**A/N: Wow. That Super Bowl trailer... Wow. So, I've decided that after the release of the movie, I'm going to put up a poll, asking people which side they think Bethany should take. I'm not necessarily going to pick which side has the most votes, I just want to see what people think. To be honest, I don't even know. I thought I did, but it's really difficult. I'm just curious to what everyone else thinks :)

Chapter 36- The Broken City

"My city sleeps by the side of a freeway, the city scraps. And winter time she wore a yellow coat. Now there's nothin' on her back if a building falls you wouldn't care to notice unless you were in it. Then no one cares about climbin' stairs, nothin' at the top no more. Outside trippin' in the broken city. Outside trippin' in the broken city, I watch a building crack. Outside trippin' in the broken city."

~Broken City, Audioslave


Since the Rogers family was technically considered as 'celebrities', they weren't encouraged to travel around the park unattended. While at first, Bethany wasn't too fond of the idea of a park cast member following them around all day, it did have serious perks. They may not have had privacy with Gary, the sixty-year old man who was accompanying them, but they did with the public on a majority. Secret tunnels, cutting the lines and one-on-one time with the costume characters were the selling point to the extra fee to cover their family vacation.

Steve and Gary seemed to hit it off right away, and Gary kept Theo occupied by giving him all the dirt on the Disney secrets, including showing him all the Hidden Mickey Mouse heads. The boy couldn't seem to stop bouncing up and down excitedly throughout the day. Jamie was mostly calm, awarding his parents with small smiles through the day, but he was pretty crabby on that day in particular.

"He won't nap," Bethany told Steve, rocking the baby back and forth. They had stopped for lunch, but Bethany had yet to take a bite of her meal, giving all her focus to Jamie. She had fed and changed him, but his sour attitude hadn't evened out.

"Let me try," Steve offered, wiping his mouth with a napkin, holding out his arms. Reluctantly, Bethany handed their son to Steve, taking a seat next to him. "Eat," Steve encouraged. "I've got this."

"Maybe I should bring him back to the hotel room," Bethany suggested, taking a bite of her now cold macaroni and cheese meal. It was designed for kids, but Bethany loved the taste too much to care. She'd get a churro or jalapeño and cheese pretzel later if she was still hungry.

"And miss Mickey Mouse?" Theo cried, apparently having heard their conversation, not being lost on his own with Gary like they thought he was. "You can't, Bethany."

"Theo, no one is going to be having a good time if Jamie is screaming while we see Mickey," Bethany pointed out, quickly finishing off her small portion of mac and cheese. "It's better to get him down for a real nap now then when he's really in a bad mood."

"It's not a bad idea," Steve agreed, rubbing Jamie's back.

"Okay, it's settled," Bethany said with a nod. "I'll take him back to the hotel room and maybe meet back up with you two this evening?"

"No," Steve said, moving closer to her on the bench they were sharing. "I'll take him back to the hotel room, you and Theo go see Mickey Mouse and have fun."

Bethany's eyes fluttered in shock, a moment of speechlessness overwhelming her. "Are you sure? I've done this all with Tony before, it's fine."

"Hey, we're a team," Steve reminded her. "You waited outside while Theo and I did all the rides Jamie can't do. Plus, this just gives us a reason to come back in the future, maybe when Jamie is old enough to understand all of this."

"Thanks Steve," she whispered. The thought of him taking care of Jamie while she and Theo roamed the park hadn't even crossed her mind once. "Only if you're sure."

"I'm positive," he promised her, kissing her forehead lightly.


Steve watched as Bethany loaded her gun, unclicked the safety, pretended to aim and then reverse the entire procedure, over and over again. This was something she used to do during their SHIELD days, so long ago, that Steve was wondering if she ever did it after they got married. Even Clint was watching as Bethany did this, the line between his eyes deep in thought. He couldn't read anything from her face. It was completely blank, absolutely no emotion showed on her face. Steve didn't know what she was thinking, but it seemed to be repetitive as she continued to load her gun, prepare it, only to undo her work.

