Party Terror: First Blood

"Bzzzt—bzzzt—"

The piercing microphone feedback instantly tore through the elegant jazz music.

In the party hall, the dignitaries who had been chatting and laughing covered their ears and stared fearfully toward the source of the noise.

From the shadows, a battered Iron Legion robot with leaking pipes hanging from its body walked stiffly and eerily toward the center of the hall.

Half of its faceplate was missing, exposing a tangled mass of wires and flashing red lights, like a mechanical corpse that had crawled out of a grave.

"No... no..."

The robot spoke in a broken, wheezing voice like a ruined bellows, tilting its head at the well-dressed superheroes around it.

"What's wrong? Don't you like my entrance?"

"Is this a joke, Tony?" Colonel Rhodes set down his wineglass and frowned. "Did your robot get drunk again?"

"No... I'm not controlling it." Tony's expression changed instantly. He tried to call JARVIS, but there was only dead silence in his earpiece.

"I don't think he is, either."

Steve Rogers felt around beneath the table. Though he did not find his shield, every muscle in his body had tensed as he entered combat mode.

"Who are you?" Steve demanded of the robot.

"I am... despair."

The robot raised its hand, one finger missing, and pointed at everyone present.

"Do you want peace? Or do you want... rest?"

"I have a mission... to create a world with nothing but peace."

The red light in the robot's electronic eyes blazed brighter.

"And the only obstacle on the path to peace... is you. The Avengers."

Boom!!

The moment it finished speaking, all the floor-to-ceiling windows of Avengers Tower suddenly exploded!

Seven or eight intact Iron Legion robots smashed through the glass and charged in with a howl! Their paint jobs bore Hydra insignias—or perhaps meaningless symbols Ultron had scribbled himself. Their repulsors were fully charged and locked directly onto the crowd in the hall.

"Get down!!"

Steve roared and kicked over a heavy oak table, shielding Agent Hill and several civilians behind it.

"Rat-a-tat-tat—!"

"Boom—!"

Energy beams and bullets flew wildly through the luxurious hall. The champagne tower exploded, scattering glass shards everywhere.

"Damn it! My armor is downstairs!"

Tony was wearing nothing but an expensive suit, and it could not stop repulsor blasts. He rolled behind the bar. "Can someone get me a weapon? Even a dinner knife will do!"

"Catch!"

Natasha pulled a compact pistol from beneath the slit in her dress—where she had somehow hidden a holster—and tossed it to Tony. Then she grabbed two decorative spears and charged forward like a Goddess of War.

"Hey! Don't touch my dress!"

Gwen was still wearing that white backless evening gown, but it did not affect her combat ability in the slightest.

With a high kick, her slender heel struck the connection point at a robot's head with perfect precision, sending sparks flying as she kicked the hunk of metal aside.

"These heels may be for walking, but they're pretty good for dismantling machines too!"

Using the web-shooters she had kept on all along, Gwen swung around the chandelier and used the momentum to kick another robot away.

But there were too many enemies, and more kept pouring in through the windows.

Without their equipment, the Avengers gradually fell into a disadvantage. Thor tore the head off one robot with his bare hands, only to be blasted away by a concentrated cannon shot himself.

"What a buzzkill."

Jiang Li stood on the second-floor railing, still holding an unfinished glass of juice.

Looking down at the wrecked party below, he sighed.

"I finally put on formalwear for once, and I haven't even had a chance to dance."

He glanced at Tony, who was being surrounded by three robots and could only dodge awkwardly, then at Gwen, who was agile but struggling somewhat due to the restrictions of her dress.

"Alright, game over."

Jiang Li set his juice glass on the railing and vaulted straight down!

While still in midair, his left hand slammed heavily onto the Omnitrix on his chest.

"Since you're powered by Arc Reactors..."

A teasing glint flashed through Jiang Li's eyes.

"Then let's give you a 'forced shutdown'!"

"It's Hero Time!"

Black light erupted around him as he fell, instantly swallowing Jiang Li's figure.

When the light faded, a slender black alien covered in golden plugs, with more protruding from its head and fingers, landed steadily on a robot's shoulder.

"Feedback!"

"Hand over the energy inside you...!"

Jiang Li, now Feedback, slammed both hands onto the robot's head. The plugs at his fingertips pierced straight into the gaps in its armor.

"Absorb!!"

"Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt—!!"

The once-ferocious Iron soldier suddenly convulsed violently as if electrocuted. The bright blue Arc Reactor in its chest dimmed at a visible rate before going completely dark.

At the same time, the two antennae atop Jiang Li's head lit up with dazzling golden light!

"So this is Stark Industries energy? The taste is kind of... astringent."

Jiang Li shook his hands in distaste, and the robot drained of all its energy collapsed like a pile of scrap metal.

"I'm not done yet!"

Jiang Li's single eye turned toward the remaining robots around him.

He raised both hands, spread his fingers, and pointed in every direction.

"Full-range... energy plunder!"

As long as an energy source fell within the Omnitrix's designated range, Feedback could forcibly establish a connection!

Even through the air, that tyrannical suction instantly locked onto the cores of every robot!

"Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!"

Seven or eight streams of blue electricity were forcibly ripped from the robots' chests like iron filings drawn to a magnet, converging into Jiang Li's body!

"System error... energy loss... power interrupted..."

The robots that had been firing wildly moments ago immediately slowed down. The red glow in their muzzles vanished, and their thrusters died.

In less than three seconds.

Every invading Iron soldier had become a soulless metal can, clattering down across the floor.

The hall instantly fell silent.

Only the crackle of electricity dancing over Jiang Li's body remained.

"Done."

Jiang Li clapped his hands, sending a string of sparks flying, and transformed back.

He walked over to Gwen and gallantly reached out to straighten her slightly disheveled skirt.

"You're not hurt, are you, beautiful lady?"

"I'm fine. It's just a shame about these shoes." Gwen looked at her broken heel with some regret.

"I'll buy you a new pair. I mean, Tony will buy you a new pair."

Jiang Li pointed at Tony, who was crawling out from behind the bar.

Tony looked at the wreckage covering the floor, but his face was even worse than before.

He quickly walked over to the damaged robot that had appeared first, now smashed apart by Thor's hammer.

"Ultron..." Tony murmured. "It escaped. It got away through the network."

"And that's not all, Tony."

Natasha's voice came from a corner, carrying a trace of panic.

"You'd better come look at this."

Everyone followed her gaze.

The laboratory doors stood open.

The Mind Scepter that had been floating above the control console... was gone.

"It took the scepter." Steve clenched his fists and turned to Tony. "This is the 'peace' you talked about, Stark?"

"I..." Tony had no defense.

"Stop arguing."

Jiang Li cut off the second internal conflict before it could erupt.

He picked up a piece of robot wreckage and looked at the battered yet still distinct modified Hydra insignia on it, his eyes turning incredibly deep.

"Ultron took the scepter. It wants to evolve."

"And... I know where it's going."

Jiang Li looked out the eastern window, toward Sokovia.

"It's going to find the twins. It needs helpers, and it also needs... a new body."

"Everyone, there's no time for a party."

Jiang Li turned and walked toward the elevator.

"Get ready to fight. This time, our enemy has every one of our weaknesses stored on a hard drive."