In the end, Wanda didn't mention that blood-tinged, faintly pink apparition.
She figured it was probably just a minor hallucination brought on by the experiment. The results were good anyway—her witch energy had definitely increased, and her physical exam showed nothing unusual. There was no need to bring up something strange and make people worry.
As far as Wanda was concerned, the fact that Bant had pulled them out of that quagmire was a debt she could never repay. The last thing she wanted was to cause him more trouble.
Bant told her to get plenty of rest and reminded her to keep an eye on Pietro's studies when she wasn't training. Then he left her and went to find Dr. Banner.
A few minutes later, in Banner's office.
"Upgrade Eunice?"
Bruce Banner paused his research and looked at Bant, puzzled.
"Eunice's intelligence level is already extremely high. Is there really a need to upgrade her?" he asked, surprised.
If anything, from Bruce Banner's perspective, continuing to elevate an artificial intelligence's cognitive capabilities was more likely to cause problems.
"It's more or less a necessity."
Bant told him that Stark had secretly built Ultron.
Sure enough, Banner's expression soured instantly.
Using the underlying code of Project Insight to preemptively eliminate threats to Earth? When it came to threats, Banner figured the Hulk was probably the biggest one of all. If the Ultron program ever actually launched, wouldn't he become a target one day?
I already hid myself all the way out in space—what more do you want from me?
Disheartened, and with a trace of resentment, Banner said to Bant, "At the banquet, you should have stopped him with everything you had!"
"How was I supposed to stop him?" Bant shot back.
"Tony didn't just bring a concept—he pulled out a finished product. You know his personality as well as I do. Even if everyone opposed it, he would've pushed ahead with Ultron on his own anyway."
"Even if I'd subdued him on the spot and destroyed Ultron's code, it wouldn't have mattered."
"Smart people always think they're right. They assume everyone who disagrees with them is a mediocrity who just doesn't understand. Even if I stopped him this time, I couldn't stop him from building a new Ultron in secret."
"Dr. Banner, you're a genius yourself. I think you understand that better than anyone."
Bruce Banner fell silent.
He knew Bant was right.
Sometimes these brilliant minds were just missing a screw or two—himself included. If he hadn't been so blindly confident back then, absolutely certain the experiment couldn't possibly go wrong, he wouldn't have stubbornly pushed ahead and turned himself into a monster.
And Tony Stark was even more arrogant than he was.
Especially after pulling off so many miracles, Stark was even less likely to believe his inventions could have any problems. To him, it was just a bunch of fools worrying about nothing. The more you questioned him, the more defiant he became, the more he wanted to prove himself.
"He won't turn back until he's smashed his head bloody against a wall," Bant said plainly. "The reason I didn't oppose him is because I figured—let him take his lumps. At least Ultron is an enemy we can see coming, one we can prepare for in advance."
"You're right." Banner hunched his shoulders and nodded.
Now that things had reached this point, all he could do was follow Bant's lead and upgrade Eunice's intelligence. If he were doing it alone, Banner wasn't all that confident. But with Bant helping, suddenly nothing seemed impossible.
And so, the Mind Stone—which had already been sealed away—was activated once again.
Inside the lab, the two "Bans" got to work.
Transformed into Brainstorm, Bant used his intellect to directly interface with the computer while asking Banner about the progress of his original research.
Before Bant's arrival, Banner had been studying gamma energy—specifically, how to suppress the gamma energy inside his own body.
"The results have been excellent," Banner said, eyeing Brainstorm's opened cranium with astonishment. "Thanks to the ideas Little Cricket gave me, the gamma energy in my body has dropped significantly during this period. I still can't root it out completely, but it's very low now."
"That's good to hear. Still, I'd recommend you actively embrace the Hulk. If you keep suppressing him, it's bound to cause problems sooner or later," Bant said in his sharp voice. Then, as if sensing Banner's reluctance to discuss the matter further, he added, "Sorry—but me putting it that way is already being polite."
Using gamma suppression to prevent rampages seemed effective in the short term, but in the long run, it didn't offer much benefit. The main issue was the Hulk's unique nature. Much like Spider-Man, the Hulk was connected to a higher-order existence. He couldn't be treated as a mere product of experimentation.
Banner didn't reply. He simply continued entering code.
Upgrading Eunice was no easy task. It had taken Tony Stark a long time just to bring Ultron into existence. Working together, Bant and Banner could shorten the timeline, but it would still take at least a month or two.
And during that time, Ultron was biding its time as well.
Tony was thoroughly satisfied with his Ultron. All those worrywarts thought something would go wrong—but look at the result: Ultron was utterly respectful toward its creator.
Then, just as the Security Council was still debating whether to approve Tony Stark's global Ultron defense initiative, something unexpected happened.
Or rather, the events of Iron Man 3 began to unfold.
Killian had come to Plasmora seeking investment back then and failed. But he wasn't willing to let his life's work go to waste, so he took a desperate gamble and reached out to foreign powers.
To put it bluntly—a terrorist organization. The Ten Rings.
Those groups were swimming in dirty money, but in a world with more and more superpowered individuals, conventional weapons weren't cutting it anymore. They wanted to recruit some super-villains of their own. That made Killian's Extremis virus the perfect choice.
As it happened, they both had a grudge against Stark.
Killian went without saying—the humiliation he'd suffered was still etched into his memory. The terrorists were even worse off. Ever since Tony had cheated death in the Middle East, he'd been locked in a feud with these people. Over the years, who knew how many of their strongholds had been torn apart by Tony Stark in his armor. If they could put him in the ground, they'd never pass up the chance.
Just like that—one side wanted money, the other wanted the technology—the two factions came together.
What followed was a terrorist attack targeting Stark Industries, targeting Iron Man himself.
Of course, with the terrorists in the mix, Tony Stark was far from the only target.
In a single night, across the whole of America—Stark Industries included—many people were struck by suicide attacks carried out by Extremis-enhanced soldiers. Tony's bodyguard and driver, Happy, was left comatose as a result.
After the attacks, the Ten Rings broadcast their threats on television, placing enormous pressure on both S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Security Council.
/-\
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