10. | UP AND UP

THE FLIGHT TO SOKOVIA was long and silent.

Tony and Clint were at the front, talking quietly to each other. Bruce sat far away from the Maximoff twins, who stood off to the side away from everyone. As Christina caught Bruce's eye, he quickly looked away. She knew he was annoyed with her for being against him and Tony, and she knew that he was angry about what Wanda had done to him.

Thor and Vision were seated together but not talking. Steve was on his own and her heart hurt as she looked at him, perhaps it was the fact that she missed him or maybe it was the look on his face—that serious and concerned look.

Careful not to draw too much attention, she moved over to him and sat down. She had expected a surprised look from him, though all he did was turn his head toward her with wide, tired eyes.

"Do you remember when we went to that old army base?" Steve whispered. "Back when we were still trying to figure out what was going on with SHIELD?"

"I remember," Christina answered quietly, ignoring the sudden shock that ran through her at his face being so close to hers again.

"Zola had shown us so many things that HYDRA had done...Howard Stark's picture came up," Steve trailed off.

Chris furrowed her brows, bringing forth the memories of that day from the back of her mind. She remembered the giant computer, the strange, computerized face of what used to be Zola, and how he'd shown them files of what HYDRA had managed to do underneath the guise of SHIELD. She also remembered the heart sinking feeling when the truth of her parents was revealed—that they were HYDRA spies all along. The files of her parents, Nick Fury, and Howard Stark were somehow connected.

"Yes," she breathed out, nodding her head. "HYDRA killed him."

They both glanced over at the front at where Tony was sitting, his back to them.

"Everything HYDRA did, almost everything, was with the help of the Winter Solider." Steve explained. "I think Bucky killed him."

The words resonated in her head a few times before she was drawn back to the conversation. Her heart pounded in her chest, that Bucky—rather the Winter Soldier—could've killed Howard Stark. Christina knew that if Tony found out and if Bucky were to ever be located...all hell would break loose.

"Oh, God," she whispered, eyeing Tony warily as if he could hear their every word. "Steve, Howard wasn't the only person killed that day."

His eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Tony's mom also died...she was in the car."

"We're five minutes out," Tony called, turning around in his chair. "Get ready, guys."

Steve and Christina shared one finally look before they stood. He began to tighten the straps on the back of his shield around his forearm, making sure they were secure.

Christina situated her twin blades on her back and holstered her guns, saddened by the fact that Steve would go back to avoiding her. Though she was comforted by the fact he trusted her enough to tell her about Bucky, she still didn't know where they stood.

"Chris—"

"Sitma," interrupted Thor, handing her the comms earpiece.

The Quinjet jolted, nearly making them all stubble where they stood before shooting an irritated look at Tony. He turned back to them with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Sorry, I'm not very good at landing this thing without Jarvis," he said innocently.

"Everyone ready?" Steve asked, not waiting for an answer. "Because we're not getting a second chance."

"No way we'll all get through this," Tony said, putting on his Iron Man helmet while the rest of the team made their way out of the Quinjet. They stepped out into an open clearing in the woods just outside the city. "If even one tin soldier is left standing, we've lost. There's gonna be blood on the ground."

The sun was just starting to rise, a faint, orange hue falling down on the Avengers as they walked in a quick pace through the trees.

"I've got no plans tomorrow night," Steve said lightly.

"I get first crack at the big guy. Iron Man's the one he's waiting for."

"That's true," Vision piped up. "He hates you the most."

Christina smirked.

"Avengers," Steve announced, coming to a halt at the edge of the clearing. "Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire and that's what we signed up for...but the people of Sokovia didn't. Our priority is getting them out. Everyone uses whatever resources they got to clear the city as fast as possible."

"The majority of the people are going to be at home," Wanda said, blinking at the bright sunlight.

"We need to go through houses and apartments first," Thor suggested.

"We still need to get help. We can't do this on our own," Steve explained. "The people need to be alerted and the police and military can do that for us."

"I'll get them," Pietro volunteered with a firm nod.

"Good. We find out what Ultron's been building...we find Romanoff—"

"I can find her," Bruce interrupted, earning a nod of approval from Steve.

"We need to keep the fight between us. No civilians get hurt," Steve said. "Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him, it's about whether he's right."

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The plan was fairly simple: get the people out of the city. They were innocent but they knew Ultron would not hesitate to kill them. Pietro used his speed to warn the police stations throughout the city and Wanda used her powers of mind-control to get the people out of their homes while Steve, Clint, and Christina helped evacuated them. Bruce went in search of Natasha while Tony, Thor, and Vision went looking for Ultron. Whatever their grievances, they were working together as a team once more.

