📍SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰ ───
They left the safe house by dawn. Clint and (Y/N) were piloting the quinjet toward the direction of the capital of South Korea, in hopes of finding Dr. Helen Cho as planned. The rest of the team, like Tony and Bruce, weren't accompanying them and Thor was still nowhere to be found. By the time they reached the city, the sun was fully up in the sky and (Y/N) just wished they weren't too late.
Steve was dropped off from the jet once they got too close to the lab, but not too closely to not grow suspicion if Ultron was there. "Two minutes. Stay close."
The line stayed silent for any further information coming from Steve. They had to stay quiet for any sign of him on the other line, and (Y/N) was grateful for that because she could feel the pressing eyes from Natasha and Clint burning to the back of her head.
"Dr. Cho!" Steve's voice was static but recognizable. (Y/N) clicked a button so everyone on board could hear it clearly.
"He's uploading himself into the body," Dr. Cho's voice sounded strained as if she was hurt.
"Where?"
"The real power is inside the Cradle," the doctor explained further. "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."
"Go."
Another minute of silence passed through comms, but after that, Steve's voice returned. "You guys copy that?"
"We copy," (Y/N) replied to him and readjusted her posture on her seat, hands still gripping tightly to the console in the cockpit.
Natasha was in the back analyzing the monitors. "I got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest," she paused. "That could be him."
(Y/N) looked to her side and saw how Clint was looking down at the city underneath them from the glass. His eyes stopped on something.
"There," he pointed out. "It's a truck from the lab. Right above you, Cap. On the loop by the bridge."
(Y/N) checked one of the monitors for a deeper look on the truck and took note on how many where guarding it. "There's three with the Cradle, one in the cab."
"I could take out the driver," Clint offered.
"Negative," Steve interrupted with a panic. "That truck crashes, the gem could level the city. We need to draw out Ultron."
(Y/N) instead focused on flying the jet safely into the city to get closer to Steve's location, still keeping her eyes out for the truck. It was too far for her to point things out exactly, but she could see from afar how one of the truck's doors got blasted open. She could only guess that Steve had something to do with that.
"Well, he's definitely unhappy," Steve's voice returned and it confirmed (Y/N)'s suspicions. "I'm gonna try and keep him that way."
"You're not a match for him, Cap," Clint told him and scoffed in hurt when he received a smack in the arm because of it.
"Thanks, Barton," Steve's reply came out of breath and sarcastic before his line went silent.
(Y/N) felt those two pairs of eyes in the back of her head again and tried to ignore them, but she knew it would be useless. Natasha and Clint were casually waiting for her to say something until she sighed and removed the safety belt from her figure.
"I feel like you're underestimating Cap's ability," she tried to defend, like it wasn't necessary for her to go out in the field.
"Please, the man uses a frisbee," Natasha scoffed from her spot in the jet. "Besides, I'll go out there with you, so you won't feel too lonely."
(Y/N) rolled her eyes playfully as she placed her gloves on, while Natasha was pressing up a set of buttons to prep the motorcycle that she was going to jump out on.
"We got a window. Four, three — " Clint announced, clicking a button to open up the rear hatch from underneath the jet and on the back of it. "Give him hell."
Natasha was dropped into the street with her hands pressed tightly against her motorcycle, and (Y/N) flew higher into the air with her golden glow trailing behind her. While Natasha was going to keep an eye on the truck from the ground, (Y/N) would be following after it airborne.
Natasha swerved through traffic and spotted Steve's shield forgotten in the middle of the street. "I'm always picking up after you boys."
She single-handedly grabbed the shield and (Y/N) thrusted herself higher into the air to see if she could spot the truck from that position.
"They're heading under the overpass," Clint informed them. "I've got no shot."
"Which way?"
"Hard right," Clint spoke, and checked when it was time to signal Natasha. "Now."
(Y/N), on the other hand, flew in between the skyscrapers and buildings of the city, only hearing faintly how the civilians gasped when she flew over them. There were some who pointed their fingers at her when she flew by, some including a little girl who waved at her from a high window in a building, and (Y/N) took the time to wave back at her.
Soon, she got to the overpass just how Clint had said and flew in closer to the truck, spotting Natasha nearing her way in through the other side. She swerved her way under the truck and threw the shield back at Steve, who was being held on a chokehold by Ultron.
Steve caught it with ease and used it to strike Ultron in the arm that was holding him, which caused the robot to let go of him. Ultron was knocked out face first on the roof of the truck but used his hand to pull the ground into the air and stop Natasha from driving even further. (Y/N) took this as a sign to drop herself off on the roof of the truck too, and she could sense that it annoyed Ultron too. He tried using the same trick on her and throwing the piece of rock from the ground at her, but she exploded it into a million small pieces due to her blast.
Both Steve and (Y/N) threw respective blows at Ultron, one through a punch and the other through a photon blast. Ultron fired a laser ray in their direction and (Y/N) raised her arm to create a small blast that would contain the laser, but part of the blast hurt her nonetheless. Steve was the one who used his shield to block it, but the force of it was too strong that it knocked him back into a car.
(Y/N) had been to distracted to witness how Steve collapsed against the car that she couldn't react quickly when Ultron balled his fist again and pulled the ground into the air. Because of this, the car Steve was in rolled in midair, along with the other cars following behind that didn't have time to hit on the brakes.
