May 6th, 2015 - SOKOVIA

"Follow me!" AJ shouted as she motioned for the people to follow her. She tried to lead everyone possible out of the city. Wanda had done her magic, the citizens of Sokovia fleeing their town without truly knowing the reason. Going against Ultron was possibly a suicide mission , but the people of Sokovia didn't need to suffer, terrified in their homes as a battle raged around them. The best way to go against Ultron was to get everyone far away from the city. But time was running out and the ground below them started to shake. "Anyone else feel that?" AJ asked over comm. She looked over at Steve, seeing him nod his head.

"Hurry!" Steve yelled at the people, trying to get them over the bridge and to safety.

The floor beneath AJ began to crack, and she was tossed in the air as one of Ultron's drones blasted through the ground. She heard Steve yelling her name as she landed on her side, groaning from the pain of hitting the concrete. The drone that had knocked her over flew above her. AJ scowled up at it before pushing off the ground, grabbing at its arm, and using her power to freeze it. But a blast of heat from the drone sent her falling back, then the drone began to fire at her. But before it could hit her, Steve's shield came flying out of nowhere and smashed into it.

"Don't doubt yourself, Jay." He said as he walked over to her, offering his hand. "That's not good for any of us."AJ let him lift her to her feet, wincing a little at the pain in her side. "We got an incoming." Steve told her, readying his shield to throw at the drone heading their way.

"Wait," She told him. "I want this one." Steve nodded and AJ did something she hadn't tried before. As the drone flew at both her and Steve, AJ inhaled deeply, extending her arms out in front of her and opened her palms, sending out a spray of large ice shards. The sharp projectiles pierced the drone's suit and it fell in pieces onto the ground.

Steve chuckled. "Good job." A drone popped out from behind Steve and yanked him backwards by the neck. AJ ran at it, using Steve as boost to get to the drone. She held the drone's head in her hands and let out a scream as she used her power, trying to beat out the heat the drone was putting off by using more of her cold. Steve hissed, likely feeling the cold and AJ kicked off of him, taking the drones head along with her and making the body that had been holding onto Steve fall apart.

She pushed herself up and walked over to Steve, seeing white lines on his skin from where her cold had touched him. "I'm fine," He told her as he shook his head. "Just a bit chilly." He smiled.

AJ frowned, shaking her head at him. But there was no time to argue. The ground below them began to shake, collapsing in on itself.

"Jay!" Steve shouted, noticing that the small space between them was breaking apart. AJ closed her eyes for a moment, thinking back to when she and Steve rescued Bucky in Italy. How Steve had bravely jumped more than 20 feet to get to the other side. When she opened her eyes, the ground between them divided, causing AJ to stumble backwards. "Jump!" Steve shouted.

"Catch me?" She yelled over the rubble falling to the ground. She took a few steps back before to get a running start before jumping across the divide. AJ could see the fear in Steve's eyes as she nearly missed him, his hand gripping tightly to her arm and lifting her from falling to her death. He stumbled backwards, falling on his backside with AJ on top of him. She chuckled, blowing her hair out of her face. "For a second I didn't think you were gonna catch me."

Steve huffed, shaking his head. "Get up." He told her. AJ rolled off of him and quickly got to her feet.

AJ stood, her balance wobbly as the ground below them began to rise. They were moving... up. "Tony -- please tell me we're not floating."

"Friday," He said over comm.

"Sokovia is going for a ride." Friday told them all.

"Get away from the ledge." Steve told AJ, grabbing at her arm to pull her back. But she stayed put, her eyes glued to the city below them.

"Steve," AJ looked over at him, eyes finally off the ground. "If we drop."

"I know." He replied. "We can only pray that city evacuates completely."

"And us?" AJ replied, fear building in her chest. I'll never get to see Bucky again. She pushed her fear aside when Steve pressed his hand to her shoulder.

"We'll find a way." He promised.

Ultron's voice began to echo all around them, coming out of all of his drones. "Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword, and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

A drone came flying at AJ, nearly knocking her over. "How many of these guys do you think he has?" She yelled, raising her hand and sending a gust of cold air to the drone at a speed that sent it plummeting into a building. It was easier on her than creating ice shards but still strong enough to break through the bots.

"I have absolutely no idea," Steve huffed, throwing his shield at one of the drones heading his way. "Three coming your way."

