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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟑
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐓𝐒

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The two archers continued to fight against the flying robots that kept appearing out of thin air. Because Charlie was so focused on taking down as many of the machines in front of her as she could, she failed to see the one sneaking up behind her. Clint shouted out her name in an attempt to warn her but it was too late for either of them to stop the robot. The metal man shot his repulsor and hit the Barton girl in the center of her back, causing the young archer to let out a cry before she fell to the ground.

Charlie stayed in the middle of the rocky road with his eyes tightly shut when she felt someone lift her off of the ground. Another yelp escaped her as she was carried away from the metal men and towards safety. Once she was placed back on the ground, the Barton girl slowly opened her eyes to find the blurry figure of her father staring down at her from their hiding place behind a car.

"Tell me something, Char," he said in a panicked tone as he scanned over the face of his daughter, "please just say something. I don't care what it is."

"Just a scratch," the girl whispered, earning a relieved sigh from her father as the pain in her back began to fade before she slowly sat up to let Clint examine the wound.

"It's more than a scratch," the Barton man announced after looking over the mark on her back then his eyes moved to meet his daughter's once again, "you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Charlie responded while trying her best to ignore the pain as she matched the Barton man's crouching position. Her eyes scanned over the group of flying machines that were beginning to swarm them before she unconsciously looked back at her mentor. "What we really need to worry about is getting rid of these bots."

As if on cue, the doors from the building they left Wanda in flew open before the telekinetic appeared. The two archers watched in awe as she used her abilities to rip one of the robots in half then sent the pieces into two other metal men. After those two were taken care of, the Maximoff girl shot her red mist at the rest of them and turned them into practically nothing. Once every robot in sight was gone, Wanda looked at the Bartons before the elder of the two sent her a quick nod.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asked as she walked over to the girl to look at the burn on her back.

"I'll live," the younger Barton told the brunette before a small smile appeared on the former's face, "by the way, remind me not to get on your bad side."

The two girls shared a laugh before they followed Clint down the street to look around for more of Ultron's army. Silence surrounded them as they searched high and low for the metal men, only for them to be greeted by emptiness. Once they found that the last building on the road was vacant, the Barton man brought his hand up to his ear to address the rest of their allies.

"We are not clear! We are very not clear!" Steve shouted back after hearing Hawkeye announce that their section was free of robots before his yelling was followed by a loud crash.

"Alright, coming to you," the Barton man responded to the Man Out of Time, only to be greeted by a familiar gust of wind as soon as Clint finished speaking.

Pietro stood in front of them with a smug smirk on his face before he took Wanda into his arms and whisked her away. "Keep up, old man!"

Charlie held back her laughter the best she could after seeing the annoyed look on her father's face. The Barton man just stared at where the speedster once was before he drew his bow and aimed it at where the Maximoff boy disappeared.

"Nobody would know. Nobody," the Barton man mumbled, causing his daughter's laughter to fill the air around them. The master archer sent a playful glare his protégé's way before he put down his bow and returned the arrow to his quiver. An irritated sigh passed over Clint's lips as he and Charlie began to follow the speedster while Hawkeye continued his rant. "The last I saw him, an Ultron was sitting on him. Yeah, he'll be missed, that quick little b*stard. I miss him already."

The Barton girl's laughter continued to cut through the streets of Sokovia as they jogged along the road. They turned another corner and headed in the direction of the main square when they were greeted by another strong breeze. Charlie and Clint just stared at the smirking Pietro standing in front of them before the speedster picked up the young archer and sped away.

"Oh, come on!" the Barton man shouted in the distance, causing another laugh to pass over his daughter's lips as she took in every inch of the blurry world around her.

When she was finally set back down on her feet, Charlie found herself standing next to Wanda as a popping sound filled her ears. She quickly began firing her arrows at the surrounding robots without an ounce of hesitation. While the two girls stood back to back and took out as many of the metal men as possible, Pietro ran straight into some of them and smashed them to pieces.

"Hold your fire!" someone shouted from nearby before the loud banging came to a sudden stop.

Right as Charlie released another arrow, she caught a streak of blue running in front of her before the Maximoff boy appeared next to her. The young archer froze for a moment when she saw his arm in front of her head and noticed the small wound on his upper arm. The Barton girl just stared at the mark then both of them looked over at the officers to see a skittish young man slowly squatting down to hide behind a bush. A slightly irritated sigh escaped the archer as continued to shoot at the flying robots while the speedster threw his hands up in the air in annoyance at the officer.

