He turned back to the holographic wall and struck the confirmation key for the final line of code on the virtual keyboard. His voice was murderous:
"When Ultron comes online, he won't even know what hit him!"
Pepper said nothing more.
She stood beside the console, watching the words "Ultron system initializing" flash across the holographic wall. Blue light from the projection screen outlined Tony's back. Where he couldn't see, her fingers tightened around the handle of her teacup.
Minutes later, the server array in the corner of the laboratory gave a low hum. Its indicator lights shifted from blue to green, then to a muted gold.
Ultron's core architecture began to run.
The next step required Helen Cho's Regeneration Cradle.
But Tony Stark was completely confident he could bring her around with ease and get her to cooperate.
[Ding! Tony Stark has been detected suffering a severe blow to his pride after the host publicly mocked him as a "weakling" and "Iron Woman." He has decided to launch the Ultron Project to strike back at the host. Moderate psychological damage inflicted.] [Heartbreak points threshold reached. Advanced Blind Box ×1 obtained. Open it now?]
In his apartment, Yongye lay on his bed peeling a second tangerine. When the crisp notification sounded in his head, the segment in his hand hung in midair for two seconds. Then he tossed it whole into his mouth, grinning from ear to ear.
"Ultron?"
"Tony's finally been pushed off the deep end?"
He snapped his fingers in his mind. "Open it."
[Ding! Advanced Blind Box opened! Congratulations, host. Reward obtained: Saint Seiya—Andromeda Shun's Nebula Chain!]
A flood of memories poured into his mind. The techniques for wielding that chain forged from starlight, equally suited to attack and defense, were swiftly