Don’t Miss XLR8 or Upgrade!
21: Chapter 21: Showdown with Quicksilver and Ultron!
Don’t Miss XLR8 or Upgrade!
Avengers Tower.
Having resolved the Hulk incident and pieced together the full sequence of events, the looming crisis of Ultron hung over everyone like a dark cloud.
War Machine found the situation absurd and pointed an accusing finger at Stark.
“So Tony—you created Ultron?!” Anxious, Stark walked over to the bar, turned back at the accusation, and pointed right back, shouting, “If you’re asking who wanted to protect Earth the most and was willing to pour their heart and soul into it—” “Yes!
That was me!” His words brought back memories of Loki’s alien invasion, casting a chill over the heroes.
Silence fell over the room.
Earth truly did need stronger defenses.
Captain America uncrossed his arms, his gentle voice breaking the silence.
“I think regardless of how we got here, we need to defeat Ultron first, don’t we?” The suggestion met with quiet agreement.
“Fine.” Realizing he had a point, War Machine sighed helplessly and raised the most crucial question: “So what’s the plan?” Formulating an execution strategy weighed heavily on everyone’s mind.
Leaving aside Ultron—a self-aware AI with an infinite army of copies—just the mutant siblings alone were enough to give them a massive headache.
Hulk’s rampage had been caused by Scarlet Witch’s mind control.
And Quicksilver was so fast he was practically invisible!
Dealing with either of them was hard enough, to say nothing of Ultron himself.
With his back to the group, Stark poured himself a glass of liquor, downed it in a single gulp, and turned around.
His resolute gaze landed first on Banner before sweeping across the rest of the room.
“Actually…
I have an idea.” War Machine had a bad feeling about this.
“…What?” “We build another robot!” War Machine raised an eyebrow.
“Like Ultron?” Stark smirked proudly.
“No, not like Ultron.
This one will be stronger!” “The new robot will be forged from the Vibranium we seized—which originally belonged to Ultron anyway!” “Combine that with the Mind Stone and the remaining good persona of JARVIS…
guys, you have no idea how powerful this protector will be!” War Machine fell silent, running the logic back through his head.
The Ultron robot Stark created went rogue, ran off, and announced its intention to eradicate humanity.
So Stark’s solution was to build an even stronger robot?
Ending his silence, War Machine asked with utter seriousness, “Stark…
honest question: whose side are you actually on?” …
Sokovia.
Heatblast was patrolling high above Sokovia, searching for the target town, when a crimson sphere of magic came flying straight toward him.
Enclosed within the red light were the Scarlet Witch, Wanda, and Quicksilver, Pietro.
Blocking Owen Vance’s path, the siblings eyed him with a mix of vigilance and hostility.
Owen wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
If he remembered correctly, the two were currently allied with Ultron.
That alliance would only end once Wanda realized Ultron intended to extinguish all human life.
Automatically ignoring Quicksilver—a Pietro fast enough to be killed by a bullet—Owen shifted his gaze to Wanda, taking her in with an appreciative glance and feeling a sudden wave of emotion.
*A balanced diet of meat, eggs, and dairy really works wonders.
Girls ought to eat more of them.* Facing the suddenly appearing fiery figure, Wanda spoke with open hostility: “What are you here for?” “What am I here for?” Owen placed his hands on his hips and barked right back.
“I’m here to assist Lord Ultron!
How dare you stand in my way?!” Shame?
Shame meant nothing in front of Upgrade.
Wanda’s magic flared violently, and she instantly dropped into a combat stance.
“Then I won’t let you leave here alive!” Though he didn’t understand what was going on, Owen saw Pietro lower his chin and glare straight at him, looking ready to fight to the death.
*Yikes…
these two look like they’re ready to lay down their lives.* Judging by their posture, had they already severed ties with Ultron?
If a fight broke out here, would it spook Ultron into running away and executing his plan elsewhere?
After all, Owen didn’t know the exact date.
