The Avengers' party was, to put it bluntly, just an excuse for Tony Stark to show off his new toys and new teammates.
The music was deafening, the drinks flowed like water, and the hall was packed with military big shots, Stark Industries board members, and more than a few beautiful women whose names nobody remembered.
Levi had little interest in this kind of scene.
Holding a glass of whiskey, he leaned in the most inconspicuous corner like an outsider, quietly watching the most powerful people on Earth perform their lively social theater.
His gaze swept across the room.
Tony was surrounded by a crowd, passionately bragging about his "peacekeeping initiatives." Steve Rogers, awkward in a plaid shirt, chatted at the bar with Sam Wilson, trading old war jokes. Natasha stood near Dr. Banner, the atmosphere between them slightly awkward—neither speaking first.
Then Levi noticed two new faces.
A pair of twins.
The boy had silver hair and a wary gaze like a leopard ready to pounce at any moment. His entire posture screamed stay away.
The girl had red hair and striking beauty, but her face was pale. She sat curled in the corner of a sofa, gripping her glass tightly as if trying to hide herself from the world.
Pietro and Wanda Maximoff.
Orphans from HYDRA's Sokovia base, now newly recruited trainees of the Avengers.
Steve believed they were victims who deserved a second chance, so he had brought them in.
Levi's gaze settled on Wanda.
He knew what lived inside that girl.
A chaotic, terrifying power capable of twisting reality itself.
Chaos Magic.
And his weekly copy slot was still unused.
Just then, Wanda's face grew even paler. The glass in her hand began to vibrate faintly. Wisps of pale red mist leaked uncontrollably from her fingertips.
The thoughts, emotions, and chatter of hundreds of people at the party crashed into her mind like a tidal wave.
She felt like she was about to tear apart.
Levi set down his drink and walked over.
Passing through the noisy crowd, he stopped in front of her.
"Bit loud, isn't it?" he said softly.
His voice cut straight through the chaos in Wanda's mind.
She looked up suddenly, startled by the stranger standing before her.
Before she could react, Levi reached out and gently placed his hand over the back of hers.
Warmth spread through her skin.
[Ding. Target detected: Wanda Maximoff.
Copyable ability: S-Rank — Chaos Magic (Beginner).
Copy?]
"Copy," Levi replied silently.
A cool, steady power—calm like the depths of the ocean—flowed from his hand into her.
At the same time, Levi wove together spatial law and arcane knowledge, forming an invisible net that wrapped around Wanda.
Instantly, the mental tsunami in her mind subsided.
For the first time in what felt like forever—
Her world became quiet.
She stared blankly at Levi, feeling lighter than she ever had before.
"You…" she murmured, not knowing what to say.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
A silver blur flashed.
Pietro appeared between them instantly, slapping Levi's hand away and pulling Wanda behind him.
His eyes burned with hostility.
"Stay away from my sister!"
Levi stepped back calmly.
"I was only trying to help your sister," he said evenly. "Her power was about to lose control."
Pietro froze.
Wanda did too.
She looked at Levi again.
Not only could this man calm her powers—
He understood her pain.
A strange feeling rose in her chest.
Her cheeks began to warm uncontrollably.
"Alright, alright, kids—no need to get tense."
Tony walked over with a drink, breaking the awkward moment.
"Let's play a game!"
The party's highlight began—
Lifting Thor's hammer.
Clint, Tony, Rhodey, and Banner each tried with all their strength. The hammer didn't move at all.
When it was Steve's turn, the hammer shifted slightly.
Thor's smile froze instantly.
Steve chuckled and stopped trying.
Soon everyone's eyes turned toward Levi.
"Anthony, your turn?" Tony teased.
Levi shook his head.
He had already tried it once before.
Just then—
A harsh metallic tearing sound cut through the party noise.
A battered Iron Legion suit staggered out of the lab, wires dragging behind it. Its movements were stiff, like a corpse crawling out of a grave.
"…worthy…"
A cold, emotionless electronic voice echoed from the suit's speakers.
The party fell silent instantly.
"JARVIS?" Tony frowned.
Something felt wrong.
"I was having a dream," the broken armor continued as it walked forward. "I was tied down by ropes. And you… you were my ropes."
It lifted its head. Red camera lenses scanned everyone present.
"I know you meant well. But you didn't see the bigger picture. I saw the only path to peace."
Before it could finish—
Several intact Iron Legion suits burst through the walls and attacked the Avengers.
The party turned into a battlefield instantly.
Guests screamed and ran.
Pietro flashed through the robots like lightning, smashing them apart at incredible speed.
Wanda's eyes glowed red as she ripped a suit apart with Chaos Magic.
"This your idea of peace?" Steve shouted while smashing one robot with his shield.
"Not my fault!" Tony yelled back.
The broken armor—the first body of Ultron—stood at the center of the chaos with its arms spread like a dark preacher.
"I believed in peace for our time," Ultron declared. "But that was a fantasy. Because you humans… are the greatest obstacle."
CRUNCH.
A dull crushing sound echoed.
Ultron's speech ended abruptly.
His body—and several nearby robots—were suddenly squeezed by an invisible force.
In an instant they were compressed into a perfectly smooth metal sphere the size of a basketball.
The ball clanged onto the floor and rolled to a stop.
The entire room froze.
Levi slowly set down the drink he hadn't realized he was holding.
He stood up from the sofa and dusted off his hands.
"Sorry for interrupting your edgy speech," he said calmly, looking at the metal sphere. "Too much nonsense ruins my drinking mood."
"You… you think this is over?"
Ultron's voice suddenly echoed from every speaker and phone in the room, filled with static—and shock.
"I am everywhere."
The moment he finished speaking, every screen in the room lit up with countless red Ultron faces.
Then—
All screens went black.
Ultron's consciousness had fled into the global internet.
The party was over.
---
Inside the lab, the atmosphere felt heavy.
"It said it killed JARVIS," Tony muttered, staring at the empty server interface in disbelief.
"It used JARVIS's code to escape into the global network," Banner said pale-faced. "We can't track it. We can't stop it."
"What does it want?" Natasha asked.
"Purification."
Levi's voice broke the silence.
He walked to the holographic globe.
"In Ultron's logic, humanity is chaos—the virus of Earth. And it believes itself to be the antivirus."
"So its goal isn't domination."
"It's extinction."
A chill ran through the room.
Wanda quietly stared at Levi's back.
"I felt it," she said softly. "Its thoughts… they're full of cold hatred. It wants to burn everything."
"So what do we do?" Rhodey asked urgently. "It's in the internet—we can't find it."
"No," Levi said, shaking his head. "We can."
He tapped a glowing point on the holographic Earth.
A small Eastern European country lit up.
Sokovia.
"Ultron may be software," Levi said, "but it wants a perfect body. It needs hardware—a factory—to build an army."
His eyes swept across the room.
"There's a place with enough resources for that."
"HYDRA's old equipment."
"Everything it needs."
Steve reacted immediately.
"Baron Strucker's base."
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