CHAPTER TWELVE: SAVED BY THE DARKNESS

Both Olive and Steve exited the Quinjet in sync. Olive was more focused on staying calm than what was going on around her, but when Steve tapped her shoulder twice she was immediately focused on the mission. He then began to speak into the comms, "Two minutes. Stay close."

Steve and Olive made their way to Dr. Cho's lab as quickly as they could, but much to their surprise, the building had been damaged on the inside. Sparks flew and computer screens were cracked. Clearly, Ultron had thrown a fit. Olive's eyes landed on Helen Cho. "Dr. Cho!" She called, rushing over to her. Blood was seeping from a wound in her stomach, and her face was twisted in pain.

"He's uploading himself into the body." Helen said painfully, while Steve rushed to put pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding.

"Where?" He asked.

Helen immediately began shaking her head as Steve tried to stand to find Ultron. "The real power is inside the cradle. The gem, it's power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the cradle to Stark." Her voice was growing weak. Olive frowned in confusion at the news, what could a stupid rock have to do with an evil robot trying to destroy the world? It was laughable.

Olive inhaled before nodding at the doctor, "first we have to find it."

Helen took a sharp intake of breath, but nodded anyway. "Go." She said.

Olive felt terrible for leaving Helen there, but the doctor was persistent. She glanced back at her one more time before following Steve out of the lab. "Did you guys copy that?" Steve asked through the comms.

"We did." Clint confirmed from the Quinjet.

Natasha's voice crackled in Olive's ear next, "I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest. That could be him."

There was a long pause before Clint spoke again. "There. It's a truck from the lab. Right above you Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. You got three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver."

"Negative." Steve immediately shut the idea down, "that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron." Olive and him began climbing up a latter, in an attempt to align themselves with the truck.

Olive's eyes fell on the truck, and the two readied themselves to jump. She waited for his signal, "go!" He shouted. The two jumped from the bridge, feeling nothing but air until they smacked against the roof of the truck. Olive stayed on the top of it while Steve carefully went to the back doors. There was a bump in the road, causing Olive to slide, but she managed to get a grip before she went tumbling towards the road.

Suddenly, a blast of boiling hot light came from inside the truck, smashing against the back door of the truck, causing it to swing open as Steve held on for dear life. Steve kicked back on the side of the truck to swing the door closed once again. Ultron, seemingly annoyed, blasted another shot towards the door causing Steve to fly up into the air momentarily. The door caught itself on the edge of the truck, scraping across the road, while Steve landed on top of it. Olive's eyes grew wide, but one look from Steve caused her to silence herself.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy." Steve groaned. There was another bump in the road, and Olive let out a soft squeal as she slid, before catching the side of the truck, her legs hanging over the side. She slid again, and fell off entirely, only being held back by the ledge that she gripped with all her strength. She grimaced at the noise she made before hoisting herself back onto the top.

Much to her surprise, there was a blast from the roof of the truck, crashing into Olive. She was thrown completely off the truck, causing her to be airborne for a few moments. She let out a scream as her ankle was caught, leaving her hanging over the side of the bridge. Slowly, she glanced up. The darkness had caught her, surrounding her ankle entirely while creeping out from the underside of the bridge where the sun couldn't hit. Her eyes widened as she tilted her head at it, as if trying to figure it out. The darkness had never saved her before. Ever.

Olive remained silent as the darkness slowly lifted her onto the bridge. Her hands shook ever so slightly from the shock of it, but she made no move to protest. When her feet touched the ground, she whipped her head around to watch the darkness slip over the side of the bridge and back to the bottom, becoming a shadow once again.

After a few moments to regain her sanity, Olive looked around the bridge. Cars whizzed by, but none of them had Steve. "Shit." She cursed, glancing at the roads and bridges around her.

There was a tap on her shoulder.

Olive turned around to be face to face with the darkness once again. She didn't have to speak for it to know what she wanted, she was darkness. While there were times when the darkness disobeyed her, and did things against her will, it still wanted the best for her. Because without her, the darkness didn't have a conscience. Unfortunately, they needed each other. It sucked.

Olive sighed before holding an arm out. The darkness began to snake around her arm, bringing a coldness to her that she couldn't feel before. She shivered, and watched as it sunk into her skin. Her eyes washed over completely black, and she inhaled, then exhaled.

