Rise || Marvel

《49》Hakuna Matata

《 Tia's POV 》

As I scrambled over rooftops in my own weird way of parkouring, I had a brief reflection of how vaulting over the edge of an insanely high building was a great way of getting out of a conversation. I also had the crashing realisation that I'd jumped off ridiculously high places way more than a normal teenager would.

I clumsily skidded to a halt behind a beige, dome-shaped rooftop. Ahead, three houses over, the 'official guards' (as Apollo had called them) were pursuing an agile male in a hood (who was doing an excellent job at darting behind different parts of the rooves to hide). The guards all carried sinister-looking spears and scimitars. Each one seemed to hum with energy. I didn't want to find out what they could do.

"Knew it... How the heck?" I muttered to myself, wide-eyed, doing my best meerkat impression as I peered over the edge of the dome. The male dove behind a column, hood slipping down to reveal a very familiar head of auburn hair. I jumped out from behind the dome, sprinting towards the figure.
There was a significant height gap between my roof and my target ones. The roof I was currently on was at least two metres higher than the others, but YOLO.

As I watched, the familiar orange-haired teen poked his head out from behind the column, only to see the guards aiming the points of their weapons in his direction. Several beams of condensed energy shot from the tips. He dodged with ease, rolling out from behind his hiding spot and into the open.

I jumped off the edge of my building. Oh look, I've gone and done it again.

"DUCK, ORANGE!" I shouted. Luckily, Des 'hit the decks'. I hurled a handful of fire at the guards, grabbed Des's hood and shrieked, "Try anything funny, and I'll burn the shit out of you. Run!"

We booked it in the opposite direction, away from the startled guards (two of which in the process of smacking my tiny ball of fire with their spears as if the weapons were broomsticks).

"Erm, why are you humming 'Hakuna Matata' while we run from a group of High Guards with pointy murder sticks?" Des asked disconcertedly as we scampered along the rooves.

"I... Don't know," I admitted sheepishly, "It's a fun song."

"I hate my life so much right now," Des muttered under his breath.

A beam of energy zoomed past his shoulder. Instinctively, I ducked, just because I'd grown accustomed to other attacks following the first.

"What did you do to piss them off?" I inquired lightly, kicking over a stack of crates. A pathetic attempt to slow the 'High Guards'.

"I was trying to sneak into the Archives..." He grumbled.

I gave him an annoyed stare, "Yeah, you're gonna have to elaborate. I have no idea what you mean, but I'm thinking it's a library or something?"

"Pretty much."

"Why."

"What do you think I was trying to sneak in for?!" He snapped, "To figure out what happened! Duck."

I dropped down and rolled as Des summoned a small sword from his shadowy powers and sliced through an overhead rope. A stack of ceramic pots toppled down onto the roof behind us.

"Someone probably spent ages working on those," I noted.

"They'll get over it," Des frowned as one of the guards behind us let out a yelp. I was aware of Apollo hovering overhead in an elegant war chariot, watching the confrontation play out with interest.

We sprinted down a new set of roofs. I shoved Des sideways so he wouldn't be impaled by another energy beam, and continued, "Any who, you mentioned something about 'finding what happened'? Let's do an information trade. I know nothing. Your turn."

"Right... Look, we'll probably need to work together if we want to get back to New York..." Des sighed, already looking like he was regretting ever suggesting this, "And it would be easier to plan if we ditch the guards first. I know a place."

"Lovely plan. Oh, and the literal SUN GOD stalking us from up there," I chirped, jabbing my thumb up at Apollo, who waved back confidently, clearly not having the slightest clue what we were talking about.

"Get lost, sunshine!" Des hollered, "This whole mess is none of your concern!"

"What? Sorry, can't hear you!" Came the reply, "Too high up!"

"Oop, here's one of the spots..." Des announced quietly, skidding to a halt and staring at a blank wall.

"What's so special about this spot?" I peered at the wall suspiciously, still very aware of the advancing guards firing off energy beams from their spears. Fortunately, these guards apparently aim at their targets like Storm Troopers from Star Wars.

"One of my old escape routes," Des tapped on the wall, grinning, "It still works!"

"Any escape route sounds great right now...!" I said distractedly, ducking back behind the wall to avoid an energy blast, "Hey! One of 'em actually aimed! Good for you, mate!"

"Come on, let's go..." Des sighed, grabbing the back of my hoodie and dragging me towards the wall.

"Whoa, hang on just one second!" I protested.

Then he dragged me after him right through the wall.