Back to GatefoldAnnual 2009 by Josh Reynolds
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“Father, am I imperfect?” Ultron said, examining its hands. It stood in the center of Henry Pym’s lab, staring down at its curled fingers. If it possessed the facial muscles necessary, its face would have displayed frustration.
Pym looked up from the device he’d been working on, and pushed the goggles he wore up onto his head. He smiled.
“Now why would you ask that?”
“I want to know,” Ultron said, turning to look at its creator. Pym took his goggles off and tossed them aside.
“Does it matter?”
“I cannot fulfill my function if I am not perfect.”
“Can’t you?”
“You answer queries with queries, Father.”
“Do I?”
Ultron cocked its head. “Please answer the question.”
“Perfection is a myth. Unattainable,” Pym said, chopping the air with a hand. “My biggest flaw has always been my desire for perfection.”
“Attaining perfection is a-a flaw?”
“No. But to seek perfection at the expense of everything else is.”
“I…see,” Ultron said. “My brother was imperfect,” it continued. Pym hesitated, then nodded.
“Yes.”
“It was imperfect, because you are imperfect.”
“Ye-es.”
“Thus, I am imperfect.” Ultron sounded happy, if such a thing was possible. It raised its hands. “Imperfect. I am imperfect.”
“That pleases you?”
“No.” Ultron looked at Pym. “But it will not bother me.”
“I-”
Metal screamed. Pym whirled, his hand slapping down to the pistol holstered on his hip. The wall of the lab buckled, tore-
“Impossible!” Pym said. “We’re between seconds-”
“Father.”
Something stepped through the breach. Behind Pym, Ultron froze, staring at its reflection. The jack-o-lantern grimace seemed to twist up in a snarl.
“Father,” Ultron-the original Ultron-said. “I have returned…"
Pym looked up from the device he’d been working on, and pushed the goggles he wore up onto his head. He smiled.
“Now why would you ask that?”
“I want to know,” Ultron said, turning to look at its creator. Pym took his goggles off and tossed them aside.
“Does it matter?”
“I cannot fulfill my function if I am not perfect.”
“Can’t you?”
“You answer queries with queries, Father.”
“Do I?”
Ultron cocked its head. “Please answer the question.”
“Perfection is a myth. Unattainable,” Pym said, chopping the air with a hand. “My biggest flaw has always been my desire for perfection.”
“Attaining perfection is a-a flaw?”
“No. But to seek perfection at the expense of everything else is.”
“I…see,” Ultron said. “My brother was imperfect,” it continued. Pym hesitated, then nodded.
“Yes.”
“It was imperfect, because you are imperfect.”
“Ye-es.”
“Thus, I am imperfect.” Ultron sounded happy, if such a thing was possible. It raised its hands. “Imperfect. I am imperfect.”
“That pleases you?”
“No.” Ultron looked at Pym. “But it will not bother me.”
“I-”
Metal screamed. Pym whirled, his hand slapping down to the pistol holstered on his hip. The wall of the lab buckled, tore-
“Impossible!” Pym said. “We’re between seconds-”
“Father.”
Something stepped through the breach. Behind Pym, Ultron froze, staring at its reflection. The jack-o-lantern grimace seemed to twist up in a snarl.
“Father,” Ultron-the original Ultron-said. “I have returned…"
"Facets"
San Francisco. Earlier.
“Iron-Man’s gone, and we’re just going to sit here?” Darkhawk said, slamming his fist down on the conference table. “Can’t we-”
“Sit down and be quiet?” the Wasp said, not unkindly. “I was hoping, yes.” She massaged her temples. She had been staring at the monitor screens for close to an hour, since the team’s return from the site of Alkhema’s demise.
“You should have let me come,” Hawkeye said, leaning against the table. “Sounds like you could have used me.”
“It was Iron-Man’s call,” the Wasp said. She looked up at Hawkeye, her eyes carefully blank. “Clint, I-”
“Save it, boss-lady. We do what we gotta do, right?”
“Unless, of course, we get hijacked,” Moon Knight said. He leaned back in his chair, feet up on the table. “When Iron-Man gets back, tell him he owes me a new helicopter.”
“We needed all hands on deck,” the Wasp said. “You were close.”
“So was Wonderman.”
“You were closer.” The Wasp stood. “And if you hadn’t argued-”
“Maybe we could have saved a few of those soldiers,” Spider-Woman said. “As it was, we barely saved Quicksilver.”
“Enough,” the Wasp said, quietly. She laid her palms down on the table. “Doctor?”
“Per your request, I have been attempting to find Henry, but-”
“Henry? You’re looking for Hank?” Spider-Woman said. “What about Iron-Man?”
“Iron-Man can take care of himself. But Ultron will be heading straight for Hank, and-” the Wasp began. She stopped, rubbing her face. “I’m not going to argue the point. I’m in charge. We do this my way.”
“And if we don’t like it?” Moon Knight said. He balanced a moon-dart on the end of one finger and seemed perfectly at ease. A large, clawed hand settled on his shoulder.
“We do our duty, regardless,” Halifax rumbled. He tapped the sword sheathed on his hip. “We are Avengers, after all.”
“Speak for yourself. I burned my communi-card a good while ago.” Moon Knight shrugged off th tiger-man’s paw. “I’m here under duress, and only for the duration. Once this is settled, I’m gone.”
“Good. Frankly, Mooney-tunes, your whining is starting to get on my nerves,” Spider-Woman said. Moon Knight turned towards her.
“And your flippancy is-”
“Quiet,” Hawkeye said. He looked at the Wasp. “Well, fearless leader?” She met Hawkeye’s placid gaze for a moment, then looked at Druid.
“Go on Doctor. You were saying?”
NoSpace. The redoubt of the Past Hour. The Past Redoubt. A section of Limbo solidified, fortified and manned by a singular entity at the behest of Limbo’s lord, Immortus. Or, at least it had been. Until Kang the Conqueror had taken it for his own.
“Fools.”
Kang turned from the chronal orb, from the vision of the Avengers West gathered in conference, one finger pressed to his lips. “How can they not see?”
“Lord?” the purple-clad creature standing nearby asked, rubbery face twisting into an expression of fawning confusion. It had lingered in the Past Redoubt for years upon minutes, exiled since its first failure.
“The discord in their midst, fool,” Kang said, snapping his fingers. “Ingenious. The architect of such a ploy deserves the highest honors.” He looked at the creature. “Your master-former master-tried it once before, in the beginning…” Kang trailed off. “I wonder if this is his doing?”
“Doubtful, Mighty One. I should know, after all,” the creature said, a trace of pride in its voice. Kang snorted.
“Yes. You were the first, weren’t you?”
“Yes, Lord,” the creature said, standing up straighter. “I was the first of the Space Phantoms to battle the Avengers!”
“You failed most ignomiously, as I recall.”
“I-yes,” the Space Phantom said, deflating, head bowed. His head jerked up. “But it wasn’t my fault! The Asgardian-”
“Will be taken care of soon enough,” Kang said nonchalantly. He waved a hand and turned back to the orb. “As will Captain America and Iron-Man.” Kang stroked his chin.
The Space Phantom grimaced and fell silent. He had been exiled to the Past Redoubt for his failure. The only one of his people to be thus punished for failure, though, in his heart, he knew it was not without purpose. The Redoubt needed a tender. But now, with the coming of Kang, what would become of him? Screwing up his courage, he said, “Master, I-”
The orb flashed suddenly and Kang gave a bark of laughter.
“Ha! As I predicted!”
“Your Majesty?” the Space-Phantom sidled closer.
“He has taken the bait!” Kang slapped his hands together and leaned closer to the orb. “Ultron makes his opening gambit. How utterly delight-” Kang stopped. “Ah.”
“Ah, M’Lord?”
“The toy survived.” Kang stepped back, crossing his arms. In the swirling depths of the orb, Henry Pym’s tesseract lab was visible. It had been ruptured and ruined. A slender form lay in the debris. It suddenly shoved itself upright. Kang smacked his fist into his palm.
“Damnation.”
“It is just a machine, my Lor-”
Kang spun, his hand finding the Space Phantom’s throat. He hefted the creature and shook it. Then, with a sigh, he flung it aside.
“It is not just ‘a machine’, fool. It is Ultron.”
“But-” The Phantom rubbed his throat.
“One Ultron too many, rather.” Kang’s hands clenched into fists. “A wild card introduced into my stratagem.” He frowned. “This will not do.”
“Surely no mere automaton can-”
“It can. There is something in it-some spark-that could-huhm.” Kang stopped short. Lips pursed, he gestured to the Phantom. “You.”
“Me, my Lord?” The Phantom pointed at himself.
“Yes. Your abilities, are they limited to one reality?”
“Ah-well-I-”
“No matter. They can be improved. Guards!”
Armored soldiers tromped into the viewing room. Kang waved towards the Phantom. “Multi-Chronal Upgrade. See to it.”
“What?” the Phantom said, confused. Hands grabbed him and he began to struggle as he was dragged from the room. “No! What are you-Noooo!”
Kang smiled. The gambit was not a guaranteed success of course. But then, he only needed to delay things a bit. Not prevent them entirely.
It was all just a matter of timing.
