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Mercurial
Whenever he looked back on the events of his first collaboration with the Avengers, Barry wasn't sure if he had preferred fighting the drones or guiding the people to the 'lifeboats'. Fighting the drones had the advantage of being simple, as all he had to do was find the metal men and smash them, but even if guiding people to the lifeboats had been more difficult, he could appreciate the idea that he was actually able to save someone rather than destroying stuff.
While Clint, Natasha and Steve moved to lead various groups to the boats as Wanda held back any attacking drones with new barriers, that left Barry and Pietro to dash back and forth gathering up any random stragglers, hurrying them to the nearest suitable 'lifeboat'. Looking up, Barry noticed Iron Man flying through the skies and taking out various other drones, accompanied by what looked like a gunmetal-grey version of his armour with a large gun on one shoulder.
Looks cool, but I can't do anything about what's going on up there, so I'll focus on fixing things down here.
"Going well?" Wanda smiled, as Barry came to a halt near where the Maximoff siblings had chosen to make their latest stand against the current drone wave.
"As well as you'd think," Barry clarified, before looking over at Pietro. "You and I need to focus on getting the remaining civilians onto that lifeboat; if we can clear things now, it's easier for everyone else later."
"Not much space on these ones," Pietro noted with a glance.
"Then we load 'em up now and they can come back for more later," Barry said firmly. "Let's go."
With that instruction, the Maximoffs and Barry dashed into the heart of the city, Barry and Pietro alternating between taking out drones and carrying civilians back to the lifeboats while Wanda took up a position that helped her defend herself and the rest of the team from further drone attacks. Over this range, Wanda's shields couldn't do more than deflect Ultron's drone onslaught, but that was enough for her teammates to be warned of further attacks and deliver their own retaliatory strikes accordingly.
We can do this, Barry thought, allowing himself to hope as he smashed through three drones and carried four toddlers (let their parents have just lost track of them in a panic) to safety practically simultaneously. We've got Ultron on the ropes… Iron Man can get this thing down safety… we're winning…
"Avengers!" Iron Man's voice suddenly called over the radio-link. "Time to work for a living; rendezvous at the central church!"
Taking a moment to make sure that he'd moved the immediate civilians to safety and there was no obvious sign of drones coming towards them, Barry ran for the indicated church, a quick glance to the side confirming that Pietro was following him with Wanda.
By the time they reached the centre of the floating island the city had become, Thor, the Vision, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Captain America had already taken up position inside an old church, its windows gone and rubble lying all around its interior as the Avengers fended off the first wave of drones attacking them here. Barry briefly heard Iron Man send a message to Black Widow and the Hulk as he took a quick run to throw the last of the attacking drones into an old sewer, but by the time he got back to the church the black-clad female Avenger had joined the others, Natasha giving him a brief nod before she looked back at the man in red armour.
"What's the drill?" she asked.
"This is the drill," Iron Man replied, indicating the strange cylinder in the centre of the church. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."
"What does it do?" Wanda asked.
"Drops this city with the force of a meteor to trigger an extinction-level event once it's high enough above the ground."
"Ah," Barry glanced over at the machine again. "So, keep him away from that thing; good to know."
"Good to know?"
"Always makes it easier to have a simple goal to focus on," Barry clarified for Wanda, before he looked thoughtfully at Iron Man. "Just to check, I can guess that blowing this thing up probably isn't a good idea, but is there a reason Pietro and I couldn't just take it apart really fast?"
"Ultron knows about you both and could have designed this thing to self-destruct if something like that happens, which could cause the kind of blast we're trying to stop."
"Good point; just wanted to be sure we weren't overlooking the obvious."
"So how do we do this?" Natasha asked, just before a sound from outside the former church drew the team's attention, turning around in to see the Hulk literally landed on one of the last drones standing before throwing the other aside. The large green figure entered the church to join the rest of the Avengers just before Ultron appeared, floating several feet in the air above a street as he looked dispassionately at the church.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor yelled angrily at Ultron. In response, the robot raised his left hand, and suddenly a mass of new drones had gathered around him, running down the street and from the surrounding buildings like children hurrying to meet Santa.
"You had to ask," Steve noted, glancing grimly at the Asgardian warrior.
"This is the best I can do," Ultron proclaimed, looking at the assembled heroes with what Barry would have called a mocking expression if their enemy wasn't a robot with fixed facial features. "This is exactly what I wanted; all of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?"
Exchanging glances with the other Avengers, Barry saw the same determination in their eyes that he felt right at that moment; he might be up against some stiff odds, but he was never going to give up and let Ultron destroy even an alternate Earth if there was anything he could do to stop it.
"Like the old man said," Iron Man spoke up for the gathered heroes, glancing back at Steve before turning to face Ultron again. "Together."
