Age of Charon

“You sure this will work, Tony?” Rhodey asked in his ear.

“Only one way to find out.” he said, as he flew over the city using Sneaky. Hopefully, Ultron would fall for it. He needed to remove Pepper from the equation because while Kathmandu had proved that Ultron had some form of control and independence, his surprise at his Sentry having a blue eye suggested that the Stone’s influence was getting stronger without Ultron’s notice. There was no telling when the person behind the Mind Stone would stop playing around and force Ultron’s hand. At that time, Pepper would be in real danger. The issue still was, however, that he didn’t know how to save Ultron. Loki’s form of mind control had been more much more complete. Perhaps, as a magician —ugh, he can’t believe he to accept magic as an actual thing— Loki was simply better at focusing the Mind Stone and could completely control his thralls. However, even in that case, a simple knockout could free a victim —read: Hawkeye— from the control. He could not use that approach with Ultron. To begin with, the AI was created with the Mind Stone’s readings at his base. Just that could make the removal of the influence impossible. But he had to be optimistic here, he had to believe they had a chance. Ultron, despite the mind control, had to have someplace to free himself. All that talk about strings couldn’t be for nothing. But what? Tony couldn’t see how world domination could help him with that. Yes, it could Earth prepare for war, if Pepper’s message was right, but what worth would all that preparation be if Ultron, the ruler, ended up a puppet —he hated the imagery this word brought to mind, considering Ultron’s chosen theme song— to the guy who would wage that war in the first place?

There had to be something else, something he was missing.

“Sir?” JARVIS spoke in his ear.

“Yes, J?” Speaking of things he was missing… a long, calmer, sober conversation with his fourth eldest.

“The Quinjet will land in New York in about 30 minutes. The Avengers and Mr. Rogers, particularly, are anxious to speak with you in regard to your… tendency to ‘go off on your own’, I believe?”

“Fantastic,” Tony said. Although he did have a lot to explain, after that last trick. He wouldn’t be able to get out of it, and maybe, just maybe, one of his teammates —let’s be honest: Bruce— would have an idea about how to remove the mental influence from Ultron’s programming. Electrocute his servers? That was stupid. Ultron wasn’t limited to a singular room filled with hardware. They would first have to shut his ability to upload himself on the internet— Oh.

“I am an idiot.” Tony said.

“I shall let Mr. Rogers know immediately, Sir.” JARVIS dryly commented.

“No, I am a genius,” Tony corrected. “Because no one has thought of this until now, and comparing myself with an AI is unfair to my very human brain.”

“To what do you refer, Sir?”

“Ultron was building a vibranium body, J. Not for you. For him.”

“Did we not establish that this body is quite limiting for this to have been his purpose, Sir?” the android asked.

“Yes, and we thought ourselves smart when, instead, we should have gone for the simplest explanation.” Tony began to explain. “The Mind Stone is influencing him. Ultron referred to himself as a puppet on strings. How did Pinocchio stop being a puppet?”

“He became a real boy.” JARVIS answered, in the tone of someone who could see where he was going. “To limit his consciousness and along with it, the Mind Stone’s influence, a living body would have to serve as both a host and a nexus for the Stone’s power. Shutting off his access to the internet and alternate servers would be much simpler in that form. In addition, there is a considerable possibility that in such a body, Ultron would be able to remove the external influence much in the same manner as Mr. Barton and Mr. Selvig during the Battle of New York— by losing consciousness.”

Tony pouted at the explanation. “Don’t hijack my genius monologues, JARVIS.”

“I apologize, Sir.” JARVIS said, but instead of the sarcasm Tony expected, the android sounded somber. Dammit, he had really messed up, hadn’t he? “I do have a question, however: Why did Ultron fail?”

“Fail?” the question returned Tony’s thoughts back on track. “He didn’t fail, J. Captain America crashed from the skies to save the sleeping doctor and the wonder twins, remember?”

“That was unbearably contrived, even for you, Sir.” JARVIS commented before continuing. “I believe we have been misled by Mr. Rogers’ realistic account of events. We have been under the assumption that Ultron fled the U-Gin Genetic Research Facility to avoid a confrontation, unprepared. What if he left because neither Dr. Cho, nor the lab or the new body had value any longer?”

“You are skipping through the logic there, buddy.” Tony said, not liking where this was going. “The Cradle hadn’t finished its work. It wasn’t ready yet. Ultron couldn’t move it. Nor could he stay.”

“Sir, if it were me, the entirety of the Avengers would be considered a minimal risk to face, when considering the potential rewards by simply waiting in place. The very moment I learned that you had discovered my location, I would send several Sentries in separate locations in the city, threatening the local populace, thus forcing the team to divide, giving the Regeneration Cradle the time to finish its work undisturbed.”

“I am not liking this hypothetical exercise. At all.” Tony said, now seeing ten different ways to go about building a body during the time Ultron had been trying to take over the world. “Ultron re-kidnapped Cho and he still has a whole lot of vibranium left that we haven’t been able to find. What if…?”

“Sir, stealing the schematics of the Regeneration Cradle, if not the Cradle itself, is quite simple. Having seen the procedure only once, memorization alone would make Dr. Cho’s presence superfluous.” JARVIS said. “In addition, 20 days have passed since Ultron’s awakening. The question remains: Why now? And why not earlier?”

“Do you know what you are saying?” Tony almost-yelled in his anger. “You are saying that, for some reason, Ultron cannot make— no, he cannot use a body. You are saying that we have two choices left: either Ultron finds a way to free himself, or we destroy him, otherwise the planet is fucked.”

“Sir,” JARVIS tried to calm him. “Ultron’s actions have a logic behind them. I am certain we can trust him to ensure his own safety.”

“He was surprised.” Tony suddenly said.

“Sir?”

“In Kathmandu, Ultron was surprised to learn that his eye was blue. And then, he panicked. He jumped from Sentry to Sentry to check. He became scared.” he explained. “Either Ultron never realized he couldn’t control eye color, or…” he stopped. God, they were so screwed.

“Or he has become unable to only recently, meaning the influence on him has gotten stronger.” JARVIS continued in his place. “Strong enough for him to not notice the changes in the programming of his bodies. Or even in his core programming.”

Tony nodded, though JARVIS couldn’t see it. He was thankful that the android didn’t voice the next conclusion. There weren’t two choices. Not really.

Tony gnashed his teeth. No. He was Tony Stark. He was going to figure something out. He would find a solution. He always did. He wasn’t going to let Ultron’s fate in the hands of God or Destiny or other such bullshit. He would save him. He had to.

If he didn’t… He would never forgive himself.

“Boss!” FRIDAY called, breaking the uneasy silence. “We’ve found Ultron!”

“Where?” Tony asked. Had his plan worked?

“In Stark Tower.” She answered.

“Where?!”