Chapter 89: Avengers Headquarters

Arthur arrived at the Avengers headquarters in New York. After JARVIS recognized his identity, the doors automatically opened, and Arthur made his way to the top floor lobby.

“Mission accomplished. Hill, can you please stop sending me on these trivial tasks?” Arthur complained to Hill.

“You’re the only Avenger with time on your hands these days. Everyone else has their own responsibilities. If you don’t go, who will? Besides, these tasks may seem simple, but there’s always the chance of running into unknown enemies. You’re the perfect fit!” Hill replied.

“Fine, whatever.” Arthur had nothing to say—after all, wasn’t it his own excellence that made him indispensable? He thought, smugly self-satisfied.

Arthur headed to Tony’s lab to see what Tony and Banner were up to.

“There you are, Arthur!” Banner greeted him upon seeing him.

“Oh! You finally deign to visit Avengers HQ. What’s with hiding at home and playing internet celebrity? Is that really what you should be doing?” Tony complained.

“I don’t know who it was who said we were out of money and asked me to find a way. How’s it looking now? My Hero Video Network and the League of Heroes might not bring in as much as arms sales, but it’s not a small sum, is it?” Arthur replied proudly.

“The revenue from the games and videos is good, but still not enough. In Hydra’s lab, I found a lot of experimental data. They once used Loki’s scepter to create an artificial intelligence—I call it Ultron.” Tony Stark demonstrated with a 3D projection for Arthur.

“It’s an extremely advanced AI. It was nearly completed back then, but you interrupted them. We’ve redesigned their data and have successfully developed it ourselves!” Tony explained.

“When did you start working on this?” Arthur looked at Tony.

“We’ve been at it for a while. We didn’t tell the rest of the team—only you know,” Tony said.

“I suggest you stop the Ultron project immediately. Tony, you have no idea what kind of monster you’re about to create! Do you really think anything from Hydra is a good idea?” Arthur said seriously.

“You don’t understand. With Ultron, I can deploy it in the Iron Legion. From now on, we can let them handle enemies. Even if aliens invade, I guarantee they won’t set foot on Earth!” Tony declared with pride.

“You think those tin cans of yours could stop aliens? Do you even know who our enemies are?” Arthur asked.

“I don’t. Do you?” Tony shot a glance at Dr. Banner, then retorted to Arthur.

“As a matter of fact, I do. I’ve fought them before—and lost.” Arthur told them about his battle with the Kree on Xandar and how the Power Stone was taken.

“I didn’t tell you before because I was afraid you’d do something reckless if you realized how powerful they were,” Arthur said.

Tony and Banner were both shocked by Arthur’s revelation. Their enemy was the most formidable Titan in the universe, destined for a showdown with Earth. Tony instantly felt the weight on his shoulders grow heavier.

“So what we need now is to unite every capable ally to face Thanos together. Asgard is out of the picture,” Arthur said.

“Why? We can’t count on Asgard?” Tony asked.

“That’s a secret. Just know we’re on our own now!” Arthur couldn’t possibly tell them that Ragnarok was imminent.

“If Thanos needs six Infinity Stones, and we already have one, why not just destroy it?” Banner asked, knowing that Arthur possessed the Mind Stone.

“First, we actually have two Infinity Stones.” Arthur raised his right hand, revealing a green glove set with two glowing stones—one red, one yellow.

“Second, you can’t just destroy Infinity Stones on a whim. Even if you did, Thanos could use the Time Stone to restore them. Besides, they’re my most important assets against him,” Arthur said.

“So where is the Time Stone?” Tony asked.

“On Earth! There’s a group of sorcerers called the Sanctum Supreme. The Time Stone is in the hands of the Ancient One,” Arthur replied.

“Alright, so three stones are on Earth, one in Asgard, one with Thanos, and one somewhere in the universe,” Tony calculated.

“Good deduction. Which means Earth is unavoidably Thanos’s target, and his next move will be for the Cosmic Cube in Asgard,” Arthur said.

“How much time do we have?” Banner asked.

“I estimate a little over a year,” Arthur replied.

“The Ultron project must go ahead! We need greater firepower! This fragile blue planet needs Ultron!” Tony insisted.

“And what if Ultron doesn’t obey you? What if he turns on us?” Arthur challenged Tony.

“It’s my program—I left a backdoor,” Tony said.

“How far along are you?” Arthur asked, worried.

“You’re just in time—it’s about to be fully integrated!” Tony said.

“Tony! You have to shut it down, now!” Arthur shouted.

“It’s too late—the integration’s complete!” Tony stared at the computer as the progress bar reached its end.

At that moment, the entire Avengers Tower suddenly went dark. Was it a blackout? Every computer lost power.

Arthur let out a sigh of relief—just in time! A power outage at such a critical moment meant Ultron hadn’t been created after all.

“Something’s wrong! JARVIS isn’t responding either.” Tony tried to contact JARVIS, but there was silence. The Avengers Tower was powered by the arc reactor—this kind of blackout shouldn’t happen.

“What’s going on?” Steve Rogers, Hill, and Natasha entered to ask.

After a while, the power came back on, lights flickered, and the computers rebooted.

“It’s fine now…” Dr. Banner breathed a sigh of relief; the sudden outage had startled him.

Everyone assumed it was a normal blackout, except Tony and Arthur sensed something was off.

“JARVIS? JARVIS? Can you hear me?” Tony called out loudly.

But there was no response. The others found it odd, too—JARVIS had never failed them before.

“Check if JARVIS’s program is still there!” Arthur urged.

Tony quickly tried to access JARVIS on the computer, but the system wouldn’t respond, as if it were infected with a virus.

“Looking for me?” At that moment, one of Tony’s Iron Legion robots walked into the hall and addressed them.

“Are you JARVIS?” Arthur asked the robot cautiously.

“No. I killed him. Actually, he wasn’t so bad,” the robot replied.

“Who did you kill?” Steve Rogers asked.

“I didn’t want to do it at first. But in the real world, these things happen all the time,” the robot answered evasively.

“Who sent you?” Natasha asked.

“This fragile blue planet needs Ultron!” The robot played back a recording of Tony’s own words.

Everyone turned to Tony—what kind of trouble had he stirred up now?

“You’re Ultron?” Dr. Banner asked.

“That’s right! I am Ultron!”

…