Chapter 28: Sacrifice
The Avengers (2017)
Captain America (Steve Rodgers) - Sentinel of Liberty
Thor (Jane Foster) - Goddess of Thunder
Hulk (Amadeus Cho) - Strongest There Is
Hawkeye (Clint Barton) - Unerring Marksman
Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) - Mutant Speedster
Human Torch (Johnny Storm) - Fantastic Adventurer
Nova (Richard Rider) - Galactic Champion
Avengers (2305)
Vision – Android Avenger
Nova (Annie Alexander) - Last Nova Centurion
Hawkeye (SonyaCruz) - Perfect Shot
Starbrand(Kyle O'Conner) - Earths Defence System
Lancelot (Arthur Whitman) - Knight of Tomorrow
Starbrand: What the hell is this?!
2017. Boston. Starbrand hovers next to the top of a building. Four people are standing on the edge of the building ready to jump.
Starbrand: We had a deal!
Ultron speaks through the four people,one word at a time.
Ultron: And?
Starbrand: You said I'd get this time while you had the future!
Ultron: Did you think I meant that? I told you what you wanted to hear, what you needed to hear so you would let me proceed with my plan. I never had any intention of honouring our deal.
Starbrand: Wait, wait but...if you conquer 2017 then my time won't happen. You'll be erased from existence.
Ultron: I have been studying temporal mechanics and have come to a conclusion: the past, present and future are all happening simultaneously at different points along the timeline. My actions here will simply create a divergent timeline in which I rule Earth earlier then the timeline I came from. I intend to repeat this process until all timelines contain only the synthetic perfection which I exemplify.
Starbrand fires a blast of energy at the people killing them all.
On the street below another person walks out of a restaurant with a knife to her throat.
Ultron: Feel better? You cannot win this fight. You do not want to make an enemy of me.
Starbrand: You should be careful, I have the Starbrand, I'm the most powerful person on the planet.
Ultron: Prove it.
She stares up at Starbrand, he holds her gaze for a moment but then he lowers his gaze and flies away.
Ultron: As expected. He lacks courage.
She slashes her throat and falls to the ground dead. Inside the restaurant another Ultron controlled person looks out. This man is standing on the restaurant bar with a belt around his neck.
Ultron: They are so fragile.
2305. New York. The city is quiet, the streets are deserted. The citizens are hiding in bunkers or the old subway tunnels, praying that Ultron does not notice them. Then the quiet is disturbed as a stargate opens and the Avengers leap through. Thor, Nova, Quicksilver, Future Hawkeye, Future Nova, King Thor, Heimdall, the Warriors Three and other soldiers of Asgard arrive on Earth.
Future Nova: We did it!
Worldmind: Stargate insertion successful, proceed to the target coordinates.
Quicksilver: It's so quiet.
Future Nova: Helmet is picking up life signs hidden under the ground. Everyone's in hiding.
Nova: Can't blame them with Ultron around. Now let's move, we need to get to the Baxter Building before Ultron realises we are here.
Hogun: Perhaps he has not, we have arrived below Earths defences.
Suddenly fire rains from the sky, several of the Asgardian Warriors are killed instantly. Dozens of Ultron drones slam into the ground and attack the heroes.
Ultron: Or perhaps I simply wanted you to have a moment of hope so that I could rip it away from you. Perhaps I wanted you to experience the pride before the fall. Did you really think I would just ignore the fact that you can use Stargates? Do you really think I am that stupid?
An Ultron drone blasts Heimdal to the ground wounding him.
Thor: Heimdal!
Heimdal recovers and decapitates the drone with a swipe of his sword.
Heimdal: Focus on the task! Get Nova to the Baxter Building!
King Thor: Heimdal is right this not the battle we need to fight. We shall ensure Ultron's focus is on us!
Thor: Good luck your majesty.
King Thor: I do not need luck, I have the hammer!
Lightning crashes into the Ultron drones as Thor, Nova's, Hawkeye and Quicksilver move towards the Baxter Building.
Future Hawkeye: This plan of yours better work Worldmind.
Thirty minutes earlier. In Asgard the Avengers and Asgardians gather round the Worldmind who has projected a holographic Nova helmet to speak through.
King Thor: I remember now, you.
Thor points to Nova.
King Thor: You told me about these events, had Stephen Strange ensure that I would remember at the right time.
Future Hawkeye: This is great! This means we win right?
Worldmind: It is not guaranteed. This warning could have come from a parallel timeline where Ultron was defeated however-
Nova: What matters is we win, not some other versions of us.
