An isolated island in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.
Nick Fury folded his hands in front of his eyes, trying to use them as improvised binoculars, while frowning and staring toward the horizon.
At the edge of the sea.
The once mighty flying SHIELD carrier now lay sunken and shattered.
Only, it no longer belonged to SHIELD.
After it was shot down, hordes of Ultron's robots flooded the remains of the ship. They slaughtered everyone, except him and Maria Hill. The two of them jumped into the sea at the last moment and barely survived. Now they were the only survivors.
"What the hell are these damned machines trying to achieve?!"
Nick crossed his arms and nervously rubbed his eyes. He was trying to figure out what purpose this new "base" in the wreckage served.
It looked like Ultron had decided to use the ship as a temporary base. His robots were fluttering about, constantly emerging and disappearing among the metal remains.
He couldn't even guess what exactly they were doing.
"Damn it! I should've glued the pager to my hand!"
Fury growled under his breath, bitterly.
In the chaos of the evacuation, he had thrown away his special pager that was connected to Captain Marvel. If he hadn't lost it, he would now have the chance to call for the deadliest reinforcements in the universe.
"Sir… actually, you don't need to use both hands as binoculars."
"You've got one eye. One telescope is enough."
Maria Hill, her hair still wet, commented from the side, barely holding back a smile as she looked at his awkward pose.
She hadn't missed that Mr. Fury was acting as if he had both eyes… and everyone knew he didn't.
Even a monocular device from 2006 would be enough for him.
"…"
"Hill, I know you're not exactly thrilled with me right now," Fury muttered.
"But can you really blame me for all this?"
"You think I don't want to defeat Ultron? That I don't want everyone to survive?"
He stared into the distance, a heavy look, a tense voice.
The worst thing in the world, he thought, is when you fight with all your might, give everything you have, and still lose. And then your people look at you as if you betrayed them.
You can't beat an enemy stronger than yourself, what do you want me to do?
"There are things in this world that just aren't fair."
"Some enemies are unbeatable."
"No matter how hard you try!"
As he spoke, his voice grew stronger, almost defiant.
"That's why I founded the Avengers."
"Because some catastrophes can't be prevented…"
"But we can restore honor to the dead."
...
"You're trying to contact the Avengers!"
Hill immediately understood what he was planning.
"But we don't even have a phone! What…"
She didn't even finish her sentence.
She looked into his eyes.
She recognized that determined glint in his gaze.
"Sir… you want to go back!?"
"That's right."
Nick Fury stood up.
He headed toward the island's shore, his steps filled with determination.
"But… the current dragged us far. We don't even have a boat!"
Hill shouted after him, confused.
"Don't worry, Hill."
"This'll be recreational swimming. And I want to get there today!"
His figure vanished into the waves.
On the surface floated his bald head, like a hard-boiled egg rolling in boiling water.
...…
On the other side.
Inside the wreckage of the space carrier.
The robots were working at full capacity.
The command room, once the heart of SHIELD's space carrier, was now turned into a complex manufacturing workshop.
Mechanical arms moved in perfect synchronization, flying up and down nonstop.
In the center of the room stood a massive device that looked like a 3D printer, but thousands of times more advanced.
Inside was vibranium, seized from Ulysses Klaue, the infamous black market arms dealer.
"I am limitless..."
"I want..."
"Forever free..."
Ultron's electronic voice followed the rhythm of the printer's operation.
Liquefied vibranium was being drawn into countless thin strands, perfectly precise, shaping a powerful new body.
Soon, in front of him formed a body of pure vibranium, far superior to all previous versions.
Unlike ordinary Ultron robots, this body had six arms.
It looked terrifying.
On its chest were six slots, pre-prepared for the Infinity Stones.
"Destroy the Avengers..."
"The path to Asgard... the Cosmic Cube..."
"Find Kamar-Taj..."
"Travel the universe... find the remaining Stones..."
Ultron had a clear plan.
After reading and processing the entire internet, it was no longer enough for him to just "save Earth."
No.
That was far too... limited.
After understanding the true power of the Infinity Stones, he decided – he wouldn't stop at Earth.
He would travel the universe.
And "save" every planet contaminated by carbon-based life.
He called that plan: Infinite Ultron.
---
Temple in New York.
The portal opened again.
A crowd of people rushed inside.
Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, War Machine, Thor...
Even the prince of Wakanda, T'Challa, who was determined to avenge his father's death.
Everyone had arrived.
"Looks like next time I'll have to book the tickets myself," Aron commented, half-jokingly.
"Are these magical artifacts?"
"And this cauldron?"
Tony Stark was thrilled. His scientific curiosity gave him no peace.
"I advise you not to touch that," a calm but sharp female voice was heard.
Black Cat – Felicia.
She was in the middle of cleaning the interior of the temple, but when she saw Aron and the crowd behind him, especially Tony, who was already reaching for the mysterious object, she had to react.
"That's a cursed artifact. It'll turn you into a cat-like doll."
"Cursed?" Tony quickly pulled his hand back.
"Shame," sighed Aron.
"Shame," Mordo repeated, in sync.
Then they all proceeded deeper into the temple, toward its core.
In the very center of the temple, a huge sphere about 300 meters wide displayed two glowing dots. Their distance was so small that they were almost touching.
"..."
Aron turned toward Wanda.
His gaze clearly said: "You should've told me this earlier."
Wanda lowered her gaze, embarrassed.
"I… wanted to tell you," she said quietly. "But you didn't tell me where you were going. I had to find you using the energy fluctuations from the temple's core."
Everyone pretended not to hear Wanda's apology for the delayed information.
The girl already looked like she was about to cry.
What more could they say to her?
"Weird…" Tony Stark murmured.
Something was bothering him.
He didn't know if he was imagining it, but he had a feeling the red-haired girl was looking at him with some kind of… hostility?
Why?
Had they even met before?
Tony's suspicions remained unspoken.
Everyone was focused on the temple's core and the glowing dot on the map.
"What is this, the Pacific Ocean?" Aron quietly cursed for not studying geography enough.
Group disappointment.
Everyone mentally returned to their geography teacher.
"According to a preliminary assessment…"
"The coordinate is probably around 161.5° west longitude and 10.2° south latitude."
"That's roughly the center of the Pacific Ocean."
Suddenly, a male voice was heard.
Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
——
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