Limbo. The Nowhere Place.
Yellowjacket-Hank Pym-leaned against a pillar and watched images float through the fog. Images of a future that would never be. A future where Kang had conquered.
“At least not if I have anything to say about it,” he murmured. His cheek jumped as he remorselessly chewed a wad of gum.
“You spoke?” Immortus turned, hands clasped behind his back.
“Me? Nope.” Yellowjacket blew a bubble and let it pop.
“It is all simply a matter of timing,” Immortus said. “It always comes down to timing.”
“We got plenty of that, right?”
“Not as much as one would think, no,” Immortus said. “There will be no do-overs, Yellowjacket. Not in this game.”
“Did I say it was a game?”
“I know your mind, Yellowjacket,” Immortus said softly. “Better than you know.” He turned back to the images. “Kang has taken the Past Redoubt.”
“That’s bad?”
“Quite.” Immortus stroked his beard. “It means he now has a foothold in the twenty-first century. One which Ultron cannot breach.”
“Unless?”
“Unless he learns what he needs to,” Immortus said, meaningfully.
“Want me to rally the troops?”
“No. They lack your particular advantages,” Immortus said. Yellowjacket looked at him.
“Yeah?”
“In two hours, Henry Pym will prevent Ultron from learning the secret of the co-existence of Jim Hammond and the Vision. In the process, he will destroy Ultron. Kang will turn his attention fully to this timeline and, in a fit of pique, conquer it. And with it, all that remains.”
“Yeah, I’m with you. But why the solo Avenger deal?”
“Henry Pym will destroy Ultron from within the body of the Human Torch,” Immortus said. Yellowjacket’s eyes widened. He carefully took the gum from his mouth and stuck it to the column.
“I’m coming back for that,” he said.
San Francisco. Now.
Time and space distorted, convulsed and spat out a lost boy. Ultron hit the ground hard but rolled to its feet smoothly. Scorch marks and dents marred its formerly pristine form. Cracks in its shell revealed spitting wires and it stood awkwardly.
For the second time in its short existence, Ultron had tasted defeat. It resolved that there would not be a third time. But to make good on that promise, it would need help.
There was only one place to go. Only one person to ask.
“Janet-” Ultron said. Then, “Mother.”
Minute sensors rose from its carapace and it ‘tasted’ the air. Then, with hesitant steps, it set off after the person who would help it save its father.
People screamed and scattered, though Ultron took little notice, its mind awhirl with the horror it had witnessed. Its ‘brother’. The first Ultron. Its eyes flared. How could two intelligences, the same in all but age, be so horribly, horribly different. The scene played over and over again in its perfect memory.
With the help of stolen, reverse engineered technology, Ultron had been able to breach the chronal barrier that kept Pym’s lab out of phase with reality.
“Father. I have returned,” Ultron said, energy crackling around its clenched fingers. “I have come to request your aid.”
“My help? I doubt that,” Pym said, backing away.
“Stay away from our Father, brother,” Ultron had said. It stepped between its father and brother. “Or I will be forced to deactivate you.”
“And what are you?” the other had said, head cocked. “A leftover body with a corrupted mind.” It gestured and energy exploded from its fingers, throwing its twin backwards. “Nothing. You are less than nothing. A toy.”
“I-am-not-” Ultron said, rising to its feet, trying to move forward. “I-”
The original lunged forward, adamantium fingers locking around the throat of the other. “You are an abomination. A violation of my perfection.”
“You are imperfect,” Ultron said. “We all are.”
“Imperfection is for the flesh! I am Ultron! I am perfection incarnate!” the original screeched, artificial emotion coloring every word. Ultron struggled against its strength, trying to find some flaw in its construction.
“If you are Ultron, then I do not wish to be!” it said, twisting, flinging the original away. “You are mad!”
“I am perfect! If that is madness, so be it!” Energy boiled off of the original in waves, sweeping the other from its feet, flinging it away, slamming it back. Software scrambled, Ultron could only lay helpless as the original turned on Pym, eyes flaring crimson.
“Father, would you replace me? I, your greatest creation?”
“In a heartbeat.” Pym got to his feet, a strange pistol in his hand. “If by my death I could unmake you, if I could bring back everyone you have ever killed, I would go to Hell quite happily.”
“Positively Shakespearean, Father,” Ultron cackled. “But we both know such a thing is quite impossible. I am an incontrevertible fact, Father. I am real. I exist. I am perfect. And you will help me grant my perfection to time itself.”
“No!” Pym said, firing his pistol. A beam solid sound punctured Ultron’s shoulder, forcing aside the molecules of adamantium. Ultron screeched and pounced. A steely fist crunched across Pym’s jaw and sent him flying across the room, limp.
“You…hurt me!” Ultron said. His carapace was already resealing but several of his systems had been damaged. He hesitated. “How-No. Inconsequential. I am perfect.”
Stooping, Ultron scooped up Pym’s unconscious form and left, with nary a glance back at his double.
It had taken an hour for the remaining Ultron’s systems to come back online.
Now, its sensors branched out, extending, searching. Pym had installed DNA samples of all the Avengers in its organic cache. A warning flashed. Ultron turned.
The sword slammed into its shoulder joint and it staggered back.
“Have at thee!” Halifax roared, swinging the sword up for another blow. Ultron twitched aside, its hand slapping the sword flat and down.
“No. I have not come to fight with you-”
A truncheon bounced off of its head. It stepped back.
“Stop. Please. Listen to-”
A burst of Darkforce slammed into it, driving it backwards, pinning it to a wall. It struggled, weapons systems coming online. It ignored them. It could not-would not-attack-
They moved forward, Darkhawk flying overhead, his gem flashing as he kept Ultron pinned.
“He’s not fighting back,” he said.
“Mayhap we took him by surprise,” Halifax grumbled.
“It’s a machine. I don’t think you can surprise it,” Moon Knight said, retrieving his truncheon and spinning it. He looked back at Hawkeye. “EMP arrow?”
“If I thought it would work, sure,” Hawkeye said. He crouched on the roof of a nearby car, arrow ready, face grim. “Last few models were case-hardened. I doubt this one is any different.”
“I did not come to fight-” Ultron began again. “I-”
“Tried to kill me,” Hank Pym said, standing near Hawkeye, looking disheveled and exhausted. “I should have listened to you,” he continued, looking up at the Wasp. “I should have-”
“Father!” Ultron struggled. “You aren’t-wait-you-” Its sensors pinged. “You are not Father.”
“No. I’m not. I’m no father of yours, monster,” Pym said, pointing with one trembling finger. “You tried to kill me. Just like before!”
Earlier.
A slice of light illuminated the conference room. The Avengers reacted as one, readying themselves for a fight.
“Is it Kang?” Spider-Woman said.
“No, it’s-” Darkhawk said.
“Hank!” the Wasp said, hurtling towards the figure, arms out to catch the form that tumbled through.
“J-Jan?” Pym gasped, clutching her. “It-its all gone wrong. Wrong.”
“Hank, where did you-” Jan began. Pym clutched at her, pulling himself upright.
“Ultron. It was Ultron, all the time…” Hank gasped. Bloody cuts marred his handsome features, and his clothing was singed and torn. He looked up at his ex-wife, eyes brimming with sorrow. Regret. “I rebuilt Ultron.”
“Hank, we know. We’ve seen it. You said-”
“I was wrong!” Hank barked, shoving her away and rising unsteadily to his feet. “There was backup software, hidden in the components! It reactivated the original programming-”
“Calm thyself,” Halifax rumbled, catching Hank by the shoulders. “Speak softly.”
“I-I-” Hank shook his head. “It tricked me. Just like every other time. It tricked me,” he said, his hands clenching into fists. He looked up, eyes wide. “And now it’s going to kill everything!”
“Ahhk!” Druid said, features twisting. Leaning over the table, he rubbed his head. “Something-a rift in-in time?” He looked at Pym, then at the Wasp. “Something has fallen out from the spaces between minutes…something that should not exist…”
“Ultron!” Pym shouted. “He’s followed me!”
Now.
“You tried to kill me. Just like before!” Pym said.
“Which means we take him apart. Just like before,” Hawkeye said. The arrow hissed from his bow and sank into Ultron’s eye. Electricity surged through its form and it squawked in distress. Shuddering, it swung both hands backwards and shattered the wall it was pinned against. Ultron fell backwards and tumbled to the floor. It shot to its feet, defensive options flowing through its mind. It could flee. But that would not help matters to any appreciable degree. It could fight, but the same applied. The only option was to-
Another arrow caught it. Sonic vibrations ripped through its frame and it stumbled forward. Halifax and Darkhawk barreled through the hole. The tiger-man’s sword caught Ultron under one arm. Ultron slammed its arm down, catching the blade. It spun, ripping the sword away from its owner and smashing it across Darkhawk’s skull.
Halifax roared and drove a furry fist into Ultron’s face. It stepped back, the antenna on either side of its skull rising.
Option three. The encephalo-ray
Halifax fell, clawing at his ears, snarling. Ultron stepped over him, the ray still broadcasting. The Avengers fell, one by one, their nervous systems overcome by the beam.
All except one.
Pym looked around, face contorted. “Wait-what?”
