Chapter Sixty-Nine
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There was no time to waste.

Together, Wanda and I did our best to get everyone on board the last round of life rafts. The Hulk careened by on a raging stampede, knocking down any incoming drones crawling up out of the ground; War Machine flew through the air, providing escort for the life rafts.

The air was getting noticeably thinner, a lot of the civilians needing help just to get on board. I spotted Dr. Siwa again, now wearing an oxygen mask full time, while wearing a thicker coat. I hadn't even noticed the drop in temperature, but next to me, Wanda shivered.

Despite my worried look, she said, "The city is slowing down. I can feel it."

Which meant we probably wouldn't suffocate. But it wasn't comforting, either. It meant we were closer to the catastrophic range ULTRON wanted.

Dr. Siwa approached us as the last of the life rafts left, leaving only one behind, mostly empty except for ex-SHIELD crew. His shout was muffled through his mask, braids whipping in the wind. "We're not leaving until every last person is off this rock. That includes the Avengers."

My stomach dipped, knowing what that meant if we failed. Dr. Siwa met my eyes and nodded once. He understood the choice they were making.

They were ready to die, too.

At his urging, Wanda and I rushed off to meet up with the rest of the Avengers. Wanda couldn't exactly fly, but until she figured it out, she could blast herself off the ground in short bursts, crossing blocks in a single bound and easily keeping up with my advanced running speed.

All around us, the city of Novi Grad howled empty, like a ghost town. It was haunting, to see all of these hollow buildings, dark windows and cracked walls, half falling apart. Was this still able to be saved? I couldn't see most of these buildings being livable even if they remained standing after a gentle landing. Everything would have to be rebuilt. So much would be lost. Not just homes and workplaces, but the smaller things. The photos, the toys, the books, the heirlooms. Most of the people we helped load onto the life rafts had nothing but the clothes on their backs and whatever they managed to carry in their arms or a backpack here or there. There had been no time for a complete and organized evacuation before the city was broken away.

No matter what happened, thousands will lose their entire livelihoods.

And there was nothing we could do.

"They'll be alive," Wanda said, reading my thoughts. I had to pause to catch my breath, just outside the church that sat in the center of the city. Where ULTRON had set this core of his. She rested a hand on my shoulder, "They'll have their families and friends and their memories. It will be hard. But we can rebuild. Just like we have after every other war. This is not the first time."

It was both hopeful, and daunting. That maybe this wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to Novi Grad, to Sokovia. It was hard to believe. But I also hadn't been here during the Cold War. The Yugoslav Wars that followed. Or World War Two that preceded. Many and more I probably didn't even know about.

ULTRON was just the latest in a long line of tyrants and dictators exerting his will over the country.

Inside, the other Avengers had gathered — Natasha steamrolling in on a borrowed plow truck. The Hulk, bounding in with a great roar, and Thor flashing in with a thunder and crash of lightning. Pietro was the last to join.

"You two alright?" Pietro said, immediately checking in on us, not even pausing to catch his breath.

"We are fine," Wanda said, brushing away some hair that had gotten into his face. "You?"

"I did not see anyone left," Pietro shrugged. "A few drones, but not as much as I thought."

"We didn't come across any, either," I said, exchanging a look with Wanda. Maybe War Machine did a very good job clearing the air, but we should've met more resistance on our way here. But we had run all the way without ever needing to stop.

"Everyone, group up!" Steve called over the wind. Even the Hulk swung around to listen in his lumbering, huffing away. The church was barely large enough to contain the entire team — in the center was a large metal cylinder sticking out of the earth, lights glowing faintly in the sunlight.

"What's the drill?" Natasha said, still smelling like the fuel from the plow truck.

"This is the drill?" Tony pointed a cracked gauntlet to the metal cylinder in the center. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

I stared at the core, the one thing that determined whether or not we survived this final battle. Such a small thing, it was only three feet tall and maybe a foot in diameter. But it was the key to the engines lifting the city higher into the sky.

"Is there any way we can bring this city back down?" I asked Tony, brow drawing together in worry.

