I could see it from a mile away, the tiny jet. It was growing bigger and bigger in the sky, coming towards us.

At first, I thought its target was me, but then I looked down. Clint and the little boy had just found each other. No...

The roar of the plane was growing louder in my ears. But which target is he going to strike first? My bet wasn't on me.

I sprang into action, taking long strides and jumping from crumbling rooftop to the next, bouncing off of other buildings to reach roofs. I needed to buy Clint time to get himself and the kid out of there. This was a better plan than running for the pair and risking their lives.

As the plane edged closer, I made a beeline and picked my last rooftop, the one that I would push a lot of energy into to get myself the air I needed to distract him. I was doing a mental countdown, feeling the numbers rapidly shrink as I got closer to my launch.

I felt the energy explode in my legs once I reached the end of the last rooftop. My Asgardian blood showed in my airtime. If you don't see me now, you will soon enough. I used my suspended air time to my advantage. Fire grew from my palms and I quickly molded it into a massive fireball. With a battle grunt, I launched the ball at the jet. As it sped closer, I peeked through the window to find that Ultron was the pilot.

I quickly built up another ball once I realized the first one missed. But by that time, Ultron had caught on and began firing.

I had underestimated the strength of the ammunition, and I had clearly forgotten that I was not the immune Asgardian I once was.

It hit me as though I was hitting impenetrable concrete. The first one struck my right shoulder, and the others varied: my left hip; my right thigh; center of my abdomen; the right part of my collarbone. I could hear my hair sizzle—one just missed my head.

I almost felt as though I was floating, but then I began to fall forward, back towards the floating city. My body screamed alarms, and the pain spread quickly through my veins. I was suddenly falling back first, and hit the hard ground with a ground-shaking thump. I kicked up ground and dust around me.

Kiara! Kia! Kiara! Kiara! Kiara! my teammates' thoughts shouted in my mind.

My breathing became shallow, and dust was beginning to settle. I watched helplessly from the ground as I saw the jet zoom over my head and fire more bullets. No! No! No! Clint!

I rolled my head to the side, but I couldn't angle myself properly to see if Clint and the little kid had been shot. Wouldn't I have heard the other Avengers' thoughts if something had? My pulse pounded thunderously in my ears, blocking out everything.

I could do small things, like move my body (but it would hurt). Crying out, I forced myself onto my stomach, feeling the holes in my body burn and sting. The dust wasn't settled in my line of vision, everything was cloudy at ground level.

As I bled, my life seemed to spill along with it. I closed my eyes. I'm going to die here. The ground felt oddly comfortable for me to lay my face against it.

Numbness swept over me. The pain was dulling, and my mind felt blank. All I can wait for now is the end. Whether I go before the city is dropped or not, I have to wait.

No, no, no, no. Not her. A tear fell from my eye as I heard him. Not her. Not now. Not her. She can't...I can't...she...

I almost believed it didn't happen, me being rolled over onto my back. My eyes were open enough to see the familiar spangly-suited man I loved. I could barely feel him pulling me off the ground.

"...Steve?" I rasped. "You...idiot. What are you doing...here?"

"You're not dying here, Kiara. Not on my watch."

"No," I complained, feebly pushing Steve away. "I'm not having you die with me. Get out of here. If Clint is still alive...take him and go, and the kid. Just get yourselves...out." I coughed.

"They're fine." But I saw something in his blue eyes that told me differently.

My head fell to the side, and past Steve, I cried out as I saw a body in the dirt.

It was Pietro Maximoff, and he looked as bullet-ridden as me. Red blossomed, contrasting his outfit. That was going to be me, soon. I took bullets, just like he did. Wanda is probably devastated. Does she even know that her brother is dead? Does she know that he sacrificed himself?

"I'll only weigh you down."

I felt my body get lifted off the rubble. "Never weighed me down before, and you won't now."

I was vaguely aware of leaving the rising city and being loaded onto a boat. I felt Steve settle down, sitting, with me close against him. He wasn't touching any area that had a bullet wound, he was careful in avoiding hurting me anymore.

"Jesus Christ," I heard someone mutter. Todd's face swam in my vision. "God damn it, Kiara."

"Hello to you, too," I coughed.

"Easy, easy." He smoothed down my hair. "You're gonna be fine."

"Tell me that when you're the one riddled with bullets." I was afraid to move.

"You...you should be dead."

I chuckled, wheezing. "Guess I'm not as vulnerable as you think I am."

"Let me go get a medic, okay?"