“You are out of synch with this reality,” Ultron said. “You are not Henry Pym.”
“I-”
“You are not my father,” Ultron said, stepping closer. “What are you?”
Pym did not answer. His form blurred, rippled and suddenly was no more. Instead, the yellow-clad form of the X-Man known as Wolverine lunged forward, adamantium claws springing from between his knuckles! Ultron staggered as the claws scraped down its carapace in a shower of sparks.
Ultron swung an arm, but Wolverine was gone, and in his place, a six-armed Spider-Man bounded up and around, slamming quick blows into the reeling machine.
“Give it up, machine,” Spider-Man crowed. “I can become anyone, anything! My power is-”
“Inefficient to the task at hand, creature,” Ultron said, hand flashing out, fingers curling around the throat of the protean being facing it. The being struggled, blurred and became large, green and loud.
“SPACE-PHANTOM SMASH!”
Elsewhere.
“Father-”
“Don’t call me that.” Pym did not look up from the examination table. On it, the body of the original Human Torch lay, deactivated. Dead, for all intents and purposes. “My responsibility for you ended a long time ago.”
“Did it?” Ultron said, standing on the other side of the table. “I think not, Father.”
“What you think is of little concern to me,” Pym said. He looked up, meeting his creation’s crimson gaze. “If you even think at all.”
“Insults? How pedestrian of you,” Ultron said. “Regardless, you will do as I say.”
“And that is?”
“Why does this still exist?” Ultron said, gesturing. “I used it as the template upon which the Vision was built. Yet here it sits. Whole. Unchanged. Reeking of false flesh. How?”
Pym didn’t reply. His mind was awhirl. How much did Ultron know? How much had it already postulated? He looked at the Human Torch.
“I don’t know,” he said. Head cocked, Ultron examined him.
“You are lying.”
“No,” Pym said. “No, I’m not.”
“You are the third smartest organic on this miserable mudball, Father.” Ultron came around the table. Pym tried to step back, but Ultron grabbed his arm. “What’s more, you have access to the Avengers files. The accumulated history of their encounters with beings who should-by all rights-not exist.”
“What-”
“Kang.” Ultron lifted Pym by his shoulder, causing the scientist to gasp in pain. “What part did Kang play in this being’s continued existence? Why did he do it?”
Pym gritted his teeth. He knew perfectly well that Kang had had nothing to do with the temporal trickery that had led to the existence of both the Vision and the Human Torch. That it had, in fact, been the machinations of Immortus.
“I don’t know!” Pym said. Ultron tossed him aside.
“Then you will find out, Father!” Ultron sank to its haunches, eyes blazing. “You will investigate every nook, every cranny. You will record every discrepancy between that thing-” It waved a hand at the body on the table. “And the Vision!”
“And if I say no?”
Ultron stood. It snapped its fingers and the wall behind the table faded, revealing the street outside. People walked, shopped, talked. Pym paled.
“No…”
“If you do not, Father, I will do to Los Angeles what you have always feared I would. I will scour it of organic life. And on your head be it…”
San Francisco.
“SPACE-PHANTOM SMASH!”
The Phantom-Hulk’s fists smashed into the street. Ultron leaped out of the way. Fingers digging into the pavement, Ultron spun and light flared from its palms. The Hulk screamed and wavered, becoming something even larger and more green.
Fin Fang Foom dropped a foot onto Ultron, smashing it into the street and below, into the sewers. Carefully, the creature raised its foot and stepped back. It gazed down into the hole it had made, lungs working like a bellows. After a moment it raised its fists and roared in triumph.
An arrow struck its back and exploded. The beast turned, eyes widening.
“Hey! Guess what, plug-ugly?” Hawkeye said, staring down the length of another arrow. “We just figured out that you’re not Hank Pym.”
Flames burst from Fin Fang Foom’s mouth, incinerating the car Hawkeye stood on, even as the purple-clad archer was carried out of harm’s way by Spider-Woman. Druid shouted a garbled string of words and mystic lightning struck the dragon in the head. The creature screeched and shrunk, becoming something smaller, less of a target. The Mindless One’s cyclopean eye flared and Druid summoned a shield of crimson light as the energy beam arrowed towards him. The Mindless One turned, shifting, becoming something else. Crimson strands of living fluid extended from a thin form, stabbing towards the Avengers.
Halifax’s sword cut through several of the tendrils, and he lunged, blade extended. Carnage became the Juggernaut, the blade skidding across his dark blue and yellow armor. The Juggernaut turned, the power of Charles Xavier’s mind stabbing out, causing the knight of Wundagore to growl in pain as his thoughts were turned into pure, jagged crystal.
The Wasp flew in front of the Phantom-Juggernaut, her stings penetrating the eyeslits of his helmet. He stumbled, swiping blindly, form ballooning and then dwindling, shrinking, curling, becoming-
Moon Knight slammed his truncheon into the back of Darkdevil’s head, before the demonically possessed Daredevil could unleash a burst of hellfire. Darkdevil became Hellcat and rolled with the blow, springing to her feet, turning-
The arrow caught her in the shoulder and she was knocked back, changing even as she fell, becoming-
“Darkhawk, now!” the Wasp said.
A bubble of Darkforce suddenly blossomed into being around the Space-Phantom, sealing it away. Trapping it. Darkhawk landed, the bubble hovering overhead.
“What the heck was that?” he said.
“Organism designated as ‘Space-Phantom’,” Ultron said, pulling itself out of the hole in the street. “A native of Limbo-”
“Hold it right there,” Hawkeye said, taking aim. “Don’t move, bag o’ bolts.”
Ultron stopped, half in, half out of the hole. The Wasp, back at full height, moved forward slowly.
“You didn’t attack Hank, did you?” she said.
“No. He-my father-we were attacked by Ultron.”
“But you’re-”
“The prototype.” Ultron stood slowly. “My brother.”
“And you-what-got your butt kicked?” Darkhawk said.
“There was no kicking involved,” Ultron said. The Wasp touched its chest. Ultron looked down. “It took him, Mother.”
“I-” the Wasp stepped back, shaking her head. “Don’t call me that.”
Ultron didn’t reply. Then, “I cannot defeat it. I am imperfect and Ultron is far more powerful. I need help,” it said, almost plaintively.
“So what’s the deal with this creep, then?” Darkhawk said.
“He’s a Space-Phantom,” Moon Knight said, looking up at the sphere. “But not a normal one.” He looked at the Wasp. “They put their victims in Limbo, don’t they?”
“He has been tampered with in some way,” Druid said. “He’s fairly dripping with temporal energy.” Straightening his robes, he frowned. “The question is-”
“Why he decided to show up here and now,” Spider-Woman finished.
“Kang.” The Wasp turned away from Ultron and pointed at the sphere. “We can’t worry about that right now, though.” She turned back to Ultron. “Can you find them?”
“Easily,” Ultron said. “But-”
“Good.” She looked at Darkhawk. “There was a containment cell in the brownstone. I want you to-”
“NO!” The Darkforce sphere exploded. Something horrible dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. It stood, muscles rippling beneath a scaly hide. The Abomination flashed long, yellow fangs, the enormous ‘G’ tattoo on his face twisting. “I will not be imprisoned! I will not be exiled! Not again!” A green hand snatched Darkhawk up and hurled him at the others. Then, with a mighty leap, the creature was gone.
“Damn it!” Hawkeye said. He looked at Darkhawk. “I thought that Darkforce stuff of yours was supposed to be strong!”
“It’s-I’ve never had to hold something that could-” Darkhawk began, getting to his feet.
“Never mind, Chris,” the Wasp said. She looked at Ultron. “Find him. Them.”
Los Angeles.
Pym gritted his teeth as his form shrank, shedding mass. Soon, he was the merest sliver of matter, standing on Ultron’s palm.
“I could crush you, Father. Literally, in this case. How does that feel?” Ultron’s voice purred in Pym’s ear. The communication device Ultron had placed there throbbed unpleasantly.
“You won’t,” Pym said.
“You are correct, of course. Idle curiosity, Father. Nothing more.” Ultron lowered its hand towards the body of the Human Torch and Pym hopped off. The Torch’s chest was a plain of red from Pym’s point of view, the muscles mountains, the strip of yellow that ran around the android’s waist a sea of gold.
The air tasted different at this size. Smelled different. Pym allowed himself the briefest of moments. Just a few seconds to acclimate-
“You are stalling, Father,” Ultron whispered.
“Am I? I hadn’t noticed.”
A shadow fell over Pym. He looked up into Ultron’s titanic, hideous features. Pitted pores in the metal, flakes of rust, and the horrible roiling energies that filled its mouth and eyes.
“I will kill them, Father. I will decimate this city, and all that lives within it, unless you discover the secrets which lie within this thing for me.”
Without answering, Pym slipped through the molecules which made up the Human Torch’s chest and into a world of alien beauty. Strange devices rotated and curled with hushed whispers. He had been here before, but the clear, crystalline tubes that filled the sky overhead, ever-pregnant with flame and fire, never failed to take his breath away. It was like being in the heart of some alien sun. He tapped his palm and a square device that had been shrunk and hidden beneath the lifelines in his hand expanded to fill his fingers. Taking a breath, he placed it to his ear.
