The audience was even more horrified than just moments before. Countless viewers instinctively covered their mouths, trembling as they watched this heartbreaking scene unfold before their eyes, a scene so bleak and suffocating that even breathing felt like a risk. Not a single person dared speak loudly; whispers felt like blasphemy.
"This… what is this supposed to be?"
"Why are they lying dead like that?"
"No, look closely! They're still fighting!"
"I get it! This must be an illusion crafted by that woman!"
"Huh? Is this similar to Loki's mind tricks?!"
A circle of experts leaned in to analyze the broadcast. Their expressions grew darker, brows tightening like storm clouds across the sky.
Johan exhaled slowly and gravely: "This… does not bode well at all."
[Tony stepped forward, staggering as though half his strength had been torn from him. His face was carved with sorrow, fingers trembling as he gently touched Rogers' still form.]
[But suddenly, with a violent gasp, Rogers' eyes snapped open. His hand shot up, clutching Tony's arm like a cold iron shackle.]
["You could have saved us…" And with those words, his grip loosened. His chest fell. Life vanished.]
[A thin line of blood slid from his nose. Tony froze, hollowed, devastated, broken beyond words.]
["Why didn't you try harder…?" Voices echoed from every direction, roaring, accusing, collapsing his mind like glass under a weight.]
[He lifted his head. Far ahead, countless Leviathans glided through the sky like colossal serpents, swimming toward a glowing breach, a shining gateway that revealed Terra beyond, clear and undeniable.]
"This is inside Chitauri space, isn't it?"
"Tony's slipping, this is exactly what she wants!"
"Who is that girl?! How can she be this ruthless??"
"In the original timeline, Tony sacrificed himself to save everyone!"
"Damn it, Tony, WAKE UP! It's all an illusion!"
"Even Captain America's shield, how could it break clean in two??"
[Tony inhaled sharply. The roar shattered like glass inside his mind, and he jerked awake. Overhead, massive mechanical war-beasts still clung to the ceiling like hanging nightmares. Behind him, the girl stepped back, startled. In the next blink, a white-haired young man appeared, trying to intervene, only to be halted by her raised hand.]
[Looking at Tony, the snow-haired youth asked quietly, "You're just going to let him walk away like this?"]
[The girl's lips curled into a knowing smile, mysterious, subtle, dangerous.]
[Tony raised an arm, and the suit's gauntlet snapped back into place like a loyal soldier responding to its master. He reached down and seized Loki's scepter.]
[The scene shifted, and suddenly, we were aboard the aircraft. The Avengers were present, every gaze fixed upon the radiant scepter.]
[Tony gave a tired yet meaningful smile. "Ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed, you've hunted for this, even in your sleep. I don't hate the responsibility… but, "]
[Thor cut him sharply: "No excuses. This ends today."]
[Rogers crossed his arms. "We need to discover everything that's been done with this thing. Not just as a weapon, when did Sitrikel start using it to modify humans?"]
[Tony exhaled slowly. "Banner and I will examine it first before sending it back." He glanced at Thor. "That's alright with you?"]
[Thor nodded.]
[Tony grinned. "Good. By the way, the celebration party is in a few days. You staying?"]
[Thor's smile widened. "Victory must be honored, with thunderous joy."]
[Rogers murmured, "Hopefully, both Chitauri and Hydra are finally ending."]
["Of course," Tony added, "festivities matter too."]
The livestream exploded in bewildered disbelief.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone?"
"The scepter's energy can actually turn people superhuman."
"When are they upgrading ME?! Take my money!"
"I thought the world made sense, clearly not!"
"The Terra era is terrifyingly advanced, so what force defeated THEM?!"
The feed jumped again.
[The Quinjet landed atop Stark Tower, and Hill approached, tablet in hand."Lab is ready, boss."]
[Tony pointed to Rogers with a half-smile."He's the real boss; I only fund and build things."]
[Rogers stepped closer. "Where's he?"]
[Hill replied, "Captured in the north."]
["And the twins?"]
[He handed him the tablet. "Wanda and Pietro, siblings, orphaned at ten. Parents killed by bombing."]
[They entered the lab.]
["What abilities?" Rogers asked.]
["Pietro's metabolism is extreme, speed and thermal balance beyond human. Wanda's abilities involve spatial neural exchange and high-level mental manipulation."]
["So one's fast, the other's… frighteningly strange."]
["They will return," Rogers muttered.]
["Yes," Hill agreed. "Records show they volunteered for Sitrikel's experiments."]
