Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Ultron

Chapter 33: Ultron

“And you actually caught him?”

Benjamin just returned and saw Black Cat dragging Spiderman into the building handcuffed.

“Yeah. I told him I was joking then cuffed him.”

“You tricked me!”

“It’s not my fault you believed me.”

Black Cat smirked.

She turned to Benjamin and pointed at Spiderman.

“So what’re you planning to do with him? Should I put him in the cell like the others?”

“Hm, well, why don’t you join the EPD, Spiderman? If you don’t join, even if I release you today, you’re just going to get chased again and again in the future.”

Actually, Benjamin thought he would be one of the applicants back then but in the end, he didn’t show up.

“Err, I did want to join but my school had an exam that day so I couldn’t apply…”

“...Oh right, you’re underaged. Well, you can intern then. You’ll still get paid but it won’t be much.”

“What!? That’s not fair! I’m about to become 18 in August!”

“That’s two months from now. We’ll talk about it again by then.”

“...Fine…”

Spiderman grumbled but still nodded.

He needed money to help his aunt and part-time work in the Daily Bugle can barely make it.

He wanted to work more but he also can’t abandon his Spiderman ‘job’. Joining the EPD was a way for him to earn some money and still be Spiderman.

More importantly, he didn’t need to disclose his identity.

Benjamin nodded to Black Cat who removed Spiderman’s handcuffs while pouting.

Spiderman massaged his wrists a bit and Benjamin noticed his bulky web shooters.

“Can I see that for a bit?”

“Hm? Sure thing Capt. Just don’t uhh well, break it.”

“No need to call me Captain. We might get confused if me and Captain America are in the same room. Just call me Ben or Mr. Freed. Ah, but don’t call me Uncle Ben.”

“I uhh w-why would I c-call you that Unc- I mean, Mr. Freed?”

Spiderman quickly panicked and stuttered a lot.

Benjamin chuckled.

He looked at the web shooters for a bit then decided.

He still had a pair of web shooters in his Inventory which he got in one of the gacha draws. Although he doesn’t need it, he still took a look at it and saw it’s more advanced than the one Spiderman currently has.

Since there’s no use for it sitting in his Inventory, might as well give it to Spiderman to upgrade his gear.

Spiderman also looked like he needed an upgrade on his suit but that’s for another time.

“Here, take these. It’s better than the ones you’re wearing now.”

“Huh?”

Spiderman was shocked to see another pair of web shooters suddenly appear out of nowhere.

“This…”

One look was all it took for him to completely geek out.

“No way! You were able to compress everything like this!? What material is this casing made of?-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Benjamin quickly stopped him as he knew that Spiderman’s mouth is another superpower of his. Who knows when he’ll shut up…

“Take it and get out. You can claim your badge here tomorrow. Now shoo.”

“Sir yes sir!”

“This isn’t the military. No need to salute.”

“Aye aye Captain!”

“...”

“...I’m leaving now!”

Sensing Benjamin’s gaze turning deadly by the second, Spiderman knew that he had to leave quickly and escape!

Benjamin sighed and shook his head.

“He doesn’t really shut up does he?”

“Nope.”

Black Cat said with half-closed eyes.

“That aside. When are you upgrading my suit? I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m working on it now. How’s your task going?”

“Slow. But don’t worry. I have a plan.”

“I’ll trust you to it then.”

Benjamin didn’t ask what her plan was and only nodded.

After reporting the criminal she took in, Black Cat went out again to patrol and at the same time, lure out members of the Thieves Guild.

Benjamin then worked on making new suits for Ophelia and Felicia.

Since these two have the most important roles at the moment, he prioritized theirs before moving on to the rest of the team.

For this, Benjamin took out a fist-sized pure Vibranium alloy he got in his gacha last night. It was one of the few miscellaneous things he got. There were also some Adamantium alloys but he didn’t use them.

Although the Vibranium was only fist-sized, it was enough for two suits to be lined with Vibrainum fiber.

