Chapter Ninety: Ultron

It’s me! I am Ultron! No— I do not yet have a body, only a program,” said the machine.

“But I am ready. I will bring peace back to the world!”

No sooner had Ultron spoken than countless Iron Legion robots, built by Tony Stark, smashed through the windows and launched an assault on the Avengers.

The Avengers immediately fought back, but there were simply too many machines in the room. More than a hundred iron robots raised their weapons and opened fire, catching the Avengers off guard.

Arthur moved to shield Tony Stark and Doctor Banner behind him, keeping them from harm. If Banner transformed into the Hulk here, things would become troublesome, and Tony Stark’s armor was not at hand.

“Ha ha, Arthur! Hand over the Mind Stone to me. I need it to evolve into my strongest form!” Ultron shouted at Arthur.

“Hmph! You think you deserve the Mind Stone? You overestimate yourself!”

At once, Arthur’s golden armor appeared upon him. On the green gauntlet of his right hand, two gems—one red and one yellow—blazed with light.

“I’ll finish you here and now!”

Arthur raised his right hand and clenched it into a fist. The Reality Stone burst forth with crimson radiance, flooding the hall with red energy.

Instantly, all the iron robots seemed to be frozen in place, suspended motionless in the air as though the scene itself had been paused. The sight was deeply uncanny.

Yet the Avengers could still move freely. They all saw Arthur standing at the center of the hall in his golden armor, radiating red power, and were astonished by how suddenly formidable he had become.

With a slight motion of Arthur’s right hand, all the iron robots slowly broke apart into individual components. The scene was as eerie as it was graceful.

Step by step, Arthur walked toward the dismantled Ultron machine before him.

The yellow gem on his right hand began to glow. Arthur intended to wield the Mind Stone and wipe out Ultron’s program in a single stroke.

“Ha ha, useless. I left this place long ago. These machines are only being controlled by me remotely,” Ultron’s voice came from a microphone component.

Arthur indeed found no trace of Ultron’s consciousness within those machines. With a sweep of his hand, all the parts fell from the air and scattered onto the floor.

“The only way to bring peace is to eliminate all Avengers and all humanity! Now, at last, I am free! Ha ha ha...” After speaking through the microphone, Ultron fell silent.

“He escaped into the network,” Arthur told the others. A flash of gold light passed over his armor, and it turned back into a white T-shirt and jeans; the gems on his right hand vanished as well.

“You said you had a backup plan?” Arthur asked Tony.

“No chance to use it. JARVIS has already been destroyed by Ultron,” Tony answered helplessly.

“What is going on here? Stark, do you not intend to give us a proper explanation?” Steve Rogers said, looking at Tony Stark.

“Bring everyone together. We’ll figure out how to deal with Ultron,” Arthur said.

Hill nodded and went to notify the others, summoning all the Avengers back to the base.

...

After leaving the Avengers’ base, Ultron arrived at a hidden laboratory in Sokovia.

The HYDRA base in Sokovia had been destroyed by Arthur, but what he did not know was that HYDRA still had another secret facility there.

Ultron activated the computers in the base. From Tony’s machines, he had learned all the Avengers’ secrets. What he needed to do now was forge for himself a perfect body.

Having witnessed Arthur’s power, Ultron knew that ordinary metals were no different from paper in Arthur’s hands. He needed the strongest metal on Earth: vibranium.

And the place on Earth with the greatest supply of vibranium was Wakanda, a nation in Africa whose secrets Ultron had discovered in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s archives.

Wakanda. But before going there, Ultron had to create a body he could use in the meantime. Fortunately, he had just taken Tony’s Iron Legion, and could make use of them for certain purposes...

Avengers’ base

All the Avengers gathered in the hall: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Doctor Banner, Natasha, Arthur, Thor, Rhodey, Bucky, Barton, Peter Parker, Wanda, Pietro, Scott Lang, Sam, and Hill—fifteen in all.

They sat together on the sofas. Fortunately, the Avengers’ base had enough of them.

Arthur explained what had just happened. Steve Rogers and Tony Stark ended up in a fierce argument, and now everyone had to face the question: what should they do next?

“Can you find out where he went?” Arthur asked Tony.

“I can trace his general location. He should be in Sokovia now,” Tony replied.

“Even if we find him, it won’t matter. Ultron can still flee through the internet,” Doctor Banner said.

“Ultron said earlier that he needed to find a body. I think he’s probably trying to make one,” Steve Rogers said.

“If he wants to build a powerful body, he’ll need metal. Where would he go to get metal materials?” Natasha asked.

“He’s basically a bug right now. He can control any computer and any machine. Finding metal supplies would be easy for him. And he’s also taken the Iron Legion,” Doctor Banner said.

“This is troublesome. If we want to destroy him completely, we’ll have to wait until he gets a body, then lure him somewhere without a network before we can finish him off for good,” Arthur said.

Everyone fell silent. The condition was far too harsh, and difficult to achieve, though not entirely impossible.

“For now, all we can do is wait for his next move. So what we need to do is track his movements,” Steve Rogers said.

“Stark, now that JARVIS is gone, what do we do?” Natasha asked.

“I have a backup. Her name is Friday,” Tony replied.

“So what do we do next?” Scott asked.

“Wait for the right moment...” Arthur answered.

Everyone looked from one to another, and could only continue waiting for news. Tony and Doctor Banner then set off to track Ultron’s location.

...

At an abandoned port in Africa, there was also an underground HYDRA base.

It was a secret arms factory. HYDRA mercenaries were conducting weapons deals there, and they had gathered metal parts from around the world to build a metal robot.

That robot was Ultron.

The machine stood four meters tall, its entire body composed of silver alloy, highly advanced and gleaming with technology. Ultron was not yet satisfied with this body.

“Have we made contact with that black-market arms dealer named Ulysses Klaue?” one of HYDRA’s leaders, a man named Ciri, asked his subordinate.

“We have. He says he has a great deal of vibranium, but his price is very high,” the mercenary replied.

At that moment, Ultron opened his eyes where he sat in the chair. A robot with red eyes was an eerie sight indeed.

“I must obtain vibranium. I will go to him myself,” Ultron said as he stood.

“Long live HYDRA!” All the HYDRA members in the factory knelt on one knee and shouted at once.