And now we go back to Derrick. This chapter is sure to be longer than the last one.

DISCLAIMER: Derrick Bolris is mine. Althea Delgado/Wavedancer and Trinity belong to Red Witch, as does the Misfitverse this fic is set in. Everything else belongs to Marvel.

Chapter 5: Press Conference of Doom

Derrick meandered through an alley, sighing as evening came upon the city. What a day he had. First the X-Men try to recruit him against his will, then he shocks one of the Misfits into unconsciousness, and finally he has to team up with the X-Men against Magneto. In some mutants' lives, this was a rather calm day. Derrick, however, was not used to such things.

"Those X-Men will probably be back later," he said to himself, draining electricity from a power box as he spoke. "Last I checked they don't give up on forcing a mutant into their cause."

Derrick left, leaving behind an electricity-free power box, unaware of a pair of red eyes stariong out from the shadows. The eyes faded away, disappearing along with their owner.

****

Two days later, a man in a red-and-gold armor stood alongside a man dressed in an orange-and-red costume with goggles on his head. Beside the two was a rather tall shape covered by a white sheet. The two men, Iron Man and Giant Man of the Avengers, stood on a wooden platform with a crowd of people gathered around.

Derrick lingered at the back of the crowd. Though the affairs of non-mutants held no interest for him, he wanted to see what the Avengers were planning. He narrowed his eyes at the sheet. Was it another Sentinel? Were they preparing to hunt down mutants in the same manner as those merciless machines?

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen," Iron Man began in a synthesized voice. "We've called this press conference to show you all the newest member of the Avengers."

"Before you ask," Giant Man said, "we did clear this with S.H.I.E.L.D. Everything's good."

"Good for whom?" Derrick muttered under his breath.

"Iron Man and I were doing experiments with writing a human intelligence onto a microchip," Giant Man continued.

"Mostly Giant Man," Iron Man interrupted. "I did do some things, though. Giant Man, would you like to do the honors?"

"I sure would!" said the goggles-wearing Avenger cheerfully, growing to a massive size and grabbing hold of the sheet. "Everyone, I'd like you to say hi to…"

He pulled the sheet off, revealing a rather menacing-looking robot with an almost beak-like face.

"Ultron!" Giant Man finished, prompting the crowd to murmur amongst themselves and snap photos of the machine.

Derrick clenched his fist. It may look different, but to him, this "Ultron" could be just a glorified Sentinel.

"We built Ultron to give some more brute force to the Avengers," Iron Man explained. "He's made completely from adamantium."

"Adamantium is an indestructible metal," Giant Man explained. "If anyone knows Wolverine from the X-Men, it's what his claws are made of."

"And have you told the X-Men about this?" asked one reporter.

"No, actually," Iron Man answered. "They're dealing with a crisis in Nova Roma at the moment, something about a mutant named Apocalypse. Besides, Wolverine didn't exactly trademark adamantium, did he?"

"Ultron's adamantium body gives him enhanced strength, speed, agility, and durability," Giant Man explained. "He can also shoot concussive energy blasts, like my tin-plated billionaire friend here who felt more like spending his money on rich guy things than funding Ultron."

"Ha, ha, so funny," Iron Man groaned. "Back to Ultron's abilities. He can fly, like myself, Falcon, Warbird, and Thor. Anyone have one more question before we activate him?"

Derrick was about to ask a question, dsiring to know if Ultron would hunt mutants, but another person cut him off.

"How can we be sure Ultron won't turn on you and attack us?" the civilian asked.

"That won't happen," Giant Man assured. "Ultron was programmed with my brain waves, and his primary programming drives him to create peace throughout the world. And, for anyone wondering, he'll only be targeting dangerous mutants, not all of them. All right, everyone ready? Iron Man, fire him up!"

"That…sounded a little wrong," Iron Man pointed out, though he did press a button on his wrist.

With that press of a button, Ultron came to life. His eyes and mouth began to glow a blood red, and the android's head turned as it looked at the crowd before it.

"Greetings," said the machine. "I am Ultron, and I absolutely refuse to accept any jokes relating to the Star Wars character of C-3PO."

"Like I said, he's programmed with my brain waves," chuckled Giant Man.

