Thor had never encountered a situation like this. Not entirely convinced, he raised his hammer and struck again.
This time, because the blow wasn't directed downward, Ultron was sent flying. However, the scene Thor expected—of the robot being smashed to pieces—did not occur. Ultron was merely knocked back, and while his chest was left with a deep dent, it quickly repaired itself, returning to its original state.
Watching from afar, Banner was momentarily stunned before calling out to alert Thor: "Ultron is made of nanobots! At least the repair mechanism uses them, just like Spider-Man's new suit."
Thor glanced at Banner in the distance, then swung his hammer to knock away a mechanical Iron Man engaged in battle with Giant-Man. "Won't you join us, my friend?" he shouted back.
"I tried! Ultron turned me into this. I feel... well, quite peaceful. I don't feel any anger at all."
Thor took a deep breath, maneuvered his hammer to hoist Banner into the air and drop him onto the ground, then caught the weapon and leveled a heavy strike at the mechanical Captain America charging toward him.
"Compared to the real Steve Rogers, you are nothing but a puppet! A doll without a soul!"
Thor grabbed the opponent's shield with one hand and swung his hammer with the other, smashing the mechanical Captain away. It turned out Thor's strength was considerable, as the shield and one of the mechanical Captain's arms remained in his left hand.
Before the mechanical Captain could even land, he was seized by Hulk, who used brute force to rip him to shreds. Thor cheered, "Well done!" before watching Hulk stomp toward him, fuming with rage.
That was a turn for the worse.
"Halt, Hulk! We have the same enemy now!"
Thor pointed toward Ultron in the distance. Hulk looked over, then tore up the airport tarmac and hurled it at Ultron, only for the robot to shatter it in mid-air.
Ultron did not flee. Since Thor's arrival, his mechanical Avengers clearly weren't holding their own, and even if he charged in now, he wouldn't be able to mine the Vibranium successfully. Moreover, his goal was not just simple mining; he needed to occupy Wakanda's Vibranium reserves to continue his "Avengers Protocol."
He changed his strategy. He was waiting for someone.
After the mechanical Captain was dealt with, the battle quickly became a three-on-two, or even a four-on-two. The Wasp, who had been knocked unconscious by the mechanical Captain's shield earlier, had recovered and joined the siege—though, as usual, her combat output was largely negligible.
Then, a Sling Ring portal opened. A mechanical Spider-Man was thrown through, snagged by webs, and as the portal slammed shut, it sliced the mechanical Spider-Man in two. The portal reopened, and four Avengers (including an Ultron unit) stepped through from the other side.
"Fusing Adamantium into Vibranium is an enhancement that comes... well, at a cost. Vibranium itself has a high melting point, and due to its energy-absorbing properties, the smelting process is prone to explosion. By adding Adamantium to reinforce it, you've introduced a melting point vulnerability. As long as the temperature is high enough, even you can be melted down."
Tony crossed the portal with the half-melted mechanical Iron Man and looked at Thor. "Hey, Point Break, give us some high-voltage heat. You know what I mean, right?"
Thor clearly didn't like the nickname, but he understood Tony perfectly. Lightning poured down once more, striking Ultron. The Avengers' Ultron and Tony began to exert force simultaneously, striking the machine's body. Both the nanobots and the super-alloy began to melt. Ultron tried to walk out of it, raising a force field shield to withstand the assault, though he already looked battered and broken.
"Is that all you can do?"
Thor even threw in a taunt. Peter, hearing this, realized something was wrong and shouted, "Don't say that!" but it was too late. While Thor looked puzzled, Ultron provided the answer.
As bolt after bolt of blue lightning crackled around Ultron, everyone watched as one mechanical Avenger after another appeared nearby. These mechanical Avengers were, of course, not all made of the new Vibranium-Adamantium alloy, but their numbers were overwhelming. Ultron's goal was to stall the Avengers' army.
[That is exactly all I can do.]
Captain America, who had just stepped through the portal, sighed and dropped a robotic arm. He looked at Thor. "Did you really have to ask that?"
"Alright, guys, enough chatter," Tony said, firing a blast at Ultron. "Avengers! Assemble!"
The Avengers rushed into the fray to battle their mechanical replicas. Meanwhile, Ultron was calculating the battle lines. The Avengers had a very comprehensive defense system for the Vibranium deposits, and these ordinary mechanical replicas wouldn't hold them for long—certainly not long enough for Ultron to raid the Wakandan warehouses and carry all the Vibranium away.
But another possibility remained. Ultron's goals were not limited to Adamantium and Vibranium. The Avengers Protocol was designed to combat all supervillains, including those of the magical persuasion. The only remaining known metal with anti-magic properties was Promethium from Limbo.
And the last few prototypes of the Super-Adaptoids were hidden inside the Avengers base. With all the Avengers gathered here, their home base was now completely unguarded.
Or was it?
New York, New Jersey, Avengers Base.
"I have to say, this field trip is terrible. This stuff isn't even easy to cut."
Logan was visibly annoyed that his claws had failed to pierce the torso of the Ultron drone in front of him. Beside him, Cyclops laughed and blasted another Ultron unit dozens of meters away.
"Don't say that, Logan. It's good for the kids to see the world. Besides, when it comes to dealing with super-intelligent AIs, the X-Men have plenty of experience."
"Not to mention, we have an ace up our sleeve."
As Kitty Pryde reached into the Ultron's body and pulled something out, the robot lost all function and collapsed to the floor. Kitty turned to look at the remains. "Is it just me, or... was that actually pretty easy?"
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