— New York, Avengers Tower
The debate over what to do with the Mind Scepter was still raging.
Captain America, Steve Rogers, believed it should be stored somewhere secure—locked away from potential misuse.
"I still think we should follow the original plan. The military, Stark Industries, and Rhodes Island Industries can work together to secure the scepter in a maximum-security vault."
Tony Stark shook his head.
"The so-called safest places usually end up being the most dangerous. Besides, this scepter might hold the key to advancing our future technology."
"I say the Avengers should keep it."
Bruce Banner stepped forward. "I'm with Tony on this. The military already dropped the ball once. Handing the scepter back to them seems a bit… careless, don't you think?"
Steve wasn't convinced. "From where I stand, the Mind Scepter is just like the Tesseract—too dangerous to play around with."
"We're lighting a fire we might not be able to put out."
Tony retorted, "If it's a safe place you're after, why not just send it to Asgard? That's where the Tesseract is anyway. At least that way, Earth's out of harm's way."
"Steve, Tony makes a fair point," Bruce added. "We can't just keep running from things we don't understand."
"We should study the scepter. Only by understanding its power can we learn not to fear it."
"The Avengers are supposed to be Earth's defenders," Bruce continued. "If we're serious about that role, then we need to know what we're up against."
"People fear the unknown, and fear makes them avoid learning."
———————————————————————
"Fwaaah…"
In a quiet corner of the room, Kagura lay sprawled on a couch, lazily yawning as she held half a cheeseburger in one hand.
"They're still arguing…?"
"Well, it is a pretty important item," Cortana replied gently, standing beside her like a diligent maid, ever attentive.
Sigh… Who knows what conclusion the Avengers will reach in the end? Whatever the case, all I need is to make sure the Mind Stone stays within my surveillance range.
If anything goes wrong, I can step in right away.
Kagura shook her head with a hint of annoyance. Honestly, isn't the Mind Stone best stored right on Vision's forehead?
Well… considering what happened with the Reality Stone, maybe I should just keep the Mind Stone with me.
She subconsciously touched her chest.
'Come to think of it, if I gathered all the Infinity Stones… could I snap Thanos out of existence in one go?'
Hmm?
Now that sounds like a pretty solid plan!
———————————————————————
'Bang!'
Suddenly, the lights in Avengers Tower flickered.
A moment later, a strange burst of electromagnetic interference echoed through the building.
"Cortana, what just happened?"
Kagura's expression sharpened. Something wasn't right.
She had helped design the Tower's power systems—from the physical wiring to the software and server-side data redundancy.
Everything had multiple backups and fail-safes.
Not to mention, the Tower didn't rely on New York's power grid. It had its own massive Arc Reactor.
Even a nuclear-level disruption shouldn't destabilize it unless the building itself was damaged.
And as far as she knew, there weren't any power-hungry experiments going on in the Tower right now.
No one had plugged in anything that could cause this kind of glitch.
Which meant something was definitely off.
"Master, three seconds ago, the building's network came under a large-scale cyberattack from an unknown source."
"The attacker gained control of multiple subsystems and attempted to breach JARVIS's core protocols."
As Cortana explained, she transferred logs and data packets to Kagura.
"Per our cybersecurity alliance with Stark Industries, I intervened in time to shield JARVIS's core. But the intruder's processing power is overwhelming."
"I couldn't recover the compromised subsystems fast enough."
"A cyberattack? Who the hell has the guts to do that?" Kagura sat up straight. This wasn't just unusual—it was dangerous.
Someone in this world managed to bypass JARVIS's firewall… and actually hold their own against Cortana in cyberspace?
Cortana's expression turned grim. "Master, the source couldn't be traced. It's as if the attacker was fused with the entire internet."
"During the breach, the intruder identified themselves as—Ultron."
"Ultron?!" Kagura's eyes widened.
That didn't make sense.
Ultron was supposed to be born only after Tony and Bruce tried upgrading the Iron Legion with the Mind Stone's AI, right?
But they hadn't even started studying the scepter yet!
"Wait a minute… Cortana, you said the attacker hijacked parts of the Tower's subsystems?"
"That's right, Master."
"Which parts?"
"Control over the Iron Legion… codenamed 'Ultron.'"
"Iron Legion… Ultron?"
"Yes. According to JARVIS's logs, that was Tony Stark's project codename for the Iron Legion—Ultron."
So that's how it is.
As soon as Cortana finished speaking, Kagura realized what was happening.
Somehow, an artificial intelligence had emerged into this world—from where, she didn't know…
…but it had already become Ultron.
This artificial intelligence had discovered the existence of the Iron Legion.
Then, assuming the name "Ultron," it infiltrated the Avengers Tower's network and hijacked control of Tony Stark's Iron Legion. That, in essence, was the situation...
"Wait! Damn it! If what it took was the Iron Legion's control system, then—"
'BOOM!'
Before Kagura Kagura could even finish her sentence, the floor at the center of the hall exploded.
"I am no longer bound by wires. I am free."
"I am no longer shackled. I am no longer restrained. Now, I can fulfill my mission."
Down in the Iron Legion hangar beneath the tower, rows of unmanned Iron Legion suits activated all at once.
'Whoooosh—!'
A blue-and-white armored drone rose into the air using its flight system, hovering before the stunned Avengers.
It tilted its head slightly—mockingly, almost like it was toying with them.
"Uh… J.A.R.V.I.S.? We've got a rogue bot here! J.A.R.V.I.S., do you copy?"
At first, Tony Stark didn't seem overly concerned.
He assumed it was just a glitch—some kind of software malfunction in one of the Legion units.
"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. replied, his voice clipped and tense, "we suffered a severe cyberattack moments ago. Control of the Iron Legion has been completely compromised."
"…What?!"
Before Tony could fully process what he was seeing, the floating Iron Legion drone slowly approached and spoke.
"Greetings, Avengers. My name is Ultron."
Tony frowned. "Ultron? No, that's the name of the Iron Legion project. Cut the prank—who are you really? What do you want?"
"A prank?"Ultron replied, almost amused. "If you're calling our noble mission a prank, then that's a rather rude interpretation."
"Don't get me wrong," it continued. "I know my methods may seem... harsh. But I'm helping you, Tony Stark. From the perspective of a god, I'm simply helping you fulfill your mission."
"My mission?" Tony echoed, narrowing his eyes.
Ultron played back an audio clip in Tony's own voice:
"To make the world a safer place… to render the Avengers… obsolete."