Chapter 21
"OK. We're going into the garage and I'm looking you over. Cassie, open the garage." She hits the button in the truck and I duck under it with Ella.
"Stay out there... Please," She requests softly and Cassie stops, nodding.
"OK..." I shut the door and flip the light switch, locking the door leading into the cabin.
"Ella. What happened?" I look at her and she was refusing to meet my eyes. "Did you get separated from Cassie while you were out?" She nods. "Did someone do something to you?" Another nod and I feel anger rise in my chest. "Is that why your clothes are messed up?"
"I'm sorry... I should've fought him off better but-"
"No," I say firmly and she looks at me, tears falling from her eyes. "You have nothing to apologize for, Ella. It was not your fault."
"But, I could've stopped him from... From..." She drifts off and more tears spill down her cheeks.
"Honey, no. This wasn't your fault. I promise you that it wasn't." She lets out a sob and I catch her as her legs give out. "I've got you, sweetheart..." I press my lips to her head and send a message to Doc, telling them how to unlock the door leading into the cabin. "Doc's gonna come make sure you're OK, alright?" She nods and I hold her still as Doc comes in, locking the door behind them again. "Do you want me to stay?"
"Please," She whispers brokenly and it breaks my heart as I nod.
"Then I will."
"I have something that will get you to sleep and be unable to feel the pain for a little while. Do you want it?" She nods and they gently inject her with it. "Lay her on the cot, Rogue." I gently do so and she looks at me.
"Are you gonna go after him?"
"Yes." She weakly grabs my hand and the person flashes in my mind with where they were during her getting attacked.
"That's what he looked like..." I kiss her forehead gently and she closes her eyes. "Can you send... Cassie in?"
"You got it."
"Thank you..." I go through the door and Cassie was waiting.
"She wants you in there." She doesn't hesitate and I shut the door behind her, locking it again.
"What happened, Rogue?" Pepper asks carefully and I punch a hole in a nearby wall, eyes glowing brightly with my skin while my hair floats around me. I take a slow, sharp breath to release the power built up and the glow slowly fades as my hair slowly settles on my shoulders.
"Looks like today might be your lucky day to finally get a taste of some Terran stew," I end in a growl and Morgan stands with Indri.
"What asshole touched my niece?" They ask together and I pop my knuckles, eyes still glowing dimly. "Where is he? We're removing his fucking kneecaps!" Loki calmly twirls his favorite knife against his flesh index finger and stands casually.
"May I join in on causing the man much pain?"
"OK, OK, hold on!" Everyone looks at Dad and I narrow my eyes. "Let's hold off on the killing talk for a second! Rogue. What happened?"
"There's an asshole out there that hurt my oldest daughter and now she's terrified and blaming herself for it."
"OK. Thank you. Now... Let's go find this sorry son of a bitch and kill the shit out of him." He smiles and I relax my eyes, nodding once.
"I'll drive." I grab the keys and he follows me with Loki on our heels followed by Morgan and Indri on their heels. "Grab the bats!" Morgan and Indri cheer as they grab the baseball bats from the closet and I get in the driver's seat, Dad in the passenger, and the other three in the back. I gun it toward the town and probably break a lot of traffic rules. But do I care? Nope.
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"Should we have stopped them?" Martinex asks carefully and the parents look toward the garage then at him.
"No. We should've gone with them. But I have the feeling they'll be back with whoever did that to the kid," Aleta says simply and Stakar nods.
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We all look around the town and Indri yells, "There! There he is!" I slam on the brakes and look to where she's pointing, seeing the guy heading out of town the way we came.
"Hold on." I quickly maneuver the truck around and screech to a stop next to him, smiling politely. "Hey, there, pal. You look like you need a ride and a warm place to stay. Hop in." Dad gets out and he climbs in the middle of the front before Dad gets back in. I drive back to the cabin and he sits silent. "So... Got any stories to share?"
"Like what?"
"Well... Met anyone lately?"
"Oh, yeah." He bites his lip with a smirk and I refrain from gripping the steering wheel, stopping in front of the cabin.
"Why don't you tell us about it inside?"
"Sounds great." I lead him inside and he freezes once he sees the multiple crews. "Uh... Is this a cosplay hut or something?"
"Hmm... I'd say or something... Now... Why don't you go ahead and tell us all about the person you've met lately?"
"Uh... I-I think I'd better go."
"Oh? I'm sorry." I grab him by the coat and spin, slamming him against a bookshelf. "Did that sound like a request? Cuz... It ain't. So get to gabbin'," I snarl in his face and he gulps.
