It took less than twenty-four hours for Pietro and Wanda to realize Katiana had been right about Ultron's bad intentions. What they didn't expect was to find Katiana sitting on a bench outside the U-Gin facility smoking a cigarette and waiting for them patiently.
When Wanda noticed her friend, she gave her brother a knowing look, preparing to get an 'I told you so' from the woman across the street.
Katiana looked up when they reached her and grinned before putting her cigarette out with her boot, "Out for a stroll? It's a beautiful day."
Wanda frowned and rolled her eyes, "Ultron means to destroy the world. He intends to kill everyone so the only thing left are his robots."
"Hmmm," Katiana hummed thoughtfully as she scooped up her cigarette to throw it away, "that makes sense actually. Yeah. I can see that. Glad you guys got out."
Pietro and Wanda shared a glance, but the girl wasn't about to admit she'd been wrong yet, so her brother did it for them. "We should have listened to you."
Katiana raised her brow and smiled coyly, then sighed, "It doesn't matter. All that matters is that he doesn't succeed."
"Can the Avengers stop him?" Wanda asked, but Katiana admitted she didn't know.
"Let's go get something to eat. Try and figure out a way out of Seoul. I doubt the robots will give us a lift." Pietro huffed and nodded towards the older part of town, away from the high rise buildings and advanced tech labs.
Wanda and Katiana shared a glance, and the former nodded to concede to a silent truce. "Yeah." Katiana mumbled, "Figure something out."
Katiana sat across from Wanda as Pietro sped through the poor part of town, looking for something to steal they could eat. Suddenly, a quinjet soared over them quickly, and Katiana jumped to her feet to follow its path between the skyscrapers.
"It's them." She breathed, looking to Wanda as Pietro appeared beside her with an American cheeseburger in his hand.
"Did you see the jet?" He questioned loudly and gestured with his burger toward the sky, then realized Wanda and Katiana were both glaring at him, "What? I'll go back for more."
"It's not that. It's the Avengers. They are here." Katiana started jogging in the direction the jet had gone, slowing down as she passed a small tv behind a food stand playing the news. She stopped and watched for a moment as Pietro and Wanda caught up. "Oh my God."
"Looks like your boyfriend is in trouble." Pietro huffed bitterly, but his stiff frame showed he was more worried than angry.
Katiana swallowed, trying to get a sense of where they were, "They aren't far from here."
"And you think we could help him?"
"I know we can." She answered determinedly as the truck went under an underpass and the video footage went back to the news anchor. Katiana turned to her friends and gasped, "Please. He needs us. They need us. If Ultron succeeds, we all die."
Pietro turned to his sister, seeing how devastated she looked, "You want to help?"
"This is our fault. We helped Ultron create that body." Wanda told them, looking from her brother to her nervous friend. "We don't have a choice. If we don't, we die."
They looked back to the television monitor in time to see Ultron crash into Steve and knock them both into a train moving beside them. Katiana bounced on her heels, "We gotta go!"
Pietro grabbed a girl in each arm and sped off toward the train, only slowing down enough to match the train's pace. He deposited Katiana onto the step and she clung to the rail, grabbing Wanda and holding her as Pietro sped forward to the next car. Katiana held onto Wanda tightly as she used her magic to rip the door open, allowing them entrance to the train. Katiana looked over her shoulder, realizing how fast they were moving and how dangerous falling off would be.
Suddenly, Wanda yanked Katiana inside and the woman stumbled and grabbed the seat in front of her, looking up to see the massive Ultron try to punch Steve. The man darted to the side, missing the hit, but Ultron kept whacking his shield, getting Steve to raise the disk until Ultron finally connected his metal fist with Steve's ribcage.
