Chapter 7: Finale Part I
Earth 763, 2005
Surrounded by Ultron Sentries aiming their arm-cannons at him, Hawkeye's odds didn't look very good at all.
But, the purple archer's end didn't come then and there, for a powerful surge of red energy fried the circuits of all of them and melted their steel and titanium shells like wax under a blowtorch. As the slagged, almost completely destroyed machines fell backwards, Hawkeye turned to see Scarlet Witch standing over him. As she did what she could to block a barrage of return-fire from other Ultron Sentries, Hawkeye crawled over to where his bow was. Just as he came close to it though, a red beam of energy from Ultron himself vaporized the entire thing.
"...shit."
"Kill him." Ultron ordered two of his Elites, who surged towards him raining plasma shots. Diving forwards, Captain America put himself in front of his downed comrade, using his shield to take all the blasts. With an expert shield throw, Captain America knocked one of the Elites out of the sky, then leaped into the air to catch his shield as it returned to him. Coming down hard, he drove his shield through the second Elite's titanium neck, slicing clean through.
As Captain America landed and the decapitated Elite hit the dirt, Hawkeye grabbed an arrow from his quiver, and hurled it is as though it were a throwing weapon. Such was his strength that the arrow could still zip through the air, nailing an Ultron Sentry in the photoreceptor.
"Little trick I stole from Bullseye." Drawing another arrow from his quiver, Hawkeye repeated the process, this time an explosive arrow that detonated upon hitting an Ultron Sentry in the cranium, blowing it to pieces along with two more Sentries that were right near it.
A nearby Ultron Sentry, it's arm-blaster earlier sliced off by Captain America's shield, grabbed Hawkeye by the throat with it's remaining hand and hoisted him aloft.
"Big...mistake." Hawkeye choked out before plunging another arrow into the Sentry's head, the vibranium-tipped arrow-head going straight into the machine's artificial brain. As it collapsed and dropped Hawkeye, he called out: "Seriously, where's the damn robot!?"
Earth 763, Present Day
"Ah, it's good to be home." Luke Cage said as the portal dissipated, and the Avengers were once again back on their native Earth, more specifically a field in the middle of India.
"Don't get used to the view, Cage." Captain America said. "Ultron will be tracking us back here as we speak."
"He's got the Power, Reality, and Soul Gems." Iron Man noted. "With those he can alter reality itself, but so long as we've got gems of our own, we should be protected. The gem's powers cancel one another out, so that no one gem is ever too much more powerful than the others."
"Who told you that?" Tigra asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Professor X did. That, and I suspected it was true from the start. Otherwise, the Reality Gem alone would have made any one of a number of lunatics who had it in the past invincible. But it clearly has limits as far as how much of reality it can alter at any one time. And again, the other gems act as checks and balances."
"So what's the plan?" 5923's Invisible Woman asked. "If Ultron can alter reality to even some extent, as well as having the ability to alter one's soul, and immense raw power on top of that...how do you plan to counter it?"
Iron Man smiled behind his helmet. "Well, Susan to start, we change up the playing field."
"I don't follow."
"You will, once it happens. But first..."
At that moment, several SHIELD Heli-Carriers appeared, converging on the Avenger's position.
"...we're getting some reinforcements."
"Hello, Tony. It's good to see that you and the others made it back." Came the voice of Captain Steve Rogers from the bridge of the lead Heli-Carrier, Valiant 1. Flanking him were Valiant 2 and Valiant 3, with a fourth Helicarrier named "Defender" bringing up the rear.
"And with half the Infinity Gems in our possession." Iron Man said proudly, before turning to his fellow Avengers: "I contacted Steve before we left, told him everything Professor X told me about the gems, and to be ready for our return with the appropriate level of firepower."
"I doubt even four helicarriers will be enough to bring down Ultron now that he has half the Infinity Gems."
"Every little bit helps. Besides, worst comes to worst, those helicarriers can get nearby civilians to safety. But if my plan works, it won't come to that."
"And what plan is that?" Morgaine le Fay asked.
"We have control over time and space with two of our gems. Well, I propose we take advantage of that. We can make the playing field be whatever we want it to be between the two of those gems. If we're smart about it, we can keep changing the environment to keep Ultron guessing and on his toes. Put him on the defensive."