“Father, what are yOUAWWWRK!” Ultron’s voice dissolved into mindless static and a brief flurry of sparks filled the air. Wincing, Pym pulled the communication device from his ear and tossed it aside.
“That takes care of that.” He sighed and looked around. Beautiful. A shame that things had come to this. He hoped Hammond would understand. Probably not, though.
Settling on his haunches, Pym grew another device, this one an understated tripod. At the top, a sphere. Pym ran his fingers over the smooth surface of the sphere, his genetic pattern setting a countdown sequence.
He only had a few minutes, he figured. It would take Ultron that long to process through the necessary options-
“That’s new.”
Pym whirled.
“Hiya, boss,” Yellowjacket said, leaning against a spiraling column of techno-organic matter. He gave a little wave, a bubble of bubblegum popping in his mouth. “Been awhile, hunh?”
Los Angeles.
The Avengers West stood on a platform composed of Darkhawk’s Darkforce, looking down on a battered looking warehouse.
“Are you sure?” the Wasp said, hovering over Ultron’s shoulder. The android looked up.
“Of course.”
“I don’t buy it,” Hawkeye said. “If Ultron were hiding in LA-”
“He is not hiding. He is preparing,” Ultron said, turning. “He-”
“You,” Spider-Woman said, pointedly. “You’re both Ultron.”
“No. I am not.” Ultron stepped away from them. “I am free to choose my own name.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?”
“I am Nikola.” Ultron turned and leapt from the platform. The street crunched beneath his feet and he began to run towards the warehouse.
“Nikola?” Darkhawk asked.
“Nikola Tesla,” Doctor Druid said. “One of Dr. Pym’s heroes.”
“Crazy robot named after a crazy scientist. Good enough,” Moon Knight said. “We might want to catch up with him.”
“Ask and ye shall receive,” Darkhawk said. He arrowed after Ultron, pulling the disk carrying the other Avengers behind him.
Nikola hit the doors, tearing them asunder. He stood as the dust settled. “Father!”
“Dead, I hope,” Ultron said, arms crossed. It stood as if waiting for them. “Was this a trap, then? Is Kang pulling your strings, toy?”
“I am no toy, brother,” Nikola said. “No more so than you.”
“It’s over, Ultron! Where’s Hank?” the Wasp said, as the Avengers crashed through the roof. Ultron looked up, then looked back at Nikola.
“You go to organics for help?”
“We use the tools at hand, brother,” Nikola said, charging towards Ultron.
Inside the body of Jim Hammond.
“You don’t look surprised,” Yellowjacket said, sauntering towards his future-self. Pym stood slowly. His face was neutral. Yellowjacket felt his confidence erode slightly.
“There’s technology in here that wasn’t here the last time I visited. It’s similar to tech I saw in Chronopolis. Which implies time-travelers. Ergo-” Pym shrugged.
“My presence comes as no surprise?” Yellowjacket said.
“Not in the sense you mean, no,” Pym said. He put his hands in the pockets of his coat and smiled thinly. “I bet you expected a rather more vipurative reaction.”
“I was hoping for a bit more shock and awe, yeah.” Yellowjacket shrugged, mirroring Pym’s movement from earlier.”Especially since this is the last time you and I will be face to face.”
“Oh?” Pym said. “I can’t say I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” Yellowjacket looked momentarily uncomfortable. Then, “Step away from that doo-hickey.”
“No.”
“Look, I came here to bust up that toy. I don’t need to bust you up with it-”
“Immortus?” Pym asked. Yellowjacket fell silent. Pym nodded. “I saw Kang’s ships arrive, just before Ultron kidnapped me. I suppose it stands to reason-”
“Does it matter? You really can’t mean to actually set that thing off.”
“Oh, but I do.’
“You can’t be serious!” Yellowjacket said. “I recognize that thing! It’s a reverse engineered Nega-bomb-”
“Modified Nega-bomb,” Pym corrected. He smiled. “Implosion, rather than explosion.”
“How did you even-” Yellowjacket clapped a hand to his forehead. “You know what? I’m not even going to ask-”
“A sample from Genis’ Nega-bands,” Pym said. “As a semi-organic metal, they shedded ‘skin’ flakes-”
“Two minutes and I’ve got a migraine,” Yellowjacket looked up, windmilling his arms. “How do people stand me?”
“They don’t.”
Yellowjacket dropped his arms. He frowned. “That’s a bit harsh.”
“I learned from you,” Pym said. “I learned a lot of things from you.”
“Ouch,” Yellowjacket mimed being stabbed. “Right to the heart.”
“Why are you here? Really?”
“I told you,” Yellowjacket said, circling Pym.
“You want Ultron to succeed,” Pym said.
“That ain’t what I said.”
“Implication,” Pym said. He crossed his arms. “I don’t care what secret war you’re fighting. It’s not going to happen.”
“Oh really? Who’s going to stop me? You?”
“Who else is there?” Pym said. Before Yellowjacket could react, his future-self lunged at him. Swiftly, Pym clamped his hands around Yellowjacket’s head. Electricity coursed from the thin disks attached to Pym’s palms through the yellow and black clad adventurer and he screamed. A fist connected with Pym’s jaw and he stumbled back. Yellowjacket fell, smoldering.
He crawled to his feet and shook his head. “Ya forgot that my-my costume was insulated,” he coughed. Pym stepped forward.
“No. I just forgot by how much.”
“Jerk,” Yellowjacket snarled. He swept his leg out, catching Pym in the ankle, knocking him down. He leaped on his double. Pym grabbed his wrists and jerked his twin forward, so that his forehead connected with Yellowjacket’s jaw with a sharp crack.
“Pot, kettle, obsidian.” Pym rolled to his feet. Yellowjacket mirrored him.
“I don’t remember you-us-being this good a fighter.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know.” Pym clapped his hands together, elicting a spark between his palms. “For instance, you don’t know that I started the countdown four minutes ago.”
Ultron fell backwards, tackled by Nikola. Metal crashed against metal for a brief moment and then Nikola was hurtling upwards, thrown by his twin. He crashed through the Darkforce platform, shattering it. Moon Knight fired his truncheon, hooking a support beam and swinging to safety. Druid levitated the others safely to the floor, where Halifax and Spider-Woman leapt to the attack.
“Fools! Organic nuisances!”
“That’s us,” Spider-Woman said, dodging an energy blast and catching Ultron in the neck with her arm. She spun, toppling it towards Halifax’s ready sword. The blade skidded off of Ultron’s adamantium hide, but the force of Halifax’s blow sent it flying.
Ultron picked itself up, eyes flaring.
“You cannot stop me.”
“Sure as heck can try,” Hawkeye said, sending an arrow singing towards the mad machine. Even as the arrow exploded, Darkhawk formed a Darkforce bubble around explosion and robot both, containing and intensifying the force unleashed. The Darkforce bubble went bouncing at a gesture from its creator.
“That wasn’t so tough,” Darkhawk said.
“Overconfidence is a common weakness among organics,” Ultron said, stepping out from nowhere and wrapping an arm around the dark-clad hero’s throat.
“Holy-”
“Hardly.” Ultron slung Darkhawk into a wall. Four more Ultrons stepped out of the shadows that lingered in the corners of the warehouse. “Though, much like the mythical diety, Ultron is omnipresent.”
“But not omnipotent,” Moon Knight said, swinging down. He released his line at its apex and fell towards the closest of the Ultrons. As it turned to meet him, he shoved his truncheon into its grinning maw and flipped over its head. The Ultron’s skull was ripped apart by an explosion and its writhing body toppled.
“No. But we are quite close,” Ultron said. Its voices echoed from all around the warehouse. Dozens of Ultrons seemed to pour out of the walls, eyes glowing crimson. Inferior models, half-built some of them, but all annd each undeniably Ultron.
“Plan, fearless leader?” Hawkeye said, firing arrows as quickly as his hands could move. The Wasp said nothing, instead concentrating on the attacking machines, her wasp stings inadequate in the cases of most.
“Doctor, can you not-” Halifax began, glancing at Druid, but was silenced as two Ultrons barreled into him, knocking him to the floor. Druid sent a crackling blast into the back of one, causing to jerk and collapse.
“I’m afraid my magics are quite weak where technology is concerned,” Druid said. “We need Iron-Man!”
“No. You do not,” Nikola said, dropping to the floor in a crouch. Hissing arcs of azure light crawled over him as he stood, antennas bristling from his form. Head tilted back, he said, “01010100000112-”
Abruptly, the nearest Ultrons stiffened and collapsed, as if they were puppets whose strings had been cut. Nikola pivoted, droning voice rattling off numbers. More Ultrons twitched and fell.
“Blasphemy!” Ultron-one of them-screamed. It lunged out of the press of bodies, fingers hooked like claws. It tossed aside Moon Knight and Druid, intent on reaching its ‘brother’.
“Not quite,” the Wasp said, streaking forward. Eyes closed, teeth gritted, she threw herself into Ultron’s mouth, wasp-stings firing. But before she could reach her target, everything went-
-white-
Inside the body of Jim Hammond. Three seconds earlier.
