"Stark, talk to me!" Steve barked over the radio. "How do we stop this thing?"
"We don't!" Tony yelled back. "If I blow the engines now, the city shatters. We're at five hundred feet and climbing. At this rate, we'll hit the 'extinction' height."
Satoru glanced toward the courtyard. He saw Wanda on her knees next to Clint. They were hunched over Pietro, who was covered in blood from sentry fire. Wanda's red energy was flaring out in panicked bursts, she was losing it.
"Hey everyone, listen, " Satoru suddenly said over the comms. "I can solve your 'meteor' problem but I need you guys to get everyone out before I do so."
"You can solve it?" Tony's voice was incredulous, nearly drowned out by the roar of the thrusters. "Gojo, kid, I know you're powerful, we just saw what you did to Ultron with the Mind Stone. But, we're talking about a multi-billion ton landmass moving against gravity. You can't just—"
"Tony, let him speak," Steve interrupted, his voice tight but focused as he deflected a sentry's blast on his side. "Gojo, If you have a play, what do you want us to do?"
"I have a play," Satoru replied, hovering effortlessly even as the air thinned. He looked down at the sprawling city. "But my 'play' tends to be a bit... messy for anyone standing too close. Clear the city. Every civilian, even everyone of you. If a single person is left in this city when I start, they're going to have a very bad day."
"We don't have enough rescue craft!" Steve yelled. "Romanoff and Barton are still pinned near the center!"
"Then find some!" Satoru snapped coldly. He was getting irritated, was he the only guy finding solutions in this mess they literally started? The innocents are getting killed and more will if they don't act fast, destroying the sentries just wouldn't cut it.
Satoru's cold snap silenced the radio for a second, the irritation in his voice was palpable.
"You're not the only one looking for a solution, kid," a new voice suddenly crackled over the frequency. "Keep your hair on."
Satoru's head tilted as he detected a massive displacement of air behind the cloud line. He turned his gaze toward the horizon and watched as the clouds parted to reveal the massive, twin-rotored silhouette of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, its deck already swarming with personnel.
"Fury, you son of a bitch," Stave breathed, a rare grin breaking through his grim expression.
"Ooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Nick Fury's voice returned, laced with that signature dry wit. "I was just checking the local real estate. Looks like the neighborhood is going up."
Satoru raised a brow, he recognized the voice and Captain America's words just confirmed it.
"Hello, employer," Satoru chirped, his irritation vanishing instantly into his usual playful demeanor. "Nice of you to bring the big toys. I was starting to think I'd have to carry this whole city myself."
"Nice to finally meet you too, kid," Fury replied from the bridge, though his tone was all business. "Let's hope you're worth the paycheck, because right now, we're the only thing standing between this world and a very long winter."
Fury didn't wait for a retort. He still had not known what had happened in Norway, the only thing that mattered was that they stopped Ultron from getting to the data banks in Nexus, he'll hear of the details later. He turned his head toward the woman standing beside him. "Hill, you heard the wizard. Deploy the lifeboats. Let's get these people off this floating nightmare."
Small but agile rescue transporters began to drop from the Helicarrier's bay, banking sharply toward the edges of the city.
"You heard the man!" Steve shouted into the comms. "All Avengers, focus on evacuation. Get everyone to those transporters now!"
The Avengers moved like a well-oiled machine, driven by the ticking clock Satoru had just set.
Thor was a whirlwind of lightning in the residential district, his hammer shattering sentries into molten slag before they could reach the terrified civilians. Beside him, Steve Rogers led a column of survivors toward the nearest landing zone, his shield catching the red beams from drones with metallic clangs.
Near the center, Natasha and Clint were back-to-back, clearing a path for the lifeboats to dock. Clint fired a grappling arrow, swinging a child to safety while Natasha emptied her magazines into a swarm of metallic wasps.
High above the rooftops, Satoru drifted. He wasn't breaking a sweat. Every time a sentry leveled its arm at a civilian, Satoru was there, not with a punch, but with a casual flick of his wrist.
He didn't even use his full techniques; a simple application of Blue or Red was enough to implode a robot into a marble-sized ball of scrap before it could fire a single shot.
He focused on rescuing the civilians than destroying the sentries, because after everyone's away to safety, what he'll do will be more than just 'destroying'.
"Go, go, go!" Satoru cheerfully swung his arms like a marshaller towards a hovering lifeboat. "Don't look down, it's a long drop!"
Meanwhile, Tony was dogfighting Ultron near the church when a heavy streak of silver and black rocketed past him, unleashing a barrage of miniature missiles at Ultron.
"War Machine in the house!" Rhodey's voice boomed over the comms. "Sorry for the wait, Tony. The streets were a hive of sentries."
"About time, Rhodey," Tony grunted, banking his suit hard to avoid a punch. "I was starting to think you got cold feet."
"You think I can't hold my own?" Rhodey shot back, his shoulder-mounted minigun spinning up and fired at Ultron, though it didn't amount to much due to Ultron's vibranium body.
