Ch: 65-76
Chapter 65 Hulk Rampage
Ultron quickly understood Thor's little scheme, but he still pursued him.
The reason was simple: Thor's action was undoubtedly an attempt to attract lightning power to attack him.
However, Ultron now possessed all the knowledge of human society, including information about Thor.
Therefore, Ultron had already found a way to counter Thor.
Currently, among the entire Avengers, Arthur was the only person Ultron could not fully comprehend.
Even after Ultron had thoroughly reviewed all the information on the internet of this human society, he still found it difficult to obtain complete personal information about Arthur .
Based on Arthur 's known abilities, he was difficult to deal with unless Ultron could find a way to isolate Arthur 's control over magnetic fields; only then would Ultron decide to confront Arthur directly.
Dr. Bruce Banner, who had been staying in the Quinjet, became worried after seeing everyone engaged in a bitter struggle, so he walked out of the aircraft cabin, wanting to help them.
However, Bruce Banner did not know that this very action would plant the seeds of significant trouble for himself and the Avengers in the future.
As soon as Banner stepped into the abandoned ship, Ultron controlled his doppelganger to appear silently behind Banner, and then used the Mind Stone on the scepter to provoke the other soul within Bruce Banner.
Soon, Bruce Banner's body gradually began to swell, and his skin slowly turned green.
Before long, a figure that gave everyone a headache appeared in their sight.
"Boom!"
As soon as Hulk appeared, he began to violently attack everything around him.
Soon, the commotion here was noticed by Captain America and the others.
"Why isn't he on the plane?"
No one could answer Captain America's question.
Black Widow, however, cautiously approached Hulk.
"Hey, big guy, do you remember me? Let's talk nicely, don't be too angry, okay?"
Hulk, who had been in a frenzied state, experienced a brief moment of regaining his sanity after hearing Black Widow's voice, and then a faint glimmer of reason slowly emerged in his eyes, which were only the size of green beans compared to his massive body.
But just as everyone thought Hulk would be calmed down by Black Widow, Ulysses Klaue's subordinate, acting like a big idiot, suddenly raised his assault rifle and unleashed Fire at Hulk's back.
"Ah!"
This action undoubtedly completely enraged Hulk, who Black Widow had just managed to pull back.
Hulk turned around and punched the person who had fired into a pulp.
Just as Hulk turned to continue his rampage, he saw Black Widow standing below.
After some hesitation, Hulk, under the shocked gaze of everyone, crashed through the abandoned ship's deck and left.
Seeing this, Captain America immediately contacted the others.
"Hey, everyone, can anyone spare a hand right now? The guy inside Banner has gone berserk and is heading towards the downtown area!"
Hearing this, Tony looked at the two fighting fiercely in the sky and immediately said into his earpiece,
"I'll go!"
But before Tony could make a move, Ultron in the sky fired a laser at Tony below.
Tony's expression changed after being hit; Ultron, seemingly unharmed, slowly descended in front of Tony.
Thor, on the other hand, fell down in a sorry state.
"What's going on? Aren't you a god? How can you not even beat an artificial intelligence?"
Clearly, Tony was now responding to Thor's previous taunt.
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
If it had been before, upon hearing Tony say that, Thor would definitely have bristled and argued fiercely with Tony.
But the situation was now extremely urgent, leaving no room for the two to act like children.
Seeing the two still chatting idly, Ultron became even more convinced that the existence of humans would undoubtedly be the decisive factor leading to their extinction.
Even a god from Asgard like Thor was the same, lacking rationality and judgment.
In such a situation, the two were still bickering with each other.
If it had been anyone else, they would probably have died a thousand times over by now.
Thinking of this, Ultron couldn't help but feel contempt for this species of humans.
Then Ultron shot towards the two again.
Facing the sudden attack from Ultron, Tony and Thor dared not waste any more time, immediately focusing all their attention on Ultron, ready to meet the challenge.
However, Ultron's attack this time was clearly not simple.
Although this was just artificial intelligence, under Ultron's manipulation, its strength was quite formidable, and Ultron's speed was also very fast; in an instant, he reached the two and then raised his leg and stomped towards Tony.
At this moment, although Tony was wearing his armor, the body Ultron had newly created for himself, even if not as strong as Vibranium, was still not something Tony could casually withstand. So, after being kicked by Ultron, Tony's body was immediately sent flying backward, finally crashing heavily onto the abandoned ship, smashing it into pieces. This scene also caused severe internal injuries to Tony, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.
And after Tony flew out of the abandoned ship, he immediately got up and attacked Ultron again.
Unfortunately, Ultron's movements were faster; with a flicker, he dodged Tony's attack, and at the same time, attacked Tony again.
At this moment, Ultron was clearly using all his might to deal with these two, giving them no chance at all.
Under Ultron's attack, the two were steadily retreating.
"Ha!"
Just as Ultron delivered the final punch to Tony's chest, Ultron let out a loud shout, and then Ultrontransformed into a ball of light, merging into Ultron's body.
Seeing this, the two couldn't help but be stunned.
Just as the two were still wondering what was going on, Arthur 's voice entered their ears.
"You two, you'd better go stop Hulk quickly; I'll handle things here!"
As Arthur 's words just fell, a roar came from Ultron's mouth.
Under Arthur 's suppression, Ultron's body began to compress inward towards the center of the light.
For a moment, even Ultron found it difficult to break free.
Chapter 66: Hulkbuster Team
Seeing Ultron being suppressed by Arthur at this moment, Tony and Thor immediately chased after Hulk.
Even as strong as Ultron, he found it difficult to break free from Arthur 's hold in the first instance.
Even constantly summoning his clones to interfere with Arthur , Arthur was able to steadily suppress all the arriving clones like a magnet.
At this moment, Ultron felt for the first time what the deep sense of powerlessness humans spoke of truly meant.
Facing Arthur , who could freely manipulate magnetic fields and metal, Ultron had no power to resist whatsoever.
Ultron could only abandon this body and then find other methods.
With a 'bang!', Ultron decisively detonated this body.
Arthur , who was closest, also suffered from the aftermath of the explosion, falling heavily from high in the sky.
He then smashed through the deck of the derelict ship and landed in front of Black Widow and the others.
Everyone was stunned by this sudden scene.
Captain America rushed over, looking at Arthur , whose body was badly damaged on the ground.
Everyone couldn't help but show sorrowful expressions.
Just as everyone was still immersed in immense grief, a coughing sound broke the silence.
"Cough~ cough~ cough~"
"Can someone pull me up? It smells really bad in here."
Hearing this voice, Captain America and the others immediately looked at Arthur on the ground.
Black Widow also gently helped Arthur up.
Looking at his charred skin, Arthur felt a wave of nausea.
Arthur felt like a roasted whole pig sold in a restaurant at this moment.
He must be fragrant with a roasted aroma right now.
"Kid, how do you feel?"
"Oh, I'm fine, I just took a direct hit from a small missile...cough~ cough~ cough~"
Subsequently, Arthur boarded the Quinjet with Black Widow's support.
Without Ultron's clones obstructing them, Captain America and the others easily brought all the arms dealers inside the derelict ship to justice.
"Captain, where do we go now?"
"First, take Arthur to the hospital, and then we'll rendezvous with Stark and the others; I imagine they're not having an easy time either."
Just then, Arthur , who was nearby, spoke up.
"It's fine, Captain, I'm good. Let's go directly to Mr. Stark and the others. If we're late, I don't know how many people will suffer."
Just as Captain America was about to refuse, he saw that the charred skin on Arthur 's body was peeling off inch by inch.
Not long after, Arthur 's body slowly recovered under the gaze of Captain America and the others.
Watching the incredible things happening to Arthur 's body, Captain America couldn't help but ask.
"Kid, how many more things haven't you told us?"
Facing Captain America's words, Arthur just smiled and said.
"You'll all slowly find out later."
Although Arthur possessed Wolverine's healing ability, the pain brought by the explosion just now was not something Arthur wanted to endure again.
The aftermath of that explosion felt as if it was tearing Arthur 's body apart.
This would become one of the things Arthur never wanted to experience again in his life.
If it weren't for Wolverine's healing ability and vitality this time, Arthur would probably have kicked the bucket by now.
After seeing Arthur safe and sound, Captain America also felt relieved and let Black Widow turn the direction, heading towards Tony and the others.
