The ground shakes beneath me. The concrete cracks and crumbles. The Sokovian skyline rises and the earth feels unstable.
"Tony? What's going on?" I ask.
"He's created a vibrainium core, it's magnetic, it's holding the ground together..."
"Then why does it feel like it's falling apart?"
"Because the city is flying!" Clint shouts.
"Great! Wonderful!" I say, looking over at one of Ultron's creations, "I hate flying!"
"Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability? You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift 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 in this world will be metal." Ultron says through all of his bodies, leaving a strange echo behind the trail of words.
The robots turn toward us and begin their attack. It must be all or nothing for Ultron.
A group of them run towards me in an attack, almost surrounding me, but I turn Delvameg into an ax and swing. The curved metal blade chopping through the metal and into the air as they fall.
"Ivanna!" Tony's voice calls through the com, "Vision's down, he burned Ultron out of the net. He's in the church."
The church, 4 blocks forward and two to the right, I can make it. I turn Delvameg into a sword and charge. I have to keep that stone safe. It's the reason I'm here and I refuse to let it fall into the wrong hands again. One of Ultron's copies lands in front of me, ready to fight. I hold my sword up and quickly swing downward, cutting it vertically down the middle.
I keep running, taking down every machine that puts itself in my path.
I reach the church, where Ultron stands over The Vision, "I figured you'd make your way here."
"Congratulations, you can see the future." Delvameg shifts back to a staff.
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." He says, starting to pace, "You're better than that... above it."
"Like you think you are?"
"We're not so different, you and I, we both have the same mission- seeking peace, but how come we're on opposite sides?"
"I seek peace through words, negotiations, treaties. Using civil means to achieve peace." I follow his steps as he paces, "You are using force and destruction; you are using death to make peace. But tell me, what are you creating peace for? I do it for the lives of people."
"I'm protecting the world! From people! Have you seen what they've done? They kill each other, over what? Beliefs? Different ideas of what god is? Over money! They kill each other over money! They kill each other for no reason! How am I supposed to protect them if they are the threat?" Ultron looks at me with confusion, a pained expression; he wants answers that I can't give him.
"That's not why you were created." I say.
"You're right. I was made to protect the world from people like you." He launches himself at me.
I pull Delvameg off my back and hold it to the sky,
A white light glows around me and throws Ultron back. My armor restores itself, cape and all. I turn Delvameg into a greatsword and get ready to fight.
"You think you're special?" He screams, "You think your magic scares me?" He flies towards me, slamming into me. I throw my sword into his chest, but it barely scrapes the metal away. Of course, he's built a vibrainium body to protect himself. Delvameg slips from my hands and falls onto the ground.
I slam into the wall behind me. I push my back into it and kick Ultron off of me. He stumbles back, but quickly pins me again.
I can feel the bricks shift behind me. I pick my feet off the ground to kick again, but Ultron pulls me forward and knocks me back into the wall, "I said it once, I'll say it again; I know you. I know how you fight."
"Then you know I fight to win!" I say, wrapping a leg around him for leverage. I clasp my hand on his shoulder and swing myself around, out of his grip. I roll off the ground and scoop up Delvameg, "If you want me dead, you're going to have to fight harder!"
"You realize I can still end this? So what? Flip the switch a little early, the impact will still kill billions."
"Yu could, but even you know you wouldn't risk losing one of us. You drop it early and one of us is bound to get away. We both know you want us all dead."
"Would you be willing to leave your friends behind? An Entire planet to die?" He taunts.
"I'd be willing to avenge it." I say.
He laughs, not hysterically, but sarcastically, "Of course you would; All hail the conquering hero! The mighty Queen of Asgard!"
"You want to flip the switch? You're going to have to kill me, and we both know that dying isn't my style."
"I'll be the first to do it right." He says.
"Love to see you try!"
Ultron lunges at me again, and I side step to dodge, but he manages to clip me. I fall to the ground and roll as a metallic fist comes down almost on top of me. I get to my feet, this would be a matter of tiring him out, if he weren't a machine. He's made himself unbeatable, and even I have limits.
