𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝
 
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          ALTHOUGH CHARLOTTE HAD become separated from Clint, she knew he was still nearby. Glancing over each shoulder, she could see Steve and Natasha engaged in combat while Wanda and Pietro were assisting the local police force with apprehending the next swarm of Ultron bots.

As she bolted towards Steve, her eyes widened as a half-destroyed robot appeared from seemingly nowhere and raised it's mangled arm in a move to attack Natasha - the assassin was unaware. 

Skidding to a halt, Charlotte inhaled deeply before mustering a bout of Extremis and aiming it directly at the head of the crawling robot. The sound of gears grinding and robotic groaning caused both Steve and Natasha to whirl their bodies around, their gazes falling on the teenager behind them.

Both Steve and Natasha watched with shocked expressions as the robot's pieces started to melt, and when it fell, they saw Charlotte with her arm still aiming at where once it had stood – her visible veins bright orange and her irises covered with the red virus, making her look intimidating as she carried a scowl.

"What the hell?!" Natasha exclaimed as the teenager dropped her focused expression and began running towards her, because now that the wave calmed down Charlotte found the opportunity to hug Natasha.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried as the agent wrapped her arms around the girl as well.

Even though she was stunned, Natasha slowly hugged the girl back, "Charlie what are you doing here?" she sighed as she glanced towards Steve, who instantly walked away to avoid any confrontations about Tony's own decisions, "You shouldn't be here, this is too dangerous."

Breaking the hug, Charlotte stepped back to look at her properly, "Someone has to watch your back." she deadpanned with a grin.

Natasha wanted to argue, but now was not the time. "I always knew you were a fighter, but this is extreme."

"No, this is Extremis," Charlotte corrected as she created a fireball on her hand and looked at it with pride, "I'm learning to embrace it, rather than letting it control me."

After their reunion, there was no time to spare. Charlotte and Natasha quickly helped Steve bring any citizen they could find inside a cafe that was still intact.

The air was dusty yet despite the destruction around them, the atmosphere felt calm, almost too calm for their liking. Charlotte knew that the serenity would soon be shattered once the bots regrouped and returned.

As she helped a mother and her son inside, Charlotte couldn't help but feel terrible about them. The boy couldn't be older than ten years old, and yet he was already going through a traumatic event. Charlotte only hoped that the death toll wouldn't be too large, and even though that was the naive side of her thinking that, there was no shame in wanting everyone down there to be safe.

Minutes after making sure at least near a hundred people were inside, they received word from the other half of the rescue operation.

"The next wave is gonna hit any minute. What do you got, Stark?" he asked after helping an elderly man climb the stairs into the cafe. Charlotte listened closely, despite the distortion in her earpiece, as her dad gave an update.

"Well, nothing great." Closing her eyes, she cringed, a feeling of defeat beginning to wash over her.

"Maybe a way to blow up the city," Tony said with a resigned tone, knowing all too well that his daughter was nearby, "That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

Steve saw through his tone and glanced conspicuously at Charlotte, who was looking ahead of her, watching the city fly higher than the clouds with a neutral expression, "Stark, I know you have a lot to lose here. But I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

Cold as it may sound, Charlotte agreed with the captain, "Dad, listen to Steve and forget I'm here for a moment," she said to her earpiece with a wavering tone, she tried to focus on why they were here.

Steve looked at her with a somber expression. Part of him was furious at Tony for allowing his daughter to come along, enhanced or not, she was too young to fight. And even though he witnessed a small sample of what she was capable of, Steve wished she would've stayed in New York, safe with her mother.

But you can't change the past, if Steve could he wouldn't be here.

Tony sigh tiredly, realising that arguing would prove pointless, "Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're gonna have to make a choice." But Tony damned that. He would grab Charlotte and fly away with her if he had to, there was no way he was letting his daughter die like this, as selfish as it sounded he would do it.

"Cap, these people are going nowhere," Natasha said as he looked around with a solemn expression.

Charlotte frowned, watching even more citizens appearing from the smog caused by the dust, running inside the cafe with fearful expressions. She approached the pair, standing next to Natasha as they talked with each other.

"If Stark finds a way to blow up this rock–"

"Not until everyone is safe," Steve cut her.

Charlotte looked at him and smiled a little.

However, Natasha seemed surprised at his statement, "Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there."

"I hate math," Charlotte sighed, looking into the horizon as the sun started to peek above the clouds.

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

"I didn't say we should leave," Natasha retorted, smiling sadly when Steve looked at her, realising what she meant, "There's worst ways to go," keeping her tone of voice optimistic, she looked at the horizon as well, "Where else I am gonna get a view like this?"

