"I guess I should take these out." I muttered to Steve taking out the little ear pieces that deafened the noise of the world. "Can't read a robots mind." The engine of the jet was a constant hum and the sound of the turbines were a like a beating drum.
Steve surveyed the silent jet. I noticed him staring at the twins who were practically huddling together in the back. They were both ridiculously nervous, and not at all confident, especially Wanda. Pietro was babying her by checking on her every three seconds. She looked tired, and breakable. Her eyes were focused on the ground, but every now and then she looked at Pietro. While Wanda was keeping a calm outer shell, Pietro always seemed to be on a caffeine high. He was restless, bouncing his leg, fidgeting with his clothes, hair, Wanda.
"I almost feel bad for them." Steve murmured to me. I glared at him, I wasn't ready to forgive Wanda for what she had done to me. She had helped them, she was a spineless puppet acting like she had validation in changing sides. I hated her. "I said almost." Steve defended.
"I don't. When you sign up for this, you should know the price is heavier than the rewards."
"She's a kid."
"And you weren't? I wasn't? We were kids too when we went through with what we did."
Steve sighed next to me, "Come on, now isn't the time."
"I know, I know." I agreed nodding my head. Now wasn't the time to get angry. Now was the time to focus.
I got up out of my seat and sat down next to Bruce, who was a seven PhD recipient twiddling with his thumbs. He glanced up as I sat down next to him. I leaned back in the seat and crossed my arms. He leaned back too. "Look, I know you don't want to fight."
"I'm a danger to the civilians. I can't, I shouldn't." He argued
"We're evacuating the city first."
"Anna, I can't. The Hul–he's a monster. I'm a monster. I can't–"
"Okay," I conceded, which surprised him a little. "I'm not going to make you fight anyone. You know that. But, I am going to ask you to help. We need you to get Nat out, can you do that?"
"What about Barton?"
"We need him to help keep a perimeter."
"Yeah, I'll do it."
"Okay," I said patting his leg. Before I got up I told him, "Thank you Bruce, and if you decide to stick around, this is definitely a code green. And just so you know being a monster can just mean you're scarier than your demons, so embrace it. It's a part of you, it's a part of all of us."
"You have no fear do you." He remarked with a small smile.
"Oh, you know thats not true." I replied smiling. I moved back to my former seat and Tony caught my eye. He was smirking to himself. When I asked him why, he just shook his head.
Sokovia was alarmingly silent. It sat unmoving, like a ghost town, waiting for its final reckoning. Stepping out, I wondered if the people of Sokovia knew. I wondered if they knew deep down that what was about to take place would irreversibly change history. There was minimal traffic, barely anyone was outside walking. Everyone was inside.
"Get them out. Do anything you can." Steve ordered us. Tony flew ahead looking for Ultron. Bruce was sent to get Nat. Wanda and I were sent to opposite sides of the city. Grazing my hand against Steve's, I left him hoping I'd see him before everything started.
Standing in the middle of an intersection, I closed my eyes. The brains of people begging for peace filled my brain. I tried to reach as many as I could, making them come out in herds. I wasn't nearly as powerful as Wanda, but I was enough.
"Leave everything, just go!" I yelled rushing them. Shortly I could hear their clawing. They were scaling up the mountain, to get into the city.
"Here they come!" I warned everyone. Rushing people around me, I gave up on getting them out of the city. We were out of time. They just needed to be protected.
"Get under! Go to the basements!! Go to the center!" I shouted pushing people. The first robot appeared from under a bridge.
Grabbing my gun from my holster I shot at the robot. The bullets did nothing. Thinking fast, I just raced towards it. Better to be preoccupied with me than someone else. Running towards it, I kneed it, grabbing the back of it's metal neck. Disconnecting some wires, it fell. This was going to be a long day.
Taking out as many robots as I could, I cleared my street. The sounds of the city were a consistent panic, people were screaming, cars and alarms going off, buildings were crumbling. Then something under my feet shook. At first I thought it was an Earth quake. But that would be way too coincidental.
"Did anyone else feel that?" I asked waiting for a reply. I heard the unmistakable sound of rock breaking. Something big was happening. Suddenly we were bring lifted up. The city was rising, separating from the Earth.
Running through the streets I picked off robot stragglers. I figured most of them were concentrated in the middle. I stumbled upon Steve who was being attacked from all around him. I fired my gun at them to get their attention.
"Your gun doesn't do anything!" He grunted ripping a robot's head off.
"Yeah, no shit." I panted out grabbing a pipe and batting it against a bot breaking it. It would have been a home run if we were playing a game. I swung the water pipe around hitting as many robots as I could. As the pipe got dented I jumped up and stabbed it through a robot.
The next bunch of robots started shooting at me. I ducked.
"Anna!" Steve shouted. I looked over my shoulder. He hurled his shield at me. Catching it, I jumped and threw it at the robots smashing them. Steve caught his shield back and jumped over a car and went onto the next bunch.
I used anything I could as a weapon. A few robots ganged up on me. As one came at me swinging at my head. I ducked, grabbed a broken piece of a building and smacked it with it. Throwing the block of cement up, I kicked it into another robot smashing it. Rolling to the ground I snuck up on the other. I ripped it's head off. These suckers were easier to get rid of than they looked. It reminded me that they were just a distraction, not the end.
As the first wave slowly died down, I helped more people into buildings for shelter. Steve's voice came on the com. "The next wave's going to hit any minute. What do you got Stark?"
"Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the city. If you guys can get out of there." Tony answered in mournful tone. Were we going to loose this one?
