➢𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬➢

『 If you could envision
The meaning of a tragedy,
Ooh, you might be
Surprised to hear it's you and me 』
―𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪, 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥𝘺

⟶𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 16: 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝑶𝒖𝒕-𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑮𝑨𝑴𝑬⟵

❝I HATE you.❞

-𝙹𝚄𝙽𝙴 𝟸𝟹𝚁𝙳, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟾-

𝙽𝙴𝚆 𝙰𝚅𝙴𝙽𝙶𝙴𝚁𝚂 𝙵𝙰𝙲𝙸𝙻𝙸𝚃𝚈, 𝙽𝙴𝚆 𝚈𝙾𝚁𝙺

Everything is lost.

Everything and everyone just... disheveled. Broken.

Many nightmares cease to come to life during a very unsettling and frightening time, when precisely... Something like this happens worldwide. Everywhere, on every planet.

Still on Earth, are the ones who remain. The Avengers.

Not very many of them.

Some have been active in constantly searching for solutions, while others grapple with the guilt. They drown in it when pondering what could have been done. To avoid, prevent, for the catastrophe itself presents open space to do so, reflect. 

Some are in better shape than others, physically, though while some cuts only ache on the inside of the bodies belonging to enhanced individuals, ones of the out still linger.

Dainty palms cover a warm cup as they rest at the thighs, and curled up in a few blankets as well as a hoodless black sweatshirt and gray joggers, Dani Rockland's honey-blonde hair faces the window of the dimly-lit Avengers Facility as she stares out it.

The girl is not exactly immobile, though her left leg that hides underneath the fuzzy covers extends stiffly as her bandages no longer lay there.

No longer bleeding out, thankfully, the long and deep line running down her thigh comes and goes in its waves of pain. Agony.

Just like the ForceField used to.

Nonetheless, Dani is confined to the couch because of it, the inconsistency in the state of her injury, but also her abilities... that have not stepped in to engage in some sort of regeneration.

Her emotions are far too strong now for any sort of control let alone obeying a simple order that was pretty natural in its occurrences, healing.

Dani is unable to heal, and as a result, is unable to do a lot of things.

Like thinking rationally... due to all the pain she is in.

The thirteen-year-old does not go through with telling anyone about it, the most trusted adult she had the privilege of being in the care of now nowhere to be found... possibly dead somewhere in space, so instead former Avengers are left to draw their own conclusions on how much suffering Agent Rockland has really endured.

Which was a lot.

She is shutting down.

It was not good.

Danielle's lips brush atop the mug she gently holds before setting it down on a coaster, and afterward, she lifts the blanket off of her sweat-pant-covered legs before closing her eyes and breathing in. Concentrating. Hands come to hover above her straightened leg, and releasing an amount of air while her eyes blink back open, they are still their normal sea-foam green color. 

Her veins don't pop out from under her skin and there is no flare to her features.

The pieces of the Stone inside her will not cooperate.

Dani slumps back.

Holding in the urge to let her lip trip out from under her, she would cry, the young teenager leans back into the comfort of herself while putting her non-glowing fingers on her face―then realizes she needs to use the bathroom.

Agent Rockland nearly falls over when trying to stand up, inhumane-like groans echoing with each passing moment that she tries to transfer the weight of her left leg to her right, but Dani is just exhausted.

She would have landed right on the floor helplessly if fortified, big arms hadn't juddered out to catch her, carefully rotating her until she was sitting back on the couch. The wide-eyed child glances up at the dark silhouette that had been the only one still in this particular room inside the facility.

It's a silhouette that Dani recognizes, though has a bit of a hard time adjusting to.

Someone she trusts, though.

Thor gives a blank look to his niece, the two of them somewhat smothered in black light, or therefore lack of.

She attempts to mumble something of a 'thank you' when looking up, though the God does not look like he is susceptible to receiving it. Feeling like he deserves it, from anyone.

His people. Earth's people... Not even his young niece.

Dani sits in silence after he walks off, and then it's back to staring at the window again.

Staring... and waiting. For someone.

Something.

❀❀❀

Sounds of a sink running shortly end when the clatter of a razor hits the tile. 

