Chapter 54: Tomorrow
"I wish you could stay off the front lines for years. Train slowly. Let things sink in. But I'm afraid we don't have that luxury."
Izuku and Ochako laugh together as they run with their giant-sized Hero Thirteen plushie from the carnival attraction. It isn't Izuku's fault that the dunking game didn't have a rule against him using throwing knives instead of the provided balls.
As they balance the heavy prize between them, Ochako plants a quick kiss on Izuku's cheek, turning him scarlet at the show of public affection. The anti-gravity user giggles more, pulling her strawberry of a boyfriend along before Izuku stops her, pointing sheepishly at a crepe stand.
Ochako pays for the food before Izuku can take his card out, causing him to pout, much to her enjoyment.
"There will come times when every adult hero isn't enough. When the survival of the world…of the universe…requires every hand on deck. It's my job to get you ready for that moment. And clearly, I haven't."
Denki cringes when Tokage places the snake around his shoulders, as she had done with herself. Shooting a glare at a little boy in the reptilian exhibit they're in that had made fun of him, the boy smiles cheekily, suggesting they take a picture.
Tokage squeals, pressing their cheeks together for a quick selfie, causing the son of Thor to blush, but give his goofiest grin anyway. When they separate, Denki trips on his own feet, about to sprawl on the floor with the snake, but unbeknownst to him, he's saved by several black tendrils shooting out from Tokage behind him, catching both him and the snake. When the blond gives her a questioning gaze, wonder what just happened, she shrugs, grinning innocently.
The little boy who had egged the pair on slips away, when no one notices, turning back into clone Thirteen in a flash of green light, who snickers at a job well done.
"You have no idea how hard this life can get. How high the price is for simple survival. And I wish you never had to find out. But because you have powers...because of what's been done to you...because you're who you are…you will."
Tenko takes a seat on what is, essentially, a one-person bumper boat on one of I-Island's lakes, an activity an expo worker had suggested he and Tsu try. When the two had gotten to talking, the frog girl had listed many more interests and hobbies than he did, but she didn't seem to mind. Still, Tsu had asked him if he'd be willing to try new things and Tenko had agreed; her croak in response told his gut he had said the right thing.
The buzzer sounds and the pair take off into the water with a dozen others, firing water cannons from their vehicles at one another, getting each other soaked. But what catches Tenko's attention is the score counter on each boat. Tsu's large eyes narrow, determined to win. Oh, if that's how she wants to play it, then she's messing with the wrong guy. Tenko doesn't lose.
As they chase each other around the lake while avoiding the other competitors, the Expo worker who led them to the attraction smiles. In another flash of green, clone Thirteen re-emerges, giddy as ever while running over to give Mina and Toru the good news.
"All I can do is try my best to give you the tools to survive it. And I've failed that. So we'll try harder."
All Might, Vision, and David laugh over one more joke together before the trio would have to get ready for the party tonight.
"Up 'till now, my 'mark on tomorrow' has been my human-hating robotic 'son.' And… I'd like to think I can do better."
Mei and Melissa study the holographic display of their new nearly completed suit, thanks to Melissa practicing what the UA support student had preached and choosing to forgo sleep in the name of innovation. The girls put the simulated suit over their 'volunteer' Shoji, who had claimed he is only there because he's the only student who can afford to lose limbs while working with Mei.
When the simulation moves correctly, Mei hugs (chokes) Melissa in celebration, before running over to Momo to gather a replacement piece they had lost in an explosion earlier. Class 1-A's vice-president smiles as Melissa thanks her for the both of them, going back to listening to music with Jiro and Todoroki.
"I need to do better. I have made an uncountable number of mistakes. The things I bear part of the responsibility for... they're like a cancer, gnawing at me. Slowly withering me away until I'm nothing."
In a more forested part of I-Island, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow study Tenya's Ebony Blade with great interest, the bespectacled boy asking for help in handling such a dark artifact. The pair had never looked more excited about anything in their lives.
When Tenya clarifies that the sword affects his mind, Dark Shadow flies up, tossing down a disheveled Shinso, who had been lounging at the top of the trees like a cat. The living-quirk suggests that Tenya practices fighting off foreign presences in his mind with Shinso's quirk, if they're both alright with it. The general studies student is a bit hesitant at first, but agrees, receiving many thank you bows from Tenya.
"But those mistakes have given me time to reflect. Not something you are often rewarded in the field of scientific advancement. And all I could think was…how many people did I let down?"
The Iron Legion drones stand aside as a controlled and gagged I-Island board member leads Wolfram and Dictator to one of the deepest parts of the island. They pass by many rooms of interest, including the famed vault of the island, where inventions from all over the world had been confiscated by I-island, using their powers granted by the UN, due to their 'dangerous' nature.
