Chapter 198: When Loki Uses Flying Knife

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"Is that true?" Steve Rogers threw out a question and smoothly changed the subject, "But Carol's strength is really remarkable. She almost crushed Ultron."

"She's still far off," Stephen Strange said, "Didn't you notice that Ultron never retaliated until then? If he really almost got crushed, he wouldn't have been so composed."

"Now that Carol and the most powerful one, Thanos, have been killed by Ultron, the options are down to just Natasha and Clint," Bruce Banner said, "This is quite different from what we expected."

"Indeed, I never thought I'd survive until now," Natasha Romanoff added, "Living longer than those who were stronger."

"At this point, Thanos, Tony, and Carol, the three options, have all died, leaving only Natasha. So we can be sure that Natasha survived, but we don't know about Clint," Stephen Strange said.

"I think the odds are against us," Clint Barton said, "This version of Ultron is much more terrifying than the Ultron from our world. I don't have much confidence in staying alive."

In the video, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff arrived in the snowy wilderness of Siberia.

"No life signals on the scanner. Are you sure it's here?" Clint Barton asked Natasha Romanoff.

"Arnim Zola was a scientist for HYDRA and infiltrated them from the very beginning. He died 72 years ago," Natasha Romanoff explained as she descended in an elevator, "He uploaded his consciousness into a series of databases. The one we found at the Lighthouse with Rogers was destroyed. HYDRA kept another one here to oversee the Soviet super-soldier program."

"Sounds like he might help us," Clint Barton said, "Are you sure you want to put all your eggs in this morally questionable basket?"

"The United States government had similar doubts about me," Natasha Romanoff said as she reached a computer, her fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard.

"Let's go with your plan," Clint Barton stepped forward and pressed a key heavily.

Instantly, the computer lit up, and Arnim Zola's data-driven face appeared on the screen.

"SHIELD Agent Natalia Alianovna Romanoff, Barton, Clinton Francis...," Arnim Zola easily recognized the two of them, "I imagine you have many questions, Miss. About my identity and my purpose."

"Actually, no, I've met you before. Well, your copy. Long story," Natasha Romanoff quipped, "We need your help."

"But you represent..." Arnim Zola began.

No need to say it, everyone knew they were on opposite sides.

"A lot has changed since you were last activated. HYDRA is gone, and so is SHIELD," Clint Barton chimed in, "In fact, pretty much everyone is gone."

"Thanks to an artificial intelligence named Ultron," Natasha Romanoff added.

"I suppose you want me to infiltrate his code and sabotage him from within," Arnim Zola immediately understood why Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were here.

"That's how you dealt with SHIELD, and it was very effective," Natasha Romanoff said.

"Please tell me, why do you think my strategic goals align with yours?" Arnim Zola hit the nail on the head.

"Because you're the last surviving Zola program on Earth..." Clint Barton took out a bottle of gasoline, "...and I have a tendency to accidentally burn notebooks like this." He was about to pour the gasoline.

"Stop!" Arnim Zola exclaimed.

"He's telling the truth," Natasha Romanoff chimed in, "Ask SHIELD's tech department if you don't believe us."

"Alright, alright!" Arnim Zola relented, "What exactly is your plan?"

"Call Avengers Tower," Natasha Romanoff took out her phone and dialed. Oddly, even though there was no one left on Earth, the call connected. A male voice answered, "Hello?"

"I'd like to order a pizza," Natasha Romanoff said.

"What?" the voice on the other end responded, "Who is this?"

"Do you have gluten-free crust?" Natasha Romanoff inquired.

Arnim Zola's voice rang out, and the "eye-inserted" robot suddenly sat up, "I've initiated the signal transmission."

"Well, it's really effective," Clint Barton said with some surprise.

"Now the game begins." Natasha Romanoff pulled out her gun directly, aimed at the robot's legs, and fired two shots, directly breaking its legs.

"Why?" The robot, no, now Arnim Zola, lying on the ground, asked angrily.

"It's just a precaution in case you try anything tricky," Clint Barton said, while Natasha Romanoff reached out and pulled the arrow inserted into Arnim Zola's eye.

