Back in Wakanda
The battles in Wakanda continued.
Ultron's robotic army seemed endless.
Every time the Avengers joined forces with the warriors of Wakanda to repel one wave… another would immediately follow.
"It looks like Ultron is determined to conquer Wakanda," said Steve, watching the unrelenting waves of robots. He was convinced Ultron wanted Vibranium.
There was no other reason to send his army in such obsessive waves.
"Inform Stark, we need reinforcements!"
Hawkeye fired an explosive arrow. Although he wore a patch over one eye, he still hit with incredible precision.
The arrow struck an Ultron robot directly in the core. The explosion destroyed it and two more beside it.
"Father!"
On the other side of the battlefield, the Wakandan warriors were struggling. T'Chaka was exhausted after a long fight. Two Ultron robots took the opportunity to attack.
T'Chaka fought with a vibranium spear, managing to fend off one, but the other robot approached from behind.
"Father!!" shouted T'Challa, who was not yet wearing the Black Panther suit with energy absorption that Shuri would later design.
The robot grabbed T'Chaka and lifted him into the air. As it carried him high above, more robots fired energy beams.
The deadly blasts struck the king.
At a height of several hundred meters, the robot threw him down.
T'Challa tried to react, but it was too late.
Boom——!
The heavy body hit the ground.
The death of King T'Chaka was confirmed.
But that wasn't the worst news.
Steve and the others soon noticed that among the new wave of Ultron robots, some models looked different from the previous ones.
These new robots possessed energy shields resembling the protective barriers of Wakandan technology. Probably to conserve resources, the shields didn't cover the entire body but protected key components, the chest and head.
From then on, even vibranium weapons were no longer enough. A spear strike no longer destroyed a robot in one blow.
Nor were Mordo's spells, magical whips, blades, and other attacks, as effective. The energy shields deflected most of the damage.
"Oh, God," said Hawkeye, firing an electromagnetic arrow.
But the electromagnetic pulse, which used to paralyze dozens of robots, now barely worked. Ultron had evolved. His robots were now equipped with protection against electromagnetic interference.
"These machines are upgrading themselves!"
"They're learning from the fight! This is bad!"
Mordo clenched his teeth. He kept fighting. His advantage in close combat allowed him to last longer than most sorcerers, but he knew the situation was serious.
The new robot models were stronger, smarter, more dangerous.
"We can't go on like this! We must call for reinforcements!"
He remembered what Aron had said earlier, to call him if the situation got worse.
But the thought of Aron caused discomfort. He had been unpredictable too many times.
Aron!
If you see death, don't just watch it. Save us.
Don't forget, you said we were like brothers. And if we're family, then you can't abandon us now.
---
However.
Before Mordo managed to call Aron, a series of explosions blew several Ultron robots into the air.
Boom...
Mordo looked up.
But the one who arrived, was not Aron.
It was Colonel James Rhodes, wearing his War Machine armor.
"Guys, I'd say I'm not late, right?" he called out with a smile.
His armor was called War Machine for a reason.
The high-caliber Gatling gun on his shoulder automatically targeted the nearest Ultron robot. The moment it locked on, a stream of fiery blasts roared from the barrel.
Combat modules opened on his arms, shoulders, and legs, miniature projectiles flew like rain, as if ammunition wasn't an issue.
"Rhodey, can't Ultron take control of your armor?" Steve asked, concerned.
He still remembered when Ultron had taken control of Tony's suits. Stark had barely made it out alive.
"No worries," Rhodes replied. "Stark installed new protection in the software in advance."
As soon as he said that, another suit landed on the battlefield.
"Stark?" Steve immediately recognized the shape.
"That's me," came Tony's tired voice from the Mark-43 suit.
To prevent Ultron's hacking, this suit model used a completely offline operating mode. Aside from Jarvis, all functions had to be manually controlled, no network connections.
Rhodey's armor used the same system.
"Do you have a solution for Ultron?" Steve asked.
"Partially," Tony replied, watching the movements of Ultron's robots. "I need to get a full copy of his architecture, the latest version."
"Why?" asked Steve.
"I plan to use Ultron's code to evolve Jarvis," Tony said.
"Basically… I want Jarvis to become a conscious being, just like Ultron. Only on our side."
"Hold on," Hawkeye jumped in while loading the next arrow. "You're going to use Ultron's architecture?"
"What if that new Jarvis goes the same way? If he turns against us, we'll have another Ultron."
"Doesn't that mean we'll be fighting two superintelligences instead of one?"
Suddenly, behind them, a familiar voice was heard.
"What if we're already dealing with three?"
Space distorted, and a portal opened.
Aron stepped through, calm, as if he weren't in the middle of the bloodiest battle on the planet.
Beside him walked Black Widow, and in his hand, he held an old hard drive containing Dr. Zola.
"I've found the target, Aron... Target detected, Stark... Targets confirmed..."
"Infinite Ultron project... Activation in progress..."
High above them, one of the commanders of Ultron's army differed in design and colors from the other robots.
When he saw Aron's arrival, he immediately sent the data back to the main network, all the information he had gathered, everything that had been discovered.
——
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