Carter was lucky that Helen Cho had a jet they could use to get back to New York. Pietro and Wanda had never been on a plane before so this was probably all new. Carter sat on the side chair by the window. Carter just wanted to get back to New York as quick as possible. Carter looked outside at the passing clouds, he thought of Lila and Cooper then, and his eyes shut tightly. He felt a presence next to him and he knew it was her.
"I'm sorry for what I did, I shouldn't have done that." Her thick accent made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, "I know, I forgive you, I needed you to see me for who I really am." Carter looked at her eyes, "I still feel very guilty." She whispered, "I know, you're scared of going to the tower, but since you switched sides, we will protect you. Steve and I won't let anything happen to either of you."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." She mumbled, "Wanda-" Carter started looking at her with a squint, she turned towards him hesitantly, "Give me your hand." She put her hand in his then and he let her feel a gentle shock, She gasped before looking up at him with wide eyes. "I will protect you with my life if I had too."
"Thank you Carter for giving me a second chance." She spoke, she had a slight smile on her face while he smiled ear to ear. "Someone like you deserves a second chance." Her head moved to the side as she smiled back at him. Steve looked back at the two, they were so young, they didn't deserve to be weapons like they were, as heartbreaking as it was, he was glad to see they had each other.
||
When the group walked into the tower's lab Carter was shocked to see the cradle hooked up to a bunch of wires and screens, he felt Wanda behind him along with Pietro tailing. Steve was right beside him, and his expression told he was angry, "I'm going to say this once, shut it down!"
"Nope, not gonna happen." Tony walked over to the stairs then eying Carter who stood protectivly in front of the girl.
"You don't know what you're doing." Steve countered, seeing Banners eyes squint at the two men shielding the woman behind them. "And you do? She's not in your head?" Bruce motioned to Wanda, "I know you're angry." She pleaded, her eyes filled with regret.
"We're way past that. I could choke the life out of you and never change a shade." Banner glared at the young woman, and Carter felt his hands glow.
"Banner, after everything that's hap..."
"It's nothing compared to what's coming!" Tony was dead set on finishing this little project.
"You don't know what's in there." Wanda shouted seeing Carter glance at Pietro who quickly disappeared from plain sight. The blur running around swifty, as the team continued to argue.
"This isn't a game!"
Pietro soon came to stop with a power plug in his hand, "No, no. Go on. You were saying?" He looked at the team with a smart glance. Carter heard the shot before he saw the bullet fly up right in front of Pietro, and then the glass shattered.
"Pietro!" Wanda moved forward to check on her sibling, "I'm rerouting the upload." Tony tried but then Steve threw the shield towards him, knocking the screen down, Carter ducked behind a table, he didn't want to hurt Tony or anyone with his powers. He was dangerous.
"Go ahead, piss me off." Bruce had grabbed Wanda and put her in a choke hold, Carter knew she could handle herself and soon enough he was right. She pushed her magic through herself and hit Bruce in the chest. Carter saw a red cape in the corner of his eye, and then he saw Bruce look to Carter with panic.
"Wait!" Carter tried to stop Thor, but Carter saw a flash of bright lights, and he knew it was done. For a split second it was quiet, and Carter stood up hesitantly finding a way back over to Wanda, who checked him over for any injuries, she had known him for a day and she was already worried. She felt protective over the boy, and she knew it was because she saw the darkness in him. She wanted to keep it at bay.
The cradle burst open then and what looked like a robot appeared, he was purple and had a yellow gem in his head. He then raced towards Thor and he narrowly missed him. Thor gripped the creature, and threw him towards the glass. He stopped then looking out at the landscape of New York. He floated back down to the teams level. Wanda and Carter quickly ran down the steps, following the rest of the team, "I am sorry. That was...odd. Thank you." He turned to Thor and nodded, Carter tensed a bit, and couldn't believe he what he was seeing.
"Thor. You helped create this?" Steve spoke then turning to Thor, "I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life, and at its center is that." He pointed to the yellow gem in the Visions head.
"What? The gem?" Carter was intrigued, the gem was something Carter had never seen before, he could feel the ever present head ache forming and Wanda could tell something was up. "It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."
"Then why would you bring..." Carter started seeing the Vision turn towards him. He was on edge. "Because Stark is right." Carter was blown away then, "Wow."