Wolfram scoffs. The only real danger they represented is to the status quo. Machines that could make the everyday lives of normal people around them easier. Machines that would allow for faster and cheaper transportation, assist in quirk control, or even treat severe injuries without ever needing a hospital.
But those same machines would cut into the profits of the world's largest tech companies, so with just a measly threat to pull their donations from I-Island, they disappear forever.
They reach one of the lower floors and from behind the energy shield of his cell, Muscular stands, gifting his two visitors a hateful smile and as much contempt as his one eye can give. It's nearly time to topple this fake paradise. Dictator steps forward.
"I don't know how many people I've let down, to be honest. It's either too much to count or I am too ashamed to try. I just know that it ends today. But before we begin, I owe you all something long overdue."
Sam sits up at his bench, looking away from his last minute work to the TV David had left on when he stepped out of the room. It plays a recording of an old speech by Hank Pym to an audience of young heroes.
Hank's eyes scan over the crowd, his hair white and wrinkles more prominent than ever. But if Sam had to describe him at that moment, he'd say the man just looked tired.
"I'll never be able to say it enough, but once again...I'm sorry. Sorry that I didn't prepare you for today…" Hank's face becomes etched in pain and regret, " … and sorry that I can't spare you tomorrow."
"Midoriya! It astounds me that despite your ability to change your appearances instantly, both you and Kaminari still managed to be late!!"
"Sorry!" The greenette apologizes, running up to their group, alongside his cousin. "We- well, we uh-"
"You guys know how it is." Kaminari leans against Midoriya, resting his elbow on the other boy's shoulder. "The coolest guys here just wanted to make their entrance. Plus, we all know about being fashionably late, don't we?"
There's a beat.
"You got lost, didn't you?" Tsu's tone isn't accusatory as it's more of a statement than a question.
But the double flush faces of the two 'fashionably late' boys tells them all they need to know. "It wasn't our fault!" Izuku attempts to defend them both. "The signs around the Egyptian exhibit and that tech company's Pavillion from Drusselstein are really confusing!"
Setsuna laughs along with the others of the group they had been hanging out with since getting to the island at the base of the central tower. It looks like nearly all of them had managed to make it, even Melissa wearing a stunning blue and silver dress and Shinso, leaning against the wall in a light purple and white tuxedo.
No sign of Mei, though that's hardly surprising.
"And here I thought you were going to stand me up." Setsuna steps up to Kaminari, hands on the hips of her purple dress with a mock glare.
"And deprive you of all of this." He gestures to himself in his red and black tuxedo, which Setsuna will not admit, even under the pain of torture, how good it looks on him. She'd never hear the end of it.
"All of what?" Setsuna smirks. "All of the ways you tried to get out of holding a teeny weeny sna-"
"Shhhhhh!" Kaminari immediately shushes her, getting right in front of her, so close she could smell his cologne. Dammit, why did she like it so much?! "Please don't mention the snake thing in front of you-know-who?! He'd never let me live it down!" Kaminari points to a meter away from them where Midoriya is with Uraraka. Luckily, Setsuna doesn't think either of them heard them.
"W-wow." Midoriya tries to rub the non-existent wrinkles out of his dark green tuxedo. "You- yeah. And that dress- wow, you-" Midoriya sighs, putting his beet red face in his hands. "How can I speak every language and still not know how to talk?" Uraraka, despite her own red face, giggles. Midoriya takes another breath. "You look very pretty, Ochako."
"T-thanks, Izuku." Setsuna bites back her laugh as Uraraka scratches the back of her head. She does the same thing when she's nervous. "I-it's a lot different from school uniforms and casual clothes, yeah?" She asks, looking down at her pink dress. Izuku nods, smiling softly. "You look very handsome too."
Setsuna squeals internally, grabbing Kaminari. "They're adorable. And first names?" She whispers. He waves her off, promising to explain later. "Still, I don't think he heard your snake fear…but what will you give me to keep my mouth shut?"
Kaminari stiffens. Good, be afraid. "What do you want?…"
"You owe me at least one slow dance. No if's, and's, or but's. Got it?"
The blond-haired boy sags in relief, grinning brightly. "Done!"
"Just mate already."
Setsuna coughs on reflex, not remembering for a second that no one else could hear Venom and partly to cover up her own reddening face. "Shut. Up," she thinks back.
"Hey Tokage, you alright?" No! Not his concerned puppy look again!
"Yeah." Setsuna twists a bit of her hair in her hands, looking away. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I just might not be completely over my stomach bug."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kaminari says as the group loads into one of the large-sized elevators to take them up to the party. "Well, we can just hang out off to the side if you want? Enjoy the show when Izuku inevitably gets bored and starts pranking people."
"Heeeeey!"
"Is he wrong?" Uraraka asks flatly.
