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Astrilde most definitely did not know how to ride a motorcycle. Still, she had responded with a semi-confident "yes" to Clint. The archer, Odin bless his soul, was none the wiser of her semi-obvious lie. Luckily for Astrilde, her lie was merely an assumption that she would be able to ride the vehicle. Asgard possessed similar vehicles, or at least ones that required similar skills, and she had read about motorcycles in books. So, while her confidence was false, she knew she could at least attempt to drive.
At least, that was what she kept telling herself while she haphazardly maneuvered the motorcycle. Horns honked at her, but she ignored them and focused on the vehicle beneath her. She glanced up, her heart plummeting as she saw the stoplight go from yellow to red.
"Shit!" Astridle yelped. She swerved sharply, adrenaline racing through her veins. The sound of horns surrounded her, but she didn't stop. Not until she reached the other side, nearly sent careening off the bike.
Taking a shaky breath, she increased the speed on the metal contraption below her. I'm not going to crash. This is simple, it's just like riding a bilgesnipe. Wait, that's a horrible analogy. And I wouldn't consider that one time as riding as much as attempting to not be killed.
Astrilde continued floating through her thoughts, before she remembered one important detail.
"Uh... could anyone tell me where Steve's located?"
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Astrilde raced down the highway, headed straight to where Clint had informed her to go. The Asgardian spotted the truck up ahead, so she did something she regretted before it had even been committed. She swerved the vehicle towards the side of the road, launching it off a wooden plank that was propped up like a ramp. At the right moment, she jumped off the bike and managed to grab onto the side of the truck.
The metal that dug into her skin caused her to groan, and she was sure that they had been cut. She hissed, pulling herself up and onto the top of the truck. She attempted to heal her hands, but she was still inexperienced, and it would take a while for everything to heal completely. So, she brushed off the annoying pain itching at the back of her mind to focus on Steve barrelling into Ultron, sending the duo into the moving train beside the truck. Without a thought, Astrilde leaped onto the train not a second later, landing on top of it.
With a quick reassurance that Ultron and Steve had already destroyed some of the train, and a little more damage was no big deal, Astrilde stabbed her sword with the comparatively weak sword. She cut a space just big enough for her to squeeze through, before dropping down into the cab. There, she came face-to-face with Steve's body being hurled in her direction by an orange beam from Ultron. She scrambled back, tripping clumsily over metal that had fallen onto the ground.
"I'm going in! Cap, can you keep him occupied?" Natasha's voice crackled to life through the coms.
"What do you think I've been doing?" Steve asked tiredly. He was on the ground still, so Astrilde recovered quickly. Once her feet were firmly on the ground, she held out a hand and helped him up. She then turned back to Ultron, preparing to fight him off yet again with her sword firmly held in her hand.
The duo started attacking Ultron, tag-teaming quite well despite the fact that they had never fought so closely. Unfortunately, their teamwork was not enough, and they were ultimately struggling against the AI. So much so that Astrilde was concentrating solely on her fighting, every sound becoming white noise.
"Ow!" Astrilde groaned when she was thrown to the ground by a blue beam Ultron had thrown at her and Steve. Steve groaned in pain from the floor as well, but Astrilde was too occupied to ask if he was ok. After all, it wasn't everyday that a familiar blue blur would pass your vision. Maximoffs.
"Miss me?" Pietro asked the woman, who had forced herself to her feet despite the pain echoing through her body.
"You wish," Astrilde sighed our, her eyes filled with a relentless fury, but also traced with a small amount of fear and tiredness. The last time she had seen either of the twins, she had been their prisoner.
Wanda's red powers then filled Astrilde's vision. The brunette was controlling metal, blocking Ultron from attacking her brother. Though, the Maximoff didn't care enough to also shield Astrilde and Steve from any of Ultron's attacks.
"Please," Ultron pleaded to the twins. "Don't do this."
"What choice do I have?" Wanda asked solemnly. Ultron glanced at the Maximoff girl once more before he turned, sending an orange ray straight at Pietro. The speedster, however, dodged the attack, letting the orange beam go straight through the front of the train. The AI quickly broke out of the train, leaving the four to deal with the aftermath. They all watched for a moment, before moving again.
"Do you need help getting up?" Pietro asked Astrilde with a smirk on his face. Through the craziness, the Asgardian had not thought to get to her feet when Ultron knocked Steve and herself down. She begrudgingly held out her hand, and Pietro helped her up, smirking the whole time.
"I lost him, he's headed your way!" Steve yelled into the coms all the while, charging through the train and to the front, where an unconscious engineer laid.
Astrilde followed, but quickly regretted it when she saw the train was barrelling toward end of the track. "Oh no," She said, words drowned out by the runaway train. She grabbed the nearest bar she could, bracing herself for the inevitable impact.
They hit the end of the track, jolting, but ultimately continuing on. Astrilde sucked in a breath, hoping nobody would get hurt by the rampaging train. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest, and her palms were becoming sweaty, loosening her grip on the bar.
"Cap, you see Nat?" Clint's voice asked worriedly through the coms. Astrilde could barely hear the archer, his voice drowned out by the sounds of the train's destruction.
"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!" Steve yelled.
"You have eyes on Nat?" Clint asked again.
"Go!"
Steve turned to the Maximoff twins begrudgingly, somehow staying steady on the rampant vehicle. "Civilians in our path," He said to Pietro, and the inhuman sped off. "Can you stop this thing?" Steve then asked Wanda. The brunette nodded determinedly, though a bit nervously.
Astrilde turned to look out the front of the train again, and grimaced at the sight of an oncoming wall. "Steve! We have a bit of an issue!" The goddess yelled, moving away from the open front the best she could. Astrilde decided to crouch behind a wall, mere feet away from Wanda. Turns out that she had the right idea, as Steve was quickly thrown back through the train by a piece of concrete. He hit one of the seats, breaking the flimsy metal.
"Steve! Are you okay?" Astrilde yelled worriedly. Meanwhile, Wanda's magic colored the nearby area as she tried to slow down the train.
"I'll be fine," Steve responded weakly, his voice so quiet that Astrilde could only hear it in the com in her ear. She nodded that she heard it, though was still a bit weary as Steve, breathing heavily, stood. The train slowed to a stop, and Wanda breathed out in relief. Astrilde pushed herself to her feet, before edging away from Wanda nervously.
Wanda glanced sadly at the goddess before exiting the train in search for her brother. "Let's go, we can't afford to let them get away this time," Steve said to Astrilde, already following after Wanda.
"Of course," The Asgardian responded grimly.
The two found the twins not that long after. Wanda was comforting her brother worriedly.
"I'm fine, I just need to take a minute," Pietro brushed off, leaning back on a box.
"We're very tempted not to give you one," Steve said in response, Astrilde and him walking towards the twins.
"The cradle, did you get it?" Wanda asked. Astrilde shivered involuntarily at her voice, her nervousness rising yet again. The other female glanced at her, before turning back to Steve.
"Stark will take care of it," Steve responded.
"No he won't," The Maximoff girl said, and her expression was enough to make Astrilde question if Stark really would.
"You don't know what you're talking about, Stark's not crazy." That's definitely debatable.
"He will do anything to make things right!"
Steve was quiet for a moment, before turning and pressing his com. "Stark come in. Stark."
Steve's voice was quickly drowned out by Astrilde's own thoughts. Especially when she saw Wanda's expression, clear as day. The plain worry and horror was enough for the Asgardian to know that things wouldn't end well.
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