"Hey," he finally said, his voice barely a whisper. She didn't seem to hear what he said, so he repeated it, laying a hand over the gun to stop her movements. She looked up at him, still showing absolutely no emotion on her face. "Stay close to me."

"I don't need protecting," She reminded him quietly, attempting to pull the gun from his grasp, but he only tightened his hold.

"I know you don't," Steve said before sighing. He wanted her close for his own selfish reasons. "It doesn't change the fact that I want you to stay close to me. To be close to me. We're a team, right?"

Finally, emotion flooded her face with a smile. "Yeah, we are."

"Good," Steve whispered, placing her gun on her lap and intertwining their fingers. "Just stay close to me. It's not for your sake, it's for mine."

Bethany took a moment before nodding. "Fine, but you better not get hurt or die, because it'll distract me and I have a job to do, Rogers."

Steve blinked, not believing the words coming from her until her eyes met his. She was kidding, but only to hide how much she was hurting. "Come here," he whispered, pulling her onto his lap. Clint immediately jumped into the pilot's seat, Bethany no longer needing it as a distraction. Bethany had clearly jumped into the pilot's seat earlier so they could quickly leave the Tower while she had the strength to do so.

"I forbid you to stop breathing," Bethany whispered.

"Forbid me, huh?" Steve asked, rubbing her thigh slowly.

"Yes," she replied stubbornly. "I'll bring you back, just to kill you myself."

"I believe that," he whispered, a soft smile on his face before it fell as a thought came over him. "Things are going to change after this. Everything that's come to light… things won't be the same."

"I know," Bethany replied softly. "Just promise me one thing? Don't give me a reason to take Jamie and leave. I don't want to do that. But I also don't want there to be a reason for me to do that."

No one knew what would happen afterwards, but good or bad, everything would be different. Just one thing was certain; Steve wasn't retiring. She knew this, and she wasn't asking him to give it up. Steve wasn't sure if she would actually ask this of him and fully expect him to do it. But at the same time, Steve needed to give her exactly what she was asking; a reason to stay. It was heartbreaking that love wasn't a strong enough reason, but if she was working all the time and he was at home, he would feel exactly how she felt.

"I promise," he told her honestly. "We'll find a compromise somehow."

"I don't need a compromise," Bethany whispered. "I need a husband who isn't always rushing to fight a battle he doesn't need to fight."

"Alright, we're close," Tony announced, the group looking up to him, fully dressed in his Iron Man suit. "I'll fly on down, see if I can get a good view of things."

"Stay safe kid," Bethany called out as the bay door opened, the mask to Tony's suit falling down.

"Always do," Tony's voice filtered through the helmet before he jetted off.

"Yeah, right," Bethany muttered before pulling herself off Steve's lap, securing her gun on her belt before taking her hair out of its ponytail and making it tighter. "We'll drop Bruce and Thor off near the old HYDRA base before we go into the heart of the city," she declared, taking leadership.

"Use your abilities to influence the people to leave," Steve told the twins. "Evacuation is a priority. We can't have causalities like New York again."

"How far are we getting them to go?" Bethany asked suddenly. "How far is safe enough?"

"As far as possible," Steve said with a sigh. "There's no way of knowing until we have a clue of what's going on with Ultron's plan."

"Alright, hold on," Clint announced, gearing the plane down for landing.

"Good luck you guys," Bruce offered before he and Thor exited the quinjet.

"You too," Bethany whispered to them as the quinjet door closed, looking back to Steve who stood up from his spot.

"You can do this," Steve reminded her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I know," She replied, no fear or worry laced in her voice despite the look in her eyes.

"Just one last time, Beth," Steve promised her. "I won't ask you to do this again. And you shouldn't feel like you're obligated to do this anymore. You do it because you want to."

"It's been a year of-" Bethany tried, but Steve covered her mouth.

"I know, but this time, it'll be different. I promise you, okay? And this is a promise I intend to keep, not dance around. I can't keep getting angry at you for not being truthful if I can't keep my promises."

Bethany opened her lips to say something, but Clint interrupted as the quinjet landed once again. "Okay kiddies, it's time to kick some ass."

