The Sokovian Shadow

Chapter 19

TW:
- Fighting
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My eyes widened at the SHEILD Helicarrier rising to hover next to the steadily ascending Sokovia.

'Nice, right?' The new man asked. 'I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but, she'll do.'

'Fury, you son of a bitch.' Nat mock gasped at Cap. I still didn't understand that.

'Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?' Asked "Fury" again. I turned to Natasha and switched to Russian.

'What?'

'When we first invaded that HYDRA base, Cap reprimanded Stark swearing. None of us have let it go.' She replied. 'And Fury is the ex-director of SHIELD.' She added after a moment. I nodded and watched as lifeboats left the Carrier and flew towards Sokovia. There was a flash of blue and Pietro was standing in front of us.

'This is SHIELD.' It wasn't really a question, but Cap answered it anyway.

'This is what SHIELD's supposed to be.' Pietro turned to look at Cap, then back at the lifeboats.

'This is not so bad.'

'Let's load 'em up.' It was only at Cap's words that I realized that my people were going to be safe. I grinned beneath my mask as I leapt off the edge of Sokovia, unfurling my wings from my back. I followed one of the boats and landed next to it. I furled my wings into my back and started helping the civilians onto the boat. The relief in their souls was mixed with confusion, and I could tell why. They were relieved to be getting away from the conflict, but still confused as to what was going on.

I comforted as many as I could, with both my soul sense and words in Sokovian. After less than five minutes, the boat was full, and a decent number of the civilians were on their way to safety. I herded the rest of the civilians that had tried to board this boat away from the edge and in the direction of one of the other lifeboats. Soon at least half of the civilians were off Sokovia. I leapt off the city and started taking out the sentinels swarming the boats.

One of them managed to destroy one of the propulsors, much to my dismay, but Stark caught it before it fell too far. I flew in a loop around the boat, my metal wings cutting through the sentinels like scythes. I shuddered at the image of the Reaper's scythe flashing through my mind. I'd almost completed the circle when Stark's voice buzzed in my air.

'Aorta, stop!' I pulled up short in front of the last sentinel, hovering in the air as I swivelled to face the armoured Avenger. 'He's with us!' I turned back to the last sentinel, who, now that I looked closer, looked nothing like the others. I tilted my head in confusion and it flipped up a faceplate similar to Stark's, revealing a human face.

My eyes widened in realization and I nodded, flipping over backwards and twirling in the air as I arrowed towards the ground, faster than I ever had. There was no exhilaration though, only an overwhelming sense of calm. I wasn't doing this for fun. I was doing this to protect my city. A few minutes of destroying Ultron sentinels later, my comm buzzed to life again.

'Avengers, time to work for a living.' Stark informed us, and I pulled out of my latest dive, weaving through the buildings in Sokovia that were still standing. I arrived in the central church after a few seconds and waited with Thor and Vision for the others. A few minutes later others arrived as well. Pietro went over to Wanda and I joined them, extending a wing behind them like a shield. 'Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing "hide the zucchini."

'Relax, Shell-head.' I was stealing that. 'Not all of us can fly.' But I did take offense of that. She pulled up the church in a truck, ploughing through the sentinels in her path. The Hulk was right behind her. She raised an eyebrow at my metal-coated wings. To everyone else, she hadn't seen them. To me, she was surprised to see them out when the other Avengers were around... or she was faking surprise in general. 'What's the drill?' She asked Stark, and I turned to the red and gold suited Avenger.

'This is the drill.' He pointed to a rod made of metal jutting up from the centre of the church. I flicked my wings as Stark continued. 'If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.' I turned to my left as Ultron arrived just outside the church.

'Is that the best you can do?' Thor challenged the robot. Ultron raised his left arm, and a flood of sentinels poured from the corners of the city to gather behind him.

'You had to ask.' I raised my wings slightly after Cap's comment.

'This is the best I can do.' The hunk of metal began. 'This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?'

'Well like the old man said.' I glanced at Iron Man as he spoke, quickly returning my focus to the tide of metal. 'Together.' I leapt into the air screeching a battle cry as they came.

I flew in circles around the inside of the ruined church, using my wings, knives, and soul fire to tear as many of the robots apart as I could. I swooped down a couple of times to help out the other Avengers or destroy a robot that was making a move for the core, but for the most part, I stayed on my path. Only a few seconds after the conflict started the main Ultron entered the church, engaging with the Vision above the core.

I pulled up short when Ultron threw Vision in front of me, releasing a bolt of soul fire at the robot that was closely followed by a beam of yellow energy. I turned to the source, expecting to see that Stark had unveiled some kind of new tech, instead finding the Vision releasing the beam from the Mind Stone. I ducked under the two fighting AI's and continued circling the interior of the church. It seemed like it was only a few minutes before the tide of sentinels thinned out.

On my final lap around the inside of the church, I noticed Ultron confronting a couple of other Avengers. I flew out to join them, combining my soul fire with Thor's lighting, Iron Man repulsors, and Visions Mind Stone beam. Seconds after starting, the combined energy forced the robot to his knees and we relented. He struggled back to his feet.

'You know, with the benefit of hindsight...' The genocidal robot was interrupted by Hulk punching him to what looked like the far side of Sokovia. He turned to some of the remaining sentinels and they started to retreat. As I leapt into the air and took off after them, I saw Vision following me out of the corner of my eye. I dropped into the air current beneath me and sped towards the edge of Sokovia.

As I neared the border, I saw the same silver-suited man from before already fighting the sentinels. I watched for a few seconds, which was more than enough time for the Vision to catch up to me. I grinned beneath my mask as I leapt from the lamp post I'd landed on. I spread my wings once and flew over the sentinels, using my soul fire to burn out the internal wires. I noticed the Vision had joined me when I stopped. The man in the silver suit pulled up short and I laughed as I flew back towards the central church. As I landed I heard Cap speak.

'We gotta move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.'

'I'll head over to the far side of the city, make sure none of the sentinels make it off from there.' I gestured with my wing the direction I was suggesting. Cap nodded at me and Nat gave me a small smile, which I returned.

'What about the core?' I turned to the rod of metal as Clint spoke.

'I'll protect it.' My head snapped to Wanda as she spoke. 'It's my job.' Her gaze flicked to me and her eyes glowed red as images of the archer giving her a pep talk flashed through my mind. Cap left the church, nodding at Wanda as he passed her. Nat nudged my arm as she and Clint passed me. I smiled under my mask as I watched them leave. I turned to leave the church, but stopped when I heard Wanda speak again. 'Get the people on the boats.'

'I'm not going to leave you here.' I turned to face the twins again as her bother replied.

'I can handle these.' She blasted off a robot after she spoke, efficiently proving her point. 'Come back for me when everyone else is off not before.' Pietro hummed in consideration as he passed her. 'You understand?' Wanda insisted. I could tell Pietro was going to agree with her, but from the look on his face, he was going to make a joke of it.

'You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you.' I laughed under my breath at the smirk on his face as he used the argument every older twin used against the younger twin. Wanda was laughing as well as she told her twin to go again. I spread my wings and flew out of the church as Pietro became a blue blur speeding in the opposite direction.