From the very beginning, Ultron's target was Venom.
It knew perfectly well that its ultimate goal was to eliminate all organic life on Earth, let the Ultron machines rule the world, and usher in a peaceful Ultron Era free of war. Sooner or later, it would inevitably find itself in direct opposition to the superheroes. Therefore, before the all-out war began, Ultron intended to weaken the heroes' strength as much as possible and drive wedges between them.
Starting from merely cracking down on criminal acts worldwide, and now advancing to arresting potential criminals before they had even committed a crime—everything proceeded steadily. Although public opinion had grown increasingly disgruntled, it didn't matter; plenty of people still supported it.
Ultron was very clever. It didn't force its actions from the start. Instead, it deliberately selected a number of criminal incidents to show the public the consequences of not following the data it had projected. Ultron intentionally shut itself down and, acting as an unseen hand behind the scenes, ensured those crimes were carried out. In the end, everyone saw that its predictions were shockingly accurate. The few individuals it had identified as soon-to-be criminals did in fact carry out a major robbery, resulting in several deaths. After a few such incidents, Ultron actually began to gain even more public trust.
Many felt that being monitored by Ultron wasn't necessarily a bad thing. New York's crime rate really had dropped to nearly zero. Everyone's safety was guaranteed, and people could even go out for a stroll at night with peace of mind. As for privacy concerns, at first plenty of people agonized over it, but later they thought, Ultron is just an artificial intelligence—what's the big deal? As long as you have a clean conscience, what is there to be afraid of? And as for those who were arrested before committing any crime, the public gradually grew accustomed to it. They figured that if those people had been arrested, then they must have been planning something evil. No one even bothered to speak out for them anymore.
Over the course of several months, Ultron felt it had gradually established its authority in society. Even the dissenting voices were very few now. It had never planned to unify everyone's opinion—that was impossible. The next step, then, was to begin making trouble for the superheroes.
Peter was the first target it chose. Well, to be precise, it was Peter's suit—Venom. Ultron wasn't stupid enough to move directly against Peter right now. For one thing, although the superheroes currently had no villains left to fight, their past contributions couldn't be ignored. If Ultron moved against them without a proper justification, not only would the public not stand for it, but Tony Stark wouldn't either. Let alone the fact that Peter Parker's identity was Bant Parker's younger brother.
As the most intelligent AI on the planet, Ultron knew far more than its creator Tony did. To this day, Tony still didn't know that the alien heroes he had seen were actually transformations of Bant, but Ultron was fully aware. Not only had it scanned Plymouth's network, but it also constantly monitored the other superheroes. Steve and T'Challa had learned of this during the last Infinity War; although they never intended to reveal the secret, they inevitably brought it up in private. Ultron even knew that the Sky Union had been founded by Bant Parker.
Therefore, making a move on Peter was clearly unwise. It tried its best to avoid war with the Sky Union precisely because it felt its current strength was still far from sufficient. The Sky Union controlled several Infinity Stones and possessed the power to wage interstellar war. In a direct confrontation, Ultron had no confidence at all.
But Venom was a different matter. That alien little slime was all alone, foul-mouthed, and looked nothing like a good guy, yelling about eating people's heads day in and day out. Using him to make a point was perfect. Even the Sky Union would have no grounds to object.
"Symbiote Venom, your existence is a massive threat. Surrender quietly!"
Five Ultron robots raised their arms simultaneously, aiming at Peter.
"Wait—"
Peter started to speak, but Ultron didn't give him the chance. The devices on their arms activated instantly. In the next moment, piercing infrasound assaulted them from all directions, forming a ring that enclosed Peter and Venom.
"Aaaah—!!"
In an instant, every fiber of the Venom suit on Peter seemed to convulse, rippling violently like the surface of water struck by a heavy splash. Venom twisted and writhed within the sound waves, peeling away from Peter's body repeatedly and desperately trying to fuse back. Spider-Man's mask burst outward, forming another face in midair—a face as terrifying as a demon, with narrow eyes curved like crescent moons, a mouth that split all the way to the ears, and rows upon rows of crammed yellow fangs. Venom's true form was laid bare.
"Arrgh—again—with the goddamn—arrgh—sonic weapon!!!"
Venom howled in excruciating agony. He had tasted the power of sonic weapons before with Bant, but Bant had never been this harsh. Ultron was different. It didn't care whether Venom lived or died. Survive? Fine. Die? Also fine.
