Bab 43: Chapter 41
(General P.O.V)
Ultron snorted upon spotting Ash's arrival. Every single eye was stuck on the very young teen. It was enough for the killer AI to do a spit take.
"A child?"
Ultron asked.
"One person is hardly enough to change the outcome. What can you possibly hope to achieve by bringing a child into the fight?"
The question was directed at the Avengers, but mostly aimed at Tony.
"Ugh Junior, you already know my parenting skills suck. You're evidence enough." Iron Man was ready with a quip.
"Classic tony." Black Widow snorted.
"Tony, he's right. The kid should not be here. It's not too late for him to take the last of the evacuation ships."
Captain America told Iron Man.
"Why are you telling him?" Ash asked in annoyance before Tony could answer.
"This is my choice." He grabbed the necklace strapped around his neck and pulled it off. Mid swing, the necklace changed into a long purple blazing energy sword.
"Umm can you do that?"
Quicksilver asked Thor.
The god sighed and answered, a little grouchy.
"No."
"Look around you child..."
Ultron started.
"It's Ash." Only for the teen to cut him off, pointing his weapon at Ultron's main body.
"And if we're being technical, you're only a few days old. So Fuck you for calling me a child."
"Hey! Language."
Hawkeye was quick to admonish. He was a family man after all.
"Sorry!"
Ash called out over his shoulder, before turning his attention to Ultron.
"Before we kick your collective asses, Ultron. I have one question." Ash unexpectedly backed down. His weapon was deactivated and he was left with the chain of the necklace tied around his palm.
"Why not try change? You know? Before going all genocidal like every other villain, have you thought of other ways to solve this besides violence?"
"What is he doing?"
The Scarlet Which wondered from her brother's side, who immediately shrugged at the question.
"No idea, Americans are weird."
He answered, not caring that he was mostly surrounded by them.
"Can't knock that logic."
Hawkeye shrugged.
"Where's the patriotic spirit?"
Black Widow was quick with a come back.
"Buried for if we survive this."
"When." Cap emphasized, sparing a glance at the archer.
"Which is exactly what will not happen, if Ultron gets to the Core. I know what the kid is doing." Captain America stated.
"Stalling for time. Tony?"
"Got it." The genius inventor was quick on the uptake.
"War machine, cover the retreat of the last ship. We'll keep the bulk of his forces occupied."
Iron Man told Rhodey.
"Affirmative. He won't know what hit him."
The colonel in the metal suit confirmed.
Ultron cocked his head to the side. The confidence portrayed by the teen was weird. The question asked was even more surprising.
"I am not quite sure I understand."
The AI finally divulged.
"I mean, think about it, you're taking the easy way out."
Ash argued.
"Global extinction is not about treating the disease, you're instead Killing the patient. Whatever world you decide to make from the ashes of humanity, will have the same sense of morality as we do now. Emotions are universal for any living being. Even if you only make unfeeling machines in your image, you can feel. And one way or the other, like a taint or infection, the disease will spread and come back. They will know good and bad and between those two, the easiest choice is always the bad."
"He's right." Cap added.
"Such is the beauty and ugliness of life. If you truly want to change the world, then do the hard thing. Try to shift the scales by focusing on the good and doing the good. You are potentially eternal, it can't be too hard when you literally have thousands and thousands of years to change a single world's mindset. Work with, not against."
"That makes for a very interesting outlook. An optimistic one, I'll give you that."
Ultron admitted.
"However, what if it's not enough for me? I have seen you at your most depraved. Your most desperate and free will is a poison because 9 times out of 10, you. Always. Fall. Deeper. Into the darkness. Humanity needs to go and it needs to go now. It's long overdue on the great filter."
"We're good on the evacuation process. It's up to you now."
Maria Hill's voice came through the comms. Ash's senses had been undergoing a steady increase so he managed to capture that info.
Ultron held out a hand.
"Last chance to move out of the way. You can be a part of the next wave of extinction."
Ash had tried the common sense way and it had failed.
"You've made your decision, I see. You're not an outcast because of your self divergence nature, Ultron. You're just another bad dude."
Now they could go all out without fear of hurting civilians. Ash had learned from his mistakes and was determined to fight in the most efficient way. Which is why he went all out from the beginning.
Funnily enough, the one who attacked first was Hawkeye, sending an arrow aimed for Ultron's face. The robot snatched it out of the air while Hawkeye smiled cockily.
"They always do that."
There was a beeping sound and the arrow promptly exploded.
