Frostbite

Fifteen

The plan was straightforward. Wanda would focus on using her powers to force the people out of the city to evacuate. Bruce would stay out of the fight and go find Natasha. Tony and Vision would track down Ultron and erase him from the net while the rest of us focused on evacuating the city. It would most definitely be easier said than done; Ultron would be waiting for us, and we had no idea what his plan was.

We were closing in on the city, so Steve stood to address everyone. All eyes focused on him, the tension spiking as we realized that some of us could possibly not come home from this. The thought was daunting.

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So, our priority is getting them out... All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done and find out what Ultron's been building. We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

No one said a word as we landed just outside the city, Steve's words resonating within us. The ramp lowered and we all split up. It wasn't long before people started pouring out of their homes and into the streets from Wanda working her magic. Steve and I were still together, and we began ushering people toward the edge of the city. Cars began getting backed up, and even more people entered the streets as they exited their vehicles to continue on foot.

Suddenly the ground beneath my feet split apart, and a robot emerged from the hole, grabbing ahold of my foot and knocking me to the ground. I yelled out in surprise. It wasn't the only one; robots began crawling out from everywhere, filling the city.

I swiftly kicked the bot in the head with my free foot, breaking its grasp. Steve had run over at my cry and brought his shield down, swiftly decapitating it. He held out his hand which I gratefully took. I climbed back up to my feet and gave his hand a small squeeze.

"We have to clear the city and get rid of these things," Steve said urgently.

"Yeah, well we're a little outnumbered," I huffed, taking in the sight of Ultron's army. People were scattering everywhere, screaming as they tried to dodge and hide themselves. Without another word, we started taking out as many bots as we could.

One of them crept up behind me, but as soon as it touched me, I grabbed ahold of it and wrestled it to the ground. I smashed its head to pieces, and it quickly powered down. They just kept coming from every direction, so I finally just started swiveling and blasting all of them, taking care to not hit any civilians.

The ground started to tremble abruptly; buildings shook which caused even more panic. Several people bumped into me as they rushed past, but I hardly noticed.

"What the hell," I gasped, glancing around for Steve. He was nowhere in sight and the city immediately around us was starting to rise up into the air. Buildings that sat on the edge started to crumble and fall to the ground below us. The screams intensified as everyone started to move farther into the city. Ultron's voice began speaking through his army, taunting us.

"Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

With his last words, more of his robots flew into the city, smashing through buildings and ensuing a new wave of terror. I spotted a small child and father dropping to the ground to try and avoid one of them. Without another thought, I swung my arm up and encased it in ice, sending it hurtling to the ground. When I turned to move on to the next target, I watched Steve get unexpectedly thrown through the air. He landed on a car but was fine from what I could tell.

"Cap, you got incoming," Tony warned a little too late.

"Incoming already came in," Steve panted, "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."

What an inspiring command that was.