What can I say? Life's been rough and busy and I'm so sorry for keep you waiting but I promise- just as I have done before- I'm not giving up on this. I'm so close to graduation, (and then on to my Master's in the fall) I can taste it. Point is: summer will hopefully be more productive and I love you and appreciate your patience.

On another note- despite me having no need whatsoever- I've been thinking about doing another polyamorous-mates-Avengers story in the future (because I'm predictable human garbage who despite being extraordinarily monogamous in real life, has a thing for multiple hot fictional superheroes) but I would love your opinion. It would most likely be another soulmate thing (again- predictable human garbage) but I'm thinking with a super normal woman. The full story has not been fleshed out in my mind yet, but basically I'm trying to gauge if you all would be receptive to another poly Avengers/OC story or if you would like me to not be human garbage and broaden my horizons.

Thank you all! Your comments give me life!

"Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia: they didn't."

Kate knew that if this were a movie, ominous music would be playing in the background as Steve gave his pep talk. The moment where their team was down three points and had only seconds left on the clock. This was a motivational speech, meant to incite a fire under their asses.

Kate's ass still wanted to bolt, but her feet- and not fully conquered fear of flying- kept her motionless in the Quinjet, listening to the Omega's every word.

"So our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace and that's not going to happen today, but we can do our best to protect them and we can get the job done. We find out what Ultron's been building, we find Romanov, and 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."

There was silence in the craft, but a resolute agreement to fight until every last Sokovian was safe and Ultron was defeated. Even Kate, who was still somewhat in the dark about what was transpiring, found herself nodding at Steve, pledging herself to the cause. She was terrified- that much was still true- but that did not mean she had to be a coward.

She was a self-pledged Gryffindor, after all.

The jet landed with fluidity. It was time. She wasn't prepared, but then again, she didn't think she would ever be prepared to walk into battle.

"Wanda, clear the residential area on the north side of the city, Pietro, get downtown. That's where all the schools, police stations, and stores are. You're the fastest, so I need you to clear the area quickly. Bruce, I need you to find Romano-" Steve was cut off with a growl by the Black Widow's mate.

"Cap," He spoke on the end of a growl, reigning himself in. "You cannot expect me to ignore my mate."

"Barton, I know." His eyes betrayed his stiff posture revealing a look of sympathy and anguish that Kate did not fully understand, but certainly felt the weight of it's meaning. "I know this is difficult, but I need you to clear the western border of the city. We need to keep the Hulk contained."

Clint mumbled a growl of distaste, flexed and clenched his hands, and stood, nodding with a frown fixed on his face.

"Thank you," Steve bowed his head gratefully. "Stark, you find the mine. You find it, you find Ultron. Stall him with everything you've got. Buck and I will take the bridge: it's the only exit point for the city so it's going to be crammed. We'll have to work efficiently to get every across."

Everyone around Kate nodded at their orders, beginning to rise to action. "What about me?"

They all paused to look at the quiet Alpha in the corner with a shadow of surprise on their faces.

"Oh, you're still here?" Tony questioned.

Kate's brows immediately rose. "Wow, okay, cool. Good to know I'm forgetful. Sweet."

"You're just so quiet. Like air almost."

"Oh ha ha, real funn-"

"That's enough." Steve shut it down. "Kate, you can-" he paused, quickly looking to her hands then back to her eyes.

"Take the sky." Bucky answered, sharing a look and a nod with Steve in agreement.

"What? No, no, no, no, no. I manipulate air. I do not fly." She immediately protested. "Can't I just help Clint or Wanda or Pietro clear the city?"

"Levitation, flying, to-may-to, to-ma-to, it's all the same." Tony waved her off. "Besides, you haven't been very fast on your feet. You'd just slow them down."

"Okay, ouch." She muttered. He was right, but that didn't mean he needed to just say it out loud.

"Listen, doll," Bucky approached her, put his hands on her shoulders, and looked her in the eye. "You can do this. You've done it before right? With the cradle?"

She pursed her lips- holding her breath- and nodded. He smiled and opened his mouth to continue before she blurted "But that was for like two seconds and in real life I'm never hovering over an entire city-"

He put his hand over her mouth, silencing her and forcing her to now breathe through her nose, inhaling his scent. Yet again, like before their first trip in the jet to retrieve the cradle, his unique aroma calmed her almost instantly. Kate had a strange feeling that he knew covering her mouth would do just that. He was sharp- too sharp- and that irked Kate that he was manipulating her with his damn scent.

"Flying, it's just moving the air around you. You're good at that." His stupid blue-grey eyes were the calm before the storm. "I was new to this once too." Yes, as a super soldier with decades of combat experience. "You," she swore he was a fraction of an inch closer, pushing his somehow calming pheromones in her direction. "can do this."

