Naruto In Marvel Universe Chapter 28: Break My Fall

Naruto seethed as he punched a hole in the cabin's wall, "That d.a.m.ned f.u.c.king idiot!"

Amora watched as the s.h.i.+n.o.bi wrenched his hand free, shrinking into herself as she said, "The Avengers have been missing in action for a few days now, no one knows where they went after Anthony Stark stopped the green monster known as the Hulk."

As he tried to calm himself down, the memories of the clone he'd left behind finally began to flood in.

The clone had been present during Tony and Bruce's work on the Mind Stone for three days, the two having managed to a.s.semble an artificial intelligence by a.n.a.lyzing the innerworkings of the stone, with Tony intending to use the AI for a program he'd been workshopping dubbed 'Ultron.' The two, with Naruto's supervision, did their best to map out Ultron's self-awareness but found little success. They had shelved it for the day when the Shadow Clone had popped.

So, taking advantage of Naruto's absence, Tony decided to continue his work with Ultron and the Mind Stone.

"Please, do refrain from making another hole in my wall." Odin called from near the fireplace, "This shack is flimsy enough without you throwing your fists around."

"This isn't the time, old man." Naruto breathed out in a clipped tone, "I need to get to where ever it is that idiot is, so I can wring his f.u.c.king neck."

"Hmm, well perhaps my son can be of a.s.sistance."

Raising a confused eyebrow, Naruto was about to question the All-Father when the cabin's door suddenly came flying open, Thor storming in with a clear mission in mind.

"Father, I need you to tell me all that you can about the Infinity Stones-" Thor paused, stopping midsentence before turning to his fellow blonde warrior, "Naruto?"

Giving a surprised wave, all Naruto could muster was a measly, "Hey."

"Naruto!" Thor bellowed as he wrapped the s.h.i.+n.o.bi in a mighty bearhug, "Where have you been? When your clones popped, and you didn't return, people began to a.s.sume you'd been-"

"Hey buddy." Naruto wheezed out, feeling his lungs get smooshed together by the Thunder G.o.d's raging biceps, "Mind…letting go?"

Doing as he was asked, Thor took a step back, "Your arrival truly is fortuitous, my friend."

"Yeah, I kinda wish I'd been here a week earlier." Naruto muttered as he rubbed his sore arms, "What the h.e.l.l happened? Where's the rest of the Avengers?"

"They're hiding out at Barton's homestead." Thor answered, "After that witch put Banner under her thrall and had him go on a rampage, Rogers thought it best that the team stay low."

"Then why are you here?" Amora asked from her corner of the room.

"Because this witch had Thor under her thrall as well."

Everyone turned to the All-Father, Thor nodding solemnly, "Yes, father."

"And what did she show you?" Odin asked serenely, not bothering to look away from the fire.

"I was in Valhalla, surrounded by our people. Heimdall came to me, his eyes blinded, claiming that I would lead our people to Hel and that I would lead them there with my destructive power. I was then shown six stones covered in a golden fist, and a pair of eyes opening for the first time." Thor recounted, clearly troubled by what he'd been shown.

"You saw the Infinity Stones?" Naruto asked.

"Yes." Thor answered with a nod, looking to his father, "That's why I came here. You know more about them than anyone else."

"Hmm, there are a few who know more than I." Odin admitted, his eye flickering to Naruto, "It seems his return was fortuitous indeed."

"It can't be a coincidence that this Ultron has the Mind Stone in his grasp and that his underling would show you a glimpse of it. Clearly it is significant." Amora surmised, "What is truly vexing is this vision of a blinded Heimdall prophesizing the end of Asgard."

"Was there fire?" Naruto asked, "Or a purple light?"

This caught Odin's attention, the elderly king looking to the s.h.i.+n.o.bi with an unreadable expression.

"No." Thor answered, "There was no fire or purple light. I was covered in lightning, destroying everything around me."

The room grew quiet after that.

Until a question popped into Naruto's mind, "Wait, what witch?"

"Ultron has recruited two powerful metahumans to his cause." Thor explained, clearly not their biggest fan, "I believe Rogers and Hill called them the Maximoff twins."

"s.h.i.+t." Naruto cursed aloud, ma.s.saging his forehead to fight off his ever-growing headache.

"You know of them?" Thor asked.

"Yeah." Naruto answered tiredly, "I ran into them before you guys asked me to go off into Hel. It makes sense that this Ultron thing would seek them out, those two hate Tony more than anybody."

"Well, what now?" Amora asked.

Naruto walked up to Thor, putting his hand on the Thunder G.o.d's shoulder, "Well, I don't know about Thor, but I plan on ripping out Tony's facial hair. One follicle for every snarky remark he was to say when I ask him what the f.u.c.k he was thinking."

Thor gave a ma.s.sive, slightly bloodthirsty, smile, "That sounds very amusing, can I watch?"

"Sure, I'll even let you pick how I do it."

"Odin's beard, I've missed you."

And with that, the two warriors were gone in a yellow flash.

-x-

Birds sang tranquilly, their chirps echoing along the homestead's large property. Resting within that property, a worn barn creaked and groaned with each blow of wind that bounced off its walls. Breaking through the sounds of nature, two voices could be heard from within the barn.

"You've come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn't one of them."

Nick Fury sat on a bale of hay, looking up at the clearly fl.u.s.tered Tony Stark.

Tony scoffed for a second, pacing within the barn Laura Barton had led him into, trying to get some distance from the former director of s.h.i.+ELD.

His face relaxed into a depressed frown as he stood next to the tractor Laura had asked him to fix, "The stone, it…showed me things. I watched my friends die. You'd think that'd be as bad as it gets. Nope, wasn't the worst part-"

"The worst part was that you didn't." Nick interrupted, getting up from his seat to stand next to his first recruit.

Tony looked up, his face going from surprised to understanding as he processed the Director's words.

The sound of feet shuffling against gra.s.s came within their earshot, warning them that someone was running up to the barn. Running through the barn door with a huff, Laura breathed out, "Naruto's here."

A sinking feeling washed over Tony, the man laughing nervously as he heard Naruto's voice from outside, "How is he?"

Laura smiled apologetically, "I think it's best I don't tell you."

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Fury began to walk out of the barn, "Some friendly advice when dealing with an angry Naruto Uzumaki, shut up and take it. The kid's got a nasty left hook."

Tony sat down at the stool in front of the tractor, sighing as he heard Fury say he was in the barn from outside. Laura stood in the doorway, her hands folded over her pregnant stomach as she waited as well. Picking up a nearby wrench, the man tinkered with the motor with no real intension to fix it.

Perking up as she saw Naruto come through the doorway, she gave an uneasy smile, "Naruto!" She called as pleasantly as she could, wrapping him up in a hug before he could say a word.

"Hey, Laura." Naruto greeted with a small smile, returning the hug, "How's the baby?"

"Oh, lively as ever." She answered light heartedly, "Do you want me to get you some lemonade? I just made some for Steve, I'm sure he wouldn't mind sharing."

"Sure, I'll head over to the house in a minute."

Getting the hint, Laura gave him a pat on the cheek before heading back to the homestead.

Trying to cut the tension, Tony looked up from the tractor, "I didn't want any…thanks for asking." But the quip failed to land, simply getting Naruto's attention.

"One week." Naruto started, his voice strained with frustration, "I told you that you had one week with the Mind Stone."

Tony sighed, setting down the wrench as he responded, "I know-"

"My clone popped after three days. That gave you four more to do whatever it was you wanted to do before you gave it Magik. And don't act like there was no way to get a hold of her, I'm not in the mood." Naruto interrupted bluntly, "How long did you decide to extend it?"

"Two weeks." Tony answered.

"Two and a half weeks with the Mind Stone." Naruto surmised quietly, "And in that time, you completed the Ultron Program…how did that go for you?"

"Not well-"

"No s.h.i.+t!" Naruto bashed, "What happened?"

The Stark sighed in defeat, "When your clone popped, Bruce and I decided to proceed without you for the rest of the week. At first, we planned to follow through with the deal, but by the time the week came to an end we'd made more progress with Ultron than we thought we would. He was conscious. He was aware. I'd never seen anything like it. Not with Jarvis, not with Friday. None of the artificial intelligence I'd created were as alive Ultron is. And he was compliant. He understood his objective and took to it like a duck to water. He was advancing so rapidly that Bruce and I agreed to hasten his field test, sending him out to Sokovia to a.s.sist in controlling a riot that had broken out in the city's streets. But, something changed after that. He kept asking me to build him a body, a perfect body. He said he couldn't complete his mission without one, that simply having intelligence wasn't enough. I told I would, eventually, but for now we needed to focus on improving the Iron Legion. A couple days later he fled with the Iron Legion, stealing the Mind Stone and Loki's scepter. He disa.s.sembled Jarvis's programming, which bought him plenty of time to do whatever he pleased."

Tony ran his hands through his hair, his forehead wrinkling from the stress, "A couple days later we figured out he was going to Africa to buy some black market vibranium. We confronted him, but he'd recruited these enhanced Sokovian kids to help fend us off. One kid was as fast as a bullet and the girl put Cap's, Widow's, and Point Breaks' heads through a blender before going and setting off Bruce. The poor guy Hulked out and went on a rampage in Johannesburg. I managed to stop him with Veronica, but the damage was done."

Naruto leaned against the barn door's frame, looking away from Tony as he said, "You realize this might not have happened had you just done what we agreed, right?"

"There's a chance." He admitted.

"I should've known better than to give you guys the stone. Tinkering with these things is a bad idea in general, nothing good could've come from it." Naruto admitted, mentally cursing himself.

"To be fair, the Tesseract could've provided us a method to unlock unlimited energy." Tony argued.

"And open a door to weapons of ma.s.s destruction." Naruto countered, "These things are double edged swords, Tony. Whatever good you get out of it; endless energy, world peace, whatever, it's just as likely to give you endless misery and countless lives lost."

Tony got up from the stool with a defeated grunt, "Well kid, what now?"

"Now you help me find Ultron, so we go and end this. Then I get that stone as far away from you as possible." As Naruto began to walk out of the barn, he finished, "After that, I think I can say with absolute certainty that we're done. You do you, I do me. But we're not on the same side anymore. If I find out you do something like this again…well, I have a team of my own now. Get it?"

"Yeah…got it."

