The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 24

Hundreds of robots come charging towards us in response to Hulk roaring. The sound of metallic feet running towards us caused my flames to automatically appear before they come into the church. Pietro runs past my part, destroying the first wave but they were immediately replaced by the next. Flames spread out destroying the group of robots plowing towards us, but they continue to be replaced by the advancing bots. I jump onto the back of one and cause it to explode, sending pieces of it flying all over the place.

Flames spread from my fingertips straight into the bots, causing them to fly back and blow up in a ball of purple, destroying those around it. The advancing bots begin to become less and less by the second. A bright light distracts me for a second and I look up to see Vision blasting Ultron with the Mind Stone. Ultron flies out of the church and tumbles, Tony and Thor join Vision in destroying Ultron.

My focus is drawn back when more metallic feet clatter towards me. Wanda and I look at each other for a moment before reaching out our abilities towards the bots. Red mixes with purple as each bot scorches, dozens of bot collapse to the ground. I look over just in time to see ten bots fly off the city followed by Vision.

"We got to move out, I can already tell the air is getting thin," Steve says. "You guys get to the boat, I'll sweep for stragglers."

"I'll help," I say and Steve nods at me. "What about the core?"

"I'll protect it," Wanda says. "It's my job."

Steve and I glance at each other before taking off in opposite directions. I reach my mind out to anything and feel a group of people about a hundred meters in front of me. Sprinting towards them, I scream and call out to see if they respond. A large brick wall comes into view, blocking my path to the people. I leap over it and twist around to see the group of people. A man holds two small children, a boy and a girl. All three look up with wide eyes, and the two children begin to shake. I bend down and place my hands up to show that I'm not going to hurt them.

"Do you understand English?" I ask and the father nods. "We need to get you to a pod, OK?"

The father nods again and I gesture for them to get out of the way. I sprint towards the wall, throw my hands up and break through it.

"We need to run, OK?" The father repeats it to the kids and they nod, "I need the two of you to be brave." The two kids nod a sudden look covering their faces, I nod, "OK, follow me."

"Thor, I'm going to need you back in the church," Tony's voice comes on through the comms.

I take off towards the last pod in the city which lays a little over a quarter of a mile away. I continuously look behind me to make sure that all three of them are still behind me the pod comes into view and I slow down to let them go ahead of me so I could follow.

"You know if this works we may not be able to walk away," Tony continues.

Two more blocks, please just give me two minutes.

"Maybe not," Thor says.

We sprint through the street and I look up to the sound of a plane. The quinjet glides its way past us before circling back. Gunshots sound and I jump in front of them, throwing up my hands to create a shield. I look up at the jet and see Ultron's red eyes glare at me as he continues his way towards the pod. I twist around and see Clint holding a small child.

"Clint!" I shout as he twists himself to cover the boy's body. A streak of silver and blue pass by him and a car lays on its side. Pietro stands there before collapsing to the ground. Whimpers sound beside me and I look down to see the girl with blood soaking her shirt, her father holding her as his eyes fill with tears. I quickly kneel down beside her and summon the green flames, my heart skips a beat before racing as I reach the flames out towards her chest. She looks at them and smiles, they reach the bullet hole. I turn my hand counter-clockwise and watch as the blood flows back into the wound as the bullet, surrounded by green, comes out and flies behind me.

"Get her out the way," Is all I can say as I try to calm my breathing. I dive out the way as the bullet goes flying into the ground. "Get on the pod," I say as I slowly stand up. The boy runs beside his father as he carries her daughter onto the pod. I run over to Clint and Pietro and kneel beside him, checking for a pulse. Clint looks at me with worried eyes and I shake my head when I feel nothing. Steve runs up and helps me carry the body over to the rescue boat. We lay the body down and make our way to the city to see if there are any stragglers. A dog runs past us along with three other people. I reach out with my mind to see if there are any other beings in the city and I don't feel anything.

The city shakes and Steve and I twist and leap to grab onto the rescue boat. I reach the edge with my hands and try to pull myself up but I can't. My arms tremble and I scream out.

"Steve! Steve!" My fingers begin to slip and inch closer to the edge. Steve's face appears over the edge, latching onto my arms and pulling me up. I crawl my way over the edge and look down as the city flies to the ground. 'I hope this works.' I think to myself, 'Cause I don't think I can handle anymore if this doesn't.' 

A loud bang sounds and I feel my heart get caught in my throat as I expect pieces of the earth to come flying towards us, but they never come. Steve and I glance at each other thinking the same thing. The pod lands on the Helicarrier and people begin to be guided off. I draw my eyes away from the crowd when I see two men bring in a body bag and a stretcher to take Pietro's body off.

"Thor?" I say into the comm and no one responds, my heart drops in my chest, "Tony? Natasha? Bruce? Wanda?" No one responds, my heartbeat quickens and I look down at the ground.

"Grace, no," Steve says and I look over at him. "You don't know if you'd survive that jump."

"Says the man who leaped into the ocean at 28,000 feet," I say and look down at the ground. "Natasha told me about that."

"You don't know if there's an Earth down there."

"Steve, if there was no Earth, there would have been a bigger explosion," Is all I say and I catch a glimpse of the ocean. "Since when were we over the ocean?"

"Ultron directed the city over the ocean so it would have a more direct impact," I turn back and see Fury followed by Vision and Wanda. "We got word from Stark and Thor and they are alright, Natasha is in the control room, and well these two are here. Care to explain?"

"Tony with Vision and Wanda joined our side along with...." Fury cuts him off with nodding, I move over to Wanda and wrap my arms around her, I know how she's feeling right now and I know how she is going to feel. It's tough losing a sibling. Especially when they were the only family you had left.

I look past her and see hundreds of people going into the helicarrier, I turn around and say four simple words. "How can we help?"