Together, we managed to take out another small group of bots with ease.
Ultron floated down from the sky, distanced from the church, and Thor, never one to back down from a challenge, shouted "IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?"
In response Ultron merely lifted a hand and bot upon bot rounded corners and emerged from buildings until there were at least a hundred, no doubt more.
The whole team inhaled sharply at the sheer number, Steve being the only one not to do so. "You had to ask." He remarked dryly at Odinson, giving a sigh.
"This," Ultron raised his hands to gesture at his army. "Is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted: all of you against all of me."
"We're a family, just like the kid said." Tony responded, giving me a side glance. "We'll do it together."
From there on in it was chaos.
The Hulk let out a mighty bellow as the entirety if Ultron's army charged at us.
We brawled and scrapped and fought for ages. The Avengers, as one, ripped the Ultrons limb from limb. We tore off metal heads and yanked out lifeless hearts. The Hulk completely shredded anything he could reach. Hawkeye and the Black Widow, with experienced movements, used their arsenal of gadgets and gismos to perfection, taking out the bots with quick, precise movements. Captain America, Thor, and the Iron Man opted for a more strength oriented approach-pure, brute force and well thought out blows. Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver used their abilities to a tee. She, with her telekinesis and glowing red eyes, ripped the bots apart without laying a finger on them, and he, moving in a flash of blues and whites with his increased strength, demolished the bots with each strike.
I was a mixture of all, not having a well-trained fighting technique for myself: The Ghost. I punched and kicked with enough force to deform metal. Every flick, twirl, clench and clap of my hands brought with it a slice of hell for each bot I laid my eyes on if they were too far for me to physically reach. I flickered in and out of ghost form, narrowly avoiding blasts or blows.
The Vision was above us, caught in a one-on-one battle with Ultron. Blow for blow they fought, neither seeming to be able to gain the desired upper hand.
After tearing yet another bot's head off, I turned to face outwards from the core to see a bot speeding in my direction. It had no intention of slowing down.
I realised with dread in my stomach that if I ghosted, it would fly right through me and get its evil, metallic hands on the core. It was too close for me to think of anything else, and a split second later I squared myself up as it flew towards my chest.
Fuck my life and everything in it this is gonna hurt like a bitch.
It collided with me full force, sending me soaring backwards through the air. My back hit the solid form of the core, and a wheezed out the breath that was knocked from me. My body had already been abused enough already, God damn it.
The bot continued to approach, and despite the pain in my chest and the extremely unpleasant dizziness, I raised my hands and crumpled the bot out of shape, crushing its head as I closed my fists.
"Get off your ass, kid." Tony scolded me. "Leaving us to do all the work ain't fair."
"Shut up, you asshole." I bit at him as I pulled myself to my feet with a stumble and punched my fist through a bot's chest. "I'm a fucking 15-year-old girl," I ripped the bot's head off "Fighting an army," My arms twisting away from each other sent two halves of the next bot to opposite sides of the church "Of fucking robots! Give me some fucking slack."
When Stark didn't give a witty reply, I continued my assault on the onrush of metal bodies that wouldn't seem to ever end.
Finally, long after my limbs had started to become dead weight hanging from my body, a glowing yellow beam from Vision sent Ultron propelling from the ruined church. Tony, Thor, and Vision all projected their assaults at him until he fell to his knees, the pieces of his face melting and falling off.
Disturbing and sad. And yet I take morbid joy from it.
Get yourself checked out, girl. You're unhinged.
Bruce came out of fucking nowhere and sumo slammed the motherfucker out of sight before Ultron could get a single sentence out.
I felt nothing at his beating. I despised him, I hated him for all he had done.
The rest of the bots scurried at the sight.
"They'll try to leave the city." Thor warned.
The Avengers scattered, taking down as many as possible in the air. It was obvious I wasn't much help up there since I couldn't fly. That didn't matter to me; I had a new mission.
It was only Wanda, Pietro and I left in the church.
"Get the people on the boats." She commanded her brother.
