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VALOR
xii. THE RISE AND FALL OF SOKOVIA

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  THE FUTURE HAUNTED RILEY. It taunted her, mocked her. She spent so long being stuck on the past, letting it tether her ankles to the ground, that she never paused to consider what the future might hold for her. She just never thought it would matter. Riley thought she would be dead by now. And yet, here she was, going into war for the umpteenth time.

  Riley stood outside on the balcony of the Avengers tower, gazing out at the sleeping city. Lights twinkling in the distance, almost like they were waving at the stars. Little did she know, a red-suited neighborhood hero swung throughout the city in search of trouble. Meanwhile, Riley wondered if the citizens of New York could predict the chaos that would ensue Sokovia in the morning.

  "That's a peculiar suit of armor for fighting a war, don't you think?"

  Riley, who was still wearing her fitted black uniform, didn't flinch at the sound of Thor's voice. She lightly scoffed, turning to face him. Beside Thor was the android whose new name, he had decided, was Vision.

  "Tony's working on my suit before we leave." Her gaze locked on the Mind Stone in Vision's head. It made the hairs on her arms stand. "So... that stone was inside Loki's scepter this whole time?"

  The wind gently blew against Thor's crimson cape. "That seems to be the case. That's how he was able to manipulate your people into joining him all those years ago." He paused. "You said you saw the stones. How?"

  Riley knew Thor had seen something when Wanda first manipulated his mind. That was why he fled the safehouse: to find answers. When he returned to the team with knowledge of the so-called Infinity Stones and gifted Vision the breath of life, Riley had a vision of her own, too.

  Riley gestured to Vision. "When you dropped in out of nowhere and electrocuted the shit out of J—Vision, I saw something," she replied. "There were those stones you were talking about... and... this bright light. It destroyed the stones."

  Thor pinched his eyebrows together. "You envisioned the Infinity Stones being... destroyed? I wasn't sure that was possible."

  "I don't believe anything these days truly is impossible," chimed in Vision. "All matter can be broken down. Why should the stones be any different?"

  Riley started to reply, only to get interrupted by Tony summoning her through their comms. She figured her suit was ready. Before Riley left, she asked, "...Do you really think all of us can beat Ultron? I mean, we haven't been much of a team lately."

  "We haven't any other option, I'm afraid. But I can tell you've been holding the team together as best as you could, and I commend you for it." Thor offered her an incredibly faint smile before pausing. "You've been practicing your... glow, yes?"

  By glow, Thor was referring to the advancement of her powers. Riley was currently in the process of learning how to use her body's natural UV rays to mimic the sun's properties, allowing her to glow all over her body and use that energy offensively. Sometimes in training, she and Thor would work on this together since he could do the same with his thunder and lightning.

  Riley scrunched up her nose with uncertainty. "A little bit." She allowed light to temporarily surround her body to show him, having to catch her breath afterward. None of them noticed how the Mind Stone sparked. "I can't maintain it for very long. Haven't made much progress."

  Thor nodded. "Very well. We'll have to experiment more with that in the future should these stones become a bigger issue. For now, rest up. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

  With that, Riley headed inside in search of her genius best friend, already anticipating his complaints about keeping him waiting. She stopped in her tracks when she noticed the Maximoff twins getting ready for battle. An uneasy pause choked the room as Riley and the twins stared each other down.

  Pietro adjusted the sleeves of his skintight blue shirt, eyeing the teenager. It was strange seeing someone close to their age after being stuck with HYDRA for so long. Granted, Riley was 14 and the twins were in their twenties, it was enough for the twins to be weirded out.

  "Aren't you a little young to be doing this kind of stuff?" he queried.

  Riley narrowed her eyes at him. "Aren't you?"

  "Pietro," hissed Wanda. Riley's gaze fell on the witch. She recognized that pained look in herself. She could sense that Wanda felt guilty for everything she'd done. Wanda turned back to Riley, unconfident. "Maybe we should reintroduce ourselves? I'm Wanda."