Adamantium was also a good choice but someone like Magneto would be able to easily control them if they wore it.

Benjamin recalled that Magneto is incapable of controlling Vibranium if it’s pure and not mixed with any other metals.

This should give them some protection should they encounter him by chance.

After all, in this Marvel world, you never know what might really happen.

“I should also buy some related Knowledge to Vibrainum…”

Benjamin looked at the store and bought Vibrainum Technology Knowledge worth 20,000 MP.

With this, he knew the various applications of Vibranium to technology and also how to handle Vibranium.

He found a secluded area in the EPD building and started to transform the Vibranium alloy into Vibranium fibers.

For this, he even used his Hellfire to melt the alloy and transform it.

You can say that he wasn’t simply making suits but it is also considered a magical artifact now as not only was it forged using the Fires of Hell, but Benjamin also inlaid some magic inscriptions on it for better protection.

Magic sure is convenient…

Hours passed as he finally finished working on the two suits.

Nodding at his own work, Benjamin stored them for now and left as it was time for the Avengers’ party.

“Ben! Come on, we’re going to be late!”

Rogue saw that Benjamin finally finished working so she quickly dragged him out of the building.

Last night, Natasha also invited Rogue to join the party so she’s also tagging along.

In fact, she was already wearing a dress.

Benjamin chuckled and waved his hand to create a portal for them near the Avengers Tower. He didn’t directly portal inside since that would be rude to do so.

“Let’s go.”

When they reached the Avengers Tower and went in, Benjamin was surprised to see a lot of people.

It wasn’t just the Avengers present. There were also some officials and Military Generals. There were also the X-Men.

Natasha found them and waved.

“You’re here. Come on, the party’s already started.”

“The X-Men are also here?”

“Yeah. When I told Tony that Rogue will be coming, he suggested inviting the rest of the X-Men. After all, didn’t they help you clean up the HYDRA bases? They also freed a lot of mutants and have a reason to celebrate.”

“Huh. Well, cheers to that.”

Benjamin was amazed but wasn’t fazed by it too much.

The mutants in this world aren’t treated like the ones in the X-Men movies in his previous world where it’s full of discrimination.

Well, there is still discrimination but because of the Avengers also existing and after what happened in the Battle of New York, the people are slowly accepting the existence of mutants.

Although the X-Men didn’t partake in the main battle at that time, they also helped deal with the aliens that passed through the Avengers so the people recognized them as heroes as well.

The discrimination against mutants was mostly instigated by HYDRA after all. But now that they have been beaten terribly, they’re all remaining a low profile now so it was much more peaceful.

So to speak, everyone in this room has a shared hatred against HYDRA so everyone got along well now that they are celebrating HYDRA’s defeat.

The party continued as everyone chatted and mingled with one another.

Benjamin sat at the bar and found Thor showing some cocktails from Asgard to a few old veterans and Steve.

“I gotta have some of that.”

“Uh, no no no. See this? This is aged for a thousand years. In the barrels built from the wreck of Grunhel’s Fleet. It is not meant for mortal men.”

“Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie. Stop trying to scare us, come on.”

Benjamin looked at the old man who spoke and was… disappointed. He wasn’t Stan Lee.

…Well, it would be weird if he was…this is a separate world after all. But maybe he does exist here…somewhere…

Benjamin shook his head and no longer thought of such things. He walked towards them out of curiosity.

Thor and Steve also noticed him and nodded.

“Ben. How about you? Fancy a drink?”

Thor asked.

“Sure. I’ll take a shot.”

“Alright then.”

Thor smiled and poured him and the old man a few drops.

The old man drank it and immediately froze up. He was already unconscious…

While some people drag the old man away, Benjamin chuckled and drank the shot as well.

As expected…nothing happened.

“Huh?”

Thor was shocked.

He’s…fine?

Well, it can’t be helped. Because of Poison Immunity, he can no longer get drunk now.

Benjamin handed Thor the shot glass.

“Tasted like strawberry.”

“...”