Pietro sighed. "I'm not going to leave you here." He argued.
"I can handle this." Wanda blasted a stray bot running at the core. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." She looked to me. "You should get yourself on a boat Riley, before it's too late."
I tapped my temple with a half grimace, half smirk. "I know when it's gonna be too late. Don't worry, I know what I'm doin'."
"So what are you going to do then, Rose?" Pietro asked.
"I'm coming with you." I said frankly to him. And I was, no matter what. I swore to myself that I wouldn't let him die and I was to fulfil that promise. Fuck the consequences.
"No, no. I don't care what you think you know." He shook his head. "You're getting on a boat. Besides, you'll only slow me down."
"I don't fuckin' care!" I screeched, taking a breath to calm myself as he stopped, taken aback by my outburst. "I'm coming with you. It's not a question."
"Okay, take her with you," Wanda directed him, giving me a trusting nod. "Then come back for me."
He sighed again, overly dejectedly.
"Do you understand?" Wanda pressed.
The silver-haired man breathed out a chuckle, lifting me onto his back as he joked, "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."
"Go." She laughed.
And then we were off.
Either Bruce or Pietro.
As Pietro and I guided the last few stragglers onto the carriers, I realised then that I would only be able to do one thing: stop Bruce from leaving, or save Pietro's life.
I loved Bruce Banner. He was the father I didn't have. But he would leave, I knew this. I never said goodbye and I had no idea if I would ever see him again. It broke my heart.
I loved Pietro Maximoff, too. He was… well, I wasn't sure what he was to me. But I cared about him and he would die if I chose to stop Bruce. And doing nothing when I could have done something would tear me apart.
I knew what I was going to do.
I heard it before I saw it. I knew immediately what it was.
Gunfire.
The jet soared towards us. My eyes narrowed in on Clint cradling the little boy in his arms.
A chill ran down my spine at the thought of what was to come and what I would have to sacrifice in order to stop it.
The gunfire rained down on the ground, throwing Steve and Thor off their feet, drawing closer to Clint. The archer steeled himself, turning away to shield the boy.
I ran right into the line of fire, where I knew Pietro would be.
I saw him, his eyes opening wide as he realised what was about to happen to Clint. He sped close, dragging an overturned car to cover Clint as fast as he could. He was a blue and silver blur to me, but I knew where he was and where he was moving.
As if in slow motion, the gunfire crept towards us, but I didn't try to shield myself from it. As Pietro passed by me to Clint, I seized his shoulder, hooking myself onto his back for dear life as he sped past. It felt like I my arm was ripping from its socket because of the speed.
I screamed with exertion as I threw my hand out, shoving the car the rest of the way, and then releasing my hold on Pietro. I propelled off him with the only energy I had left, sending him flying backwards out of the way. As I felt myself falling to the dirt and cement, the first high powered bullet pierced my thigh.
My scream grew louder, this time in pain. The second bullet ripped right through the centre of my outstretched wrist, no doubt leaving a hole in the flesh large enough for me to fit a finger through.
I smacked into the dirt, my neck lashing back under the impact on my spine and throwing my skull to the cement.
The third bullet opened my stomach, just below my right ribs. I thought I might black out from the pain, hell, I fucking prayed that the adrenaline might stop me from feeling it as bad, but it didn't.
It was fucking agonizing.
I lay on my back as the gunfire passed.
I screamed like I'd never screamed before, louder and more high-pitched than ever. I clutched the hole in my wrist to try and stop the gush of blood from the circle I could peer through like a seeing glass. I writhed on the ground, mad as a cut snake.
Then there were hands on me, big, warm and gentle. I thought it might have been Bruce before I realised he was gone. The hands jostled my head into a lap and I looked upwards as far as I could to see Thor. He was kneeling on the dirt, his hammer discarded and forgotten at his side.
I blinked slow, over and over again, my screaming had stopped and I could no longer find the will to open my mouth again.