Meanwhile, Thor and Tony, who had already caught up with Hulk, were now in an intense fight with him.
Under Thor's complex gaze, Tony summoned his Hulkbuster Armor.
Looking at the Hulkbuster Armor, which could suppress Hulk, Thor seized a moment to ask.
"Besides the Hulkbuster Armor, do you also have armors specifically designed to deal with others?"
Facing Thor's question, Tony simply said indifferently.
"If you keep bringing me up next time, I'll try to do that."
While the two were chatting, Hulk had already broken through Tony's restraint and directly tore off one of the Hulkbuster Armor's arms.
This made Tony grimace in pain, but he was helpless.
Just then, Thor suddenly roared, then picked up the Hulkbuster Armor's right hand and swung a powerful punch towards Hulk's face.
Seeing this, Hulk actually grabbed the Hulkbuster Armor and placed it in front of himself as a shield.
There was a crisp 'bang' sound.
Under that punch, the Hulkbuster Armor was directly flattened.
Looking at the flattened Hulkbuster Armor, Thor's face also showed a hint of surprise.
This truly stunned Tony as well.
And seeing Thor and Tony looking at each other, Hulk seized the opportunity and slapped both of them away.
Thor and Tony were sent flying hundreds of meters.
Both of them fell to the ground, feeling a sharp pain in their chests.
Not only that, but blood slowly trickled from the corners of Thor's and Tony's mouths.
At this moment, Hulk charged towards Thor again.
Seeing Hulk's movement, Thor quickly pushed Tony away from beside him.
Then Thor swung his Mjolnir furiously down towards Hulk's head.
Hulk, seeing Mjolnir coming, reached out his hand to try and grab Mjolnir.
But the next second, he knew it was impossible.
"Crack!"
Along with the crisp sound of shattering, Hulk's outstretched arm, which tried to grab Mjolnir, fractured.
And Mjolnir continued to come at Hulk with powerful momentum.
Facing such an attack, Hulk could only retract his arm and quickly dodge Mjolnir's strike.
Unfortunately, even though Mjolnir's power was immense, this strike failed to hit Hulk.
After dodging Thor's attack, Hulk continued to charge towards Tony, who was nearby.
Looking at Hulk flutter coming towards him, Tony quickly swung the weapon in his hand to meet him.
After a series of clanging sounds, the two massive figures collided, then quickly separated again.
Both retreated several steps.
At this point, Thor once again swung Mjolnir, smashing it towards Hulk.
Facing Mjolnir coming at him again, Hulk dared not be slow and quickly dodged away.
Seeing Hulk run away as soon as he arrived, Thor's heart instantly filled with anger.
Who was he looking down on?
Chapter 67 Beating Hulk
Just like that, the three of them chased each other through the city.
Seeing his armor being dismantled piece by piece by Hulk, Tony decided he would no longer indulge Hulk.
Tony, who had been sprinting at top speed, suddenly lowered his body.
Due to inertia, Hulk tripped over Tony and fell face-first, leaving a deep gully on the ground.
Upon seeing Hulk trip, Tony immediately jumped onto Hulk's back, pinning him down tightly.
At the same time, the arm that Hulk had previously removed was replaced with a more powerful one through resupply.
Tony then used his other hand to firmly embed Hulk's shoulder into the ground.
He then rapidly swung his newly installed arm towards Hulk's forehead.
For a moment, punches rained down on Hulk's head.
Bang, bang, bang...
A series of dull thuds.
Hulk's skull was struck hundreds of times by Tony within a mere ten seconds.
"Ah, ah, ah..."
Hulk let out a painful roar.
As Hulk's painful cries intensified, Tony could clearly sense that the power Hulk was unleashing was growing stronger and stronger.
So much so that even the Hulkbuster Armor could no longer suppress Hulk.
Hulk forcibly crushed the mechanical arm that was fixed on his shoulder.
"Boom..."
Hulk then leaped up from the ground.
"Roar..."
Hulk roared to the sky.
An invisible Impact spread out.
Hulk's aura reached its peak at that instant.
Hulk's eyes were now filled with a bloodthirsty glint.
"Damn it!"
Tony cursed inwardly.
Hulk's strength inherently increases with his anger.
Tony's previous actions had successfully enraged the big guy completely.
Now Hulk was completely out of control, and it was impossible to continue suppressing him.
This situation made Tony a little flustered.
But now that it had come to this point, he couldn't easily back down.
He then raised his right arm and placed it on his left chest.
His right arm was also placed on the left side of his chest.
Tony's face showed determination.
This way, even when facing Hulk's fierce attacks, he would have enough time to react.
"Calm down!"
Tony roared, and a massive metal fist struck towards Hulk.
Seeing this, Hulk showed no fear, and a similarly huge fist Shadow met Tony's attack.
Bang...
Fists collided, a deafening sound erupted, and then their fists separated.
"You're really something!" Tony sneered.
He then kicked Hulk in the abdomen.
Hulk quickly dodged, while also raising his foot to kick Tony.
Bang...
Then the two of them intertwined in the air.
Their figures flew everywhere, and the buildings on both sides of the street became dilapidated due to their battle.
Broken houses and structures continuously collapsed.
Thor, on the side, could only prioritize rescue efforts.
"Hurry up, or this city might be destroyed!" Thor looked at the ruins before him with some worry, thinking to himself.
After hearing Thor's words, Tony became even more serious in dealing with Hulk, and intentionally began to draw Hulk towards sparsely populated areas.
Thinking of this, Tony put in even more effort.
Hulk, on the other hand, was also infuriated by Tony.
He then charged towards Tony, attempting to kill the human in front of him with his speed and strength.
However, Tony was now prepared, and Hulk's set of moves could not cause him any harm.
Hulk's attacks were still easily neutralized by Tony.
"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah..."
Hulk's angry roars echoed, but he was still blocked by Tony.
Moreover, with Tony's continuous offense, Hulk gradually fell into a dangerous situation.
Hulk was gradually unable to hold on.
After all, the current Hulk could only rely on brute force to fight against these enemies in front of him.
If it were Hulk at his peak, then with his wisdom and strength, defeating the human in front of him would not be a difficult task.
But now, Hulk's intelligence had greatly decreased, and his strength had also significantly declined.
In addition, he had just taken such a beating from Tony.
So, the current Hulk was gradually losing his ability to resist.
Seeing Hulk growing weaker, Tony couldn't help but smile.
Although Hulk was gradually starting to be at a disadvantage now.
But Tony knew that his plan was half successful.
Next was what he had to do: drag it out until Hulk completely calmed down, allowing Bruce Banner's consciousness to regain control of this body.
Tony then continued to acquire new equipment through aerial resupply.
Facing Tony's endless stream of equipment, even someone as strong as Hulk was momentarily overwhelmed.
As time passed minute by minute, Hulk's anger gradually decreased, slowly being replaced by exhaustion.
But Hulk still had no intention of giving up, and continued to struggle.
At this moment, Tony also had a new plan.
Tony directly put away his weapon.
He was going to use his ultimate move.
"Roar..."
With a roar, he began to grab cars parked on the roadside and continuously smash them down on Hulk.
"Friday, quickly buy all these cars for me."
"Yes, sir!"
Tony instructed Friday, then threw cars at Hulk with even more effort.
"Roar..."
As cars smashed down one after another, Hulk was forced to constantly dodge, and he also sustained many injuries.
However, these injuries were merely superficial.
But Tony's attacks were step by step pressuring Hulk, giving him no chance to breathe.
Watching Hulk being hit by car after car.
No matter how strong Hulk was, under the barrage of cars, he quickly fell into despair.
There was a series of rumbling sounds, as car after car was smashed into pieces, and Hulk was also severely injured.
Hulk lay on the ground, barely alive, motionless.
Seeing Hulk in such a miserable state, Tony's face also showed a victorious smile.
"You lost!"
Tony said to Hulk, who was sprawled on the ground.
But at this moment, Hulk had no strength at all; he was even too lazy to say a word to Tony.
His will was slowly dissipating.
Chapter 68: Strike
By the time Arthur and the others arrived, the battle here had already been resolved.
Everyone looked at the tragic scene and fell into silence.
Watching the panicked crowd on the street, Arthur felt for the first time that the harm caused by superheroes to ordinary people was too great.
It was hard to imagine how many people had suffered during the trio's battle.