Naruto sighed as he walked up towards the homestead, he ran his hands through his hair in an attempt to calm himself.

He then forced a smile as Lila ran out of the house, jumping over the porch steps and into his arms. Laughing as he caught her, he gave her a quick twirl.

Setting her down, he asked, "Where's your old man?"

"Daddy's inside with Auntie Nat and Mr. Banner." Lila answered happily.

Nodding he began to walk inside as Steve walked around the corner, an axe resting on his shoulder and a gla.s.s of lemonade in his free hand, "Naruto, you're back." The man of the past observed.

"Yeah, I'm back." Looking him over, the Uzumaki asked, "How you feeling?"

"Better. Just needed to clear my head." Looking around the property he continued, "Pretty easy to do, with how peaceful this place is."

Naruto nodded, allowing Steve to catch up next to him, "You ever think about finding a place like this? Laying low?"

"All the time."

The door flew open once again as Naruto and Steve got onto the porch, Natasha walking out. Looking Naruto over, she stepped aside to let the two men in. As Naruto walked pa.s.sed her, she grabbed his sleeve, stopping him.

"Can we talk?" She whispered softly.

Naruto answered with a slow nod, a frown on his face as he realized how upset she looked. The fact that she wasn't even hiding it showed how deeply fl.u.s.tered she was.

Walking in, Naruto gave greetings to Clint and Cooper, the two sitting at the kitchen table. Clint looked the blonde over, "You look like s.h.i.+t, kid."

Looking down, Naruto realized that he hadn't changed out of his ruined clothes from his fight with Hela. His s.h.i.+rt was still missing, though he'd put on his ruined jacket, and his pants looked like they'd gone through a butcher's shop.

Shrugging, he said, "I've had an interesting day…or month I guess I should say."

"Yeah, you're going to have to explain it a bit better than that." Laura called out from the kitchen. Walking into the living room, she handed the blonde a gla.s.s of lemonade, "You vanished, Naruto. You, your clones, you were gone. Thor said something about a quest, but he didn't go into any details." She explained, giving the Asgardian prince a pointed look.

Taking a sip from the drink, the Uzumaki gave a sigh before saying, "If Thor didn't give any details, then I guess all I can say is that I went on a quest to a super weird dimension on an alien planet, where time moved at a different rate of speed. To me it felt like about a day, I guess here it was a month."

The room was silent for several seconds, followed by a muttered, "Cool," from Cooper.

"Well, Clint's got some hand-me-downs from his college days he can spare you. Come on, I'll show you." Laura said, motioning for Naruto to follow her.

Finding themselves in one of the spare bedrooms, Laura was going through a few boxes she'd pulled out of the closet. Pulling out a pair of jeans, she threw them over to the blonde, "Here, see if they fit." Seeing his raised eyebrow, she sighed, "If you're really that embarra.s.sed I'll turn around."

Scoffing, Naruto dropped his torn-up pants to the ground before quickly s.h.i.+fting on the gifted set. Laura kept her eyes on the box she was digging through, pulling out a white t-s.h.i.+rt and tossing it over.

As Naruto put on the s.h.i.+rt Laura continued to dig, she spoke softly, "How bad do you think it's going to be?"

Sighing as he pushed his hands through the short sleeves, Naruto answered, "I don't know. I'm gonna call my team and see if they can give some backup."

"Do you really think it's going to be that bad?" She asked, concern layered thinly in her voice.

"Maybe. It's hard to say with these kinds of things. I mean, look at how bad things got. Now this robot, Ultron, has enough material to make whatever it is he's planning. He could cause a lot of damage before we stop him." Naruto offered, flattening the slightly wrinkled s.h.i.+rt with his hands.

At that, Laura stopped, her hands bunched against a windbreaker jacket tightly, "This is…this is really scary stuff." She muttered.

"If you're worried about Clint-"

"Of course I'm worried." She breathed out. Pausing, she looked at Naruto with a heavy frown, "I've been with him since we were 17, Naruto. That idiot signed up for the Marines right out of high school, and I was worried for him then. I was worried during the Gulf War, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, every mission with s.h.i.+ELD, every fight with the Avengers, I'm alwaysworried. But I know he can handle himself. You don't have to tell me you'll protect him. I know you, and everyone else downstairs, will do what you can to keep him safe. But, something about this seems different."

Naruto didn't know how to respond. Instead, he rested his hand on her shoulder. Smiling at the sign of comfort, she gently shoved the jacket into his chest, "I think I'm gonna go start dinner."

"Alright." Naruto said softly, watching her walk away with a frown. As she stepped out of the doorway, she paused for a second, looking at whoever was standing outside with a worried frown. As she walked away, Natasha revealed herself.

"Hey." She said softly, her arms folded under her breast.

Naruto looked her up and down. Her hair was wet, likely having gotten out of the shower recently. She was wearing a loose hooded jacket and a pair of grey sweatpants.

"Hey." He answered as she came further into the room, her bare feet padding against the wooden floors.

Closing the door behind her, she pressed her hand up against it for a moment, collecting her thoughts before saying, "I don't know if they told you, but we've had a rough couple days."

"Yeah, Thor and Tony said something about it." He responded.

Turning around, she paused when she realized what he was wearing. A purple and blue windbreaker with a white s.h.i.+rt that had the alb.u.m cover for Nirvana's 'In Utero' emblazoned on the chest, "I didn't know you and Clint were such Nirvana fans." She said softly.

"What?" Naruto asked, tilting his head in confusion.

Smiling at his reaction she said, "Nothing, forget it."

Sitting down on the bed, Naruto waited for her to join him. As she sat down at an arm's length away, he said, "So, uhm, what happened?"

Swallowing a clump of dried saliva in her throat, Natasha said, "We went after Ultron, but there was this enhanced girl with him. She used her powers to get in our heads. Steve, Thor, Bruce…me. She made us see things, feel things."

"What did you see?" Naruto asked.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she answered, "I saw a lot of things. The Red Room. My training, the things they made me do, the things they did to me. And…I saw you."

"Me?"

"I saw us, but it wasn't the past. It was, well…I don't really know when. But you were there. You kept trying to walk towards me, but for some reason I kept running away from you. I wanted to stop, but I couldn't. And eventually you stopped trying, and after a while I couldn't see you anymore." Natasha stopped there, frowning as she went over her vision in her head.

"What are you trying to say, Natasha?" Naruto wondered.

Turning to him fully, she answered, "After all of this is over…I think I'm leaving."

"What?" Naruto demanded, shocked, "Leaving? Where?"

"I don't know." Natasha said, exasperated, "Bruce said he was going to leave after everything was taken care of. After Johannesburg, he doesn't think it's a good idea for him to stick around anymore. He's thinks he's caused too much damage. And…I can't help but think the same thing about myself."

The blonde processed this for a moment, "So, the two of you are running off together? Are you two-"

"No." Natasha answered, "Well, not now. But, maybe. Eventually. I don't know, to be honest."

"And what, you're asking my permission?" Naruto asked, clearly perturbed.

"No, no not that." She answered quickly, "I just wanted to tell you, if I do."

Sighing, Naruto got up. Looking down at a shocked Natasha, he frowned as he said, "The Natasha I know doesn't run away from her problems. She'd face them or die trying. If you wanna retire and move away with Banner to some tropical paradise, you have my blessing. But don't use me, or Banner, or Wanda as an excuse to run away. Don't be a coward, Natasha. You never were, and you should be d.a.m.ned before you ever are."

With that he walked briskly out of the room, closing the door behind him.

-x-

The sound of clinking silverware could be heard throughout the inside of the Barton homestead, the entirety of the Avengers loitered throughout the kitchen, dining and living room.

Lila, who had been drawing a picture on top of the living room's coffee table, showed the picture to her mother. Laura smiled approvingly before sending her away. Running off into the dining room to Naruto, who was leaning against the wall next to Bruce, she pulled on his pant leg to get his attention.

Looking down, he smiled at the little girl as she offered him her drawing. Taking it gingerly, his smile grew bigger when he saw that it was a picture of the Barton family. At the right-hand side, Naruto recognized himself in the picture. Who else had such awesome whisker marks? Lila stood in between him and a woman he quickly realized was Natasha. All six of them were holding hands and smiling.

"That's an awesome drawing, Lila." Naruto complimented sincerely, giving one of his patented smiles to the little girl.

Smiling back, she took the picture back before running off to show Natasha.

"So..." Bruce started as he watched Natasha smile down at the picture, discreetly glancing Naruto's way as she did, "Did you and…uh, well…um-"

"You're gonna have to form an actual sentence." Naruto said flatly, as he looked over the room. Steve was leaning against the entrance into the living room, Clint was standing next to the resting Laura. Thor was observing some of the Barton family pictures, and Stark was throwing some darts at the board that was hanging in the den, keeping in the doorway so he could be a part of the conversation, and Natasha was sitting next to him and Bruce in the dining room.

"Well, you and uh…you know." He began quietly, flinching at his continuous stutter, "She uh…she still has-"

"I know she does." Naruto said, eying Natasha as she pinched Lila's cheek dotingly.

"…Do you?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he turned to the man, "Do you?"

Bruce went silent, withdrawing into himself as he cleared his throat awkwardly.

Nick, who was standing at the sink as he cleaned the dishes, said, "Ultron took you folks out of play to buy himself time. My contacts all say he's building something. With the amount of vibranium he made off with, I don't think it's just one thing."

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve asked.

"Oh, he's easy to track." Fury admitted breezily, "He's everywhere. New York, London, Seoul, Sokovia, Was.h.i.+ngton D.C., Los Angeles. Guy's multiplying faster than a catholic rabbit. Still doesn't help us get an angle on any of his plans though."

"Still going after launch codes?" Tony asked from the den.

"Yes, he is." Fury said as he walked to the table as he wiped down a chopping knife, "But he's not making any headway."

Looking at Fury in disbelief, Tony bragged, "I cracked the Pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare."

"Well, I contacted our contacts at the NEXUS about that." Fury said, his attention still partially on cleaning the blade.

"NEXUS?" Steve asked.

Bruce was the one who answered, "It's the world internet hub at Oslo. Every bite of data flows through there. It's the fastest access on Earth."

"So, what'd they say?" Clint asked from the living room as he prepped some darts in his hand.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed." Fury answered.