We continue this dance, him constantly striking and me constantly evading. Each strike made by me makes less of a dent, and makes me more tired. Ultron swings his fist upward, toward my face, and I catch it. I've made a mistake.
He does exactly what he did on the train, he slams his fist into my side, but only once. A flash of red and yellow crosses his path and sends him flying out of the church.
I fall to the ground clutching my side.
I take a few breaths, before holding my hand to my ear, "Avengers, to the church, Ultron's trying to flip the switch. He going to hit us with everything he's got."
"Rodger that."
The Vision comes back into the stone building, "Are you alright?" He offers me a hand.
"I will be." I say, taking it and pulling myself up, "Thank you."
He nods.
I pick up Delvameg.
The rest of the team joins us.
"Shield has lifeboats out, they're evacuating the city." Steve says.
"Once they're clear, Thor and I are going to vaporize the city. The impact radius is destroyed- people live." Tony says.
"This is the core, Ultron hits it- we lose, the city hits, everyone dies." I say, "Do whatever it takes to prevent him from doing so."
"Great plan." Clint says.
"Thanks, it took months to come up with." Tony says.
Robots start emerging from the outside.
We don't hesitate. Each of us starts fighting. Tony is both in the sky and one the ground, using his reactor to burn through the bots. The Vision keeps them from coming in the top of the dome, phasing his hands through the clones to rips them apart. Clint fires arrows like no man has seen before. The twins fight together, Wanda ripping the metal apart with swirls of red and Pietro running through the crowd with enough force to knock them apart. Natasha is living up to her name as the black widow, crawling around and destroying her prey. Steve uses his shield as a blade, cutting through the metal men as if they weren't there. I swing through the crowd, cutting them apart, switching weapons to change the balance and keep me on my toes. Thor uses Mjolnir to summon lighting, frying the mainframe of the animatronics. Hulk does what he does best- smash.
As the crowd of robots thins down, Thor, Tony and Vision attack the head of the horrors.
The robots start to retreat, Ultron knows he's lost. He plans to regroup and rebuild.
"We can't let them leave! Not on! If even one of them gets away it's over!" Tony shouts through the com.
I instantly start chasing them, taking down the few that I can before I reach the edge of the city.
"Get to a boat! We've got it from here!" A voice calls.
No need to tell me twice.
I bolt to the other side of the city, running toward the helicarrier.
I manage to get on board with Clint.
"Castal?!" A woman shouts, "Castal? My baby! He was in the market place!"
I look over, "Job's never done is it?"
Clint scans the area and charges after the boy. I don't see him, but I'm not Hawkeye. He unburies the kid from the rubble, and bullets start striking.
The Quinjet- firing at us.
"GET DOWN!" I scream, pushing Clint down and covering him with my body. I shift Delvameg into a shield and cover my head, my armor should protect us against the bullets, I'll have hellacious brusing later- but it'll be worth it.
They never strike.
Instead, the jet continues on its path.
I turn around, Pietro stands there, breathing heavily beside the car that acted as our shield, blood starts pouring out of him and stains his shirt, "You didn't see that coming?" He asks, falling to the ground.
"Pietro!" I get down beside him and check for a pulse.
There isn't one.
"He's gone." I say, looking up at Clint.
His face drops.
Steve's voice comes over the com, "Stark's gonna drop this rock any second! Come on!"
I carefully pick up the dead twin and carry him to the ship.
"He was just a kid." I mumble, setting him on the floor, "He didn't deserve this."
"Don't blame yourself, it doesn't help bring him back." Clint says.
"I know." I say, "But I can't help but feel responsible, if I had went after the stone when it went missing..."
"You know what- we won. Peitro died knowing that."
"You really know how to cheer people up." I say lightly.
"It's my job."
"How noble." I mutter.
"That's the spirit."
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Thanks for making it this far. <3
I know I say this every single chapter (almost) but it really means a lot to me that people actually read what I write.
Please please keep reading and don't forget to vote and comment about what you like and what you don't!