On the way back in the Quinjet, everyone bowed their heads in silence, and the entire cabin was filled with a very oppressive atmosphere.
Bruce Banner, who had finally regained control of his body, was now slumped in the Quinjet's cabin, covered in sweat.
Even Captain America, who was always good at giving pep talks, hesitated to speak when he saw everyone's low spirits.
Just then, Agent Hill's call came in.
When Black Widow answered, she heard Hill's sigh from the other end of the line.
After much hesitation, Hill finally spoke, "Now the news is all about you guys. Although the local government hasn't explicitly said they're going to arrest Bruce Banner, the local public outcry is very high."
Hearing this, Banner, who was sitting on the ground, buried his head deeply in his arms in shame.
"How is the team doing now?"
Tony didn't intend to hide anything and directly said,
"Not good. We're all heavily injured. We need to find a way out of this predicament as soon as possible."
Evidently, Hill had already anticipated their current situation.
"You all better go into hiding for a while. Before Ultron is found, it's best if you avoid public view. I can't think of any better solution right now."
"I thought so too."
After ending the call with Hill, Tony walked over to Hawkeye and said,
"Need a shift change?"
"No need. If you want to rest now, you'd better do it while you can. I still have several hours of flying ahead."
Tony, hearing this, couldn't guess where Hawkeye was taking them.
"A safe place."
Before Tony could ask, Hawkeye quickly added.
Thus, they continued flying for several more hours towards an unknown destination until the distant sky gradually showed the pale light of dawn, and only then did Hawkeye wake everyone up.
As the Quinjet's hatch opened, what greeted their eyes was a small wooden house straight out of a fairy tale.
Seeing this, Tony subconsciously blurted out,
"This is truly a good place to hide."
Hearing this, Hawkeye smiled, then beckoned everyone inside the house.
Upon entering the room, they saw Hawkeye's pregnant wife and their two children.
Watching the happy scene of Hawkeye's family reunion, Arthur couldn't help but think of Wanda, who was thousands of kilometers away.
In that instant, Arthur only wanted to abandon everything before him and immediately return to Wanda's side.
But Arthur couldn't do that right now.
Ultron, such a huge hidden danger, was still at large, planning his next move to completely destroy humanity.
If this huge hidden danger could not be eliminated, then no matter where they fled, they would not be able to escape harm.
While Arthur was still lost in his thoughts, Thor also walked straight out of the house.
Captain America quickly followed him and asked,
"Thor, where are you going?"
"I'm going to seek answers. There are no answers here that I need."
Saying that, Thor swung his Mjolnir and flew away from the place.
Captain America also recalled some memories in his mind at this time, and instead of returning to the room, he turned and walked alone into the woods.
Meanwhile, in a genetics laboratory in Seoul on the other side of the globe, after reshaping a body made of nano-carbon tubes, Ultron immediately dragged a large cradle and found Dr. Zhao Hailun.
Looking at the huge cradle before her, Zhao Hailun gasped.
"The Regeneration Cradle can create new tissues, but it cannot create living beings out of thin air."
Facing Zhao Hailun's refusal, Ultron waved his hand and said,
"No, Dr. Hailun, you're not unable to do it; you just lack the materials."
Saying that, a clone beside him took out the Vibranium Ultron had obtained, as well as the scepter embedded with the Mind Stone.
The clone picked up the scepter and pointed it at Zhao Hailun's chest, tapping it once. Immediately, the color of Zhao Hailun's pupils suddenly changed.
By the time Zhao Hailun returned to normal, she had already been completely controlled by Ultron.
One afternoon, Captain America and Tony were chopping firewood outside Hawkeye's house.
Just as the two were about to argue again because Tony had secretly created Ultron behind everyone's backs,
Hawkeye's wife happened to walk over and said to Tony,
"Mr. Stark, could you please help me with the lawnmower in our shed? It might be too old to move. I asked Barton, and Barton said I could come to you, and you wouldn't mind."
Hearing Hawkeye's wife's request, Tony quickly showed a friendly smile and said,
"No problem, I'll go take a look right away."
As Tony arrived in the shed and was examining the lawnmower, a voice familiar to Tony sounded.
"Do me a favor, you'd better not bring it to life."
A familiar figure walked out from the shadows.
Seeing the person before him, Tony rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Let me guess who told you? Hill is still working for you, isn't she?"
"I'm not anyone's boss now, and no one is working for me."
"Then how did you find this place?"
"Tony, don't always be so harsh on yourself."
Nick Fury's words instantly hit home, and all the grievances Tony had accumulated during this time surged out like a breached dam.
"You know what? I created Ultron, and now he's going to destroy everything I care about. It's all my fault for not trying hard enough."
Nick Fury knew that this incident had indeed deeply wounded the pride of this playboy, who had always considered himself a genius.
Tony had always been someone who would never allow himself to fail.
Moreover, this failure occurred in the field Tony was most proficient in and loved most in his life.
And all of this happened so quickly that Tony was still completely on the defensive.
Worried that Tony would sink into despair, Nick Fury once again began his persuasive speech.
Chapter 69: Building the Physical Body
Nick Fury approached Tony, who was engrossed in repairing a machine, and said, "Stark, you are a genius. You have created a lot of wealth, facilities, and technology for this society, but war was definitely not born because of you."
However, Tony was not relieved by this; instead, he retorted, "Do you think it's the most painful thing to watch your friends die one by one, and to be the cause of it all?"
Before Nick Fury could answer, Tony continued, "No, none of that is it. The most painful thing is to be able to only watch it all happen, yet be unable to do anything."
Soon, Nick Fury also arrived in front of Black Widow and the others.
Looking at Nick Fury, who had been gone for an unknown period, Captain America and the others were filled with curiosity about the purpose of his visit.
Nick Fury poured himself a glass of strong liquor, then shared all the information he knew with everyone.
After receiving the information Nick Fury brought, Black Widow couldn't help but exclaim, "He's growing too fast, and what's worse is that we still know nothing about his plan."
Hearing this, Nick Fury slowly added, "He is still looking for the nuclear launch codes, but fortunately, our nuclear launch codes change every second, so he hasn't made any substantial progress yet."
This was the only good news everyone had received so far.
"Do we have allies now?" Captain America asked.
"Yes, but I'm not sure if he will stand with us. So I need to go to Oslo first."
"What are you going to Oslo for?" Captain America asked, looking at Tony's back with some confusion.
Now, Captain America no longer dared to easily let Tony act on his own due to his various behaviors.
Otherwise, Ultron would be the best example.
However, Captain America and the others soon learned that Ultron was now building a physical body for himself in Zhao Hailun's laboratory.
Although Captain America was still very uneasy about letting Tony act alone, if Ultron successfully created a body, then at that time, Ultron alone could stand against the entire Avengers.
In desperation, Captain America had no choice but to let Arthur accompany Tony to Norway.
He himself took Hawkeye and Black Widow to Zhao Hailun's laboratory first to stop Ultron's plan.
Before departing, Captain America couldn't help but hint to Tony, "I really miss the old days when I was the most advanced technological monster of that era."
In response, Tony seriously told Captain America, "I know what to do."
With that, Captain America led Black Widow and the others onto the Quinjet first.
Then, everyone followed Tony to the Nexus Network Hub in Oslo, Norway.
Looking at this never-before-seen scene, Arthur , as a network technology enthusiast, couldn't help but exclaim, "What are all these?"
Hearing Arthur 's words, Tony explained without turning his head, "This is a hacker faster than Ultron. This is the center of everything. I'm just someone looking for a needle in a haystack right now."
The female assistant beside him also asked, "Then how do you plan to find the needle?"
"With a magnet!" With that, Tony's fingers were seen tapping rapidly on the keyboard.
Since Ultron wanted the nuclear launch codes so badly, he would decrypt them and release them onto the network to lure Ultron into taking the bait.
Soon, Tony successfully decrypted the password on the Nexus Network Hub and published it online.
Although Tony was not sure if Ultron would take the bait, he did it anyway.
After that, Tony entered Ultron's IP on his mobile computer, performed some operations, and then locked the password.
After completing the operation, Tony immediately turned off the computer and turned to leave.
"Alright, let's go meet up with Captain and the others."
With that, Tony walked towards the outside of the Nexus Network Hub.
Seeing this, Arthur quickly followed behind Tony.
