Project Reaper

23. Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Ayyy we have 300 reads thanks guys.

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Ash had calmed down, and she flew back to where she had seen the rest of the Avengers last. She appeared there, seeing no one else there. A feminine voice called out, "Ms. Winchester, Mr. Stark would like to speak with you on Level 88, Storage."

"Thank you, Ms. AI."

"My name is FRIDAY."

She nodded before flying back down to 88, quickly finding Stark. "You wanted to see me?"

He looked up at her, pulling something out of what appeared to be a storage locker. "Uh, hey, Ash, how're you doing?"

"You saw?" Ash looked away.

"I saw you starting to freak out," he admitted. "Are you...doing ok?"

"Yeah," she lied.

Tony cleared his throat. "Uh, I've been working on a jacket, if you're open for an upgrade. It's got built in knives, one's silver, the other is iron, for ghosts, and all that. It's got some surprises in there too."

Ash tilted her head. "You made me a jacket?"
"Uh, yeah."

Ash smiled, taking the coat and putting it on. It was very similar to her original jacket, with more pockets and a hood. The color was navy blue, and it was a comfortable fit with a hood. "Thank you, Tony."

Tony scratched the back of his neck, saying, "It's nothing, I've been thinking about doing it since New York."

Ash flicked her wrists, revealing the hidden blades before she tucked them back into the sheathes. "Nice."

"So you like it?"

"Yep. Thanks, man," she told him, patting him on the shoulder before movement caught her eyes.

It was the twins.

She waved tentatively and Wanda waved back, smiling shyly.

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Ash scanned the crowds that were exiting Sokovia, her mask sitting snugly on her face as she pulled her hood up.

It was quiet.

She hated it.

Her phone was a weight in her pocket as she began to regret not calling her brothers, but it was too late now. She was undoubtedly outside of her coverage zone.

The Earth started shifting beneath her as she shifted her weight to adjust for it. The road in front of her cracked, causing the civilians to scream.

"Go, off the bridges, now!" Ash shouted. Ultron's robots began crawling out of the ground. She summoned her angel blades, ready to hack and slash at them. She cracked her neck. "Come on."

The bots attacked her and the civilians ran in fear. She destroyed as many of the bots she could, and the streets buckled beneath her again. She lost her balance as she had a horrifying realization.

Sokovia was going for a ride.

She staggered back to her feet, watching as the city began to rise. Ash heard Ultron begin to monologue. "Do you see? The beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, are my meteor." Ash stumbled to a nearby building, pressing her back to the wall to watch around her for other robots, eyes wild and hood fallen. "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."