The towers hung suspended above the Earth. Each of the six sides of every tower bore the silhouette of Ultron, endlessly discharging swarms of Ultron drones or blotting clouds of nanite swarms into the surrounding area, capturing any human they could catch and assimilating them into Ultron-men.
Naturally, because the Avengers had issued the evacuation directive ahead of time, the number of people facing this danger was far lower than the actual resident population of the cities. However, due to earlier leaks from those nosy media outlets looking for trouble, many individuals simply did not trust the Avengers in the first place, leading to a substantial number of people across major cities still being converted by Ultron.
"One issue is that if Pym's calculations are correct, once we shut down this thing's engine, it and all the matter it brought with it will be returned to their original timeline. What happens to the converted people then? Will they be left missing the modified parts of their bodies, or will they return to normal?"
"I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of contemplating that question right now." Moon Knight brought up the rear of the team. The group had eliminated quite a few Ultron drones and knocked out plenty of Ultron-men along the way. Glancing back to confirm there were no immediate pursuers, he continued, "After all, if we don't act faster, there might not be anyone left worth worrying about this problem for."
As they conversed, the group arrived at the Vulture's workshop. Trailing behind Peter was the assault team he had handpicked himself:
Himself, Cindy, Luke Cage, and Moon Knight.
Luke Cage's skin could resist mechanical assimilation by nanites, making him the ideal member for the entire operation. Moon Knight possessed formidable mental resistance; even if he were modified, he wouldn't easily be brainwashed by Ultron. As for Cindy, she could use her web-weaving to reinforce her own suit to withstand nanites on one hand, and on the other hand, she could track Peter's location, ensuring the team wouldn't be split up if an emergency arose.
However, the more critical reason was to leave enough personnel on the ground to guarantee sufficient combat capability for containing survivors and continuing the fight against Ultron—even if, in theory, those ground battles were technically unnecessary.
"There's just one problem: none of us can fly. The nanites can replicate the Iron Spider armor, but the propulsion power pales in comparison to the real thing. I don't have an Arc Reactor stuffed in my chest, and using the actual Iron Spider suit carries the risk of being hacked by Ultron."
As he spoke, Peter yanked off the tarpaulin stored inside the workshop. Adrian Toomes had been very cooperative with the Avengers and had already closed up shop to move to the countryside for a place to stay. Now, only the apparatus designed to carry Peter and the others into the sky remained here.
It was a new model of anti-gravity flight rig modified by Adrian Toomes, intended for resubmission in the US military bidding process—Falcon's new wings. It did away with the old-fashioned propeller design, making it look much more like bionic wings. To be honest, Peter had no idea how the Vulture had pulled it off, but he had undeniably succeeded.
"An armor that's absolute perfection except for the green color scheme. To this day, I still don't get why the Vulture insists on using green for wings. It screams villain aesthetics no matter how you look at it."
"So, your plan is to strap yourself into this thing, fly up to that giant pillar in the sky, and then we breach the inside, locate an engine, smash some glowing object to pieces, and call it a day?"
Paying no mind to the wings, Luke Cage looked up at the massive pillar hanging in the sky and asked. Peter gave a simple nod: "Pretty much, except for a minor little snag."
"What minor snag?"
"Uh, basically, after a quick inspection, we realized this thing doesn't have any actual entrances besides a few ports for deploying Ultron drones. But if we go in through those ports, all we'll see are densely packed assembly lines. So, we need an exceptionally hard cannonball to punch a hole right through it."
"Except we don't have a cannon, do we?"
"No, but I can improvise something close enough. Working with Cindy, I can set up a giant slingshot capable of catapulting a hard object with enough mass up there."
A hard object with enough mass—Luke Cage pondered for a moment before realization dawned on him, pointing a finger at his own chest. "You don't mean—"
"Yeah, who else?" Peter said with utter sincerity. "It saves me from having to carry another person up there, reducing the team's risk of getting shot out of the sky."
Luke Cage fell silent for a moment, then let out a long, heavy breath. Fine—he was thick-skinned and tough as nails anyway, so he'd definitely survive it.
Off to the side, Moon Knight watched the scene unfold with keen interest before asking back, "Can you launch me out too? I can use my cape to glide right inside. Nothing will go wrong."
Peter opened his mouth, his instincts telling him he should push back against Moon Knight right now. After all, Moon Knight's physical durability wasn't much higher than an ordinary human's, making him seriously doubt whether Moon Knight could handle it.
Yet he found it awkward to reject the idea outright.
"Alright then, I'll give it a shot. In a moment, I'll launch Cage out first. If you feel like you can withstand that level of force, then... well, I still wouldn't recommend you doing it. Besides, if I weren't planning on bringing you along, I wouldn't even need these wings at all—I could just catapult everyone up there."
"You might miss."
Hearing that made Peter even more speechless. I might miss, so shouldn't you be taking the safe way up even more?
"Which personality am I talking to right now? Marc? Jake? Steven?"
Moon Knight remained silent for several seconds before replying with utmost seriousness, "I am Moon Knight."
"I'm asking which personality—"
"I am vengeance! I am the night! I am—Moon Knight!"
Whatever, never mind. There was no reasoning with a lunatic.
Peter shook his head, first strapping the Vulture's wings onto his back. He then walked over to the edge of the stairwell, working alongside Cindy to stretch out a compound web. Once ready, he launched Luke Cage straight into the air. Moon Knight immediately made up his mind: "It's fine, catapult me too. I don't think it'll be a big deal."
"I... I guess there's no need to ask you again. I've asked several times already anyway. What if I miss?"
Moon Knight pondered for a few seconds. "Hmm... I have a glider cape and a grappling hook. I can just grapple right over."
So Peter actually catapulted Moon Knight into the sky as well. Next, he unfolded the Vulture's bionic wings, preparing for takeoff. Cindy looked at Peter, hesitating slightly, to the point that Peter's immediate reaction was: "Don't tell me you want me to catapult you up there too."
"No, it's... I was wondering if you could hold onto me while you fly up there. That way, maybe it'll be a bit safer, and less likely to get hit... or something."