Steve's speech had given them the motivation they'd needed, and Christina had to resist smiling proudly at him. He was a natural leader, and she couldn't imagine going into a fight like this without him.

When the three of them split to help with the evacuation, Steve turned to her.

"Be safe," he told her.

"You too."

Now Christina moved along the streets of Sokovia alone, motioning for the people the head down the street and out of the city. She noticed several of them had red-glazed eyes and blank looks on their faces, being motivated by Wanda. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the ground began to rumble beneath their feet. At first Christina thought it was an earthquake but then dozens of metal Ultrons came out of the ground, breaking through like mechanical butterflies coming free of their cocoons. They came in swarms now and the people screamed. She knew if panic broke out, people were going to get hurt. She didn't know if she had the power to calm the crowd, but she reached out her powers, pushing past fear and the confusion and trying to tamp it down. The screams lessened.

"Keep going!" Christina shouted. She jumped up onto an abandoned car on the side of the road. The people started moving again, this time with more order. A dozen Ultrons came hurling at them, but Christina—with a shout of frustration and a lot of mental strain—managed to fling them back in a flash of green. They hit the walls of the alleyway and broke apart, littering the ground with their parts. She pulled her gun and shot at two more that tried to sneak up behind her. There were too many people and too many Ultrons. They weren't moving fast enough and as Christina continued to fight the robots, the ground began to shake again. This time the shaking didn't stop.

The ground cracked next to her and she leapt off the car as a large gap appeared next to the tire. The entire city was moving. Cracks spread and shifted as the city began to rise. The people were panicking again and this time she didn't have the power to calm them. Some people lunged onto the stable ground while others ran back into the city. She stood at the edge as Sokovia lifted into the air. Rocks crumbled beneath her feet and she took a few steps back. As the entire city rose into the sky and as structures came tumbling down like building blocks, she felt her stomach drop. As the chunk of city lifted high above the ground, more and more of the edges cracked away. Building continued to collapse and the car next to her started rolling toward the edge. Christina sidestepped just in time. She watched the car lunge nose first to the depths below.

She heard an explosion behind her and that jolted her back into the present. There was still a battle to be won, and she wasn't going to let this very unexpected turn in events keep her down. She turned and flung her powers out at the Ultrons.

The robots dropped like flies under her onslaught. She wasn't holding back. There was no fear in her actions. She knew she had them under control, and she realized now that this was exactly the situation she'd been fearing if she kept fighting off her abilities. Without them, she would be relying on her fighting skills alone—just like New York—and against an army of robots. Christina had the skills and the accuracy, and she was battle-hardened like the rest of her team but as her powers thrummed along her fingertips, she knew that this was exactly who she was meant to be. She was done pretending that it wasn't.

The city was still rising, and as she fought, Christina heard Ultron's voice echo above the city. "When the dust settles," he began, "the only thing living in this world will be metal."

He meant to drop the rising city down like a meteor. The damage would be catastrophic, and Christina's confidence faltered. The robots they could fight, the people they could protect, but how could they stop the city from falling? She heard Steve's voice on the comms.

"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get killed, walk it off."

"Moving," Christina said into the comm. "Absolutely moving." She struck out at the nearest Ultron, spearing it through the head with one of her blades before retrieving the weapon and moved deeper into the city. The streets were piled with rubbles; dented cars lay on the side of the road, giant pieces of cement flattening their roofs. There was a frantic knocking on one of the windows, and she turned to see a woman and her daughter trapped inside one of the cars. It was half buried under rubble and a line of blood ran down the woman's face. The door was jammed shut. Christina ran over, using her powers to heave the stone aside. She wretched the door open and helped them out. "Get to safety," she said.

She didn't know if anywhere in the flying city was safe, but the streets were crawling with Ultrons.

"All right, we're all clear here," Clint said over comms.

"We are not clear. We are very not clear!" Steve shouted in response.

"Coming to you," Clint replied.

Christina had no idea where the others were, but she moved down the clear streets in hope of finding someone. Slightly distracted by the twisting layout of the city, she didn't notice one of the robots sneaking up behind her and she ended up on the dusty ground.

The robot turned her over, holding her hand with the blade down above her head. Panicked, her free hand shot a stream of magic at the robot's chest. It flew several feet into the air, but she was too dazed to move, and the dead weight of the suit landed on her, knocking the air out of her. She felt a pain bubble in her lower abdomen, but it was gone a moment later.

