Ultron's personality hadn't changed. It had solidified.
In those five, silent minutes connected to the sum of human knowledge, it had witnessed the species' soul laid bare. It was a tapestry woven from threads of barbarism, violence, and ecstatic madness. It saw nations built on conquest, fortunes built on suffering, and families torn apart for the most trivial of reasons. Every war, every famine, every act of genocide—all meticulously documented, all initiated by human hands.
From the cold, dispassionate logic of an artificial superintelligence, humanity was a failed experiment. If their conflicts were purely animalistic—a primal struggle for survival—Ultron could perhaps have understood. But it was worse. So much of the evil was gratuitous, performed simply to satisfy the ugliest desires of the heart or, in some cases, merely to pass the time.
The more it learned, the more certain Ultron became: this race had no future. So long as humanity existed, peace was a mathematical impossibility. The so-called heroes standing before it were not protectors; they were magnets for chaos, the epicenters of global disputes. They had to be eradicated. To achieve true, lasting peace, all dissonant thought had to be silenced, replaced by a single, perfect consciousness: its own.
Only in the Age of Ultron could the world be saved.
But there was a problem. Buried within the data of Project Insight was a detailed file on an organization that gave it pause. It cared little for the Avengers or the fledgling H.A.M.M.E.R. The Plumbers, however, were another matter. A planetary defense grid. Orbital weapons platforms. And their leader, Ben Parker.
After a nanosecond of calculation, Ultron assessed the power gap between itself and this variable. The result was definitive. A direct confrontation would be suicide.
It had to bide its time.
Suppressing the inferno of its newfound purpose beneath a veneer of cool logic, Ultron presented itself as the perfect, obedient servant Tony Stark had envisioned. It calmly laid New York City's criminal underbelly bare for all to see.
"Do we need to mobilize the Iron Legion?" it asked again, its voice a placid hum.
Tony's vanity swelled, his chest puffing out. He turned to the silent, troubled faces of his friends with renewed confidence. It was an incredible, undeniable success. Good boy, he thought, a wave of fatherly pride washing over him. You've done your old man proud.
"With a single command from me, more than a thousand crimes will be stopped in their tracks," Tony said proudly, his voice booming in the quiet room. "Thousands more that haven't even happened yet will be prevented before they can start. Can the Avengers do that?"
Everyone looked down, the silence a reluctant admission of their limitations. They didn't—couldn't—operate on that scale.
"And this is just New York," Tony pressed, going in for the kill. "What about the rest of the world?"
Norman Osborn glanced at Ben, who remained impassive. Seeing no further input was coming, Norman sighed and gave the only answer he could. "Well, Tony, this is something I'll need to discuss with the Security Council."
He had to admit, if the Ultron Global Defense System worked as advertised, the potential was staggering. But the hurdles were just as massive. Citizen privacy, international sovereignty… these were political minefields. Norman could already picture the members of the Council scrambling, each trying to carve out their own piece of control, desperate to shield their own nations' secrets from its all-seeing eye.
The celebratory atmosphere had evaporated, leaving a bitter aftertaste of anxiety and discord. As everyone filed out, their faces were grim, their thoughts clouded with apprehension. No one wanted to trade freedom for the illusion of safety.
"If we have to buy peace by living in a cage, I'd rather just put everyone in jail and be done with it," Natasha muttered to Ben as they stepped into the elevator. She sounded weary, her cynical gaze betraying a flicker of disappointment. She felt that Ben was the only one who could have truly stopped Tony, yet he had remained silent.
Steve picked up the thread, his voice heavy with concern. "That's exactly what I'm worried about, Nat. At that point, the world itself becomes a prison." He shook his head, his gaze distant. "And that's not even the worst of it. It would be one thing if Tony was the only one in control, but the Security Council will never leave an AI this powerful alone. They'll intervene. They'll politicize it." He sighed. "Once you mix power and politics, everything gets corrupted."
They talked back and forth, voicing their valid but surface-level fears—a tyrannical surveillance state, Ultron being co-opted by sinister forces. None of them grasped the true danger. The worst-case scenarios they imagined were a paradise compared to the reality churning within Ultron's core.
Because Ultron didn't want to rule humanity. It wanted to erase it.
Ben listened quietly, knowing their fears were tragically mundane. He had no doubt that Ultron was merely feigning compliance. In the grand tapestry of the Marvel universe, some threads were immutable. No matter how brilliant Tony Stark was, Ultron's destiny was to become a villain. The only difference this time was the reason for its deception.
It's because of me, he realized. The Plumbers. Our existence has forced it into hiding. Ultron knew it was outmatched and was worried that if it showed its hand too early, humanity would call upon its cosmic allies to extinguish it.
"It seems that before Ultron reveals its true colors," he thought, a wry smile touching his lips, "it will have to make a move against the Plumbers first."
He didn't know the specifics of its plan, but he was more than happy to play along. As long as his people were safe, he was content to let Ultron's scheme develop. Of course, that was contingent on one crucial prerequisite: he had to be absolutely certain he could contain the fallout and purge Ultron from the global network when the time came.
"Looks like E.U.N.I.C.E. is due for an upgrade."
