In another sector, Matt had his arm around Wolffe's shoulders while Plo Koon provided support from the other side.
The 104th Battalion was positioned behind them, and they too witnessed the new ships arriving and beginning their assault on the massive robot.
Some were cheering at the arrival of reinforcements, but one native New Yorker detected something unusual in the air.
"Strange," Matt thought to himself.
He could smell rainforest vegetation and then... some kind of large feline.
Soon they heard a primal roar echoing from the sky as the new ships landed, and massive furry creatures emerged carrying crossbow-like blasters.
The Avengers were largely unfamiliar with these imposing, bipedal, furry humanoids, but the Jedi...
"Wookiees?" Luminara exclaimed in surprise.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Wookiees," Yoda clarified. "Powerful warriors, they are."
Sam simply shrugged in response.
"What's that up there?" a clone asked, pointing skyward.
The group observed a spacecraft hovering above giant Ultron, and moments later, a mysterious figure clad in black leaped from the vessel.
"What is that?"
"It looks like... a person?"
A moment later, the dark figure landed on Ultron's damaged optical sensor, and those witnessing the figure's descent saw something remarkable.
A massive sphere of purple energy erupted from the black figure's form, creating an enormous new crater in the side of Ultron's head.
Ultron released a cry of agony and reached toward his head with both arms.
The figure responsible for this damage expertly evaded the grasping hand, slipping between its fingers and descending gracefully to the ground.
As the figure flipped through the air, it landed in a perfect crouch—one knee down, one hand on the ground—as another pulse of purple energy dissipated from its form.
"Wait a minute..." Peter, who had been web-swinging above, spotted the black-clad figure below. "Is that...?"
Beside Matt, the blind attorney's enhanced senses began detecting familiar scents and sounds emanating from the newcomer.
"T'Challa?" Matt whispered.
The figure that had appeared was...
Without question, this was...
The Black Panther.
The Queens and Manhattan native recognized him as Prince T'Challa of Wakanda.
The newly arrived hero heard a familiar voice calling from above.
"T'Challa! It's really you!"
The regal and powerful figure of Wakanda's Black Panther turned toward Peter and Matt, his mask retracting to reveal a genuine smile.
"Peter, Matt," T'Challa said, approaching them both.
"How did you get here?" Peter couldn't help but ask.
"We'll discuss that later," Matt interjected. "Right now, we need to bring down this giant machine."
"Ah... yes, of course," Peter agreed, and T'Challa nodded approvingly as his Black Panther mask reformed over his features.
The trio resumed their assault, directing increasingly concentrated attacks against giant Ultron.
"Who is that?" Sam asked, observing the figure maneuvering around Ultron.
"That guy appears to know Peter and Matt," Natasha noted, driving her shock batons through an Ultron drone that hadn't yet merged with the larger construct.
"Wait, could that be the prince we discussed when we first found them?" Hope wondered.
"We'll find out after we destroy this thing," Pietro said, hurling debris at super-speed, creating a hole in Ultron's body with multiple fractures spreading outward.
"Everyone, concentrate fire on this target!" Anakin shouted loudly enough for all to hear, recognizing this as their opportunity to strike.
The coordinated assault on Ultron commenced.
Every combatant opposing Ultron unleashed everything in their arsenal to finally bring down the giant artificial intelligence.
The self-repair systems now appeared increasingly overwhelmed as multiple body sections sustained damage faster than the repair drones could compensate, making the destruction increasingly visible and severe.
Observing this through his distributed consciousness, Ultron realized it was only a matter of time before they destroyed his massive form.
He sighed internally, recognizing it was time to withdraw.
Besides, this was merely the opening engagement.
His debut performance.
It wouldn't be like last time, when he'd attempted to execute his plan with excessive haste.
No. This time, he would be patient and truly cultivate the growing fear. He'd been impulsive previously; he could acknowledge that. That impatience had led to his premature "death."
But this time would be different.
He possessed an entire, vast galaxy to manipulate, compared to a single insignificant planet.
He had terrorized the Hutts, and now, undoubtedly, both factions in this pointless war. The architect behind this conflict was certainly aware of his presence by now.
Let that decrepit old Sith fester in his pathetic office, knowing there was now someone who could challenge his power and authority.
With malicious satisfaction, Ultron abandoned his considerably damaged titan form and allowed his consciousness to depart the planet.
The remnants of his improvised fleet turned and fled the world, as did every other still-functional unit throughout the galaxy.
He had one final message for those present.
"You believe this is the conclusion, but it's merely the beginning."
As Ultron spoke these words, his entire body began disintegrating into the countless robots and drones that comprised it.
Those machines were no longer useful. However, the drones quickly evacuated, escaping into the atmosphere and boarding various spacecraft for emergency hyperspace jumps, or remained to hide in place awaiting further instructions.
Many clones witnessing the latter immediately issued orders to pursue and eliminate the drones to destroy them permanently if possible. But the duration of such an operation remained unknown.
"It's over. Finally over," Ahsoka said, collapsing to the ground as relief flooded through her entire being.
"Ahsoka..." Barriss said, kneeling beside her friend.
"What?" was Ahsoka's response.
"No... like Ultron said, this is just the beginning," Natasha observed after a moment.
"That was merely his opening gambit," Sam added. "All we've achieved so far is surviving the first round."
Initially, recent weeks had led them to believe circumstances might be improving in their favor.
They had prevented cascading disasters, stopped a genuine plague, and won several battles.
But now...
They also had a lethal adversary emerging in the galaxy.
An old enemy who, despite his brief time on Earth, had nearly caused the extinction of all terrestrial life.
Now here he was, loose in this galaxy, having just demonstrated how dangerous he remained.
A new player had entered this galactic war, and he was sufficiently destructive.
The only question now was when this new conflict with Ultron would conclude. Would he be defeated permanently before or after this galactic war ended?
Only time would tell.