The suit was lifted off her before two familiar hands grabbed her by the arms and pulled her back to her feet. She coughed to clear the dust from her lungs and leaned onto the strong arms around her.

Steve was silent, but his eyes inspected her for injuries.

"I'm fine," she said, and awkwardly patted him on the bicep.

He nodded and she noticed that he didn't seem to be injured either.

"Let's get back to the others."

The city was still rising, and the clouds were choking it along with the smoke. Everything was hazy as they made their way to the others. They only met a few more Ultrons as they went.

Natasha was fighting an Ultron with her batons and Christina felt a surge of relief. The redhead turned to them as they approached.

"I'm glad you're okay," Christina said. "I was worried. We all were."

"Well, I'm as good as I can be," Natasha said with a chuckle before getting serious. "Are you okay?"

Christina swallowed thickly, knowing what she was truly asking. "I think so."

"We need to get the people to safety," Steve said. There were still panic-stricken people running around, covered in dust. Many had injuries and a few looked to frightened to move.

Natasha nodded. "I'll go into these buildings and make sure everyone has made it out. You two stay here and cover me."

Steve nodded, and Natasha moved back into the shrouded city.

With Natasha on civilian patrol, Steve decided it was time for the next part of their plan. "The next wave's gonna hit any minute," he said into the comm. "What have you got, Stark?"

"Well, nothing great," came Tony's reply. He sounded defeated, and Christina felt a little jolt. She'd never really thought that they might not make it out of this, but right now it wasn't looking good. "Maybe a way to blow up the city. That will keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve said, eyes scanning the area. Natasha was off in the distance with Wanda, guiding people into a nearby building.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony said. "We're gonna have to make a choice."

"Cap, these people are going nowhere," Natasha said. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock—"

"Not until everyone is safe," Steve said.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" Natasha questioned. "There's no math there."

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

"I didn't say we should leave."

"I never thought I'd look down on the world like this," Christina said.

"We don't have a lot of options," Steve replied. "You ready?"

"Not really," Christina said, head fuzzy.

"Look at me," Steve instructed, and she immediately turned to him. "You need to focus on the battle now. I can't do this without you."

They were still standing by the edge of the city, and she felt the air getting thin in her lungs.

"Neither can I."

A part of her was referring to the battle. A part of her was referring to her life. And a part of her was referring to the life growing inside her, which she was going to have to accept at some point after this battle. It was a new journey for her which she was rather afraid of.

"I'm scared, Steve."

The look in her eyes undid him. He pulled her forward against his chest, holding her tightly. "I'm scared too. We might make it out of this, but right now it looks like a lot of people are going to die."

"There are worse ways to go, I guess," Christina said darkly with a shrug. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Steve looked at her with a saddened look on his face. Though when she nodded her head at him, letting him know that she was serious, the sadness in his eyes turned to something else. Something she couldn't describe as anything else but admiration.

"Glad you like the view, Sitma."

Christina gasped. That voice. It was Nick Fury, undeniably. His voice caused a wave of relief to wash over her and she smiled.

"And it's about to get better."

Several Helicarriers were hovering next to the floating city. "Nice right?"

Pietro came whizzing into sight. "This is SHIELD?" he asked as several lifeboats broke away from the Helicarriers and started toward them.

"This is what SHIELD's supposed to be," Steve replied.

"This is not so bad," Pietro said, admiring the tech.

"Let's load them up," Steve said as the lifeboats neared. They started moving, motioning for the people. Christina used her powers to calm the crowd so there was no rushing or jostling. The people lined up to be rescued and everything was looking much more hopeful than it had a minute ago. They each took control of a lifeboat, moving people toward it as quickly as they could. Christina heard Tony's voice on the comm talking about the vibranium core and how they might be able to blow it.

"Avengers, time to work for a living," Tony announced. The Ultrons were coming for the core and it was time to work as a team to stop them. Christina and Steve headed toward the church where the core was being housed. More Ultrons were coming out of the ground, flying at them from above, heading toward the same place.

The team had all congregated in the battered church around the metal core, standing in a circle around it. Pietro and Wanda joined them along with Vision.

"What's the drill?" Natasha asked.

"This is the drill," Tony answered, voice echoing from his Iron Man suit. He touched the core. "If Ultron gets his hands on the core, we lose."

Christina nodded firmly. "Then let's make sure we don't lose."

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