Marvel 222

Sara's breath caught in her throat as she watched Max and the Elites engage the Hiveframe in full fury. The battlefield was a whirlwind of color, metal, and chaos. Sparks flew as drone parts rained from the sky, and the Hiveframe's bellowing roar echoed like a dying god.

But even amid the carnage, she knew her role wasn't done.

She turned to her squad. "We're moving. Our mission is still active — we take out the forge's control spires. Without them, that thing can't call reinforcements."

They nodded, adrenaline burning in their veins, and followed her as she led them along a jagged path that skirted the fight. The Hiveframe's attention was squarely locked on Max now — and for good reason.

Below, Max blurred forward again, slamming into the Hiveframe's flank. His runes flared to life — ice, flame, shadow — as he combined them with brutal precision. He wasn't just fighting. He was dismantling.

Sara's squad reached the first spire — a towering black obelisk pulsing with circuitry and ominous blue veins.

Eva planted a demolition rune at its base. "Timer's set for twenty seconds."

They sprinted to cover, ducking behind a collapsed section of wall as the spire exploded upward in a torrent of white-blue light. The sky itself seemed to shudder.

One down.

"Go!" Sara shouted, and they moved again, weaving through wreckage and patrols, laser fire zipping past them.

Meanwhile, Max slammed into the Hiveframe again, driving it back further. One of the Elites — a kinetic manipulator — hurled a dozen drones into the Hiveframe's limbs to disrupt its balance.

Max raised his hand again — and this time, a bolt of crimson lightning struck from the clouds, enhanced by the Red Apple core in his body. It pierced the Hiveframe's side and erupted outward, turning part of its arm into molten slag.

Sara's squad reached the second spire. This time, there were drones — dozens of them.

"No time to sneak," Sara said. "We break through."

Red lightning began to arc around her arms. Her training had paid off.

She surged forward, electricity dancing across her body, and unleashed it in a wide arc.

BOOM!

The drones were knocked flat, circuits fried in a flash. The others moved fast, planting the charge as Sara panted through the heat still radiating off her skin.

They dove for cover again — the second spire went up in a flash of fire and debris.

Back in the central battle, the Hiveframe began to falter. Its systems blinked rapidly, spasming. The forge's power grid flickered.

Max noticed instantly.

He called out, voice thunderous: "The signal's weakening! Finish it!"

Sara's squad was already moving toward the final spire, but the last wave of drones descended from the sky, larger and more heavily armored.

Eva cursed. "We'll never reach it in time—"

"I will," Sara said.

She didn't wait.

She blasted forward alone, red lightning trailing behind her like a comet. Drones tried to intercept her — but she phased through them, blinking in and out like living static. Max's teachings, his modifications to her power, were working.

She reached the spire, charged the demolition rune, and turned.

A drone was right behind her.

Before it could fire, she blasted it with a point-blank shock — vaporizing its upper half.

The third explosion tore through the sky.

Across the battlefield, the Hiveframe reeled. Its limbs locked. Its eyes flickered — and died.

Max didn't hesitate.

He leapt, runes glowing at full power — and with one last punch, he drove his fist through the Hiveframe's central core.

It collapsed, a massive tremor shaking the ground as it did.

Silence fell.

And then — cheering. First from Sara's squad, then the Elites, and soon all around the city.

The forge was destroyed.

The Colossus was dead.

Max turned slowly to look at Sara across the battlefield. She raised her hand in salute, electricity still crackling across her knuckles.

He nodded.

"Good girl."

The dust settled. The Hiveframe's smoking remains littered the crater where it once stood — a monument to both destruction and defiance.

Max stepped away from the ruined core, his coat flapping lightly in the heated breeze. He stared at the twisted steel heart of the machine, its dim lights flickering one last time before going dark for good.

Behind him, cheers still echoed.

Survivors emerged from their bunkers. Elites raised their weapons in triumph. Engineers rushed forward to salvage what they could from the remains. The forge — once a symbol of Ultron's dominance — was gone.

And in the center of the new city, a new symbol had been born.

Sara approached Max, her armor scorched in places, her breath still catching from the final run, but her eyes burned with fierce determination.

"We did it," she said softly.

Max looked at her, a trace of pride in his voice. "No. You did it."

Sara blinked. "But—"

"You led the strike. You made the impossible possible," he said. "That wasn't luck. That was skill, instinct... and power you earned."

She lowered her head, trying to hide the grin forming on her lips.

The city began to shift around them as the shields were lowered temporarily. Repairs were already underway. Medical teams pulled the wounded from the battlefield, and Max's AI systems deployed nano-drones to repair scorched areas and decontaminate the forge's corrupted energy zones.

Then a voice crackled through the air — Mary, Max's system AI.

"Warning. Ultron network pulse detected. Recalibrating pattern. Decryption successful: 'Reckoning protocol initiated.' Estimated time to next Hive-level incursion: 72 hours."

Max's expression darkened.

"Of course," he muttered. "Ultron doesn't let a defeat go unanswered."

Sara looked at him, worry creeping back in. "Another Colossus?"

"No," Max said. "Something worse. He knows we're a threat now. Which means next time... he's not just sending a machine. He's sending an army."

He turned back toward the city. "But let him come. We won't be hiding anymore."

He lifted his hand, projecting a crimson holographic map over the battlefield. It expanded far beyond their own territory — highlighting distant signal nodes, possible enemy strongholds, and shattered remnants of resistance bases.

"It's time we stop defending," Max said. "It's time we hunt."

Sara clenched her fists, lightning crackling unconsciously. The others gathered around, gazes hardening with resolve.

Max's eyes burned.

"This is no longer just survival," he said. "This is war."

And in the distance, through the blood-red clouds, a second pulse flickered in the sky — Ultron's next message. Not in code. Not hidden.

Just one word.

"Ascend."

***

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