Hello, there fabulous readers! I'm moving back to a Monday upload schedule so this chapter is coming out pretty close to the last one. There's only a few chapters left to go now of this story and it's the Easter holidays for me, so I've got plenty of time to keep writing up more chapters for y'all.

Now, don't worry that this will be the end of Astraea and Madison's story. Nope, I've planned out another two or three stories to cover the in-between time from Age of Ultron to Civil War, as well as one for Civil War. Good stuff. We're not down with our duo yet.

I've cut the final battle into two parts as well because it was getting a little long and I didn't want to leave your with a 6,000-7,000 word chapter to get through. There's a lot of stuff in this battle scene so you'll get a pair of chapters instead.

As always, I only own my OCs and original plot features.

Enjoy.

To battle

Battle of Sokovia, Part one of two

'Hey, this is Madison. Please leave a message after the beep. If you're someone I know, just text me. If you're Rhea, you'll probably do both. If you're a cold caller, piss off. Thanks.'

The familiar voice message sung though Astraea's for the fifth time and she ended the call. At first, she had left messages, but now it seemed useless. Her fingers tapped long texts that she deleted, amended, or sent. Astraea had been calling every 15 minutes to no avail. They are still a few hours out from the capital of Sokovia, but there's a stillness in the Quinjet that hasn't yet been broken by planning. In the first three hours, they'd planned and planned and planned. Astraea had only called Madison once then but tried again a few hours later. Now, with only three/four hours of travel left, she is calling every 15 minutes.

There's never any reply. So, Astraea texts her instead. Long and short messages about where they're going, who's with them, how far away they are. She asks Madison to call her, and please, please, please stay safe and don't come try and find them. Astraea needs Madison to be safe, away from a monster robot that wants to destroy her and all of the world to rebuild a new one from metal, circuits, and electricity.

She picks up the phone, staring at the little letters unfeelingly. An endless stream of texts from her fills the screen. There's no sign that Madison has seen them, not yet. Maybe she doesn't have her phone, but Astraea can't help but wonder if it's something much worse. It could be better, and maybe she's just too busy to read her messages. But there's a niggling feeling of doubt in the back of Astraea's mind that just won't go away.

She calls Madison again.

There's no reply.

'Hey, this is …'

oOo

They're two hours away now. So close it hurts to think about what awaits them. What awaits all the people within the city, unaware of the doom about to crash down upon them with cold certainty. Death and destruction. With only a team of 10 people to defend them, assuming that Natasha is still alive. Clint and Tony think she is; Astraea just hopes.

Wanda and Pietro are sitting opposite her, talking softly and sometimes not at all. But they still seem to have a conversation; the little gestures and the soft touch of red on Wanda's hands indicate they are talking in a way that others can't hear. It's interesting, but unnerving at the same time. It's their own language, though, and just as normal as anyone speaking German, French, or sign language.

Still, Astraea feels a need to at least introduce herself well. They've only had three short interactions, two of which involved fighting, shouting, and shields. That doesn't exactly make for the best way to introduce yourself. Okay, so the first two times it wasn't like they would've chatted anyways, but now the opportunity is here. Especially seen as they may be going to their deaths.

Wonderful.

Astraea shifts to sit a little closer to the duo, plastering on a friendly smile, and catching the twins' attention. "Uh … hi," she stammered, feeling the weight of their gaze." I, um, just realised that we've haven't actually talked or anything yet, so I thought I'd, like, introduce myself an' all." Astraea pauses briefly, swallows, and continues. "I'm Astraea. But I … I already kinda know your names so I guess that's that part out of the way now."

Pietro turns around slightly, floppy silver-white hair hanging just above his eyes. "Nice to meet you. Do you always talk so much when you are nervous?"

She splutters out a chuckle. "Yes …? Sometimes though, not all the time. At least, not most of the time. I think it only really happens when I'm talking to new people or the situation is a bit awkward. Well, this is kinda both of them because you're new and this awkward 'cause you meet, sorta, before and were fighting each other. And then last time we met … " Astraea trails off, noting the hint of amusement in Pietro's gaze. "Ah … I've done it again, haven't I?"

