Joining forces against the core, Ultron wounded

The burning sensation behind his left ear hadn't subsided, like a red-hot wire drilling into his brain along his nerves. Ye Mo stood motionless at the edge of the ruins, his fingers still in his pocket, pressing down on the spare chip. The cool, metallic feel of it brought him slightly back to his senses. He didn't touch his glasses; the cracked lenses, like a spiderweb, blocked his vision, but he was too lazy to change them—after all, this place had long been reduced to rubble, and it was hard to find even a single intact concrete slab.

The wind swirled the dusty scraps of paper, and in the distance, the last wisp of black smoke rose from the ground and was dispersed by the wind.

He glanced down at the terminal screen. The coordinates had been synchronized, and the X-01 command had been sent out almost three minutes ago, yet the channel remained silent. He knew everyone was moving, but they couldn't make a sound.

Suddenly, a low-frequency buzzing sound came from above.

It wasn't the booming sound of an aircraft, nor the crackling of lightning from Mjolnir; it was more like a drop of water falling onto a calm lake, with ripples spreading outwards, yet you couldn't see where the water was.

Ye Mo's eyelids twitched, and he raised his hand to touch the back of his left ear, where the burning sensation was even more pronounced.

"You're here?" he asked in a low voice.

"We've arrived." Tony's voice came from high above. The armor flashed through the gaps in the clouds. The MK85's thrusters were turned down to the lowest power, making almost no sound. "Scan complete. Seven-layer structure integrity 62%. Main power bay is on the west side of Sector B, with three electromagnetic barriers."

Ye Mo nodded, finally pulling his hand out of his pocket and turning to look at the entrance to the passage on the right.

Captain America leaned against the broken wall, shield tucked under his arm, and made a gesture: two fingers together across his throat—clear the path.

Ye Mo gave an OK sign, then gestured with his chin towards Thor in front of him. "Your turn, Lei Ge."

Thor grinned, spinning Mjolnir in his palm. "I've been waiting to hear that."

Before he finished speaking, he leaped up and swung the hammer at the remaining steel frame above his head. A bolt of lightning struck, and the entire ceiling collapsed with a deafening roar, crashing down into the hall below, sending dust billowing tens of meters high.

"Regenerative Phasing." Ye Mo shouted, his body swaying as if he had passed through a film of water, directly through the collapsed pile of stones, and landed steadily in the center of the main hall.

The moment my feet touched the ground, a system notification sounded in my head: [Contact complete, initial gene fragment of ' Liquid Metal Reconstitution ' acquired (progress 1/3)]

He ignored the prompt and looked up to see the blue-glowing core device at the far end of the hall—a cylindrical object with silver-gray data flowing across its surface, as if it were alive.

"That's it," Ye Mo said into the communicator. "The energy source's fluctuation frequency matches Ultron's 91% compatibility, no doubt about it."

"Target confirmed." Captain America's calm voice rang out. "Execute Plan Two: Advance in groups. Tony, provide air cover; Thor frontal pressure; Ye Mo, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, flank; I'll cover the rear."

"Roger that." Natasha's voice came from the left ventilation shaft. She and Hawkeye had already infiltrated to within ten meters of the core perimeter. "Three layers of firewall, encrypted password, requires thirty seconds to crack."

"You have twenty seconds," Ye Mo said, taking two steps forward. A faint crackling of electricity began to emanate from the metal skeleton of his right arm. "I'll hold off its guards."

The ground shook as soon as he finished speaking.

Immediately afterwards, six mechanical guards rose from the ground. They were completely black, with red light flashing at their joints, and their arms were high-frequency vibrating blades.

"Oh, they're quite the show-offs." Ye Mo grinned, and the next second he rushed forward.

The moment the first machine raised its blade, he slid sideways and slipped behind it, grabbing the back interface with his left hand and injecting a surge of electricity. The machine shuddered violently, the system short-circuited, and it collapsed to its knees.

The second blade slashed down, but he didn't dodge, taking the blow head-on. His Steel Bone arm cracked, but it didn't break. He then punched the opponent in the chest, crushing the energy core.

"Self-Healing module activated," he whispered, and the cracks on his arm began to slowly close.

When the third machine came up, he had already retreated to the corner, raised his hand and unleashed an arc of electricity, hitting the head sensor squarely. The machine froze on the spot, emitted smoke for two seconds, and then crashed to the ground.

"Three taken care of." He took a breath. "The remaining three are for you guys to practice on?"

"Don't be too reckless," Hawkeye reminded in the channel. "The core is starting to charge; the energy reading is rising."

Ye Mo looked up and, sure enough, the blue light from the cylinder was getting brighter and brighter, and the data stream on its surface was starting to scroll faster.

"Tony!" he roared, "Make some noise!"

"It's been ready for a while." Tony's voice came from above, and then three miniature missiles flew close to the ceiling, accurately hitting the support beam above the core.

Boom!

The entire hall shook violently, several cables snapped, and sparks flew everywhere.

Thor seized the opportunity to rush forward, swinging Mjolnir in a wide arc and smashing it into the core outer shell. With a loud bang, a crack appeared in the outer armor.

"Works!" Captain America immediately ordered, "Black Widow, now!"

Natasha's fingers flew across the terminal, and three seconds later she pressed the Enter key.