"And then what?" Hawkeye asked.
"We keep pushing back until he slips up. Then we take the other three gems. In fact, we may only need to take one. With each gem we get and each one he loses, the scales will shift to our favor. Five gems against one, and Ultron will be overwhelmed."
"Kind of hard to imagine that we could ever swipe two of the gems." Ms. Marvel noted.
"That's why we need to throw everything we have at him to keep him distracted. Long enough for Vision to phase through him and grab one of the gems, or for Morgaine to teleport the gems out of him." Iron Man turned to face Morgaine le Fay. "I know you said you can't teleport items that are too small and far away, but if we distracted Ultron, kept him one place long enough...do you think you could do it then? If you got close enough?"
"I could try." Morgaine admitted. "But I would be taking a great risk to my life doing so."
Iron Man smiled. "Welcome to the Avengers."
It was then that Steve Roger sent another message to Iron Man: "Tony, SHIELD's detected Ultron. He's here."
2005
A spectacular sputtering and short-circuiting accompanied by an explosion saw the force-field around Ultron's contagion-emitter destroyed. Flying towards the device, Ultron saw Vision materialize as he exited his intangible form.
"You."
"Your force-field never took into account my intangibility." Vision said matter-of-factly. "Clearly, you did not expect me to betray you."
Ultron responded by unleashing an intense thermonuclear blast of red energy from his "mouth" and photoreceptors that hit Vision dead on and sent him so far down into the ground he actually made a six foot deep hole. Flying down, Ultron slammed his fist into Vision's now already damaged chassis as hard as he could. Hard enough to nearly split it in two.
"Traitor!" Ultron roared, his usually coldly unflappable tone dissipating like smoke as the rage he'd inherited from his "father" became front and center. Plunging his hand into the opening he'd created, Ultron pulled, widening the gap. Inserting his other hand, he pulled some more, until soon he had peeled off the chassis plates and tossed them aside. Vision fired out a solar beam from his forehead that nailed Ultron in his own. Forcing himself up, Vision uppercut Ultron, before flying out of the hole entirely. His chest's inner workings were now fully exposed, and Vision knew another direct hit would spell his end. So it was that he went intangible, and did what he could to avoid Ultron, who was now actively looking for his creation.
Meanwhile in the jungle clearing, Scarlet Witch had the injured Hawkeye behind a magical barrier as Black Widow used the remains of a destroyed Ultron Elite to fire plasma shots at the android's other creations, having discovered early on that her bullets were useless against such foes. Captain America dodged plasma shots from multiple directions at once, doing what he could to thin their ranks with well-aimed shield throws. But it still seemed like there was always more to be had.
"Not sure how much longer we can hold out. And the device is still on..."
Unfortunately, as Captain America said this, there was a "ding" sound, and, to the watching Avenger's horror, a fine, greenish-brown mist began to be released.
"It's begun." Ultron said darkly. "You are too late, Avengers. The extinction of humanity...begins now."
Present Day
It was above the city of Mumbai that Ultron was located, photoreceptors and mouth glowing a mix of red, yellow, and green as he looked out at the city in front of him. He didn't look for long, before the arrival of a quartet of SHIELD Helicarriers got his attention.
"Hm. SHIELD. Here to stop me, eh?"
The glow in Ultron's mouth and photoreceptors got more intense, and The Captain gave the order for the Helicarriers to begin evasive maneuvers. All of them moved just as Ultron unleashed a beam of energy so powerful it would have sliced clean through any of the Helicarriers had it connected. Needing no other invitation to return fire, the quartet unloaded a devastating barrage of missiles of all shapes and sizes. All of them aimed at Ultron.
The fireball so many missiles colliding on the same target caused was enormous, enough so that the people down below could feel the heat of such a massive blast. And yet, when the flames dissipated, there was Ultron, still hovering and without a scratch.
"Don't look so surprised. I have three Infinity Gems protecting me, remember? Oh, and speaking of..."
