I am really sorry about the big wait between chapters, I promise I will get better!
So, guys, who has seen Avengers End Game? I need to go see it again! I've already got some ideas for Lowri and Steve... watch this space!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Marvel characters that may be used or any Marvel storylines or arcs.
Claimer: I only own the character Elizabeth Jones (Lowri Jones and any other names she uses) and her story past, present and future.
Recap
"The impact radius is getting bigger every second, we're gonna have to make a choice." Tony said in an almost-defeated tone.
Steve looked away from Lowri and frowned. Lowri crossed to in front of him and took one of his hands in her own.
"You're not making this choice alone, Steve." Lowri said, reminding him that she's there for him.
"Are you gonna make it with me?" Steve asked, almost testing her.
"It's not the first time I've made a tough decision, granted that they weren't as big as this." Lowri said, she looked up into his eyes and sucked in a deep breath. "There's no way of getting every living soul off this rock in time and there's no chance of getting it down there, we might not see it now but this might be the only way."
"You can't be serious, Lowri." Steve said, he took his hand from hers and looked away as if he couldn't believe the words that came from her mouth.
"I am." She breathed. She felt defeated. Steve waants to save everyone but sometimes, things can't work out that way.
"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it." Steve said firmly, he looked back at her and his eyes held such intensity that Lowri almost lost her next words.
"I don't plan on that either." Lowri and Steve's eyes changed to shock. Did he really doubt that she would abandon all of these people? "I've been alive for a long time. I guess I'll have to go at one point, so, I might as well go when I got a view like this."
Steve reached for her hand and he held on tight. Lowri felt the warmth spread from her hand and through her body, she smiled up at him as his thumb brushed the back of her hand and he opened his mouth to say something but something big cut him off.
"I hope you're not giving up on us, Miss Jones." Lowri's mouth dropped open and she looekd away from Steve. "I mean, we are acting on your orders."
There was a loud whirring noise and then the top of something huge broke the skyline in front of them. A helicarrier, a massive flying old-style helicarrier rose up and up until it levelled with the rising rock, floating like an impressive fortress.
"Nice, right? Pulled her out of storage with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do." Nick said. Lowri knew that Nick was grinning and she could barely keep the smile off her face.
"Fury, you son of a bitch." Steve breathed out, he dropped Lowri's hand and stepped forward once, staring at the helicarrier.
"Ooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Nick asked jokingly as the helicarrier rose with the city, side hanging doors lifted open and multiple bright orange life boats flew out and headed for the floating city.
"This is S. H. I. E. L. D.?" Pietro asked as he stopped beside Lowri and Steve, looking at the large helicarrier with wide eyes.
"This is what S. H. I. E. L. D. is supposed to be." Steve answered, he smiled and then looked down at Lowri.
"This is S. H. I. E. L. D." Lowri breathed, she watched the lifeboats fly over their heads and then she looked at Steve.
"This is not so bad." Pietro said slowly.
"Let's load them up." Steve grinned as one of the lifeboats began landing in the square. Steve grinned at Lowri then the two of them began running towards the lifeboat.
"Lifeboats are landing throughout the city. Spread the word and get as many civilians on board as you can." Lowri ordered through comms.
This is what Lowri imagined S. H. I. E. L. D. to be when the organisation began, she imagined agents rushing to a country's aid when things turned upside down, of course, helicarriers weren't in mind then and either was flying lifeboats or an army of empty metal suits being led by an AI with a death warrant for the Avengers.
Steve and Lowri let go of each other and headed in different directions. One lifeboat was waiting for clearance to land as the people were milling about underneath and Lowri ran in and helped move them out of the way so the lifeboat could land.
"Come on! Go, go!" Lowri called, she guided civilians from a building with the help of some of the Sokovian police force.
When the lifeboat was full of people, the lifeboat lifted into the air and began making its journey towards the helicarrier to unload and come back, the police rounded up the rest of the civilians and moved them indoors and Lowri watched the lifeboat fly off and her heart sunk when she spied a large group of flying suits make their way towards the helicarrier.