Steve Rogers is taking in his freshly-shaven face inside the bathroom of the Avengers Compound when a distant rumbling is heard outside.

Carol Danvers brings Thanos' ship back, now only housing Tony Stark and Nebula. The Daughter of Thanos.

A Daughter of Thanos.

Both are retrieved and everyone has reunited once again... well, still not everyone. Though the reunions are nothing short of heart-breaking and disheveled.

A day later, everyone―who is left―gathers to try and pick up the pieces of this very complicated puzzle that is what to do after the Mad Titan's 'Snap'.

If there is anything they can do.

Dani sits a few chairs away from her uncle as a much skinnier Tony is in a wheelchair across, IVs transferring blood while being faced with a holographic image displaying those who have been lost.

Stephen. Peter. Caitlyn.

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodey begins, images displaying more of those who have fallen and gone missing.

Wanda. Sam. Bucky.

Sharon. Fury. Maria Hill.

"World governments are in pieces..." Natasha Romanoff goes on, platinum blonde hair still resting against her shoulder blades, and Dani Rockland lifts her head once more.

T'Challa. Shuri.

Ania. Tarik.

She brings it back down.

Black Widow continues, "The parts that are still working... are trying to take a census. And it looks like he did,"

"He did exactly what he said he was gonna do." She swallows, pausing, "Thanos wiped out... fifty percent of all living creatures."

The thirteen-year-old shakes her head in dismay, teeth slightly gritting as her Uncle Thor from across the room sits with his hands folded, leaning over.

The Ironed Man has a hard time looking over the displays before removing a hand from his chin and asking, "Where is he now? Where?"

Only for Captain America to shake his head, "We don't know."

Steve crosses his strong arms, "He just opened a portal and walked through."

Tony lets out a sigh while moving forwards in his chair, though not before laying eyes on a very sullen-looking Thor, "What's wrong with him?"

The sole Guardian of the Galaxy answers that one, "Oh, he's pissed."

"He thinks he failed. Which of course he did, but you know there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

"Honestly until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am." Rocket says, tiredly.

Meanwhile, Dani shrugs, weirded out a bit herself that there is currently a talking animal in front of them, "Possible."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans, and, satellites," Steve exhales, "and we got nothing."

Then he turns towards his ex-friend whom he had not seen since two years ago when he nearly killed him, "Tony, you fought him."

"Who told you that?"

Eyes dart over to Iron Man, who clarifies, "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleecker Street Magician gave away the store."

He is surprised that it would even be suggested, correcting hastily, "That's what happened. There was no fight."

"Okay," the Captain replies while his eyes downcast, especially when Tony adds on, "He's unbeatable."

Steve tries to stay on track, ignoring the slight jabs his ex-friend sends his way, "Did he give you any clues, any coordinates, anything?"

Tony is not listening, "Pfft!" 

He makes a salute sign with his hand, clearly mentally and physically exhausted.

It pains Dani to witness him in this state, after growing closer to the billionaire these past few years.

The man who Dani USED to be close with, purses his lips in a matter of much displeasure at the other's antics, and Tony continues to ramble in his own perceptions, "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision. I didn't wanna believe it."

"Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony," Steve careens forward, voice low and irritated, "I'm gonna need you to focus."

"And I needed you..."

He steeps even lower, "Dan-o needed you."

The child bites the insides of her lips as her uncle voices the inevitable, what everyone undoubtedly knew but she herself refuses, and Dani cannot help but curl inward when lots of eyes rotate over to her. She keeps her arms crossed.

The SuperSoldier's brows lift when his gaze transfers over to the enhanced girl's a moment, but even for a glance, she will not look at him. She still won't.

Not once.

Tony captures his attention again when he remarks, "We needed you as in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy..."

"Sorry." 

Dani isn't.

"You know what I need?" the thin man rises, pushing things off the table with a sudden clatter that makes the thirteen-year-old jump, and so does everyone else.

They wince, "I need to shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse―,"

"Tony, Tony, Tony!" War Machine tries to restrain him.

But the Ironed Man rips his IVs out, "Alive and otherwise, that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world! Remember that?"

"Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not," others watch as he tries to make some sort of lunge at Steve, and the Captain watches with distress―Stark stresses, "That's what we needed!"

The blonde man responds, "Well, that didn't work out, did it?" and Dani finds herself scowling at his tone.

His tone that sounds low and assertive. Unbearably arrogant. To her.

Tony recalls, "I said, 'we'd lose'. You said, 'We'll do that together, too'."

"And guess what, Cap? We lost."

His words strike a chord, "And you weren't there."

"But that's what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We're the Aven-gers, we're the Avengers. Not the Pre-vengers."

"Okay." Rhodey surrounds Tony again.

"Right?"

His friend tries to console him, remain calm, "You made your point. Just sit down, okay?"

"Okay?"

"Okay..." He breaks from the hold, "No, no, here's my point. You know what?"

Rhodey begs, "Tony, you're sick. Sit down."

Tony ignores him, instead referring to Carol, "She's great by the way."

"We need you. You're new blood."

Iron Man approaches Captain America, raising a finger, "Bunch of tired old mules! I got nothing for you, Cap!"

"I got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies... no options."

His voice is a venomous whisper, "Zero. Zip. Nada."

"No trust," he finishes the last part before his breath and voice are soft, "liar."

Liar. 

Exactly what Dani had called him the day he dropped his shield. 

Does she still believe in that? 

Tony did. He is also extremely undernourished and in bad shape right now, considering the kid who disappeared in his arms.

Steve looks just as affected by Tony's hurtful words, the two of them looking at one another for a few moments that are filled with silence. 

But after that, Tony rips his Arc Reactor off his chest and shoves it into Steve's hand, the man still shocked, "Here, take this."

"You find him, and you put that on. You hide."

His tone is now weak, cracking in its vulnerability and it makes Dani look away.

Then his legs give out beneath him, everyone who can stand becoming alarmed, "Tony!"

"I'm fine," he inhales shakily, not being able to do much more, "let me..."

He falls unconscious.

❀❀❀

"Bruce gave him a sedative." Rhodey reports, moments later when Tony Stark rests peacefully with his fiance Pepper Potts by his side, "He's gonna probably be out for the rest of the day."

The woman responsible for bringing him here, saving him, announces to the group, "You guys take care of him... and I'll bring him an Xorrian Elixir when I come back."

"Where are you going?" Steve asks her, not having any idea what that meant.

She replies fiercely, "To kill Thanos."

Natasha and he lock eyes before going after her.

"Hey," Black Widow stops Captain Marvel, "You know, we usually work as a team here, and between you and I, morale's a little fragile."

Carol turns around and Steve speaks sheepishly, her strong presence indulging him, "We realize up there is more your territory, but this is our fight, too."

"You even know where he is?" Rhodey questions from behind, and the blonde gives a certain answer, "I know people who might."

"Don't bother." Nebula says from behind Carol, "I can tell you where Thanos is."

She informs the group.

"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me. And when he worked, he talked about his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him."

"I'd ask 'where would we go once his plan was complete'? His answer was always the same: To the Garden."

She leans over the circular table.

Rhodey chimes in, "That's cute. Thanos has a retirement plan."

Steve crosses over, "So, where is he?"

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions." The Raccoon explains, emphasizing, "No one's ever seen anything like it..."

He continues, "Until two days ago," when a hologram of a planet pops up, with a shockwave visibly traversing the surface, "On this planet."

Natasha leans forward, in bewilderment, and the woman made entirely of parts insists, "Thanos is there."

"He used the stones again."

A nervous-looking Bruce Banner cuts in, "Hey, hey, hey. We'd be going in short-handed, you know."

To which a confident Rhodey states, "Look, he's still got the stones, so..."

"So let's get him." Carol persists, staring straight forwards with determination in her brown eyes, "Use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" Rhodes questions.

And Steve nods, "Yeah. Just like that."

Natasha shows compassion, "Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this... I mean we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" A non-hulked-out Banner is uncertain once again, though that is cleared up simply.

"Because before, you didn't have me."

Rhodey eyes Carol, the newbie hero that Earth's Mightiest Heroes have just met, "Hey, new girl, everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?"

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe." Captain Marvel says, " And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

Thor, who has been eating this whole time, stands up abruptly, walking over to Carol.

She looks back at him, and the God holds his hand up, catching Stormbreaker as it flies over to him rapidly and forcefully, missing Carol by inches, stroking her hair.

But the woman does not flinch, fearless, instead... she smiles right at the God of Thunder.

Thor speaks knowingly with good intent, "I like this one."

He smiles, too.

Captain America looks down at the destination of the Mad Titan, the evil demigod responsible for decimating their planet and world―for hurting his adopted child, and he gives voice to what needs to be done. What's going to be done. Now.

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

The Avengers have a plan, and they intend to act on it.

Though there is a shift in the bricks.

https://youtu.be/QTuNlL8-pao

"All right," Dani Rockland rises up, pretending she did not almost lose her balance, and breathes out with lungs that are quivering, "Let's get going."

Both an authoritative and assertive voice, stops her, "No."

Green irises flicker up, startled, "Excuse me?"

Steve Rogers finally locks eyes with his former adopted daughter for the first time since returning to the compound, and somehow for a moment, it's peaceful. It feels like old times. 

It's not.

Steve is protective, directly to the thirteen-year-old, "Not you. You're not coming."

It's not expected for Dani to follow these precautions, instructions... so it isn't all that surprising when she doesn't.

"The world is entirely obliterated right now, we're down more than half the team," the girl begins to walk from the table to the main living area, her voice as sharp as her stance, "and you're not going to allow all the help you can get? From me?"

She has an incredulous look on, one that to some could be laughable, considering her state.

The man's neck cranes as he whips around after briefly facing the other way, his tone rigid as well, "It is because the world is entirely obliterated right now, and because half the team is down... is exactly why you cannot go, Dani. Look at you."

Her mouth closes, involuntarily letting him pick her apart.

"You're not able enough, you can't even walk on your own..."

"You're not ready." He finishes, and that earns a harsh scoff.

Dani crosses her arms, disrespectfully, "Really, Steve?"

He is losing his patience, and assures solemnly, "Really, Doll―"

"Don't." 

She cuts him off, the man's expression faltering when the girl's eyes suddenly are glistening, and he realizes that she is unhinging herself, becoming unhinged. Dani swallows down any signs of vulnerability, grinding her teeth in an effort to keep a level head―as if she could.

She is hurt, "Don't call me that. Do not call me that right now, or ever."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry..." Steve starts to apologize.

But Dani does not let him.

She is angry, "No, you're not."

Others in the room are stoic as helplessly, the words bubble up and come charging through the teen girl's throat.  Some sympathy is endured for a child so wrapped in something she really should have no part in. At all.

 Her emotions, her feelings, they have been repressed. Buried, and now, they come to life.

Starting with an unwavering statement, "You don't even think you did anything wrong."

"Like, like nothing we went through even mattered  at all to you?!"

Steve visibly shakes his head in dismay, brows narrowing in exasperation as his tall and expansive figure rises up―but the Soldier remains calm.

"That isn't true, Dani, and you know that." 

"Jesus Christ yes it is, Steve!" 

Hands spring up in a gesture to the opinionated statement relayed by the enhanced girl, and Dani's voice is significantly raised until it drops again, "Because who the hell do you think you are?"

She comes closer this time, getting right in his face, closer than Tony was. 

He over towers her in height just as her biological father Joseph did.  

Dani when they are only inches apart, still inconsolable, still angry, and hurt, whispers menacingly―softly, "Who do you think you are?"

Who did he think he was? Who was he trying to be? To tell her that she is forbidden from coming along to save the world, a world that is also hers... What kind of title does he think or believe he still holds to enforce that kind of decision upon her? 

To prevent her... To CARE for her.

Dani can't hold back anymore.

She has lost control.

"Do you think," the child says after a moment, voice strained, but dark, and deep, "that you... can just walk back into my life, two years later, and still pretend to be my Dad?"

Steve is silent.