As though those words had been a cue, the drone army charged towards the Avengers, all of whom leapt into action themselves. The Hulk's battle-cry was almost a signal for the team as the drones advanced in, the human Avengers drawing their weapons while the superhumans engaged the drones in more direct combat. Dashing around the church try and knock back any drones that came in through the shattered windows and fragile walls, Barry could see others entering the church from the roof, but also saw Wanda throwing drones into the air with her powers, Captain America leaping over another in a spinning jump that sent it crashing into one of its fellows, the Vision literally punching through his own opponents, an intense lighting-burst from Thor's hammer shattering those drones around him as he tore out the 'spine' of the nearest one, Iron Man saving Wanda from a drone she missed while launching a series of repulsor blasts, Pietro practically acting as Barry's reflection as he ran along the other side of the churchBlack Widow shooting a drone in the face while Hulk literally bit the head off another…
The sound of Ultron's voice in the air prompted Barry to glance up, but a moment was all he needed to see that the Vision had it under control. Ultron's would-have-been body recovering from being thrown into a wall to send a powerful burst of yellow energy from his forehead to blast his creator out of the church before Ultron could even touch the ground, Thor and Iron Man swiftly joining the Vision in his assault on Ultron with their own energy blasts. The sight was so impressive that Barry paused in his race around the buildings to witness what was happening to Ultron, simultaneously charging a lightning-bolt in case it was needed.
When the energy died down, Barry was relieved to see that it had at least made some kind of impact; Ultron might still be standing, but his body had clearly been damaged by the assault, with his face in particular looking partly melted.
"You know, with the benefit of hindsight-" Ultron began, before the Hulk charged forwards and slammed his fists directly into their enemy, sending the large robot flying backwards once more. Still clearly enraged, the Hulk turned to roar at the remaining drones, which turned around and began to run or fly away as the green goliath gave chase.
"They'll try to leave the city," Thor noted.
"We can't let 'em; not one," Stark said firmly, flying upwards with the Vision close behind him, the two airborne Avengers swiftly joined by the figure in grey armour Barry had seen earlier.
"We've gotta move out," Steve glanced around the shattered church at the rest of the team.
"Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats; I'll sweep for stragglers-"
"We'll sweep for stragglers," Barry corrected, stepping forward to look firmly at the man in blue. "I get that you're the leader and have to take responsibility for everything, but Pietro and I can do this faster than anyone; you really think you can't use our help?"
"Appreciated," Steve nodded at Barry.
"What about the core?" Clint asked.
"I'll protect it," Wanda said, glancing over at the archer in a manner that made it clear her words meant something more than the obvious. "It's my job."
"And speaking of jobs…" Barry said, placing a hand on Pietro's arm and rapidly vibrating his body while focusing it into his hands; he couldn't be sure if this would work, but with Pietro's body already adapted for superspeed, and aware of the sensation of losing speed after Harry's earlier 'trap', this should be possible… he was reaching out to the other man… he felt as though he'd been struck by lightning all over again and was still letting it out of his body… he felt a slight fatigue even as he was sure Pietro's speed was being increased…
"Whoa!" Pietro yelled, moving away from him only to pause as he noticed the lightning crackling around his hands. "What did you just do?"
"Gave you a boost," Barry smiled.
"A boost?" Clint looked between the two speedsters in surprise. "You can do that? Boost his powers?"
"A couple of my enemies have managed to take my speed from me against my will in small doses, so I thought it was worth a shot to see if I could give him a willing boost, anyway," Barry shrugged. "I wouldn't like doing it to someone who didn't have speed like mine already, and it might not even work, but it can't hurt him and I figured we could use an extra edge this close to the endgame."
"Thanks," Pietro said, before he looked at Wanda. "You're sure-"
"I can handle this," Wanda said, hurling another red blast at an approaching drone before glaring at her brother as the three 'normal' Avengers hurried off back into the city. "Get the people on the boats; you or Barry can come back for me when everyone else is off, understand?"
"You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you," Pietro pointed out with a smile.
"Go," Wanda said firmly to her brother, before glancing over at Barry. "I have this; be a hero."
"Be Avengers," Barry countered, even as he accepted Wanda's point. "And that's all of us now we're on this team, Wanda."
As he turned to run down another street, he supposed that this was the best thing he could do right now. As the last dash started, it took him a few moments before he realised that he was staying close to Pietro, as though he was subconsciously making sure he hadn't made a mistake with his earlier actions, but it soon became clear that the young man was coping well with his new speed boost, drones flying apart with greater ease than they had in the earlier fight.
Call me cocky, Barry reflected with a grin as he vibrated through a couple of drones to knock them into a nearby wall, but I think we can really do this…
As he approached the area where the lifeboats were taking on the last group of passengers, Barry was about to move on when he noticed Steve, Thor, and Clint already in this area, but a glance to the side revealed that Natasha was talking with the Hulk in a small park just visible between the ruins of a previously shattered building, slowly walking up to the green giant with a certain… he wasn't sure he could get away with saying 'tenderness' about a woman who gave the impression she could beat up even Killer Frost on top of all the women on Oliver's team back home…
Then he saw the Quinjet they'd used earlier flying over the rising city, firing a spree of bullets at such a speed even he had trouble seeing them, and Barry immediately leapt into action. His thoughts shifting to high speed, Barry realised that he still had a couple of seconds before those bullets reached any of the Avengers, prompting him to run for the highest reasonably-stable-looking building and move up the side of it as quickly as possible. Once he reached the top, Barry ran over the roof and leapt off, praying that his mental calculations had been correct as he dived towards the Quinjet; if he was wrong, he'd need to create an updraft really fast…
As he came up to the Quinjet, Barry instinctively started vibrating, phasing his way through the hull of the ship to crash into the robot in the pilot's seat, knocking Ultron out of the chair before even his accelerated computer brain could react to the attack. As Ultron got back to his feet, Barry lashed out with a new lightning bolt, blasting Ultron out of the ship and hurtling towards the ground.
