"One runs really fast, and the other is strange," Hill replied.
"Mm." Steve nodded slowly. "They'll definitely show up again."
"Most likely," Hill replied while checking the tablet in her hands. "The recovered documents indicate that the two volunteered to participate in Hydra's experiments."
"That's completely insane." He shook his head in disbelief.
"Indeed." Hill nodded. "What kind of person would willingly become a Hydra scientist's test subject?"
"Someone desperate to protect their own country," Steve answered seriously.
"We're not at war, Captain."
"Maybe not officially," he replied. "But for them, the war never ended."
After saying that, Steve simply left to change his uniform, leaving Hill reflecting on those words.
Meanwhile, Arthur, Tony, and the others headed to the medical wing to check on Clint's recovery.
Ushiwakamaru had returned to Arthur's house just moments earlier.
"How's Clint doing?"
Arthur entered the room and directed the question first to Natasha, who had remained beside Clint's bed ever since he arrived.
Natasha relaxed a little when she saw him.
"Much better. His only complaint is that he's thirsty."
"Then that's a great sign." Arthur smiled and gently patted her head.
It was one of the few habits Arthur simply couldn't break—patting women's heads whenever he was happy about something.
Natasha turned toward Helen Cho.
"Are you sure he'll make a full recovery?"
Helen smiled confidently.
"There's no risk of complications, and the Molecular Bridge takes effect almost immediately. His cells will accept the biomaterial without any issues."
Banner immediately continued the explanation.
"In practice, we're simply using artificial biological tissue that's compatible with his body."
He pointed to the equipment beside Clint's bed.
"If we move him to the Regeneration Cradle, the rest of the procedure will take about twenty minutes."
Tony entered the room at that moment carrying a tray full of drinks.
"So he's going to survive..." He paused briefly before adding with a mischievous grin, "...what a shame. I was already preparing to announce the time of death."
"Very funny," Clint snorted.
He grabbed one of the glasses from the tray and raised it.
"I'm gonna live forever. My body's gonna be made of plastic." He laughed.
Helen chuckled softly.
"You're still made of your own cells, Mr. Barton. Your girlfriend won't even notice the difference."
"I don't have a girlfriend," Clint replied.
"...There's no fixing that," Helen answered.
Tony couldn't hold back his laughter.
Banner smiled quietly as well.
Helen then turned to Tony.
"This kind of technology represents the future. In a few years, even your suits might seem outdated."
Tony crossed his arms.
"I dare you to come to Saturday's party and say that to my face."
Helen shook her head.
"Unlike you, I actually work on weekends."
Arthur, who had just picked up a drink from the tray, almost choked when he heard her answer.
Tony made a defeated expression.
"That hurt."
Arthur laughed.
"You deserved that."
Tony then walked over to Clint and handed him another glass.
"Here. I think you'd better try this one."
"Thanks." Clint took a big gulp.
The next instant, he spat almost all of it out.
"What the hell is this?!"
Tony answered immediately, looking very proud of his choice.
"Chlorophyll juice."
Clint closed his eyes for a few seconds.
"I'm pretty sure getting shot was less traumatic."
Natasha couldn't help smiling.
Arthur took the glass from Clint's hand and set it aside.
"Stop torturing the patient, Tony."
Tony raised his hands innocently.
"But it's extremely healthy."
"It's also extremely disgusting," Clint shot back.
"I'll never forget the day you made me drink this..." Arthur muttered with a completely expressionless face. "Damn you, Tony."
Tony simply shrugged.
"You guys just don't know how to appreciate refined things."
A little later, Tony looked at Arthur.
"Arthur, can you come with me for a minute?"
"Sure."
The two left the medical wing and headed to one of the Avengers Tower laboratories.
As soon as they entered, Tony closed the door behind them.
"Do you still have Loki's scepter?" he asked.
"It's safely stored in the basement of my house. Did something happen?" Arthur nodded.
"Take a look at this."
Tony finished speaking and handed him a tablet.
The tablet displayed a complete project for the development of an artificial intelligence.
"Just imagine it." Tony began, clearly excited. "In the future, instead of risking your life every time some lunatic wants to destroy the planet, you could simply travel the world with your Servants while an AI handled everything else."
Arthur remained silent, allowing him to continue.