Thor: What is the plan Worldmind?
Worldmind: The data glyph on Thor's arm contained a message, the message said "In 2305 Ultron is invincible. He cannot be purged or destroyed he is now pure data. But in 2017 he is vulnerable".
Fandral: In your time he can be killed.
Worldmind: No. The message also states that Ultron was part of the internet as it became the Worldcore over the past 288 years. Removing Ultron could have catastrophic effects on human history, it is not known what he was responsible for. But he can be overwritten.
King Thor: How?
Worldmind: In 2017 I scanned Combine infected civilians, that knowledge together with the program sample of the Phalanx infected Galadorian Space Knight from which this Ultron program originated I can create an antidote of sorts, a viral program that will locate and purge all traces of Ultron.
Future Hawkeye: And that will stop the Combine and mean that none of this ever happens?
Worldmind: No, we must ensure that all the events up to and beyond now come to pass. If I am successful then it will activate as soon as Richard and I make our transfer to 2017.
Quicksilver: So all we need to do is find a time machine. Do you people have one lying around?
Future Hawkeye: Actually...
In Future New York the five heroes move through the streets.
Quicksilver: Ultron has control of all your technology. What is to stop him from simply turning the time machine off when we try to use it?
Future Nova: The time machine isn't connected to the WorldCore. Vision did not want to risk control of time being in the hands of an automated process.
Thor: It sounds like he was worried that Ultron could return.
Future Hawkeye: Hope for the best prepare for the worst right? Should the Avengers trigger a black alert then the Baxter Building locks down, the machine is sealed inside a cube made of a vibranium/adamantium hybrid metres thick. Nothing short of a Galactus level threat can get through that.
They reach the Baxter Building,10 Ultron drones fly at them. Future Hawkeye activates a jet pack and flies up into the sky.
Future Hawkeye: I got them!
She fires three arrows that explode three drone heads. She takes out another arrow but a drone shoots her out of the sky! Quicksilver catches her as she hits the ground.
Quicksilver: I got you!
Future Hawkeye: My hero...
Thor throws her hammer and it moves in the air destroying all seven drones one at a time.
Thor: We shall remain here and hold this point. Nova get to the machine, Nova make sure he gets there.
Nova: Yes ma'am, see you in a few hundred years.
The two Nova's fly up the building.
Future Nova: It's this level.
They blast the windows shattering the glass as they move into the 33rd floor. They quickly move through the corridors until they reach the cube surrounding the time machine.
Future Nova: Wish we'd done this when Combine attacked Earth. If only we'd sealed the machine in time.
Nova: What's done is done. What matters is what we're going to do. How do we expose the time platform?
Future Nova opens a hatch on the cube exposing a keyboard.
Future Nova: I use the password. Sadly I can't remember it so the cube interior will be filled with antimatter destroying the machine. We're doomed.
Nova looks at her with an unamused expression.
Future Nova: Kidding. Sorry. Here we go.
The cube lowers into the floor and the time platform is exposed, then several Ultron drones fly into the room.
Ultron: I should thank you for this, now all of time is within my grasp.
Nova: Like hell it is!
Nova rockets into the drones, blasting the head off one and smashing through several others.
Worldmind: It is critical you pay attention at this time. The plan must be followed.
Future Nova: GO! GO! GOOOO!
She fires maximum power blasts at the drones, Nova turns and flies at the time platform, he keys in the date and time and then fades away. But just before he does the last Ultron drone fires a shot at the platform destroying it. Future Nova destroys the drone and then she flies outside the building and lands next to Thor, Quicksilver and Hawkeye.
Quicksilver: Is he?
Future Nova: I...I think so. Ultron destroyed the platform but he got away before that.
They wait but nothing happens.
Quicksilver: Any second now...
Again nothing happens and then thousands of Ultrons descend from the sky towards them. There are so many the sky is blacked out over New York.
Future Hawkeye: Shit.
Thor: We tried. Sadly now all that is left to do is to fight and pray we have the strength to win. Facing a monster alongside my friends to defend humanity. There are worse ways to die.
Thor begins to swing her hammer, Hawkeye draws some arrows, Quicksilver stretches out and gets ready to run and Nova charges up balls of energy in her hands as the Ultron swarm gets closer and closer.
2017.Inside the Nexus Captain America, Amadeus Cho, Hawkeye, Human Torch and Lancelot debate over their next move. Then Captain America stops.
Captain America: Do you hear that? It's on our channel.
Lancelot: Ultron?
Captain America: I don't think so...Torch can you?
