Rogue: Annihilation (An Avengers Sequel)

28. I Know Exactly Who You Are

"I'm Rogue."

The word 'surreal' wasn't enough to describe how it felt to be standing face-to-face with the man who'd entered my life, pushed me to the brink, and caused the deaths of some of the people I loved most in the world. But what was surreal was the fact that this version of Kilgrave hadn't done any of that stuff. He was far from innocent, but he wasn't that person; not yet. Could I really punish him for something that he hadn't done yet?

"You took everything from me."

Kilgrave screwed up his face in confusion as he looked at me, trying to place me even though, in this timeline, there was no way we'd met before.

"I think you're mistaken," he told me. The calm way he spoke sent a chill up and down my spine, as I was forced to read between the lines. His words, though innocent enough on their own, were a warning. And yet, his body language was more relaxed than I wanted it to be. Clearly he didn't see me as someone to be scared of. But this was to be expected – after all, he didn't know me yet. He had no idea what I was capable of.

"I'm not confused," I shook my head defiantly, looking him straight in the eye. I might have been shaking on the inside, but the last thing I could show Kilgrave was weakness. "I know exactly who you are, Kilgrave. And you know me."

His mouth lifted in a half-smile, and it took me a few moments to realize that he was laughing at me. "I've never seen you before in my life." He sat back down on the bed, facing me. His grin instantly changed from mocking to malicious. "You should leave, before you regret coming here."

I thought back to everything I knew about Kilgrave, including what Joseph Jackson (my kidnapper) had told me. He'd hired Kilgrave to find me, but Jessica had distracted him from his mission. In the midst of falling for Jess, he kidnapped my mom, using my desperation as a way to find me.

The worst thing about his plan was that it worked. I'd let him mess up my life, and years later, he was still messing with me.

"I know you haven't seen me," I clarified. "But you've been looking for me. I'm Hazel Miller."

His smile froze on his face at the mention of the familiar name, at the same time that his eyes brightened with recognition. He looked me up and down, his expression caught between shock and amusement. "Hazel Miller. It seems I've found you without even trying."

I shook my head again. "You didn't find me, I found you. And this time, you can't hurt me."

I walked towards him, but still his facial expression was nonchalant.

"Stop there," he commanded me. Of course, he assumed that I was no match for him because of his powers.

My feet stopped moving for a moment, and something within me told me to stay where I was, to not move forward. But the need to stop wasn't strong enough to override my need to get rid of him, once and for all. For all the people that had ever been hurt because Kilgrave decided to destroy their lives.

So I willed my feet to move forward, and luckily, they obeyed.

He watched me move, ignoring his command. For the first time today, I saw what I wanted – genuine fear.

"Stop," he tried again, as if I hadn't heard his command the first time. But we both knew his powers well enough to know that nobody could resist them. Kilgrave could tell anyone to do anything, and not only would they do it, but they'd actually believe that they wanted to. This was how he sucked me in the first time. He made me think that maybe there was a helpless child underneath the monster that everyone else could see. But I was wrong – there was nothing helpless about this monster.