Steve waited for Bethany to say what was on her mind, but she only gave "let's go" as an answer. Steve snatched up his helmet and followed the rest of the team out of the quinjet bay door. He began to pull his helmet on, stopping when he saw a giant graffiti'd wall, the Captain America helmet painted onto the wall with the eyes painted red. The word 'fašista' was painted across the face, easily translated into 'fascist'.

"That's uncalled for," he could hear Bethany mutter, her arms crossed as she studied the graffiti. Steve threw his helmet back, unable to bring himself to wear the 'A' on his head, being the image that these people clearly associated him with.

Moving to stand beside Bethany, he was unable to tear his eyes from the wall. It physically pained him that this was how people saw him. All he wanted was to do what was right for the good and the innocent and somewhere in between the beginning and now, people truly believed he lost sight of that. Maybe he had.

"Not bad," he heard Clint comment before he and twins started off towards the city.

"Shake it off," Bethany said softly, pulling at Steve's wrist. "We can deal with this tomorrow. Today, prove them wrong."

Steve looked down at her, taking comfort from her face. It wasn't anything in particular. Her features were hard, and her eyes were filled with worry and anger, but even these features were comforting enough to encourage him to move on. "Let's go," he finally decided, the two of them running into the city.


Bethany had stayed close to Steve, just like he requested. They worked hard to get people as far away from the city as possible. Time was imminent and the people were slow-moving. Steve understood the need for people to grab important things like wallets, passports, medication. But when families were coming out of their homes with full bags packed, it only made anxiety bubble inside of him.

"Come on, let's go," he heard Bethany's voice as she pushed a family out of their house, each member carrying two large bags. He didn't ignore that Bethany came out holding a large aluminum baseball bat.

Steve gestured for the family to hurry up, raising an eyebrow towards the bat. "I'm borrowing it," Bethany explained. "I need a big metal rod. Like a staff. That could work. But this will suffice for now."

Steve wasn't sure how to react, so he continued to lead people towards the bridge that would get them as far away from Sokovia as possible. "Come on, come on," Steve encouraged the crowd. There was a traffic jam trying to get out of the city, but there wasn't a way to move the cars forward without people getting unnecessarily hurt. "Leave it," Steve snapped at a man whose bag broke open, his belongings falling out.

"Steve," Bethany said, her lack of approval at his tone shining clear. She bent over and helped the man collect what looked like odds and ends into a big t-shirt before quickly ushering the man to the other side. Steve continued to work to get people away, but when Bethany met up with him again, she wasn't letting him slip. "They're leaving their homes, a place where memories were made. Just because all of our shit is broken in our apartment doesn't mean they have to completely abandon all of theirs."

Steve blinked, unable to do anything for a moment as he registered all of that, Bethany going back to work. These people's safety meant more to him than their memories, but he could understand why Bethany was focusing on that. Steve didn't have to find a reason to get people to hurry up, however, when hundreds of Ultron's bots began to attack, emerging from the ground, some flying in the sky.

People screamed in panic as the bots showed no mercy. "Go, go!" Steve encouraged the people, some of them trying to run in the wrong direction. He ducked as a blast came near his head before using his shield to fight back. He could see Bethany using the bat she borrowed to aggressively hit the bots, sending them flying away, some even breaking as a result of her own personal force or from being forced into the concrete.

As Steve forced a bot across a car and pulled its arm off, he realized that these things were very easy to take apart, and disable. The real problem was how many of them they were. The team was greatly outnumbered, and had to deal with not only turning these things off and stopping Ultron all together, but also with getting these people to safety. Their fight or flight instincts had kicked in, but they were all running.

Another issue arose when the ground began to rumble, a thin curtain of smoke drifting up around the perimeter. It took a few seconds before Steve registered that the ground was breaking, and the heart of the city was moving upwards. He could see Bethany near the edge of the line of destruction, swinging the bat around violently, smashing three bots against the pavement and the thick poles of the bridge.

