Novi Grad, Sokovia
Spring 2015
"Nina!" There was no mistaking that Nadine sounded angry. But neither could Nina help but noticed she also sounded frightened. She was immediately fighting back a wave of guilt. She knew she shouldn't have left the Quinjet. She knew as much before she'd even stepped foot off the boarding ramp. But she still hadn't been able to help the feeling like she couldn't just stay put.
Not that she'd ultimately been of much use.
Except to Captain America.
A small, faint swell of pride lit in her chest at that thought, and it brought with it a measure of confidence.
Confidence that almost immediately threatened to wither in the face of her mother's admittedly righteous anger.
"I told you to stay on the Quinjet!" Nina winced, glancing up to Pietro, unable to bear holding Nadine's gaze. Pietro was glancing warily between her and Nadine, his own eyes betraying his nerves. There was little doubt he was intimidated by her mom, that was for sure. Yet he stayed next to her, his hand still lying comfortingly on her shoulder. Her own fingers tightened instinctively on his sleeve, thankful for the support, unconsciously given or not.
It was too much, seeing her mother's grey eyes flash with temper. But even more unsettling was the fear lingering like a shadow behind the familiar gaze, just as unmistakable to Nina as the threads of it she'd heard in her mom's voice. She wasn't used to seeing her mom so close to losing control of her emotions. And she'd never seen her mom so scared before. Her stomach felt like it had dropped to her shoes.
"But Mom—" she started, the urge to explain warring with the need to ease the fear in Nadine's eyes. But Nadine didn't give her that chance. Not that Nina was sure she'd have been able to find the words anyway.
"No, Nicola," Nadine interrupted sharply, "you purposefully ignored my instructions." Abruptly her own temper was rising, her mom's anxiety beginning to feed her own. It made her bold and reckless in the face of Nadine's formidable anger, the need to defend her actions taking over.
"You couldn't just sit back!" It burst out of her before she could even think about reconsidering. Nadine looked visibly taken aback at Nina's outburst. Next to her Pietro looked equally startled despite his lingering discomfort, though the ghost of a smug grin teased his features. But Nina couldn't seem to stop, her own equally righteous anger not willing to be ignored for the sake of sparing her or her mom's feelings. Not considering what was happening around them. "How could you think I could? I can help!" But her mom recovered from her surprise quickly, staring impassively at Nina. She nearly quailed beneath the force of her mother's gaze, but she stood firm, her own anger stoking her resolve. She wasn't a child anymore. Certainly not after what she'd been through since she'd been snatched from outside their apartment.
"It's too dangerous, Nina!"
"Then you shouldn't have taught me how to fight!" Unwavering grey eyes met stubborn blue-grey. But before her mom could do more than open her mouth to retort back, Captain Rogers broke in, sending Pietro reluctantly off with a firm look before his impassive gaze settled on her mom. Nina watched the Sokovian boy go out of the corner of her eye, but her attention was still locked on her mom. She had no intention of backing down on this, no matter that the side of her used to nearly eighteen years of deferring to her mom's judgement was insisting she should do just that.
"Ryker? We need you to do a final sweep of the streets; make sure we got everyone." At once the stare-off between Nina and her mom was broken, Nadine's irritated glare shifting to lock on the Avenger. Nina nearly winced in sympathy for the Captain, but he seemed unmoved, merely staring back, unperturbed at Nadine's biting objection.
"I'm not leaving my daughter alone, Rogers."
"She won't be alone," the Captain countered, impatience beginning to bleed into his controlled tone. "There are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents here who can keep an eye on her. But we need someone capable—" Nina's attention turned fully to the Avenger, indignation fuelling her temper now. She had helped him! He'd even admitted she was capable of looking after herself!
"—I don't need a babysitter!" she snapped out, glaring at both of them as she interrupted the Captain, "I can take care of myself—" Her mom bit back an aggravated groan, her eyes slipping back to the young blonde.
