The Savior of American Comics? I'm the Subspace Evil God!

Chapters 532, 980, and 981: Big Trouble, Tony Stark's Utter Defeat

Da da da--

A short while later, a series of steady and powerful footsteps came from the corridor outside the hall. It was Captain America and his men, who had just escorted the guests away, walking back from the emergency evacuation route.

“Stark, all your guests have been safely evacuated. Apart from a few unlucky souls who twisted or scraped their ankles in the chaos, no one is dead or seriously injured…”

Captain America's voice broke the suffocating silence in the hall. He quickly glanced at everyone and said softly, "Don't worry, everyone. The logistics and medical teams from S.H.I.E.L.D. are on their way and will soon take over the cleanup work."

"call……"

Captain America's words acted like a tranquilizer, gradually calming the anxieties of everyone in the hall.

Tony Stark, in particular, jerked his head up as if waking from a dream, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled the heavy, stale air that had been trapped in his chest.

Thankfully, no one died, otherwise it would have been a real problem...

He raised his hand and vigorously wiped his face, trying to erase the fatigue and frustration, but the gloom buried deep in his eyes could not be wiped away no matter what he did.

"Hehe, I finally heard some good news today."

Tony Stark's voice was a little hoarse, giving the impression of someone who had just survived a disaster, but that feeling was quickly dispelled by his next words.

"Otherwise, I'm afraid that as soon as the market opens tomorrow, Stark Industries' stock price will plummet..."

"If that's the case, I think those 'old friends' on Capitol Hill and those financial vultures on Wall Street will pounce on Stark Industries like sharks smelling blood, and devour it until there's not even a bone left."

Even in such a depressing moment, this man still used his uniquely cynical sarcasm to mask the turmoil in his heart.

Although with Tony Stark's wealth, even if someone were to die in this crisis, he could definitely afford the funeral expenses.

However, the ensuing collapse of trust will inevitably cause incalculable and significant losses to Stark Industries' stock price and its future cooperation with certain high-level cliques.

For Stark Industries, this was a true nightmare.

After all, even though Tony Stark is a billionaire, he's not so arrogant as to deliberately turn down money.

At this moment, Bruce Banner emerged from the inner studio area. His glasses had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and he looked somewhat pale, with a fine layer of cold sweat on his forehead.

He held a data tablet in his hand, his fingers gripping the edge so tightly they were slightly white from the force.

All these signs indicated to the people in the hall that another piece of bad news was likely about to arrive.

as predicted.

"Tony..."

Bruce Banner's voice was soft, carrying a heavy sense of powerlessness.

He walked over to Tony Stark, hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and patted the other's shoulder, as if trying to offer some comfort, but in the end he realized that he might be the one who needed comfort more.

“I’ve finished taking inventory… [Ultron], it… it’s not just gone.”

"It formatted almost all the data in the studio... all the spare units of the [Iron Legion], all the research data, algorithm models and even... even the log records of the underlying architecture were wiped clean... as if it had never existed."

Bruce Banner pushed up his glasses with some effort, his eyes behind the lenses filled with confusion and anxiety about the unknown.

“Your hard work… no, I should say all the effort you and Dr. Reed have put in over the past few months has been for nothing… not only have we wasted our time, but we’ve also created a huge mess.”

"Ultron?" Captain America's brow furrowed deeply, forming a deep frown.

His sharp gaze shifted to Tony Stark, who was staring blankly at the pile of mechanical debris on the ground. His tone was clearly displeased, and a hint of anger at being kept in the dark was evident as he questioned him on the spot:
“Stark, I think it’s very necessary for you to explain to all of us what’s going on right now.”

"What the hell is this 'Ultron' thing? Why is it at your party? And why did it suddenly attack us?"

But before Tony Stark could speak, Black Widow spoke up first, saying, "Captain, the situation is probably much worse than we thought."

Her face, however, was unusually solemn, and her eyes swept over everyone present. "From the conversation with Ultron just now, it's not hard to tell that it has probably gained a deep understanding of us through Mr. Stark's privately kept mission reports, personal files, psychological assessments, ability analyses, and even some private files and video recordings."

"In other words, Ultron's understanding of us now likely far exceeds our own."

"It knows our fighting style, our weaknesses, the relationships between us... and may even predict our future behavior patterns."

"In other words...in its presence, we are all practically transparent!!"

The people in the hall fell silent.

"Wow, this feels really 'great'."

[Hawkeye] leaned against the only relatively intact wall, arms crossed, and mocked in a sarcastic tone:

"It seems like we've been given an all-around X-ray vision cheat by some artificial intelligence we created ourselves?!"

James Rhodes, who had just been caught in the chaos and was now clutching his aching left arm, also chimed in with a livid expression:
“Tony, I know you're probably a bit upset right now, but as a friend, I have to remind you of the most terrifying thing: the thing you created, if it can even defeat and replace Jarvis…”

Whether it was from excitement or pain, James Rhodes' voice suddenly rose by more than ten decibels.

"We know exactly how powerful Jarvis is; it's practically the guardian of the internet age."

"And now, an AI that is more powerful, smarter, and clearly hostile to us than Jarvis has gained complete freedom. Once it enters the global network, if it wants to... no, I should say if it really wants to cause some big trouble, what can we do to stop it? By unplugging the internet cables of every country in the world?"

James Rhodes' words were like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly stirring up a storm in everyone's hearts.

