Warnings: character death? maybe? blood, definitely. lots of fighting sequences.
Thanks to Guest and nightmarehunter676 for reviewing.
AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO FAVE AND FOLLOW!
Emma was doing fine until the ground began to shift.
When the earth began to rise above the rest, and the city of Sokovia began to lift into the air, that was when she began to worry. And this time, she wasn't alone. She could see the faces of her teammates; their expressions unsure, confused, scared.
"Do you see the beauty of it?" Ultron's voice bellowed through the air. "The inevitability? You rise before you fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword, and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."
She could see Steve on the bridge from the market square, as she fought to keep Sokovian's civilians alive. Ultron's bots kept coming; one after another, kill one and three more come out of the woodwork. They were everywhere like robotic roaches.
A very green and giant Dr. Banner jumped in to join her. "Nice of you to join us," she said to him before dispensing of a bot with a bullet to the eye. He growled and jumped into the air, pulling two adversaries out of the sky and smashing them to the ground in one fluid motion.
Thor and Cap were working effortlessly together; taking out an entire group of robots with the shield. As the demi-god conjured his lightning, he nicked a gas truck, and the explosion knocked Emma to her feet. The hulking blonde man was there to help her up. "Are you alright?" He asked.
"You want to warm me next time you decide to blow up a truck?"
"Thor," Ultron's voice sounded as he swooped down to grab Emma's teammate. She quickly ducked out of the way as Ultron carried him through the air. "You're bothering me."
Knowing that the Asgardian could handle himself, she turned her attention to help a struggling Rogers. He tossed her his shield, and she took out the foe closest to her, before throwing it back. It was something they had practiced many times, and Cap's shield was a million times stronger than her fists. She reloaded her gun, as the two took cover behind a disabled vehicle.
"Alright, we're all clear here," Clint's voice sounded through the communications device.
Steve gave her a look as she clicked her gun into place, and she nodded in return as if to signal that she was ready. "We are not clear!" He yelled, jumping over the back of a car to pull his shield out of a bot he had just nearly cut in half. "We are very not clear!"
"Comin' to ya." Clint informed.
Emma took the other side, shooting to destroy. The two worked back to back to take out the surrounding enemies, both using the shield to their advantage. Steve commented on how well they worked together as he kicked the head off of a mini-Ultron like it was a soccer ball. Soon they were joined by the Maximoff twins, who leveled the playing field with their enhanced capabilities.
Finally it died down enough that they could focus on getting more civilians to safety. While she wasn't fighting off evil robots, Emma was helping Natasha attend to the medical injuries. The city was flying, and yet the major threat was smoke inhalation and bullets that had ricocheted off of something and hit an innocent person. Most of the wounds were only grazes, but some were a lot worse, and she didn't even want to think about how many casualties there had been already.
"What'ya got Stark?" Steve asked as he helped Emma in assisting some Sokovian's to safety.
"Well, nothing great." He replied. "That'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."
That would never be an option. Emma knew it before even looking at her Captain. There were too many citizens still up here and not down there, and there was no way for the team to get them off of the rock; unless Thor wanted to personally fly each person down to safety.
"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan." Steve quipped.
"Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony informed him, a sadness in his voice she had never heard before. "We're going to have to make a choice."
As Emma bandaged up the ankle of a young Sokovian girl, Natasha tried convincing Steve. She knew what the end game was, and so did everyone else. Her eyes found Pietro, her beacon of hope among the rubble and chaos. He was on one knee, placing a band-aid on a little boy's elbow, speaking to him in Russian; most likely letting him know that he would keep him safe, and make sure that he and his family would be okay.
He must have felt her eyes, because he turned to look over his shoulder and caught her stare. His bright, blue eyes so full of life as he gave her a small smile. She could have stared at him forever, but a familiar voice surprisingly took over the coms. Nick Fury.
She ran to the side of Natasha as a helicarrier came into view, hovering right over the edge of the cracked earth. Pietro flew by her, going to survey the flying ship, a giant and welcoming smile on his face. Emma jumped for joy, clapping her hands a few times as she saw the rescue boats deploy from the side of the carrier.
"This is S.H.I.E.L.D?" Pietro asked.
"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D's supposed to be." Steve replied.