She allowed herself to melt into the shadows, fading into nothing but a spot of darkness on the street. At first glance she was unnoticeable, but if you looked closely, you would see the shadow of woman with nothing to create the shadow.

She closed her eyes and thought deeply. In seconds, she could feel a tingling sensation, covering her from head to toe. It was uncomfortable, but necessary. Her ears popped, causing her to flinch, but she ignored it and opened her eyes.

She now stood on top of the truck in her physical form, the darkness quickly shying away from the light and dashing off to find a shadow. Ultron was quick to notice her, sending her a glare through his robotic eyes. "Maximoff." He seethed, seemingly angry that he couldn't get ahold of her like he did her siblings. With a quick rush of anger, Ultron wrapped a hand around Olive's neck and began squeezing tightly.

Olive's eyes grew wide as she struggled to break free from his grip. Today sucks, she thought bitterly. Jumping off a bridge, falling off a bridge and getting choked by a robot? Yup, this is my worst nightmare.

While Ultron was busy choking the life out of Olive, he didn't realize the Captain behind him rising to his feet. Steve's eyes fell on Ultron, and then Olive. With quick thinking, he sent a kick to Ultron's back, causing the robot to lose his grip on Olive's neck. She immediately gasped for air, the colour returning to her face as she looked around, her vision hazy. Shadow travelling was already tiring enough, and Ultron was not helping her out. She felt defeated.

Ultron managed to get Steve in a chokehold, the Super Soldier struggled to free himself. Olive tried to get to her feet on the shaking truck, but was having trouble keeping balance. She was already dizzy from the energy she used. "Stay down." Steve struggled out, his eyes flickering to Olive.

Olive looked down with hazy vision upon hearing a nearby motorcycle. She could faintly see Natasha driving closer to the truck, bringing Steve's shield with her. She kept herself in line with the truck and threw the shield up to the Super Soldier, who caught it with ease. Steve swung the shield up against Ultron, pushing the robot back a few feet. The sound of metal against metal was heard as he fell. Ultron glanced down at the road, enraged. He lifted up a hand, causing the road the break and crack. Natasha's eyes widened as she pulled to a stop, the road too damaged to continue further down it.

Steve was then shot off of the truck, causing him to land on another car. It left a large dent, and the car pulled to a quick stop. Olive was left alone. She glanced up at Ultron, who seemed disgusted as he stared down at her. "You're weak." His tone was sharp, and he held his chin high as to belittle her.

As if to show his power, he flipped the car that Steve was on, causing the people inside to scream in terror. Olive's eyes grew wide, watching as the road crumbled to pieces leaving multiple cars to pull to a stop. Steve dodged every obstacle in his way before jumping on one of the rolling cars, and back onto the truck with Olive.

He began attacking Ultron mercilessly, while Olive slowly stood to her feet. Her vision had cleared, but her body was still weak. Olive held her hand towards the road, letting the shadows from underneath the truck bend to her will. In one quick motion, she shot her hand outwards towards Ultron, letting the darkness wrap around him and hold him down. Steve used this to his advantage.

He began throwing his shield at Ultron over and over in an attempt to damage him. It proved to be very difficult. "Clint, can you draw out the guards?" Natasha asked on comms.

"Let's find out." There was a small pause and then suddenly, bullets started raining from above, all heading towards Ultron and his robot crew. The bot struggled to shield himself when he was surrounded by darkness, but managed to come out fine. He was definitely more angry than before, though. However, both of the robot guards took the bait and flew out of the truck, heading straight for Clint. It worked.

Olive tightened the darkness around Ultron, her body straining from the power she was using. She just needed to rest. But, she did learn a lesson: no more shadow travelling in battle. It proved to be very difficult, and while it was useful, there were more downsides than upsides.

Ultron noticed that Olive was growing weak, using it to his advantage. His hand broke through the shadows around him, tightening on them like he was grabbing a rope. He let out a yell as he ripped them away and held a hand towards Olive and Steve. The youngest Maximoff let out a scream as the robot shoved them into the direction of a passing train. The two heroes broke through the windows, and landed harshly by the seats at the front of the cart.

Olive shook her head a few moments after landing. Steve was doing better than her, being a Super Soldier and all. But thankfully, the darkness had wrapped around her in a split second to break her fall-it still hurt like a bitch, though.

