A lot of discussion back and forth over the com link. I listen as best as I can, but the air is getting thinner and there's still no way down, not without risking all of our lives. My father and I are still making our way to where Pietro and Wanda have found the others, and I can hear Steve and Natasha talking, voices soft and sad. Natasha's voice.
"Natasha," I say into the com, barely above a whisper. But she hears me. She always does.
"Hi, little archer. You doing alright?" Her voice is like a cat rubbing up against your leg.
I climb up over a wrecked building, its wall broken up against the road, my sights pinpointing her location and the others in the distance. "Never better. It's really good to hear your voice."
"Yours too." The smile is evident in her words.
I smile as well, and I'm scrambling down the other side, sliding to more solid earth, and then I'm running. There's not much debris here since we're rendezvousing near a park, so open space and a few fallen trees and toppled over benches. The ground is flat, and I can see the backs of Steve and Natasha through the open archways that seem to have once led to a fair ground or zoo. Now it's just open air they're staring at.
"Natasha," I call, and she turns, her smile wide.
We crash into each other, and she hugs me tight. Her entire body is rigid, but her face is carefully masked in calm, in ease, like she doesn't want to worry me at all. But I know what's happening, and it's confirmed further when I look at Steve and see he's not hiding his thoughts at all from me. In fact, he nods, answering the question I don't have the courage to ask.
Static fills our ears all of sudden, and Natasha and I step away from each other, thinking its feedback from our com links, but then a familiar voice speaks.
"I hear you're enjoying the view, Agent Romanoff. It's about to get better."
The wind around us picks up, becomes turbulent and wild. I squint against the onslaught and behold an aircraft rise up through the clouds, becoming level with the floating city.
"Nice, right?" Fury says, each word laced with satisfaction. "Pulled her out of some mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."
Steve, off to my left, chuckles under his breath. "Fury, you son of a bitch."
Some further banter is exchanged with Fury and everyone else, but the hair on my neck rises and I'm suddenly aware of Pietro's presence beside me. He's staring at the aircraft across from us, the Lifeboats for civilian extraction now exiting from the carrier's bay doors. SHIELD had become no more the previous year, for months without any active operatives in the field, everyone forced to find employment elsewhere. Many had been double agents, or so I heard, secretly, as I eavesdropped on my parents' conversation about it one night. Natasha had come to visit us around that time, and I should have known by how drained and down she appeared that something had gone wrong. Everything she had fought so hard to become seemed pointless after learning she had been furthering the agenda of the very people she had once escaped the likeness of before. I had crawled into bed with her that first night she was with us, and in her sleep, she had held me tight.
But Fury still believed it could be rebuilt, and a part of me believes too. Hope shines bright in Pietro's eyes as he turns to look at me.
"This is SHIELD?" he asks.
"This is what SHIELD is supposed to be," I say.
Pietro nods his head, a small smile tugging at his lips. "This is not so bad."
We watch the Lifeboats approach, Tony with the new addition of his longtime friend, Rhodey, in the War Machine suit, ensure the smaller aircrafts arrive safely and none of Ultron's duplicates interfere. Steve directs us where to go next, and I'm teamed up with my dad and Wanda.
We all split again in this way, and we go to one of the checkpoints, a parking garage in the remaining Business District of the city, not far from the park we had regrouped in. Many frightened faces look up at us, but Dad locates a police officer. Wanda and I catch our breath, her more so than me.
I get my breathing under control and I smile at her. She immediately returns it. "Not much of a runner?"
"Not like this," Wanda admits. She takes a few more deep breaths, and she seems to get it under control. She stands up straighter, seems more confident than the last time I saw her. "Your father gives incredible pep talks," she says, practically reading my mind, her laugh breathy.
"So is your brother," I say.
"Yes, it's one of his more surprising traits," she says.
We look away from each other, back at the people before us, now standing from their seats on the concrete. They hear my father and the few other officers that have gathered around him talking. Whispers pass through the crowd, jittery and light. Hope echoes off the parking garage's ceiling and bounces back to Wanda and me.
"We can do this," Wanda murmurs. "We can save my people."
"Yes," I grab her hand. "We can."
Dad stalks towards us, rubs his hands against the chill of the high altitude. "Alright, ladies, you two wait for my signal. Fury says our group's Lifeboat should be here in five minutes. Make sure everyone here gets on it." He gives us a pointed look.
I nod, some training clicking in. "Yes, sir."