"I don't know," He replied, his voice tinny behind the helmet, but it didn't hide his own fear. "I haven't figured out a way to divert the power to the engines. Or just to… stop this thing in general that doesn't set off, like, three different self-destruct mechanisms. The real trick is gonna be taking this rock out without causing major damage to the surrounding area. The evacuees still haven't gotten out of the red zone below. And to be honest, we don't have enough time to figure out any other way. We either lose, run out of oxygen or… this thing enters outer space. And by that point, there won't be anything left to save."

The words hung in the air, heavy and grim. No one said anything for a long moment, until Steve cleared his throat. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, our focus is protecting this core at all costs."

A shadow fell through the open archways, and everyone turned. And there was ULTRON, floating a hundred feet in the air, looming over in his new, much bigger body. Gleaming in the sunlight, it was pure vibranium.

Thor surged forward at the sight of him, bellowing, "Is that the best you can do?"

Instead of speaking, ULTRON raised a hand. At first, nothing happened. Until I saw the dust stirring on the ground, and all the drones, all the ones that we hadn't seen, all the ones we hadn't destroyed yet, came piling in on foot; more flew in, surrounding ULTRON in a veritable army of androids. Hundreds of them. Completely outnumbering us. My mouth went dry at the sight of it, heart pounding. Holy shit.

Steve cut Thor a glance, looking utterly dead inside. "You had to ask."

"This is the best I can do," ULTRON boomed, arms held out to the army assembled. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony said, tilting his head and shrugging one shoulder. "Together."

With that, Hulk roared, beating his chest. It shook the earth beneath my feet. A small preamble to the pandemonium that followed.

I didn't have time to think of my fear. The horror as the drones moved at once, a stampede of metal as they charged the church, the Avengers waiting within. I raised my shield in preparation; Clint with his bow and arrows, Natasha snapping out her electric batons; Wanda, already burning red and the air crackled with the electricity crackling around Thor's hammer; Steve already winding his arm back for a shield throw while Stark was already lifting into the air, alongside the Vision. And the drones got ever closer — the distance only took seconds to cross. It was too fast, and yet time seemed to slow, my heart beat grinding to a halt in my ears, forgetting to breathe. The ground rumbled harder and harder and then —

They hit.

For the first few seconds, I heard nothing. Nothing but the blood rushing past my ears as a drone smashed into my shield and I flipped it to the ground — crushed its throat beneath my heel just as the second drone slammed into me, then a third, a fourth.

Before they could overwhelm me, they were cast aside by Wanda in an explosive spell. Ribbons of silver swirled around us as Pietro circled and dodged and zip-zagged and took hairpin turns, bashing into drones at full speed like a very skinny, shiny linebacker.

And the sound, the noise, the cacophony came rushing in as I took a breath, gasping when I took a blow to my stomach before bashing the offending drone with my shield. Grabbed the next one with my bare hands and tore its head from its body through the sheer power of strength and rage. Feeling its metal tendons and skeleton tear apart in my fists like putty.

I didn't even know I could do that. It felt great.

Arrows snapped past my head, catching a drone trying to flank me. I felt the scrabble of a fight behind me and spun, seeing the android first, Natasha after I had kicked its knee out and decapitated its head with a swing of vibranium.

"Lift!" Natasha lunging towards me — I ducked down, holding my shield over my head and giving her the launch pad she needed to leap into the air and latch onto the back of the drone that was clinging to Stark's foot, yanking it off so he could chase after ULTRON, who was now flying in the upper rafters of the church. The drone spammed as she jammed her charged batons into its sternum.

The drone dropped, Natasha with it — I caught her before she could make a hard landing. Natasha didn't linger, jumping back into the fight without even catching her breath.

I kept going.

There were so many drones. But they weren't vibranium like ULTRON was. I tore through them easily, so easily. They weren't flesh or blood. If they were I'd be covered in it — I grabbed another drone and pulled its arm from its socket, throwing the body so hard against the wall the stone cracked.

Dark oil splattered against the white star on my chest.

Constantly moving. Never staying still for more than a moment — couldn't afford to.

Crushing the thorax of one drone with a spartan kick. Putting my fist through the face of another.

Catching one mid-step so Pietro could run it down. Throwing one Wanda's way to have its atoms split apart.