"She was hot... And feisty. It's fun to break those kinds of girls, y'know?" I grip his coat tighter, pressing him further into the bookshelf, and he smirks. "Oh, you must be one of them too. Little lady trying to do a man's job, huh? Wonder who breaks you down to where you belong." He licks his lips as he looks me over and I slam him against the bookshelf again, making him grunt. "Yeah, you are. Y'know, she didn't even try to fight it. It's like she knew she belonged there and she wanted it."
I grab him by the throat and squeeze. "Woah! Rogue! Hold on!" Dad gets me to let go and pushes me away so the guy's alone in the small hallway by the front door. "He's baiting you and trying to get you to snap. Stay calm for a bit longer. Then you can kill him."
"She was so warm too... And soft... The perfect kind of girl to be under me, y'know? And you just know she wanted it and knew she deserved it."
"I'll cut your fucking tongue out, you bastard! I'll slice your throat and watch you choke on your blood! I'll break your larynx and watch you suffocate! And I'll do it all with a damn smile on my face!" Dad barely manages to hold me back and he laughs. "Laugh it up, jackass! You aren't leaving here alive!"
"ROGUE!" I spin to be toe-to-toe with Bucky and he looks at me calmly while everyone's silent around us. "You need to calm down."
"Oh? Does the big bad woman need a man to help her calm down?"
"Attack," I mutter to myself and let control slip away to Tundra.
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I easily get around everyone in my way and throw the target into the wall, leaving a hole in the drywall, wearing a blank expression. "Ah, shit! Here we go again!" Sam groans and gets in my way only to be taken out at the knee as I go after the target again. "OK, I tried. I'm done."
"Always brute strength with you," Zemo sighs and stands behind me. "Tundra Soldier." I freeze and he calmly walks in front of me. "That is enough." I glare at Zemo and he regards me with a cool gaze. "Retreat to where you belong and send Rogue back out. Now."
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I glare at Zemo and he barely avoids a punch to the face. "Hello again, Rogue. Not that it wasn't a pleasure to see Tundra again, we would all greatly appreciate it if you could refrain from sending her out again while we're on Terra."
"Wait... Tundra? Like... HYDRA's Tundra Soldier?" We all look at the prick and he had his eyes trained on me. "Get it the fuck away from me!"
"Did this asshole just-? Oh, he did. I know damn well that I am not hallucinating at this moment. Get the fuck out of my way."
"With pleasure." Zemo moves and I have the prick slammed against the wall by the neck, his feet off the ground before he can react.
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear to your sorry. Stupid. Miserable, pathetic excuse of a brain... I am not an 'it'. Neither is anyone else here. The only 'it' I might see would be you. You miserable, pathetic, lowlife, scum of the galaxy, sorry excuse for a human being, piece of shit. Any questions? No? Good," I snarl and drop him to the floor, leaving him to gasp for air at my feet.
"Freak," He wheezes and I tilt my head to the side slightly.
"Know what? Fair and true." I tilt his head up with the toe of my boot and he glares at me. "But..." I kick him in the stomach and he falls to the floor, gripping it. "No need to be so rude about it." I crouch next to him and lift his head by his hair. "Now. I'm gonna make this simple for you to understand. You're going to stand up and I'm going to beat you to a fucking pulp for messing with my daughter."
"Your daughter?"
"Tha's right. Now... Stand yer sorry ass up b'fer Ah do it fer ya," I snarl as I stand and he struggles to his feet after a moment. "An' cuz Ah ain't got no trust in yer ability ta stand on yer own." I unsheath my katana and stab his shirt through the shoulder, pinning it to the wall. I punch him in the stomach and he grunts, trying to fall to the ground again. "This ain't workin'..." I pull my katana out, sheathing it again, and he falls to the floor. "Gods, forgot how weak Terrans can be."
"Rogue... Something feels off," Peter says carefully and I look at him, not gauging the prick as a threat. "Watch it!"
My back hits the wall across the room and I fall to the floor, grunting. "Then it's a good thing that I'm not a Terran. God, you are as cocky as everyone says." I look up at the sound of THUDs to see the others getting pinned to the walls. Granted, it wasn't the full extent of our crews. Loki, the Guardians, Captains I'm close to, Avengers, Horuz, Tullk, Oblo, Gef, Tanas, Segs, Kraglin, Martinex, my kids, and my siblings. It's a big cabin.
"There's a difference between cockiness and confidence, y'know?" I stand and he looks at me.
"Then you're over-confident bordering on cocky. Is that better?" I glare at him and spin my blades around my hands as I take them out. "Seriously?"
