In the Nick of Time
The appearance of the Helicarrier brought a deep sense of relief to the Captain, who, despite Captain usually serious demeanor, couldn't help but utter a curse.
"Nick, this is the happiest I've ever heard your voice, you son of a bitch."
Nick Fury, who was directing operations from the bridge, paused for a moment before retorting.
"How can you kiss your mother when your mouth smells so bad?"
Nick Fury arrived unprepared, and the Helicarrier launched a large number of rescue ships.
Ultron, of course, wouldn't let these civilians be rescued so easily; he planned to use them to tightly bind the Avengers' hands and feet.
As a result, a large number of robots flew towards the Helicarrier, attempting to attack the mothership and the rescue ship.
Having made careful preparations, Nick Fury must have anticipated this situation, as he spoke directly into the communication headset.
"Let's show them what's what, our Iron Patriots!"
As Nick's voice rang out, Rhodey, clad in Armor, flew out of the Helicarrier.
"I'm back to War Machine now, you bald old man."
Rhodey unleashed his full firepower, and the Iron Soldiers in the sky fell like dumplings.
Rhodey's Armor is equipped with a large number of firearms. Although its agility and single-target attack are not as good as Tony's, it is still quite excellent at clearing out mobs.
As soon as a large number of rescue ships approached the edge of the city, they extended steel supports and firmly anchored themselves to the land at the edge.
It served both as a fixation point and as a bridge for boarding rescue ships.
"Bucky, you and Hawkeye Natasha keep an eye out for anyone in the city who needs help. Everyone else, come over here and cover the civilians' evacuation," the Captain ordered into the headset.
"No, someone has to protect the Core Machine. This is a critical moment; we can't let Ultron reverse the machine. We're already at a very dangerous altitude," Tony said in the headset.
"I'll go protect him. I'll settle the score with Ultron," Scarlet Witch said.
"Let Vision come with you. There are too many of them; we can't afford any accidents," Tony said again.
"Let me go. Vision, go protect the people. I'm also waiting to settle scores with Ultron," Xia Yu said angrily.
Although no one knew why Xia Yu was so angry, now was not the time to ask. Xia Yu and the witch were enough to protect the equipment and prevent Ultron from taking advantage of the situation to reverse things.
One of the Avengers was directing a large number of people to board a rescue ship on the ground. Tony, Vision, Rhodey, and Falcon were all patrolling around the rescue ship.
As more and more people boarded the rescue ship, Ultron began to panic.
Apart from their own bodies, some of the robots were made of ordinary metal. Although there were many of them, most of them were completely destroyed after being attacked by the Avengers for so long.
If all of them were used to attack the rescue area, although it could cause some casualties, these robots would ultimately be rendered useless.
After much deliberation, Ultron decided to conserve his strength and concentrate his forces to attack the church.
As long as the landmass eventually lands as planned.
Ultron's ultimate plan was to Earth-Destroyer.
These civilians are merely tools to delay the Avengers.
Ultron decisively abandoned the operation here, leaving only a dozen or so robots to harass from a distance.
The Avengers remained quite calm. Apart from Vision and Tony, who would engage in combat to kill the harassing robots, the others simply maintained a defensive posture, striving to get everyone onto the rescue ship as quickly as possible.
Since Ultron has abandoned its operations here, it must be taking advantage of the fact that there are fewer people at the church now to concentrate its forces on reversing the Core Machine.
As a result, the church was surrounded by a large number of robots, densely packed on all four sides.
Xia Yu glanced around and saw at least several hundred robots.
The two dared not move rashly, standing guard closely beside the Core Machine, one in front and one behind.
"How much good stuff did you guys get your hands on the other day? I mean, when you were with Ultron?" Xia Yu casually asked Scarlet Witch.
Scarlet Witch was still a young woman in her early twenties. Upon hearing this, her face flushed red, and she immediately thought of the harm Ultron had done to her.
Both sides exerted a bit more force, and the red energy was formed into a large energy wall, firmly protecting a large area in front of them.
The Scarlet Witch ignored Xia Yu's words. Xia Yu glanced back at her energy wall, then muttered something and unleashed countless palm strikes at the densely packed robots outside.
Xia Yu has had the Aether for some time now, and naturally some of the properties of the Reality Stone have been absorbed. For example, the energy he is emitting now can be transformed into any shape.
These robots are all made of ordinary metal, so Xia Yu doesn't need to maintain a high level of energy. Therefore, the energy he releases with a wave of his hand is all transformed energy.
Unlike the monotonous dragon shape of the previous Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, this one features a variety of strange shapes appearing one after another.
Most of them are in the shape of ferocious beasts, such as dragons, tigers, dinosaurs, and even elephants and rhinoceroses.
Xia Yu used the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms before to concentrate his Internal Energy and increase his attack power.
Conversely, the chaotic animal-shaped energy that Xia Yu is now sending out has actually reduced its energy density due to its increased range.
However, what Xia Yu needed was range. A burst of animal energy roared out, not only sweeping across a range of two or three meters, but also rushing several meters away along the direction of Xia Yu's attack.
Wherever it went, all the robots were instantly reduced to wreckage; even a slight graze could damage half of their bodies.
Faced with overwhelming strength, sheer numbers are rarely effective.
However, Ultron never expected these robots to destroy the Avengers; they were merely there to draw attention and take the opportunity to reverse the central Core Machine.
However, Xia Yu remained steadily next to the Core Machine, continuously emitting energy of various strange shapes in all directions, giving no robot a chance to get close.
On the Scarlet Witch's side, however, attacks alone were insufficient to eliminate the robots over such a large area.
The witch's energy wall couldn't last forever. Ultron hid somewhere in the building outside, keeping a close eye on the witch's energy wall, waiting for the moment when she couldn't hold on or when she showed a weakness.
Finally, the intense attack and impact caused the witch, who had been holding out for so long, to stumble, and the energy wall instantly dissipated.
The seven or eight robots directly in front of them instantly pounced forward. One or two went towards the witch, while the rest all rushed towards the Core Machine. As long as one of them went over and turned the knob on it, it would be considered a success.
At the critical moment, Xia Yu turned around and helped the Scarlet Witch up, then unleashed a palm strike with one hand, this time without transforming into human form.
Instead, it truly transformed into a whirlwind, sweeping away several robots that rushed towards it.
Xia Yu then struck out three or four more times, clearing out a group of robots that were entering the church.
Having regained her footing, the Scarlet Witch didn't have time to thank Xia Yu; she immediately got up and resumed defending her side's robots.
Xia Yu quickly turned around, only to find that the robots behind him had already swarmed towards him in a dense mass. There were even two or three robots on Xia Yu left and right sides that had already stretched out their hands towards the Core Machine.
The densely packed robots formed a wall, obscuring everything else in Xia Yu's view.
It seems too late to stop it now...