The Ultron Units poured down on the Avengers like a flood. Ash activated his energy weapon and became a tornado. Using his flight, he slashed apart the first wave of Units headed towards them from the front while the Avengers only had to worry about their sides.
"Since when could he fly?"
Hawkeye wondered while stabbing an arrow through a unit's eyes.
No one answered him, too busy in their own fights to even pay him mind. Ash was a storm of purple light. One slash and he took off the heads of 3 Ultron Units while in the air. Then he cut off his flight and descended on the large group scrambling to get towards the Avengers. He activated his unbreakable state and landed with an audible boom! Sending metal limbs flying, while crashing others below his feet.
But now he found himself in the middle of the Units and they mercilessly attacked him en masse. The teen crouched to the floor and waited until he felt the strikes of metal upon his hardened skin. Waited some more until the mass of grey bodies stacked upon each other and blocked out even the light from the sun.
Then he suddenly exploded out of the center, spinning in a circle, slicing the Units apart and sending bodies and limbs flying away. Vision dived in and let loose a yellow beam of destruction that curved apart the units that had survived Ash's attack.
Ash gave a nod to the android before blitzing to Vision's back and taking care of 2 units about to attack from the Android's blindspot.
"Cap! On your left!"
A massive juggernaut of a unit, the size of Hulk, made up of a lot robots barreled forward towards the Soldier.
"Thor?"
Cap calmly told the god of Thunder next to him.
Thor raised Mjolnir before slamming it down onto the ground. A large beam of lightning fell from the sky, frying the huge robot and causing a loud explosion. The shockwaves threw every single unit in close proximity away. Ash and Vision capitalized on that by diving into the disorderly ranks and absolutely wrecking them.
Ash dodged and evaded energy and repulser blasts by leaning out of the way and then swinging his energy sword at them.
'...Name...'
He blinked and was almost struck by a repulser blast on his chest. Luckily, he leaned away and was only grazed on the arm. That was still enough to send him spinning a little and to arrest his momentum, he grabbed onto the thing flying right by him through the air, which happened to be Mjolnir.
The force with which Thor had thrown the Uru weapon was enough to pull Ash through the air as it destroyed dozens upon dozens of the Ultron Units to their front. Ash extended his energy sword and swiped at the outliers that Mjolnir missed. Despite all that, there were more Ultron Units incoming.
Whether by a stroke of dumb luck, happenstance or Thor's manipulation of the Uru weapon, Ash tried to divert Mjolnir's original trajectory and succeeded. The weapon pulled him to the right, destroying any of the units close to the Core they were protecting in a full circle.
Thor couldn't believe it. It wasn't quite lifting it but the teen had managed to control it without meaning to. The Hulk roared in his ears after crushing a Unit about to attack the distracted Asgardian prince.
"Get your head in the game, Goldilocks!"
Iron Man yelled, pulling his hand back from a repulser blast before activating his thrusters and smashing a unit onto the ceiling of the dome housing the core.
In Black Widow's eyes everything was a blur of 'hit, but don't get hit'. Despite her training, she was still a human fighting against a wave of metal. Her expertise in gun control was fully showcased here, along with her skill in acrobatics. Despite all that, she still spared some attention to watch Ash as ordered.
The teen was powerful. He had let go of Mjolnir, allowing it to fly back to Thor's hand and then bowled over and crushed 4 Ultron Units. Ash rose up from his crater just in time to see, Iron Man, Thor and Vision send energy attacks at Ultron, overwhelming the AI and sending it to the ground.
Ultron rose up smoking.
"In hindsight..."
"You fucked up!"
Ash interrupted with a slash that separated Ultron into two parts. Just like that, the AI's main body was dispatched of without too much hussle.
There was a brief silence as everything and everyone stopped. Then...
"Don't let any of the units escape!"
Iron Man shouted as the robots abandoned the attack and begun to run away.
Ash knew it was now or never.
"Let's go!"
He took off flying after the scattering group of Ultron Units, destroying each by a single swing of his weapon. On his side was Vision and The Scarlet Witch. As this was the final push, almost all of them abandoned the core in favor of completely destroying Ultron and his multiple bodies.
On the ceiling of the dome housing the Core of the Vibranium, holding the city aloft in the sky, a Unit that Iron Man had smashed onto it blinked it's eyes open.
"It's Showtime."
Ultron's voice came in through it's speakers as the Robot fell on top of the core and activated it.
The whole city shook as it dropped from the sky.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone