Defense

All characters belong to Marvel Comics

The world was blur of gray. Steve stood atop of the speeding tractor trailer creating the freight genetic equipment. Glass shattered from the windows, raining down over the streets as he made his stand. Defiance burned in his clear blue eyes. He tasted blood trickling from his bruised lips. He wasn't giving up the fight. He was a soldier, fighting to preserve the name of freedom. The world had lost their faith in the Avengers. Humanity was degrading into slaves under the shadow of Ultron. There needed to be a defense against the army of robotic drones. He was that defense. The only member of the team who found himself when Scarlet Witch seized control of his mind and held his will in weaves of his desires and guilt. The mutant legacy of a hellish world conjured her spells on them, pulling them into the red void and taking pieces of their humanity by twisting their hearts into the ashes of their pasts.

A soul-aching spell that resulted in pain and tears. Steve had his dance with Peggy at the Stork Club, felt the red satin of her dress move under his fingers as he lead her into a slow dance, and felt a sense of peace-a rewarding peace-as her lips captured the fullness of his mouth in a kiss. It never felt real. It felt empty and unnatural. He knew the mutant had locked him into a distorted reality. He found a way to escape the dream-allowing his heart to lull back where he needed it to be instead of drifting further into weaves of his illusions and heart desires. Steve pushed his way through, being a true patriot, and proved that he was willing to go further to save humanity. He continued to risk his life, day-in and day-out to hold a line of defense against humanity's extinction and mass destruction. He never wasted a second in standing his ground against the villainous AI who threatened to leave his country-his home-in ruins. He wasn't about to surrender to a robotic tyrant.

"At last, I take my place in this world with humanity," Ultron thundered, grabbing Steve's throat with his metallic hand then slamming the captain down with a forceful impact of his power. His red optics stared into the unyielding blue eyes of the human who obstructed his mission of conquest. "I will have my rightful place in your world as a god wielding the power of your strengths." He listened to Steve's choking breath, squeezing harder and harder with his brutal grip. "I will enjoy destroying you, Captain Rogers... You are the very lifeblood of the Avengers. You fall and they will fall." He yanked Steve closer to his murderous inorganic face, allowing his red optics to become captured into dimming eyes. "Once I am through disassembling you...I will go for the red spy next. Ripping her apart...Slow and without mercy." Then he paused for a moment, calculating, as his soulless gaze dropped back onto the star embossed on Steve's chest. "I might let you have a chance to live...You can be of use to me...an asset...A symbol of humanity's failure."

Steve gritted his teeth. He wasn't going to submit. Mustering enough strength, he leveled his intense stare at the robot. "I am a soldier, Ultron." He returned with defiance in his cracking voice. His chiseled features darkened with cold rage. "And you..." He gathered a heavy gulp of air. "You are a prisoner of your own twisted delusions." He roared, reaching for his shield, and instantly ramming it into Ultron's chest, knocking the robot down. Ultron went down hard, putting a dent into the trailer's roof. He reconfigured his damaged shell.

Swallowing down blood, Steve felt his laboring heart pounding faster in his chest. His broad jaw was slackened with feverish sweat as he glared down at Tony's unhinged cybertronic monster. "You know all these years I've been holding everything back...I lost so much because of ideals like yours...I lost my best friend...Now you threaten the woman..." He shifted his eyes for a second, and caught a glimpse of Natasha speeding closer to the truck, her copper curls whipping in the clouds of dust; her intent green eyes focusing on him. She was stronger, fearless and unbreakable against the chaos and mounting panic ravaging the streets. He locked his eyes with hers, staring deeply. Natasha. She had his back. Always. Then, he slipped his hand through the straps of his shield, and towered over Ultron, anger flaring in his veins. "I love you..." He whispered out to her, as Ultron began to rise. He didn't back down. He advanced forward, shoulders tensed and blue eyes daggers as he stared back at robot. "You want to prove that you're stronger than me...Stronger than humanity..." The living machine was focused on him. "Come on then, face me like a man would, Ultron."

"How predictable..." Ultron returned, straightening to his full height over eight feet. His red optics scanned over the weak points of Steve's body. "Even at your weakest, you still want to fight for them." He taunted with coldness in his computerized voice. He knew the heart was the captain's weakness. It was fragile and easy to break by hurting those he cared for...Those he loved. Natasha. Peggy and James Barnes. Names programmed in his mind for termination. Natasha would be the first to die, then Peggy and finally Bucky. No mercy. Just quick and painful attacks with his replusor gauntlets. Ashes that would collect on the shield. "You failed to save that family on the bridge...You allowed them to fall out of your hands just like your friend..." Steve felt his heart sink. "You allowed him to fall...To die because of emotion. You now are going to share that same fate...Falling to your death. Like a good soldier."

Steve clenched his fists. His blue eyes gleamed with faint shimmers of hope. "As long as I'm still breathing...I will be that good soldier. " He gritted his teeth, forcing out painful breaths. His ribs were bruised and some bones dislocated. He might have been bleeding internally." I will fight for them." He declared, pain was stilling his voice. He felt drained, but his eyes returned back to Natasha. He had to protect her. She was his life, strength...and his shield. His gaze fell back to the shield. With his lungs heating with fast pants of breath, he positioned his body into a defensive stance, waiting for Ultron to make the next move. He just needed an opening...and then he would throw his shield to her. One shot. One chance. One life."I will die for them."

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart," Ultron said, thumping his metallic feet closer. "Your life is mine." He lifted his arm, aiming his replusor at Steve's chest.

"Not today," Steve gasped out, throwing his shield at the robot, and watching it deflect off the metal armor as Ultron whipped it to the streets below. "Natasha," he rasped on his comlink. "Bring in the lightning..."

Natasha accelerated into close range of the transport; her one hand held the bike's clutch as she shifted all her weight to one side, then grabbed the shield with a quick swipe. She repositioned herself on the saddle, and placed the shield over the controls. She switched on her Widow Bites and zapped the alloy vibranium with a lethal charge. "How is your trashcan lid going to stop that robot?" She said back, her eyes focused on Steve who was flipping and dodging Ultron's murderous blows. "Please tell me you have a plan, Steve..."

Steve smirked a little at her words, despite the numbness taking hold of his body. "Agent Romanoff..." He strained, trying to find his voice. "Would you like to dance with me..." He was cut off as Ultron's hand lunged at his throat, and threw him down. Steve extended his arm out over the edge, gesturing for Natasha to grab hold of him. Natasha swerved the motorcycle to the side, she tucked the shield under her arm, and used the handle bars as leverage to jump into air, and clasped her fingers over Steve's wrist. He released a raw cry of pain, and managed to hoist her up, and throw her weight against Ultron. Natasha's boots slammed into the robot's chest and he faltered a step. "Use the shield...Fry him." Steve ordered in a strangled breath, his eyes hazed with exhaustion.

Natasha followed to his strategy and pitched the shield at the robot, deadly and precise. He caught it in midair, and then she used the opening to charge at him and struck with a dosage of her stings. She flipped over his body as the shield dropped. His optics went dark as smoke rose from his metallic shell. He fell hard leaving an eerie ting as metal clanged against metal. She brushed her curls off her smudged pale cheeks, and rushed over to Steve like spark of flame.

"Nat..." He coughed up blood, his hand gripping her shoulder. His lips curved into a lopsided smirk. Beautiful and pure. "That won't keep him deactivated. He'll reprogram." He slammed his eyes for a moment, his chest heaving with rattling breaths. "You have to get out here..." She placed her hand on his bloodied cheek, unfastening his chin strap, and removing the helmet. His blonde hair was a mess and streaked with ash; he looked battered and broken."I need you..."

The world had darkened around her, tears began to build in her eyes. "I don't want to hear this from you," she hissed, pressing her comlink. "Clint, send the quinjet to the coordinates of my suit. Cap is down...Tell Banner to ready sick bay..." She spoke to her partner, and then settled her softened gaze back on Steve. The roaring turbines of the jet dulled in her ears. Within seconds the ramp lowered, and Clint was there holding his bow with a grappling line attached to it. Natasha gave him a short nod, and rested her hand on Steve's blood smeared face. "Why did you do this alone, stupid...I thought we had each others backs...No matter the cost."

