Falling

Sacrifice

POV Alex.

Ultron drops me off with two of his legionnaires at the basement of the church, where they hold me for a few minutes before they drag me out.

There is a stranger unconscious on the floor, and something like a large column made of metal sticks out of the stone floor.

I struggle to get off his hold, a last effort to no go down easy, but he grabs my hand and uses it to push down on the center of the column.

The ground shakes and some pieces of the already crumbling church fall around us.

"What did you do? What is happening?" I shout. I try to pull back my hand but he keeps it there.

"I have programmed this for one thing to happen. You let go, and this rock falls or I come and push down and it still falls."

My god.

He ensures that I stay put till we have gained some altitude. Then, he leaves me there, with the literal fate of the world in the palm of my hand.

I tell myself this is no moment to panic, but the city is flying. Like the house in Up kind of flying.

Okay, okay. I am about to scream for Steve, not sure what good that would do, but I need to see him. I need to be reassured he is fine.

Through the corner of my eye I see the silver shine of Pietro's hair. He appears in front of me like an hologram would.

"Pietro!" I don't mean to sound as scared as I do, but the panic just escapes me.

"Captain." He seems to be speaking into an earpiece, my heart swells with pride. Finally! They are working with the Avengers. "Ultron has bonded her to the nucleus."

"I am technically not bonded, but I can't let go. Ultron says that if I do it will make the city fall." I explain.

Pietro takes an extra earpiece of his pocket and puts it on me.

"Steve, hey. Hello everyone. Not the reunion I had in mind." I try to sound animated.

"Alex I am coming to you." I am not ready for the flood of emotions that hearing his voice unleashed. Tears start to pour down my cheeks.

"No, no! Stay there, protect the people. Ultron won't come back here, not right now."

There is silence. Pietro takes the opportunity to use the sleeve of his shirt to wipe my tears away. I mouth a thank you.

"Alex..." Steve starts, not in protest but with resignation.

"It for sure is not the reunion I had in mind... I have missed you, missed you all. Please, if it comes to it, do what it has to be done." I say with as much firmness as I can manage, but my voice breaks at the end. "I believe in all of you, I always will." I know everyone is listening. "Steve I love you."

No one speaks for a good minute.

"Stark you worry about bringing the city back down safely." Steve has turned back to business. I smile this time, that is my man. "The rest of us have one job, tear this things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. You get kill... Walk it off."

"And Alex, I love you." He adds.

My throat closes, I clench my teeth together to stop crying. If we were in another kind of situation, Tony would have said something sarcastic or Nat would scoff at us. But right now, we are not sure if we will be able to walk out of this, I might not be.

I shake my head to disperse the negative thoughts. Okay. The team has a plan, kind of. I just have to hold on tight until Tony figures it out.

And oh my god the body is moving! It levitates to where Pietro and I are.