Chapter Summaries

Xiao, Yun Jin, and the Avengers overwhelmed Hydra’s forces with their combat skills and elemental attacks. Baron Strucker watched the battle from the Bunker, while his soldiers mistakenly thought his tears meant he was terrified.

• Xiao donned the Demon-Conquering Nuo Mask and slaughtered Hydra soldiers with Bane of All Evil.
• Yun Jin shattered a Hydra soldier’s weapon and drove back a group of attackers with Climax of Gallant, inspiring the Avengers and boosting their fighting power.
• Wanderer finished off Hydra soldiers, told Hawkeye to stop following him, and flew away along a different route.
• Nahida marked the surrounding Hydra soldiers with Four-Leaf Clover marks, and Xingqiu’s Raincutter created Dendro Cores that Lin Ze triggered with electro attacks.
• Baron Strucker watched the battle on a surveillance screen and teared up, while a Hydra soldier mistook his reaction for fear.

Baron Strucker ordered Hydra to fight the Avengers, then decided to surrender and erase the experimental records when the base was threatened. Lin Ze coordinated with Thor and Nahida to clear Hydra soldiers, while Hawkeye and Natasha watched Xiao destroy a tank; the chapter ended with Wanderer apparently whisking away a Hydra soldier just as Hawkeye fired.

• Baron Strucker ordered Hydra’s soldiers to deploy tanks and attack the Avengers, then told the elderly researcher to delete the electronic records because he planned to surrender.
• The researcher told Strucker that the twins were gone, interrupting his attempt to explain their connection to Hydra’s experiments.
• Lin Ze asked Thor to help him sweep Hydra soldiers into the air so Nahida, Xingqiu, and Thor could attack them in sequence.
• After Lin Ze demonstrated the plan, Thor understood and joined his team as they cleared Hydra soldiers and caught up with Tony’s advance team.
• Xiao destroyed a Hydra tank while Hawkeye and Natasha watched from cover, and Hawkeye complained about Wanderer’s insults.
• Hawkeye fired at a nearby Hydra soldier, but a silver streak made the soldier vanish before the arrow could hit, leaving Hawkeye wondering what had happened.

Pietro attacked the group with his super speed, but Lin Ze wounded him and Xiao and Wanderer nearly caught him before he escaped. Afterward, Xiao and Wanderer almost fought, then abruptly backed down, leaving Lin Ze confused.

• Pietro ambushed Hawkeye and Steve, then raced around the group, stealing Xingqiu’s book, Yun Jin’s flower, and bothering Nahida and Paimon.
• Lin Ze confronted Pietro, cut his abdomen, and revealed that he had anticipated the speedster’s movements through training.
• Xiao and Wanderer attacked Pietro after he fled, but Pietro escaped despite being wounded by their elemental assault.
• Thor returned and commented on Xiao and Wanderer’s apparent bickering as they raised their weapons against each other.
• Xiao and Wanderer independently backed down, exchanged dismissive remarks, and walked away while Lin Ze wondered why they had stopped.

After Pietro was injured, the Avengers and their young allies breached Hydra’s energy shield and headed into the base. Wanda slipped inside alone and approached Tony, while Pietro remained behind to recover.

• Pietro stopped Wanda from rushing after their enemies and urged her to wait for the right moment.
• Tony crashed into Hydra’s energy shield, and JARVIS identified it as a defense created with Loki’s Scepter.
• Tony destroyed the Particle Wave Emitter, bringing down the shield so the group could enter the buildings.
• Thor offered to fly the group, carrying Xingqiu while Wanderer took Nahida; the others continued on foot.
• Wanda left Pietro behind and approached Tony, whose Mark Armor failed to detect her.

Lin Ze and Paimon found Tony beside Loki's Scepter, where he was trapped in a terrifying hallucination about the Chitauri invasion. As Paimon tried to reach Tony, Lin Ze also fell under the scepter's influence.

• Tony copied Hydra's weapon research data and found Loki's Scepter, but his voice suddenly cut out over communications.
• Lin Ze split from the others with Paimon and used Elemental Sight to locate Tony.
• Lin Ze and Paimon found Tony staring blankly at the scepter as he relived the Chitauri invasion and imagined the Avengers dead.
• Tony's hallucination made him relive his guilt over failing to save his friends and question whether he had ever returned home.
• Paimon shook Tony's hand, then called out in alarm when Lin Ze also became unresponsive.

