| saving the world |

❝ t i m e ❞

Steve, Natasha, Clint, Celeste, Pietro, and Wanda stand at the edge of the floating rock, staring out at the endless horizon of clouds. Clint glances over to Celeste, subconsciously wrapping his arm around her waist and kissing her temple.

"Cap, these people are going nowhere," Natasha says, breaking the silence. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock-"

"Not until everyone is safe," Steve argues.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" She asks disbelievingly. "There's no math there."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."

"I didn't say we should leave," she points out softly, offering a sad smile. "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

"She's got a point," Celeste sighs in agreement, resting her head on Clint's shoulder.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff and Wilson," Nick's voice cuts into their earpieces, causing everyone to jump. "It's about to get better."

The wind picks up as an infamous S.H.I.E.L.D helicarrier comes into view. Celeste can't help but to cry out in relief, squeezing Clint's arm as she bounces excitedly.

"Nice, right?" The director brags. "Pulled it out of the mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

"Fury, you son of a bitch," Steve chuckles.

"Whoa, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Smaller aircrafts designed to transport people fly out of the helicarrier, moving towards the flying city.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D?" Pietro breathes out, unable to hide his wonder.

"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D is supposed to be," Steve amends.

"This is not so bad."

"Let's load them up," Steve orders, being the first to move towards one of the many buildings filled with Sokovians.

The group splits up, leading panicked civilians out of buildings and onto the aircrafts as quickly as possible. With everyone desperate to leave the deathtrap, the aircrafts fill up rapidly and they can barely keep up.

"Come on, let's go," Celeste encourages the people rushing past, her smile more genuine this time around despite the headache pounding against her skull.

The little girl she gave gummies to earlier toddles past with her hand tucked into her mother's, obviously more energized after her snack. She waved happily and Celeste waves back, not daring to look away from the two until the kid is safely buckled on the closest aircraft.

"Thor," Tony calls out, his voice startling Celeste. "I got a plan."

"We're out of time!" Thor shouts. "They're coming for the core."

"Rhodey, get the rest of the people onboard that carrier," Tony orders, a new plan forming. "Avengers, time to work for a living."

"What else have we been doing?" Celeste asks rhetorically, nevertheless closing her eyes and teleporting to the core, which happens to be in the remains of a church in the center of Sokovia.

A bot jumps out at her as soon as she opens her eyes. Celeste doesn't flinch and wraps her hands around its throat, allowing the heat to cut off its head.

"You're terrifyingly attractive when you're kicking ass," Clint comments, walking into the destroyed church with Wanda following behind him.

"Want to know what makes you attractive?" She retorts teasingly. "Making it through a fight without getting shot."

"That was one time," he defends himself, his smile ruining his serious facade. "You really need to let that go."

"As soon as you let go of the time I got stabbed," she counters.

"That's not gonna happen."

"Then we're even."

"What's the drill?" Natasha asks, running in last.

"This is the drill," Tony informs them, pointing to the core spinning slowly in the rubble. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Hulk jumps into view, causing the ground to shake as he punches a nearby bot. Ultron flies down behind him, hovering several feet above the ground so he can stare down at the Avengers.

"IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?" Thor yells.

Ultron doesn't say anything, merely holding up a hand in response. As if on cue, hundreds of his bots come out of hiding, assembling directly behind him.
"You had to ask," Steve huffs.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron states,  his tone somehow even more malicious. "This is exactly what I wanted; all of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Like the old man said," Tony answers, looking around at his teammates. "Together."

Hulk roars and all of the bots come flooding towards them. Ultron, on the other hand, doesn't move, merely watching the battle commence.

Celeste unsheathes both of her knives, immediately being bombarded with several of the monsters from all sides - including flying down from above - and unable to focus on anything but herself. Her knives easily pierce their chests, knocking the majority to the ground. One appears behind her, but a gust of wind tells her Pietro took care of it. Another robot stands back up, despite being stabbed, and his hand transforms into a gun. With a grunt, Celeste slams her knife into its arm, sending it flying off of the body.

Between the nine of them, it's only a matter of minutes before the robots are down to a mere handful. Thor, Tony, and Vision fly out of the church, all of their powers focused on Ultron. Celeste stabs another bot before spinning on her heel to watch all of their powers surge into Ultron.

When they don't kill him, Hulk stomps outside and punches Ultron, sending him sailing past several buildings. He then roars at the remaining bots, causing them to fly away.

"They're trying to leave the city," Thor states the obvious.

"We can't let them, not even one," Tony adds. "Rhodey?"

"I'm on it."

"We gotta move out of here. Even I can tell the air is getting thin," Steve says, struggling to even his breathing. "You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers right behind you."

"I'll help with stragglers," Celeste chimes in. "I'm one of the few that can get on a boat after they've left."

"What about the core?" Clint questions.

"I'll protect it," Wanda speaks up, a newfound sense of determination in her demeanor. "It's my job."

Clint nods as he and Natasha head out and Steve follows behind. Celeste glances around for Pietro, half expecting him to challenge her to another race, but spots him speaking with his sister.

She closes her eyes and teleports to the edge of what's left of Sokovia, immediately beginning to look around for anyone left behind. Fortunately, it seems as though everyone has been smart enough to get themselves on a carrier.

A noise comes from inside the building behind her, followed by a loud crash of something shattering against the ground, causing her to turn around and peer through the broken windows.

Seconds later, a black and white striped cat jumps out, successfully startling her as it lands in her arms.

"Where did you come from?" Celeste coos, not bothering to suppress the instinct to immediately fall in love with the feline and petting it gently. "If we can't find your family, I'll just take you home with me. And my fiance can't say no because you'll be the smallest pet by far I've ever tried to adopt."

The cat purrs, nuzzling its head against her chest and causing Celeste's heart to melt.

"What should we call you?" She murmurs in a babying voice. "Tiger?"

Gunshots from a jet flying overhead pierce through the air, causing the cat to claw through Celeste's suit as it scrambles to escape her hold and run for safety.

"Asshole," she hisses, examining the scratches now covering her arms. "That's your name now."

The gunfire resumes and Celeste's eyes widen in horror as it moves closer to the back of a familiar man as he picks up a little boy that had been left behind. Ultron pilots the jet and moves at a rapid speed, far faster than she has ever been able to teleport.

Clint ducks without a moment of hesitation, shielding the kid's body with his own as the bullets reach them. Curiously enough, the gunfire rains down everywhere but on him, kicking up enough dirt and debris to cloud his vision for several moments as the jet flies away.

He holds the shaking kid closer to his chest and glances around, unable to piece together how the bullets didn't hit him. He begins to think he hallucinated the whole situation. The thought doesn't last long as his gaze finally lands on what - or who, rather - saved his life.

The answer is enough to cause his whole world to come crashing down.

"I told you not to get shot."

The End