-13-

The Quinjet was ready to go; everyone was listening to the Captain lecture them on what was going to happen. "Ultron knows we're coming," Riley handed Pietro his earpiece as Steve spoke, pointing to their own ear to silently explain what to do with it. "Odds are we're riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia... they didn't. So our priority is getting them out"

The jet flew over the city, the early hours of the morning giving the area a grey-blue hue. Steve gave more orders, his voice steady as confidence lingered in every word that escaped his pale lips. "All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not gonna happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done," he continued, making sure he caught the eyes of everyone as he turned his head around to look at all his teammates, "We find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters. That we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

Those last few words made a few of the people in the jet perk their head up; they only now just realised how real that statement was. The sound of Steve's voice didn't register in Riley's head anymore; their attention no longer on the others, but on their own thoughts. Was Ultron right? They've denied all his accusations about the Avengers being monsters, but what if he was right?

"Loftin," he called out for Riley, using their last name, making them look up to see Steve and Clint facing them, "Pay attention. You're heading with Clint." They glanced over at the archer to see him flash a quick and friendly smirk in their direction.

"Right, sorry," they apologised, swiftly getting up from their seat and patting down their sides to check if they had their weapons once more. "Okay, I'm ready." Clint motioned with his head for Riley to follow him, his bow being held in his hands. The two jogged out of the jet, speeding up to get to the commotion that was caused by civilians evacuating the city.

Riley helped motion the citizens to where they're suppose to go, encouraging them to hurry up and walk faster. They looked over to see Clint doing the same, his head moving in different directions to try and keep an eye on the entire area around him; he locked eyes with Riley and gave them a reassuring smile. They smiled back, letting out a sigh as they did so, before pointing up the hill to signal where they were going to start swiftly walking to.

Their pace evolved into a jog, the strides they took becoming bigger to cover more distance whilst keeping a comfortable speed to keep an eye on all the residents. Their attention did not divert from the task at hand as their face creased into a small grimace whilst they continued to jog up the path.

A tug on Riley's sleeve made them flinch slightly, forcing them to look down at the movement to see what it was. Annoyed that their focus was interrupted, their eyes landed on a child- no older than seven- with red, puffy eyes due to him most likely crying.

Riley's previous stern expression softened at the sight of the young child, feeling so much pity wash over them without even knowing the situation. Riley crouched down so their bum was resting on top of the back of their ankles as their weight was being held by the tips of their feet; they delicately took the young boy's hand and held it, stroking the back of it to attempt to comfort him.

"What's wrong?" Riley asked the young child.

"I can't find my mum and dad," the young boy explained through large intakes of air with a thick Sokovian accent, his English incredibly polished for someone of his age.

"Where did you last see them?" Riley asked the young boy, trying to speed up the conversation so the child wasn't at risk of being in the potential battlefield.

"I fell over here and they kept running," he told the adult as he weakly pointed to the area next to him to show where he fell over.

"Okay, we're going to need to be quick as we find your parents," the boy nodded as Riley explained the plan, "If you see your parents, tell me immediately so we can get you to them quicker. Can you do that for me?" The boy nodded once more, wiping his red nose to get rid the snot that had trickled out of his nostril and towards his lips. Without wasting any time, Riley picked up the kid and rested him on their hip, their right arm wrapping around the boy as the agent began to jog up the street.

The freezing air of the Sokovian morning attacked the lungs of everyone in the city as foreign stenches (like smoke, and deodorant coming off of the people nearby) mixed with the oxygen that the out-of-breath civilians desperately needed as they all evacuated the area. Riley frantically searched for the young boy's family, confidently predicting that his parents would be worried sick about their child.

All of a sudden, the boy perked up. He traded in his slouched posture for an exaggerated, up-right stance whilst he lightly clawed his way up Riley's shoulder to be able to look over the large crowd of people. A repeated Sokovian word became louder as the new Avenger continued to swiftly make their way up the extremely crowded street.

"Mama!" The young boy shouted out very close to Riley's ear as they made their way to the curve that the upcoming road had. He continued to shout out for his mum, using different terms to refer to her and switching out to call for his dad whilst the people that responded seem to get closer. The child was desperate to see his family as he squirmed in the arms of the one holding him to try and run towards his parents. Riley was hesitant to let the dark-haired boy onto the ground to run ahead, paranoid that he may get lost once more, until a panicked couple locked eyes with the boy in their arms.

The kid gasped loudly as he saw the people ahead of him. "Mama! Papa!" He called out for them, finally allowing Riley's paranoia over the situation to fade away and letting their grip around the boy loosen before putting him on the diluted red floor that was lightly tinted with browns and small hints of chipped away white.

