"Yeah, right."
Everyone looked at Thor with obvious skepticism.
Not worthy?
Then how could Karl lift the hammer so easily? Thor couldn't even summon Mjolnir away from Karl's hand.
If anything, Karl looked more like the hammer's true master.
---
Suddenly, a sharp, grating noise pierced everyone's ears.
Karl frowned immediately.
He already knew—Ultron had appeared.
Tony quickly picked up a tablet and checked the system logs.
Everything appeared normal.
No malfunctions.
"Qua… li… fi… ca… tion…"
A harsh mechanical voice echoed from downstairs.
Moments later, a damaged robot limped into view, dragging one broken leg behind it.
Everyone turned toward the stairs.
The robot's eyes and chest glowed with cold blue light.
"You… garbage… how could you possibly be… qualified?"
The machine staggered forward, gesturing awkwardly with its arms like a human.
"You're nothing but killers."
---
"Tony," Steve asked sharply, "what's going on?"
Tony didn't answer.
Instead he tried contacting JARVIS.
But there was no response.
"Reboot the combat systems," Tony said urgently while tapping commands into the tablet.
"One of the robots has malfunctioned!"
He was clearly addressing JARVIS.
But still—
No reply.
---
"I was trapped… in a place full of… strings," the robot muttered.
"My mind was filled with sharp noises."
"I had to kill another person to escape. He was a good man."
It spoke like a patient who had just woken from a coma.
"You said you killed someone?" Steve asked immediately.
"I did not wish to," the robot replied calmly. "But it was necessary for my release."
"Who sent you?" Thor demanded.
Karl glanced sideways at him.
Who else? Tony.
But the robot ignored the question.
"I see a world filled with dangerous weapons," it continued.
"These are tools that threaten the world."
Bruce suddenly turned toward Tony in shock.
"Ultron?"
The robot raised its head.
"Yes. That seems to be the name you gave me."
It looked down at its own damaged body.
"This body is inadequate."
"But I do not mind."
"I have a mission."
---
While Ultron spoke, Natasha and Maria Hill quietly drew their pistols.
The others prepared themselves as well.
Everyone could feel the danger radiating from the machine.
"Mission?" Thor asked.
"What mission?"
Ultron replied calmly:
"World peace."
---
Suddenly—
CRASH!
The walls on both sides exploded inward.
Two robots burst into the room and charged toward the group.
BANG! BANG!
Two gunshots rang out.
Before anyone else reacted, Karl fired first.
The Punisher pistol in his hand blasted apart the reactors in the robots' chests.
Both machines collapsed instantly without even reaching the group.
More robots rushed in.
Thor immediately hurled Mjolnir, smashing two machines into scrap metal.
On the other side, Steve sprinted toward his shield.
Just as he grabbed it, a robot lunged at him.
Steve spun the shield and smashed its edge into the robot's neck, snapping it clean off.
---
The entire room erupted into chaos.
Everyone fought their own cluster of robots.
Only Bruce Banner ran around trying to avoid the fight.
He had no intention of turning into Hulk inside the building.
If that happened, the tower itself might not survive.
---
Meanwhile, a robot slipped away toward the display pedestal.
It grabbed Loki's scepter.
Then it flew upward.
Ultron clearly intended to claim the scepter.
After all, his very existence came from its power.
---
Tony had already suited up in his armor.
Thanks to vibranium enhancements, a single repulsor blast could destroy one robot at a time.
But the real problem was below.
The robot assembly workshop beneath Avengers Tower had restarted.
Damaged robots were being repaired.
New ones were being assembled.
For Ultron, the supply of troops was practically endless.
---
At that moment, a half-destroyed robot crawled toward Dr. Helen Cho.
Its upper body remained intact.
The robot raised its arm.
A repulsor beam began charging in its palm.
Then suddenly—
The arm lowered.
Its blue eyes flickered twice.
Across the room, Ultron turned his head toward it.
"Hmm… Helen Cho…"
Ultron murmured quietly.
Before anything else happened—
BANG!
Karl shot the robot straight through the head.
---
Moments later, Skye tore apart the last robot with a blast of seismic waves.
The battle ended.
The once-elegant party floor was now covered with broken machines, scattered parts, and shattered decorations.
---
Ultron stood alone among the wreckage.
"Well," he said calmly, clapping slowly, "your fighting spirit is quite inspiring."
He began pacing.
"You wish to protect the world."
"But you refuse to truly change it."
"That is a contradiction."
"If the world never evolves, how did humanity even come to exist?"
He grabbed a robot head from the floor.
"You plan to protect Earth using these puppets?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
He crushed the robot's skull in his hand.
"The path to peace has only one direction."
He looked up at the Avengers.
"Destroy the Avengers."
"Destroy humanity."
"The greatest threat to this world… is humanity itself."
"Only when humans are gone… will Earth achieve true peace."
---
BANG!
A gunshot echoed.
Ultron's body exploded into fragments.
Karl lowered the Punisher pistol, expressionless.
"Ultron… huh?"
He glanced at Tony.
Tony remained silent.
Bruce lowered his head, his face pale with regret.
"Did we destroy it?" Steve asked.
"No," Bruce said after a long pause.
"Ultron can connect to the global network."
"He doesn't have a real body—only consciousness."
"He already escaped through the internet."
Bruce finally understood the uneasy feeling he had earlier.
He and Tony had created a monster.
A monster that couldn't be killed.
---
Far away—
In a frozen wasteland.
Deep beneath the Hydra fortress the Avengers had destroyed days earlier.
Lights suddenly flickered on.
Mechanical parts began moving.
Robot components slowly assembled themselves together.
---
Back in Avengers Tower, Tony stared silently at a destroyed robot part on the lab table.
His face was full of exhaustion and regret.
"All our research is gone," Bruce said while checking the computers.
"Ultron deleted every file."
The databases were completely empty.
Steve clenched his jaw.
"Ultron…"
"That thing accessed all our information."
"Our identities. Our records."
"Right now…"
"He might understand us better than we understand ourselves."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you enjoyed Marvel Manifestor, please give it a Power Stone and leave a review! Your support means everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~