  Riley didn't like the twins. She couldn't even bring herself to tolerate them after everything they'd done alongside Ultron.

  "No offense, but I'm not here to be friends," Riley remarked. "Honestly, I'm not even sure we can trust you to help us tomorrow."

  Pietro folded his arms over his chest. "And what makes you think that?"

  Riley could've laughed. "You thought HYDRA, of all people, were good guys, and then you decided to team up with a murder-bot."

  "Which was created by all of you," returned Pietro, slyly smirking. Meanwhile, Wanda had grown silent. He was right. Plus, she despised the Avengers, especially Tony.

  Riley bit her tongue. He might've had a point, but something about the twins didn't sit well with her. "The point still stands," she snapped. "I don't trust either of you. You're not the kinds of people that are willing to make actual, meaningful sacrifices like the rest of us. You're not the kinds of people that are willing to fix your mistakes. You run from them. So do us all a favor and know your place tomorrow. Because none of us plan on holding your hands or saving your asses when it comes down to it." Then, she turned on her heel and left the room.

  Joining Tony in his corner of the destroyed labs was the only thing Riley was looking forward to at this point. She always loved it when he made upgrades to her suit, no matter how big or small.

  Since JARVIS was no longer accessible to them, Tony and Riley both required replacements. Like Iron Man, Riley needed someone in charge of her protocols and her suit's functions. Her suit required a lot of parts since it was partly composed of her DNA and a lot of fancy mechanical engineering she didn't understand. One little malfunction in her suit could be detrimental. So, Tony created a new UI for Riley. Her name was Just One Cool-Ass Software Technological Assistant—JOCASTA for short.

  Now adorned in her suit, Riley stood in the Avengers Tower, watching as Tony made some last-minute Iron Man-related adjustments. She couldn't stop shifting in her place. She was anxious just thinking about Ultron.

  "If you don't stop moving around, I'm going to stick strong ass magnets to your feet."

  "Sorry," she mumbled. "I'm just worried. Do you think Ultron knows we're coming?"

  "Probably."

  "Right." She continued to pace around the workspace, fidgeting with her small hands. "Are we bad people? Like... do you think we can come back from this? I mean... the Avengers are supposed to protect the world."

  "We're supposed to avenge the world," Tony corrected. "When shit hits the fan, the Avengers are there."

  "But if we're the ones causing the... bad shit, are we really any better than Ultron? You said it yourself. Ultron's partially you, me, and Bruce."

  "We didn't kill people. He did. Ultron's developed his own conscience, albeit it's not very intelligent. We didn't have any control over that," he insisted.

  Riley nodded. "So... we're not bad guys?"

  "You gotta stop looking at the world like that," Tony mentioned, finishing up his last-minute modifications. He turned to her. "The world isn't black and white. It's not just good or bad. It's the whole damn cake." He hesitated, standing to his feet. "Look, people are allowed to make mistakes. Sometimes they're not ideal, but we're allowed to grow from them, right?"

  "Right... I think I get it." She released a dramatic sigh. "Being a hero makes no sense."

  Tony strolled past her, ruffling her hair in the process. "That's what makes it fun."

  Riley rolled her eyes as she followed him out of the labs. "Your definition of fun is not the same as my definition."

  "Yeah, that's 'cause your definition of fun is watching shitty movies."

  "For the last time, Twilight is a piece of art!"

  "I'm never letting you pick the movie during our marathons ever again."

  Riley and Tony did that a lot. They bantered through their worries. It was always quick, lighthearted. Riley never really understood why bickering with Tony during times like these always made her feel better, but she was glad she had someone like him on the team. Because every second after that was tense.

  The Avengers worried about what would come from the fight against Ultron. They shared the same belief that there was no way all of them would survive. Ultron seemed unstoppable. On top of that, the people of Sokovia needed protection. If they couldn't protect Sokovia, and if they couldn't stop Ultron, then how were the Avengers supposed to save the rest of the world?