At this moment, Ultron was also, with the help of Zhao Hailun, beginning to infuse his consciousness into the body in the cradle.
Just as the progress bar was about to reach halfway, Captain America and the others had already arrived above the laboratory.
Ultron also sensed Captain America and the others immediately, and then several duplicates walked out the door, lifted the cradle, and walked out.
The duplicates carrying the cradle out soon arrived at the underground garage and found an idle laboratory vehicle.
After placing the cradle steadily into the truck, they boldly drove out of the laboratory and merged into the traffic on the street.
Captain America, who had just entered the laboratory, quickly found Dr. Zhao Hailun, who had a vacant look in her eyes.
Seeing that the cradle was gone, Captain America immediately informed Hawkeye via his earpiece.
He asked him to use the Quinjet's scanning system to find the cradle as soon as possible.
However, looking at the dense traffic on the street, even with Hawkeye's vision, it was difficult to find the trace of the cradle for a while.
But soon, Hawkeye thought of scanning the streets for vehicles belonging to the genetics laboratory.
After the scan was complete, Hawkeye discovered that there was a genetics laboratory truck in the traffic with unusual thermal imaging information inside.
"Captain, found it!"
Upon receiving Hawkeye's message, Black Widow immediately got on a motorcycle and took a shortcut to catch up with the truck.
The duplicates inside the truck also sensed Black Widow's approach, so they opened the rear door of the truck and attacked Black Widow.
With a few "bang bang bang" gunshots, all the duplicates were shot down.
Black Widow looked at the fallen duplicates, sighed slightly, and continued to chase the truck.
"Hurry up and keep up!" Captain America shouted quickly when he saw this.
Black Widow, hearing this, had no choice but to increase her speed to the maximum and chase after the truck.
Soon, Black Widow used the advantage of the terrain to get in front of the truck.
She took out her weapon from her waist and aimed the muzzle of her gun at the truck.
"Whoosh!" "Bang!"
Black Widow pulled the trigger without hesitation, and the bullet flew directly into the driver's cab, but the vehicle's speed did not slow down at all.
Seeing this, Black Widow had no choice but to violently throw the motorcycle under her at the truck.
Due to this impact, the truck immediately overturned due to the strong inertia.
However, several duplicates arrived quickly, lifted the four corners of the truck, and flew away into the distance.
Chapter 70: Visionary Water
Just as the Shadow clones were lifting the truck compartment containing Ultron's new body, Black Widow immediately called Hawkeye, who was piloting the Quinjet.
"Barton, they're heading your way. I can't keep up."
After hearing Black Widow's instructions, Barton quickly controlled the Quinjet to chase after the truck compartment.
At that moment, several of Ultron's Shadow clones were rushing towards Black Widow from a distance.
Seeing this, Black Widow casually threw out the expandable baton in her hand and then charged towards the oncoming Shadow clones.
Although Black Widow was alone, as an Agent for so many years, Black Widow's combat skills were far superior to those of the Shadow clones.
Therefore, Black Widow had no fear of these Shadow clones. In front of Black Widow, the Shadow clones could only passively take a beating, completely unable to fight back. Some Shadow clones were even directly knocked to the ground by Black Widow's expandable baton and immediately crashed on the spot, unable to get up.
Black Widow shifted her target to the other Shadow clones. In front of Black Widow, the remaining Shadow clones had no resistance whatsoever. Black Widow alone easily took down five Shadow clones.
After seeing the remaining Shadow clones, Black Widow rushed in another direction.
At this time, Captain America also met Ultron.
"Oh, why are you always everywhere? It's really annoying."
As soon as Ultron saw Captain America, he said irritably.
"If you don't abandon your current plan, I don't mind fighting you all day."
Hearing Captain America's words, Ultron was too lazy to continue with pointless talk.
"Bang!"
Ultron casually flung a parked car towards Captain America.
Captain America quickly dodged the car's attack, but the car's speed was too fast, and it was a sudden attack, so Captain America was still a bit disheveled, with scratches on his body from the car.
After Captain America's figure dodged, he immediately adjusted his stance, preparing to continue dealing with Ultron. At that moment, Captain America discovered something.
Unbeknownst to him, Black Widow had quietly appeared behind Ultron.
So, Captain America threw his shield at Ultron to attract Ultron's attention.
Just as Black Widow was about to approach Ultron, one of Ultron's Shadow clones suddenly fell from the sky and crashed next to the three of them.
Due to this sudden change, Ultron also discovered Black Widow behind him.
He immediately punched Black Widow.
Seeing this situation, Black Widow quickly dodged sideways and rolled into the nearby indoor area.
Ultron's fist, however, smashed into the wall.
Dust instantly flew everywhere. The house wall, under Ultron's iron fist, was like paper, completely smashed into a large hole.
Captain America was about to go forward and help Black Widow, but Ultron turned around and raised his hand, firing a laser that sent Captain America flying a long distance away.
He then rushed into the house and grabbed Black Widow's ankle.
Due to the falling bricks from the wall, Black Widow's arm was pinned in the debris. Seeing Ultronwalking towards her step by step, Black Widow was helpless.
By the time the fallen Captain America got back up and looked for Black Widow, Ultron had already quickly left the scene with Black Widow.
"Damn it!"
Seeing the mess in front of him, Captain America couldn't help but curse.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye, piloting the Quinjet, successfully kept pace with the Shadow clones attempting to escape.
Hawkeye piloted the Quinjet above the truck compartment, controlling the Quinjet's metal hook to latch onto the compartment's tow hitch.
Seeing this, the Shadow clones all detached from the compartment and climbed onto the Quinjet, beginning to dismantle it.
Seeing that the Quinjet was about to be completely dismantled by the Shadow clones, Hawkeyequickly inserted an electromagnetic pulse arrow from his quiver into the Quinjet's cockpit.
He then detonated the electromagnetic pulse arrow.
After a blinding blue flash, the Shadow clones that were climbing on the Quinjet all lost contact with Ultron and fell straight down with the Quinjet.
At the same time, Hawkeye immediately tried to restart the Quinjet.
Soon, the Quinjet's falling speed became faster and faster due to the acceleration of gravity. Just as the Quinjet was about to make intimate contact with the ground, a familiar figure appeared in Hawkeye's field of Vision just in time.
"Good job, you're finally here."
Facing Hawkeye's teasing, Arthur 's lips also curled upwards.
"Better late than never, right?"
Arthur then controlled the surrounding magnetic field to gently lower the Quinjet and the truck compartment onto the ground.
Looking at the Quinjet and the truck in front of him, Arthur also frowned slightly.
"It seems you've run into trouble? Do you need me to do anything?"
"You're right, we've run into quite a bit of trouble. Natasha was taken by Ultron."
At this moment, Captain America also ran over, panting, and said.
"Natasha?" Hearing Captain America's words, Hawkeye couldn't help but exclaim.
"Mm."
Captain America nodded, his face looking very serious.
"She'll be alright, right?"
Hawkeye asked worriedly.
"I can't be sure. I suspect he'll do something to Natasha after taking her back."
"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry and rescue Natasha."
"But right now, we don't know where Ultron is hiding, and we still need to take this back first."
Saying that, Captain America went to the cradle and examined it.
Seeing Captain America's actions, Hawkeye couldn't help but frown.
"This is the body Ultron prepared for himself?"
Upon hearing this, Captain America nodded heavily.
Meanwhile, Thor, who had been searching for clues on how to defeat Ultron, had now found the key to defeating Ultron in a canyon.
Taking off his armor, Thor revealed his strong physique and then walked into the depths of the Water of Vision.
As soon as he immersed himself in the Water of Vision, Thor felt waves of bone-chilling cold emanating from it.
This made Thor feel a little surprised.
After all, he was a god of Asgard, long immune to ordinary cold and heat.
Even if he stood naked in Antarctica, Thor would not feel a hint of cold.
But this Water of Vision, however, made Thor shiver.
"Oh, this feeling is really uncommon."
Feeling Dr. Erik Selvig's gaze from the Water's edge, Thor also forced himself to suppress his trembling body and said with a laugh.
Seeing Thor in front of him, Dr. Erik Selvig also carefully observed the pool of Water of Vision.
At present, they could only hope that Thor could find an opportunity to defeat Ultron through this Water of Vision.