"Your teamwork needs improvement," Arnim Zola remarked.

"Alright, alright, go talk to HR," Clint Barton replied.

Bang, bang, bang!

At this moment, violent pounding sounded from behind the iron door, and the dents on it became increasingly dense.

"Confirm the time." Natasha Romanoff said to Arnim Zola.

"Hive connection countdown, three, two, one!" A green light suddenly radiated from Arnim Zola, spreading in all directions.

In the instant the green light burst open, the sound of the door being attacked stopped. Just as Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton thought it was working, the attacks resumed, even more intense than before.

"Zola, you better not be playing us!" Clint Barton shouted at Arnim Zola.

"Don't worry, if I had a life, I'd swear on it, I would." Arnim Zola said as he crawled to the side, "Ultron's hive consciousness seems to be out of range."

Clang!

An arm pierced through the iron door.

"The door won't hold, let's go." Natasha Romanoff lifted Arnim Zola, carrying him on her back, and climbed up a nearby iron ladder.

They had only climbed halfway when, before they could reach the top, the iron door was breached, and a large number of robotic insects flew in.

"Go, go, go!" Clint Barton yelled, turning around to start shooting arrows at the approaching robots.

Clint Barton's obstruction bought some time, and Natasha Romanoff took advantage of it to climb higher. Then she fired her dual pistols downwards to cover Clint Barton's retreat.

Clint Barton leaped into the air and shot an arrow downwards.

This arrow was very special. Several small discs shot out from the arrowhead and attached themselves around the iron ladder. Then those discs emitted a blue light, instantly forming a blue barrier.

For some unknown reason, when the robots flew up, they were blocked by the blue barrier and couldn't advance.

Taking advantage of this, Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff quickly descended to the ground.

However, there were too many robots below. While the barrier was effective, it couldn't hold them off for long—only a matter of seconds. The barrier soon faltered, and a robot thrust its arm through, firing a palm blast that hit Clint Barton.

Clint Barton plummeted, but thankfully Natasha Romanoff's quick reflexes allowed her to grab his hand.

Swish, swish, swish!

Arnim Zola on Natasha Romanoff's back continued to fire downwards, attempting to stop the robots.

"I'll tell you, I don't want to fight anymore." Clint Barton looked down at the robots that were about to break through the barrier, then looked up at Natasha Romanoff and said.

Then, he released Natasha Romanoff's hand, and fell straight down.

At this moment, the barrier had been completely breached, and the swarm of robots flew up densely.

In mid-air, Clint Barton turned around to face the robots below. He shouted loudly, drew his bow, and shot his final arrow.

This arrow was also very special. The arrowhead flickered with a yellow light, and as it struck a robot, a massive explosion occurred. The yellow energy surged like a fierce wave, instantly engulfing all the robots.

Natasha Romanoff reached the ground just in time. She watched as black smoke billowed out from the stairwell, and her shield clanged as it fell to the ground. Exhausted, she sank to her knees.

The bond between Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff was extraordinary; each would willingly sacrifice themselves for the other. Now, Clint Barton had chosen to sacrifice himself, leaving behind hope for her.

The last two people on Earth had now become just one.

"We need to keep going, more sentinels might be coming." Arnim Zola, who was lying on the ground, reminded them.

"I still don't understand why you can't connect to the hive." Natasha Romanoff turned to look at Arnim Zola.

"It's strange. According to my analysis, sentinels are equipped with interstellar communication." Arnim Zola explained.

"What does that mean?" Natasha Romanoff asked.

"Regardless of where Ultron is, it seems he's not in our observable universe," Arnim Zola stated.

"So where is he then?" Natasha Romanoff asked.

The screen darkened, and the video ended.

"No way, it just ends like that?" Loki exclaimed, frustrated. "Where is Ultron?"

"Unobservable universe..." Steve Rogers said, still not entirely comprehending. "What does that even mean?"

"I think it might refer to other universes," Bruce Banner pondered, pointing at the two other Spider-Men. "Just like them. They were originally inhabitants of other universes and now they're here in ours. So, in their own universes, they are unobservable."

"Going to other universes?" Stephen Strange exclaimed, surprised. "He's already wreaked havoc in his own universe, and now he's going to rampage through others?"

