You're it, Rogue. You're the one, my one, the only person I ever want to be with. And if I don't ask you, if I do something to mess this up, then I'll never forgive myself," he said sincerely. "Marry me?"

I felt tears well up in my eyes. In the last two days I'd cried more than I had in the last two years. "Tony... I love you, too," I told him, stroking his cheek. "And I want what you want. I want the house and the kids, the perfect life. I want to be your wife." I kissed his hand, wishing that my speech could end there. "But... I can't have any of that until we kill Thanos. Until we've done everything possible to bring everybody back."

The hopeful look on his face changed to one of worry. "Rogue, I almost lost you once because of Thanos. Please don't go looking for him."

"I have to," I said, my voice an unsteady whisper. "Tony, he took so much from us. Wanda, Sam and Bucky, Peter, so many people that we care about. So many people that helped us when they knew that we might not win. I don't know if we can bring them back, but I can't not try. We owe them too much."

"I want to bring them back, too. But this... it's a suicide mission," he warned me, his eyes pleading.

I shook my head determinedly. "Thanos lost most of his army, and he's weaker than he's ever been – using the Stones destroyed half his body. Plus, now we have a woman on our side who literally carried your spaceship back home. We're prepared this time, we can do this."

"And what if you can't?" he asked, desperation evident in his voice. "If it puts you in danger, it's not worth it."

"I'm not in danger," I assured him. "I have a whole team behind me. And if it looks like we're losing, I'll come straight home." I stood, gently pressing my lips against his. "After all, it's pretty clear that even Thanos can't keep us apart."

I left the room, holding his hand until I was too far away. When I walked back into the other room, Carol was on her way out.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

She gave me an icy cold glance, speaking in a monotone voice. "To kill Thanos."

"Get in line," someone said dryly. We all turned in the direction of the noise to see Jessica Jones standing in the doorway. She walked to the center of the room. "If you guys are killing Thanos, I want in."

I looked at her in disbelief. I hadn't seen her once in the weeks since the Snap. The only reason I knew she was still alive was because she'd once butt-dialed me in the middle of the night, drunk, ranting to herself about the fact that she couldn't buy alcohol before 9am. "You want to help kill Thanos? Why?"

She glared at me. "I told you that there weren't many people I still cared about. Well, there were four. Kilgrave killed Trish, so three. And now, thanks to Thanos, there's only one left." She looked uncomfortable for a second, and I immediately understood that I was the one she was referring to. "So I'm here. He has to pay."

"I don't need any help," Carol told her, arms crossed in a defensive stance. "I know people who might know where he is."

Steve and I looked at each other, ready to defend our right to join her on the mission, when Nebula walked into the room. She was the person who had been Tony's company in space, the one who had basically kept him alive. She also happened to be Thanos's adopted daughter.

"I can tell you where Thanos is," she said, in a voice that sounded strong and broken at the same time. It was obvious that she'd been through more than we could ever understand. "He spent a long time trying to perfect me, and while he worked, he talked about his great plan. When his plan was complete, he said he'd go to the 'Garden'."

Rocket hopped onto the table, pulling up a hologram of Earth.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions." He pulled up an image of another planet, showing similar evidence of power surges.

Nebula pointed to it. "Thanos is there. And he still has the Stones."

"Guys, we'd be going in short-handed," Banner reminded us, his tone betraying his worry. "How do we know that it would end any differently than it did before?"

"Because before, you didn't have me," Carol said, hands on her hips. "Let's go to this planet, get him, and use the Stones to bring everyone back."

Jessica looked at her, unimpressed, then rolled her eyes. "Great. It's like when Barbie decided to become a doctor even though she didn't have any qualifications." She raised an eyebrow at Carol. "If you're so goddamn powerful, where have you been all this time?"

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe," Carol reminded her. "And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

To our surprise, Thor stood up, walking over to Carol. I had forgotten that he was still in the room. He stood in front of her, put his hand out, and waited as his new weapon flew towards him, missing Carol by less than an inch. But our newest team member didn't flinch. Instead, she gave him the tiniest hint of a smile.

"I like this one," he announced. It was more than he'd spoken in the last three weeks. Steve looked at me, nodding.

"Let's go get this son of a bitch."

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Next chapter, the team try to find Thanos and reverse the snap... but will they succeed?

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