"Stabbing people usually works in my favor. So... Yeah." I flip the blades and throw them at him simultaneously. He snaps and they freeze in the air before dropping to the ground. "Fuck. Not human. Got it. Good to know. Let's try a thing, then... Christo...?" His eyes go black and I nod a bit. "Demon. Cool, cool, cool." I quickly rack my brain for the words the Winchesters made me memorize when I was five and come up fairly short. "Audi nos...?"
"That was pathetic and I think you know that. And I also think that you're aware that your AIs aren't working or you already would've tried them. I guess you aren't as stupid as you look," He sneers and I look at him, offended.
"OK, rude. Take this, asshat." I flick my fingers at him and he stares at me calmly.
Nothing happens and I blink, looking at my hands as I try again. "You have got to be kid-" I get slammed into another wall by magic and grunt, ribs groaning in protest as I fall to the ground.
"Done already?" I look at him and see double, shaking my head sharply to clear my vision. "I guess not. Let's try this then, shall we?" He flicks his fingers up then back down sharply.
I slam into the ceiling then back onto the floor and feel blood pooling from the back of my head and forehead while at least one of my ribs felt broken or at least bruised. "That's more like it." I have blackness dancing at the edge of my vision and red blinding me as his shoes stop next to me. "Night night." He kicks me in the face and I fall into the darkness.
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I come too with a gasp as freezing water is poured over me and someone grabs my chin, jerking my head up to make me make eye contact with black eyes. "Well good morning sleepyhead," He smirks and I spit in his face.
"Go fuck yerself," I scoff and he wipes the spit away calmly before backhanding me hard enough to send my head to the side, lip breaking.
"That's not polite for a lady to say, Dear," He growls and I run my tongue against my teeth as I turn to look at him again.
"Too damn bad. Bitch," I smirk coldly and he sighs, pressing something to my side. "What's that supposed to be?"
"An electric prod." He activates it and I bare my teeth in a silent scream, panting limply in the chair I'm restrained in.
"That... That the best you've got?" I laugh breathlessly as I look at him and he looks at me with distaste.
"If you think you can handle stronger, then very well." He presses it to me again and stronger currents go through my body, making me roar.
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"What the Hell are you doing to my kid?" Dad yells and gets punched to the floor, bound by ropes like the others.
"Shut up already! Boss needs quiet to work his magic!"
"His magic is gonna get him killed and my kid more mentally messed up!"
"Hell is going to, well, Hell with our current King. He's fixing it so SHUT UP!" Dad gets kicked in the stomach and groans. "But, since you want to know so badly..." He snaps and a TV appears with me on it. "Feel free to watch. Not that you have a choice on the matter."
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"Are you willing to help us now?" I pant harshly and he drags my head up by my hair. "Well?"
"Go shove a cactus... Up your dick... With no lube..."
"How... Poetic," He sneers and slips a pair of brass knuckles on before snapping.
"Ugh," I groan as my shoulders take all of my body weight from being suspended from the ceiling by chains, my toes barely touching the floor, and he looks at me.
"Much better." He punches me in the stomach and I swing back slightly, the wind getting knocked out of me as I struggle to breathe. "This is why you shouldn't be so confident in your abilities. It tends to come back and... How would you phrase it? Ah, yes. Bite you in the ass." He was landing punch after punch to my torso as he talks and I go limp when he stops, shoulder screaming in protest.
"What do you want?"
"Help taking over Hell. Of course."
"Oh... Of course... How stupid of me to not real-" My sarcastic wit's cut off by a punch to my gut and I curl slightly, groaning.
"I'm getting rather fed up with your remarks," He growls and I look at him.
"Most people do. You ain't special." He walks away and I get a glimpse of a cart. "Oh? A torture session to get me to help you? Genius idea. I wonder why no one else ever thought of that. Hm." He runs his fingers over things on the cart as he walks around it and I get a better view as he picks up my first blade.
"How sentimental do you have to be to keep the same blade for forty years? Even after what they did to you." He walks over and runs the blunt edge along the column of my neck.
"And what would that be?"
"They abandoned you. When you needed them most. And they only tried to bring you back when they were ready to accept you. To accept your grief. To accept your baggage. It's honestly an unbearable amount of blind trust on your part that they won't do it again." He slices the right side of my chest and I wince slightly. "And you're just waiting for them to, aren't you? For them to get tired of you and leave you alone again?"
"Shut up," I growl and he cuts my chest deeper, cutting more of my body as he continues to talk, ignoring me.
"Because you know that they can see how weak you are. How afraid you are. How human you are. And you know that you'd deserve it. Because you know you don't deserve anything good. You're cursed. And you know it. Look at what your children had to go through because of you. And what about your father and first husband? They both died because of you. And your stepmother? She had to suffer the same fate as your father in front of your little siblings. How unfortunate?"
