Sy
Sy touched down at the landing pad. Between her and Pietro Maximoff they managed to cover the entire floating rock. They'd checked every house, cleared every apartment. She landed carefully, herding the small crowd of terrified people towards the Lifeboats. Pietro bumped into her shoulder playfully and she smiled at him. Loki materialized next to her, walking with them towards the boats where Thor, Steve and James were loading the last of the civilians.
"Is that the last of them?" He asked. Sy shrugged, watching the sky warily. Since Ultron's retreat at the drill, it suddenly felt too easy. Ultron wasn't going to give up this easily. The maniacal AI was too angry, too arrogant not to fight to the last drone.
"Everyone we could find." She answered wiping her forehead. Her hand came away streaked with grime. She huffed, shaking her head. If they make it through the rest of the day, Sy was going to take a very long, very hot shower. And a nap. For at least a week.
She scanned the sky again, keeping her ears open for trouble. Natasha and Hulk were a little ways away, lullaby in progress. The harsh murmurs of fearful russian from the refugees in the Lifeboats. Wind rushing around the rising city. If the situation was less dire, Sy might have enjoyed the sound of the wind.
"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church. Maybe Loki too." Tony's voice crackled over the comms. Sy could almost say she was used to the staticy machine now. Even though it made her uncomfortable, she had neither the time or the energy to waste being afraid of its consequences. Sy decided that as long as no monsters attacked while they were still fighting Ultron, she can handle the consequences later.
"Everyone?" Steve asked her, standing anxiously in the middle fo the square. She knew he wouldn't board without her. His feet shuffled under him, and his hands gripped the edge of his shield tightly. Sy had a hunch that if it hadn't been made of vibranium the metal would have been shredded under the force of Steve's enhanced strength.
"Everyone but the team is on a boat." She reported. Steve sighed and swung his shield securely onto his back. She nudged him as she lead the way towards the Lifeboats.
"You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away." Tony warned.
"Maybe we don't." Thor agreed grimly.
"It's going to work." Steve asserted, his arms folding across his chest. As if his belief would make it reality.
"You better make sure the entire city is completely vaporized Tony. Even if it doesn't land as one huge meteor, the impact from the falling debris will still kill thousands of people. You have to destroy it all." Sy warned darkly. Her heart pounded in her chest, and something prickled at the edges of her consciousness. Tony's response faded away completely as she focused on the faint sound of singing. She took a sharp breath at the sickeningly familiar tune, her head snapping up to scan the skies again.
She was never going to be able to watch Pinoccio ever again. Not with Ultron singing that godsdamned song all the time.
The Avengers quinjet hovered menacingly, a black dot soaring through the sky a couple buildings away. A red glow under the plane made her blood run cold. Gunfire filled her ears.
Run. Hide. Fight. Fear crawled through her, and she tensed to run. But the field wasn't clear, stragglers still staggering their way towards the safety of the Lifeboats. The team also scattered across the plaza, escorting the injured, the young and the elderly. There's not enough time.
"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!" Sy screamed desperately. Her chest filled with power, boosting the volume of her voice, carrying across the square.
The reaction was immediate. People began sprinting towards the Lifeboats, desperate for the shelter they offered. A few people dove under rubble, others hid beneath overturned cars. Anything that offered even a little bit of shelter. Screams and cries filled the air, desperation filling her mouth with a heavy rancid taste.
Sy activated her shield, raising it over her head when she noticed Clint in the open carrying a little boy.
Defenseless.
Sy is too slow and too far away to reach him in time. She glanced towards Pietro, who had noticed the same thing.
He's much closer to Clint than she is. And faster than her. But a hailstorm of bullets isn't something that could necessarily be outrun. Especially when focused on a separate goal.
The grim expression on his face spoke volumes. He had come to the same conclusion as her. And he was going to go for it anyways.
Somewhere along the way, they picked up a few extra Avengers. Heroes. The least she could do is make sure that these heroes live.
Or at least have a fighting chance at survival.
Sy started to hum, unstrapping her shield from her arm. She tossed her shield at him, the celestial bronze spinning through the air. He grunted as he caught the round celestial bronze disc, staggering slightly under the weight. Pietro hesitated, glancing from the bronze in his hand to her. She stopped humming for a moment, glaring at Pietro when he still didn't move.
The gunfire is closer now. She could hear the bullets ricocheting off metal, concrete shattering, the earth exploding. There's no more time to waste.
"You'll be faster, now go." She ordered him sharply, before returning to her song. She hunted for her power inside of him. He nodded at her once then took off, blurring. A rush of wind blew through her hair and Pietro seemed to vanish entirely as he moved.
The bullets were getting closer, explosions of yellow dust flying everywhere. She kept singing, her eyes fixed on Clint, and Sy spread her wings. Celestial bronze is a divine metal, mined from Olympus itself, forged in the fiery heart of Mt. Etna and cooled in the Lethe's waters. The armor covering her wings should protect her. Probably.
Sy looked up at the incoming quinjet. Tears pricked her eyes. She twisted away from the bullets, ducking down into a tightly curled ball, her wings wrapped around her as best she could. She could almost feel the burning sting of bullets raining down on her already. Sy's been shot before, blown from the sky, and had her wings mangled nearly beyond repair. She can survive this. Sy braced her arms over her head.
A quiet voice in the back her head whispered that the metal covering her wings wasn't strong enough to protect her. Sy told that part of her brain to shut up. Besides, either way it was the right thing to do.
A heavy weight crashed down on top of her, slamming her into the ground. Her right wing creaked in protest, the hollow bones straining under the sudden pressure. A hollow pinging, along with the roar of gunfire filled her ears and Sy had to resist screaming at the pain in her ears. A hand curled around her shoulders, hugging her tightly. Sy clasped her hands over her ears, the deafening tsunami of sound unbearable to her sensitive hearing.
