After a few seconds, the sides of the jet opened out to reveal smaller shops that the civilians could safely get on and be transported back down to the ground.
Pietro sped over to where the three were standing, his face showing how amazed he was. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D. ?" He questioned.
"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D is suppose to be," Steve told him, his voice lingering with audible pride.
"This is not so bad," Pietro chuckled as the ships as he continued to watch the ships fly over to the edge of the flying rock.
"Let's load them up," Steve ordered as he began to run to get all the civilians onto the ships. Without missing a beat, they all ran off to get everyone out of the buildings; Riley headed right whilst they others headed left, deciding it'd be better to split up. They swiftly made their way to a nearby building (that looked to be a café) and ordered everyone to follow them. They were all hesitant at first, but all got out of the building and followed Riley.
The group that Riley was leading made their way to ships, eventually merging with the other large groups of people coming out of all other buildings. Riley continued to run towards the ship with the others to help the assigned people to monitor the amount of people going on each ship.
"Let's go, come on," Riley encouraged the civilians to hurry onto the ships. They encouraged everyone in many ways; waving their eyes, shouting variants of 'come on' at them, and clapping to make it clear that the ship was free. When the ship was full, they continued to encourage the people that got in, saying things like 'well done' and 'you're all going to be okay' to make sure they all felt safe.
They rapidly moved to the next closest ship to help get everyone onboard safely. It was still difficult to get everyone on board the smaller ships in a timely manner due to everyone wanting to get back down to the ground as soon as possible.
As soon as Riley finished with that ship, the decided that it'd be best if they help the crowds find their way to ships instead of only helping out by the ships; they never stay in one place for too long. During this journey from one area to another, Tony spoke over the earpiece, announcing, "Thor, I've got a plan."
"We're out of time," the comforting sound of Thor's booming voice flew though Riley's ears as they skidded to a halt at the sudden news Thor gave out to his team. "They're coming for the core."
"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board in that carrier," Tony swiftly ordered his close friend, receiving an automatic response from him, before continuing, "Avengers, time to work for living."
Fortunately, Riley was close enough to the core for them to run to without waisting any time. The stone covered ground beneath them crunched and scrapped as their boots quickly dragged across the dusty floor in swift motions. The occasional need to hop over toppled over chunks of architecture ceased the sound of Riley running (and was replaced with the grunt that Riley let out) for a brief moment before resuming again once their feet reached the ground.
The new Avenger made it to the core relatively quickly, being able to see Steve run into the tragically ruined building moments prior to Riley rounding the last corner on their path. Now that their sprint to the area was complete, they had a few moments to catch their breath and collect their thoughts before the eventual fight.
"Loftin," Clint called out for Riley's attention so he could throw a weapon similar to a baton with elements of Natasha's weapon, "It'll be more useful than a gun." Riley looked over the weapon as it extended out to a longer weapon that looked like a staff. It unlocked a recent memory of them using it whilst training with Natasha. Riley thanked Clint was a friendly nod as they perked up at the sound of Tony speaking.
"Romanoff," the sound of Tony's voice coming through his high tech helmet was odd after having to communicate with him solely through the ear peace provided before the battle, "You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini.'"
It was as if you could hear the annoyed eye roll coming from Natasha as her modulated voice chimed in the earpiece, "Relax, shellhead. Not all of us can fly." The simple statement gave a pretty vivid scenario of how she was making her way to the core. Natasha's timing has always been perfect at she did not let her reputation dwindle as a few seconds passed and she elegantly made her way towards the team. "What's the drill?"
"This is the drill," Tony pointed to the core that stood behind him, "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we loose." Whilst he spoke, The Hulk fell to the ground and smashed two more robots that were about to attack the slightly distracted Avengers. He angrily stomped his way towards the others, grunting and huffing like always as he did so.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor cockily yelled at Ultron. The A.I in question raised his hand in the air and, on command, hundreds more of his henchmen came charging towards the Avengers at full speed, ready to attack.
"You had to ask," Steve said to his friend, his tone prominent with annoyance.
"This is the best I can do," Ultron told Thor in response to his question that was intended to be rhetorical. Riley cringed at the gruff voice that Ultron possessed; his voice became so annoying to Riley at this point that a single syllable out of his mouth could send their anger bubbling over the edge. "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 decided to speak up, turning to face Steve before finishing his sentence, "Together." Hulk roared in anger as the robots headed towards the Avengers, his booming yell of fury shaking the ground they all stood on.