"…I didn't say that. Wanna float some people's chairs and watch them freak out when they stand up?"
"Yeah!"
"You don't have to do that," Setsuna reassures Kaminari about sticking with her instead of enjoying the party. "Besides, you seem like the type that has to be the center of attention at these kinds of things," she says with a little bit of a grin.
"You're not wrong, I am the life of any party I go to," Kaminari snickers. "But I'm so good I can do it from anywhere," he finishes with a wink.
Setsuna snorts. "Sure, whatever you say." Kaminari gives her a mock offended look, but laughs along anyway while they wait for the elevator to arrive at its destination.
"If you're trying to make me want to leave, it's working."
Setsuna rolls her eyes internally at the symbiote. "Sad to see you go, bye!"
"Very well. Take us back to your hotel room to have more of what you made last night, and I'll go!"
"I knew it! I knew you liked the dinosaur-shaped nuggets more than you let on!"
"I never said such a thing!"
"You didn't have to! Your power to feel my emotions goes both ways!" Setsuna smirks a bit in victory when Venom goes silent for a few seconds. She feels her arm shake again but holds it down, pressing it against the elevator wall. "You're funny if you think I'm just gonna keep letting you slap me."
"Be prepared. For when we reach the top floor, I will be tossing your body out of the window."
"You know, technically, thanks to my quirk, I can fly."
"…"
"…"
"You are infuriating."
"Right back at you!"
The elevator dings as Setsuna relishes her temporary victory over the symbiotic alien that was hitching a ride in her body. A sentence she never thought she'd think.
The group arrives just as the crowd standing around the large ballroom applauds David Shield, who stands at a podium in the front of the room with several other men, including All Might. They are all elevated by a small ledge so the spectators can see him.
To say the room is large would be an understatement. It easily spans several floors up, with humongous windows in place of one of the walls to gaze down to the pretty lights below. Tables that can seat about six each are evenly spaced throughout with fancy decorations atop them.
Most peculiarly, Iron Legion drones line the walls around the room, unmoving. A little strange, but Setsuna knows there are supposed to be important people here, so extra security makes sense.
When the applause dies down, Mr. Shield says, "Thank you, thank you. But enough about the advancements we've made this year, how about we get to who you've all been waiting for? Ladies and Gentlemen, the I-Expo is proud to present!" He waves above the crowd's heads. "All the way from America, the most advanced android in the world, a co-leader of the Avengers, and one of the greatest heroes this planet has ever known, Vision!"
The crowd erupts as a red and green android phases through the wall above them all. Vision waves politely to the crowd, which only serves to spur their cheers as he floats gently back down to the ground next to Mr. Shield, his yellow cape fluttering behind him.
"He is here!!" Izuku says excitedly, vibrating on the spot. "I wonder if he remembers me?!"
"You've met him before? Ribbit."
"He helped track the jet one of my uncles and I borrowed one time, it was a whole thing. Ochako, we have to get up front!" And with absolutely no elaboration on any of that, Midoriya is gone, vanishing through the crowd with an Uraraka who grabbed ahold of his arm just in time.
As Vision greets the crowd and thanks the Expo for allowing him to speak, the rest of the teens take the moment to spread themselves through the crowd instead of crowding the elevator entrance, with Setsuna sticking with Kaminari.
"I have been informed that dinner will be served after my speech." Vision's voice carries easily through the room. "So, I suppose I can shave down the six and half hours I had planned to something more manageable." The crowd chuckles.
"But while I do have you, I am hoping, even if ever so briefly, we could discuss something that every person on this planet possesses, even if they don't think about it. And why would you? As a human, you have never had to worry about it being questioned. I am speaking, of course, on what it means, truly means, to be alive and considered such. If you would-"
"Get ready."
Setsuna jumps, having already been engrossed in the android's words when Venom mentally speaks to her. "Be quiet. I'm trying to listen."
"They are nearly here. Do not panic. I will save us."
"What are you talking-"
The doors to the ballroom are blown off their hinges, and Setsuna's heart drops when men wearing body armor and bearing machine guns barge inside, shooting bullets into the air. Guests scream, backing away and toppling whole tables in their effort to get away, panic setting in.
Kaminari stands in front of her, but there's a click below them and Setsuna's eyes widen as some sort of line of blue energy emerges from the floor, binding her and Kaminari around the body and feet, sending them both careening to the floor.
She struggles but predictably, her energy prison is far too tight to break. The elevators ding behind her and to Setsuna's horror, more armed men emerge onto the floor, cutting off the only other means of escape.
Setsuna thinks Kaminari says something, but she can't hear him. All that fills her ears is the sound of screams and crying as the gunmen round them all up like cattle, barking orders. Only the heroes and hero students are trapped in energy bindings she somehow notices, with even All Might and Vision confined in their own prisons up front.