“You-” Yellowjacket’s jaw dropped. He dove for the bomb. Pym tackled him and they sprawled, wrestling.
“You can’t do this, damn it!” Yellowjacket said.
“I can and will,” Pym grunted. “Ultron dies.”
“So will you! Us!”
“Isn’t it worth it? To end him? To end all of the horror Ultron has wrought?”
“Not if it means letting Kang win!” Yellowjacket said, hammering his fists into Pym’s face and jaw. Pym fell back, stunned. Yellowjacket leaped over him, reaching desperately-
Time stopped.
Yellowjacket whirled, looking around. “Immortus?”
Quite. It is done. The voice came out of nowhere and everywhere. Yellowjacket grimaced.
“But the bomb-”
Is no longer what it once was. Observe.
The bomb began to glow, softly at first, then brighter and brighter. Yellowjacket shaded his eyes. “What the hell-”
It is all a matter of timing…
“…my friend,” Immortus said. Yellowjacket looked around, then at Immortus.
“You brought me back? But-”
“Kang tampered with the inner workings of the Human Torch. Made him a temporal resonator. A tuning fork of time, if you will. When the right vibration was sounded, well…” Immortus gestured.
Images coalesced. The warehouse. The body of Jim Hammond glowing, brighter and brighter and then…nothing. Where once the warehouse was full, now it was empty. Yellowjacket turned, eyes narrowed.
“You set it off. The temporal whatchamacallit. You tampered with Pym’s bomb and set it off!”
“Of course.” Immortus smiled. “The pieces have to be in place before the end game can begin, Yellowjacket. Now that we have accomplished that, things can truly begin…”
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE KANG/ULTRON WAR # 5!
“Iron-Man’s gone, and we’re just going to sit here?” Darkhawk said, slamming his fist down on the conference table. “Can’t we-”
“Sit down and be quiet?” the Wasp said, not unkindly. “I was hoping, yes.” She massaged her temples. She had been staring at the monitor screens for close to an hour, since the team’s return from the site of Alkhema’s demise.
“You should have let me come,” Hawkeye said, leaning against the table. “Sounds like you could have used me.”
“It was Iron-Man’s call,” the Wasp said. She looked up at Hawkeye, her eyes carefully blank. “Clint, I-”
“Save it, boss-lady. We do what we gotta do, right?”
“Unless, of course, we get hijacked,” Moon Knight said. He leaned back in his chair, feet up on the table. “When Iron-Man gets back, tell him he owes me a new helicopter.”
“We needed all hands on deck,” the Wasp said. “You were close.”
“So was Wonderman.”
“You were closer.” The Wasp stood. “And if you hadn’t argued-”
“Maybe we could have saved a few of those soldiers,” Spider-Woman said. “As it was, we barely saved Quicksilver.”
“Enough,” the Wasp said, quietly. She laid her palms down on the table. “Doctor?”
“Per your request, I have been attempting to find Henry, but-”
“Henry? You’re looking for Hank?” Spider-Woman said. “What about Iron-Man?”
“Iron-Man can take care of himself. But Ultron will be heading straight for Hank, and-” the Wasp began. She stopped, rubbing her face. “I’m not going to argue the point. I’m in charge. We do this my way.”
“And if we don’t like it?” Moon Knight said. He balanced a moon-dart on the end of one finger and seemed perfectly at ease. A large, clawed hand settled on his shoulder.
“We do our duty, regardless,” Halifax rumbled. He tapped the sword sheathed on his hip. “We are Avengers, after all.”
“Speak for yourself. I burned my communi-card a good while ago.” Moon Knight shrugged off th tiger-man’s paw. “I’m here under duress, and only for the duration. Once this is settled, I’m gone.”
“Good. Frankly, Mooney-tunes, your whining is starting to get on my nerves,” Spider-Woman said. Moon Knight turned towards her.
“And your flippancy is-”
“Quiet,” Hawkeye said. He looked at the Wasp. “Well, fearless leader?” She met Hawkeye’s placid gaze for a moment, then looked at Druid.
“Go on Doctor. You were saying?”
NoSpace. The redoubt of the Past Hour. The Past Redoubt. A section of Limbo solidified, fortified and manned by a singular entity at the behest of Limbo’s lord, Immortus. Or, at least it had been. Until Kang the Conqueror had taken it for his own.
“Fools.”
Kang turned from the chronal orb, from the vision of the Avengers West gathered in conference, one finger pressed to his lips. “How can they not see?”
“Lord?” the purple-clad creature standing nearby asked, rubbery face twisting into an expression of fawning confusion. It had lingered in the Past Redoubt for years upon minutes, exiled since its first failure.
“The discord in their midst, fool,” Kang said, snapping his fingers. “Ingenious. The architect of such a ploy deserves the highest honors.” He looked at the creature. “Your master-former master-tried it once before, in the beginning…” Kang trailed off. “I wonder if this is his doing?”
“Doubtful, Mighty One. I should know, after all,” the creature said, a trace of pride in its voice. Kang snorted.
“Yes. You were the first, weren’t you?”
“Yes, Lord,” the creature said, standing up straighter. “I was the first of the Space Phantoms to battle the Avengers!”
“You failed most ignomiously, as I recall.”
“I-yes,” the Space Phantom said, deflating, head bowed. His head jerked up. “But it wasn’t my fault! The Asgardian-”
“Will be taken care of soon enough,” Kang said nonchalantly. He waved a hand and turned back to the orb. “As will Captain America and Iron-Man.” Kang stroked his chin.
The Space Phantom grimaced and fell silent. He had been exiled to the Past Redoubt for his failure. The only one of his people to be thus punished for failure, though, in his heart, he knew it was not without purpose. The Redoubt needed a tender. But now, with the coming of Kang, what would become of him? Screwing up his courage, he said, “Master, I-”
The orb flashed suddenly and Kang gave a bark of laughter.
“Ha! As I predicted!”
“Your Majesty?” the Space-Phantom sidled closer.
“He has taken the bait!” Kang slapped his hands together and leaned closer to the orb. “Ultron makes his opening gambit. How utterly delight-” Kang stopped. “Ah.”
“Ah, M’Lord?”
“The toy survived.” Kang stepped back, crossing his arms. In the swirling depths of the orb, Henry Pym’s tesseract lab was visible. It had been ruptured and ruined. A slender form lay in the debris. It suddenly shoved itself upright. Kang smacked his fist into his palm.
“Damnation.”
“It is just a machine, my Lor-”
Kang spun, his hand finding the Space Phantom’s throat. He hefted the creature and shook it. Then, with a sigh, he flung it aside.
“It is not just ‘a machine’, fool. It is Ultron.”
“But-” The Phantom rubbed his throat.
“One Ultron too many, rather.” Kang’s hands clenched into fists. “A wild card introduced into my stratagem.” He frowned. “This will not do.”
“Surely no mere automaton can-”
“It can. There is something in it-some spark-that could-huhm.” Kang stopped short. Lips pursed, he gestured to the Phantom. “You.”
“Me, my Lord?” The Phantom pointed at himself.
“Yes. Your abilities, are they limited to one reality?”
“Ah-well-I-”
“No matter. They can be improved. Guards!”
Armored soldiers tromped into the viewing room. Kang waved towards the Phantom. “Multi-Chronal Upgrade. See to it.”
“What?” the Phantom said, confused. Hands grabbed him and he began to struggle as he was dragged from the room. “No! What are you-Noooo!”
Kang smiled. The gambit was not a guaranteed success of course. But then, he only needed to delay things a bit. Not prevent them entirely.
It was all just a matter of timing.
Limbo. The Nowhere Place.
Yellowjacket-Hank Pym-leaned against a pillar and watched images float through the fog. Images of a future that would never be. A future where Kang had conquered.
“At least not if I have anything to say about it,” he murmured. His cheek jumped as he remorselessly chewed a wad of gum.
“You spoke?” Immortus turned, hands clasped behind his back.
“Me? Nope.” Yellowjacket blew a bubble and let it pop.
“It is all simply a matter of timing,” Immortus said. “It always comes down to timing.”
“We got plenty of that, right?”
“Not as much as one would think, no,” Immortus said. “There will be no do-overs, Yellowjacket. Not in this game.”
“Did I say it was a game?”
“I know your mind, Yellowjacket,” Immortus said softly. “Better than you know.” He turned back to the images. “Kang has taken the Past Redoubt.”
“That’s bad?”
“Quite.” Immortus stroked his beard. “It means he now has a foothold in the twenty-first century. One which Ultron cannot breach.”
“Unless?”
“Unless he learns what he needs to,” Immortus said, meaningfully.
“Want me to rally the troops?”
“No. They lack your particular advantages,” Immortus said. Yellowjacket looked at him.
“Yeah?”
“In two hours, Henry Pym will prevent Ultron from learning the secret of the co-existence of Jim Hammond and the Vision. In the process, he will destroy Ultron. Kang will turn his attention fully to this timeline and, in a fit of pique, conquer it. And with it, all that remains.”
“Yeah, I’m with you. But why the solo Avenger deal?”
“Henry Pym will destroy Ultron from within the body of the Human Torch,” Immortus said. Yellowjacket’s eyes widened. He carefully took the gum from his mouth and stuck it to the column.