Steve grimaced, and stroked his hand through her red locks; gentle and loving. "I'm not strong enough.." He whispered, brokenly, staring deeply into her hardened eyes.

"Strong enough?" Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean by that...Are you really hurt...Did Ultron drain the serum out of you?" A million terrible things rushed in her mind. Her heart was skipping a few beats in her chest. Steve wasn't making any sense. It was then that she felt her walls crumbling and the risk of becoming emotionally compromised became clear. She couldn't risk this. This was war, and there was no time for a fairy tale romance. Just survival, just the mission...

She sighed then rattled his shoulder. She had to know. Ugh... Why is this self-sacrificing idiot being so damn stubborn. "Tell me what it is..."

"I-I'm not strong enough to lose you." He confessed in a weak and muffled whisper, his blue eyes turning into a pale gray. "Lost so much already...I can't lose you, Nat. I can't..."

Her knuckles brushed his cheek. A sheen of sweat glazed over her palm. "You're not going to lose me, Steve," she said, her eyes blurring with tears. "We're in this together. United we stand," she quoted him, lightly smiling and still gazing into eyes. Then an aching sense of feeling incomplete wouldn't leave her and she tried to look away, tried to let her soul run...but he was holding her down-keeping her steady. Clint was standing behind them, ready to help Steve, when Natasha raised her hand, wordlessly telling her partner to wait. She had something to do before their extraction.

"Get the shield..." She spoke firmly, and then looked back into the calming stillness of Steve's blue eyes. "Did you mean that?" Her heart was urging to know the truth. The Black Widow never feels. She feels nothing. Thats the way she was trained, the way she survived. She is cold and merciless. Love is a weakness. Love is for children... Her gaze clouded with a memory of being unmade as his hand wondered through her curled hair with absent comfort. "Do you mean that you're not strong without me?"

"Yes," he smiled with honesty in his eyes, and then the phantoms of the Red Room disappeared. "I meant it."

Steve expected her resistance and slowly turned his gaze from the coldness of her eyes. He felt it entering his bones. Her fierce exterior became soft. Natasha dipped her head down, caressed both hands on his cheeks as she looked steadily into his light eyes that matched the shadows of the war that surrounded their bodies. He looked at her with a sincere gaze. She couldn't push him away and leave him alone in the darkness. Heaviness piled on her heart and then she pulled her body closer, until her breasts touched the hard muscle of his chest and pressed her hungry lips over his mouth. It wasn't like the kiss that she pinned on him on the escalator. That was a necessary distraction to stop them from becoming discovered. This one was full of passion and intimacy. She broke away, knowing that she was only fooling herself to have feelings for a man that represented everything she used to fight against.

Her fingers glided slowly against the strands of hair latched on his neck, her thumb brushing over his chin. "I'll say what you want to hear," she whispered, feeling disarmed without a defense to stop him. "I want you to know..."

Natasha pulled her head back up, but his arms barricaded her. She thought maybe he was still under the influence of the mind-spell of Scarlet Witch as the fullness of his lips were a breath away from hers... Before she could maneuver an escape he moved fast and pressed a feverish kiss and she moaned at a slow pace. He was devouring her, stealing her doubts and fears as she felt a rush of warmth and love surge inside her. This was what it meant to become human. To not feel the chains holding you down. This was what it felt like to be kissed by Steve Rogers. "Natasha I ..." he slurred, his eyes fading as exhaustion overwhelmed his body, and he fell limp in her arms, "...love you."

She felt everything. Her eyes widened and tears flowed. Ultron was reactivating, and Clint was now kneeling at her side. The world faded within her falling tears, and her lips ghosted warm over his firm mouth. "Steve," Natasha whispered framing her hands over his drenched face. She surrendered herself to his heart and felt his lips melt into hers in an embracing kiss. She tasted their worlds intertwining. Blood. Pain. Tears. It wasn't an illusion or deception. It was real. Her heart ached and their lips captured. She fought against the struggles and finally gave herself to him...

All her masks, guilt and finally her heart. "I love you."