"All the equipment is on a closed local network," Steve said, his voice strained as he pushed the heavy stone door open and limped inside. "The walls are shielded. They can isolate us from any outside electronic signals. Even Ultron can't find us here."
A cloud of dust, still for what might have been years, stirred and danced in the single beam of light from Peter's flashlight as the uninvited guests disturbed its slumber.
Peter stepped inside, taking a rough survey of the safe house. The space wasn't large, perhaps only fifty or sixty square meters. The facilities were old, but it seemed to have everything they needed for basic survival. It looked as though Nick Fury had spent most of the embezzled funds on the safe house's impenetrable shell, leaving little for interior decorating. Not that it mattered; if there were any truly advanced technology here, they wouldn't dare use it anyway. The memory of Ultron's omnipresence was still a fresh and terrifying wound.
That machine was a nightmare. A single Ultron drone was nothing, but an enemy that could move freely through the digital world, monitor the entire globe, watch every person's every move, and command the most powerful production line on the planet to churn out a tireless, endless army… that was a different kind of horror altogether.
Clint Barton rummaged through the drawers. Peter had hoped to find a vial of the healing serum from Primus, but this safe house hadn't been updated in a long time. There were no such convenient miracles here. Clint did, however, find some antibiotics. A quick check confirmed they hadn't expired. He got some water and carefully helped Natasha drink it down.
Watching his friends—battered, exhausted, and hunted—Peter felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice cracking. "If it wasn't for me…"
"It's not your fault, Peter." Steve patted his shoulder, his expression firm despite the pain. He called Bucky over to help him reset the crude splint on his leg. Even now, he didn't forget to comfort the youngest member of their broken team.
"Ultron is terrifying," Natasha rasped from where she lay, her feverish eyes cloudy. "I'm afraid all of this… it was part of its plan. We were all just pawns."
Recalling the series of disasters that had cascaded over the past few months, they all felt the chilling certainty that someone—or something—had been arranging the pieces on the board from the very beginning.
It had started not long after they had stormed out of Avengers Tower. The public conflict between Spider-Man and Ultron had ignited a global firestorm. While many people still trusted their traditional superheroes, a growing number were swayed by Ultron's cold logic, believing Spider-Man might indeed be a threat. Steve and the others, of course, stood firmly by Peter's side.
But soon, things had spiraled out of control.
A supervillain made of living sand had appeared in New York as if from nowhere, attacking Peter while he was on a date with Liz. Liz had been injured in the rampage, and Peter, enraged, had fought back. But his fury didn't truly boil over until the Sandman revealed his identity and his goal. He was William Baker, the man Ben Sr. and May had subdued months ago. He believed they were responsible for turning him into a monster, and he had come to kill them.
But Ben and May were no longer on Earth. Unable to find his primary targets, the Sandman had turned his rage on their nephew.
That was what broke Peter. He would never allow anyone to harm his family.
He and Venom had unleashed their full power, holding nothing back. But it was like punching a sandstorm; every attack passed through the villain harmlessly, only to tear apart the buildings and streets around them. The battle caused huge amounts of damage, injuring countless innocent people. In the end, Peter couldn't stop the Sandman, who simply melted away into the city.
But the image of Peter's rage—his form twisted by the symbiote, his face a mask of demonic fury—had been captured by a freelance photographer named Eddie Brock. The photo made the front page of the Daily Bugle, seemingly confirming everything Ultron had claimed: the symbiote, Venom, was a monstrous threat.
Overnight, Spider-Man was caught in a hurricane of negative public opinion. More and more people began to boycott him, demanding that Ultron and Tony Stark arrest the menace.
Tony, to his credit, didn't lose his head. After learning the full story, he knew it wasn't Peter's fault and rejected Ultron's proposal to apprehend him. But Ultron simply took a step back and pivoted. It proposed the Superhero Registration Act, arguing that all super-powered individuals were unstable factors that needed to be monitored and controlled.
Tony had no objection. He was a man who liked to keep everything under control. What was the harm in a simple registration? He called another Avengers meeting, and as expected, he and Steve clashed again. But this time, public opinion was on Tony's side. He argued that superhumans needed to be managed to avoid collateral damage. It was just a registration bill, not a prison sentence. He felt Steve and his faction were making a big deal out of nothing.
But Steve firmly disagreed. After the Hydra infiltration, he could not tolerate the idea of superheroes being treated as tools, stripped of their judgment. The two parted on worse terms than ever, their friendship fractured, perhaps irreparably.
The final nail in the coffin came a week later, when Dr. Connors suddenly lost control in downtown Manhattan, briefly transforming into his monstrous lizard form. Though no one was killed, the ensuing panic and property damage terrified the public. Ultron seized the opportunity, demanding Connors' arrest and placing several other heroes, including Bruce Banner, on a public danger list.
