Everly || Steve Rogers

55. New Beginnings

"Romanoff. You and Banner better not be playing hide the zucchini." Tony said as he blasted a hole through the chest of a robot.

"Relax, shellhead." The assassin returned. "Not all of us can fly." Everly spun around when a bulldozer came to a stop just before the church. Natasha hopped out of the driver's seat and stepped over the metal carcasses littered at her feet. She moved to stand beside Stark. "What's the drill?"

"This is the drill." He answered, turning and pointing to the core behind him. Everly ducked beneath a blue pulse and swung her leg around to kick the head off an approaching bot. "If Ultron get's his hands on the core, we lose." She flinched when the Hulk landed beside her, the ground crumbling beneath his feet. He roared as he smashed a pair of robots, one on either side of him. 

The group of heroes formed a circle around the core, their backs to each other. Everly glanced at Steve standing beside her. His jaw clenched when Ultron lowered himself to the ground before them.

"Is that the best you can do?" Thor shouted. Ultron remained silent, but his hand flicked up into the air. Heavy clunking footsteps grew louder and Everly's stomach dropped at the sight of the robot army rushing toward them. They were hilariously outnumbered. Ultron lingered in the sky, holding his arms out to his sides in front of the backdrop of the demolished city. 

Steve sighed and glared at Thor from the corner of his eye. "You had to ask?"

"This is the best I can do." Ultron gestured toward the Avengers. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?" Everly's hands curled into fists at her sides and she shifted her weight from hip to hip.

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

Hulk stomped his foot angrily and let loose a roar that shook the ground. Ultron's army charged and the battle quickly ensued. Everly fired bullets at any enemy that came close until her clip was empty. She groaned, tossing the guns aside as Vision swooped down and grabbed a robot that had lunged at her. She wrapped her legs around the waist of another and fell into a back handspring, smashing it into the ground. Her heart pounded in her chest and nothing but the sharp crunching of metal filled her ears. She rolled backward to avoid another blast. A robot ran up behind Steve from where he was fighting three more and she hurried to step between them. Everly shoved the metal fist aside just before it collided with her face and crushed the bot's helmet with a single hand, surprising even herself. 

A blue blur raced around the outskirts of her vision and stray bolts of lightening occasionally struck down an enemy she was fighting. Clint's bow slid across the ground at her feet and she scooped it up, plucking an arrow from the chest of a broken robot beside her. She stood tall, drew the string back and stuck it straight into the glowing eye slit of one that he had been fighting. His eyes flicked to her as his chest heaved and he grinned, holding his hand out. She tossed him the bow and the archer went back to work.

A frown slipped over her face when each of the robots froze in place before spinning around and fleeing. Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as a deep breath pushed past her lips. Vision, Tony, Thor, and Hulk were nowhere to be seen. 

"They'll try to leave the city." Thor hurried through her earpiece. 

"We can't let them, not even one." Tony added. "Rhodey."

"I'm on it." Colonel Rhodes quickly replied. Everly met Steve's eyes and he stepped forward. 

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