Victoria moved along with Pietro helping to escort people, with the help of the police that the speedster gave a scare to.
She moved through a complex, double-checking rooms for any stragglers. She came across a door, a locked one, and she could hear movement from within. She placed minor explosives on the edges, which, after exploding, would allow her to enter the room.
She looked inside, where a young woman and her son sat. The mother shielded her son away from Victoria, and held an icy glare.
"Who are you? Another pawn to kill us?"
"Miss, I really need you and your son to come with me, so that I may get you guys to safety,"
"We are safe, right here! What is going on that we need to evacuate?"
"The city will be under attack soon, and we don't want any innocent casualties."
"You, and your team, are the monsters. You cause all this calamity!"
Victoria could see the hatred and pain that was cast in the woman's eyes. The town thought that Stark was responsible to the bombings, when it was that damned HYDRA that ruined everything.
"Miss," Victoria sighed. "I don't know what has happened to your town, nor do I really want to know, but the people that inadvertently caused your town so much agony, are still here. And as much as you are led to believe that those people are us, The Avengers, we're not. But the things that are responsible, they're trying to destroy your town again.
"Now, I don't have time to make you an avid supporter of myself and my team, but for now, I need you to trust me. Trust that everything will be alright, but in order for that to happen, I need you to come with me right now."
Victoria could see that her statement was weighing in the woman's eyes. She needed to get them out soon or who knows what could happen?
The woman nodded once, muttering something to her son in Sokovian and grabbing heir jackets.
"Are you su-per," the little boy paused. "Hero?"
"Yea, I'm a superhero."
"I want to be like you, when older!"
"You can do anything you want to, squirt."
Once safely outside, the woman gave Victoria a small smile of gratitude and walked off.
Pietro noticed her frown and walked to her, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Her heart broke at the state that the twin's old home was in. It looked so broken, much like the people that lived there. Victoria could see how sad Pietro's eyes were as he looked at the broken pieces of a complex and the people he once called neighbours.
She was shaken out of her thoughts, quite literally.
The ground beneath her quivered, before splitting in half. Victoria managed to jump over to Pietro just as a robot crawled up from beneath the crack. She hit the bot with her bow, not doing much damage, before she shot an explosive arrow at it.
She was quickly swarmed by robots, managing to survive the attack with the help of Pietro. But there was one problem.
She could feel a dormant anxiety attack brewing inside of her, forcing her to calm her breathing. She managed to keep it at bay, rather choosing to focus on the issue at hand.
She held four arrows to her bow, before allowing them to soar through the air, before reaching her destined targets.
"Dad?"
"Victoria? Are you okay? Do I need to—"
"—I'm fine, dad. You need help there?"
"Of course not—" a painful grunt escaped his lips. "—Maybe."
"Coming to you."
A robot blasted at her from behind, causing her to tumble down. She gripped the knife that rested on her calf and stood to face the bot. It charged towards her, to which she avoided by rolling out of the way.
"You take away my world," another robot voiced Ultron. "I take away yours."
The ground split even further, this time pulling away from each other and lifting. Victoria let out a gasp, realising what Ultron has been up to. He wanted to destroy the world, starting with Sokovia.
She fell as the ground beneath her lifted up, her legs too wobbly to keep her up. Pietro rushed over to her, looking over the edge as the piece of earth they were on flew upward.
"Victoria?"
Her father's panicked voice came over the comm. Pietro nodded before zooming them over to her dad. Victoria clung onto Clint, shaking, as they rose in the air.
"Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability – you rise; only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword, and the Earth will crack at the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me – it means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal—"
She flung the knife into it's head, causing the lights inside to flicker for a moment before shutting off. She took her knife back, before running to where her father was, stealing glances at the dead robot behind her.
That bad feeling was intensifying.
And Victoria didn't like it, she didn't like one bit at all.