I turned my head to the side where Clint was crouching. The car had protected both him and the little boy. His face dropped when he realised what I had done, handing the boy to a SHIELD worker and skittering over to me on hands and knees. He took my hand with trembling fingers, trying to uselessly cover up the wound on my wrist, and I choked on each sob that wracked my convulsing body.
I knew I was going to die.
Not a nice thought for someone who's only been alive for like a week.
Pietro appeared with a flash on my other side, skidding to his knees and placing his hands over my bleeding thigh.
"No, you silly girl." He mumbled frantically. "No, you cannot die. You can't."
Thor's hand was splayed over the wound on my stomach, Clint's hand on my wrist, and Pietro's on my thigh, but the blood didn't stop. It continued rushing from my wounds like waterfalls, pouring over my skin. I looked as though someone had tipped a bucket of red over me.
The corners of my mouth turned up in a weak and sour smile, dropping every time I took a pained breath. "Don't tell me what to do."
Steve was rushing over now, I could see behind Pietro.
"You knew I was going to die, didn't you?" Pietro clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. "You took my place."
I tried to laugh but the chuckle only brought a hack of blood into my mouth, which I spat to the side. "Got you good, didn't I Peach?"
Steve had his hand on my cheeks, turning my head to look at him.
"Hey, Capsicle." I croaked. "Glad you could join the party. I hear it's a killer."
He frowned deeply. "Don't give up on me, Riley. You're strong, you can get through this."
"Don't try and give me a pep talk, you ass." I grinned lightly with blood stained teeth. The grin fell from my face and my bottom lip trembled uncontrollably. "I'm dying."
"Don't say that, kid." Clint said, squeezing my wrist harder to stop the flow. "You're not gonna die, do you hear me? You are not gonna die."
My smile collapsed and then I was sobbing hysterically. I reached my free hand out for Steve, who grasped it firmly despite it being slick with blood. My body shuddering with every breath, my chest heaving and straining to draw breath as my head became light from blood loss.
I coughed again, this time more blood was hacked into my mouth, too much for it to hold, so it spilled over my lips.
I closed my eyes tightly, trying with all my might to stop the sobbing; I could feel unconsciousness swooping in on me and I wanted to get out everything I could in the short time I had left.
"This isn't such a bad way to die: doing something that matters, surrounded by the people closest to me." I sobbed and another mouthful of blood shot from my lips which I tried my best not to choke on. I clenched my eyes shut tighter.
"Steve, Clint, Thor, Pietro," I named everyone off in my head like a checklist. "Bruce, Natasha, Tony, Rhodes, Vision, Wanda. I know I haven't known any of you long, but you're my family and I…" My breath caught in my throat.
It's the right time.
"I love you guys." My voice rose higher with every word and for the second time I was reduced to uncontrollable sobbing. "I love you guys," Another sob. "So much." "I love–" More blood. "–you."
Something was wrong. I was forgetting someone important, someone scratching at the back of my mind that I should be mentioning.
I looked up at Thor as one of his silent tears splashed upon my forehead. I would have laughed and made a joke about his fragile masculinity if I didn't think it would end in me choking on my own blood.
He thought his brother was dead, and I had no desire to spoil the surprise for him, but if I was going to die I say fuck it, now was the time to tell him to keep hope.
"Thor, you are a good person, and you always find the good in others. I know you can find it within yourself to see the good in your brother." His brows furrowed, but I ignored his confusion. "Don't give up on Loki, no matter what. Do it for me."
Tears blurred my vision and a pounding at the base of my skull took over. I could feel how close I was. "Next time you see him, tell Bruce I love him."
More blood than ever before spilled over my lips and this time I choked. With each breath, the red was sucked down into my lungs and it felt like I was drowning. I coughed it up only to inhaled it back in.
My body became light, the pain searing through me like a branding iron under my skin, and I closed my eyes to the sound of Clint repeating over and over like a mantra, "no, no, no".
I felt my self being scooped into a set of arms – Steve's, by the material of the uniform – and carried somewhere.
I slipped away into the darkness to the sway of each step he took.
