No one present was a fool; they all had a vague suspicion about Ultron's identity, but now was not the time to discuss it.
So, everyone temporarily refrained from saying more and redirected their attention to the big screen.
"I always say, make your enemies and friends rich, and then try to distinguish who is an enemy and who is a friend..." On the big screen, Ultron was talking volubly to Klaw, sounding like a chatterbox.
Tony Stark, who was present, suddenly felt a jolt. Why did that sentence sound so familiar?
It seemed he had said it before!
"Stark, those are words Stark said to me before. Were you created by Stark?" Klaw also asked curiously.
But no one expected that such a natural guess would infuriate Ultron.
Ultron, in a fit of rage, severed Klaw's arm.
"Stark, it seems to hold quite a grudge against you!" Dr. Banner couldn't help but say, as it was obvious.
Everyone grew even more curious about what exactly had happened between Ultron and Stark.
"I resent this matter. Stark is a disgusting fellow!" After kicking the dismembered Klaw, Ultron couldn't help but curse again.
"Oh, my son! You truly break your old man's heart!"
Tony Stark's voice suddenly rang out, followed by Iron Man descending from the sky, jets blazing.
Behind Iron Man were the other two members of the Avengers' Big Three: Thor and Captain America.
In addition, Hawkeye Barton and Black Widow were also stealthily lurking in other locations.
"If necessary, I'll break him." Ultron said pointedly.
"You don't need to break anything."
"Clearly, you've never made an omelet."
…After a round of "friendly" greetings and exchanges, the fight, without a doubt, began.
Ultron first made a pulling motion towards Iron Man, and an invisible energy appeared, pulling Iron Man to the ground.
Then Ultron fired a shockwave, sending Iron Man flying.
Iron Man, of course, was not to be underestimated, and the two iron behemoths flew around in the air, battling each other.
The battle between Iron Man and Ultron could be said to have officially kicked off the fighting, and Ultron's Iron Legion immediately began to engage Thor and Captain America.
"So he also brought an Iron Legion." Hawkeye Barton said with a grave expression.
If it were just Ultron, they wouldn't be too wary, but if he had an entire legion at his disposal, that would be a completely different matter.
Everyone present had even more suspicions about Ultron's identity!
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver also joined the Iron Legion's ranks, fighting against the Avengers.
Klaw, that troublemaker, also began ordering his subordinates to join the battle, and a chaotic three-way fight ensued.
During this process, both Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver displayed formidable combat power.
Whether it was Quicksilver's extreme speed or Scarlet Witch's magic, they caused considerable trouble for the Avengers.
Even Captain America was knocked to the ground multiple times by the two of them.
"Time for mind games!" Amidst the fierce battle, an Iron Soldier said to Scarlet Witch.
Scarlet Witch immediately flashed away, disappearing into the passage.
The next moment, Scarlet Witch appeared behind Thor, swiftly launched a ball of red energy at him, and then quickly retreated.
A hint of daze appeared on Thor's face, but fortunately, he remained normal.
"Thor, what's going on?" Captain America asked from the side.
"That girl tried to twist my mind. Be especially careful; humans are very susceptible to her influence!" Thor said to Captain America as he walked along the passage.
"See? I wasn't affected by her at all! There must be a mistake!" Thor, who was present, immediately said to everyone.
But the next moment, he was proven wrong.
"But fortunately, I am a god!" On the screen, Thor had just finished speaking when he discovered that the scenery around him had completely changed.
He appeared inside a castle where many dancers were performing.
Without a doubt, Thor had fallen victim to Scarlet Witch's mind magic.
Thor: "..."
The smile on his face had frozen.
"Very impressive, Thor. It only took you a few seconds to fall into the illusion. Truly a god!" Tony Stark, as always, was sharp-tongued.
Thor was speechless.
After Thor, Captain America and Black Widow were successively controlled by Scarlet Witch.
At this moment, the Avengers present, with the exception of Iron Man, who had flown off to who-knows-where with Ultron, and Hawkeye Barton, who was shooting arrows from above, were practically wiped out.
And Hawkeye Barton was Scarlet Witch's last target.
Swish, swish, swish!
Hawkeye Barton seemed to notice nothing, continuing to shoot his arrows as if nothing were amiss.
However, all of this was an act.
Hawkeye, from his vantage point, was aware of everything. How could he not know that Scarlet Witch had taken down Thor, Captain America, and the others?
Hawkeye Barton was merely fishing, deliberately luring Scarlet Witch to take the bait.
From the previous conversation with Klaw, it was evident that Scarlet Witch was still quite naive at this point. She indeed fell for it, believing that Hawkeye hadn't noticed her, and quietly appeared behind him.
Just as Scarlet Witch was about to attack Hawkeye, he quickly and sharply turned sideways, drew an arrow, and placed it against Scarlet Witch's forehead.
The arrowhead of that arrow immediately spread open, forming a cross-shaped claw that gripped Scarlet Witch's head.
Crackling!
Flashes of electricity sparked from it, immediately electrocuting Scarlet Witch and knocking her down.
"My mind has been controlled before, and I don't like it one bit." Hawkeye said to Scarlet Witch, intending to subdue her.
Swish!
But at that moment, Quicksilver darted over like lightning, kicked Hawkeye away, and then rescued Scarlet Witch.
He disappeared like a shadow.
"Yes, you'd best run away quickly!" Hawkeye looked in the direction where Quicksilver had vanished, muttering to himself.