Both twins nod, and Astraea starts to nibble on her bottom lip. Oops. Not exactly the way she'd played on saying 'hello' to the super-duo. There are a few moments of uncomfortable silence before Wanda speaks up.

"You have a different accent to the others?" Her tone makes what would have been a statement into a question.

"Yeah, I'm not from the USA." Astraea manages a small half-smile. "I grew up in Yorkshire," A pair of blank looks meets her own gaze, "it's in England. So, I've got a Yorkshire accent and not some kind of American one. But you two are … Sokovian?" She questions, getting small nods in reply. "I can't even imagine what you've gone through … what we're about to go through."

"I guess … I guess we hope that we come out alive. But Ultron is attacking our city – my brother and I need to protect it." Wanda shivers, and Pietro wraps a comforting arm around her shoulders. "We helped this … this monster because we were blinded by our own desire for revenge, for wanting to right an old wrong even if it meant doing the worst things." She gives a bitter laugh. "Ne videti šumu od drveta."

"Uh … sorry, what does that mean?" Astraea asks, already deciding to learn Sokovian when they return. If they return.

"To miss the forest because of the trees. Not seeing the big picture," Pietro mutters, fidgeting with something in his pocket. He brings it out to show Astraea. "Here is my little picture, Astraea."

It's a well-worn and much-folded photograph of a young family. Two children who are clearly Wanda and Pietro stand with a pair of adults who look very similar. There's Pietro's cheeky grin mirrored by his mother's smile, and Wanda's dark locks are the same colour as her father's close-cropped hair. All of them are smiling and happy. The twins appear to be about ten years old.

"We lost our parents in the bombs soon after this. Two days we are trapped, waiting and waiting for the bomb to kill us. We survived, but our lives were gone."

"I'm sorry … sorry that you had to go through that, and everything, when you shouldn't have had to. No one deserves to live in fear of death every day." Astraea moves around and asks Wanda if she can hug her. The surprised teen nods her reply so Astraea does. She hugs both Pietro and Wanda in solitude for their loss.

They break out of the hug a few moments later and Astraea asks them if they'll be willing to share any happy memories of their childhood. "Because it's always nicer to go into battle thinking about what you're protecting."

The twins exchange a quick look and seem to come to some sort of agreement. Wanda starts first. "When we were children, the cobbled streets and alleys were our home and playground. Everybody knew everyone. There was an old lady on our floor; everyone called her baka – grandma – and she always gave me and Pietro sweets if we helped her with her shopping."

Soft smiles cover the twins' faces now, and a warm light sparkles in their eyes. It's a far cry from the sadness that previously darkened their faces. Everyone deserves happy memories, Astraea decides.

"Mama would make Vanilice for a special treat once a week if we could afford it. Or sometimes we had Uštipci. It was better than you could buy from market," Pietro's voice turns dreamy as he reminisces.

"Do not forget about Krofne and Sisky and Dolky. Pietro loves sweet things but we cannot get many at home unless we make ourselves. But we haven't always money for that. When we were orphaned, my brate would steal treats from the stalls to make me happy on sad days. We would share a piece and eat it slow to keep it for longer." Wanda turns to Astraea, staring the other girl straight in the eyes. "What about your country? What are your favourite treats?"

"Uh … I feel like this could take a while 'cause I have a sweet tooth an' there's lots of things I like." Astraea flashed a white-toothed grin. "There's jelly and ice cream, jammy doughnuts, sticky toffee pudding, Jaffa cakes, bananas and custard, brandy snaps, angel delight, Eton mess, treacle tart, and Battenberg to name a few."

"That is quite a long list, mali mač." Pietro laughs softly. "Maybe we can try them all if we make it out of this."

"We will make it out," Astraea insists, determined. The twins nod but still look uncertain at her confidence. She only wished she really believed that will be fine.

It has to be.

oOo

When they're almost at Sokovia's capital city, Steve gives them his pep talk. Everyone, even Clint driving the jet, listens in.

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So, our priority is getting them out." There's steeling determination in Steve's voice and Astraea knows all of them will put every effort into protecting the people of Sokovia from whatever Ultron's plan is. "All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

On that (happy?) note they move out. Clint lands the jet, and they all clamber out. Bruce is set to free Natasha, and Tony jets off to stall Ultron at his church hideout. The others are getting ready to evacuate the city as well as they can before everything sets off. Something that Pietro's superspeed is very useful for.

