Frostbite

Seventeen

Steve and I were the first to arrive to the church. One of the bots came up from behind and tried to attack while our backs were turned. Steve immediately grabbed it by the arm and knocked it into the wall. Another came in from the other side of the building and I knocked it back with a cold blast. It smashed into the pillar so hard that its head came loose and was dented up like a forgotten can on the back of a grocery shelf.

I shrugged and glanced back at Steve who just tossed the limp, robotic body out onto the street. I spotted Tony descending from the sky; Thor and Vision dropped down as well.

"Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini," Tony sung as he landed inside the church. Clint, Wanda, and Pietro were right behind them, all ready for action.

"Relax, shell-head. Not all of us can fly," Natasha reminded him. Moments later, she pulled up in a truck, Hulk right behind her. "What's the drill?"

"This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose," Tony told us simply. Ultron swooped down and hovered in front of the church threateningly.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor challenged loudly. Ultron summoned his army of robots to join him; there were so many that they seemed to swarm like ants in the street. I groaned, eyeing Thor accusingly.

"You had to ask," Steve grumbled sarcastically.

"This is the best I can do. 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," Tony answered, glancing at Steve. Ultron released his army, and they came charging at us from the air and the ground.

Our different abilities and strengths worked beautifully together. We stuck together and fought as a team. None of them even came close to the core. After what seemed like hours, they suddenly stopped coming. They hadn't stood a chance against us, and neither did Ultron.

Thor, Tony, and Vision teamed together and focused all their power on Ultron. The three different colored beams hit him, illuminating the area around him. Before long, he collapsed to his knees, opening his mouth to speak. Hulk ran up and hit him so hard that he went sailing. He sulked off, smashing things as he went, and no one bothered to try and stop him.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor warned.

"We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!" Tony replied, and the three fliers blasted off.

"I'm on it."

"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, and we'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you," Steve instructed, gesturing towards me.

"What about the core?" Clint asked hesitantly.

"I'll protect it. It's my job," Wanda confidently volunteered almost immediately. I gave her a small nod, admiring her determination. Steve and I split up from the rest of the group. Nat and Clint headed toward the boats and Pietro was still talking to Wanda.

"Meet you back at the boats?" I said, cocking my head to the side.

Steve rested his hand on my check for a second and said, "Don't take too long." I smiled at his retreating figure as he jogged away. I turned, jogging the opposite direction. I called out to anyone who might have been missed in our earlier sweeps of the city. I kept going, the rubble that crunched beneath my feet the only sound in the vicinity. Street after street turned up empty; it seemed that all the civilians had been evacuated.

The plaza came back into view, and I could see Thor and Steve talking in the distance as a few stragglers rushed onto the boats. I walked a few more steps towards them but stopped in my tracks when I heard a muffled voice shouting to my left. I quickly ran up to peer through the window of the small home where it was coming from. There was a young woman in the building, her leg pinned under a pile of rubble.

I busted through the door and dashed to the woman, who began talking rapidly. Accessing the site before me, I pinpointed the piece that actually had her pinned and started moving some of the smaller pieces of stone. Finally, I got to the large piece, and I crouched down, reaching underneath as far as I could and lifted. My breathing hitched as I lifted it higher, but the woman managed to scoot backwards out of the way.

"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church," Tony told him over the comms. We didn't have much time to get off this hunk of rock. I dropped it, and it hit the floor with a loud thud. The woman moaned as I helped her to her feet and adjusted her so that she was mainly using me as support.

We exited the building and slowly started making our way up the street to the courtyard. Steve noticed us and made to come help, but he didn't get the chance. The sound of a jet caused me to whip my head around, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Ultron had highjacked our jet and didn't hesitate to start firing.

My body sprang into action, and I ignored Steve who I could hear yelling behind us. My instinct was to throw my hands up in front of us, causing a curved, jagged wave of ice to sprout directly in front of us. The bullets hit the barrier, and some began to ricochet wildly.

"Son of a bitch."

I yanked the woman to the ground and waited for Ultron to pass over us. He quickly did and continued his assault on the others. There was a pitiful groan from beside me and I quickly got to my knees and glanced over. My breath caught in my throat.

There was blood seeping from her abdomen, a bullet wound. My hands shakily reached over, and I put pressure on the spot. She whimpered, a single tear falling from the corner of her eye.

"Somebody help us," I screamed over my shoulder. I had no supplies, nothing that could help her. This was my fault.

She made another pained noise, and I let go of the wound and held her hand, blood smearing onto her skin. I looked at her helplessly, wishing I had done anything else. I leaned forward, resting my forehead to hers, murmuring a soft lullaby, soothing her cries. I heard my name somewhere in the distance but ignored it.

She had been quiet for several minutes and I finally sat up. We had been so close, but her life was carelessly stolen from her. What if she had a family who would miss her? Hands grabbed my shoulders, jerking me to my feet. It was Steve. He crushed me to him, saying something I didn't quite hear.

"We have to go," he said loudly, finally grabbing my attention. I stared back down at the woman and looked at him with tears in my eyes. I hadn't even asked her her name.

"I didn't protect her," I croaked.

"It's not your fault. Ultron did this," he reassured me, bending down to pick up the woman's lifeless body. He gestured for me to follow him and began walking toward the boats. I glanced back at my creation, anger beginning to boil inside of me.

Something snapped and I yelled out as I waved my hand, cracking every inch of the barrier, causing it to shatter and send thousands of shards of ice in every direction. Without looking back, I turned on my heel and stalked to the boat. Steve came back out and glanced around, checking that everyone had cleared out.

"I think that's it. Let's go," he told me softly, tugging my hand for me to follow him. Before we could step onto the platform, there was a rumbling and Steve and I looked at each other wide-eyed. He jumped forward, still latching onto my hand. The ground suddenly fell from beneath my feet and Steve barely landed on the edge of the platform.

"Steve!" I huffed out, staring at the thousands of miles below me, praying my hand wouldn't slip from his. He rolled over and reached out with his other hand; I swung and grasped it with my free one. He pulled me up and we both collapsed, breathing heavily.

Moments later, the city was vaporized, the rubble falling to the sea below. I shut my eyes in relief. Tony and Thor had done it. It was over.