"Hey, guys!" he yelled, quickly activating his helmet's radio once again. "Ultron's heading for the ground after taking several thousand volts to the chest, and I'm in the jet without any idea how to fly the thing; any ideas?"
"Just turn it around so it's not going to crash into anything; someone'll be there to get you out in a moment!" Steve replied.
"Check!" Barry nodded, turning back to the pilot's chair and making a quick assessment of the controls; he still wasn't comfortable trying to put this thing in for a landing, but if the handles were how this thing was meant to be steered, he should be able to obey Steve's instructions. Taking a grip of the handles, he turned the ship around so that it was pointing away from the city, heading for the mountains off in the distance. The sound of something hitting the floor prompted him to turn back in case Ultron or a drone had attacked, but while it was a tall grey figure he didn't recognise, the closer resemblance to Iron Man made it clear that he wasn't dealing with another drone.
"Flash?" the figure said, helmet raising up to reveal a dark-skinned face with a nonchalant smile.
"That's me," Barry nodded. "You're with the Avengers?"
"Call me War Machine," the man said, indicating the door behind him. "Think it's time for us to vacate the premises."
"I'm all for that, believe me," Barry smiled, walking over to join the man in armour, who slung an arm over Barry's shoulders and flew out of the jet towards the helicarrier. Barry was about to protest at this move, but a quick glance confirmed that there were no 'lifeboats' hovering on the edge of the city and he could see the Hulk, Steve, Natasha, Pietro and Clint standing on the deck of the helicarrier, which leant weight to the idea that there were no other civilians left in the city. As War Machine landed on the helicarrier, Barry stepped away before the armoured man flew back into the air, leaving Barry to glance around at the rest of the team.
"Everyone OK?"
"Getting there," Steve replied with a grim smile. "We've got everyone out of the buildings, and Vision's gone to get Wanda; Thor and Tony are just about to-"
The question of what the other two Avengers were going to do was swiftly answered when there was a loud noise that resembled an explosion and an earthquake, briefly making Barry flash back to that dark moment when Vandal Savage had destroyed the city before he took his second twenty-four-hour jump back before he registered that the city was breaking up in the sky rather than immediately hurtling to the ground.
"That's… good, right?" he glanced over at the rest of the team.
"From what Stark said, anyway," Natasha nodded, the rest of the Avengers joining Barry on the edge of the helicarrier to watch the city break apart in front of them. "If it had gone back down while in one piece, it would have been the equivalent of a meteor strike, but as it is…"
"Bad for these people, but the world keeps going?" Pietro suggested.
"Good a way as any to put it," Steve nodded, before looking solemnly at Pietro. "I can't speak for Stark, obviously, but I can promise you that I'll do what I can to be sure that he'll do what he can to compensate everyone who suffered because of this."
"Everyone?" Barry looked at Steve in surprise. "Is that possible?"
"Stark is very rich," Clint smiled briefly.
"Ah," Barry said, deciding not to question that as he glanced back at the shattering city, now glimpsing a figure in a red cloak flying through the rubble while a gold-and-red figure followed it, Barry quickly identifying the two as Thor being followed by the Vision carrying Wanda.
"OK, guys!" Tony called out over the radio, sounding like wind was whistling around him as he spoke. "We've raining rocks down here, but I think I'm safe saying we're out of danger down here; everyone good up there?"
"We're fine, Stark," Steve said, looking over at the other assembled heroes as Thor and Wanda joined them, Vision shooting them a briefly apologetic look before he flew off once again.
"Where-?" Wanda began.
"Personal business," Barry said, recognising the grim expression on the android's face from his own experience working with Oliver during that mess with the League of Assassins. On one level, he felt slightly hurt that the Vision was going off to finish something this big by himself, but on the other hand, he appreciated that there were personal factors about the Vision's interaction with Ultron that he didn't know enough to understand.
Been the most devastating experience I've faced since I started in this business, Barry mused, looking down at the shattered city below them, but at least we got through this without losing anybody on our side, and we managed to stop civilian casualties in the process.
Once the Avengers were all back on the ground, he'd make sure everything was in order, but then it was time for him to get home.
AN: Hope you enjoyed that one; I'm going to hold off on the final chapter until 'Thor: Ragnarok' is released and I can be sure where things stand regarding the Hulk, but regardless of what the Green Goliath ends up doing, I can assure you that things won't end for Barry and the Avengers after he returns home…