Jade growled as she threw a broken robot off the side of the flying rock. Around her Steve was standing at the edge of a broken bridge and Natasha was running around smashing anything metal that moved. In the sky Iron Man busted the ones that flew, throwing them to the ground and into buildings that had already been evacuated.
"Forty-seven!" Jade heard Natasha yell after a explosion set off the car alarm next to Jade. Jade spun around and launched herself off of the hood of a car and tackled a robot into the ground, literally. The robot's eyes flickered and shut off due to the fact that Jade had phased half of it's body into the ground.
"Fifty-eight," Jade yelled back at Natasha. Steve stopped his robot fighting for a moment to look between the two girls.
"What are you guys doing?" Steve asked before kicking the nearest Ultron into a car and smashing it into pieces with his shield.
"Seeing who can destroy more robots," Natasha said while bashing an Ultron's head in with her weapon. "Fifty- one, by the way."
Jade shook her head and started to run in a zig-zaggy motion to phase through as many as she possibly could. Ina matter of seconds she had destroyed another ten. Jade looked over her shoulder and grinned at the destruction se left in her wake. She glanced to her left and out of the corner of her eye she saw an Ultron turn off the street and down an alley.
"Oh, no you don't," Jade said to herself. She followed after it, jumping over debris and under fallen street lights. She soon caught up to it and destroyed it without it ever knowing it was being followed.
Jade heard a noise above her head and saw Iron Man fly by. He blasted an Ultron out if the sky and then threw one into the building a few blocks from Jade. The building shook and Jade noticed it was on the verge of falling over. She didn't think much of it, and she turned back around to head back to Steve and Nat, but a high pitched scream stopped her in her tracks.
Jade turned and looked closer at the building. On the concrete steps leading up to the building was a girl in a neon green shirt, no older than two. The building let out a sickening screech and Jade saw it start to waver. The girl screamed again, tears rolling down her face as she clung to a rag doll.
Jade sucked in a breath and headed toward the girl. She had to get to her, she had to. The building groaned again and the girl clung tighter to the doll. Jade poured on the speed, pushing herself to go faster. The building's walls started to crack, she wasn't going to make it.
Then out of nowhere someone came barreling toward the girl. As soon as Jade saw the person she knew who it was, it was Charlie. He scooped up the girl and headed directly away from the building. The building let out a final groan, a loud snap sounded, and it started to fall.
"Run!" Jade screamed, they were so close, but it did no use. Jade ran faster, but she knew she would be to late. She ran anyway. The last thing Jade remembers seeing is his eyes. Fear and realization emanating in them, he held the girl closer.
The building hit the ground.
The impact of the building sent Jade backward in cloud of dust. She landed on her back and she felt herself starting to loose her grip on reality. 'Get up' her mind yelled at her. 'You have to get up.' Jade obeyed, but she knew what she would see.
She sat up and looked around. Charlie and the girl were nowhere in sight, in there place was dust and ruble. Jade pushed her hands on the sides of her forehead.
"No," She whispered to the air.
"Team," Steve said through her ear piece. "Get everyone you possibly can to the town hall and aboard the Helicarrier. Does everyone copy?" One by one the team responded. Jade struggled to organize her thoughts. It's not that she hadn't seen people die before, some had even been her fault, but this was different somehow. She found herself fighting tears at the edge of her eyes.
'No,' Her mind scolded her. 'You don't have time for this. Get up, move!' Jade numbly followed her own directions.
"Jade," Natasha's voice came through the earpiece.
"I copy," Jade answered still looking at the fallen building.
"OK, see you in a bit." Jade turned, started to jog down the nearest alley, and didn't look back. She arrived to the hall minutes later. She found Nat without a problem. She was right where Jade thought she would be, fighting robots.
"Come to join the party?" Natasha asked after destroying her ultron. "What's wrong?" Natasha asked when she saw Jade's face.
"Ask me after I make it off this rock alive."
"We're out of time," Thor said. Natasha and Jade's eyes met. "They're coming for the core."
"Alright," Tony replied. "Avengers, it's time to work for a living."
Natasha ran to the nearest running vehicle, which happened to be a type of plow. With Jade right on her heals they hopped inside and Natasha pulled away like a madman.
They were almost there when Jade heard Tony complaining about their lack of arrival.
"Relax shell head," Nat said. "Not all of us can fly." They plowed into a fence and jumped out of the vehicle. Inside of the church the rest of the team had gathered.
"You alright?" Wanda asked Jade when she had walked in.
"Ya, I'm good. You?" Wanda nodded.
"What's the drill?" Natasha asked.
Tony pointed to the spinning cylinder in the center of the building. "This is the drill. If Ultron gets his hand on this we loose."