  Everyone was given a purpose once they arrived at Sokovia. Bruce and Thor would rescue Natasha and figure out what Ultron's been building while Tony sought out the murder-bot himself. The others would evacuate Sokovia until the real battle began. They were split up into pairs to evacuate the city. Riley joined Steve on the highway, directing traffic and wandering citizens.

  And to make things even worse than they already were: when the Quinjet landed in Sokovia and Riley woke up from her nap, she started her monthly period. Riley was beginning to think the universe was seriously against her.

  "I don't know what's worse: the pain after being stabbed for the billionth time or the growing pains. I mean, seriously, at least you guys never had to hit puberty while saving the world," grumbled Riley. "And don't even get me started on cramps!"

  "You forget your comm's on, O'Dair?" Clint's voice rang.

  "Well, I don't have any other friends or a mom to talk to about this crap, so you're all the next best thing," excused Riley before continuing, "Every time I have to save the world, I gotta deal with this shit." It was true—the first time Riley O'Dair got her period was in 2012 during the Battle of New York. She was 11 and, needless to say, extremely confused.

  Car horns blared. Riley and Steve stuck out like sore thumbs with their high-tech suits and weapons, whereas the people had nothing but the weathered clothes on their backs. Riley had a hard time processing the idea that Pietro and Wanda grew up in a place like this. It made her feel thankful for her childhood with S.H.I.E.L.D. for the first time in a long time.

  "The city is 53% cleared, Miss Valor," JOCASTA declared. Riley flinched every time she spoke. She was too used to JARVIS's voice.

  Riley frowned. "Is there really no other way to speed up the process?" she mumbled. They were running out of time. Ultron could begin the fight at any given moment.

  "You could try baiting them with a famous boyband?"

  It was clear to Riley after talking to JOCASTA for a few minutes that Tony programmed the user interface to have a very specific personality. JOCASTA was incredibly humorous and lighthearted, which Riley liked a lot. It was nice being stuck with someone who could get her to stop overthinking, even if JOCASTA wasn't a real person.

  Snorting, Riley shook her head. "You're funny, JO, but I don't think—" The ground beneath them began to rumble. Clanging metal reverberated throughout the city. "...JO, do you hear that?" She approached the edge of the highway and peered over the railing. She gasped.

  A multitude of robots flew into the cloudy skies, blasting at the city relentlessly. Riley was flung backward at the impact of the unexpected explosions. The cars around her caught fire, and the cries of terror rippled in her ears. Riley rolled to the side when one of the robots overtook her. She quickly summoned a forcefield inside of it, causing it to explode.

  Riley's only instinct was to protect the innocent people around her. Ultron had sent an army their way, and she assumed it was only growing by the second. If she could get the people away from the line of fire, maybe they'd have a better chance of surviving.

  Riley turned to one of the wrecked cars beside her, ripping the car door off with a grunt. She used it as a makeshift weapon by crushing nearby robots. They just kept coming.

  "JO, how many of these things are there?" Riley shouted, throwing the car door at another robot.

  "It's hard to get an accurate number, but I'm estimating between 500-700."

  Riley continued using her forcefields to protect the people, shoving away the robots as soon as they got too close for comfort. She maneuvered her way down the highway until the pavement began to shake relentlessly. Riley loudly gasped when she realized the ground was breaking apart. No—That wasn't it. Riley looked down at the hole being created and quickly realized it:

  Sokovia was levitating into the fucking sky.

  Her stomach dropped as she saw Sokovians and cars fall into the abyss as the impoverished country flew skyward. She tried capturing them with forcefields, but the dust and rubbish made it impossible. She inched closer to the edge, hoping to make out the outline of their bodies, but she just couldn't see them. There was no way she could make a giant forcefield without the Sokovians getting crushed by loose debris.

  Steve clamped his hand down on Riley's shoulder, pulling her back before she fell over the edge, too. Riley's hands shook violently. She felt sick knowing that just a few feet below, dozens of innocent people were dead.

  "Oh my God," Riley muttered to herself. "Oh my God. What's happening?"