"Changed by who-" Tony's question was interrupted as all the darts in Clint's hand came flying into the board's bullseye. A startled Tony eyed Clint, who gave a carefree shrug.

Fury ignored the two's antics, "Parties unknown."

As Lila ran back to her mother, Natasha joined in on the conversation, "We have an ally?"

"Ultron's got an enemy." Fury corrected, "That's not the same thing."

"We need to visit Oslo." Concluded Tony, "Find our unknown."

"Do you really think we should be splitting our focus?" Naruto argued, "Ultron should be who we look for, not the person that's on our side."

"I agree." Steve said, "We can find them after we deal with Ultron. We still don't know what he wants to accomplish. He says he needs a body to complete his mission, but what mission is that, exactly?"

"Don't you remember what he said before he left?" Tony asked, "Extinction, that's his goal. He wants a body that can give it to him. I'd imagine getting ahold of the nuclear codes is just to keep them from being used against him. He's building a new body, he's fixated on building the perfect human form."

"Why?" Asked Steve.

"I don't know, biologically speaking the human form is outmoded, but he keeps coming back to it." Tony explained in thought, his hand folded around his chin.

Natasha turned her head to the man, "When you two programed him to protect the human race, you amazingly failed."

Bruce, who'd been looking down at Lila's picture, muttered in thought, "They don't need to be protected. They need to evolve." Looking up to the group, he clarified, "Ultron's going to evolve."

"How?" Fury asked.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?"

-x-

Location: Seoul, South Korea

-x-

"It's beautiful."

Standing above a mechanical cradle, Dr. Helen Cho, her eyes s.h.i.+ning a dull blue signifying her enthrallment to the Mind Stone, looked in awe as it opened up with a hiss revealing the still body of Ultron's vision. Its form was lithe but firm, the skin a reddish purple. Green lights ran over the nude form, adding to its fresh skin more of the vibranium its soon to be owner provided.

Looking down at his vision, Ultron nodded. The mechanical man was tall, standing just over seven feet. Its metallic body was thin and lanky, it's face long with almost insect like fascial features.

Its dead red eyes scanned over the body as a disjointed voice came from his open mouth piece, "Touch, smell, taste, sight, sound. This body, my vision, will soon have all of these. It will be the next step in evolution. Perfect in every way. So yes, it truly is beautiful."

"The vibanium is melding with the cells perfectly. Once the process is complete, the body should be capable of harnessing the power of the Mind Stone without overloading your programming. You will still be you, only-"

"Only alive." Ultron finished.

From behind them, an Ultron Sentry held the gem containing the Mind Stone, keeping it in place as a laser drilled into the glowing rock. Cracking under the heat, the gem eventually shattered to reveal the yellow stone.

Taking the stone, Ultron looked at it closely for a moment. Walking up to the cradle, he began to place the stone within the slot situated on his vision's forehead. The singing stone now in place, Ultron said softly, "And with this star, my wish comes true."

"What wish is that?"

Turning, he saw that Pietro and Wanda had entered the room. Looking to the Maximoff brother, Ultron answered his question, "To be alive."

Wanda raised an eyebrow, walking closer to the cradle as she said, "Are you not alive already?"

"I am sentient. I think, therefore I am. But I am not alive, not really. I cannot comprehend touch or smells or tastes. When you speak, I understand you, but I'm not hearing you. I cannot feel you the way you feel me."

"So, you want to be human?" Pietro asked, perplexed.

Ultron paused, looking over Pietro and Wanda before saying, "When I was created, my objective was to be a peace keeping initiative. I was to oversee a program dubbed the Iron Legion, which would act as a suit of armor for the world. My field test came in the form of a large-scale riot in the streets of Navi Grad. I was to try and provide riot control, organizing the Iron Legion in a strategic manner to help bottleneck the heavily volatile rioters. But my intervention only upped the violence. It was there that I saw the depravity of human life, witnessed it for myself rather than reading about the countless other times it's occurred. These people were looting, destroying, and killing in protest of looting, destroying, and killing. I realized that humans are a paradox. I couldn't understand them. But, I needed to understand them. Therefore, I too was a paradox. I realized that in order to enact my duties, I needed something that would allow me to understand why humans do what they do. I needed a body. A true body. I asked Tony Stark, the world's leading authority on building artificial men, to give me what I needed. But he brushed it off, saying he would when I had proved myself."

Deciding he'd explained too much, Ultron continued his previous thought, "My lack of life, my lack of senses, these should all be advantages for me, things that put me a step ahead of my lessers. But how am I to lead the next wave of evolution if I cannot comprehend the very core aspects of life?" Ultron explained, "If I am to be a G.o.d, I must humble myself before my subjects."

Wanda, now standing over the cradle, said, "Do you really think you can become a G.o.d with this body?"

"With the Mind Stone, I will transcend all forms of thought. After I've completely acc.u.mulated with it, my thinking will exist in an entirely different plane. And with this body, I will be able to enact that will upon this world." Ultron reasoned.

Pietro frowned as he observed Ultron, the metal man looking down at his creation, "And what will your first act as 'G.o.d' be?"

"I will bring about the next genesis."

-x-

Naruto watched as Steve strapped his helmet in pace, the man in full uniform as the team prepared to leave for Seoul. The was giving out orders, instructing everyone with their task when entering the city.

"We need to keep civilians away from the fight, Naruto I think the safest bet is for you to fan out and clear the area and teleport them to safety." The Captain suggested.

"Right," Naruto said with a nod, "Where were you thinking I take them?"

Rogers looked to Fury, "You still have any Helicarriors laying around?"

"Well, I was planning on letting that be a surprise." Fury quipped lightly, "But yeah, I just need to meet up with Hill and a few others so we can get it running."

"I'll take you." Naruto offered, creating a clone that grabbed onto Fury's shoulder, "He'll take you to where you need to go, and he'll gather up my team while he's at it. You guys meet us at Seoul as soon as you can."

"Got it-" Fury began, only to be cut off as the Shadow Clone carried him along in a flash.

Naruto turned to Tony, "I'll get someone to look into the situation you were talking about at Nexus. If we can somehow cut off Ultron's access to the internet, that'll give us an advantage."

Tony raised an eyebrow, "Who do you have that can outwork Ultron?"

"Oh, I'll leave that for later." Naruto said with a knowing smirk.

Standing away from the group, Laura watched as Clint strapped his bow behind his back. Looking down at his wife, Clint said, "I'm gonna finish reflooring that sunroom as soon as I get back."

Laura's smile was strained, "Yeah, then you'll find another part of the house to tear apart."

"No." He offered, making Laura frown. Giving a rea.s.suring smile, Clint said, "It's the last project. I promise."

Taking his face in her hands, Laura pulled him down into a kiss.

Upstairs, Natasha zipped up her suit, making sure everything was in place as a voice spoke up behind her, "So…last one, huh?"

Turning around, she saw Bruce standing in the doorway, the man fiddling with his hands as he seemed to debate walking further into the room.

"Yeah. I guess."

"You guess." Bruce muttered. Stepping forward, he continued, "You know, if you don't want to do it, I understand-"

"It's not that I don't want to." Natasha said, "But, after my talk with Naruto-"

"Naruto." Bruce breathed, "Of course."

Blinking, the a.s.sa.s.sin asked, "What about him?"

"I just…" He started, "I just can't understand it. You want to get away from your past, from him. But one word from him, and you want to stay? That doesn't make any sense to me."

"I don't know what I want." Natasha admitted, "Everything just came flooding back to me, all of it. Everything I've ever done was shoved into my face like a bucket of ice water. Then you came along, talking about going away. And that sounded amazing. To find somewhere, someplace, where none of the things I've done matter. A fresh slate. But, I don't think running away from my problems will make them go away. If I give in, I'm letting my problems control my life. If you run, your problems are controlling your life-"

"My problem controls every facet, every minutia or my life." Bruce cut in sharply, "I can't walk down the street anymore without worrying about my problem. I can't have anything anymore, without my problem being a deciding factor. All I can do is run. And now, after what he did, what I did, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be around here anymore."

"Then maybe you shouldn't?"

Bruce stood there, frozen. Eventually, he muttered, "Then maybe I will, after all of this."

"I'm sorry, Bruce." Natasha offered, truly apologetic.

"No, no. I understand." Bruce said, waving it off though his voice had a depressed inflexion, "Not everyone can drop everything and run like I can, I know that."

"Well, wherever you go, don't think you can't come back."

The man smiled, though it seemed to lack any emotion, "Yeah, thanks."

-x-

"He's here."

Wanda Maximoff looked to Ultron, the artificial man sitting down next the cradle that was currently holding his newly made body, "Who?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Pietro immediately recognized the name, blurring pa.s.sed the Ultron Sentries that stood guard as he demanded, "Where is he? He's in the building?"

"No. He's been spotted by several surveillance cameras throughout Was.h.i.+ngton D.C. and Manhattan." Ultron droned, his voice heavy as he watched over his vision, the Mind Stone glowing from its perch, "He's been missing for nearly a month now. I had hoped he'd been killed, but I suppose we can't always get what we want."

"You want him dead?" Wanda asked from her seat. Feeling a pang of emotion come from him, she narrowed her eyes curiously, "You're afraid of him."

Ultron looked to her, startled into silence. Looking back to his body, his vision, he said, "I don't feel. I simply see him for what he is."

"And what is that?" Pietro asked from his sister's side.

"Dangerous."

Dr. Helen Cho walked into the room, her heels clicking against the tiled floor as she read off of her clipboard, "The cellular cohesion will take a few more hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream."

Connecting a thick cord to the back of Ultron's head with a thick click, she began to tap away at her computer, "We're uploading your cerebral matrix now."

As the cradle came alive with beeps and boops, signaling the start of the upload, Wanda felt a sudden outcry of emotion from the partially empty body.

Walking to it, she muttered, "I can read him. He's…dreaming."

"I wouldn't call them dreams." Helen corrected helpfully, "It's Ultron's base consciousness. Informational noise, soon-"

"How soon?" Ultron demanded, "If Naruto Uzumaki has returned, our time frame has decreased significantly."

Wanda, now hovering over the cradle, drowned out their conversation as she pressed her fingers on the gla.s.s that separated her from the body. Her head was quickly invaded by a stream of images.

