"So all Avengers need to be eradicated."
Peter bristled with excitement the moment he heard those words, but Optimus Ultron, lying on the ground, rapidly shifted his tone: [Oh, I didn't mean harming the Avengers. I meant ending their existence—an absolute safe world for humans doesn't require Avengers. I've merely solidified my conviction.]
On a human, those words would look like a pathetic attempt to save face, but coming from an AI, it carried a distinct, chilling significance. Something had definitely happened to Ultron just now, causing his program to instantly calculate that eradicating the Avengers was the optimal approach.
For a brief second, that logic had even breached Ultron's core source code. Without a doubt, Tony had pulled off something massive—though Peter didn't know the exact details yet.
Anyway, it was probably good news. He still needed to check on Cindy's safety first.
Let's rewind the clock a little.
Paris, France. Around 6:30 PM local time.
Tony, five members of Excalibur, two British mutants who came from the X-Men to support the UK—Nightcrawler and Shadowcat—along with Hercules, who had rushed over with Amadeus Cho, were battling a massive horde of Ultron minions and countless ordinary people forcibly transformed by Ultron.
All sorts of bizarre, corrupted items were attacking the Avengers too: vending machines spewing cola, ATMs showering cash on the streets to lure civilians out, and flashing traffic lights attempting to wreck traffic and endanger human lives.
Tony even found time to banter with the young members of Excalibur while fighting in his All-New, All-Different Armor.
"I have to ask, when was the last time the British marched into Paris to fight? The Hundred Years' War?"
Captain Britain punched through an Ultron robot before answering Tony, "No, I think it was during World War II."
"Hmm? Was there a battle in Paris during World War II?"
Tony quipped playfully, firing powerful energy beams from both palms to blast back an Ultron unit. Yet for some reason, other Ultron robots locked their sights on Iron Man, relentlessly swarming him, only to be tossed back by his repulsor fields.
"Haha, don't think I don't know what you're up to. Keep your filthy hands off my beloved suit."
As Tony spoke, he altered the shape of the All-New, All-Different Armor, molding it into a form better suited for close-quarters combat and assembling a samurai sword from surplus armor components.
The bisected Ultron robots crawled toward Iron Man along the ground, rushing him all at once. Tony unleashed full firepower—from kinetic weapons to energy beams and high-temperature lasers—before soaring into the air and raining heavy bombardment down on the ground.
According to the Avengers' original plan, they were to deploy a massive EMP device in Paris capable of covering all of Western Europe. This pulse would paralyze the region's entire network, purging Ultron from the area and reducing his overall processing power—after all, Ultron lacked a dedicated mainframe and relied on the global internet to calculate.
That was their strategy: systematically collapse the global network in regional stages without triggering a complete world blackout, driving Ultron's core program into a single designated zone for a final showdown.
The plan relied on Ultron's cooperation, but the Avengers were confident he would take the bait. Every superhero would gather at the final battleground, and if Ultron wanted to wipe them all out at once, he would inevitably show up.
However, Ultron wasn't obligated to accept the battleground chosen by the Avengers. For instance, he found Western Europe quite suitable. Thus, his forces mounted a heavy assault on Tony, who was managing the EMP control system. Tony managed to soar out of reach, but the other members of Excalibur couldn't fly.
Captain Britain glanced up at Iron Man, who had reduced to a tiny speck in the sky, intending to rush up and help him. But endless swarms of Ultron drones surged back in, burying him in metal. Meanwhile, Hercules was wildly smashing through enemies, shouting back to Amadeus, who was stationed at the control console: "Cho, my friend! How are you holding up?! Can you hold the line?!"
"As long as you can keep them off me, I'm fine—same as always—" Amadeus sat on the ground, staring at the laptop resting on his knees. "East Asia and everywhere east of the Urals in Russia, except Japan, have completed the shutdown. They've successfully severed all connections. According to my calculations, Ultron's computing power has dropped by... 3.14%. What a poetic number."
"I really wish those fellows like Zuras would step out and help! Eating up the faith of Mount Olympus without lifting a finger!"
"You mean the Eternals? Yeah, I wouldn't count on them helping out."
Amadeus removed his non-prescription glasses, stretching out a yawn while nonchalantly typing away. For some reason, adventuring with Hercules made even a threat like Ultron feel a lot less intense.
Still, why was Tony Stark delaying the activation of the electromagnetic pulse?
Up in the sky, however, Tony was having a far tougher time. Continuously fending off enemies, Iron Man was eventually tackled by a relentless swarm of climbing Ultron robots. Upon contact with the suit, the nanites controlled by Ultron rapidly altered the All-New, All-Different Armor, attempting to hijack Tony's body and mind.
[Do not resist, Stark. You will soon realize that the Ultron Network is the ultimate solution you've always dreamed of. You can finally lay down your anxiety.]
A neural transmission interface was established inside the helmet of the armor in mere seconds. Tony grit his teeth, watching it unfold powerlessly as Ultron's consciousness merged with his own.
And then, almost simultaneously within a single second, every Ultron unit echoed the exact same line:
[So all Avengers need to be eradicated!]
In that instant, severe logical paradoxes tore through Ultron's entire programming system. Tony burst into triumphant laughter: "You think you're the only one who knows how to brainwash people? I planted a logic virus in my own brain! Enjoy the meal, Ultron! Trigger the pulse!"
A massive electromagnetic pulse swept across half of Europe in an instant, crippling all network infrastructure simultaneously. Immediately, everyone capable of flight, including Captain Britain, took to the skies to rescue airborne commercial flights forced into takeoff by Ultron.
With the network offline, Tony's suit lost operational capability, sending Iron Man plunging into a freefall. Suddenly, he began to burn mid-air.
It wasn't atmospheric friction causing him to catch fire—his body was radiating intense heat from within. A massive surge of liquid metal erupted from beneath Tony's skin and bones, forming a form-fitting, ultra-thin suit of armor that operated without any internal operating system.
"Even if you can't see it anymore, I'll say it anyway, Ultron. I prepared a new toy—a perfect fusion of the Extremis virus and nanotechnology."
"My Extremis Armor."