For a moment, just a moment.
The robot above the battlefield was destroyed by Aron.
"Can't you at least leave them with a whole corpse?"
"Even just one."
Tony Stark scanned the battlefield.
All of Ultron's robots were destroyed.
Not only was none left intact, there wasn't even a single piece. Everything was melted, turned into molten iron and fused with the ground.
He searched for half a day.
In the end, he found only one robot that had previously been disabled by Wakandan warriors. Its remains were still somewhat intact.
"Looks like the two of us had the same idea."
"In the end, it all comes down to one thing, using artificial intelligence against artificial intelligence."
Aron landed close to Tony.
He watched Tony dismantle the remaining armor and pull out the memory unit.
Tony had a plan to use Ultron's system architecture to evolve Jarvis, which was, essentially, what was seen in the movie when Jarvis becomes Vision.
It was the only way forward.
Ultron couldn't be defeated with sheer force. No matter how many robots you send, he controls the network. There, he is untouchable.
In the real world, he can be defeated, but in the digital space, Ultron is a god.
"I heard about your approach," Aron said. "Dr. Zola."
"He gave me inspiration. Maybe I should transfer my consciousness to the network too."
"An AI-based version of Tony Stark wouldn't be weaker than the born genius."
At that moment, Tony once again felt that old pride, the pride of a superior mind.
Everything seemed to be going in the right direction.
Ultron's army was destroyed.
They had a plan for him.
But...
Wait a minute.
Is everything going too well?
Aron frowned. Something was off. He noticed something was going on nearby.
Not far away, Hawkeye was talking to Steve Rogers.
"Captain, when this crisis is over, I think I'm going to retire."
"It's no secret. Actually, I already have a family. These are my kids."
Hawkeye took a photo out of his pocket and handed it to Steve. In the picture was his wife with two children.
"When we finish dealing with the Ultron threat, I plan to take a long vacation and go back home."
At the same time, Dr. Bruce Banner, who had just returned from Hulk form, took the cloak of a fallen Wakandan warrior and wrapped himself, covering up.
He too spoke about his future.
"I think I'm done with this. When all of this is over, I'm retiring from everything."
"...?"
The more Aron listened, the worse it all sounded.
What the hell?
Death flags.
Death flags everywhere!
If someone mentions family, retirement, or future plans one more time...
He muttered silently to himself.
Please, could you stop raising death flags?
And you, Hawkeye, if you really want to die, just say so. Why do you have to show photographs?
And everyone's so relaxed.
Everything's going in a good direction.
That never ends well.
And of course, right then.
When everyone had relaxed, when the tension had dropped...
Suddenly, everyone stood up when strange doors appeared out of nowhere.
They opened with a golden glow, and out of them came Wanda.
"Mr. Aron, I've finally found you!"
"There were two abnormal fluctuations in the temple's energy core. I compared them with known energy patterns and... they were - Infinity Stones!"
Wanda ran straight to Aron and presented her discovery.
What?
Why didn't I know there was a comparison chart for the energy in that temple?
Aron was confused but quickly focused on the essence of Wanda's words.
"Infinity Stones?"
"And two of them?"
He turned sharply toward the Avengers.
"Besides the Mind Stone, which is in Loki's scepter... which other Infinity Stone did you hand over to Ultron?" he asked.
The reason he hadn't worried about the stone until now was simple, Ultron only had the Mind Stone.
Its main function is influence over consciousness and mind manipulation.
But Aron possesses the holy soul, a gift of the system, and is not susceptible to any mental corruption.
However, immunity to the Mind Stone does not mean immunity to the other stones.
"Don't tell me this is going to be that version of Ultron from the 'What If...' scenario, the one who became God and destroyed all worlds?"
Just the thought of it made Aron feel a chill down his spine.
"Are you saying… besides the Mind Stone, which other stone did Ultron get?"
...
"I... don't know," someone from the group answered, confused.
The Avengers only knew about two stones: the scepter and the Tesseract.
The first was with Ultron.
The second was supposedly in Asgard.
Everyone looked at Thor.
"Why are you looking at me?"
"The Tesseract is safely stored in Asgard's vault. It's guarded by the best warriors!"
Thor pounded his fist against his chest as a sign of certainty...
But then he paused.
It looked like he remembered something.
"Wait... now I remember. The reason I came to Earth was because Heimdall told me there was an energy anomaly here..."
Thor began to talk about a recent encounter Jane Foster had with Ultron's robots in an abandoned factory.
As he spoke, his voice grew quieter, as if he was realizing the seriousness.
In the end, he muttered:
"So…"
"You forgot your mission because you went to save your girlfriend?"
"And just like that, you gave Ultron an Infinity Stone without a fight?"
Aron looked at him darkly.
His gaze was enough for Thor to realize, he messed up.
Aron was seriously considering calling Hela to give her brother a lesson.
"I'm pretty sure which two stones Ultron now possesses," Aron said coldly.
Based on words like 'fog,' 'Jane Foster,' 'anti-gravity phenomenon', it was clear that it was the plot from the movie Thor: The Dark World.
That stone… was the Reality Stone, also known as Aether.
"We have a small problem," Aron frowned.
In theory, the Reality Stone is the most powerful among all six, because it allows the user to rewrite reality itself, to ignore the laws of nature.
But that power is complete only when combined with the other five stones.
With just one, it's not possible to do everything.
Otherwise, the dark elves would have ruled the universe long ago, and Odin would have never defeated them and banished them to Alfheim.
In short:
The situation isn't as critical as it seemed at first glance.
"There will be complications," Aron said.
"But it's not insurmountable."
Still, he didn't forget to blame Thor for this situation.
"If you have a shred of brain, better not use it."
"Actually, you know what? I'll let your sister give you a lesson when we get back."
——
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