  She flinched as Ultron's voice was projected through the robots that continued to attack Sokovia. "Do you see? The beauty of it, the inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword. The earth will crack with the weight of your failure. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. It means nothing. When the dust settles, the only thing living in this world will be metal."

  As he spoke, the chunk of Sokovia that was airborne continued to shake, crumbling apart.

  "I'm detecting an abundance of Vibranium in the core of the city, Miss Valor," announced JOCASTA. "I believe its magnetic field is what's keeping the ground consolidated."

  "So if something happens to that Vibranium...?"

  "Sokovia will fall. If it continues to rise, the impact of the fall could kill thousands, millions. Global extinction is in question."

  That didn't sound good, in her humble opinion.

  Riley went to relay this information to Steve, only for another battalion of robots to swoop down toward her. Some soared past her, throwing Steve back several feet until he crashed into a car.

  "Steve!" she shouted.

  "Cap, you guys have incoming," Tony notified.

  "Incoming already came in," grumbled Steve as Riley backed away from the edge of the city. The last thing she needed was to fall and die before she could accomplish anything productive. "Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed... walk it off."

  Riley turned back to him as he pushed himself onto his feet again, scoffing. "That's gotta be your worst one yet," she said.

  Steve grabbed his shield and sighed. "Yeah, you start running out of things to say when you've given the same speech to the same people for so long."

  Riley snorted before beginning to rip through the robot army, taking them down as they dared to face her.

  "We need to work our way into the city! That's where all of the survivors are, that's where the robots are headed!" Riley screamed over the noise. She turned to Steve, only to be surprised when he wasn't nearby. She had to fully look around until she spotted him pulling himself up over the edge with a woman in his arms.

  As Steve dismantled another robot, Thor darted through the skies, landing beside him. Riley glanced between them as they headed toward her. "Did I miss an invite to the party or something?" she asked.

  "What, were you napping?" Steve asked Thor. As they trotted past Riley, Steve called, "Pick up the pace, Val!"

  Valor scoffed. "You want me to pick up the pace!?" She rolled her eyes and bolted to keep up with the god and the soldier.

  Riley quickly analyzed the debris scattered on the ground: vehicles, fragments of buildings, broken off chunks of the earth. Using this to her advantage, Riley used her forcefields to lift them into the air and direct them at the robots, the momentum destroying them.

  Her eyes widened as Mjölnir darted past her face, scathing her cheek. Riley ignored the stinging sensation to catch the hammer with another forcefield, using her strength to sling it at the robots. Riley felt herself losing her energy fast. The downfall of using her forcefields to move objects around was that she always felt the weight of whatever was inside of it. Riley couldn't keep this up for long. She needed to think of something else.

  Thor landed beside her, summoning Mjölnir into his grasp again. "Remember what we went over in training!" he urged.

  Riley grunted, delivering a swift kick to a nearby robot and sending its head to the ground. "Are you seriously making this a training thing right now?"

  "That's not the point!" insisted Thor. "Glow, Valor, glow!" Then, he took off to the skies again.

  Riley's eyebrow twitched upward at the thought. This would be a good time to test how long she could keep up her glow.

  "Alright, we're all clear here!" Clint announced. Wanda and Pietro were with him on the opposite side of the city.

  "We are not clear! We are very not clear!" Steve yelled.

  "Alright, coming to you."

  Riley glimpsed down at her hands, summoning ultraviolet rays to them. If she could contain her energy in a concentrated spot, maybe she could maintain her glow for a longer amount of time? It was worth a shot.

  Riley braced herself and sprinted toward the enemies head-on. She leaped into the air, weightless as a kite, and planted her hands onto the metal surfaces of her enemies. The direct impact of Riley's natural sunlight on the robots caused it to burn up and combust, exploding and taking the others down with it. Not having anticipated this, Riley went flying backward, soot caking her face.

  She slammed her head against the pavement with a groan. Despite her pain, the 14-year-old smirked to herself, "Cool."

