HYSTERICAL STRENGTH
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Sokovia was cold, grey and quiet.  Cold, as to be expected from Eastern Europe, grey from the clear poverty of the place, and quiet since the population was undergoing a mind-controlled evacuation. It was crazy to see it all, but Sadie couldn't say she was surprised. She'd seen some incredible things in the last six years since her hands first glowed in Afghanistan, so Sadie Moore had come to expect the unexpected.

"Aceso?" a voice through the communicator Sadie recognised as Steve's. It took her a moment to realise the name referred to her. "How's progress on your side?"

"Not bad," Sadie said. "We should have this group out in the next half hour."

"Copy. We'll try and get you those thirty minutes."

Sadie glanced down at the long line of elderly and disabled that she and Pietro were organising. Of course, his superspeed was handy for efficiently loading the vehicles with supplies and blankets for the road, but that wasn't all that made the boy a perfect partner for this task.

Pietro Maximoff- despite his quick limbs, and even quicker mouth- demonstrated excellent bedside manner. Sadie thought it was a shame he never had the opportunities she had, since he clearly showed all of the soft skills necessary for medicine.

She thought of the countless medical interns she'd taught over her career, of how many were real cowboys- in it for the money or their family name. Maximoff's care put them all to shame.

"Maybe you should have my job," Sadie said to him, playfully, as they helped an elderly woman up the bus steps. "Dr Maximoff!"

"I never liked to study," he laughed. "That was always Wanda's speciality."

"Nobody likes to study," she answered. "They just pick something to strive for."

"I'd rather have something to stride for," he said, before running off in a jet of light. Sadie felt a rush of wind behind her, as her uniform's hat went flying off her head. By the time she moved to catch it, Pietro was already standing a meter away, frowning down at the cap in his hands before placing it on his head. "This doesn't seem to have much purpose. And I thought you were a doctor not a nurse?"

Sadie reached forward to snatch it off him with a laugh, clipping it back onto her braided head. "SHIELD always did prioritise aesthetics. But it's cute and I like it. How'd you do that speedy thing, anyway?"

"I just go," Pietro shrugged, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hey team!" Tony's voice echoed through the comms. "Just a heads up, all those Legionnaires are crawling your way like zombies."

Sadie instantly looked back over at Pietro. "Do your speedy thing again."

"Why are you calling it that? It's more than speed," Pietro argued. "You just copy people."

"Oh, I'm well aware. Just get all these people on those buses, as fast as you can," she said, light from her hands glowing through the leather of her gloves as two Legionnaires approached. "They might feel nauseous after, but better that than dead."

Pietro simply nodded quickly, before jetting off again, moving in his bright streaks of light behind her as the Legionnaires grew closer.

"Dr Moore," one spoke, its voice chilling and invasive, as more of Ultron's copies followed behind it. "So they brought you to try and clean their mess. Gave you a big girl name. Aceso."

"They brought me to help who you're trying to kill," Sadie said, glancing behind her to see Pietro's progress. Quick was an understatement. She let her hands glow brighter, gathering the energy inside her gloves.

"It's a shame you had to come here. Play dress up like the rest of them. I would have spared you," it continued. Her hands were shaking now, but she held onto her energy until no more Legionnaires followed the dozen in front of her. "You don't have the strength for violence..."

Sadie envisioned the light from her hands extending how it had in Seoul, except this time the blast was more efficient, the leather gloves helping her precision as her power sliced through each of the bots surely and confidently as if it were a knife. She stepped over to one of the figures that held a remnant light, and stared right in its face.

"You think?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow, before bringing her foot down on it, hard. Pietro paused beside her, barely out of breath. Sadie turned to see all three buses fully loaded, and signaled for the drivers to get going. "Right, off you go. You see anyone that needs treatment let me know. You did good here."

"You too," he said, with impressed nod towards the broken Legionnaire, and Sadie pretended to brush dust off her shoulders before he took off again.

The communications were chaos in Sadie's ears as she wandered through the city, glowing hands ready to treat the cuts and gashes of the fleeing locals who needed it the most. She could hear the Avengers calling to each other, but mentally tuned out, focusing instead on scouting for patients within the chaos of the interrupted evacuation.

Legionnaires attacked every five steps she took, until it was a greater conservation of energy to play defense with a forcefield than to fight. Fighting, despite the orders and instructions over comms, was not her purpose here.

Soon though, Sadie realised that perhaps listening would have been the better option, as now the ground beneath her feet was rumbling, and she had no clue what was happening. By instinct, her eyes darted around her, looking for cover when she noticed a sturdy looking building, with an even sturdier looking doorway. Sadie ran over to it, gracelessly stumbling over the cracks in the ground until she reached the doorway and steadied herself against it.