Everyone bounced on their toes in short lived anticipation whilst the bots ran towards the team; some climbed over the pile of destroyed buildings whilst others flew. None of the enemies were slow, they all rushed to complete their one objective: fight.
Riley held their newly acquired tightly, causing their knuckles to shift into a paler shade of brown than their usual darker tone. They were preparing themself for the quickly approaching robot as it charged straight for them. They swung the staff at the bot, aiming to knock it towards The Hulk for him to destroy easier; that plan wasn't going to be as easy to accomplish. Although The Hulk was practically next to Riley, the sheer weight of these bots was the difficult part of executing the plan.
Riley decided to only move some of their load onto The Hulk when needed and settled for crushing their wiring to stop the thing making them sentient stop working. It was a difficult task now that Riley had to work close range to achieve the goal of defeating these bots but they kept underestimating the sheer strength that these bots held because of the material they were made of. Riley wasn't as prepared as they thought they were.
Seeing the others fight so effortlessly gave they a surge of adrenaline and confidence as the slammed their staff into a robots chest and lifting it up to throw against another oncoming bot. The performance was surprisingly successful, accomplishing the goal they set out to achieve but also managing to go even further- shoving their staff into the bot they attacked with its own clone.
The achievement filled Riley with the confidence they needed to push through the rest battle against Ultron's robot army. Riley used that same tactic multiple times during their fight to take amour multiple bots at once but also fought the enemies in other ways to swiftly drain the numbers.
The loud, booming sound of Thor, Vision, and Tony using all their combined strength to attack Ultron caught Riley's attention as they realised they had no more robots to fight. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight..." Ultron tried to explain as he weakly wobbled on the spot, only to be sent flying through the sky by the sheer strength that The Hulk had surging through his body.
Riley managed to run to Thor to witness Hulk chase after some stragglers that tried to escape the floating rock. "They'll try to leave the city," Thor wanted everyone, his voice louder in person than it was in the earpiece. He noticed the flinch Riley let out at the loud noise that strainer their ear and took that as a note to lower his voice slightly.
"We can't let them, not even one," Tony harshly said , "Rhodey!" He called out for Rhodey to deal with the attempted escapes that were flying away in close proximity to where he was
"I'm on it," he confidently responded as he glided through the air towards the bots with confidence in his abilities flowing through his veins. "Oh, no, I didn't say you could leave. War machine, coming at you! Right..." the sudden loss of his voice and cocky one liners faded away as a newly familiar whirring sound quietly creeped up in the whole team's earpiece. Vision was helping Rhodey with his job. "Okay, what?"
Thor ushered Riley to jog back to the others in the area that the core was kept it. They were reluctant at first, wanting to continue fighting side-by-side with Thor, but obliged in the end. They managed to run into the circular architecture in time to listen to what Steve had to say; "We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin," Steve ordered, "You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep the stragglers. Be right behind you."
"What about the core?" Clint asked, his breathes noticeably heavier than usual due to both the air and the large battle he just faced. Riley wasn't any different however, their shape inhales of breath were getting increasingly obvious as time went by and the rock flew higher into the air.
"I'll protect it," Wanda offered, her voice orotund compared to the previous times she's talked around the Avengers. "It's my job."
Clint nodded very quickly, Alamo making his acknowledgment unnoticeable, before looking over at his two friends standing near each other. "Nat, Riley," he called out to them, "this way." Riley was hesitant, looking back to see if Thor was offering his company instead, but was quickly snapped out of it when Natasha gently tugged on their sleeve to tell them to follow. Riley obliged.
"Don't worry, Riley," Clint reassured his friend, "you'll be able to fight with you boyfriend another time." A small chuckle from Nat could be heard as Riley audibly groaned and rolled their eyes.
"Not the time, Clint," Riley scolded their friend as the three of them ran towards the flying boats full of citizens.
"Yeah, Clint," Natasha backed up Riley, "Tease them when everyone else is around, it's much funnier." Stifled laughs from the two of them just annoyed Riley even more but they couldn't help but be grateful for the banter between friends to ease the tension, they really needed it. "Come on," Natasha ushered the two others in the small posey towards a car they could use to drive to the place faster. Clint hopped in the front seat, leaving Natasha to obtain shotgun and Riley in the backseat.
Whilst Clint aggressively drove round corners and harshly over bumps, he spoke, "I know what I need to do." It sounded serious which caused Riley to lean forward from the middle seat they chose to sat on to hear what he had to say better, "The dining room! I knock out that easy wall, it'd make a nice workshop for Laura, huh?" Riley rolled their eyes at the causal conversation the archer decided to have as they all continued to rise higher into the sky, "Put up some baffling. She can't hear the kids running around. What do you think?"