  Riley pushed herself onto her feet with a grunt. Sokovia was a warzone. Rubble and wreckage whirled throughout the city, and Riley was bleeding in too many places to keep track of. Nonetheless, Riley would keep fighting. She had to make things right after helping create Ultron. Whatever it takes, she told herself.

  A flash of red stained her vision. Natasha Romanoff ducked under the blasters on one of the robot's arms, using her electric escrima sticks to fry her opponents. Once it was down, Natasha peered back at Riley with a little smirk. "Miss me?" she taunted.

  It seemed that by now, the most recent wave of robots had been officially defeated. But how many more were left?

  "Yeah," confirmed Riley, "I was hoping I'd get to kick your ass at least once before you died!"

  Natasha shook her head. "One day you'll learn that'll never happen."

  "You sound scared that little ol' Valor might actually be stronger than you," teased Riley.

  "I thought that was the point of training you," Natasha said. "I want you to be better than me, shortie."

  Riley smacked Natasha's arm and scolded, "Don't say shit like that when we're about to die. You might make me cry in public."

  A chuckle left the redhead. The Black Widow nodded toward Captain America while he guided a group of citizens to a safer area. "Well, Steve's right over there if you need someone to carry you back—"

  "Oh my God, shut up! That never happened!" interrupted Riley, covering her ears as she blushed.

  "The next wave's gonna hit any minute," Steve said. "What do you got, Stark?"

  "Nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

  Steve joined Natasha and Riley's side as he said, "I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

  "Impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony continued. "We're gonna have to make a choice."

  "Cap, these people are going nowhere," Natasha reminded him. "If Stark finds a way to blow this rock—"

  "Not 'til everyone's safe," Steve interrupted. Riley was unsure. There was no way they could bring everyone to the ground safely at this rate.

  "Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there," Natasha argued.

  "I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it," Steve snapped.

  "I didn't say we should leave," Natasha confessed. This caught Riley's attention.

  "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," chimed in Riley. She waved her hands as she got her two cents in. "We're actually gonna die? I thought we were just saying that stuff to be dramatic! There's gotta be another way. I could make a forcefield and bring everyone down—"

  "You and I both know you don't know how to make a forcefield big enough to do that. All I'm saying is... There's worse ways to go," admitted Natasha. She looked out at the heavens. Puffballs of clouds sat in the sky. They looked so soft that Riley wanted to lay on them. "Besides, where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

  "Glad you like the view, Romanoff," a new voice said. "It's about to get better."

  "Nick fucking Fury," Riley breathlessly said. Of course, Fury was coming to save their asses again. A smile broke out across her face as the old Helicarrier broke through the clouds.

  "Nice, right?" Fury said. "I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

  Riley, Steve, and Natasha stared up at it in awe. Pietro Maximoff sped forward to see it up close, his blue eyes wide as he marveled at the vessel. "This is S.H.I.E.L.D.?" wondered Pietro.

  "Close. We're dead and Satan himself is talking to us," Riley said. "I can't believe I didn't expect that bastard to save us again!"

  Ignoring Riley, Steve nodded to Pietro. "This is what S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to be," he clarified.

  "Huh." Pietro peered back at the Helicarrier as it lowered to the ground level. The lifeboats were being opened up for the people of Sokovia to board. "This is not so bad."

  "Let's load 'em up!" Steve called, causing the others to move accordingly. "Valor, you stay on defense. Call it as you see it, kill whatever gets too close!"

  Riley nodded, saluting him before heading toward the outskirts of where everyone was gathered. "JO, what do we got?"

  "Another wave's coming in hot. It looks like they're taking the skies, you won't be able to reach them with close combat," JOCASTA analyzed. "If you use your forcefields, you could bring them back to you."

  Riley clicked her tongue. "If I bring them down, that'd put the people at risk of getting injured... But if I... Hm, that could work..." She raised her hands to the skies, forming forcefields around the robots as they shot at the people on the ground. "Hey, Tony, you mind taking these guys out for me?"

  "I'm on it!" James Rhodes affirmed.

