The Captain quietly gave instructions to Pietro and Sam.
"Pietro, Sam! Go around the city and take out the remaining robots. We'll hold this guy off."
"Got it."
"Got it, Cap."
Seeing the Captain give these orders to the fastest members, Pietro and Sam, it seemed he knew that no matter how much they destroyed Ultron now, as long as Ultron Sentinels remained, he would regenerate.
"Wanda and Cosmo, do your best to restrain Ultron's movements."
"I'm not sure if it'll work since he's so big, but I'll try."
"I'll give it my all, too."
While the Captain issued quick orders, New Gundam and Vulture circled Ultron, pouring on firepower. Vulture unleashed guided missiles and machine guns, while Gundam kept Ultron at bay with fin funnels and bazookas.
Explosions echoed through the air.
The Captain turned to us.
"Let's go."
"Okay!" "Got it!"
Iron Man flew around Ultron, firing repulsor beams and missiles, and Vision attacked by emitting beams from his forehead. Banner and Hawkeye focused on one of Ultron's legs, trying to cripple him by firing beams and plasma bolts to destroy it. I took to the air, throwing cards in rapid succession to attack Ultron.
Whirring sounds filled the air as more explosions rocked the scene.
Captain, Natasha, and Jess, judging they couldn't directly damage Ultron, destroyed nearby Ultron Sentinels to block his path.
Ultron's voice came out, filled with anger.
"You annoying flies!"
Enduring the firepower, Ultron kicked away a nearby Hulk Buster with a massive foot.
A loud crash echoed.
"Ugh!"
"Banner!"
The Hulk Buster was sent flying back, tumbling across the ground before slamming into a building and coming to a stop.
"Ugh... I'm still okay."
Fortunately, Banner radioed in immediately, saying he was fine. But Ultron, seeming intent on finishing them off one by one, rushed toward the Hulk Buster embedded in the building, raising his giant foot to crush it.
"Die!"
At that moment, New Gundam intervened, using its shield to body-slam Ultron and push him away, blocking the attack.
A heavy thud sounded.
"Tch! You're really something else!"
Ultron grabbed New Gundam's shield and began a struggle of strength.
The metal groaned under the strain.
With Ultron and New Gundam sized like an adult versus a middle-schooler, Gundam was forced to hold its ground from below, and the difference in strength made Gundam's joints scream. Seeing this, the Captain quickly gave orders.
"If this keeps up, Gundam won't hold! Wanda! Cosmo!"
"Got it!"
Wanda and Cosmo, following the Captain's instructions, used telekinesis to reinforce Gundam. Meanwhile, the Hulk Buster had recovered and grabbed Ultron's leg, trying to hinder his movements as much as possible.
"Graah!"
With Ultron momentarily restrained, the Captain shouted to me.
"Cassian! Now, the circular saw!!!"
I immediately used Eldritch Magic to create another enormous circular saw of light, this time hurling it vertically at Ultron.
A slicing sound echoed as the giant Ultron was cut in half and collapsed on the spot.
Thuds followed as he fell.
"Huff... Did we get him?"
Wanda, perhaps exhausted from overusing her telekinesis, breathed heavily and inadvertently tempted fate.
"Huff! Wanda, that kind of talk..."
"Huh? Why?"
Clanking and grinding sounds came from where Ultron had fallen, and he slowly began to rise. It seemed that tempting fate worked even in Marvel.
"Damn it!"
Fortunately, due to accumulated damage and many Sentinels being destroyed, Ultron's size had shrunk from 30 meters to about 25 meters. Now he was similar in size to Gundam. The efforts to take out the surrounding Ultron Sentinels were finally showing results.
"You're really irritating!"
Ultron spat those words, opened his mouth wide, and fired a powerful laser toward Wanda and Cosmo. Having seen the future with [Observation Haki], I quickly landed in front of them and hastily deployed an Eldritch Magic shield.
A loud energy clash echoed.
"Hup!"
Despite my quick action, the laser's immense power began pushing me back slowly.
Seeing this, the other members attacked Ultron with all their might.
Gunfire and beam sounds filled the air, followed by explosions.
"You pests!"
Ultron, without reducing the laser output, turned his head to target the other members, but this time, New Gundam began blocking the laser with its shield.
The shield strained under the onslaught.
However, New Gundam couldn't withstand such a powerful laser; the shield and the arm holding it were completely destroyed. In that moment, Thor suddenly jumped into the sky, charged Mjolnir with powerful lightning, and struck Ultron's head, finally stopping the laser.
A massive impact sounded.
Thor was flung away by the blast, crashing into a building.
"Thor!"
The Captain urgently called out, but Thor didn't respond, likely unconscious.
"I'll go check on him."
I told the Captain and flew to Thor. Fortunately, Thor was only knocked out, with no major injuries visible. Tough guy, as expected.