"The firewall's breached! Hawkeye, it's your turn now!"

Clint had already drawn his bow to its fullest extent, the arrow tip shimmering with pale blue Shockwave. He squinted, aimed, and released the string.

whoosh--

The shockwave arrow shot straight into the core crack, penetrating deep inside.

One second.

Two seconds.

"It's done?" Ye Mo was about to laugh.

"No!" Tony suddenly shouted, "It's absorbing energy in reverse! Get out of here!"

Before the words were even finished, the core suddenly erupted with a blinding red light, and a high-frequency pulse swept across the entire area.

Ye Mo felt as if his head had been hit by a hammer; everything went black, and his knees buckled, almost causing him to collapse. He gritted his teeth and held on, his ears filled with static.

"Everyone down!" Captain America roared. "That's a neural interference wave! Hold your breath for three seconds!"

Ye Mo did as instructed, and when he recovered, he found that the six guards had stood up again, and their bodies began to deform, their joints lengthened, and their blades turned into cannon muzzles.

"Damn, it can upgrade again?" he cursed, raising his hand to unleash another arc of electricity, blowing up the nearest machine.

"Ye Mo!" Natasha shouted in the channel, "The core defense mechanism has been activated! If we don't break it now, we'll have to wait for it to unleash its ultimate attack!"

"I know!" He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Thor! One more time!"

"As you wish!" Thor roared, raising Mjolnir high with both hands. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and a thick bolt of lightning struck down, hitting him squarely in the center.

Boom!

The entire underground facility was shaking, and the core outer shell cracked open with even larger gaps, flashing blue light erratically.

"Hawkeye!" Captain America immediately ordered.

Clint nocked another arrow, this time firing two in quick succession, both of them piercing the crevice.

This time, a piercing electronic hiss came from inside the core, as if something was being forcibly torn apart.

"It's done!" Natasha shouted, "The structural crack has widened, and energy output has decreased by 50%!"

"Don't celebrate," Tony said in a low voice. "It's going to self-destruct."

"What?" Ye Mo was taken aback.

The blue light on the core surface rapidly turned red, and the data stream began its countdown: 90...89...88...

"All personnel evacuate!" Captain America decisively ordered. "Exit along the original route; I'll cover the rear!"

"Wait." Ye Mo didn't move.

He stared at the crack, a thought flashing through his mind.

"System," he cried out in his mind, "Can I still use ' Regenerative Phasing '?"

[Available, 12 seconds remaining on cooldown]

"That's enough," he said in a low voice.

"Ye Mo! Let's go!" Natasha shouted back.

"Soon," he smiled, "Just one step away."

When the countdown reached 70, he rushed forward and, just before the last guard attacked, activated "Regenerative Phasing," his entire body plunging into the core rift like a stream of water.

Inside were densely packed data cables and energy conduits, with a black module in the center flashing wildly.

He reached out and ripped off the module, stuffing it into his pocket.

"I took it," he said in a low voice.

The next second, he was forcibly ejected by the system and slammed onto the ground five meters away.

"Go!" He scrambled to his feet and ran toward the exit.

Behind him, the core began to tremble violently, flashing red light wildly.

Captain America had already retreated to the tunnel entrance with Natasha and Hawkeye, Tony provided aerial support, Thor covered the rear, Mjolnir cleared away the remaining guards.

When Ye Mo rushed out of the hall, the countdown stopped at 47.

"Evacuation complete." Captain America confirmed.

"Tony, detonate the pre-set explosives," Ye Mo said, panting.

"I've been waiting for this." Tony pressed the button.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three explosions rang out in succession, and the main passage completely collapsed, sealing off the core area entirely.

The crowd retreated to the ground, and the night wind dispersed the smoke of battle.

Tony landed next to Ye Mo, removed his mask, and asked, "Got it?"

Ye Mo pulled the black module from his pocket; sparks were still dancing on its surface. "Crucial data. We might be able to extract something from it when we get back."

"Are you crazy?" Natasha walked over. "If you had gotten stuck in that one second, you would have been a kebab."

"The system is reliable." He shrugged. "Besides, if I don't go in, we'll have to come back again next time."

Captain America walked over and patted him on the shoulder. "Well done."

Thor laughed heartily, "That was a great fight!"

Tony frowned, looking at the still-smoking underground entrance in the distance. "But it's not dead."

"Of course it's not dead." Ye Mo looked down at the module in his hand, his brows furrowing slightly. "The core was damaged, and its energy output dropped by 70%, but its main body is still hidden in the deep network."

He paused, then the burning sensation behind his left ear suddenly intensified.

It felt like something was awakening inside, climbing up along the nerves.

He raised his hand to touch it, and a layer of extremely fine silver-gray lines appeared on the surface of his skin, disappearing in an instant.

The system did not provide any notification.

But that doesn't mean everything is fine.

He knew that some changes were never announced in advance.

In the distance, the night sky was gloomy, and the wind swirled up Ashes.

He stood at the exit of the ruins, his hoodie fluttering in the wind, his right hand gripping a data module tightly, his knuckles white.

There were no cheers, no mobilization, and no grand pronouncements.

Only he himself knew that this battle had finally turned from a passive, defensive stance into an active one.

And that signal... is still there.

Faint, but clear.