Blood leaked into my eye. I didn't remember taking a blow, nor did I feel any pain; my blood was singing too hot.

No time to wait and wonder.

Rubble rained in from overhead as blasts from various attackers blew holes through the ceiling of the church. Entire walls came crumbling down as the attack unfolded, revealing the outer streets, and more drones incoming.

I took a blast to the side and it didn't even burn. Knew better than to look down and see how bad it was. I couldn't afford to get distracted. To hesitate, to feel the pain I didn't need to feel. It was as easy as flipping a switch, knowing what I needed to do, what I needed from my body.

In time, I'd probably rue such a choice. When the fight was over, and I was still alive to feel every bruise and cut and burn I ever got today.

If I was still alive.

Couldn't afford to think about it now.

Yet that fate loomed in the back of my mind. As I threw my shield to take out a drone trying to throttle Pietro, I couldn't help but think of my own Peter back at home. Wondering if he was okay. If New York was holding up under his watchful eye. If he was doing me proud by annoying the shit out of my dad.

Dad. Bucky. My throat went dry. Would he still be there when I got back? Or would the trouble be too much, and he'd leave?

That distraction cost me. I didn't see the hand coming until too late, grabbing me by my collar and yanking me into the air. Gasping, I looked up in time to see ULTRON, right before he tossed me into the air and raised his other hand to fire, like I was a clay pigeon.

Vision materialized in front of me, catching me and dematerialized again so the blast went right through us. And I kind of wish it had hit me after all, because having all of my atoms shifted into another plane of reality and back again left me feeling all sorts of fucked up. Pietro had to steady me when Vision safely deposited me on the ground, while Thor yeeted his hammer and ULTRON was too busy to try and kill me again.

"Are you okay?" Pietro had to shout over the cacophony, while I was bent over, retching up a dry stomach.

"No!" I finally gasped, before flapping my hand at him, urging Pietro to go on. "Protect the core!"

That was far more important. Wanda was doing what she could, standing nearest to it and whipping up clouds of red magic, sparkling in the air. I had paid for my inattention, I didn't want anyone else to as well. Pietro gave me one last frown of disapproval before vanishing in a swirl of silver. I had another second to recover before a drone tackled me, and it was back to business as usual.

After the initial nauseas and skin-itchiness and insides-turning, I was okay. Hopefully being phased out of solid matter hadn't also scrambled my brains, because those were in bad enough shape as it was. But I could still fight, so I guess all the important bits were still good.

I felt better when I front-flipped and crushed the drone on my back beneath me. Homicidal physical therapy.

Returning to Wanda's side, I fell back into my groove. For a moment, it all felt so familiar, like we were fighting side by side in front of the gates of Novi Grad, splitting them open and igniting a civil war. The good ol' days, as they were. That strangely good feeling would only come to have a name later: belonging.

My heart pounded. My senses were on fire. Adrenaline coursed through me and I never felt more alive.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw lightning flash across the room, from Thor's spinning hammer to strike Steve's shield, ricocheting off and taking out the drones that were climbing up the interior walls like demon spiders.

My shield bounced off the high narrow walls, taking out whatever else I could. The vibranium disk returned to my hands, gloves ripped to reveal bloody knuckles, over black oil slipping off a smooth surface, turning the red star murky brown. My eyes lingered on it for a long second before I slung it into the air again.

I'd come a long way from where I'd been only a few months ago. The shield still bore the awful black stripes I had grown to hate, to erase, to accept. I couldn't forget my past and I couldn't get rid of it. And I didn't know yet how to fix my shield, make it a little less hard to look at. But I was getting to a place where maybe it didn't hurt so much to wait until I found the perfect solution.

Maybe there wasn't one, but still. I'd find something.

Beside me, Natasha threw aside a gun when she had run out of ammo, using the weapon as a blunt instrument to damage a drone before killing it.

And I wondered how much longer we could last before we ran out. Of ammunition, of energy, of air. ULTRON could still beat us in a battle of sheer attrition, core or no core.

So far, he hadn't made it yet.

Blocking a blow Wanda never saw. Picking up a big rock and chucking it at a drone like a deadly baseball and taking its head, saving Clint some trouble.