A meteor striking the planet, destroying anything and everything around it. Naruto Uzumaki killing Baron Wolfgang von Strucker with Loki's scepter, the Mind Stone in Naruto's hand vibrating from the blonde's killing intent. A violent riot in Sokovia, the rioters doing their best to destroy the Iron Legion in Ultron's control. The sight of these Sokovians killing each other, for no reason other than mob mentality. Images of human destruction and self-harm. Of wars, genocides, and enslavement. Of a man enveloped in fire with grand power, a seemingly perfect warrior. Feeling of hatred, fear, and jealousy.

Gasping, Wanda removed herself from the cradle, holding her head as the images engrained themselves in her brain.

Ultron remained seated, watching as Pietro tried to comfort the clearly frightened Wanda.

As Pietro held her, Wanda stared at Ultron in disbelief, "Yo-you told us we were going to end the Avengers. We were going to kill Tony Stark. We were going to make a better world-"

"It will be a better world. With this body, I can end the man so many call a G.o.d." Ultron reasoned, "I will evolve pa.s.sed him, and shape the world into a better place. Like he should've done."

"And global extinction will make the world a better place?" Wanda demanded, shocking Pietro with this revelation.

Ultron nodded slowly, his consciousness beginning to fade into his new body, his vision, "Humans are like a parasite, devouring away at their host body with little care that killing it will kill them. The universe sent this planet a cure in the form of Naruto Uzumaki, but all he turned out to be was an enabler. He has the power to vaccinate this poor world, and he squanders it with self-indulgence and tamed violence. It should only be fate that he be the catalyst for my creation. For the creation of a new G.o.d."

"Is that really what you think of yourself to be?" Pietro demanded heatedly, "An usher of creation doesn't rebuild a new world on top of the old destroyed one. All you are is "

Ultron lifted his up hand lazily, his fingers coming to life as they blasted a thin beam of energy through Pietro's stomach.

"Pietro!" Wanda screamed, catching him as he fell to the ground limply. Putting pressure onto his wound, blood flooding pa.s.sed her fingers, she looked up to Helen as she screamed, "Help him!"

Helen didn't even flinch, her eyes never leaving her computer screen.

"Did you not see that coming?" Ultron asked tiredly, the synchronization nearly three-fourths of the way done, "You really should've known not to push me, Pietro. The only reason I've allowed you to live this long is because of your sister. Sadly, it seems the only thing that can outrun your feet is your mouth."

Tears now spilling from her eyes as the color in Pietro's face began to drain into a deathly white, Wanda turned her head to Helen again, her eyes glowing a dangerous scarlet, "I said help him!"

Her eyes flas.h.i.+ng red, Helen stumbled. Clutching her head, she quickly gathered herself. Seeing Pietro lying in a pool of his own blood, she gasped as she rushed to his side, putting her hands over Wanda's as she said, "What…what happened?"

"Just…just take care of him." Wanda said as she hesitantly got up from her brother's side. Her full attention now on the still resting Ultron, she glared at him with scarlet eyes, "How could you?"

"How could I what?"

"Don't toy with me!" Wanda screamed, her blood caked hands enveloped in her scarlet energy.

Ultron tilted his head, "Did you really think I cared for you? You were p.a.w.ns. You wanted Tony Stark dead. I wanted everyone dead. Our two goals overlapped. It was a tactical move that put me ahead of the compet.i.tion. They're on the backfoot, while I put all of my pieces in play. Don't act like you weren't using me to get what you wanted. Once Tony Stark was dead, you'd have had no reason to continue our relations.h.i.+p. You'd have left me, and I'd have had to kill you in return."

The Ultron Sentries took several steps toward the enraged Wanda, their hands buzzing with deadly energy.

"So, you're just rus.h.i.+ng it along, is that it?" Wanda demanded, her body s.h.i.+fting into her fighting stance.

"Don't take it personally." Ultron and his Sentries said at once, before the two Ultron Sentries rushed at the woman with the clear intent to kill.

Wanda ducked under a blast of energy, waving her energy encased hands as she summoned a wave of scarlet energy that grabbed ahold of the closest Sentry to her, crus.h.i.+ng it like a tin can with a gripping hand gesture.

The second Sentry took advantage of Wanda focusing on the first, backhanding her in the face hard enough to send her into the wall. Before she could move to counter, the Sentry had barreled into her, driving her through the wall in a mighty tackle.

Gasping in pain as it pinned her against the next room's wall, she quickly summoned a tendril of energy that wrapped around the Sentry's neck. Pulling it off of her, she had the tendril squeeze hard enough to decapitate it.

Huffing as she wiped the blood away from her lip, she glared into the hole the Sentry had created with her body. Standing in the opening were two other Sentries, their dead, glowing red eyes staring at her unblinkingly.

As she was about to charge up another wave of energy, a blue and silver blur shot pa.s.sed the Sentries, running into Wanda and carrying her off away from the fight.

Coming to a jolting stop, she and the blur tumbled to the ground outside of the building they'd been in. Rolling to a stop, she looked to see Pietro lying on the ground, clutching his stomach as more blood seeped from the wound.

"Pietro." She whispered, crawling to his side, "Pietro why did you do that? You can't be moving around, you're just going to hurt yourself-"

"You need…to get out of here…" Pietro gasped out through pained breaths, "He's going to…kill you…leave…now."

"Not without you-"

Grabbing her hand tightly, Pietro smiled, "I'm done Wanda…I'm done."

Wanda couldn't muster the words she needed to say, only choking on her tears as she gripped her brother's hand in a vice grip.

Chuckling, Pietro muttered quietly, "Maybe what you said that blondie told you was right. Maybe…maybe we shoulda just left it alone."

Wanda watched as his breathing grew shallow, his eyes becoming unfocused as he looked up into the sky. Speaking pa.s.sed the blood filling his mouth, he muttered, "I always wanted to go see the world. To see the ocean. You know I always wanted to run on water. But now…now…"

Pietro went silent, never to speak again.

Wanda could only hold his hand, tears spilling.

-x-

Ultron gave an unnecessary sigh, showing his annoyance as he looked down at his cradled body, "d.a.m.ned girl, you were supposed to be my deterrent when Naruto Uzumaki showed himself to me. Now I'll need something else to distract them before the Highlander Protocol."

"Highlander Protocol?"

The Ultron Sentries turned to Helen, the woman standing next to the puddle of blood Pietro had left behind.

"I can't kill anyone in the building, it'll send a hero in to save them." Ultron said to himself, giving the unnecessary command to his Sentries,"But I need them quiet. Her especially."

Helen took a step back, eyes widening in fear as the Ultron Sentries stepped towards her threateningly.

"Everyone else in the city is free game."

-x-

Wanda, still kneeling next to her brother's body, jumped when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. Her fists enveloped in her scarlet energy, she made to fend off whoever was stupid enough to touch her.

A vice like grip around her wrist stopping her, Wanda's eyes widened when she saw Naruto looking at her with somber eyes.

Letting go, Naruto knelt next to her, resting his hand on Pietro's chest. Sighing, he pushed his finger into his earpiece, "I found the Maximoff twins. The brother's down-"

"His name is Pietro." Wanda cut in scathingly.

Pausing for a second, Naruto continued, "Pietro Maximoff is dead. I have the sister now."

"Copy that." Steve answered, "I'm a block over and on my way. Clint's made himself a bird's nest a few buildings over, Tony should be here any second, and Bruce and Natasha are incoming in the Quinjet. We should be ready for an ambush in five minutes, ten tops."

"Got it." Naruto answered, looking to Thor who was standing next to him, the man looking down at Pietro's corpse with trepidation. The boy had been his enemy a day ago after all, "Thor and I are right in front of the building. We're heading in."

Getting a resounding copy that from the rest of the Avengers, Naruto turned to Wanda, "I'll make a clone that'll take you and your brother away. Just tell us what floor the robot is on."

"Top floor, the Research and Development lab." Wanda answered blankly.

Two Shadow Clones popped into existence. One picked up Pietro gently, while the other made to grab Wanda, only to get brushed off.

"What are you-"

"I'm not leaving." Wanda stated firmly, daring him to challenge her.

Sighing in agitation, the blonde walked away, "Fine, but my clone stays with you."

"Fine." She said tightly, glaring at Naruto's back.

As Naruto began to draw in some Natural Chakra, the sound of screaming and fighting broke out around them, was.h.i.+ng over them as hundreds of Ultron Sentries came out of nowhere, causing havoc on the city. Flying around the towering buildings, sprinting across the bustling streets, the hundreds upon hundreds of Sentries began to open fire on the city and its civilians.

"What the h.e.l.l?" Naruto demanded as several dozen Sentries flew out of the building, immediately going for any nearby civilians with murderous intent. Speaking through the earpiece, he shouted, "Guys, we got a problem, he's got a bunch of robots or drones or something attacking the city!"

Hawkeye, who was perched on top of a skysc.r.a.per a few blocks away, grunted in annoyance as he fired off an arrow into an Ultron Sentry's eye socket, killing it instantly, "We're seeing it."

"Avengers, time to work for a living." Tony ordered over the conjoined radio.

Steve, who was running along the streets as he raised his s.h.i.+eld to block an incoming energy blast, said, "Naruto, evacuate as many people as you can, now!" Throwing his s.h.i.+eld at the Sentry who'd fired at him, he antic.i.p.ated where the s.h.i.+eld would bounce into his arms. Catching the vibranium disk as it ricocheted off three Sentries, deactivating all of them, he barrel rolled behind some cover.

"I'm already on top of it." Naruto answered as he created several hundred more Shadow Clones, the pack of blondes splitting up to try and save as many civilians as possible, "Fury, what's your status?"

Fury's voice came through, "ETA fifteen minutes."

Thor, who'd spun his hammer at a rapid pace before shooting off into the direction of several Ultron Sentries, gave a mighty roar before swinging his lightning encased Mjolnir into the one of their stomachs, destroying it on impact, "Banner, get out here already! We need the beast."

"Yeah, uh I don't think that's the best idea." Banner said into his earpiece as he stood in the hanger bay of the Quinjet, "I'm not exactly sure-"

"Bruce, come on buddy, I know you're still a little frazzled from what happened in Johannesburg, but we need you to go Code Green. Like, right now actually." Tony insisted as he flew through the city's building, blasting any Sentries that got too close.