"It's definitely the end times." Bruce agreed then, and the entire team looked shocked.
"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron. Not alone." Vision spoke, "Why does your Vision sound like Jarvis?"
"We reconfigured Jarvis's matrix...to create something new." Tony looked around, seeing the team so dismantled plus with the exclusion of Nat, it was almost as if no one trusted each other.
"I think I've had my fill of new."
"You think I'm a child of Ultron." Vision started, "You're not?" Steve replied.
"I'm not Ultron. I am not Jarvis. I am...I am." Vision continued on, trying to figure out what he even was. Wanda took a step forward, "I looked in your headand saw annihilation."
"Look again." The A.I. looked at the young woman with a pleading expression. Clint walked into view, "Her seal of approval means jack to me." Wanda looked defeated and tired of the team already, Carter had never wanted to hurt any of his team mates but at any second he was going to snap at Clint.
"Their powers, the horrors in our heads, Ultron himself, they all came from the Mind Stone and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash." Thor explained, "But with it on our side..."
Carters head felt fuzzy then and he closed his eyes tightly, before pressing a hand to his head, the pain was intensifying, and Carter fell to one knee. The team was too focused on Vision before Wanda knelt down by his side. "Carter?"
"I'm okay. Just a headache." He murmered, looking up and seeing the team enchanted by Vision, "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique and he's in pain, but that pain will roll over the Earth. So, he must be destroyed. Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the net. We have to act now and not one of us can do it without the others. Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are,and not what you intended. So, there may be no way to make you trust me, but we need to go." He picked up the hammer, he acutally picked up the hammer.
"Right."
"Well done."
Steve looked around, "Three minutes. Get what you need." In that split second of Carter getting a headache no one knew the fury and pain running through the boy, he was on edge, and he was going to lose his mind trying to fight it.
||
"No way we all get through this. If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. There's gonna be blood on the floor." Tony sat with Carter and Steve. Carter tightened his gauntlets on his wrists and he thought of the idea of not making it after this battle.
"I got no plans tomorrow night." Steve smiled lightly, as Carter nodded, "Me niether." Tony patted Carter on the shoulder with a smile, "I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."
"That's true. He hates you the most." Vision walked by then and Carter snorted at the remark.
When Carter had found Wanda and Pietro they were on the ship, Wanda's upper body covered by a scarlet jacket, it suited her. "You okay?" He asked as he approached the two. "Yeah we're fine. Nervous, but fine." Wanda let out a sigh, and Pietro took the time to nod Carter over, "I need you to promise me something." He crossed his arms, and looked at the man in front of him. "I need you to promise me that if something happens to me, you will take care of her for me. She trusts you." Carter nodded, and looked over to Wanda, who was putting her ear piece in. "I promise." Carter whispered, he shook Pietros hand tightly before looking down.
"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out." Steve let out as the Q-Jet approched Sokovia at rapid speed. "All they want is to live their lives in peace and that's not gonna happen today, but we can do our best to protect them and we can get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."
Carter was worried about Natasha, but he knew she could handle her own, once they touched down, Bruce had ran off to find her, Carter stood with Wanda in the midde of the street, and watched her use her magic to lure people out and to get to saftey. He was in awe, she was so powerful.
"Your man's in the church, boss. I think he's waiting for you."
"I don't know. How much time you got?" Tony was with Ultron, Carter felt the goosebumps appear on his skin.
"Have you been juicing? Little vibranium cocktail? You're looking...I don't wanna say puffy."
Carter saw a little girl struggling while trying to keep up with her parents. Carter scooped her up and ran with her family. "Its okay." He soothed the crying youngster and he set her down with her family once he reached the bridge.
"Well, that is the mission. Did you forget?"
The robots started to appear at a rapid pace and Carter threw his hands out and the blue blasts made his face light up. "Get off the bridge, run!" He repeated to people fleeing, he saw Wanda behind him and she soon ran in front of him, she threw her magic in a circle blocking the people they were trying to protect. "Go! Run!" She looked behind her, before she was hit with a blast and she fell to the ground, Carter rushed to her aid, throwing up his hands to protect the fallen enhanced. Carter let out a strangled huff as the blue bolts tore through the robots and Wanda looked up at him, seeing the man struggle.