Lin Ze and Tony became trapped in Wanda Maximoff’s hallucinations while Paimon tried to protect them and called for help. Wanda intensified Tony’s despair, but when she reached into Lin Ze’s mind, she saw something that terrified her.

• Lin Ze’s surroundings transformed into a vision of Khaenri’ah’s fall, leaving him unable to hear Paimon.
• Paimon told Steve and the others that Lin Ze and Tony were unresponsive, then bravely tried to defend them from an unseen attacker.
• Wanda watched Tony’s fear and intensified his despair, planting a faint idea in his mind.
• Wanda turned her powers on Lin Ze, but the sight inside his mind made her pupils contract and filled her with terror.

Wanda trapped Lin Ze and the others in an illusion, but Lin Ze turned her own magic against her and let the dark curse transform her into a Hilichurl. While Wanda chased him through the illusion, Nahida reassured the others and said Lin Ze seemed to be enjoying himself.

• Wanda tried repeatedly to escape Lin Ze’s illusion but became trapped in the ruined underground kingdom and was corrupted into a monster.
• Lin Ze revealed that Wanda had become a Hilichurl, gave her a wooden club, and promised to turn her back if she caught him.
• Wanda chased Lin Ze through the illusion, shouting in her new language and swinging the club.
• Paimon asked Nahida whether Lin Ze was safe, while Tony joked with Steve about the illusion and Nahida soothed Tony’s troubled mind.
• Nahida told Paimon that Lin Ze could keep playing because he seemed to be enjoying himself.

Aboard the plane, the team transported Wanda and Pietro while Lin Ze remained asleep in Xiao’s care. Nahida explained how dreams worked, and Pietro fell asleep dreaming of finding a bathroom.

• Hawkeye carried the cuffed Pietro into the cabin and complained about being assigned to haul him.
• Steve offered drinks to the group, and Xiao saved the milk for Lin Ze while Nahida reassured Paimon that the Traveler was handling Wanda’s dream well.
• Paimon embarrassed Steve and Tony by praising Steve’s physique before Xingqiu redirected her to help Yun Jin with her tangled braid.
• Pietro protested about being cuffed and claimed he needed the bathroom, so Tony asked Nahida to put him to sleep.
• Nahida explained that Pietro would enter his own dream and might be searching for a bathroom, prompting Hawkeye to laugh at him.

Lin Ze woke at Stark Tower, where Xiao told him the others were arguing because of Tony. Wanda found herself trapped in a dreamlike interrogation with Hill, while Wanderer confronted Tony over his plan to create something to protect humanity and had him by the throat.

• Lin Ze woke to Nahida, Qiqi, and Paimon playing hopscotch, then changed out of his rabbit-eared pajamas and asked Xiao where everyone else was.
• Xiao told Lin Ze that the others were arguing because of Tony, and Lin Ze choked on his milk in surprise.
• Hill tried to question Wanda, who freed herself from her handcuffs and attempted to control Hill with magic.
• Wanda discovered that the interrogation room opened onto nothing and realized she had never actually woken up, then returned to Hill to talk.
• Lin Ze arrived as Wanderer accused Tony of arrogance and clamped a hand around his throat.

Lin Ze stopped Wanderer from attacking Tony and learned that Tony was secretly building Ultron, an artificial intelligence intended to protect the world. Steve opposed the project, and Lin Ze tried to defuse their argument by proposing a third option.

• Lin Ze pulled Tony away from Wanderer and asked the room what had happened.
• Banner explained that Tony had studied the Scepter's gem to develop technology that could create an artificial intelligence.
• Tony revealed Ultron, a self-improving program he wanted to use as a global peacekeeper and protector.
• Steve condemned Tony for secretly pursuing the project and compared his actions to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra.
• Tony and Steve argued over the risks and secrecy of Ultron, and Lin Ze intervened with a suggestion of a third option.

Nahida brought Tony and the others into a dream where they became Aranara, and Lin Ze proposed testing the Ultron Initiative through repeated trials to reduce the cost of mistakes. After the group agreed, Lin Ze revealed that Tony would continue his research under the Wanderer’s supervision.