"Think bigger." Tony enlarged the hologram displayed in the laboratory. "What if, during the next alien invasion, we can't even get close to the enemy? What if something worse than the Chitauri shows up? We need a system capable of protecting Earth even when we fail."
He smiled confidently.
"That's exactly what I want to create."
Tony made a few more movements on the tablet Arthur was holding.
"I call this project... Project Ultron."
His finger pointed to the image of Loki's scepter.
"And the scepter is the key."
As he spoke, he opened another series of files recovered from the Hydra base.
Somehow, the organization had managed to collect the residual energy released by Loki during the Battle of New York, both from the Tesseract and the scepter itself.
That had allowed them to create those futuristic weapons and was probably one of the reasons they began experimenting on enhanced humans.
"Their line of research is correct," Tony explained. "There's something inside that energy... some kind of incredibly sophisticated neural network. It works very similarly to a human brain."
He took a deep breath.
"If I can study it up close, my AI research could advance by decades."
Tony looked Arthur straight in the eye.
"So... I want you to lend me the scepter for two days."
His excitement grew with every sentence.
"If Hydra got this far using only residual energy... imagine what I could accomplish with the original artifact."
He smiled.
"I bet I can finish Ultron in less than a day."
Arthur remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he let out a long sigh while rubbing his forehead.
"...Tony."
"Hm?"
"Have you ever noticed that every time someone tries to create an artificial intelligence to protect humanity... it ends incredibly badly?"
"What?" Tony blinked.
"There are plenty of other examples. The machine concludes that the best way to protect humanity is to eliminate the very thing causing all the problems." He pointed at Tony. "Humans."
"Oh, please. I'm not creating Skynet." Tony rolled his eyes.
"Everyone who created a problematic AI probably said that exact same thing."
"That's an unfair comparison."
"Maybe." Arthur replied calmly. "But it's still a terrible track record."
Tony took a deep breath before insisting.
"Once it's complete, it'll protect the planet. It's the best way to guarantee Earth's safety."
Arthur smiled faintly.
"Or it concludes that eliminating all humanity is the best way to protect the planet. I don't even need to look into the future to know what happens next."
Tony frowned.
"You really like ruining people's enthusiasm."
"I'd rather ruin your enthusiasm than rebuild half the planet afterward," Arthur replied.
Tony snorted.
"Then lend me the scepter."
"No."
The answer came so quickly that Tony didn't even have time to come up with another argument.
"...Why?"
"Because you still don't fully understand what's inside it," Arthur replied calmly. "You can continue researching artificial intelligence all you want. JARVIS is already an excellent foundation. But Loki's scepter... no. Besides, I already have Cortana, so why the hell would I need another artificial intelligence?"
Tony crossed his arms.
"But they're not enough. JARVIS's database can't keep up with my ideas, and Cortana isn't even on Earth."
"Then find another way to make JARVIS evolve," Arthur replied. "But I'm not putting an artifact like that into the hands of someone who wants to use it as a catalyst for an artificial intelligence."
Tony took a deep breath.
"Please... I'm Tony Stark."
Arthur smiled faintly.
"Can you explain exactly how summoning a Heroic Spirit works?"
Tony fell silent.
"...No."
"Exactly." Arthur handed the tablet back to Tony.
"That's why I left the scepter with Da Vinci. As much as I hate admitting it, you have to remember that my Servants are on humanity's side. As for whatever exists inside that scepter... I'm not so sure."
He looked Tony straight in the eye.
"So, no. You're not even going to smell it."
Tony still looked ready to argue, but Arthur interrupted him first.
"And if you keep asking, not only will I keep saying no... I'll also skip your celebration party."
Tony's eyes widened.
"Hey! That's a low blow."
"Are you going to keep insisting?"
"...Damn it." He raised both hands in surrender. "Fine. Forget the scepter."
Arthur smiled, satisfied.
"Much better."
Tony shook his head in resignation.
"At least you're still coming to the party?"
"Since you've finally decided to behave..." Arthur replied with an amused smile. "I suppose I can take pity on you."
The next moment, he wrapped an arm around Tony's neck, locking him in a friendly headlock.
"But that doesn't erase the fact that you yelled at me earlier."
"Arthur...!"
"So accept your punishment."
Tony tried to push him away while laughing.
"Let me go, you idiot!"
Despite his complaints, he didn't struggle very hard, drawing another laugh from Arthur as the two left the laboratory arguing as usual.
(End of Chapter)