A Feather's Trick ➸ Loki fanfiction

Chapter 15

We joined Thor and Vision by the Vibranium core.

"You good?" Pietro asked his sister who nodded.

"Romanoff? You and Banner better not be playing 'hide the zucchini'."

"Relax, Shellhead. Not all of us can fly." Natasha said as she joined the rest of us. "What's the drill?"

"This is the drill." Tony pointed at the core. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Ultron decided he would show up then.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor challenged him. Ultron summoned his army of robots to join him.

"You had to ask." Steve sighed.

"This, is the best I can do. This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?" He looked at each and every one of us.

"Well, like the old man said. Together." Tony replied.

Ultron's robots rushed us. I fired arrow after arrow, only stopping when one got too close. I cuffed him with my wings, before kicking him. He fell apart and I resumed my fire.

All around me, Avengers fought Ultron. I briefly stopped to watch as Thor hit a wave of them with a bolt of lightning.

"Oof." I gasped, as one grabbed my windpipe. I struggled to get it off as I lost more air. No one could help me, we were all overrun. I hit him, over and over again but he resisted. My blows grew weaker. Until suddenly, he was knocked away. I gasped for air, looking to see who I had to thank. Pietro gave me a wide grin. "Thanks."

He nodded at me, "Anytime."

I fired an arrow behind him, stopping one of the robots from hitting him. His eyes widened before he rushed off.

"Luft!" Thor called. "Thor Arrow?" He asked.

"Sure!" I called back. I drew back an arrow slowly. "Now!" I ordered, releasing it as he struck it with lightning. It crackled as it flew through the air, releasing bolts as it went.

"You couldn't have started with that?" Tony complained.

Very few robots remained. Tony, Thor and Vision all blasted Ultron's body, who did his best to resist.

"You know, with the benefit of hindsight..." Ultron was suddenly knocked far away by the Hulk and his robots started to retreat.

"They'll try to leave the city." Thor alerted us.

"We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!" Tony called.

"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." Steve commanded.

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it." Wanda announced. "It's my job." She raised an eyebrow at Clint. Steve, Clint and Natasha left, leaving me with the twins. "Get the people on the boats." She urged us.

"I'm not going to leave you here." Pietro argued.

"I can handle this." She blasted off an approaching robot. "Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before." She looked at him intently.

"Hmm." Pietro stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"You understand?"

"You know, I'm twelve minutes older than you." He smirked and she chuckled.

"Go." She urged. Pietro snatched me before I could say anything.

I was left standing next to Clint and Natasha who seemed to be in the middle of a very intense conversation as they made their way to the lifeboats.