"Hey team," she said into the static of her communicator. "Anybody know what this earthquake is?"

In return, Sadie heard only the clashing of multiple voices, the audio cracking as everybody talked over each other. She made out one thing though- the voice of Wanda Maximoff in a panic.

"The city's going up!"

Sure enough, Sadie could see it now. A short distance away, the ground was rising, buildings crumbling around the seams. She could hear screaming of the Sokovians as debris fell around her and she knew there would be deaths here if she didn't protect them. But she had to get on that rock. Could she do both?

She looked down at her hands, already glowing, and decided on a plan. A silly, reckless plan, which she had no idea would work, but she had to try.

Sadie charged forward, against the crowd of fleeing citizens, shouting instructions for them to take cover as she let the light from her hands extend into the largest forcefield she'd ever mustered. A canopy above the fleeing crowd, straining against the weight of the debris as she ran, already feeling the energy draining out of her. But she would have to power up if she was going to get onto that rock, where she would be needed most.

She ran faster, and every second, a way up was getting more and more out of reach. She imagined if she were Natasha, or Steve, this would be a simple task. But for Sadie, her thighs burned and her lungs were on fire and there was a drilling in her head as she leapt as high as she could, grabbing onto an extended pipe and holding on for dear life as the rock continued to increase in altitude.

She glanced down, glad to see that her forcefield was still in tact, but in every moment, it was getting further and further away as the rock rose. So, she'd achieved her aim. She was on her way to where she was needed. But there was still a long way up, and the pipe was so smooth she could slip incredibly easily. And if she fell now- she couldn't shield herself without leaving those on the ground vulnerable. If she were to fall onto that forcefield from this height- she would break her spine at the least. And the alternative was falling onto solid ground- which would surely kill her.

Sadie had no choice but to pull herself up- the adrenaline rushing through her blood seemed to give her a newfound strength, a strength she knew only came in a scenario of life and death. Like this one.

Sadie knew that her body was in pain as she climbed, but her attention was made so sharp by the hormone, that she barely noticed the muscles in her arms being pulled, the strain in her neck. There was a pressure in her chest as the air thinned around her, but she was reassured by the knowledge that the passages in her lungs would be dilated, that the oxygen uptake levels in her blood would be spiked. She knew that her rapid thinking and reflexes as she avoided falling rocks, was a product of her body and mind on overdrive.

Sadie thought oddly of a story she'd heard at that conference in Vienna, an example Stephen Strange had pulled up of a case he'd tackled- a woman who had spent 4 hours with a half crushed skull, saved only by the hysterical strength and the lengths her body had gone to keep her alive. She thought of her mother, waiting for her in New York, so excited by the prospect of a world class surgeon treating her. She thought of her mother, and decided.

Sadie Moore would not die today.

Soon enough, she'd made it to the surface, gasping for breath as she took cover from the fighting, wishing she had water for her sandpaper throat. If she ever did this again, she'd have to bring some in her utility belt.

There was a horrible echoing throughout the air, a chorus reverberating through Sadie's bones- Ultron's choir relaying his words.

"You rise, only to fall..." Sadie dragged herself to stand, walking out of her cover and onto the street, where people ran and Legionnaires sent flying blasts.

"You, Avengers, you are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword..." Sadie flung out her arms, sending light extending from them. Her right sent protection to the civilians around her, her left sliced through the Legionnaires and their words. But only more followed.

"The earth will crack with the weight of your failure..." She could feel her forcefield beginning to buckle, and focused all her energy onto it until she and a group of people had backed away into cover. "The only thing living in this world will be metal."

Sadie noticed a woman her mother's age in the crowd she'd moved, with a small boy at her side, a gash on her left leg. There was a man, a student by the looks of, with a laceration to his forehead. A baby in it's mother's arms, crying loudly. She put Ultron's words out of her head.

Now. Now, her work had begun.

~

"I don't need any help," the man before Sadie insisted. Aleksy, his name was- a very muscular and capable man in any other scenario, she was sure. But today, Sadie had spotted him lying on the bridge, his leg stuck under an indented car. "Just get this off me and I'll be fine."

"I need to know how long you've been trapped. Crush injuries can be more harmful than you know," Sadie said, choosing not to share the details.

She didn't share that he most likely felt alright because his nerves had been crushed. That if he had been stuck for more than a critical period, there would be so many toxins built up in the lower part of his leg, that lifting him from under the car would send a flood of poison to the rest of his body, leaving him instantly septic.