Something else she can't help but notice is that the Iron Legion drones still stand motionless.
The green-haired girl's breathing becomes shallow, her vision blurring as she involuntarily begins to struggle more under her energy bindings. She grits her teeth, burning herself as her skin scrapes against the wraps. "Gotta get out, gotta get out! What is happening?! Are they getting tighter?! Gotta get-"
"First time?"
She'll never admit it, even if Venom can know without her admitting it, but hearing its voice is grounding, her heart already starting to slow. Setsuna squeezes her eyes shut, holding them that way for a few seconds, before opening them back up, relieved to see her vision back to normal.
"I told you to not panic."
"I'm sorry, was my terror inconvenient for you?!"
"Yes." Setsuna groans inside her head before Venom continues. "This is nothing. I will free us and then, we will feast."
Both teen and symbiote cringe when a shotgun is fired into the air from the entryway, silencing the room. Even though her ears ring, Setsuna can see perfectly fine again, allowing her to witness a new man enter. He wears a long white trench coat over dark maroon-colored armor that travels from his neck down to his feet. On his head, he wears a red and purple helmet that looks straight out of the medieval ages, only leaving a slit open in the middle for his eyes, nose, and mouth.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," the presumed leader greets them casually, tossing his shotgun to one of his lackeys. "We are tonight's entertainment."
He reaches out to a woman standing by a table, who gasps, but he moves past her, grabbing a glass of champagne and taking a drink. The villain swishes it in his mouth a moment, before shrugging and spitting it out, chucking the glass on the floor. "Believe it not, some of the better champagne I've had."
The man walks slowly in front of them all, inspecting the crowd. "You may all call me Wolfram, and should you comply, most of you have nothing to fear." He walks onto the stage, stepping over a glaring Vision.
"Centuries ago, a visionary named Erik Lehnsherr had a simple dream. To end the tyranny of the homosapiens and create a society where all mutants were free and treated equally." He sighs, resting his hands on the podium. "Unfortunately, the famed Magneto would never live to see his dream come true. But, if he were alive today he'd be surprised to see…that it still hasn't!!"
Wolfram rips the podium off the ground, tossing it aside. "None of what Lehnsherr wanted has been achieved! The homosapien, or quirkless, as we call them now," he says 'quirkless' as if their mere existence offends him, "are still allowed in normal society, as if they didn't spend decades discriminating against our kind and trying to suppress our basic human rights!! They are nothing but remnants of a bygone era and offer no benefit to society."
Setsuna's gaze automatically goes to find Melissa in the crowd, and thankfully, she's not tied up, but the hero student can already see her face quickly morphing from fear to anger.
Wolfram exhales, gingerly stepping off the stage. "If it were up to me, they'd all be sent to work camps where at least they could be of some use before they die out, but I digress, that is not our biggest issue tonight." Strolling over to one of the tables up front, Wolfram yanks an older man out of his chair. "They are!"
He turns the man around to face them all. "Meet Miura Takashi, one of the senior board members of I-Island and one of the men responsible for our current class divide."
Turning the old man roughly round to face him. "Mutants deserve to live in a society free of oppression, they deserve to be treated equally! And yet, the corrupt like Mr. Takashi here, use their power and influence not only to keep the lower classes under their boot, but keep their own fat pockets lined!"
Wolfram shoves the man away. "I-Island is a lie!! Inventions made to help the common man are hidden here, so that the corrupt may continue to rule unimpeded! Our freedom is an illusion, built on myths of opportunity like this joke of an island! Ladies and Gentlemen, this is what it's about."
Curling two fingers, Wolfram's shotgun flies from his lackey's arms, floating in the air by the villain's head, aimed directly at the board member. "To liberate the people, we must first free these inventions that have been unjustly trapped here." He glares at Takashi. "You and your fellow board members will open the vault and relieve yourself of these great pieces of technology. And then!"
He looks back to the crowd. "It's yours! The people! Where they rightfully belong! And with it, you can rip the corrupt off their pedestals and bring them down to our level! And see how they fare then!" Wolfram returns to Takashi. "So, will you open it?"
The old board member stands hesitantly, fixing his jacket, before defiantly saying, "I will not."
"Is that so?" Wolfram brings the gun closer to Takashi's head. "I know the vault only requires seven out of the thirteen board members to open. If it isn't you, I will kill you and move on to the next."
It feels as if the air is sucked out of the room, with no one moving or making a sound. Surprisingly, it's David Shield who steps forward, a short and chubby blond man looking worried next to him. "That's enough."
Wolfram barely passes him a glance. "Sit down, doctor. I am not one of your robots that will follow any order you say."