The footage ended there.
The specific situation was actually quite similar to what everyone had predicted earlier.
It was precisely because Hawkeye Barton's mind had been controlled before that he later learned from the painful experience and specifically developed a new arrowhead to counter mind control.
He then successfully took down Scarlet Witch in one fell swoop.
It must be said that Hawkeye Barton was indeed a very formidable agent.
As Black Widow said, he himself might not possess overwhelmingly powerful abilities, but he could accomplish many things that others couldn't.
Captain America and Thor were not ordinary people; one was a super soldier, and the other was a god from Asgard.
Yet both of them were controlled by Scarlet Witch. Only Hawkeye, not only did he not fall victim, but he also almost captured Scarlet Witch.
If it weren't for Quicksilver's sneak attack, Hawkeye would have surely succeeded.
"Barton! Well done!" Black Widow couldn't help but glance at Hawkeye and say.
"Natasha, I won't feel any pride in you praising me for something that didn't happen." Hawkeye Barton replied indifferently.
"However!" Barton then changed the subject, "This footage has indeed given me some inspiration."
That electric arrowhead was most likely intended for Hawkeye himself, rather than for an attacker!
"This footage gives us a more thorough understanding of Scarlet Witch's power, but what I'm more concerned about isn't her." Tony Stark spoke up, his expression serious.
"The person behind that Scarlet Witch, that robot!" Captain America took over Tony Stark's words and said.
The expressions of the others present also tightened slightly; they actually shared the same view as Tony Stark and Captain America.
While Scarlet Witch was formidable, ultimately, she was just one person.
Her mind magic was certainly very intimidating, but it only worked at close range.
Knowing this ability beforehand, it wouldn't be too difficult to counter, especially since Hawkeye had given everyone an excellent demonstration.
The real trouble was that robot!
"We can now basically confirm that robot is not Stark's robot." Dr. Banner said to everyone.
"But the birth of that robot must be inextricably linked to Stark, otherwise their 'daddy' taunt would be too foolish."
Black Widow added, "Furthermore, its hatred for Stark, and its subconscious adoption of some of Stark's speaking habits, all point to this."
"This is the first conclusion we can draw: that robot must have some connection to Stark." Captain America summarized.
"The second conclusion is that the robot's intelligence is no less than, and perhaps even surpasses, Jarvis!" Captain America continued, glancing at Tony Stark, "You're the expert on this. What do you think?"
"Jarvis can't hack the entire financial system right now!" Tony Stark said thoughtfully, "Of course, theoretically speaking, if the software is upgraded to a certain extent and the hardware keeps up, it's possible."
"But that would require extensive preparation in advance, possibly costing hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars!"
"And there's a prerequisite: that national agencies and various departments are all blind, letting you do whatever you want."
"So, considering the real-world situation, this is impossible."
"But that robot did it!" Thor said emphatically from the side.
"There's only one possibility!" Hawkeye Barton raised his head, scanning everyone, "That robot possesses far more advanced programming than Jarvis, so advanced that it's beyond our era, beyond Tony Stark!"
On this point, everyone had no doubts, as it was self-evident.
"Everyone should have a guess by now, right?" Black Widow then continued, "In the question about Stark's self-destructing armor, there was an option that Ultron controlled Stark's armor."
"Romanoff, are you saying that robot is Ultron?" Thor accurately grasped the meaning of Black Widow's words.
"It's very possible!" Captain America nodded with a serious expression, "We also saw that Ultron isn't alone; he has an Iron Legion!"
"We knew before that the Avengers once teamed up with Vision to fight Ultron, and in this footage, the Avengers are also united!"
"If Ultron possesses a massive Iron Legion, it's not hard to understand why he's so difficult to deal with."
"Not only that!" Black Widow also added, "We also concluded before that Ultron is not human!"
So far, if that robot is Ultron, it perfectly aligns with all the intelligence everyone currently possesses about Ultron.
Therefore, everyone had sufficient reason to suspect that the robot was Ultron.
On this point, there was practically no disagreement.
As for why Scarlet Witch and the other "Quicksilver" were acting with the suspected Ultron robot, and what Scarlet Witch's true allegiance was, there wasn't much related information, so they couldn't make any truly effective analysis.
For now, the only thing everyone could seemingly do regarding this future footage was to pay attention to Klaw in advance; other than that, nothing else could be done.
After all, the relevant information was too limited.
[Please answer the question: By what means did the second-generation Black Widow, Natasha Romanoff, die?]
[A. Killed by an agent of the Red Room organization]
[B. Self-sacrifice to obtain the Soul Stone]
[C. Died at the hands of Ultron during the Age of Ultron]
[D. Died during S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operation to stop Hydra's Insight Project]
[Friendly reminder: Correct answer will receive a reward of an invisible camouflage suit; incorrect answer will result in a random deduction of one personal attribute, including but not limited to knowledge, experience, skills, possessions, etc...]
Before long, a new question appeared, and everyone present immediately turned their gaze towards Black Widow.
No one had expected this question to be so explosive; it revealed to everyone in a very simple, crude, and direct way: Black Widow died in the future!
"For someone like me, a violent death in the future is perfectly normal. It's no big deal." Black Widow's reaction seemed quite calm.
Whether it was in the Red Room before or in S.H.I.E.L.D. now, Black Widow always served as a frontline operative, constantly in dangerous situations, dealing with the world's most dangerous people.
Being killed was not an unusual occurrence.
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