Ultron gazed upon the crowd around him, then, to the horror and shock of the two Avengers, fired a red blast of energy into the crowd.

"Ultron, what are you doing?!" Iron Man yelled. "You're supposed to protect these people!"

"No, Iron Man," Ultron countered, "no such initiative exists in my programming. My programming states that I must keep peace throughout the planet. Thus, I have concluded that there is a 100% chance that the world will be peaceful if it is no longer plagued by flesh creatures."

"Target the mutants, not us!" snapped a mutant hater from the crowd.

"Mutant, human, it makes no difference," Ultron replied, shooting the same mutant hater with another energy blast. "Both are merely types of flesh creatures, and as such must be eliminated."

"Stop now, Ultron!" Giant Man shouted as Iron Man encouraged the people to evacuate, though Derrick was mysteriously gone. "I won't let you harm these people!"

"You are my father, Dr. Pym," Ultron droned, "but would you force me to go against my programming? You, Dr. Pym, have become an obstacle."

Ultron aimed one palm at Giant Man, preparing to fire another energy blast.

"And all obstacles must be removed," Ultron threatened, but before the android could attack, he suddenly felt power draining from him. "Wha…what? Losing…power…power at 80%...75%...68%..."

"What in the…?" Iron Man stammered, looking around to find Derrick draining Ultron's electricity from his leg. "Kid, get out of here!"

"Oh, sure, discriminate against the mutant," Derrick snapped as he continued to drain Ultron's power.

"It's too dangerous!" Giant Man insisted, growing to a massive size.

"Doesn't stop you, now does it?" Derrick retorted.

"Enough!" Ultron cried, kicking Derrick away, the electrokinetic landing on a trash can roughly a mile away. "Power level at 30%...no matter, I still have enough energy to destroy my creators."

Ultron quickly struck Giant Man with a blast of energy, knocking him off balance. Iron Man flew at the android, only to be stopped by an uppercut punch that sent the armored Avenger flying into Giant Man, knocking the massive man over completely.

"Diverting 20% of all power to concussive blasters," Ultron droned, aiming at the fallen heroes. "Farewell, my fathers."

A bolt of lightning suddenly struck Ultron from behind. The robot turned to see Derrick, still quite a distance away but holding himself up by the trash can.

"If they're both your fathers, does that make the both of them gay?" Derrick asked.

"Hey!" the two heroes snapped.

"Insolent child!" Ultron roared, aiming at Derrick. "I will end your disease-inducing existence first!"

"Not if we can help it!" Iron Man cried, hitting Ultron in the back with a missile. Ultron, however, was barely damaged.

"Nothing…but a flesh wound," the android said.

"Giant Man, have you been watching Monty Python?" Iron Man asked. "Ultron does have your brain waves."

"Hey, it's a hilarious show!" Giant Man countered. "Besides, right now we've got to put our renegade creation down!"

"But you will not," Ultron said, hitting them both with his lasers, "because you are the ones that I will put down."

Over at the trash can, Derrick raised up his hands as they crackled with electricity.

"Okay, have to try something new," the mutant said.

With that, Derrick shoved his hands down while discharging bolts of electricity from them. Essentially catapulting himself into the air, Derrick flung himself toward Ultron, latching onto the android's head with a loud clang and draining the mechanical menace's power once again.

"No! I…am the…mighty Ultron!" Ultron protested. "I cannot…be…de…feat…ed…"

The red in Ultron's eyes and mouth faded, and the renegade machine collapsed onto the wooden platform.

"Whew," Iron Man breathed. "That was a close call. Thanks, kid. Ever think about joining the—"

Iron Man's offer was cut short when the two Avengers noticed that Derrick was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Giant Man asked.

"No clue," Iron Man replied, "but right now, we've got to take what's left of Ultron into S.H.I.E.L.D custody. They're more than likely going to want to look at him to see what went wrong. Contact Wonder Man, let's bring this guy in."

"We're giving him another initiation, aren't we?" Giant Man asked.

"You bet," Iron Man answered.

****

Derrick had disappeared into an alley. The mutant looked back at the heroes and their fallen creation as he walked, knowing that Ultron would no longer have the possibility of bringing harm to any mutants…

…at least, he hoped that was the case.