I laid him down and used a healing spell. Thor quickly regained consciousness.
"Groan... Cassian! How's the fight?"
As soon as he came to, Thor grabbed me and asked about the situation.
"It's still ongoing."
"Let's get back quickly."
Thor struggled to his feet and hurried toward Ultron. I followed behind. There, the members were pouring all their firepower into Ultron to prevent his recovery.
Explosions continued to rock the area.
I saw Rhodey's War Machine had arrived and was adding to the firepower.
"When did Rhodey get here?"
"We got a call from Nick Fury. He came with the Helicarrier. I was late helping Pietro and Sam evacuate the remaining citizens and clean up the robots."
It seemed there were still citizens who hadn't escaped.
"So, are all the citizens evacuated?"
"We evacuated all the citizens we could see. Pietro and Sam are searching everywhere for those hiding in their homes and sending them to the Helicarrier."
I couldn't understand why any citizens would still be around unless they were disabled or suicidal.
Anyway, Ultron was nearly reduced to a skeleton after the intense attacks. But Ultron's main body was nowhere to be seen.
"Where did this guy go? Don't tell me..."
At my words, all members looked toward the core. There, Ultron's main body was seen with a hand on the core. He must have manipulated his body density to escape earlier.
"My victory! Hahaha~!"
Ultron said that and manipulated the core. I urgently shouted to the members.
"Everyone, get to Gundam!! Now!!!"
At my shout, members who couldn't fly quickly gathered at Gundam. Gundam rapidly used fin funnels as platforms to carry them. Then Wanda spoke to me.
"We need to save Pietro, too!"
I immediately contacted Sam and told him to rescue Pietro and get to the Helicarrier. Fortunately, Sam and Pietro were nearby and agreed.
At that moment, the entire city stopped gaining altitude and began to fall. Ultron, having finished manipulating the core, was seen laughing.
"Minerva, calculate the altitude at which the city can be destroyed without damaging the ground."
"According to my calculations, assuming it falls due to gravity, if not destroyed within three minutes, tremendous damage will occur on the ground."
At those words, I urgently instructed the members.
"Vision! Hold off Ultron. Tony, let's destroy the city together!"
"Got it!"
At my words, Tony quickly descended below the city and began overloading the magnetic core Ultron had created. Vision also started fighting Ultron's main body in the sky.
"Cassian!!! I've started overloading it!! On my signal!!"
I moved to the core on top of the city and began infusing it with mana to turn it into an energy bomb.
The core vibrated and hummed as I rapidly filled it with mana.
"Now!!"
When Tony gave the signal, I jumped up and threw a card to detonate the core.
An enormous explosion erupted.
Despite deploying a shield, the blast force sent me flying rapidly into the sky. The instantaneous overload on my body was no joke. I must have infused too much mana in my haste.
"Gah!!!"
After rising for a while, my speed gradually decreased. The dark sky suggested I had reached the stratosphere.
"Cassian!! Are you okay???"
Natasha contacted me, worried.
"Yeah, I'm fine..."
"Phew... That's a relief."
Then Tony also contacted me.
"Hey, I'm alive too. This is no way to live. Suddenly I miss Pepper."
I brushed off Tony's grumbling and asked about the ground situation.
"Is the ground okay?"
"Some debris fell, but fortunately, due to Earth's rotation, it landed in the ocean."
Thankfully, the city seemed properly destroyed.
"That's good. What about Vision and Ultron?"
"Don't know. No contact. They must still be fighting."
I immediately ordered Minerva.
"Track Ultron right now."
"Understood, Master."
After giving that order, I slowly descended to the ground. Judging by the location, it looked like an island.
As I landed and was about to call the Odyssey, I suddenly saw Vision and Ultron descending from the sky. But absurdly, there was only one body, with Vision's head and Ultron's head attached, creating a grotesque appearance. Their movements were very unnatural.
"What now..."
This Vision and Ultron landed and made a request.
"Cassian, please. Destroy me as I am now."
"What happened?"
"It was the only choice. Since Ultron can manipulate his body density, I had to trap him this way."
Like Vision, Ultron could adjust his body density to pass through matter. Because of this, Vision had no choice but to use the same ability to overlap with Ultron's body and hold him.
"Tch!"
Ultron's head attached to Vision's side continued to struggle.
"Release me now!"
"I cannot. You and I will be destroyed together."
"Damn you!!!"
"Cassian, now that I have control of the body, this is our chance. There's no time."
I had no choice but to take out the [Thunder God's Longsword] from my inventory. I wondered if I could cut only Ultron and save Vision, but checking with [Naked Eye], their data was already mixed, making it impossible.
"Thank you."
"No, thank you for bringing me to life."