Charlotte agreed with her, albeit feeling terrified of dying like this, she at least had the view. Being above the clouds with the sun shining brightly reminded Charlotte of all the plane travelling she had since she could remember. The memories of her flying from California to New York were now bittersweet since her home in Malibu had been destroyed, but they were still memories she would always cherish.

Charlotte was scared of dying, she was terrified – but good at keeping it together for the sake of everyone. The Avengers were here to destroy Ultron, not to babysit her. It was just like Clint had told her and Wanda back in the shack.

She needed to fight to kill, afterall the fate of the world depended on it.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better," Charlotte's eyes widened at the familiar voice on her earpiece.

"Mr. Fury!" Charlotte instantly squealed, jumping down from the debris with a relieved grin on her face.

In front of them, the Helicarrier emerged from the clouds in its massive glory, sparking the attention of the team and Sokovians alike.

"Nice, right? Pulled out of mothballs with a couple of old friends," Fury explained with a smug tone, "She's dusty but she'll do."

"Fury, you son of a bitch," Steve stated with a respectful tone.

"Wow!" Charlotte gasped.

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury quipped.

The Helicarrier disengaged the lifeboats, and as they approached the flying city, Pietro showed up in front of them, next to Charlotte, with his amazing speed, "This is S.H.I.E.L.D?" he asked in awe, smiling.

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

Charlotte liked the look on Pietro's face, he looked genuinely happy that his people were about to be saved, "This is not so bad," he chuckled.

"Yeah, it's pretty damn good." Charlotte said proudly, nodding towards the fleet of helicarriers.

Steve pursed his lips and refrained from telling her to watch her language as Natasha glanced at him with amused eyes, expectant that he would.

"Let's load 'em up!" Steve ordered before running towards the cafe where the citizens were.

As soon as the lifeboats were securely positioned near the edge of the rock, they quickly began loading citizens into them with the aid of a few agents. Steve gave them the information they need by estimating the number of people they had.

As Charlotte was on the bridge, helping people in, she noticed some Ultron robots making their way to the Helicarrier. She was worried for a moment, but then a familiar silver armour appeared from inside the flying ship and a grin plastered on her lips.

War Machine flew above them, shooting at the ill-intent robots, "Yes! Now, this is gonna be a good story!" she heard Rhodey say to himself with a smug tone.

She was watching him, and when Rhodey almost got hit by a bogey behind him, Iron Man showed up and shot a beam at it, leaving it to explode, "Yup. If you live to tell it," Tony quipped at him, happy to see his friend.

"You think I can't hold my own?" Rhodey challenged.

"We get through this, I'll hold your own," Tony retorted.

"You had to make it weird," Rhodey sighed, "By the way man, mind explaining what the hell is Charlie doing in here?" Rhodey asked with a passive-aggressive voice as he and Tony shot a few robots in their way, "Pepper is going to be furious with the both of you."

"Yeah well, if I survive this I can survive her."

In the city, on the bridge where she and Natasha were helping the citizens inside the lifeboats, Charlotte suddenly felt something grab her ankle and try to drag her down with it towards the edge. A terrified shriek ripped from her chest.

"You are not supposed to be here." Ultron said through the mangled robot. She glared at it and kicked the helmet with her free leg.

"And you're not supposed to be the bad guy," she growled, backing away from the mangled robot as it recovered, crawling towards her again. "You're just a failed prototype."

"Me? The bad guy? No... you have it wrong. But you're just a child, so you wouldn't understand," Ultron told her in a patronising manner, his voice deformed from the broken voice box that the robot carried."You couldn't possibly understand."

The distortion of it made it even creepier for Charlotte, but she stood her ground and managed to concentrate enough Extremis energy between her two hands to create a bigger fireball than the ones the normally did.

"Oh yeah? Understand this, Pinocchio," before the robot could advance towards her, she shot the Extremis energy-filled fireball at it, leaving a jet of fire behind it as it hit the robot right on the head, tossing it back as well because of the sudden, blunt force, and making it hit the rails of the broken bridge, "That's for Sokovia!" she yelled at him.

To her surprise, as the helmet melted and the lights flickered, Ultron still spoke in a distorted manner, "There...are...no...strings...on...me."

Dusting herself off, Charlotte returned to her place, and Natasha was gone. Looking around the crowd of people running to get inside the lifeboat, Steve seemed to have disappeared as well.

"Where are you guys?" she asked on her earpiece, but realised it was turned off, "What the–?" she pressed the button, turning it on again, and heard various voices.

"Rhodey get the rest of the people on board and keep Charlotte that carrier and take Charlie with you," she heard her dad order.

She frowned, hiding behind a car. No way, she wasn't leaving them now.

"On it," Rhodey said.

There was no way she was letting Rhodey take her to the carrier, not while so many people remained in the city. Admittedly, she was under prepared, probably not strong enough and more so, a child, but if ever there was a chance to prove that she was so much more than that, it was now. And by God was she going to prove it.

