PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME HERE AND GO
I'LL BREAK AND I'LL SHATTER AND I'LL CRUMBLE INTO PIECES
AND NO ONE BUT YOU KNOWS HOW TO FIX ME
She reckons, only because she doesn't know, only because she's never been told, that her first word might have been Tony.
It was. Not a single person was surprised when three-month-old Elizabeth Stark had happily, but coherently, babbled 'Ony' while in her brother's arms.
It makes sense. His name is the one that she's called the most, the word she's said the most, her favourite ensemble of letters in the world.
Most children call out for 'dad' and 'mom' when they were afraid of the storm or when they woke up from a nightmare. Mom and dad weren't necessary when she had Tony. Tony who always made her laugh until she forgot and would stay until she fell asleep. It was Tony she called for when she had a bruise on her knee after falling off her bike and Tony whom she showed her acceptance letters to.
So, it made sense, when the city of Sokovia started to fly in the air and its residents started to fall off the edges that should have never been and there's pure, unrestricted chaos, for her to call her brother's name.
"Tony,"
He flies above her, hovering, and some of the pressure in her chest releases by a fraction.
"The core." Is his only explanation and it's enough of an explanation. Her whole world has been deduced to this flying country that most don't ever think about and it's the only thing running through her mind when Ultron, as if he were anything but a fragment of Tony's creation, rises up and delivers a speech, a speech by which he could only formulate because of her brother.
"You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword. And the earth will crack with the weight of your-" It's as far as he gets until a large bolt of lightning, engulfed in flames strikes him to the ground where he would presumably, probably rise back up.
Still, watching him fall in the middle of what was supposed to be his moment of recognition gives Elizabeth just a little bit of satisfaction, just a little bit of a victory.
She looks at Steve, making sure he's okay; she's not losing anyone today, and when he nods his head she flies up to meet her brother in the air, despite the excessive use of her powers taking a toll on her. She pushes past the pain and draining sensation and flies through buildings and towers and gets as many people as she can, carrying them in rivers of water alongside her brother.
She feels a metal coldness on her shoulder and she allows herself to rest against her brother's suit for just a second, a second enough for Tony to whisper in her ear, "Get down. Help them down there."
She prepares to argue, prepares to convince him that she can fight, that she's been fighting her entire life but then stops when the faceplate lifts and Tony gives her a look.
He knows.
He knows about the fight his sister fought, the fight his sister is still fighting. He was there; he saw her trying to fight back. Saw her struggle under the weight of the legacy imprinted on her by some unknown entity. He saw her get up after the world tried to beat her down again and again.
He knows that she can fight. He knows she'll always have fight in her.
He doesn't want that for her.
So he tells her, "I've got control of the air, Vision's with me. Help the others on the ground. That's where the people are."
It's logical and rational and so his sister agrees, settling down onto the ground and he watches with satisfaction as her figure stops slumping under the pain of using too much of her powers.
She returns to Steve, somehow she always returns to Steve, and the supersoldier is peering off the edge of the country and she mirrors his actions, watching with restrained panic as Thor, balanced only by his hammer, the hammer she refuses to acknowledge, flies through the sky, towards two cars that are freefalling with passengers still inside.
"Thor, I'll catch if you throw." She tells him, hoping that the rush of the wind doesn't overpower her voice.
He does hear and the next thing she knows is that she's creating a wave of water larger than humanly possible and sweeping the cars and people back onto land. She collapses with them, the pressure in her bones forcing them to break overpowering her will and the world goes dark for just a split second before there are hands on her cheek and Steve's voice calling her name.
She opens her eyes too fast, the action hurting her brain but Steve's touch reels her back into reality and she takes his outstretched hand and stands up.
Elizabeth takes a look around at the many people stranded with them on this flying country. Cowering behind broken buildings against the attacks of the many robots that target anything that moves. She looks at the children and parents, innocents that have nothing to do with this, no place in this fight.
"We need to get them out of here."
"We do. Now more than ever. Cause I think I've got half a plan but it requires vaporizing the country and I can't do that with everyone on." Tony says.
Steve stares at Liz in trepidation, "We're going to destroy Sokovia."
Liz shrugs, "Better than Sokovia destroying the world."
Natasha finds her way next to them, voices the thought everyone has "We're not going to be able to get everyone off."
The spy reasons against Steve's cathartic beliefs, rationalizes the situation they're put in, sentiments about the view. Natasha tells them that there are worse ways to go, that she's never going to find a view like this. She doesn't tell them that she'd always thought she would die alone, doesn't tell them that as far as deaths go, she'd be privileged to die among the very people that have become her family.
She's not surprised that it's Fury, of all people, that shows up to save her. She's not surprised because Nick Fury had been her saviour ever since she reeked of blood and regrets. Nick Fury had been saving Natasha Romanoff for as long as she can remember, and for all the changes and tilts in her world, she's glad to have a constant.
They meet at the core, the team; The Avengers. They're outnumbered by robots but they're not scared. Not when they're together, not when victory is so close.
If anybody were there to witness the battle going on between the Avengers and the Ultrons, they would say, that despite the terror of it all, it looked almost magical.
