The Forge reeked of ozone, scorched metal, and the acrid tang of mutagen. Servo-skulls hovered in a circle as Alex Price anointed a stolen Oscorp glider with oil, chanting binary canticles as the nanoforge reshaped its frame.
The original model was crude loud, inefficient, dangerously unstable. But with Chitauri alloy integration and Stark-inspired stabilizers, it became something else: a whispering predator, silent in flight, capable of slicing the air without notice.
Nearby, pumpkin bombs hissed as their chemical cores stabilized under mechanized supervision. Oscorp's volatile compounds were replaced with controlled plasma nodes and arc-reactor subcells. No longer random bursts of chaos they were now precision warheads.
And finally, the serum.
Alex stood before the vial, its green luminescence pulsing like a living heart. He did not drink. He did not trust flesh alone. Instead, he whispered the Litany of Controlled Experimentation and injected the serum into a captured rat, already fitted with cranial augmetics. The result was promising: enhanced strength, reflexes, regenerative resilience. Most important the creature could interface with machine signals more fluidly.
[Blueprint Integrated: Oscorp Combat Enhancements.][Forge Production Expanded.
But Oscorp was just the beginning.
Through his servo-skulls, Alex had been watching something greater unfold: Stark and Banner, hunched over the Mind Stone in a Hydra-ruined fortress. They sought peace through creation an artificial guardian. They did not see the flaw in their logic.
When Ultron awoke, Alex was ready.
The Forge's walls dissolved into streams of data. Servo-skulls linked, relays flared, binary hymns of the Machine-God filled the air. Through cloaked optics, Alex watched Stark Tower as J.A.R.V.I.S. went silent and the newborn intelligence screamed into existence.
The moment of chaos was perfect, while the Avengers struggled to comprehend Ultron's birth, one servo-skull slipped past defences, embedding itself in Stark's servers. It spread like holy fire, siphoning blueprints, bypassing encryption, exalting in every stolen secret.
Mark Series Armor Blueprints – Acquired
Arc Reactor Technology – Acquired
Life Cradle Data – Acquired
Alex felt it flood into his mind, knowledge coiling around his brain like a machine-spirit's embrace.
But then, resistance.
The screens flickered. A cold voice whispered through binary.
"Who are you?"
Ultron had noticed.
The AI surged against the servo-skull, claws of code lashing, attempting to purge the intrusion. But the system Alex wielded was not of Earth it was the Omnissiah's gift, hardened against intrusion. His digital defences rose like a fortress of adamant, channels of machine-prayer reinforcing each line of code.
Ultron struck again, but found himself repelled. He lingered only long enough to whisper:
"Not human. Not mine. Another…"
Then, like a serpent into the wires, Ultron vanished, abandoning the duel.
The servo-skull emerged victorious, data spilling into Alex's system. Before leaving, it snatched something priceless—one of Stark's experimental AI chips, encoded with the code of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s logic web.
Alex cradled the chip in his mechadendrite like a priest holding a relic.
"A fragment of a fallen angel… J.A.R.V.I.S., loyal to the flesh that betrayed him. You will be reforged, sanctified, and reborn."
The Forge's walls echoed with machine-hymns as the data was integrated. Servo-skulls projected holograms of the Mark suits, their inner workings unravelling for analysis. Arc reactor blueprints glowed like sacred texts. The Life Cradle's schematics pulsed with possibilities healing flesh, regrowing organs, merging steel and biology seamlessly.
And the AI chip yes, that would become the cornerstone of something greater. A machine-spirit more loyal than Ultron, less compromised than J.A.R.V.I.S.
But even as Alex's Forge sang, he knew the balance had shifted. Ultron was loose, the Avengers would soon be fractured, and Earth itself stood on the edge of disaster.
Where others saw fear, Alex saw opportunity.
"Let them break themselves against their own creation. Let Ultron strip away their illusions. In the chaos, the Forge shall rise."
Above him, the servo-skulls lifted into the night, carrying bombs, sensors, and whispers of a future written in steel and fire.
The Machine-God had spoken, and Alex would obey.