t w e n t y - o n e

*•.*

SOKOVIA

STEVE ROGERS NEVER FAILED TO GIVE A GOOD SPEECH. His words fueled her on as she directed the people of Sokovia away from the growing number of Ultron's bots.

Protect them. Keep the fight between us.

She ducked behind a car as a robot shot a beam of energy her way. "Go," Geneva yelled to the panicking people as she stood again. "Run." She threw her electric baton into the back of one of the bots advancing on a group of civilians. Then Geneva ran, bounding off the hood of a car and onto its back, stabbing it's neck with her other baton. She retrieved her weapons. They weren't her favorite, but she'd trained with every weapon she could, including these ones, for this exact reason. The group dispersed running with the rest of the crowd.

Geneva moved on to another one, but the ground beneath her shook. She almost lost her balance as she looked around. Clint, Wanda, and Olten were nowhere in sight, but she saw Steve ripping a bot apart before he abruptly stopped. She ran to him.

The city was rising up from the earth. Geneva watched stunned, so did Steve. The ground was crumbling away. Geneva hated to think about the other edges of the city, which weren't clear of people.

Steve didn't even bother turning around as he punched a robot in the face, making it fall to the ground. Gen did, however, turn and duck, stabbing it through its chest with her baton. Its light dimmed, and right before she stood a group of flew up and above the city. One of them picked up Steve and carried him yards away, dropping him onto a car.

"Cap, Blake you got incoming," Tony warned through the comms.

"Incoming already came in," Steve replied, his voice strained. Geneva hurried off the bridge afraid to be anywhere near the edge any longer. "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 'em back. You get killed, walk it off."

"That was very moving," Geneva said, sarcasm flooding into her voice.

Olten let out a cry. "These things just get angrier when I burn them."

"Then turn up the heat kid," Tony told him.

Geneva watched as buildings crumbled, barely missing civilians as they ran with no place to run. Just then a group of Ultron's minions formed a semi-circle around her. There were five and she was outnumbered. "Um, I'm in desperate need of back up," she said, pulling her batons from her sides. A baton nearly identical to hers sank through the chest of one of the bots. "It's about damn time."

Geneva stabbed the robot nearest her and threw her baton into the next one while Natasha worked on another one. Together they took out the last one, Natasha holding its arm while Geneva used both her legs to kick its chest. She fell onto her back, groaning. Gen stood to face her friend. "I thought you were gone," the redhead muttered. "You hit the water and you didn't come back up."

"You're one to talk. I came back up and you weren't there."

"Well—" A truck exploded behind them. "It looks like we're missing the fight," she finished. They shared a smile before running into the thick of it.

Geneva let out a tired breath as she handed Steve his shield. The air was dusty. They ushered civilians into a building while Ultron's bots had temporarily fallen back. At least these people would be out of the line of fire.

"The next wave's gonna hit any minute," Steve began. They moved to where Nat stood. "What have you got, Stark?"

Tony's voice was solemn when he spoke. "Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

Geneva frowned. That was not the ideal ending.

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice." Tony was ready to make the hard decision, Steve wasn't.

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

Steve interrupted Natasha. "Not 'til everyone's safe."

"How can we get everyone to safety?" Gen asked hopelessly. "Like Nat said, these people aren't going anywhere. There's nowhere to go. We're too far up, and this rock has got to blow regardless of who's still on it."

"I know," he said, his voice clipped. "But these people aren't dying today. We put them in this situation, so it's our job to get them out."

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there?" Nat asked shaking her head. "There's no math there."

Steve's decision was made though. "I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it."

"I didn't say we should leave." Nat tilted her head as Steve and Gen looked at her. "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Geneva let her hand slip into Steve's. He squeezed it for a prolonged moment before letting go. Then a familiar voice crackled over the comms. "Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." A SHIELD helicarrier emerged from the clouds. Gen's heart burned with both relief and surprise. "Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

Steve smirked. "Fury, you son of a bitch."

"Oooh!" Fury exclaimed. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"This is SHIELD?" Floating lifeboats exited from the helicarrier.

Steve looked to Pietro. "This is what SHIELD's supposed to be."

"This is not so bad," the speedster said lightly.

"Let's load 'em up."

Steve ran to the building behind them, and people began flooding out. Geneva helped them climb onto the floating machines. Once they were full, she and Natasha found a truck and head to the core holding the city up.

"Avengers, time to work for a living." They ran over the Ultron's legion. "Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini.' And Blake, you better not be helping them."

"Come again?" Geneva said.

"Relax, Shell-head," Natasha answered as they stopped in front of the church. "Not all of us can fly."

Geneva looked around at her friends, and the four new ones she hardly knew. They formed a circle around the core. She stood between Nat and Steve. "What's the drill."

"This is the drill." Tony pointed at the vibranium. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Hulk entered the church right as Ultron descended before them. "Is that the best you can do?" Thor shouts at their enemy.

Ultron's bots come crawling like rats out of a sewer. Geneva sighed, when did Ultron make all of those things?

"You had to ask," Steve muttered.

Ultron lifted his arms, proud. "This is the best I can do."

"I still thought it'd be a bit better than this," Olten whispered, causing them to frown.

"This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well, like the old man said," Tony began, "together."

The bots began their attack. Geneva shot expertly at them and used her baton to push them back. It was all over quickly. The bots were more feeble than any army she'd ever fought. Geneva was breathing heavily, struggling to catch her breath.

"We gotta move out," Steve said. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked, looking around.

Wanda, who was closest to it, spoke up. "I'll protect it. It's my job."

"I'll help," Olten volunteered. Everyone seemed satisfied with this arrangement. Geneva shot Olten a stern look that told him be careful. He smiled cheekily at her, and somehow it was hard to remember the boy he was a few days ago.

Geneva looked back to Steve and they walked a few steps away. "You better find your ass on one of those boats in the next ten minutes, or I swear I'm coming back to look for you."

"Don't do that. I will be," he replied quickly, kissing her cheek. He then ran back into the rubble.

She shook her head, suppressing a smile , before turning in the opposite direction and catching up with Clint and Natasha. She hopped into the back seat of the sports car.

"I know what I need to do. The dining room," Clint told Nat as they drove through the debris. It was saddening to see the city like this, people's lives ruined—lost. "If I knock out that east wall, it'll make a nice work space for Laura, huh? Put up some baffling, she can't hear the kids running around, what do you think?"

"I know," Geneva said butting in, "you promised Laura that you were done tearing apart that house."

He gave her a look through the mirror. "How'd you even know that?"

"I hear everything," she replied with a shrug. Her words were only slightly true. She'd caught the last half of the couple's conversation as she'd come around the corner.

"She's right though," Nat said. They reached the lifeboats.

They got out of the car. "We don't have a lot of time."

Natasha moved to go find Bruce. "So get your asses on a boat."

Geneva obliged, quickly getting on one of the lifeboats. She avoided people's eyes, afraid of what she'd find there. Her limbs ached and all she wished to do was sit down but she continued to look out at the city looking for anyone left. She hadn't even noticed when Clint left, but she noticed when he'd come back. Steve was carrying a lifeless Pietro in his arms and he gently placed him on the ground. Clint was in tow carrying a little boy.

Steve left shortly after that, probably to double check the streets. He was close so her worry that he wouldn't make it here in time was gone.

Geneva looked Pietro, her heart hurting for a boy she'd never know but who'd helped save the day. Her heart also hurt for Wanda.

Pietro wasn't supposed to die today.

That was the only thought in her mind as she sank in her seat.

*•.*

it's 3 a.m. i can sleep now. thanks for reading!