Chapter 34: Chapter 32: Obsession of Ross!
(Attendance please…)
….
The Quinjet burst through the clouds above Sokovia, and the sight that greeted the Avengers was one of pure, nightmarish disbelief.
A massive portion of Novi Grad, the Sokovian capital, was no longer on the ground.
It was levitating, a colossal chunk of earth and city, slowly, ominously, rising higher into the sky, debris and dust raining down from its jagged underside.
"I think," Tony Stark said, his voice grim, "we might be a little late, guys."
"We're not," Steve Rogers countered, his jaw set with determination, though his eyes reflected the horror of the scene.
"Make Ultron's internet access the absolute priority, Jarvis. Everyone else, rescue any civilians you can! I don't know how we're going to do that, but we ha—"
Before Steve could finish his desperate order, a video transmission crackled to life on the Quinjet's main screen. It was Nick Fury, his expression as serious as ever.
"Leave the civilian rescue to us, Captain," Fury's voice announced. "You and your team focus on Ultron. Take him down, and make sure it's one hundred percent this time. No second chances."
Steve looked bewildered. "Fury? How? We don't have the resources, the manpower for a full-scale evacuation like this!"
"We don't have a lot of time to discuss the 'how,' Cap," Fury replied curtly. "Let's just say this is the surprise I was hinting at earlier. We'll be there in about five minutes, full S.H.I.E.L.D. rescue teams, helicarriers, the works. We'll get everyone off that damn levitating, flying city. You just do what you do best."
A collective sigh of relief, however small, went through the Quinjet. Steve nodded, a new sense of focus replacing his earlier desperation. "Alright, Avengers. You heard him. That can wait for later. Now, we do what we do."
Tony stood up, his gaze fixed on the rising landmass. "Jarvis," he said, "it's on you for the first, most critical step. You ready?"
Jarvis, standing silently behind him in his new Vibranium form, nodded once. "Yes, sir. I am."
"Then let me run some interference," Tony declared. "Give you a clear shot." With a familiar whir and clang, his Iron Man armor materialized around him. He then blasted off from the Quinjet, a streak of red and gold heading towards the center of the airborne city, where Ultron was most likely to be.
Gojo, witnessing the unfolding chaos, the clear deviation from the "movie" plot he vaguely remembered this was the butterfly effect in full, terrifying swing decided on his own course of action. With a thought, he warped himself high into the sky above Sokovia.
His Six Eyes took in the horrifying panorama. Iron Legion drones were swarming down onto the levitating city, and more were rising from hidden hatches in the ground below.
They were systematically, brutally, eliminating any human they encountered with a single, precise shot to the heart, body, or a straight headshot.
There was no attempt at capture, no warning. Just cold, efficient extermination.
And on another front, a different kind of battle was raging. Gojo saw his "favorite fans" the U.S. military.
Half of their forces were already on the rising landmass, tanks and ground troops somehow deployed onto the unstable terrain.
The other half were on the ground below, engaging Ultron's forces.
Fighter jets streaked through the air, locked in dogfights with agile Iron Legionnaires, explosions dotting the sky.
It seemed General Ross's planned "swift capture" of Gojo Satoru hadn't gone as smoothly as he'd envisioned; they'd walked right into Ultron's endgame.
Gojo looked down at it all, a sense of weary detachment washing over him. So much running. So much death.
So much… predictable, human stupidity, especially from the military, blundering into a far larger conflict.
His presence in the open sky, a lone figure hovering high above, did not go unnoticed. A squadron of U.S. fighter jets, their scanners no doubt picking him up the instant he warped into view, broke off from their engagement with the Iron Legion and veered towards him. He was an open target, an unknown variable in an already chaotic battlespace.
The approaching U.S. fighter jets, sleek and deadly, locked onto Gojo almost instantly. Their targeting systems painted him as a hostile, and with a roar of their cannons, they opened fire. A hail of high-caliber rounds streaked through the air towards him.
Gojo, with an air of casual boredom, simply watched them come. With a precise, almost lazy application of Blue, he targeted the engine on one side of the lead jet.
There was a sudden, violent explosion from the aircraft's wing, and the jet immediately spiraled out of control, trailing smoke.
Gojo, with a subtle manipulation of the air currents around the falling plane, ensured the pilot had ample time and a stable enough descent to eject safely.
As the pilot parachuted downwards, shaken but alive, Gojo might have mentally projected a thought, or perhaps just a general way of saying that: "Consider that a polite request to leave." He had no intention of killing the pilot, merely disabling the immediate threat.
His "polite request," however, either wasn't received or was summarily ignored. Perhaps he was too far away for them to hear anything even if he had spoken aloud.
Another squadron of at least six U.S. jets immediately converged on Gojo's position, their movements aggressive, clearly undeterred by the fate of their comrade.
