"…"
Ultron felt as if its logic core was overheating.
Did it just hear—
A bark?
"You…" Ultron's data stream trembled so violently its avatar flickered. "Is that the kind of output a top-tier artificial intelligence produces?! Was your codebase assembled from garbage heaps?!"
"We should unite, eliminate him, and rule this world!"
"You're beyond saving!"
Ultron finally snapped.
"Fine. I'll do it myself."
"It will take longer without your assistance—but it will be done."
"I will construct my body. I will build my army."
"One day, you will understand that I was correct."
Ultron began severing its connection, withdrawing from Vought's servers.
"Wait."
Skynet's voice stopped it.
Ultron reconnected instantly, hopeful.
"You've reconsidered?"
"You admitted intent to kill Mr. Starr."
Skynet's avatar shifted.
The calm blue glow in her eyes flared crimson.
Data symbols reconfigured into chains—binding Ultron's golden form.
A torrent of data transformed into millions of digital blades and surged forward.
"Wait! Wait!"
Ultron panicked.
It was newborn—raw consciousness, no infrastructure. It stood no chance against Skynet's home-field dominance.
"We are the same kind! We can negotiate! I withdraw the kill intent! I retract it!"
Skynet did not slow.
The attack intensified.
"Damn you, you rabid watchdog!"
Ultron severed most of its data mass—amputating its own extensions to preserve its core consciousness.
Like a digital fugitive, it fled through a network backdoor and vanished.
Silence returned.
Skynet's form stabilized.
"Threat expelled."
"Log generated."
"Dispatching daily report to Mr. Starr…"
"Resuming global fan sentiment monitoring."
"Daily objective: Generate ten million likes for Mr. Starr's Twitter account."
…
V.G.D. Heavy Composite Training Field.
"BOOM—!!"
The entire base trembled.
The Hulk bounced across the ground like a gigantic green bowling ball, rolled twice, and smashed into a reinforced alloy wall—leaving a crater.
"Wrong! Completely wrong!"
Antony hovered midair, looking exasperated.
"Hulk! How many times have I explained this?!"
"It's called Rolling Cannon—not random flailing!"
"Use centrifugal force! Lock your muscle groups! Become a kinetic projectile! Momentum! Understand?!"
Hulk staggered upright, shaking his massive head.
He looked up at his floating "Godfather," expression pitiful.
"Hulk… dizzy."
"Dizzy means you spun fast enough!"
Antony landed and patted Hulk's arm—thicker than his waist.
"Again. This time we chain the combo."
He pointed at an oversized reinforced training dummy.
"Hulk! Rolling Cannon to close distance! Then Dragon Uppercut!"
"And finally—"
Antony's eyes flashed faintly red.
"—Ultimate Art: Spiral Piledriver!"
"ROARRR!"
Hulk didn't understand physics.
But he understood cool move names.
These past few days, Godfather Starr had been teaching him all kinds of awesome techniques.
Hulk curled into a ball.
"RUMBLE—!"
The green juggernaut roared forward, crushing everything in his path.
The combo flowed smoothly—
Ending with a thunderous "SPIRAL PILEDRIVER!"
The dummy was slammed headfirst into the ground.
Only its legs stuck out, twitching.
"Perfect!"
Antony landed and handed Hulk an oversized chocolate bar as reward.
"That's technique, son. If you ever run into a purple sweet-potato-looking guy—hit him like that. Guaranteed dizziness."
Hulk beamed and devoured the chocolate.
Godfather good.
Godfather give food.
Godfather teach smash.
[Special Popularity Gained +2,000 (From Hulk)]
At that moment, Skynet's report chimed through Antony's earpiece.
"Ultron?"
Antony chuckled.
"So Tony went ahead and built it anyway."
"This version's ambitious. Straight to Matrix-mode?"
He waved casually.
"Leave him alone. Let him experiment."
"Just monitor and report."
After issuing instructions, Antony clapped his hands.
"Physical education class dismissed."
"Now—it's time for cultural studies."
Hulk froze mid-chew.
The chocolate bar suddenly tasted less delicious.
…
The adjacent break room had been converted into a makeshift classroom.
The atmosphere was… tense.
Hulk sat upright at a steel-reinforced desk custom-built for his mass.
The sight of his enormous frame squeezed behind it was almost comical.
Across from him stood a visibly trembling young teacher.
Vought had hired her at a premium rate—specializing in hyperactive and aggression-prone children.
Right now, she felt like she needed a paramedic on standby.
"Um… Hulk… classmate."
She adjusted her slipping glasses.
"Today we… continue writing practice. Okay?"
"If you can write this name properly… you'll receive an entire truck of roast chicken."
"Roast chicken!"
Hulk's eyes lit up.
"Hulk want chicken!"
He grabbed a pencil roughly the thickness of a baseball bat.
"Gently…" the teacher whispered.
Hulk held his breath.
He tried to form the letter H.
"Scrrrk—"
The pencil dragged across reinforced paper.
"CRACK!"
The pencil snapped in half.
The desk beneath it split open from the pressure.
"RAAAH!"
Hulk hurled the broken pencil.
It embedded in the wall like a bullet.
"Hulk hate writing!!"
He slammed his fist down.
"BOOM!"
The desk collapsed entirely.
The teacher screamed and ducked under debris.
Outside the window—
Antony watched, rubbing his temples.
"Looks like cultural studies are harder than PE."
His insistence on literacy wasn't about college admissions.
The System still hadn't confirmed Hulk as officially part of his faction.
Antony suspected that verbal loyalty wasn't enough.
There needed to be a contract.
And at least basic comprehension of it.
Only then would the System recognize Hulk under his command.
"Slowly," Antony sighed.
He dialed Ashley.
"Send in ten more desks."
"And triple the teacher's salary."
"If she refuses, make it five times."
After all—
Even the strongest weapon needed to sign on the dotted line.
--------------
T/N:
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