Eyes searching Dani's, her heartbreak, wanting to pull her close to him, wanting to hug and hold the broken girl that he aptly created, that he left, but something within him tells him not to. 

Her instability... tells him not to touch her. 

She confirms through mildly damp features, "Well if it wasn't clear before, I will make it clear now that you can't. You just can't. You can't."

Her next words cut him up on the inside like a knife.

 "You're not my Dad."

"Danielle..."

 He tries.

Dani is unmovable, "You're not."

Removing her crossed arms to free her tight ribs the girl suddenly begins to have shallow breathing, but through it all, she speaks fluently and groundlessly. What she's been keeping inside this whole time. Her trauma. By always being mistreated.

"You said that if we were both going through something new... We should do it together."

 "I don't want to anymore."

 "Because of you."

There's a crack in Captain America's heart, and his face pulls together into a cavernous frown.

Dani's lip curls before opening again.

"I trusted you. I broke down my walls for you, I opened my mouth to speak to you for the first time in three years that day on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Even against my own judgment, I opened up to you about all the nightmares, a-and the sleepless nights, and the pain experienced from having a goddamn infinity stone inside of you!"

"I have no idea what that's like."

"You have no idea what that's like." She repeats to him, mouth trembling, "And I trusted you."

"I trusted you."

"I trusted you... to keep me safe. I trusted you to not let anyone hurt me, and I trusted that you would never ever leave me..." 

Her voice raises in volume.

Dani cries, emphasizing, "I trusted you!"

Before declaring quietly, "I don't anymore."

Her breathing has skipped a few seconds and eventually starts to get caught in her own throat. The thirteen-year-old is overstimulating herself, truthfully beginning to feel dizzy at all she is letting out.

Steve's tone is still flat, but sincere as he maintains a strong front, "You're being irrational, and you need to calm down."

"And you're being a jerk!" Dani keeps going, ignoring the fact that her legs are wobbly, or that her skin is cold, finger-pointing right at the SuperSoldier, "And you're being insensitive, and overbearing, and I've had enough!"

"Dani..." Rhodey tries for the second time today, to calm someone he cared about.

But Agent Rockland is a loose cannon, incredibly enraged and emotionally wrecked that she just can't stop herself from the next spew of words that fly out of her mouth. That she imprints.

Steve is faced again with an expression of much hurt and pain, "Do you have any idea how much you have put me through?!"

Her red-rimmed eyes dart over to Natasha whose mouth simply is agape, in shock and disturbance at the behavior being emitted by Danielle―that they caused in their absence from her life, "Thought you vowed to protect me from all of that? You and her both."

"We never could have predicted..."

"No, but you could have avoided. You could have."

Her stubbornness causes Steve not to hesitate in his response this time, still leaning back, " ...No."

It's more complicated than that.

He wants to say, it was never Steve's intention to hurt her. His little girl.

But she doesn't let him.

Dani's had it.

She's had it.

"Exactly. And that's it. We're done."

"I'm done with you," She turns to Natasha, "and I'm done with you," her voice rises from here, unstable, "and I never ever wanna speak to either of you ever again!"

The Black Widow approaches a struggling Agent Rockland, attempting to console her but Dani knocks it off, "No, DO NOT TOUCH ME!"

"I TOLD YOU NEVER TO TOUCH ME! YOU TRAITOR! " Her voice laces with so much uneasiness and wreckage and as the woman's arms go up the girl shoves them away.

Her strength is outmatched at that very moment, and during it Natasha suddenly finds herself pushed to the back of the table, a sharp gasp falling from her lips. 

Danielle becomes physical, feeling suffocated in her own space let alone people she did not trust invading it, and from there only more individuals disregard her wish.

Rhodey tries with an outstretched hand, pleads when Dani prepares to defend herself, "Dan-Dani,"

Her anger fuels her bloodstream as well as her insides, and they light up on fire. Dani begins panicking. 

Though that fear―of herself―is not identified when instead she allows it to almost control her completely, surrendering, and just a glimpse of blue aura begins to trickle out of her palms.

Her abilities respond to her feelings, lighting up each and every one of her veins, and many gazes widen when the reflection of the distraught child's eyes flush to a bright blue color.

