Red

Aren't We a Little Old For This

"I'll take Clint and the Widows." Steve told Tony as he was suiting up.

"All right. Strictly recon. I'll hit the Nexus. I'll join you as soon as I can." Tony said.

"If Ultron's building a real body..." Steve thought.

"He'll be more powerful than any of us." Tony finished the thought. "Maybe all of us."

"An android designed by a robot. You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was me." Steve told him.

"Don't we all." Adelaide said. She placed four different knives in her suit. All taking a specific place.

"I'll drop Banner off at the tower." Fury threw on his coat. "You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?" Fury asked.

"She's all yours. Apparently." Stark said with a little bit of resentment to his tone. No one was too happy to find out Maria had been talking to Fury. "What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. Something dramatic, I hope."

Adelaide walked outside. The sun hadn't even begun to rise in the sky as they all piled into the jet.

Adelaide walked to the back, alone. She pulled out a small picture she kept folded up. It was a family portrait Gerda gave to Adelaide. She didn't remember taking it, she had only just been born.

Looking at it made Adelaide sad. They looked like a happy family. Steve came up beside her. He also carried a memory, though he pretended it was just that.

Adelaide folded the picture and stuffed it in her pocket. "I've been following a lead." She told him. "Did your friend ever write a letter when he was in the army?" She asked. Of course he had family he would've written to, friends, but she wanted to know if he wrote to anyone else.

"There were a few letters left after his fall that he never got to send." Steve said. "I sent most of them out." He knew she was looking for something more, something that wasn't for family.

"If there was a letter to a girl who is maybe still alive, he might go to her. Or she might have seen him." Adelaide lied through her teeth. It wasn't a good lie, but she had no idea how to convince Steve she was investigating their missing person.

"There was one with no address. It just said for a woman at a bar." Steve told her. He watched her eyes become more focused as he said that. He swatted it from his mind as they began to get closer to their target.

Adelaide made sure her electric wristbands were charged and full, she had knives strapped around her thighs, torso, and one in her boot. Her stomach turned as she realized known of her weapons would do anything to defeat this enemy.

Adelaide and Steve were dropped onto a roof while Nat and Clint stayed in the air.

"Two minutes. Stay close." He told the two in the jet.

Adelaide didn't have anymore room for jokes or sarcastic comments. As they jumped from roof to roof and tumbled through the air, she had to let the thought cross her mind. Was Ultron's plan really so far fetched.

Humans killed each other in war, revenge, and even for the paper in their wallets. Humans were flawed and dangerous, but there had to be a better way than annihilating the entire race.

Adelaide jumped from the roof, keeping her momentum going as she kicked down the door. Her and Steve ran inside.

"Dr. Cho!" He found the scientist lying on the floor, her body limp against a cart of supplies. She tried to push herself up when she heard their footsteps.

Adelaide rushed to get a gauze and press it against her wound. A dark red mark covered her chest, a burn mark.

"He's uploading himself into the body." She began. Despite the blood covering parts of her face, she still managed to warn them. She knew she had to.

"Where?" Steve asked, kneeling down to meet her at eye-level.

Steve stood up again when she didn't have the strength to answer. Adelaide stayed out, applying more pressure to the wound. Adelaide began to nod and pull her hand away but Cho placed a weak grip on her wrist.

"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." Cho warned her.

Adelaide nodded before pulling her arm away. "Did you guys get that?" She asked her three companions.

"We did." Clint confirmed.

Adelaide caught up to Steve and he nodded in agreement.

"I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest. That could be him." Natasha explained as she focused on finding where he would be.

"There. It's a truck from the lab." Clint told them as he spotted a potential target. "Right above you." He told them where to find it. "On the loop by the bridge. You got three with the Cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver."

Steve looked at Adelaide. She was shaking her head as she took off sprinting past him. "Negative. That truck crashes, the gem could level the entire city. We need to draw out Ultron."

Adelaide stood on a taller bridge right above where the truck was headed. Steve followed her lead. Adelaide dropped herself off the road just before the truck passed under them. Her feet landed silently as she let the impact absorb.

Steve jumped off when the truck passed. He landed just behind Adelaide, tumbling as the momentum took him to the end of the trailer. Adelaide shook her head. Now Ultron knew they were here.

Steve slipped off the edge of the trailer and held onto the door. Adelaide grabbed his hand, pulling him up just as a beam of light came pushing through the metal doors and almost made Steve join Dr. Cho.

"That could've been you." She felt the need to remind him.

Ultron blasted the door again, this time going for the top hinge. Adelaide threw Steve in the air to avoid him slipping out of her grip. The door fell, the bottom still attached and the top dragging against the road. Steve landed on the door.

"Well, he's definitely unhappy. I'm gonna try and keep him that way." Steve told the others.

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

Steve climbed the fallen door and saw Ultron waiting at the end of the trailer. A blast of sound waves sent Steve flying back into a civilians car.

Adelaide grabbed the roof of the trailer, she lifted her legs above her and let them swing down, carrying her body with her as her feet landed against Ultron's chest.

She landed on the door as Ultron stumbled back. She hadn't put any strength behind the kick but she thought her momentum would be enough.