Daughter of the Shield

Chapter 13

"Maybe all of us" Tony added. "An android designed by a robot."

"You know, I really miss the days when the weirdest thing science ever created was us," Jo remarked as she approached the two men. Steve nodded in agreement.

"I'll drop Banner off at the tower," Nick said as he slipped on his coat. "You mind if I borrow Ms. Hill?"

"She's all yours. Apparently," Tony grumbled.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Something dramatic I hope," Fury smirked as he spoke and then headed out the door.

Cap and Jo climbed onto the roof of a building as the quinjet flew off.

"Two minutes. Stay close." Steve ordered.

The two rushed into the lab, Jo glanced around, noticing the dead scientists and broken equipment.

"Doctor Cho!" Steve exclaimed, rushing over to the injured woman. They knelt before her, Jo grabbed a towel and applied pressure to her wound.

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

"Where?" Steve demanded, but Cho shook her head. He moved to get up but Cho stopped him.

"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." Cho explained.

"First, we have to find it."

"Go," Cho croaked.

"Did you guys copy that?" Jo asked as she and Steve moved through the building.

"We did" Clint answered.

"I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest. That could be him."

"There, it's a truck from the lab" Clint spoke up, looking down at the highway below him. "Right above you Cap. On the loop by the bridge. It's them. Three with the cradle, one in the cab. I could take out the driver."

"Negative!" Steve exclaimed. "That truck crashes the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron."

Jo and Steve made it to the highway above the road the truck was on. They waited for the truck to get closer before racing across the road and jumping down. They landed on the truck with a thud. Cap climbed down onto the back doors just as they were blasted open. They hit the ground with Steve on top.

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

"You're not a match for him Cap, even with Jo's help"

"Thanks, Barton" Jo grumbled, the sarcasm in her tone was obvious.

Ultron blasted Steve on to the car behind them. He grabbed onto another car and flung himself onto the roof of the car.

"You know what's in that cradle?" Ultron asked. Steve and Jo hid behind his shield as Ultron shot another blast of energy at them. "The power to make real change. And that terrifies you."

"I wouldn't call it a comfort," Jo snatched the shield and threw it at Ultron. It bounced off the robot back to her.

"Hey, that's my move!"

"Then move a little faster old man!" Jo grunted as she rolled out of the way of Ultron's blow. Steve threw the shield this time and it got lodged in Ultron's chest.

"Stop it!" Ultron growled. He tossed the shield onto the road and blasted Steve onto the top of the cab. He struggled to climb back up.

Jo swung her arms around the robot's neck from behind and they wrestled. Ultron grabbed her arm and spun Jo around before picking her up by the neck. Jo glanced down in time to see Natasha on a motorcycle, who tossed her Steve's shield. She used it free herself and rolled out of the way as Ultron fell. Steve made it back up shoved Ultron back down just as he tried to stand. A blast of energy shot Jo onto the car following them. Before she could stand, Ultron lifted the ground causing the car to flip. Jo scrambled to her feet and moved out of the way of the flying vehicles. She jumped off a moving car and back onto the roof of the truck. She grabbed Ultron by the head as she flew through the air and flipped him. Steve caught the shield and brought it down on the platinum bastard.