Chapter 60

The World Began to Move

From their vantage, still high on the mountainside, Natasha watched a swarm of metal bodies swoop down on the city. Ultron must have gotten wind of the Avengers' arrival. Emily better be okay down there. Beside her, Pietro swore, slammed a fist to the dash of the delivery truck they'd stolen. An old Russian beast, the thing had been parked outside the castle, was probably abandoned when HYDRA had been ousted. The crates left in it were full of old shit and feathers.

"Slow down, kid." Natasha grunted at yet another bump that jarred her screaming leg. She could drive with a broken leg, had on a couple occasions, but it wasn't fun. Better to let the kid do it. For now. "We'll get there."

"Not in time! My sister is alone down there!" He yelled.

"She's not alone. Emily and our friends are there too." Damn them for sending the boy. Almost anyone else would have Natasha down there in the thick of it already, kissing and protecting Emily instead of enduring this painful truck ride.

He shot her a poisonous look.

"Fine. If you keep driving like this, you'll get us both killed. Then there'd be no point to you having come to rescue me in the first place. If you can't calm down, stop the truck. Go ahead. I can drive."

A rude laugh popped out. "With that?" He gestured at her leg. "You'll get yourself killed. Then where will I be?"

Natasha saw the needle on the speedometer dropping. She debated whether to say thank you or not, chose not to. It would only make him angrier. "How'd she do it?"

Confusion pinched at her. "Do what? Who?"

"Emily. How'd she convince you we're a lesser evil to Ultron? She hug you and stuff you full of tea and cookies?"

Resentment replaced the confusion. "I'm not convinced."

She waited five minutes. "If she didn't convince you, why did you come?"

"My sister."

Bumps rattled and jolted her. A squirrel darted out of the trees, made Pietro swerve, the whole truck jerk. Pain knifed up her leg.

"Sorry," was muttered. "Fucking squirrel."

Well, she breathed through the pain, it was good to know the boy valued innocent life. "It's fine."

His hands squeaked on the steering wheel as they twisted and stressed. "My sister saw destruction in Ultron's head when he was connected to the body he built. That was why we decided to make a temporary alliance with the," he sneered, "Avengers." The sneer twisted to something softer, stranger. "Then she saw something in Fortune's head. She," he darted a glance to her belly, "She says Fortune is true, that the woman struggles to find the light despite the darkness in herself. She thinks Fortune would stand up to Ultron to save a squirrel."

Laughter exploded. She couldn't help it. That was so Emily. "She's not wrong. Emily is an idiot like that."

"Do you really love her?" He asked after the laughter died to chuckles. "Or are you growing another generation of superhumans to keep up the reign of the Avengers?"

One hand keeping a tight grip on the door frame, the other went to her belly, already an old habit now. More minions flew in formation to the city. Smoke was beginning to rise from it. "Emily is terrified that we're having a superbaby she won't be able to keep up with." A sad chuckle. "She doesn't see how incredibly capable she is of handling one."

He slowed to take a dangerous curve in the road. "That isn't an answer."

"No. But would you believe any answer I gave?"

He grunted.

"Did anyone give you a radio?"

"No. Your captain said radio quiet while they warned the city."

Was his sister with Emily? "Can you contact your sister?"

His glare was cold. "No." What little warmth had developed between them was gone. His posture radiated aggressive walls.

New tact needed. Silence? Another topic? Speed didn't increase and his driving stayed calm. She didn't know what might or might not antagonize him. Silence it was. She shifted to give her leg some relief, couldn't find a good position, and gave up.

Trees overtook the road. Tall, broad pines grew so high, they put the road into shadow, cut off all view of the mountain, the city, and the sky. Emily would probably make some comment about this being a perfect horror movie scene. Or tell a story about taking her little brothers camping.

"Her power doesn't work like that." Pietro suddenly spoke.

She looked at him, couldn't read his expression. "Wanda's?"

He tossed a sneer at her.

"How does it work?"

"She has to be close to hear someone. She has to be focusing for details."

Why was he giving up information freely? "That's like Emily's."

"She's obnoxious."

"Emily? Yea. She can be."

He slowed the truck to take on an intimidating pothole that stretched across the lumpy, mountain road right before it intersected with the maintained city pavement. First one wheel, then another shook them from side to side. He knew this road, knew how to maneuver on it. How often had he driven from city to mountain and back?

"What are you going to try to do with us after we've helped you bury Ultron?" Pietro demanded with all the cocky arrogance of a teen believing he could surpass anything.

"Me personally?" She shrugged. "Not much. Emily will insist on mothering you, trying to rescue you from yourselves. Clint too. Steve will put on a show of objecting. Bucky will try to be your big brother. Bruce will try very hard not to insult you with wanting to study you. And Thor will probably go home."

"Rescue?" He sputtered. "We don't need rescuing!"

