∆ {3²²} {IS IT ENOUGH TO JUST SURVIVE?} ∆

NO-ONE ANSWERED STRAIGHT away, the silence filling the comms line as everyone took a moment to process what they had heard, and while the noises of battle still remained around her, Roxi tuned them out in favour of waiting for a response.

"If you don't mind." Clint's reply was the first to come through, his voice slightly breathy as machinery whirred in the background. Roxi let out a short sigh before replying,

"On my way." She could only head towards the last place she had seen Clint and hope that it would be close enough. Now wasn't exactly the time to ask for directions. She weaved her way between rubble, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly to try and see through the dust that had been stirred up, keeping her mouth shut so that it didn't obstruct her breathing. Thankfully, Clint was only a street or two over from where she'd last seen him, shooting down some robots outside the doors of an old building, the top blown off and lying scattered over the cobbles. However good Clint was, it was almost impossible to catch everything without help, which at that moment, he didn't have. Unfortunately, that meant that he didn't see one of the robots coming at him from behind, while Roxi did. She pulled up her hand on complete instinct and getting hold of it before throwing it as hard as she could past Clint and into the building opposite him. He didn't have time to acknowledge the action past a quick nod and a 

"Thanks." She returned the nod, before refocusing on keeping herself and Clint alive. It wouldn't do anyone else a favour if either of them died. For the next few minutes, it was more of the same, the two of them, ending up almost back to back as they fought to survive, and if they could, to live. There was a difference. One simply involved not being dead, still being around, while the other relied on keeping emotions, keeping your humanity and your morals, still fighting for what you believed in and hoping no-one would have the chance to take it from you again. The world had try to take that from Roxi several times, but now, with her team, with Natasha, she felt as if that might not happen again. She felt safe, even as killer robots attacked her, even as worry about Natasha tickled the back of her mind. Especially as Wanda burst through the doors of the building behind Clint, red furling around her hands and swirling in her eyes. It didn't take long before there were no robots left around them, driven away by Wanda and Roxi, and the occasional arrow from Clint. Roxi knew that the big part of the fight wasn't quite here yet, that part of the battle that became just that much harder. In New York, it'd been the Leviathans coming through the portal in the sky, and here, who knew what it would be. Clint exchanged a glance with Roxi, which she simply shrugged to.

"Alright, we're all clear here," he reported as Roxi slipped her quarterstaff

"We are not clear. We are very not clear," Steve protested, the sound of metal smashing and creaking filtering through the comms, squealing slightly at the loudness of the noise.

"Alright, coming to you." A second later, Pietro had zoomed into eyeshot, picked up Wanda and sped away, stirring up paper and dust that Roxi was able to avoid, though it started to cloud around Clint, hanging in the air as he raised his bow, an arrow at the ready as he muttered,

"Nobody would know.. Nobody." Normally Roxi might've butted in, might've pointed out that she would know, but the man seemed like he needed the more relaxed moment where he could allow his humour to flourish, if only for a few seconds. He lowered his bow, sparing Roxi a fleeting glance before he began to jog in the direction that Pietro had run.

"The last I saw him, Ultron was sitting on him. Oh, yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little bastard; I miss him already." Roxi let a smile creep onto her face and shook her head lightly as she followed after him, catching up quickly as Tony and Steve laid out what they knew.

"The next wave's gonna hit any minute. What do you got, Stark?"

"Well, nothing great," it was blaringly obvious, not simply because of Tony's words, but the slightly dejected tone that he spoke them in, sounding like he wished he could tell them almost anything else, "maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve insisted, voicing the thoughts that Roxi was slowly beginning to feel trickle back into her mind as her brain became less numb and she began to get more into the strategic, more considerate mindset rather than the one she had been in for the past half an hour, which had been mainly to follow orders and crush whatever robot she saw.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're gonna have to make a choice." Tony's words held the same tone of dejection and failure, the fleeting smile on Roxi's face having vanished within the first few words of the conversation, replaced with a concentrated look as she kept her eyes fixed on the ground in front of her, determined not to trip and sprain her ankle, especially as she'd split up with Clint a few minutes ago, vaguely recognising the route they were taking. 

"Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock.." Natasha's voice was faint, and was definitely not coming through the comms, but Roxi had managed to make out her words, her head snapping in the direction of the sound instantly as she wove through skinny alleys and ran through all that was left of some buildings, determined to reach Steve and Natasha where the stood near where one of Sokovia's bridges had once stood.

"Not 'til everyone's safe." Roxi sped up, still being careful of the boulders and twisted scraps of metal that stuck up jauntily from where'd they'd been crushed by falling rock, jumping over the debris and flattening the land where she could.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there; there's no math in that."

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve argued, his voice growing louder as Roxi found the edge of the buildings and almost ran right off the island, managing to grab one side of a doorframe to stop her momentum from carrying her forwards into the abyss of the sky that now lay below them, her breaths coming out long and fast. She gave herself a moment to recover, moving back from the drop before her, that, if she hadn't noticed, she would be falling into once again.

