Daybreak | Steve Rogers

Chapter Thirty-Five: Heart And Seoul

We had all gathered in the kitchen that night, discussing the best plan for action. Fury had shown up a couple of hours before, his appearance shocking a few of the others after hearing about his supposed death. Steve was leaning against the doorframe, stealing glances at me every now and then. The two of us did our best to act normally, pretending that the afternoon's events hadn't happened.

"Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time," Fury explained, "My contacts all say he's building something. The amount of vibranium he made off with... I don't think it's just one thing"

"What about Ultron himself? Steve asked, his brow furrowed.

The man shrugged, "Oh, he's easy to track. He's everywhere. The guy is multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit"

Barton sighed as he watched Laura take the children upstairs to bed, "It still doesn't help us to get an angle on any of his plans, though. Is he still going after launch codes?"

"Yes, he is. But he's not making any headway"

"I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare" Stark scoffed, aiming a dart at the small board in the corner of the room.

Fury huffed, "Well, I contacted our friends at the Nexus about that"

Steve sent me a confused look, "Nexus?"

"The world internet hub in Oslo, every byte of data flows through there. Fastest access on Earth"

Banner frowned, "What did they say?"

"He's fixated on the missiles. But the codes are constantly being changed"

"By whom?" Stark asked, narrowly dodging the two darts that Barton tossed at the board.

"Parties unknown"

Nat sighed as she glanced at the drawing Lila had given her, a sad smile on her lips, "Do we have an ally?"

He shrugged, "Ultron's got an enemy. That's not the same thing. Still, I'd pay folding money to know who it is"

"I might need to visit Oslo, find our unknown" Stark murmured.

"Well, this is good times, boss," Nat huffed, "But I was kinda hoping when I saw you, you'd have more than that"

"I do. I have you. Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere. Ears everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream up. Here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world. Ultron says the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction. All this, laid in a grave. So stand, outwit the platinum bastard"

I smirked as he took a seat at the table, "Steve doesn't like that kind of talk"

There was a quiet groan, "Oh, come on, Rory"

"So, what does he want?" Fury cut in.

The smile faded from my face and I sat up straight, "To become better, better than us. He keeps building bodies"

"Person bodies," Stark corrected, "The human form is inefficient. Biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it"

"When you two programmed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed" Nat remarked quietly.

Banner shook his head quietly, his eyes closed from tiredness and shame, "They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve. Ultron's going to evolve"

A silence settled down on the room. I gulped, not wanting to imagine the upgraded version of Ultron. "How?" Fury questioned, his voice quiet.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

——————

After saying our farewells to Laura, we flew away in the quinjet. Fury took Banner back to the tower and Stark headed to Oslo, leaving Steve, Nat, Clint and I to go after Ultron alone.

I grabbed onto Steve's wrist as he made his way down the ramp of the quinjet, "Wait"

"Yeah?"

Once I was sure that the other two couldn't see us, I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. He was stiff for a moment before wrapping his arms around my waist. "Be careful" I whispered, not wanting to let go of him.

We finally pulled away after a few moments and he smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "I promise, doll" he chuckled softly, giving me a mocking salute before leaving. The ramp closed again and we rose into the air. "Two minutes," he told us over comms, "Stay close"

We all sat in silence, anxiously listening to the sound of his footsteps. "Dr Cho" we heard him gasp.

There was a faint whimper of pain as she spoke, "He's uploading himself into the body"

"Where?"

We didn't hear an answer for a second, "The real power is inside the Cradle. The gem, its power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the Cradle to Stark"

"First, I have to find it"

"Go"

"Did you guys copy that?"

Barton nodded as the quinjet began to rise into the air, "We did"

Nat squinted at the screen in front of her, "I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest. That could be him"

"There," I called as I pointed to the road below us, "It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Steve. On the loop by the bridge... It's them. You've got three with the Cradle, one in the cab"

"I could take out the driver" Barton offered.

"Negative," Steve sighed, "That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to lure out Ultron"

There were a few blasts and a loud thud. He let out a quiet grunt of pain, "Well, he's definitely unhappy. I'm gonna try and keep him that way"

Barton shook his head and scanned the road for possible solutions, "You're not a match for him, Cap"

"Thanks, Barton"