Making her way out of the bridge, Charlotte blended with the panicked crowd as she made her way to find where everyone was. She looked up at the sky and saw many Ultron robots going in one direction, so she deduced that where they were going is where their enemy was.

"Avengers, time to work for a living!" she heard her dad say through the earpiece.

Charlotte parted her way from the crowd, into the cafe where they were once taking shelter. She carefully but swiftly walked across it, jumping over a table that was in her way; she then made her way to the back entrance of the establishment to a deserted back alley. She looked up, making sure to check her surroundings at all times - nothing was in her sight. She quickly ran down the alley as fast as she could, surprising herself at how fast her legs were, her prosthetic seemed to be pushing with more force than usual.

When she was at the end of the alley, she rested against the dirty wall and took a deep breath, running a shaky hand across her damp brow. Cautiously, she angled her head to peer ever so slightly around the corner, gaining a view of the main street adjacent to the alley.

Destroyed cars, debris all over the streets and road, smashed windows and fallen signs – but no sign of Ultron or his army. She began running down the street, only to be startled when she heard her dad's voice in her ear suddenly.

"Romanoff?" She stopped momentarily, turning around to make sure that he was not in fact standing behind her. "You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the Zucchini'."

"Relax, shellhead," Natasha's voice retorted. "Not all of us can fly."

Where were they?

She fled inside a clothes store as she heard Ultron robots coming at her from above. She huddled behind a wall next to the entrance and her eyes closed in frustration as she heard at least one of the robots fall on the street in front of the store.

She hastily considered her options, dropped down, and rolled under some mannequins. She sat up again, the mannequins shielding her as the robot entered the store, and looked at a bright pink dress with green flowers all over it. In her opinion, this was a poor choice of clothing.

Paying attention to the robot, she forged a plan quickly.

"Charlotte, I know you're in here. Come out, I would never kill a child," Ultron purred through the robot.

The bot looked around, unbeknownst that behind his back, one of the mannequin dolls was now bare. He looked around once more, his eyes scanning the store for any human heat, when suddenly as he turned back, his vision suddenly darkened as the hot pink fabric was thrown over his eyes, completely blocking his view. A determined grunt was heard as Charlotte jumped on him, putting both of her palms on each side of the robot's helmet while it struggled to take the dress out of his eyes.

"Honestly Ultron, pink is so not your colour," she quipped before pressing her hands together, trying to squeeze the helmet while using her Extremis to melt through it and even though the robot struggled, she didn't stop until the dress caught on fire when both her hands touched each other inside the robot's helmet. She could feel the wiring electrocuting her, but the Extremis was already healing her skin as she jumped away from it.

Charlotte realised what was about to happen as she watched her father work in the lab and received hazy instructions from him about when his inventions go wrong. She also noticed the robot twisting and glitching as its lights flashed quicker each second.

She ran out of the store as fast as she could and took cover behind a car parked on the opposite street's curb. Three seconds later, the robot exploded inside the store, starting a fire at the same time.

Huffing and resting her forehead against the car's window, she smiled to herself, trying to calm her heart, "Pink was definitely not his colour."

"Uh, Tony? I can't find Charlie," she heard Rhodey suddenly announce as she began running again, following the line of Ultron robots hopefully to where the team was.

"What do you mean you can't find her? She couldn't have just disappeared!"

She hated making her dad feel like this but she had a strange feeling in her gut to keep searching for them. As she jogged down the street, Charlotte suddenly remembered where they might be, "FRIDAY?" she called out as she stopped running and looked around, "Where did Ultron set up the drill?"

"In the Church, right in the middle of Sokovia. You're three minutes away from it, just keep running straight ahead and then turn on your first left!" FRIDAY informed her with an urgent tone, "Charlie, you should go back. Your dad is worried about you."

Charlotte was surprised at how humane FRIDAY sounded, she certainly had more emotion in her voice. JARVIS was known to throw a few quips and sarcastic retorts, but he was also caring. FRIDAY however, seemed to be more genuine with her feelings.

"I'll be fine.Thank you, FRIDAY." Charlotte told her shortly before starting to run faster.

As she skidded around a corner, she saw Natasha guiding a large truck, ploughing some of the Ultron robots before parking by the curb, Charlotte followed her and found everyone in a circle, inside the church where the core was and she realised that if Ultron gets to it the city will go down. Charlotte made the final decision to run towards them and make herself present.

"Charlotte?!" her dad's anxious voice exclaimed from inside his helmet.

"Uh oh, full name." The whole team looked at her with shock, she was supposed to be with Rhodey on a lifeboat, not here where it was going to get even more dangerous. "Dad, I'm sorry! Trust me, okay?!" she told him earnestly before giving the team a serious expression, "I can do this!"