Once all the robots were taken care of, Wanda, Pietro, and Charlie began to get as many civilians out of the streets as they could and into buildings for shelter. After about twenty minutes of that, the streets became an eerie quiet that sent chills up the Barton girl's spine. Her eyes scanned over the destroyed city that surrounded them for any sign of life that they missed before Steve's voice began to come through the comms.

"The next wave is gonna hit any minute," the Rogers man announced then he began to talk to Tony about their situation through his earpiece, "what do you got, Stark?"

"Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city," the brunette man responded, causing a dreadful feeling to wash over Charlie as she continued to listen to their conversation, "that'll keep it from impacting the surface, if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

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

After Charlie finished listening to the information they were receiving from Iron Man, her attention landed on the Maximoff boy. Panic replaced all the other emotions she was feeling when she saw the serious expression plastered onto Pietro's face, making her turn to see if something was wrong with Wanda. When she found the Maximoff girl standing a little ways away from them safe and sound, the Barton girl peered back at the speedster with a confused look on her face.

"What?"

"What happened to your back?"

As soon as the question left his mouth, a hint of pain returned to her wound before she tried to shake it off as she continued to stare at the blue-eyed boy. "I got hit but I'll be okay. I promise."

Before she could move an inch, Pietro appeared behind her and began to examine the mark on her back. Charlie stood as still as a statue as his fingers traced the charred part of her suit that surrounded it. What felt like an eternity passed before the Maximoff boy placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. A somewhat forced smile made its way onto the speedster's face as he took in every inch of the Barton girl's face but their moment was soon cut short by a voice familiar to the young archer.

"Glad you enjoy the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better," Nick Fury called out to the redheaded spy through the comms.

Confusion filled every inch of Charlie's body as she and the Maximoff twins looked toward the horizon just in time to see the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier coming into view. A sigh of relief passed over the archer's lips before she glanced over at Wanda, only to find her staring back at her with a knowing look in her eyes. Before could even try to comprehend the telekinetic's expression, Pietro placed a quick kiss on her cheek and sprinted off to who knows where.

"Just so you know, you have my approval," Wanda teased, receiving an eye roll from Charlie before their laughter cut through the air.

The two girls didn't move from their places as they watched lifeboats come out of the Helicarrier and head toward the flying country. A small smile made its way onto Charlie's face, knowing that they will soon be far away from Sokovia, as she and Wanda walked over to where Steve was standing. The happiness within the Barton girl did nothing but grow at the sight of Natasha standing next to the Man Out of Time. Without thinking twice, the young archer sprinted toward the redheaded spy and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're okay," the Barton girl whispered to the Romanoff woman as she tightened her grip around Natasha.

"Me too, Char."

"Nice right?" Fury said through their communicators, causing the two agents to end their moment and turn their attention back in the direction of the Helicarrier, "pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Pietro asked after appearing out of nowhere to watch the Helicarrier and lifeboats with them.

"This is what S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supposed to be," the Man Out of Time told the Maximoff boy, whose smile grew wider than humanly possible.

"This is not so bad."

Charlie let out a small laugh in response to the speedster's remark at the same time the lifeboats began to land near the edge of the floating country. The group of heroes continued to watch in awe for a moment longer before they all looked to Steve for further instructions.

"Let's load them up," he ordered, causing all of them to turn around and head back toward the buildings.

Charlie and the Maximoff twins herded all the people from the closest building toward the lifeboats. The three of them called out to the civilians to move as fast as they could so that they could move on to the next structure. Just as they cleared the area, screaming cut through the air. The sound caused the Barton girl to turn around, only to find one of the boats being attacked by some of Ultron's henchmen. Her eyes stayed glued to the scene in front of her for a moment longer before she brought her hand up to her earpiece. "Tony, you seeing this?"

"I got it, Barton Jr.," Rhodey's voice filled her ears before he flew out from the Helicarrier.

Despite wanting to argue about the nickname, a small smile formed on her face at the sight of the flying man taking all of Ultron's henchmen out of the sky. The Rhodes man continued on his own for another moment before Tony appeared out of nowhere to help his friend by holding up the damaged lifeboat. As soon as they finished taking care of the robots, Rhodey switched places with Tony to allow the Stark man to fly back toward the floating country. It wasn't long after that when Charlie, Pietro, and Wanda went back to helping the people of Sokovia away from danger.

"Avengers," the Stark man called out as he flew over the heads of the archer and the enhanced siblings and towards the center of the country, "time to work for a living."

"Isn't that what we've been doing?" Charlie mumbled before helping the last person onto the boat and following after Iron Man.

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