Chapter Sixteen: RIP Pietro Maximoff

A/N Hey guys! Oh, you asked for a second-to-last chapter? Coming right up!

(Percy)

Percy had never been happier to see anyone in his life.

Well, okay, except for maybe when Percy saw Annabeth in New Rome for the first time in eight months. But this was a close second.

Annabeth ran over and hugged Piper. Percy grinned at Jason. "Hey, man. Nice of you to finally show up."

"Shut up, Jackson. Nice of you to finally invite us." Percy shrugged. "Well, we didn't exactly invite you. Fury brought you over, then?"

"Yeah." This time it was Leo who answered. "Didn't say much. 'So, there's this evil robot that Tony Stark created who's trying to wipe out all life on earth and the Avengers are fighting it, so you better come and help.' We were all just like, 'okayyyy.'"

"Literally just showed up at your apartment." Hazel put in. "Scared the heck out of your mom, Percy, but he got us on this plane. Luckily, Zeus didn't strike us out of the sky."

Steve walked over to them, and Hazel jumped. "It's okay." Annabeth assured her. "We told them. With permission, of course." She added when she saw Hazel's stricken face.

"The second wave is coming, folks. Suit up and get ready." Steve said and took his shield out of his back. "All right!" Leo said, rubbing his hands together. "Leo is ready to kick some robot butt. Where's the nearest one?"

"Leo." Hazel chided him. "This is serious."

"All right, all right!" Nick Fury's voice sounded in their earbuds. "We'll have time for a catch up later. You all need to get the civilians on these rescue boats." Over twenty life boats floated towards them to pick up civilians.

"This is SHIELD?" Pietro asked, also watching them. Steve had a look of satisfaction on his face. "This is what it's supposed to be."

"This is not so bad." Pietro replied. "Yeah, well, that's what you're thinking now." Leo said, and pulled a hammer from his tool belt. "You didn't see them when they were capturing innocent teenagers-"

"Leo."

"And blackmailing them into joining the-"

"Leo!"

"Sorry."

What looked like the rest of Ultron's army came speeding towards the helicarrier. Jason looked ready to fly over and help, but luckily Tony's friend, Rhodey, came flying out in an Iron Man suit and shot most of them down. "Yes! Now this is gonna be a good story."

Tony flew over to help as well. "Yes, if you live through it."

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

"We get through this, I'll hold your own."

"You had to make it weird."

The rest of the demigods flew into action, some quite literally, and starting beating the crap out of the robots. Leo shot high definition bolts of fire at the robots, melting their faces. Jason sent the occasional bolt of lightning at them, though most of the time he just stabbed them.

Unfortunately, charmspeak didn't work on robots, but Piper held her own anyway. Hazel sent pounds of rock at the robots, smashing them flat, and Nico just attacked them all. Frank's shapeshifting was so fluid; he would start out an eagle and end up a gorilla.

The rest of the Avengers' job was to load the rest of the civilians on to the boats. Percy, Annabeth, and Thor were fighting Ultron.

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron snarled. "I turn this key and drop this rock a little early, and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that."

Percy attacked as Thor was being squeezed to death. "I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast… I am running out of things to say! Are you ready?"

With a clang, Vision slammed Ultron with Thor's Hammer. "It's terribly well balanced." Vision commented.

"Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so," Thor replied.

"Guys! I've got a plan!" Tony said in their earbuds. Well, it's about time, Percy wanted to say, but decided that wouldn't help the mood much. "We're out of time. They're coming for the core." Thor said.

"Avengers, time to work for a living." Tony said confidently, or with as much confidence as you could muster when you were over eight thousand feet in the air. "What do you think we've been doing?" Annabeth grumbled, but she and the rest of the demigods joined them in the church.

"Romanoff?" said Tony. "You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'." Natasha landed in the church along with the Hulk. "Relax, Shell-Head. Not all of us can fly. What's the drill?"

Tony pointed to the Vibranium core. "This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on this core, we lose." Ultron showed up and landed right next to them.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor roared. Percy groaned. Something he had learned from fighting bad guys; you never goad them. Ultron chuckled, and put up a hand. Hundreds of robots came climbing out of nowhere and stood at Ultron's side.

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

Tony looked at them all. "Well, like the old man said: Together." As a team, they all fought of the robots. Percy took a breath of the rapidly thinning oxygen and attacked. The rest of the seven did the same, though Percy could tell that they were running low on energy as well.

Sure, they were half-god, but there's only so much having a good constitution can do. Soon they would all be gasping like fish for air. However, they managed to destroy all of the robots.