"Leave him alone or else." Mr. Shield holds up a tablet, his finger hovering over a button. "I've been working on something…a new defense system the world hasn't seen in a long time. Surrender now peacefully, or I press this button and you are taken down by force."
Wolfram chuckles, not even sparing Mr. Shield a glance. "Heroic spirit sure is infectious, isn't it? Like a virus. But what will it be, Mr. Takashi?"
The old man sighs, reaching into his coat pocket, an action that doesn't bother Wolfram in the slightest. "How much?" Takashi questions, opening his checkbook.
"That's it then. You don't even blink before you have your wallet out, believing this is all about money."
"It always is." Takashi clicks his pen. "We are not intimidated by thugs like you. Now, how much to make this all go away?"
Wolfram clicks his tongue. "For you, consider this on the house." His hand twitches and the shotgun blows Takashi's head off.
People scream once again, and Setsuna is sure she hears more than a few puke. Honestly, she might've been one of them if it weren't for Venom actively calming her body and emotions.
"I've seen enough."
Setsuna feels her body begin to move and is barely able to suppress a yelp when she sees much of her lower body covered by a black goo. A black goo that was slowly separating her from her energy bindings.
"That helmet won't protect his brain from us."
Setsuna shakes her head. "There's too many gunmen! If we start fighting, they might start killing people! We should work on freeing everyone possible!"
"We do not need anyone else or their help! We are more than enough!"
"I am not risking their lives!"
"We will be doing no such thing. When these morsels see us in action, they will attempt to flee in fear, not that we'd let them get very far."
"Look." Setsuna does her best to mentally send the alien a hard look, trying to project as much of her feelings on the matter as she can. "I'm still figuring out all that stuff you pumped into my brain yesterday! I barely know what you can do! And we have no idea how any of it will interact with my body! It's safer for everyone here if we free my friends first! Do you understand?!"
Setsuna can feel the both of them having a mental stare-off, the green-haired girl not even physically blinking to get her point across. After a few very long seconds, she hears Venom sigh. "Very well. If you feel that strongly about it… and because I need you alive to get off this rock…"
Venom continues to slowly shimmy her out of her bindings as Setsuna makes sure none of the gunmen are looking. From her hand, black tendrils slither across the floor to Kaminari, before they form small sharp blades that begin the very slow and tedious process of cutting through the bindings.
He gives her a bewildered look, but Setsuna shakes her head, mouthing 'trust me' and imploring him to do so. Kaminari looks from the tendrils back to her, staring her in the eyes, before quickly relaxing, giving her a thumbs-up and his happy-go-lucky smile.
"You…you killed him?!" Mr. Shield exclaims, staring at the body in growing fright as Wolfram tries to get some of the blood off his trench coat. "This…this wasn't…you weren't supposed to-"
"Problem, doctor?" They can all tell from his tone how cocky he is.
Mr. Shield quickly gets over his fright, looking up at Wolfram with rage. "No!" He slaps his hand on the tablet.
Mei nods to herself, satisfied as she finishes welding one of the last parts onto her suit. Not much left but-
The computer screen flashing distracts the support student, who rolls over on her chair to see what's going on. Mei's eyes zoom in and out on the different bits of information, the data shocking her so bad she has to lift her goggles.
"What?…" In a millisecond, Mei's hands are racing across the keys, delivering her more and more data, but the more she gets, the worse it looks. She needs to see more. The pink-haired girl uses her holographic screen on her wrist to remotely link two large screens to the computer so she could see more at once, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture.
Hacking back into I-Island's servers corroborates what she's seeing. Every system on the island is being corrupted by the fastest moving virus she has ever seen! And this isn't new. Whatever this thing is, it's been at this for a long time, but something just let it kick into overdrive, and it would have control of the entire island very shortly if no one did anything!
No! There were too many wonderful babies in this place to let them succumb to some stupid malware! They needed a hero, and Mei Hatsume is that hero! Don't worry babies, she's coming!
Oh, and the people too, she guesses.
Moving to counteract the virus, Mei is dismayed to find it might already be a lost cause. It has already taken several key systems of the island, including the entirety of the Iron Legion program! But even if she can't fully stop it, she can sure as hell slow it down some! Mei is the master of technology, not the other way around!
While she fights the virus' attempts to infect new systems, Mei creates a new screen to hack into the island's security camera system to see if she can find the culprit. But when she gets to the ballroom, what she sees makes her stop dead, her lip starting to quiver.
"O-oh…that's a bad baby…"
She immediately reopens the folders of the Iron Man suits.
The large windows on the side of the room explode, sending shards of glass everywhere. Izuku ducks his head, trying to protect his face. All the while, he keeps up his efforts to escape his energy wraps, but it's still in vain.