She thrust her hands forward and the drones were knocked to the ground by a gust of cold wind. AJ ran over to them, stomping down on one's chest hard enough to damage the gear. She placed her hand on the damaged part of the drone and froze it completely before using her foot to shatter the head from the body. But before she could get to one of the others, the two drones were in the air, forcing her to duck and roll behind a car. A blur of blue sped by her and the drones were torn into pieces.

AJ looked up and saw Pietro standing in front of her now. "You have plans after this?" He asked with a smirk. AJ couldn't help but laugh as he held out his hand for her to take. She took it, letting him pull her up.

"Sorry," She told him. "I'm taken."

Pietro simply shrugged while smirking. "For now, maybe." He said before turning into a blue blur, disappearing from her sight.

She laughed loudly before focusing on the mission at hand.

Friday's voice came clear through the comm system. "The Vibranium core has got a magnetic field, that's what's keeping the rock together."

"If it drops?" Tony asked.

"Right now the impact would kill thousands. Once it gets high enough: Global extinction."

AJ pushed the voices out of her head, focusing on taking out as many drones as possible.

But then a terrifying thought caused her to pause. Andrew and Kai were ahead of them all when they were clearing people out of the city by car -- were they in the air or were they on the ground. "Andy?" AJ asked, pressing her finger to her ear.

Silence.

"Andrew," She said more sternly. "Answer me goddamit."

"Ms. Frost," Friday addressed her. "Dr. Palani and Andrew are already out of the city. Our communications with them are down but I have located them."

"Andrew is okay?" She asked Friday.

"He's safe."

She swallowed hard, pressing her hand to her chest.

"I got an airborne heading up to the bridge!" Friday said over the comms and when AJ looked over to Steve, he was being knocked backwards into the windshield of an abandoned car.

"Cap, you got an incoming." Tony said too late.

AJ ran over to Steve, hearing him groan out in pain. "Incoming already came in." Steve told him as AJ helped him up. The sound of people screaming caused both of them to look at the building behind them, drones flying through the windows. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job; tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed, walk it off."

AJ shook her head, biting down on her lower lip to stop herself from laughing.

The sound of a roar caused AJ to look up in the sky, seeing Hulk jumping above them from building to building. "Nat?" AJ said over comm, knowing that if Bruce were here, she surely was too.

"Good to hear your voice, Adge." Natasha told her.

She smiled. "Are you on the ground of in the air." AJ asked, watching as Steve ran past her.

"I go where you all go. You know that."

AJ ran in the direction Steve headed, hearing the sound of a woman screaming. When she got to him, he was gripping tightly. "No!" He screamed as the bumper ripped off and the car went plummeting to the ground.

"Thor!" AJ yelled, spotting him flying up to them. He watched as the car fell past him and nodded his head, following after it. "He's gonna throw her; you're going to have to catch her Steve." She yelled.

He moved to stand on the ledge, gripping the bridge as he dropped below so he could catch her. "I got you!" Steve yelled, seizing her arm. The woman cried out in fear. "Just look at me!" He told her as he pulled them up.

"I got you, I got you." AJ said as she helped lift the woman onto the bridge. "You're good." The woman stood, still holding onto AJ, breathing hard.

"You can't save them all," A drone came running at them, Ultron's voice echoing around them. But before it could reach AJ and the woman, Steve's shield split through the drone. "You'll never," It started to say, only to break apart as the shield returned to Steve.

"You'll never what ?" Steve mocked it. "You didn't finish!"

AJ laughed. A car dropped down next to them from the sky causing AJ to jump in surprise, Thor landing on his feet on top of the car. "What?" Steve looked to Thor as he and AJ followed him. "Were you napping?" He was such a little shit.

The people in the car Thor had saved opened the door, the sound of their puking causing AJ to grimace. "Oh, that's nasty." She said as she hurried away, spotting Natasha. "Wanna lend me one?" She asked, grabbing an electronic baton from Natasha's toolbelt.

"Don't break it." Natasha smirked as she took down a drone. AJ took down four more drones using the baton, seeing it worked most effectively when it struck them in the neck, ruining their wiring. "Remember when we used to just take out arms dealers?" Natasha huffed, pressing her back against AJ's as they continued to dismantle the drones coming at them. "Or raid Hydra buildings? So simple."

