➸ 2015
📍SOKOVIA
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"ULTRON KNOWS we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for." Steve began his Captain-ly speech as the quinjet landed. "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 Xavier, 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."
The Avengers nod in understanding.
"Alright. Let's go."
...
Wanda and Galina stuck together — sending telepathic messages to alert the civilians to leave through red and pink strings of energy upon the bridge.
Clint and Petra whom were with them, fought against some of the robots who were beginning to flood over — Clint with arrows and Petra with her magnetic abilities.
"Get off the bridge!" Wanda ushered people away with the help of Galina.
One of the bots aimed a blast directly at them but Wanda quickly threw up a forcefield. "Run!" she called out to the citizens behind her.
She was then thrown down to the ground with a yell when her shield broke thanks to a second blast.
Galina quickly ripped apart the robot that shot at the brunette and then helped her back onto her feet. "You okay?"
"Yes i'm alright."
The ground began to shake and shuffle, sounds of cracking could be heard.
Their stomachs began to feel heavier at the sudden intrusion — the ground rising.
Galina stumbled across the pavement towards where her petrified sister was whom was looking around frantically and holding onto a piece of newly broken rubble.
Without a word, she grabbed her arm and yanked her with her, rushing to take cover behind a car.
"Hey hey hey, we're fine — everything is fine." Galina quickly reassured her, cupping her soot covered cheeks. "Everything is fine." she repeated, but she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince her or herself that.
Back in 2012, she was only sixteen years old when that battle happened.
Petra is thirteen and is experiencing a whole other level of destruction than New York — they're fighting fucking robots.
Fighting aliens from other planets and death-wielding robots is not the same as eliminating one singular person in a controlled environment.
"Okay." she croaked back, nodding hesitantly. "Okay."
The sound of Ultron's voice was loud and clear within the bots. "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."
Galina's eyes slowly diverted to stare at the ground, shock buzzing every vein in her body.
She dreamt about those words just the other night.
"Cap, you got incoming." warned Tony in comms, the voice in her ear snapping her from the thoughts.
"Incoming already came."
"Come on." she urged, grabbing her little sister's hand as they began to run back into battle.
"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."
"How are we supposed to "walk it off" if we're dead?" the older Russian countered while she tore apart an android with a swirl of her wrists.
"This isn't the time to be making smartass remarks, Galina."
"I use humor to cope in stressful situations, Rogers." she countered. "Do you want me to have a mental breakdown mid fight like I did in 2012?"
"Please don't." Clint narrowly shot an arrow right beside her head which implanted itself into a robot creeping up behind the duo. "I don't wanna babysit your ass again."
"Oh please." she scoffed and returned the favor, blasting an android behind him. "I saved your ass and everyone else's ass 5.5 seconds later. I don't wanna hear shit from you."
Clint scoffs before beginning to back away from the area. "You have this part covered?"
"I do." she replied. "Do you need backup?"
"Maybe." he then nodded towards the girl beside her. "You, come on." without another word, he broke out into a jog.
Petra swallowed thickly, giving Lina one last look before taking off behind the archer.
They continued to sprint down the concrete path peacefully to search for more stranglers.
That was until a gang of them decided to creep up on them and blast a bomb. Clint quickly grabbed Petra and threw them through a window of a nearby shop.
They took cover, Petra's breathing unsteady as she crawled to sit up against a wall. "How could I let this happen?"
"Hey, hey, you okay?" he looked over at her.
"This is all our fault."
"Hey, look at me." he placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's your fault, it's everyone's fault, who cares?" he paused. "I'm gonna give you some advice that I gave your sister three years ago.
"Are you up for this? Are you? Look, I just need to know, cause the city is flying. Okay, look, the city fucking is flying and 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 look after you the entire time. 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 sister to come find you, but if you step out that door...you are an Avenger."
Petra just looks at him fearfully before he got up from her crouching position.
"Alright, good talk." he patted her shoulder as he rose, standing beside the door and taking a couple of breaths. "Yeah, the city is flying." she repeated, almost in disbelief.
Clint left the small shop and immediately started to fight against the small army, taking them down one by one.
Seconds later the door to the shop opens to reveal Petra.
She throws her right hand out to the side and grapples a robot with her magnetism — splitting it apart.
Petra then took a large chunk out of one of the robots before pushing it into another's head — shutting them both down.
The girl glanced over at Clint whom gave her a small head nod of proudness.