Steve cried out in pain as he began to slump against the wall, but before Ultron could get another damaging blow in, Pietro came from behind and elbowed Ultron off his balance so he couldn't attack Captain America. Steve was thrown onto the seats beside him as Ultron stood straight, surging toward the lighting fast blur that had hit him. Before he could get more than a few steps in, metal bars from above ripped forward and blocked his path as red danced around them, telling him exactly who had betrayed him. He turned around to see Wanda panting in the center isle with Katiana sprinting ahead of her toward Steve.
Steve sat up and looked over the seat just in time to see Katiana fall to her knees beside him and throw her arms around him, holding him protectively so Ultron couldn't get to him again without going through her.
"Kat, no." Steve warned, but she leaned all her weight against him, trying to protect him just as much as she was trying to stay far away from Ultron when he took a step toward Wanda.
"Please. Don't do this."
"What choice do we have?" Wanda snarled in fear.
Steve gently pulled Katiana to the side so she was beside him and he could jump up if he needed to, putting up his left arm so his shield would protect her from harm. Ultron turned toward the front of the train and blasted past Wanda's metal bars to shoot Pietro, but he jumped out of the way and the beam struck a hole in the front of the train instead, revealing they were in the very front car and the controls were now damaged.
The train surged forward at an uncontrollable speed, causing Wanda to stumble back as Ultron shot out the door and flew away, leaving them on the runaway train. Steve leapt over the metal barrier past the terrified people towards the front of the train, yelling into his comm, "I lost him! He's coming back to you!" Steve tried to see if the conductor was alive, until he heard Katiana yell his name. He looked up and saw the train was careening toward the edge of the track and his eyes widened in fear.
Katiana grabbed onto the jagged edges of the shattered door and braced herself as the train launched off the tracks and skid across a parking lot, never losing any speed.
"What do we do now?" Katiana yelled over the roaring train as Steve turned to Pietro and Wanda.
"Civilians in our path." Pietro darted away, understanding his directions as Steve turned to Wanda, "Can you stop this thing?"
Wanda looked to Katiana and she nodded, telling Wanda to follow Steve's lead before he sprinted back to the front of the train, putting up his shield as they prepared to crash through a building.
Katiana clenched her arms around Wanda as they broke through the bricks. The train didn't slow down from the impact, instead crashing through the building at high speed. A large barrel broke through the windshield and knocked back Steve, sending him hurtling back into the main compartment.
"Steve!" Katiana yelled and threw herself down at him as Wanda began to use her power to lock up the wheels. Katiana looked over her shoulder as Wanda groaned, using everything she had to stop the train as her brother got pedestrians out of their way. Katiana turned back to Steve as he scrambled up and back to the front of the train, but this time she followed him and wrapped her arms around his middle to stand firm against his back.
As the train began to slow, Steve looked over his shoulder at the woman, seeing her eyes wide but focused. "We're gonna be okay." Steve yelled over the screeching of the train slowing to a stop. Finally, their trip reached its end, and Steve panted and leaned against the console. Katiana held his shoulder tightly, but he just breathed, "We're okay."
"You sure? You don't look so okay." Katiana grabbed at Steve's face, practically feeling her chest lurch at the sight of him. He was alive, he was okay. She'd seen him die and it was her fault. "Steve-" Katiana stopped talking when his blue eyes met hers, frozen in time and overtaken by emotions that weren't hers, "I love you."
"What?" Steve asked incredulously, but Katiana looked over her shoulder to see Wanda pounce off the train toward Pietro.
Steve followed her gaze and pushed past her, wanting to beat the shit out of them for taking his girl. "Steve, wait!" Katiana called as she jogged after him out of the train, seeing Pietro leaning over in an attempt to catch his breath while Wanda checked on him.
"I'm fine, I just need a minute." Pietro gasped.
"I'm very tempted not to give you one." Steve stormed their way slowly, back arched and stiff like he wanted to attack. "You took Katiana from Johannesburg. You're working with Ultron."
"Clearly we aren't working with Ultron anymore, I took orders from you." Pietro replied as he looked up at Captain America.
