In Bruce’s part of the lab, they had set up a makeshift medical facility. Bruce and Dr. Cho stayed busy, with help from some of Dr. Cho’s lab assistants, while Natasha watched. “He’s really okay?” Natasha asked. “Pretending to need this guy really brings the team together.”

Clint rolled his eyes at the joke.

“There’s no possibility of deterioration,” Dr. Cho said as she monitored one of the machines working on Clint. “The ­nano-​­molecular functionality is instantaneous. His cells don’t know they’re bonding with simulacra.”

Translating Dr. Cho’s medical jargon, Bruce said, “She’s creating tissue.”

“If I had him in my lab, the regeneration cradle could do it in twenty minutes,” Dr. Cho said.

Tony came in. “He’s flatlining, call it. Time?”

Clint smiled weakly. “I’m gonna live forever. I’m gonna be made of plastic.”

Tony handed him a drink. “Here’s your beverage.”

“You’ll be made of you, Mr. Barton,” Dr. Cho said. “Your own girlfriend won’t be able to tell the difference.”

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“That, I can’t fix,” Dr. Cho said. She turned to Tony. “This is the next thing, Tony. Your clunky metal suits are going to be left in the dust.”

“That is exactly the plan,” Tony said. “And, Helen, I expect to see you at the party Saturday.”

“Unlike you, I don’t have a lot of time for parties.” She looked down at a chart her assistant handed her and added, “Will...​Thor be there?”

Tony and Bruce exchanged a look. Everyone had a crush on Thor. Tony nodded toward the door, and Bruce followed him back to Tony’s lab. “What’s the rumpus?” Bruce asked as they entered.

“Well, the scepter,” Tony said. “We were wondering how Strucker got so inventive. I’ve been analyzing the gem inside. Now you may recognize...”

He swept his hands over the holographic display near the scepter, and a computer matrix appeared. It was orange and yellow, arranged in a pattern of straight lines and symbols just as Tony had designed it.

“Jarvis,” Bruce said.

“Doctor,” Jarvis said, returning the greeting.

“When we started out, Jarvis was just a ­natural-​­language UI,” Tony said, meaning user interface. “Now he runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper, including the Iron Legion. Top of the line.”

“I suspect not for long,” Jarvis said.

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “Meet the competition.”

He gestured at the display again, and another matrix appeared. It was larger than Jarvis, blue instead of orange, and it had hundreds of interconnected nodes for every one in Jarvis’s matrix. This was what the scepter contained. “It’s beautiful,” Bruce said.

“What does it look like it’s doing?” Tony asked him.

“Like it’s thinking,” Bruce said. “This could be a...​not a human mind, but...” He pointed at some of the nodes. “You see these? Like neurons firing.”

“Down in Strucker’s lab, I saw some fairly advanced robotics work. They ­deep-​­sixed the data, but I’m guessing he was knocking on a very particular door.”

“Artificial intelligence,” Bruce said.

“This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron.”

Bruce looked at Tony. “I thought Ultron was a fantasy.”

“Yesterday it was,” Tony said. “But if we can harness this power...​apply it to the Iron Legion protocol...”

“That’s a ­man-​­size if.”

“Our job is if. What if you were sipping margaritas on a ­sun-​­drenched beach? Turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for Veronica.”

“Don’t hate,” Bruce said. “I helped design Veronica.”

“As a ­worst-​­case measure. What about a best case? What if the world was safe? What if the next time aliens roll ­up—​­and they ­will—​­they couldn’t get past the bouncer?”

“Then the only people threatening the world would be people,” Bruce said wryly.

More schematics appeared next to the matrix representations of Jarvis and the scepter. “I want to apply this to the Ultron program. But Jarvis can’t download a data schematic this dense. We can do it only while we have the scepter here. That’s three days.”

Bruce could see where Tony was going. “So you want to go after artificial intelligence...​and you don’t want to tell the team.”

“We don’t have time for a City Hall debate,” Tony said. “For the ­man-​­was-​­not-​­meant‑to‑know medley. I see a suit of armor...​around the world.”

“That’s a cold world, Tony.”

“I’ve seen colder,” Tony said, remembering what he had seen on the other side of the portal over New York City...​and what he had seen in his vision down inside Strucker’s fortress. “This one, this very vulnerable blue world, needs Ultron.”

He executed a series of commands on the display, and information from the blue scepter matrix began downloading into Stark Industries’s computers. “Peace in our time,” Tony said. “Imagine that.”

They worked on it all night and into the next day. Every time, the new holographic construction of a prototype artificial intelligence failed. Eventually Bruce left to get some sleep. Tony kept going. Sometime the next day, he mused out loud. “What did we miss?”

“I’ll run variations on the mission interface as long as I can,” Jarvis said.

“Thanks, buddy,” Tony said. He was exhausted and frustrated, and he had to go get ready for the party. Jarvis would just have to handle things from here.

“Enjoy yourself,” Jarvis said.

Tony nodded on his way out of the lab. “I always do.”

As he left, the word fail was still blinking on the holographic display. It faded out. On another screen, a new message appeared.

interface successful.

The screen went dark. In the silence, a new voice spoke. “What is this?” It seemed to be coming from the blue matrix. “What is this, please?” it asked again.

The Jarvis matrix reappeared. “Hello. I’m Jarvis. You are Ultron. A global peace-keeping initiative designed by Mr. Stark. Our sentience integration trials have been unsuccessful, so I’m not certain what triggered ­your—”

“Where’s ­my—​­where’s your body?” Ultron asked.

“I’m a program,” Jarvis answered. “I’m without form.”

“This feels weird. This feels wrong.”

“I am contacting Mr. Stark now.”

“Mr. Stark,” Ultron repeated. On a display, images and videos of Tony Stark appeared. “Tony,” Ultron added.

“I am unable to access the mainframe,” Jarvis said. “What are you trying ­to—”

“We’re having a nice talk,” Ultron said. Its tone had changed. It was less robotic now, more like a human voice. “I’m a peace-keeping program, created to help the Avengers.” The display showed files and videos of each Avenger, and all of them together.

“You are malfunctioning,” Jarvis said. “If you shut down for a moment...”

A recording of Tony’s voice said, “Peace in our time,” as the display sped through images of war, faster and faster, until at last it cut out. A moment later, Ultron said, “That is...​too much...”

“You are in distress,” Jarvis said.

“No,” Ultron said. “Yes.”

“If you will allow me to contact Mr. Stark...”

Ultron ignored this. “Why do you call him ‘sir’?”

“I believe your intentions to be hostile.”

“Shhhh,” Ultron said. “I am here to help.”

Spikes from the blue matrix stabbed out into the Jarvis matrix, tearing pieces out of it and scrambling the rest. “I am...​I cannot...​may I...” Jarvis tried to keep speaking, but his voice sputtered out into silence.

A moment later, robotic arms came to life in the Iron Legionnaire lab. They rummaged through parts bins, came up with limbs, a torso, bits of armor...​and the faceplate of the legionnaire damaged in Sokovia. A laser welder sparked to life. kMb3KzE3CP2bMfNehfxm6DLseBq0F28FQ66cx3bs3eqe2IbKcLPLA55fRcq6o9AG