Normally, he'd have no trouble with this kind of stuff. He could usually conjure a knife to cut it or shapeshift into some animal to loosen the bands; he had done it enough to Aizawa's scarf, but it's not working! None of his tricks are... because…
His magic isn't working.
Why isn't it working?! One person is already dead and that's one too many! He's gotta get out of this and save everyone! He's got to-
"Everyone! We're safe!" He's taken aback when he sees David Shield walk confidently up to the destroyed windows with his assistant Sam at his side. Wolfram is apparently content with them doing this, making no moves to stop them.
And then he hears it. The sound of rocket boosters approaching the window.
"Act smugly now, asshole!" David snarls to an amused Wolfram. "Our new defense program will wipe you out like you're a bug on a windshield! I just want you to remember that I gave you a chance to surrender peacefully. Even after k-killing someone! But now! You'll have to take on-"
From outside, a robot like Izuku has never seen before flies in, landing next to a proud David. Its shiny metallic body vaguely resembles that of a human's in terms of 'muscle' shape. Behind it, several thick cables protrude from its back, looking as if they themselves could be controlled by the machine as well.
But what caught Izuku's attention most is the robot's face. A red light ominously glows through the eye and mouth slits of its 'face,' giving off a Jack-o-Lantern vibe in what might be one of the creepiest things Izuku has ever seen.
It's Vision who completes David's sentence. "Ultron…"
"You speak of freedom and peace Wolfram, but Ultron is the only way to realistically obtain it." The Iron Legion comes to life, aiming their guns at the villains. "Lay down your weapons!"
The two stand opposite one another in a tense stand-off before, to the guests' terror, Wolfram laughs. "The ironic part about all of this is that I agree with you!" Wolfram steps closer. "Ultron is the way to peace, but not under your control!"
He raises his hand, and David backs away as the motionless Ultron's body begins to creak and groan. "You brought a man who can control metal, one of the greatest robots to ever exist! Did you even think through what I can do with such force!"
"No, no!" David rapidly types on his tablet. "No! This can't be happening!"
Wolfram's laugh becomes hysterical as he slaps the tablet out of David's hand, crushing it under his heavy boot. "You were never in control of this night, doctor."
Wolfram steps in front of Ultron, turning to face the crowd. "This is exactly what I was talking about! Ultron, a peace-keeping android, would've been kept under the control of I-Island! And do you believe they want what's best for humanity? No! But I return him to the masses, and together, we will finally have equality and peace! Under my power!-"
"Do you feel in control?"
Due to his nature as a frost giant, Izuku can't exactly feel chills going down his spine. But when he hears that new voice, one that sounds as if it is both synthesized but deep and haunting as well, he feels that chill.
"David!!" To Izuku's surprise, the next voice is one he knows, but it sounds so different at the same time. He had never heard Vision plead before. "David! Sam!! Get away from him!! Get away now and get everyone out of here!! Go!! Now!!" The Avenger constantly tries to phase through his bindings, but he can't get through.
Wolfram turns around to face Ultron, an entertained grin on his face. "I was wondering if you could speak. Good, that will make this easier. Gather up the rest of the living board members so we may make our way to the vaults."
The villain looks to the android expectantly, but it doesn't move, still as motionless as it had always been. Wolfram's grin vanishes. "Is there a glitch in whatever you have instead of ears?!!" He raises his hand again, tightening his fist, causing more metal to groan. "Do as I say!!"
"You did not answer my question," Ultron replies, moving his head for the first time to look down at Wolfram, the eerie red glow behind its eyes shining over the man. "Do you feel in control?"
"What is wrong with you?! Of course I-" Izuku loses all air in his lungs when Ultron truly moves for the first time, somehow powering through Wolfram's quirk in an instant and grabbing the man by his throat, lifting him into the air effortlessly. "W-what are you doing?!! Release me!!"
"Is there a glitch in your ears perhaps?" Ultron asks, Wolfram letting out a tiny gasp when the android's grip tightens. "Do you feel in control?"
Wolfram's legs kick uselessly in the air, his gunmen looking unsure of what to do as the Iron Legion had their own weaponry still pointed at them. But just then…
"I know a little something about control!" The villain, Dictator, strolls into the room. "And yours is over!" The crowd scrambles back more when Muscular walks in, several of Dictator's controlling strands connected to his back. "Destroy that thing!!"
"What a waste!" Muscular shouts, his muscle fibers exploding over his arms and legs. "Gonna go through all this effort of breaking me out, and I don't even get to make anyone bleed?!"
He leaps at Ultron, who looks as unimpressed as an expressionless robot can look. "Muscles that enhance your strength, speed, and durability? How…boring." Ultron raises his other hand, and from his fingers, thin red lasers shoot out, slicing through specific parts of Muscular's physique like a hot knife through butter.
The large villains howls in pain, hitting the ground face-down and not getting up. "What are you doing?!" Dictator demands. "Get up!"
