The Night We Met | Steve / Bucky

thirteen - rise

Katherine ducked and dodged any oncoming fire that was sent her way. She noticed an abandoned building not too far from where the team continued their fight. Katherine had never tried something so risky, but was willing to give it a go. Katherine's earth bending abilities weren't her most used as she could never fully control how much damage it could do. Causing earthquakes was a likely effect but she never missed the opportunity to let an enemy plunge to their death through the cracks in the earth. "Okay." She breathed to her self.

Katherine got on all fours, pressing her palms flat to the ground. She pushed with all of her might. She pushed and pushed and pushed but couldn't seem to feel any difference. The city was rising at an alarming rate. Katherine took a moment to compose herself, inhaling as deeply as she good and slowly exhaling through her mouth. While she regained her breath, she noticed the commotion of the fight had died down. She got to her feet and looked outside, noticing no attacking metal and instead, rubble, dust and emptiness. Katherine shook it from her mind and exited the building, hoping that being outside and feeling the wind rush through her skin, would give her more strength. 

She placed her palms on the ground and used all of the strength she had. She heard a crack, a good crack?

"What was that?" Tony said in her ear.

Katherine stopped pushing, her eyes becoming wide, "Was that good or bad?" She asked, knowing well that whatever the crack was, it was because of her.

"The city jolted. What happened just there?" Tony spoke again.

Katherine was panting, worn out. "I'm trying to hold the city in place." She held her two index fingers to her left ear, making sure she could hear the team, "I'm trying my best, but we're rising too fast. What have you got, Tony?"

"Huh?" He asked, "Nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."

"We want a solution, not an escape plan." Steve spoke in the ears of the team.

"Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're gonna have to make a choice."

"I'll try and hold us off for as long as I can." Katherine spoke.

"Cap, these people are going nowhere." Natasha spoke, the first time the team has heard her voice since being taken by Ultron. It made Katherine feel warm inside to know that she was safe. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock -"

" - Not till everyone's safe." 

"Everyone up here, verses everyone down there? There's no math there." 

"I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it." 

"I didn't say we should leave." Natasha paused for a moment, "There's worse ways to go. Where else am I going to get a view like this?" 

Katherine continued pushing down with all of her might, a shriek escaping her lips. She could feel the veins bulge from her arms and neck. The now familiar red blood oozed from her nose, the consistency more thick than before. But Katherine ignored it as she felt the ground beneath her palms begin to move more slowly. Tension built up beneath her, the wind blowing through her hair becoming more gentle. 

Everything around Katherine seemed still - as if time was frozen. She felt herself become light and weight-free as if her head was spinning. She knew what she was doing was working. Katherine could hear conversation between the team in her ear but it sounded like white noise to her. "Guys," Katherine managed to squeal, the pain building up within her becoming unbearable, "I can't hold this for much longer." She said through shaky breaths, "Please tell me you have something."