The comms crackled.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better," Nick said.

The Helicarrier broke through the clouds. Niobe let out a gasp-like laugh.

"Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do," Nick said.

"Fury, you son of a bitch," Steve said.

"Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Nick asked.

The team watched lifeboats fly in towards them.

Behind them, Pietro ran up with Wanda.

"This is SHIELD?" Pietro asked.

"This is what SHIELD's supposed to be," Steve said.

"This is not so bad," Pietro said.

"Let's load 'em up," Steve said.

Throughout the city, the team directed civilians out of buildings, loading them onto the boat. As Niobe waved people onto the boats, she watched as two men in metal suits flew by.

"Yes! Now, this is gonna be a good story," James said.

"Yep. If you live to tell it," Tony said.

"You think I can't hold my own?" James asked.

"We get through this, I'll hold your own," Tony said.

"You had to make it weird," James said.

OOOOO

Niobe stood beside Steve. The area was empty now, everyone locked away on the lifeboats.

"We can go home," Niobe said.

Steve smiled.

"Maybe," he said.

"No," she said. "We can do this."

Her eyes prickled. Her shoulders felt lighter. Before Steve could respond, the comms crackled.

"I got it! Create a heat seal. I can...I can supercharge the spire from below," Tony said.

"Running numbers," FRIDAY said. "A heat seal could work with enough power."

"Thor, I got a plan!" Tony said.

"We're out of time," Thor said. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier," Tony said.

"On it," James said.

"Avengers, time to work for a living," Tony said. "Obe, I'm coming to get you."

The Jedi laughed and stepped further into an open space waiting for Tony to fly up and lift her into the sky.

OOOOOO

"Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini," Tony said.

"Relax, Shell-head. Not all of us can fly," Natasha said.

The assassin ran into the church.

"What's the drill?" Natasha asked.

"This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose," Tony said.

Behind them, Ultron flew up to the team.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor asked.

Ultron held out his arms and summoned his army of robots to join him.

"You had to ask," Steve said.

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

"Well, like the old man said. Together," Tony said.

Niobe ignored the pain in her muscles and readied herself. Robots flew in each direction. She took down several with quick slices, trading places with Natasha every so often.

"This like home?" Natasha asked.

Niobe snorted.

"Not quite," Niobe said.

Niobe pushed out a large burst of the force, shoving a large portion of the surrounding robots into walls, causing the bots to crumble.

"Jesus," Natasha said.

"Down!" Niobe said.

Natasha dropped and Niobe threw her blade into the chest of an attacking bot.

Slowly, the robots once endless arrival, died down. Niobe dashed outside of the church. Tony, Vision, and Thor stood in front of Ultron. Tony struck first with a powerful white beam. Thor called lighting down on Ultron and Vision released a gold beam of his own from the stone in his head. The Jedi covered their backs while they attacked. When the light died out, Niobe stepped forward.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight..." Ultron said.

Niobe swung at Ultron's head, slicing the crushed metal off. The four fell silent. Niobe turned to the rest of the robots. They began to run in the other direction, heading towards the edge.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor said.

"We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!" Tony said.

"I'm on it," James said. "Oh, no, I didn't say you could leave. War Machine, comin' at you, right...Okay, what?"

OOOOOOO

"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you," Steve said.

"I'll help," Niobe said. "I'll take the left of the city."

Steve nodded and the pair took off.

"I told you we would win this," she said.

He laughed and shook his head.

"Yeah," he said. "Just make sure you make it to a boat in time, okay?"

"Of course," she said. "I will meet you halfway from the church."

Steve nodded and they divided, heading down empty streets.

OOOOOOOOO

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it. It's my job." Wanda said.

Clint and Natasha head out of the church, leaving Wanda fighting the last of the bots.

"Get the people on the boats," Wanda said.

Pietro Maximoff: I'm not going to leave you here.

"I can handle this," Wanda said. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before."

"Hmm," Pietro said.

"You understand?" Wanda said.

"You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you," Pietro said.

Wanda chuckled, releasing her hold on him.

"Go," Wanda said.

"Boss, power levels are way below opt..." FRIDAY said.

"Re-route everything. We get one shot at this," Tony said.

OOOOOOOOO

Hulk ran throughout the city, searching for Niobe. He wanted to call out to her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of yellow. Niobe was under attack. Hulk ran towards the blur in time to watch Niobe fall off the edge from the shove of a robot.

Hulk let out a thunderous roar.

Niobe fell through clouds, looking back at the city hovering above the surface of the planet.

She knew that death was a possibility, but in the back of her mind, she imagined surviving long enough to see Ani or at least to say goodbye to Helen. A list of regrets filled her mind. She wished she had spoken to Ani one last time. She wished she had been there for Padme in her last moments.

Niobe wished she had kissed Helen when she had the chance.

Resigning herself to her fate. The Jedi closed her eyes. She waited for the inevitable.

OOOOO

"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church," Tony said.

Tony opened the chest of his suit and Thor flew to the church after securing the last of the Sokovians.

"You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away," Tony said.

"Maybe not," Thor said. "Pietro, take Wanda."

Pietro ran in and grabbed his twin. They nodded to the god and took off in a blur towards the lifeboats.

"Thor, on my mark," Tony said.

"Wait!" Steve said.

"What?" Tony asked. "We gotta move, Cap."

"Does anyone have eyes on Obe?" Steve asked.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

Tony stopped and Thor hesitated. Tony felt panic build in his chest. He wanted to leave his position, he wanted to find her and make sure she was safe.

"She left to do a sweep of the city," Natasha said.

"She was supposed to meet me back where we split off," Steve said.

"We gotta find her, she might be out of range," Tony said.

"I'll head to the boats and look on the way," Steve said. "She's probably back there on a lifeboat. Niobe's fast, take the city down Stark."

"No," Tony said.

"We can't wait any longer," Thor said.

Thor called on a blast of lightning.

"NO!" Tony said.

Tony released a burst of energy from his chest into the core. Thor used his hammer to hit the Vibranium core in the church and the city to begin to crumble.

Tony flew up to the top of the city, finding the god. Tony tackled into Thor, sending them flying into the sky.

"Gather yourself, Stark!" Thor said. "We have a job to do. One person does not equal an entire globe of humans."

Thor shoved Tony off of him and went to the lifeboats.

"FRIDAY-," Tony said.

"Already on it boss," FRIDAY said.

Tony watched the AI scan the remains of the falling city.

"I got nothing boss," FRIDAY said. "She's gone."

OOOOOOOOO

"I know what I need to do. The dining room! If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice workspace for Laura, huh? Put up some baffling, she can't hear the kids running around, what do you think?" Clint said.

"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway," Natasha said.

"No one eats in a dining room," Clint said. "We don't have a lot of time."

"So get your ass on a boat," Natasha said.

Natasha steps out of the car, heading towards the sound of the Hulk's roar. She finds him standing near an edge, chest heaving.

"Hey, big guy. Sun's getting real low," Natasha said.

Hulk looked at Natasha. His face was broken. There was a sadness Natasha had could not recognize. She held out her hand for his.

"Hulk?" Natasha asked.

He backed away and before Natasha could step towards him again, he jumped off into the air.

"Nat!" Clint said. "Get back to the ship!"

Natasha hesitated, looking back into the clouds where Hulk had been. She turned towards the lifeboats and ran.