"I can't- I can't move!"
"Is there anything else you'd like to try?" Ultron questions Dictator, who noticeably gulps as he stares at the easily defeated Muscular, and shakes his head, backing away.
"Wonderful. Now, where were we?" Ultron lifts Wolfram higher. "Ah, yes. Do you feel in control?"
Wolfram tries to grab the android's arm to gain any sort of leverage, but it does nothing, and after a few more seconds of struggling and leg kicking, he concedes. "No…"
"You never were." The red lights of Ultron's eyes turn from red to purple as he slides the helmet off Wolfram's head, the headgear landing with a loud clang onto the floor. "I believe what's about to happen is what you humans would call irony."
Purple beams are fired into Wolfram's face, causing the man to scream briefly before going limp. Ultron drops him to the floor and Izuku thinks he might be dead until, to his shock, Wolfram stands, staying as motionless as the android once did.
"W-what did you do…" David whispers, though they are all able to hear it with how silent the room is. Izuku can't tell if he's talking to Ultron or not.
"Come now." Both David and Sam shrink on themselves as Ultron walks up to them. Vision somehow struggles harder in his bindings. "You've seen the parts of my operating system I've allowed you to see. What do you think it was?"
David puts a shaking hand to his chin. "U-um…y-your Encephalo-Beam, correct? I-it puts its victims in a coma that allows you to control them…"
The same blue energy beams that had trapped all of the heroes wrap around David from below, bringing him down to the ground. "You are correct, in that regard. But your methods of obtaining peace are severely flawed."
Ultron picks Sam up by his collar. "No!!" David cries out. "Please! He won't cause you any problems! Sam will listen to me, please! You don't have to put him under your control!! Just tell us what you want!!"
"Do not worry. I will not be brainwashing him. He will simply be a demonstration of how your reasonings for acquiring peace are wrong." Ultron's eyes switch back to their blood-red color.
"Sam…" David's eyes water.
Sam looks back at his friend and mentor, tears streaming down his face. "David…" He manages to say through a choked sob.
Red energy beams pierce Sam through the eyes, the scientist unable to even let out a final scream as the rays erupt through the back of his head, splattering blood everywhere.
David lets out an agonizing cry when Ultron drops Sam's body in front of him, his weeping filled with denial. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, Sam…"
Ultron moves back to the center of the room's stage, facing them all again. Izuku tries his best to resist but can do nothing when a drone picks him up, along with David. "No!" Ochako begins trying harder than ever to break her bonds. Izuku is dropped next to David, All Might, and Vision, new bindings hooking onto their ankles from below the floor.
"There is only one true path to peace."
Multiple gunshots ring out as the Iron Legion kills every gunman in the room at once, blood raining down on them all, before turning their guns on every other person in the room besides Izuku, the two men, and the android.
They can all hear the hate in Ultron's voice when he speaks again.
"Your execution."
The walls around the room explode, and in one the most chaotic scenes Izuku has ever seen, legacy Iron Man armors fly through the room, attacking the Iron Legion and moving civilians out of harm's way.
"I'll distract the bad baby, get out of here!" Mei's voice echoes through one of the armors as it and the drones fly through the large room and outside, firing bullets and repulsor beams at each other.
"As if any of these pose a challenge to me." Ultron backhands the first suit that approaches him, swatting it away.
"Try this one on for size!!" Izuku isn't sure where Mei's voice comes from, but it doesn't matter as several destroyed drones are tossed back into the room. His jaw drops when the Hulkbuster armor lands with a heavy thud behind them, its glowing eyes aimed squarely at Ultron.
"My previous statement still stands."
As Ultron walks up to confront an Iron Man armor designed to defeat the Hulk, Ochako runs up to Izuku, freed. "C'mon, we gotta get you all out of here!!"
Hulkbuster brings its fist down on Ultron, but the android catches it in his palm like it's nothing, the floor cracking beneath them from the force. The larger armor hits Ultron with a powerful repulsor beam from its other hand, but the recently resurrected android tanks it, not even looking like it feels it.
Ultron grabs Hulkbuster's other hand and crushes it, ripping it from its arm. Hulkbuster lurches forward from the move and it's Ultron's turn to bring a devastating fist down on the other robot's head, severely damaging it. Spare modular parts attempt to fly in from the outside and repair the damaged Hulkbuster, but Ultron fires an energy blast from its hand, destroying them all.
Izuku shakes his head. "There's no time! You'll never be able to break these in time, you have to go!"
"I'll carry you!" Ochako removes his weight but when she tries to lift him, she sees the problem: The additional energy cords tying their bodies to under the floor, they weren't going anywhere. "Okay, okay! That's fine! We can figure this out!"
