Avengers: Legacies

Freckles

Tait moved before the horde of dwarves could overwhelm him. He gripped his spear and swung it with both hands to knock aside the few charging at him. The team cried out behind him, and he turned to find the others surrounded. James barreled over one with his shoulder and broke free. His eyes locked with Tait through the shadows. Tait refocused on the charging mass again and broke a path through the warriors. It wasn't long before James joined him, a discarded shield at his forearm. There was no time and too much chaos to check on everyone else. Both boys seemed to realize this because they wordlessly ran through the clash of battle without looking back. Soon, Bobby and Azura were close behind them. They met less and less dwarves the further they went.

"Where's Rosalie?" Bobby asked. He sounded alarmed and winded in the dark, releasing a palpable dread into the air. Azura still had lightning dancing between her fingertips.

"And Pym? Sigyn?" she continued.

James slowed to a jog and then finally a stop a few yards ahead of them. His headlamp turned to the three of them in turn. His light lingered on Tait before looking at Bobby. Tait couldn't have guessed what he was thinking, or maybe he could have. Sigyn was missing as well, and the guilt was quick to rear its ugly head. He had to protect her when he could, and instead, he left her to fend for herself. He had no idea what she was capable of. He had no idea what she got up to in her training. He was quickly beginning to realize that he didn't know much about his sister at the moment. He glanced back at James's bowed head.

"We need to split up. There's going to be more of those guys, and we make for an easy target when we're all together," James muttered.

"So we're not going back for the others?" Bobby said. The anger didn't go unnoticed. James sighed and lifted his eyes to Bobby's.

"Let's stay on task first, and then we can make finding the others our second priority. Okay? A lot's riding on this, Barton," James pleaded.

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, fine. But we're not leaving this godforsaken mountain until Rosalie, Pym, and Sigyn are with us. Understand?"

"Understood." James nodded. "Tait, you're with me. Azura, Bobby, take this tunnel to the left. Tait and I will take the one on the right. If these lead anywhere, we meet back here and come up with our next plan. Be discreet. Got it?"

"Do you expect us all to say 'yes, sir' or something?" Bobby deadpanned.

Azura hid a laugh with a cough and grabbed Bobby by the sleeve and dragged him off to the left. Tait stared at James for a moment before going right. James fell into step next to him. They had never been so close before, but Tait felt smug when he noticed that James had to look up at him to address him.

"So, what are we up against? It was hard to see with everyone's lights flashing around. They weren't overly big, but they sure could pack a punch," James quipped. He rolled one of his shoulders to demonstrate what he meant. The prince didn't enjoy the friendly, easy tone James took with him. Not much had changed in their relationship in the last few days. He knew that James was making an attempt to know more about his other teammates, but James had seemed to have left Tait alone at the Compound, kept his distance intentionally. That hadn't bothered Tait any, but now, the prince suspected James had planned this all along. To split them off of the group, to have Rosalie and the others disappear, so that they could have a cornered conversation. The more Tait thought of the plausibility of it the more he believed James capable of such a thing.

Tait grumbled, brows furrowing, and abruptly stalled. Noise came from ahead. And it wasn't an echo of any kind. Grabbing the back of James's collar, he shoved him behind a large boulder yet to be removed and forced him to the ground against James's protest. Tait turned him around, shoving his back into the boulder behind him, and clamped his hand over his mouth, motioning him to be quiet and turn off his light. James glared at him but did as he was told and brought his knees up to his chest. Tait crouched and pressed himself into James's shins. Their breath mingled together as they stared at each other in the daunting approach of footsteps and voices. Tait wondered if James could feel his heart hammering in his chest before he remembered something, something he had locked away a long time ago. A conversation with his father about his grandmother Frigga.