Make You Feel My Love
~Book III~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers nor do I own the plot of Age of Ultron. All rights go to Marvel.
All I do own are my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 27~
The Last Stand Part 3

As expected, Pietro arrived first at the church. Steve wasn't far behind and when Maria arrived, she managed to shoot a robot attacking him square in the face, effectively helping him get it off his back.

He nodded a thanks before he and Maria continued fighting the robots who were, as it seemed, trying to make their way towards a vibranium post standing in the middle of the half-ruined church. Around the post, Thor, Tony and Vision were keeping the robots away from it, seeming to protect it and so, Maria and Steve joined in while Pietro simply did his own thing.

The others soon came as well, one by one, and soon, only Natasha was the one missing. They had taken the fight to the church now, and Ultron had not missed this fact.

"What's the drill?" asked Steve, throwing his shield at three enemies and taking them all out before the shield bounced back into his own hand.

"This is the drill," said Tony, fighting off robots on the other side of the church. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

"The post-thingy here is the core?" asked Maria, ducking a robot which Thor, fighting next to her, took out while she herself shot another robot attacking Wanda.

"Yes. Keep it safe so that we can use it later on to blow up the city," said Tony.

"Got it."

Wanda was the one to take down the last robot before things calmed down again, and Pietro quickly ran up to her to gently ask her how she was, something that Maria couldn't help but smile a little about. When Erik walked over to her, simply looking her over once before turning to look at Thor and Steve, Maria scrunched her nose disappointedly. Though, what had she expected to happen? That Erik would suddenly become the father she had always wanted?

Something caught Maria's eye and she soon realized why Erik had turned to look at Thor and Steve. Ultron himself was hovering in the air in front of the church, looking at them with his metallic, red eyes, which obviously were quite unreadable.

"Is that the best you can do!?" exclaimed Thor.

Had he been human, Ultron would've been smirking evilly. Though, he wasn't. Instead, the Avengers all had to watch in silence as even more, double as many as before, robots appeared on Ultron's signal. Some were flying, some were crawling creepily over buildings and towards them.

"You had to ask," sighed Steve, exchanging a serious look with Thor.

"This is the best I can do," replied Ultron. "All of you, against all of me. How can you possible hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," said Tony as he walked up to stand in line with Thor and Steve. "Together."

And so the last fight began. Luckily, the Avengers had one benefit. The robots could only come into the church through the open doorways. These were all around them, though at least all the Avengers could keep an eye on the robots coming inside. If there had been no ceiling, there would've been even more space to keep an eye on.

Thor was fighting next to Maria, most of the time they were fighting together, Maria not having the time to aim properly and only being able to wound robots which Thor then took out for her at the same time as he took out those coming towards himself. Maria took out her dagger as well, using it against those robots she or her teammates missed and came too close to her. All in all, it was going well, except it was very dusty which hurt Maria's eyes a bit.

Steve was fighting on the other side of Maria, using his shield and strength to his advantage. Pietro was everywhere, as were Tony and Vision who both could fly. Wanda was fighting next to Erik, using a similar technique as Maria and Thor. The Hulk took the fight outside of the church as well, while Nat came crushing in through one of the walls; a little late to the party, with a forklift, successfully taking out several robots before fighting next to Clint and Steve.

It was when the flock of robots was beginning to thin that Ultron showed his face as well. Maria shot at him, though even with the special bullets she had gotten from Erik, it barely had any effect on him. He simply looked at her and shot a ray of red square into her chest, sending her straight back into the hands of the Hulk, who had managed to catch her before she hit the wall.

"Thanks," she groaned as he set her down.

As she healed, the Hulk kept robots away from her and she herself kept her eyes on Vision as he fought against Ultron. It wasn't until he blasted Ultron out of the church through the ceiling that Maria felt healed up enough to continue the fight. She looked down at her suit, seeing it was burned right where her breasts were. Luckily, it was simply a couple of holes and her bra was still quite intact. Even if her suit had been even more ripped, she wouldn't have minded. It was more important to her that the world was saved then whether or not she was showing off too much skin.

Tony and Thor followed Vision out of the church and Maria quickly made her way towards one of the openings, standing there with wide eyes as she watched Thor, Tony and Vision attack Ultron. Each used their own powers, Tony shooting a beam at him with his suit, Thor shooting lightening at him and Vision shooting… a yellow, strange beam at Ultron which Maria didn't know what it was. Though it was coming from the gem which Maria figured meant the beam was powerful.