AJ laughed. "Remember when there was no such thing as aliens." She added, "Or Gods -- no offence Thor." AJ said over comms. He grunted in response as he dismantled more bots. "Those were some pretty easy times."

"Remember the forties?" Tony said sarcastically. "Back in my day, we didn't call them a-li-ens," He used the voice he always did when mimicking and older person.

"Shut it, Tony."

And explosion went off a few blocks away where Thor and Steve were. "Thor!" They heard Ultron hiss. "You're bothering me!"

She shouldn't have been surprised that it was Thor who created the explosion.

"Okay, we're all clear here." Clint said over comm.

"Lucky you." AJ muttered.

"We are not clear! We are very not clear."

"Alright, coming to you." Clint said and AJ faintly heard Pietro in the background saying keep up, old man! Clint grumbled about how the last he saw of Pietro was when Ultron was standing on him, going on and about how he'd be missed; the quick little bastard . She chuckled, knowing that Pietro had gotten under Clint's skin with the comment.

"You're not that old, Barton." AJ told him.

"Yeah, Adge has a couple of decades on you." Natasha added. "Duck!" She yelled and AJ instantly lowered to the ground, a drone nearly hitting her.

Her anger began to flare. "Get to higher ground, Nat." She instructed her, Natasha giving her a look of apprehension before running far enough away from the area that she wouldn't be affected by AJ's powers.

About fifteen drones landed around AJ, circling her like prey. Closing her eyes, AJ focused on the cold throughout her whole body. She shook as the tension built in her muscles. Then she opened her eyes again, that tension snapping like a rubber band. Her body spasmed as hundreds of ice shards shot out from it in every direction. When she opened her eyes, the entire area was frozen over. She looked around, seeing that she had taken out more drones than she had earlier seen.

"Uh," She heard Natasha say over comm. "We're all clear here too." When AJ made it over to where Natasha was standing, the red head raised her brow. "That was new." She looked past AJ to count how many she had taken down. "I'd say you took out a good thirty or so."

It was what had happened in St. Petersburg -- well, with more force. If she had done that in Russia, Clint wouldn't have survived. "We gotta get back to the bridge," AJ told her. "Steve needs us." When Natasha nodded, they both sprinted forward. AJ ran the back of her hand under her nose, feeling a wetness on it. She looked down to see her fingers coated in crimson red. She wiped it on her pants, trying to hide the evidence.

"Romanoff, Jay!" Steve yelled as they reached him, throwing his shield towards a drone that was locking in on them. Natasha caught the shield, guarding both she and AJ. It was bigger than the other drones, far bigger. It swung at them, Natasha's body pushing AJ down to the ground as she took the brunt of the hit, letting out a groan. Steve ran forward and Natasha threw the shield his way. Steve decapitated the arm of the drone with his shield, doing enough damage to destroy it.

"The anti-gravs are rigged to flip. Touch 'em, they'll go full reverse thrust. The city's not coming down slow." Friday told them.

"The spire's Vibranium. If I get Thor to hit it..." Tony said back.

"It'll crack, but that's not enough, the impact would still be devastating."

Tony was quick with a reply. "Maybe if we cap the other end, keep the atomic action doubling back."

"That could vaporize the city, and everyone on it." Friday said.

"The next wave's gonna hit any minute." Steve said, helping AJ up from off the ground. "What have you got, Stark?

"Well, nothing great." Tony replied. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan." Steve said in a huff, ushering people away from the ledges now with AJ and Natasha doing the same.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice."

Steve moved to stand between AJ and Natasha. "Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..."

He shook his head. "Not 'til everyone's safe.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."

AJ smiled at Steve fondly, admiring his bravery. "I didn't say we should leave." Natasha told him. AJ watched as Steve turned to look at Natasha. "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

But AJ didn't want to die here. She'd much rather die in the arms of the man she loved. But if it meant keeping him and the rest of the world alive, she'd do it. AJ moved closer to Steve, taking his hand in hers. He looked down at her and gave her a sad smile.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff." The familiar voice of Nick Fury said through comm. "It's about to get better." AJ, Steve and Natasha watched as a Helicarrier appeared next to them in the air. AJ laughed in disbelief, moving her hand over her mouth. "Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

She looked up at Steve, watching him smile. "Fury, you son of a bitch." He chuckled.

"Ooh, you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury retorted, making them laugh.

"Altitude is 18,000 and climbing." Maria Hill told them.

"Jay?"