Wanda and I go our separate ways, taking up positions by the square pillars at the entrances, my dad in the center with the officers, who direct small groups around me and Wanda, another behind my dad. I draw one of my arrows and fit it onto the string, waiting, listening.
A Lifeboat coasts overhead, its shadow darkening the side of the building across the street as it descends. Dad waves to its operator, and Wanda and I wait patiently for his signal. He nods to me first and then Wanda. I run towards the sunshine, my group at my back, the thundering of their shoes against pavement loud in my ears. Almost as loud as the engines of the Lifeboats. Wanda matches my pace, and we reach the carrier at the same time it lands. The walkway lowers, and we motion people on board, checking the back of the group for any stragglers. Dad brings up the rear, ensuring we haven't missed anyone.
The three of us step back, allowing the walkway to retract back into the Lifeboat's side and for the side to close off from the open air. The carrier returns to the sky, and we watch it leave our sight.
"I got a plan," Tony's voice comes in over comms, sounding confident.
"We are out of time," Thor says from his position. I haven't seen him or Vision since we departed from the Quinjet. "They're coming for the core."
Tony shifts gears then, instructing us to meet where the core is, where Thor and Vision are defending it on their own. The core is what's keeping us afloat, what drives us further away from earth, and I'm guessing if destroyed, brings us crashing back towards it.
↣ ↣ ↣
The cathedral no longer has a roof, some of the walls gone, crumbled to the ground. I pass through one of the missing walls beside my father and Wanda, finding Thor and Vision on guard. From another entrance on the opposite side, Pietro slides to a stop in front of his sister, in front of us. He reaches for her.
"Are you good?" He looks her over, the ever concerned older brother.
"Yeah," Wanda assures him and tries for a smile.
"And what about you?" he asks me.
I blink in surprise, not expecting his concern. But I detect the mischief in his eyes, especially with my dad right there. "Never better," I end up saying.
Dad pushes his way between us all, glares at Pietro, gives me and Wanda a pointed look, who's doing her best to hide her amusement.
"Let's focus, shall we?" he says, making his way over to Iron Man and Cap.
The others arrive soon after that, even the Hulk, not Dr. Banner. I try not to balk, but the thought is hard to process. Banner dwells somewhere inside this raging giant. When the Hulk feels my eyes on him, he bares his teeth at me, and I swallow and divert my attention elsewhere, back to the others. They filter in around the core, the last of whom is Natasha.
"What's the drill?" she asks.
"This is the drill," Tony says, pointing to the device behind him. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."
He makes it sound like one of my training exercises, but if only it were that simple. A test, a surmountable task. I have to remind myself that what happens now can't easily be wiped clean or forgiven. It isn't a test or exercise in the slightest, and I have to remember that our mission means something else, something more and greater than whatever I did under Fury's watchful eye or Natasha's patience or my father's reassurance.
I gaze out on the leveled street in front of the church, note the smoke rising in the thinning air and rubble and cars flipped over. Despite the wreckage, I can see all the way to the horizon, the street wide enough and the buildings distant enough that the church's view is unhindered by the surrounding city. It seems purposeful. Most likely, anyone that worked or lived nearby would have been able to see this place of worship, visible from the surrounding streets, its once tall towers and domed roof a familiar presence over the city. But looking around at my immediate surroundings again, at the scaffolding and missing windows, that this church was abandoned long before Ultron had ever laid sights on it.
Forgotten, possibly blending into the background. A place to hide, a shelter for those without a home, a faded piece of history dismissed. We stand in a place that has been standing for centuries, and Ultron has managed to tear it apart in a day. I see the adversary in question flying towards us on the horizon, and he stops about thirty yards away, near a pile of overturned cars.
Thor steps forward, a scowl deepening on his face, his mouth opening in a snarl. "Is that the best you can do!"
Ultron says nothing, and I realize, as I take in this exchange, that I am seeing him for the first time. I side eye Tony and the Hulk, and I understand why Steve and Tony had such a heated argument on the Homestead. Tony with Banner's help created this, started this with a simple code and program. Accidentally unlocked Pandora's box for technological advancement and brought forth this homicidal robot. Unreal.
Not as tall as the Hulk, but Ultron, still hovering in the air, cuts an imposing figure over the rest of us, his build like a muscular man's, the vibranium metal plating of his body gleaming silver in the sun. His body moves seamlessly, the metal shifting and whirring without a hitch or delay, as he lifts his forearm, two fingers curling in, a signal. Hundreds of Ultron's underlings come into view, flooding into the open space around their master.
