Rogue (An Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter 18: The Cradle

*WARNING: Contains 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' spoilers!

Steve, Hawkeye, Nat and I used the Quinjet to get to Dr Cho's lab. We figured Ultron had some kind of hold over her, because there was no other way that she'd be helping him. As we landed, Steve and I left, running to find her.

"Two minutes. Stay close," Steve said, addressing Hawkeye and Nat. We ran in, searching all the rooms for any sign of Helen Cho or Ultron. "I found her!" Steve called from ahead of me. I ran towards his voice and saw Helen, wounded.

"He's uploading himself into the body. You have to get the cradle to Stark!" she said breathlessly, clutching Steve's arm tightly.

"Guys, do you see the cradle, or any vehicle leaving the lab?" I asked Hawkeye and Nat. They were silent for a moment.

"There. It's the truck from the lab, right above you guys," Hawkeye said. Steve and I glanced at each other before leaving the building, looking above us.

"We need to draw out Ultron!" Steve said to me as he began to climb a ladder that led to the roof of the building.

"How are we going to do that?" I asked nervously.

Steve thought for a moment. "I'll keep him occupied, you get in the truck and take out the ones protecting the cradle."

"Easier said than done!" I exclaimed sarcastically, looking around and spotting the company car park. "Keep going, I have an idea!" I said, gesturing for Steve to keep climbing. I ran to the car park and found the fastest car, an orange Audi convertible. I broke the window to open it and messed with the cables until it started. I had learned to hotwire a car back in my early days of S.H.I.E.L.D, just in case it would ever come in handy.

I drove out of the car park, weaving in and out of traffic until I found the truck.

"I'm driving behind the truck," I informed the team, keeping a steady pace. Steve jumped on to the roof of the truck.

"Look out, Steve!" I warned as Ultron opened the door and left the truck, beginning to fight with Steve, who dropped his shield in surprise. As they fought, I opened the roof of the car and stood on my seat, jumping from the roof into the truck where the cradle was held.

"You know what's in that cradle?" I heard Ultron ask Steve. "The power to make real change, and that terrifies you." The cradle was a device that Helen Cho created. If used correctly, it could create synthetic tissue, which Ultron would use to create a body that was stronger than us – stronger than anyone. We couldn't let that happen.

As I landed inside the truck, I was instantly bombarded by the two robots that were guarding the cradle. I fought with them as they tried to get me out of the truck. My electricity slowed them down, but it wouldn't kill them, which meant that I had to rely on my own hand-to-hand combat skills.

"We've got a window," I heard Hawkeye say to Nat.

"Can you draw out the guards?" I asked Hawkeye, struggling to take them down.

"Let's find out!" he said, shooting towards the truck to grab their attention. As they decided that taking down the Quinjet was more important than me, they left the truck and I ran towards the cradle, working out a way that I could get it into the Quinjet.

"Incoming!" I heard Nat say, before jumping from a motorcycle into the truck with me.
"What are you doing?" I asked her as she cut the ties that connected the cable to the truck.

"Getting us out of here," she responded. As we waited for Hawkeye's signal, the truck began to fly through the air. With nothing to hold onto, I tumbled towards the doors and fell out of the truck. "Rogue!" I heard Nat call, as I fell. After what seemed like hours, I landed in a river, water submerging me. I swam to the surface, coughing and spluttering as I looked for a way out. I heard crackling, before remembering that I still had my earpiece in and the water had probably damaged it. Yanking it out, I found a ladder leading on to the street and began to climb, looking around to see if I could see the Quinjet in the air. I couldn't.

I climbed out, trying to pat myself dry as best I could amid the looks of the general public. I ignored them, looking for Steve, who was probably the only person still on the ground. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a crashed train and heard a lot of commotion. I ran towards the noise and found Steve talking to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. What were they even doing here?

"What's going on?" I asked Steve, narrowing my eyes at the twins.

"Ultron took Natasha," he said.

"That's not what I meant. Wait, what?!" I asked loudly. "Why are we still standing here, we need to find Nat!"

"There's nothing we can do," he said.

"What do you mean there's nothing we can do? There's always something we can do!" I cried, my heart rate instantly picking up as I thought about what Ultron might do to Nat. He couldn't kill her, could he?

"We have no idea where he's taken her." Steve informed me.

"Oh, and instead of looking for her, you're hanging out with your new best friends?" I gestured to the Maximoff twins.

"That's not the point. We're going to get the cradle to Stark and destroy Ultron before he has a chance to do anything to Natasha!" Steve said determinedly.

"You can't do that!" Wanda said suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"Stark won't take care of it. He'll do anything to make things right!" she answered.

"No he won't. Stark's not crazy, right Rogue?" Steve asked, looking at me.

My immediate instinct was to defend my boyfriend, but Wanda had a point. I'd seen Stark's face when he told me what he saw – and I knew how much it meant for him to fix things.

"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?"

Steve and I looked at each other, worry etched on both of our faces.

"Look, I get what you're saying. But Stark isn't completely crazy, he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He wouldn't!" I said, slightly uncertainly.

"Are you sure about that?" Pietro asked. I couldn't answer him, because they all knew that I wasn't.

"Let's get to Stark," Steve said, running in one direction. I ran after him, and then turned back to the twins.

"Are you coming?" I asked them. They got up and followed us. Now all we needed to do was get to Stark, make sure he didn't do anything stupid, find Nat and defeat Ultron and all the other robots that he created. Piece of cake!

***************************************

Ultron has captured Nat! What is he going to do to her? And is Stark trustworthy? Find out next week!

Please vote and comment!