Jade looked outside to see Ultron rising from above the city.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor yelled. At his words Jade shook her head. That was like asking 'could this get any worse?' and then it raining. A question like that you just refrain from asking.
Ultron raises his hand and a flood of metal men gathered around them. If Jade had to make a guess she would say there were about a thousand.
Pietro and Wanda shifted nervously beside her, and Steve took a deep breath.
"You had to ask," He said to Thor.
"This is the best I can do," Ultron said gesturing to his small army. "This is exactly what I wanted, all of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"
"Well, like the old man said." Tony looked over at Cap then back at Ultron. "Together."
The Hulk roared and then the flood gates opened. All of the robots raced for the core, and they were ready for them. Working together they helped keep everything away from it's goal and not let everyone get overwhelmed. Jade and Pietro ran around the core and destroyed as many as they could. Jade with her phasing and Pietro with his speed they made quite the defense.
Ultron flew inside and attacked the Vision, but him, Thor, and Tony ganged up and put all their power into blasting him. Ultron started to make a sound similar to laughing and the three stopped their attack. Ultron stumbled to his feet.
"You know with the benefit of hindsight-" He didn't get to finish due to the fact that the Hulk punched him into the air and out of sight.
The remaining ultron's started to thin out and Hulk ran after a group that had decided to retreat. Jade leaned against the nearest wall and closed her eyes. Her breath came heavy and she concentrated on pretending she was in her room after she had run herself ragged. Thar helped calm her and make her breathing more steady. Moments later Clint tapped her on the shoulder and Jade opened her eyes to look at him.
"You good?" He whispered. Jade nodded and pushed herself off the wall.
"We got to move out," Steve said. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, and be right behind you."
"What about the core?" Clint asked looking at the device.
Wanda stepped forward. "I'll protect it," She looked over at Clint. "It's my job."
"Nat, Jade," Clint nodded to them to follow. They walked out the building.
"You alright?" Nat asked. Jade hummed in conformation. Clint jumped into a blue convertible and started to engine. Nat claimed shotgun and Jade ended up in the back seat. When Jade was in her seat Clint put petal to the metal and they sped off.
On their way Clint started to make conversation. "I know what I need to do."
"Oh, ya," Jade said leaning forward.
"The dining room," He said looking at Nat. "If I knock out that east wall it would make a nice work space for Laura. What do you think?"
"Kids always eat in the kitchen anyway," Nat replied.
"No one eats in the dining room." By this point Jade was completely lost, but it was nice to hear them having a normal conversation.
Clint looked back at Nat. "We don't have a lot of time."
"So get your butt on a boat." Nat opened the door and Clint and Jade followed. Nat ran in the opposite direction of the ships
"Where is she going?" Jade asked.
"To get Bruce." Clint answered. "Come on." He jogged over to a ship and they boarded together. Moments later Clint and Jade noticed a woman yelling for her boy. Clint and Jade looked around until Clint had spotted him. He had gotten stuck under some debris. Jade moved to go get him, but Clint held her back.
"Stay here, I'll be right back." Clint jumped off the ship and ran toward the boy. When he got there he picked up the boy.
Jade breathed a sigh of relief when shots rang off around them. Jade looked up and saw the Quinjet coming for Clint. Jade watched helplessly, she could run for him, but she would never make it. She looked around for anything that would help. She met eyes with Pietro, and she knew what he was about to do. She opened her mouth to tell him to not, to stay safe, but it was already to late he was gone.
The Quinjet flew over Clint and the bot and they disappeared in a cloud of dust. When it cleared Clint stood up with the boy still in his arms. Jade couldn't hear what was said, but she did see Pietro collapse with several bloodied spots on his suit. Clint put the boy down to look at Pietro. Steve ran over and looked at the scene. Clint and Steve looked at each other and a silent message passed between them. Steve picked up Pietro and Clint grabbed the boy.
They boarded the ship. Steve set Pietro on the floor, he looked down at Pietro. Steve sighed then turned and headed toward the front of the ship. Jade followed Clint and watched him hand the boy off to his mother and then they walked over to the row of chairs that were next to Pietro. Jade sat a row across from him.
A medic came over to check on the two, but they waved him off.
"It's been a long day," Clint said before falling backward and laying across his row of seats.
Jade looked at Pietro. She searched inside herself for any emotion, and she found more than she could possibly handle. She laid back across her chairs like Clint and cried until her head hurt and the only emotion she had left was a numb feeling.
She let the last of the tears fall down her face and closed her eyes. The last she remembered before she fell asleep was the loud explosion of Sokovia and the screams of the people around her.