There are streaks of Scarlet Witch's red, Thor's lightning, Vision's iconic amber, Iron Man's beams of yellow, Captain America's red and blue shield, Hawkeye's dark arrows, the white whiz of Quicksilver, the glowing shadow of Black Widow, the raging green of the Hulk and Infinity's plethora of colours depending on which element she uses. If not for the robots raging war on the world, the scene would be something to stay, watch and marvel at.
But that wasn't what made this scene so special. It wasn't the great amount of power that was being exhibited from both sides.
No, it was rather the way everyone on the team of good fought together, the way they worked in a way that presented their own individual strengths, but it was teamwork nevertheless. And if anyone were there to witness the battle, they would not see a group of dysfunctional humans who were forced together to save the greater good, but rather a team.
Maybe it was in the way, Quicksilver carried and dashed Scarlet Witch around, effectively dropping her in time so that her red ball of power would strike a robot square in the chest.
Maybe it was the way Thor used the hammer, throwing it around the air as if it were a beach ball instead of precious divinity that shouldn't even be on earth and throwing robots away with the weight of it. Infinity even took it to herself to coat the hammer with a burning flame in the split second it whizzed by her, so that the next time Thor hit a robot with it, it would combust, taking a couple of other bogies along with it to hell.
Or perhaps it was the way Hawkeye and Black Widow memorized the other's fighting patterns, using the knowledge to their advantage, firing arrows at the metal men Black Widow missed and shooting down robots that were nearing Hawkeye's retreating form. She always flipped out of the way when he would shoot. And he would always duck when she would kick.
Some would say it was in the way, the Captain catches Infinity with his shield, the latter jumping on it as if it were a trampoline, and the former boosting her up, with such ease that indicates that it wasn't the first time. Or maybe it's the way, Black Widow catches Captain America's shield without a second thought or a warning, as if she knew he was going to throw it to her. It could also be the way the Captain anticipates the wave of water that comes to save him when he's in danger of being burnt by a laser beam.
It could also be the way the Hulk knows who to hit and who not to. The way it roars whenever his teammates are injured. The way he gives a secret smile to Iron Man when the red and gold clad hero whizzes past him.
It is indisputably evident in the way Iron Man and Infinity fight together as if they have been doing so for centuries. She throws a bogie to him and he fires at it. She captures the robot by the neck while he shoots it, managing to keep his sister injury-free. He catches her when a tin man ruins her river of water that keeps her in the air. She throws icicles his way and without looking, he grabs and uses it to his advantage.
Many can agree that it may not even be the way they fight. It's the way Pietro pauses for a second in front of Wanda to receive confirmation that she's okay. The way everyone subtly helps Clint out, now that they know what he needs to go home to. The way Natasha and Liz smirk at each other, sharing a private, silent joke like the good friends they are. It's in the way, Steve's eyes meet Liz's for a brief moment, and everything just disappears, and although it's only for a moment, the two savour it as if it were an eternity, because they know that moments are all they have. It's in the way Thor closes his eyes for a fraction of a second, letting his mind be plagued with images of brown hair, matching eyes, and a night of watching the sky, before reopening them to fight with newfound strength. It's in the way Tony panics until he sees his sister, well and alive and in the way Liz always has her brother in her peripheral vision, just in case he needs help.
Or maybe it's all these factors. Because if anybody were there to witness the epic battle going on between the Avengers and the Ultrons, they would say that the Avengers would win.
Because they are a team.
Vision senses him coming. Maybe it's because Vision is intended to be Ultron, or perhaps it was the awfully loud groan of frustration he makes. But whatever it may be, Vision meets Ultron in the middle, not willing to shy away from any of his hits.
Something, maybe the surge of power that courses through him, tells him that it will take much more than a beautifully articulated form of metal to take him down.
Harnessing the power of the stone that resides on his head, an Infinity Stone, he channels it at his source of anger, pouring almost everything he has into it, while somehow knowing that it can never be enough.
As he's dragging Ultron into the open, away from the battle, he feels the energy start to drain; he hasn't had these powers for too long, so it's not a surprise that he has difficulty using them. It becomes more difficult when Ultron fights against it, and he thinks that he won't be able to hold against it any longer when three more beams accompany him.
The first one is Thor Odinson, blue lightning coming out in angry streaks, much describing the man who holds jovial temper wherever he goes, as he thinks he needs it in order to battle. It is an odd thought; the idea that anger could ever bring good to a war.
The second beam comes from Tony Stark's Iron Man. Vision's creator, the one that brought him to life. His beam is a fiery orange-red, hard and controlled on the outside, but holds great capabilities for creation, much like the man himself.
The final beam is the one that effectively puts Ultron down. The final beam is the one that could have done it without any help necessary. Elizabeth's Stark's lightning, encompassed by shards of ice and swirls of flames melts Ultron from the inside, causing the robot to go limp and shatter on the ground.
And eventually, the team that calls themselves The Avengers are the only ones remaining and Tony Stark explains his plan, looks to Thor to make sure that the God can produce enough lightning towards the core to balance Tony.
It's Pietro Maximoff, who had always been incredibly fascinated with mechanics, enough to be of awe at Tony Stark that questions his concerns, "Isn't that a large chance to take. What if the power isn't enough on both ends or too much."