Ultron used his other hand to smack (Y/N) across the face, and she had to ignore how badly her head pounded after that to ball her fists and fire two identical blasts to his chest. Steve found a way to climb back into the truck and back her up, using his shield to deliver the hardest punches, and it got to the point where (Y/N) and Steve had Ultron doubling on his knees.
Suddenly, the jet appeared right in front of the truck and fired directly at Ultron, being able to deliver quite a few blows at his chest before he deflected them. The two other robots that were inside the truck guarding the Cradle flew outside and followed after the jet once it backed away from the scene.
(Y/N) had already lost count on how many times she'd directed photon blasts against Ultron only to have him deflect them every single time and flying out of the way. She grew impatient of the repeating act, so when Ultron charged toward her with full intention of pushing her out of the truck, she balled her fist and made it glow the brightest shade of gold she'd ever seen and try to deliver a punch straight through his chest.
Ultron had tried his best to dodge the hit and flew in midair, looking down at his chest part to check the damage. A burnt out hole stood out in his body, and that caused his anger to grow and his glowing red eyes to glare down at (Y/N).
"Why, you little — "
He didn't finish his sentence because he charged at her once again, this time, so hard that it completely knocked her off her feet. They both crashed through the side of a passing train, breaking the windows and making a hole in the train in the process. Steve called out his teammate's name and jumped through the hole they've already made, causing the already panicked civilians to cry out loudly.
(Y/N) hadn't stopped firing blasts at Ultron, but she did her best in firing them without hurting anyone in her way. Steve threw his shield at him but Ultron quickly reacted and pushed him back to the ground with his magnetic power.
"I'm going in," Natasha announced through comms. "Guys, can you keep him occupied?"
Steve was still catching his breath from his last hit. "What do you think I've been doing?"
(Y/N) got closer to Ultron and threw another punch at him, her fists still glowing. She consistently delivered the punches that it got him to his knees again, and it made her hover in the air to continue. At some point, Ultron searched for any sign of weakness and took a hold of her leg, using it as leverage before pulling her down into the ground harshly, where she groaned.
Ultron hovered above her, ready to use his laser again, but was thrown off to the side by an unknown force, too quick for the human eye. It left a trail of a silver blue, and (Y/N) was able to see how the Maximoff boy, Pietro, stood at the other end of the train wagon.
(Y/N) slipped away from underneath him and Ultron tried to take another step backwards, but was blocked. Red hue moved the metal handles in front of him, blocking his path.
He looked at the twins, almost pleadingly. "Please, don't do this."
"What choice do we have?" the girl, Wanda, asked rhetorically.
Ultron grew impatient, and fired another laser beam in Pietro's direction, who easily ran away from his range. The beam cut through all the frontal part of the train though, burning a hole through the driver's window. After that, he punched another hole into the train and flew out of sight.
(Y/N) debated on following after him, but then realized the high risk of the situation in the train. The driver had been hit due to the laser beam, and now the train was gaining speed and headed towards a path with no more railroad.
"Cap, you see Nat?" Clint's voice returned.
"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!" Steve impatiently yelled, not having time to process the question.
"You have eyes on Nat?"
"Go!"
The train was gaining much more speed and it had already broken through the sign that indicated the end of the railroad. Steve turned to face the twins and gestured toward the front. "Civilians in our path."
Pietro didn't give him a verbal answer before rushing out through the hole and into the people filled street. (Y/N) inspected the area for an idea of what she could do to help. Several ideas came into her head, but none were clicking.
Steve faced Wanda, who was grasping onto a seat to keep herself standing. "Can you stop this thing?"
The lightbulb inside (Y/N)'s head clicked. She turned to face Steve to give him intel on what she was planning. "I'll try and slow it down from the front, she can stop it from here."
Steve didn't seem so confident on the idea. "Are you sure?"
"There's no time!"
(Y/N) flew outside through the side hole she came from, flying toward the front part of the train. It was difficult to get a good grip on it considering its fast speed, but not imposible. With extreme carefulness, (Y/N) pressed her feet against the ground to try and slow it down. Her feet were dragging through the street with speed and (Y/N) wished the Maximoff girl was doing her part so it could be over soon.
Since the train was still going at a high speed through a street that wasn't fit for a train, a small building came across its path and (Y/N) was the first one to crash into it before it got destroyed. (Y/N) groaned in pain from the strong hit on her back and her feet dragging through the cobblestone, but realized it was indeed working. Just right after that, she could spot the red hue enveloping itself underneath the wheels of the train.
The train advanced a few feet more before it finally slowed down to a halt, leaving the cobblestone street completely destroyed. (Y/N) panted to catch her breath and winced at the stinging sensation in her feet and back, but decided to work through it and check to see if any civilians were hurt.
Pietro was catching his breath and doubled on his knees with Wanda by his side when (Y/N) spotted them, and she made her way over.
"I'm fine," he panted. "I just need to take a minute."
Steve joined her side in a few seconds. "I'm very tempted not to give you one."
"The Cradle," Wanda spoke up, her eyebrows furrowing. "Did you get it?"
"Stark will take care of it."
An emotion that (Y/N) could only describe as fear mixed with anger washed over Wanda's face. "No, he won't."
"On contrary to popular belief," (Y/N) tried to jump to his defense. "Tony is not crazy."
"He will do anything to make things right."
Steve dropped his head but turned back to contact him. He pressed his hand to his ear to activate comms. "Stark, come in." There was no response. "Stark. Anyone on comms."
"Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it," Wanda told them, resentment in her tone. "Where do you think he gets that?"