The air tasted a little funny now, but I couldn't dwell on it. I didn't want to think about how high up we must be, how so very close we were to total annihilation. If it overwhelmed me, I'd be useless.

I couldn't be useless.

Everywhere around me, there was constant movement. No way for me to keep up with what everyone else was doing. I'd look one way and see Vision and ULTRON spinning in the air, turn again and see the Hulk rampaging across the room and smashing two drones together to shatter like LEGOs. Clint taking one drone after another with a multitude of trick arrows, Thor cracking lightning this way and that. Natasha's escrima sticks flashing in the air like the buzzing of bees, and Steve a blur of red, white, and blue. Pietro, a silver streak of light to match Wanda's scarlet.

All of us, acting as one. A unit.

A team. The Avengers.

Maybe it was just me, but the drones seemed to be thinning out. It was hard to tell at first, because they just kept coming and coming. I had no idea how many I had destroyed — I'd lost count after thirty-seven.

But there was a small but growing gap in time from one drone to the next. What initially been an endless onslaught that had me busy wherever I turned, I now found myself seeking them out. Milliseconds between kills became moments, and I began to notice my panting, a stumble here or there, as the adrenaline began to wear off as the worst of the fight began to dwindle. No, no, I couldn't lose my energy now. I still had plenty more to go.

When ULTRON was finally thrown through a wall, to be chased by Thor, Iron Man, and Vision, I knew the tide had turned in our favor.

Not long after, the drones started pulling back. A retreat, I realized, after smashing a drone's head against the wall, as another took one look at me and high-tailed it out of there.

Whatever happened to ULTRON outside, it must have been enough. The AI did not return. Thor did.

"They're fleeing the city," Thor called, his voice booming with the swell of his cape.

"We can't let them, not even one." Tony Stark's voice echoed in my ear. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it."

Outside, I could see the drones that were still capable, flying off. Thor was quick to chase them, aided by Stark and Vision, the only others capable of doing the same. It left the remainder of the Avengers standing inside the ruined church catching their breath, a brief respite.

The core, untouched next to Wanda.

We had succeeded.

As I tried to steady myself, I found myself stumbling again, feeling weirdly lightheaded. Steve caught me just in time, before I could crack my head against a column.

"Mia, are you okay?" Steve was quick to check me over for injuries, but as far as I could tell, I was fine.

"I'm… not hurt," I said between gasps. Despite the fight being over, I was still breathing too hard; I couldn't stop. It was like I couldn't take in enough oxygen, and my fingers had long since gone numb. "Just… having… having trouble breathing…"

It reminded me of those awful asthma attacks I used to have. I did not like experiencing such a thing again, like I was breathing through cotton. Like I couldn't control my own body.

Steve took one look at me, concerned etched across his features, before he turned to the rest and said, "We gotta move out, the air is getting too thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers. I'll be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked, gesturing with his bow. He, Natasha, and the twins were also having difficulty catching their breaths, clouds forming around their mouths at each exhale.

"I'll protect it," Wanda said almost immediately, swallowing another mouthful of oxygen. "It's my job."

Steve didn't take off until after I was back on my feet again, and I'd waved him off. Natasha and Clint followed soon after, leaving just the three of us. But even as I stood, I still swayed, and not because of the ground beneath my feet.

I heard, rather than saw, Wanda say, "Pietro, get Mia to the boats."

"I'm not going to leave you here," Pietro replied, affronted.

"I can handle this," Wanda said, looking Pietro in the eyes as she flicked a hand, casting aside a drone without so much as a glance. "Come back for me when everyone else is on the boats. Not before. You understand?"

Pietro threw me a frown, and I guess I made for a convincing argument, because he finally relented with a sigh of annoyance. "You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you."

Wanda chuckled. "Go."

I didn't resist when Pietro's arms wrapped around me, and we took off. I didn't have the air to argue with either of them; it was hard to focus on anything, but maybe the wind in my face helped. I finally tapped Pietro on the arm to let him know I was okay, but Pietro didn't stop until we had reached the edge of the city. I was almost surprised to see that there was still one last life raft waiting.

"I will look for stragglers, then get Wanda," Pietro said once I was standing again. "Can you get there by yourself?"