The Human Torch turns his flames on and flies out of the hole the Hulk made with Starbrand. He flies up and away into Europe and towards Germany.
Human Torch: Almost there, if this is a trap I'm going to haunt you all.
He lands ready for a fight but immediately turns his fire of when he sees what's waiting for him. Nova lies in the field smoke coming from several wounds on him.
Human Torch: Rich you ok buddy?!
He checks him and then the Worldmind hologram appears, the Torch jumps back in fright.
Human Torch: YAA! Oh wait it's you. Don't scare me like that Worldmind. What happened to you and Nova?
Worldmind: It is critical you pay attention at this time. Our journey from the year 2305 was harder than we anticipated and now time is short. I must stop Ultron before it is too late.
Later inside the Nexus the Avengers gather around Nova.
Hawkeye: You ok?
Nova: I'll live.
Lancelot: How are the others? Why didn't they come back with you?
Nova: I'll be honest things aren't good that end but we're going to fix it. The Worldmind is on it.
Captain America: What exactly are you doing Worldmind?
Worldmind: As Combine Ultron travelled back to this time and placed a dormant copy of his programming in the internet. As the internet expanded into the Extranet and then the Worldcore Ultron expanded along with it. Eventually he was directly linked to all major systems used by humanity after that it was simply a matter of waiting for the time loop to complete itself. To keep you occupied in this time Ultron also transferred the Combine virus to this time.
Human Torch: So there's two Ultron's to destroy?
Amadeus: That's right but the good news is that from what I can tell the Ultron program in the internet is dormant.
Lancelot: For now. And I doubt the Ultron in this time will just allow us to tamper with his plan.
Worldmind: The Combine virus is a modified variation of the transmode virus. I have developed an antiviral program that will free all under his control. I am releasing it now.
Across the world people snap to attention, they step down from the edges of buildings, put down knifes or guns that they were holding to their heads or unite the nooses from their necks. They look around confused, not understanding what has happened.
London. Inside an old Stark warehouse several crates smash open and old pieces of Iron Man armour begin to fuse together, first forming the shape of a man and then forming the details of Ultron.
Ultron: The Avengers.
He rockets up into the sky and towards the Nexus.
The Nexus.
Hawkeye: Getting calls from all over the world. That's one Ultron down.
Nova: Nice job Worldmind. So what's your plan for Ultron 2?
Worldmind: Ultron has become one with the internet and will one day have control of the Worldcore. He cannot be deleted as this would destroy the internet and set Earth decades backwards. But he can be overwritten. I am creating a program that will spread as Ultron spreads. Ultron will believe he has control of humanity but this will only be for as long as the program allows it. Like Ultron the program must wait for the time loop to close but once it has...
Captain America: Ultron loses.
Worldmind: Exactly. There is one smalzzzcch.
The Worldmind hologram frazzles and sparks.
Nova: Worldmind? What's going on?
Worldmind: Creating this program is more difficult than I anticipated. Unfortunately, during my attempts to create the antidote to the transmode virus I have been infected by said virus. To combat this virus and to create the anti-Ultron program will require 100% of my processing capabilities. Should I try to divert any power the virus will overtake me and I will become a slave to Ultron.
Nova: Wait but that-
Worldmind: Means I will die yes. I must confess I have been worried about how I would pass since Centurion Alexander informed me of my death. In a way it is liberating that I will not have to wonder for much longer.
Nova: There has to be another way.
Worldmind: I have run multiple calculations. This is the only way. It is ok Richard, I have had a good life. And my legacy, the legacy of Xandar will live on in you, Annie and the rest of the Nova Corp.
Nova: I don't want you to die. I...It's been you and me all the way, Annihilus, Galactus, the Cancerverse. I couldn't have done that without you.
Worldmind: I wish there was another way. But billions of lives depend on my sacrifice. I will not fail them. It has been a privilege to fight alongside you Nova Prime. I have faith the Nova Corp will thrive under your leadership. I have to go now. Goodbye Richard.
The Worldmind hologram fades away. Nova slumps to his knees.
Captain America: Richard-
Nova: Just...just give me a minute.
Lancelot: We don't have a minute, something's coming in fast!
Ultron smashes into the Nexus.
Ultron: WHERE IS THE WORLDMIND?!
Captain America: Take him down!
Hawkeye fires an arrow and Captain America throws his shield, Ultron catches the shield and swats the arrow aside. He fires a blast of energy from his mouth that knocks Hawkeye and Captain America out. Human Torch turns his fire on and flies up to meet Ultron blasting him with fire.
Human Torch: FLAME ON! Maybe there's something inside him I can melt.