After that farewell, I simultaneously beheaded Vision and Ultron. Their bodies were made of vibranium, but wrapped in Armament Haki and mana, the SSS-grade 'Thunder God's Longsword' could slice through them.
A clean cut sounded.
Their heads fell with a thud.
A ding echoed.
You have gained the abilities: [(SS) Beam], [(S) Body Density Control], [(SS) Flight].
Vision's body faded to black and white before collapsing to the ground. The notification about stealing abilities indicated that Vision and Ultron were considered living beings due to their consciousness.
I collected their bodies and heads and called the Odyssey. When the members arrived and saw Vision and Ultron's corpses, they were all taken aback.
"What happened?"
I explained the events to the members. Hearing this, the Captain was deeply regretful.
"Sigh... I'm sorry we didn't treat Vision better. We only doubted him from the moment he was born..."
Starting with the Captain's words, each member touched Vision's body, honoring his sacrifice.
"Let's head back now."
As the Captain spoke, everyone prepared to leave, but I stepped forward, stopped them, and spoke.
"We still have work to do. Many people are now left in factories, shivering from cold and with no food since the city collapsed. Plus, with the city lifting off entirely, there might be people buried and waiting for rescue. I hope you understand that dealing with enemies isn't the only thing we should do."
"You're right. I was short-sighted. Everyone must be tired, but as Cassian said, let's rescue the people first."
The Captain acknowledged my words and addressed the members. I had a reason for saying this: in the original, they left without any aftermath measures, leading to the villain Zemo and many sacrifices, ultimately dooming Sokovia. Since Tony caused this incident, we had to prevent too many people from suffering.
We returned to Sokovia, splitting into two teams: one for search and rescue, and the other to tend to the citizens in the factories. I asked Minerva to use remaining drones for the search and called in supply bases from the Atlantic to start distributing supplies to the citizens. Tony urgently bought food, blankets, and tents from neighboring countries to support the people. Avengers employees also came to help the members.
Once the food issue was somewhat resolved, I began mass-producing prefabricated buildings from Gundam Island. Since the structures were simple, I could quickly create many. I didn't do it all alone; European and American companies also stepped in to build and assist with Sokovia's restoration. Of course, all this came from the Avengers fund, using up nearly half of the enormous budget—an inevitable result since an entire city had flown away.
The members didn't complain much. Tony also contributed a lot of money, seeming more proactive since it was his fault.
Unlike in the original, Zemo came to me and thanked me profusely. His family seemed safe.
"Thank you for this support."
"Not at all. It's what we should do."
Zemo told me about Sokovia's situation.
"Honestly, Sokovia was a country doomed to fall anyway. The politics have been unstable. I hope it can revive from this opportunity."
"Don't say that. How about you, Colonel Zemo, lead the country forward?"
Zemo was about to refuse firmly.
"That's impossible. Sokovia's government is still alive. So such talk..."
I cut him off and persuaded him by stating the truth.
"Do you think I don't know? The high-ranking officials in Sokovia have already fled abroad and are living luxuriously with funds accumulated from various corruptions."
"But still..."
"The only officials working for the citizens now are you, Colonel Zemo, and your subordinates. The citizens all know it. So, instead of those rotten bastards, take this chance to run the country. I'll support you. If not now, there won't be another opportunity to change the country."
Zemo wiped his face and began thinking seriously. It was a difficult decision for him, too; Sokovia was already a broken country from civil war, and he might fear starting another. Then Zemo asked me.
"How will you support me?"
I explained briefly.
"Funding and information. You just need to rally the people. The citizens are on your side. I'll provide investment and information on the officials' corruption. Plus, with the Avengers in Sokovia now, the military won't be able to mobilize. It's the perfect opportunity."
"I see. Let's try it."
Once Zemo made up his mind, things progressed very quickly. Zemo was truly smart. Using the materials I provided, he started by appealing that officials had traded with HYDRA, leading the country to this state, exposing various corruptions to seize real power, and actively promoted that he secured investment by running around. The citizens began condemning the officials who fled abroad, and Zemo's popularity soared.
As things unfolded, the officials who had fled abroad realized the fire was at their feet and hurried back, but the military, now under Zemo's control, quickly dealt with them, arresting them all, and everything fell into Zemo's hands.
It didn't take long. This was possible because all the citizens were on Zemo's side, and he was remarkable.
'He's an impressive friend.'
From that point, the reconstruction efforts gained speed. There were no obstacles now that Zemo held real power. I decided to invest heavily and build two more factories. With cheap labor and a location at the heart of Europe, as Zemo had explained, I believed it would become a country worth investing in.
After sorting out Sokovia's affairs to some extent, we returned to headquarters. Along with Sokovia's matters, Avengers headquarters had a ton of work: employee bonuses, member vacations, and...
"A new body for Vision has been completed. Would you like to upload the backed-up data?"