Heroes Are Made | A Tony Stark series (fan fiction)

Can't Let Go

Monroe's POV

"Let's load em' up," Cap ordered with hope in his voice.

"Think you could give us a hand. Don't get me wrong the paws are useful, but the fangs are kinda scary," Nat joked. I shifted back with a smirk on my face, still poking out the fangs. I fixed my earpiece and ran back to the city filled with hiding civilians. As each of the smaller aircrafts landed, each one of us took charge of one. Making sure each and every single person was unharmed and protected. My ship was the first to be filled as I ran deeper into the city looking for more. That's when I found them at the core.

"You think you're saving anyone?" Ultron's voice made my stomach sink. I snuck up slowly behind the enlarged bot so that I wasn't heard. "I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that."

I looked down at the spinning gears. One wrong move and he'll take action.

"I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast... I am running out of things to say. Are you ready?" Ultron looked back at my bared fangs, caught in a smile.

"Made you look," I taunted as Vision swung Thor's hammer at Ultron. While Thor and Vision discussed the details of Mjolnir, Tony finally cooked up a plan.

"I got it. Create a heat seal. I could supercharge the spire from below. Thor, I got a plan."

I couldn't hear what came next as more of Ultron's minions came flying from every direction trying to reach the core. The speedster, the soldier, and the billionaire joined in to destroy every single one of those droids. I stayed at the center, holding a forcefield to protect the drill. Once everyone else on the team had finally made it back, we waited for our opponent to make his move so that we could prevent the outcome.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor yelled. Just as we thought we had destroyed them all, hundreds more just appeared from thin air.

"You had to ask," Rogers declared rather annoyed.

"This is the best I can do," Utron responds. "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..." Tony speaks up.

"Together," I finish. The Hulk proceeds to roar out as the droids began charging at us. In a swift motion, I blasted energy left and right before any of them could get near the center. Some tried tearing through my forcefield as I tore their heads apart from their bodies. I paused my moves to focus on the shield. Looking around, the captain flipped in the air to dodge one coming for his legs. Wanda pushed others back into walls while her twin was doing damage out of sight. Thor had his hammer, Vision had the stone. Tony came around, blasting one to shreds before Wanda was hit. Barton never missed his aims, letting each target implode. I didn't dare look at Natasha, knowing she was kicking ass. The Hulk used his fists and jaw to crush as many as he could. My hands were extended out on each side of me, containing the forcefield.

Unlike the others, my power was beginning to drain me. Holding up a forcefield this long while absorbing their pain is straining my abilities. It was as if the energy I was building up was extracting itself from my body, pulling away from me. I looked up, finding Ultron and Vision fighting their battle in the air. I watched Vision shove Ultron out of the abandoned church we were all cramped in as the murder bot weakened. Tony and Thor joined, using their sources of power to bring him down. By now, majority of his minions had been torn apart by the team. After Ultron realized his defeat, his minions scattered. I dropped the forcefield, falling to my knees as everyone's voices began to echo out. The air thinning out didn't help at all. Once Cap gave his orders, Nat lowered herself to my level.

"Hey, let's get you on the boat okay? We got it from here."

"No. You should- You need to find Banner. Help him," I fought through my out-of-breath state.

"Jess-"

"Go!"

I picked myself up as I reassured everyone else I was fine. Wanda offered to protect the core while the rest of us spread out to sweep stragglers. I ended up following close behind Steve to recount our locations. As soon as we reached Thor, we confirmed no one was left behind.

"Is this the last of them?"

"Yeah. Everyone else is on the carrier," Steve explains as my legs almost give out from exhaustion. I lean on the gravel beside me. "Jess, maybe you should-"

"I'm fine," I cut the captain off. Before the old man could do more convincing, Tony's voice coming from my earpiece caught my attention. I furrowed my eyebrows at his words as I held my hand to my ear.

"You know this works, we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe not." I looked up at Thor's response. Before I could interject, bullets shot down at the three of us. I held up one hand to hover a shield over us as I used the other to send the bullets through the already crushed buildings beside us. As soon as Ultron's passed us, I fell to the ground unable to hold myself up. Before anyone could reach down to help me, we turned heads to the defining scream heard from afar. My eyes widened at the speedster covered in bullet holes. He had collapsed beside Barton who was holding a child. Thor lifted off as Steve ran to help. The child was reunited with his mother as Pietro's body was brought back by Steve. I stood up, finally regaining the tiniest bit of strength to do so. I walked to the edge of the ramp where authorities had made any last calls before they had taken off. Steve took a glance and finally landed his eyes on me.

"It's time."

"Steve... I can't leave him."

"We have to go. Now."

"I can't. Not without Tony. He saved the world once and I almost lost him. I have to know he's gonna make it back this time."

"Jess-"

"Please..."

"If he doesn't do this-"

"He will. He'll save us all."

"Including himself. As much as I hate to admit it, the man is smart enough to save his own ass while saving the world. There's no way he won't live to tell that story."

I smiled at his sarcastic tone. Why is he always right? And even so, why can't I move forward? He'd come back for me. Before it all ends.

"Jess..." Steve brought out his hand for me to take. Just as I did, we felt the sudden gravitational pull. He jumped onto the ramps barely making the cut as I dangled, not quite making it. Because of the grip we lacked, his strength couldn't pull me up enough to guarantee my safety.

"It's no use. Let me fall, I'll be okay."

"I'm not letting you go."

I looked down at the falling city, my heart racing at the sight of the risk I'm taking. I looked back up at Steve with a flash of blue skimming my eyes.

"Don't do this..."

He knew what my plan was, but that didn't change my mind. His eyes locked onto mine with the same shade of blue glow. Steve's fingers loosened around mine, letting me fall through the clouds. He watched as I dropped down without a single shred of fear. I listened for the explosion below, confirming Tony's plan worked. The force pushed my path a different direction as I threw my arms in front of my face to avoid the flames. I looked straight down into the ocean. Just before I hit, I felt cold metal grasp me from the air.

"I got you"