*WARNING: Contains 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' spoilers!
In what felt like minutes, we were in Sokovia. Banner was getting Nat to safety, and Stark and Vision were going to draw out Ultron. The rest of us had the job of evacuating the civilians before Ultron's army killed anyone.
"Your man's in the church boss!" F.R.I.D.A.Y., JARVIS's replacement said to Stark.
"Rogue," Steve called, pulling me off to the side as everyone else began to evacuate the civilians.
"What's up?" I asked him. He looked at me for a few moments. For the first time, I realised that there was a touch of green in the blue of his eyes.
"We don't know how this is gonna end. I can't guarantee that we'll all walk away from this. Just... be careful. OK?" he said, pleading with me.
"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?" I asked, teasing him.
"Seriously. Stark wouldn't be the same if anything happened to you," he said, telling me what I already knew. If Stark had his way, I would be back in New York, hiding in the Tower, staying away from the action. But I had been hidden from the world for too long to stay away now.
"I'll be fine!" I promised. As I said this, Ultron's robots appeared and began attacking the city.
"Go!" Steve said urgently, rushing towards more civilians, running for their lives for fear of being the next victim. All of a sudden the ground began to shake and the earth began to rise. What was happening?
"Sokovia's going for a ride," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said. "The Vibranium core has a magnetic field. If it drops, the impact will kill thousands. Once it gets high enough, global extinction."
I tried not to think about that possibility. "What are we going to do?" I said under my breath, electrocuting the robots that were getting too close to civilians. My electricity made them weak – weak enough that I could finish them off with hand-to-hand combat. I could rip them apart.
"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely," Steve said. "The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed... walk it off!"
I fought another few robots, before spotting Hawkeye and Wanda struggling with a few, standing in front of a building.
"Get in there!" I shouted to them, shielding them with a force field as I followed them into the building, the three of us sitting with our backs to the window that we had climbed through.
"This is all our fault!" Wanda said, raking her hands through her hair and starting to break down.
"It's everyone's fault. Who cares?" I said with a smile, trying to catch my breath. Despite what she and her brother had done, I had developed a slight soft spot for Wanda Maximoff.
"Are you up for this?" Hawkeye asked her. "Look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots... and I have a bow and arrow. None of this make any sense. But I'm going back out there because it's my job!"
"Our job!" I corrected him.
"If you go out there, you fight. And you fight to kill!" he continued. "Stay in here, you're good, I'll send your brother to come find you. But if you step out that door..." he trailed off, looking at me.
"You're an Avenger." I finished his sentence. He stood up, kicked the door open and began shooting his arrows in various directions. I looked at Wanda for a moment before following Hawkeye out of the door. We fought the robots for a minute before Wanda left the building. She used her telekinesis to destroy the robots in seconds. She was an Avenger.
I left the two of them, running back to where I started, where most of the robots were fighting Steve and Thor. As I ran towards them, I spotted Nat.
"Rogue!" She screamed, running towards me and enveloping me in her arms. "I'm so sorry. I should have jumped out after you fell. I never thought anything would happen..."
"I should have looked for you. I'm so sorry for thinking I couldn't trust you. I never thought he'd kidnap you!" We spoke over each other, still holding on tightly as the hulk came from behind us and began to rip the robots apart.
"Let's finish this," she said in my ear. I nodded. We separated and ran in different directions, doing what we could to destroy as many robots as possible.
"What have you got, Stark?" I heard Steve ask through the earpiece.
"Nothing great," Stark answered. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."
"I didn't ask for an escape plan!" Steve said dismissively. I found him a few feet away, standing beside Nat. They were facing away from me.
"Cap," she began, approaching the subject gently. "These people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..."
"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it!" Steve said angrily.
I stepped forward. "She didn't say we should leave," I said, guessing what Nat was going to say. They both turned to stare at me. "There are worse ways to go," I said, trying to reassure both Steve and myself as I slipped an arm around Nat's waist.
"Where else are we going to get a view like this?" Nat asked, leaning her head against my shoulder. We stood for a moment without speaking, looking out at the view. I thought about Stark. If we died on this rock, there was no way I'd ever see him again.
"Stark," I said into my ear piece, turning away from the others. "I know you heard that."
"I'm not going to let you die," he said. "That's not an option!"
My mind ran back to the conversation between Hawkeye and Wanda. "Stark, this is my job."
"This is my fault. I did this. I need to fix it."
"Stark, sometimes there's things that you can't fix. At least not alone. We, Steve and Nat and I, we know what we have to do," I said as tears began to well up in my eyes. "This isn't your fault, you didn't do this. Remember that. No matter what happens, I don't blame you, and I never will. I love you." A tear rolled down my face, dripping from my cheek.
"I love you too," he said. It sounded like he was admitting defeat. And when Tony Stark admitted defeat, you knew that that was it. This was the end. We had no other options. No one was coming to save us or bail us out. This was our job.
****************************************
Thanks so much for 3.5K reads! I hope you liked this chapter!
Will things end here? Can the Avengers find a way to save the day? Find out in Chapter 21 next Saturday!
What did you think of this chapter? Vote and let me know in the comments!