Sue was glad for the Sentry that fired its weapon at her and Tony's feet. Their attention was drawn from each other, and the conversation would have to be resumed at another time. Tony fired his repulsors at the group of bots that flew to their location and Sue encircled her firsts with spheres of blue. The two fought back-to-back and helped each other when their backs were turned. Sue held her arm up in a forward flexing-position to block a beam of electricity that shot from a Sentry's gun. Her bicep ached as the barrier quivered from the continuous rain of attacks, but Tony ejected a round of miniature missiles from over her shoulder. The Sentries exploded and metal parts flew in all directions.
'We're talking about this later,' Tony said from behind his mask and kicked his thrusters into action. Sue watched as he soared into the sky and caught up with Johnny, who flew past in his fiery glory.
The city was climbing higher by the minute, and it wouldn't be long until Ultron deemed it high enough to drop. The morning sky grew to a dark blue from their entrance into the stratosphere. Clouds hung below and Sokovia was a brown mass of mountains and tiny landscapes. Sue could feel the air getting thin and it wouldn't be long until the oxygen levels were at a breathless zero. That's if Ultron doesn't drop the magnetic field beforehand.
'The next wave's gonna hit any minute. What have you got, Stark?' Steve spoke into everyone's earpieces.
'Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear.'
'I asked for a solution, not an escape plan,' Steve replied, his tone filled with warning. He had reason to doubt Tony's sense of right and wrong.
'Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice,' Tony said, and Sue stopped on her run back into the city's centre. Her finger pressed against her earpiece to hear more clearly as civilians continued past her.
She had been able to gather civilians from alleyways and corners where they cowered from Sentries. They wailed and cried in a language that Sue didn't understand. Women grabbed her hands and repeated 'spasibo! Spasibo, zhenschchina!', and men put their hands together in front of their bowed heads. Sue attempted to nod and communicate back, but the language barrier made it difficult. She resulted in gesturing to the steps that flowed down towards the city's edge, where the lifeboats would take them back to Sokovia.
'Cap, these people are going nowhere,' Johnny was heard in her ear. 'If Stark finds a way to blow this rock-'
'Not 'til everyone's safe,' Steve cut him off.
'Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there,' Natasha joined the team's call.
'They're families here! We can't just give a friendly wave goodbye as we blow the city!' Sue cried in disbelief. 'I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it!'
'Sue's right. We're not what Ultron makes us out to be. We're not abandoning these people,' Steve agreed.
As if their pleads were heard, SHIELD helicarriers appeared next to the floating rock. Steve and Pietro were there when their saviours rose from below and deployed lifeboats that could carry hundreds back to safety. Steve regained faith in the organisation that once wronged him and the Maximoff started to round up civilians. They had to get everyone onboard as fast as possible, but the army of Ultrons was still upon them.
Sentries tried to infiltrate the SHIELD helicarrier, which Nick Fury and Maria Hill operated from the control room. With Sentries trying to break through the glass windshields, Nick ordered James Rhodes to clear the carrier's starboard. War Machine flew out from the cargo hold and used his guns to shoot off the robots from the ship. James cheered into his suit at his success and flew around the city, alerting Tony of his appearance.
'Yes! Now, this is gonna be a good story,' Rhodey grinned.
'Yep. If you live to tell it,' Tony replied to his best friend through his suit.
'You think I can't hold my own?'
'We get through this, I'll hold your own.'
'You had to make it weird...'
Clint helped civilians onto the lifeboats and Nick ordered the evacuation. Thor and Vision worked together to destroy Ultron's current body and secured the church. The vibranium core operated from inside, but they were too late to stop its progress. One attempt to destroy it would result in the city falling through the sky and killing millions. But with civilians being helped by Rhodey, the Avengers could stand a chance at destroying Ultron's plan for demolition.
'I got it!' Tony gasped at an idea. 'Create a heat seal! I can...I can supercharge the spire from below!'
'Running numbers,' FRIDAY processed stats while Tony fought off Sentries from the lifeboats. 'A heat seal could work with enough power.'
Sue was busy evacuating the last of the civilians out of the centre. She helped guide a mother who cradled a baby in her arms. The ball of blankets wailed and whined as the explosions and violence was too much for the infant's ears. The mother shushed her child through her own sobs, her home destroyed and her city ravished with robots. Sue swallowed the ball that formed in her throat, the woman hunched and shaking as she shuffled down some steps in the pavement. The baby sniffled and Sue caught it's blue eyes through the waterfalls of tears. She could see how soft the skin of its cheeks were compared to her own dirty ridden ones, and the tears dripped down its petite, button nose. The sight was enough for Sue's knees to weaken at the thought of the baby's trauma from the battle of death and destruction. It made her think of Tony's proposal and she imagined a baby in her care while they fought for the protection of the Earth. Something about herowork and parenting just didn't mix.