Lowri threw herself into the air and shouted back instructions to the police before shooting off into the air after the large group of suits. Before Lowri could reach them, she spied a black dot shooting around the helicarrier and an array of weapons came out of the shoulders. Rhodey.
"Thor, I got a plan." Tony stated over comms.
"We're out of time. They're coming for the core." Thor said urgently.
The core. Friday mentioned something about the core a little while ago. Made of Vibranium and if Ultron gets it, then the city drops and a lot of people will die.
"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier." Tony ordered.
"On it." Rhodey replied.
"Avengers, it's time to work for a living." Tony added as he flew off.
He headed for Lowri and she moved with him. They matched speed and headed for the church where the core was situated. As they flew, Lowri looked around and saw there was no suits milling around, it was as though they had all disappeared.
As they neared the church, they realised why the suits were attacking the church. The suits were trying to access the metal core sticking out of the ground in the centre of the church and Thor was trying hard to stop it.
Immediately Lowri and Tony dove into the thick of things and began defending the core along with Thor.
Steve rolled in a few seconds later, knocking down one of the suits in the process and he jumped up with his back to the core, ready for the next attack.
"Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini.'" Tony quipped as he glanced around the rest of the group.
"Relax, shell-head. Not all of us can fly." Nat replied.
Only a few seconds later, there was a very loud crashing noise and Lowri saw the large yellow vehicle crashed into a fence and then Nat came running in with a smirk on her face.
"What's the drill?" Nat asked as she fell into place in the circle surrounding the core.
"This is the drill." Tony stated, he turned and pointed at the metal core. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."
With one of his roars, Bruce arrived and smashed several suits into pieces.
Ultron arrived as soon as all of them were assembled, hovering mid-air and almost smirking down on them.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor raged at Ultron.
Ultron simply raised one of his hands and gestured behind him to were hundreds more of the suits seemed to rise from the dust. A wave of suits moved as one, running towards the church as another wave of suits rose into the air to meet Ultron.
"You had to ask." Steve remarked, looking at Thor.
"This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I want. All of you," Ultron began, gesturing to the Avengers. "Against all of me." Ultron gestured to his army. "How can you possibly hope to stop me?"
"Well," Tony began, he stepped forward slightly. "Like the old man said," Tony looked over Lowri's head to look at Steve. "Together."
Bruce let out one of his ear-splitting roars and then that set off the suits, they began rushing towards the church and they streamed in through open doorways, surrounding those on the floor and the flying suits came flooding through the gaps in the roof.
Lowri, Tony and Vision used the space in the air to protect the core from above. The rest of them fought from below and it was tough. Suits were teaming everywhere. Ultron swooped in and attacked Vision when it was clear that he was tired of his army doing his dirty work.
Ultron's attack was short-lived. Vision has the Mind Stone and he's learning how to use it. He turned the stone on Ultron and Ultron's new Vibranium body couldn't hold up that well. Ultron was tossed out of the church, he landed and tried to fight back so Thor got involved with his hammer and lightening. Then when it was evident that Ultron was still resisting, Tony joined in with his man-made firearms and when it was clear that it was harder to beat Ultron than they thought, Lowri joined in with her fire.
Ultron fell to his knees and then the mix of fire, lightening, firearms and the Stone's powers was too much and it melted Ultron's face and then he held up his hands in submission.
The team held back their powers and watched Ultron carefully, ready to attack again.
"You know… with the benefit of hindsight-" Ultron began but he was cut off by Bruce appearing out of nowhere and socking him clean on the jaw. Ultron went flying backwards and high into the air, he crashed straight into a train and lay there, defeated.
There was a small group of suits, some mangled and some whole who saw the entire thing and thinking with their own minds, they turned tail and ran. They flew off the edge and began flying away.
"They're trying to leave the city. We can't let them. Not even one, Rhodey." Tony said quickly.
