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Natasha took a deep breath and surveyed the horizon. Dark robot-shaped spots dotted the sky, and with every passing second, they seemed to grow in number. Below her feet, the ground rumbled and shook like a nonstop earthquake, and she could feel the air becoming thinner the further up they were traveling.
If Tony was to believed — and there was no reason not to believe him — there wasn't much time left. Not enough time to save the people of Sokovia. Not enough time to find another way to defeat Ultron.
Barely even time to say goodbye.
She took another deep breath, her conversation with Clint from a couple days back re-playing in her mind.
"You should tell him."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I've known you for a long time, Nat. I think I know you better than most anyone else. And I am telling you that you will regret it if you don't ever say anything."
She'd scoffed. Rolled her eyes. Shaken her head.
"There's nothing to tell," she'd said. Because there wasn't. She was ... well, she was who she was, and he was who he was, and what would be the point of telling him something when there was no chance of any of it mattering anyway?
But Clint hadn't bought that. "Keep telling yourself that," he'd said. "See how well it works out for you."
Now, standing on this floating piece of land, she shook the memories away as she lifted her eyes back to the horizon. More of Ultron's army were coming, and this time they were coming directly toward her.
She crouched, ready to go out fighting. Behind her came a shout.
"Romanoff!"
She winced internally at the use of her last name — the same way she always did when Steve called her that in that cool, distant voice of his — but something was flying through the air toward her. She stood, caught the shield and turned in time to bash it into the face of the metal creature approaching her. Then she shoved it into another one before tossing the shield back to Steve, watching him take three more down.
She was still looking at him as he finished off another two, hooking the shield behind his shoulders once they were alone again. He was breathing harder than normal, a bit of sweat dripping off his brow. His blue eyes were tired as he glanced over at her.
She opened her mouth to say something, but Steve lifted his comm to his mouth. "Stark, what do you got?"
"Nothing great," came Tony's voice. "There may be a way for me to blow up the city. Keep it from impacting the surface. If you guys get clear ..."
"I asked you for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve interrupted him.
Tony, over the comms, kept talking, as if he hadn't heard anything. "Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice."