Ultron's glow briefly became all green as he called upon the Soul Gem. Next thing the Avengers knew, Mumbai's streets became chaotic as about half of the people on them became violently psychotic and murderous towards the other half. The Captain was all set to order several battalions of agents to go down and contain the situation...only for Valiants 2 and 3 to suddenly turn on on Valiant 1. They were all set to open fire before Iron Man used the Time Gem. With an orange glow, everything from the last few moments was "rewound" to right as the helicarriers converged on Ultron's position. The events of before then repeated themselves exactly, save that Iron Man and Vision flew out of Valiant 1 this time to face Ultron directly. And they brought the Time, Space, and Mind Gems with them.
Ultron turned his attentions to them, trying to use the Soul Gem, but Iron Man countered it with the Mind Gem, using it to strengthen his awareness and understanding to the point that he remained aware and conscious of what his morality should be, thwarting and resisting Ultron's efforts to taint his soul and change it.
A flash of orange and purple, and suddenly, Mumbai was gone. Or more accurately, the Avengers, SHIELD, and Ultron were all gone from Mumbai. In it's place was a barren field on a lifeless planet some number of lightyears away.
"Is this supposed to scare me?" Ultron asked incredulously. With a wave of his hand, and now glowing yellow, he caused tens of thousands of Ultron Sentries and Elites to materialize out of thin air, every last one of them as powerful as the ones he'd first used a decade ago. "Kill everyone on those helicarriers." He ordered.
As the SHIELD Helicarriers opened fire on the Sentries and tries to fend them off to the best of their ability, Iron Man tossed Vision the Mind Gem, which he placed on his forehead over his usual jewel. He became enveloped in a blue aura for a moment, and then used it's power to shield the minds of every last one of his allies simultaneously, raising their mental strength to the same heightened level Iron Man had raised his to. Ms. Marvel flew out, and Iron Man tossed her the Space Gem. He kept the Time Gem for himself.
"Keep him off-balance and get the other gems. Until we do, nothing else matters."
Nodding, Ms. Marvel used the Space Gem to teleport across the battlefield, leaving behind dozens of destroyed Ultron Sentries everywhere she went. Vision similarly did what he could to destroy as many Ultron Sentries. Iron Man used the Time Gem to unleash waves of orange energy that rapidly aged every Ultron Sentry they hit into dust. Hawkeye went to the air-field part of Valiant 1 and started firing arrows at the army of Ultron Sentries. With the helicarrier's cannons getting the bulk of the Sentries' attention, it was all too easy for Hawkeye to take potshots at fatally distracted ones, and he kept firing until he had no more arrows to spare. Seeing this, Iron Man used the Time Gem to "rewind" Hawkeye's quiver until it was filled with arrows once more, and Hawkeye repeated his shooting spree anew.
But there were so many Ultron Sentries surrounding the Helicarriers and the Avengers, that nearly all of their efforts were spent combating them, and not their master. Aware of this, Ms. Marvel and Iron Man used their gems to change the setting yet again, this time to a possible future for Earth 763 where Earth has been left behind by humanity, and Mars is terraformed. It was on the latter that the fight resumed, this time with most of the Ultron Sentries having not been brought along.
As the SHIELD Helicarriers swiftly blasted the remaining Ultron Sentries into scrap, Ultron fired out an energy blast at one helicarrier that Iron Man stopped by "rewinding it" to before Ultron fired it. Ms. Marvel then rammed into him before he could, and moved before Ultron could blast her back. Using the Space Gem, she teleported from place to place, delivering a punch each time she reappeared before vanishing again. As this was happening, Vision flew through Ultron, attempting to grab two of the Infinity Gems in his chassis...only to be blasted back with impunity and being sent through dozens of tress on the terraformed jungle the battle was taking place over.
"Reality Gem plus Power Gem lets me affect even the intangible." Ultron said smugly.
But as Ultron said this he took another punch to the head from Ms. Marvel and spun back around to strike at her, only for her to narrowly duck.
"That's it, Carol. Keep stalling him..." Iron Man muttered as he obliterated several Ultron Sentries flying towards him with a flurry of mini-rockets fired from the shoulders. Using the Time Gem again, Iron Man sent everyone back to the present, this time with even fewer Ultron Sentries remaining. Using the Space Gem, Ms. Marvel then sent everyone from the now barren Mars to a wide-open plain somewhere in Europe. Once there, her teleporting began anew. 5923 Invisible Woman, who until that point had been fighting off Ultron Sentries with the rest, created a force-field around Ultron to trap him. Undeterred, he began blasting at the force-field. He instantly shattered it...so Invisible Woman created a new one, this one stronger than the last. Ultron destroyed it too. So Invisible Woman created a third. Just this process was enough to slow him down, and that was what Morgaine le Fay needed.
