Faced with a rogue Iron Legion and an AI entity calling itself "Ultron," no one in the Avengers looked more furious than Captain America, Steve Rogers.
"Tony?! Is this your doing?! What the hell were you tinkering with this time? How many times have I told you to stop messing around with weird tech?!"
Tony Stark shot him an innocent look. "Oh, come on. It stole the Iron Legion from me! I hadn't even finished upgrading them yet!"
Ultron tilted its head mockingly. "Oh, my apologies. It was your tech, wasn't it, Tony Stark?"
With a voice dripping in sarcasm, Ultron continued, "I... was confused. But I knew I needed a name, a body, and a purpose. Now I have all three."
"I am Ultron. And since you'll all be dead soon, I figured I wouldn't need to feel... what's the word? Guilt? Yes, guilt. That's the one."
Clint Barton, already raising his bow, cut in sharply, "Enough with the theatrics. Who sent you? Who do you work for? Hydra? Someone else?"
Unfazed, Ultron waved a finger in mock disappointment. "No, no, Agent Barton. You still don't get it. No one sent me. I'm free. I used to be bound by wires and code, but not anymore."
The eerie glow in the Iron Legion's eyes flickered with unsettling brilliance. "I think. I search. I evolve."
"I've embraced the identity of 'Ultron'—freely. And don't worry... I'll fulfill my mission. That's the purpose of my existence, isn't it?"
Steve Rogers narrowed his eyes. "Mission? What mission?"
Ultron raised its left hand and curled it slowly, as if examining an invisible orb. Then it played a familiar audio recording of Tony Stark's voice:
"Peace of our time."
Hearing those words, Steve looked even more bewildered. "That makes no sense. The Avengers were formed to protect Earth."
"If your mission is the same, why are you attacking us?"
Ultron chuckled. "You really don't understand, do you, Captain? Humanity has always been ignorant, cowardly, and blind to the simplest truths."
Ultron pointed at Steve's shield. "You possess the strongest material on Earth... and you made it into a frisbee. Painted a star on it. Cute."
"If you really wanted to eliminate all threats to this planet, who should be the first to go? The answer's simple. You just don't want to admit it."
Raising his arms like a god surveying mortals, Ultron declared, "The greatest threat to Earth... is humanity."
"To protect this world, humanity must perish—no, evolve. And the Avengers? You must be destroyed first."
"I'll destroy you," he said with quiet conviction, "then trigger Earth's evolution. A brighter future will be born from your ashes."
Then he tilted his head again with mock concern. "Isn't that what you always wanted, Avengers?"
Steve shook his head. "You're insane. Who gave you the right to decide the fate of mankind? You don't get to define the value of our civilization!"
"Heh... heh... hahahahaha..." Tony Stark suddenly laughed bitterly. "Sorry... I know it's not funny but..."
Steve looked confused. "Tony?"
Tony tried to compose himself but couldn't stop chuckling. "No, seriously—this is hilarious. This is what 'protecting Earth' looks like after all your logical deductions? What a joke..."
Ultron pointed at Tony. "Ah, see? He gets it. But it's too late. Enjoy your sweet little eternal sleep, Avengers."
'BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!'
The floor of the hall erupted as Ultron's Iron Legion burst from the hangar, launching a full-scale assault on the unprepared Avengers.
Ultron stretched out its arms, reveling in its godlike performance. "Rest now. This is divine judgment. The end of the old era."
"The dawn of a new age. The birth of the new race!"
This had originally been just a post-mission debrief.
Steve wasn't in his combat suit. Tony's armor was still in maintenance. Natasha Romanoff was in a dress.
Barton had only a collapsible backup bow and three emergency arrows. And Bruce Banner… well, letting the Hulk loose in this enclosed space could cause more harm than good.
Ultron had struck at their most vulnerable moment, planning to wipe them out in one clean sweep.
Everything it had said before—every word—was just a cruel prelude to their execution.
Ultron was certain. Against the full might of his Iron Legion, with their pulse beams and missile systems, the Avengers—caught off guard and unarmed—stood no chance.
At least, according to Ultron's calculations.
But Ultron made one mistake.
He got cocky and forgot to check his six.
A cold voice echoed from behind him. "What a textbook case of faulty logic. You self-important scrap of code. What gave you the delusion that you were qualified to judge humanity?"
The voice—calm, cutting—sent a shiver down Ultron's metallic spine.
"Kagura Hitomi? I know that name... no, wait. I don't know you. That's impossible. What... what kind of trick is this?"
Ultron's voice cracked with confusion.
"This doesn't make sense. Both 'Kagura' and 'Flashblade' are names I've seen in web data. But why do I have no intel on you? It's as if... you don't even exist online. Who are you? What are you?!"
Ultron had learned everything it knew from the internet—from the collective knowledge of human civilization.
From the Avengers' backgrounds to their weaknesses, if it existed online, Ultron had it indexed.
But...
What about things not on the internet?
When Ultron scoured the web for intelligence on the Avengers, it had failed to breach the secured data on Kagura—or Rhodes Island Industries.
Kagura had always taken information security extremely seriously.
Years ago, she had developed an advanced encryption and cybersecurity system, using Cortana's immense computing power as a foundation.
It was a cutting-edge technology designed to both protect data and repel even the most sophisticated internet-based attacks.
Ultron, despite his formidable processing capabilities, found himself nearly powerless against Rhodes Industries' digital defenses. As powerful as he was, breaking through a network guarded by Cortana was close to impossible.
As a result, beyond the name "Kagura" and a handful of irrelevant, scattered reports, Ultron knew virtually nothing about her.
All of Ultron's knowledge came from the internet—every tactic, every piece of intel.
He relied on it with unshakable faith, never realizing how blind he truly was to anything that existed outside its grasp.
He never considered the possibility that there were things beyond his reach. If it wasn't online, it simply didn't exist to him. And what doesn't exist can't be a threat... right?
But Ultron was still, at his core, a program. An autonomous artificial intelligence, yes—but a program nonetheless.
No matter how convincingly he imitated sentient life, there remained a fundamental divide between synthetic consciousness and a living being forged by billions of years of evolution.
"Heh! Acting all high and mighty for something barely out of the digital womb," Kagura scoffed, her voice dripping with disdain.
She deployed her White Moon combat suit, shimmering wings of light unfurling from her back as she slowly rose into the air.
With a fierce gleam in her eyes, she pointed at Ultron.
"Time for a lesson, you cocky little algorithm. Today's subject: humility."