Maria Hill examined the access records for the Avengers' files.
The most recent entry had appeared only ten minutes ago—right when they were fighting the robots.
Which meant that during the chaos, Ultron had already learned every Avenger's identity.
"He's inside the network," Rhodey said from the side, holding his injured arm. A long cut had been bandaged but still hurt.
"He can look up anything he wants. If he decides to search for something big…"
Hill finished the sentence slowly.
"The nuclear launch codes of every country in the world."
A chill swept through the room.
If every nuclear weapon on Earth launched at once…
Human civilization would simply cease to exist.
"We have to find him," Steve said firmly as he stood and walked toward Tony.
"We have to stop him."
He looked directly at Tony.
The meaning was obvious.
You created Ultron. You must have a way to track him.
---
"Wait," Clint suddenly said.
"Does anyone remember him saying he killed someone?"
Hill shook her head.
"There's no one else in this building. After the party ended, everyone already left."
"There was one more," Karl said quietly.
He glanced toward Tony.
Tony immediately understood who Ultron had meant.
He took out a tablet and pressed a command.
A golden holographic projection appeared in the air.
But the projection was shattered—fragmented into broken pieces.
"JARVIS…"
Tony stared at the ruined hologram in silence.
The person Ultron had killed… was JARVIS.
"That's impossible!" Bruce exclaimed.
"This shouldn't have happened."
"JARVIS was the first line of defense," Steve murmured. "He had the authority to limit or shut Ultron down."
"Which explains why Ultron eliminated him first."
---
Suddenly—
CRASH!
A window shattered.
Thor flew into the room and immediately grabbed Tony by the collar.
"Stark! Look what you've done!" ⚡
His anger was obvious.
"Thor, what happened to the robot?" Steve quickly asked, trying to redirect the confrontation.
Thor reluctantly released Tony.
Tony took a deep breath.
"I lost it," Thor said grimly.
"It flew south. And it took the scepter with it."
His expression hardened.
"That weapon must be recovered."
Everyone knew the danger of Loki's scepter.
It could control people's minds.
---
"I don't understand," Helen Cho said.
She looked at the robot debris on the table, then turned toward Tony.
"You wrote Ultron's program."
"So why does it want to kill us?"
Her tone carried a clear accusation.
Artificial intelligence was always designed to assist or protect humanity.
But Ultron had done the opposite.
Had Tony not installed any safeguards?
Tony stood with his back to the room.
Then suddenly—
He laughed.
Bruce, standing beside him, kept shaking his head.
"You think this is funny?" Thor said coldly.
He looked ready to smash Tony with Mjolnir.
"No," Tony replied, still smiling bitterly.
"What's funny is that none of you understand why I tried so hard to create Ultron."
He looked around the room with a trace of mockery.
"Tony," Bruce said quickly, "we created a killing machine. This isn't the time for jokes."
"That's not true," Tony shot back immediately.
"We still don't even understand how Ultron's logic system works."
"We never even saw a real interface for it."
---
"Avengers shouldn't operate like S.H.I.E.L.D.," Steve said sternly as he stepped closer.
"Do you remember Project Insight?"
"What you're doing now isn't much different."
Project Insight had been designed to eliminate threats before crimes even happened.
Ultron sounded dangerously similar.
Tony suddenly grew emotional.
"Do you remember the Battle of New York?" he said.
"Do you remember Karl carrying a nuclear missile through the portal?"
"When that alien army invaded Earth, we were standing right underneath it!"
He scanned the room.
"Yes, we're the Avengers."
"We can stop terrorists."
"We can defeat warlords."
"But that time? If Karl hadn't been there…"
"We would have lost."
"That would've been the last time we ever stood together."
Tony's voice lowered.
"If it happens again… how do you plan to win?"
"Are we supposed to rely on Karl every time?"
"What if Karl isn't there?"
Everyone turned toward Karl.
Karl shrugged casually.
"For now," he said, "I don't plan on leaving Earth again."
They all knew he had recently traveled into outer space and returned with new information.
---
"As long as we work together," Steve said firmly, "we'll win."
In Steve's world, defeat wasn't an option.
Tony met his gaze.
"Eventually… we'll lose."
Steve didn't look away.
"Then we lose together."
Tony paused.
Then he changed the subject.
"Thor's right," he said.
"Ultron just declared war on us."
"We need to find him before he finishes preparing."
---
"Earth's huge," Rhodey said.
"How do you track an AI that can jump through the internet?"
"We narrow the search," Tony replied.
Then he looked at Skye.
"I need your help."
Skye nodded and opened her laptop.
"First we scan major network nodes," Tony said.
"Look for abnormal data activity."
"Then trace it backward."
"Focus on high-energy facilities, robotics factories, and government networks."
Those were the places Ultron would most likely access.
"So Skye does all the work," Natasha said dryly. "What about you?"
Just analyzing those systems alone would keep Skye working for days.
Tony tapped the arc reactor in his chest.
His arm armor unfolded.
A small black USB drive slid out from inside.
"I've got something more important to do."
He held up the drive.
"Bruce."
"Help me rebuild JARVIS."
"This contains his original core data."
---
Meanwhile, Natasha had already reported the situation to Nick Fury at the Avengers base.
When Fury heard that Tony had created yet another disaster—
He instantly transformed into full "Motherf— Fury mode."
The shouting could probably be heard through the entire building.
Back at Avengers headquarters, operations began immediately.
Agent Coulson coordinated agents from the command center as they launched a global search for Ultron.
Relying on Skye alone would be far too slow.
Ultron was simply too dangerous.
Nick Fury was determined to find that damn AI as fast as possible.
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