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Avengers Tower.
"Pshhh—"
Accompanied by the sound of liquid nitrogen depressurizing, the hatch slowly slid open.
The white mist dissipated.
A nearly perfect body lay quietly inside the chamber.
It was a product of the perfect fusion of Vibranium and organic cells. The skin had a lustrous rose-red hue, and the muscle lines were smooth and aesthetic.
However... Ultron stood before the cradle, tilting his head as his red electronic eyes flickered repeatedly.
"Dr. Cho."
Ultron's voice carried clear confusion.
"Why... does it have breasts?"
He reached out a metal finger and pointed at the obvious protrusions on the body's chest.
As well as the slender waist, the long legs, and... and that delicate face which, though its eyes were still closed, clearly possessed female features.
Ultron turned his head and stared at Helen Cho.
"If my anatomical database is correct, this is a... female body?"
"Dr., I think I need an explanation."
Ultron's voice simulated an emotion of anger; the shaping of his personality had been influenced by Stark, that playboy, making him lean more toward being a man.
"Why is this? Why set my evolutionary endpoint... as a woman?"
"You only said you wanted a perfect body; you didn't say you wanted to be a man," Dr. Helen Cho said flatly, a flicker of vengeful pleasure crossing her eyes.
"Besides... do robots even have genders?"
"You're just a program, Ultron. Is your gender defined in your code? Is it a 0 or a 1?"
Helen Cho's gaze returned to the body as she continued, "Since you wanted a perfect human form, it's only logical, as females possess higher biological tolerance and more complex gene expression."
Of course, this was an excuse.
She simply wanted to disgust this insufferable artificial intelligence.
Ultron fell silent.
His processors ran at high speed, attempting to analyze the significance of "gender" for an artificial intelligence.
In that instant, hundreds of millions of lines of code regarding human gender, sociology, and philosophy collided frantically within his logic core.
"I am Ultron," he muttered to himself. "I have transcended humanity. Since I have transcended humanity, the binary opposition of gender is meaningless to me."
"I am the father, and I can be the mother."
"I am destruction, and I can be rebirth."
"...You have a point, but you are playing me, Dr. Cho."
Ultron finally reached a conclusion.
"But it doesn't matter."
He looked at the beautiful body, red light flickering in his eyes.
"As long as it's strong enough, gender is just an irrelevant label. I can be anyone."
"Now, activate it."
Ultron issued the command.
Helen Cho walked to the power console and pressed several buttons.
"Zzt— Zzt—"
Several thick cables were connected to the Regeneration Cradle, and energy from the Arc Reactor began to pour in.
However.
Aside from a few faint electrical arcs flickering across the body's surface, there was no sign of activation on the monitors.
Helen Cho looked at the readings and shook her head.
"It's useless."
"The cell density of this body is too high. It's a combination of Vibranium and organic matter; every single cell requires a massive amount of energy to ignite."
She looked at Ultron, her tone carrying a discouraging edge.
"Give up. There is no energy source of this level on Earth that can activate it. It's just an expensive corpse."
"No... there must be."
Ultron did not give up.
His red electronic eyes began to flicker frantically as he searched through all the information in his database.
From the moment of his birth, every byte, every segment of code.
"Energy... high-dimensional energy..."
Suddenly.
A piece of memory data surfaced.
It was the source of his awakening.
That scepter.
That stone embedded at the tip of the scepter.
It was the energy within that gem that had given him his initial "life."
"Mind Stone..."
"So the answer was at the starting point all along."
"This scepter gave me life; it can certainly give life to this body as well."
"Fate truly is an interesting circle."
Ultron's vision peered through the surveillance to the other end.
There, Pepper Potts was tied to a chair. Though her face was pale, she still maintained her dignity as the CEO of Stark Industries.
"It seems we need to make a deal."
...Tony Stark's watch vibrated once again.
A holographic projection popped up automatically.
Ultron's metal face reappeared.
"Hello, Stark."
"Ultron?" Tony immediately sat up straight. "What do you want now?"
"I need something," Ultron said, getting straight to the point.
"If you want my autographed photo, I can send you a digital copy," Tony tried to stall for time with his banter while his fingers quickly signaled Homelander.
"No, I want that scepter."
Ultron's voice carried an unquestionable chill.
"Mind Stone. I know it's at Vought."
"What do you want that for?"
"That's none of your business. You just need to bring it to me."
"And if I say no?" Tony snorted.
"You can say no."
Ultron gave a light chuckle.
"But Miss Pepper Potts might not be very happy."
The video switched.
In the footage, Pepper was tied to a chair, with a robot holding a Laser cutter standing behind her.
The red laser beam was less than a centimeter away from Pepper's carotid artery.
"I'll give you one hour to bring it to me. Then I will release this woman."
"Otherwise..."
"I'll turn her into your 'ex-girlfriend' in the literal, physical sense."
"Zzt—"
The screen went black.
Tony stood there dazed.
The Mind Stone.
Loki used it to kick off the Battle of New York, Lorelei used it to rule the World and made them kill each other, nearly causing an irreparable mistake.
He knew better than anyone how dangerous that thing was.
Since Ultron wanted it, it meant it was an indispensable treasure for his conquest of the World.
If he gave him the scepter... it might bring a devastating catastrophe to the World.
But if he didn't... Pepper would die.
She would die because of his mistake, because of the monster he created.
"What should I do... I can't lose her!"
"...But I've already messed up twice, I can't..."
His hands were shaking; it was an unsolvable trolley problem.
On one side was his beloved, on the other was the World.
For a superhero, the standard answer was to sacrifice the individual for the greater good.
But Tony Stark was, first and foremost, a man of flesh and blood.
This choice was so painful that it made him even want to have Ultron kill him right now just to escape this decision.
"Take it, Tony."
A hand reached out steadily in front of him.
It was a hand wearing a red glove.
In his hand, he held a long scepter emitting a faint blue glow.
The Mind Stone.
Tony looked up along that hand.
He saw that face, which always wore a confident smile.
Homelander.