Cap sighs, looking a little worse for wear with his face smudged with dirt and grime. "You had to ask." He glares over at Thor, who can only bow his head in apology.
"This is the best I can do," Ultron says, his voice slithering over me, coaxing goosebumps to rise along my skin. He sweeps his arms out. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"
"Well," Tony says, glancing at each of us, Iron Man's glowing eyes lingering on me for a second. "Like the old man said . . . Together."
Hulk roars in rage, causing me to flinch, but I snap to action alongside everyone else. We keep the core at our backs as Ultron's army sprints towards us or takes to the sky. Dad and I pick off the ones flying at us top speed, with Vision and Thor rising up to meet the ones we can't get to. Cap is beside me, his shield ricocheting off the walls of the cathedral, the din of it reminiscent of echoing bells. I duck when I detect it flying back from the back wall behind us. I turn my head in time to see Cap nod approvingly, and I can't help it. I smile. I rise back up, and continue to bring down opponent after opponent until I've run out of arrows.
I slide three throwing knives from my belt, and I take a deep breath before I leap over the fallen bots at our feet and land a little further into the fray. I don't hear my name being called so I figure I can meet more bots head on than before, get my hands a little dirty. I dash to the crumbling wall and use it as cover. A few bots notice me and charge in my direction. I brace my feet, tense my arm, but remember to breathe, to relax, and one knife leaves my hand slicing through the air, right into one of the bot's eye sockets. One between another's eyes, a third through a throat. This one continues towards me, but I jump onto the crumbling half wall and meet the robot head on. A big mistake, obviously, but I drop to the ground, duck as it lunges for me, and I weave up behind it. I palm another knife into my hand and plunge it into the back of its head. Sparks sizzle around its head, and I yelp at the unexpected sting it shoots through my hand.
I pull away, and I am about to continue further into the skirmish, towards a blurring zig-zag off to my right, when I'm grabbed by two of Ultron's minion robots, and my heels dig into the dirt and rubble.
"Let me go," I seethe. I struggle to free my arms from their metal grips, but then my feet no longer touch the ground, and I'm suspended into the air. Higher and higher, until I face Ultron, scrutiny ablaze in his red eyes. I do my hardest not to shudder or cower, but I can't hide the rapid breaths I'm taking, the silent screams I'm holding back, reddening my face.
"A child soldier," Ultron muses, drifting closer, his interest in me so unbearable I squirm, the metal hands of my captors digging deep into my elbows and wrists. "And here I thought their morals couldn't get any lower."
I go to spit in his silver plated face, but his cold metal fingers seize my chin. My breathing hitches, and instinct of fight or flight overtake me. I kick and scream, but it's useless as he takes hold of me, positioning me in front of him, my back pressed into his chest, his hand trailing down from my jaw to my throat, freezing me in place. I can feel my rapid pulse against his hand, and it sickens me. How do I get out of this, away from him, without being crushed to death?
We descend lower, about ten feet from the ground, and the sounds of fighting quiet it down, realization spreading through the Avengers' ranks like wildfire.
"Cara," Natasha screams. She makes to run, but Cap grabs a hold of her arm. He can't take his eyes away from my face, but he keeps Natasha close, even as she struggles against him.
Dad steps forward, but his eyes lower to my belt, to the spare crossbow bolts I have stowed away in a pouch strapped to my upper thigh. I steady my breathing as I trail my hand to it, the tips of my fingers brushing the fletching.
"You've wasted the last of her innocence and youth on a pointless suicide mission to stop the inevitable." He caresses the side of my face, sickeningly gentle. I jerk my head away from his touch, but his hand returns to my throat. My hand grips a bolt tightly. Ultron continues, "Tragic. It truly is. But no matter. I shall end her here and now as a show of mercy so that she won't have to witness your demise, and then the world's."
"Give me a break," I grit out, and I shove the bolt deep into a weak link in his torso, taking him by surprise. I push away from him, the adrenaline coursing through me dizzying, just as he loosens his hold on me. I am suddenly caught in something, and I look back, fearing Ultron has a hold of me again, but red energy encircles me, my body held above the ground until I am let go. I free fall into awaiting arms. I open my eyes to have Pietro searching my face, his dirty hand pushing back some of my hair. He has run us into an alcove inside the church, one of his hands at my elbow to steady me onto my feet, his other hand still on my face.
"That was crazy," I say. I draw his hand away, but he doesn't relax. "I'm alright, Pietro."