Steve's jaw was so tight Katiana thought it could snap as he stared at the young man, "Why?"
"Because Katiana trusts you. We should trust you, too." Pietro grumbled and looked up at Katiana, "We should have listened to her."
"We didn't know Ultron wanted to destroy everyone. We thought he just wanted to destroy the Avengers." Wanda explained quietly and Steve looked to Katiana, who fiddled with her fingers nervously.
Steve nodded, lowering his head, "So you guys wanted to destroy the Avengers." He scoffed as he looked to the sky, "I'm sure that had nothing to do with Katiana coming with me, did it? Was gonna be an inside job until Ultron came along."
"Steve-" Katiana started, reaching out for his arm, but he pulled it away. "Steve, things have changed-"
"That's why they took you from the salvage yard, they don't need you to be a plant anymore if they're with Ultron." Steve placed his hands on his hips and looked around, anywhere but Katiana, "You said you loved me. It seemed wrong. You just want to keep me wrapped around your finger."
Katiana shook her head as tears began to stream down her cheeks, "It started that way, but I've changed. I asked Wanda to hex me, and I had a vision. I had a vision where I helped destroy the Avengers, and I broke down- she got through to Kayla. I can feel her now- Steve, I remember-"
"Kayla's gone." Steve grumbled, ripping his arm out of Katiana's grasp. "I gotta go."
Katiana's eyes widened as he started to walk away, "You're just gonna leave me? After everything?"
"I gotta make sure Stark gets the cradle. There are more important things than you and your hurt feelings. How do you think I feel?" Steve spat as he turned around to glare at the trio. "Have a nice life. If Kayla Ellis finds her way back, she'll know where to find me."
"Steve!"
He didn't answer her calls, and Katiana sunk down to bounce on her heels, "Shit!"
"Stark will do anything to make things right. We have to help them." Wanda argued, but Katiana just watched Steve until he disappeared, "Kat!"
"It's over. I fucked up. You guys fucked up. The Avengers fucked up and it's all a fucked up mess." She grumbled before standing and stretching her back. "What are we supposed to do?"
"Ultron sent the vibranium back to Sokovia." Pietro said quietly and the two women looked to him. He looked between his sister and his friend and shrugged, "I saw the coordinates on the jet after the robot dropped us off. He'll go back home."
"And we will, too."
"No," Katiana argues, "I'm not going anywhere near Ultron and the Avengers. We've done enough."
"Enough damage? Yes, but we live on this planet and I'd very much like to stop him from destroying it." Pietro said, looking to Wanda for back up.
"You told us the Avengers needed us. We don't have time to waste. Let's get home." Wanda said as she grabbed Katiana's hand, "You told him you loved him?"
"I do. Well, Kayla does." Katiana explained slowly, flinging her ponytail to the side, "I have nothing to offer as far as help."
"We'll need all the help we can get." Wanda mumbled and looked to her brother, "Lets find a way home."
Pietro, Wanda, and Katiana leaned around the side of the airplane hangar at a small, private airstrip in Seoul. Getting to Sokovia commercially would be nearly impossible, but with an advanced enough plane, Katiana felt confident she could autopilot themselves home.
"That one." Katiana pointed at a small, black painted plane with the number four written on it in electric blue paint. Katiana grinned as she turned to Pietro and Wanda, "That's the one we need."
"Looks like it belongs to the other Avengers." Pietro mumbled, looking to his sister to fill in the blank, but she didn't, "The fantastical ones."
Katiana shrugged, "All I know is that it's the only plane we've seen that'll get us home without a pilot's license." She snapped her head back to the plane when she saw a tall man and a blonde woman walk down the steps, followed by a giant orange rock monster. "Oh. Oh yeah, those are super heroes. We're gonna steal a super hero jet."
"Shouldn't there be four of them?" Wanda asked and Katiana just shrugged.
