"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. 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."
"Always gets me motivated when you give a speech like that, Cap," Lyra said with a grin.
Lyra ran with Clint as they watched people around become affected by Wanda's magic to get them out of the city. She could hear Pietro yell for people to leave as he went from door to door. Lyra and Clint were shouting and helping people from their homes as they yelled about what was coming.
Lyra gulped as robots began to fly around the city. Clint shot them down with his bow and arrow as Lyra sent her damn fireballs in order to melt the son's of bitches. Lyra grinned at Clint. "Reminds me of New York!"
"You were a little different back then!" Clint yelled with a laugh, drawing another arrow back.
"We all were," Lyra said with a wink as she did a flip midair and landed on a robot. She felt her body heating up as she melted through the robot's chest. She fell to the ground with a laugh. "Very, very different!"
Clint grinned at her before he saw civilians ahead of them. "Get out of here! Get—" he screamed at them as Lyra shot the robots down.
Tony's voice broke through comms. "Friday! The Vision?"
"Boss, it's working. He's burning Ultron out of the net, he won't escape through there," Friday replied. Lyra grinned.
Ultron's voice was heard distantly. "You shut me out! You think I care? You take away my world, I take away yours."
Suddenly, Clint grabbed Lyra as the Earth around them began to shake and break. Clint and Lyra jumped back into Sokovia as a large gash of rock fell right where they were. Lyra's wide eyes met Clint's frantic ones. They began yelling for people to stand back, but some jumped off as if it would keep them safe. The entire city was rising.
"Friday?"
"Sokovia's going for a ride," Friday responded.
Ultron laughed. "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."
Clint and Lyra went back to fighting robots as they could do nothing for the people right now besides getting them to hide. Lyra saw a young girl about to be attacked by a robot, so she ran at it. When she tackled it, it cut her face as it tried to push her off. Letting her body grow warm, she smirked as the robot melted under her.
"The Vibranium core has got a magnetic field, that's what's keeping the rock together," Friday spoke.
"If it drops?" Lyra yelled.
"Right now the impact would kill thousands. Once it gets high enough: Global extinction."
"Great," Lyra muttered, sending a fireball at a nearby robot.
"I got airborne, heading up to the bridge."
"Cap, you got incoming," Tony called.
Steve sounded out of breath as he replied, "Incoming already came in. 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."
Lyra saw Wanda sending her magic at the robots to tear them apart, but she could see her struggling. Clint and Lyra flanked her sides as the pair fought off the robots. Suddenly, there were a hoard of them that they had no chance of stopping right away. Clint grabbed Wanda and pushed her into a building. Lyra kept her hands raised as she guarded the door once she heard Wanda begin to freak out.
"How could I let this happen?" Wanda cried.
Clint spoke softly. "Hey, hey, you okay?"
Wanda shook her head. "This is all our fault."
"Hey, look at me. It's your fault, it's everyone's fault, who cares. Are you up for this? Are you? Look, I just need to know, cause the city is flying. Okay, look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense. But I'm going back out there because it's my job. Okay? And I can't do my job and babysit. It doesn't matter what you did, or what you were. If you go out there, you fight, and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good, I'll send your brother to come find you, but if you step out that door, you are an Avenger," Clint said as her eyes met Lyra's soft, motherly ones. Lyra nodded once, smiling softly. "All right, good chat." He stood up and looked at Lyra. "Yeah, the city is flying."
Lyra nodded with a smirk. "It is. Let's go."
Clint and Lyra went back out, immediately fighting off the hoard of robots. Lyra was frowning as a robot grabbed her arm and threw her into the nearest car. Before she could retaliate, Wanda suddenly ran out of the building and began to use her powers to destroy all of the robots around them. Clint helped Lyra stand as they looked at all of the dead robots.
"All right, we're all clear here," Clint said.
"We are not clear! We are very not clear!"
"All right, coming to you," Clint said just as Pietro sped in to pick up Wanda with one arm as he used the other to attach Lyra to his back.
"Keep up old man!" Pietro called as Lyra held on for dear life. She was getting too old for this shit.
Clint aimed his bow where Pietro would be. "Nobody would know. Nobody. 'The last I saw him, when Ultron was sitting on him. Uh...yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already.'"
Pietro let Lyra off when they made it to a robot-infected area. Wanda jumped off as well as they fought them. Pietro sped to her left, but she could faintly see his blur around them as he flew through robots. She grinned when the area was soon clear. They caught sight of Steve walking, so they quickly ran to him.
Steve took a breath as he walked through an underpass with Wanda and Lyra following. "Avengers, we're leading the civilians to the town hall. Try to meet us there."
Lyra smiled when Natasha walked up saying, "Rogers."
"Romanoff," Steve greeted.
Natasha eyed the agent and the witch before pointing at Wanda. "Is that my jacket?"
"She's with us," Lyra said quickly.
"It still doesn't explain the jacket," Natasha said with a shake of her head.
Steve looked around as Clint finally made it to them after running. Lyra smirked at him as he sent her a look. "Fighting these robots is getting us nowhere," Steve said.
"The air's getting thin," Clint said. "If we go up much higher, people are gonna start dropping."
Wanda looked at Lyra. "There are people in the city still hiding."
"Lure them out," Lyra countered. Wanda nodded as she took off.
"Barton—" Steve started.
"I got her six," Clint said before following after Wanda. Natasha gave Clint a look. He shrugged. "What?"
Natasha walked forward to Steve and Lyra. "And us?"
Steve smirked. "We fight robots."
Lyra felt her hands heat up as Natasha opened her electricity rods that crackled in a threatening manner. Before they could go back out, Pietro sped in with a robot arm in his hand.
"Today?" he asked. "We fight robots today? Or is next month better for you?" he said as he threw the robot arm at Steve and speeding out again.
Lyra grinned at Steve. "It's official. I'm adopting them."
Natasha's eyes widened. "Run that by Tony first."
"Pssh," she said as they ran out into battle again. "He creates murder robots, I adopt kids. Even."
Lyra threw a fireball at the nearest robot as Natasha and Steve fought together, passing the shield back and forth. She grinned as Pietro flew by to flip her just as a robot would have hit her. "Thanks, Speedster!" she called as she sent another punch through a robot next to her.
"The next wave's gonna hit any minute. What have you got, Stark?" Steve asked in comms.
"Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear," Tony said.
"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve rebutted.
Tony sighed. "Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice."
Natasha sighed as Lyra made it to stand next to them. "Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock—"
"Not 'til everyone's safe."
"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."
"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."
"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha sighed as Lyra and Steve stared at her incredulously. "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"
Nick Fury's voice intercepted their comms. "Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." Suddenly, a large Helicarrier began to fly in front of them causing Lyra to let out a loud laugh. "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 said with a grin.
"Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury teased just as Pietro sped to a stop right next to Lyra.
Pietro rose a brow questionably. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Lyra felt Pietro grabbed her arm with a grin. "This is what S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to be."
Pietro nodded. "This is not so bad."
"Let's load 'em up," Steve ordered.