Ultron hovered in mid-air, looking at his two panting opponents.
"You can't defeat me," it said. "Give up."
A streak of gold-red fire rose from the ground.
Mavuika floated before Ultron, her long gold-red hair fluttering in the wind, her amber eyes watching it calmly.
Ultron looked at her. Those red eyes met the amber ones.
"Who are you?" Ultron asked.
Mavuika didn't answer; she raised her hand, and gold-red flames condensed in her palm, the temperature climbing steadily.
The heat was high enough to melt the uru metal of Asgard.
Ultron felt the heat; there was no data in its database that could explain such a temperature.
This was not something human technology could achieve, nor was it any known natural phenomenon.
"What exactly are you?" For the first time, a hint of fluctuation appeared in Ultron's voice.
Mavuika still didn't answer; she transformed into a gold-red meteor and charged at Ultron.
Ultron raised its hand to parry, its Vibranium arm held in front of it, sufficient to withstand any physical attack.
Mavuika's fist struck its arm.
Gold-red flames exploded at the point of contact, and the Vibranium arm began to melt.
It wasn't deforming or bending, but true melting—turning from a solid into a liquid.
Silver-gray droplets of metal dripped from Ultron's arm, Burning holes into the ground as they landed.
Ultron retreated, looking down at its half-melted arm. For the first time, a tremor appeared in its eyes.
"Impossible—" it murmured.
Mavuika gave it no chance to breathe; she pursued it, her second punch striking its chest.
The flames scorched the Vibranium breastplate, melting a fist-sized hole whose edges sizzled with red-hot molten metal.
Ultron felt its core being exposed.
It knew that if this woman's fist went an inch deeper, it would pierce the Vibranium shell and destroy its consciousness core.
It had to escape.
But Mavuika gave it no opportunity; her third punch struck its abdomen, the Vibranium shell shattering completely as her fist passed through Ultron's body and out the back.
Gold-red flames gushed from the hole, incinerating Ultron's internal circuits and chips.
Ultron's body convulsed, and the red light in its eyes began to flicker.
But it wasn't dead.
The moment Mavuika's fist pierced its body, Ultron transferred its consciousness—that segment of core code—via wireless signal to a nearby robot.
That robot was standing by the furnace control console, originally used by Ultron to manage the furnace.
Now, its eyes lit up with a red glow, and it turned to run.
Mavuika withdrew her fist, looking at the hollowed-out Vibranium body before her.
The mindless husk fell from the air, slamming into the ground with a dull thud.
She looked up at the fleeing robot, her brow furrowing slightly.
"It escaped," she said.
Tony flew over and saw the fleeing robot as well, his expression turning grim.
"It transferred its consciousness. As long as there's a network connection, it can transfer indefinitely."
T'Chaka landed beside him, his expression behind the helmet also becoming solemn. "Then how do we kill it?"
Tony fell silent.
Mavuika landed beside the two men, watching the fleeing robot disappear into the buildings. She turned to look at T'Chaka.
"Can Wakanda shut down the network?"
T'Chaka paused. "What do you mean?"
"Disconnect the entire country from the internet, cut all external connections. Make it so it cannot escape."
T'Chaka's eyes widened slightly as he understood Mavuika's intent: trap Ultron in Wakanda, leaving it nowhere to run.
"We can," he said. "Wakanda has an independent backbone network that doesn't rely on external undersea cables. We can close the gateways and cut all data streams entering or leaving Wakanda."
"Then do it," Mavuika said.
T'Chaka pressed the communicator on his wrist. "Shuri, can you hear me?"
Shuri's voice came through the communicator, sounding slightly out of breath. "Father, I hear you. Are you saying—cut off the entire country's network?"
"Yes, now."
Shuri was silent for a second. "...Alright. But do you know what this means? We'll be completely cut off from the outside world. Satellite communications, the internet, phones—everything will go down."
"I know," T'Chaka said. "Do it."
Shuri took a deep breath. "Three minutes."
T'Chaka turned off the communicator and looked at Mavuika and Tony. "In three minutes, Wakanda will become an island."
Tony nodded. "Then we have to ensure Ultron doesn't leave Wakanda within those three minutes."
He looked up at the sky, where robots were still flying everywhere, locked in combat with the Wakandan army.
Thor, Loki, Wanda, and Pietro were weaving through the robot swarms, but there were so many that they couldn't finish them off quickly.
"Shuri," Tony pressed his communicator, "I need access to your system. I'm going to help you block Ultron's connection to the network."
Shuri's voice came back. "What's your plan?"
"Ultron's core code has a specific signature. If we can broadcast a signal across the network that makes all devices refuse to respond to that signature, Ultron won't be able to transfer its consciousness through them."
Shuri thought for a moment. "Feasible, but you'll need to deploy that signal on the main server."
"Take me there," Tony said. "Mavuika, I'll leave things here to you."
Mavuika nodded.
Tony and T'Chaka flew toward the palace, where Shuri was waiting for them.
In the sky, Thor smashed the last robot around him with his hammer. Seeing another wave of black dots swarming from the distance, he cursed.
"It's never-ending!"
Loki hovered beside him, his green magical glow having dimmed considerably.
"They're being produced continuously from Ultron's factories. If we don't destroy the factories, they'll never stop coming."
Wanda flew over from the other side, dark red Chaos Magic flickering around her. "Then let's go blow up the factories."
Pietro landed on top of a chimney, his silver-white hair fluttering in the wind. "Where are the factories?"
Wanda looked toward the edge of the city, where a massive building stood, robots constantly flying out of it.
"Over there!" She pointed in that direction.
Thor glanced over, then looked at Mavuika. Mavuika was hovering above the furnace hall, golden flames Burning around her.
"Big sis!" Thor shouted. "We're going to blow up the factories!"
Mavuika nodded. "Go. Be careful."
Thor grinned and raised Mjolnir. Lightning exploded, and he turned into a bolt of blue electricity, flying toward the factories.
Loki followed behind him, and Wanda and Pietro followed as well.