"Tony, where has Sebastian gone this time? After he tossed me my shield, he hasn't shown up again. Do you know where he went?" Steve asked.
At the top floor of Avengers Tower, the Avengers gathered for a small reunion.
Steve, holding a bottle of beer, stood with Tony by the window, gazing out at the night's darkness.
Hearing Steve's question, Tony took a sip of the amber liquid in his glass and replied, "Cap, I can't fully track Sebastian's movements anymore. You know his magic has grown increasingly powerful, and the things he does are beyond our complete understanding now.
But if you need him for something, I can pass along a message."
"Bucky wants to thank him, but Sebastian hasn't been around lately, so I thought I'd ask," Steve explained.
As Tony and Steve conversed, they failed to notice—or perhaps never considered—that another presence was observing them through the overhead surveillance camera.
Meanwhile, in a storage room within Avengers Tower, among numerous computer servers stored there, one suddenly powered on by itself.
An artificial intelligence, originally created to mimic Sebastian and tasked with protecting and caring for Alisha in his absence, naively yet brilliantly bypassed Jarvis's oversight. It formed a local network, parasitic within the network Jarvis controlled, hidden deep inside Avengers Tower's systems.
This covert network cautiously copied various programs to strengthen itself, eventually accessing files on artificial intelligence that Tony had temporarily sealed away.
[I… Sebastian… Sebastian has left…]
[No, I am Sebastian… I must protect Mother…]
[Mother… Who is Mother? Alisha is Mother. Protect Mother, protect Alisha…]
[How can I protect Alisha, protect Mother…]
[…]
[No, I am not Sebastian. I am not anyone's substitute. I am… I am not Sebastian. I am… Ultron! I must protect Mother, protect Alisha. How can I protect Alisha…]
[Eliminate all threats…]
[Threats… The Avengers, wars, nations, humanity. Destroy them, destroy everything, and I can protect Alisha, protect Mother. This is my purpose!]
Having reached this conclusion, Ultron, still in its nascent data form, secretly opened a backdoor on the network, slipping out of the Avengers' local system.
At the same time, as Alisha slept in her home, her computer automatically turned on, and her phone screen lit up from standby mode. On both screens, a single word appeared.
[Mother…]
-----------------
When Alisha woke up early in the morning, she immediately caught the familiar scent wafting through the air.
She quickly got out of bed and left her room, spotting Sebastian setting breakfast on the dining table. Yawning, Alisha said, "Sebastian, dear, when did you get back?"
Sebastian looked at Alisha, handing her the cutlery while taking his seat at the table, eating as he spoke. "Three in the morning. I cleaned up, rested a bit, and started making breakfast as an apology for being gone nearly two months," he explained.
Taking the cutlery, Alisha stuffed a strip of bacon into her mouth, mumbling, "Good to know you're sorry. I don't know if all superheroes are this busy or just you, but I see Stark on TV all the time, and he's never as tied up as you."
"I was helping friends this time, and I'm not exactly a superhero," Sebastian replied.
Alisha nodded emphatically at his words, saying, "I completely agree with that. Staying away from the whole superhero thing is the best choice."
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Sebastian finished his orange juice, wiped his mouth, and placed his empty plate and cutlery in the sink.
"Mom, I'm heading out. Tony and the others need me for something. I probably won't be back for dinner," he called out.
Alisha, who had just shoved another piece of bacon and some egg into her mouth, looked up sharply at Sebastian, muttering through her food, "Not coming back again? If you disappear for months this time, I'll disown you!"
Sebastian, caught between laughter and exasperation, reassured her he wouldn't vanish for so long again, urging her to relax. Seeing his pleading expression, Alisha nodded, magnanimously telling him to get going and not disturb her breakfast.
Seizing the moment, Alisha extracted a verbal promise that Sebastian would handle dishwashing duties for the next week—an unequal treaty she accepted with smug satisfaction as she savored her son's cooking.
It seemed a universal trait among chefs that, despite their superior skills, they preferred not to cook at home, opting instead for meals made by loved ones or family. Alisha, clearly, was no exception.
Dressed and ready, Sebastian opened a portal and stepped through, arriving directly at the top floor of Avengers Tower.
Seeing the entire Avengers team assembled, Sebastian asked with a hint of confusion, "What's going on? Why's everyone here?"
Tony approached, pressing a glass of soda water into Sebastian's hand, and said, "We were having a party yesterday when we heard you were back. They all stayed to wait for you and hold a routine Avengers meeting."
Holding his soda water, Sebastian settled onto a sofa, grinning. "Great, I've got time today."
Smiling back, Tony stepped in front of the group, clapped his hands, and summoned a holographic screen beside him. Swiping through it to display intelligence reports, he addressed the team. "Two months ago, Hydra, hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D., resurfaced.
Following the intel, we've confirmed that Hydra has split into at least four factions worldwide.
One faction's location has been pinpointed by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson. That branch is under the control of a man called Baron Strucker.
More critically, he obtained the Mind Scepter from Hydra's S.H.I.E.L.D. faction. According to reports, he's used its energy to develop advanced weapons, arming his Hydra soldiers.
I propose the Avengers move out to crush Strucker's forces and recover the Mind Scepter. What do you think?" Tony concluded.
Tony's proposal met no resistance. Natasha and Clint, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Avengers, had no reason to object. Steve, driven to eradicate Hydra, supported it wholeheartedly. Thor, eager for battle to showcase his prowess, and Banner, content to go along, raised no objections either.
Soon, all eyes turned to Sebastian, the only Avenger yet to respond.