"Alright, we're all clear here." he said into his wrist.
"We're not clear!" Steve grunted, panting. "We're so not clear!"
"Alright, we're coming to you."
Just then Pietro speeds in, picks up the younger Kuznetsov, and leaves. "Keep up old man!"
Barton aims an arrow at Pietro. "Nobody would know. Nobody." he starts jogging towards the fight. "The last I saw him, was when Ultron was sitting on him. Uh...yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already."
Meanwhile, Tony is trying to come up with a solution.
"The anti-gravs are rigged to flip. Touch 'em, they'll go full reverse thrust. The city's not coming down slow." FRIDAY said.
"The spire's Vibranium. If I get Thor to hit it..."
"It'll crack, but that's not enough, the impact would still be devastating."
"Maybe if we cap the other end, keep the atomic action doubling back."
"That could vaporize the city, and everyone on it!"
"The next wave's gonna hit any minute. What have you got, Stark?" Steve ushers multiple civilians into safety as he spoke into his mic.
"Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city." he grimly says. "That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."
"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."
"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice."
"Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..." Natasha trailed off as she met Steve with Aspen at her side.
"Not 'til everyone's safe."
"I agree with Nat, we need to make a decision." Aspen added.
"Everyone up here versus everyone down there" Natasha stated. "There's no math there."
Steve, ever the brave soldier, disagreed. "I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."
"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha sighs sadly, Steve taking in her sentiment. "There's worse ways to go." she shrugged before gesturing to the skyline. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"
Aspen looked out into the sky as well, feeling a wave of peace. "That's...painfully morbid."
"It's the truth."
Their earpieces crackled. "Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." a helicarrier rose up in the distance causing for the trio to collectively chuckle in disbelief. "Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."
Steve had the faintest of grins on his lips, hands on his hips as he shakes his head. "Fury, you son of a bitch."
"Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?"
Pietro, who came to a halt beside them also eyed the helicarrier in the distance. "This is SHIELD?"
Aspen nods, sighing. "This is what SHIELD's supposed to be."
"This is not so bad." he said honestly with a smile.
"Let's load 'em up." Steve instructed before running off.
"Sir, we have multiple bogies converging on our starboard flank." the old friend, Hill warned Nick.
"Show 'em what we got." he said with a smirk.
"You're up."
Rhodey then shows up in his War Machine suit upon the sky and blasts one of the robots.
"Yes! Now this is gonna be a good story."
"Yep. If you live to tell it." Tony, ever the asshole says.
"You think I can't hold my own?"
"We get through this, I'll hold your own."
"You had to make it weird."
"Oh god, is that Rhodey I hear?" Galina jokingly complained.
"Lina is alive?!" he fired back. "I shouldn't be shocked, I smelled you from a mile away."
"Har har, very funny."
Meanwhile, the other half of the team continue to help people onto the quinjets. "Alright, let's load 'em up! Here we go, let's move. Let's go everyone!" Clint ushered hastily, gently pushing citizens by the back to guide them quickly.
While of that is happening, Thor entertains Ultron.
"You think you're saving anyone?" the robot punched him. "I turn that key and drop this rock a little early and it's still billions dead. Even you can't stop that."
"I am Thor, son of Odin, and as long as there is life in my breast, I am...running out of things to say!" he chuckled heartily. "Are you ready?"
Vision snuck up behind the AI and uses Thor's hammer to hit Ultron — Vision then throws the the mighty weapon back to Thor.
"It's terribly well balanced." he commented in interest.
"Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing, so." he swung it as an example.
"Thor, I got a plan!"
"We're out of time." Elora told him, spotting the various androids approaching the area. "They're coming for the core."
"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier."
"On it."
"Avengers, time to work for a living."
All of the Avengers eventually meet up at the core.
"You good?" Pietro asked Wanda, eyeing her for injuries.
"Yeah." she breathed out.
"Where's my sister?" Petra asks to no one in-particular — looking around the terrain in worry.
Then a squeal caught their attention.
"Aspen!"
When they turned their head, they found Galina damn near tackling the boy in a hug.
Aspen quickly wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tight, lifting her up a bit before setting her back down on her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Are you okay?" she repeated his words, grabbing his face to inspect it. "You were the one who got kidnapped."
"I'm fine." he assures before a frown took place on his lips, his finger coming up to graze a spot on her forehead. "You're bleeding."