As they move deeper into the city, Wanda proves highly useful for persuading people to leave with her telekinetic abilities. People move to the bridges, driving or walking out of the city in droves. Some people refuse to go, and others take more time than necessary to decide if they believe the Avengers who always come with trouble on their tails. It's a slow process, and they don't really have the time. At all.

Then all hell breaks loose.

Something must've happened at the church and now a horde of Ultron bots are attacking the bridge where Astraea, Clint, Wanda, and Steve are herding people away from the city. Blue repulser shots whiz through the air, narrowly being blocked by Steve's shield. Clint fires arrow after arrow, and Wanda creates a thin red energy shield to protect those behind her.

"Get off the bridge!" Wanda calls out in her clipped accent, pushing people behind her as she shields them. A blue blast knocks her down and Astraea launches forward, unsheathing her katana as she does so.

The sharp blade slices easily through the robot, propelled by Astraea's enhanced strength. People scream and run back into the city. The bots block the bridge – the only way out at this point. The blue-eyed robots move in on them, limbs shifting to make high-powered weapons. Astraea ducks behind a bot, slicing upwards to remove its arm. Cap's shield flies over to smash the bot in half.

The four of them split into two groups. Clint and Wanda move deeper into the city, and Astraea and Steve head to another bridge. A steady stream of robots attacks them. The air tastes like burnt flesh and metal. Astraea puts her new sword to good use, slicing robots open left, right, and centre. But every robot they bring down another three take its place.

Then the ground begins to rumble and shake. Astraea's legs wobble and she almost tumbles to the ground. Cracks appear in the cobble and concrete roads, widening into deep chasms of death. The whole city groans as a chunk of it pulls away from the rest, defying gravity to rise upwards to the endless sky. On the bridge, cars tumble into the abyss, and terrified people scramble out of the way. A few decide to risk the jump to leap onto the part of Sokovia still fixed to the ground. Steve, engaged with a robot, almost stumbles over the edge. The metal and concrete bridge rips as part of it is dragged ever higher.

There are screams all around, echoing in her ears, but Astraea has a job to do.

Then a new sound hits her ears – Ultron speaking as he looks down upon the city:

"Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

Astraea turns to Cap, urgency lighting her eyes. "He wants to use the city to destroy the world." Fear rises up in her, a bubble of terror inspired by her nightmare. A city ripped away from its root, just as she saw. "Ultron will use this rock to kill everyone and rebuild a world of metal."

Steve nods, moving slightly further away from the edge, and starts to talk into comms. "Everyone hear that?"

There's a chorus of agreements and Tony adding his own information. "Yeah, FRIDAY already told me. If this rock drops from high enough it'll cause global extinction."

On that grim note, silence reigns over the comms again. Astraea rolls her shoulders and readies her blade. "Looks like I've got a project to keep me from getting bored now," she mutters under her breath.

Then a dozen more bots fly in towards the bridge and Astraea is no longer in a joking mood. One seizes Steve, throwing him back into a car. People scream in terror. Astraea leaps forward, slicing the head off one bot and stabbing another. Dropping the sword, she vaults onto another squeezing it with her thighs until the head pops off. One down, about a hundred thousand more to go.

Somewhere behind her, Astraea catches a glimpse of Steve hauling himself to his feet.

"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed … walk it off." Steve gives his little pep talk, staring out onto the city as robots make blue streaks overhead.

Astraea nods at him, taking the smallest of moments to catch her breath. Cap gestures for her to go deeper into the city with a curt "I've it covered; people need help elsewhere."

So, Astraea runs off into the city alone as a chorus of screams erupt into a beautiful and haunting harmony all around her, joined by the roar of the Hulk.

oOo

It's harder moving people than she thought. Now that the city is slowly rising upwards, there's nothing for these people to do but hide and hope that someone destroys the robot before it finds them. There's no organisation to the movement of the robots, though. They're just shooting wildly, marvelling in the chaos.