"Kiara!" exclaimed Aria. But Todd held her back, pushing her away.

I pushed my head into Steve's chest, getting as many deep breaths as I could.

"You're reckless, you know that?" he asked me sorely.

"H-how about instead of insulting me...you help me?"

"I'm keeping you talking, that's gotta count for something, right?"

"Just let me rest my eyes, Steve." I groaned.

"No, if you do...I don't want you to shut them and never open them again."

"Please, let me..." I sighed.

"Kiara."

"I'm here. Let me rest, Steven. Please."

I felt the sob rise out of his chest. "You're going to live through this, do you hear me? You don't get to die in my arms, you don't get to do that."

"And if I do?"

"You won't. I'm not losing you like this. You don't..."

"Hey." I touched his cheek softly as his head hung near me. My arms screamed in pain. "It's going to be alright. You'll be okay."

"It's not me I'm worried about."

I snorted. "Always selfless. Just one of the many things I love about you, Steve Rogers."

"Shh. Just, don't talk. Just look at me." His smile was watery. "We're going to make it. We're going to get you fixed up and on the mend, you hear me?"

"That question, that you asked me..." My eyes were closing. "My answer is yes."

The blackness took me before I could see what happened next.

* * *

When I woke, I had no idea where I was.

I wasn't in the Avenger Tower. This place felt different. I felt parts of my body covered in gauze.

I sighed, wincing on the exhale. When I turned my head, I saw Todd, who had tears in his eyes.

"Hey," I said softly.

"Thank god." He bowed his head, sniffling. "Thank god..."

"I don't understand."

"You're awake, finally."

I cocked my head. "Todd...how long have I been asleep?"

"Asleep is putting it nicely." He took my hand. "Kiara, you slipped into a coma for a few days."

"Holy..." I blinked. A coma? I went into a bloody coma?! "Are you sure?"

"Yup. We've had people take shifts with you so you had someone to see when you woke up. We were beginning to think you weren't going to..."

"Well, I proved you all wrong." I chuckled, but midway through I hissed in pain. "If I've been out for a few days, how come I haven't healed?"

"Oh, I'm sure you have. Whoever's been changing those probably forgot to take them off." His brown eyes darkened for a second.

"Have I missed anything important?"

"Where do I even begin to start?" Todd sat back in the chair. "Ultron has been defeated, Bruce went MIA, and Wanda Maximoff attempted to kill you—"

"What?"

"Yeah..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "She got real dark when she found out her brother died. Like, mega, potential villain type dark. She tried to get inside of your head and make your brains mush. She only attempted it once. It took practically all of us to stop her. Aria and Vision got through to her. She's been prohibited from being around this room."

I felt like I got punched in the chest. Wanda Maximoff tried to kill me, when I was defenseless, in a coma, without any idea as to what was going on in the outside world? Anger bristled in my veins. "I know why she tried. I survived, Pietro didn't," I said thickly. "She would want me to suffer how he did."

"She kept screaming about how she wanted you dead. How if she could, she would switch Pietro's place with yours."

"Did anyone give her a therapist? That's something she might need to see one for."

"Fortunately, we've kept away from that. Aria and Vision have been her therapists, I guess you can say."

"Aria?"

"Yeah, she seems to have calmed the witch down."

"Witch?"

"Well, what else can you label Wanda Maximoff if she's got magic?" Todd shrugged. "But yeah, Aria's kept her occupied."

I already knew one agenda item I wanted to get to, provided I didn't die in the process. "Where's Steve?"

"I'm really surprised you didn't lead with that."

"He has to know I'm awake." I sat up in the bed slowly.

"And he will." Todd rose to be at my bedside. "But you need to take your time and take it easy for a bit."

I looked around the room. "And this place?"

"A new Avengers facility. Still in New York. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I guess."

"Once you take a tour, you'll admit that it is." He winked. "I'll go let the others know that you're up."

"Thank you." I sat back in the bed, smacking the sheets that covered me. Ultron is gone, Bruce is MIA, and Wanda tried to kill me. Fun.

I had a few big worries: Steve, Bruce, Wanda, and...and what the team was going to be going forward. This whole mess with Ultron had really started something, a fissure in the Avengers. Tony and Bruce had created Ultron, but it was ultimately Tony who made it happen.

**Before anyone complains 'why didn't Kiara have the bullets bounce off her?', if you remember back in 'Ablaze', a certain asshole by the name of Seth Joyce is the reason. He made her invincibility take a hit. That's why the bullets went through her skin. She's still tough, but not how she first was back in Collision Course.**