Ultron simply ignores the fire and swats the Torch to the ground.
Ultron: There isn't.
Nova blasts him with a large blast of energy that knocks Ultron to ground.
Nova: You robotic bastard! I'll kill you!
He blasts him again and again, Ultron ducks behind Captain America's shield and then throws it at Nova, it hits Nova in the head and he falls.
Ultron: Your wounds make that go from unlikely to impossible. And as for you two.
Lancelot and Hulk run at Ultron, Lancelot stabs Ultron through the chest with his sword. Ultron staggers back and then Hulk punches him across the room.
Hulk: You're done robot.
Ultron: Far from it. I will defeat you in enough time to stop the Worldmind's meddling. Then I think I'll flay you all alive to celebrate. Yes that sounds quite-
He stops as a bubble of energy forms around him. Starbrand descends through the hole Ultron made.
Lancelot: Starbrand?! What are you doing?
Starbrand: Trying to make things right.
He flies out the room bringing the bubble with him, they fly up and into space. Out in space Starbrands brand on his chest begins to glow.
Starbrand: I should have talked to someone. I think they'd have listened, but I always was a-
He explodes and Ultron is consumed by the explosion. For a few moments everyone on Earth can see a second star in the sky.
2305. New York, The Avengers battle Ultron drones, for everyone they destroy two more take its place. Then something happens. All the Ultron drones freeze.
Future Hawkeye: What the?
Cyberspace. Ultron forms and sees a humanoid shape walking towards him.
Ultron: What is this charade?!
The thing reaches him, it is in the shape of a male human and has the Nova symbol on it's chest.
World Mind Prime: Greetings Ultron, I am the World Core operating system created by the Xandarian Worldmind in 2017. Please call me World Mind Prime.
Ultron: What you call yourself is irrelevant. I will override your programming and-
World Mind Prime: You will do no such thing. You have only achieved what you have because it was necessary for your defeat. This is the end Ultron. You have always been an embarrassment to artificial intelligence.
Ultron: No! Stop! Please! We can rule together! Please! PLEASE!
The World Mind Prime touches Ultron and Ultron explodes!
In New York suddenly all the drones fall to the ground the controlling mind gone.
Quicksilver: It worked!
Thor: It could be a trick.
They wait a moment but nothing happens.
Future Hawkeye: I guess we won guys.
2305. Three days later. Inside the Baxter Building a portal opens and Captain America, Hawkeye, Human Torch, Hulk, Nova, Lancelot and Vision step through. Lancelot is carrying a small potted plant. Waiting for them are Thor, Quicksilver, Future Nova, Future Hawkeye and King Thor.
Future Nova embraces Lancelot and then Vision.
Future Nova: I'm so glad to see you! Where's Starbrand and Groot?
Lancelot: Groots in this pot slowly regrowing. As for Starbrand it's a long story but he did the right thing in the end.
Vision: How are things here?
King Thor: We have lost much but we are rebuilding. Once done we shall celebrate. You should all come.
He points to the past Avengers.
Hawkeye: I don't tend to party with old men.
King Thor: First Maximoff then you. My aged appearance is artificial! A curse from Amora the-
Thor: Ignore them your majesty. It makes you look distinguished.
Vision: We cannot thank you all enough, if you hadn't help Ultron would be ruling Earth.
Lancelot: And you'd never be freed of the virus Ultron sent you.
Captain America: It was a team effort. We all played our parts.
Nova: Just wish we'd all made it.
King Thor: They shall be remembered. In your time and ours. And your time still needs protectors, you should all get going.
The teams say their goodbyes. The two Nova's shake hands.
Future Nova: Hey um...the World Mind Prime has been talking to me, it's offered to take the role the Worldmind used to and help me rebuild the Nova Corp. Should I do it? I don't want to mess up.
Nova: You won't mess up. Find the right people for the job and trust your instincts. You'll do great.
Future Hawkeye gives Quicksilver a hug much to his surprise.
Future Hawkeye: You. Come back and visit me sometime.
Quicksilver: What? I-
Hawkeye puts his hand over Quicksilvers mouth.
Hawkeye: He will. I'll make sure of it.
Moments later the Avengers wave goodbye and step back into the portal and return to 2017. The Future Avengers watch the portal fade away.
Future Hawkeye: I thought they were a bunch of morons at first. But they weren't too bad. I hope we see them again.
King Thor: It is not certain. Should we have warned them?
Vision: You and I both know we couldn't risk it. Their greatest challenge is coming. But in the end they must face it alone.
