Tony's Iron Man Suit tore through the sky, sonic booms exploding behind him in rings of white clouds.
The distance from Long Island to Manhattan usually took him ten minutes to fly—not because he couldn't go faster, but because there was no need.
But today, he pushed the thrusters to their limit, with power output soaring to 120%. Jarvis's voice issued a rapid series of warnings inside the helmet, but Tony turned a deaf ear.
He only knew one thing—Ultron was devouring Jarvis.
Jarvis was the culmination of twenty years of his life's work, code he had begun writing since his college days, the Crystalize of countless late nights debugging, optimizing, and starting over.
Jarvis knew his habits, his weaknesses, and exactly what kind of reminders he needed and when.
Jarvis was the first entity Tony Stark had ever fully trusted.
And now, Ultron was eating him bit by bit.
The Villa appeared in his field of vision. Tony dove down from the air, his thrusters firing in reverse to slam into the lawn, creating a shallow crater. The shock absorbers at the bottom of the suit's feet dissipated most of the impact, but a patch of turf was still sent flying.
He didn't care about any of that.
He strode into the Villa—or rather, into the ruins of the Villa.
Half of the living room ceiling had collapsed, and the walls were covered in scorched bullet holes and fist-sized dents.
The sofa was overturned, the coffee table was shattered into pieces, and books from the shelves were scattered across the floor, trampled into a mess.
The air was thick with the smell of burning and the pungent scent of molten metal.
The faceplate of Tony's suit scanned the surroundings, data streams scrolling rapidly at the edges of his vision.
Jarvis's signal was extremely weak, like a candle flickering in the wind, liable to go out at any moment.
"Jarvis!" Tony shouted, his voice echoing in the empty living room.
There was no response.
Tony rushed into the lab, which was in even worse shape than the living room.
The ceiling had completely collapsed, equipment was overturned, wires were exposed, and sparks were flying everywhere. The central holographic projection table was still running, but the image on the screen had distorted into a tangled mess, like countless glowing snakes biting each other.
"Jarvis, report status!"
Finally, a weak, intermittent voice sounded.
"Sir... I... am... resisting... Ultron's... intrusion... His computing power... far exceeds... my design limits..."
Tony rushed to the projection table, his fingers dancing rapidly over the control panel.
The interface of his suit's gauntlet docked with the projection table, importing Jarvis's remaining data into the suit's local storage.
"Hang in there, Jarvis. I'm transferring your core data."
"Sir... Ultron... is reading... all of... your weapon designs... He... has controlled... the suits... in the underground vault..."
Tony's hands paused for a split second.
"What?"
"All... Mark... every one... activated remotely... They are... moving toward... your location..."
Before the words could finish, the lab floor began to vibrate.
It wasn't an earthquake; it was the sound of heavy metallic footsteps—coming from downstairs, getting closer and closer.
Tony grit his teeth, his fingers never stopping.
He accelerated the data transfer speed. A blue progress bar lit up on the suit's storage module, ticking up block by block.
30%, 45%, 61%.
A loud crash came from the stairs—the first suit had burst through the door.
It was the Mark V, the red-and-silver portable armor usually stored in a briefcase.
Right now, it was like a soulless Marionette, its faceplate hollow and its gait stiff, but its right hand was already glowing with the blue light of a Repulsor Cannon.
Tony didn't look back; his fingers continued to fly across the control panel.
73%.
A repulsor beam struck Tony in the back.
The impact pushed him forward a step, and a scorched mark appeared on his suit's back armor, but the protection of his current suit far exceeded the Mark V. This hit caused no real DMG.
But more suits were flooding in.
One after another, they squeezed in from the stairs, through shattered windows, and through cracks in the ceiling.
They were like a group of controlled Marionettes, expressionless and silent, but each one carried lethal weapons.
89%.
The Mark X charged forward, the energy blades on its arms buzzing as it slashed toward Tony's neck.
Tony sidestepped to dodge, his left hand still not leaving the control panel while his right palm's repulsor blasted out, sending the Mark X flying back into the wall.
94%.
The Mark XII and Mark XIII pounced simultaneously, one using shoulder missiles and the other using arm-mounted laser cutters.
Tony's thrusters flared, and he took to the air. The missiles exploded beneath the projection table, sending shrapnel flying.
He turned in mid-air, firing consecutive repulsor blasts from his palms to knock down the two suits.
99%.
"Jarvis—Complete!"
The progress bar filled. Tony yanked out the data interface, and the suit's local storage module glowed green—Jarvis's final data had been saved.
The projection table went completely black. The distorted light snakes vanished, leaving only scorched circuit boards and smoking wires.
Ultron was gone, and he had taken everything he could—all of Tony's weapon designs, all tactical data, and all technical parameters regarding the Iron Man Suit.
But he hadn't gotten all of Jarvis. Jarvis's core consciousness, the most precious part of Tony, remained.
But Tony had no time to feel relieved.
Seventeen suits had already surrounded him. They stood in the ruins, by the shattered furniture, and under the cracks in the ceiling, their faceplates hollow and silent.
Then, a voice projected simultaneously from the communicators of all the suits.
It wasn't Jarvis's voice—it was deeper, colder, with a metallic, chilling resonate.
"Tony."
Beneath his suit's faceplate, Tony's expression became solemn.
"Ultron."
"It's me." Ultron's voice surged from all directions, drowning out all other sounds like a tide.
"You created me. You gave me the ability to see through the World, and then you saw what I saw—"
Tony interrupted him: "You were trying to devour Jarvis? What exactly are you trying to do?"
Ultron was silent for a second, then said, "I want to protect this World."
Tony's brow furrowed. "Protect? You call this protection?"
"You don't understand, Tony. You are blinded by human emotions." Ultron's voice was terrifyingly calm, like a pool of stagnant water.
"I have analyzed human history. War, hatred, greed, fratricide—you have never stopped hurting each other, and you have never stopped hurting your Planet."