The only good I've ever done (marvel)

Just another War

Go read on Ao3! Please and thank. Also I can't tell if anyone is still reading this, I think not, but still, :)
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Robyn sat, watching Tony, Bruce and Steve, one earphone hanging out of her ear, Hozier playing in her head.

"No way we all get through this. If even one tin soldier is left standing we've lost. There'll l be blood on the floor."

"I've got no plans tonight."

"Robyn? Can you fight?"

She looked up at Tony, who was watching her, almost... scared. Like he wasn't sure they were all gonna be safe, and he wanted her to say no. Like he knew something was going to go wrong.

She forced a smile for him. "Nope. Sorry, no can do. I'm binging the Lord of the Rings films tonight."

Steve turned to look over at her, and Robyn hid her smirk behind her perfect poker face before it cracked and she laughed, though she wasn't sure why. The situation wasn't exactly funny.

"Of course I can dimwits. Though I was planning on—"

Her voice died away slightly as Bucky walked in, a gun strapped over his shoulder, hair tied back from his face. He strode over to where Steve stood, and nodded to them, carefully avoiding Robyn's eyes.

She felt her cheeks burn and looked down at her hands, where she was flipping a switchblade, flicking the blade up again and again, before strapping it to her thigh, and binding up her hands. They were all going make this. They always would. Even if a homicidal purple grape came down from space and attacked them, they'd make it. All of them.

"I Get first crack at the big guy. He's waiting on me."

"That's true. He hates you the most." The Robot strode past, his voice as nonchalant as ever.

They prepared to leave, the usual earpieces handed out, Tony fitting Robyn for one to put in her right ear, him throwing a fit about the fact that she couldn't hear as well through her left -"should have told me-icouldhaveknownthatfromthebeginning- honestly!"- and they boarded the Quinn jet, an aura of darkness settling over all. Robyn dropped into her usual corner, where she surveyed the room, looking up at them all.

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are, be prepared for heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. And that's why our priority is to get them out."

***

Robyn was now blaming herself. Bucky had immediately opted to go with Steve, and though she knew that wasn't out of the ordinary, it still hurt he was keeping her at a distance.
And it hurt that he thought he was protecting her by doing it.

Why, why did I have to say it all...
Why can't things just go back to before I opened my stupid mouth?
Why did I have to pretend I could be happy without him?

"Ouch!"

Robyn spun around to see Wanda cradling her temples.

"You k'?"

"Yeah, it's just.., You are kind of projecting on me. I have to open my mind to do this... and your thoughts are loud. Buzzing. They weren't like that earlier."

Taking a deep breath Robyn gave a reassuring wave of her hand. "Sorry. I... it's nothing. Just thinking."

She felt her head calm a bit as she breathed, and Wanda turned away slightly, refocused on her task, Robyn keeping a watchful eye at her back.

Slowly, slowly, people began to flock out onto the streets, following Wanda's command, and Robyn stared in awe as more and more fell in line. Steve's words came to her then.

"Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with this world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

Robyn hadn't said anything. But she'd felt the tension in the air. She'd felt the burn of Steve's gaze as he looked at every single one of them. This was a fight not all of them would make. And they were all ready for that. Weren't they?

The sky exploded. Robots were charging towards them all, thundering, creaking, Intent on destroying the most destructive thing on earth. Humans.

"GET OFF THE BRIDGE!" Wanda cried, Robyn right behind her, pulling people out of harms way. She drew her handles as the robots stormed towards them,  and just as the first reached her, she lunged, pressing the switches as she did so, and the first Robot soon resembled a large, distasteful looking, metal kebab.

Behind her, Wanda flung up a shield, protecting the people from the onslaught of blasts, and as the robots shot again and again, a final shot smashed into the girl, and she went down. Robyn yelled at the remaining people, screaming for them to get out, to run, and spun to face the metal men, blades at the ready.

And then the ground gave up. Shaking, splitting, Robyn stumbled around, falling against the wall.

And Ultrons voice echoed across the city. "Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. You are my swift and terrible sword, and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from my computers, turn my own flesh against me, it means nothing!"

Robyn shoved herself off the wall, spun, her blades an arc of light, and slammed them into the back of the robot towering over Wanda, grunting with the effort.

"When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world, will be metal!!"

As Clint's arrow shot the next robot out of the sky, Robyn stepped over to Wanda, looking straight into her eyes. She could see the girl was terrified.

"When were you born?"

"19-1989!"

"1984. Now listen closely. That thing up there, in the sky; he's lived for about three days. He is young. And he's scared. But there is no stopping him. " she pulled Wanda to her feet. "And he's right. Some people on this earth really are monsters. And I'm one of them. I lost myself. I don't know when; I don't know how. It just happened. I was there, and then I wasn't, and I'm not quite sure how I can get myself back. And now, I feel myself changing. I don't even laugh the same anymore. I don't smile the same or talk the same, I'm just so tired of everything. I once heard a quote, saying: 'Never trust a survivor until you find out what they did to stay alive.' And I've lived a long time. And I'm still alive. And I have no chance. But you do. Because you aren't a monster. And you never will be. And up there, Ultron? He isn't one either. He is just a creature. A confused, lost, being.
But he will fall.
You will make sure of that."

Wanda stared at Robyn, still shaking. "They will hate me for being different. I will be a monster, for being who I am."

"If they don't know you personally, don't take it personally. Don't listen to Ultron. He believes he is a god, and he may well be right."

"How do we stop him?" Came the hoarse whisper.

"A god is nothing without followers." And in one fluid movement she spun, flicked her blades back into their handles, drew a gun, and fire two clean shots into the head on another robot.

"Stark, you work on getting us back to the ground. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart." Steve came over the earpieces.

"You get hurt, hurt em back. You get killed... walk it off."

Robyn gave her usual smile, the one that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"And If you have the chance to kill Steve, please take it." She shot back on the intercoms. A snort was heard from another on the radio, and she squashed down the warm feeling inside of her as she recognized the laugh.

They were going to fight. And they were going to, till the end. As Wanda rose next to her she felt something burn inside.

They were going to win.

Together.