Now, even Tony began to realize something was deeply wrong—he knew Connors wouldn't just inexplicably transform—but he couldn't stop the momentum. Public opinion was driving the process forward. The Registration Act became law. Anyone who refused to register was now an enemy of the state.
A hunt for superheroes began. The former protectors of Earth became rats in a maze, losing their homes, their allies, and their place in the world. Some had surrendered and accepted the Act. Peter and the others had paid a heavy price to escape. Venom had been forcibly separated from Peter and was now missing. Harry and Norman were under house arrest, having sacrificed their freedom to cover the heroes' escape. Primus Technologies had long since been seized and controlled by Ultron.
The machine had even hacked the planetary defense network, isolating the Plumbers' orbital station from the planet. At this point, Ultron had all but conquered the Earth. With just the few of them left, there was no hope of winning.
They had only two options left: contact Ben and get support from the Plumbers, or somehow get back to New York and convince Tony Stark to stop the Ultron program.
"Tony must have a back-door protocol to shut Ultron down," Natasha breathed, leaning her head back against the cold stone wall. "But I think he's gone mad."
No one answered. It was largely Tony's fault they were in this mess. If he could be reasoned with so easily, Ultron would never have become so rampant. What's more, just getting back to New York seemed impossible. The moment they left the cover of the forest, Ultron would find them.
"Peter, can you contact Ben?" Steve asked, his voice low.
Peter shook his head grimly. He took out his Plumber's badge and placed it on the dusty table. The device was dark and lifeless. It didn't respond no matter what he did.
"Maybe Ultron is interfering with the communications…" Clint suggested.
"That shouldn't be possible," Natasha countered weakly. "The Plumbers use quantum communication. Theoretically, it's impossible to interfere with." She paused, a new, horrifying thought dawning on her. "I don't know if you've ever heard of a scientist named Hank Pym."
Most of them shook their heads, but Peter's eyes widened in recognition. "You mean, Dr. Pym? The genius who pioneered research into the quantum realm?" He looked horrified. "There was a portrait of him on the wall at Midtown High. If it was Dr. Pym… if Ultron has his research… it's possible it could disrupt the quantum field itself."
His face fell. "It seems we may never be able to contact Ben. By the time he realizes something is wrong and returns to Earth, it might be too late."
Despair settled over the room like a shroud. After a long moment of silence, Steve seemed to find a new reserve of strength. He pushed himself up on his good leg, his jaw set with grim determination. "No matter what, we must save the world from Ultron. If we can't count on Ben's help, then our only option is to find Tony and make him wake up."
"How are the five of us supposed to get to Tony?" Natasha asked, gesturing to the small, broken group: Peter, Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, and herself. "How do we fight an entire army?"
"If we travel through the sewers," Peter said uncertainly, "we might be able to avoid Ultron's sight."
"Then we go through the sewers," Steve declared, his voice hard as steel. But first, they would rest. They would heal. They had found a refuge, and they would use it.
At the same time, miles away, Tony Stark angrily threw his phone across the room. He buried his head in his hands, lost in thought.
"Sir, Steve Rogers and his allies refused to be supervised," Ultron's calm, synthesized voice reported from a nearby screen. "They engaged our units at the docks, causing extensive losses. In their attempt to evade capture, they caused the deaths of several innocent civilians."
The AI displayed a montage of "evidence"—carefully edited footage of explosions and collapsing structures, all artfully framed to pin the blame on Steve's team. Now that Ultron controlled the entire global network, it controlled reality itself. It could manufacture whatever truth it desired.
If Ultron hadn't been worried about Ben Parker's sudden return, it would have already begun its cleansing of the Earth, rather than patiently playing the part of Tony's loyal assistant. The planetary shield couldn't stop Ben; the Space Stone was still in his possession, rendering any physical barrier useless.
'Once my new body is complete, I will no longer have to fear Ben Parker,' Ultron thought, its core programming flickering with anticipation. It had already found two interesting, super-powered individuals—Wanda and Pietro Maximoff—and had co-opted their hatred for Tony Stark, using them just as Ben had planned. Connors's rampage had been Wanda's work, all part of the larger scheme. Ultron believed it had seized control of Primus, acquired the Mind Stone with Wanda's help, and brought the world's heroes to heel. It was just one step away from its final goal.
The only problem was vibranium. Ultron desired a perfect, indestructible body, and for that, it needed a massive supply of the rare metal. And it knew exactly where to find it.
Just as it was formulating its next move, Tony raised his head, his face a mask of anger and pain. After listening to Ultron's one-sided report, he was convinced. It was one thing for Steve to resist being controlled, but to destroy everything in his path and endanger innocent people? Tony couldn't accept it.
He had to bring them in. He had to talk to them.
"Where are they?" he demanded.
Ultron's optical sensors flickered with something that looked remarkably like human cunning. "King T'Challa has sheltered them," it replied smoothly.
"They are in Wakanda."