SHOW NO WEAKNESS...
Disclaimer: I own no part of the Avengers (I wish I did). All rights belong to Marvel. I only own the character Tess Rogers / Tesseract / Amalia Schmidt and her plot and dialogue.
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO Spunky89, EverRose808, Guest, AngelWings98, Miss Bonnie Madness AND Cari. I'M SORRY FOR BEING MIA FOR SO LONG BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE THE CHAPTER!
Opening portals was beginning to take it's toll on Tess, but she continued, opening portals for people to go straight to the ships. Walls of energy protected the people from being shot down by Ultron's army. Tess sighed as her arms began to shake.
Amalia, Amalia, why do you continue to fight? Would it not just be so much easier to give up? To just sit down and welcome death with open arms like you had been willing to so many years before?
"Alright, let's load 'em up! Alright, here we go. Here we go, let's move. Let's go everyone!" Clint was ushering people onto the 'life boats,' Wanda helping him. Glancing around, the man noticed Tess and ran over to her. "Are you okay?"
Tess hid the droplets of blood falling from her nose, "I'm okay. I promise."
Without another word, Tess shut down her connection to Pietro, hoping he wouldn't notice the change in her mind, her heart, and teleported away. Like Tony said, there was no way they were all getting out of this.
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The Avengers met up where the Vibranium core was. Ultron's robots were closing in and Tess fired blast at every robot she saw, trying desperately not to hit anyone. Pietro hurried over to Wanda who walked in with Clint while Tess headed to Steve and pulled him into a quick hug.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor bellowed and Ultron summoned the rest of his army to him. They hovered in front of them, big and imposing, and the Asgardian swallowed uneasily.
Steve and Tess exchanged a look, before speaking in sync, "You had to ask."
"This is the best I can do," Ultron told the team, "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?
"Well, like the old man said. Together." The Hulk's roar punctuated Tony's statement and the robots launched forward.
Tess fired psionic blasts, warped the metal of the robots and pulled bodies apart with her telekinesis. She opened portals, trapping heads in deep space and halved-bodies in other dimensions. Tess fought as hard as she could – but she was absolutely exhausted. Her energy was draining but she ignored it, and kept fighting – they needed to protect the core. Tess back-flipped, flinging a full arc of robots away from her and into the wall.
Ultron flew in, throwing Vision against a wall, before Vision returned the favor. Ultron was thrown out of the building and Vision turned the power of the Mind Stone on him. Thor added the lightning from his hammer, Tony added his repulsors and Tess added her own Space Stone energy. Ultron began to break apart from the force and looked incredibly damaged when they stopped the onslaught of power.
"You know, with the benefit of hindsight…" Ultron didn't finish as the Hulk hit him, sending him flying. The robots began to retreat and jumped off the edge of the floating country.
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"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."
Clint looked at Steve, "What about the core?"
"I'll protect it," Wanda offered, looking at Clint, "It's my job."
Clint, Natasha and Steve ran off, leaving Tess and Pietro, who just ran in, with Wanda. "Get the people on the boats."
"I'm not going to leave you here," Pietro protested.
"I can handle this." A robot suddenly ran in and Wanda fired a blast at it, destroying it. She shot her brother a look as if to say 'see?' "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." Pietro hummed, scooping Tess up into his arms as Wanda prompted, "You understand?"
"You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you," Pietro reminded his twin and Wanda chuckled.
"Go."
"Stay safe," Tess called, quickly grabbing Wanda's hand in a small, comforting squeeze, before Pietro shot off like a blur, holding her close.
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Be safe. Stay safe. Safe was never a good word for an Avenger.
The world seemed to lose all sound. All she could hear was her own voice screaming as Ultron fired at Clint and a little boy from a jet. She could see the sick pleasure on his metallic face from where she was standing.
The world seemed to slow down. All she could see was Pietro running forward to shield Clint and the little boy in his arms with a car.
The world seemed to stop. All she could feel was the blazing pain in her chest and her arms as the bullets tore through…
Her.
All that mattered, was that he was safe.
Tess smiled softly turning to look at Pietro to whisper, "You didn't see that coming."
"No!" Pietro cried, tears in his eyes as Tess' body fell backwards against his. Clint stood up, moving towards the girl he thought of as family.
Bullet wounds littered her chest and arms and she felt completely weightless as Pietro lowered her to the ground.
Tess stared up at him, trying to memorize his features. Pietro let out a sob, "Why? Why did you teleport in front of me?"
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Wanda fell to her knees, screaming out in pain and horror. Her powers lashed out, disintegrating all the robots all around her.
All she could feel was her twin's pain…as he held the woman he loved as she died. She could feel her brother's heart break.
All she could feel was Tess' pain…as she tried to mask it from the man she loved. She could feel the woman, who made her possible, begin to fade.
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"Because I love you."
And she did. When Tess was a child, she had always felt like love was a foreign concept, but the Avengers were family to her and she loved them. In the short time Tess had known them, Wanda and Pietro had become part of that family and Pietro – most likely because of the bond – had become the love of Tess' impossibly long life. She didn't believe in love at first sight or soulmates.
But Tess Rogers loved Pietro Maximoff.
"I love you too," Pietro held her closer to him, almost like he could make Tess feel his love for her through his chest and that it would keep her alive. He quickly became frantic; Pietro couldn't feel Tess' pain through the bond they shared. "Why can't I feel it? Why doesn't it hurt?"