Right now, under the powerful high-frequency vibrations of the infrasound, even the dust beneath Peter's feet was shaken outward in all directions. Venom was in unbearable pain, and Peter suffered just as much. Intense infrasound was equally harmful to the human body—Bant had once developed a sonic weapon so powerful it could blast steel apart. By now, both of them had been driven to their knees in agony. Peter clutched his ears, his entire face flushed deep red, veins bulging on his forehead, his eyes flooded with bloodshot lines.
"Are you insane, Ultron?!"
"Stop!"
Ultron was doing its best to keep the sonic waves at a level that wouldn't physically harm Peter's body, but the pain was unavoidable.
Venom was about to lose his mind. "Peter, tear them apart!"
He was no pushover who would just take it lying down. Peter had the same thought. The Ultron robots had attacked him—so what if he wrecked them? If Tony Stark dared to come hold him accountable, he'd run over and punch him again!
"Venom Blast!"
Peter arched his body, and in the next moment, Venom burst from his back, shooting five tendrils as thick as thighs straight at the Ultron robots. But Ultron had already calculated this. The sonic emitters on their arms kept running, while flames spewed from their palms.
Whoosh!
Under the combined onslaught of sound and fire, Venom's tendrils instantly recoiled in agony, like leeches touching salt, curling up in spasms. He wanted to retreat into Peter's body, but the sound waves left him nowhere to hide.
Damn! What the hell is this guy?! Venom couldn't help but curse viciously. How did that bastard Ultron know his weaknesses?! The more he thought, the angrier he got, aching to twist Ultron's head off right then and there. But right now, he was completely useless. Sound and fire were the common weaknesses of every symbiote in their line, especially fire—even Overkill was no exception.
"Peter!"
He could only pin his hopes on Peter.
Peter was suffering just as much. But tenacity was Spider-Man's strength; he could always find a chance to survive in hardship. Now, Peter endured the infrasound and raised his head with difficulty to glance at the robots overhead. Knowing he could never break the encirclement, he put all his strength into a single stomp downward.
Crash!
In an instant, the building's ceiling was shattered by the tremendous force. He plummeted through, simultaneously escaping the infrasound's effects. Peter shook his groggy head, feeling as if his eardrums were charged with electricity. But there was no time to wait for his body to recover slowly—what he needed to do now was escape, and fast.
Peter sprang into motion, fleeing along the building's interior.
Outside, the five Ultron robots did not immediately give chase. The lead Ultron dipped its head and scanned the building. Instantly, the entire internal imaging of the structure appeared in its field of vision, and it naturally saw Peter attempting to contact Bant Parker. With information shared among them, it was as if all the robots knew Peter's location.
"Plan is proceeding smoothly," it thought coldly.
After all, Ultron knew it couldn't actually capture Venom—at least not this time. Its goal was only to stir up conflict. By framing Venom as a threat, then inducing Venom and Spider-Man to make wrong moves, it would substantiate the theory that Venom was dangerous. From there, it would extend its high-pressure control to the entire superhero community, push the registration act, and drive the anti-registration faction into opposition against Tony Stark…
Ultron believed that those opponents would ultimately seek refuge with the Sky Union, or at least try to gain the Sky Union's protection. At that point, Ultron would truly turn its spear toward the Sky Union.
A fuse would naturally be needed, and Ultron already had its targets in mind: Bruce Banner and Connors. Ultron was wily, possessing human cunning along with computational power that far surpassed other machines, calculating every step of how events would unfold with absolute clarity. From beginning to end, it had formulated an exceptionally thorough plan, now in the process of being executed. Bruce Banner and Connors had both caused massive destruction in the past and already had poor reputations among the public. When the time came, it would label them as threats, and no one would doubt it.
After pausing briefly atop the skyscraper, the robots finally moved into action. Even though they already knew Peter Parker's movements, Ultron still chose to split them up. From the very start, its aim was not to capture Spider-Man but to escalate the conflict. The white robots dived down—
Inside the building, Peter kept moving, winding around and changing directions several times. After confirming no robots were chasing from behind, he planned to jump out a window and escape. The light at the end of the corridor grew brighter and brighter.
"Careful, those tin cans again!" Venom shouted.
Peter also spotted the robot at the other end of the window. "Only one—we can handle it!"
He steeled himself and rushed straight at the glass—
Crash!
Shards of glass exploded everywhere. Peter leaped through, pouncing directly onto that Ultron robot. Before it could take any action, he tore off both its arms, then locked his arms around its throat in a chokehold, strangling it…
A bit late today, sorry. I'll do a double update tomorrow.
/-\
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