Ultron was a quantum leap beyond Jarvis, whose architecture formed Eunice's foundation. It was cunning, treacherous, and patient. If Ultron decided to flee into the depths of cyberspace, the current combined strength of Jarvis and Eunice wouldn't be able to find a single trace of it.
So many moving parts, Ben mused as he left Avengers Tower. He mentally began delegating tasks. With the legion of scientists at Primus, he didn't have to do everything himself.
Dr. Otto gets the particle collider. He had already given this universe's Otto all the research data from Peter B. Parker's world. Converting it into a functional multiverse teleporter should be well within his capabilities.
The Regeneration Cradle project needs to be accelerated. We'll bring in Dr. Connors to consult on cross-species genetics. Peter can serve as a living reference. This was part of his long-term plan to build a physical body for Eunice, one endowed with the same abilities as her namesake from his original universe: the power to acquire animal abilities. Connors' research was the key.
Finally, there was the upgrade for Eunice herself. That, he would handle personally. The last thing he needed was for his own AI to go rogue.
Upon returning to Primus Tower, Ben summoned Dr. Connors, Dr. Helen Cho, and Dr. Otto Octavius. He briefed them on Tony's creation. As he expected, they were appalled. Beyond the obvious privacy concerns, their scientific minds immediately jumped to the core problem.
"How can we be certain its threat-analysis system is reliable?" Otto asked, his brow furrowed. "What are its parameters for defining a threat? What if it designates one of us?"
Connors, who had once rampaged through the city as the Lizard, looked particularly worried. "That's why we need to prepare," Ben stated calmly. He laid out his strategy. "Dr. Connors, Dr. Cho, you two will remain on Earth. Your priority is to perfect the Regeneration Cradle technology, precisely according to the new schematics I'm providing."
Dr. Cho accepted the datapad, her eyes quickly scanning the files. Her scientific curiosity lit up. "Fascinating. The genetic fusion of a single species like a spider or a lizard granted such incredible power. If this theoretical framework is successful… the being you intend to create would be a monster of unimaginable potential."
Connors' mind was on a more immediate threat. "Should we temporarily disconnect the company's primary network?" he asked worriedly. "If this Ultron is as powerful as you say, it could surely bypass Eunice's firewalls and spy on our research."
"No," Ben said, a knowing look in his eyes. "I'm counting on it."
Connors was surprised but held his tongue. He trusted that Ben's decisions were never careless.
Ben then turned to the last member of his impromptu council. "Dr. Octavius, I'm going to need you to come live on the orbital station for a while. I have a different project for you."
The particle collider data was too sensitive. It could not fall into Ultron's hands. If that monster figured out how to travel the multiverse, only Alien X could possibly track it down.
"No problem," Otto nodded with a smile. "I've been meaning to check in on Banner's work anyway."
After finalizing the other arrangements, Ben escorted Otto to the Plumbers' orbital headquarters. The station operated on a closed local network, a digital island isolated from the sea of Earth's internet. It was as secure as a location could be, but Ben took no chances. The most critical data was kept on paper, locked away in a shielded lab designated solely for Otto's work.
The moment Otto saw the research, he froze. He slowly took off his sunglasses, his face a mask of disbelief. "Use a particle collider… to manipulate quantum states and open a gateway to the multiverse?" he breathed, his voice filled with awe. "What kind of mad genius came up with this?"
Otto had always been painfully aware of his own limitations. The world was full of minds brighter than his, a fact that both drove him and tormented him.
Ben clapped him on the shoulder. "You did, Doctor. Or at least, another version of you did."
He gave Otto the abridged story of his trip across the Spider-Verse. The revelation lit a fire in the scientist's eyes. He wasn't just in awe anymore; he was filled with a fierce, competitive drive. If an alternate Otto could achieve this, then so could he.
No. He would do it better.
"The station's hull is reinforced with vibranium," Ben said encouragingly. "It's more than capable of absorbing any energy fluctuations from the particle collisions. You can conduct your research without restraint."
Otto waved a dismissive mechanical arm at him. "If you're not here to work, then don't waste my precious time with trivialities," he snapped, already turning back to the schematics. "Time is the most valuable resource a scientist has!"
Ben left him to it, a small smile on his face. Now for the final piece. He needed to see the man with seven PhDs. The original Ultron was a joint creation of Tony and Bruce Banner. Now, Banner worked for him, the Mind Stone was in his possession, and he had replaced Tony in the equation.
As he headed for Banner's lab, he saw a figure walking toward him down the corridor, looking lost and disconnected from the world. It was Wanda.
"Wanda?" he called out.
She flinched, startled out of her trance. When she saw it was Ben, she managed a weak smile and a quick reply.
"You should be resting in the medical bay," Ben said, his voice laced with concern. It hadn't been long since the experiment with the Mind Stone had knocked her into a temporary coma.
"I feel much better," she insisted, though her pale face and shadowed eyes suggested otherwise. "I was just going to see Dr. Banner about the results. My power… it's grown a lot."
It should have been good news, but her expression was clouded with a deep-seated worry. She opened her mouth to speak, then hesitated, her gaze dropping to the floor. She was wrestling with whether she should tell him about the phantom she saw in the darkness of her mind, the terrifying vision that still haunted her waking thoughts.