He quickly moved towards the edge, destroying another bot along the way, but taking a hold of her elbow when he reached her. She looked annoyed that he had come to her rescue, but he wasn't holding onto her so she wouldn't fall over the edge. By God, he knew his wife was smart enough, strong enough and fast enough to not fall over that edge. He was holding onto her because he needed some grip on reality.

The city was flying. How? He wasn't sure. Why? All he knew was that it had something to do with Ultron's plan. "Do you see?" Ultron's menacing voice echoed all over the city. "The inevitability. You rise, only to fall."

He could feel Bethany looking at him, but he was too busy watching as the ground under him got farther and farther away, citizens looking up as their home flew away. Just a few minutes ago, they were wondering how far away was safe enough, and now the line was clearly drawn. They wouldn't be able to get the remaining inhabitants of the city as far away as possible now. Their job had just gotten a whole lot more difficult.

"You, Avengers, are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the Earth will crack with the weight of your failure," Ultron continued to taunt. "Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh again me. It means nothing. When the dust settles the only thing living in this world will be metal."

Steve, feeling a bot attempting to sneak up on him, threw his arm back, feeling and hearing the contact as the bot fell dead. "Go," Bethany whispered suddenly, the ground breaking under them as the city rose higher. "Go, go."

They ran, Steve's hand still on her elbow, towards the middle of the bridge, only separating as a new fleet of bots came at them. Steve used his shield to the best of his advantage, flailing his arms and legs when necessary.

"Ah shit," He heard Bethany say, her bat bending under the pressure of a bot. He didn't even get the opportunity to reach out to help her when she activated the wristlet she was wearing, fire spurting from her suit and covering the bot, which immediately began to short circuit.

"The vibranium core has got a magnetic field," Friday, Tony's new operating system, explained to them. "That's what's keeping the rock together."

"If it drops?" Tony asked, Steve rushing forward to attack some bots that were trying to land on the city.

"Right now the impact would kill thousands. Once it gets high enough… global extinction."

Global extinction. Steve prayed that Friday's calculations were incorrect, but he had a feeling that she was always accurate in her calculations. If they failed, they didn't just fail the people of Sokovia, they failed the entire world. Billions of people would die, including the team, and the Earth would be nothing but rubble and metal.

And Beth. And Jamie, Steve thought in a panic. No matter what happened, those two would rise from the ashes and have to live on. It wouldn't just be everyone dead, a moment of panic and then complete darkness. They'd have to deal with the aftermath, Jamie buried in the remains of the Tower, alone while Bethany would have to fight her way back to him, singlehandedly. It didn't matter if the Vision believed that Ultron had no intentions of killing Bethany or Jamie since he knew he couldn't. The Intelligence wouldn't be helping Bethany, it would only make her life harder. And maybe one day, he would find a way to end both of their lives and have exactly what he wanted; an age of Ultron.

Steve let out a loud moan as a bot flew at him, flying him through the sky and throwing him down on a car. "Cap, you got incoming," Tony rushed to tell him.

"Incoming already came in," Steve informed him, feeling all his muscles tense up in pain, trying to pull his leg out of the heavy indent of the car before hearing a loud crash. Looking backwards, he fought back a sigh as more of Ultron's minions attacked the city. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely," Steve ordered as he got off the car. "The rest of us have one job; tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed… walk it off."

"Your pep talk skills are getting worse, Rogers," Bethany told him as he joined her, her voice laboured as she now had a large, heavy pole in her arms, exactly like she wanted. She used it to get a wider range to hit the bots, causing a lot more damage. He wasn't sure where she found it, but he was glad she did. "Any bright ideas on where to send the civilians babe?"

Steve found it humorous that a time like this, she could put on a brave front, make jokes and use terms of endearment, but he couldn't dwell on this for too long as they both fought to get bots off of citizens and away from the core. "The middle. The edges of this rock are crumbling."

"Buildings are also crumbling," Bethany reminded him, grunting as she laid a heavy kick to a bot's chest, sending him flying back to a metal pole of the bridge and shattering into broken pieces.

"You asked a question, I gave you an answer," Steve replied in a huff, wincing as a bot got too close for comfort before disabling it.