Tony's about to tell him, very regretfully, that it is a chance they have to take when Thor, never taking his eyes off the hammer, asks, "What if we generate enough power to destroy both sides with one hit?"
Tony's eyes widen, as does everyone's, but it's the genius that confirms, "Ya. Ya, that would work. Can you do that?"
Thor shakes his head, "I can't, but she can."
He walks up to the girl that has been silent the entire time. The girl who never made sense, the girl who defied every story that he had heard, every piece of information he'd ever known. The girl who he had kept a close eye on ever since she tried to lift his hammer, the girl that somehow survived the blast of an Infinity Stone.
Thor walks up to Elizabeth Stark and hands out his hammer, smiling slightly; waiting for her to take it.
He had thought that maybe it was her lightning. He had thought that maybe it was her powers.
He should have figured that Elizabeth Stark was always worthy.
"The world wasn't spinning was it?" He asks, referring to the excuse she gave when she had pulled on the hammer and then recoiled.
Elizabeth Stark doesn't want this. She doesn't want to know the implications of her carrying the kind of divinity that no one should be able to carry. She doesn't want to think of the chances of her being able to carry Thor's hammer.
She doesn't want to be worthy.
She doesn't have a choice. Not when the world is on the brink of extinction and it depends on her carrying a mythical hammer that she knows she can carry; because she's lifted it before.
She takes the weapon, marvelling at the weightlessness of the metal, gasping at the surge of power that travels through her arm, unable to take her eyes off the many colours that surround the once still hammer.
She looks at her brother; she's always looked at her brother, and she's surprised to see him smiling. He just smiles on with poorly concealed pride; the way he did when she opened her hospital and graduated college and became a superhero.
If anyone could have lifted the hammer, Tony Stark thinks it makes sense that it would be his sister.
Liz looks to Thor, "What do I do?"
His response is immediate, "Channel your powers, everything you've got, to that hammer and then hit the core. It will be enough to surge through both sides, creating a balance."
"No."
The answer comes from Tony, who, after getting over his initial shock of seeing Liz carrying the hammer as if it were nothing, regards the implications of Thor's plan, realizes the results.
He looks at the God of Thunder, "No. She's not doing it. She can't do it.
"Stark-"
"She's not a God Thor. The amount of power bursting the core will release will kill her. She's not like you, she's just human."
Elizabeth Stark was never just a human. Humans shouldn't have the kind of power running through her veins. Humans shouldn't be hunted vigorously by aliens simply for existing. Humans shouldn't be able to carry Thor's hammer.
Humans shouldn't have the powers of the Infinity Stones.
Thor doesn't tell anyone that Elizabeth Stark may be biologically human, but the power she holds outweighs one of a God. He doesn't have to tell them anything because Elizabeth speaks for herself.
"I'll do it."
"Lizzie."
She looks at her brother and he's never hated the fierce determination in her eyes prior to this moment. She's stubborn and fiercely determined and she cares too much and she's the most perfect thing that has ever happened to him and he cannot lose her.
Losing Elizabeth Stark might be the thing that kills him for good.
So he says no.
"You're not doing it."
She smiles bitterly, "I wasn't asking Tony."
He shakes his head. If anyone can rival her stubbornness, it's him, "You'll die."
"I might die."
"I'm not taking any chances."
Liz feels the wetness in her eyes and blinks rapidly to keep them down, just until everyone leaves, "I don't think we have a choice."
She can see her brother's dead set resolve to argue back, she knows that if he had his way he'll get a suit to fly her out of here. She knows that if either of them had their way, they wouldn't be on a flying country, on the verge of global extinction.
The world doesn't work that way, she of all people know, "You have to let me do this."
Every one ignores the fact that Elizabeth Stark doesn't need anyone to let her do anything.
Fury's voice cuts through the comms, "We need to hurry up people. The country's about to sink any minute now."
Elizabeth Stark ignores him. If she's going to die today, she's not going to die knowing the last moment she had with her brother was a disagreement, "Tony," she pleads.
Tony Stark has been kidnapped, held in a cave, has had shrapnel killing him, an arc reactor poisoning him, has had the man he had trusted for years betray him, had sent a nuke up to space, and watched the love of his life fall to her death but he's never broke.
He breaks as he watches his world hold a hammer and ask him to let her attempt a suicide mission. His pieces crack when he realizes that he's going to let her. He completely shatters when it registers that this might be the last time he sees the one person that has mattered more than anything did.
He walks up to her, his gauntlet receding into his suit, as he cups her face the way he did when she was four and he was eighteen and she had first discovered how his hands were almost as big as her head, and tells his little sister, "I'll see you on that boat."
Elizabeth Stark knows better than to make promises she can't keep, "I love you, Tony."
He throws back the words she had told him a long time ago, the words she had told him when there was a hole in the sky and a nuke on his back, "I can tell you I love you back when you get your ass back from saving the world."
He flies away before she can say anything because he knows he won't be able to stand it if she reminds him that she might not come back.
She has to come back.
Tony Stark can not exist without Elizabeth Stark.