[Below Stark Tower, the city-evacuation robots returned in formation. Massive panels slid open into a glowing corridor. One by one, drones passed through sanitation scans and docked into charging ports. Damaged units peeled off into the repair bay.]
Watching this, the Director of the Administration paced wildly, panic beating against his ribs.
Odom, the physicist beside him, blinked. "Director? You look ready to explode. What's wrong?"
He forced a smile, one uglier than fear itself. "No, nothing… It's just that robotic automation is terrifyingly advanced. If we could create such a system ourselves…"
Tonio leaned back with a smirk. "Didn't you say you were planning to teach the software martial arts? These robots would make fine students."
The Director wiped sweat from his brow. "Yes… fine. Very fine…"
[Meanwhile, in the lab. Tony and Dr. Banner walked beneath towering reactors and scanners that hummed like living engines.]
["Alright, Jarvis," Tony announced. "Game time."]
[Hundreds of instruments flickered awake like stars. Tony stopped before the glowing scepter.]
["This, " he tapped controls, "is only enough material for a few days."]
["So we play fast."]
["Jarvis, update structural and compositional readings, "]
[A pause.]
["This scepter is anomalous," Jarvis replied. "Several components are not quantifiable."]
[Tony blinked."Not quantifiable?"]
["The gem functions like a shell, containing something vast within."]
[Tony cracked open a drink."Like a miniature reactor?"]
["Like a computer," Jarvis corrected. "I'm decoding its system now."]
[Across the room, Hawkeye underwent treatment. Black Widow observed critically.]
["Is he really okay? Treat him as irreplaceable," she warned.]
[The doctor smiled gently. "No need to worry, nanomolecules act instantly. His cells are reconnecting thematically."]
[Banner nodded. "She's rebuilding tissue."]
["If you brought him to my lab," the doctor added, "the cradle could regenerate him in twenty minutes."]
In the Federal Hospital, two medical prodigies, Tetsuo and Jay, stood frozen before the broadcast of this miracle device.
Trembling, voices cracking, they whispered, "Regenerating tissue directly? Printing organs? So… impossibly strong! Who could conceive such technology?! This is medicine beyond medicine. A new epoch in human healing!"
Tetsuo pressed a hand to his chest, dizzy with awe."I think this machine matters more than Tony, even more than Thor."
For once, Jay did not argue; she nodded fervently."Yes. Not only important, but historic. Universe-shifting."
Tetsuo prayed softly: "If only the owner of the Immortal Warrior could recall knowledge like this…"
With such equipment, death was no longer final, merely inconvenient.
"Best of all," Jay grinned, "no more hand-stitched surgery scars."
Tetsuo's eye twitched at the jab.
[Tony and Banner returned to the core console.]
["We need to know where Citrickle's innovation came from," Tony murmured, "So I broke into the gem's inner system, "]
[He projected a sphere of swirling orange energy.]
["Jarvis," Banner laughed.]
["Hello, Doctor," Jarvis chimed.]
["Jarvis began as a simple language interface," Tony explained, "but now he coordinates the Iron Legion. He handles more tasks than anyone besides Pepper. He's grown into something extraordinary."]
[Tony merged the gem's data with Jarvis' neural matrix, and a colossal blue brain-like structure appeared.]
[Banner stepped back, awestruck. "It's beautiful. And alive, like neurons firing."]
["In Sitrikel's lab," Tony said, eyes bright with discovery, "I saw robots erasing data. Something bigger was being built."]
["Artificial intelligence?" Banner whispered.]
[Tony leaned in, voice trembling with dangerous hope, "Yes. The key to creating Ultron."]
[Banner laughed. "Ultron? That was fantasy yesterday."]
[Tony touched the luminous neural cloud. "And today… It could be real. If we harness this energy and integrate it into the Iron Legion, "]
[Banner hesitated. "That's only hypothetical."]
[Tony smiled slowly. "And that's exactly why we're here."]
The livestream erupted into chaos.
"Wait, Jarvis ISN'T full AI yet?!"
"Then Ultron is something beyond artificial intelligence?!"
"I don't get it, how can one scepter contain this?"
"Tony wants AI to control all Iron Legion units."
"Is artificial intelligence the Terra-era version of sentient programs?"
"Stronger than Jarvis? This is insane!"
Meanwhile, inside the Director's office.
SNAP. He had crushed the armrest clean off his chair. His face drained white, "Tony… came up with that idea HIMSELF…?"