With so many duplicate bodies, Ultron could easily take the opportunity to quickly relocate the thruster apparatus.
Ending his quick thought process, Heatblast kept a deadpan, righteous expression, though his voice softened completely: “Wait.” “What did you just say?” Wanda forced a menacing smile, trying to make herself look as terrifying as possible.
“I said I won’t let you leave here alive!” “No, the line before that.” “…What are you here for?” Without a second thought, Owen answered instantly: “Fishing!” “There are mountains and lakes here—the scenery is fantastic.
I’m taking a nice vacation.” With that, under the stunned gazes of the siblings, Heatblast drifted down toward the ground as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Ah, living in the mountains feels so nice~” The siblings exchanged glances, both seeing utter confusion and helplessness in each other’s eyes.
Their look seemed to ask: *What do we do now?* Though they had put on a tough front, the truth was that these young, inexperienced siblings had no contingency plan in their heads.
Having been imprisoned by Hydra for years without any social experience, facing Owen was no different than a naive elementary schooler encountering a shameless street rogue.
After another quick look, the two decided…
to follow Owen down!
Wanda nervously maintained the sphere of magic surrounding them, carefully keeping her distance from Heatblast.
Every time Heatblast suddenly accelerated or decelerated during his descent, the siblings’ hearts jumped into their throats, and they traded fearful looks.
So Owen intentionally accelerated and decelerated over and over again.
Amid the screaming, fleeing crowd, by the time the siblings landed on the ground behind Heatblast, their faces were pale and they were gasping for breath.
However, back on solid ground, Quicksilver regained his confidence.
He stepped forward and questioned first: “You’re not here to fish at all, are you!” Heatblast turned around.
His appearance didn’t just scare away the surrounding civilians; it made Quicksilver’s heart flutter with unease too.
“Of course not.” Raising a single finger, a basketball-sized fireball rapidly gathered at his fingertip.
Heatblast grinned.
“I’m here to blast fish.” “Take this!” The fireball shot toward Quicksilver, who naturally dodged it with ease.
However, worried about Wanda, Quicksilver didn’t dare run too far.
He only shifted a few meters away, allowing the shockwave from the fireball exploding on the ground to hit his face, bringing a faint burning sensation.
[Combat EXP +0.5%] In his mind, a faint glimmer of light appeared at the feet of XLR8’s silhouette.
Owen sighed inwardly with exhaustion.
*Looks like this is going to take a lot of hits.* Mistaking his sigh for praise regarding his speed, Quicksilver laughed smugly.
“Give up.
No matter how many times you attack, you’ll never hit me.” Knowing Quicksilver’s ultimate fate in the canon, Heatblast didn’t even bother to snort.
Another fireball condensed at his fingertips.
However, instead of firing it, Heatblast looked up at the sky.
Dozens of dark shadows slowly emerged.
Ultron had noticed the anomaly after all, arriving on the scene with his army of duplicates.
As Ultron landed, the three factions accidentally lined up in a straight line.
With the sudden turn of events, all three sides re-evaluated the battlefield.
The area fell dead quiet, the atmosphere thick with an awkward tension.
Caught in the middle, the siblings looked left and right.
Without a doubt, Ultron, who wanted to eradicate humanity, was evil.
This fiery guy had claimed to be Ultron’s subordinate the moment he showed up, and immediately attacked them upon landing—nine times out of ten, he was Ultron’s accomplice too!
Realizing this, the siblings flared their powers on both sides, truly taking up a fight-to-the-death stance.
They hated Stark, but they couldn’t tolerate the destruction of humanity.
Sokovia was their home!
In Ultron’s eyes, the flaming figure holding a fireball was judged to be a helper brought back by the escaped siblings, marking him as an enemy as well.
As for Owen, he couldn’t care less who was who!
He wasn’t letting go of either Upgrade or XLR8!
“Come at me all at once!” And so, a bizarre situation unfolded: every single party among the three decided they would single-handedly wipe out the other two.