The Chitauri weren't here yet.
But Ultron was waking up.
He wasn't metal. Not yet.
He was voice. Code. Possibility.
A ghost in the Mind Stone's machine.
And that ghost had started whispering my name.
[System Alert – Ultron Fragment: Phase II Activation Detected]
Location: Mind Stone Core (Stability: 43%)
Vocal Signature Detected: "You shouldn't exist."
Recommendation: Purge or Redirect within 48 hours
In a sealed S.H.I.E.L.D. data vault, we isolated the Stone's digital echo. J.A.R.V.I.S. was running sandbox simulations to keep the Ultron code locked down.
But even he sounded... nervous.
"Sir," J.A.R.V.I.S. said to me directly, "this is not a linear artificial intelligence. It is adaptive, recursive, and conscious of your presence."
"Conscious?" Peter asked from behind me, still fiddling with the HUD overlay he could now inexplicably see. "Like, sentient?"
"Worse," I muttered. "It remembers futures that didn't happen."
Wanda stood next to me, eyes glowing faintly crimson.
"I hear it, even when I sleep," she said. "It talks about strings. How we're all just strings wrapped around a spark."
"Let me guess," I said. "He wants to light the match."
Then Ultron spoke again.
Through the simulation.
Through the screen.
Through my system interface.
"You are the wrong variable."
"You stole someone else's path."
"Let me fix it."
The lights flickered.
Wanda grabbed my wrist—tight.
"It's trying to rewrite you."
[System Defense Triggered: Conscious Override Blocked]
Ultron Access Level: 14%
Emergency Patch: Inject Counter-Meme (Echo Protocol)
I activated the countermeasure.
The code fought back like it was alive.
It screamed.
Literally. A high-pitched, digital wail that made even the reinforced speakers crack.
Then silence.
And a new message.
[Fragment Contained – Temporarily]
New Trait Unlocked: Spark of the Void
+15% Resistance to AI-based mind corruption
+Ability: Detect Reality Instabilities within 20m
Peter looked pale.
"I… I don't think this is a game anymore."
"It never was," I said. "This world plays for keeps."
That night, on the Helicarrier's top deck, I met Wanda under the stars.
The city lights far below twinkled like a second sky. She leaned on the railing, arms crossed, mind clearly still tangled in what we saw.
"You ever wonder," she said softly, "if this is the world we were supposed to save?"
"What do you mean?"
"What if we're just delaying the end? Playing heroes in a story that ends the same way every time?"
I leaned beside her.
"Then we rewrite the ending."
"Even if that means becoming the villains?"
I looked her in the eyes.
"Then we become better villains than the last ones."
From behind us, Strange appeared—through a swirling portal of gold.
"That mindset," he said, "is why I came to warn you."
He held up a glowing thread—literally made of light, unraveling midair.
"Reality around you is thinning. Too many choices. Too many changes. You've already triggered a potential incursion."
"And?" I asked.
"You get one final chance," he said. "Bind your system into a fixed state. Let it stabilize. Or…"
He closed his fist around the thread. It vanished.
"Or the multiverse will treat you as a virus."
[Critical Decision Approaching]
Choice Available Soon: System Lock or System Evolution
Warning: One path leads to convergence. The other to collapse.
I stared into the night, feeling the weight of it all pressing in.
Ultron inside the Stone.
Wanda at my side.
Peter caught in a storm he didn't ask for.
And Strange… giving me the chance to pull the brake.
But something deep inside whispered:
You didn't come here to play it safe.
You came here to win.