[ chapter nineteen ]
Though the entire city was rising into the sky, the fighting raged on because robots weren't going to give them the luxury of standing around to take their time and be surprised.
Through the earpiece, Andi could hear Tony's voice. "The rest of the vibranium that Ultron took is in the entire rock of the city," he was explaining to the team. "There's a magnetic field keeping the rock together. If that thing drops now, it'll kill thousands of people within a certain mild radius. If it gets high enough..."
"Then that's global extinction," Steve muttered and Andi glanced to her right to see him walking up beside her and staring at the sky as more of Ultron's robots flew around, causing chaos. "Alright," Steve continued. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. Everyone else... we have one job. Tear these things apart. If you get hurt, hurt them back. If you get killed... walk it off."
And with that, Steve sprung into action as a set of new robots flew toward them. Thor had joined them now, helping Steve take out a row of robots before Ultron's primary body came and plucked Thor up, taking him further into the city.
"We're all clear here," Clint's voice came in through the earpiece.
"Not clear here," Steve said, grunting as he kicked off one robot. Andi moved to his side and stuck out a hand, crumpling the metal body and using it to fling it through the body of a few other robots that were coming their way. "Definitely not clear here."
Pietro had come to Andi's side again. "I'll go get them," he said, and Andi nodded before watching him speed off.
For the time being, Andi didn't see anymore robots, so she began to help Steve lead people into secure locations, where they wouldn't be crushed by more debris.
"The next wave is going to hit any minute," Steve muttered. "What do you have, Stark?"
"Nothing great," Andi heard his voice come in through her ear as she moved away from a building and to the edge of the floating city. They were in the clouds now. "Maybe a way to blow up the city," Tony continued.
Vaporising the entire city? What about all the people on it?
Steve joined Andi's side, and a few moments later, Natasha had come as well. "I asked for a solution," Steve said. "Not an escape plan."
"Impact radius is getting bigger with each second that passes. We're going to have to make a choice," Tony informed him.
Natasha stood by Steve and looked at him. "Cap... it's everyone up here versus everyone down there. There's no math there. This seems like the only way to do it."
Which meant all the people on this city would die. For the sake of the rest of humanity.
"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve insisted, staring ahead at the clouds.
"I didn't say we should leave." That got both Andi and Steve to look at Natasha. "There are worse ways to go. Where else am I going to get a view like this?"
And Andi really considered it. There were plenty of moments when she thought she would die at the hands of HYDRA. But here, this way? Literally saving the world? That was a good way to go.
"Well I'm glad you like the view Romanoff," another voice came into the earpiece now, surprising Andi because she knew he wasn't anywhere on the city. "It's about to get better."
And right on cue, in front of them, rising from the clouds, was a huge airship. Was it an airship? Andi had no idea what to call it, but it was almost as wide as this city rising into the air. And it was all led by Nick Fury.
"Fury you son of a bitch," Steve said with a small smile.
"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury asked, and Andi could almost picture him smiling as he said it. This was good. This was a way for the civilians to get to safety but they had to act fast.
From the giant airship, smaller ones flew to the edges of the city, ready to carry passengers.
And so, like the rest of them, Andi set out to help. She ushered people out of hiding and sent them in the direction of the carries, and each time one was filled up, it flew to the main ship and came back down empty, to carry more people.
Andi rushed around, making sure no people were left in nearby houses or trapped under debris. It really looked like they were close to getting almost everyone off and winning this thing when Thor's voice came into the earpiece. "The robots are aiming for the core. If they get to it, this whole city is going to go plunging down."
Shit. Andi was more alert now. Tony had alerted Rhodey — whom Andi was surprised to see — to help the rest of the civilians while he called the rest of the Avengers to the site of the core. When she got there, Thor was already standing by. There was a man she didn't recognise — if he was a man, because he had red skin and a cape — and along with those two, Clint, Wanda and Pietro were also there.
"Are you alright?" Wanda asked upon seeing her, walking over to her immediately. Pietro did the same, and Andi nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."
Wanda nodded. She looked like she was about to say something, but the arrival of a few of Ultron's robots interrupted them.
By then, most of the others had joined them at the core. Wanda used her powers to toss one aside and Pietro sped off to prevent one from getting Thor in the back. Andi was focused on the one in front of her so she didn't see the one behind her till it was too late. She had turned, lifting her hands to strike, but before either of them could do anything, the robot was smashed to the ground, under the feet of Iron Man. "Doing okay, kid?"
Andi grinned and nodded. "Let's end this son of a bitch."
Tony tilted his head. "Steve, you're a bad influence on the kid."
Before anyone could say anything else, they were all alerted by the presence of Ultron — and the remainder of his robot army which was still quite a lot. How many did he even have?
"This is exactly what I wanted," Ultron said with a smile — if robots could even smile. He sure had a way of doing something similar to a very sinister one. "All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"
Andi stood at the ready and Tony looked around at all the assembled Avangers, now guarding the core before turning back to Ultron. "Like the old man said," he explained, nodding to Steve briefly. "Together."
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