He stepped back. Now that he was no longer touching her, Kate realized the spaces where he touched her were tingling, shooting pleasant vibrations down her spine.

"We have faith in you." If Steve were lying, his voice and body language gave nothing away.

Eyes wide, she nodded. "Okay." She paused than whispered 'okay' a few times to herself. "Let's go," she looked to Steve.

The Captain gave a fraction of a smile and nodded, "Let's go."

The Avengers all turned and exited the jet, Kate following but putting distance between herself and their proactive steps. Once they were out of earshot she had herself a quick moment to expel her pent up energy accompanied by aggressive movements and angry utterances: in other words, a tantrum.

She stomped her feet in anger. She was not the overly romantic type and the fact that she could so easily be affected by some Beta and his imated/i Omega royally pissed her off. Punctuating each word with a jump she muttered, "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid."

"You okay there, Kate?" Bucky's voice broke through her ear piece.

Her tantrum immediately ceased, her face blanching. She forgot about the headpiece.

"Yep, I'm good. Going to save the world now, okay, bye." Her voice was high and speedy in embarrassment. She quickly shuffled out of the craft.

"You know, pink really is your color, Airbender." Tony, now suited in his full regalia, started for the sky.

"Bite me, Stark." She mumbled.

Before Stark could reply, Steve commanded, "Enough. We've got a job to do. Now do it."

Feeling shame, like she just pissed off Mommy, Kate decided not to stall. Steve wanted her to take the sky, so she would take the sky, dammit. With shaky hands, she pushed herself inches above the ground before she stalled. To get above the city meant a lot of concentration and energy, and Kate was untrained how exactly to control those things efficiently. Minor bursts of wind, low levitation, small shields created by the displacement of air: these were the things she could do as easy as blinking. Anything more was a stretch.

She closed her eyes, her fists clenching and toes pointing, before inhaling deeply. On the exhale she shifted the air below her feet to push her up, sending her soaring into the air. The wind rushed through her hair far too quickly and she began to panic, letting out silent screams. Her eyes opened wide to see the entire city below her feet. The people- running, driving, evacuating the city- all looked smaller than ants. "Oh god," she whispered, her breath becoming labored and her heart beating erratically in her chest.

She was too high. The air was too cold. There was nothing to catch her should she fall, and with that realization, she did just that.

She began to fall. Fast.

The rush of air as she plummeted to the ground robbed her of her screams. Her arms were flailing, reaching out for nothing. She tried to concentrate, tried to stop herself mid-air, but she couldn't fully focus on saving herself. Her fear was all consuming.

How could Fury force her into the field with no training? She had been fooling herself: she had no idea how to control her powers. She was too young, too inexperienced, too-

"Kate! Focus!"

Steve.

She stopped. Mid-air, level with the tallest Sokovian building, she just stopped.

"You can do this," his authoritative voice turned smooth in her ear piece as he repeated Bucky's earlier sentiment. Steve watched her frozen figure in the air. Her body rigid, he could see and hear her body shake with panic. "You're okay and you can do this." She was calming but she certainly was not okay. "I need you to check the buildings for stray civilians. Can you do that?" He asked, never taking his eyes off her as he once again began to usher traffic across the bridge. No response. "Kate!"

She blinked, putting an end to her catatonic state. She re-directed her eyes from the sky to the city. She spotted the red, white, and blue man among the cars instantly. She didn't have the enhanced vision that he did, so she could not make out his face, but she nodded, knowing he could make out hers.

"Good. You can do this." He repeated one last time before focusing on his task at hand.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

She followed this pattern before extending her hands to her sides, using them to control the air around her. With a hesitant push, Kate moved closer to the nearest building. Her movement stuttered, not at all fluid or graceful, but she got close enough to circle the building, surveying every window.

No one was left inside the building, and with this realization she exhaled. Pietro had done his job far better and quicker than she could.

She moved onto the next building, and then the next and the next. Each time she found nothing but empty rooms.

It wasn't until her fifth or sixth building that she found two people huddled in the corner of an apartment building.

It looked to be a mother cradling her son to her chest. He was no older than ten with brown hair, big eyes and sneakers. She thought of her younger brother and her heart clenched. Furrowing her brow, she raised her hand toward the window. With a gush of air she was able to break through the barrier, however focusing on this caused her to lose her grasp of levitation and she fell a few feet before righting herself and stopping. With bated breath, she rose to the window and entered the room.

She was gasping by the time she touched the floor, flooded with relief. "Hi," she tried to offer a comforting smile. "My name is Kate and I need to get you out of Sokovia."

They looked confused and began shaking their heads. She sighed in frustration, "You don't understand, the city is not safe. You have to leave!" No change in their response. "Look: you have to leave if you wave to save your son!"