With awe, she watched the strong Avengers take Ultron on and she wondered why she hadn't stopped before to think of just how powerful friends she had nowadays. She was especially looking at Thor, an actual God. With the power she figured he had inside of him, he could probably destroy worlds.

A wave of appreciation suddenly washed over her. It was strange and so sudden that it made her suddenly dizzy. She had to hold onto the wall for a bit before she regained her balance.

The wave of appreciation reminded her strongly of what she remembered her grandfather had always said he felt before he had died, even though he hadn't known he would die. Her grandmother had lately told her that it was probably something his soul knew, that his final day was coming soon, which made him suddenly appreciate everything more. This only confused Maria though. After all, she had always appreciated her friends a lot. Why did she suddenly have to become emotional during such an important fight? And did it mean something?

When the three Avengers stopped shooting at Ultron, he stood up, looking significantly more damaged than before.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight-" started Ultron before the Hulk landed before him and punched him so hard, he flew away and landed far off.

Ultron would not recover from that in a while, maybe even never. Tony, Thor and Vision turned to Maria and the other Avengers watching from inside of the church as they realized they had won.

"Have we beat him?" asked Maria quietly and hopeful.

"Yes… I think we have," said Thor.

"Not all of him," replied Tony. "Some robots are going to want to leave the city."

"We can't let them," replied Steve.

"Rhodey?" asked Tony.

"I'm on it."

Vision lifted up from the air, leaving to probably help Rhodey.

"We gotta move out," said Steve - Thor, Tony and Maria walking over to him and the others. "Even I can tell the air is getting a little thin."

"He's gonna drop the rock soon," said Maria worriedly.

"You guys get to the boats," said Steve. "I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you. Tony, Thor, work on a way to blow up the city."

"I'll sweep for stragglers too," said Maria, Steve looking at her sternly. "You'll not have time to check the entire city on your own."

"She's right," said Erik.

"Alright. But hurry," said Steve. "Check for both robots and civilians. We don't know if we've missed any."

Maria nodded her head.

"What about the core?" asked Clint.

"I'll protect it," said Wanda after a moment's silence, Pietro looking like he was going to protest. "It's my job."

Everyone scattered. With one last look at each other, Steve and Maria took off towards opposite sides.

Time was running low, Maria knew this. And so, she was beginning to jog back to the life-boats. However, a call made her stop. Someone was shouting for help.

She turned around swiftly, entering one of the buildings which she knew was the last thing she should be doing considering the entire city would be blown up soon, or begin to fall. Even with her own powers, she doubted she would survive such a fall nor would she survive that sort of explosion. Though the call was so loud, so close-by, she knew she could save this one, last person and get him or her away from certain death.

She reached the second floor, entering one of the flats there and finding, much to her disappointment and relief, that it was just a TV still functioning, somehow. It was showing a movie in which the main-character in the movie was screaming for help.

Maria watched, knowing full and well that she was supposed to be getting to safety with the others, as a man approached the main-character, calming her down.

"Listen to me – listen to me. We have to get out. If we stay any longer, we're all gonna die. You hear me? This piece of shit is gonna fall out of the sky, and we're gonna die. So pull yourself together and let's get our sorry asses out of here."

The man was making sense, and he made Maria's legs start working again. As quickly as she had ever run, she made her way down the stairs – or rather she fell down them – and out into the street again. From the safety of one of the life-boats, Steve turned to look at her, his face relaxing into a look of relief as his eyes finally found her for whom he had seemed to be searching for. However, the look of distress on Maria's face was soon mirrored in his as he realized that time was running out.

It was like everything was moving in slow-motion. Steve raised his hand, stretching out to her as far as he could without actually placing himself in danger; knowing it wouldn't help Maria at all.

"Maria, run!"

Every step she took felt like it was too slow. She knew that if she would manage to get onboard, the entire scene would look rather weird. And she also knew that, the moment she had turned around to head for the voice from the TV, she had doomed herself to death.

As she was only a meter away from Steve and his outstretched hand, her own hand stretching out to him, her next step didn't touch the ground underneath her feet. It had already begun to fall; just like she.

Maria managed to see as Steve jumped forwards, falling flat on his stomach on the small, floating raft in a last attempt to grab her outstretched hand, before the life-boat was too far up for her to see anymore. She was free falling; and it was going fast.

"Thor! Tony! Someone, Maria's still on Sokovia. I repeat, she's still on Sokovia. Do not blow it up."