"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway," Natasha pointed out, turning her head slightly to keep an eye on Riley's humorous expression at the conversation the two agents were having. They sighed and shook their head, deciding to join in on the conversation to distract themself.
"No one eats in a dining room," Riley pointed out, recalling the many occasions growing up where the dining room was left to collect dust as their family happily ate in the kitchen.
"Exactly!" Clint agreed with Riley as he swerved around another tight bend to reach the destination. Multiple large groups of terrified civilians could be heard clamouring as they all made their way to be the first in the boats. It could barley be heard over the loud collection of voices but The Hulk's roar echoed over the vast part of the city that was floating in the sky. "We don't have a lot of time," Clint pointed out as he noticed the visible reaction Natasha had when hearing the roar.
"So get your ass on a boat," Natasha told both of her friends sitting in the car as she hurried to exit the vehicle. Riley stayed silent in this situation, the noticeable shift in the temporary trio's moods making the tension sliceable. Clint gave Riley a look, one you would receive from a father when you're not following his orders, at it honestly sent chills down their spine; they sure hoped Clint's children didn't have to experience that anytime soon.
Riley was quick to hop out of the car after receiving the death stare from Clint, swinging the legs over the seats and onto the ground once the door was open. "Come on," Clint encouraged them as they both started to speed up their jog to a run to reach the boats quickly.
The two walked up the slope when they arrived at a open boat. The sudden realisation that they were heading back down to the ground hit Riley like a truck when their legs started to wobble weakly and become limp. The tired Avenger try to keep their balance by shifting their weight onto the arm that leant against the seats but was quickly ushered to sit down by Clint who continued to stand.
Riley closed their eyes while their whole body melted into the seat as they continued to breathe heavily; their body was in so much pain in so many different ways and it felt like they just took all the medicine needed to cure it when they sat down. However, this miracle they got from sitting down didn't last too long as the loud stomping of feet made them open their eyes.
"Clint!" They called out as soon as they saw the archer jog off of the boat and back onto the rock.
"Stay there!" He called out to Riley as he continued to run off. They quickly stood up from their seat to try and make out where he was running to, forcing themself to ignore the pounding pain in their head as they did so. Even if they were able to work out the shapes in the distance, it was all distrusted by the sudden rapid fire coming from a small, compact jet flying by in the air. The figure in the distance was blurry but Riley knew it was their friend, bracing the impact of the oncoming bullets.
Boom. Déjà vu. Everything ended as quick as it started. The bullets ceased fire as the jet flew on by. Clint was fine, surprisingly. A car had been placed in front of his body to protect him. Only one person could of done that as quick as it was done; Pietro.
The twin's body lay lifeless on the ground, deep bullet holes scattered all over his body. His hair was the only thing that moved; it blew softly in the cold breeze that traveled across the grey area.
Now, time seemed to move slow: Clint's weak grip around the child he saved as he slowly passed him to his mother; Steve's slow walk whilst bringing over Pietro's body to the boat; and Riley's slow shift of their position as they sat on the floor, hands still covering their mouth in pure shock.
Clint painfully made his way to where Riley was sitting, the miracle cure that sitting down brought you seeming more incising than ever before. He grunted as he sat down, the wound on his side causing pain to surge through his body once more, only to dismiss the licensed man's help.
Riley had to forcefully tear their eyes away from Pietro's dead body and look Clint's sorrowful eyes stare back at them. He didn't utter a single word to Riley, only weakly laying down across the three seats that weren't occupied. Riley finally turned their head towards the floating city.
The Avengers had no moment to rest as the flying rock began to rapidly fall towards Earth. The speed that it was travelling was terrifying. Riley knew that Thor and Tony could fly so they'd be safe, but that wasn't what scared Riley, Riley was terrified about how Tony's plan was going to be executed. They knew the risks of the plan, everyone did, but Riley was the only one to think that those risks were set in stone.
Steve found Riley sitting on one seats, their hand still covering their mouth in shock and their eyes open wide in fear of the events unrolling before them. The super soldier delicately placed his hand on Riley's shoulder to attempt and calm their nerves. The adrenaline running through their veins made all this seem like a contrast blur of events that were dream-like in believability.
Before long, a loud explosion rang throughout the area. It was painfully loud and outrageously terrifying to everyone that could hear it. The ringing in their ears was unbearable and it kept them from paying attention to anything else but trying to dismiss the pain.