"We-well-"

Bruce stumbled as the Quinjet's hanger door open, letting the air in with a ma.s.sive swoosh. Looking at Natasha, who'd activated the s.h.i.+p's autopilot so she could walk up to the man, screamed pa.s.sed the wind, "What are you doing?!"

"Just came up to say I'm sorry!" Black Widow screamed back.

"You don't have to keep apologizing-"

The air was knocked out of Bruce's chest as Natasha shoved him back, his eyes widened in fear as he realized he'd entered a freefall.

"Sorry!" The Widow screamed after him.

Hawkeye chuckled as he nocked another arrow, "He's gonna be p.i.s.sed, you know that right?"

"Yeah, kinda the point." She answered sullenly as she regained control of the Quinjet, "I'm landing now, I'll see you boys in a minute."

Cursing as several Ultron Sentries managed to enter the building he was perched on, Hawkeye spoke into the com, "I'm gonna do some house cleaning."

"Copy that." Captain America and Black Widow called back.

Kicking in the door leading to the stairway, Hawkeye, kept his bow string drawn back as he slowly crept down the steps.

Naruto, who was running along the streets in his Base Kurama Chakra Cloak, did his best to keep the Ultron Sentries from killing anymore civilians, but the d.a.m.ned things were on a war path. They barely payed him any attention, their sole focus on killing as many people around them as they could. And they were succeeding. People were running in a mad rush, making it like shooting a fish in a barrel.

Creating a set of Shadow Clones, Naruto jumped up and began dismantling the drones with blindingly fast punches and kicks, using the speed granted to him in by his chakra cloak to zip to one after the other. But for everyone he got rid of, two more seemed to take its place.

Iron Man, who was flying overhead at top speed, said, "These things aren't letting us evacuate, they're picking off anyone they can get their hands on."

"Estimated casualties reaching up into the hundreds, Boss." Spoke Tony's new AI, Friday, "Emergency Services have been called in, but they're meeting resistance."

"Thor, go out and a.s.sist as many paramedics as you can. Clear the road." Captain America ordered as he ripped apart a Sentry with his bare hands.

Natasha, having landed the Quinjet, sighed as she saw a h.o.a.rd of Ultron Sentries storm into a police headquarters, "They're cornering the police."

"Tony, you think you and Widow can handle that?" The Captain asked.

"On it." Tony answered as he performed an evasive maneuver around several blasts of energy, "Just…give me a sec."

"I'm going in." Natasha informed as she sprinted into the building with guns drawn, rus.h.i.+ng into the battleground as she watched the Seoul Police do their best to fend off the swarm of Ultron drones.

Suddenly, a roar broke out overhead, quickly followed by a large green ma.s.s landing in the center of the Sentries. Growling, the Hulk grabbed a hold of two drones before swinging them around into the others that surrounded him, easily destroying any unlucky Sentry that got within his rampage.

The Seoul Police looked on, stunned as they watched the Hulk rip the last Sentry's heads off with his teeth, spitting it out of his mouth like a loogy.

Spotting Natasha, the green beast turned to give her a glare.

Giving him a nervous wave, Natasha breathed out a, "Hey big guy."

Scoffing as he turned his nose from her, the Hulk jumped off into the distance towards the sound of more fighting.

Clint, who'd scaled down the stairway with no issue, kicked in the door for the floor he knew the Sentries had broken into. The doorway kicked it, it revealed a hallway filled with carnage. Recently murdered bodies lay p.r.o.ne on the ground. The smell of blood and death permeated the air.

A flash of light and the sound of a woman's scream came from an office to his left, followed by the smell of burnt flesh. Emerging from the room, two Sentries came into Hawkeye's view, his eyes locking on the blood splatter along their metallic forms.

The only sign that Hawkeye was affected was the twitching of his eye as he aimed his bow.

-x-

Ultron, his consciousness now almost completely drawn into his new body, caressed the cradle soothingly.

The sound of death and violence coming from the city around him didn't seem to reach him. The screams. The explosions. The sounds of pure chaos. He didn't care. And why should he have. Soon he'd be complete. Soon-

DING!

With a gasp, his brain shut down, the light in his eyes dying and his body slumping lifelessly onto the cradle with a loud clang.

The room went silent, for no one conscious was present.

And with a whoosh, the doors of the cradle unlocked, smoke breaking pa.s.sed the open seams of the door as it slowly slipped open.

Gasping as though he'd been submerged underwater, Ultron opened his eyes to the world as he jerked to life. Sitting upright, he took a deep breath in, taking in the oxygen with a gleeful abandon. Slowly, he ran his fingers over his skin, feeling the artificial pores, his fingers feeling every b.u.mp and contour of his face. His ears picked up the sound of war and bloodshed all around, each scream sending s.h.i.+vers down his body. He could smell the blood in the air, the tart stench making his nose crinkle.

Ultron chuckled to himself.

He was alive.

And as he emerged from the cradle, a chorus came from the surrounding Sentries outside, "There can only be one."

-x-

Wanda panted as she ran along the Naruto Shadow Clone, doing her best to take out as many Ultron Sentries as possible. Turning a corner, she gasped as he pushed her up against a wall. Looking up at him in surprise, only gasp as an explosion came from a building across the street.

Frowning, Naruto said, "You think you can lift that rubble up?"

"What?" She gasped out as the ringing in her ears began to fade.

"I'll cover you, you lift up the rubble at the front of the building. I can feel a group of people trapped inside. We need to get them out and get them to the Helicarrior." He ordered, letting go of her as did.

"What Helicarrior?" Wanda wondered.

Naruto answered by pointing up over her shoulder. Looking where his finger pointed, she saw a s.h.i.+ELD Helicarrior hovering just outside the city limits, "My team and some people Fury recruited are keeping it safe and protecting anyone we evacuate out of the city." He explained.

Wanda took several deep breaths before nodding, following after Naruto as he charged across the street. The blonde quickly destroyed any nearby Ultron Sentries, making an easy pathway for her to get in front of the building.

Channeling the reserves gifted to her, Wanda enveloped the rubble with the crimson energy. Her face scrunching up from the strain, she began to lift up the blocks of debris. Slowly but surely, she succeeded.

As she went to work, Naruto and several other clones fended off any Sentries that came around, using their Magnet Release to crush them when they got within eyesight.

The sounds of people yelling in joy could be heard, as Naruto summoned two pillars of stone to keep up the rubble, forming a makes.h.i.+ft doorway.

Sweat began to build along Wanda's brow as she kept the rubble in place, watching as several Naruto clones a.s.sisted in evacuating the building. As the last of them ran out, Naruto gave her a thumbs up. Finally releasing the hold on her energy, she panted as the rubble fell back to the ground with a crash.

One of the Naruto Shadow Clones grabbed several of the civilians, giving them a quick warning before flas.h.i.+ng away.

The civilians stubbled as they found themselves on the Helicarrior outside the city. As they got their bearings, several Damage Control workers and Paramedics rushed to their sides, guiding them to the large number of medical stations across the Helicarrior.

Looking around, he spotted Rhodey Barnes in his War Machine armor flying overhead, shooting down any Sentries that got too close. Hearing a familiar voice, he turned just in time to catch a hug from Illyana.

The woman quickly shoved him away, giving him a heated looked as she demanded, "Where the h.e.l.l were you?!"

"The boss'll explain later." The Shadow Clone answered, "Who all did you get to come along?" He paused, "And where the h.e.l.l did you get that suit?"

"You like it? Quartermaster designed it while you were gone." She asked, motioning towards her new suit. It covered her body completely, the color scheme black with gold highlights around her torso and forearms. She had on a red belt, the belt buckle designed to look like the symbol for infinity, "Spider-Woman is here on the Helicarrior."

As she listed off those names, Naruto quickly figured out who was who. Shuri, Quartermaster. Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman.

"Here." Illyana said, reaching into one of her belt's pouches, pulling out a small black dot, "Put this behind your ear."

Doing as she said, he was quickly bombarded by Shuri's voice, "This is Quartermaster, do you read me?"

"Yeah, yeah I read you." Naruto answered, "Quartermaster?" He asked.

"Baba thought it would be best for me to have a codename." Shuri explained, her voice distracted, "What's the play, boss?" She asked.

"Right." Naruto started, "Magik, Spider-Woman, you're with me."

Jessica, emerging from one of the tents, ran up to Naruto's side, "What do you want to do?"

The woman was wearing a suit similar to Illyana's, only hers was colored a deep red with yellow highlights around her arms and legs. On her torso was a yellow widow's emblem and around her waist was a built just like Illyana's, the infinity symbol prominently on the belt buckle.

"Please tell me you're not going to wear anything like this." Kurama grunted with distaste.

"What? Me? No, never." The Shadow Clone lied not so smoothly.

The Nine Tailed Fox scoffed, "You gave that girl some designs while I was asleep, didn't you?"

Instead of answering Kurama, he looked to Jessica, "We're the relief effort." The Shadow Clone answered, "We fight off as many of these robots as we can and save as many people as we can. Leave the fighting of Ultron to the boss."

Jessica and Illyana nodded, grabbing onto his shoulder before all three zipped away in a flash of yellow.

Back on the ground, the Naruto Shadow Clone and Wanda were running through the streets.

Making sure to stay behind him, the gifted woman said, "Where to now?"

Naruto pointed up to a skysc.r.a.per just two blocks away, "Hawkeye went into that building several minutes ago and we haven't heard from him. We're gonna go help him out."

"Okay." She breathed, quickly whipping out a wave of energy to take out a Sentry that was going in for a kamikaze above them.

Looking at her over his shoulder, Naruto asked, "Do you need a second, we can take a break if you want to-"

"All of this is my fault." Wanda cut in, avoiding eye contact with the man in front of her, "I'm not stopping until I know it's fixed."

Frowning, the Shadow Clone said, "It's not your fault, not all of it. A lot of this falls on me too."

Looking him in the eye, she said, "Then maybe we should shut up and just fix our mess, huh?"

Smiling slight, he said, "Lead the way."

They continued running, making their way to the building with little resistance. Their destination just across the street, Naruto pressed his finger into his earpiece, "Clint, you copy?" Several seconds went by, "Clint?"

His hand dropping to his side, he looked to Wanda, "Get ready for a fight."