"If we get through this, I'll hold your own," Tony replied.
There was a brief, pained silence on the radio. Then Rhodes sighed. "You just had to make it weird."
Before Tony could defend his sense of humor, the roof of a nearby building exploded outward. A massive green blur launched into the air, catching Ultron mid-flight before slamming him into the nearby building, the ground, and then he heaved Ultron up the sky.
Tony and Rhodes fired at Ultron with all they got before he can stabilize himself in the air.
"Glad the big guy's on the same page," Tony muttered. "Alright, boys, keep the path clear. Gojo's looking like he's about to start the fireworks, and I'd really like to not be on the guest list for that one."
The roar of the Helicarrier's engines and the frantic shuttling of the lifeboats finally began to fade. Steve Rogers was the last onto the final transport, pulling a sobbing Sokovian woman inside just as the ramp sealed.
"That's the last of them, Cap," Maria Hill's voice came through the comms, steady but relieved. "The city is officially a ghost town."
"Copy that," Steve replied, looking out the small window as the lifeboat banked away.
"Avengers, get clear. Now!"
Tony, Rhodey, and Thor didn't need to be told twice. They peeled away from the church district, their thrusters and lightning leaving streaks against the thinning atmosphere. They stopped several hundred meters out, hovering in the open air to watch the giant rock continue its ascent.
Now, Satoru was the only living soul left on the floating landmass.
Down in the ruins of the town square, the rubble began to shift. With a screech of tortured metal, Ultron's synthetic hand punched through a slab of concrete. He crawled out from the crater where Tony and Rhodey's barrage had buried him, his vibranium body dented and sparking, but still very much functional.
The AI stood up, dusting off his shoulders with slow movement. He looked around the empty streets.
High above him, Satoru drifted, his white haori fluttering in the high-altitude wind where he looked down at Ultron.
The two stared at each other silently for a good minute.
"Well," Satoru's voice carried through the thin air. "It's just you and me now, toaster. Any last words?"
Ultron stood in the center of the silent, ruined square, his red optics flickering as he looked up at the teenager suspended against the clouds.
"You and the others shouldn't be here," Ultron said, his voice resonant even in the thinning atmosphere. "The Quinjet's flight path, the distance… it was impossible for you to arrive before the ignition. How are you here?"
Satoru tilted his head, a playful smirk dancing on his lips despite the gravity of the situation. "You're a machine, right? You should know that math is only as good as the variables you have. You missed a big one."
He began to descend slowly, his feet coming to rest on a jagged piece of rebar sticking out of the concrete.
"Regardless," Ultron stepped forward, his heavy metallic footfalls echoing. "You've only delayed the inevitable, but you haven't stopped it. Look around you, child. The city is at its zenith. The impact will still happen. The world will still end. You've simply ensured you have a front-row seat to the beginning of humanity's evolution."
"First primitive, now zenith… man, you really love the big words," Satoru sighed, looking bored. "But you're forgetting something. I told the others I'd solve the 'meteor' problem. And unlike you, I actually keep my word."
Ultron's eyes flared a brighter and aggressive red as he fell into thought, remembering what had happened earlier with his previous body.
Eventually, he said with a bit of acquiescence. "You are but a child, a powerful and mysterious enigma, perhaps, but I'm everywhere. Even if you stop me again with the power you used against me in Norway, I can simply transfer myself to a new body."
"Did you forget?" Ultron's vibranium face shifted into what seemed to be a smirk. "I always prepare contingencies."
"Hmm," Satoru hummed, tapping his chin as if he were actually considering the AI's words. He looked around at the rising city, the clouds now drifting below the level of the rooftops. "You really are like a persistent virus, aren't you?"
He took a slow step forward, the rebar beneath his foot snapping like a toothpick, though his weight didn't seem to touch it. He stopped, his eyes hidden but his smirk growing wider and more unhinged, in a way.
"But you're making a huge assumption, toaster," Satoru said, his voice dropping into a terrifyingly smooth tone. "You think I'm going to give you a body to transfer to?"
Ultron's internal processors whirred, a metallic sound of confusion. "What are you—"
"Unlimited Void: Nihility! (Muryōkūsho: Kyomu)"
...
[Author's Notes]: When I saw this fic climbing through the rankings, I was honestly shocked. Like, genuinely shooked! I kept staring at my MacBook and giggling to myself like a pedo... I joke.
I appreciate the reception you guys have been giving this story. At the same time, I cannot lie, it's been stressing me out a little too. In fact, because of that pressure, the chapter update ended up being delayed. So yes, I'm putting the blame entirely on you. Not me at all.
...I joke...
On a more serious note, I truly appreciate everyone who's been taking the time to read and support this fic. As a little thank you gesture, I decided to release two chapters. Writing both of them is also a big part of why this update took longer than expected, so that explains the late chapter drop too.
Discord server, if you want to hang out, chill, or play: discord.gg/Uaj9rhWA