The Ghost [Marvel | Steve Rogers]

Chapter 53

Novi Grad, Sokovia

Spring 2015

"Rhodes, are you clear?" There was no one left so far as Nadine could tell, robot or human. Just as the Avengers had, the sentries had converged on Ultron's Core. But since the city was still rising, the Team was obviously managing to hold Ultron's minions at bay.

That left her and Rhodes to finish rounding up civilians.

And as it stood, it certainly appeared to Nadine that everyone had been rounded up. Breaking into a light jog, she glanced up as War Machine made another pass overhead, making use of his suit's advanced sensor tech to check the buildings for any remaining bio-signs, she suspected.

"I'm all clear, Ryker," his voice came through her earpiece, "I'm not picking up anyone else. You're good to catch your ride out of here. It looks like the rest of the Team are making their way back, too." Well that was a relief. It meant there was a chance this was all over. That all that was left to do was finish evacuating the city.

Then Stark could blow it and they could all go home.

Not that Nadine was entirely sure where home was going to be just then. But so long as Nina was safe, she honestly didn't care.

"Already on my way," she confirmed. Only to frown in confusion as the Quinjet roared overhead, heading toward the last remaining lifeboat. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. The small square where she'd put the jet down hadn't been anywhere near the church where the Avengers had been facing off against Ultron, so who would've retrieved it? No one had said anything over the comm, so she couldn't even begin to speculate. Who could've made it so quickly? The Maximoff boy, certainly, but she very much doubted he knew how to fly it. Could he have brought someone else to it? Natasha, perhaps? She knew he could do that, bring other people along with him. She pushed her thoughts on the matter aside. They were distracting and she needed to get back to the lifeboats. Back to Nina. She was sure she'd find out what was going on with the Quinjet soon enough.

But moments later, as she drew closer to Novi Grad's main square, she heard the distant, distinct sound of the jet's high-calibre rounds and Hulk's furious bellow. A chill ran through her and she suddenly couldn't fight the feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"Who's got the Quinjet," she asked anxiously into the comms. But no one answered, not even Rhodes, who she'd only been speaking to moments before. "Natasha? Barton?"

The apprehensive feeling intensified.

Especially when the ground beneath her feet shuddered.

For a split-second she thought the city was about to drop out from under her, causing her heart to leapfrog around her insides as she nearly stumbled on the uneven street, her keenly developed reflexes the only thing preventing her from nose-diving into the fractured pavement.

But when nothing of the sort happened, when she and the city didn't begin its plummet to the Earth below, a faint wash of relief went through her.

Though it did nothing to ease the anxiously tightening knot in her gut.

She quickened her pace.

Unsettled feeling or not, she was running out of time.

The main square was deserted when she finally reached it, the last straggling few Sokovians scrambling onto the lifeboat. The city effectively felt—cliché as it seemed to think as much—like a ghost town. Dust hung thickly in the quickly thinning air...or was it more cloud; it was certainly cool enough, and moisture was beginning to cling to Nadine's skin again. The ground was pockmarked with great gouges and craters, the lifeless husks of destroyed sentries littering the ground everywhere she looked.