"All right. Friday, the Vision?"
"Boss, it's working. He's burning Ultron out of the net. He won't escape through there."
The ground shook, the cracks seeped through the ground as the city began to break. The bridge cracked and soon the country was rising into the air, "Friday." Carter looked around and was terrified.
"Sokovia is going for a ride."
"Do you see...the beauty of it? The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and 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 living in this world...will be metal." Ultron was trying to enrage them, it was working.
"Cap, you got incoming."
"Incoming already came in. Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed... walk it off."
Carter gripped Wandas hand as Clint protected them from behind, Wanda held a womans head down as she raced to get her to saftey, the robots were everywhere he turned, and soon he heard Wanda let out a strangled groan and she threw the robot heading for them away from the two.
"Go, go, go!" Clint grabbed Wandas shoulder as the three jumped through a door, Carter groaned as he hit the ground of the little shop. His shoulder was clearly dislocated and he pushed himself to take cover next to Wanda. "How could I let this happen?" Wanda had what looked like dried tears on her cheeks. Carter groaned as he leaned back, his facial expression tightened, his forehead crinkled as Clint looked over at the two.
"Hey, hey, you okay?" Clint tried to calm Wanda down, but he failed. "This is all our fault."
"Hey, look at me. It's your fault, it's everyone's fault. Who cares? Are you up for this? Are you? Look, I just need to know. Because the city is flying. Okay. Look, the city is flying, we're fighting an army of robots, and I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense-" Three shots made holes in the building and Clint shot an arow and it hit metal, "But I'm going back out there because it's my job. Okay? And I can't do my job and babysit. It doesn't matter what you did or what you were. If you go out there, you fight,and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good. I'll send your brother to come find you. But if you step out that door, you are an Avenger. All right. Good chat. Yeah, the city is flying." Clint gripped his bow and let his back face the door, his bow held a group of arrows ready to fly. Carter pushed up against the wall and pushed his shoulder back in, with a painful grunt he stood up.
He looked to Carter, "Cover my six kid?" He asked and Carter huffed, "Yeah you got it old man."
Carter took one last look at Wanda before running out behind Clint. He shot the balls of electricity at the robots that surrounded the them, he broke some of them up, but they were still coming. Clint jumped over a car and shot an arrow, he let out a painful ow, before Carter saw the doors open, and out came Wanda, her eyes glowing a bright shade of red. She moved so fast, and soon the robots were torn apart. Her red hue tore right through them all. Carter stood up and moved towards the remains.
"All right, we're all clear here."Clint spoke into the comms and soon enough Steves voice came through the other end, "We are not clear! We are very not clear!"
"All right, coming to you." Carter turned around and started to run, Pietro zoomed by, and picked up his sister in the process, Carter let out a laugh as Clint huffed. "Keep up, old man!"
"Nobody would know. Nobody-" Clint held up his bow and soon Carter looked at him with his hands on his hips. "You done?" Carter asked laughing a bit, "The last I saw him,an Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard. I miss him already." Carter and Clint ran at a slow pace, the air thinning managed to affect them both.
Once Carter had reached Steve he had to hunch over for a second, he was tired from the run and managed to loose Clint on the way over. "The next wave is gonna hit any minute. What do you got, Stark?" Steve was right beside Carter then and looked out into the clouds. "Nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."
"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."
"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're gonna have to make a choice."
"Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock..." Natasha had finally appeared and Carter had ran to her. He hugged her tightly, she just wanted him safe.
"Not till everyone's safe."
"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there." Natasha said, walking forward after she had let go of Carter, "I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it." Steve was sure of it, he didn't want any more casualties.
"I didn't say we should leave. There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna geta view like this?" Natasha muttered, standing next to the son she never had. "I agree, I could see my mom again." Carter whispered seeing Natasha look over at him.
"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better. Nice, right? Pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do." Nick Furys voice came over the comms then and Carter smiled to himself.
"Fury, you son of a bitch." Steve let out a small chuckle, "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Carter looked at the man who was like a second father to him, a slight smirk on his face.
"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Pietro had stopped in front of the three, "This is what S.H.I.E.L.D.is supposed to be." Steve let out a smile as Carter turned to look at the speedster. Pietro nodded smiling to himself as he spoke, "This is not so bad."