  "Rhodey? Huh, it must be my birthday!" she called, releasing the robots she gathered. War Machine took them all out in seconds by nuking them.

  "I got it! Create a heat seal! If we have enough power..." Tony declared. "Thor, I got a plan."

  "We're out of time," Thor protested. "They're coming for the core!"

  "Rhodey, get the rest of the people on board that carrier," Tony ordered. "Avengers, time to work for a living."

  Riley faltered. "I thought that's what I was doing already?" Shaking her head, she asked, "Can someone give me a lift?"

  "On it!" Pietro Maximoff confirmed. Without warning, a silver blur swept Riley off her feet, taking her to the church where the Vibranium core was. Riley would've lost her balance had Pietro not steadied her. He offered her a cheeky smile. "What, you asked for it, no?"

  Riley glared at him. "A little warning next time?" Pietro just shrugged, finding it amusing how easily annoyed she became because of him.

  One by one, the Avengers assembled at the church. Riley, personally, thought it was kind of hilarious that they were being taken to church, but she didn't have it in her to make the joke. She was too busy worrying about not getting pummeled by an iron fist.

  Natasha hurried up the steps of the church. "What's the drill?"

  "This is the drill." Tony pointed to the Vibranium core at the center of the church. Meanwhile, Hulk finally joined the rest of the team as the final missing member. The Avengers were fully assembled. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

  "You guys forget I can make forcefields? We'll be fine," Riley assured, waving her hand dismissively.

  It was then when Ultron approached the Avengers. He floated in the sky in his ultimate form, glaring at the heroes. Thor marched forward and shouted, "IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?"

  Rather than responding, Ultron raised his arms, summoning the remainder of his army to his side. Riley felt her stomach drop seeing the ocean of metal. She and her team looked like ants compared to the monstrosity before them.

  Steve grimaced. "You had to ask?"

  But Riley didn't care. This was her life. She would take every last one of the tin-can bastards down until she was dead.

  "This is the best I can do," Ultron confidently asserted. "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 remarked. "Together."

  Riley made a face. "Not to be that person, but Steve definitely stole that from me."

  It was Hulk's roars that commenced the fight. Robots rushed forward, but the Avengers stood their ground. This was the final wave. This was it.

  The Avengers formed a circle around the Vibranium core, give or take the few that could fly or move at incomprehensible speeds. Valor raised a forcefield around it despite the solid defense it already had. After all, there was nothing that could get through her forcefields—that she knew of, at least.

  Riley couldn't explain it, but using her powers so closely to the Mind Stone made her feel so much stronger than before. Her hands glowed with UV rays. She found herself fighting beside Wanda Maximoff. Sparks of red and purple colored the air before them as the two girls fought side-by-side. Somehow, their powers were working together. They moved as one.

  She leaped upward, flipping herself forward to mount one of the robots. She burned it with her hands until it combusted like before, only this time, she secured the blast within a separate forcefield. Riley directed the blast to the wall, creating another opening as Vision flew through it with Ultron in his grasp.

  Riley followed Vision, an idea in mind. Vision blasted Ultron with the power of his Mind Stone, allowing Thor to join in with his lightning and Tony to use his photon blasters. She concentrated hard, forcing out a bright beam of UV rays at Ultron. She couldn't do this very often, but now was a better time than later, right?

  As their fire seized, Ultron stumbled onto the ground. Albeit weakened, he had enough energy to retort, "You know, with the benefit of hindsight—"

  Before he could finish, Hulk swung his fist and knocked Ultron away. He turned to the nearby robots and chased them, only for them to retreat.

  "We... We can't let them get away!" Riley leaned forward with her hands on her knees. She needed to catch her breath after exerting so much energy. At least, the Mind Stone made her feel a little bit stronger. She wasn't sure if she could've done all that without Vision nearby.

  "They'll try to leave the city!" Thor added.

  "We can't let 'em, not even one," Steve agreed. Vision soared through the roof to take care of them. "Rhodey!" When War Machine assured Steve he was on it, he continued, "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."