"I'm fine."
"Okay, enough of the wishy-washy reunion — we get it." Tony said in half-hearted annoyance. He then points to the Vibranium core at the center of the ridden down church. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."
"Speak of the devil..." Galina mutters, stepping away from her friend as she glared up at the being in the sky.
The metal-man comes soaring over, hovering above in front of them.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor shouted in anger.
Ultron's metallic face drew up in a smirk before he rose a hand — this triggered several androids to come rushing towards them, some even running like forest beasts.
That was terrifying in itself.
Steve sighs with a pinched expression.
"You had to ask."
"This is the best I can do." Ultron's voice boomed above them, his arms stretched out in a god-like stance. "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." Stark gave Steve a meaningful glance. "Together."
Hulk's violent roar war cry triggered the fight — all of the robots charging towards them at a terrifying speed.
All of the Avengers fought side by side against the enemy in a circle — almost the same circle back from 2012 except it's a bit bigger now.
Petra stood beside Galina, the two of them corresponding with the other — Petra maneuvers the metal body towards her, she destroys it with her mist.
Just as a few moments pass, Ultron and his once prodigy start fighting individual.
Vision blasts the stone at him, causing for a beam to be created and for Ultron to go flying out of the church.
Tony and Thor follow behind Vision and create beams from their respective assets, weakening him.
Galina watched them from afar momentarily before pushing her power into the ground and soaring upwards.
She landed right in between Vision and Thor before triggering power in one of her palms and pushing it forwards.
The combined power is enough to greatly damage Ultron's Vibranium body, causing for metal pieces to go flying from off of him.
Once Ultron is completely down and seemingly weak, they all began to pull back.
The small group eye the robot in a careful glare, Galina not daring on letting her powers fizzle from her palms.
Ultron groaned, weak and damaged as he rose onto his legs. "You know, with the benefit of hindsight—" he's punched away by Hulk.
The robots froze in place with their weapons still raised at the Hulk...but when they spotted him and Hulk roared once, they ran off the nearby edge of the elevated city.
Thor immediately took note of their strategy. "They'll try to leave the city."
"We can't let 'em, not even one." Tony said in an urgent tone. "Rhodey!"
"I'm on it."
"We gotta move out, even I can tell the air is getting thin." Steve then backed away from the area and broke out into a small jog to the now emptied church, leaving only the team in there. "You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."
"What about the core?" Clint questioned.
"I'll protect it." Galina volunteered. "Everyone else, get your asses on a boat." she ordered.
They all nodded to themselves and began to run off...except for two.
"But Galina." Aspen said her name in emphasis, shaking his head from side to side as he approached her.
"I'm fine, go." she urged, shoving him back. "Get my sister to the boat safely!"
"But Lin—"
"Go!" she said in an elevated tone of voice.
Aspen hesitantly nodded before stumbling backwards — he turned around completely and grabbed Petra's hand, beginning to drag her along.
Petra's concerned and fearful eyes remained on her until she was out of sight to do so.
Meanwhile, Clint, Natasha, Wanda, and Pietro are driving in a stolen car.
"I know what I need to do." Clint started, wagging a finger up to emphasis. "The dining room! If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice work space for Laura, huh? Put up some baffling, she can't hear the kids running around, what do you think?"
The twins gave one another a confused glance at Clint's words — it seems like everyone's shocked he has kids nonetheless a wife.
"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway." Natasha flippantly replied.
"No one eats in a dining room." before the conversation could go any further, they make it to the lifeboats. "We don't have a lot of time." he stated as they hopped out.
"So get your asses on a boat." she points at the twins. "Especially you."
"Why us?" Pietro talked back, but before he could get a reply, Natasha was already long-gone
"Let's go." his sister direly said, pushing him towards the boat.
Clint followed them onto the boat and stood right at the entry of it.
That's when he overheard a woman crying a few feet beside from him.
"Costel!" she cried to no one in particular. "We were in the market."
And as if it were destiny, his eyes landed on a small dirty child hiding behind pieces of rubble.
Clint felt himself inhaling sharply before shaking his arms out and running off.
"Where are you going, man?!" Pietro called out to the man, but he was still sprinting.
Just as Pietro was about to chase after him, Wanda grabbed his arm and shook her head. "Stop."
"He's running off to god knows where!"
"Who cares!" she exclaimed selfishly. "He knows what he's doing. We're already on the boat, we aren't getting off."