"Keep him still..." the sorceress said as she watched the battle unfold, all the while trying to concentrate her magic on the Infinity Gems that resided inside Ultron. Unfortunately, while Ms. Marvel's teleporting kept the android relatively contained, he was still mobile enough, plus far enough away, that Morgaine simply wasn't getting a "lock" on the gems with her magic.
"I need to get closer to him." Morgaine told The Captain. He's still too far away."
"If I move us close enough, Ultron will shoot us down." The Captain pointed out.
"Not if there's a distraction. Tell the other vessels to fire on him. All at once." When The Captain hesitated, Morgaine frowned and said. "I need to get closer, or I can't call the gems inside him to me, and then the battle is lost."
The Captain's expression was grim, but he nevertheless nodded his consent and radioed the other Helicarriers to open fire on Ultron. All the while, he knew he risked condemning those other Helicarriers, and those would be a lot of good men and women's deaths on his conscience.
Can only hope this plan works...
2005
"Everyone get close to me!" Scarlet Witch ordered, as she did conjuring a magical bubble to protect herself from the spreading contagion. Black Widow quickly fled to her side, as did Captain America carrying the injured Hawkeye fireman style. But as the bubble enveloped them, Ultron opened fire on it.
"I think not, Avengers. I won't let you escape this. I won't let anyone escape this. Humanity's destruction will be total."
However, as Ultron said this, Vision flew into him from behind, ramming into him and engaging his creator in a grapple.
"Your resistance is just as pointless as theirs." Ultron growled to Vision as they continued to struggle against one another's efforts. "Even if you destroy the device, the contagion is already spreading. At this rate, fast enough to infect the nearby towns. And that will be all it takes. The infected will do the rest on their own."
"Unless someone happened to bring a cure for those cities." Came a familiar cocky voice. Looking up, Ultron saw Iron Man flying in, now with an apparatus attached to his armor that contained the antidote to the contagion he'd synthesized with Mockingbird's help.
"No!" Ultron turned to his remaining Sentries. "Ignore the other Avengers! Kill Iron Man!"
The Sentries obeyed, but Iron Man was unfazed and just flew off in the direction of one of the nearby towns. As he and the Sentries grew more distant in the sky, Vision went intangible to end his grapple with Ultron and then flew to where the now defenseless contagion-emitter was. Ultron pursued, but he was too late. Going solid, Vision flew through the device as hard and fast as he could, pulverizing the entire thing and reducing it to smoking scrap metal that went off in all directions.
As Vision emerged though, Ultron flew towards him, and without a second's hesitation, drove his fist through Vision's now exposed chest.
Sparks emitted from the brutal wound, and Vision looked at his creator blankly. Letting out the closest sound to a snarl that he was capable of, Ultron charged up an energy blast in his maw, and fired it out at Vision's head.
As the four Avengers behind Scarlet Witch's force-field looked on in horror, Ultron threw Vision's now headless body to the ground and stared them down.
"My creation may have destroyed my device, but you can't cure everyone in the cities infected, so it makes no difference!"
"You forget; Iron Man has the cure."
"Oh, I haven't forgotten. I'm killing him next."
Present Day
A barrage of artillery from three different directions came at Ultron. As was the case before, Ultron just took it all, but as planned, this kept him distracted from Valiant 1, which inched closer and closer to where he was.
"Keep going!" Morgaine le Fay urged. "Just a bit...closer..."
Indeed, Morgaine was able to "feel" the presence of the gems with her magic much more acutely now, and urged herself to get a good enough "lock" on them that she could finally teleport them right out of Ultron's chest and de-power the villain at last.
Then, all at once, Morgaine le Fay realized that a green gem now lay in her hands. Beaming with pride, she turned to the Captain. "It worked! I got one of the gems out of him!"
Ultron too, was aware that the Soul Gem was now missing. Enraged, Ultron unleashed a burst of red energy just as Ms. Marvel reappeared from another teleport. Blasting her back, Ultron surged towards her. She teleported away, but he caught her when she reappeared. Grabbing her wrist, he applied pressure, forcing her to drop the Space Gem, which plummeted to the earth.
