Hidden Flame~ Steve Rodgers~

Chapter 12:

~Steve's POV~

I run as fast as I can into the Laboratory only to find Dr.Cho bleeding on the ground. "Dr.Cho!" Quickly I kneel down beside her and attempt to help her but she just pushes my hand away. "He's trying to upload himself into the body."she pants. "Where?" She just slowly shakes her head before saying "the real power is inside the cradle. The gem, it's power is uncontainable. You can't just blow it up. You have to get the cradle to Stark." She tells me.

I listen carefully as each breath she takes is a fight. "First I have to find it."I tell her. "Go!" She demands. With a thankful nod I leave her behind. "Barton? Flair? I need you guys to keep a look out for anything that could possibly be containing that cradle." "Will do Cap."her gentle voice responds.

"I got a private jet taking off across town, no manifest."Natasha adds, "that could be him." "Clint look down there."Flair says. "There its a truck from the lab."Clint tells me. "That has to be it."Flair tells me. "It's right above you Cap, on the loop by the bridge." I take a sharp breath as my nerves begin to get the best of me.

"It's them. You got three with the cradle, on in the cab."Barton adds. Well this is just great. "I could take out the driver." "Negative, that truck crashed that gem could level the city."I tell him as my hands grip the rusty rungs of the ladder. Cars fly by when I make it to the top not helping my nerves. "We need to draw out Ultron."I tell them.

Just as I tell him that I see the truck round the corner from down below. "He's not going to do what I think he's going to do is he?"she asks clearly nervous for me. "Yes I am."I smirk just before leaping off the bridge and on to the truck. I grunt at the impact as Flair gives a sigh of relief as she realizes I made it. This small smirk appears on my face just as I grab one of the doors.

"Leave me alone!"Ultron yells before he blows the door off its hinges. "Steve?!"she calls out in fear. "I'm fine."I grunt as I cling to this door for dear life. "Well he's definitely unhappy."I add, "I'm gonna try and keep him that way." "You're not a match for him Cap." "Thanks Barton."I pant as I get my grip.

Just as I'm able to get to my feet he uses some sonic blast thing to blow me back on a moving car. The glass windshield cracks beneath me but I stand up and grab the mirror of a dump truck. Some how I manage to swing myself up and back on to the right moving truck. "You know what's in that cradle?"Ultron says as he flies up to meet me. A blast from him hits my shield as I turn just in time. "The power to make real change, and that terrifies you."he finishes.

"I wouldn't call it a comfort."I tell him as I throw my shield. He hits it with one of his blast sending it flying somewhere down below. Well shit. "Stop it."he demands before blasting me on the the front of the truck. This isn't good. The driving robot punches through the window and tries to grab me but I swing around to the door and get away.

Some how I manage to get him in a choke hold until something catches my eye. I see Natasha coming up on her motorcycle, my shield in hand. Ultron sees this as his chance and gets out of my grasp, forcing me into his by grabbing my throat. She throws my shield up to me allowing me one solid hit, knocking him over.

He uses a blast to break up part of the road and nearly make her wipe out. That's when I notice the other passenger. She has brown hair and is shooting flames out of her hands. With another blast I'm thrown back but this time he pulls up rubble making the car flip. My body makes harsh contact with the ground as another car flies over me.

Quickly I stand and begin to run until another harsh impact from a head of me forces me up into the air. I jump back on to the truck, not willing to give up. "Come on!" He throws punches left and right, most making contact with my shield but other making impact with my body.

Bullets rain down on Ultron as Barton flies down low in attempts to grabs the guards attention. Thankfully it works allowing one of the girls to get inside with the cradle. Suddenly a blast of flames bust through the roof of this truck hitting Ultron. He flies back and hits a bridge support, knocking him out momentarily. "You looked like you could use a hand."Flair says as I peek down. She calms down just enough for me to grab her hand and pull her up to me.

"Where's Nat?"I ask. "She's coming to take the cradle, my orders were to help you." I nod and wrap her in my arms when suddenly we are thrown into the side of a train, breaking through and landing on it's hard floor. People all around us stop and stair as we slowly get to our feet. "Flair are you okay?" "Just peachy."she groans.

Ultron stands in front of us before sending his powerful lasers our way. My shield takes a few but Flair's flames shoot matching his power. She holds him off as best she can with out hurting anyone but that's near impossible. "Cap you think you and Flair can keep him occupied?"Natasha asks. "What do you think we have been doing?"we say simultaneously.

A strong blast from one of his beams comes my way, I brace for impact but it never comes. I look over my shield to say her holding off the blast with her own. I can feel the heat coming off her body as she holds him off. The longer she holds it the weaker she becomes. One good blast just barely misses her but still makes her stumble. He smirks as he makes his way closer to her but now it's my turn to throw the punches. The two of us go as hard as we can until one solid hit to my side nearly ends it for me. Out of nowhere this blur of blue knocks Ultron down and off of me. Part of the train's railing bend down as the cut him off from hurting the extremely fast kid.

     I pull Flair in close as we both turn and look to see the other Maximoff twin. Little red things dance between her fingers as she continues to block Ultron from us. "Please don't do this."he pleads. "What choice do we have."she responds. He turns out way sending another blast through the front of the train before he flies off. Flair gets to her feet and turns to me, "well that could be a bit of a problem." I follow her gaze and see the now destroyed controls. This is not going to end well.