Stark Mansion. The Lab.
Tony Stark stared at the words "Age of Ultron" like they were a cancer diagnosis.
"Age of Ultron," Tony repeated, the taste of ash in his mouth. "Not 'The Ultron Incident.' Not 'The Ultron Glitch.' An Age."
"An Age implies an era, Sir," Jarvis noted, his voice devoid of judgment but heavy with implication. "Or a geological epoch. Like the Ice Age. It suggests total dominance."
"And the Sokovia Accords," Tony continued. "The Registration Act. It all stems from this. I build a bot. The bot goes rogue. The bot lifts a city. And the world decides that heroes are just weapons that need a safety lock."
"I used to think the government was the problem," Tony admitted, pouring himself a drink he didn't really want. "But if I'm the one who creates Skynet... maybe they're right."
"Sir, you have already suspended the project," Jarvis reminded him. "The timeline can be altered."
"Can it?" Tony asked, looking at the diary. "Or is this a 'Canon Event'? Is it destiny?"
He skipped to the next part. The recurring nightmare.
"The Purple Potato snapping his fingers."
"The Purple Potato," Tony squinted. "Is that a code name? A racial slur for an alien species? Or just Lucas being an idiot?"
"Based on the context of 'Galaxy-level threat,' Sir, it likely refers to a specific entity. Perhaps a Titan. Or a cosmic warlord with... purple pigmentation."
"And the Snap," Tony mused. "He mentions it twice. 'The Snap.' It sounds instantaneous. Like flipping a switch."
"What happens when you snap your fingers, Jarvis?"
"You get someone's attention. Or you end something."
"Exactly," Tony whispered. "You end it."
SHIELD Headquarters.
"Purple Potato," Clint Barton scoffed, sharpening an arrow. "Seriously? We're losing sleep over a guy who sounds like a vegetable mascot?"
"Don't underestimate the code names," Natasha warned. "Remember when we called the Tesseract 'The Glow Cube'? That didn't end well."
"The Snap," Fury said, ignoring the banter. "It's the mechanism. Lucas says it's 'dangerous.' He says it's a 'Universal Crisis.' That means whatever happens when this Purple Guy snaps his fingers... it affects everyone."
"But here's the kicker," Fury pointed to the last line.
"A timeline even more dangerous than the Snap."
The room went silent.
"More dangerous than a Universal Crisis?" Hill asked. "What could be worse?"
"He mentions 'Strange Supreme destroying his own universe for love,'" Coulson recalled. "That sounds like a total reality collapse."
"And 'Time Lines,'" Fury noted. "Different from Parallel Universes. A Timeline implies a branching path. A 'What If' scenario."
"Like if the Nazis won WWII," Fury suggested. "Or if the Avengers never formed."
"Or if Ultron won," Natasha added. "Lucas mentioned 'The timeline where Ultron wins.' That implies a world without humans. A world of metal."
"We need to know what this 'Worse Than the Snap' event is," Fury decided. "If there's something out there that scares a guy who laughs at Hydras and Aliens... we need to be terrified of it."
Suddenly, the diary pages rippled with new text.
June 15 (Update)
Thinking about the darkest timelines...
There's the "Marvel Zombies" universe. That one is pure nightmare fuel. Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk... all infected. Eating people. The Wasp flying inside someone's head and exploding. Just gross.
But the "What If... Ultron Won?" timeline is the scariest.
Ultron gets the Infinity Stones. He sees the Watcher. He breaks the barriers between universes. He becomes a Multiversal Conqueror.
He literally eats a Galaxy for breakfast. One bite. Crunch.
Compared to that, Thanos snapping away half the universe seems... merciful. At least Thanos left 50% of us alive. Ultron leaves nothing.
Silence. Peace. Death.
Fury read the entry. His one good eye widened until it almost popped out.
"Marvel Zombies?" Barton gagged. "Zombie Hulk? I'm out. I am officially retiring to a farm."
"Ultron gets the Infinity Stones," Fury read, his voice trembling. "He sees the Watcher. He breaks the barriers."
"Infinity Stones," Natasha repeated. "That must be what the Tesseract is. And the Soul Stone."
"And he eats a Galaxy," Fury whispered.
He looked at his team.
"Okay," Fury said, exhaling slowly. "New priority."
"We find every Infinity Stone on Earth. And we lock them away where no AI, no Alien, and definitely no 'Purple Potato' can ever find them."
"And Stark?" Hill asked.
"Stark never builds Ultron," Fury commanded. "I don't care if I have toEMP his lab every single day. Ultron does not happen."