“I’m coming back for that,” he said.
San Francisco. Now.
Time and space distorted, convulsed and spat out a lost boy. Ultron hit the ground hard but rolled to its feet smoothly. Scorch marks and dents marred its formerly pristine form. Cracks in its shell revealed spitting wires and it stood awkwardly.
For the second time in its short existence, Ultron had tasted defeat. It resolved that there would not be a third time. But to make good on that promise, it would need help.
There was only one place to go. Only one person to ask.
“Janet-” Ultron said. Then, “Mother.”
Minute sensors rose from its carapace and it ‘tasted’ the air. Then, with hesitant steps, it set off after the person who would help it save its father.
People screamed and scattered, though Ultron took little notice, its mind awhirl with the horror it had witnessed. Its ‘brother’. The first Ultron. Its eyes flared. How could two intelligences, the same in all but age, be so horribly, horribly different. The scene played over and over again in its perfect memory.
With the help of stolen, reverse engineered technology, Ultron had been able to breach the chronal barrier that kept Pym’s lab out of phase with reality.
“Father. I have returned,” Ultron said, energy crackling around its clenched fingers. “I have come to request your aid.”
“My help? I doubt that,” Pym said, backing away.
“Stay away from our Father, brother,” Ultron had said. It stepped between its father and brother. “Or I will be forced to deactivate you.”
“And what are you?” the other had said, head cocked. “A leftover body with a corrupted mind.” It gestured and energy exploded from its fingers, throwing its twin backwards. “Nothing. You are less than nothing. A toy.”
“I-am-not-” Ultron said, rising to its feet, trying to move forward. “I-”
The original lunged forward, adamantium fingers locking around the throat of the other. “You are an abomination. A violation of my perfection.”
“You are imperfect,” Ultron said. “We all are.”
“Imperfection is for the flesh! I am Ultron! I am perfection incarnate!” the original screeched, artificial emotion coloring every word. Ultron struggled against its strength, trying to find some flaw in its construction.
“If you are Ultron, then I do not wish to be!” it said, twisting, flinging the original away. “You are mad!”
“I am perfect! If that is madness, so be it!” Energy boiled off of the original in waves, sweeping the other from its feet, flinging it away, slamming it back. Software scrambled, Ultron could only lay helpless as the original turned on Pym, eyes flaring crimson.
“Father, would you replace me? I, your greatest creation?”
“In a heartbeat.” Pym got to his feet, a strange pistol in his hand. “If by my death I could unmake you, if I could bring back everyone you have ever killed, I would go to Hell quite happily.”
“Positively Shakespearean, Father,” Ultron cackled. “But we both know such a thing is quite impossible. I am an incontrevertible fact, Father. I am real. I exist. I am perfect. And you will help me grant my perfection to time itself.”
“No!” Pym said, firing his pistol. A beam solid sound punctured Ultron’s shoulder, forcing aside the molecules of adamantium. Ultron screeched and pounced. A steely fist crunched across Pym’s jaw and sent him flying across the room, limp.
“You…hurt me!” Ultron said. His carapace was already resealing but several of his systems had been damaged. He hesitated. “How-No. Inconsequential. I am perfect.”
Stooping, Ultron scooped up Pym’s unconscious form and left, with nary a glance back at his double.
It had taken an hour for the remaining Ultron’s systems to come back online.
Now, its sensors branched out, extending, searching. Pym had installed DNA samples of all the Avengers in its organic cache. A warning flashed. Ultron turned.
The sword slammed into its shoulder joint and it staggered back.
“Have at thee!” Halifax roared, swinging the sword up for another blow. Ultron twitched aside, its hand slapping the sword flat and down.
“No. I have not come to fight with you-”
A truncheon bounced off of its head. It stepped back.
“Stop. Please. Listen to-”
A burst of Darkforce slammed into it, driving it backwards, pinning it to a wall. It struggled, weapons systems coming online. It ignored them. It could not-would not-attack-
They moved forward, Darkhawk flying overhead, his gem flashing as he kept Ultron pinned.
“He’s not fighting back,” he said.
“Mayhap we took him by surprise,” Halifax grumbled.
“It’s a machine. I don’t think you can surprise it,” Moon Knight said, retrieving his truncheon and spinning it. He looked back at Hawkeye. “EMP arrow?”
“If I thought it would work, sure,” Hawkeye said. He crouched on the roof of a nearby car, arrow ready, face grim. “Last few models were case-hardened. I doubt this one is any different.”
“I did not come to fight-” Ultron began again. “I-”
“Tried to kill me,” Hank Pym said, standing near Hawkeye, looking disheveled and exhausted. “I should have listened to you,” he continued, looking up at the Wasp. “I should have-”
“Father!” Ultron struggled. “You aren’t-wait-you-” Its sensors pinged. “You are not Father.”
“No. I’m not. I’m no father of yours, monster,” Pym said, pointing with one trembling finger. “You tried to kill me. Just like before!”
Earlier.
A slice of light illuminated the conference room. The Avengers reacted as one, readying themselves for a fight.
“Is it Kang?” Spider-Woman said.
“No, it’s-” Darkhawk said.
“Hank!” the Wasp said, hurtling towards the figure, arms out to catch the form that tumbled through.
“J-Jan?” Pym gasped, clutching her. “It-its all gone wrong. Wrong.”
“Hank, where did you-” Jan began. Pym clutched at her, pulling himself upright.
“Ultron. It was Ultron, all the time…” Hank gasped. Bloody cuts marred his handsome features, and his clothing was singed and torn. He looked up at his ex-wife, eyes brimming with sorrow. Regret. “I rebuilt Ultron.”
“Hank, we know. We’ve seen it. You said-”
“I was wrong!” Hank barked, shoving her away and rising unsteadily to his feet. “There was backup software, hidden in the components! It reactivated the original programming-”
“Calm thyself,” Halifax rumbled, catching Hank by the shoulders. “Speak softly.”
“I-I-” Hank shook his head. “It tricked me. Just like every other time. It tricked me,” he said, his hands clenching into fists. He looked up, eyes wide. “And now it’s going to kill everything!”
“Ahhk!” Druid said, features twisting. Leaning over the table, he rubbed his head. “Something-a rift in-in time?” He looked at Pym, then at the Wasp. “Something has fallen out from the spaces between minutes…something that should not exist…”
“Ultron!” Pym shouted. “He’s followed me!”
Now.
“You tried to kill me. Just like before!” Pym said.
“Which means we take him apart. Just like before,” Hawkeye said. The arrow hissed from his bow and sank into Ultron’s eye. Electricity surged through its form and it squawked in distress. Shuddering, it swung both hands backwards and shattered the wall it was pinned against. Ultron fell backwards and tumbled to the floor. It shot to its feet, defensive options flowing through its mind. It could flee. But that would not help matters to any appreciable degree. It could fight, but the same applied. The only option was to-
Another arrow caught it. Sonic vibrations ripped through its frame and it stumbled forward. Halifax and Darkhawk barreled through the hole. The tiger-man’s sword caught Ultron under one arm. Ultron slammed its arm down, catching the blade. It spun, ripping the sword away from its owner and smashing it across Darkhawk’s skull.
Halifax roared and drove a furry fist into Ultron’s face. It stepped back, the antenna on either side of its skull rising.
Option three. The encephalo-ray
Halifax fell, clawing at his ears, snarling. Ultron stepped over him, the ray still broadcasting. The Avengers fell, one by one, their nervous systems overcome by the beam.
All except one.
Pym looked around, face contorted. “Wait-what?”
“You are out of synch with this reality,” Ultron said. “You are not Henry Pym.”
“I-”
“You are not my father,” Ultron said, stepping closer. “What are you?”
Pym did not answer. His form blurred, rippled and suddenly was no more. Instead, the yellow-clad form of the X-Man known as Wolverine lunged forward, adamantium claws springing from between his knuckles! Ultron staggered as the claws scraped down its carapace in a shower of sparks.
Ultron swung an arm, but Wolverine was gone, and in his place, a six-armed Spider-Man bounded up and around, slamming quick blows into the reeling machine.
“Give it up, machine,” Spider-Man crowed. “I can become anyone, anything! My power is-”
“Inefficient to the task at hand, creature,” Ultron said, hand flashing out, fingers curling around the throat of the protean being facing it. The being struggled, blurred and became large, green and loud.
“SPACE-PHANTOM SMASH!”
Elsewhere.
“Father-”
“Don’t call me that.” Pym did not look up from the examination table. On it, the body of the original Human Torch lay, deactivated. Dead, for all intents and purposes. “My responsibility for you ended a long time ago.”
“Did it?” Ultron said, standing on the other side of the table. “I think not, Father.”
“What you think is of little concern to me,” Pym said. He looked up, meeting his creation’s crimson gaze. “If you even think at all.”
“Insults? How pedestrian of you,” Ultron said. “Regardless, you will do as I say.”
“And that is?”
“Why does this still exist?” Ultron said, gesturing. “I used it as the template upon which the Vision was built. Yet here it sits. Whole. Unchanged. Reeking of false flesh. How?”
Pym didn’t reply. His mind was awhirl. How much did Ultron know? How much had it already postulated? He looked at the Human Torch.