"Since I need a new Infinity Gem, I'll just take yours."
Letting Ms. Marvel go, Ultron flew down to snatch the Space Gem. Iron Man and Vision flew in to intercept him, and Ultron fired energy blasts from both of his hands to keep them busy. But, as he got in close...a web-line stuck to the Space Gem and pulled it away.
"Too slow, tin-man."
Looking up, Ultron, Iron Man, and Vision saw Spider-Man on the lowered ramp of a jet of Wakandan design. And with him were his recent wife Black Cat, the jet's owner Black Panther, Bruce Banner, and the new Ant Man who had recruited them all.
"Call it a cliche, but the cavalry just arrived."
"Die!" Ultron shouted, firing a red energy blast. But the jet narrowly moved out of the way, before flying back up to Valiant 1. Ultron tried to pursue, but Iron Man, Vision, and Ms. Marvel all converged on him to keep him busy. Upon landing on Valiant 1's landing bay, the Wakandan jet lowered it's ramp and out came the reinforcement heroes. For his part, Bruce Banner took a look around, breathed in deeply...and promptly walked over the edge of the helicarrier and jumped off.
"Is he insane!?" Ant-Man wondered aloud.
"Trust me, Mr. Lang, Doctor Banner knows what he's doing." Black Panther said simply.
Sure enough, Bruce Banner's over 10,000 foot drop was in no way fatal. For it was not Bruce Banner who hit the ground. It was the Hulk.
With a roar, Hulk leaped into the air, ramming into Ultron as he was fending off Ms. Marvel, Vision, and Iron Man and slamming him into the ground so hard it made a crater. Undeterred, Ultron fired a thermonuclear energy blast from his mouth, searing Hulk's face and prompting the jade giant to clutch his face and backpedal. His body rapidly repairing the damage, Hulk roared and charged at Ultron again, who flew into the air and away from his foes.
Meanwhile, on Valiant 1, the new arrivals went to the bridge to meet The Captain.
"It's good to see you again, old friend."
"And you as well, Captain." Black Panther said, shaking his hand. As this happened, The Captain looked at the others in turn.
"I thought you two were on your honeymoon."
"Yeah, and the Sinister Six kind of ruined it." Black Cat said with a smile.
"We were in Wakanda at the time." Spider-Man elaborated. "They were trying to steal vibranium as part of Otto's plan, and Panther helped us stop them. When this new Ant-Man came to recruit him against Ultron, we decided to tag along."
"Most crazy honeymoon ever." Black Cat added with a smile that matched the sarcastic deadpan in her tone.
"Well, the more of us the better." The Captain said. "Ultron still has two Infinity Gems. We have a sorceress with us who's trying to teleport the other two gems out of him, but..."
"Wait a minute..." Spider-Man said, cutting The Captain off. "...you're trying to get Infinity Gems out of Ultron?"
The Captain nodded. "Yes. He's storing them inside his chassis. Vision tried phasing through him to grab them, but with the Infinity Gems he can just blast Vision away. Hence why Morgaine le Fay is trying to teleport them out. But if Ultron doesn't stand still and we're not close enough to him, she can't focus on the gems enough to summon them to her."
"Then I propose a new stratagem." Black Panther said. He turned to Ant-Man: "How good are you at using that suit you've been given?"
"I know what I'm doing." Ant-Man II said, giving no ground.
"Good, because I propose that Ant-Man uses his shrinking to go inside Ultron and steal the Infinity Gems he has."
"I'd need to get inside...if there's no openings in his body, it won't work."
"Ah, but we have the Soul Gem." The Captain said, a realization dawning on him. "Tony told me about what each of the gems can do before he left. Apparently, the Soul Gem doesn't just control the soul; it also has access to a pocket dimension. Using the Soul Gem, Ant-Man could enter the pocket dimension, and then re-enter our dimension...inside Ultron."
"And then I take the gems from him!" Ant-Man said, catching on. "Great idea..."
Everyone inside was interrupted when the roof was suddenly blasted away, sending down a rain of rubble that crushed a few unlucky SHIELD personnel who were right underneath. Floating in through the opening, was Ultron.
"You all have something I want."