The carrier soon sent out the boats and they had attached themselves or landed on the quickly rising country, "Let's load them up." Steve looked over to the group, "Let's move."
"Let's go, everyone!" Carter rushed to the market and quickly guided everyone to the boat, the civilians raced towards it, thankful to even still be alive at this point and Carter kept looking around for Wanda and when he saw a flash of Scarlet he knew she was okay. When Carter was loading up people on the rafts, he heard Tony's voice over the comm, "Thor, I got a plan."
"We're out of time. They're coming for the core." Carter looked around at Steve then, and he nodded at the boy.
"Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier." Carter yelled in the comms, "On it."
"Carter lets go!" Natasha called for him, and he looked up to see her in the truck, he chuckled, "Avengers, time to work for a living." Tony spoke. Carter sat in the truck with Natasha then making their way to the church.
"Romanoff. You and Banner better not beplaying hide the zucchini. Anyone got eyes on Carter?"
"Relax, shellhead. Not all of us can fly." Natasha smiled plowing through the dead robots on the ground, "I'm with Nat, Tony." Once Carters voice was heard over the comms, Tony was less tense. "What's the drill?"
"This is the drill. If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose." Tony spoke, Carter looked up and saw Wanda staring at him. She smiled lightly at the man who met her eyes.
"Is that the best you can do?" Thor shouted holding his hammer in his hand as Carter made his way closer to the god of thunder. Ultron was levitating in the sky, as his army of robots surrounded the church.
"You had to ask." Steve muttered looking down, "This is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?" Ultron's voice gave Carters skin goosebumps.
"Well, like the old man said...together." Tony looked to Steve who smiled lightly, Bruce, who was full green, let out a roar. The robots came crashing in, Carter stood next to Wanda as the robots rushed through the church, trying to reach the core. Carters blots blended well with Wandas magic, and together they tore through them. "Carter!" Wanda yelled, and he ducked, feeling the girls magic race over his head. "Thanks." He shouted, soon the robots laid in heaps around the team. Carter looked up and saw Vision taking on Ultron, he shot a blue bolt at the villain, and it stunned him. Vision used the mind stone to blast Ultron outside of the church, Tony and Thor followed. He saw a bright light and he knew the three combined their powers in order to melt the layer of Ultron.
Carter groaned once the robots were fleeing, his body was sore and his head hurt. Pietro stood next to Carter as he sucked in a deep breath. "They'll try to leave the city."
"Rhodey." Marias voice came over the comm, and Carter looked up in the sky to see Rhodey in his War Machine suit alongside Vision.
"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers." Steve looked around at the remaining members near the core. "Right behind you." Carter said, making Wanda look at him, she hoped he made it out alive.
"What about the core?" Clint looked to the contraption in the middle of the church, Wanda caught his eye, "I'll protect it.It's my job." Carter looked to her with a smile, she was learning.
Carter ran with Steve to the center of what used to be the town square, Carter looked around at the damage and he felt guilty. He did this to their home, to Wanda and Pietros home, needless to say it wasn't just his fault, it was Ultrons fault. It was the ever pressing fear in all of their minds.
Carter was about to run onto the boat when he saw Clint run the other way, "Clint!" He shouted trying to get the mans attention, "Costel! We were in the market. Costel!" A woman was shouting more than likely it was the boys mother. Carter turned his head and saw the little boy struggling, he thought of Cooper and his eyes went into a daze. It was then everything went into slow motion, a q-jet had begun to shoot down bullets in a haze, Carter stood right in the middle of the path. He looked to Steve who gave him a frantic look, "Carter!" he heard the voice in his comm before he felt the pain of a bullet in his left side, he fell to the ground instantly. His head faced Clints direction and he saw Pietro push Clint back to the car. His body full of bullet holes, and he knew Wanda felt it. He even felt it, and then he closed his watery eyes to a world full of blackness.
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A/N:
I tried. this might suck a bit but it is over 4000 words...i tried to finish age of ultron in one swoop and well it happened to be over 4000 words. next up is the final part to carters age of ultron arc before i get into civil war!! I will be taking a break from sirens to focus on finishing lifelines before IW!! Carters arc in civil war is going to make yall hate me, okay so stay tuned.
-hal