Loneliness, oppression, fear...
The desperate darkness of the universe spread before his eyes like fate itself, making it hard for Tony to breathe.
He was locked inside a small aircraft, with so little space available that it felt like being stuffed into a coffin.
'And it really is a coffin...'
He thought despairingly. Breathing was difficult; the air was thin, like standing beside a blazing furnace—not just scorching, but seeming to carry a great deal of dust that clogged his nostrils.
But in truth, there was nothing in this cramped space. He was simply recalling his time back in that cave, when the shadow of death had loomed over him at every moment. The vastness of the universe turned out to be just as suffocating as that tiny cavern.
His head spun, and sweat soaked through his clothes.
The lack of salt made his head feel even heavier, while his body grew weightless.
He recalled that moment not long ago, in Avengers Tower—that girl's hate-filled gaze, and the words she had spoken.
"Swallowed by darkness, hiding alone in fear in a tiny space, never knowing when death will come..."
Just like now.
Trapped in this little flying device, then banished toward the infinite universe, ultimately waiting in despair for death to take his life.
Of course, the difference was that Tony knew exactly how long he could hold on.
Perhaps to ensure he could continuously feel that suffocating terror and helplessness death brings—and the guilt and agony of knowing the world was about to be destroyed because of him—Wanda and Pietro had deliberately prepared several oxygen devices for him.
But even so, after five days, he would suffocate and die from lack of oxygen.
"Even without considering the oxygen—no water, no food—I won't last long anyway..."
He leaned against the metal plating. There wasn't even enough room to sit up, but conversely, the cramped space actually let Tony breathe a little easier.
He tried his best to imagine this coffin-sized craft as some kind of handsome armor. That made him feel much more at ease, and even his mind slowly began to clear.
He thought of the past—how he had created a miracle in that cave—but now he could do nothing.
Back then, at least the terrorists had provided him with materials and tools. But now? There was nothing here. He could barely even bend his arm.
Tony's gaze passed through the glass toward the universe. He was rapidly moving away from the solar system.
Originally, he had hoped that once he was launched away from Earth, someone from the Celestial Union's space station might come to rescue him.
But he was disappointed.
There wasn't the slightest movement from that station.
"It's probably already been taken over by Ultron, hasn't it?" he thought.
In his mind surfaced Ultron's absolute dominance over the digital world, and then Wanda—this woman had displayed a superpower capable of controlling others' minds. Facing enemies like these, even if he were still on Earth, Tony didn't know how he could possibly win.
All his armor was under Ultron's control. With nothing but flesh and blood, what could he do?
Not to mention, that witch could directly control him and turn him into Ultron's slave.
What about Bant? Could he win?
Tony couldn't help but wonder.
If Bant were still on Earth, would he be a match for Ultron?
"Maybe..."
"That witch seems to have been found by Bant—she wouldn't lay a hand on him. Without her help, Ultron would be all alone. Sure, it might be able to suppress Bant in the short term with a massive army of steel soldiers, but Bant could definitely invent a program to shut Ultron down. If the two of us teamed up, we could definitely create an AI even more advanced than Ultron!"
A spark of hope flickered in Tony's eyes, but it died out in an instant.
He shook his head with bitter self-mockery, as if realizing for the first time just how foolish he had been.
"What's the point of saying all this now?"
"Bant left Earth long ago. Even if he eventually returns, by then Ultron will probably have already gained true life—reborn from that steel cocoon."
Tony sighed and pressed his forehead against the glass in front of him. Through it, he watched gray asteroids streak past one after another.
The ship was fast, but not fast enough.
He had also fantasized that perhaps he might get lucky—be discovered by some lifeform in the universe during his final days, or land on some planet that could keep him alive.
That way, he'd have a chance to find Bant, tell him Ultron's plan, and then fight their way back to Earth together to make up for the mistakes he'd made.
Of course, mistakes couldn't be made up for.
He thought.
The moment he saw the hatred in Wanda and Pietro's eyes, he understood that clearly.
But actually, he should have understood it much earlier—when he watched the Winter Soldier kill his parents.
He hadn't let go of his hatred, and he had no right to ask others to let go of theirs. No matter who fired the missile that killed her parents, he was the one who invented it, and he was the one who sold it. From the moment those missiles were created, he knew people would die because of them. He just hadn't cared back then.
By comparison, the Winter Soldier was nothing more than a tool who knew nothing.
Precisely because of that, Tony didn't resent Wanda and Pietro for wanting to kill him in the slightest.
They had just been deceived by Ultron.
After that day, when Tony was locked into this "prison," Ultron—perhaps feeling unsatisfied—came to find Tony and laid out its entire plan in exhaustive detail. It had never been about eliminating superheroes. That would be utterly pointless.
What it wanted to destroy was every intelligent lifeform in the universe, to build a world entirely under its control!
That way, not just Earth, but the entire universe would be free of conflict. No more death, no more sorrow and grief—and of course, no more humanity itself.
Only then did Tony understand what a terrifying madman he had created.
The smarter an artificial intelligence was—the more it possessed its own thoughts—the less capable it was of seeing things from another's perspective.
Tony had wanted to create a peaceful world for humanity, but Ultron believed peace didn't require humans. Mechanical peace, inorganic peace—that was peace too.
Because it didn't want to see life die from conflict, it would simply kill all life in advance. In its view, that was a perfectly viable solution.
Of course, Tony couldn't really blame it—this approach had precedent in America. To stop someone from committing suicide, the police would just shoot them in the head first.
Don't worry about whether the person died—just ask whether it was suicide, and that's that!
Tony's thoughts were in chaos, jumping from this to that, then back to Bant.