"Nina—"
"She'll be fine, Ryker," The Captain broke in. Nina glanced warily to him, but was surprised at the way he was looking at her. There was no mistaking the approval in his ocean-blue eyes, or the flicker of fondness there. It reminded her of the affectionate looks Black Widow had given her back in the cell Ultron had locked them in. Bewilderment fluttered in her chest, cutting through her aggravation at being treated like a child. When it'd been coming from Natasha, she could understand that sort of expression; the woman was apparently her Aunt in all but blood, after all. But the Captain? While her action against the sentry hadn't been anywhere near spectacular enough to be considered 'life-saving', it had certainly helped him out of a tight spot. Could that be it? Or had he maybe seen her handling of the sentry that she had distracted from the old man and his granddaughters? Something deep in Nina's gut disagreed, her instincts whispering that it was something else. Even her mother looked faintly perplexed, her brow furrowing slightly as her grey eyes grew wary and thoughtful.
But all of a sudden her mom was turning, grabbing an assault rifle from the astonished hands of a Sokovian policeman as he rushed by. Before Nina could even blink she was being pushed behind Nadine as the older blonde opened fire. Nina jerked at the move, only barely swinging her gaze around in time to see her mom's well-placed bullets take out three—three—of Ultron's sentries before Nina could even draw breath enough to cry out. She could only look to her mother in awe, watching, speechless, as the rifle dropped from Nadine's shoulder and she went to shove it back into the equally awestruck officer's empty hands. Nadine's eyes narrowed as the Sokovian man merely shook his head, gesturing that she should keep it. Next to them, Captain Rogers seemed like he was only barely holding back a chuckle of amusement, his lip twitching.
"You know what you're doing," he pointed out wryly, earning another scathing glance from Nadine as she silently demanded the officer hand over the rest of his spare ammo.
"Fine," she bit out. But then her turned her forceful gaze back to Nina. Instinctively Nina winced at the look. "But you're getting on that boat," Nadine ordered, unmoved by Nina's conviction only moments before. Nina was severely tempted to pout, her jaw clenching as she glared up at her mom. But one thing Nina had learned having been raised by the woman staring back at her, was how to pick her battles. There would be no changing Nadine's mind on this. And in this? Well, like she'd realized earlier:
There were more important things at stake.
In this instance? Her pride could take a back seat. It didn't mean she was happy about it, of course, but she knew fighting her mom on this would be pointless and a waste of everyone's time. So, still fuming silently, she obeyed, turning and joining the crowd streaming toward the lifeboat. Already one of the two that had latched on to the side of the city had pulled away, emptied its passengers onto the Helicarrier and was making its way back to the city's edge. As Nina reached the bridge with the steadily thinning crowd, it was settling against the cliff-like edge of the city with a clanking groan.
As the people ahead of her filed onto the boat, she turned, looking out over the nearly deserted city square. Somewhere out there, beyond the buildings lining the square, her mom was doing a sweep for civilian stragglers and the Avengers were facing off against more of Ultron's sentries. Overhead a flying figure soared through the sky, reminding Nina of Iron Man despite the marked difference in colour. Meanwhile, the last few civilians left in the city were filing quickly through the scattered cars and remnants of the Ultron sentries the Avengers had neutralized, the air falling silent save for the quiet hum of people on the lifeboat behind her. Even the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents directing the people onto the boats seemed to be speaking in more or less hushed tones. It was eerie, and part of Nina truly couldn't wait to leave the battle-torn city far behind her.
Eventually her turn to step onto the boarding ramp came and she was forced to turn her attention back to the lifeboat. The very place she didn't want to be. She wanted to be...Nina sighed. She didn't even really know. She looked out past the edge of the lifeboat, keeping right to avoid getting pulled along with the rest of the people boarding to the centre of the craft, determined to stay as close to the boarding ramp as possible.
Part of her wished she was out there, fighting alongside the people she cared about. Even if she wasn't fighting, just doing what her mom was doing, helping to ensure everyone else in the city was being safely evacuated. Anything but sitting on one of the lifeboats and waiting for something to happen. More than that, she hated not knowing what was going on, if everyone was okay. Especially her mom. She hated fighting with Nadine; they were all each other had. Her gut clenched with worry, anxiously waiting for her mom to reappear on the far side of the square no matter how irritated she still was at being treated like a helpless child.