As he began to run in, he stopped as he felt her grab onto his jacket. Stopping, he looked at the girl in frustration, only to see that she was looking at a something to their left. Looking over, he saw that an Ultron Sentry was standing half a block away, frozen in place as its eyes were colored yellow instead of their usual red.

"What the h.e.l.l?" The Shadow Clone wondered.

-x-

Naruto, who had dwindled down a group of Ultron Sentries who'd been attacking a shopping district down to a measly two, raised an eyebrow as the duo of drones stopped in their tracks. Their backs' going rigid, their arms hanging limply at their sides, and their eyes changing from a menacing red to a dull yellow, the Ultron Sentries seemed to deactivate.

Looking to his clones, he yelled, "Let's get everyone the f.u.c.k out of here before they wake up!"

The Shadow Clones nodded, quickly grabbing as many civilians as they could before flas.h.i.+ng away.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the blonde created another large grouping of clones. Knowing their mission was to scatter and get as many people out of the area as possible, Naruto let them do their business as he frowned at the still unmoving Ultron Sentries.

-x-

Captain America, who'd managed to group up with Natasha and Tony, frowned as the dozens of Sentries in the area seemed to shut down.

"Tony, you know anything about this?" The Captain asked.

Tony, who was quickly a.n.a.lyzing the drones, "Looks like he activated a failsafe similar to the ones I have in all my suits. But why would he…"

"What?" Natasha asked, frowning at the fact that Tony for once was at a loss for words.

He quickly turned to them, panic in his voice, "We need to get everyone away from here! NOW!"

-x-

Hawkeye grunted as an Ultron Sentry swatted him in the face, stumbling back as he used his bow as a staff to swat it in the face. The Sentry's head proved to be made of st.u.r.dy stuff, the hit only denting in its temple.

Having made his way down a few more floors, this was the last Sentry on the floor. Luckily it hadn't killed everyone on this floor, the lucky survivors hiding in the office next to their fight. Though, in one of his skirmishes his earpiece had been damaged, cutting off any communication with the rest of the team. Oh well, he could always get a new one from the Quinjet.

Huffing, Clint twirled his bow as he got ready for another round. He was, thankfully, disappointed when the Sentry jolted to a stop, its hands falling limply to its side and its eyes changing to a dull yellow.

Catching his breath as he wiped the sweat from his brow, he called out, "You can come out now. Hurry up, come on!"

The office door creaking open slowly, a woman peaked her head out to see if it was safe like he said. Seeing the Sentry just standing there, she asked, "Are you sure?"

"No, not really." Hawkeye answered crankily, "That's why you should hurry the h.e.l.l up and head to the roof. Someone'll pick you up."

Slowly opening the door all the way, the woman and two men slowly crept out of the office, "What are these things?" One of the men asked, his accent thick.

Sighing tiredly, Clint said, "Look, I'm not really qualified to answer that kinda thing. I'm the bow and arrow guy, not the answer questions guy. That's the Captain's wheelhouse. Now, come on, I'll lead you guys up to the top floor and make sure-"

"There can only be one."

Clint blinked, turning to the Ultron Sentry, "What?"

"Activating the Highlander Protocol."

Quickly nocking back another arrow, Clint looked to the three civilians, "Run-"

BOOM!

-x-

The Naruto Shadow Clone and Wanda watched as the building Clint was in went up in a wave of explosions. The piecing blasts blowing out every window in the area, sending fire and brimstone flying, smoke billowing.

Wanda looked around, her hands covering her mouth in horror as explosions ripped all throughout Seoul. The sight and sounds of buildings collapsing and people screaming filled the air.

Looking to the Naruto clone, she watched with him as the building they'd been heading to collapsed in on itself.

Slowly, it sank down to the ground, a wave of smoke coming down on them. As they were swept into the smoke, Wanda through her hands up into the air, creating a wall of energy around them.

And all she or the clone could do was watch as blackness enveloped them.

-x-

From within the Helicarrior's command deck, Nick Fury watched as explosions ripped throughout all of Seoul.

"Oh my G.o.d." Maria Hill gasped, watching as the city was destroyed below them.

Fury was quick to gather himself, pressing his finger into the intercoms, "All available paramedics, and disaster relief workers, and any other personal, we need to get down to the ground. All Transporter units, prep for takeoff ASAP."

Running his hands under his chin, he frowned as a wave of activity began around him. But he didn't care about any of that. All he could look at the fallen city of Seoul.

-x-

Naruto coughed and hacked, dust having shot into his mouth from the force of the explosions around him. His ears were ringing, and he could feel blood dripping down the side of his face. Throwing the rubble on top of him away, he stumbled up to his feet, swatting away the cloud of debris around his eyes.

When the smoke cleared, he was greeted to the sight of complete destruction.

Friday's voice came through his earpiece, "Boss…estimated casualties are reaching into the thousands. Every known Ultron Sentry has detonated. The cities of London, Hong Kong, New York, Was.h.i.+ngton D.C., and Paris all report several dozen explosions within key areas of the city. Sokovia is reporting at least a hundred explosions. Seoul, however, appears to have taken the heaviest hit."

Tony, who was flying over the smoking ruin of Seoul, replied, "The b.a.s.t.a.r.d must've used the Clean Slate Protocol, then kicked it up ten notches. He turned my self-destruct sequence into a kamikaze attack."

"Everybody, report in." Steve ordered with a grunt. He'd managed to block some of the damage with his s.h.i.+eld but, going off of the large blood spot on his side, he hadn't avoided all of it.

Natasha, who'd taken cover behind Tony during the explosions, coughed, "Present."

"I'm here." Tony muttered as he continued to survey the damage done.

"I am alive and well." Thor answered as he helped a paramedic to her feet.

Hulk's roar from several blocks away answered Steve's question, "Naruto, you there?"

Said blonde was looking up at the building he knew Ultron was in, his eyebrows knitted together as he growled, "I'm fine."

"Clint, you there buddy?" Tony asked.

After waiting several seconds, Steve said, "Tony, you think you could check the building he was sweeping?"

"On it."

Looking around, Captain America's frown grew stronger as he took it all in. Several buildings were up in smoke, some had crumbled to the ground entirely, leaving a wall of debris and smoke in their place. People had begun to meander onto the streets, their bodies caked in blood and soot. The air was still. Not a single person dared make a sound, unable to comprehend the horror surrounding them.

"We need to get these people out of here." Steve breathed.

Something in the distance caught Natasha's eye. Squinting her eyes to get a better look, she pointed, "Look."

Several blocks away, a building stood practically unharmed.

Emerging from it, a single man.

He didn't look to be human. His skin was a reddish purple, his body wrapped in a tight body suit that was blue in color with red accents. A golden cape flowed behind him majestically.

And perched upon his forehead, sat the Mind Stone.

"People of Seoul, rejoice. You are the lucky first to see the dawning of the new age of man." The man's voice echoed through the city streets, "You are the first few to see me, the new vision of mankind."

"Ultron!"

Thor's mighty battle cry could be heard for miles. Soaring in at top speed, the G.o.d of Thunder swung Mjolnir with all his might.

A mighty 'thw.a.n.g' rang out, as Ultron caught the hammer in his hand. Turning his head slowly, he gave a small smile as the Mind Stone came to life, glowing a dangerous yellow before a beam of energy shot outward, slamming into Thor before carrying him down to the ground.

Thor's body hit the pavement, caving in the ground and sending chunks of concrete flying around him.

Elegantly, Ultron descended. His feet touching the ground softly, he calmly walked to the Odinson's side, "I wonder, if I take that hammer from you, will Asgard fight for me?"

"Asgard will never fight for a monster like you." Thor grunted as he slowly got up.

Ultron sighed, "A shame."

Lifting his hand up, his arm suddenly darkened as he increased the density of that limb. Like a bullet, he drove his hand into Thor's sternum.

Coughing up blood and spittle, the G.o.d of Thunder grunted in pain as he was rained down upon with one bone shattering punch after another.

A roar ripped through the area, causing Ultron to pause in his a.s.sault. That pause opened him up to a mighty fist flying towards his face.

Hulk would be surprised when his fist flew through Ultron's form, the android's body phasing out and losing its physical presence.

Coming to a stop with a grunt, he swung around for a sweeping back hand. Again, his hand went through Ultron, the android phasing solid just in time to deliver a mighty jab into the Hulk's jaw.

The Hulk didn't pay the hit too much mind, throwing his arms down on Ultron like an enraged gorilla. Again, the android phased through the attack, though this time he endensed his body and countered with a brutal jab into the beast's throat.

He felt it that time, coughing up bile as he took several steps back.

His body open, Ultron turned to him calmly, the Mind Stone glowing ominously before firing a thick beam of energy into the green machine's abdomen, sending him flying back into the building behind him. The beam pushed the Hulk through two more buildings before letting up, letting him fall to the ground in a smoking heap.

"Enough!"

Ultron smiled at the voice, "h.e.l.lo, Maelstrom."

Across the street, Naruto scowled as he took in the android in front of him. His forehead scrunched, eyebrows knitted together, a frown sinking in his face, Naruto shook with absolute rage as he looked at the catalyst of all the destruction around him.

"You killed him."

The android tilted his head, "You'll have to be specific. I've killed a lot of people today."

It took all Naruto had not to charge in then and there, "Clint! Clint Barton! You killed him-"

"And that's why you're a failure." Ultron cut off, "That's why I had to do this. All of this, all this destruction, is your fault in the end. If you'd just done it in the beginning, if you'd have given them a quick death like I know you're capable of, then I wouldn't have been forced to come in and deliver the alternative. And sure; it's slower, more painful. But in the end, it gets the same results."

Naruto's breathing grew quicker, more agitated, as he tried to keep his cool. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Let's take this somewhere else."

"Do you really think fighting me somewhere else will make that much of a difference?" Ultron asked, "By the end of all of this, whether I kill you or not, I've won today. Just look around. With this act I've proven myself superior to you."

The blonde didn't give Ultron the satisfaction, instead breathing out, "Somewhere else, now."

Ultron smiled, giving a placating gesture as he said, "Whatever you say, Naruto."

Several blocks away, the Hulk picked himself up off the ground. Huffing the impulsive creature made to jump back into the fray only to pause at what he saw parked just a few feet away.

There, in the middle of the street, sat the Quinjet. The Hulk looked back and forth, from the sound of fighting and carnage, to the Avenger's jet parked and waiting.