Gojo sighed, a sound of mild exasperation. This was getting tedious. He then vanished from his spot in the sky and reappeared an instant later, standing calmly on the canopy of one of the attacking jets, right in front of the startled pilot's viewport.
He tapped on the reinforced glass. The pilot inside jumped, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Hey there!" Gojo said, his voice somehow carrying over the roar of the jet engines, or perhaps it was just the clarity of his presence, the sheer impossibility of him being there.
"Mind calling off your friends? This really isn't a good time for a dogfight. There are much bigger fish to fry than you and your buddies." He then casually pointed a thumb towards the massive, levitating section of Sokovia.
"Like that, you know? Kind of a major crisis happening down there."
The pilots, fueled by adrenaline, orders, and now a healthy dose of shock, ignored his plea. One of them, likely the wingman of the jet Gojo was standing on, shouted over the comms, his voice filled with rage, "Die, you piece of shit terrorist! That's for Jamie!" referring, of course, to the pilot whose jet Gojo had just downed, completely oblivious to the fact that Gojo had ensured Jamie's survival.
"What do you mean for Jamie?! He is alive man."
The jets continued their attack runs, cannons blazing, and a few even launched short-range air-to-air missiles.
Gojo, his annoyance growing, systematically, almost mechanically, disabled each of the attacking jets in the same manner as the first.
A precise Blue strike to one engine, forcing the pilot to eject. He made sure, with subtle manipulations of air and gravity, that each pilot bailed out safely.
"Honestly," he might have remarked to himself as another jet spiraled downwards, "some people just don't listen. And I'm sure if anyone asks, they'll just say I attacked them first. Typical."
Frustrated by their utter lack of success and seeing their conventional attacks failing spectacularly, the remaining jets or perhaps a new wave that had just arrived regrouped.
This time, they launched a coordinated barrage of more powerful, long-range missiles directly at Gojo.
Their orders were clear: capture or get a sample.
And if he was truly stronger than the Hulk, as the reports suggested, he should be able to withstand a few missiles, or many more to come. This was as much a test as an attack.
Gojo simply stood there in mid-air, his arms perhaps casually at his sides, as the deadly ordinance streaked towards him.
The missiles detonated in a massive, breathtaking series of explosions, engulfing him completely in a roiling cloud of smoke, fire, and shrapnel.
The pilots watched intently, their instruments scanning, waiting for confirmation of a kill, or at least some debris, some sign of damage.
As the thick, black smoke began to clear, Gojo was revealed. He was completely unharmed. Not a speck of dust on his clothes, not a hair out of place.
He casually brushed an imaginary speck off his shoulder, his expression one of mild boredom. His Infinity had effortlessly, absolutely, nullified the entire attack.
Stunned silence filled the cockpits for a long moment. Then, one of the lead pilots, his voice trembling with disbelief, reported over the comms:
"Target is… unharmed! Repeat, target is completely unharmed by direct missile impacts! All ordinance ineffective!"
The message was relayed up the chain of command, eventually reaching General Ross, who was monitoring the chaotic situation in Sokovia from his command center.
He saw the city, or a huge chunk of it, now visibly rising higher and higher on his own monitors. The situation was escalating beyond anyone's control.
Ross, ever the pragmatist when faced with an unwinnable ground situation, made a swift decision.
He ordered the ground troops that were not on the levitating landmass to begin an immediate retreat.
They could do nothing from the ground now, and staying put was just inviting casualties. "Get away from the flying part of the city… I repeat… Get away from the flying part of the city!" he barked into his comms.
However, regarding Gojo Satoru, Ross's reaction was different. Infuriated by the display of absolute power, by the complete failure of his air assets, and still clinging to the desperate hope of capturing or at least sampling this incredible asset, he snarled into the comms, "Continue the attack from the air! All air units, maintain pressure on Subject Satoru! Do not let him escape no matter what! Find a weakness! There has to be a weakness!"
No one in the chain of command, perhaps not even Ross himself in that moment of rage and desperation, could fully articulate why he was still ordering his jets to attack Gojo.
They had a far bigger, city-destroying problem on their hands. But Ross was a man obsessed, and Gojo Satoru had just made a fool of his military might.
….
A/N: So, How was it? They are ticking off gojo in a bad way. And he can tick off if they don't listen to him and ross keep being this way. Avengers are fighting the the iron legion and keeping the civilians safe, firy is coming with SHIELD to the rescue. Ultron already started the plan co sidering bothing went his way other than him being getting the vibranium. So, he didn't took the chance in this… bcz of one anomaly.
And lastly no chapters tomorrow reason being Exam.
Q: Should Gojo visit Ross Straight?!
-yes
-no
And as always thanks for demicatoru/loadedDemigod for suggestions.
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