I stepped back outside looking for the others. I found Natasha and Steve watching the clouds roll by. "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." Tony pressed. I swallowed looking down at the ground. This wasn't over yet.
"Cap, these people are going nowhere." Natasha voiced
Steve glanced over at me. I saw his fingers twitching to reach mine. "I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."
"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha replied in hope of offer some comfort to Steve.
A wilted smile appeared on my face as I thought about the last couple years of my life. We had truly endured through everything. And if this was the end, it was an honor.
"There are worst ways to go. Where else am I going to get a view like this?" Natasha mentioned, looking ahead at the clouds. It was almost poetic that we were the so called monsters of the Earth ready to die up in the heavens.
"It's not over yet." I promised them. They both gave me a somber glance. But I had already heard our life line. The Helicarrier was coming, I could hear it's turbines coming closer and closer.
"Glad you like the view Romanoff." Fury announced. "Because it's about to get much better."
"Fury you son of a bitch."
"Whoa you kiss your mother with that mouth." Steve rolled his eyes.
"Did you do this?" He asked eyeing the Helicarrier and then back to me.
I shook my head. "No, but I knew Coulson had one hanging around Fury could have."
"Is this SHIELD?" Pietro asked racing up to the edge to get a better view of the Helicarrier.
"It's what SHIELD's supposed to be." I answered with a smile, as the boats headed our way. We rushed back inside the buildings to start evacuating everyone.
I ran around to the far side of the city getting people out. "Avengers time to work for a living." Tony announced. With a sigh, I directed a crowd on where to go.
"Hey, hop in." Natasha ordered, she was driving a huge truck. I quickly jumped in with her. She bulldozed through groups of robots.
"Thanks for the ride." I said hopping out of the truck. We gathered at the center of the city. Our objective was to not let anyone touch the core, which was a lever that would bring the city down destroying everything.
"How's the leg?" Steve asked gearing up for the fight. He readjusted his gloves and put his shield on his arm.
"It's fine." I lied, the truth was my leg hurt so much I couldn't even feel it. It was hindering me, but not enough to get myself injured yet.
"Is that the best you can do!" Thor shouted at Ultron. Ultron stretched out his hand and hundreds of robots scampered towards us. My heart plummeted. Taking a breath I got back into position.
"You had to ask." Steve groaned.
They came at us in the from all directions. Half the time I didn't know what I was fighting, but just destroying everything I could get my hands on. Some of us were flying up top, Pietro was speeding around us. Arrows, and shards of metal rained down. Grabbing any robot I could get my hands on, I ripped out their wiring. I broke off their limps, using it like a bat. I jumped up at one point miscalculating the timing and ended up getting shot on my side. The side of my suit was burned and bloodied. I was short of breath, and high on adrenaline. Keep moving. Keep moving. The android, Thor and Tony blasted Ultron and the Hulk punched him into next Sunday. The fight was dwindling, we were winning.
When most of the robots were defeated, I leaned over trying to catch my breath. I air was getting thin. We needed to leave.
"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you." Steve ordered. I glanced back at the core. We couldn't leave it unprotected. It secured who would be taking the victory.
"What about the core?" Clint questioned
"I'll protect it." Wanda volunteered. And if I had any energy I might have questioned it more. "It's my job." She stated looking at Clint.
"You okay?" Steve asked setting a hand on my back. I was still hunched over still trying to catch my breath, and get over the throbbing pain of my side and leg.
"I'm fine." I promised him straightening up. "Go."
Heading towards the boats, I checked for anyone left. My head was ringing with the noises from today. The city was silent now. Surveying the crumbled infrastructure I realized all of this was going to be destroyed. This whole city would be gone in a matter of minutes. Maybe we were the monsters if we harnessed destruction of this magnitude.
Something caught my ear. "Everyone on a boat?" Steve asked. I took out my ear piece. I looked around spinning on my heels. Someone was still here. I could hear their labored breaths, and the quick beats of their heart. I searched underneath the rubble for the person, presumably a child. The little sounds they were making reminded me of a baby.
I lifted a heavy wall of a fallen building, and underneath, low and behold a little baby. It had little wisps of dark brown hair, and intelligent green eyes. She had the most adorable chubby cheeks. There was a gash on her head that worried me, but she wasn't crying. There were dried tears and snot on her face. I guess she must have cried out all her tears. Taking her in my arms I raced towards one of the last remaining boats. As I was racing towards the boat the ground shifted. Something had happened. I grabbed Steve's arm, who was waiting outside the boat and pulled him onto it. The city started to plummet down down down down.
We watched in horror as it fell from the sky. A terrible storm came from the center, and the rock was set ablaze. We reached the Helicarrier when it exploded, and the city was desolated.
Gazing down at the tiny baby in my arms, I lightly touched her cheek, rubbing off some dirt. She smiled, a toothless smile. I almost giggled.
"Look what I found." I told Steve showing him the little bundle in my arms. As Steve got a better view of the baby his eyes softened. He was no longer scowling.
"Whose is she?" He softly brushed his thumb aross the gash on her head.
"I don't know. But I guess I need to hand her to someone to be accounted for."
Steve placed two hands on my shoulders. I leaned back against him. Holding a finger out, the little baby held it in her tiny little hand. Even her hand had little dimples on it. "Seems like we got a charmer here." I smiled. Bopping her nose to make her smile, I froze.
I lifted my head up and stared at the walls of the Helicarrier. Clearing my throat I announced, "I'll go find where she belongs."
"Do you want me to come with?"
"No, see who's where. I'll meet you in the med bay." I replied not bothering to look down at my arms. I handed the baby back, and turned away. I needed to walk away, I had just destroyed it's first home.