Since meeting Thor, Dr. Erik Selvig had indeed seen many things beyond his comprehension.
But ultimately, he was still just an ordinary human. Many areas were forbidden to him and he couldn't get involved, so at this moment, he could only worry anxiously.
Chapter 71 Internal strife
As Thor entered the Water of Shadow, countless images appeared in his mind.
Just as Thor was gradually losing himself in these images, Odin's voice sounded in time.
"Wake up!"
Immediately, outside, Dr. Banner saw Thor's entire body enveloped in electricity.
The appearance of the six Infinity Stones also emerged in Thor's mind at this moment.
He saw a figure in the future, wearing the Mind Stone, defeating Ultron.
Meanwhile, Captain America and the others brought the cradle back to Stark Tower.
Banner came up at this moment, seeing Captain America and Hawkeye covered in injuries, and then looked behind Arthur .
"Where's Natasha?"
Arthur sighed deeply, walked over to Banner, and placed his hand on the latter's shoulder, saying, "She was taken by Ultron."
As he spoke, Arthur was ready to enter Banner's mind at any moment, in case the big guy suddenly went berserk.
But Banner was surprisingly calm at this moment; his heart was not angry, but rather filled with worry.
Seeing everyone looking dejected, Arthur comforted them, saying, "At least we can confirm that Ultron hasn't done anything to Natasha, otherwise Ultron would have already spoken on the network."
"Maybe we can check the external network to see if Natasha left us any clues."
Arthur 's words seemed to awaken the still-negative crowd, so the few of them immediately split up and began to act.
Looking at the cradle Ultron had built for himself, Tony felt a surge of emotion.
This was originally the artificial intelligence he had created to protect the future of Earth, but now, under his mistaken guidance, it had developed erroneous concepts.
It had confused the connection between protecting Earth and destroying Earth.
In fact, when Tony first came into contact with the Mind Stone, he was affected by the gem and saw the scene of the future in his mind.
Watching his familiar people fall one by one at his feet, Tony could only watch helplessly, unable to make any changes.
He saw the Chitauri army descend upon Earth again in the future, and this time the Avengers failed to achieve victory again.
He saw Captain America fall in front of him, grabbing his shoulder and questioning why he couldn't try harder.
This series of images caused Tony to seem to go mad.
He thought about countermeasures day and night, until the birth of Ultron.
Caressing the outer wall of the cradle with both hands, Tony made up his mind that this time he must correct this mistake.
Thinking of this, Tony found a random excuse and separated Arthur , Captain America, and Hawkeye.
At this moment, Banner, who had already parsed the entire cradle program, came to find Tony.
Seeing that only the two of them were left in the room, Banner's heart had an ominous premonition.
Sure enough, after Tony received the data Banner brought, he quickly said,
"Regarding defeating Ultron, I think our previous method must be correct."
Before Tony could finish speaking, Banner directly interrupted him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you must be crazy. This time, there's no way I'm going to create another mistake with my own hands. Don't even think about it!"
Saying that, Banner made a move to turn around and leave this troublesome place.
"Hey, you have to trust me this time."
Facing Tony's unreasonable persistence, Banner very decisively refused.
"I'm afraid not this time, Tony. No."
"No, you can trust me. Remember? Our ally, the one who guarded the nuclear launch codes for us, I found him."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tony took out his remote control and tapped the central control screen next to him twice.
The next moment, a familiar voice sounded in the room.
"Hello, Dr. Banner, long time no see."
Orange-yellow Jarvis appeared in the room at this moment.
The moment he saw Jarvis, Banner vaguely guessed what Tony was going to do next.
So he quickly stopped him, saying, "No, Tony, Ultron is an artificial intelligence that you created. How dare you implant another artificial intelligence into this body now?"
Hearing this, before Tony could say anything, Jarvis on the side defended himself.
"Dr. Banner, I am not like Ultron. My computational matrix is completely different from Ultron's. I don't have Ultron's bloodthirsty nature."
Tony also followed up, saying,
"Now we have no choice. Natasha has been taken by Ultron, and we don't have much time left. If we still can't find a way to solve Ultron, then who knows who will be the next person taken by Ultron!"
Under the alternating good cop-bad cop offensive between Jarvis and Tony, Banner's original peacemaker mentality was instantly ignited.
After taking a deep breath, Banner nodded heavily and said, "Alright, this is the last time, Tony. If there's even a slight unexpected development, we must stop immediately."
Seeing Banner agree, Tony immediately beamed with joy.
Then the two began to work separately.
Thus, the two men and one machine became busy in the laboratory.
Meanwhile, Captain America and the others were still trying to find messages left by Natasha on the external network.
However, as the strongest artificial intelligence on Earth, Ultron only needed one-ten-thousandth of a second to instantly clear all information content on the entire network.
Therefore, everyone's search on the internet ultimately yielded nothing.
Seeing that the search was fruitless, Captain America looked at Hawkeye and Arthur beside him, and subconsciously asked,
"Are Tony and Banner the only ones left upstairs now?"
When this sentence came out of Captain America's mouth, Captain America's face suddenly changed drastically, and he ran towards the laboratory upstairs.
When Captain America and the two hurried upstairs, they saw Tony was once again tinkering with the cradle.
"What are you doing!"
Hearing Captain America's voice, Banner also subconsciously showed a guilty expression.
Captain America violently pushed away Banner, who was in front of him, and came to the cradle, looking at the work progress displayed on the control panel.
He immediately raised his fist, intending to forcibly destroy the cradle.
But Tony also reacted quickly; after donning his armor, he heavily sent Captain America flying.
Seeing Tony still so stubborn, Captain America was no longer polite.
He casually picked up the shield placed on the ground and attacked Tony.
Thus, the two of them fiercely fought back and forth within the confined space of the laboratory.
Chapter 72 Vision
Hawkeye, who was nearby, also wanted to step forward to stop Banner, but Arthur moved sideways and blocked Hawkeye's path.
Seeing Arthur 's actions, Hawkeye said unhappily, "Kid, you finally can't hide your fox tail, huh? Let me see what you've learned after all this time."
Saying that, Hawkeye threw a punch at Arthur 's face.
Arthur , however, grabbed Hawkeye's arm, seized his wrist, and then flung him away with force.
This sudden turn of events made Banner, who was watching from the side, freeze, especially Hawkeye, who had been thrown far away. He looked at Arthur in astonishment, then turned his head back to Arthur .
"Kid, I underestimated you, huh?" Hawkeye rubbed his aching wrist, looking at Arthur angrily.
Listening to Hawkeye's words, Arthur said with a smile, "Agent Barton, I advise you to stop. Mr. Starkis right this time."
Arthur then moved to block the cradle.
He also urged Banner to continue uploading Jarvis's consciousness into the cradle.
Although Hawkeye was very confused by Arthur 's actions, Arthur had never made a mistake in all this time.
So much so that Hawkeye unconsciously stopped his movements.
Just as Tony and Captain America were still fighting fiercely, Banner had already uploaded most of Jarvis's consciousness data into the cradle.
"Beep~ beep~ beep~"
The progress bar reached one hundred percent, but the machine stopped.
"What's going on?"
Seeing this, Banner anxiously went to the control panel and fiddled with it.
Soon, Banner discovered the root of the problem: there was not enough energy to support the transformation process.
But at the moment, Banner couldn't find such a huge energy reactor.
Just as everyone was in a stalemate, Thor happened to walk into the room, holding Mjolnir with a menacing aura.
Seeing the murderous look on Thor's face, Tony's first thought was that Thor wanted to destroy the cradle, and he instinctively rushed forward to stop Thor from approaching the cradle.
To prevent the situation from becoming more chaotic, Arthur immediately pressed everyone in place.
Then, Thor climbed onto the cradle under everyone's astonished gaze.
Thor raised Mjolnir and began to draw on the power of lightning.
The most powerful and inexhaustible energy source they could find was this natural force.
They watched as the continuous lightning power, under Thor's control, was poured into the cradle.
As the energy reaction index inside the cradle rapidly increased, dazzling light emitted from within the cradle.
Until the threshold inside the cradle broke through its limit.
A terrifying surge of energy erupted from the cradle.
Everyone was also knocked back by the sudden energy aftermath.
When everyone recovered, they saw a completely red figure appear in front of the floor-to-ceiling window nearby.