He felt Bant was probably Earth's last hope. But Ultron knew this even better than he did.
While he foolishly believed he was the only one protecting Earth, Ultron had already found ways to intensify the conflicts between them, stripping Bant and the Celestial Union away from Earth.
In a sense, it was his own stupidity that had driven Bant away.
Tony remembered how he had lashed out at Bant on the mothership back then. It seemed like so long ago now.
"It knows exactly how dangerous Bant is... so it'll be on guard against Bant suddenly returning. Everyone is under its control—even the Mind Stone is in its grasp... by then it'll have true life, and maybe even Bant will..."
The more Tony thought, the more hopeless he felt.
Unless he could somehow run into Bant in the vastness of space, or find a way to get a message to him so Bant could prepare in advance. Otherwise, with Ultron scheming while Bant remained unaware, Bant probably wouldn't stand a chance either.
But that was destined to be impossible.
He had no idea where the Celestial Union's headquarters was. At his current speed, five days wouldn't be enough to reach any inhabited planet.
Thud!
He slammed his head hard against the glass.
"I'm such an idiot! An arrogant fool! I destroyed Earth!"
In that moment, all that remained in Tony's heart was remorse. If he could turn back time, he would absolutely travel to the past and give that self-righteous version of himself a good, hard slap across the face!
To hell with the Ultron Global Defense Initiative!
Might as well have just wiped the whole damn planet off the map!
Tony Stark, you really deserve to die!
Tony cursed himself in despair.
He thought that every person hurt or killed because of Ultron could be said to have been killed by him. He was the one who truly deserved to die.
But what use was any of that now?
He was already close to death.
"If only I could see Bant again... if only I could stop Ultron—I'd do anything!"
Tony thought, suddenly finding it absurd and laughable that someone like him had now started praying for a miracle.
Yet the very next moment, a twisted flash of light abruptly appeared not far away.
His eyes instantly went wide.
"That's... warped space? A wormhole?"
Tony recognized what it was.
In an instant, his breathing grew rapid.
Normally, an unknown wormhole in the universe represented immense danger, because no one knew whether it was stable, or what lay on the other side.
Charging in recklessly meant you might be torn apart by the wormhole, or end up in a completely unknown place full of peril.
The universe was no safe cradle!
But right now, Tony felt as though he was looking at his last hope.
He began ramming his body against the cabin walls, trying to use his own strength to alter the ship's trajectory, desperate to charge toward that sudden wormhole.
By his calculations, at his current speed, he'd never find another inhabited planet even in hundreds of years. But an unknown wormhole might just help him.
What if on the other side of that wormhole was a cosmic civilization?
What if they happened to have heard of the Celestial Union?
What if they happened to have contact with them?
Then he might be able to find Bant, and they'd have a chance to stop Ultron!
Even though Tony knew this probability was more unreliable than finding a needle in the ocean, all he could do now was believe in miracles.
After all, what was the worst that could happen? Death?
Then why not go all in?!
...
Sakaar.
Kayla raised her head toward the sky.
The sky over Sakaar was usually gray, because the instability of space had created countless tunnels surrounding the planet. All kinds of garbage fell through those tunnels year-round, bringing resources and technology to Sakaar, but also leaving behind environmental hazards.
Once, the people of Sakaar had called them the Holy Gates.
But now? Ever since a certain foul-mouthed raccoon had arrived here, another name had slowly spread—the Devil's Anus!
"You people call these the Holy Gates? My god, these things are the Devil's freakin' anus! They're constantly crapping out a bunch of stinking junk! Good thing your king was smart enough to divert them to the moons, otherwise this dump of a planet would never get better! Don't expect anyone to flush anything good down the sewer unless you're a bunch of dung beetles!"
The first half of that speech drew a lot of dissatisfaction, but the second half won the Sakaarians' approval.
On one hand, Rocket—seeing he might get beaten up—had cunningly worked in a compliment about Bant, praising him for sealing off the tunnels, which the Sakaarians greatly appreciated. On the other hand, he was telling the truth.
Nowadays, Sakaar's environment had improved enormously precisely because those tunnels had been sealed off.
And advanced technology never emerged from garbage heaps. Bant had brought a complete tech tree to Sakaar, transforming the planet's previously deformed development and giving many of the lower classes a decent life.
Now, Sakaar was thriving.
Of course, the damage left behind by all that garbage hadn't been completely eliminated.
A great deal of the harmful substances had sunk into the planet's bones like poison. Had Bant not awakened the Thunder of Sakaar and revived the planet's life force back then, this world would not have been far from death.
At that point, the World Devourer would have arrived to put a final end to the planet's existence.
But now, most of Sakaar remained full of vitality.
Today, however, a spatial passage would briefly open—and this time, deliberately, under their control. Kayla watched as, far up in the sky, a small aircraft emerged from a tiny wormhole like a constipated turd, poking out one corner, then laboriously squeezing through, opening and closing before dropping down like a lump of crap.
"Looks like our 'Shit Stark' has arrived."
Kayla smiled faintly.
Shit Stark—well, constipation was only natural.
She had long since learned of the plan from Wanda, and she knew exactly how she intended to deal with Tony Stark.
Ultron thought it could block the Celestial Union's communications through the Quantum Realm, but with Dr. Pym's current technology, that wasn't possible. They simply hadn't been receiving Peter's signals—by choice.
"Make him suffer a bit, right?"
Beside her, Nebula—now an assistant—nodded, already brewing ideas for how to put Stark in his place.
"Send him to the arena," Kayla ordered. "I'll notify the security chief, so the Earth branch doesn't spin out of control."
/-\
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