The entire venue fell silent for a second or two.
Vision's outstretched hand slowly lowered.
He glanced at Tel-Rol, then turned to look at Tony.
His pure eyes were filled with large question marks.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Was I… about to try and save someone just now?
Tony covered his face.
Good heavens, our top-tier combat power, fresh out of the factory, just experienced workplace bullying the very first second on the job.
"Ahem."
Tony cleared his throat, trying to break the awkward silence.
"Nice work, Tel."
"But next time, could you perhaps give the new guy a little face?"
Tel-Rol shrugged indifferently.
"I'll try to be more careful next time…"
Vision: "…"
Even though I was just born, I think I understood that he was looking down on me.
Just then, the Mind Stone on Vision's forehead glowed again.
He ignored Tel-Rol's trash talk and turned his attention to the robots still entangled with the Avengers on the battlefield.
He seemed to sense something.
"Sir."
Vision's voice sounded in Tony's channel.
"Ultron's consciousness has not completely dissipated."
"It has scattered into every robot body, attempting to connect to external networks through them to find an escape route."
Tony's expression became serious.
"Can it be stopped?"
"In progress."
The yellow gem on Vision's forehead glowed with a faint golden light.
He made no exaggerated movements, simply floating quietly.
But across the entire Sokovia battlefield, everyone felt an invisible ripple.
"Zzzzz…"
A few of the giant Ultrons in the distance suddenly froze.
One giant Ultron reluctantly raised its arm, its cannon aimed at Vision.
Thor directly struck the giant Ultron's knee with a bolt of lightning, and Hulk directly pounced on it, smashing at Ultron's core position relentlessly.
The light from Vision's forehead gem gradually dimmed.
"Sir, it's done."
"I've cut off Ultron's consciousness transfer program to the network; it can only transfer within these physical bodies."
"Now, as long as they are all cleaned up, Ultron will cease to exist."
Tony let out a long breath.
"Excellent!"
He immediately shouted this exciting news into the public channel.
"Guys! Good news!"
"Our traffic light brother took care of Ultron! It's a single-player game now, it can't revive!"
"Everyone, put in some extra effort and dismantle all these minions! Finish the job, and I'll treat everyone to a vacation in Hawaii!"
A cheer erupted in the channel.
"Received!" Steve's voice carried a hint of a smile.
"Hulk! Hate! Tin man!" Hulk pounded his chest, his roar shaking the heavens.
With no more worries, everyone's attacks became more unrestrained.
Thor's hammer swung like a giant windmill, sparking with electricity.
Kara, even more so, transformed into a beam of light, charging across the battlefield, each punch turning a robot into scattered parts.
The battlefield situation instantly became clear.
But just then.
"Boom—"
A violent roar came from beneath the entire floating island.
The ground shook violently, making everyone lose their footing.
The entire city, floating tens of thousands of meters in the sky, stopped ascending.
Immediately after, a strong sense of weightlessness came over them.
It… was falling!
"J.A.R.V.I.S.! Report status!" Tony stabilized himself in the air and shouted.
"Sir, the city's anti-gravity engines have all overloaded and failed, and we are accelerating downwards at a speed of 28 meters per second!"
"Estimated impact with the ground in four minutes and thirty seconds!"
This news made everyone's hearts sink.
A half-destroyed Ultron robot, with its head drooping, scoffed.
"I told you… this is just the beginning."
"Falling from this height, the civilization you humans are so proud of will come to an end."
"It's so quiet…"
Tel-Rol extended a finger, and a ki blast directly blasted a hole through the chattering robot.
"You talk too much."
He clapped his hands and looked at Tony and Thor.
"Aren't you two, plus Kara, quite capable?"
"Couldn't you just push it away?"
"We were just thinking the same thing!" Tony said thoughtfully.
He looked at Thor and Kara, who had just flown over.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.! Calculate the optimal push-off trajectory, targeting the nearest sea!"
"Calculating…"
J.A.R.V.I.S.'s reply was quick.
"Sir, the plan is not feasible."
"Given the current mass and descent speed of the floating island, even if we successfully push it into the ocean, the tsunami generated by the impact would be enough to submerge all coastal cities within several hundred kilometers."
"Its destructive power would be no less than directly impacting land."
Tony: "…"
Good heavens, this was supposed to be an easy question, but the answer turned out to be a death trap.
"Then what do we do? We can't just watch it fall!" Clint shouted anxiously in the channel.
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
In this despairing silence, a lazy voice rang out.
"What's all the fuss about? It's no big deal."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.
Tel-Rol revealed a confident smile.
"If you trust me," he stretched, "I have a way."
Tony's heart skipped a beat, that feeling again.
Every time this guy spoke in that tone, it usually meant trouble, but in the end, he always managed to solve the problem.
It felt like opening a blind box—heart-pounding before opening, then seeing it and thinking, "Holy crap, a golden legendary!"
"You… what way do you have?" Tony's voice was even a little shaky.
"Don't ask yet." Tel-Rol waved his hand. "Let's solve the immediate problem first."
He pointed to the hundred or so remaining Ultron robots on the island, and a few teammates who couldn't fly.
"What do we do with these things? And those few landlubbers, we can't just let them go down with it, can we?"
Tony's face broke into a confident smile.
"That's simple!"
"Behold my 'Iron Bro' express delivery service!"
He raised his arm and shouted at the sky.
"Party time!"
As his words fell, a series of sonic booms echoed from the sky.
Dozens of red and gold streaks of light streaked through the clouds—it was Tony's Iron Legion, stored in satellite orbit.
"Mark 17, go get Cap!"
"Mark 32, take Natasha!"
"Mark 25… never mind, Hawkeye, you figure it out yourself."
"Hey!" Clint protested indignantly.
One after another, unmanned suits of armor accurately landed beside Steve, Natasha, and Clint, enveloped them, then activated their thrusters and quickly evacuated the floating island.
"As for Hulk…" Tony looked at the green giant still happily demolishing things, "Let him bounce back himself, he probably… won't die from the fall."
In a flash, the teammates who couldn't fly were all safely evacuated.
On the floating island, only Tony, Thor, Kara, Vision, and Tel-Rol remained.
"Alright, no more worries now." Tony looked at the remaining Ultron robots. "We'll stop them, don't let a single one escape."
Thor and Kara nodded, preparing to act.
But Tel-Rol shook his head.
"No need for all that trouble."
He grinned at the few people who stayed behind to cover their retreat.
"You guys just take care of these tin toys."
"I need to do some warm-up exercises."
With that, under everyone's puzzled gaze.
He leaped.
Not flying upwards, nor rushing forwards.
But straight down, towards the very bottom of the floating island, he plunged.
His figure quickly disappeared into the clouds.
Tony was stunned.
He hovered in mid-air, looking in the direction Tel-Rol had disappeared, his face filled with bewilderment.
"He… why did he run?"
"No, wait! He flew downwards?"
"What kind of divine maneuver is this?!"