As Thor said, the day they fought entered history.
The Age of Ultron.
The Final Day.
Jarvis, now upgraded into an extremely powerful artificial intelligence, began repairing the damage Ultron had caused.
First, he restored the global financial system, the very one Ultron had destroyed.
The numbers in people's bank accounts around the world were returned to their state before the catastrophe. The parade of panic slowly subsided, and the streets began returning to their usual rhythm.
The only loss that could not be recovered was the number of nuclear warheads in the world, which had sharply declined.
Unlike Ultron, Skynet had launched almost all nuclear weapons the moment it was activated.
It was a scene of epic proportions, so terrifying it even frightened the astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
From orbit, they could clearly see intercontinental missiles piercing the atmosphere, leaving fiery trails as they crossed the blue surface of the planet.
Fortunately, many of those missiles activated the self-destruct protocol and exploded outside Earth's atmosphere, turning into eerie fireworks in the sky.
---
After the Great War ended, Hawkeye invited the entire team to his real home. Aron thus had the chance to meet his wife and two children.
He jokingly thought that it was lucky this wasn't a horror movie world, because Hawkeye's sentimental behavior, talking about retirement and looking at family photos in the middle of a war, in any other story would have meant certain death.
"Jarvis returned the 200 million dollars you lost," said Tony Stark as soon as Aron sat down.
"On top of that… you are now the majority shareholder of Stark Industries with a 20% ownership stake."
In reality, Jarvis knew that at that moment Aron had only 23 million dollars in his account, nowhere near 200 million.
However, Tony did not refute that figure. He covered the difference out of his own pocket and also transferred to him a stake in a company worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
"Thank you," said Aron, this time without refusing.
"But I repeat," he added coldly. "If I ever see you use my ability for any kind of experiment, you can say goodbye to your life."
Aron knew Tony's flaws well, both in the movies and in the comics, his obsession with making special armors for every opponent.
An example was Veronica, an armor designed to oppose the Hulk. However, every "anti" armor Tony made had one thing in common: it would eventually be destroyed by the very opponent it was made for.
"All right, all right, I won't research it," Tony replied, then leaned in conspiratorially.
"But I have to know… how did you manage to get so many powerful artificial intelligences? Are they still that advanced? Especially that one… The Matrix!"
At first, Aron thought Tony meant Skynet, the AI that nearly caused a nuclear apocalypse, but it turned out he was talking about the main system from The Matrix.
"What did you find?" Aron asked.
"While repairing the damage from Ultron, Jarvis found traces that this Matrix left on the internet," Tony explained. "According to his analysis, it looks like this AI is trying to build a complete virtual world."
"Virtual world?" Aron immediately understood the intention, to create an illusory reality in which humanity would completely lose itself, becoming an energy source for the machines.
And then it hit him. Virtual world? Wasn't that the perfect foundation for a simulation game?
"Tony," he said thoughtfully, "I have an idea. Let's start a video game company. We'll use the technology that this artificial intelligence left behind…"
---
Everyone was gathered in Hawkeye's house, celebrating the end of the great war. The atmosphere was relaxed, full of laughter and conversation.
Far away, in one of the Nine Realms, in the dark land of Svartalfheim, a massive T-shaped warship descended through leaden clouds.
From its fortified gates emerged a troop of dark elves, cold and merciless in their gaze.
"The Convergence of the worlds will begin soon," said one of them.
"The power of the Aether particles is calling to us," added another.
"I have found their location… Midgard."
The leader of the dark elves, Malekith, lifted his gaze, his eyes gleaming as he stared into the distance, toward Earth.
"I feel… the Aether is in the hands of a weak mortal."
His pale face trembled in a smile full of disdain. He hadn't expected the Asgardians to allow such a mistake, and yet, here it was, a powerful relic ending up with humans.
"Algrim," he called to his loyal adjutant, a dark-skinned dark elf whose hair was still silver-white.
"This is an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime. The Aether particles are now unprotected. We can easily take them back. When it's all over, we will be on Midgard and witness the worlds aligning and the universe sinking back into darkness."
Malekith spoke with growing excitement, almost seeing himself as the sole ruler of the universe.
"How many times have we lost… now we shall conquer! Let's go! To Midgard!"
---
"Haha, did you see how Steve tried to strangle that robot? Hahaha!"
"Captain, forgive me… I shouldn't be laughing… hahaha!"
Laughter echoed in Hawkeye's living room.
The subject of the joke was the moment when Captain America, in the heat of battle, grabbed a robot with his bare hands, which now sounded comical to everyone.
Even Steve, with a slight smile, gave in to the teasing.
"Be serious," he tried to say, but his own laughter betrayed him.
"Ah, forget it… laugh all you want."
The cheerful atmosphere filled the room, until suddenly a loud bang was heard. Boom!
The ground shook. Through the window, a massive T-shaped spaceship could be seen slowly landing on the lawn in front of the house. The sharp lower part of the hull dug into the ground, leaving a deep furrow.
Malekith led his dark elves as they exited the ship. Proudly lifting his head, his eyes full of contempt, he surveyed the surroundings.
"Midgard… even the air here is weak," he muttered.
Earth? Worthless.
Humanity? Feeble.
In his mind, human resistance was like a dilapidated house that would collapse with a single push.
"Algrim, go and bring me the Aether," he ordered.
But his adjutant did not move.
"Algrim?" he repeated, puzzled. He lowered his gaze… and then saw a sight that made him pause.
In front of him, on the lawn, stood a group of people, but not ordinary ones. All of them were looking at him with eyes that promised trouble.
Tony Stark was already in his armor.
Thor stood with Mjolnir in hand, ready to strike.
Hawkeye had already drawn his bow.
Mordo had summoned a magical shield and sword.
Each of them was armed and ready.
There was no fear in their eyes, only determination and warrior's fire. It seemed as though a storm was about to erupt in the next moment.
Aron stepped forward, his voice icy.
"You… really… haven't noticed that this is not the time for your parades?" he said, pronouncing each word slowly, while the aura of the Heavenly Father was unleashed without any restraint.
—
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