"We'll deal with it. Three against one is better odds. Now shush!" Katiana hissed and they ducked behind a storage crate as the three heroes met up with an airport worker who escorted them toward the building.
"Thank you all for coming. Captain America and the Avengers made a mess of our precious city. We called in a real team to make sure we are safe from any future threats. After what happened in Johannesburg, hopefully they'll stay home." The man huffed as he gestured through the door into the airport.
"So we were right all along. The Avengers are menaces." Pietro teased and Katiana glared at him before rolling her eyes and turning back to the task at hand.
"Let's go. Wanda, you come with me. I'll see if there's anyone in the jet. If there is, hex the shit out of em. Pietro, stand guard until we're ready to go."
Katiana led them crate to crate until they were out of hiding places, then she struck out on her own to see if anyone was home.
She cleared her throat and knocked on the door, figuring if anyone had stayed behind they'd most likely answer and not assume immediately that they were being hijacked. After a few painfully long minutes, Katiana turned to her friends and motioned for them to come, but the door swung open and she turned around and looked up at the man in terror.
He stared at her for a long moment as she held her breath, "Kayla?"
She blinked and her eyes widened. She'd never considered that Kayla Ellis, Captain America's almost fiancé, would know other super heroes. "Uh, no? I think you have the wrong girl." Katiana blurted, her accent coming out weaker than it normally sounded. She grabbed her throat and shook her head, "I'm so sorry, they told me you'd be staying behind. I came to see if you wanted any... refreshments?"
The man tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, "So that's how you're gonna play it? You leave me for the costumed clown, didn't even have the decency to break up with me, and now you come back from the dead and pretend not to know me?"
Katiana looked to the side, then gave the man in front of her a thorough once over before choosing her words, "I'd like to point out that you are also wearing a much-too-tight fitting costume?"
"Kayla..." The man growled, grabbing her wrist and tugging her inside the jet before closing the door, "Where have you been? Everyone thinks you're dead."
"So, fun story..." Katiana started, gathering that this was Kayla's ex boyfriend and much like Steve, he didn't seem keen on letting her go, "I was kidnapped by Hydra and there's a chip in my brain that's suppressing my memories, so I sincerely apologize, but I have not the slightest clue who you are."
"Ha! Real funny." The man stared at her for a moment but Katiana just raised her brow curiously, "Johnny Storm? You really don't remember me? We were dating during the Battle of New York before you ran off to find Captain Dumbface."
"Hmm, yeah, you don't ring a bell, but I can see why Kayla left you..." Katiana slurred teasingly, looking to the side to see Wanda unlatch the door to the plane. Johnny started to look over his shoulder, but Katiana grabbed his face and pulled it to face her. "My name is Katiana. I was a scientist for Hydra, I've come to learn that they aren't so great, but at the time when they suppressed all my memories, who was I to argue? That being said," she hummed as Wanda got closer, "I've spent time with Captain Dumbface and he's such a bore. Maybe, if you're cool taking back your amnesiatic ex, we could have some fun."
She realized her hand felt hot, and it took a moment for Katiana to register that Johnny's skin was actually heating up under her touch. She pulled her hand away as he looked her up and down, seeming to consider his options. The fact that he didn't immediately dismiss her off seemed to say everything Katiana needed to know about Johnny Storm. "You alright? You're a little hot?"
"Just a little?" Johnny asked with his brow raised, lifting his fingers and snapping, causing flame to erupt from his skin, "So you don't remember this?"
"Uh. No. No I don't." Katiana babbled nervously as she realized how deep of shit they were in. There was no turning back now. Wanda had her fingers to his head and started to conjure her magic just as Johnny started to turn towards her.
Pietro ripped through the jet, catching Johnny's attention, "Is this yours? It's nice." Pietro gestured around the private jet as Johnny took a few long strides toward the young man, seeming to not even notice Wanda was around. Pietro winked, and sped away.
Johnny turned back to Katiana and Wanda smacked him in the face with her magic, causing him to sway and eventually fall over.