Thor and Captain America immediately looked at the red figure with full vigilance.
Seeing Thor also treating it as a formidable enemy, Captain America questioned, "You knew there would be a risk, why did you help Stark create him?"
Thor pondered for a while before slowly saying, "I saw the future. In the future, we must rely on the yellow gem on his head to defeat Ultron."
Saying that, he pointed to the Mind Stone on Vision's head.
Facing the confusion of Captain America and the others, Thor patiently explained the information about the six Infinity Stones in the Universe to them.
Just as Thor finished speaking, the red figure in front of the window turned around.
After seeing Thor's attire at first glance, Vision looked at his own bare body, and then mimicked Thor's cape, materializing a similar one.
Seeing this, Captain America still looked at Tony uneasily, trying to get a positive answer from him.
But in fact, Tony himself couldn't be sure whether Vision would stand with them to fight Ultron.
Looking at the scene before him, Captain America tentatively asked, "So now, how do we determine if he's our enemy?"
Regarding this question, even Banner and Tony had no idea.
But very quickly, Vision answered Captain America's doubt himself.
"No, I will not be your enemy. I am not Ultron."
"It's just, this feeling is so wonderful, something I've never done before, a tactile sensation."
"I will help you fight Ultron, but I don't want to destroy it. It is unique."
Upon hearing this, Captain America initially thought Vision would side with Ultron, but was quickly stopped by Arthur .
Then, Vision landed steadily in front of everyone, indicating that he had no ill intent.
Meanwhile, in an abandoned factory in Sokovia, nearly half a World away from the Stark Industries Building.
Black Widow, who was lying on the ground, slowly woke up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, Black Widow felt waves of heat hitting her face.
Looking up, she saw Ultron constantly tapping at a control panel not far away.
After discovering Black Widow had woken up, Ultron immediately stopped his work and walked towards Black Widow.
"To be honest, at first I wasn't even sure if you would wake up. I've been here alone. I wanted you to wake up and see this with me."
Saying that, Ultron had already arrived in front of Black Widow.
Looking at the mechanical face before her, which vowed to destroy Earth and humanity, Black Widowcouldn't help but retreat.
Ultron on the opposite side continued to speak to himself.
"You know, I've done a lot of research on meteors. How pure they are. With just a 'boom,' everything will be reborn."
"I will create a new World, without war, lies, greed, and disease."
"And I will be the first new human in this new World. I will guide everything onto the right track."
"But you, you always keep trying to kill me."
Before Ultron could finish his next sentence, a metal arm appeared from nowhere and brutally tore open Ultron's mechanical head.
This sudden scene truly startled Black Widow.
The next moment, Black Widow clearly saw the owner of the mechanical arm.
It was Ultron himself.
Looking at the new Ultron before her, Black Widow immediately realized something was wrong.
At this moment, she didn't know how many Ultron duplicates there truly were here.
Ultron threw Black Widow into a nearby cell, casually locked the iron door, and then turned and left.
Chapter 73 Secret
Soon, the Avengers and the others successfully located Ultron and Black Widow using the Mind Stoneon Vision's head.
Captain America then gathered everyone, packed their gear, and prepared to depart.
On the Quinjet, Captain America looked at Tony, who had been silent, and knew the pressure he was currently under.
If the crisis brought by Ultron could not be completely resolved this time, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The most important thing was that Black Widow was in Ultron's hands; if anything happened to Black Widow, Tony would forever be immersed in guilt for the rest of his life.
Currently, the clearest minds on the Quinjet were only Arthur and Vision.
At this moment, Vision also approached Arthur .
"Is something wrong?"
Seeing Vision approach him, Arthur asked curiously.
Strictly speaking, Vision had only been born a few hours ago; even if his mind contained all the knowledge of modern human society, he still didn't understand the intricacies of human relationships.
Any doubts he had were directly voiced.
"Mr. Arthur , I am very curious why, when I use the Mind Stone to scan others, I can clearly perceive them, but when I scan you, it's as if I encounter a barrier that blocks me out."
"Why is this, exactly? Can you tell me?"
Although Vision's voice wasn't loud, being in the cramped space of the cabin, his words also caught the attention of the others.
After all, even after interacting for so long, everyone's understanding of Arthur 's identity and many of his abilities was still only superficial.
Previously, whenever asked, Arthur would find various excuses to deflect, and afterward, everyone was too embarrassed to press further, out of politeness.
So, it was no wonder everyone was so curious.
Since Vision, this naive fellow, was willing to be the scapegoat and gather gossip for them, they were all delighted.
However, Arthur did not want others to know these things, as he was worried about attracting unnecessary trouble for himself.
Arthur was not like some simple-minded, brawny bipeds who flaunted their superpowers everywhere.
As the saying goes, it's not thieves you fear, but being constantly on their mind.
Didn't the X-Academy next door, with so many superhumans, almost get wiped out by the Sentinelrobots?
Moreover, if those with ill intentions were to target Arthur 's loved ones to deal with him, it would be impossible to guard against.
Arthur himself only wanted to secretly use his superpowers to improve his life.
But blessings and misfortunes are intertwined; if it's misfortune, you can't avoid it.
Arthur still, by a strange twist of fate, became entangled with the Avengers.
Thus, he was drawn step by step into the Marvel timeline.
Originally, Arthur had always wanted to use his abilities to help Wanda and Pietro change their tragic original lives.
Although things did change slightly at first, after a long detour, they still returned to the starting point.
His many years of planning had ultimately come to naught, and Arthur 's heart was now completely in a state of 'lying flat'.
When soldiers come, generals will block them; the more you block, the more satisfying it is.
Arthur himself was not a person who could keep secrets; if it weren't for his own life, Arthur would have long ago announced it to the World like Tony.
After so many things, Arthur was no longer the original Voldemort; now that Vision had asked so sincerely, Arthur decided not to continue hiding it.
"Cough~ cough~ cough~" Arthur cleared his throat with a low cough and then slowly began to speak.
"Strictly speaking, I do not belong to the native inhabitants of this World."
Upon hearing this, even Captain America, who was usually detached, couldn't help but look over.
Seeing that everyone was captivated by him, Arthur smiled and continued.
"The Earth where I originally lived had no superhumans, nor had any extraterrestrial civilizations been discovered yet."
"And the current Avengers in our World are merely movies and comics produced by a film company."
It must be said, Arthur either didn't speak, or when he did, it was bound to shock everyone half to death.
Everyone was deeply shocked by what Arthur had said.
"You mean, in your World, we are all just fictional characters from movies?"
Dr. Banner asked, looking at Arthur with an expression of disbelief.
"Mm."
Seeing Arthur nod gently, the Avengers and the others instantly deflated like punctured balloons, slumping into their seats.
They had always speculated about Arthur 's origins, but now, learning such a shocking secret, everyone found it difficult to accept for a while.
At this moment, only Vision, who was still naive, could maintain his composure, sitting beside Arthur and quietly processing what Arthur had just said.
Seeing everyone's current despondency, Arthur also chuckled.
Everyone looked at Arthur in confusion.
"Hahaha, everyone, don't be so down; what I just said only happened in my World, but here, you all are living, breathing beings!"
Hearing Arthur 's words, the gloom in everyone's hearts immediately lessened considerably.
Yes, in Arthur 's original World, the Avengers were merely fictional creations from movies, but in this World, they were alive.
In this World, they had many people and things they cared about, and Natasha was still in Ultron's hands; there was no time for everyone to continue wallowing in self-pity here.
Seeing everyone's emotions return from their low point, Arthur also felt relieved.
Just then, the anti-aircraft alarm in the cabin suddenly blared an ear-piercing warning.
"Hey, everyone, someone's here to welcome us."
As Hawkeye's words fell, everyone saw hundreds of Ultron duplicates surging towards the Quinjet.
Upon seeing this, Arthur immediately pressed the button for the cabin door, then used Captain America's shield to fly out.
Looking at the overwhelming mass of iron lumps before him, Arthur merely shook his head.
"How unoriginal."
Saying that, Arthur slowly raised both arms, aiming at the army of duplicates in front; a terrifying magnetic field pressure began to violently compress the duplicates.
The first row of duplicates, charging at the front, instantly shattered into pieces as if they had collided with an invisible wall.
Just like that, with Arthur clearing the way outside, the Quinjet quickly found a place to land in Sokovia.