  Clint motioned to the Vibranium."What about the core?"

  "I can handle it," Riley insisted despite being extremely exhausted. "Forcefields, robots. This is just another Tuesday for me."

  Wanda shook her head, standing tall. "I'll protect it. You go with them. I can handle it."

  "You can't do it alone," Riley tried to oppose.

  "I can do this. It's my job," Wanda warranted. "I've figured out my place. Let me fix my mistakes."

  Hesitation crossed Riley's dirtied face. Wanda was trying to prove herself not just to Riley, but to everyone. So, with a sigh, Riley lowered her forcefield and left for the lifeboats.

  Clint was the first out of the group to get to the lifeboats. He glanced back at the country as it continued to fall apart, exhaustion etching his face as he rode off the remainder of his stress. As he did, an invisible Riley ran forward.

  She turned herself visible and called, "The sky is falling, dude!"

  "Something like that," he mused. His tone didn't match his tired face.

  Riley leaned against the frame of one of the lifeboats, catching her breath. But there was this crying in her ear that she just couldn't tune out.

  "Costel? We were in the market!" cried out a woman a few feet away from Riley. Blood gushed out of her head wound as she cried. "My son, Costel!"

  By the time Riley processed what the woman was talking about, she saw Clint running back out into the battlefield. "JO, sweep the area," ordered Riley.

  "It looks like Hawkeye has detected a boy in the rubble. I don't sense any other life forms other than the team."

  Riley nodded. That made sense—Wait.

  She snapped her attention to a large jet soaring over Sokovia. Piloting it was Ultron. Gunfire rained down on Sokovia, piercing through and killing anyone and everything in his path. Riley turned her gaze back to Clint, who was still in the process of rescuing the child.

  Riley's first instinct was to create a forcefield to protect him, but something was wrong. No matter what Riley did, she just couldn't do it. She was too exhausted and too far away. The more drained she was, the harder it was for her to do long-distance defense. If Riley wanted to save Clint and the boy, she had to head into the warzone one last time.

  "Oh, fuck my life," grumbled Riley. Valor broke out into a sprint, using every last ounce of her energy to propel herself forward.

  Come on, forcefield. Come on.

  She kept trying every other second, but she was too weak. She needed to get closer. She didn't know what she would do if Clint died right in front of her. She could do something this time. She could save him. She had to. Come on!

  The gunfire pounded the ground, dust flying into her eyes. There was a flash of light so bright that she could see it from behind her lids. There was a ringing in her ears, but beyond that, the gunfire finally stopped. For just a second, there was silence.

  When Riley opened her eyes, she saw her arms were outstretched in front of herself. A forcefield glistened around her, Clint, the boy, and a fourth figure: Pietro Maximoff. It seemed that Pietro had the same idea of saving Clint and the child, too. Luckily, Riley got to them just in time to save them. Unluckily, Riley couldn't do so without getting injured in the process.

  Blood gushed out of her arm at an exceeding rate. Bullets flew into her muscles just before she got her forcefield up, but at least the four of them were alive. Her arms shook as she lowered them, her ears ringing. Riley felt incredibly lightheaded as she looked back at the others.

  "...Ow," Riley breathed out before collapsing out of pure exhaustion. She felt Pietro catch her. After that, all of the light escaped her world and the self-sacrificing child fell unconscious, but not without hearing Clint say:

  "What, you didn't see that coming?"

○ ○ ○

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

yes, i am the ceo of keeping characters i like alive.

LOOK, i just hate seeing characters get killed off just for shock value. i know pietro's death in aou kinda makes sense, but i think marvel threw away a great character that should've been expanded on before they killed him. i know it was for wanda's character development, but STILL COME ON!

anyways, there's one more chapter left of age of ultron before we head into the last arc of this book, the oh-so dreaded civil war. yes, i hate writing the avengers break up, but but but PETER PARKER IS COMING...

i'm super excited to show yall where i can take pietro's character, and i hope yall are excited, too! <3 much love, liza