[Sokovia. The Ascent.]
The ground shook. Then, it screamed.
Massive Vibranium thrusters buried deep beneath the city fired simultaneously. The earth cracked. The entire city of Sokovia—streets, buildings, the church—broke free from the crust and began to rise into the sky.
"Do you see?" Ultron's voice echoed from every speaker, every drone. "The beauty of it. The inevitability. You rise, only to fall."
"Cap!" Tony yelled over the comms, banking the Mark 45 through a swarm of robots. "These guys are coming from everywhere!"
"We have to clear the city!" Steve shouted, throwing his shield. "Get them to the boats!"
"There are no boats!" Natasha yelled back. "We are floating!"
[The Bridge Collapse]
The anti-gravity field was unstable at the edges. A massive suspension bridge, crowded with terrified families trying to flee, groaned. The cables snapped.
The bridge detached from the rising landmass.
Screams erupted as fifty people began to slide off into the open air, thousands of feet above the ground.
"Thor!" Steve yelled. "The bridge!"
"I am occupied!" Thor roared, battling a leviathan-sized drone.
Tony turned his thrusters. "I can't get there in time!"
"I can."
A black blur shot past Captain America.
Sebastian Michaelis sprinted toward the edge of the rising city. He didn't stop. He leaped off the precipice, diving into the void after the falling civilians.
He plummeted past the debris, falling faster than the screaming people. His eyes burned a violent, blinding fuchsia.
"This," Sebastian hissed, the wind whipping his coat, "is going to be messy."
He extended both hands.
Shadows—thick, viscous, and darker than night—erupted from his body. They didn't look like smoke; they looked like liquid obsidian.
The shadows stretched out, forming a massive, writhing web beneath the falling civilians.
THWUMP.
The people landed in the shadow-net. It absorbed their momentum perfectly, cradling them like a spiderweb made of silk and nightmares.
Sebastian landed on a floating chunk of concrete. He clenched his fist. The shadow-net swung upward, depositing the fifty civilians safely onto the stable ledge of the Helicarrier lifeboat that had just arrived.
A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent on the boat stared at the butler, who was standing on a rock floating in mid-air, surrounded by writhing darkness.
"What the hell are you?" the agent gasped.
Sebastian adjusted his gloves, the shadows retracting into his coat.
"I am the safety inspector," Sebastian called out. "Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle."
He jumped, kicking off the debris to rocket back up to the city.
[The Church. The Core.]
The team rallied at the church in the center of the city. The Vibranium core—the key that would drop the city like a meteor—was humming.
"This is it!" Tony landed, repulsors charging. "If Ultron touches this core, we all go squish."
The Avengers formed a circle. Iron Man. Captain America. Thor. Hulk. Black Widow. Hawkeye. Scarlet Witch. Quicksilver. Vision.
And Sebastian.
He stood between Thor and Tony, holding a set of silver steak knives.
"Romanoff," Tony said. "You and Banner want to play lullaby?"
"Not yet," Natasha reloaded her glocks. "Not while there's a party."
Ultron (Prime) hovered outside the church, surrounded by thousands of drones.
"You can't save them," Ultron sneered. "You can't save yourselves."
"We'll see," Sebastian stepped forward. "I have found that 'saving' is often just a matter of proper disposal."
"ATTACK!" Ultron roared.
The swarm descended.
It was chaos. Beautiful, violent chaos.
Thor summoned lightning, frying dozens of bots at once. Hulk smashed. Vision burned them with the Mind Stone.
Sebastian was a whirlwind. He moved so fast he appeared in three places at once. He caught a drone out of the air, ripped its power core out, and used it as a grenade to blow up two others. He deflected plasma bolts with a silver tray, redirecting them into the eyes of attackers.
"Nice shot!" Clint yelled, firing an arrow.
"Thank you, Mr. Barton!" Sebastian called back, decapitating a robot with a dinner plate.
[The Triple Beam]
Ultron's Vibranium body was tough. He shrugged off Cap's shield. He punched Thor through a wall.
"Enough!" Ultron landed near the core. "I will turn this world to dust!"
"Tony!" Thor yelled. "Hit him!"
"Vision!" Tony shouted.
"NOW!"
Iron Man fired his Unibeam. Vision fired the Mind Stone beam. Thor summoned a massive bolt of lightning into Mjolnir and fired it.
The three beams converged on Ultron.
ZZZZZRT.
The heat was absolute. The Vibranium shell began to melt. Ultron screamed as his outer casing was stripped away, layer by layer.
"Sebastian!" Tony yelled over the noise. "Finish him!"
Sebastian didn't use a beam. He ran.
He ran through the energy storm. He leaped over the converging beams.
He landed directly in front of the melting Ultron.
"You wanted to know what I am?" Sebastian whispered, his voice cutting through the roar of energy.
He drove his hand into Ultron's exposed, melting chest.
"I am the one thing you cannot calculate."
He ripped.
With a sound of tearing metal that made the Avengers wince, Sebastian tore Ultron's central processor—the "heart"—right out of his chest.
The beams stopped.
Ultron, a hollow, smoking husk, fell to his knees.
"I..." Ultron gasped, his red eyes flickering. "I saw... the void..."
"Yes," Sebastian crushed the processor in his hand. "And it waved back."
Ultron collapsed.
[The Aftermath]
"We gotta go!" Steve yelled. "The air is getting thin! Get to the transports!"
The Avengers scrambled to the S.H.I.E.L.D. dropships. The city was beginning to crumble.
"Thor! Tony!" Cap called. "You have to overload the core! Vaporize the city!"
"On it!" Tony said. "Seb, get out of here!"
"I shall wait for you, Sir," Sebastian stood on the ramp of the dropship.
"Go!" Tony ordered. "That's an order!"
Sebastian hesitated. He looked at Tony. He bowed.
"As you wish."
The dropship pulled away.
Tony and Thor flew to the core. Thor raised Mjolnir.
"Ready?" Thor asked.
"Let's crack this rock," Tony locked his vents.
Thor struck the core. The feedback loop vaporized the city instantly.
BOOM.
A massive cloud of dust and debris exploded over the ocean.
[The New Avengers Facility. Upstate New York.]
Weeks later.
The grass was green. The new recruits—Sam Wilson, Rhodey, Vision, Wanda—were running drills.
Tony stood by his Audi R8, loading a suitcase.
"You're really leaving?" Steve asked.
"Time for a break, Cap," Tony smiled. "Maybe build a farm. Pepper likes farms."
Sebastian loaded the last bag into the trunk. He looked at Steve.
"Captain," Sebastian nodded. "Try not to break the new ones."
"I'll try," Steve offered a hand. Sebastian shook it. "You fought well, Sebastian. Whatever you are."
"I am simply..."
"Yeah, yeah," Steve laughed. "A hell of a butler. We get it."
Tony got in the car. Sebastian got in the driver's seat.
"Where to, Sir?"
"Home, Seb," Tony leaned back, closing his eyes. "And maybe stop for shawarma. I'm starving."
Sebastian smiled, watching the Avengers facility fade in the rearview mirror.
"Very good, Sir."
[End of Arc 5]
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