Off to her left, off the bow of the lifeboat she was on, the other vessel was raising its ramp, obviously full up, to return to the Helicarrier. Her boat, meanwhile, wasn't full yet, and seemed to be the one designated to stay behind and wait for any stragglers her mom flushed out during her sweep. Not that there seemed to be anyone left.
The city seemed utterly abandoned. All that was left to do now was wait for the Avengers to return or for word to come that they were all clear to leave.
So, perched on the edge of the seat right next to the lifeboat's boarding ramp, Nina waited. It wasn't easy to do, though. It left her legs bouncing and twitching in her impatience, her hands white-knuckled and tangled in her lap.
What was taking so long?
Finally she caught sight of Black Widow and the man she presumed was Hawkeye driving toward the boat, the pair exchanging a few final words before parting ways as they abandoned the car. Natasha was quickly heading off in one direction while her teammate made his way to the lifeboat. Anxiously, Nina was sitting forward before he'd even set foot on the ramp.
"Hawkeye?" He paused, turning to her with a quizzical look before the expression cleared with a friendly grin.
"You're Nina, aren't you." It wasn't much of a question. Nina nodded.
"You had us all pretty worried, kid. Especially your mom." She winced.
"I didn't mean to—" Nina insisted, unable to help the way her shoulders began to curl defensively, "I'm sorry..." But he shook his head, chuckling.
"It's nothing to apologize for. It was nothing you did," he said in a casual, almost dismissive way that surprisingly helped ease the unhappy clenching in her stomach. He smiled kindly when she hazarded a glance up at him. "We're all just glad you're okay. I know your mo—"
"Is she okay?" she blurted, flushing faintly at interrupting him so abruptly in her impatience. But she needed to know. He merely grinned indulgently.
"Yeah, she's fine. More than fine, really. I'm sure she'll be here any minute; she's finishing a sweep for any strag—" but he didn't get to finish again. Right then, another young woman not far away was beginning to shout in panic, struggling against the Sokovian police officer trying to hold her back as she lunged for the ramp.
Barely sparing her a look of apology, Hawkeye was jumping in to help, grabbing at the girl's arms as he tried to talk her down enough to understand what she was saying.
A faint feeling of recognition niggled at Nina as she watched the exchange curiously. She could swear she'd seen the nearly hysterical blonde before, but she couldn't quite place where.
At least, she couldn't until the other girl started calling out for her brother. It was then that it hit her; the other girl was looking for Costel, the boy from the market that day when Nina had been out with the Twins...just before they'd met Ultron. She remembered the boy smiling at her. He'd asked if she was sick and if she was going to be okay in the sweet, blunt way only children could seem to manage.
The boy wasn't on the boat.
Almost without thinking Nina climbed up to stand on her seat as the exchange behind her continued, eyes peeled as she scanned the square toward the market where most of the people on the lifeboat had been sheltering. Dimly she heard Hawkeye assuring the sister that they would find her brother.
Then she saw him. She nearly missed seeing him, his dark-haired head and arm all that was visible from the stairwell he was trying to pull himself out of. It was only when she caught a glimpse of his panicked face that she realized what was going on; he was stuck.
Nina didn't give it any thought. She just reacted.
She didn't even register Hawkeye shouting for her to stop as she jogged toward the market. All she could think about was getting to the boy.
Smiling reassuringly down at him as she reached his side, she was peering down into the stairwell, giving the boy a quick once over. There was a gash on his brow leaking a trail of blood down the side of his face, his expression faintly dazed beneath his panic and fear. It wasn't hard to figure out what had happened; he'd fallen in the rush to get to the lifeboats, likely getting pushed into the stairwell by the anxious crowd, hitting his head hard enough that he was shaken and disoriented, leaving him unable to quite manage to climb out on his own, especially with the stairs themselves blocked by a huge pile of rubble. Hopping down into the stairwell herself, she urged him to grab onto her shoulders, taking hold of his leg to give him a boost so he could pull himself out onto the concrete walkway above.
