conquer • wanda maximoff

「 EIGHT 」

"Uh, hi! I need you to come with me," she appeared in front of a family as they were eating dinner. They let out sounds of surprise, an elderly man flipping his plate and dropping food down his front. "Sorry. The city's being evacuated. Could you all hold hands, please?"

They looked at her oddly, then linked their hands together. "Thank you," Ayana nodded. She took the hand of the lady nearest to her, and in a second they were on the bridge, landing next to Steve.

"Nice work, Austin," he told her. He frowned at the family, who looked shocked and slightly green. "Are they going to be okay?"

Ayana glanced back at them, waving him off. "Sure. The nausea wears off after a while."

Steve's eyes widened as he looked up at something behind her. Her jaw dropped as she turned, seeing the army of robots in the sky, coming straight for them. The evacuees began screaming in fear, scrambling to get away.

"Go!" Steve yelled at them.

Raising his shield he began fending the bots off, desperate to keep them away from the Sokovians. Ayana shot energy at any bot she could see, trying her best to not hit anyone else in the process. She fought her way to the end of the bridge, finding Wanda struggling to hold up a forcefield against the bots.

"Get off the bridge! Run!" Wanda instructed the people behind her. A second later Ultron's bots shot through the forcefield, sending her to the ground.

"I'm getting sick of you arseholes," Ayana growled. She raised her hands and sent a wave of energy at them, clenching her fists as the bots crumpled, then exploded. "Go, run!" she yelled at the civilians, who seemed rooted to the spot.

Wanda ushered people along bridge, moving with them past Clint, who was stopping bots scrambling over the walls. Ayana was alone at the end, her hands glowing a continuous gold as she worked on taking out the legion.

An ominous cracking sound came from all around them. Ayana looked around, bewildered, only to find her feet slipping from beneath her. A huge crack was forming in the bridge. In a split second she teleported back to the other end, watching as cars slipped and fell over the precipice. The city was flying.

"Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability," Ultron rose high into the sky, speaking down to the whole city. "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."

Ayana looked desperately around, spotting Steve standing a little way in front of her. A bot soared down from above, hurtling into him and sending him into the windscreen of a car. He let out a groan of pain but Ayana didn't have time to help him, locked in her own fight with a bot that landed beside her.

"Cap, you got incoming," came Tony's voice over their earpieces.

"Incoming already came in," Steve hauled himself to his feet, the sounds of screams all around him. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart."

"What do you think we've been doing?" Ayana spat. Metal clattered to the ground around her as she destroyed another bot.

"You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed? Walk it off."

A dozen more bots flew down a little way away and Ayana raced towards them, her legs burning under her. Golden energy enveloped three of them as she raised her hands. They hit the ground hard, shattering into pieces.

"Go, go, move!" Clint was yelling from somewhere. Ayana turned to see him grab Wanda and pull her out of the way, sending them through the window of a building. It had been just in time. A fiery explosion went off where they'd been stood.

Ayana let out a scream of pain as a bot took her out from behind, knocking her against the stone path. Her head throbbed as she fought, getting it off her as another one turned up, keeping her pinned to the ground. Gasping for breath she grabbed at the bot's arm, her eyes beginning to water as it choked her. And then it was gone. A red burst of energy had thrown it off her, destroying it and showering her with pieces of metal.

"Wanda," Ayana gasped. The girl in question looked dangerous as she stood over her, eyes mean and hands glowing crimson.

"Alright," Clint spoke, shocked, "we're all clear here."

"We are not clear, we are very not clear!" Steve exclaimed, his voice loud down their earpieces.

"Alright, coming to you," Clint replied. He looked back at the two girls, nodded, and then left to help the others. Ayana took Wanda's hand as she offered it to her, allowing her to lift her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asked, hand on her waist to steady her as she swayed.

"Yeah. I might forgive you for messing with my mind now," she told her, voice hoarse. "You did good."

A whooshing sound announced Pietro's arrival. He rolled his eyes as he noticed Wanda's arm around Ayana's waist.

"Have you forgotten about the robots? The flying city? We need to be helping the others. Please stop flirting," he smirked at them.

"They're in the town square, right?" Ayana asked, eyes narrowed. Pietro nodded. "Bet I can beat you there."

"In your dreams," he snorted. Before he'd even finished speaking, Ayana and Wanda disappeared in a golden flash. "Oh, come on, that's not fair!"