The one of the Tesseract. An Infinity Stone.

Steve's head whips around in realization. Thor stands back up.

Bruce looms close by with Nebula and Rocket watching in silence, astonished by the power of one of the stones inside this irrepressible and unstable child. They are in danger.

Everyone is in danger of being hurt by Dani right now. By her abilities.

She has no control.

Her eyes are vibrant and glowing but a strong force suddenly wraps both hands around her wrists, gamma energy bursting beneath, and the thirteen year old's eyes enlarge.

That enables tear lines to fall out.

Ones of pure unsettlement, but also intense fear now of not herself, but of the blonde space warrior that swoops in to approach her.

"Hey, Kid... You need to cool it." Carol Danvers seethes as her tight grip nearly makes Dani whimper out in pain, the two moving as the child is pushed backward by the woman walking forwards, and Captain Marvel insists, "It doesn't matter if you have no control, because right now you are threatening the safety of everybody in this room."

"You've got powers and you need to sustain them. So cut it out."

Agent Rockland looks for the first time to have found somewhat of an equal. Someone who understands, and is the only one able to fully dismantle her abilities by using her own that makes her fingertips glow.

Carol's merciless scowl softens when Dani recedes, falling against her Uncle Rhodey's chest from behind but soon she picks herself back up and now with silent tears running down her face, nears her adoptive father's a last time.

One more time to admit the unspeakable. The dreadful.

The truthful.

"I hate you."

All muscles in Steve's body are aching, clenching together so tightly his chest rises and falls with an enormous sigh, though Dani doesn't stop.

She keeps going. She says it again.

And again.

...And again.

Because she means it.

"I HATE you. I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, HOW DARE YOU!"

She struggles with standing upright though screams at the top of her lungs, "YOU'RE A LIAR AND YOU LIED! YOU ALWAYS LIE BOTH OF YOU!"

"both of you―," It takes Bruce having to intervene and try and calm her, him being one of the closest ones, and Dani caves.

Stepping in front of the Captain and Black Widow who are shocked, the Doctor gently slides her into his embrace, "It's okay, come here."

Dani's utterly broken and horrified as she gulps.

"What is happening?"

"Shh, it's okay, let's go sit down."

"Dani―," She sags against his chest momentarily, her leg already giving her problems, she's prone to fatigue anyway, and Dani finally passes out.

Thor lifts her small body away again, carrying her to the spot back on the couch and after that the room is quiet. 

For words that have been said, things done, and they can't ever be taken back.

Neither can a lot of other things that are about to see the light...

❀❀❀

Steve is beside himself because of the way things panned out between him and Dani, her resentment... her declaration. It had been mentioned earlier that he obtained a lot of hope for them to reconcile here, especially after all the hell they have been through recently.

But, Dani has not forgotten the previous torture endured―how could she?―he and Natasha Romanoff left... there was no reversing that.

Nor the thirteen year old's words toward him. That undeniably hurt him the most.

That makes his blood run cold, shoulders and stomach drop low as in the Guardian's Benetar ship, Steve after running his finger over the compass still carried with him all these years, of his love, cannot focus on anything else other than the sleeping form of the girl who he adopted many years ago.

Who in his mind, his heart... grew to love and care for her as his real daughter. Everyone else's, too. That sense of belonging and family.

No longer sensed in Dani.

Steve's lip curves and Natasha notices it instantly.

The platinum blonde's expression somewhat folds on its own before she tries to, again, in a time like this, lighten the mood by first remarking, "I'm sure it's just a phase."

The Soldier does not look up. She frowns as her brows crinkle.

"You know, I know things are not right at the moment..." Natasha speaks freely, breathily when adding, "-and I-I know that we're not exactly winning first place for 'Co-Parents of the Year' but,"

She tells him firmly and with conviction, as he entirely lacks, "But I can assure you, Steve, that Dani does not 'hate' you."

"She didn't mean it." 

Her head shakes in affirmation, before freezing stone still.

"Yes, she did."

