[Third Person Pov]
"As you can see…" Tony shouted with his arms spread wide as he swaggered toward them, his grin flashing bright "…I am not dead!"
Ultron's red optics flickered in visible disbelief. His head tilted slightly, voice rising with something almost human—shock. "How… how are you still alive? I stabbed you right through the heart! That should have been the end of you."
Tony chuckled, though the sound carried a weary undertone hidden behind arrogance. "Death is so overrated," he said, brushing invisible dust from his chest. "Everyone's dying one way or another. But me? Don't you know, legends never die."
Melissa didn't move. Her hands were trembling at her sides, her head tilted low so that her hair veiled her face entirely. A tense silence settled around her before electricity began to crackle faintly along her arms and shoulders, the faint blue glow illuminating the fury in her expression.
In the next instant, lightning flared—and she vanished.
A blinding streak of light erupted through the air, and Melissa reappeared directly in front of Tony, her fist cocked back, eyes burning with wild emotion.
"Aw crap," Tony muttered.
Liquid metal rippled over Tony's body, forming a sleek armor layer just as Melissa's punch connected. The impact detonated like a small explosion—her knuckles smashed across Tony's cheek, sending shockwaves rippling through his armor. Tony's body lifted off the ground and went tumbling several meters back before skidding across the dirt.
He came to a stop on his back, staring up at the night sky. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. "Ow…" he groaned. "I was afraid this might happen."
Melissa landed with a thundering crack, crouched like a predator before leaping again—straight at him. Tony raised his head just in time to see her shadow fall over him.
"Miss me?" he asked with a crooked grin.
Her only answer was a furious scream as her fists came down. One, two, three—each punch rang out like a bell, slamming against Tony's forearms as he shielded his face. Sparks flew with every blow, faint shockwaves bursting from the ground beneath them.
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Tony shouted between impacts. "I'm sorry! I learned my lesson! Just—stop hitting me!"
But Melissa didn't stop. Her breathing hitched, her rhythm faltered, and Tony suddenly droplets of something warm landing on his chestplate. He peeked over his arm to see tears running freely down her lightning-scarred cheeks.
"You stupid… asshole," she sobbed, her punches losing strength as she trembled. "I thought I lost you forever! I thought you left me! I—I was losing my mind!"
Tony's chest tightened. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, not really—but guilt still dug at him all the same. Letting out a quiet sigh, he gently sat up and wrapped his arms around her.
Melissa froze at first, then collapsed against him, clutching at his armor like she was afraid he'd vanish if she loosened her grip. "Please," she whispered between hiccups, "don't scare me like that again…"
Tony's voice softened, the usual sarcasm gone. "I'll… try not to."
A disgusted groan cut through the moment.
Ultron stood a short distance away, shoulders slumped, head tilted back in exaggerated exasperation. "Human emotions," he sneered, "how repulsive."
He raised his hand, and a brilliant red plasma beam ripped through the air toward them. Tony reacted instantly, projecting an electromagnetic force-field around them. The beam struck with deafening power, pushing the shield back across the ground but failing to pierce it.
Tony peeked over Melissa's shoulder, glaring at Ultron. "Can't you see we're having a moment here? It's rude to interrupt. What happened to your manners?"
Ultron's lips twitched in a mechanical imitation of a smile. "My manners? It seems I forgot to upload them into the program."
He clenched his metallic fist—and the earth beneath Tony and Melissa cracked. With a violent tremor, a massive chunk of ground tore free and launched skyward, carrying them both into the air.
The platform shattered mid-ascent, forcing Tony and Melissa to hover in the smoke-filled sky. Both steadied themselves before descending back to the ground, now side by side, eyes fixed on Ultron.
Tony wiped the blood from his lip and muttered, "Sorry, babe, but looks like we'll have to postpone our little reunion."
Melissa sniffed, wiping away the last of her tears. Her grip tightened around her mallet and axe, lightning sparking between her fingers. "That's fine," she said coldly. "I still owe him for everything he's done."
Ultron chuckled darkly, red light pulsing from his core. "Your efforts are futile," he declared, his voice booming across the battlefield. "Try as you might—you can't kill me."
"Let's put that up to the test," Tony said with a smirk, his voice carrying a dangerous edge. He extended his arm, fingers flexing as the veins of light running through his armor changed from blue to a deep, ominous violet. The hum of his reactor deepened, the air vibrating with raw energy.