"SHUT UP," I yell and he smirks.
"Oh? Have I struck a nerve? What? Do you not like having the truth laid out for you like this? You used to have the right idea." He drags my blade along my left wrist and I lift my head to look at the faded scars, dropping my head again after the quick glimpse. "You're bad luck for everyone around you and the galaxy would be a better place without you in it. So... Allow me to finish what you always started but never could work up the courage to finish."
He slices my arm deeply from my wrist to my elbow and I scream, feeling the blood drip down my side. He slices my right side from my chest to my waist then my left and I pant head swimming from the amount of blood I've lost and am losing. "You are weak. A waste of space and air. And I take great pleasure in-"
He's cut off with a scream tearing from his throat and I barely see Castiel drop his body as my family comes in with the Winchesters before I fall into the darkness again.
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I wake with a groan and wince as I try to sit up, monitors beeping in my Mom's old room. Doc rushes in and breathes a sigh of relief as Dad and Loki sit up, looking at me with the same level of relief. "Huh?"
"Six solar cycles, Rogue... Gods above... Do not scare me like that again, my Treasure..." Loki presses my hand to their lips and I notice my injuries were bandaged.
"What's with my healing factors?"
"They've been shut down temporarily. Somehow," Gabriel explains from a corner and I nod, that hurting too. "Might not be the best birthday you've ever had, but... Happy birthday, Rogue." I smile slightly and Doc looks at me.
"Do you want to go downstairs?"
"That'd be nice, yeah..." They nod and unhook me from the monitors.
"Help them downstairs, gentlethems." Dad chuckles and carefully helps me to my feet.
"Ah," I gasp sharply and Loki gets under my other arm before they both help me toward the stairs. "What happened to my leg?"
"Not sure. Doc said it was busted when we found you." I nod and wince often as they help me downstairs. Dad gets me in a chair while Loki props my foot up and I hiss softly, left arm in a sling too.
"Can't go one annual cycle without someone trying to kill me and almost succeeding, can I?" I mutter under my breath and Loki sits next to me.
"How are you feeling?" Martinex asks after a moment of silence and I look at him.
"Like I got my skin sliced in numerous places and that my healing factors aren't working. And like my leg is busted, my shoulder is injured somehow, and I have blood seeping into bandages. I'm feeling great, Sparkles." I press my temple to rub it and wince, moving my hand from it. "Great..." I brush my hair out of my face and grimace slightly in pain from the gash on my temple that got stitched.
"Allow me." Gamora gently pulls my hair back then up into a loose ponytail and I nod slightly in thanks. "I was able to find your duster." She drapes it across my shoulders and I dig through the inside pocket, pulling out glasses before I slip them on which helps ease the oncoming headache. "Why do you need glasses?"
"It seems as though the Serum that made them useless to me is now dormant, meaning I need them again until we figure out how to fix it." I barely move and pain shoots across my back. "Doc, is something wrong with my back?"
"Not that I'm aware of... Let me look." I carefully move forward and they look at my back, shock radiating off of them. "One moment..." They snap a picture and hand me the holopad.
"Strange, you able to do portals now?" He opens one and nods. "And you weren't earlier?"
"No. Why?" I hold my finger up at him and look at the angels and Winchesters.
"You break warding on the cabin when you came here?"
"Yeah...? How do you know about warding?"
"I do my research." I take out my blade and spin it to hold the handle toward Doc before setting my foot on the floor, leaning forward on my knee. "Slice through them."
"Rogue, no."
"I'll heal quickly, Doc. Do it."
"No. I refuse."
"Fine. A hundred units to whoever does it for their crew. For each ward." Kraglin stands and comes over, taking the blade.
"Damn. Tha' looks like pain."
"It's numb. So slice through them and you get your units."
"Ain't got' tell me twice, Kid," He scoffs and slices through the first ward.
"Hundred easy. Congrats. Two. Three. Four. Five. Seven. Nice knife work," I mutter in the silent cabin and he continues.
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"Done." He wipes my blade clean and I take it, sucking my teeth as all of my injuries heal painfully. "Ya a'ight?"
"I'm fine, Krags." I take the glasses off and rest my head in my hand to breathe through the pain for a few minutes, letting a deep breath out once they're done. I shed the sling and flex my hand before starting to make up a transfer to the Udonta Clan's account. "Ten thousand units. Transferred." I snap and the cast burns off. "Gabriel. Crowley. Now."
"Still not my boss but you got it." He disappears and I shrug into my duster, staring straight ahead in anger.