Red Thorn

Chapter 12

May 2015

It was when little Lila gave her aunties a painting of a butterfly during dinner that Bruce realised what the crazed robot's next move was. He needed to evolve, use Doctor Helen Cho's Cradle to create himself a new body. A better body. And so the Avengers split up, a divide and conquer strategy where a team of four, Cap, Red, Nat and Clint, headed to Cho's lab in the hopes that they got there before Ultron did, meanwhile Bruce had been taken back to the tower by Fury and Tony was at the NEXUS trying to find their unknown ally.

They dropped Cap off just over a block away from Doctor Cho's facility, not wanting to get too close with the Quinjet. "Two minutes," he told them through the comms. "Stay close."

"Understood," Clint replied.

Red hesitated a moment before speaking. "Capitaine?"

"I know," he answered, hardly out of breath considering he was running at the speed of any normal man's sprint. "Don't get killed without me either."

There was no need to answer, they never said much after that. But when she turned back around, Red found both her siblings looking at her, somewhat amused. "Quoi?"

"Who would have thought that Captain America and the Red Thorn would have a pre-mission ritual?" the redhead teased, earning herself a playful hit to the arm by Red. "It's cute. Weird, but cute." She smirked at Clint, knowing that her next remark was going to get her hit again, probably harder, but it was going to be worth it. "Our baby bird is finally flying the nest. "Oww!" There it was, the less playful punch. "Okay, I deserved that one."

She sat herself down behind them. "Oui."

"I'm going up to her lab," Steve said a few moments later, then they heard him shout, panicked. "Dr. Cho!"

"He's uploading himself into the body," Cho told him.

"Where?"

"The real power is inside the Cradle." Even over the comms, the three assassins could tell that Helen Cho was in a bad way. "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." They faintly heard the Doctor telling Cap to go before he asked, "Did you guys copy that?"

"We did," Barton confirmed.

"I've got a private jet taking off across town," Natasha said. "No manifest. That could be him."

"Là!" Red called out, pointing to the bridge below them.

Seeing what his adopted sister was referring to, Clint noted, "It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop of the bridge." He glanced towards the Quinjet's scan of the vehicle. "It's them. I got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver."

"Negative!" Cap all but shouted. "If that truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron." With that, he landed on top of the van and a few seconds later, the door blasted open just as he was trying to find a way in. "Well, he's definitely unhappy! I'm going to try keeping him that way."

"You're not a match for him, Cap."

He sighed in defeat, still clinging onto the broken door. "Thanks, Barton."

A breath hitched in Red's throat as she saw Steve being thrown backwards into the windscreen of a car. Clint was right, he was no match for Ultron, none of them were, at least not alone.

They lost the truck as it left the bridge and began speeding down the city roads.

Clint and Natasha navigated the jet through the tall skyscrapers, natives and tourists alike gawking at the sight. They now had the truck back in their sites, Cap trying his best to hold his own against the vibranium madman.