"What? Steve, we can't stop now. The world's gonna end otherwise!"

The feeling of free falling in such a velocity and from such a height, was the strangest feeling ever. She wasn't breathing nor did it feel as though her heart was beating. Her entire body felt tingly and cold while it stayed in one position, only the wind passing her by telling her that she was indeed free-falling. Usually when Maria fell, she'd feel a tickling feeling in her stomach, though that wasn't there. It was just numbness and a sense of time having stopped around only her.

"No!"

"It's Earth… Or Sokovia."

"Vision! Please!"

She had been there before. Free falling to what she was sure was a certain death. Though last time, she had been pushed. Last time, she had only been a mere murderer. Now, she was falling because she had tried to be too much of a hero. This time, she was falling as a hero.

"I've got Wanda."

"And Maria?"

"Do it…" she said. Her voice sounded like a whisper due to the wind passing by her ears, though from the way her voice hurt, she was sure she had actually screamed it.

"NO!"

Heat suddenly took over the coldness and she was suddenly pushed away by a great force, the boom not coming until after she had been pushed away. She started twirling in the air, debris hitting her from all sides while some travelled with her, twirling just as much as she did. In her state of shock and confusion about what was happening, she still felt the traditional feeling of her body healing everywhere the debris hit her. And had it not been for her knowing of the plan Tony had, she would've been utterly confused about what was going on.

She didn't register the water until she hit it, bouncing on the surface a couple of times before the surface finally broke and engulfed her now hurting body. The explosion had taken her along with most of the debris, to the sea which wasn't too far away from where Sokovia had once been. Also, when Ultron lifted the city up in the air, it must've moved the city not only up but also side-ways albeit it might not have been intentional. That, or Maria truly flew a great way.

As the water engulfed her, her fears returned to her. Her once numb and shocked body began functioning again and she suddenly needed to breathe albeit it was impossible seeing as she was now under water. The collision with the sea had broken her body and she wasn't healing fast enough to start swimming up towards the surface. Instead, all she could do, was watch as the shiny surface got further and further away from her, the bubbles of air rising up to it and leaving her alone. Red smoke surrounded her, created by the blood she was rapidly losing and leaving a trail behind her as she sunk down further and further into an abyss of darkness.

Her fear of oceans was relevant. One didn't know what was down at the bottom; whether it was a dead body, a sunken and forgotten ship or deadly fish. Now, it seemed, she was going to find out.

As any normal human being, her lungs needed air. And in a final attempt to survive, her lungs sucked in whatever was around her. The water was not appreciated and she tried to cough it back up, obviously failing terribly. Her eyes widened and in the mist of the bubbles and red smoke in front of her vision, she vaguely saw the shadow of her grandmother looking down at her.

This she recognized. It was the same thing she had seen all those years ago before Artur had taken her into his custody. She had been dying then. And she now knew what was happening to her too.

This was it; the final thing she would see before she died. Her body might be able to heal, but it couldn't make sure she could breathe again. Hell, she didn't even know if her body could revive her once she died seeing as it never had happened before. And a part of her knew that it couldn't. Her powers weren't that amazing. And even if they could, what would the point be? Would she have to drown over and over again for all eternity? She certainly hoped not.

Her grandmother smiled down at her, stretching out her hand for Maria to take. The necklace with the engagement ring on shifted away from her broken suit and floated up into Maria's vision, causing her to temporarily look away from her grandmother. This made her go back to reality and she felt her lungs cramping, wishing for air. Her body was stiff, needing oxygen to work and it hurt so badly. Yet it was calm. The pain was more of a longing for an end; a longing for death.

As the ring stayed floating in front of her face, the necklace still around her neck, she let her mind take her back to her hallucinations. Her grandmother re-appeared again, that warm, loving smile encouraging Maria to take her hand.

And she did. With one last piece of her strength, she moved her arm towards the hand and grasped it, the darkness of the ocean seeming to consume her. She was aware of what was happening… The darkness, the never ending darkness, was taking her.

And she embraced it. This had been her last battle. This had been her last stand.

Little did she know that the hand she had grasped towards the end, had not been her grandmothers, but Thor's. Little did she know, that had she held on a little longer, she would've survived.

Steve's POV

"I'm going down for lady Maria!"

A wave of relief washed over Steve. He had been able to do nothing but watch as the city was blown up with Maria still there. They had already lost one Avenger, Pietro, and he wasn't going to lose another. Especially not Maria.