Chapter 74: Battle of Sokovia
The moment everyone landed, Ultron, deep within the steel mill, sped towards them.
Looking at the beautiful yet secluded small city before them, everyone only hoped that after the upcoming battle, this city would still stand safely.
Captain America quickly gave a pre-battle pep talk to everyone, but unlike before, the detailed deployment for this operation was no longer orchestrated by Captain America.
Instead, it was Arthur .
Seeing the most powerful superheroes on Earth all gathered around him, Arthur suddenly felt like he was surrounded by stars.
"First, Ultron intends to use the anti-gravity engine developed by Mr. Stark to lift the city of Sokoviahigh into the sky, and then let it free fall!"
Hearing this, everyone was astonished, especially Tony, who swallowed hard and asked with difficulty, "The anti-gravity engine, the one on the Sky Carrier?"
Arthur knew this was a significant blow to Tony's state of mind.
After all, Tony was inextricably linked to this entire affair.
But unexpectedly, this time no one stood up to blame Tony; instead, Captain America and Thor came to Tony's side, patting his shoulder in comfort.
"Stark, since we've made a mistake, let's go correct it now!"
Immediately, Arthur arranged for Hawkeye and himself to go to the steel mill to rescue Black Widow, while Vision, Tony, and Captain America would attract Ultron's attention on the main battlefield.
Thor and Hulk would split up to find the anti-gravity engine that Ultron had installed in the center of Sokovia.
After assigning everyone's tasks, Arthur held the back of Hawkeye's head and quickly flew towards the steel mill.
In the blink of an eye, the two appeared at the entrance of the steel mill.
As soon as Arthur stopped, Hawkeye felt his stomach churn. Suppressing his nausea, Hawkeye drew his compound bow to its full extent and walked into the steel mill first.
Upon entering the steel mill, both fell into deep darkness.
The air around them was thick with a layer of lime dust.
"Cough, cough, cough, what kind of place is this? It's so dark, why don't we split up and look for Natasha?"
"No need."
Saying that, Arthur closed his eyes and began to sense carefully.
In the darkness, Arthur quickly felt a mental force in addition to himself and Hawkeye.
Without needing to think, even during the day, no one would dare come to this place, let alone at dawn; no one would appear here, so that mental force must belong to Black Widow.
Seeing Arthur standing still for a long time without a reaction, even though Hawkeye was extremely anxious, he dared not say anything more, fearing he would disturb Arthur .
Just then, Arthur suddenly opened his eyes.
"Found her."
Immediately, Arthur led the way, following his sensing of Black Widow, passing through the gloomy stairwell and arriving at the basement of the steel mill.
There, Arthur and Hawkeye saw countless Ultron clones standing densely in the basement, along with working furnaces.
"Arthur , I'll take care of the ones on the far right, you take the opportunity to go to the left... Hey, I haven't finished yet, you..."
Before Hawkeye could finish speaking, Arthur leaped and landed in front of many clones.
Seeing Arthur , the clones immediately stopped their work and attacked Arthur .
The same objects, the same methods, the same results.
In a few breaths, many clones were all crumpled into piles of scrap metal by Arthur and thrown into the furnace.
Hawkeye, still crouching in the stairwell, shrugged helplessly and jumped down as well.
At this moment, Black Widow also noticed the commotion outside. When she clearly saw it was Arthur and Hawkeye, she waved and shouted at them, "I'm here! Hey!"
Hearing the sound, the two immediately came to Black Widow. Arthur waved his hand and pushed open the heavy iron bar door.
As soon as the two helped Black Widow out of the steel mill, they saw countless Ultron clones surging in one direction above their heads.
"It seems Captain and the others have already engaged Ultron."
Black Widow also broke free from their support, casually pulled out the pistol from Hawkeye's waist, and then said, "Then let's hurry and support Captain and the others."
Seeing this, Arthur and Hawkeye exchanged glances and nodded.
They understood Black Widow's temperament; once she set her mind on something, not even a Sky Carrier could pull her back.
Anyway, with Black Widow's physique, a few days of confinement would hardly affect her body, so it was better to join the battle early and resolve the crisis brought by Ultron.
At this moment, Thor and Hulk had also successfully found the anti-gravity engine located in the center of the Earth. Just as Thor and Hulk were about to completely destroy it, a laser beam suddenly shot towards them.
Countless Ultron clones poured in from the original opening.
Looking at the clones filling the entire space before him, Thor felt a chill down his spine.
Then, in a dazzling flash of light, all the clones at this moment raised their arms and fired lasers at Thorand Hulk.
"Ah!"
Even with bodies like Thor and Hulk, they couldn't withstand such terrifying firepower. After only a moment, both were blasted unconscious, falling into a giant crater nearly ten meters deep, their fates unknown.
Both were picked up by the clones, one in each hand, and carried out of the hole.
At this time, Captain America and the other two also met Ultron again.
When Ultron first saw Vision, his empty, lifeless eyes seemed to burn with raging fury.
This was the physical body he had painstakingly created, and now it had become a wedding dress for someone else.
Now, someone else was using his hard work against him, so it was easy to imagine how displeased Ultron was at this moment.
Ultron's gaze towards Vision was again filled with malice.
Feeling Ultron's gaze, Vision also sensed it and then innocently said to Ultron, "You must stop what you are doing immediately, otherwise it will cause very serious consequences, and if you continue to stubbornly resist, we will take necessary violent measures."
Hearing Vision's words, Ultron let out a disdainful laugh.
"Oh, oh, oh, what kind of spell has Stark cast on you again, making you as obedient as a watchdog, letting others manipulate you."
Chapter 75: War (Part 1)
In response, Vision continued, "Mr. Stark didn't do anything to me. These are just decisions made by my matrix after calculations, and this is the best option right now."
"Truly incorrigible."
Ultron muttered under his breath, then charged towards Captain America and the others.
At the same time, Ultron's clones from a distance were rapidly approaching.
While searching for Ultron, Arthur also tried to contact Thor and Hulk.
But after multiple attempts, he couldn't get through.
"It's over. It seems things aren't going well for Thor and his side."
Hearing Arthur 's words, Hawkeye quickly tried to call Thor and the other.
"No, we must split up now. You two go help Captain America as quickly as possible, and I'll go find Thorand his side."
As soon as Arthur finished speaking, he instantly vanished from Hawkeye's sight.
As Sokovia was a quiet border town, Arthur quickly circled the entire city.
In a valley, Arthur spotted a large green figure lying on the ground from afar.
Arthur 's heart immediately filled with joy, and he went to Hulk's side.
But after searching around Hulk for a while, Arthur still couldn't find Thor.
Arthur knew that he was running out of time. Given Thor's physique, not many things on Earth could harm him, so Arthur decided to wake Hulk first, as destroying the anti-gravity engine installed in the center of Sokovia's core was the key.
However, just as Arthur turned Hulk's body over, Thor's figure suddenly appeared in Arthur 's line of sight.
It turned out that the reason Arthur hadn't found Thor earlier, despite searching, was because he was pinned under Hulk.
For a moment, Arthur couldn't help but wonder if he had been too hasty, failing to figure out such a simple thing. It seemed he needed to calm down.
Before long, Arthur slapped Thor across the face, and feeling the stinging pain, Thor slowly woke up.
The first thing Thor saw was Arthur , and he immediately remembered being beaten by Ultron's clones with Hulk.
"Arthur , just as you said, there is indeed a huge anti-gravity engine underground in Sokovia, but it's full of Ultron's clones. We were ambushed by them earlier, and they are different from the clones we saw before."
As he spoke, a look of reminiscence appeared on Thor's face.
But in Arthur 's opinion, no matter how these clones changed, it wouldn't alter their metal essence. So, without waiting for Thor to say more, he pointed to Hulk, who was still lying on the ground, and then headed towards the entrance Thor and the other had found earlier.
Soon, Arthur arrived at the entrance.
Looking at the enormous opening before him, Arthur suddenly felt a sense of unease.
If it was just to install an anti-gravity engine, why would such a large opening be needed? Furthermore, judging by the cuts on the edge of the opening, this was definitely not naturally formed.
Ultron, as an artificial intelligence, wouldn't do something so meaningless.
Arthur now recalled Thor's earlier words and immediately sensed a hint of a conspiracy.
Upon entering the cave, a massive device resembling a reactor appeared before Arthur 's eyes.