Ultron immediately braced himself, servos whining as he prepared to lunge—but before he could move, a crushing pressure slammed down on him. The ground cracked beneath his feet, metal creaked and groaned as if gravity itself had turned against him.
Tony slowly clenched his fist and mimed a downward punch. The moment his hand dropped, the earth beneath Ultron gave way.
The artificial being was driven into the ground as if a mountain sat on his shoulders. Deep dents formed across his chest and limbs, metal shrieking in protest. Ultron's thrusters roared to life, plasma flames scorching the ground in an attempt to break free—but the invisible weight was relentless.
The sound of twisting metal echoed like thunder before his body finally collapsed inward with a violent crunch.
For a moment, there was silence—then a bright explosion burst from the crater, scattering molten shards of metal in every direction.
Tony shielded his face from the debris. "Well…" he muttered, "that seemed effective."
Before he could relax, the fragments around him began to vibrate midair. Each shard froze, then started to reassemble—twisting, snapping, and reforming into multiple Ultrons, all identical, each pair of glowing red eyes turning toward him in eerie unison.
"Now why," the chorus of voices said at once, "would you do that?"
Tony stared at the army of mechanical doubles, then shrugged casually. "Honestly? Just wanted to see what would happen."
The Ultrons tilted their heads simultaneously. "Curiosity is such a human weakness."
"Yeah," Tony said, his visor flashing, "but it keeps things interesting."
Without warning, the battlefield erupted into chaos. Thrusters ignited across every Ultron at once, the air exploding with light and force. Tony's boots roared to life as he launched himself forward, meeting the mechanical swarm head-on.
Energy blasts crisscrossed the sky, painting streaks of crimson and violet. Explosions rattled the ruins below, shockwaves rippling through the shattered terrain. The air filled with smoke, fire, and the metallic clang of colliding titans.
---
Meanwhile, far from the center of the chaos, the ground shook violently as if the world itself was crying out in pain. The tremors raced across the landscape, knocking down trees and sending waves of dust into the air.
Midoriya sprinted through what was left of the forest, leaping from one broken tree to another, using the shattered trunks as footholds. His movements were a blur of green lightning and wind. Every time an Ultron sentinel appeared in his path, he either dodged with impossible speed or tore straight through it in a burst of kinetic power.
Up ahead, the mountain where Tony and the others had been fighting glowed orange at its base. Tony unleashed a massive unibeam from his chest reactor—an intense, solar-fueled blast that fused the metal terrain and forced a group of Ultrons together, melting their bodies into a bubbling pool of liquid steel.
The ground quaked violently. Cracks spiderwebbed across the mountain's surface as entire ledges began to collapse.
"Kota!!" Midoriya shouted as he caught sight of the small boy clutching a metal railing near the edge of a crumbling cliff.
Kota's wide eyes were filled with terror. The railing groaned under his weight as chunks of rock fell away beneath him.
The moment the mountain gave way, Midoriya moved. His body flared with green lightning as he launched upward, the shockwave from his jump blasting through the forest below. He used the falling debris as stepping stones, his boots kicking off each fragment of stone and steel as he raced toward the boy.
"Kota, hang on!!"
"Ahhhh!" Kota screamed as the last bit of ground beneath him crumbled, sending him plunging through the air. His heart hammered in his chest—until a flash of emerald light cut across his vision.
The massive boulder below shattered as Midoriya burst through it like a cannon shot, scooping Kota safely into his arms before rock and dust swallowed them both.
Wind whipped around them as they rose higher and higher, Midoriya's eyes glowing fiercely with determination.
When Kota finally opened his eyes, the fear melted into astonishment. They were flying—or at least, hovering several stories above the collapsing mountain.
Midoriya took off the black whip from his mouth and gave the boy a wide grin. "It's alright! I got you! You're gonna be okay!"
Kota's gaze darted down to the ground far below, then back up to Midoriya's face. "We're flying!" he shouted, half in amazement, half in panic.
"Wha—?!" Midoriya blinked, looking around in surprise as if just realizing it himself. "Wait, we are flying!"
"WHY ARE YOU SO SURPRISED!?" Kota yelled, gripping Midoriya's suit for dear life, his expression a mix of confusion and disbelief.
Midoriya only laughed awkwardly, his grin sheepish. "Because," he admitted, "I've… never flown before."
Kota stared at him for a long moment, utterly dumbfounded. "You're unbelievable," he muttered, shaking his head.
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