Avengers: Legacies

Call It What Is Is

James walked back down the hall he'd just cleared, his boots thudding against the dust-coated tiles. The two other hallways were empty, where Rosalie and Bobby should have been respectfully. He frowned, worry crawling up his neck, and he pressed the comm link in his ear. "Rosalie, Bobby, you copy?"

Static answered him. "Tony, you there?"

"We—difficult—," came the choppy reply.

A million thoughts flooded his mind at once, and James felt compelled to move down the middle hallway, following the two sets of footprints pressed into the dust. He wanted to call out to them but feared a possible enemy would hear. He jogged past the many closed doors until he found one where the footsteps ended behind it. He breathed deeply and opened the door.

In the deep dark, James found two figures standing close together. "Rosalie, Bobby, what are you doing?" he whispered to them.

The taller one stumbled towards him then, and James backpedaled into the light of the hall, panicked. Was this a trap? Bobby's tear-stained face came into view and pleaded with him to stay. James, without thought, stepped back forward and seized him by the elbows.

"Bobby, what's wrong? What's happened?" he asked.

"Ravonna happened," Rosalie answered, joining them in the hallway. Her brows were pinched together like they did when she was worried and concerned.

"She was here. My mom—she-she knows everything," Bobby sobbed into James's shoulder.

A cold draft entered James's bloodstream. "Who's Ravonna? One of the Time Keepers?" His voice almost didn't sound like his.

"Yes, the sister. They're siblings. From what I could piece together with Bobby's recounting. Things aren't looking good," Rosalie said. She placed her hand on Bobby's back, already rubbing it comfortingly.

The others were at risk, their communications jammed with no way of knowing the risk. The only logical thing to do would be to go back for them and hope the trio wasn't too late.

"We need to get back to the others," James voiced out loud. "Bobby, you need to piece yourself together for the moment. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Mr. Leader, sir," Bobby mumbled, wiping the tears from his cheeks with bandaged fingers.

"Alright, I'll let that one slide. Rosalie, keep an eye on him," he said, slipping away from Bobby.

James led them back out of the building and into the woods. He kept a quick pace, and Rosalie and Bobby had no problem matching their stride to his urgency. They must have thought as he did. The others were at the forefront of their minds.

James dodged branches to the face and roots from tangling with his feet. It'd been a long time since he felt so determined and focused on not screwing up, of doing right. Why did he care so much? He couldn't say. But if anything happened to the others, he wouldn't be able to live with himself, knowing he could have done better.

The Compound was dark. No lights shone out of its large windows on the northern wall, nor did it look like any light was coming from within the heart of the building. It was as if nobody was home. James, again, felt ice enter his blood and bones.

"No," Rosalie murmured. "What if they took the others? Like-like Mom and Dad."

Rosalie's question stirred up James's memory as he remembered his father being lifted off the ground, eyes pleading for James to run, as he was tossed into a portal, leaving James and Rosalie all alone in the world. James didn't want to feel that feeling ever again. He clenched his hands into fist and marched down the hill towards the back doors.