"She insisted it be you, didn't she?" It made sense, the idiot. "Instead of Clint or Bucky, or anyone else who could have actually carried me. Em insisted that you were the best choice to find me. And everyone tried to convince her otherwise, but she won anyway."

His eyes shot from road to her and back several times. "I knew the place best."

She snorted. "We mapped the castle and everything under it when we ousted HYDRA. She wanted to prove we could trust you and vice versa."

"How does this prove I can trust her?"

"Because she trusted you to rescue me. Not to be all that and a bag of chips, but I am her favorite person." She rubbed her round belly. "And I've got her little bean."

He coughed into a laugh. "'All that and a bag of chips.' You sound like a bad American movie."

Amusement curled her lips. Maybe this kid wasn't completely hopeless. "My life has been one bad American movie after another. I'm just hoping it gets to be an Indie film with a happy ending from here on out."

There was a bend in the road they grinned around. Grins died at the view that met them. A parade of cars, full of terrified civilians, choked the opposite direction. Smoke billowed behind them. Shiny streaks in the sky fired laser blasts and lightning at each other.

"Guess we aren't too late for the party." Natasha quipped.

"Are you letting yourself get surrounded?" Bucky yelled after a swarm of minions puddled to the ground.

Emily grinned at the little EMP in her hand. Her armor was mostly dead weight now, but it was worth it. She didn't need the AC or high tech HUD anyway. "Not intentionally, but it's working."

"You know he's going to catch on and use it against you in a minute, right?

"You sound like Nat."

"Good! Maybe it'll keep you from throwing yourself into these situations!"

She turned her smile on him. "Now you sound like Steve."

He threw his arms out, howling in frustration.

Attention off her, she threw a worried look in the direction of the mountain. Buildings blocked her sight. The holes and damage to them was awful. This city might never recover from the Avengers' second visit. Sokovians had good reason to hate them.

A huge boulder flew past her face. Shrieking, she jumped away, looked up to see a minion above her. It moved to make way for another carrying a chunk of rubble that also tried to turn her into mush. Luckily, there was a superhuman hero with a vibranium arm who got her out of the way in time. He crouched over her, returned fire with a huge rifle that looked like it belonged mounted to a wall or vehicle or a goddamn battleship. Where the hell had he found that? One minion was torn to shreds, the other lost its lower body.

Emily managed to shoot that one in the head.

"Jesus H. Christ, I forget how good of a shot you are." Bucky muttered as he helped her to her feet.

"I'm trash compared to the rest of you."

"Says the dame who just shot a flying robot in the head."

She shrugged. "I get lucky sometimes." Down the street, she spotted movement in an apartment window. "There's still civilians on this street. Let's go."

"Dammit, Em!" yelled behind her. "Stop running off!"

Oh, right. She didn't slow, didn't need to, Bucky was alongside her in half a thought. "Sorry."

He shot her an aggrieved look before visibly focusing on the mission. It looked like an elderly couple, the woman's greying hair tucked into a bun, a shawl over her shoulders. The man had an arm around her, face clean shaven, but craggy and full of years. Both of them glared at Bucky and Emily as they approached.

The world began to move. Emily had only felt an earthquake once before on a trip to Los Angeles; a little baby one that locals didn't even notice. This one threatened to take her feet out from under her. Hatred slid off the elders' faces as glass shattered and the contents of their home's cupboards dumped to the floor. Fear and shock looked around, then they were moving, running to the door, to Emily, yelling in Sokovian.

"We'll get you out of the city." Emily said in Russian. "Come on."

They blinked at her, each other, back at her.

"What is happening?" The man replied, his Russian thicker and more natural than Emily's.

"The robots or the earthquake? I only have an answer for the first, though the second is probably the same."

"Why did you bring this trouble to us?" He demanded, ducking away from falling glass. The upper stories of the apartment building were literally raining shards.

Emily hissed as a shard got her face. The rest fell harmlessly over her armor. "Actually, we followed it here. Ultron got away from us in New York."

He glared at her. "And wh-" he yelped as he tripped on rubble. Or the earthquake unfooted him. Both?

"Maybe it's better if you save your hatred until we get you to safety, okay?"

Stumbling to his feet, he kept his silence, so did the woman. This was nice. The world getting along.

"Em, hurry up!" Bucky yelled.

Above them, it wasn't just glass shattering. The building was crumbling. Oh. Shit. She grabbed the man's arm and bolted forward. Bucky picked up the woman. He got her safely away. The building growled at its loss of victims and avalanched down at Emily.

She didn't die.

She opened her eyes to a world of fire. It didn't burn. It was, in fact, holding back the murderous rubble that the building had become.

"I can't hold it for long!" Someone yelled.