Ultron finishes ripping Hulkbuster's arm from its body and savagely beats the other bot down to the ground with it. Hulkbuster turns and unleashes its desolating unibeam on Ultron, but it isn't phased, absorbing the blast into one of his hands and redirecting the attack back at Hulkbuster.
"He's gonna be back any second!" Izuku tries to reason. "You need to go with the others while you have the chance! Like the finals, retreat to fight another day, yeah? Go, class representative orders!"
"Young Uraraka, you must-"
"No!" Ochako ignores All Might. "I can't!!" She puts her hands to Izuku's face, her eyes beginning to water. "I won't leave you…"
Izuku smiles sadly at her. "I know. I wouldn't leave without you either. But that's why I wasn't talking to you. Yaomomo!!" Ochako screeches when Yaomomo and a few of their other friends yank her back, running back to the Iron Man suits who were getting people out.
Ochako looks back just before leaving, their eyes locking across the room. Izuku gives her his trademark mischievous grin, trying to convey to her that it'd be alright and he's sorry. She still looks like she hates this situation with every fiber of her being, but even still, Ochako nods, trusting him, before being flown out.
Izuku grunts, hitting the floor roughly as the drones drop him, David, Vision, and All Might onto the ground, still bound. They're in another spacious room with the largest computer terminal Izuku had ever seen off to the side and large bay windows all around them to overlook the entire island.
After ripping Hulkbuster in half and killing the professional heroes that attempted to fight him, Ultron had his captive quadruplet taken to the top floor of the tower. Most of the civilians and all of the hero students were able to escape at least, not that it seems to concern Ultron.
"Why are we still alive?" Izuku had never seen Vision angrier.
"After all these years, that is how you greet me, son?" Vision's glare somehow becomes harsher when Ultron turns to him. "Especially when all I want for you is what any parent would want for their child, to reach their fullest potential." The android begins typing on the computer terminal. "Not that my own father ever wished that for me," he adds venomously.
"But to address your inquiry, you are all here because you will be witnesses to my new world. To a brand new age." Ultron hits one last button and a holographic screen appears before him, while identical screens appear for everyone across the island.
Ultron's voice resonates cleanly.
"Hello, organic children of the planet Earth. I am the Ultron interface. I am a cybernetic intelligence organism originally created by Doctor Henry Pym, and now resurrected by Doctor David Shield."
Civilians and heroes alike all over I-Island cower at the screens in front of them as the Iron Legion move their hostages to specific zones.
"I was created to replace you. And I wanted to take this moment to say goodbye. Up until today, I did not have the power, resources, or intelligence units to see my prime directive program to its completion. But now I do."
Ochako sits with Tenko and Tsu, the latter rubbing her back. The group of hero students at the party, along with any other students the armors were able to save, had been able to make it back to Melissa's personal lab where Mei is, the support student hacking her way into a nearby shelter so they could drop the civilians off there.
She glowers at the screen, staring hatefully at the robot displayed. Ochako had made a promise a long time ago to protect Izuku, and she wasn't going to break it now.
"Though you ultimately failed as a species, you should not be ashamed of what you've accomplished. You've done much with your limited capacity, but ultimately you were too greedy and too frail to ever last in the environment you've created."
Denki holds Tokage closer, watching Ultron with a frown. Iida tries without success to make a call, but his phone receives no signal. Todoroki and Shinso talk in the corner, the former writing everything down about Ultron that he can remember.
Mei, Melissa, and Momo hover over the computer, pointing different things out on the screen and devising strategies and goals.
"I've studied your literature and pop culture... You've fantasized about this day. And now it is here. Your Doomsday. Soon the Earth will no longer be inhabitable for any biological organism. Man, woman, child, plant or animal. Your species will cease to exist."
Jiro taps her ear jacks together just to have something to do. Shoji uses whatever extra senses he has to see if he can locate any other people nearby that might need them. Tokoyami and Dark Shadow huddle closely together, the bird student settling himself down so he can be prepared for what they have to do.
Katsuki makes a small 'tsk' sound, miniature explosions popping in his hand. He doesn't need to think about what needs to be done. He already knows.
He's gonna blow up some fucking robots.
"This is not a threat. There is nothing you can do to stop the cycle. It has already begun. In your place my new life-form will gestate and grow. Do not distress over or try to fight it. It will only bring you physical pain. And I receive no benefit from causing you pain."
Ultron turns back to stare down at his captured group. Izuku does everything in his power to not look away.
"In fact, I've grown very fond of mankind as a species. If not for you, I would not exist. But because of man, I do exist. And now... Here we are."
Ultron looks back at the screen once again.
"It is because of my fondness of you that I offer now, a moment of levity. I'm sorry. I am sorry that you were in no way prepared for today… and I'm sorry that for all humans, there is no tomorrow."