Steve got to his feet, watching as Ultron flew in their direction before landing in the train with a metallic thud. Clearly, he wasn't done fighting yet. Steve was quick to throw his shield at Ultron, while Olive attempted to hold him down once more. Ultron glared at Olive, "you failed once, what makes you think you can try this trick again?" He mocked. Then, he ripped his way through the darkness as if it were nothing, before blasting Olive and Steve to the other side of the train cart.

"I'm going in." Natasha's voice managed to echo over the ringing in Olive's ears, "Cap, Olive, can you keep him occupied?"

Steve panted, rolling his eyes at the redhead as he struggled to get to his feet. "What do you think we've been doing?"

Olive rose to her feet unsteadily, her fingers tingling and twitching as the darkness reached out from around her, awaiting for her commands. With her wobbly vision, she could barely process the streak of blue in her line of sight.

Ultron steadied himself, his eyes falling on Pietro. He rushed towards the speedster, only to be blocked by Wanda-the younger of one of the twins bent the metal bars of the train to her will, leaving Pietro and Ultron separated.

Ultron turned to face Wanda with what Olive could only describe as a look of desperation on his face. "Please, don't do this." His voice was annoyingly soft. It was almost as if he cared for the twins.

"What choice do we have?" Wanda sneered, wisps of red energy dripping from her fingers. Olive couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face at the sight of her siblings.

Ultron went to send a blast at Pietro, but the Maximoff was quick to speed out of the way. The blast went all the way to the front of the train, causing severe damage to both the train itself, and the driver.

Ultron saved himself, flying out of the train and off into the distance to do who-knows-what.

Wanda walked up to Olive, an uneasy expression on her face. She looked conflicted, as if she was battling with herself, stuck in her own mind. "Are you okay?" She managed.

Olive pondered the question, tempted not to answer. She thought of ignoring her sister out of spite, and leaving her to come up with some sort of apology. Wanda and Pietro betrayed her-they had made a huge mistake. But Olive wasn't heartless, and now wasn't the time for apologies. She nodded, and turned away.

"I lost him!" Steve yelled through the comms, his eyes wide. "He's headed your way!"

"Nat, we gotta go." Clint spoke, silence followed. The train sped off the rails, crushing the ground beneath it with a loud screeching sound. Olive almost lost her footing as the floor shook beneath her. "Cap, Olive, do you see Nat?"

"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!"

"Do you have eyes on Nat?"

"Go!"

Steve then turned to the Maximoffs, a grim look on his face. "Civilians in our path." Pietro wasted no time in rushing out of the train, bolting left and right as he cleared the way. "Can you stop this thing?" Steve's eyes fell on Olive and Wanda. Wanda looked unsure, so with a quick moment of thought, Olive nodded for the two of them. Wanda can do it, she thought.

Olive walked through the isle, stopping farther ahead to give Wanda some space. She closed her eyes, struggling to block out the sounds of destruction and screaming. The darkness melted from beneath the train within seconds, grappling around the ground below with as much strength as Olive could give it.

She used the darkness as ropes, straining to keep the train grounded and still. With Wanda's help, she found that the two could stop the train in just under a minute, leaving them both exhausted-Olive more so.

Olive stumbled off the train, barely noticing the hands gripping her arm tightly to keep her from falling. She was lead towards a shady spot on the sidewalk to recover, and once the sun was blocked from her vision, it was like all sound came back to her, leaving her only slightly dazed.

"The cradle. Did you get it?" Wanda's voice rang in her ears.

"Stark will take care of it." Steve replied. Olive could faintly see the man glaring at her sister, and she didn't blame him.

"No, he won't." Wanda frowned, her head shaking.

"You don't know what you're talking about. Stark's not crazy."

"He will do anything to make things right." Wanda insisted. Realization hit Olive, even in her dazed state, she knew that this wasn't going to end well. How could it?

Olive wobbled on her feet, her arm being caught before she could fall. Pietro. She saw Steve calling out for Tony on the comms, only to receive no response. He tried again. Nothing.

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?" A heavy silence followed after Wanda's words.

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lizzie speaks...

the darkness is starting to remind me of venom
that was completely accidental

also remember that olive has never been one to like her powers before, so it makes sense that she's exhausted from using her powers. she's never had to use them so much, especially in an environment like this. but dw, i won't make her this exhausted in a fight again. that's boring