"Emily!" Bucky shouted as he ran at her. He scooped her up, tossed her over a shoulder, grabbed the man around the waist, and ran. The moment they were clear, the building thundered to the ground, dust and rocks puffing into the air, making her cough and cover her head and wish for the helmet she'd left behind.

Grit was in her eyes, her mouth, blinding and gagging. "Bucky?" she coughed.

"I'm here, Em. Come on, up."

Other voices chattered Sokovian, excitement and relief obvious in their tones. Emily heard the Avengers and her own name mentioned. She finally blinked out the grit to see Wanda walking alongside the couple. Whoa. Had Wanda saved them? She could do more than fuck with their heads? Wanda looked over her shoulder, the couple following her gaze, before continuing their hurried pace down the street.

Emily sighed and pat Bucky on his arm as she stumbled forward. "This is fun, right? So glad I got up this morning."

He muttered about her mental health.

Glass and building followed in their wake, crumbling and crashing like children's dominoes.

"What the…" Natasha stared at the impossibility happening a mile down the road.

"No. That's not possible." Pietro echoed.

The city was rising. With intense earthquakes, it wasn't unheard of, but this entire area was seismically quiet. The handful of volcanoes in the Mediterranean couldn't account for this!

It must be Ultron's doing. How? No idea. But it absolutely wasn't natural, and he was the most likely perpetrator.

"Do not slow down!" Natasha barked when the truck slowed.

"We won't make it like this!" He snapped back.

Though she already knew the answer, "Are there any helicopters in the area?"

"No."

"Then get out and run. I'll keep driving."

He glanced at her, the city. There was a screeching, and she was thrown forward into the dash, pain exploding from her leg in a blinding, angry white light that left her panting and teary eyed.

"Come on. Get on my back." Pietro was at her door, back to her. "Get on. I can carry you that far."

Pain and the fear of more made her hesitate.

"Hurry up!" He yelled. "We don't have all d-oof!" His body jerked as he steadied himself from her jumping on. Arms came up under her butt, secured her to his scrawny back.

"Go," she hissed through pain.

"Hold your head down. Put your forehead on my neck."

She didn't question it. The world blurred, her hair whipping madly, wind tearing at her face, freezing everything not protected by armor. Whiplash. That was why he told her to put her head down. He was trying to protect her. Without restraint, her neck would snap anyway. She adjusted herself, freeing a hand to support her neck. The world suddenly stopped, nearly threw her off his back, and snapped her head and leg back painfully. A cry made it past her clenched teeth.

"You okay?" Pietro puffed, his chest heaving for breath.

They were in the city, buildings crumbling and shaking around them. Screams and shouts came from every direction. Explosions came from too close. She loosened the gun in its holster. "Maybe."

"Isn't that the captain's stupid shield?" His head tilted ahead of them, and a glint of red caught her eye.

She looked for evidence of Captain America, thought some of those explosions might be him crashing through walls. "You can put me down."

With incredible care, she was eased to her feet, his supporting hands leaving only for the brief thought it took for him to turn around. Together, they walked to the abandoned shield and retrieved it, the thing balancing out Natasha's weight on his other side.

"Wanda!" yelled in her ear.

Ahead of them, his sister came around a corner. Her gaze zeroed immediately on Pietro, and a gleefully innocent smile brightened her face until she noticed Natasha. She turned and yelled behind her. A moment later, two more figures made the corner.

Emily, Bucky behind.

Her favorite idiot didn't hesitate. She bolted at Natasha; rubble and cars were jumped over, skid across, and generally ignored by the usually injury-prone woman. She came to a skidding halt in front of them. Black eyes swept over her, darkening at the obvious injuries. Hands swept up to Natasha's face. There was a whisper of relief that turned Natasha's strong leg to jelly. Their little bean was okay.

Emily caught her before she could fall and take Pietro with her. Kisses rained over her face as tears escaped. "It's okay, little fox. Our little bean is okay. You're going to be okay too. Just hold on while I fix up that leg, okay? Nat?"

She used her teeth to take off a glove and keep hold of it. She nodded. White hot knives carved her leg open, starting at the ankle and working their way up. She screamed into her glove. Supported by her beautiful Emily, guarded by their trusted friend, she screamed her current agony, yesterday's agony, and all the rage and frustration of captivity into her poor glove. When the pain gave up, she sagged into Emily's arms, all her strength gone to sucking in deep, ragged lungfuls of air.

Around them, the world continued to buck and shift, buildings and people screaming as the city kept rising.

"She good, Em?" Bucky whispered. "Need me to carry her?"

"When she catches her breath, she'll be okay."

She tried to gather herself, to steady her breathing. It was taking so long. Too long. Her heart thudded. Was there something else wrong?

"Shh, little fox. I think it's the pregnancy. The little bean likes to sap your strength." Emily pressed kisses to her hair.

That and Ultron hadn't fed her well. Okay. Stay calm. The weakness was temporary.