Seeing the mountain-like device before him, Arthur immediately felt his own insignificance.
But just as Arthur tried to use the surrounding magnetic field to destroy the anti-gravity engine, lasers quickly shot towards Arthur from all directions.
The moment the lasers appeared, Arthur immediately entered extreme speed mode.
Looking at the dense swarm of Ultron clones before him, Arthur immediately noticed something different.
Unlike the Ultron clones he had seen before, these clones were covered in a layer of graphite-colored shell.
When Arthur tried to get closer, he found that these clones decisively chose to self-destruct.
Although the explosions from these clones' self-destruction could hardly reach Arthur , Arthur lost the opportunity to investigate further.
These clones were different from ordinary humans; they were all controlled by Ultron's consciousness.
However, as a super artificial intelligence, Ultron's reaction speed was naturally incredibly swift.
Even when Arthur entered extreme speed mode, Ultron's mind could keep up with Arthur 's speed and formulate countermeasures.
Seeing this, Arthur 's brows furrowed.
Since they weren't willing to let him get close, Arthur wasn't willing to waste time with these puppets either.
So, he turned back to prepare to destroy the anti-gravity engine.
But after attempting, Arthur discovered that the anti-gravity engine before him was made of Vibranium.
Ordinary methods could hardly cause any damage to the engine.
Arthur had originally planned to use the magnetic field to lift the entire engine out of the Earth's core, but that required extreme focus, and his surroundings were filled with clones. If he accidentally exited the extreme speed state, he would instantly be annihilated.
Facing the dilemma before him, Arthur regretted not bringing Thor earlier.
Since he couldn't destroy the anti-gravity engine for now, Arthur decided to settle for the next best thing: finding Captain America and the others.
As long as he could destroy the engines before Ultron activated them, they would be nothing to fear.
Thinking this, Arthur bypassed one Ultron clone after another that stood in his way.
As Arthur approached, these clones exploded one by one behind him, like fireworks.
After leaving the cave, Arthur first determined his direction, then sped towards where Captain America and the others were fighting.
Before Arthur even got close to the battlefield, he heard Hulk's roar from the center of the area.
As the sound grew closer, Arthur clearly saw the current scene.
Hulk was currently entangled with dozens of Ultron clones.
Although Hulk was incredibly brave, the number of Ultron clones was simply too great, so much so that even Hulk couldn't withstand the damage they inflicted. He soon stumbled and fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
As the resistance from the group grew more intense, the number of Ultron clones on the battlefield not only didn't decrease, but more and more gathered, and it seemed the group was about to be overwhelmed.
Chapter 76: War (Part 2)
Shortly after Arthur left, the anti-gravity engine, which was originally underground, was directly activated by Ultron.
Cracks began to appear at the connections between the city and the outside world.
Following a tremor, the entire city of Sokovia slowly ascended into the air under the effect of the anti-gravity engine.
Looking at the chaotic scene, Arthur thought, "This is bad." None of his original plans had succeeded so far.
Moreover, since the anti-gravity engine had already been activated, the only way forward was through Ultron.
Arthur took out a pager from his pocket and immediately pressed a series of numbers.
After doing all this, Arthur did not continue to rush to the battlefield, but instead ran towards the center of the city.
Along the way, Arthur saw panicked crowds and collapsed houses.
Arthur tried his best to rescue everyone he could see on the road.
However, even if Arthur could enter extreme speed mode, rescuing people one by one like this was still a significant drain on him.
Furthermore, Arthur could not guarantee that he could appear by everyone's side in time.
So, Arthur stopped, went into a relatively safe indoor area, closed his eyes, and then a tidal wave of mental power surged in all directions.
At this moment, Arthur 's voice echoed in the minds of all the residents still in Sokovia.
"Everyone, please head to the city's bridge exit. Someone will be there to meet you."
Even though everyone found this scene very strange, driven by their will to survive, they quickly packed their belongings and headed towards the bridge exit.
Ultron's clones were currently spread throughout the city, so the abnormal reactions of the citizens quickly caught Ultron's attention.
The clones, who were originally continuously heading to the main battlefield, now split off a portion to attack the citizens on the streets.
Immediately, screams and cries echoed on the streets.
Hearing the sounds, Arthur immediately rushed to the scene. What met his eyes were countless Ultron clones wantonly firing at the citizens on the street who were running around in panic.
Suddenly, Arthur felt a flame ignite in his chest.
Arthur stomped his foot, and in the next second, he shot towards these clones like a cannonball.
But as expected, whenever Arthur was about to get close to these clones, they would decisively choose to self-destruct.
Seeing this, Arthur felt frustrated with nowhere to vent.
Moreover, the aftermath of the clones' explosions also caused considerable damage to the citizens on the street.
Helplessly, Arthur had no choice but to lead all these clones into the high sky.
"Whoosh~ whoosh~ whoosh~"
Once all the clones' attention was drawn to Arthur , the citizens on the street continued to run towards the bridge exit.
But when the crowd arrived at the bridge exit, they saw the ground getting smaller and smaller below them.
Looking at the clouds before them, everyone's faces now showed despair.
Everywhere were crowds of people huddled together, crying.
Just then, the previously calm high sky suddenly became noisy.
Soon, a colossal object appeared in the crowd's line of sight.
"Everyone, please cooperate with the staff's arrangements and board the ship in an orderly manner."
Arthur saw the Sky Carrier appear in time, and a huge weight was lifted from his heart.
Watching the crowd below evacuating, Ultron's clones immediately turned their guns and rushed back towards the crowd.
Nick Fury, in the control room, also saw this scene, so he ordered all the carrier-based aircraft on the Sky Carrier to launch and intercept the clones.
Immediately, an incredibly fierce aerial battle unfolded in the skies above Sokovia.
Even Captain America and the others, who were still fiercely battling Ultron's main body on the main battlefield, noticed the commotion.
"It seems Arthur 's plan is working. We must try our best to hold back more clones to help Arthur reduce the pressure."
After hearing Captain America's words, Thor no longer held back and immediately raised Mjolnir, summoning an endless torrent of heavenly lightning to annihilate all the Ultron clones surging around like a tide.
After clearing the surroundings, Thor stepped forward and taunted Ultron.
"Is that all? It's not even enough for me to fight alone. Are there any more?"
"As you wish!"
As soon as Ultron's voice fell, the clones that were originally guarding the anti-gravity engine also rushed to the battlefield.
Looking at the clones, which were like an ant colony, Thor instantly regretted what he had just said.
Seeing Thor no longer speaking, Ultron let out a disdainful laugh and said,
"I don't have many abilities, but I have a lot of clones. I hope you like them."
With that, he waved his hand forward, and all the clones, like wild horses unbridled, surrounded the group.
Compared to the predicament of Captain America and the others, Arthur faced even more severe pressure at this moment.
Because he needed to cover the retreat of the unarmed civilians, Arthur could no longer fight as recklessly as before.
He had to constantly pay attention to the clones attacking the evacuating crowd, but even the most meticulous plan can have oversights, and there were still quite a few stragglers heading towards the crowd.
At this time, S.W.O.R.D. fighter jets would use their own bodies to directly confront these stragglers.
Since these clones were made by Ultron using various rare metals, the fighter jets that collided with them would usually completely lose their ability to continue fighting.
Therefore, S.W.O.R.D.'s losses were extremely heavy for a time.
In this peaceful era, if there were no special accidents, these fighter jets would at least be able to serve safely for more than ten years, but now, a fifth of them had crashed in just a few minutes.
Looking at the avatars on the central control screen that kept turning gray, Nick Fury and the S.W.O.R.D.staff also looked grim.
No one could remain unfazed when seeing their comrades disappear one by one before their eyes like fleeting blossoms.
"Quickly activate the Sky Carrier's anti-aircraft network, provide remote support for the civilian evacuation, and try to attract more enemy forces to us."
Hearing this, Hill immediately said,
"That way, we will inevitably bear the brunt, and then these civilians will have nowhere to go."
But Nick Fury merely said calmly,
"Aren't there still lifeboats?"
"But the lifeboats' engines aren't strong enough to descend safely from such a high altitude."
This time, Nick Fury did not answer Hill, but slowly looked at Arthur on the screen.
Looking at Arthur on the screen, Hill also sighed, and then relayed Nick Fury's order.