"Because I took the pain away." Tess' head lolled slightly, still memorizing his face, before she grasped Pietro's hand tightly, "Don't let go of my hand. Whatever you do, don't let go."
And he didn't.
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Steve ran over to the group and almost fell over. He had seen the flash of blue and the car moving and had expected Pietro to be dying or bleeding out.
But instead it was his little sister.
"Tessie?" Steve asked quietly, his voice breaking as he knelt down beside the girl. Tess blinked slowly, weakened beyond even the hope of healing herself.
Stevie? I know Bucky's gone but you have me. You will always have me.
"I love you, Steven Grant Rogers," Tess cracked a smile, like she always did when she said her brother's full name. "You were the best big brother I could ever ask for."
Thank you, Tess. And you'll always have me.
Steve dropped to his knees beside Tess and held her right hand, just as tightly as Pietro was holding her left. She had always promised herself that she wouldn't have a sappy death, full of 'I love you' and other nonsense. But it didn't matter now.
"I love you all so, so much," Tess whispered sadly, content in some aspects, before her eyes closed and she didn't breathe again. Her chest stayed still and, even after all the dead bodies he'd seen, Steve's hands still shot out to search for a heartbeat. And when he didn't find one, Steve fell back on his hunches, sobbing into his hands.
Gently, as if he would wake her, Pietro picked the girl he loved up, crying as quietly as he dared, and moved to the boats.
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Pietro laid her down carefully as Steve walked away.
His eyes were glazed over and Steve really didn't know where he was walking. Just that he was and that Tess wasn't beside him like she always had been. He now knew what it must have felt like for Tess for twenty years, watching and waiting for him to wake up. But this time, Tess wasn't waking up.
He wasn't as strong as Tess was and he couldn't look at her, so prone and riddled with bullets. So frail and damaged. So very lifeless.
She had always been volatile and unruly. Brave and selfless. Strong and loving. So full of fire and kindness, even after years of being a HYDRA soldier. Even after she had lost all that she cared for, over and over again, she got back up and hit back with ten times as much power as the force that she was knocked down by.
So instead, he left to find a better, more private, place to cry. Bucky was gone. Tess was gone. Steve Rogers' family was leaving him…one by one…
Pietro sat beside her, still holding her hand. He had promised he wouldn't let go, and even now, holding her hand comforted him. Clint sat down on the seats, waved away a medic and lay down beside Tess, staring at the young girl's pale body. He had always said she was family, but that was wrong. She was a daughter to him, even being older than him by decades.
"Oh, it's been a long day."
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Wanda moved elegantly on the train, her cheeks tear-tracked. Pietro loved Tess. Wanda had seen her as a sister—had loved her as a sister, hoped that she would one day help Wanda with her powers and stand by her side. They had been kin through the Infinity Gems but Tess had opened her arms wide to them and had made her family do the same. Wanda had felt Pietro's pain as Tess died and then…mind-numbing loss. Her red energy weaved around her fingers, illuminating her hand, the power already beginning to jump around wildly as her emotions took over and made her chest burn with what could only be described as the need to kill.
Wanda knelt down with just as much grace and elegance as she had admired in Tess.
"Wanda," a broken, beaten Ultron murmured. "If you stay here, you'll die."
"I just did. Do you know how it felt?" Wanda used her powers to rip into Ultron's chest and pulled the core out of his body. It looked like a heart but like she expected, cold and metal. "It felt like that."
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"She's dead." Steve's voice cracked. "Tess is dead."
The softly-spoken words echoed over the comms.
Tony felt a restricting tightness in his chest – his godmother, his only family left in the world, was gone. She had held him every anniversary of his parents' death, had cried with him and then the next morning, made sure that he always sat down with her to eat breakfast and just…smile.
Thor's shoulders slumped – Tess had always been so strong and brave, an honorary Asgardian. She had taught him about Midgardian technology and how to use it and had helped him reconnect with his Jane.
Tears escaped Natasha's eyes—it couldn't be true! Tess had helped Natasha lose the assassin façade and actually embrace her emotions. She had supported her, urged her to open herself up to Bruce and to finally get her shot at happiness.
Roaring softly, the Hulk glanced around—Tess had accepted him all the time and tried to help him as much as she could. She never looked at the Hulk differently than she had looked at Bruce Banner.
Vision floated down to the ground – she had been maternal to him, had defended him and supported him. Tess had helped give him life by adding her own energy to Thor's and now…now there was no life left in her.
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Sokovia suddenly fell.
Steve just managed to jump onto a boat.
Tony poured all the energy he had into the Vibranium core.
Thor summoned lightning.
Vision saved Wanda from certain death.
Thor hit the core with the lightning.
Sokovia exploded.
And Tess' last gift—the last thing she did before she died as the magic leaked from her body and stained the ground alongside her blood—wrapped energy around every living person from Sokovia in a Tesseract-blue shield, keeping them safe when Tess couldn't do it personally.
Because, even in death, Tess Rogers was doing the one thing she had always wanted to do; save people.
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UNEDITED
One more chapter and then it's the epilogue. Volatile is almost done, for the second time now that I'm editing, and it hurts me!
PLEASE REVIEW!
~ Raven