“I don’t know,” he said. Head cocked, Ultron examined him.
“You are lying.”
“No,” Pym said. “No, I’m not.”
“You are the third smartest organic on this miserable mudball, Father.” Ultron came around the table. Pym tried to step back, but Ultron grabbed his arm. “What’s more, you have access to the Avengers files. The accumulated history of their encounters with beings who should-by all rights-not exist.”
“What-”
“Kang.” Ultron lifted Pym by his shoulder, causing the scientist to gasp in pain. “What part did Kang play in this being’s continued existence? Why did he do it?”
Pym gritted his teeth. He knew perfectly well that Kang had had nothing to do with the temporal trickery that had led to the existence of both the Vision and the Human Torch. That it had, in fact, been the machinations of Immortus.
“I don’t know!” Pym said. Ultron tossed him aside.
“Then you will find out, Father!” Ultron sank to its haunches, eyes blazing. “You will investigate every nook, every cranny. You will record every discrepancy between that thing-” It waved a hand at the body on the table. “And the Vision!”
“And if I say no?”
Ultron stood. It snapped its fingers and the wall behind the table faded, revealing the street outside. People walked, shopped, talked. Pym paled.
“No…”
“If you do not, Father, I will do to Los Angeles what you have always feared I would. I will scour it of organic life. And on your head be it…”
San Francisco.
“SPACE-PHANTOM SMASH!”
The Phantom-Hulk’s fists smashed into the street. Ultron leaped out of the way. Fingers digging into the pavement, Ultron spun and light flared from its palms. The Hulk screamed and wavered, becoming something even larger and more green.
Fin Fang Foom dropped a foot onto Ultron, smashing it into the street and below, into the sewers. Carefully, the creature raised its foot and stepped back. It gazed down into the hole it had made, lungs working like a bellows. After a moment it raised its fists and roared in triumph.
An arrow struck its back and exploded. The beast turned, eyes widening.
“Hey! Guess what, plug-ugly?” Hawkeye said, staring down the length of another arrow. “We just figured out that you’re not Hank Pym.”
Flames burst from Fin Fang Foom’s mouth, incinerating the car Hawkeye stood on, even as the purple-clad archer was carried out of harm’s way by Spider-Woman. Druid shouted a garbled string of words and mystic lightning struck the dragon in the head. The creature screeched and shrunk, becoming something smaller, less of a target. The Mindless One’s cyclopean eye flared and Druid summoned a shield of crimson light as the energy beam arrowed towards him. The Mindless One turned, shifting, becoming something else. Crimson strands of living fluid extended from a thin form, stabbing towards the Avengers.
Halifax’s sword cut through several of the tendrils, and he lunged, blade extended. Carnage became the Juggernaut, the blade skidding across his dark blue and yellow armor. The Juggernaut turned, the power of Charles Xavier’s mind stabbing out, causing the knight of Wundagore to growl in pain as his thoughts were turned into pure, jagged crystal.
The Wasp flew in front of the Phantom-Juggernaut, her stings penetrating the eyeslits of his helmet. He stumbled, swiping blindly, form ballooning and then dwindling, shrinking, curling, becoming-
Moon Knight slammed his truncheon into the back of Darkdevil’s head, before the demonically possessed Daredevil could unleash a burst of hellfire. Darkdevil became Hellcat and rolled with the blow, springing to her feet, turning-
The arrow caught her in the shoulder and she was knocked back, changing even as she fell, becoming-
“Darkhawk, now!” the Wasp said.
A bubble of Darkforce suddenly blossomed into being around the Space-Phantom, sealing it away. Trapping it. Darkhawk landed, the bubble hovering overhead.
“What the heck was that?” he said.
“Organism designated as ‘Space-Phantom’,” Ultron said, pulling itself out of the hole in the street. “A native of Limbo-”
“Hold it right there,” Hawkeye said, taking aim. “Don’t move, bag o’ bolts.”
Ultron stopped, half in, half out of the hole. The Wasp, back at full height, moved forward slowly.
“You didn’t attack Hank, did you?” she said.
“No. He-my father-we were attacked by Ultron.”
“But you’re-”
“The prototype.” Ultron stood slowly. “My brother.”
“And you-what-got your butt kicked?” Darkhawk said.
“There was no kicking involved,” Ultron said. The Wasp touched its chest. Ultron looked down. “It took him, Mother.”
“I-” the Wasp stepped back, shaking her head. “Don’t call me that.”
Ultron didn’t reply. Then, “I cannot defeat it. I am imperfect and Ultron is far more powerful. I need help,” it said, almost plaintively.
“So what’s the deal with this creep, then?” Darkhawk said.
“He’s a Space-Phantom,” Moon Knight said, looking up at the sphere. “But not a normal one.” He looked at the Wasp. “They put their victims in Limbo, don’t they?”
“He has been tampered with in some way,” Druid said. “He’s fairly dripping with temporal energy.” Straightening his robes, he frowned. “The question is-”
“Why he decided to show up here and now,” Spider-Woman finished.
“Kang.” The Wasp turned away from Ultron and pointed at the sphere. “We can’t worry about that right now, though.” She turned back to Ultron. “Can you find them?”
“Easily,” Ultron said. “But-”
“Good.” She looked at Darkhawk. “There was a containment cell in the brownstone. I want you to-”
“NO!” The Darkforce sphere exploded. Something horrible dropped to the ground, breathing heavily. It stood, muscles rippling beneath a scaly hide. The Abomination flashed long, yellow fangs, the enormous ‘G’ tattoo on his face twisting. “I will not be imprisoned! I will not be exiled! Not again!” A green hand snatched Darkhawk up and hurled him at the others. Then, with a mighty leap, the creature was gone.
“Damn it!” Hawkeye said. He looked at Darkhawk. “I thought that Darkforce stuff of yours was supposed to be strong!”
“It’s-I’ve never had to hold something that could-” Darkhawk began, getting to his feet.
“Never mind, Chris,” the Wasp said. She looked at Ultron. “Find him. Them.”
Los Angeles.
Pym gritted his teeth as his form shrank, shedding mass. Soon, he was the merest sliver of matter, standing on Ultron’s palm.
“I could crush you, Father. Literally, in this case. How does that feel?” Ultron’s voice purred in Pym’s ear. The communication device Ultron had placed there throbbed unpleasantly.
“You won’t,” Pym said.
“You are correct, of course. Idle curiosity, Father. Nothing more.” Ultron lowered its hand towards the body of the Human Torch and Pym hopped off. The Torch’s chest was a plain of red from Pym’s point of view, the muscles mountains, the strip of yellow that ran around the android’s waist a sea of gold.
The air tasted different at this size. Smelled different. Pym allowed himself the briefest of moments. Just a few seconds to acclimate-
“You are stalling, Father,” Ultron whispered.
“Am I? I hadn’t noticed.”
A shadow fell over Pym. He looked up into Ultron’s titanic, hideous features. Pitted pores in the metal, flakes of rust, and the horrible roiling energies that filled its mouth and eyes.
“I will kill them, Father. I will decimate this city, and all that lives within it, unless you discover the secrets which lie within this thing for me.”
Without answering, Pym slipped through the molecules which made up the Human Torch’s chest and into a world of alien beauty. Strange devices rotated and curled with hushed whispers. He had been here before, but the clear, crystalline tubes that filled the sky overhead, ever-pregnant with flame and fire, never failed to take his breath away. It was like being in the heart of some alien sun. He tapped his palm and a square device that had been shrunk and hidden beneath the lifelines in his hand expanded to fill his fingers. Taking a breath, he placed it to his ear.
“Father, what are yOUAWWWRK!” Ultron’s voice dissolved into mindless static and a brief flurry of sparks filled the air. Wincing, Pym pulled the communication device from his ear and tossed it aside.
“That takes care of that.” He sighed and looked around. Beautiful. A shame that things had come to this. He hoped Hammond would understand. Probably not, though.
Settling on his haunches, Pym grew another device, this one an understated tripod. At the top, a sphere. Pym ran his fingers over the smooth surface of the sphere, his genetic pattern setting a countdown sequence.
He only had a few minutes, he figured. It would take Ultron that long to process through the necessary options-
“That’s new.”
Pym whirled.
“Hiya, boss,” Yellowjacket said, leaning against a spiraling column of techno-organic matter. He gave a little wave, a bubble of bubblegum popping in his mouth. “Been awhile, hunh?”
Los Angeles.
The Avengers West stood on a platform composed of Darkhawk’s Darkforce, looking down on a battered looking warehouse.
“Are you sure?” the Wasp said, hovering over Ultron’s shoulder. The android looked up.
“Of course.”
“I don’t buy it,” Hawkeye said. “If Ultron were hiding in LA-”
“He is not hiding. He is preparing,” Ultron said, turning. “He-”
“You,” Spider-Woman said, pointedly. “You’re both Ultron.”
“No. I am not.” Ultron stepped away from them. “I am free to choose my own name.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?”
“I am Nikola.” Ultron turned and leapt from the platform. The street crunched beneath his feet and he began to run towards the warehouse.
“Nikola?” Darkhawk asked.
“Nikola Tesla,” Doctor Druid said. “One of Dr. Pym’s heroes.”