Astraea has killed so many bots by now that she's lost count. At the moment, she's herding a mixed group of adults and children into one of the more stable buildings. It's out of the way, and a more defensible point than standing out of in the street. That makes you a target, so, of course, it's exactly what Astraea does.

Six robots stand in the street. Astraea has long abandoned using her sword in favour of her electric batons and hand-to-hand combat. The narrow streets make it difficult to wield her katana well enough. The blue glow of the robots' eyes mirrors that of her batons.

She leaps forwards, shrieking her war cry. The pulses short-circuit the first two bots. Astraea tucks into a roll, ducking through the legs. A blue repulser shot shoots over her head. She seizes one leg, flipping it over her head. It smashes on the stones. Another bot succumbs to her batons. Flipping over their heads, Astraea uses her momentum to smash them into each other.

"Clear!" She yells into her comms, gesturing for the people to come out. "Evakuirovat! It's clear now!" Astraea calls to the hidden people. She'd noticed when Wanda and Pietro were speaking in Sokovian that some of the words were slightly similar to some Russians ones. Maybe they'll understand it sort of, especially if they don't speak English. It would be arrogant to assume that they did.

"Alright, we're all clear here," Clint shouts over the comms.

Steve's stressful reply comes soon after. "We are not clear! We are very not clear!"

"Alright, coming to you," Clint assures Cap, and Astraea adds her own promise to turn up as soon as possible to where the other Avenger is.

Sighing softly, Astraea drags herself into a standing position and sets off. When they get out of this, she's going to sleep for a whole day straight. Assuming, of course, that they manage to survive this. Astraea hopes against all else that they do. She's just not so sure if she believes it.

Hoping. Always hoping now.

oOo

Then a gift worth more than all the jewels in the world arrives while Steve and Natasha are arguing about leaving or staying on their floating rock of doom.

The voice of one Nick Fury comes over the comms units as a helicarrier rises up beside them, loading with aerial lifeboats. "Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better. Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

"Fury, you son of a bitch," Steve calls back.

"Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

While the others chat, Astraea hears a buzzing noise from her comms unit before a familiar voice breaks through.

"Hey, Rhea. I … uh … I got your messages, by the way." It's Madison, laughing nervously in her ear as though she is standing right beside her. "Fury borrowed him to help set up the helicarrier. I managed to get this connection direct to your comms but only for a few minutes." There's a pause as Madison lets the news settle in. "So, superhero, how are you?"

Astraea lets out a weak chuckle. "Better for hearing you. Tired I guess, but otherwise unharmed." Her voice becomes razor sharp and serious as she glares in the general direction of where Madison must be. "Stay safe for me. Don't … don't do anything stupid without me, will you? Promise."

"I promise. Don't worry about me; I'm more worried about you." Madison's voice gets fainter as the connection breaks down. "Go save the world, superhero."

Astraea nods, despite knowing Madison isn't there and can't see her. She's safe on the helicarrier and won't be falling off the rock while Ultron taunts her. Not happening – not now, not ever.

"Let's load 'em up!" Steve orders the nearby Avengers, nodding in the direction of the arriving lifeboats. People swarm them, aided by Wanda's powers and the twins' assurances that everything is safe muttered in Sokovian.

It finally seems like they might be making headway. They've got a way to keep the people safe; now all they need to do is defeat Ultron. New courage surges through Astraea, and new strength runs through her tired limbs. The Avengers can do this – all they have to do is try.

Well there you go - SHIELD has arrived, but is it enough to save the day? And what will happen to our superheroes (in particular a certain speedster)?

Now, for the Sokovian language, I used Serbian as we don't know exactly where Sokovia is, just that it's in around this place in Europe. Plus, there are a few words that are similar between Russian and Serbian according to google translate, which is useful for our Russian-speaking Astraea as you'll see next chapter.

The desserts Wanda and Pietro talk about are a mixture of Serbian and Slovakian desserts I found on various websites.

Here are the translations:

(all are either from google translate or phrases from Wikipedia or names of foods from various websites)

Serbian:-

Ne videti šumu od drveta - to miss the forest because of the trees

Baka - grandma

Brate - brother

mali mač - little sword

Russian:-

Evakuirovat - evacuate

Well, thanks for reading this. I hope you've enjoyed it and stay tuned for next monday.

Look-for-the-miracles