Ultron looked slightly worried. "Well, with the benefit of hindsight-"The Hulk roared and knocked him far away and the robots started to retreat. "They'll try to leave the city." Thor said.

"We can't let them, not even one. Rhodey!" Tony called. "I'm on it." James Rhodes replied, and the War Machine attacked all the robots, Vision helping.

"We gotta move out." Steve said. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get back to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint wondered. "I'll protect it." Wanda said. Everyone looked at her. "It's my job."

They all left except for Wanda. "Jason, you fly above us and see if there's any mortals." Percy said. "Got it." Jason rose on the winds and flew off. Steve shielded his eyes. "Jason can fly?"

Percy grinned. "Jason can fly." Steve shrugged like it wasn't the weirdest thing he'd seen that day.

They all made their way towards the boat. Clint and Natasha were talking conversationally. "I know what I need to do." Clint said. "The dining room! If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice work space for Laura, huh? Put up some baffling, she can't hear the kids running around, what do you think?"

Percy chuckled. He thought it was funny that now, when they might all die, Clint was talking about house improvement.

Natasha replied, "You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway."

"Not in the dining room."

"So get your butt on a boat."

They boarded a boat. Percy gripped Annabeth's hand tightly. "Uh, Annabeth?"

"What?"

"In case I don't get through this-"

"Shut up."

"Okay. But-"

"Quiet, Seaweed Brain. We're all getting through this. Shut up and don't tempt the Fates."

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl."

Piper grinned. "That was fun, eh?" Leo put in. "Kicked some robot booty, made the Avengers appreciate us, saved the world for, what, the fifth time? All in a day's work, right?" Piper laughed.

"Thor, I'm gonna need you at the church." Tony said. "Is this the last of them?" Thor asked. Jason flew over and landed in one of the boats. "Yep. We got 'em al." Jason replied.

"You know if this works, maybe we don't walk away." Tony said conversationally like they were discussing what the weather would be like that day. "Maybe not." Thor said, and strode towards the church.

Then Percy noticed Clint holding a kid as one of Ultron's ships flew towards them. "Oh, no." Percy stood up. Annabeth saw what he was looking at and grabbed his arm. "No, Percy!" He shook it off and ran towards them, but it was too late.

He stared in horror as the ship started shooting. When the dust cleared, Percy expected to find two bodies. Instead he only found one. Pietro stood upright, wobbling slightly.

There were almost ten bullet holes in him. Percy's mouth opened in shock, but then in grief. Pietro had taken the shots for them. He had sacrificed himself to save a little boy and Clint. Percy didn't even try to save him, because that many shots meant death. Pietro pointed at them and smiled a bit.

"You didn't see… that coming." Pietro Maximoff, twin brother of Wanda Maximoff, collapsed on the ground, dead. Percy fell to his knees and felt for a pulse. There wasn't any.

Percy heard a scream of despair from the church and knew Wanda had felt Pietro's death. A blast of red light shot out of building and destroyed every last robot.

Percy shook not only from grief, but from pity for Wanda. They were twins, so they were closer than a brother and sister could ever be. Meanwhile Clint just stared at the body in shock, and then pointed the boy towards his mother. He ran off.

Clint grabbed one of Pietro's arms and motioned for Percy to do the same. Together they hauled Pietro Maximoff to one of the boats and Clint collapsed on the bench. Percy stumbled towards Annabeth and sat down.

"It's okay, Percy, it wasn't your fault." She said soothingly. Percy didn't say anything.

"Thor, Jason, on my mark!" Tony yelled. Jason jumped out of the boat and closed his eyes. Storm clouds gathered, and he and Thor made the biggest lightning bolt in the history of lightning. Tony fired a powerful blast at the core at the same time.

Jason quickly flew back on to the boat. "Now!" Tony shouted. Thor swung his hammer and hit the lever that would start the rock to fall.

The city exploded, and then started to free fall. At the last second, Vision swooped in, grabbed Wanda, and flew out. The people of Sokovia and the Avengers boarded the helicarrier, and it started to land.

It was only on the ground, safe on earth again, and then Percy realized: Bruce was missing.

A/N Oh my gosh guys I felt so horrible killing Pietro. It was even worse than watching him die in the movie. I am sooo sorry, but it wouldn't have worked for the storyline. My apologies. Tomorrow, next chapter, coming up! It's the final chapter of this story.

Shout out to reviewers:
NinjaFang1331
Gottalovebooks14
ShadeFireDragon
Trey Alexander
myers4girls
mannbritney2003
skeltor
te amour