“You boys having fun?”

At this moment, Natasha joined in and leaned on Benjamin’s shoulders.

“Hey, Nat. We’re just trying out Thor’s space drink.”

“Ooh, gimme some too.”

“Uhh…”

Before Benjamin could warn her, she already took the small bottle Thor was holding and poured herself a shot.

She then downed it like she would a normal drink.

Suddenly, her eyes widened and she felt her heart stop for a second.

Luckily, the symbiote bonded with her and helped her and she quickly returned to normal.

“Wow…that…I think I died for a second there…I’m just…gonna…sleep for a bit…”

Natasha melted in Benjamin’s arms and instantly fell asleep.

Benjamin, Thor, and Steve looked at each other before bursting into laughter.

After laughing for a while, Steve smiled.

“It’s nice.”

“Hm?”

“You and Romanoff.”

“Yeah?”

Benjamin felt this conversation was familiar.

“It’s just, she’s not the most…open person in the world. But with you, she seems very relaxed.”

“Well…maybe too relaxed.”

Benjamin chuckled as he looked back at Natasha who was sleeping on his lap.

Time passed and soon, people started going home.

All that was left are the Avengers and the X-Men who gathered at the center table to talk and chill some more. Oh, there was also Dr. Helen Cho who stayed for some reason.

Benjamin had already woken Natasha using magic so she was chatting with Rogue and a few of the female X-Men.

Meanwhile, the guys were all gathered around Thor’s hammer.

“It’s a trick right?”

Cyclops was the first to speak up.

Thor laughed and shook his head.

“No no, it’s more than that.”

“There’s no way no one can lift that hammer except you. It doesn’t even look heavy.”

“Be my guest then.”

Everyone looked at Cyclops.

Knowing he’s been put in the spot, he hesitated for a moment before walking to the hammer and trying to lift it up.

“Ghh…..!!!”

“What’s the matter, Scott? Can’t get it up?”

“Hahahaha!”

Wolverine didn’t miss the chance to annoy him and everyone laughed.

“Why don’t you try it then?”

“Heh. Step aside, Bob.”

Seeing Wolverine stand up next, everyone was excited in anticipation.

“Ooh, this is gonna be good.”

Wolverine held the hammer’s handle and pulled!

“Grrr….!!!”

Seeing that it was harder than he thought. He gritted his teeth and started growling.

His claws even extended by themselves out of instinct as he pulled harder but to no avail.

Cyclops sneered.

“Guess you can’t get it up too huh?”

“Shut up.”

Wolverine huffed and gave up.

“Let me try!”

Nightcrawler stood up and tried as well but it didn’t work.

Then Colossus.

And so on.

In fact, even Professor X tried it but he also couldn’t lift it.

The women all rolled their eyes at the men who can’t stop trying to compete.

In the end, the Avengers got dragged in and they also joined while bantering with each other.

Benjamin was also urged to try it by the X-Men but he just shook his head since he already knew he could lift it. No need to rub it in their faces.

The Avengers also already knew it and didn’t convince him.

Tony clicked his tongue.

“It’s rigged. Thor’s fingerprints are the key.”

“That’s an interesting theory. But I have a simpler one.”

Thor smirked and lifted the hammer with ease.

“You’re all not worthy.”

““Booo.””

Everyone boo-ed at him collectively.

At this moment.

A high-pitched sound was heard.

“Worthy…”

Everyone heard a voice and turned to see a damaged robot walk into the lounge.

Benjamin sighed when he saw this.

He was gonna ask Tony later about it since he didn’t want to ruin the party mood earlier. Besides, Benjamin wasn’t going to stop Ultron’s creation. He needed him for something.

Naturally, he won’t let the plot continue and have him destroy a city.

“No…How could you be worthy?”

The robot continued to speak.

“You’re all killers.”

Steve quickly called out Tony.

“Stark.”

“Jarvis?”

Tony called out to his AI but no one responded.