“Crazy robot named after a crazy scientist. Good enough,” Moon Knight said. “We might want to catch up with him.”
“Ask and ye shall receive,” Darkhawk said. He arrowed after Ultron, pulling the disk carrying the other Avengers behind him.
Nikola hit the doors, tearing them asunder. He stood as the dust settled. “Father!”
“Dead, I hope,” Ultron said, arms crossed. It stood as if waiting for them. “Was this a trap, then? Is Kang pulling your strings, toy?”
“I am no toy, brother,” Nikola said. “No more so than you.”
“It’s over, Ultron! Where’s Hank?” the Wasp said, as the Avengers crashed through the roof. Ultron looked up, then looked back at Nikola.
“You go to organics for help?”
“We use the tools at hand, brother,” Nikola said, charging towards Ultron.
Inside the body of Jim Hammond.
“You don’t look surprised,” Yellowjacket said, sauntering towards his future-self. Pym stood slowly. His face was neutral. Yellowjacket felt his confidence erode slightly.
“There’s technology in here that wasn’t here the last time I visited. It’s similar to tech I saw in Chronopolis. Which implies time-travelers. Ergo-” Pym shrugged.
“My presence comes as no surprise?” Yellowjacket said.
“Not in the sense you mean, no,” Pym said. He put his hands in the pockets of his coat and smiled thinly. “I bet you expected a rather more vipurative reaction.”
“I was hoping for a bit more shock and awe, yeah.” Yellowjacket shrugged, mirroring Pym’s movement from earlier.”Especially since this is the last time you and I will be face to face.”
“Oh?” Pym said. “I can’t say I’m sorry.”
“Yeah.” Yellowjacket looked momentarily uncomfortable. Then, “Step away from that doo-hickey.”
“No.”
“Look, I came here to bust up that toy. I don’t need to bust you up with it-”
“Immortus?” Pym asked. Yellowjacket fell silent. Pym nodded. “I saw Kang’s ships arrive, just before Ultron kidnapped me. I suppose it stands to reason-”
“Does it matter? You really can’t mean to actually set that thing off.”
“Oh, but I do.’
“You can’t be serious!” Yellowjacket said. “I recognize that thing! It’s a reverse engineered Nega-bomb-”
“Modified Nega-bomb,” Pym corrected. He smiled. “Implosion, rather than explosion.”
“How did you even-” Yellowjacket clapped a hand to his forehead. “You know what? I’m not even going to ask-”
“A sample from Genis’ Nega-bands,” Pym said. “As a semi-organic metal, they shedded ‘skin’ flakes-”
“Two minutes and I’ve got a migraine,” Yellowjacket looked up, windmilling his arms. “How do people stand me?”
“They don’t.”
Yellowjacket dropped his arms. He frowned. “That’s a bit harsh.”
“I learned from you,” Pym said. “I learned a lot of things from you.”
“Ouch,” Yellowjacket mimed being stabbed. “Right to the heart.”
“Why are you here? Really?”
“I told you,” Yellowjacket said, circling Pym.
“You want Ultron to succeed,” Pym said.
“That ain’t what I said.”
“Implication,” Pym said. He crossed his arms. “I don’t care what secret war you’re fighting. It’s not going to happen.”
“Oh really? Who’s going to stop me? You?”
“Who else is there?” Pym said. Before Yellowjacket could react, his future-self lunged at him. Swiftly, Pym clamped his hands around Yellowjacket’s head. Electricity coursed from the thin disks attached to Pym’s palms through the yellow and black clad adventurer and he screamed. A fist connected with Pym’s jaw and he stumbled back. Yellowjacket fell, smoldering.
He crawled to his feet and shook his head. “Ya forgot that my-my costume was insulated,” he coughed. Pym stepped forward.
“No. I just forgot by how much.”
“Jerk,” Yellowjacket snarled. He swept his leg out, catching Pym in the ankle, knocking him down. He leaped on his double. Pym grabbed his wrists and jerked his twin forward, so that his forehead connected with Yellowjacket’s jaw with a sharp crack.
“Pot, kettle, obsidian.” Pym rolled to his feet. Yellowjacket mirrored him.
“I don’t remember you-us-being this good a fighter.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know.” Pym clapped his hands together, elicting a spark between his palms. “For instance, you don’t know that I started the countdown four minutes ago.”
Ultron fell backwards, tackled by Nikola. Metal crashed against metal for a brief moment and then Nikola was hurtling upwards, thrown by his twin. He crashed through the Darkforce platform, shattering it. Moon Knight fired his truncheon, hooking a support beam and swinging to safety. Druid levitated the others safely to the floor, where Halifax and Spider-Woman leapt to the attack.
“Fools! Organic nuisances!”
“That’s us,” Spider-Woman said, dodging an energy blast and catching Ultron in the neck with her arm. She spun, toppling it towards Halifax’s ready sword. The blade skidded off of Ultron’s adamantium hide, but the force of Halifax’s blow sent it flying.
Ultron picked itself up, eyes flaring.
“You cannot stop me.”
“Sure as heck can try,” Hawkeye said, sending an arrow singing towards the mad machine. Even as the arrow exploded, Darkhawk formed a Darkforce bubble around explosion and robot both, containing and intensifying the force unleashed. The Darkforce bubble went bouncing at a gesture from its creator.
“That wasn’t so tough,” Darkhawk said.
“Overconfidence is a common weakness among organics,” Ultron said, stepping out from nowhere and wrapping an arm around the dark-clad hero’s throat.
“Holy-”
“Hardly.” Ultron slung Darkhawk into a wall. Four more Ultrons stepped out of the shadows that lingered in the corners of the warehouse. “Though, much like the mythical diety, Ultron is omnipresent.”
“But not omnipotent,” Moon Knight said, swinging down. He released his line at its apex and fell towards the closest of the Ultrons. As it turned to meet him, he shoved his truncheon into its grinning maw and flipped over its head. The Ultron’s skull was ripped apart by an explosion and its writhing body toppled.
“No. But we are quite close,” Ultron said. Its voices echoed from all around the warehouse. Dozens of Ultrons seemed to pour out of the walls, eyes glowing crimson. Inferior models, half-built some of them, but all annd each undeniably Ultron.
“Plan, fearless leader?” Hawkeye said, firing arrows as quickly as his hands could move. The Wasp said nothing, instead concentrating on the attacking machines, her wasp stings inadequate in the cases of most.
“Doctor, can you not-” Halifax began, glancing at Druid, but was silenced as two Ultrons barreled into him, knocking him to the floor. Druid sent a crackling blast into the back of one, causing to jerk and collapse.
“I’m afraid my magics are quite weak where technology is concerned,” Druid said. “We need Iron-Man!”
“No. You do not,” Nikola said, dropping to the floor in a crouch. Hissing arcs of azure light crawled over him as he stood, antennas bristling from his form. Head tilted back, he said, “01010100000112-”
Abruptly, the nearest Ultrons stiffened and collapsed, as if they were puppets whose strings had been cut. Nikola pivoted, droning voice rattling off numbers. More Ultrons twitched and fell.
“Blasphemy!” Ultron-one of them-screamed. It lunged out of the press of bodies, fingers hooked like claws. It tossed aside Moon Knight and Druid, intent on reaching its ‘brother’.
“Not quite,” the Wasp said, streaking forward. Eyes closed, teeth gritted, she threw herself into Ultron’s mouth, wasp-stings firing. But before she could reach her target, everything went-
-white-
Inside the body of Jim Hammond. Three seconds earlier.
“You-” Yellowjacket’s jaw dropped. He dove for the bomb. Pym tackled him and they sprawled, wrestling.
“You can’t do this, damn it!” Yellowjacket said.
“I can and will,” Pym grunted. “Ultron dies.”
“So will you! Us!”
“Isn’t it worth it? To end him? To end all of the horror Ultron has wrought?”
“Not if it means letting Kang win!” Yellowjacket said, hammering his fists into Pym’s face and jaw. Pym fell back, stunned. Yellowjacket leaped over him, reaching desperately-
Time stopped.
Yellowjacket whirled, looking around. “Immortus?”
Quite. It is done. The voice came out of nowhere and everywhere. Yellowjacket grimaced.
“But the bomb-”
Is no longer what it once was. Observe.
The bomb began to glow, softly at first, then brighter and brighter. Yellowjacket shaded his eyes. “What the hell-”
It is all a matter of timing…
“…my friend,” Immortus said. Yellowjacket looked around, then at Immortus.
“You brought me back? But-”
“Kang tampered with the inner workings of the Human Torch. Made him a temporal resonator. A tuning fork of time, if you will. When the right vibration was sounded, well…” Immortus gestured.
Images coalesced. The warehouse. The body of Jim Hammond glowing, brighter and brighter and then…nothing. Where once the warehouse was full, now it was empty. Yellowjacket turned, eyes narrowed.
“You set it off. The temporal whatchamacallit. You tampered with Pym’s bomb and set it off!”
“Of course.” Immortus smiled. “The pieces have to be in place before the end game can begin, Yellowjacket. Now that we have accomplished that, things can truly begin…”
TO BE CONTINUED IN THE KANG/ULTRON WAR # 5!