The mother of the boy dropped to her knees as her son ran into her open arms, engulfing him in a tight hug. The father squatted down to hug his son as well, the heavy increase and decrease of his chest indicating that him and his significant other were rapidly running around to try and find their child.

"Thank you, thank you so much," the long-haired women gratefully said to Riley as she looked up to face them after kissing her son on the crown of his head. She had a soft tone to her voice accompanied with a thick accent, like her child had, that was coated in joy from finding her young child.

"It's no problem at all," Riley brushed off, "but you guys have to hurry and get out of the city." The woman nodded, getting up from the floor as the father picked up his son to make sure he didn't get lost again. Riley kept their eyes on the small family as the group all speedily made their way up the textured brick pavement.

Taking a deep inhale of the chilly air once more, the 5'6 Avenger looked over the large crowd; they wanted to try and look at all their faces but they all moved too quickly for Riley to get a good glimpse. Something about the unrecognisable faces that disappeared as quickly as they came into view was discomforting; they all messily merged together into one huge smear of colours.

A low rumbling sound ring throughout the ears of everyone as the small loose stones on the ground jumped into the air over and over again. The rumbling wasn't there for long before being overshadowed by the sound of the ground breaking and streaks of terror coming from the people that had to evacuate the city.

Without another second passing, multiple of Ultron's mechanical soldiers were climbing up the brick wall that separated the walkway from the drop to a road below. They were all programmed to attack so one jumped forward, using its thrusters slightly, and went straight for Riley. They were quick to react, however, reaching for the gun in and shooting the bot dead centre in its face.

Both Clint and Wanda weren't letting any time go by without them helping as well; the archer was swiftly aiming and firing his arrows at oncoming attackers and the magic-wielding twin was ushering people off of the bridge. Another dark grey bot appeared on the bridge and aimed towards the young red-head in front of it. Wanda grabbed Riley by the wrist and pulled them behind the make-shift shield she crafted with her deep red magic.

"Run!" She sternly ordered the civilians behind her, her voice strained as she continued to use her powers. The vibranium bot shot at the shield with more power than it did previously, causing Wanda to lose her control of her magic and making her painfully fall to the ground. With a grunt coming out of her mouth, Riley rushed over to Wanda and started firing their gun at the enemy. Firing once at its head and firing a second time in the centre of its chest, the bot fell to the ground in defeat after the last blow was fired by Clint's arrow.

"You both okay?" He asked, grabbing his arrow as he jogged over the body towards his two teammates. Wanda nodded as she got up to her hands and knees; she seemed to be fine, there were no cuts on her body that Riley could see, thankfully. Riley answered his question with a quick 'yes' as they helped Wanda to her feet. "Good," he said, motioning in the direction he was going to head off to once again so he could continue to battle. He swiftly ran off after this.

Crack. The sound of bricks breaking apart and concrete crumbling was obvious as a large, continuous crack formed on the bridge near the two remanding teammates in the area . They both didn't have a moment to question what was happening before a loud rumbling rang in their ears once more and a sudden jolt ran through their bodies due to a sudden and strange movement. Wanda looked over towards Riley, fear draining the life from her eyes as she saw what was happening.

More screams erupted from the civilians around them as the surrounding area seemed to become lower down compared to what was around them. A few people jumped down to the level that wasn't moving when it was a safe distance to, whilst others didn't make jump in time. Water spilt over the edge and trees fell as the selected ground continued to rise high into the sky.

"Do you see the beauty of it?" Ultron's gravely voice asked through his robotic henchmen. "The inevitability.  You rise, only to fall." Buildings that were already weakly holding onto the small amount of ground they had to put their weight on finally crumbled, large chunks scattering in the air as they fell.

Ultron continued to speak, "You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift and terrible sword. And the Earth will crack with the weight of your failure." Riley shot at the bots as they continued to echo what Ultron was saying, making them fall to the ground as they inched closer towards them. Wanda hid behind a car whilst Riley shot at the enemies as the Sokovian girl caught her breath.

"Purge me with your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world..." Riley shot the last bot that around them, only for another to appear in its place, "will be metal."

Full of rage, the Avenger shot the robot in its face multiple times until its glowing eyes faded away and its thrusters seized to make it levitate. Wanda got up from behind the car as Riley stared down at the pile of now scrap metal.

The older Avenger placed their middle and index finger on the small earpiece inside their left ear; the small flecks of mud that was a few shades darker than their skin contrasted with the small cuts they had dotted around the back of their hand. "So," they asked into the earpiece, "how are we going to destroy this bastard?"