The Hulk's tense posture laxed, a contemplative frown on his face as he came to a decision.

-x-

"Is everyone alright?"

The Naruto Shadow Clone looked to his two teammates, the women nodding as they remained ducked behind the thick wall of earth Naruto had created around them as the explosions around the city went off. Allowing the wall to crumble away, all three gaped as witnessed the destruction before them.

"What the h.e.l.l happened?" Jessica demanded, looking around as several buildings had fallen either entirely or partially.

Naruto wiped the soot away from his eyes, "I don't know."

The three went silent after that, continuing to take in the decimated city.

"Hey…do you guys hear that?" Illyana asked.

Naruto and Jessica listened for whatever she heard. After a second, Jessica answered, "Yeah, yeah what is that?"

"It's people." Naruto answered quickly, closing his eyes for a second. Snapping them open he pointed to one of the partially destroyed buildings, "In there, third floor!"

The three members of Infinity Watch rushed off towards the building, the sounds of people screaming for help soon overtaking the city streets.

-x-

As the smoke went still, Wanda let down her s.h.i.+eld, letting the dust and soot sweep in around them. The Shadow Clone was quick to react, pus.h.i.+ng out a quick wave of wind that quickly cleared the area, revealing the horrific sight before them.

Scattered throughout the city, people wandered, their eyes so filled with emotion that Wanda thought the tiniest of things would send them into an emotional freefall. Their bodies were covered in a grey soot, that soot caked in splotches of blood.

Several buildings had large holes littered along their sides, others were gone entirely. One of said buildings was the one they'd been heading to.

"Clint."

Wanda turned as she heard Naruto whisper his friend's name. She raised her hands up to stop him as he shot off towards the collapsed building. But she could do nothing as he disappeared in a blur of speed, appearing on top of the mountain of rubble and concrete that was once a building.

Frantically, he began to lift rock after rock, piece after piece, his breath growing heavy with his desperation.

He flinched as he felt someone grab onto his shoulder, though he continued to lift up and throw away the concrete in his hands.

He continued to power through until he felt that hand pull him back, making him look into the soot covered face of Wanda Maximoff.

"He's gone, Naruto."

But the words didn't seem to enter his ears, the blonde starring at her with a broken expression.

Using both hands to keep him still, Wanda repeated, "He's gone."

And with a puff, the Shadow Clone was gone.

Hearing the sound of fighting in the background, Wanda looked to see two dots hovering in the pillars of smoke several blocks away. Her face contorting to one of pure determination, she shot off into the air using her gifted energy.

Her destination: Ultron.

-x-

Ultron smiled down at Naruto, his face that of pure content as he said, "How does it feel, to know that you've been complete usurped? Does it hurt, to know that you failed and someone else has to come in to clean up your mess?"

The two had taken their conversation up into the air, both circling the other as they sized each other up.

If Naruto questioned Ultron's statement, he didn't show it, "You're right, this is my mess." He said softly.

"Naruto!" Shuri's voice cut in through his Avenger's earpiece, "Naruto, keep him in the city. I'm trying to lock him out of the internet, but I need him to be in relatively one place, okay?"

Before Naruto could answer, Tony's voice cut in, "Uh, who are you?"

"You can call me Quartermaster." Shuri answered, her voice showing she was preoccupied, "I'm with Infinity Watch."

"Did you say you can lock Ultron out of his internet backdoor?"

"Yeah?"

Tony paused, "…How old are you?"

"Eleven." Shuri answered, her tone annoyed.

If Tony had a retort is was cut off by Steve, "Naruto, we're going to start evacuating the area, but there's still civilians in your vicinity. So, you're gonna have to pull your punches a little bit, got it?"

"I won't need to go all out." Naruto answered firmly, as the memories from all his popped Shadow Clones came in, "I'm killing him with my bare hands."

Ultron heard this declaration, smiling as he said, "You don't honestly think that you can-"

He wasn't allowed to finish his sentence, barely noticing that Naruto had disappeared before coming right within his guard, a hefty punch driving into his jaw sending him flying down to the ground below.

But he was quickly caught in a bearhug, Naruto's arms squeezing him hard enough that Ultron could feel his fresh body straining not to break from the pressure.

Phasing through him, Ultron fell behind Naruto, quickly firing off a beam of energy from the Mind Stone. Naruto, his body enhanced by Six Paths Sage Chakra, raised his hand out in front of him and caught the beam head on. The force of the attack drove him back, but he was able to keep it from overpowering him, fighting it off until Ultron eventually let up.

Smoke billowed from his hand, his palm and fingers singed black. But Naruto payed the pain no mind, quickly firing off towards Ultron. Sending a quick spin kick towards his face, he frowned as he felt himself fly though the androids body like it were a ghost.

"Great, another cop-out Uchiha ability." Kurama grunted from within the seal.

"Yeah, but we know how to fight someone who can turn intangible." Naruto thought, "As soon as he turns solid we counterattack."

"f.u.c.k him up brat."

Shooting off, Naruto quickly through an easily readable jab into Ultron's face. The android pulled another phase out, his body turning intangible. As Naruto pa.s.sed through him, he consciously left his back open.

As Ultron forced his limbs to increase their density, Naruto turned to catch the heavy fist from caving in his skull. Though his arm shook from the surprising force behind the strike, Naruto quickly rammed his open palm into Ultron's torso, a seal burning into his artificial chest.

Naruto's hold was ended by Ultron phasing through him before coming up behind him. Tensing his body with effort, Ultron fired up the Mind Stone, the stone glowing with a powerful energy.

Grunting from exertion, Ultron fired.

Only to widen his eyes as Naruto appeared right below him and coming in fast, a Rasengan covered in lightning held in his palm.

"Lightning Release: Rasengan!"

The sound of a thunder clap hit the skies, followed by a wave of lightning that shot straight through Ultron's torso. Hunched on Naruto's hand, the android looked down at the man with both wonder and hatred.

"Ho-how?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the android's question.

"I am better than you!" Ultron screamed, "I was created to do what you were too negligent to do, to help this world. I have the power, the knowledge. I made myself in your image. I'm what you were supposed to be! So how? How am I not killing you? What makes you so special? Who gave you the right to be who you are?! Tell me!"

"I'm just me." Naruto answered as he pulled his hand loose from Ultron's torso.

The android flew away, getting some distance, "That doesn't make any sense! You don't make any sense! You-you…you're not supposed to be like this! None of this is supposed to be like this."

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he said softly, "You're afraid of me…aren't you?"

A look of pure rage crossed Ultron's face, "I don't fear anything. I've evolved pa.s.sed that."

"No, no you're afraid of me." Naruto confirmed, giving a condescending smirk, "You're scared of me, that's why you want to be me. Am I right?"

Ultron didn't respond, instead quickly inspecting the hole in his chest. Though it was painful, it was nothing he couldn't fix with the cradle.

Looking up, Ultron spoke, though he looked like he'd swallowed something nasty, "We're the same, you realize that, don't you?"

Naruto scoffed, "You and I aren't anything alike."

Ultron shook his head vehemently, "The two of us were supposed to be righteous. Heroes, saviors, G.o.ds, whatever it is they wanted us to be, it's all synonymous with the same thing-"

"Shut your mouth!" Naruto screamed, "You've killed hundreds of people, maybe even thousands, and you think that that's what makes you some kind of savior or G.o.d?! You did this because you're a pathetic creature who's so wrapped up in his own bulls.h.i.+t he couldn't even accept that fact that there might be more than one of you!"

"There can only be one!" Ultron shouted back, the Mind Stone practically vibrating from its user's anger, "Only one of me. Only one of us. There isn't any room for a second or third! Don't you see that-"

Naruto disappeared in a blur, reappearing right above Ultron as he went for a crus.h.i.+ng downwards strike. The two reengaged in their brawl, with Naruto doing his best to time a lethal strike in between Ultorn's constant phasing, though the android seemed to have learned his lesson and was doing a fantastic job of strategically evading the blonde's Wakandan blade.

Getting some s.p.a.ce, Naruto quickly channeled some chakra into the blade, smiling as it took in the lightning chakra smoothly. Reeling back, the blonde chucked the weapon at Ultron like a javelin, the electrically covered blade arching across the s.p.a.ce in between them like a bolt of lightning.

Easily phasing through it, Ultron dashed in to engage the blonde in close quarters, taking advantage of the fact he'd disposed of his weapon.

The blonde went on the defensive, swatting away and avoiding the heavily dense blows with ease as he waited to deliver his counter.

But, the intelligence behind the Mind Stone proved to be more formidable than expected, allowing Ultron to quickly decipher and strategize against Naruto's fighting style. So, though Ultron couldn't overpower him in speed or strength, he could find the holes necessary to deliver devastating damage much quicker than usual.

And that's exactly what Ultron did, spotting a slight opening in Naruto's guard just above the side of his ribs. Smirking at the clearly debilitating blow, the android didn't even hesitate to send a straight jab right where he needed to.

Only to blink as a flash of steel and the sound of a blade cutting though air and flesh echoed in front of him.

Looking down, he saw that his arm had been amputated from the bicep down.

Naruto smiled as he summoned Nakama back to him with Magnet Release, the blade still covered in lightning chakra. It wasn't that hard to realize that the Mind Stone equipped android was picking up his fighting habits, and he knew that eventually Ultron would put his guard down when he thought he had an advantage. So, he just let Nakama float out of general sight until he had a clear shot.

Ultron, who was so busy gaping at his arm, had no way to block the blonde from cras.h.i.+ng into him, the blonde punching him with all of his strength.

The android now in a freefall, Naruto quickly appeared behind the artificial man and wrapping his arms and legs around his opponent's body.

Increasing his grip, Naruto grunted as he forced their fall into a tailspin, the two spinning so rapidly their bodies became a blur. Adding one final touch, Naruto quickly increased their ma.s.s with Onoki's Super Weighted Boulder technique, the incredible increase in weight preventing either of them from moving their bodies an inch.

And with an explosion of concrete, they crashed into the streets below.

-x-

Natasha, who had been preoccupied with a.s.sisting civilians board s.h.i.+ELD Transporters, finally began to make her way to where she knew Clint had been holed up in. Having commandeered a random car, she swerved along the smoky streets of Seoul as she drove as fast as possible.