"Only fifteen minutes," Aleksy said. Too long. She would have to work quickly. "Doctor, will you please get me out, and let me go?"

"I'll get help," Sadie said, glancing over the car to where Steve fought more bots, as civilians fled. She spoke into her earpiece. "Cap, when you've finished your dance with those Legionnaires, I could use your help over here."

"You okay?" He asked, pausing for a moment to look her way, and she gave him a thumbs up as he tossed his shield.

"Got a patient trapped under a car," Sadie explained, turning back to Aleksy and assessing the damage. "I'll put a forcefield up against those bots while you lift this."

"Copy," Steve said, and she stood to do just as she'd said, while he jogged over.

"You'll have to lift it quickly as you can when I say- turn it on its side, out of the way so I can work, and you can get back to those," Sadie said to Steve, gesturing to the Legionnaires taking shots at her forcefield. She turned to Aleksy again. "Aleksy, when he lifts this, it's going to hurt-"

"I can take it," he nodded, confidently. Steve gave her a look- a raised eyebrow- that told her that even though he didn't mean to be insensitive, he wouldn't make anywhere near as good a doctor as Pietro would.

"I know you can, big guy like you, it's easy," Sadie said, rummaging through her utility belt until she found what was left of a roll of bandages- already out of their packaging and therefore no longer sterile. She held it out to Aleksy. "But if you want to bite down on this, it'll be like a jaw workout!"

Aleksy managed a short laugh at that. "That sounds worthwhile."

It was refreshing, to be able to converse with a patient, set him at ease. She'd felt like she was failing to do her job with the others, unable to approach the language barrier any more than the few words Pietro and Wanda had taught her on the jet. Although, she would be surprised if Aleksy stayed awake to talk through the lifting.

"Right, Cap, on my signal," Sadie said, and the supersoldier braced himself. She frowned at his form, placing her hand on his spine to straighten it. "Keep your back straight. Once you lift this, you cannot drop it."

Steve just looked at her with a laugh, slightly taken aback. "You know, I've been lifting things longer than you've known me."

"Yeah, lifting a car is— how you say? A piece of cake!" Aleksy's voice was a mumble beneath the bandage he held in his mouth, and Sadie let herself laugh at that, before nodding to Steve, who began to move the car slowly and carefully at first.

Alesky's laughter became groans of pain as he bit down on the roll, and by the time Steve had swiftly pushed the car onto its side, Sadie's patient was already passed out. She instantly slid over to his side, letting her glowing hands wander over his leg, blue from lack of blood and cold. In any other case, this would require amputation.

Steve was already gone by the time she let the forcefield down, which she assumed meant he was back to fighting, but she didn't spare a moment to look. She made priorities in her mind, first tackling the inevitable toxin build-up by focusing not on Aleksy's leg, but his abdomen.

She imagined the toxins working through the lympatic system, his liver and kidney cells working overtime, cleansing the blood within minutes until the skin in his leg pinked up, and Aleksy's eyes began to flutter open. Then she moved onto the crush injury, letting her power build up the tissue again, until no crush was evident. She stood, helping a shocked Aleksy to his feet.

"How?" he asked, leaning against her, and she shrugged. The truth was, she really didn't know. All she knew was that this was a part of her.

"Off you go, find cover," she grinned, before gesturing to his now functional leg. "Now it's like you never skip leg day."

"I never do skip leg day, Dr Moore," he said, before she urged him to run off, and off he went, autonomous. Sadie couldn't help but feel proud of herself. Fulfilled.

"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely," the voice over comms was Steve, stood several metres away, while there was a lull in the attack. "The rest of us have one job, tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed... walk it off."

Sadie couldn't help but roll her eyes, busying herself with counting the stock in her utility belt until the conversation over the communicators changed. Steve approached her, stepping over debris and broken Legionnaires.

"You okay?" he asked, rubbing her back and she bent to fix her boots.

"Well, it's like you said," Sadie smirked, as she straightened up, hyper aware of his touch and his closeness. She turned her voice into a low, playful impression. "Walk it off."

"Haha," Steve said, sarcastically, but she could tell he wanted to smile so she nudged him in the ribs to let his real laugh escape, and he batted her away.

"How about you two stop flirting and get to work?" a familiar voice sounded from behind them, and Sadie turned to find Natasha striding towards them, casually tossing the head of a Legionnaire between her hands.

"I made a man walk again, Romanoff, I'm doing just fine!" Sadie shouted, as she jogged over to her friend, hugging her tightly. Although Natasha, being the woman she was, barely hugged her back, instead, patting Sadie on her head, causing her cap to squash her brow. "I'm so glad you're okay, Nat."