"Do I look helpless?" I asked sarcastically, and when Pietro opened his mouth I held up a finger. "Don't answer that. I'll be fine, go."

And with that, he was off again, leaving me to regret some life choices as I made my way over to the life raft. It was only three hundred feet away. It felt like the longest distance in my life. The air was still too thin. Thinner, now. And all my exertion thus far was now catching up with me.

I still flinched at every shadow, thinking it was a drone that was going to sneak up on me from behind. But all the drones had vacated the flying city, leaving me twitching at nothing. There were some remaining civilians still making their way to the life raft. One, a man with a bad limp, looked like he could use some help, so I ran over to give him a shoulder to lean on. I would've picked him up myself if I wasn't currently afraid of dropping him.

At the life raft, Thor and Steve stood, with Clint nearby. I didn't see Natasha anywhere. "W-where's N— Black Widow?"

"She's trying to reel in Banner," Steve said with a nod to a park beyond, just out of sight. "ULTRON stole our quinjet so this is our only option now."

"And the city?"

"It's too high," Thor responded, his tone low and grim. "The only option is to destroy it, before your world meets its end."

"You know, even if this works," Tony said over the earpiece. "Maybe we don't walk away."

My heart dropped. We all exchanged looks. Steve bowed his head. "Maybe not."

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to dwell on our possible demise, because another one was arriving quick. I first heard the distant gunfire, Hulk's roar echoing across the streets, before the rogue quinjet appeared, sweeping over the streets. It's minigun, firing on whoever was left standing there.

Steve called out in alarm, "Save who you can!"

There's nothing quite like rushing right into gunfire. But there I was, right alongside them as Steve and Thor ran in, using shield and body to protect anyone they could reach.

I got in just in time to block the hail of bullets from hurting a woman who had fell behind; the strength of the gunfire was relentless, terrifying, but the vibranium did not give and can-sized hunks of metal dropped at my feet as I hunched over the woman. She cried out in terror, but then it passed, and then I was pulling her onto her feet and getting her back to the raft.

ULTRON thankfully hadn't turned his guns on the boat yet, but it was only a matter of time. The onslaught had kicked up a lot of dust, making it difficult to see anything as I ran back in, hearing someone cry out. So difficult I didn't see the pile of rubble until after I tripped over it at full speed, sending me sprawling. Hard enough to send the shield from my hand, and I watched it roll away on its edge like an errant frisbee before rumbling to a stop.

The fall affected me harder than I thought, finding myself briefly winded and struggling to breathe again. Which, normally, not the most terrible thing to happen to me.

If the dust hadn't cleared, and the quinjet had turned back to me.

"Kid!" Clint's shout was preamble to the hands around my arms, trying to help me up. "Come on, we don't have time —"

Dazed and coughing, I reached helplessly for my shield, the only thing that could protect us. Above, the minigun trained on us, and began to spin.

I was still just coming to a stand. My shield, only ten feet away.

Too far.

No time. There was no time.

Clint, without a word, pulled me to his chest, and turned his body. I didn't realize what he was doing until after the fact. Trying to protect me in whatever way he could.

How my chest hollowed out in the hopeless endeavor, the meaningless sacrifice, the last saving act.

Those bullets would tear right through the both of us.

And still. There was nothing left to do. Only to close my eyes, and pray it was quick.

That whir of the minigun, grinding, awful, relentless. The flinch as I waited for hot metal to rip through my body.

How it never came.

The second pair of hands around the both of us, the familiar, sickening feeling of being jerked off my feet at subsonic speed.

The taste of ozone in the air. The flash of silver behind my eyelids.

The snap of the wind, the skip of my heart.

It was all over in a moment.

The ground rushed up to meet me with stupendous force. Knocking the air out of my lungs again, I was thoroughly stunned, blinking the dust out of my eyes. Clint also fell to his knees next to me, hand on my back.

An overturned car behind us, riddled with new holes.

Overhead, the quinjet streaking by, leaving us to stare at him. At Pietro, standing over us, breathing hard, his pale hair windswept.

A smile on his face.

Not a single one of us shot.

Pietro grinned down at us, holding out his hands. "What? You didn't see that coming?"