"Does this mean that this Ultron could have come to our universe too?" Steve Rogers frowned deeply. "Our world might have yet another enemy?"

"Yes, Captain, that's a possibility. Just like those two Spider-Men," Bruce Banner sounded somewhat helpless.

"Are you kidding me?" Nick Fury suddenly felt a headache coming on. "We're not only dealing with threats from our own universe, but now we have enemies from other universes too?"

"That Ultron is from another universe. Even if we wanted to intervene, we wouldn't be able to," Phil Coulson explained. "The only thing we can do is wait for him to come to our universe and then defeat him."

"And then defeat him again?" Scott Lang asked. "Can he really be defeated? In that universe, there's only Natasha left in the Avengers, and even Thanos is dead. Can we really overcome that kind of power?"

"Facing him head-on might not work, but Natasha's method of infecting Ultron with Arnim Zola's virus is feasible," Tony Stark looked surprisingly calm. "The reason it didn't work in the video was because Ultron happened to have gone to another universe. If he had stayed in this universe, he would have been infected."

"Even if he gets infected, can Arnim Zola's virus really defeat Ultron's program?" Steve Rogers still had concerns.

"Although Ultron has destroyed universes, his essence is artificial intelligence, something created by humans. Artificial intelligence against human intelligence, in that sense, Ultron is actually inferior to Arnim Zola," Bruce Banner explained. "Plus, Arnim Zola's mission has never been to defeat Ultron; he just needs to disrupt Ultron's functionality and prevent it from functioning properly."

"So you're saying that the people from Universe 8 got quite unlucky. They had a method to defeat Ultron, but he ended up going to another universe and escaped," Clint Barton commented.

"Tony, after watching Ultron, I have to ask, has your determination to create Vision wavered?" Steve Rogers asked Tony Stark.

"Yes, Tony, I strongly oppose creating Ultron again," Stephen Strange added. "The risk is just too great. Even though this Ultron has Arnim Zola's virus, who knows if another unexpected situation like Universe 8 will arise."

"If we can't be a hundred percent sure there's no risk, whenever there's even a bit of uncertainty, we shouldn't create Vision," Thor, who rarely expressed opinions on technology, chimed in. "After all, we've seen the consequences of this mistake, and it's like playing with the entire universe."

"Alright, alright!" Tony Stark finally gave up on the idea. "After Maximoff's siblings have a chance to interact with the scepter, Thor, take it back to Asgard. Although Vision is powerful, it doesn't seem like he had a significant impact when facing Thanos."

[Question 8 begins. Please be prepared.]

[How did Loki die?]

[A: Invasion of New York failed, killed by Chitauri retaliation]

[B: Assisted Thor's escape on Sakaar, killed by the Grandmaster]

[C: Killed by Thanos while saving Thor]

[D: Killed by Hela when returning to Asgard to stop her]

[Correct answer rewards the "Little Li Flying Dagger" throwing technique. Incorrect answer deducts one year of lifespan.]

As this question appeared, everyone's gaze fell on Loki.

Although Loki was participating in answering questions for the first time, the space had played many videos related to him before, so everyone was already quite familiar with him.

In everyone's impression, Loki was a cunning and deceitful scoundrel, a person whose words could hardly be trusted.

His death was something they were all acquainted with and had witnessed.

Of course, they were all fake deaths.

And not just once.

But now, a question about Loki's death had come up, indicating that Loki's future death was real.

"I never expected that you, of all people, would die," Tony Stark looked at Loki and said. "You like playing dead so much, congratulations, your wish finally came true."

"Thank you, but I won't die," even when faced with a question about his death, Loki maintained his smile. "The moment I saw this question, the future changed."

"That's truly unfortunate," Stephen Strange responded dismissively. Thor was nearby, but he said, "People like you, only when you're dead can we feel at ease. Otherwise, we have to be on guard every day you're alive."

"All of us here are superheroes. To be remembered and guarded by all of you, I consider it an honor," Loki replied.

"Loki, now isn't the time for your eloquence," Thor interjected. "Put some thought into answering the question; this is about your future."

(End of this chapter)

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