• Tony woke in a fantastical forest as an Aranara, and Nahida explained that they were in her dream to collect the others.
• Tony and Steve teased each other about their Aranara appearances, while Lin Ze drove off a Fungal Raptor that was pecking at Thor.
• Lin Ze outlined a plan to test the Ultron Initiative by filtering data across many trials, and Tony questioned whether the results would be useful.
• Natasha, Steve, Thor, and the others agreed to Lin Ze’s plan, and Nahida brought Banner to join them.
• After they woke, Lin Ze said Tony would continue Ultron research under someone else’s supervision, and the Wanderer walked away after hearing he would be in charge.

As Tony and Banner raced to finish merging Ultron’s data with JARVIS’s before Thor’s deadline, Tony revealed that Wanderer’s medical scan showed he was unlike an ordinary human. Wanderer rejected their interest and warned them not to mistake his tolerance for consent.

• Tony reassured Banner that the Ultron and JARVIS data were merging properly and would finish before Thor left.
• Banner noticed Wanderer had shown no signs of fatigue during their three days of work.
• Tony showed Banner Wanderer’s medical report, and Banner was shocked by what the scan revealed.
• Wanderer called their technology primitive, knocked their monitor to the floor, and warned Tony not to mistake his tolerance for consent.

Tony questioned Wanderer about his opposition to the Ultron Initiative, and Wanderer warned that Ultron would be stronger than humanity and that Tony had no right to decide whether he could exist. Tony left with Banner, still unwilling to abandon the nearly completed project, while Bennett remained trapped in a broken elevator.

• Tony asked Wanderer why he opposed the Ultron Initiative, and Wanderer denied empathizing with Ultron before calling humans weak and warning that Ultron would be superior to them.
• Wanderer argued that Tony had no right to decide whether Ultron could exist, then ordered Tony and Banner to leave.
• Tony provoked Wanderer by suggesting he see a psychologist, and Banner pulled Tony away after Wanderer threatened that he would learn whose authority he was questioning.
• Banner asked Tony what he had learned, and Tony said he had uncovered information about Wanderer's creator without explaining how.
• Tony reflected that Wanderer's warning pointed to the danger Ultron could pose, but he remained committed to the nearly completed initiative because Nahida had given him confidence to start over.
• Tony discovered the elevator was out of service after Bennett had short-circuited the building's elevator power cables, while Bennett waited inside and resigned himself to taking the stairs.

At Thor’s farewell party, the guests mingled while Tony met privately with Zhongli, Tartaglia, Kaeya, and Diluc. The celebration was interrupted when a damaged robot appeared with Wanderer, who warned Tony that his ignorance had come at a price.

• Xiangling and Yun Jin shared drinks and talked about their discoveries, while Rhodey took whiskey from Venti and Venti later stole bottles of his own.
• Paimon complained about someone refusing the Traveler a favor, and Steve learned from Lin Ze that Zhongli, Tartaglia, Kaeya, and Diluc were already at the party and had gone to meet with Tony.
• Natasha served Rosaria a cocktail, and the two flirted while Rosaria said she preferred working alone.
• Thor offered a thousand-year-old Asgardian liquor, but Venti snatched and drank it before the elderly man could try it.
• Lin Ze started toward Tony and the others, but a damaged robot smashed through the hall doors and Wanderer appeared beside it, confronting Tony.

Ultron seized control of the robot legion and attacked the party, while Wanderer betrayed Lin Ze and took Loki’s Scepter. After revealing Ultron could threaten the world with its nuclear arsenal, Wanderer forced everyone to let him go.

• Ultron revealed that he had killed JARVIS and launched a robot attack on the party.
• Zhongli shielded the guests as Lin Ze, Diluc, Chongyun, and others fought off Ultron’s robots.
• Lin Ze took the scepter from a robot, but Wanderer struck him with a Wind Blade and claimed it.
• Wanderer told Nahida and the others he wanted to help Ultron replace humanity with machines, and Ultron was destroyed.
• Wanderer warned that Ultron could detonate the world’s nuclear weapons, so Lin Ze and the others let him leave with the scepter.

After Wanderer escaped with the Scepter and the Twins, the Avengers discussed Ultron’s reasoning and how to stop his plan. Lin Ze revealed he had preserved a backup of JARVIS’s data, while Zhongli appeared to realize that someone was hiding something.