"They're running around like chickens with no heads!" Bethany reminded him. "We have to do-"

"If we leave the bridge, there's a higher chance of more bots-"

"I'll leave, you stay here," Bethany suggested, finally looking to him as she finished fighting off one horde of bots.

Steve didn't get time to say anything before he heard panicked screams from the end of the bridge. A considerable amount of concrete had crumbled, leaving the end of the bridge with cars, still filled with passengers, now tilting off of it. "I got this!" Bethany yelled to him, using the thin pole in her hand to viciously and swiftly break all the bots around him

She did have things under control. He never really had to doubt that. She was strong, and he often undetermined her, but she was strong. She didn't need him to take care of her. She could confidently control the situation. Now, it was time for him to do the same.


As Steve ran off to help the people on the bridge, she tried not to think about how easy it could be for him to slip off the edge and fall to his doom. She felt nauseous with just the very idea of it, and knew she couldn't get distracted for a moment. If any of her team members fell, she couldn't let it get to her. They needed to finish the mission. That was imperative. It was a matter of life and death on the biggest scale Bethany had ever seen.

Loki had wanted to rule Earth as a King. HYDRA wanted control of the people to manipulate world peace. But Ultron wanted the entire world to himself, believing that only the harmony of himself and his little metal offspring were the way to go about it. This was eons more serious than the other two situations, where they had SHIELD to back them up. Or, at least part of SHIELD in regards to HYDRA.

But for now, they needed to focus on putting down as many bots down as they possibly could, all while protecting the citizens. For some reason, that was taking precedence in her mind. They had nowhere to run to. Everything around them was crumbling into pieces, and not small dust-like particles, but large chunks of buildings meant to kill or seriously injure. Steve was right. The edges of the city were falling down to the hole that had once been part of the city of Sokovia, but was now a giant crater. It wasn't safe there. But the middle of the city was just as dangerous, with apartment buildings and skyscrapers threatening to crash as their foundations cracked with every waking second.

The smaller buildings may have a stronger foundation, Bethany thought as she continued to wave her pole around, using her suit's fire ability whenever she could. Shutting down the bots wasn't too hard, since they weren't made to last that long. Ultron had focused on quantity over quality.

But if the bigger buildings fall on them, that doesn't help matters, Bethany continued to brainstorm. If there was a big open park, that would be the best option, but she had a pretty good feeling that there was no such thing in the now broken city.

Letting out a loud grunt as she disabled the last bot in the hoard, she could feel exhaustion already taking over. She knew that if she could feel pain, her lungs would be burning, every single muscle aching. This wouldn't have bothered her two years ago, but Bethany didn't work her body like she used to.

Taking in a deep breath, she looked to the edge of the bridge, watching as Steve summoned a bot to him using his shield, throwing him off the edge yelling "You didn't finish!"

As Thor landed beside Steve, the two pushed forward. "Did you see that?" Steve asked her, the group trying to find the next place to defend.

"No," Bethany admitted.

"Good, you'd kill me if you did," Steve replied before pointing. "Over there."

Bethany looked on as Natasha fought off a squadron of bots singlehandedly, and the three quickly went to help her. Bethany took it upon herself to get closer to Natasha, watching her friend's back, knowing Thor had Steve's.

"Good to see a friendly face," Natasha panted as Bethany quickly jabbed a bot that was sneaking up on the ex-agent of SHIELD.

"Oh, what? Bruce's green mug wasn't good enough for you?" Bethany teased, seeing the Hulk in the distance.

"Just like the-"

"I swear, if you say 'good old days' Natasha," Bethany warned, ducking as a robot came flying at her, before stabbing it with the end of her pole. For someone who got her fortune making weaponry with her brother, she was amazed at how much she was loving something she found on the ground. It was a lot more useful than her gun and was doing more damage than any of the cool gadgets she had on her suit.

"Alright, we're all clear here," Clint announced.

"We are not clear! We are very not clear!" Bethany heard Steve protesting, the man's voice very laboured.