"Well, that was unfortunate," said Erik's voice from behind Steve, causing him to turn around.

There, Erik sat next to Clint, who had handcuffed the man the moment he had walked onto the life-boat.

"That is your daughter," said Steve with a monotone voice, shocked by the smile on the man's face.

"Was, you mean," he replied before chuckling at the shocked look on Steve and Clint's faces. "Oh, come on! You don't actually think someone with our powers can survive an explosion like that?"

"Shut up," said Clint, quickly tightening the handcuffs, causing Erik to hiss in pain.

"That is abuse," said Erik lightly. "I don't think your allowed to abuse your prisoners."

"Does it look like I care?" asked Clint with a glare. "You're a psychopath."

"No, he's a sociopath," said Steve, taking a step forwards. "I thought you loved your daughter."

"I thought you did too, but then the ring was suddenly gone-"

Steve had grabbed Erik around the throat, even shocking Clint with his actions.

"Oh! Captain, what a nice surprise," groaned Erik, trying to chuckle even though he had a bit trouble breathing. "Don't think I don't care for her. The things I've done for that child… You would be surprised."

"Just shut your mouth. I don't want to hear another word coming from you until Maria's back with us," said Steve, finally letting go of Erik's throat.

"Then I'll stay quiet for the rest of my life…"

Thor held Maria's limp body in his arms as he landed on the rocky beach. The waters dripping down his face hid the actual tears he knew he was letting slip down his cheeks and as he crouched down, gently placing her down on the sand, he bowed his head, closing his eyes.

"I am sorry…" he said quietly, grabbing her dagger and gently placing it on her chest, almost afraid of hurting her even though she was gone. He grabbed one of her cold hands and curled her fingers around the dagger, letting hand and dagger rest on her chest in a noble way. She was a warrior to him, and he would treat her as such.

Gently, he placed his thumb on her forehead, letting it slide down to her nose as he spoke soft, Asgardian words to make sure her spirit was free to go to Valhalla. He stayed next to her body with a bowed head until the others arrived. All but Pietro and Bruce arrived at the beach; Tony arriving first.

Thor had never seen Tony Stark like that. He had landed on the sand next to Maria, almost convinced she was not dead until she didn't open her eyes and reply to his sassy comment. Then, reality seemed to hit him and he fell down to his knees, angrily removing his Iron Man helmet before grabbing onto Maria's free hand, pressing it against his forehead as he silently cried.

Clint had let out some angry comments at the sight of Maria's dead body and stormed off to mourn on his own while Natasha, Wanda, Vision and Rhodey stayed a couple meters away. Out of the four of them, Natasha was the one who had tears in her eyes. Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Martin Lund both stayed away from the Avengers, giving them space. Out of those three, Martin was the one with tears in his eyes.

It had been Steve's reaction that had made Thor walk away as well, making him wish he could've done more. Steve had arrived last and had, upon seeing her body, collapsed to the ground a few feet away from her. Tony had let go of Maria's hand and tried to comfort Steve, though he had only been pushed away.

Captain America crawled over to Maria's dead body, half sobbing half shouting in anger. He grabbed the hand Tony had been holding before, his fingers desperately curling around her cold fingers, his heart breaking when he didn't get a response, something he'd never get ever again.

He suddenly turned silent.

Through the tears in his eyes, he looked at her face. Her lips were already pale and dark circles were around her eyes. Other than that, she looked as beautiful as always – this very thought making him crack all together. As the tears once again came pouring down his cheeks, he rested his forehead against her stomach.

Denial soon kicked in and he stopped short in his mourning to look up at her face again, using his free hand to cup her face and try to, gently, awaken her from her sleep. Though it didn't work. And as Tony placed a hand on his shoulder to tell him just this, a wave of depression washed over Steve.

He pressed his forehead against hers, wishing he'd stayed with her, wishing he could still feel the engagement ring on her finger now and wishing he had been stronger than he had been. The last time of her life had been ruined, because of him. And he would have to live the rest of his life with that guilt as well as the lack of knowledge of what could've been had they stayed together.

"Maria…" he sobbed. "I'm sorry… Please, I'm so sorry… Pl – Come back to me. Please…"

Her eyes stayed closed.

Yes, I'm evil like that. Is this the last chapter? No. Is this the last story? Who knows.

Don't hesitate to comment your exact thoughts on this. I'm sure they're not going to be very positive seeing as I literally just killed of the character this was all about.