The Captain's long eyelashes tickle the tip of his skin before Steve looks up at the woman, and he repeats himself in a voice uncharacteristically small.

Defeated, "She meant every bit of it..."

"And I don't blame her."

Natasha's eyes are sad after being slightly stunned by the demeanor of the SuperSoldier, almost similar to that one night when Dani was ten, and Steve continues to dwell as he says ghastly and with disappointment―in himself― "I'd hate me, too."

"Look at what we've done, Nat. She can't forgive us."

A bit of a crack threatens to tear apart the man's speech as his deep voice mentions lowly, "She didn't read the letter."

"I know she didn't," the Black Widow nods, leaning back and crossing her arms in a signature pose, and from there she is the one who keeps a level head, who remains sane, "And that just means we'll have to explain everything to her when we come back."

"After we save everyone."

"Because this is gonna work, Steve."

"I know it will." He confirms, voice earning back its determination and strength.

Before shattering once more.

"Because I don't know what I'm gonna do if it doesn't."

They lock eyes, and back on Earth inside the Avengers Compound, Dani Rockland wakes back up.

The child's leg aches as she travels―hobbles―through the empty hallways of the facility, it is quiet as the Avengers had left to save the universe. To kill Thanos. 

They did... But Dani didn't know that.

She uses the small kitchen counter as leverage when making her way over to the refrigerator, and the wind from slamming a certain drawer shut causes a stack of papers that were not-so-discreetly stashed there to spill over onto the ground. 

Dani goes to pick them up.

While doing so, her fingertips brush across the thin labeling 'FORCE'... and everything inside the girl stops.

God...

Oxygen gets caught in her throat before swallowing down the bile that climbs up, and slowly but carefully, Dani flips around the brown slip containing previously stashed files from her former organization.

She unravels the portfolio... and is astonished.

Stunned.

Shocked.

Horrified.

Dani shakes, her head moving rapidly as she denies, "No."

No...

She discovers more when continuing to inspect these files previously kept hidden from her, that she was not told about... and they contain remnants of data from the organization run by her psychotic parents.

Her psychotic mother.

And then there were five other survivors.

Five other... Efficient's.

"Oh, my god."

Dani drops the files, papers scattering as her rigorous bolt made for the stairs of the compound is proved to be much more frantic but easier considering the rollercoaster ride of emotions swirling through her head. 

Being produced on the outside, and regenerating her thigh. 

The thirteen-year-old trashes her bedroom, ransacking it as things are knocked off her dresser and all with squeaky attempts for air being sucked in. Dani feels suffocated.

Once again, by herself. Her own anxiety.

But this time... their anxiety.

She screams.

How could they?

She wondered if there was anything else that they had been lying to her about, and now there was. How could they not tell her? About the others? 

THAT THERE ARE OTHER GODDAMN EXPERIMENTS LIKE HER OUT THERE SOMEWHERE? SURVIVORS. 

Dani knows what to do. Well, she doesn't, but her irrationality succumbs forth and drags her to a path that is evident. That she needs to take.

Or one that she absolutely does not, all the thirteen-year-old knows is that she must leave. She can't stay here.

With Natasha and Steve. With Steve.

With liars.

Tossing whatever she considers important anymore, Agent Rockland swipes a multitude of items off her white desk and through her slid open drawers. When she's satisfied, but also emotionally wrecked, Dani uses what's left of her not-at-potential-yet strength to force open the window of her bedroom inside the Avengers Facility.

With a crumpled expression full of hurt and anger... spite, Agent Rockland slips out of her window and away from the Avengers Facility, being slightly slowed by her left leg but granted access to escaping without any trouble due to the fact that everyone was gone. Pepper had taken Uncle Tony back to their home. 

Dani leaves hers.

What happens from here on out is unclear, one thing known is that things are the way that they are now. The Avengers lost.

They lost on this day, and so did Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers.

When they... lost their child.

Dani Rockland-Rogers.

Dani Rockland.

... Who found out.

She finds out.

She found out.

TO BE CONTINUED

https://youtu.be/V5X278hiehs

THE END

(of saga one) 

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

*courtesy of dreamkept©*

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Stay tuned... 🤭