Disclaimer: I don't own The Gifted.

A/N: Okay, sooo I sort of really love the idea of James Proudstar showing up on The Gifted, and I also love the idea of Dazzler, aka Alison Blaire, being on the show, so have a crackship of Warpath and Dazzler (aka Tracklight) in the world of The Gifted. Takes place in my "What Could Be" series, where John and Clarice end up getting married. They're not at that point just yet, but they're DEFINITELY dating in this one. Also, the Struckers have moved on, they're no longer at the Atlanta Headquarters.

Come Running Back

Chapter 1

"Hey, John, Clarice? You might want to come listen to this."

John glanced up at Sage from where he was adding to the long list of things the HQ needed. He had been sprawled out on the couch, his legs alongside Clarice's as she read through some news articles and blog posts on a tablet. She was nestled on the other side of the couch, but she kept tapping her foot against his knee.

"What is it?" he asked, reluctant to get up but already moving. Clarice clicked her tablet off and slid off the couch.

"It's the Sentinel Services radio band," Sage said, the look on her face guarded, "A couple mutants broke into one of Griffith's warehouses—"

John cursed and dropped the legal pad he had been using on the couch. Everyone in the area knew that Carter Griffith, one of the richest shipping magnates in Atlanta, was off limits. The asshat was as anti-mutant as you could get and used his wealth to support Sentinel Services, mutant bounty hunters, and any politician who ran a campaign for stricter laws against mutants.

But anyone who went after him ended up dead.

"That's not the only thing," Sage said as the three of them headed into the surveillance room, "It sort of sounds like you were the one to break into the warehouse, John."

Clarice put one hand on her hip and raised an eyebrow at John. "Did you get another power and just not tell me?"

"You caught me, I can duplicate," he teased even as he listened in on the radio chatter. They were tossing around code words and radio slang, but after all these years of listening in on them, he could interpret what they were saying. As it became clearer, a hollow started to form in his stomach, a sick dawning realization.

Two mutant suspects, one male and one female, had broken into Griffith's warehouse and caused major damage to a shipment of undisclosed goods. Griffith's personal security force had retaliated, and the blond female suspect with photon manipulation abilities had been shot.

The second suspect, a dark-haired male with enhanced strength, speed, and agility, had taken the injured female suspect and left the scene. Sentinel Services was already in pursuit. The security force had fired shots at him as well, but the suspect appeared to be wearing Kevlar or had bullet-proof skin.

John was betting on the latter.

"I'm going to kill him," John said as he fished his phone out of his pocket and punched in a number. It was the last number that James had given him, but the call quickly came back as disconnected.

"He's not answering?" Clarice asked as he shoved the cell back into his pocket.

John shook his head.

"Well, that's just great," Clarice said sarcastically, but the worry in her eyes betrayed her. She was just as concerned as he was.

"You think it's James?" Sage asked, her attention mostly on the scanners and scrolling info, "There's a 78.4% chance that it's him."

"Pretty damn certain," John said, thinking about the last conversation he had had with his brother. He had mentioned Griffith and how he was making trouble for local mutants by funding people who hated them. It seemed like his little brother had taken it to heart and decided to do something about it. The idiot. John had said multiple times that Griffith wasn't someone to mess with, and what did James do? Go right after him. Of course. "Add in the fact that he has a blond girlfriend with photon manipulation."

"Make that an 87% chance."

Yeah, that's what he thought. His hands clenched into fists, and Clarice's hand rested on his shoulder as he closed his eyes, focusing on his brother.

This didn't work with everyone, tracking from a distance, without a trail or lead. But with people he was close to, that he shared a connection with? Sometimes he could make it work. And with James, it always worked.

He thought about his brother, zeroing in on him and ignoring the constant input his senses tried to feed into his brain. Cutting it off, he focused in on James, where he was now, where he had been, letting the need to find him drive his ability.

A boot splashing through an oily puddle. James was keeping to the shadows, away from the streets, away from being spotted. Sirens wailed in the distance. He was running but carrying someone in his arms, a girl.

Blood glinted on both of them when James had to go close to the road, too close to a streetlight. The girl's face was drained of color, deathly pale except for the vibrant smudge of blue over one eye. That was Ali, codename Dazzler.

James darted back into the darkness, pulling her chose, his lips moving without sound in John's vision. It looked like he was pleading with the nearly unconscious girl he was carrying. He ducked into a building and John caught a glimpse of street sign before the scene ended.

"They're on Westmont," John said, "I think Ali's hurt pretty bad. James looked…" He shook his head, closing his eyes for a brief second as he remembered the panicked expression on his brother's face.

John hadn't officially met Alison Blaire, James' on-again-off-again girlfriend, but he had talked to her on the phone a few times. She was sassy and fun-loving, and he knew how much his brother cared about her, even during the periods when they weren't dating. John's gaze lingered on Clarice, and he reached out to take her hand. He could imagine how freaked out James would be if Ali was injured as badly as it seemed she was.

"Cecilia's out with Lorna and Marcos," Sage reminded him, "They're meeting with her contact—"

"Call her, please," John said, "We're going to need her." Cecilia Reyes was the HQ's doctor. She had joined the Underground a few months before Marcos and Lorna's daughter Aurora was born, and while she had initially intended to transfer to a new HQ after that, she had wound up staying in Atlanta. The whole HQ was better for it, seeing how her practical input and medical knowledge was invaluable. With a background in emergency surgery before she had been chased out of her residency for being a mutant, she was calm in intense situations and had saved multiple lives since she had arrived.

It looked like she might have to save another life that night.

"C'mon, Fearless," Clarice said, yanking open a portal to the garage with one hand as she kept hold of John's hand with the other. Her skills kept improving every day it seemed. "Let's go find them."