The Omega woman shook her head, her entire body was shaking as she griped her child, "No english" her voice was shaky with fear, but Kate understood.

She let out another shaky breath before approaching them, and crouching down to their level. She pointed at herself "I help," then began to make a walking motion with two fingers, "leave Sokovia." Kate held out her hands; if she were being honest, she had no idea if she could help levitate two other people to the ground. But she had to try.

The mother was hesitant, but her eyes showed she understood. She looked down to her trembling son, then back to Kate's hands and nodded. She had to save her child.

Kate helped them up and led them to the window. She was shaking, but neither of her charges noticed because they too were quivering with fright. At the windows edge, she took a deep breath before turning to the two behind her. She lifted her hand and covered her eyes before gesturing for them to follow her actions. They were scared, but they nodded, closing their eyes.

Kate leaned down and picked the boy up underneath his arms. He wrapped his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist in a death grip, then she pulled the mother close so she could wrap her arms on top of her sons' around her neck. Kate grabbed her by the waist, said a quick and silent prayer, before pushing them out of the window and into the sky. She took her time, focusing intently on lowering themselves to the ground slowly. She was just inches from the ground, landing on the bridge near Steve and Bucky, when the ground began to shake.

The Omega, the child and Kate's knees all buckled sending them to the ground. Kate immediately looked to Steve who had grabbed Bucky's arm keeping them both standing as the ground somehow began to lift from the ground, right where the Omega and her child were trying to stand.

The ground was fast rising and they were going to fall, possibly being crushed by the land masses' debris.

Kate immediately grabbed the mother's arm, who held tightly to her Son. She tried to pull them up but the land beneath her torso began to crumble, nearly sending her too over the edge before someone grabbed her roughly by the ankle, stopping their fall. The Omega cried in relief as Kate watched the ground below them get farther and farther away. She looked over her shoulder to see Bucky- being held in place by his Mate's arms around his waist- pulling them all up from the ledge.

Bucky treated Kate almost like a rope, pulling her up by passing each surfacing body part onto his mate. Bucky passed Steve her ankle, then his hands rose to her knees, then her hips, then her waist before wrapping around her torso and pulling the Alpha, Omega, and child to the ground. The moment the Omega and her son hit the ground, they ran far away from the bridge's edge, muttering to each other as the bolted.

Bucky righted himself as Kate was circled in his arms with her back to his chest. She was panting. Her arms hurt from holding up the Omega and her son's combined weight. Everywhere Bucky had grabbed her was on fire from the strength of his metal arm yanking her to the surface.

"Kate?" Steve's voice held concern as her stood before her, hands on her shoulders. "Kate?" He pushed her chin up to make her look into his eyes. "Are you alright?"

She was tired, sore, terrified.

But she was alive.

And she had helped save two people.

A smile- a real genuine smile touched her lips- even after multiple near-death experiences. "I helped saved their lives."

The look of worry on Steve's face vanished as he and Bucky shared an incredulous chuckle.

"Yes, you did." Steve was proud. Genuinely proud. It didn't just show through his eyes, but Kate could sense it. Could feel it. Could scent it. He was proud of her. She looked back at Bucky who was smiling down at her, his pheromones revealing he was just as proud as Steve.

She looked back and forth between them both, all three smiling at one another. Their scents were nearly suffocating her- in the best way possible. They were so warm. Bucky's chest against her back and his arm around her waist just felt right.

And then she realized where she was. She looked around them to see the wreckage of a once booming city. As they rose in the air, the buildings began to fall. She felt sick. She allowed herself to get wrapped up in her admiration for two mated men as a city is literally destroyed around them.

She pushed herself away from the men- desperate to get a gasp of fresh air so their scents were no longer encompassing her. She looked over the edge. They had to be at least a couple dozen feet in the air by now.

Kate steeled herself, began breathing through her lips, and turned "What now, Captain?" Before he could respond, Kate caught the image of a silver man- no android- hovering hundreds of feet in the air above Sokovia. The men followed her eyes, and their faces locked in anger.

"Ultron." Steve muttered.

"Do you see the beauty of it?" The voice of Ultron was deep, with an almost rasp. It was a voice, Kate feared, she might never forget. "The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, you are my meteor. My swift, terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your failure." A smaller- but no less threatening- silver android charged toward the trio at the land's edge. Kate stiffened, having no hand-to-hand combat experience and absolutely no weapons on her person but Steve quickly punched the metal being and pushed it over the edge without even turning his glance from Ultron. "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."

"We have to protect the people from these things." Bucky exclaimed to his mate.

Steve nodded before looking back to Kate, "You ready to fight, kid?"

Kate's head fell to the side- so quick it was almost comedic- "Let's do it, old man."