"I'm on it." Rhodey replied, he shot around the sky, heading for the escaping suits. "Oh no, I didn't say you could leave. War Machine coming at you!" Lowri chuckled as she watched, Vision was making his way over and he cleanly destroyed most of the suits with the Mind Stone. "Okay, what?"
Lowri headed inside with the others, the suits decorated the floor surrounding the core. Nat, Clint, Wanda, Pietro and Steve were stood in a circle near the core, deciding on what to do next.
"We gotta move. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers. I'll be right behind you." Steve said, he looked around at them all and his eyes settled on Lowri.
"What about the core?" Clint asked quickly.
"I'll protect it." Lowri offered, she caught Steve's look and shrugged her shoulders. "I've got my fire, I can fly out of this place when it blows."
"Are you sure, Ri?" Steve asked.
"Yeah. How hard can it be?" Lowri asked.
"Nat." Clint said shortly, he jerked his head towards the exit and he looked at the Maximoff twins. "This way." He and Nat headed outside and the twins weren't too far behind, leaving Steve and Lowri alone in the church.
Steve looked down at her with concern in his eyes but it was clear that he didn't want Lowri to know that he was worried for her.
"Uh, keep yourself safe." Steve said slowly. Lowri smiled up at him as he dropped his eyes to the floor.
Lowri was already stood on the raised platform, right by the core and she was near to eye level with him.
Steve looked up slowly and made a quick, one second decision. He stepped closer to her so that there were mere centimetres between their bodies and Lowri could feel her chest move up and down to match his breathing. They looked into each other's eyes for a long moment and then, Steve pressed his lips to hers.
So much went into the kiss, the years of being torn apart by various events and issues were only a tiny part of it. Lowri curved her body to meet his and his hands reached to support her.
The kiss only lasted for five seconds and Lowri yearned for more of his gentle touch, Steve pulled back and rested his hand in the small of her back.
"You kissed me first, all those years ago." Steve began, he looked deep into her eyes and Lowri was mesmerised. "You made the first move because I was too scared. Now I get to kiss you first." He pulled her tighter to him so she was flush against him. "I want to kiss you again, once all of this is over, once we have time to breathe again. Maybe on our date. Or God knows when, but I want to kiss you again. So, you have one job."
"Which is?" Lowri asked gently.
"Keep yourself safe." Steve ordered.
Lowri glanced down at the floor and chuckled, she rested her hand on his upper arm with a smirk on her lips.
"Aye, aye, Captain." She said playfully.
Steve chuckled but he dropped his hand and stepped back from her, her hand fell from his arm and he was gone in seconds.
Lowri turned back to the core and began taking on the straggling suits that kept trying to attack the core. There was a surprising number attacking but since most were already damaged, Lowri managed to keep them at bay, and keep her cool and keep the core intact.
It was only a few minutes before she heard Tony talk again on comms.
"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church." Tony said, there was a pause. "You know, if this works, maybe we all walk away."
"Maybe." Thor breathed.
Lowri beat back another suit and turned back to the core, there's a chance that everyone can walk away from this. Her stomach lifted and so did her heart.
Thor flew in and landed aggressively, as he landed, he pounded one of the suits into the floor with his hammer and he made Lowri jump. Lowri spun to face Thor, without knowing who had entered the church, her hands and arms danced with dangerous flames but she dimmed the fire as soon as she saw that it was Thor.
"What are you still doing here?" Thor asked as he dropped his hammer to his side and he straightened up.
"Protecting the core." Lowri said, she lifted her hand up and formed a fireball and in the next second, she threw the fireball around Thor and hit two incoming suits.
"You need to go." Thor said urgently. "We are about to crack this rock."
"I know." Lowri said, she stepped away from the core and stepped down the steps. She turned back to Thor. "What about you?"
"I am mighty." Thor replied, flashing a grin at Lowri.
"You're big-headed." Lowri remarked, rolling her eyes at Thor.