AJ closed her eyes, sighing out in relief. "I'm guessing you had something to do with this, Andy?" She asked, smiling at the Helicarrier, knowing that her nephew must have planned this out with Fury.

"I wasn't ready to lose you." Andrew chuckled over comm. "Lifeboats secure to deploy. Disengage in three, two...take 'em out." AJ smiled, watching as the ships deployed, flying in their direction. She started to feel hope -- hope that they'd all make this out alive, that the day was saved. But she knew that the battle hadn't been won yet. They could save every civilian but taking out Ultron was a whole other thing.

"This is SHIELD?" Pietro asked, standing next to AJ now.

She smiled at the tone of his voice, full of wonder and awe. "This is what SHIELD is supposed to be." Steve said, causing AJ to look over at him. The same look Pietro had, Steve was wearing as well.

AJ knew that Steve had a hard time trusting Fury and SHIELD, especially after finding out that Hydra had slithered it's way into SHIELD's ranks for decades. He had let all the hard work Peggy and Howard put into making a safe organization be destroyed. Steve's relationship with Fury had always been rocking. But the man pulled through; he was there for them in their crisis and AJ knew how grateful Steve was for him in that moment. SHIELD was here, now, to protect the people of Sokovia, to bring them to safety. To keep the world from harm. That was what Howard and Peggy wanted when they created it.

Pietro looked at AJ and smiled. "It's not so bad." He said, referring to the helicarrier.

"Let's load them up." Steve told them, running off in the direction of where they had just hid some of the people of Sokovia. AJ followed after him, doing the same thing.

"Sir we have multiple bogies converging on our starboard flank." Maria said over comm.

"Show 'em what we got." Fury told her.

"You're up." Maria said and when AJ looked up at the sky, Iron Patriot was flying above them, taking out the drones that were trying to stop the people from escaping the floating city.

"Yes!" Rhodey yipped. "Now this is gonna be a good story!"

Tony flew above them now, taking out the drones of Rhodey's tail. "Yup." He agreed. "If you live to tell it."

"You think I can't hold my own?"

" We'll get through this; I'll hold your own." Tony teased his friend.

Rhodey groaned. "You had to make it weird."

"Of course he did, it wouldn't be Tony if he hadn't." AJ replied. She heard Tony chuckle, "Pietro!" She called out for the young man. "Tell these people that the boats are bringing them to safety!" AJ ordered him.

Pietro spoke in their language, ushering them all forward. He then sped up to AJ. "You know, Sokovian is a language of love, they say."

She rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Go make sure everyone gets off this rock and I will let you teach me more about Sokovia."

Pietros eyes widened, shocked by her words. "Date?"

AJ laughed. "Not a chance."

"Jay!" AJ heard the sound of her name being yelled. She smiled when she saw her nephew walking out of one of the lifeboats. Andrew walked straight to her, opening his arms as soon as she was close enough. AJ chuckled, giving him a quick hug. "When the city started to rise," He said, sounding out of breath. "I had no way of communicating with you guys from the jeeps."

"It's okay." She told him, pressing her hand to his shoulder. "I'm fine."

He shook his head and pulled her into another hug. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." Andrew said breathlessly.

"Hopefully you won't have to find out." AJ told him, pulling back after a moment. "You flying this thing?" She asked, motioning to the lifeboat.

He nodded. "I was hoping you'd be my co-pilot and come back up with me."

AJ shook her head. "I'm sorry, Andy. There's too much work here that needs to be done."

He shook his head and smiled a little. "Figured you'd say that."

"Go on," AJ told him, motioning to the boat. "Go be their pilot." He smiled, hugging her one last time before he helped the rest of the people aboard.

"I got it!" Tony said over comm. "I can create a heat seal . " He exclaimed , sounding out of breath. "I, I can charge the supercharge spire from below."

"Running numbers!" Friday told him. "A heat seal could work with enough power."

AJ watched as the lifeboat Andrew was piloting began to fly away only to inhale sharply when one of the drones shot at it, destroying one of its engines. "Tony!" She screamed and a flash of red sped towards the falling boat and lifted it.

"I got it, Adelyn!" He huffed, lifting the boat. "Thor! I got a plan!" Tony said loudly over comm.

"We're running out of time. They're coming for the core." Thor told Tony.