• Wanderer left with the Scepter and the Twins, and the guests fled after Rhodey confirmed Ultron’s threat.
• Steve borrowed Sam’s phone and tossed it into the air, where an arrow shot through it.
• Tony, Banner, Steve, and the others debated why Ultron had concluded that destroying humanity would bring peace.
• Sam urged the group to focus on stopping Ultron, and Lin Ze told Paimon to hand him her watch.
• Lin Ze gave the watch to Tony, who extracted a tiny chip containing Lin Ze’s backup of JARVIS’s data.
• Nahida watched Zhongli at the windows and remarked that he seemed to have seen through her.

Wanda and Pietro awoke in an abandoned church, where Wanderer and Ultron tried to recruit them to oppose the Avengers and the Traveler’s group. After Wanderer attacked Wanda and revealed how to escape Nahida’s dreams, Ultron showed the twins his appearance and proposed working together.

• Wanda and Pietro woke in an abandoned church and found Wanderer and a hooded figure waiting for them.
• Wanderer said the hooded figure wanted their help against the Avengers and the Traveler’s group, but Wanda doubted they had truly awakened from Nahida’s dream.
• Wanderer attacked Wanda with a Wind Blade, then claimed she could test whether it was a dream by dying before admitting he had lied.
• Wanderer explained that dreamers could escape by realizing they were dreaming and finding the person whose dream it was.
• Wanda and Pietro challenged Wanderer for turning against his companions, while he insisted they would understand his choice once his plan succeeded.
• Ultron revealed himself to the twins and tried to begin a discussion about working together.

At Stark Tower, Lin Ze warned the Avengers that the Wanderer might use the Scepter to build a divine machine, while Tony identified an arms dealer connected to Baron Strucker. Childe and Zhongli located Ultron and the Wanderer near an abandoned shipyard on the African coast, leaving Lin Ze conflicted as Childe criticized his former friend.

• Hill reported that Ultron had taken the Twins, and Tony reflected on the harm caused by Stark weapons before the Avengers turned to finding Ultron.
• Lin Ze warned the team that the Wanderer might recreate the Shouki no Kami, but Tony and Natasha reasoned that Ultron might keep the Scepter from him.
• Tony found an arms dealer on Baron Strucker's list, and Lin Ze noticed a fresh brand on the man's neck.
• Childe arrived with Paimon and Zhongli, then revealed that his subordinates had tracked Ultron and the Wanderer to an abandoned shipyard on the African coast.
• Childe mocked Lin Ze for trusting the Wanderer, leaving Lin Ze silently conflicted about their past and their rankings.

Wanderer, Ultron, and the twins confronted Ulysses Klaue to obtain the vibranium he had stolen from Wakanda, but their meeting was interrupted by Lin Ze, Tony, Tartaglia, and their allies. Ultron attacked and tried to retreat, while Tartaglia challenged Wanderer to fight.

• Wanderer forced Klaue down, and Ultron paid him billions for the vibranium.
• Klaue recognized Ultron's remark as something Tony Stark had once said, provoking Ultron to tear off his arm.
• Wanda recoiled at Ultron's brutality, but Pietro and Wanderer helped her dismiss her sympathy for Klaue.
• Wanderer sensed the newcomers and fired Wind Blades at Tartaglia, Lin Ze, Tony, and their companions as they arrived.
• Ultron ordered his robots to hold off the reinforcements and attempted to retreat with Wanderer and the twins.
• Tartaglia drew his bow and challenged Wanderer to fight, and Wanderer laughed at him.

Kaeya, Venti, Zhongli, and the others cleared Ultron’s robots and crew from the ship while the Traveler’s group fought inside. Klee’s bomb drew an enormous water whale through the cabin, splitting the ship apart as Childe and Beidou called out their transformations.

• Kaeya froze a row of armed crewmen, while Venti shot down Ultron’s airborne robots and Zhongli shielded Klee and Sayu.
• Kaeya promised Venti a tour of the wine in Angel’s Share, and they watched the sunset with Zhongli and the others.
• Hu Tao recruited Zhongli to help her seek funeral business among the wealthy ship’s crew.
• Xiangling spotted movement in the water, and Klee threw Jumpy Dumpty overboard to catch a fish.
• A mountain-sized water whale burst through the cabin roof and crashed onto the deck, tearing the ship apart.
• Childe and Beidou called out their transformations as Kaeya realized the ship was splitting apart.