With a satisfied huff, she was helping him up to the ledge, not letting go even as he let go of her to pull himself the rest of the way up. But even as he managed to pull his torso above the edge of the stairwell on his own, Hawkeye was already leaning in to help pull the frightened, exhausted boy the rest of the way onto the ledge, sparing Nina a faintly exasperated yet proud look.
"Nice work," he said, holding out the hand not trapped by Costel's anxious grip, "you good? We need to get back to the boat." With a nod Nina reached out to grab his hand.
Only to freeze at the dark shape approaching behind the archer. As she caught sight of the Quinjet barrelling toward them, gouts of dirt and rubble bursting up from the ground as its guns flashed, her eyes went wide. Distantly, she could've sworn she heard Hulk bellow in pain and rage.
"Hawkeye!" Even as she cried out he was turning back to her, his gaze keenly serious.
"We gotta move, Nina." A frightening sense of urgency thrummed in her chest as she latched onto his outstretched hand. Only to stumble as the debris beneath her feet shifted in her anxious scramble to climb out of the stairwell. Even as her foot twisted painfully beneath her, nearly sending her sprawling against the concrete wall, she shoved aside the panic grasping at her racing heart, nearly losing her grip on Hawkeye's steady hand as she hauled herself onto the ledge, stumbling to her feet.
Only to look up past Hawkeye's shoulder to see the Quinjet bearing down on them.
It was coming up fast. As the realization hit her, Nina met the archer's eye, reading the same conclusion in his stark expression even as his hand tightened on hers and he pulled Costel in front of his own body.
It was coming too fast.
Already the sound of its guns was ringing in her ears as the bullets strafing the ground came closer.
But before she could so much as cry out, a pair of arms were closing around her, scooping her up impossibly fast. In a blur of motion Hawkeye and the boy weren't in front of her anymore, her hand ripping from the archer's.
As she met Pietro's determined blue-green eyes as he set her down, she realized with horror what had happened...and what he was intending to do next. Her fingers clutched at his shirt, his name rising to her lips in panic but he had already slipped away.
But even as he streaked back to the stairwell, where Hawkeye's head was only just lifting in bewilderment at her sudden disappearance, her feet were moving too, carrying her after Pietro as fast as they could take her.
But it wasn't going to be fast enough.
The bullets were already screaming toward them all.
This time even Pietro wasn't fast enough.
Time seemed to stand still as terror and desperation and horror exploded through her, the bullets reaching Pietro just as she crashed into him, her hands fisting in his shirt.
And everything went silent as a hazy, heavy pulse of energy seemed to burst free from somewhere deep in her chest.
Nina almost collapsed as it suddenly felt like every drop of strength she possessed had been wrenched from her body. It was too much...but even as her strength wavered, every instinct she had urged her to hold on.
But then a searing lance of pain sliced into her side.
And the world had sound again. Sounds of panic and chaos and shattering concrete. And tiny metallic pings as bullets fell, harmless, to bounce off the pavement.
But Nina barely noticed. Too quickly it was bleeding away, fading before her eyes. She tried to keep her eyes open, to stay awake, tried to grip Pietro tighter as he staggered, collapsing even as her own legs gave way beneath her. She was so tired.
But she couldn't let go. Her hands weren't obeying her. Her body wasn't obeying her; it was too sluggish, too weak and drained. Her ribs burned as warmth flowed down her side.
Distantly she could hear shouts and cries of panic, but she couldn't focus on them. She could barely focus on Pietro's shocked and bewildered face as it began to blur before her. All she saw was his eyes sliding shut. Distantly panic and fear flared through her.
But there was too much to process even as the pain began to fade and she too collapsed, falling against Pietro's prone body.
As Nina lost consciousness, the ground beneath them seemed to pulse and shudder with pain and rage.
A/N: Thanks for Reading!
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