Pietro took in her words before backing down, sitting down in an empty seat and clenching his jaw with an annoyed frown.
Not even a second later was when aggressive gunfire rang out.
A ship was soaring above the flying seating, firing several rounds of ammunition which caused for Steve, Elora, and Thor whom were still on the grounds to jump out of the way.
Both of the twins' eyes grew wide at the direction of the ship....it was going straight for Clint's path.
Clint saw it too...and he came to terms what was about to happening — shutting his eyes tightly as he shielded the boy's body.
Pietro rose to his feet and was about to speed right into the field...until he made direct eye contact with someone across the way.
Aspen stood there with Petra right behind him — the two men having a moment of realization of it's either you or me.
Both of them have accelerated speed, Aspen through teleportation, though Pietro is much faster, he also has the blessing of phasing that could potentially halt the bullets.
It happened in slow motion.
Aspen shoved Petra over a piece of crooked railing that adorned a staircase to a basement area so that she wouldn't try to follow him.
And then he ran.
And then the gunfire halted.
Clint, who was still tensed up from the attack slowly looked up at the lack of noise.
And when he turned his head to the side, he found Aspen standing there with bullet wounds soaking his white suit and arms outstretched towards him.
"That was dramatic." Aspen croaked out, lips painted red with his blood before he fell to the ground in a heap.
Clint quickly set the kid down behind a nearby vehicle and rushed over to his teammate, falling to his knees.
Thor, Steve, and Elora also come rushing over to access the situation.
But Aspen's eyes were void of anything as a stray tear slipped down his cheek and soaked the dirt underneath his rigid freezing body.
"Dammit, kid." Clint angrily mutters, slamming his fist into the ground as tears filled the three of their eyes. "Dammit."
Galina felt when it happened.
She saw images flash behind her eyes before her as it happened.
She felt an overwhelming sense of burden and grief...she felt as if she couldn't breathe.
Her head was exploding as a sob crawled up her burning throat and her knees buckled from underneath her.
It felt as if there was a river rushing through her veins as the sob escaped her mouth in a pained yell.
Darker pink energy swirled around her hands and when she crashed into the dirt, a gut wrenching shout left from her lips followed a large wave of energy escaped from her body — destroying buildings around her in its wake.
All that surrounded her was destruction as her limbs curled into itself onto the ground, uncontrollable cries wracking her body violently.
Just a couple of feet away, she heard a violently crash.
And for some reason, she just knew.
Galina's damp jaw clenched harshly before she stepped up onto her shaky feet and pushed energy into the ground beside her, soaring into the air.
She landed right outside of the train that the robot was blasted into — he looked frail, weak.
Much like a tarnished computer than an intelligent android.
Galina took slow deliberate steps towards the robot, energy swirling in her right hand before she kneeled down beside him.
"Galina..." his robotic voice murmured in a wave of recognition. "I know you."
They never truly officially "met", not like how he met the rest of the Avengers nor Strucker's pupils.
She didn't say anything, just continued staring at him murderously.
"You know...out of all of your friends, I feel the most pity for you." he said. "You're just a scared little girl."
"You don't know a thing about me." she gritted out.
Ultron's robotic condescending chuckle made her cringe. "Trust me, I do...I also know that you're not a hero, nor a villain, and something about that makes me respect you more than the wannabes."
Galina breathed in and out sharply, breaths uneven and unfocused.
"You know, if you stay here, you'll die." he commented again.
"I just did." she replied. "You know how it felt?"
That's when she outstretched her hand towards his chest and pink aggressively pushed into the armor.
He groaned in pain as her fingers swirled around before her wrist snapped upwards followed by his robotic "heart" thrusts out of his chest.
Galina looked down at the object in complete disgust, ink or "robotic blood" from the metal dripping down her forearm before she leans forward to look at him menacingly.
"It felt like that."
With the core being unoccupied, a rogue robot crawls to it — finishing the mission...
....and the next thing that she knew was that she was free-falling.
"Where's my sister!" Petra cried out on the ship, hovering over the edge of the railing as she watched as the city fell.
Steve pressed on his earpiece before he frantically spoke. "Guys, Lina is still down there!" he exclaimed. "Don't destroy the core yet!"
While everyone was worrying about her, she wasn't worried about a thing as she floated around in the atmosphere.
When she blacked out, she was positive that she had died....and that thought wasn't discomforting in the slightest.