"You certain?"
"I'll live. Thank you." I squeeze my hand around his wrist, and he only allows himself a second more to look at me before he speeds off again. I run around the corner, back to the center of the church where the core is, to find the fight has escalated.
Vision shoots out a laser from the gemstone embedded in his forehand, and I can't look away as it pierces into Ultron's metallic hide. The android is full of surprises. Thor and Tony step out from the cover of the church, drawing on their power to add to the laser's severity, ripping, melting away Ultron's exterior. When the master bot falls to his knees, the trio ceases fire, and Ultron struggles to his feet.
"You know, with the benefit of hindsight—"
Hulk interrupts, slamming his fist so hard into Ultron that it sends him flying several hundred yards out of sight. Hulk then turns to leer at the remaining bots. His seething sends them in the opposite direction, and the massive brute darts after them, the fighting ceasing for everyone else.
I run forward and stop beside Tony and Thor. "Won't they try to leave the city?"
Vision hears me, nods, and takes off into the sky. Either to find Ultron or to take care of his fleeing army.
Tony lands the mechanical hand of his suit on my shoulder. "We can't let them, not even one. Rhodey, did you hear our young friend?"
"Yeah, on it," came the reply through our coms. A moment's pause. "When did we start letting kids onto the team? And that begs the question, Tone, where's my official invite?"
"When this is over, alright?" The Iron Man helmet whirs open, and Tony smiles at me, relief softening his eyes as he takes me in. He playfully nudges my chin. "Not bad, kid."
"Thanks," I say, but before I can comment on anything else, Natasha has me in her arms, and she grabs my face and looks me all over.
I smile and take her hands in mine. "I'm fine, I swear. Chill, okay?"
Her frantic concern calms, melts away, and she smiles just as Cap walks up to us. He glances at Natasha for a brief moment, something silent exchanged between them, before he inspects me for himself.
"You kept a cool head there. I'm very impressed," he says, and the praise washes over me in a soothing balm, banishing away the prickling chill of fear I felt in Ultron's grasp.
"Thank you, sir," I make sure to clip out.
An arm wraps around my shoulder and tucks me close. I gaze up into my father's face, and I can't help but think that he looks five years older all of a sudden. How afraid was he really for me? I cling to him, and he tightens his hold on me.
"I taught her everything she knows," Dad says, the pride in his voice almost laughable to me. He might have been scared for me, but he has bragging rights now. Hope he keeps it to himself and the team, and not say a word of it to my mother. She'd freak. She'd probably tear Ultron apart with her bare hands if she were here right now.
We that remain reconvene around the core, and Cap addresses us as a whole.
"We gotta move out," he says. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. Pietro and I will sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you."
"What about the core?" Dad asks.
"I'll protect it," Wanda says, stepping forward, her attention dropping to the device in front of us. She shares a glance with my father. "It's my job."
Dad nods. "Cara. Nat. This way."
Natasha falls in step with my dad, but I hesitate. Wanda smiles reassuringly and waves me on. She is powerful. I know this because I have felt her power all around me now, and I don't doubt her capabilities to protect the core. But to do so alone doesn't feel right. I don't like the idea of her being alone while the rest of us can leave.
"Go. All will be well," she urges me. "I promise."
I nod. "Be careful." I cut a glance over at Pietro who still lingers as well. "You too."
He raises a brow at me, but cracks a smile. "As you wish."
I nod again, and I turn on my heels, running after my dad and Natasha. I catch up to them as we step out onto the avenue, a few cars here untouched from the mayhem.
Nat nudges her shoulder into mine. "Guess how proud I am?"
"That you could burst?" I say, a half-grin on my face.
"Just about," she says, brushing her cool fingers across the back of my neck in a quick caress. I feel like I'm burning up from the inside out, from adrenaline burnout, and almost dying, and the high, high altitude burning my lungs. I could collapse, but we still have one last thing to do, and that's survive for a little longer.
I smile at another bout of praise, and I dread, only a little, when Natasha will get the chance to gush to my mom about how I handled all of this. There's a small part of me that hopes my mom will be a bit proud too. I suppose I'll have to wait and see. My mom could put up a fight and drag me back home. Or she could surprise me and let me try.
Dad has found an old school convertible, the top down and ripe for the taking. He turns to look at us, his self-satisfaction brightening his face. He no longer appears older to me anymore, that brief scare pushed out of his mind. His eyes actually light up with excitement.
"Want to learn how to hotwire a car, Care?"