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Chapter Nineteen : Sokovia Is Going For A Ride...
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The jet was on autopilot to Sokovia, and Cap had decided to give a pep talk.
"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. We 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. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."
I looked over to Loki who looked at me, reassuringly. We would defeat Ultron. Because if we didn't, the Earth would die.
The plan began with Wanda evacuating as many civillians as she could, while Pietro alerted the authorities. Tony would try to stall Ultron. The rest of the Avengers also helped with evacuation, ushering cars and people out of the city. We listened to the comms as Tony stalled with Ultron.
"This is how you end, Tony. This is peace in my time."
Without warning, dozens of Ultron robots, literally crawling out from the earth, started to advance on the Avengers and the frightened citizens of Sokovia. I decided to attack using muggle weapons to begin with, conserving my magical core strength until it was truly needed. Loading my gun, I sent bullet after bullet towards the metalheads, but, to my annoyance, for every one I destroyed, two more seemed to crop up. Just when things started to get overwhelming, both Loki and Pietro came to my assistance, Loki pushing them in Pietro's path, who smashed them into scraps using his super speed. A minute later and there were no Ultron bots within our vicinity for the moment. I chuckled breathlessly.
Teamwork really does make the dream work.
I nodded in thanks to them. Pietro smirked, and sped off elsewhere. Loki and I stuck together, blowing up bots in the sky, who were wreaking havoc upon the civillians. Eventually, we came across my Uncle, who was holding the bots off with his bow and arrows.
Wanda was also there, pulling people away from the bridge, before acting as a shield for the people behind her, creating a scarlet energy barrier. An Ultron bot fired repulsor blasts at her, which she deflected, but one caught her offguard, and she crumpled to the ground. I ran over and helped her up, checking she was uninjured, before reloading my gun while it was quiet. I only had two magazines left and then I would either have to fight with my bow, my daggers or my magic.
Ultron must have done something drastic because the ground began to suddenly tremble violently. The cobbled stone pavement started to split and collapse. We looked towards the bridge, which had been destroyed, a person jumping down. It seemed Sokovia, or at least part of it, was flying.
And that couldn't be good.
"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." Ultron began to monologue, the duplicates of him echoing his words."Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing."
Uncle Clint fired an arrow at one bot, cutting it off, but another one came up from behind, the message unaffected.
"When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."
"Cap, you got incoming." Stark's voice warned. There was a large crash as Steve's voice groaned.
"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 them back. You get killed, walk it off."
"Don't think you can walk off death, Cap, but okay." I quipped.
"You ready for round two?" I asked Loki, who flipped two daggers.
"After you, my dear."
And together, we leapt into the fray.
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It seemed the rising city encouraged a new wave of Ultron bots to attack, so Loki and I were kept on our toes.
My gun was on its last 5 bullets.
"5."
It hit the foot of a bot, which crashed and exploded.
"4."
A headshot. It fell to the ground.
"3."
A young man was cornered by a bot, which held up a hand. I heard the repulser warming up and shot it just before it fired. The man looked shocked and grateful. "Get to safety!" I yelled at him, jumping onto the back of one that approached Loki from behind. Grabbing its head, I snapped it off and jumped down, landing in an army roll and straightening up.
"Mia, I need cover!" My Uncle yelled. I sprinted over to him.
"2."
I destroyed two, the bullet going straight into the one behind.
"1."
The final shot was fired, and I was out of bullets. I reholstered my gun (no point throwing away a perfectly good weapon) and reached into my pocket, which had an undetectable extension charm, pulling out a bow and a quiver brimming with arrows. They were charmed to return to the quiver so I would never run out, which came in handy during battles like these.
I heard Wanda yelp in fright. I looked at Loki, who seemed to know what I was thinking. "I'll be alright, go to her!" He yelled over the thrum of battle. I smiled and ran in her direction. It seemed Uncle Clint had the same idea and followed behind, doing flips and parkour without batting an eyelid. We found Wanda, who looked overwhelmed. Before I could say anything, we were ushered inside by my Uncle, as a barrage of repulsor blasts from a group of Ultrons attacked the ground.
It seemed Wanda was close to a panic attack as she crawled into cover. "How could I let this happen?" She stammered, tears in her eyes.
"Hey, hey, you okay?" My Uncle asked, looking over at her.
"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. Because the city is flying. Okay. Look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots and Mia, who is a literal witch, and I are currently armed with a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense."
Light beamed through the room as holes in the wall were created, but Uncle Clint stood up and shot an arrow through one of them, a faint explosion signalling the destruction of another Ultron.
"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."
He looked at her and then at me. "That goes for you too, young lady."
He stood up and walked over to the door, leaving Wanda and I still sitting on the floor. He reloaded his arrows and inhaled deeply. "The city is flying." He murmured, before kicking the doors open and re-entering the battle.
I looked at Wanda, who seemed much calmer now, but was still internally conflicted. "You should know, the life of an Avenger, it gets pretty manic sometimes, this kinda thing becomes the new normal. But we are one big family, and if you decide to become an Avenger, you become part of that family. But whichever option you choose, no one will think any less of you." I notched an arrow into my bow, and followed my uncle's footsteps. The blasted things seemed to never end, and there were more of them by the minute. My uncle and I took refuge behind a car, he winced in pain after a particulary rough landing.
