Avengers: Legacies

Love, Rosie

Rosalie searched for Ravonna among Kang and his siblings, a new crowd of troops forming in neat lines behind them. The tremors from before must have been these soldiers arriving through time portals, but as diligent as she was in searching, Ravonna was not among her brothers, and Bobby wasn't being held amongst the troops. This could have meant a variety of things, and not one of them sat well with Rosalie.

"Bobby's not here," she whispered to James at her right.

He nodded, eyes trained on Kang, the two locked in a tense staredown. But he found Rosalie's hand and squeezed three times. Go, he urged.

"Take Pym with you. Azura found his goggles. If Bobby is anywhere on this property, Pym'll find him."

"Okay, are you sure?" she asked, leaning into him. Kang glanced for a moment at her, and she scowled right back.

"Yes, but be careful. Get back here as fast as you can. We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Okay, James, I'll do my best. You be careful as well, okay?"

James glanced side-long at her and smiled a little. "Always, Rosie."

She nodded and slipped to the back of their group, falling in line with Pym and Clint. Signing to Clint, she explained the plan to him, and when James finally engaged Kang into a conversation, she grabbed Pym's wrist and quickly explained under her breath the plan to him. He eyed the danger ahead before looking back at her and frowning, but she tugged on his thin arm in earnest. He sighed, exasperated, but he nodded.

"Avengers!" James yelled, the tension snapping taut over the whole room. Rosalie and Pym braced themselves. "Attack!"

Their group surged forward, and Rosalie and Pym took off towards the east wing. They ran, their feet clacking against the mansion's marble floors, but that was soon drowned out by the clashing of the fight behind them.

"This way," Pym said. "Back to the lift to the lower levels. We didn't find him above, but with all those extra levels beneath us, I guarantee you he's down there somewhere."

"That's sound logic I can't argue with. Are those the same goggles equipped with infrared?"

"Yes, of course," he panted. They reached the elevator, and together they forced open the doors. Peering down into the shaft, Rosalie hoped Pym was right in his theory. She stepped back, ran for momentum, and leapt to the elevator cables. She lowered herself down a few feet and waited for Pym to do the same. They continued together, and it seemed forever before they reached the bottom. Their landing on top of the elevator echoed off the shaft walls, and traces of the fight above were hardly traceable down this far.

Pym tore away the elevator's trap door, and Rosalie lowered herself to the shiny floor, landing in a crouch. Pym landed lightly on his own feet beside her, and again, prying open doors and running down darkened, gloomy corridors, looking for signs of a boy that might not even be here, might not even be alive. They turned down a new hallway, and Rosalie slowed. Pym looked back at her, confusion overtaking his newly grim face, and he returned to her side. He grabbed her hand.

"Come on, love. There's something ahead through those doors," Pym said.

Rosalie shook her head, and she stepped away from him, her eyes searching every inch of the hallway. The doors were the same, the tiled floor, even the dust. The double doors at the very end, through which Pym claimed something, or someone, waited behind. All the same as the power grid building back at the Compound.

"I've been here before," she whispered, goosebumps rising along her skin. Overhead, dust floated down from the ceiling, landing in a thin layer on their hair. Rosalie worried that the team could be overwhelmed and outnumbered, and as comforting as it was to not be alone down here, James and the others needed help, and Pym had done his job fine, which meant he was no longer needed at her side. She had to step forward alone.