"We need to get out from under these buildings." Bucky announced. "Now." His arms tore her away from Emily. "Come on, run!"

Over his shoulder, she watched Emily quickly fall behind. She opened her mouth to berate Bucky, but he was setting her down. "I'll be right back."

A blur deposited Cap's shield by her side, then returned with Wanda. She slid off Pietro's back, and he sat huffing a moment before blurring away to help the old woman. Bucky arrived with Emily. He went back as the row of buildings they'd been among started to collapse. Pietro and the old woman escaped in time. The old man went down with a shriek. Dust blew everywhere, engulfing Bucky first. Natasha managed to close eyes and mouth in time, but she heard coughing and gagging all around her. She pulled a respirator from a pouch on her armor and put it on. Goggles followed.

Emily was on her knees, struggling to breathe. Idiot had probably left her helmet at home. Was there a respirator stowed in her armor as well? She checked pockets and pouches, finally found one as the dust began to settle. She shoved it on Em's face anyway. The idiot tried to wave it away, gesturing at the coughing, crying old woman, at the twins.

"No." Natasha refused to allow the selflessness. "You can't help anyone if you can't breathe. I'd give them mine, but I've got to protect the little bean. She comes first."

Black eyes closed. There was a long sigh before Em nodded. The respirator hooked on and settled perfectly in place. Natasha turned to see Bucky shifting rubble. Looking for the old man? There was a slim chance he was still alive. If they could find him, Emily could keep him that way. Natasha went to help. She saw the twins whispering, then Wanda followed in her wake. Pietro stayed to hold the old woman. Sweat was turning the dust on his face to mud.

"You know we really don't have time for this." Natasha said as she approached Bucky.

His face was a mask of grey, broken only by his eyes and teeth. "He was right here. He could still be alive."

She purposefully eyed the mass of rubble that had been the street a moment ago.

"I know it's not good chances, but we have to t-"

"I feel him," came Wanda's sharp interruption. She pointed, and a halo of red surrounded a pile of bricks, lifted several to toss aside. "There."

Bucky jumped first, Natasha following, taking care to pick her way through the rubble. The three of them made quick work of the brick and wood until they got to an upside down bathtub, antique claw feet pointing skyward. Under it came coughing and wheezing.

"Don't life it yet. Lower me down." Emily demanded of Bucky. She was behind Natasha, standing on the side of a battered, red refrigerator.

Bucky winced, but lowered Emily to the shadows. Natasha's heart fluttered its distress at watching Em go down there. The little bean echoed the sentiment.

"Hi. Remember me? Emily." She started in English, quickly switched to Russian. "Emily, one of the Avengers you hate so much. Yea, there you are. You're going to be okay. No, don't move. I'm still scanning you. Hold still while I figure it out."

Wanda called back what she'd witnessed to the old woman, who stopped struggling against Pietro and sagged, wailing her relief.

"Bucky, when I say go, lift the tub a tiny bit." Emily ordered. "The man's entire left side is crushed under it. I'm going to have to do repairs by the inch. If you lift too fast, I won't be able to keep up, and his insides will spill out."

"Yes, ma'am. Let me get in position." He eyed the area before choosing his footing and settling into place.

"Wait." Natasha interrupted before he could call ready. "That thing is going to weigh at least 200 pounds. There's no safe way to use anything for leverage under it. I'll help you lift."

"Not that it'll be a gas to do it alone, but what about," he gestured at her belly.

"It's your guts you should be thinking about if you slip and drop this thing on Em or the man and keep her down there longer." Natasha replied.

He paled. "Yes, ma'am."

Emily's face appeared from the shadows. "Nat, what are you t-"

Natasha interrupted. "We're ready. On your mark, we'll lift."

Colorful swearing came back. Emily shifted back down. "On three. One, two, three!"

They lifted. The tub was much, much heavier than 200 lbs. It was probably pushing 350.

"On three, lift again." Emily ordered. "One, two, three!"

And so the next excruciating year went by. Decade. Century. Shoulders, back, hips, they all complained that Emily hadn't done anything about the bruises or strains Natasha had incurred from Ultron's ungentle handling. Not to mention the added strains of having to deal with a broken leg. Her energy reserves were almost empty. Muscles started quivering.

Red light filled her vision.

"I will take over for you," whispered in her skull. "Let go before you collapse."

She glanced over her shoulder, followed the red light to its source. Wanda Maximoff.

"On three, lift again." Emily called.

"I will lift," whispered again. The girl's mouth didn't move.

"One, two, three!"

Natasha let go.

A/N - This chapter isn't as polished as it should be, but I wanted to give you guys more than one chapter this week! You deserve it :)

I hope to get another done out soon. Being able to sit and focus on writing hasn't been easy. And I still have to go to work. Being essential is so fun.