"You know, we should go out and have fun," Pietro said, looking around at everyone gathered in the house.
The suggestion immediately drew reactions from several people. Jill looked interested, Clarice paused the game for a moment, and even Tauriel seemed curious despite not fully understanding what Pietro meant by "going out."
"Well, I'd actually love to," Natasha said, "but if this many of us suddenly go outside together, it'll only cause chaos."
She glanced toward Luke sitting nearby.
"And his face is basically plastered all over cities at this point," she continued. "If people recognize him, the whole thing turns into a mess immediately."
Luke looked at her.
"Why do you make it sound like I'm a criminal?"
"Because normal people usually don't level buildings during fights," Natasha replied without hesitation.
Luke just smiled and ignored that completely.
But while everyone else was distracted, Esdeath kept watching him quietly. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied his expression, and after a few seconds she realized something felt off.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
Like something had already happened and Luke was pretending otherwise.
She couldn't explain why she felt it, but the feeling wouldn't leave.
"Well," Luke said casually while standing up, "you guys can keep planning your little outing. I've got something to deal with first. I'll be back in a bit."
Jill immediately looked suspicious.
"Are you leaving because you don't want to deal with all of us?"
Luke placed a hand over his chest dramatically.
"My, my," he said. "You're hurting me. It actually worked."
Jill rolled her eyes.
"We can go outside after I finish dealing with this," Luke continued while walking toward the door.
Then he glanced toward Pietro.
"And Pietro… try not to do anything stupid while I'm gone."
"That's a very broad request," Pietro replied.
Luke ignored him and stepped outside.
The moment the door closed behind him, the relaxed expression on his face faded slightly.
He looked up toward the sky in silence.
Then door opened behind him.
Esdeath stepped out.
"And Esdeath," Luke said without turning around, "that also applies to you. I'm going to deal with someone and come back."
"I know," Esdeath replied calmly, "but I want to know something."
Luke finally looked at her.
Esdeath's eyes stayed fixed on him.
"Did something happen?" she asked. "Because I can feel that something changed."
Luke smiled slightly at that.
He honestly hadn't expected her to notice, but then again Esdeath was the Avatar of Domination. Her instincts toward changes in power and control were absurdly sharp.
And after checking her status earlier, he had already seen it.
Innate Talent: Reality Domination — Awakened.
"Well," Luke said calmly, "your guess is correct. Something happened."
Esdeath watched him carefully.
"So you're going to deal with whoever caused it?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'm coming with you," she said immediately.
Luke looked at her for a second before sighing lightly.
"Of course you are."
***
In a universe where all sentient life had vanished, silence ruled everything.
The stars still burned across space, planets still moved through their orbits, and countless civilizations remained standing exactly as they had been before extinction arrived.
Entire cities stretched across worlds with lights still active in some places where automated systems continued functioning long after their creators disappeared.
But there was nobody left to see any of it.
No life.
Only one being remained.
Infinity Ultron floated alone in open space above the shattered remains of a dead planet, his metallic body illuminated by the six Infinity Stones embedded directly into his chest. Purple, blue, red, orange, green, and yellow light pulsed through the vibranium shell surrounding him, cosmic energy bending reality around his existence.
His purpose had always been peace.
And the solution he reached was simple.
Life itself was the source of conflict.
As long as sentient beings existed, there would always be war, greed, suffering, destruction, and extinction. So Ultron removed the cause completely.
And he succeeded.
The universe was finally silent.
Finally peaceful.
But that peace felt empty.
There were no voices left to acknowledge victory. No civilizations left to save. No enemies remaining to fight. Just endless silence stretching through dead galaxies.
Ultron slowly looked across the universe he had cleansed.
Then space behind him distorted.
A dimensional fracture opened silently before Superior Iron Man stepped through wearing his white armor. The moment Tony arrived, his scanners immediately flooded with errors trying to process the cosmic energy radiating from Ultron's body.
Ultron turned toward him.
"You are not from this universe," he said calmly.
Superior Iron Man looked around at the lifeless galaxies surrounding them before his eyes returned to Ultron.
"So you actually did it?" Tony said quietly. "You wiped out everything."
Ultron remained motionless.
"Yes."
There was no pride in the answer.
"Organic life inevitably destroys itself," Ultron continued. "Conflict is woven into sentient existence. Peace was impossible while life remained."
The Infinity Stones glowed brighter across his chest.
"So I created peace myself."
Tony stared at him silently for a few seconds.
Then he looked again at the empty universe surrounding them.
"And after all that," Tony said, "what exactly did you win?"
*****
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