∆ {3²⁴} {STORM OF BULLETS} ∆

THE REST OF Ultron's army paused, if only for a second, upon seeing the damage that  Roxi had done. The entire world had stilled, and for a few seconds, even the noise of the engines keeping them going up seemed to hush while all of them, including Ultron, seemed to process what had just happened. Even Roxi herself was surprised at quite how much she'd managed to do, because between the robots and the old church, lay a field of veritable shrapnel. Parts of the robots lay everywhere, piling up on the ground, sparking and dripping oil that pooled in dark puddles on the ground, accentuating the carnage that she had caused.

As soon as Ultron realised that Roxi wasn't going to send out another shockwave, the robots began to move again, forcing the rest of them back into action, though she could still feel one set of eyes on her, which she had no doubt belonged to Natasha. Still, she ignored it, and tried to muster what energy she had left to help whoever needed it as the robots reached the church. The way they were fighting meant that each of them, with the exception of Tony, Vision, and the Hulk, two of which were flying, the last of which was moving around the room, were fighting in a circle with their backs to the core. Roxi herself was stood on the steps that lead up the core, and even with all the robots she'd managed to take out, and with nine other people helping her, she still found herself with only just enough time to breathe.

It was robot after robot, and they kept getting closer and closer to Roxi and the core, and after a good few minutes, she found herself only just stopping the robots seconds before they made contact with the core. Thankfully, that didn't last too long, because a vibrant red mist furled around the robots near Roxi, and threw them against the walls, while a few others fell to the ground with bullet holes in their faceplates. She sent a grateful glance to Wanda, who nodded back to her, before locking eyes with Natasha and allowing the message to be communicated that way. The redhead's lips turned up into a smile that Roxi found herself wanting to match, before the pair of them turned back to the task at hand, though both of them now fought with more fluidity, and helped each other out should they need it.

It wasn't long before Ultron himself flew into the church, choosing to battle with Vision as the rest of them were caught up in the skirmish below. If anything, somehow, his presence had strengthened Roxi's will to fight, her desire to win. That hope that had risen inside of her with Fury's helicarrier hadn't left, and if anything, it was getting stronger. Hope was a very powerful tool if you knew how to use it, as Roxi had experienced both in the past and now, and every blow she delivered got steadily stronger as she allowed herself to see the light at the end of the tunnel; the end of this battle, of Ultron. If she could only get there.

She seemed to be getting closer, because although her muscles were beginning to burn and the initial fearful adrenaline she had felt was beginning to wear off, the robots were finally thinning out. Just outside the church, Tony, Vision, and Thor stood, sending their own energies in beams at Ultron's physical form, and Roxi decided to lend them a hand, and sent her own, short blast of power at the AI that seemed to tip him over the edge. He flew back several feet, landing on the dusty, rubble-covered ground of Sokovia. He clambered to his feet laboriously, his face orange from the heat of the men's attacks, the metal plating that Roxi had bent out of place earlier becoming more prominent as severed wires hung out of the metal shell he had built from himself. It reminded her not so fondly of the night at Tony's party.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight-." Whatever he had begun to say was cut off as the Hulk slammed a fist into him, sending his robotic form flying through the air with a force that no-one would ever want to be on the receiving end of. Then again, Ultron didn't want anything. He simply thought the best way for humanity to continue was for it not to. He thought that the best way for them to live would be to die, so that he could have his version of a perfect world. Whichever dummy robots were left around them scattered, drawing their weapons back to themselves and taking of outwards, towards the edge of the city.

"They're trying to leave the city," Thor informed, confirming Roxi's thoughts as she tore her eyes away from where Ultron had been seconds ago and looked over the group for any serious injuries. Pietro's arm was bleeding through his suit, with a circular entry hole that looked like a gunshot wound, but no-one else seemed to be wounded badly. They all had small cuts and scrapes, but Roxi couldn't feel the dried, cracked blood that coated her hand or the blood running down her arm slightly from where she'd caught herself lightly on a piece of robot carcass. It wasn't the type of injury that you bothered with in the middle of a battlefield.

"We can't let them, not even one. Rhodey!" Roxi wasn't sure exactly when Rhodey had shown up, but she was glad for the support, especially as there was no way that the ones of them that couldn't fly would be able to stop them from leaving at such a distance. Now they had eleven people, and Ultron was looking worse for wear.

"I'm on it!" It was in that moment, while Roxi tried to take a sharp breath in to calm her racing pulse, that she felt the chill of the air was much worse than it had been before, and she wasn't getting as much oxygen through the breath. They were getting too high up.

"We gotta move out; even I can tell the air's getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, I'll be right behind you," Steve instructed, agreeing with Roxi's thoughts and looking away at the end of the sentence when an explosion went off. It was likely to be Rhodey or Vision, who had gone to help, who were trying to stop the dummy bots leaving.

"What about the core?" Clint brought up the hunk of Vibranium that they all stood by, some of its many interlocking parts rotating slowly every few seconds.

"I'll protect it," Wanda decided, her offer cutting through the air in her Sokovian accent, registering Clint's taken aback expression before explaining, "it's my job." Clint nodded before turning to the two women next to him, unsurprised to see that both of them were still solely focused on the job.

"Nat, Ryder, let's move." He had almost been expecting the ice-eyed agent to break down her walls, for Natasha, though when he found her face stony and professional, it didn't bother him too much. He'd known her for a long time, and for as long as he could remember, her first mission, her main job, would just be to get the task done. Here, that was getting these people out.

They left quickly, jogging through the streets in the direction that Roxi had come in from, and they passed a couple of the metallic carcasses she'd left littered around the street, including the one that dangled off of the piece of rebar. While Natasha and Clint exchanged a look upon seeing the damage around them, neither of them commented, and the journey back through the floating city was mostly silent, with the occasional sarcastic comment from Clint and an equally sarcastic reply from Natasha wherever she had the opportunity. Even Roxi contributed occasionally, though mainly to keep her mind off what she'd just managed to do. It unnerved her. She'd been storing that, along with her power, inside of her, shut under the trapdoor, ready to burst at any seconds. Who knew what would've happened if she hadn't got it out like she had. People would've gotten hurt, seriously, because of something she did. And it wouldn't be the first time.

Clint had managed to find a convertible car, that, although dusty and a two seater, had it's keys in the ignition. Roxi had squeezed herself in the small space behind the seats, mainly because she hadn't ever learned how to drive a car and because she didn't like the feel of leather seats. it had taken a moment for the car to start and they'd had to shove a boulder off the front, but it would work well enough for them to get to their destination, and hopefully with time to spare.

"I know what I need to do," Clint offered into the silence that had descended on them. It hadn't been uncomfortable, instead, it was more of an assuring quiet as the three sat in comfort. This wasn't new. This was familiar, with the person that Roxi had known the longest, and the one she was closest to.

"It's the dining room. If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice workspace for Laura, huh?" Roxi allowed herself to smile softly at Clint's antics and how he could be thinking so domestically while they were still fighting Ultron. It wasn't a bad thing, at least in this situation. Perhaps she had needed the normality, because it let her remember that they had beat things like this before. It was their job, and they were good at it. They'd faced Loki and his army of aliens in New York, Pierce and HYDRA in DC, and now they were against robots. They didn't even have the ability to think for themselves. The Avengers would make it through this, and that was the fact that Roxi grew steadily more sure of as Clint continued to drive.

"Put up some baffling, can't hear the kids running around, what do you think?"

"You guys always eat in the kitchen anyway," Natasha replied, and Roxi could tell that her mind wasn't on the conversation, and she was only replying for Clint's sake. She was almost sure that the redhead was as nervous about their odds of winning this as Roxi had been before Fury had shown up, and she wished she could think of a way to comfort Natasha.

"No-one eats in a dining room," Clint agreed with an incredulous scoff as he weaved between cars, some of which were on fire, others completely crushed by girders and fallen buildings.

"You'd have to repaint the walls," Roxi supplied, knowing that it would bug him if he didn't know that before he'd started the project. While it helped to keep her anchored, it still felt odd to be driving through the wreckage of a city while the robots were still here, and talking vaguely about Clint's need to renovate his home while so much else was going on.

"We don't have a lot of time," they pulled to a stop near the life boats and all three of them got out quickly, with Roxi allowing her fingers to drift against the metal of her quarterstaff. It hadn't been much use in this battle, partly because of the long range, and partly because Roxi's powers were so much more effective in this situation. She felt the amount of power she had used beginning to weigh down on her and the waves ebbed to a soft tide and everything in her body seemed exhausted all at once. 

"So yet your asses on that life boat. Both of you," Natasha said sternly, her eyes lingering on Roxi's face for a second or two longer than they had on Clint's. Roxi nodded, as if in confirmation that she would be okay, before Natasha ran off to try and find the Hulk. After all, he always seemed much happier to be himself rather than his hot-tempered, green personality. Both Clint and Roxi exchanged a look, and in that moment, they agreed that neither of them were going to leave without making sure they got absolutely everyone they could onto one of the lifeboats. So, they both waited on the ramp, shoulder to shoulder, both glancing across the lifeboat and then back across the city in front of them every few seconds to check that everything was okay. A woman's voice cried out from the ship behind them, yelling a name.

"Costel! We were in the market," she pleaded to anyone who would listen, and that happened to be both Clint and Roxi. The woman let out another yell of the boy's name before Clint spotted him and pointed him out to Roxi, though he was quick to stop her when she started to move with him.

"No, stay here. Make sure everyone else is here." She hesitated, and Clint seemed to take it as a sign that she had listened, because he was jogging back through the ruins of the city seconds later, towards where Roxi could just make out a small form trapped under what once was a building across the relatively clear area they had been in when Fury brought in the Heli-carrier. Despite her weariness, Roxi sighed, knowing that she wouldn't forgive herself if something happened and she didn't at least try to follow Clint. After one last check to see that everyone else looked secure, she set off in Clint's direction. He was about half-way there, and Roxi sped up slightly to try and catch up, jumping over any of the obstacles as she noticed that now, after all the conflict, the city of Sokovia seemed eerily still. But they were still rising, and if she looked up, Roxi probably would've seen the last layers of clouds getting closer and closer. But she didn't look up, and instead she focused on her path, making sure not to trip over anything.

She should've looked up earlier, she knew, when she reflected back on the scene. In fact, she had only taken her eyes off of Clint once she saw that he had the boy in his arms, and instead found her eyes being drawn to the direction of the Quinjet, to the sound of gunshots. It seemed that Ultron had somehow found the jet, and was now raining down bullets on them, and as he came closer, Roxi steeled herself, knowing this would take the last part of her power out of her, at least for the time being. So, she arranged her body into a sturdier stance, waiting for the right moment as the deranged AI came closer to where they were. The moment the bullets were vaguely close to Clint and the child in his arms, Roxi threw out yet another shockwave, though this one was different.

This one covered the area that Clint stood in, along with a weaker barrier in front of herself. She felt each bullet as they ricocheted off her shield, and it was a stronger feeling than she had expected. It was as if someone had jabbed her harshly in the stomach each time, leaving her slightly winded as she raised arm once again to help keep the focus of what she was doing. The bullets made noise as they hit the shield, a sort of dull thudding that would join her in nightmares for months to come. She clenched her jaw harshly as she found her knees beginning to weaken, and allowed herself to fall forwards slightly so that she was kneeling upright as she fought to keep herself awake to keep herself fighting. 

But her muscles were aching, she had used all of her emotions, she was physically and mentally exhausted, and she hadn't gotten a moment to rest since Clint's farm days ago. The last thing she saw before her body shut down was a flash of blue and silver as she egged herself on to try and keep this going longer. But it was no use. Roxi's body shut down, and she hit the ground roughly.

She fell unconscious before the guns stopped firing.

{A/N:} Idk why I feel so evil writing this. Ik loads of you wanted Pietro to survive, but honestly, I think it provides really important character development for Wanda and it'll probably allow me to develop Roxi's character further as well. So, I'm sorry, but I think it's better for the book. 

I'm also really happy that I actually got this written today. Look at me being prepared for once :). I think I'm going to try this thing where I actually pre-write chapters for once, and hopefully the quality goes up. Ik it'll be in a week when you see this but I hope everyone's okay and doing well.

Please vote, comment, let me know what you think, etc.,

2885 Words

Written: 27 / 02 / 2021

Published: 06 / 03 / 2021