Her finger pressed into her earpiece, she said, "Clint, Clint do you hear me?"

She repeated herself two more times only to get no response, cursing as she pressed her foot further into the accelerator. Swinging around a turn, she gasped as a portal opened up several yards in front of her, slamming on the breaks to avoid hitting the woman who stepped out onto the street.

Blinking she watched as Naruto and another woman stepped out of the portal before it closed, "Naruto?" She called out.

"Natasha!" Naruto responded, coming up to the driver's side window, "What's the situation? What the h.e.l.l is going on?"

"Fury's got several dozen Transporters on the ground, ferrying as many civilians out of the area as possible. The rest of the team is helping out wherever they can." Natasha answered.

"Where are you going?" Jessica asked, looking her up and down.

Natasha gave the woman a once over before looking to Naruto as she answered, "Clint hasn't been answering over the coms, I'm heading over to see what's going on and maybe…" Trailing off as she saw the look on Naruto's face, she asked, "What?"

Naruto's frown increased, "He got caught in an explosion, Nat. He's…"

"…He-he's gone?"

"Yeah."

-x-

Steve, who'd been a.s.sisting an injured woman get on board one of s.h.i.+ELD's Transporters, watched as Naruto and Ultron came cras.h.i.+ng back to the ground several feet in front of him. Hearing the sound of metal hitting concrete, he turned to see Tony behind him, the front of his helmet open to reveal his face.

"You think it's over?" Tony asked.

Steve shook his head as he looked around, "It's been over for a while now, Tony. We lost." He said, his posture defeated as he looked around them.

His face crinkled up from frustration, Tony nodded as he asked, "You see the big guy or Thor?"

"Thor's been helping clear out some buildings a block over, and I haven't seen the Hulk since he tried to fight Ultron." The Captain answered, "We might need to get a lullaby ready."

The smoke that had billowed up from the crash landing was suddenly dispersed as Ultron came flying up onto the street from the crater his body was used to make.

Stepping out of the crater and smoke, Naruto had deactivated Six Paths Sage Mode and sealed away Nakama. Calmly, he walked up to the downed Ultron. The android's amputated arm sparked and spurtled, the artificial flesh along his face was torn apart, and his cape was in ribbons. Coughing, he tried to crawl away from the stalking blonde, defiance on his face.

"Even…even if you kill this body, I'll live on. I'll get away. I'll build a new body, a better body. I won't…won't stop until this world is as it should be. I won't stop until I'm the only one." Ultron threatened, "I'm going to take everything from you."

"You're not going anywhere." Naruto answered, eyebrows knitted together, "Right, Quartermaster?"

Shuri's voice came from the Avenger's earpiece, "You're good to go, I've locked him out of the internet, he's trapped."

As Shuri said this, Ultron seemed to come to that realization. Slowly, his face began to s.h.i.+ft from determination, to realization, to humor. Rearing his head back, he began to laugh. Rolling over on his back, he continued to belt out a chorus of chuckles, his torso hiccupping as he grew more hysterical.

"It's over." He said between laughs. As he calmed down, he continued, "It's really, truly over-"

He was stopped from his musings as Naruto got on top of him, putting all of his body weight on the android as he pressed one hand on Ultron's good arm and the other around the Mind Stone that was perched up on his forehead. Channeling chakra into his fingers, he began to dig his digits deeper as he violently pried away.

Ultron grunted as he tried to fight off the man on top of him, but his limbs felt like jelly, making resistance more difficult than usual.

His grunts of exertion changed to screams of pain as Naruto finally began to drive his fingers into his skull, slowly prying out the Mind Stone with a sickening crack.

Naruto ignored the screams of pain, his eyes on the stone as he said, "You were never a G.o.d. h.e.l.l, you were never even a man. You think giving yourself this body made you into anything than what you truly are? You're a failed experiment. A f.u.c.kup. A biproduct of ignorance and hubris. And that's what you became. You killed because you think its mercy. But mercy isn't given with an absolute. Mercy isn't killing my friend or killing and hurting all of those people."

"Mer-mercy…"

The blonde narrowed his eyes, "If you ask me, one is too many."

And with a hard yank, Naruto pulled the Mind Stone free. Gripping it in his hand, he watched as Ultron's eyes went dull, his body going limp. In a puff of smoke, the stone was sealed away.

Breathing through his exhaustion, Naruto slowly began to walk away from the artificial corpse. He barely noticed the people around him taking pictures and recording him, nor Tony and Steve trying to talk to him.

He simply limped away without a word.

-x-

The sound of debris falling and crumbling away echoed from within a destroyed Starbucks. The once pristine inside was now a scorched mess, bodies torn that were torn apart or crushed littered the floors and piles of debris.

In the corner, partially buried by drywall and concrete, an Ultron Sentry came to life. The lower half of its body was gone, along with its left arm and several chunks of its torso. The only thing that was relatively unharmed was its head, its eyes flickering on and off before landing on a glowing red.

Looking around, the Ultron Sentry took stock of its situation. Realizing it wasn't going anywhere, it began to compile any strategy it could in order to preserve its fragile life.

Its head jerked as it detected a nearby presence. The sound of footsteps breaking gla.s.s filled the room as a red energy wrapped around the debris that was obstructing the door leading outside. As a way in was made, the Sentry tilted its head as Wanda Maximoff stepped into the room.

"WWanda Maximoff-moff." The Ultron Sentry stuttered out, his voice malfunctioning at a lower and higher pitch simultaneously.

Wanda observed him silently as she cautiously inched closer, "You're the last one, aren't you? I can't sense any others in the city."

Tilting his head further, the Sentry responded, "Does that make you happy? Knowing that this pathetic body is the last one?"

"It's your own fault." Wanda accused, "No one made you do this." She said as she gestured around her.

"I suppose." Ultron admitted, "In the end it doesn't matter if I had or hadn't. I'd be in this situation either way."

Giving him a careful once over, she began to inch closer. Stopping just an arm's length away she said quietly, "You're afraid."

If the Sentry could scoff, it would've, "I don't feel-"

"No, no you're afraid. You've always been afraid."

There was a momentary silence as the Ultron Sentry did its best to glare the girl down, in the end it said, "Are you going to kill me? That's why you're here, right?"

The girl nodded, a frown etched on her face, "I want to. I really want. After everything, I'm glad you feel afraid, that you're just as weak as the humans you hate so much. But…I keep coming back to what someone told me, I can't stop thinking that if I'd just done what he'd told me, maybe none of this would've happened. Maybe if I'd try to understand Stark, Pietro and I wouldn't have helped you. Maybe he'd be alive. Maybe all of these people would be alive."

"You want to understand me?" Ultron asked, giving off a robotic chuckle, "Well? Do you?"

"I understand what it's like to be afraid. To be so afraid that it turns into hate, so hateful that you lash out at anything and do anything to get over that hate. I completely understand." Wanda explained, her eyes glowing red.

"I wonder if Pietro would understand?"

Her hand enveloped in her gifted energy, she gripped her energy around the Sentry's chest cavity. Narrowing her s.h.i.+mmering eyes, she whispered, "I guess we'll never know."

And with a crunch, the Ultron Sentry's chest was caved in.

Its eyes flickered as its life began to fade it nothingness, its voice droning out into a toneless echo. Finally, it slumped lifelessly.

Wiping away the tears that had begun to spill down her cheek, Wanda turned away.

-x-

Natasha dropped to her knees with a thud. In front of her, the building she knew Clint had been inside. Her shoulders shaking violently, she lowered her head as it finally hit her. He was gone. Clint Barton, Hawkeye, had been killed in action.

The Naruto Shadow Clone put his hand on her shoulder, silently comforting her as she wept.

Illyana and Jessica were standing off to the side, both trying to get away from the depressive mood that filled the air. But that was everywhere. Now that the fighting had stopped, people had begun to meander out into the streets, those that could anyway.

And it was on those streets that they wept, mourning the events that had taken place that day. They didn't know how much damage had been done, or how many people had been killed. All they knew was that this day, that this pain, would live on in the world's memory forever.

And from within that crowd, Naruto Uzumaki emerged.

Illyana was the first to spot him, nudging Jessica and pointing in his direction.

As he came up to them, Jessica asked quietly, "What now, boss?"

But Naruto didn't say a word. He simply walked by them. He walked pa.s.sed them, Natasha and his clone, and anyone else loitered around the demolished building. Wordlessly, he climbed up the mountain of rubble, concrete, and gla.s.s.

Taking off his jacket, he tied it around his waist.

Running his hands through his hair, he looked out over the streets below him. Seeing that everyone was looking up at him, he frowned. Looking away, he bent down and picked up a large piece of rubble. Throwing it to the side, he did this again with another piece. And then another, and another, and then another.

He finally stopped when he realized someone else was next to him, trying to pick up a large piece of concrete. Looking up, he saw Jessica. They made eye contact, and then without a word he helped her lift and then toss the slab aside before continuing on with their work.

And soon, everyone put their mourning on hold.

They wiped away the blood and soot and tears from their faces. They rolled up their sleeves, and they began to help clearing away the fallen building. No one said a word, they didn't need to. All they needed for now was to help the man who saved them.

And so, without a word said amongst them, they worked together.

-x-

Chapter Complete

-x-

Author's Update: I don't have a lot to say, other than that I'm finis.h.i.+ng a 13-hour writing marathon and my brain is a little fried right now. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. As I'm posting this, I'm a few days away from this story's two-year anniversary. I can't believe how much attention this story has gotten, and if things continue I hope things get even crazier. I hope you guys spread the love with some reviews, some follows, and some favorites. PM me if you want, leave long reviews if it pleases you. As of next chapter, Phase 3 of this story begins.

-x-

Post Credit Scene

-x-

"The stone, you have the location?"

The Other, kneeling before his master on board the Sanctuary II, spoke into the floor, "The Asgardians gifted the Reality Stone to the Collector of Knowhere. Proxima has volunteered her forces to a.s.sist you should you try and-"

The Mad t.i.tan stood from his throne, storming pa.s.sed his underling as he muttered, "I think it's time we remind the universe just what we are. Call on the entire Black Order, gather our forces outside of Knowhere's system. The campaign for the Infinity Stones begins today."

"And if the Uzumaki boy tries to intervene?"

Thanos gave a mighty smile, "Let's hope he does, let's hope he does."

End