"Sorry to this break up," Steve said. "But the two of you might wanna keep your eyes up."

Sure enough, the momentary quiet didn't last, and there were suddenly even more Legionnaires around them. Sadie let her hands glow once more, harbouring her energy, before letting the light take down the ones that attacked.

As Steve and Natasha tossed the shield between each other, Sadie realised this wave was heavier than any of the ones previous, and the Legionnaires managed to knock her down more than the few times. She could feel blood in her throat each time she stood up again, could finally feel her torn muscles and throbbing headache. This was not the time for adrenaline to wear off.

But she did her best, and soon enough, she, Steve and Natasha had cleared the area, and there was an eerie silence as they made their way through the now foggy city to find more people to help. No, not fog, she realised upon feeling the dampness of the air- clouds.

It was beginning to get hard to breathe as they helped people into buildings and out of the cold.

"Everyone," Sadie spoke into the communicator, as she jogged on the spot to stop her shivers. "Temperature's dropping fast. Keep moving and keep yourselves warm- doctor's orders."

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

"Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city," Tony's voice was defeated, nothing like his usual self. It took Sadie several moments to comprehend his words. "That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan," Steve said firmly. She could barely see him through the fog.

"Maybe there's a way to slow it's descent," Sadie suggested, desperately. "A third option."

"The impact radius is getting bigger every second," Tony said, confirming her suspicions that she was wrong. "We're going to have to make a choice."

"Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock-" Natasha's voice, disjointed. Sadie stumbled towards their silhouettes.

"Not 'til everyone's safe," Steve said, as Sadie reached them.

She looked out at the sky in front of them. Clouds that went on for miles, a blue that wasn't previously visible over the overcast on the ground. Sadie felt sick to her stomach. They would all die here, all of them. The patients she had treated, given hope to- the team she'd come to call her friends, everyone.

She thought of her mother, and reached for her cracked phone in her belt. With shaking hands, she sent a text she hoped would reach her. She knew it wouldn't.

Mom, I love you the most! Sadie wanted it to seem cheerful, she didn't want her mother to know she was ever this scared, that she knew what was coming. But if that text sent, she could go satisfied.

Message not delivered.

"There's worse ways to go," Natasha's voice snapped Sadie out of her thoughts. "Where else am I gonna get a view like this?"

Sadie didn't care for the view. She didn't think there was anything that could comfort her in that moment.

Then Steve looked at her, his expression softer than she'd ever seen it through all of this, and took her gloved hand in his. She watched his breathing, slow and steady, and tried to match her own to it. Her rapid heartbeat calmed, and the overheating glow of her hands dimmed.

Sadie found herself walking into Steve's open arms, her breath catching in her lungs as he held her close, wordless. She let her arms wrap around him, let her eyes close as she stood firm, determined not to shake, determined to give him the same comfort he gave her, however much he seemed like he didn't need it.

There was a distant rumble, and Sadie was sure it was the rock about to blow. Natasha still stood nearby, as Sadie and Steve parted, her head head high and not an ounce of fear in her. Steve was the same, the only sign of worry being how tightly he held her hand.

These heroes were all far too willing to get hurt, and to die. But Sadie understood it, finally. They'd all done their jobs, tried their very best. And if they were to die to save the world, then at least they would die with friends.

Suddenly, a new voice sounded in their ears. One they all recognised well.

"Glad you like the view, Romanoff. It's about to get better." The rumble she'd heard revealed itself, clear as day. A helicarrier, a saving grace, and Nick Fury had brought it to them.

Maybe none of them would die, after all.

...
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Not bad, if I do say so myself!!! That said, it's obvs not perfect and there may be typos I've missed after the 282828th time of reading it but I did my very best! If you notice any mistakes let me know with an in-line comment so I can correct it x

This is only part one of the battle of Sokovia, and we'll continue on with it next chapter with a little bit more of the team as a whole.

So, the progress in this chapter? Essentially, Sadie is starting to fully understand her powers, and how she can be both a doctor and a fighter, and that they aren't mutually exclusive roles. Also Steve has stopped being dramatic and is starting to realise that Sadie is a strong woman!!! She can fend for herself!!!

And of course, we have our favourite Black Widow back hell yes I missed writing Nat she's literally one of my favourites to write beside Sadie and Steve, with Tony being a close second to her (I also love Pietro too, can you tell I was milking that cow for all it's worth I want him BACK!!!)

okay I have ranted for long enough I'm just so excited about this chapter and it's not even that great lmao but hey!!

Let me know your thoughts!!