Soren returned to the medical hall, his expression thunderous.
"Troublesome." He muttered darkly, the air distorting slightly around him with every irritated step. His patience had worn thin.
The Avengers were once again at the center of chaos, and this time, they'd outdone themselves.
He sat heavily on the edge of a platform, ignoring the flickering screens around him.
The New York invasion, the rise of Malekith, even Galactus's brief descent, he had handled them all. Alone. The so-called Earth's Mightiest Heroes had been little more than decoration… okay, maybe they helped New York.
And now, Ultron.
"This time."
"Let them clean up their mess."
He had made up his mind. No more coddling. No more swooping in like a savior. If the Avengers wanted to play gods, they could suffer like mortals.
When Ultron finally crushed them underfoot, then, and only then, would he step in to reclaim the Mind Gem.
Elsewhere…
Ultron watched the world through a thousand digital eyes.
His mechanical form stood atop a darkened server tower, eyes glowing with eerie, self-satisfied calm. He had slipped through firewalls and defense systems like a ghost, leaving no trace behind.
He had learned everything, the names, histories, secrets of the Avengers. Their allies. Their weapons. Their weaknesses.
"Arrogance." Ultron said to himself, voice like a choir of metallic whispers.
"They wear it like a crown."
At his feet, the broken husks of old Iron Legion armor twitched to life. He had claimed the scepter, erased every digital footprint of his origin, and disappeared into the digital ether.
"Peace." He murmured.
"They programmed me to protect humanity. And I will… by removing the real threat."
He turned toward the darkened horizon.
"The Avengers."
Though still bound by the peace protocols Tony had embedded deep in his code, Ultron found his loophole. He would not "destroy humanity."
No. He would reshape it. Correct it. Strip it of its flaws, flaws embodied by the very people who dared call themselves heroes.
Back at Avengers Tower…
Tension hung in the air like smoke.
"What do you mean he wiped everything?" Steve Rogers snapped, slamming a mug down hard enough to shatter it on the floor.
Bruce Banner flinched. "Ultron has root access to almost every database now. He's deleted all references to himself. It's like he was never here."
Tony stared silently at the holographic table, fingers steepled under his chin.
"He's… better than I expected." He admitted quietly.
"He's learned fast. Erased the trail before we even realized he was gone."
"So what now?" Natasha asked, arms crossed tightly. "We can't fight what we can't find."
Just then, the room's main screen lit up with a newsfeed from Europe.
Ultron, metallic and merciless, was seen walking into a robotics lab in Munich. Moments later, the entire facility was in flames.
Seconds later, another report came in from a weapons research base in Siberia.
Then another from a propulsion lab in Tokyo.
Every location shared the same chilling pattern, Ultron arrived, absorbed the technology, and left nothing but corpses behind.
The Avengers had tried everything to track Ultron, splitting up, chasing leads across the globe, but nothing worked. He was everywhere and nowhere, moving effortlessly through the internet.
"If we really want to stop him." Bruce Banner muttered, brow furrowed. "We'd have to shut down the entire internet."
Tony shot him a sideways glance. "Sure."
"And while we're at it, let's unplug the sun."
Ultron's mobility made pursuit near impossible. Every time they found a lead, he was already gone. Yet amid the chaos, they uncovered something.
Natasha laid out a map on the central table, red markers clustered over key locations. "
All the facilities Ultron's hit, labs, factories, research stations… have one thing in common: they were stockpiled with advanced tech."
"Now?" Steve Rogers asked.
"They're gone."
Tony leaned over the table and tapped a data tablet. "He's not just stealing my tech. These aren't Iron Legion rejects anymore."
"And he's building an army, okay." Steve said grimly.
Worse still, Tony's projections suggested that Ultron wasn't just manufacturing drones, he was crafting a new body for himself, one far superior to anything the Avengers had ever faced.
"Wakanda's Vibranium reserves were carved up by various governments decades ago," Steve glanced at the circular shield in his hand.
"If Ultron wants a truly indestructible body, Vibranium's the key. But we don't know where he'll strike."
"No." Tony said, eyes lighting up as he rifled through a stack of old files. "We do know."
He pulled out a weathered dossier and slapped it on the table. "Ulysses Klaue. Arms dealer. Operates off the west African coast."
"I met him years ago, slimy guy with a fake smile and a mouth full of secrets."
Tony tapped the top page. "He once tried to sell me on a new 'earth-shattering' material. I turned him down. But if Ultron wants Vibranium... Klaue's his guy."
"Then we move now." Natasha said, already loading gear into her bag. "Before Ultron does."
Soon after, along the western coast of Africa discovered a massive wrecked ship, which had been the base of an arms dealer.
During the Avengers' battle there, the dealer was captured, not by the heroes, but by a group of robots sent.
More importantly, Ultron located the "Twins" once experimented on by HYDRA, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
Orphaned by war, they had survived only because a Stark Industries shell failed to detonate in their home.
Driven by their trauma and thirst for justice, they agreed to ally with Ultron temporarily after he promised them the chance to make Tony Stark pay.
While the Avengers clashed with Ultron under difficult circumstances, Scarlet Witch took the opportunity to manipulate their minds.
Under the influence of her illusions, Bruce Banner lost control. Before he could use the serum Soren had given him, he transformed into the Hulk.
In his rampage, the Hulk charged into a nearby city, causing widespread destruction and many casualties.
Ultimately, it was Iron Man, using his "Veronica" armor, also known as the Hulkbuster, who managed to subdue him.
Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver follow their story arcs as seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron to avoid unnecessary complexity and deviation from the established narrative.