Chapter 10

They began to organize the evacuation and guided the people toward the lifeboats. They needed to hurry as time rapidly ran out. Alice went back to work and continued to destroy the robots while taking people to safety. The local police helped too, making it less complicated.

On Tony's call, the Avengers ran to meet him where Ultron's drill was. Alice used a motorbike and her ability to increased its speed. She stopped to get Natasha on the way. They arrived at the meeting point, where the strange machine stood at the center of a collapsed church. It was firmly stuck on the ground, and they couldn't destroy it yet while there were still people in the city. Tony had an idea to turn down the machine but first they needed to prevent anyone from coming near.

"If Ultron gets a hand on the core of the machine, we lose," Vision warned them.

Their foe arrived flying alone to face them. "Is that the best you can do ?!" Thor shouted angrily at him. On this, Ultron's robot army assembled, surrounding them. "You had to ask..." Steve sighed.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron retaliated. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me ?"

"Like the old man said : together," Tony replied.

And together they fought. Alice stopped counting how many robots she turned to dust. But that was quite a lot. Each time one disappeared, another one made its way to her, making her repeat the cycle over again. They were so many of them she thought bitterly. Angry by the minute, her attacks were depleting, erasing the enemies existence every second. The others battled well too. Each member of the team excelled at what he or she did. So that was team work thought Alice, "it wasn't so bad", as Pietro would say. Together they progressively pushed off the attacks. Vision, Tony and Thor then blasted everything they could at Ultron, making a part of his suit melt. Before he could utter a word, Hulk threw him kilometers away.

"We need to hurry and finish the evacuation before we destroy the rock."

"What about the core ?"

"I'll protect it" Wanda declared. They all nodded and went to finish their job. Her brother didn't seem to take her words well though. They quietly argued before he finally joined them.

Alice searched for any other civilians, gathered them together and brought them to the last boat. As it was almost loaded, she saw Clint getting out of it to hurry and rescue a lost boy.

Suddenly she heard something flying above them. Ultron arrived near them by a small plane. What happened then went so fast. He aimed a burst of machine-gun fire at their area, including where Clint was. She noticed Pietro darting and jumping in front of them. Screaming, she ran and used her power, but was only able to stop the bullets going at his head.

"You didn't see that coming," he smirked weakly before dropping on the ground. Barton, shocked, immediately tried to tend to him and check his pulse.

Tearful, Alice ran to kneel beside him. She knew she had a few seconds before he died. She could sense it. He had a lot of bullets in his torso. She had to disintegrate them before healing him. This was going to be very difficult. She felt his heart slowing down by the second, but if she accelerated it, she could poison his blood and increase his hemorrhages.

Closing her eyes, she aimed her power at the bullets. Everything around her seemed to disappear as she concentrated harder. She felt them disappear one by one, until they were no more. Now she had to close his wounds.

"Can you help him ?!"

She ignored Clint. She couldn't talk or think about anything else. The human anatomy was complex and there was a lot of things to think about and things that could go wrong. Destroying was far more easy. Breathing calmly, she accelerated the cells reparation in his torso. His own speeding organism was helping her. His body was repaired but she could not feel his heart beating anymore. Touching his torso, she had to act fast. His brain had to receive oxygen soon or there would be permanent effects. She had to accelerate his heartbeat but there had to be one first. She snapped her eyes open.

"I need Thor ! Quickly !" Her plea was heard as he appeared beside her, deeply concerned.

"What can I do ?"

"You need to strike him with your thunder."

"But that will kill him !" Clint loudly protested.

"He's already dead !" she angrily yelled. "Don't you see ? We don't have time ! I will contain the strike so that it can't damage him too much, and I will heal him after either way. Do it now, or I won't be able to bring him back !"

The god of thunder lifted his hammer and did as she ordered him. Once it struck Pietro, she froze his entire body except the heart. She only let a moderate amount of electricity pass though, or it would burn the heart. "Come on...Come on !" she pleaded. Then she heard it : a faint heartbeat. She took her chance and tried to accelerate it to around 40 beats per minute. It wasn't enough but still better than before, as he was now breathing. Her energy gently flowed in his entire body, repairing all the injuries, and progressively increasing his heart rate again. She also treated the brain damages from the brief lack of oxygen. Opening her eyes, she was short on breath, her body feeling numb from the relief.

"He's alive. He made it. You must take him to the medics." Clint didn't need any more words. He immediately carried him on the lifeboat.

Alice sat still. She was feeling weak and an unexpected pain in her shoulder and her side. "Alice !" Steve ran to her. "What are you still doing here ? You have to go to the lifeboat ! Stark is going to destroy Ultron's device." She got up unsteadily. The after effects were making their way to her. She used too much power, and she seemed to have taken a few bullets as well.

"Alice you're really pale..." He blanched he saw a crimson liquid flowing from her side. "You're bleeding ! You were shot !" He lifted her in his arms, carrying her to the boat. Alice didn't have the strength to protest. She was feeling more and more light headed.

Everybody seemed to have evacuated because the lifeboat took off, and she faintly saw the flying city explode. She wanted to ask Steve but she couldn't make a sound. His mouth was moving as he looked at her, worry written all over his face, but she couldn't hear anything. Her senses were rapidly leaving her.

She passed out for a few minutes because when she opened her eyes, the captain rushed to the medics on the heliport. She noticed Pietro laid on a gurney. Vision arrived and put down Wanda near her brother. She gripped his hand, crying, as Alice was also put down on a gurney.

She looked one last time at the one she saved. Just before the darkness drowned her, she saw him slightly opening his eyes.