"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha's words were much quieter than Steve's and harder to catch, but with the wind carrying them towards Roxi, she could make out the redhead's words, interrupting her steadying breathing with a sharp sigh as she realised that Natasha was right. If they left, they would simply be cowards running away from a massacre that they had been the cause of. Then they would survive, but it would be harder to live. No matter what happened, they needed to save as many lives as possible. They needed to stop Ultron, and if that meant going down with the ship, Roxi supposed, then so be it.

"There's worst ways to go; where else am I going to get a view like this?" The sentiment wasn't strong, merely a way of assuring Steve that they weren't going to abandon thousands of people on this rock, even if they couldn't save them. If they couldn't save these people, they probably didn't deserve to save themselves. That was the way the rest of the world would see it. But Roxi couldn't focus on the rest of the world in that moment in time. These people, suspended thousands of feet above the ground, were probably going to die today. At least it would be on their own soil, surrounded by what they knew. Roxi hadn't been to Spain in years; not since before 2012; before New York. The thought of the Battle against the Chitauri, strangely, filled Roxi with more hope than she had had for their situation yet. If they could save one of the largest cities in the world from an alien army hundreds of thousands strong, why couldn't they save Sokovia. Sure, they were flying, but they had Vision, Wanda, Pietro, and Roxi knew how to use her powers now. All were huge advantages, and they were about to get another one.

"I'm glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." Roxi nearly froze as Fury's voice rung through the comms, hearing the massive whir of a familiar engine, a tide of relief surging through her with more force than she had expected as she poked her head out of one of the shattered windows to find a helicarrier hovering before them in all its splendour. They had a way out. These people would live. In that moment, that was all Roxi could ask for, and it seemed to give her a burst of energy that let her finally find a way through to the building-free area that Natasha and Steve stood in, on top of one of the destroyed roads.

"Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do. Roxi had never felt so glad. They were relieved of half of their worries now that they would be able to evacuate people, and Roxi allowed a proper smile to stretch across her face as she walked up towards her two friends.

"Fury, you son of a bitch." Surprisingly, it was Steve that had spoken, Roxi raising an eyebrow at him that he couldn't see, but doing it anyway out of curiosity.

"Oo. You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Fury replied, and she could hear the pride and relief in his tone, knowing that he had been able to save half a cities' worth of people by just showing up at the right time. Pietro reached Steve and Natasha first, speeding to a stop a few meters in front of them, staring at the helicarrier as they sent down airborne lifeboats to dock on the edge of the island.

"This is SHIELD?" He seemed pleasantly surprised by the idea that the organisation could do so much good, that they could help his people so much, and it took Roxi back to a time where she had been amazed at what they could do as well.

"This is what SHIELD is supposed to be," Steve corrected, his face etched with the same emotions as Fury. Roxi finally reached the three of them, meeting Pietro's eyes with a nod, almost as a promise that SHIELD could do this. They would protect his people, they would help him fight, they would help him.

"Damn right it is," she announced, not missing the way that Natasha started slightly before spinning around, the redhead's smile growing at the sight of Roxi as she walked the final few meters towards them, the two greeting each other with a short hug and a twinkle in their eyes that said they would talk later, when all of this was over.

"This is not so bad," the resident Sokovian admitted, and Roxi found her fondness for him growing. He wasn't much older than she had been when she'd joined SHIELD, and with his attitude and accent, Roxi couldn't help but find herself seeing some of who she had been in him. She hoped that he wouldn't make the same mistakes that she had with his life, that he didn't shut people out, though that didn't seem like it would be an issue.

"Let's load 'em up," Steve ordered, looking much more confident now, with much more spring in his step as he went to find people to herd onto the lifeboats. Roxi couldn't help finding that the confidence was beginning to bubble inside her as well, to give her hope that this might end well, that these people would get off of this floating city that had once been their home. Roxi found her faith in herself finally being restored, even if it was just for the next few hours. They needed to act without hesitation, and that's what she was going to do. It didn't matter if it cost her more than it should, these people were innocent; she was not. Their lives needed saving, and if Roxi came out of this well, maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't just survive. She would live.

{A/N:} I'm actually slightly happier with this chapter, not too sure why. Anyway, it's Saturday, enjoy the update :) I'm finally on half term, and I am officially half way through the school year (which is a weird thought tbh). I do have some plans for the next few chapters that set up what happens in Civil War with Roxi because that's going to be a bit messier than normal but oh well.

Honestly, I think part of the reason why these chapters aren't so long and aren't as good as others is because I'm more focused on getting the chapters out on time than the content behind them, but seeing as I'm off school, I'll try to write more chapters in the next few days and focus more about what goes into them so that I don't have to worry about the time.

Like I said, nothing too big with Natasha and Roxi this chapter, but I promise it'll come soon. I honestly have no idea how many more chapters Age of Ultron's going to have, but I'm probably going to aim for 25 because it will annoy the hell out of me otherwise. So, like I said, bear with me, hopefully more updates for books I haven't updated in a while this week (no promises). Also I love the AoS reference that Fury makes this chapter so Imma just say this: 

Theta Protocol :).

Anyways, please vote, comment, let me know what you think, etc.,

2400 Words

Written: 13 / 02 / 2021

Published: 13 / 02 / 2021