Avengers: Legacies

There's No Use in Crying

The woods here were nothing like the ones back home, Bobby thought. Stars blinked through the spaces between the canopy overhead, and he could hear the heavy breathing of the twins ahead of him. The terrain was a little more rocky here with steep hills to maneuver over and narrow foot trails he had to be careful not to trip along. The unfamiliarity of this place was what struck him. Iowa, where he lived, was mainly flat with low, sweeping hills, unruly undergrowth, and a childhood comfort he now knew he would never find anywhere else. Here in the New York wilderness, it was less forgiving, full of snarls and paranoia.

His eyes surveyed the shadows, teeth clenched if the misshapen silhouettes moved behind the beams of moonlight. Tony had told the trio to be on high alert due to the sensors being tripped at the power grid for the Compound. It could have been a bear or a raccoon, but the old man wanted to be on the safe side. Even Bobby begrudgingly agreed with him.

Blinding white light blackened the trees ahead of them. James led them in a crouched walk, the shield on his back glinting. He held up a fisted hand to stop Rosalie and Bobby, and they both joined him, taking a knee in the underbrush adjacent to the footpath. Bobby raised his scope and looked over the clearing in front of them. His mouth dropped open as he took in the tall barbwire fence that was no doubt electrified and the gargantuan building it surrounded.

"How the hell are we supposed to know if something infiltrated this place? It's practically a fortress," he muttered. The twins both side-eyed him and shrugged. He resisted the urge to shiver. He hated when they were in sync like that. It really made him wonder if they had one of those weird twin psychic bonds.

"Tony gave us the security codes, remember? We're just going to walk through the front gate, but I want us to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. We can't risk a security breach of any kind. We have no idea if we're being watched or not," James said, his voice low and strained. His eyes remained trained on the fence, the courtyard beyond it flooded with light. Nothing moved outside of the building.

"We should sweep the perimeter to check for any forced entries," Rosalie said. Now it was Bobby and James's turn to look at her, furrowing their brows in question. She lowered her eyes, and even though it was dark, Bobby knew she was blushing.

"Sorry, I've been watching a lot of crime shows lately. I wanted to try out the terminology for myself, felt like the professional thing to do," she said.

Bobby smiled lop-sided and nudged her with his elbow. "Don't be sorry. It was the right and cute thing to say. Right, James?"

He looked over at their team leader who ignored them as he channeled into the comm link in his ear. He spoke to Tony, informing him that they were about to approach the grid and inspect the fence as Rosalie suggested before moving onto the actual building itself. Tony must have approved of the plan because James now stood from their vantage point, gesturing for the other two to follow him. Bobby and Rosalie shared a hidden smile and a contained laugh before they picked their way down the rocky path.

Bobby scanned their surroundings once more, turning his back towards the twins as he took in the woods, eyes darting high and low. The forest was eerily quiet, the decaying foliage the only thing rustling in the autumn breeze. Despite the stillness, he felt like James was right, someone might be watching them. He glanced back as James entered the code at the gate, and their trio was buzzed in. They eased their way through the courtyard, and then they made it to the cinderblock building. It had the appearance of a prison, Bobby decided, like the one he would go visit his uncle Barney at. The possibility of something or someone getting into the power grid building all the more unbelievable. The archer was now hoping it was a system failure, and they would be on their merry way in no time at all. But Bobby never had such luck.