'Avengers, time to work for a living,' Tony called to assemble through everyone's earpieces.
Johnny headed down into the streets where he spotted Sue. His broke out into a small run when his shoes touched the ground and Sue watched as the woman with her baby joined the other civilians. The baby's cries grew faint and she prayed they would make it to the lifeboats in time. Johnny waited for her to turn her attention to him and motioned his head towards the church where the team was gathered.
'Ready to go?' Johnny asked and Sue nodded with a prominent frown. Johnny's eyebrows pinched together at his sister's face and he hesitated in his launch into flight.
'What's wrong?'
'Nothing,' she pressed the button on her collar and the mask formed around her head. Johnny could still see her solemn expression through the glass and stalled his flames that burnt through his skin. Sue avoided his prying eyes and adjusted her black gloves that were covered in dust.
'Let's go?' Sue pushed, her eyes meeting his for second at his hesitance. Johnny sighed and left the topic for the time being.
Johnny flew him and Susan to the church where Ultron powered the vibranium core. The team were gathered with bruises and injuries from the Sentry army. Rhodey stayed with the lifeboats to ensure the civilians were safe, and Nick kept an eye on the evacuation while the Avengers regrouped.
Everyone was glad to see Natasha alive after being kidnapped by Ultron, and Bruce let out grunts in greeting to the Storms who were the last to arrive. Sue's helmet and mask retreated into her suit, and Johnny deflamed as they entered the church on foot.
'What's the drill?' Johnny asked.
'This is the drill,' Tony pointed to the vibranium core behind him that whirled and whizzed in action. 'If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose.'
The meeting was cut short from Ultron, who landed outside the church with his knees bent and his fist against the ground. His mechanical frame stood tall; his red eyes glowing as he stared at his enemies. Wanda and Pietro, who were once under his command, glared at him from beside their new team. Bruce sneered at the robot who was the root of his recent outbursts and thudded his monstrous fists against the pavement. Natasha stood with Clint, the agents knowing that the battle was out of their league, but they would do their best to protect their teammates. Vision levitated in the air above the core, regretful to see his equal fall to evil and hatred for humanity. Tony stepped down the stairs to be behind Sue, his height boosted by the suit. His wide frame was a protective shadow behind the woman he loved, and he glared at the thing he created. Johnny clenched his fists that burned with fire and mirrored Steve, who stood next to him with his shield in hand. Thor, who was in the middle, stepped forward and cried,
'Is that the best you can do?!'
At his words, Ultron summoned his army of Sentries. Robots flooded down from above and took their stance behind their leader. The team side-eyed Thor, whose confidence dropped from the arrival of the army.
'You had to ask,' Steve sighed.
'This is the best I can do,' Ultron gestured behind him in pride. 'This is exactly what I wanted. All of you, against all of me. How could you possibly hope to stop me?'
'Well, like the old man said,' Tony spoke and looked to Steve. 'Together.'
Ultron charged at the Avengers. The battle was intense, with Sentries torn in half and mixtures of scarlet mist from Wanda, arrows from Clint, flames from Johnny, and invisible disks from Sue. Steve used his shield to rip through Sentries' circuits and rolled over Johnny's flaming back to put his foot through a Sentry on his right. Johnny melted through metal with his smouldering hands and caused soldiers to malfunction. Wanda danced her fingers with red and sent robots flying out of the church, Sue expanding forcefields inside their chests to finish the job.
The two women glanced at each other and silently agreed to work together. While Sue confined robots in spheres of shimmering blue, Wanda sent her mist through their circuits and ripped them a part from the inside. Ultron and Vision battled, Thor and Tony joining once they were free from their own fights. With the three of them combined, they were able to overcome Ultron and Bruce sent the robot out of the church with a rage-filled punch. With the loss of their leader, the Sentry began to flee. They scrambled and crawled from the church and the team attempted to follow.
'They'll try to leave the city,' Thor cried.
'We can't let 'em, not even one. Rhodey!' Tony called to his friend.
'I'm on it!'
Thor, Tony, Johnny and Vision jumped into the air to search for Ultron's army. There was no use in hunting for Ultron, as he could upload to any of his Sentry when one of his forms was destoryed. The Avengers would need to wipe out the entire army, so that Ultron was left mortal.
'We gotta move out,' Steve said to the remainder of the team. 'Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers. I'll be right behind you.'
'What about the core?' Clint motioned behind him.
'I'll protect it,' Wanda stood in front of the vibranium with her hands swimming with scarlet. 'It's my job.'