"You – " her dad approached her to scold her, but when Hulk landed behind her, destroying two robots on his way, Ultron himself was flying behind him, staring down at the team.

Charlotte turned around and glared at him, and she let Natasha pull her backward for her to stay behind her dad and the redhead agent herself as they all looked up at Ultron. Thor glanced at Charlotte before scowling deeply at the insane robot.

"Is that the best you can do?!" the Norse God yelled.

Tony's stomach dropped when, to his horror, an army of robots controlled by Ultron was summoned by him. Charlotte sighed and closed her eyes..

Steve looked at Thor with an exasperated look, "You had to ask," he deadpanned.

"This is the best I can do," Ultron began as he pointed at the group, "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me," Charlotte felt Clint standing next to her, she was now surrounded by her dad, Natasha and him, "How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony and Steve shared a look, "Together."

Hulk growled loudly, signalising the beginning of the battle. Charlotte got ready, summoning as much as Extremis as she could onto her hands, ready to strike as well. The robots came charging in with the intention of killing each and every one of them.

"Okay honey, show me what you got," Tony exclaimed before shooting two beams at incoming bots."If you die, you're grounded!"

Charlotte shot a wave of Extremis up at one of the bots trying to reach for the core and destroyed its head completely. The swarm of bots was never ending, they just kept coming relentlessly. Yet they kept fighting, all of them, together. She used her abilities consistently on any bot that crossed her way.

Charlotte saw Wanda use her kinetic energy to destroy the robots from inside, and she would also create psionic force-fields around the core each time one of the robots that slipped past them was about to touch it.

She would also occasionally see Pietro running around, destroying bots at an amazing speed.

She saw her dad flying in circles around the church and destroying any bot in his way, his eyes occasionally glancing back down to her, making sure she was in his eyesight at all times. Steve was using his shield and fists with full and brute strength. Clint was admirably shooting his arrows and never missing his target as usual and Natasha electrified each bot she encountered after taking them down with her swift skills and gunshots. 

Charlotte was fighting with them, yet she couldn't help the pride that began to swell in her chest – this is the Avengers the world didn't get to see, this was her family.

Tony made sure to take down any bot that dared to approach Charlotte. He couldn't help but glance at her as she fought and he had to admit that the hours she had put into her training seemed to be paying off. He was equally amazed and terrified at how easily she could handle her Extremis and mould it at her own whim. Additionally, the way she was defending herself using her vibranium prosthetic was admirable - it was an obstacle that she had certainly overcome.

By God was Pepper going to murder him.

Ultron and Vision fought above, and as Charlotte blasted another bot in the air, she saw Vision fire a dazzling beam at Ultron, sending the bot soaring outside. In sync, both Thor and her dad had taken notice of this and the trio combined their energy sources: Thor's lightning crackled as it merged with the energy from Vision's gemstone and her dad's pulsars – all those three energies struck Ultron simultaneously. Their combined attack ripped apart Ultron until they stopped firing.

Ultron stood, weaker and powerless, in front of the team as everyone took care of the remaining bots from the church.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight–" Hulk cut Ultron's sentence when he punched him with such strength that he was tossed away at great altitude.

Hulk then turned towards a small group of bots, and as soon as he did, they all ran away, trying to escape since the original Ultron was gone. Hulk, of course, went after them instantly.

"They're trying to leave the city!" Thor warned them.

"We can't let them. Not a single one!" Tony told everyone, "Rhodey!"

"I'm on it," War Machine told him.

Charlotte remembered what her dad said: if even one of them is still standing they would lose. She saw Vision fly away towards the sky, possibly to go help Rhodey destroy any bot that tries to leave. She turned back inside the church, nearing the team to know what was the next move.

"We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin," Steve told them, and now that he mentioned, Charlotte has been feeling a little out of breath for a few moments now, "You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. Be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it," Wanda stated quickly.

Clint and Charlotte gave her a surprised look, but Wanda looked back determined, "It's my job."

She received a praising nod from Clint and a smile from Charlotte.

"Nat? This way, you too Charlie, come on," the archer stated, about to take the two to the boats.

Steve quickly left, he had to do a quick sweeping before leaving for the boats.

"Be careful Wanda!" Charlotte said before she ran after Clint and Natasha.

Wanda nodded as she gave Charlotte a gentle gaze. She won't forget how Charlotte talked her into becoming an Avenger. She has hurt so much of her family and the young teen still managed to give her a lifting talk. Wanda was not going to let anything happen to her, she wanted to do the honorable thing. She wanted to be an Avenger.

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apologies for the long gap between updates (again). i have no real excuse, just work and personal things got in the way.

anyway, bit of an abrupt ending, i know, but i didn't want to drag it out too long. one more chapter before the end of ultron.

thanks for sticking with me guys