"Rhodey -- get the rest of the people on board that carrier!" He ordered. AJ watched as Tony let go of the boat and Rhodey took over. AJ sighed in relief, seeing Rhodey landing it on the helicarrier. "Avengers!" Tony said next. "Time to work for a living!"

AJ caught up with Steve, following him to where they all needed to go. When they arrived, the drones were already fighting against Thor, Steve, and Pietro. AJ used the electric batons, swinging them as she narrowed in on three of the drones above her. She looked at Steve, motioning to his shield. He sighed and kneeled quick enough for AJ to jump on the shield so that she could reach the drone in the air. She slammed the baton into its neck of the drone, causing it to die. She jumped as it fell, grabbing onto the next drone and using her power to freeze it completely.

"Adelyn!" Thor yelled and she dropped, knowing what Thor was going to do. His hammer swung past her and knocked out four drones that were coming after her.

"Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini." Tony called out on comms.

"Relax, shell-head. Not all of us can fly." AJ looked over in the direction of where a truck was crashing into the gate near them and saw Romanoff jump from the trunk. "What's the drill?" She asked as she walked up to them.

Tony, in his Iron Man suit, pointed down to the vibranium core. "This is the drill." He told her. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Hulk jumped down to the ground from above, taking out four drones as he did so. But after he moved towards them, they all saw Ultron flying down to where they were.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Thor taunted him in a shout.

Ultron raised his hand and hundreds more drones appeared.

AJ threw her head back and groaned. "Come on, man."

"You had to ask." Steve told Thor.

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

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

Thor roared and the army of drones ran at them. AJ held out her hands, knocking the ones closer to them into the air with her cold wind. Each time one got close, she blasted them back out, watching them crawl back towards her only to freeze over. Her hands shook, blood dripping from her nose again. She quickly wiped it away, thrusting her hand out to throw back more. When they managed to get most of Ultron's army taken out, the creator himself flew at them only to have Vision, Tony, and Thor know him down, using their combined strengths.

"You know," Ultron said, staggering to stand. "With the benefit of hindsight," He didn't get to finish. Hulk punched him, sending their enemy flying hundreds of miles away. He then looked to the drones that were trying to flee and roared.

"They'll try and leave the city!" Thor shouted.

"We can't let them -- not even one." Tony said, they all agreed. "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it." Rhodey replied. " Oh no, I didn't say you could leave." Rhodey said quietly over comm. "War Machine comin' at you!" He said. When AJ looked up, Vision was flying under Rhodey and taking out the drones one by one with the power of the stone. "...Okay...what?"

AJ chuckled at Rhodey's reaction, walking over to Steve and Clint. "We gotta move out." Steve told the team as they gathered. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin." Natasha moved to stand next to AJ. "You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers." He looked to AJ, seeing the worried expression she wore. "I'll be right behind you." He promised.

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it." Wanda answered, looking at Clint. "It's my job."

AJ smiled at the young woman, getting a soft smile in return.

"Adge," Clint called her name. "Nat, let's go." She ran forward with Clint and Natasha, Steve running in a different direction. They found a convertible that hadn't been damaged by the attack with the keys still in the ignition. "I'm driving." Clint told AJ and Natasha.

"Just when I thought we were going to make it out of this alive." AJ teased as she jumped into the backseat while Natasha and Clint got into the front.

"Ha, ha." Clint said in a flat tone. "Everyone is just full of jokes today." He peeled off and sped through knocked down buildings and destroyed cars while eerily calm, talking about what new home renovation he needed to work on. "I mean, Adge screwed up my entire plumbing system -- not that I'm upset or anything." He looked back at AJ who glared at him when he narrowly avoiding crashing into another car. "But now I know what I need to do -- the dining room! If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice work space for Laura, hu?" He asked their opinions, both of them nodding but motioning for Clint to keep his eyes on the road. "Put up some baffling; she can't hear the kids running around. What do you think?"

"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway." Natasha pointed out.

"No one eats in a dining room." Clint said as they drove along the edge.

AJ sat back in her seat as they neared the lifeboats. "I did."

"In the forties !" Both Natasha and Clint shouted from up front.

She rolled her eyes. "Actually, it was the twenties and thirties." She informed them. "I was moved out of my parent's house by the forties."

Clint laughed loudly and Natasha shook her head. The car came to a stop and they all got out of the vehicle. The sound of Thor roaring caused both AJ and Clint to look at Natasha. "We don't have a lot of time," He reminded her.