Pietro smiled, knowing that his people were going to get to safety. "This is not so bad." Emma gave him a smirk, causing a little pink to creep onto his cheeks. He closed the distance between them in one fluid motion, and wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her bridal style. "Hold your breath." He warned her before jetting off towards the civilians awaiting rescue.
She didn't even have time to take a breath before he was placing her feet back on the ground. The contact of his skin on her's, holding her to him as he skidded through the air made her palms sweat. She didn't have time to register the feeling, but it was there. Even the idea of him holding her made her weak at the knees.
Emma shook the thoughts out of her head, and concentrated on getting the people to safety.
"Thor, I've got a plan!" Tony said through the earpiece.
"It's too late, they're headed for the core!" The demi-god answered.
"Avengers, time to work for a living." Iron Man replied, jetting off towards the church.
"Emma! I want you to stay here." Steve ordered immediately. She pouted, but the look on his face told her not to fight with him on this one. "Help Rhodey get the people on these boats. The faster we do that, the faster we can get out of here."
Pietro was already gone, along with Wanda, and Steve stood in front of her pleading to listen to him. "Be careful." She warned him.
She hated missing out, but she knew that everyone had their jobs to do. Right now, her job was to get these people to safety. With Rhodey at her side, taking out any straggling hench-bots, Emma's job was a lot easier than she expected. Most of Ultron's army were in the middle of the city, directing their full force on her teammates. On him.
But suddenly, with a flash of blue and silver, Pietro Maximoff was standing a mere six feet from her.
"What are you doing here? You should be at the church!"
Ignoring her question, he closed the gap between them in the blink of an eye. The closeness took her breath away, and before she could breathe in, his lips had crashed onto her's. Everything stopped; the screaming, the fighting, time. They were the only two there. The only two people in the entire world.
For a moment, the fight was over. She had won. She had gotten her prize. Everything was right in the world. Everything was perfect. With one hand cradling her face, and an arm snaked around her waist, he kissed her. She didn't stop him. Her hands played with the hair at the back of his neck, curling around the locks, while her lips worked with his effortlessly.
"Just in case." He whispered, pulling away and leaning his forehead against Emma's. He disappeared to finish his job before she even opened her eyes.
When she regained oxygen to her mind, she turned around to see Rhodey staring directly at her. She didn't need to see his face to know he was extremely confused. "Alrighty then," he stated before flying off in search of more rogue bots.
It had been hard for her to concentrate before, and he had just made it a million times worse. If he was going to be around, she was going to need to set some boundaries. Some rules. Rule number one, no kissing while during a mission. In the five seconds his lips were on her's, she saw stars, and she still saw stars.
And it wasn't due to the high altitude either.
"Can someone help my boy?" She heard a woman's voice stick out among the chaos.
Emma noticed a woman carrying a boy, clutching his arm and covered in blood. He was crying, convulsing, and shaking. She rushed to him, taking him from his mother's arms, promising that she would get him help and that he would be okay. He had been struck by a flyaway bullet which had no doubt clipped an artery, judging by how much blood he had lost.
"I need a medic!" She screamed to anyone who could hear her over the panic. Her grip tightened on the boy's arm, applying the pressure needed to slow the bleeding. Her eyes scanned the crowd, and there was still no sight of a doctor.
"It hurts," the boy cried. His mother was also crying now, noticing how bad it was.
"Okay, I'm going to try something. Do you trust me?" Emma asked, and the boy and his mother nodded immediately.
She took a deep breath and rubbed her hands together before taking hold of the boy's arm once more, squeezing tighter than she had the first time. He squirmed in pain, making Emma wince as she concentrated on channeling all of her energy into her hands.
A faint, pulsating heat flickered in the middle of her palm like a lighter that couldn't find a flame. That's it, she thought to herself. Her entire body jolted, and her hands began to illuminate. Not just one, but both, as the boy's wound began to heal. His eyes were as wide as saucers, watching on at the power that emitted from the hands that wrapped around him.
Emma could feel the energy leaving her with each second she worked to make sure his gunshot wound was completely healed. When the glow left her hands, her arms felt like over-cooked spaghetti noodles. She could feel each hit she had taken earlier, and her body became weak and fragile, as if she hadn't slept in weeks. Even her eyes felt too heavy to hold open.
"Can you keep a secret?" She asked the boy as he gawked at his arm. He nodded his head slowly, at a loss for words. "Good, don't tell anyone. You're going to be okay, now."
She came to her feet, having to use a bench to help herself up, and scanned the devastated city of Sokovia for the rest of her teammates. As far as she had heard, no one was on a lifeboat yet, and at any minute they could fall right out of the sky. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Clint and Steve, and immediately felt as ease. But the rest of her team was still nowhere to be found.
Streaks of grey and indigo sped past the two of them, and Pietro was at her side in an instant. She threw her arms around his neck, nearly falling against him. "Thank God," her lips murmured into his chest.
He placed a firm kiss on the top of her head.
"Nat's giving Banner a lullaby." Clint informed her as he jogged up to the carrier. Emma nodded her head, feeling as if she'd fall over if she moved a single inch. Pietro held on to her hand, keeping her upright. His expression just as concerned as Clint's. "You alright? You don't look so good."
"I'm tired." She replied, her voice low and defeated.
"Here, sit." Pietro ordered, leading her over to an empty bench.
Behind them, a mother was crying for her child, her eyes peeling the city for her boy. Clint jetted from the boat towards the market. Emma called for him, but he ignored her as he ran across the courtyard. In the distance, the quinjet flew over, firing a hailstorm of bullets, targeting her team members. Cap used his shield to protect himself, throwing it up in the air towards the rogue jet, but was unsuccessful in taking it down.
It was headed straight for Clint, who was now holding the lost child in his arms as the bullets began to fly. Emma's eyes were wide as she screamed for Clint, and with a flash, Pietro was no longer sitting next to her. She had hope that he would be fast enough to pull Clint and the boy out of the way.
But when the dust settled, and the jet flew off into the horizon, she noticed Pietro's usual blue gear was stained with red.
"Y-you didn't s-see that coming?"
His voice rang through her earpiece as she watched his body drop to the ground. Emma screamed as she ran towards him, praying that he was alive. Praying that it wasn't too late.
Clint and Steve watched on with wide, sad eyes as she fell at his side, rolling him on to his back.
"No, no, no!" She cried, her vision becoming blurred with the bite of tears. She placed her hands firm on his chest and screamed at herself to fix this. "Come on!" Her hands became covered in blood as she moved them around his chest, trying to make that light glow one more time. Even if it never came back, even if it was all the power she had left in her; she would use every last drop in order to save him.
"Emma," she heard Steve's voice behind her. Ignoring him, she continued willing the energy to come back. But her body was drained. The metaphorical battery inside of her was dead. And because of it, so was Pietro. "Emma, we gotta go."
"No!" She bit back. "I can fix this!"
"Emma, at any second this rock is going to fall right out from underneath us." He placed a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back from the lifeless man underneath her. "Please." His voice was low and pleading. Emma still sat motionless, wondering why it wouldn't work now. "Emma, please."
Steve lifted Pietro from the ground, carrying him to the jet. When he placed him back down, Emma was right back at his side, still trying with every fiber of her being to heal him. "Please," she cried as Clint laid back on the bench above her. Her head resting on Pietro's chest. "Please, come back to me."
When Sokovia dropped from the sky, she wished she would have gone with it.
Why do I feel like this chapter sucked terribly? After reading it three times, it's literally garbage. There's too much going on. I need to find a way to include the movie without including it. If that makes sense.
In other news, Emma can heal others. Sometimes. When it's not important. Not that the little boy wasn't important. It just would have been great if she actually PRACTICED USING HER ABILITY instead of trying to conceal it from literally everyone. There are people who can help her learn how to use it (*cough* Wanda *cough*). Sometimes my characters do stupid things.
Now, I don't want you to think Pietro is dead. He might not be dead. But the next chapter is the last chapter before the sequel Near To You. Speaking of the sequel, does anyone here like Bucky Barnes? Because it's definitely based during Civil War. I'm still obsessed with that movie and I just NEED to write something about it.
To kill or not to kill Pietro. That is the question.
I wrote this chapter in silence, which is so crazy. Maybe that's why it sucked. But I was getting so distracted singing 90's RnB. Idfk.
Reviews are appreciated and encouraged!