Steve's words were true. Bethany wasn't sure how many more of these minions Ultron had left, but they had already shut down a good chunk of them. What they needed was a kill switch. During the Chitauri attack, they had all fallen dead when the portal was shut. They had to deal with the bigger issue in order to end the smaller ones. But Bethany knew that shutting down the main Ultron wasn't going to shut them all down. A little piece of the Intelligence lived within each of his children, and as long as one of them survived, they were ultimately doomed. This seemed like a battle that didn't have a solution. Their problems only continued to grow and knowing her luck, Bethany had a feeling that it was going to get worse before it got better… if it could even get better.

Bethany could hear Steve call out to Natasha, the familiar whoosh of his shield sounding close to her ears as he passed his weapon to the redhead. Bethany rose her pole to stab through one bot, another grabbing her legs and pulling her down before entrapping her in a cage made of his body. Bethany's hands went to the robot's neck, grabbing at some of the wires. The bot's own two hands clenched around Bethany's neck, but she didn't let the lack of air bother her as she continued to yank at the wires until a satisfying snap echoed and the bot fell dead.

Kicking it off of her, Steve's hand swiftly reached out to help her out, but him not sticking around for long as he immediately moved to collect his shield from Natasha, finishing off the bot she was dealing with.

"Here," Bethany said to Natasha, pulling an extra ear piece out of her pack and handing it to her. "To keep you in the loop."

"Thanks," she said with a nod. "I'm gonna loop around, see if there's any more robots. This wave may be done, but more are coming. Might as well get rid of as many as we can."

"Agreed," Bethany voiced, watching as Natasha began to backtrack. "I'm gonna talk to the Twins. They'll know where the civilians can go to be safe until we find a way to get them off."

"We need a solution to the problem, not a band-aid," Steve reminded her, following the blonde as she made her way to the miracle twins.

"Call this Plan B," Bethany offered. "And this thing is not going down as smoothly as it's going up."

"You call this smooth?" Steve asked, bewildered.

"What now?" Wanda questioned, walking up to Bethany as Pietro disappeared once again.

"We were going to ask you," Bethany replied. "You know this city. Where can the people go to stay safe? Is there a stable community building or open area or something? Something that's easy to access so getting people off will be easier than them all being scattered?"

"Town Hall, maybe," Wanda answered. "There's first aid kits there, and it's not too far from the broken perimeter. It's big enough to fit the people still on here, it just comes to getting them all there."

Bethany looked up to Steve. "Well, we have a solution to a problem."

"I guess I can't complain," Steve decided, Wanda taking a step outwards to tell a scared family to go to town hall and gather as many people as they could. The three of them started leading people to the building, the air slowly getting thinner. The swallow breathing didn't bother Bethany as much as the thickness of the air in regards to vision. It was hard to see anything, a layer of grey appearing as they started to rise into the clouds. When Howard told a six-year-old Bethany that she could reach the clouds one day, she had a feeling this hadn't been what he was referring to.


**A/N: Please remember to check out my tumblr page if you have a moment! :)

thatcrazyginger: I sent you a message because my reply was really long, and I'm hoping to hear back from you! :) The only way I can change how things are presented are by advice and help :)

CldKfe: And have her get flustered? Him embarrassed? Bethany possessive? I'll make it happen, just tell me which one!

Felicafelicis: In a bad way..? Or a good way? Bethany is hot. She knows that. I mean, of course she does, especially if you look at her past. She's a regular MILF now, and boys have a weak spot for that apparently. Not sure why, but all the more power for mothers! Yeah, Jamie is kinda adorable. He's brilliant, which I've subtly tried to show the readers. He's off to do amazing things. I just need to figure out what those things are. While everyone wants/thinks that their child is perfect, Steve and Bethany's son has the genetic code to be just that. As long as he's pointed in the right direction, everything will be good :) Think about it; he has Steve's artistic ability and mind for tactics, his mother's smarts and both of their enhanced health. And he's adorable.

anonymouscsifan: They will be definitely spending some quality family time together!

Jo: Not entirely sure what you meant in the last sentence, but thanks anyways!

bluuMi: Okay... now I'm convinced my future plot points have been leaked ;D I've been trying to find a place to put this for a while now, but the right time never came up. It'll happen in the future however!