"Kid, you broke your old man's heart."
Those were the first words Tony said when he saw Ultron. A Repulsor Ray blasted through the floor-to-ceiling window as the Mark 50, fused with Nanotechnology and the Extremis Virus, made its dazzling entrance. Thrusters beneath its feet blasted out streams of air as it flew straight into Ulysses Klaw's office.
In a sense, Ultron really was Stark's child. More precisely, though, he was the joint creation of Stark, Reed, and Hank Pym.
"Where did you take Dr. Pym? If you wanted someone to make you a puppet toy, your old man here was the best candidate."
Tony's sarcastic edge had not dulled in the slightest. As he looked at Ultron's alloy body, a perfect embodiment of mechanical aesthetics, he silently considered how to defeat this artificial intelligence.
"I'm glad you asked, because this gives me the perfect chance to explain my evil plan... But this isn't some trashy movie. Why would I bother with such a boring explanation?"
Ultron's tongue was no less sharp than his creator's, and he fired back without yielding an inch.
If one ignored that metal body, no one would have thought he was an artificial intelligence composed of vast amounts of data.
"You're thinking about how to destroy me? How heartless."
His scarlet electronic eyes fixed on Tony. Tony could actually sense something akin to human emotion within them, rather than mere cold data.
Ultron, meanwhile, seemed able to see straight through people's hearts and had detected Tony's thoughts.
Humans knew how to deceive, but cold data did not lie. Facial microexpressions combined with analysis of Stark's personal profile made it easy to arrive at the real answer.
"'A father's love is unconditional'—that is the greatest lie in the world." Ultron's voice turned indifferent. "Children are merely