During their little exchange, they were both focused on each other and not the core or the half a suit slowly reaching for the top of the core. The suit twisted the top of the core and the earth below their feet dropped with surprising force.
"Shit!" Lowri cussed as she and Thor involuntarily flew into the air. Thor gripped the core in one hand and reached for Lowri with the other, he held her tight and Lowri gripped his upper arm.
"Push off from me!" Thor commanded. Lowri jumped into the air, still holding onto Thor and she planted her feet on Thor's leg and pushed off into the air.
Lowri shot off into the air and summoned her fire but she could barely see where she was going. All she knew is that she had to fly upwards. The dust and debris surrounded her and even though she was in danger, the city looked oddly beautiful.
The air surrounding her suddenly became alive with electricity and began crackling around her. Lowri knew that she had to get out of there sharpish before she was fried alive.
Lowri pushed herself hard and despite how fast she was going and how fast the rock was falling, it was taking her a long time to clear the city.
"Now!" Tony yelled over comms. Lowri pushed herself harder and she finally had sight of the helicarrier in front of her, but it was still far away.
Lowri heard the massive explosion before she felt the wave of energy pushing outwards, her body juddered with the explosion and she neared the helicarrier with surprising speed.
She spun involuntary and she almost spiralled out of control but she managed to control herself and she headed for the helicarrier, feeling slightly exhausted. Her chest ached with the dust she had inhaled and she was dying to cough.
A hand shot out over the edge of the helicarrier and grasped her hand firmly, Lowri was pulled onto the helicarrier and she tripped over the edge, stumbling then she went down.
Lowri sprawled on the floor, coughing her guts up and clutching at her stomach. She felt a hand on her back and Lowri settled on her knees, the coughing settled.
She looked at the sky for a long moment before turning to face the person beside her, Nick.
"I'm glad to see that you've worked through your drama." Nick said with a laugh.
"We worked it out." Lowri said, her voice was raspy. "And I'm so glad that Theta protocol actually works."
"You were one of the brains behind it. Of course, it was gonna work." Nick said, he got to his feet and he looked down at her. "This is some mess."
Lowri looked down at the world below them, breathing heavily. There was a massive dust cloud hovering above the earth, almost reaching the helicarrier.
"It's nothing we can't clean up." Lowri replied, she looked back up at Nick. "I'm so glad that you aren't dead."
"Likewise." Nick said, "I'm heading back inside. You coming?"
"No." Lowri replied, "I think I'll stay out here for a bit longer."
Nick nodded his head once at her before he turned and headed back towards the building with his hands in his pockets.
Lowri sat down properly and let herself relax for once, her limbs felt loose and her breathing was easier, her stomach didn't hurt and she watched the crumbling city fall from the sky.
She was there, alone, for seconds before her peace was disturbed.
She heard someone call her name out from behind her and she heard loud footsteps. Lowri looked behind her and saw it was Steve, she turned just as he came to a stop and he offered her his hand.
He pulled her up quickly and she fell into him. Her hands were flat on his chest and his hands gripped her upper arms.
"Whoa!" She laughed as she got her balance. "Hi there."
Steve didn't say anything, instead he bent his head and pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss that seemed to last for a very long time.
Lowri clasped the fabric under her hands and he gripped her tighter. The air around them grew heated as the kiss did, she pressed herself closer to him and he wrapped one arm around her.
She had no clue as to how long they were stood there, wrapped up in each other's arms. Eventually, Lowri pulled back and looked up at him, her chest heaving to match his.
"I told you I wanted to kiss you again." Steve said gently, he looked down at her with adoration in his eyes and Lowri smiled, she went onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"And I'm glad you did." Lowri breathed out. "I thought I was a goner when the city dropped." Steve held onto her tighter.
"Let's go inside." Steve said softly.
Thanks all for reading!
The story is coming to an end shortly, one, maybe two more updates. I will be continuing with the events of Civil War!
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