Beyond

Flying

Steve groaned as he dragged himself out of the windshield of the car he had been thrown through.

"This isn't going well." He grunted. And in all honesty that was an understatement.

They were on a flying rock that was going to destroy the human population and they had three newbies on their team attempting to help them.

And SHIELD was none existent.

Too much had happened recently and Steve was too tired for this.

"We need keep trying." Tony urged as he shot past, a blur of red across the sky followed by several Ultron bots. "We can't fail."

"Yeah I know." Steve nodded as he shook off the dust and glass. "I just wish there were more of us."

"Yeah, I mean the kids have teamed up with us." Clint reminded. "But we need someone with experience, anything from SHIELD?"

"Not yet." Natasha replied.

"The Vision is able to handle many with the stone. But this battle I fear is not going our way." Thor reported as a loud explosion happened.

"Try and get Ultron's attention." Tony grumbled.

"Trying." Natasha snapped. "Hulk's on the move."

"Good."

"We need to find a way to get these people off the city." Clint said sharply. "How are we going to do that?"

"I called Fury." Natasha stated.

"Yeah, but he's not here yet."

Steve threw his shield at an Ultron-bot only for 3 others to land around him.

He prepared for a few wounds when something shot past him taking them out swiftly.

"Um Tony." Steve said quietly as he caught his shield his eyes scanning the sky chasing something that moved to fast. "I think I just..."

"If you say you got shot Cap, you gave the order to walk it off."

"Steve?" Natasha asked.

"I think I just saw a lion." Steve admitted.

The coms were silent.

Tony was the first to break the silence. "I found the device, everyone to the church, dead center of the city."

"We're on route." Steve nodded to himself.

When he arrived the others were all gathered around a complicated looking device.

"This really isn't good." Tony admitted. "If this rock gets high enough Ultron will drop it."

"Doomsday?" Steve asked.

"Yeah." Tony nodded meeting his gaze. "About what you said... Are you sure?"

Steve looked away with a frown. "I don't know."

Ultron hovered just outside of the church and Thor growled.

"Is that the best you can do?!" He barked out glaring up at Ultron.

Hulk snorted a growl, shuffling to prepare for a fight.

Ultron raised his hand and hundreds of Ultron bots flooded the area. "This," he said smugly, "is the best I can do."

"You had to ask." Steve sighed as Tony shot Thor a deadpan glare, that could tell us the expression even through his helmet.

Thor had the decency to look at least a little bit embarrassed.

"How do you plan on stopping me now, humans?" Ultron growled.

"Well, it's like the old man said." Tony smirked glancing Steve's way. "Together."

"Destroy the Avengers!" Ultron ordered and the bots launched towards them.

The bots weren't traveling slowly, but they hit something, some of them crushing themselves with their own momentum.

Tony flinched slightly.

"Another trick?" Pietro frowned.

"Is this your doing Stark?" Wanda asked her hands glowing harshly as they waited for something to happen.

"No." Tony breathed shaking his head in awe. "But I wish."

"It's mine."

The Avengers flinched turning to see...

Standing there with his armour on, helmet tucked under his arm as he watched them all was Lance.

His hair was shorter revealing a bright scar above his right ear and one at his right temple, he looked surprisingly tired.

"Lance?" Natasha asked blinking at him.

Lance offered an awkward smile and a fumbled wave. "Hey guys."

"Kid!" Clint beamed.

Thor grinned brightly as he rushed over to pull Lance into a tight hug. "You have returned to us young friend."

Lance smiled at him hugging him back. "Yeah."

"Are you okay?" Natasha asked as she placed her hand on his arm.

"Eh, not really." Lance assured giving her hand a squeeze. "What's with this guy and the floating rock?"

Tony stepped forwards fistbumping Lance so all the information uploaded into his gauntlets. "This is Ultron."

"You actually made him?" Lance asked looking surprised.

"Wait, you know about Ultron?" Steve asked curiously as he shot Tony a frown.

Lance smiled as he scrolled through the information. "Yeah, Tony told me all about him and how he could protect the earth from major threats." He paused looking up. "I guess it went wrong."

"Yeah." Tony sighed. "He decided he wanted to destroy all humans instead."

Lance nodded. "So what's the mission?"

"We have to stop the city from getting to high, we also then have to stop him from reaching this." Natasha explained gesturing to the podium in the middle of the church.

"And get all the people off this rock." Clint chipped in.

Lance frowned slightly before he looked away. "SHIELD's here."

"Kid, your lion is annoying." Fury said over the coms.

"You're late." Steve pointed out before he looked at Lance. "How did you get back?"

"I'll explain later." Lance assured shooting him a smile before looking up. "Green you holding out okay?"

With a loud roar the green lion became visible standing over the church her particle barrier protecting them all.

"Good." Lance grinned. "Yellow and Black are slowing the rock down, Blue's ready to ferry people to safety."

"There's five lions." Clint said with a frown. "Where Red?"

Another loud roar and the red lion appeared. Wiping out half of the Ultron bots with a single blast.

"There she is." Lance smiled pulling his helmet on.

"If it is technology, he can control it." Wanda warned, frowning at Lance.

"I'd like to see him try." Lance glared as he let his Bayard come to his hand. "Now let's end this."

"We've got to isolate Ultron to one body then destroy the rest." Vision explained.

"Lance hit anything that's metal and angsty." Tony explained.

"You got it." Lance grinned his Bayard becoming a sniper rifle. He used his jetpack to land in a broken window of the church lifting his sniper ready to do battle.

"You calling it Cap?" Tony asked.

"Avengers!" Steve said loudly. "Assemble!"

The shield around them lifted and everyone launched into action.

Lance covered them with rapid fire while the Red and Green lions provided the needed support.