Dreams Best Left Alone - Book 4 (Age of Ultron)

Chapter 12 - Battle for Sokovia - Part 2

Hulk roared and the robots all raced forwards, the fight commencing. The team worked back to back around the core, refusing to let any of the bots near it. They seemed to all be working in one, protecting each others' backs and covering one another in addition to the core. Annabelle glanced up as she saw a larger robot fly into the church, but Vision, Tony, and Thor took Ultron outside. She focused back on the fight around her, the circle of Avengers becoming tighter as they focused on the oncoming robots. Suddenly, the remaining ones started running and flying away.

"What just happened?" Pietro let out.

"They'll try to leave the city," Thor realized.

"We can't let them, not even one. Rhodey?"

"On it," he told Tony, Vision joining him.

"We gotta move out," Steve told the rest of them. "Even I can tell the air is getting thin."

"Really?" Annabelle asked, her chest heaving. "I hadn't noticed."

"You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?"

"I'll protect it," Wanda told Clint. "It's my job."

He nodded before turning to his friends. "Nat, this way." Clint and Natasha went to one area of the city, borrowing a car from outside. Annabelle headed to one of the other stations they had been keeping the civilians, Steve sweeping the rest of the city.

She let out a small scream as she was swept off her feet before being dropped at the last lifeboat. "You know," she panted, turning to Pietro who was wearing a smirk, "I'm not a huge fan of that."

"Thor, I'm gonna need you back in the church," Tony said as Steve ran over with two more people who rushed onto the lifeboat.

"Is this the last of them?"

"Yeah," Steve told him. "Everyone else is on the carrier."

"You know," Tony spoke up again, "this works, we maybe don't walk away."

"Maybe not," Thor accepted. They glanced up into the sky as they heard the familiar sound of the Quinjet, diving to the ground as it started shooting at them. Annabelle looked up as the fire went away from her direction, time seeming to move in slow motion as she followed Ultron's path to where Clint stood, holding a child. She turned as she felt Pietro move from where he had pushed her to the ground, looking at her for a moment before taking off.

"No!" she managed to get out right before the fire stopped and everything went quiet. Thor, Steve, and Annabelle all stared at Pietro who stood next to Clint, bullets littering his body and the car he had placed in front of Clint and the boy. They saw him fall to the ground and Annabelle took off, sliding over to his body as his breaths became shallower. She didn't pay attention as Steve made it next to her, Clint picking up the boy and taking him to the lifeboat. "Hey, hey," she whispered, putting a hand on the side of his head so he could look at her. He tried to speak, but just ended up coughing. "It's alright. You're okay." She sniffed, but made sure she kept a calming face.

"Happy..." He got cut off as he started to cough. "Happy moments," he breathed out and she nodded, putting her other hand up to his head and closing her eyes and he did too, falling into a memory.

Wanda and Pietro ran around the living room, dodging each other as they played. Their mother smiled at them as she glanced over her shoulder at them.

"Be careful," she laughed at them while they tripped over themselves in attempts to catch each other. The door suddenly opened and the twins smiled, rushing over to their father and hugging him.

"Dad!" they yelled, rushing to tell him about their day. He smiled as he tried his best to listen to them.

"Let your father breathe," their mother scorned gently as she walked over, giving her husband a kiss. "Now go wash up for dinner." They listened and soon sat down at the table, holding hands as their father said the blessing. Conversation started as soon as the blessing was over, Wanda and Pietro talking about anything that was on their minds as their parents smiled and participated where they could. Pietro talked about a kid in their class and how he had...

The memory suddenly stopped and Annabelle let out a sharp breath as the heat around her disappeared, pulling away to see him lying limp, eyes closed and a peaceful look on his face to contrast the blood covering his body and the ground. She backed away as Steve came forwards, picking up his body and carrying him to the lifeboat where he laid him down away from the civilians. Annabelle sat next to his body, watching it with an emotionless face.

"Annabelle..."

"I'm okay," she nodded, looking up at her brother who only nodded back. The city suddenly started descending and they both looked over the edge to see it quickly falling below the clouds. Annabelle moved closer to her brother, his hand coming to hers as they watched the city suddenly explode into little pieces and land in the ocean below.

I know this one is sad. I'm sorry! It took me a little longer to write, but I wanted to make sure the memory I chose was a good one. I think it's really special that this is the first time she really uses her abilities again. Like I said, I wish I had more time to write more scenes between them, but it just didn't make sense. I will be putting out some deleted scenes though in my Friends to Family book, so be on the lookout for those. Only one chapter left!