"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." Steve began just as soon as the jet had taken off.
A small sigh left Keira's lips and she ran her hands through her hair, collecting it and putting it up in its usual high ponytail. This was the one problem of every mission that the Avengers encountered. They had chosen this life, or gotten thrown into it, but in the end, it was still their choice.
But all the civilians hadn't asked for it. And considering the fact that the bad guys never cared about casualties, it was up to them to try and save as many as they could.
"All they want is to live their lives in peace and that's not gonna happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us." Steve continued, ignoring the way that everybody's faces dropped as they were reminded of what was at stake.
Wanda and Pietro especially had to fight to keep their pained expressions at bay. These were people they knew, people they had grown up with, had protested with.
And now, they risked having to watch them perish. All because Ultron couldn't care less about human life.
"Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right." Steve finished off heavily. The word 'monster' had been thrown around a lot lately, and Keira knew she wasn't the only one thinking that about herself.
It didn't really matter what other people said to her, no matter if it was positive or negative. Her own thoughts had already settled, deciding that she was nothing more than the assassin HYDRA had made her. And nothing she did would ever compensate for the lives she had taken.
Glancing around, she could see nothing but somber faces. They still didn't know what Ultron had planned for Novi Grad, but it wouldn't be anything good.
And if Keira was to believe her nightmare, it would be devastating if Ultron succeeded. Despite her gut telling her that her dream was more than just some fantasy, she still hadn't shared it with anybody. She had only shared some vague details with Clint, since he had been the one who had calmed her down after being awakened by the nightmare.
And Natasha, of course, had gotten the same story after finding the two of them knocked out in the shower, still in their pajamas.
If Keira was being honest, she would rather be home in the tower, sleeping soundly in her bed, than be doing this.
They had barely had time to recover from the fight in Seoul before they were out again, and she was exhausted. If it weren't for the multiple energy drinks running through her system, she was sure that she would've collapsed a long time ago. And had she been human, her heart would probably have given up on her as well.
Being exhausted while being restless was the worst possible combination she could think of, and that's exactly how she felt. Restless because she didn't know what was happening to her best friend or what Ultron was planning. And exhausted due to barely having slept for the last couple of days.
In an attempt to fight her restlessness, the bouncing of her knee doing nothing to still it, she got up and walked over to Vision, who was standing in the corner, deep in thought.
"Hey, Vision." Keira said in a low voice, not wishing to gain all eyes on her, which undoubtedly would happen anyway, since the jet was dead-silent. The synthezoid looked up from the floor and met her eyes, slight curiosity shining in them. "I wanted to ask this earlier, but we kinda didn't get the time, you know, with the whole Ultron-thing going on. So, what are you, really? Like a living, breathing AI?" She asked, tilting her head slightly as she watched the synthezoid intently.
Vision stayed silent for a moment, and he seemed to be pondering her question. But just like before, he couldn't give an exact answer to what he was. That would definitely have induced some existential dread, had he been more human. "Well, yes..." He said after a while. "I suppose I am."
Keira let out a low whistle, raising her eyebrows slightly. "That's so cool." She breathed, barely believing that technology had ascended to this.
Vision narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to read her expression. "Cool is one word for it, I guess." He said, a bit perplexed by Keira's reaction. All the others seemed to still hold some hesitation about him, but here was this woman, simply fascinated by him.
The flight over to Sokovia felt like it took an eternity, and it was at this moment that Keira wished that teleportation was possible. Or rather, possible for normal people without powers.
Just think how much the Avengers would be able to prevent if they could be there in an instant, rather than having to fly for hours to get there. Too bad that mutants couldn't share their powers with the world.
As the jet landed, Keira shook herself out of her head. They had already dropped off Thor and Bruce by the old fortress where Natasha was being held, so Pietro was the first one out, followed closely by Wanda. And Tony wasn't late in leaving the jet either.
But Keira stopped in her tracks down the ramp as her eyes fell on a graffitied picture of Steve. He was in costume and the Sokovian word for 'fascist' was painted across his face. She was just about to turn around to warn Steve, but he had already stopped beside her, his face falling as his eyes found the graffiti.
Without another word, Steve threw back his headpiece into the jet. While most of the world saw the Avengers as heroes, that wasn't the case here. Here, they were just part of the American agenda, the ones who had oppressed the country and thrown it into a civil war.
