ASCENDANCY / P. MAXIMOFF

start of the end (part two)

As Anastazya scanned the crowd she suddenly realized she could see no sign of them. Not Pietro zipping through the crowd. Not Wanda and her ghostly, red aura. She started to move amongst the flock of Sokovian citizens, her eyes darting more wildly with each passing second, noticing any figure with a glint of red or blue. Searching for any flying people. For blonde hair. For a green monster. For arrows flying. There was nothing, and panic filled her chest quicker than ever before. Had the battalion of sentry bots found them first?

"Pietro! Wanda! Steve! Thor! Anybody! Where are you?" She hollered.

Anastazya began to call their names, getting ever louder, until many heads were turned in her direction. She had their attention, might as well use it.

"Has anyone seen the Avengers?" Ana demanded, trying to sound as menacing as she must have looked. Dress in black gear from head to toe, her long hair slicked into a high ponytail, a practically useless machine gun clutched in both hands. Before Ana could process anything that was happening, the crowd exploded into movement again, paying no mind to her, making Ana curse under her breath. Why couldn't she be more intimidating?

The seething mass moved like a a multi-headed beast that shared only one brain. Their thoughts were in lock-step as much as their feet. Hardly a person in the crowd had ever known someone who had been murdered, almost no-one had known someone to die at the hands of a terrorist, like the one the American heroes described to them. They didn't want to find out, and not one girl, not anyone, would make them stop and possibly seal their fate.

But Pietro couldn't stop running. He wanted to find her before the battle started to get gruesome. His Anastazya, but he found that his own personal mission would be hindered when the first batch of Ultron's sentry bots approached him and Wanda, who hadn't separated in all the time they set foot in Sokovia. Bruce had gone to find Natasha, Clint was covert, sniping from a higher building. Captain, Tony and Thor all faced off with Ultron in the church. Ana was the only missing piece. While fighting, Pietro couldn't help but let his mind wander to her. Where could she be?

"Watch out!"

Pietro furrowed his eyebrows and whipped his head to the right, yelling out in surprise when a ball of fire flew his way. He dropped to the ground in an attempt to avoid it, but still ended up singeing the tips of his hair. He glanced up to see Anastazya, legitimately spitting fire at some of the sentry bots, that would not fight her back. It wasn't in their program. He smirked at her when she looked down at him. He promised to find her, but she found him instead. 

"Is it just me, or do you get more bad ass every time I see you?" He breathed out, causing Ana to grin. She offered his hand, and he gladly accepted it, fire blazing where their fingertips touched one another.

Wanda grinned at the two before turning and shooting down the last of the sentry bots that assaulted them. They had a moment's peace.

"Does Ultron know where you are right now? Does he know you have betrayed him?" Wanda asked. Anastazya shook her head.

"No, I'm supposed to be here to kill you. But clearly, that is not what I am here for," Anastazya told her. "What is the plan? What do I do to help you guys?"

Pietro's attention was torn away from Anastazya when he saw Steve go flying out of the main windows of the church, landing on his ass.

"Son of a-"

"Language, old man!" Anastazya shouted at him, causing him to turn around. He rolled his eyes, and grinned at her, happy that she was back. He could of hugged her, if it wasn't a more dire situation.

"This is war. Those rules don't apply here," Steve told her, before running back inside the church.

"Morals always apply!" Anastazya shouted after him. The three of them sprang back into action when more sentry bots attacked them, she noticed some of them being shot with arrows from out of the sky, but she paid them no mind. 

Ana melted the  grimy snow that rested on the rooftops of the Sokovian buildings, melting it into water and using it to wash away the droids, drenching their circuitry and destroying them from the inside out. Pietro zipped in front of her to take out a droid that she had missed, and only two months earlier would she have killed him for it. Now, she was thankful for him. Not just the fact that he constantly and repeatedly saved her life, but that he was there. Anastazya wouldn't admit it, but he put her at ease. Made her feel safe. It had only taken approximately two months for her to completely trust and depend on him and Wanda. She felt so fortunate to have them both at her side.  

"Anastazya watch-" Pietro's words were muted by an explosion only a few feet away.

Ana let out a shriek of surprise when she was thrown out of the way by a indiscernible force, falling to the ground. She looked up, vision moving in double time because of the impact. Her head pounded ferociously, and the pain only increased with the panic she felt when she saw Ultron hovering above her, witnessing her flirt with the enemy.

Anastazya laid flat on her back  looking around her frantically for Wanda or Pietro, but they had fled. Without her. She couldn't help but feel a little betrayed, especially that Pietro would leave her like that. He promised. Maybe her gratitude towards them was too soon expressed. 

Before Ultron could say a word, Ana, slammed both of fists into the dirt ground, forcing the Earth to shoot upwards, knocking him out of the sky.  As he flew through the air, Anastazya scrambled to her feet, looking for help but finding none anywhere.

"Anastazya," Ultron's crackly voice reprimanded her. "For a moment, I trusted you."

Ana sneered at him. "For more than a moment, for months," Ana spat. "I gave you too much credit. You were a fool, thinking I would ever betray my family."

"Yet they betray you without a so much as a thought. Where are they, Anastazya?"

Before Ana could answer, she heard a voice from above them.

"Hey Junior, why don't you come pick on someone your own size?"

Ana let out a startled squeak when she felt arms wrap around her, and the world became a blur.