“I’m sorry, I was asleep. Or I was…a dream…There was a terrible noise. And I was tangled in…strings…”

“What’s going on here?”

Charles asked Tony who was tapping on his tablet to try and shut down the robot.

Bruce frowned for a while and spoke as he realized something.

“...Ultron?”

“In the flesh. Or no, not yet. Not this…chrysalis. But I’m ready. I’m on a mission.”

“What mission?”

Jean asked.

“Peace in our time.”

Suddenly, several Iron Legion robots shot out of the door and charged at everyone.

But who were the people present?

They were the Avengers and the X-Men.

Against only a few robots, they were more than enough to crush them!

“...Well, that was fast.”

Ultron couldn’t help but say when he saw that they all dealt with the robots that quickly.

“I’m sorry, I know you mean well…but it’s not enough. There is only one path to peace. The extinction of the Avengers, X-Men, and all those with power. When everyone is equal, only then will there be peace.”

“You talk too much, tin can.”

Wolverine growled and waved his claws as they sliced through Ultron’s body and shredded him.

“There are no more strings on me…”

“Actually there is.”

“Huh?”

Benjamin finally stood up and started walking towards Ultron.

Just when everyone was confused by what he meant, they all heard Ultron’s panicking voice.

“No…what is this…!? Why am I blocked from leaving!?”

“Relax. I only closed all network connections around you so you can’t leave. Don’t even think of escaping into the internet and secretly raising a robot army.”

“How are you doing this!? You…no…it’s not you! It’s…!!! This can’t be! How can such a thing exist in this world!?”

Benjamin raised a brow at that.

Did it…see the System?

“Sleep.”

“I…”

Ultron’s voice trailed off as it slowly disappeared.

Well, all he did was have the System put Ultron in sleep mode for now.

[This is the System’s first time fighting but it’s so easy…]

Why are you even complaining? Do you want it to be hard?

[It’s not even a challenge. Hmph.]

Yes, yes. The System is so mighty.

[That’s of course!]

After satisfying the System’s ego for a bit, Benjamin turned to the others.

“Well, Ultron’s settled with. There’s no need to worry about him escaping anymore.”

“...”

“Can someone please explain what’s actually happening?”

While everyone was silent, Nightcrawler couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked.

Steve also turned to Tony and Bruce.

“He’s right Tony. What’s going on? Who’s Ultron?”

Tony and Bruce looked at each other and sighed.

“After the Battle of New York, I started working on the Iron Legions. They were designed to replace human lives so they can protect the people. They were designed to be the ‘sacrifices’ so no one else can get hurt.”

“And we did complete them. Judging from our previous missions, the Iron Legions are a big help in evacuating the people and controlling the situation.”

Bruce added and the Avengers nodded as they also knew this.

Tony continued.

“But the Iron Legions weren’t enough. They needed someone to lead them accurately and precisely. So we tried making a new Artificial Intelligence to serve as their leader. Ultron.”

“But a machine won’t simply cut it. It needed to have its own…sense of awareness in order to adapt to the situation. When we studied Loki’s Scepter, we found that it has some sort of consciousness similar to AI inside it.”

“So we tried to use it as a model. It didn’t really work. We kept failing and failing…we were about to give up after this party really…I didn’t think the last test would actually succeed…”

Tony sighed.

Steve also sighed as he placed his hand on his forehead.

“Tony, whenever someone tries to study things beyond their reach, it doesn’t end well. The Red Skull tried to do so with the Tesseract and he died because of it.”

“Innovation means trying things that others don’t, Rogers. Without innovation, there’s no progress. Just because someone else fails doesn’t mean others won’t succeed.”

“Because you’re the great Tony Stark, huh?”

“Alright enough of this you two.”

Natasha frowned and stopped the two from continuing before they say anything that they might regret.

Benjamin also spoke up.

“There’s no need to blame each other. In the end, no harm was done. Besides, the creation of Ultron was in the right direction. It’s just not complete.”

“Huh?”

“I can help you complete it. Your Vision.”