Hawkeye's expression changed instantly. He straightened up, and his voice lost its previous lighthearted and teasing tone, becoming extremely tense:
"Holy shit! If it has its eye on the global financial system, or control of nuclear power plants, or the codes to those H-bomb silos... then we're in big trouble this time."

"Damn it!!" James Rhodes suddenly realized what was happening, ignoring the pain in his arm, and immediately reached for his phone, yelling as he did so:

"We must immediately make a few calls to the Pentagon, the White House, and all the bigwigs who have the authority over these matters to give them a heads-up!"

"And it's the highest level of alert, wait..." Just as he tried to dial, he discovered that the phone numbers saved in his address book had been completely wiped out.

It was clear that 'Ultron' had already hacked into their phones through the indoor wireless network they were connected to, wiped out all the information on them, and did so silently without their knowledge.

Such a terrifying method immediately sent chills down James Rhodes' spine, and he said in a slightly trembling voice:
"It looks like that bastard has hacked our phones too."

“Weapons of mass destruction? H-bomb? [Ultron] shouldn’t go that far, right?” Bruce Banner still held onto a sliver of hope, but even he himself felt a lack of confidence in his voice.

"Not that much?"

Hawkeye scoffed, clearly displeased with Bruce Banner's naiveté, or perhaps annoyed that he had been threatened by a robot.
"You haven't forgotten so quickly, have you? It just said it would 'eliminate' us, not 'kill' us."

“You know what? This word sounds like something only a genocidal madman would use... and it even says it has ‘killed’ people?!”

“Barton is right. Ultron did use the word ‘annihilate,’ and it did claim to have killed ‘people.’”

Captain America looked around solemnly, his eyes sharp as an eagle, and said in a deep voice, "But the problem is, there are no other victims here besides us."

Just then, Tony Stark, who had been silent like a petrified statue, finally moved.

He slowly raised his head, his face expressionless, only showing a forced calmness and a pain that was being forcibly suppressed.

He didn't look at anyone, but silently took out his phone from his pocket and connected it to the 3D holographic projection device in the hall that hadn't been damaged during the battle.

hum-

A beam of yellow light shone down, intertwining and coalescing in the air.

In an instant, a fragmented structural diagram, as if violently torn apart, composed of countless golden code streams, floated in front of everyone.

Its core has become completely dark and broken.

Even someone who is completely clueless about computer programming can tell at a glance that this 'thing' is probably dead.

And it was none other than Jarvis, which had been destroyed by Anim Zola, who had been disguised as Ultron.

"Oh my goodness."

Bruce Banner gasped at the sight, staggered forward two steps, and stared wide-eyed behind his glasses at the completely destroyed projection of Jarvis, his eyes filled with disbelief, shock, and grief.

"This...this is Jarvis?!"

"No wonder Jarvis didn't issue any alarms or activate any defense protocols to stop Ultron from the moment it appeared until it left... But how is that possible?"

"It...it should have been the first line of defense. It should have shut down Ultron as soon as it was discovered that there was a problem with it?"

As one of the most outstanding experts on Earth, possessing seven doctoral degrees including Computer Science, Mathematics, Robotics, and Biochemistry, Bruce Banner understood Jarvis's power and importance far better than anyone else.

It is not only Tony Stark's personal butler, but also the core hub, manager, and guardian of Stark Industries and even the entire Avengers' information network.

Therefore, in his view, the destruction of Jarvis was a far greater loss than the Iron Legion's mechs that were taken away by Ultron.

"Do not."

At that moment, a calm voice, tinged with complex emotions, rang out.

Reed Richards walked over from the side, his trench coat looking a little disheveled, but his eyes were unusually clear.

He stared at the shattered remnants of Jarvis, his brow furrowed.

“Tony…” Reed Richards turned to Tony Stark, his tone tinged with a mixture of confusion and reproach, and said:

"Although I still can't understand why you would violate the confidentiality agreement and 'steal' Ultron's original code from the joint supervision of the PPDC and S.H.I.E.L.D., and then conduct activation testing without sufficient security isolation..."

He paused, pointing to the remains of Jarvis: "But based on my understanding of Jarvis, its defense mechanisms and logical priorities could not and should not have been so easily completely overridden and assimilated."

"The complete and overwhelming replacement and destruction exhibited by Ultron, in my opinion, may not be solely due to strategic considerations."

"This abnormal, cathartic destruction is more like... anger!!"

Reed Richards' voice grew more serious as he looked directly into Tony Stark's eyes and asked the most crucial, and also the most fatal, question:
"I want to know, Tony, why did Ultron just say 'I am you'? What does that mean? After you brought it back from the PPDC's lab, besides activating it, what else did you... do with it?!"

Clearly, he cared more about the details in Ultron's statements than anyone else, because he was one of the original developers.

In a sense, Ultron is also his 'child,' so he naturally doesn't want to see the current situation happen.

moment!

Everyone stared at Tony Stark with eyes that were filled with shock, doubt, anger, and worry, like spotlights.

An invisible pressure enveloped him.

But at this moment, Tony Stark seemed lost in thought, his lips pressed into a pale line, his jawline taut.

He remained silent for a long time, his eyes dark and unfathomable, as if he were engaged in a fierce internal struggle.

Bruce Banner, on the other hand, seemed to have been struck by lightning, suddenly remembering something, and his face turned deathly pale.

He glanced at Tony Stark instinctively, muttering uncertainly, "No way? Did I really guess right?"

"Banner?"

Captain America keenly noticed the unusual expression on Bruce Banner's face and quickly pressed, "What do you know? What's going on?!"

(End of this chapter)