A loud snarl echoed against a building and Sy clearly heard the sound of ripping metal and the wail of another Ultron body being broken apart.
The gunfire stopped.
She shifted uncomfortably, pushing at the body above her. Steve rolled off of her limply, groaning quietly. His shield clattered to the side. She glanced around the field, noting how people were cautiously standing up and making their way to the Lifeboats.
"Steve?" Sy pushed herself to her feet, shaking out her wings. The pressure of his body might have cracked something in her right wing, but as she stretched it out, she knew she could still fly on it. It would hurt, but she would manage.
Clint and a little boy are ducked behind a car, ten yards away from where they had been standing. Bronze glittered on the ground, next to a prone body. Her heart stuttered for a moment, but Pietro pushed himself up to a sitting position and she let out a sigh of relief she hadn't noticed she'd been holding.
She didn't need enhanced hearing to hear the swear words streaming from his mouth while he clutched at his leg. Clint quipped something at him, but they were both alive and that was the important thing.
Sy turned to check on Steve, worried by the distinct lack of grumbling that should have been steadily flowing from the supersoldier. Usually after something like that Steve grumbles about the insanity that was the twenty first century, followed by half hearted wishes for the simpler days of fighting in the war.
Sy dropped to her knees next to Steve, her breath recatching in her throat, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Steve was pale, and still sprawled limply across the ground. Blood seeped into the earth around him, flowing freely from an injury she can't see. Sy dropped to her knees, her heart stuttering erratically in her chest.
"Steve?" Her voice cracked over his name, shaking his shoulder. Steve's eyes stayed closed, his face slack. She ran her knuckles against his sternum and got nothing. Not even a flinch. Sy's heart began to race as she called Steve's name again, his lack of response more terrifying than any of her nightmares. After all, she wakes up from those. This is real life.
She can't lose him. Not Steve. Not her Steve, who watches movies with her, who never complains about her endless practicing, who is so enduringly patient and kind and far far far too good for this world on all the days that end in -y. Not her Steve, who took her in and cared for her and helped her and was more family to her than any god or goddess on Olympus.
She needs him.
They both should have fit under his shield. Steve had thrown himself over her, protected her like he always does.
They both should have fit. They've fit before. Survived far worse, been hurt far less.
Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. She needs him to wake up.
"Steve!" She sobbed, her hands shaking as she checked his torso, his arms, his legs. She moved towards his head, hunting for the source of the blood on the ground.
The only thing that kept her from breaking down completely was the slow rise and fall of his chest. As long as he's breathing, he can be fixed. He can heal.
Steve has to survive. She refuses to consider the alternative. She can't live in a world without him. She's barely getting by now and he's been with her for every step.
Her hands fluttered over his neck, and something warm and sticky flowed covered her palms. Her hands came away bloody and she recoiled from the sight, panic over taking her suddenly. The coppery stench filled the air, and Sy repressed the urge to vomit as she choked on the smell.
Sy managed to rip off the cowl off where it attached to the collar of his suit, and found the source of the blood. Her hands shook as she examined the injury, pressing her filthy grime covered hands over the torn flesh.
The side of his neck was gushing blood. Something must have hit him; a stray bullet, a fragment of rubble, maybe some shrapnel. But whatever it was, it did it's damage.
Brilliant red arterial blood gushed through her hands.
"Steve's down! I need medical here now!" Sy half sobs half snaps into her comms as she leaned against his neck. He coughed, blood gurgling up through his lips and she eased up the pressure. Sy didn't want to crush his airway, but he needed the blood he was losing. Steve might replenish blood faster than most people, but that didn't mean he could't bleed out from injuries like this one. Tears started to blur her vision, and the world narrowed to red, covering her hands, his neck, his suit, the soil under his head.
Thor appears next to her and lifts Steve into his arms and Sy jumps, choking out a protest when he gently separates her from Steve's bod- from Steve. Loki catches her around the waist, and leads her after Thor, but his words are lost to the haze of panic filling her mind. She races behind Thor to the nearest Lifeboat, her hands and the front of her armor soaked in blood. A group of medics move towards them with a prepped gurney. Steve is carefully laid down and orders were being barked, blood bags hooking up and they're moving again to load him up so they can get him to a real hospital.
"Maximoff got hit too, I'm gonna need a second medical team over here." Clint's voice is distant as Sy's hands clenched into fists. She hears the rattle of the second gurney moving over rubble, and Tony's mechanical call for help from the two gods. Loki squeezes her shoulder once, whispering something she doesn't hear, before walking off.
Ultron is going to pay.
Thor whirls Mjolnir around in circles as he takes off, Tony's voice a distance whine in her ear, flying away. Loki followed suit on foot, a loud stream of reluctant complaints trailing after him.
Sy takes a slow breath. Rage whites out everything else in her mind. She's tired of this. Blood and death and pain. That's all she has. And that's all she will ever have if she doesn't end Ultron. But after Ultron, she wants something else. Something more.
She's ripped out of her thoughts when a warm hand caught her wrist.
"You are right. I am faster." Pietro rasps from his place on the gurney, a bloody tourniquet around his thigh. A small smirk quirked across his face, and Sy felt something inside her crack a little. She managed to return the smile, turning to take the little boy from Clint. The archer shook his head, glancing meaningfully at her bloody armor. He sagged down against the side of the gurney, cradling the little boy to his chest. He reached out one hand, wrapping it around Sy's shoulder.
"Cap is going to be fine Sy." He assured her calmly. She took a deep rattling breath and nodded. Steve is strong. He's going to be fine.
Something ancient and primal inside Sy snarled, and she smiled at the bloodlust pouring into her limbs. Sy shook out her wings.
They still have a job to do.