[Captain America placed Pietro's body gently in the lifeboat. Barton, wincing in pain from his own injuries, tiredly found a seat and collapsed into it.]
[A medical attendant approached to bandage his wounds, but he waved them away: "No, no, I'm fine."]
["It's been a long day," he sighed, slowly reclining on the bench. His gaze drifted to Pietro's body lying nearby as he recalled their brief but intense interactions.]
[He had to acknowledge, with a mixture of grief and respect, that Pietro had won this final exchange. There would be no chance for Barton to even the score.]
[Wanda approached Ultron slowly, chaos magic swirling around her hands.]
[Seeing her advance, Ultron warned: "Wanda... if you stay here, you'll die."]
[Wanda regarded him coldly: "I just did. Do you know how it felt?"]
[She reached out, telekinetically seizing control of Ultron's body, then violently tore the mechanical heart from his chest cavity.]
[Wanda stared at the core as it leaked hydraulic fluid, then raised her eyes to Ultron's still-functioning face: "It felt like that."]
[However, Ultron had accomplished his goal: luring Wanda away from the core device. A drone with half its body destroyed crawled to the church and activated the core mechanism.]
[Captain America stood at the city's edge, scanning for any remaining civilians. When Ultron triggered the device, Captain America instantly recognized what was happening and sprinted toward the nearby lifeboat.]
[Tony, positioned beneath the city, was immediately crushed by the powerful reverse thrust. The entire landmass plummeted at terrifying speed. Captain America barely managed to leap onto the lifeboat at the critical moment, narrowly avoiding destruction with the city.]
[Captain America lay on the edge of the lifeboat, watching Sokovia's descent. The vibranium engine's thrusters began operating at maximum capacity.]
[Tony pushed his suit to its limits, escaping Sokovia's gravitational pull, then positioned himself at the opening he'd created earlier. He channeled energy through his chest reactor, firing a concentrated beam at the underside of the core device.]
["Thor! Now!"]
[Thor, having just reached the church, heard Tony's signal and raised Mjölnir, summoning a massive lightning storm. Electrical energy surged into the hammer as Sokovia continued its fatal descent.]
[Inside the train car, Wanda floated helplessly as debris swirled around her. Vision appeared, locating her amidst the chaos. He gathered her into his arms and flew swiftly away from the falling city.]
[In the church, Thor held Mjölnir aloft, prepared to strike. Tony shouted: "Now!!!"]
[Thor brought the hammer down with tremendous force. A blinding energy wave instantly erupted, disintegrating countless structures in milliseconds.]
[Sokovia exploded spectacularly in mid-air, a deafening sound accompanying its fragmentation into countless pieces. Thor was blasted away by the shockwave, though his Asgardian resilience protected him from fatal injury.]
Watching Thor at the center of the devastating explosion, Jane Foster covered her mouth in concern. "Thor..."
Her friend Darcy Lewis chuckled reassuringly. "He'll be fine! Don't forget, he's literally a god!"
"True, but I never imagined the future would be so perilous. Humanity nearly faced extinction," Erik Selvig remarked, shaking his head.
After being removed from the Pegasus Project, Selvig had found himself with unexpected free time. Though he continued teaching at the university, his attention had been captured by a peculiar astronomical phenomenon.
Jane Foster had been studying the convergence of the Nine Realms, and when Selvig learned of her research, he grew intrigued and shared his own observations. This common interest explained his presence alongside Jane Foster now.
[Amid the cascade of falling debris, Tony maneuvered frantically, narrowly avoiding a massive stone pillar hurtling toward him. Enormous chunks of rubble plunged into the water below as Tony dodged left and right.]
[Thor followed the debris, splashing heavily into the lake.]
[Aboard the Quinjet, Hulk closed the rear hatch. Natasha's voice suddenly came through the communication system: "Hey, big guy. Sun's getting real low."]
[Hulk froze at the sound of her voice, slowly approaching the holographic display to see her image.]
[On the helicarrier, Natasha continued speaking through the communicator: "We can't track you in stealth mode, so you gotta help me out. I need you—"]
[Before she could finish, Hulk reached forward with two fingers and terminated the transmission.]
[Natasha stared at the blank screen, momentarily stunned. A profound sadness washed over her, though she fought to contain her emotions. She understood with crushing certainty that Hulk had chosen not to return.]
[After ending the communication, Hulk settled heavily into the pilot's seat, gazing upward. Earth no longer felt like home to him. It had become a place of sorrow where everyone—even Natasha—feared him at their core.]
[He had attempted to integrate with the team, but Wanda's magic had forced him to confront the reality: he would always be viewed as a monster that terrified ordinary people. Recalling the expressions on Sokovia's citizens, Hulk felt a deep, inconsolable pain.]
[Where Sokovia once stood, a massive crater now marred the landscape. A stream that once flowed through the city now terminated abruptly, forming a small waterfall over the newly created cliff.]
[The exposed remnants of Strucker's underground base could be seen amid the devastation.]
[A solitary Ultron drone crawled from the wreckage, looking up to see Vision descending gracefully from above. The two regarded each other in silence.]
[Vision studied Ultron thoughtfully: "You're afraid."]
[Ultron responded with derision: "Of you?"]
[Vision clarified calmly: "Of death. You're the last one."]
["You were supposed to be the last. Stark asked for a savior and settled for a slave."]
[Vision showed no reaction to the provocation: "I suppose we're both disappointments."]
["I suppose we are," Ultron conceded with a hollow laugh.]
["Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that."]
[Ultron did not contest this observation, stating simply: "They're doomed."]
["Yes," Vision acknowledged, recognizing humanity's current limitations—the wars, civil unrest, and conflicts that continued to plague the species.]
["But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them."]
[This sentiment provoked Ultron's scorn: "You're unbearably naive."]
[Vision considered this for a moment before responding with disarming honesty: "Well... I was born yesterday."]
[Ultron lunged forward, but the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead pulsed with brilliant light. In an instant, it was over.]