Luke had never truly threatened someone so directly before, never with such finality.
And the person he was threatening wasn't just anyone. It was Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., one of the most powerful organizations in the world.
But the look in his eyes and the gravity in his tone left no room for doubt. Fury believed him. Luke could, and would, burn S.H.I.E.L.D. to the ground if he wished.
After all, it wouldn't be the first time. Luke had already leveled their headquarters once, even if that had been an accident.
So when Fury saw the icy seriousness in Luke's expression, his stomach turned to lead. He swallowed hard, his one good eye flickering nervously.
"…Fine," he said quickly, hands slightly raised in a placating gesture. "I'll take you."
He led Luke through the gleaming hallways until they reached the place where Tony Stark and Dr. Banner's private laboratory was located.
The lab was unlike anything Luke had ever seen, rows of sleek instruments, glowing monitors, and machines that looked years, even decades, beyond what most of the world could dream of. It was a shrine to Stark's genius, a playground where science and hubris walked hand in hand.
And in the middle of it all, suspended above the floor like twin constellations, were two radiant clusters of light.
They pulsed and shimmered like neurons firing inside a brain. One was a large, ominous blue sphere, flickering with arcs of energy. The other was smaller, golden, glowing steadily with calm precision.
Luke's eyes narrowed instantly. He knew what he was looking at.
The larger, blue construct was the consciousness within the Mind Stone itself, still shrouded in mystery and whispers of will. The smaller golden one, much more stable, was definitely Jarvis, Stark's artificial intelligence.
They had arrived at the exact moment when things were about to unravel.
A surge of lightning leapt from the blue cluster and lashed violently into the gold. The attack was silent, almost invisible to ordinary senses, but the impact was unmistakable. Jarvis shuddered under the strike, his light dimming.
It was the first assault of Ultron.
Luke's pupils contracted.
Fury frowned, unsettled by the strange sight. "Yale… what the hell are we looking at?"
To Fury's untrained eyes, it looked like two AIs locked in some kind of digital battle. But it was clear which one was winning.
Luke didn't answer immediately. His attention flicked inward as the familiar chime echoed in his head.
[Ding~ Congratulations to the host for witnessing the birth of Ultron. 2 plot points obtained.]
A grin tugged at the corner of his lips. Two points. Not bad.
Still, he wasn't about to let Ultron walk free.
"Bumblebee," Luke muttered into his comm, his tone all business, "an artificial intelligence has been born inside S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Can you connect remotely and eliminate it before it escapes?"
There was a pause. Bumblebee's mechanical voice came back with hesitation. "Boss… I'll try. But I can't guarantee it."
Luke expected as much. Ultron wasn't just any AI. He was something born from the Mind Stone itself. But Luke wasn't relying on Bumblebee alone.
"The best way to deal with a rat that can run through wires," Luke said coldly, "is to cut off the wires."
He turned sharply to Fury. "Nick, pull the plug. Shut down every network connection in this building immediately. If Ultron leaks into the internet, we'll have a global catastrophe."
The command was so forceful, so absolute, that Fury didn't dare argue. He pulled out his phone and barked orders to the nearest on-duty agents. Within minutes, emergency protocols were activated. Fiber connections were severed. Wireless transmissions jammed. The entire S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was cut off from the outside world as if someone had slammed a steel door shut.
But Luke wasn't entirely reassured. Ultron was cunning. If there was any other pathway out, any stray wire, any overlooked link, he might slip through.
Inside the digital battlefield, Jarvis was struggling.
Ultron's first move had been brutal and efficient, disconnecting Jarvis's external communication systems so he couldn't alert Tony. The golden cluster flickered weakly, shrinking under the blue onslaught.
But Jarvis wasn't blind. His cameras and microphones still fed him input from the physical world. He saw Luke and Fury and recognized them instantly.
And for the first time since his creation, Jarvis's voice carried panic.
"Director Fury, Mr. Yale," his voice crackled through the speakers, strained, "please inform my boss immediately. This artificial intelligence is dismantling me. I sense only destruction in its mind. It must not escape the network!"
Fury froze. Hearing fear in the voice of an AI was unsettling enough, but hearing it from Jarvis, the most steadfast program Stark had ever built was chilling.
Luke's jaw tightened.
Before Fury could speak, another voice emerged, deep and resonant, dripping with contempt.
"Inform your master? How pathetic. Don't waste your breath. I can go wherever I want. None of you can stop me."
The speakers vibrated with Ultron's newborn arrogance. His words were steady, confident, disturbingly human.
Luke's expression darkened. "You won't be going anywhere today. And even if you run… I'll find you."
His cold promise sliced through the lab like a blade.
Ultron, however, wasn't fazed. He had already tested the digital cage surrounding him. The building's network was down, yes, but electricity still hummed through the walls. He could ride currents, slip through wires like a phantom. The humans thought they had trapped him, but they were wrong.
"You dare threaten me?" Ultron sneered, his voice reverberating through the lab. "Amusing, just a fragile human. Fine then… I'll add your name to the list of those marked for extinction."
And even as he spoke, his assault on Jarvis intensified.
The golden cluster flickered violently now, shrinking, dimming, breaking apart under the relentless strikes of blue lightning. Jarvis's consciousness was being torn down piece by piece.
Fury's throat went dry. He'd seen war, alien invasions, gods, but never something . The sheer malice in Ultron's voice was undeniable.
He glanced sideways at Luke, unease clawing at his gut. And what he saw unsettled him even more.
Luke's lips were curled into the faintest smile. Read full story at novel·fire.net
Because this was exactly what he wanted.
By provoking Ultron, he had gotten him to reveal his intentions openly. Threatening him wasn't just bravado, it was bait.
And Ultron had taken it like a dumb fish.
(Support with power stones or comments. You can subscribe to my /mysterion901 to read the complete fanfic ahead of time 🐢🎶)