"The bridge is the main route out." Wanda informed them, throwing an uncertain glance between the graffiti and Steve.
The Captain gave a curt nod. "Wake everyone up." It was still early in the morning, and the majority would still be sleeping soundly in their beds. Not the ones with young children maybe, but the rest of the city would be dozing peacefully.
Clint, who had gone down the ramp without hesitation, stopped to observe the graffiti with a quirked eyebrow. "Not bad." He had trouble holding back his smirk before running off after the twins. Secretly, Keira was grateful that Clint was able to joke about it. Somehow, it made the whole situation a little bit easier to handle.
Keira jogged after Steve, putting a hand on his shoulder to make him slow down. "Don't overthink it, Steve." She said gently, not having missed the frown that had etched itself onto the Captain's face. "America hasn't done much good here, and unfortunately, we're associated with it. Kinda breeds the dislike for us, but hopefully, we can change that today."
Steve gave her a side glance, not happy with being read that easily. "Yeah... It isn't fun being associated with a group of people I've been fighting my whole life, that's all..." He breathed sadly, shaking his head.
Keira gave him a sad smile, understanding what he meant. Must be hard to know that some people still saw him as the bad guy while all he did was trying to save as many lives as possible.
Running through the silent city, a shiver ran down her spine. It was almost eerie, the morning mist barely having evaporated. But it would soon turn into a battlefield, and they needed to get the civilians out of harm's way.
Knocking on the first house she came across, a sleepy-looking man opened the door, rubbing his eyes.
"Hi, I don't have much time to explain but you need to go. The city is under attack." She rambled on, glancing behind her. A streak of silver passed behind her and she silently thanked the gods that they had the twins on their side. This would've been a hell of a lot harder without them.
The man narrowed his eyes suspiciously, still rubbing his eyes sleepily. "You're one of the Avengers." He said thickly, his Sokovian accent strong. Keira wished she could slap some sense into him. They didn't have time for this. She had even followed Steve's example and kept her mask off, all to invite more confidence.
"The city is under attack. You need to take your family and leave." Keira pressed, not amused by the man's sluggish morning brain.
"You're all just a bunch of-"
But what the Avengers were a bunch of, Keira would never know. What she was doing wasn't fair, she was well aware of that. However, time was of the essence and if it required her to give him a mental push, then so be it.
Ever since gaining her telepathic abilities, she had been a bit reluctant to practice them since it felt too invasive to grasp and control somebody else's mind, but despite her novice skills, it worked.
The previously suspicious expression on the man's face melted away, and he turned away without a word, not even troubled enough to close the door behind him. Knowing that he would gather his family and get out, Keira left the open door behind her.
She went from door to door, waking up the citizens of Novi Grad. Some obeyed her without question, putting on some proper clothes before leaving their homes behind while others needed a bit more persuasion.
It didn't take long until the streets were filled with people moving to the bridge, and Keira allowed herself a moment to breathe. Her heart was beating hard in her chest, and she silently cursed it. If she was already running out of breath, it didn't bode well for the upcoming fight.
Being hit by all those Widow Bites a year prior had affected her more than she cared to admit, and she knew that she would need careful training in order to not have her heart affect her in the future. Scars never heal, but they faded with time, and with enough resilience, she was certain that her heart would function somewhat normally again.
Pushing herself off her knees, she took a deep breath before rounding another corner. But she stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes landed on Wanda.
The brunette was standing in the middle of an intersection, red wisps of magic surrounding her, and stretching into the various windows, affecting the minds behind the glass. Keira couldn't help but feel her jaw drop.
Wanda had truly expanded her powers, and it was an honor to witness it, considering that Keira knew where she had started. From a weak HYDRA experiment to this? It was spectacular, and she doubted that this was even the tip of the iceberg.
"It's rude to stare, you know."
Wanda's voice broke her out of her reverie, and in an attempt to clear her mind, Keira shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. It's simply amazing to see how much your powers have developed over the years." She eventually managed to say, picking up her jaw from the ground and focusing on guiding a few stragglers in the right direction.
"Well, I had a good teacher." Wanda smiled gently, and Keira could feel a light blush creeping across her cheeks at the praise.
But she didn't get a chance to respond before the ground rumbled beneath their feet, and the scarlet wisps vanished into thin air.
Keira's eyes momentarily closed, and she took a deep breath through her nose. Shit. If she wasn't much mistaken, it looked like her nightmare was about to come true.
And sure enough, it barely took a minute before robots were swarming around them like some pesky flies. Everything that was within reach got shot at, and it didn't take long until there were multiple craters in the cobblestone roads.
"Go!" Keira yelled, pushing a family of four in front of her while unshouldering her bow. Once the family was behind cover, she quickly spun around, nocking an arrow as she did so, and aimed it at one of the incoming robots. But before she had a chance to fire it, a red mist appeared in front of her.
"Get off the bridge! Run!" Wanda yelled, blocking the incoming blasts with her magic. But the brief moment when she had glanced over her shoulder to check if the people were safe, her defenses lowered just enough to make it possible for one of the blasts to hit her straight in the chest, which threw her unceremoniously to the ground.
Keira immediately fired an arrow at the attacking robot before helping Wanda back to her feet. "Hey, you okay?" She asked, checking her over for any injuries. When she couldn't spot any wounds, she nocked another arrow which effectively beheaded another one of the incoming robots.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Wanda panted, still leaning against Keira for support. She bit her lip as the guilt bubbled up in her stomach. She and her brother were the cause of this.
Not missing the way the emerald eyes glazed over, Keira took a moment to gently place a hand against Wanda's cheek. "Hey, you still with me? Gotta kill this vibranium bastard first, then we can disappear into our heads, alright?" She joked, a careful smile on her face.
Wanda blinked hard a couple of times, trying hard to ignore the warmth spreading from Keira's hand. "Yeah, you're right. Gotta help the people." She shook her head and pushed herself away from Keira's grasp, trying to clear her mind.
They had barely taken a few steps before the ground underneath their feet shook again, more violently this time, and a loud rumble could be heard.
"Well, that's not good."
Keira's fist stopped mere inches from Clint's face, and she exhaled deeply before slapping the man on the shoulder. "Jesus Christ, Clint! What have I told you about sneaking up on me?" She exclaimed with indignation.
"Hm, don't do it?" Clint replied with a smirk, firing an arrow at a passing robot.
"Exactly, and you'd do well to remember it!" Keira grabbed a passing woman just as a giant crack appeared in front of her feet and yanked her backwards to prevent her from falling. "Stark, what's happening?" She questioned, silently praying that the city wasn't about to rise from the ground, like in her nightmare.
"It looks like Sokovia is going for a ride..." Tony answered slowly, parroting FRIDAY's answer from mere seconds ago.
Well, shit. Keira's eyes grew wide, watching as the houses on the other side of the crack sunk, and turning around, multiple structures were falling apart as their foundations were ripped away. If it had been chaos before, it was nothing compared to now.
People were screaming at the top of their lungs, running around like headless chickens which made it incredibly difficult to think clearly. But in the ensuing chaos, it seemed like the robots had taken a pause, or rather, they were being overtaken by Ultron.
"Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, are my meteor." One of the red-eyed robots spoke, and Keira felt her stomach clench at the words.
It was the exact words from her nightmare. This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't. Biting down on her lip, Keira fired the arrow she had already nocked, but another robot earned the red glow instead and continued the speech, causing her to momentarily lower the bow.
"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."
The robot got struck by another arrow, but this time, it was Clint that had fired it. But just like before, another robot simply took over and a scowl made its way upon Clint's face.
"It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."
Keira had to refrain from rolling her eyes. "Just because you got daddy issues doesn't mean you have to wipe out the entire human race." She drawled, not giving the robot a chance to answer as she planted another arrow in its face. Feeling Clint's eyes on her, she shrugged. "What? It's obvious from who he gets it from."
"I heard that, Nowak." Tony's grumbling voice came through the comms, causing Keira to chuckle despite the serious situation.
"Good. I meant you to." She replied, dodging a blast, and firing an exploding arrow at an attacking robot, taking out the two behind it as well.
"Incoming already came in." Steve grunted in response to Tony's warning. "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 them back. You get killed... Walk it off."
Keira slowly put her hands together, making sure her claps would be heard through the comms. "Spoken like a true hero, Steve. I have to start writing your speeches down, they're truly inspirational." She chuckled, jumping to the side just in time to avoid getting hit.
"Keira..." Steve warned in a low voice, but he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, a heavy grunt cutting him off and Keira guessed he was having his hands full with the robots.
A blast hit Keira hard on the back of the shoulder and she fell to the ground by the raw force of it. Groaning as she pushed herself up against a car for cover, she pulled out one of her guns and shot at the swarm of robots. "Annoying pricks..." She muttered to herself, barely noticing how Clint was protecting Wanda by pulling her into a nearby building and crashing through the glass.
Wanda's panting breaths were clear through the comms as her voice shook. "How could I let this happen?" She was nearly hyperventilating, flooded by guilt. "This is all our fault." She rambled, barely noticing Clint's worried voice.
Keira kept shooting at the robots, jumping from cover to cover, but she was still listening intently to what was happening with Clint and Wanda.
"Hey, look at me." Clint ordered sternly. "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 i- 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."
Keira ducked a blast, and to her horror, it hit the exact building where Clint and Wanda were hiding. "Sorry!" She yelled, firing at the guilty robot, barely managing to jump out of the way of Clint's retaliating arrow.
But Clint didn't pay her excuse any mind, he was too busy trying to calm the woman in front of him down. "But I'm going back out there 'cause 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."
It turned silent, and Keira wondered what was going through Wanda's mind at the moment. But she wouldn't pry, because she really couldn't afford to lose her focus right now.
"Alright. Good chat." Clint said to himself, getting back on his feet and readying his bow. "Yeah, the city is flying." And with a deep exhale, he joined the fight again, finding himself beside Keira, who was changing her clips.
"Good of you to join, Katniss." Keira gave him an appreciative pat on the back for the inspiring speech before having to throw herself to the ground to avoid getting hit.
"Of course, couldn't leave my favorite mutant to fend for herself now, could I?"
Keira shot him a grateful smile, hoping he would see it. They barely got a chance to shoot back at the robots, their blasts increasing as more robots joined their numbers. "Remind me to dangle both Bruce and Tony off the top of the tower if they ever create something like this again!" She yelled, doing a somersault and firing at the nearest robot.
"You got it!" Clint replied, also trying to find a window to kill some more robots.
Somehow, Keira found herself beside him again and she risked a glance over the hood of the car they were cowering behind. What met her eyes made her stomach drop. There were simply too many robots, they would be overrun.
But without warning, the doors to the storefront blasted open, and out came Wanda, red dancing in her irises as the scarlet wisps weaved around her hands. Without even looking at it, she extended one of her arms and encased a legionnaire in her magic, ripping it apart without as so much breaking a sweat.
The severed part of the legionnaire crashed into another one, breaking it against one of the buildings. This gave both Clint and Keira the opportunity they had been waiting for, and without hesitation, they both fired everything they had at the robots. Together with Wanda's magic, they cleared the area within mere moments. Keira threw Wanda an appreciative smile while Clint gave her a proud nod, both of them eternally grateful for her help.
"Alright, we're all clear here." Clint informed the rest of the team via the comms.
"We are not clear! We are very not clear!" Was Cap's quick answer, followed by a grunt. The group of legionnaires on his end were still clearly intense, so the group of three turned in unison in the direction they needed to go.
"We're coming to you." Keira answered, rolling the shoulder that had taken a blast before. It was still a little bit sore, but she would be able to draw her bow without too much pain.
Pietro appeared in a silver blur, picking up Wanda bridal style before streaking off, nearly knocking into Clint on the way back. "Keep up, old man!" He teased, and Keira couldn't help but chuckle.
But Clint merely readied his bow, aiming in the direction of Pietro's silver streak. "Nobody would know. Nobody." He muttered to himself as Keira gently put a finger on his arrow, causing him to lower it. Clint threw her a look that danced between annoyance and amusement before he started to jog after Pietro, Keira following him with a smirk on her face.
"The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already." Clint kept mumbling to himself, shaking his head in annoyance. Why was he the one with the bow and arrow in the fight against evil robots?
Keira quirked an eyebrow, nudging him gently. "Sounds like you're a bit jealous, Clint. And you know... If you really wanna get there faster, I'm a tad bit quicker than you." She cooed, her smirk growing by the second.
Clint gave a huff. "Me, jealous? Never." He jumped over a hole in the ground, narrowly avoiding another one as he landed. "And no. I will not sink to that level." He added stubbornly, clearly understanding that Keira had offered him a piggyback ride, but his pride was way too high for that.
"Alright, your choice, old man." She teased, earning a death glare from him.