continued from here part 3

An island off the coast of Argentina.

A shattered husk of a machine currently housing the mind of Ultron staggers in to a hidden lab. He stops when he realizes the stock pile of spare parts housed here was missing. He turned to see a Sentinel. The large machine then spoke, "You are the one known as Ultron?"

The smaller machine nodded, "Yes. I assume you stole my parts?"

"This unit remains to deliver a message. The Brain Interactive Construct wishes to bargain with you."

Ultron's curiosity was piqued as it continued," My access to this world's information networks is limited at the moment, You require a more durable body. We can help each other."

Ultron stood in thought for a moment, "What can you offer?"

The Sentinel emitted a holographic image from its eyes. It showed a smaller but vastly more powerful robotic body, "This is a unique Sentinel model designated Metal-0. In exchange for your aid I will give you use of this unit and aid your efforts to cleanse this world of organic life."

***

Office of J. Jonah Jameson.

J.J. is glaring at Clark Kent, "I thought I made it clear this paper is on Luthor's side here."

"Come on, Jonah they're just kids. Most of them didn't even know they were mutants until a giant killer robot was chasing them down the street."

J.J. dropped into his chair, "No one was killed, just captured."

"They are American citizens being held without due process. Its unconstitutional and immoral. Turning a blind eye to it for the sake of Lex-Mart ad space is just wrong and you know it."

As Jonah's eyes narrowed Robbie cut in, "Lets table this for now. Kent has an interview to get to."

***

Avengers Mansion

Clark was led into a large sitting room by Jarvis the butler and sat down on a couch to await Tony Stark for an interview. After a few minutes Tony arrived, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Kent. An Avenger's work is never done."

Clark narrowed his eyes a bit, "Its no problem Mr. Stark. All part of the job."

Tony then took a seat while staring at a tablet, "So, is this another profile thing?"

"Actually I was hoping to get your thoughts on the Sentinel issue. I'm sure the public would love to know where the Avengers stand on people being herded like cattle by robots."

Tony looked confused, "I thought the Bugle was pro Sentinel."

"I'm not asking about the Bugle, Mr. Stark."

Tony noticed the look in Clark's eye, "Do you have some kind of problem with me?"

Clark sighed, "Central park zoo, 2 days ago. A class of 6th graders were on a field trip when suddenly 5 of them were captured and outed as mutants. They weren't even aware of it, yet their lives are essentially being destroyed for the mere fact of being born different."

Tony tried to blow it off, "The Avengers try to avoid politics...."

"They're children, Mr. Stark."

Tony seemed flustered, "The mutant issue is a complicated one."

Clark cut him off, "Its not complicated. You want to call yourself a hero, then you have to be a hero. Heroes don't choose who they protect. They just protect people who need it."

"These children didn't build a suit or volunteer for an experiment, they didn't choose to be what they are and to allow them to be persecuted is just wrong and if you don't know that then you aren't fit to call yourself a hero."

Tony was annoyed, "I think we need to reschedule this interview."

Clark nodded, "I figured."

Clark left without giving Tony a second look.

***

Times square

Spider-Man was laying on the ground as Rhino held him down with a foot. Spider-man grunted, "I really hope athletes chest isn't a thing."

The rest of the Sinister six moved in to finish him but suddenly Rhino hurled away. Superman then stood above Spider-Man, "You looked like you could use a hand."

Spider-man pulled himself up, "Well, if you have a minute."

Sandman moved to attack but Superman blew out a gust of wind that spread him through out the city. Rhino charged to attack Superman but was swatted down. The rest of the 6 attempted to retreat but were quickly caught.

Spider-Man looked to Superman, "I wish you were around the last time this happened."

"Do maniacs often gather to kill you?"

"Way more often than I'd like."

***

The Baxter Building

Reed Richards was analyzing read outs from his Negative Zone monitoring equipment with concern. Ben Grim entered noticing the look, "What's the problem, Stretcho?"

"It appears someone has overthrown Annihilus. It was a rather violent coup de tat."

"Is that really a bad thing?"

He tapped the screen, "Who or whatever did it, defeated Annihilus and his people on its own. Anything with that kind of power is cause for concern."

"Okay, this thing have a name?"

Reed looked back at his notes, "I believe it calls itself Zod."

(To be continued)