"So get your asses on the boat."

"Frost, we need more hands up here to treat the wounded." Maria said over comm.

AJ looked at Clint as they stood at the in front of the boat. "You get up there; I'll catch the last boat out." Clint told her.

AJ's brows furrowed in worry. "Don't do anything stupid." She told him. "You got a wife and kids waiting for you to destroy their home."

Clint chuckled. "Go."

She nodded her head, stepping onto the lifeboat. AJ sat down in a seat next to an older man, face covered in ash from the smoke. For a minute, she wished Pietro were with her to translate so she could ask him if his breathing was bothering him. She motioned to her chest as the old man looked and her, breathing in and out. He mimicked her, coughing hard as he did so.

The man was probably the same age as AJ, she was glad he made it out safely. "I'll get you checked out once we get up there." She told him and the man looked at her oddly.

As they took off, gun fire filled the air causing AJ to stand. She looked out to where she had last seen Clint running off to. It was headed right at him. "No!" She yelled, watching as Clint lowered to the ground, shielding a little boys body with his own. But before it hit him, a car was thrown in front of Clint to block him from getting hit.

Everything was quiet for a moment and as they flew even higher; AJ watched as Pietro Maximoff fell to the ground, a circle of blood surrounding him. "No," She whispered, pressing her hand to her chest. The sound of Wanda Maximoff screaming out in agony could be heard throughout the city; the young woman somehow knowing that her brother had died.

AJ eyes swelled with tears as she stepped off the boat and onto the helicarrier. Andrew and Kai were waiting for her. "What happened?" Andrew asked, seeing tears in his aunt's eyes. She shook her head, not able to say it. Pietro was so much like Bucky when it came to women -- to her. It was almost like losing part of him all over again.

When she felt the helicarrier shake, AJ looked up to see that Hulk was now onboard, gently placing Natasha down on the ground before jumping off and towards the quinjet that Ultron had stolen, throwing him out of the jet and back down to the city. If Ultron survived the fall -- he wouldn't survive long. AJ had a feeling that Wanda Maximoff would be out for revenge.

AJ walked over to Natasha, helping her stand. They both ran to the edge at the sound of people screaming and watched as Sokovia fell fast, plummeting to ear.

"Steve!" AJ shouted, terrified that he was still on it.

"I made it." He told her. "Wanda is still in the city."

"I'll get her." Vision said over comm.

She watched as lightning circled around the city before it shattered, breaking apart to create less of an impact when it hit earth.

The job was finished.

They had won.

But at what cost?

Wanda had lost her brother.

Millions had lost their homes.

AJ had a feeling that the damage done to Sokovia was going to bite them in the ass later on -- because the city was absolutely destroyed. She left the deck of the carrier once Steve was back with her, and together, they treated the wounded and moved the dead.

"I need a beer." AJ told Steve as they sat down, her head moving to rest against his arm. He let out a huff of a laugh and moved his arm so he could pull her closer.

"Me too."

_

Bucharest, Romania

Bucky sat on the floor of the broken down apartment he had found, gripping tightly to the radio as he listened to news continue to talk about the damage done to Sokovia -- just waiting to hear if AJ and Steve survived it. All he needed to hear were their names followed by the words ALIVE. It's all he prayed to hear.

"With mass casualties and a city destroyed," No, nothing yet. All they spoke about were how reckless the 'Avengers' were and how the UN needed to step in to wrangle the team in. Bucky found that humorous, knowing that Steve was never going to let someone be in control of his actions. "We see now the Avengers returning to the city now." Bucky sat up, pacing around the room.

"Say her name," Bucky whispered. "Just say her damn name."

"It only appears that one Avengers is missing from the group."

No, he felt his panic rise.

"Dr. Bruce Banner, better known to the world as The Hulk."

He let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes.

"Given the fact that Dr. Banner has warrants out for his arrest in South Africa, we're not shocked that he isn't making a public appearance with the team." Bucky set the radio down and walked away, standing in front of the fridge in the apartment and used a magnet to hold up a picture on it. A picture of AJ and Steve taken at her birthday party. He smiled, finger touching AJ's smiling face.

They were safe.

They were alive.

And this was it.

He was done running.

He was staying put and if AJ and Steve found him... good. He was tired of running from them. "Find me." He said out loud. "I'll be here."