Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
During the battle, S.H.I.E.L.D. scrambled multiple Quinjets, while the U.S. military unleashed gunships in force.
But it was pointless.
Against the endless tide of robots, their missiles and machine guns were no more effective than throwing pebbles at a tsunami. Within minutes, the aircraft were ripped apart, swallowed whole by the chanical swarm.
On the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, Nick Fury's face, already darker than coal, grew even grimr.
Even he—usually unflappable in the face of disaster—couldn't see a way out.
The robots were everywhere. A living plague. Half of New York was already drowned in steel and fire, and soon the whole of Arica—maybe the world—would follow.
"Director, the Security Council is waiting," Hill reported in a low voice.
Without hesitation, Fury entered the secure conference room.
Five figures already flickered in holographic projection—the World Security Council.
"Fury," one of them, a stern woman with cropped hair, said coldly. "How do you plan to contain this? Your Avengers have accomplished nothing."
"Give them more ti—"
"And who gives the world more ti?" an elderly man cut in, scorn sharp in his tone.
"The only option is nuclear," another mber declared. "A strike is necessary."
Fury's one eye narrowed. "No. There has to be another way."
"There isn't. The Council has decided."
"I know the kind of decisions you make," Fury snapped. "Which is why I'll ignore this one."
"Manhattan is lost!" the woman barked. "Order the launch, or millions more die!"
"Ordering that strike is what dooms millions more!" Fury shot back.
"Nick Fury, you are relieved of command!"
The Council overrode him. The order was given.
Monts later, a fighter jet roared skyward. Escorted by a squadron, it locked onto the "sphere" in the sky—the machine core endlessly spewing Ultron's army—and fired its payload.
The nuclear missile cut across the horizon.
"Stark, there's a nuke inbound!" Fury shouted over comms. "Can you stop it?"
"A nuke?!" Tony's voice crackled back, strained and panicked. "What kind of lunatic—forget it, I'm busy!"
Pinned beneath a crushing mass of robots, his armor dented and sparking, Tony could barely keep himself in the air, let alone stop a nuke.
The others heard Fury's words too.
"Damn it…" Natasha whispered, her face paling.
Right above them, a nuclear detonation. Even if it worked on the robots, they'd be vaporized in the blast.
"How primitive," a voice oozed with mockery. Ultron Pri.
The crimson glow of the Reality Stone on his chest pulsed—
—and in an instant, the incoming nuclear warhead unraveled.
The missile beca a swarm of delicate butterflies, glowing faintly in the twilight, before vanishing into nothing.
"What—what just happened?!"
"The nuke—he turned it into… butterflies?!"
The Avengers froze, eyes wide, unable to process what they'd just witnessed.
This wasn't science. This wasn't even sorcery. It was… impossible.
And yet the helted machine, standing like a dark god in the sky, had made it look effortless.
For the first ti, the team felt true despair. Ultron's army was endless. His power, incomprehensible. And humanity's leaders had just proven themselves willing to sacrifice New York with the push of a button.
Perhaps being annihilated by the nuke would have been the kinder fate.
BOOM!
A thunderclap shattered the air.
Then another.
And another.
In rapid succession, the robotic swarms filling the skies erupted, detonating like firecrackers. Thousands of them shredded apart in synchronized bursts.
"What the hell?!"
The Avengers looked up, dumbfounded.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., status!" Tony barked.
"Soone is flying at several thousand ters per second," the AI reported. Even its calm voice carried a trace of awe. "They are colliding with and destroying the robots directly."
Tony's heart skipped. He already knew the answer.
"Holander…"
Sure enough, a streak of light tore through the heavens. A lone figure ripping through steel and fire, moving faster than the eye could follow.
Tony's HUD flickered with numbers: velocity, acceleration, kinetic force. None of it made sense. None of it should have been possible.
The only word that ca to him was monstrous.
Absolutely monstrous.
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