The doors to the building we left Wanda in flew open and Wanda walked out, using her powers to rip them apart. We watched in awe as she demolished the horde and looked back at us. Uncle Clint nodded, impressed and I gave her a wide, proud smile. She returned it with a small one. "All right, we're all clear here." Uncle Clint reported to the team, our quadrant cleared of Ultron. Loki came walking around the corner, his hair ruffled and slightly out of place, but looked otherwise unaffected. He breathed heavily as he joined us.
"Well. That was fun." He said dryly.
I huffed a laugh. "We're not done yet, Lokes."
"We are NOT clear!" Rogers' voice rang through the comms, effort leaking through his words as he fought. "We are very NOT clear!"
"All right, coming to you."
As if on cue, Pietro grabbed his sister in his arms. "Keep up old man!" He smirked and dashed away. I chuckled looking at the irritated face of my uncle. He drew his bow and aimed. "Nobody would know. Nobody. The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little b*stard. I miss him already."
I started to laugh as my uncle mumbled various threats directed at a certain speedster. Said speedster suddenly appeared again, this time grabbing me in his arms and running off. I clutched onto him, the sensation of going superspeed an unusual sensation.
Similar to apparating, but definitely less disconcerting and nauseating.
A few seconds later and I found myself outside a market next to Wanda, who was aiding Sokovian Armed forces destroy some Ultrons. I fired my arrows, as Wanda sent her energy towards a bot.
"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" I heard a commander yell. The gunshots ceased almost immediately, but one soldier mistook Pietro for a robot and fired, the bullet grazing the top of his arm. He stopped, and looked at the sheepish soldier. "Come on man." He gave a 'Really?' gesture. I walked over, inspecting the cut.
"It's not deep enough to need stitches, you should be fine."
He smiled. "Thank you...?"
I realised I never actually told him my name. "Hermione."
"Alright. Thank you, Hermione."
I blushed slightly, my cheeks turning a slight tinge of red. He smirked, before grabbing me and zipping off to the edge of the main bridge.
"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better."
Fury's voice entered the comms and not a second after, a SHIELD Helicarrier rose from the clouds. Pietro and I stared in amazement.
"Nice, right? 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 breathed in relief.
I gasped in shock. "Steven Grant Rogers ! Language!"
"She's right, you kiss your mother with that mouth, Rogers?" Fury joked.
"This is S.H.I.E.L.D?" Pietro asked, admiring the sight of the lifeboats flying towards us.
"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D is supposed to be." Cap said, with a hint of pride.
"This is not so bad."
"Let's load 'em up." Cap ordered.
We helped move people onto the ships, I kept an eye out for Ultrons and made sure the area was safe. It seemed the Ultrons were focusing on the Helicarrier, but they were soon obliverated by War Machine, aka Uncle Rhodey's suit.
"Yes! Now this is gonna be a good story."
I giggled at his excitement.
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"You think you're saving anyone? I turn that key and drop this rock a little early, and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that." Ultron choked Thor, who spoke, with difficulty.
"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?" He asked Vision, who hit Ultron with Mijolnir and sent him flying through walls and a bus.
Thor stood up, massaging his neck. He summoned back his beloved hammer.
"It's terribly well balanced." Vision complimented.
"Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so..." Thor explained.
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"They're coming for the core."
Thor's voice alerted the team to a new threat.
"Rhodey, get the rest of people onto that carrier. Avengers, time to work for a living." Tony ordered.
"I thought that's what we were already doing?" I questioned.
We all gathered at the centre of the city, where the only thing keeping this rock in the sky was. Thor, Vision and Tony were all busy fighting Ultrons, so Pietro and I joined them. Loki and Wanda, Cap, and Barton soon followed. Pietro went over to his sister, while I ran to Uncle Clint.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, are you?" I replied.
"It's been a strange day. I'm probably gonna sleep for a week, but I'm okay."
I chuckled. Yep, he was just fine. I saw Loki as well, and wandered over to him. "I realise I haven't spoken to you much, are you okay?" I said softly. He looked at me with a gentle smile.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Though I wouldn't say no to a slice of chocolate cake."
I laughed. "If we survive this, I will personally ensure you get one."
"I'll hold you to that, Witchling."
Nat still hadn't arrived, which Tony noticed as well.
"Romanoff, you and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'. "
"Relax shellhead. Not all of us can fly." She retorted, driving a huge truck with a shovel at the front. She jumped out and joined our congregation.
"Nat!"
She turned to me. "Hey pipsqueak, you didn't miss me too much, did you?" I gave her a quick hug before getting into position.
"Miss you? Never." I joked. She smiled before looking at Tony.
"What's the drill?"
"This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."
He pointed to a device behind us. Hulk finally arrived, completing the assembly of Avengers. Not long after, the root of all out problems descended.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor challenged.
Ultron raised his hand and hundreds of robots came flocking. I sighed, getting my wand. My magic reserves were full to the brim, and I had a 'Reducto!' on the tip of my tongue, just waiting for the first to attack.
"You had to ask." Steve said to Thor, who winced slightly.
"This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?" Ultron gloated.
"Well, like the old man said... Together." Tony spoke up.
The Hulk let out an ear-shattering battle cry, commencing the fight.