"He seemed nice." Katiana said and Wanda shook her head as she went to the door to motion Pietro to join them. Katiana stepped over Johnny toward the cockpit of the plane, hitting a bunch of buttons and causing it to roar to life. "Now we're in business."
Pietro arrived and grabbed Johnny from the floor, tossing him out the door of the plane before shutting it tightly, "You about ready? It won't be long now until the others arrive."
"Or until he wakes up." Wanda added as Katiana pulled up the GPS to set the planes autopilot.
"Almost there." She grumbled, tapping away at buttons and praying she'd guessed right. "Now all we have to do is take off."
She grabbed the throttle and started pushing it forward, but nothing happened. Pietro and Wanda stared down at her incredulously and she sighed, studying the control console for a moment longer before flipping another switch, then pushing the throttle forward again.
Once again nothing happened and she groaned loudly, "How do we make the stupid thing go?"
"That's what pilots are for."
They turned to see Johnny standing in the doorway, swaying a little as his eyes struggled to look around. Katiana glared at him as Wanda prepared her magic to hit him, but he didn't seem in good enough shape to actually fight them.
"How does the plane work?" Katiana asked bluntly and Pietro facepalmed at her question, wishing they'd come up with a better idea. She looked around, noticing an Autopilot button she hadn't seen before and hit it casually, causing the plane to start to take off.
Johnny burst into flames and Wanda threw up a force field to keep him from coming closer as the plane started to ascend. Johnny threw out his hands to blast fire at the force field, but Wanda yelled as she worked hard to keep him back. Finally, with Pietro leaning against her back to keep her steady, Wanda was able to use her power to shove Johnny out the side of the door.
Pietro quickly sped to close the door, allowing them to breathe for the first time. Wanda panted and cried out, "I just killed someone!"
Katiana put her boots up on the dash, shrugging casually, "He kinda seemed like an asshole if we're being honest. A hot asshole, but an asshole nonetheless." She looked to her right at the sound of knocking on the glass and realized Johnny was flying alongside the plane, "Shit!"
Wanda and Pietro looked up and saw him too as he tried to break through the glass.
"Sit down, buckle up, we're going for a ride!" Katiana called as she grabbed the wheel. She cranked it hard to the left and caused the jet to barrel roll towards Johnny, forcing him to fly out of the way. Katiana straightened the wheel and hit the autopilot button again, taking a deep breath, "Did we lose him?"
"I'm going to say no!" Pietro yelled and pointed toward the door as smoke began to enter the plane.
Katiana groaned and grabbed the wheel again, this time pulling it back with all of her might and causing the plane to shift upward at a sharp angle, taking them farther into the clouds. She straightened the wheel, then grabbed the throttle and pushed it forward, causing the jet to pick up speed, "This is more like it!"
Johnny appeared beside her, flying on his back as he looked at his nails in boredom to show her he wasn't phased by her antics. "Fine." She growled, looking around the cockpit, then lifting up a small screen to type, "Weather radar."
"What are you doing?" Wanda yelled as Katiana studied the screen, then adjusted the coordinates appropriately, "You're taking us somewhere else?"
"Just gonna take the jet through the wash. Get all the smoke marks off of it." Katiana grumbled to herself as she pushed the throttle farther still, moving toward the thunderstorm at a higher speed.
As the sky darkened and lightning struck in the distance, Katiana turned to Johnny Storm and smirked, seeing him glaring at her. She wiggled her fingers in a coy wave as the rain started to fall up ahead, and Johnny quickly spun around and tried to outrun the storm the other way.
"Yes!" Katiana cheered as she reset the coordinates, letting the storm around them light up the cockpit, "I can't believe we survived that!"
"Yeah, me neither." Pietro groaned as he held his stomach, "How long until we're home?"
"Couple hours." Katiana said as she stood from the pilot's chair and stretched her back, "We should get some rest. It's been a long day."