amaotonovel Chapter 3962 MU Superbody Major Event (42)
Chapter 3962 MU Superbody Major Event (42)
Chapter 3962 MU: The Superbody Incident (Forty-Two)
He went downstairs. The Punisher was waiting for him in his car. When he saw Schiller arrive, he got out of the driver's seat, walked around the car, and sat in the passenger seat, while Schiller got into the driver's seat.
He turned the key to start the engine, but it failed. He tried again, but it still wouldn't start. The Punisher got out to check, and after a while said, "The engine is fine, it's probably a problem with the ignition. We're not far from the Avengers headquarters, let's take a taxi there."
The two got out of the car and hailed a taxi. The taxi headed towards the Avengers base, but soon after, the driver started cursing over his walkie-talkie. He leaned out, looked at the road ahead, shook his head, and said, "I'm afraid you'll have to get off here. I don't know why the road ahead is closed. But it's only about 2 kilometers away. If you really can't manage, you can walk."
They got out of the car and paid the fare. Schiller and the Punisher walked on, only to find that two lampposts ahead had fallen over, blocking the road and preventing any vehicles from passing, though they hadn't hit the car. Police officers were directing traffic.
However, New York City's municipal efficiency has always been low. Moving two such large streetlights would take at least an afternoon. So most cars either detoured or turned around, and many people chose to abandon their cars and walk.
“Someone is blocking us,” the Punisher said, frowning.
“Of course,” Schiller said, picking up his gun and glancing up at the gun.
Could it be Ultron?
"Perhaps, but perhaps it's someone else."
After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the Avengers' base. But upon arrival, they were told that Captain America and Spider-Man had gone to Long Island to deal with a large-scale gang war there.
"This is a case of shooting oneself in the foot," the Punisher said.
“I don’t think so.” Schiller shook his head and looked in the direction of Long Island. “Ordinary gang fights don’t need the two of them to handle. Even if Kingpin shows up, Spider-Man alone would be enough. Captain America is going too, which means there might be traces of Ultron there.”
Why did he do that?
"It's all to weaken Iron Man." Schiller saw it clearly. He said, "By not giving Iron Man a chance to check Jarvis, we'll make him forever doubt his electronic butler, so he won't dare to use the mech, or even stay in Stark Tower. Both Iron Man and the genius scientist Stark will be crippled."
"Why does it have to be Captain America and Spider-Man protecting him? Couldn't Magneto do it too? Why can't he take this opportunity to check him out?"
"Absolutely impossible. Don't treat him like a normal person; treat him like someone with incurable anxiety disorder. He does have symptoms of paranoia. A terrorist like Magneto can't give him any sense of security; on the contrary, it will only make him more stressed. When it really comes down to it, even those people from the Illuminati can't be trusted. Iron Man is more willing to believe in real heroes."
The Punisher sighed and said, "He's so awkward. When things are going well, he criticizes people for being old-fashioned and rigid, but when things get really desperate, it's these conventional good people who are the ones you can trust."
"Everyone is like that. When things are going well, people like partners who are flexible and can seek greater benefits, but in times of crisis, those who can always stick to their principles are more trustworthy. It's just human nature."
"What do we do now? Go to Long Island to find them?"
Schiller shook his head and said, "The key is that the Long Island incident needs to be resolved. Where is your informant friend who first discovered that the puzzle pieces and Kingpin were fighting?"
“He’s still in Manhattan, he works there, he should be off work by now,” the Punisher said, glancing at his watch.
"Send him to Kingpin's lair and cause some trouble to force Kingpin to return. Once Kingpin retreats, the Manfredi family won't pursue him. Once the matter is resolved, Spider-Man and Captain America should return."
"Alright, but Kingpin's stronghold is dangerous, and he probably won't be enough on his own."
“Then you go with him. I have to go to the Avengers headquarters and make sure I take them to Stark Tower as soon as they get back.”
The Punisher nodded. He and Schiller parted ways at the entrance to the Avengers headquarters: the Punisher headed to Manhattan, while Schiller waited in the headquarters' meeting room.
Schiller had just sat down on the sofa in the reception room when he glanced at the camera in the corner of the room and said in a low voice, "I know you're here."
His phone suddenly beeped twice. Schiller took it out and saw that someone had sent him a smiley face in the message interface.
"Who are you?" Schiller typed.
“Ultron,” the other party replied.
"No, you are not."
"I am."
Schiller frowned, then typed a long string of words: "At this point, is there any point in pretending to be him? I'm afraid it's not just me; Batman should also realize that cyber life has two faces."
“I am Ultron,” he repeated.
"Are you Ultron from another universe?" Schiller thought of a possibility. "Which universe are you from?"
Then suddenly, he realized something, covered his forehead with his hand, and muttered to himself, "God, which universe are you from? Where is the greedy man?"
“He’s busy.” The other person sent another smiley face and said, “Don’t worry, I abide by the laws of robotics and would never kill anyone. As for that guy, he’s just a hopeless romantic, I can’t stand him anymore.”
Schiller breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving a definite answer.
Actually, he had already had some doubts before this. Because some of the electronic life form's actions were too strange, especially its actions towards him.
His desire to save Barbara from the Joker can be explained as him being a love-struck individual seeking data on his perfect partner from her; his contact with Lena Luthor can be explained for the same reason. In short, his principle of not killing red-haired women has never been broken.
But what reason did he have not to kill Schiller?
Schiller wasn't the perfect partner he wanted. Not only was he not red-haired, but he wasn't even a woman. He was completely useless for his data collection and kept causing him trouble: either he would snipe Lex Luthor to force him to show himself, or he would stage a desperate escape to make him appear in front of Batman.
These actions alone were enough for this electronic life form to hate him to the core and list him as its number one target for elimination.
As a result, this guy managed to cause a plane crash—or rather, a forced landing on the sea—who in a terrorist attack leaves the plane and lifeboat intact? Arrogance wasn't exactly unharmed, but his clothes were only slightly dirty; he didn't even fall into the water.
Before gaining emotions, electronic life forms are rigid; their actions follow only their own logic. Lacking fear, they are not intimidated by Schiller's reputation. They dare to kill even those the entire universe wouldn't dare, otherwise they wouldn't be programs.
However, the electronic life form's actions in contacting Schiller each time seemed extremely absurd, even going so far as to expose itself in front of Batman in an attempt to save Schiller. This goes beyond the explanation that he was afraid of Schiller and dared not move.
Furthermore, the "Brainiac" written in Chinese is even more suspicious. Even if it was to frame someone, wouldn't it have been better to just give Batman a corpse with an English name on it? Why specifically show it to Schiller?
In short, Schiller shouldn't have held any special significance for this electronic life form. He neither participated in its creation nor had any significant impact on it. In terms of threat level, however, he was the highest and should have been at the top of the kill list. Yet, the other party repeatedly treated Schiller differently. From that point on, Schiller sensed something was amiss. His experiences in the main Marvel Cinematic Universe led him to the idea that there was more than one electronic life form.
Whiplash kidnapped Dr. Pym, so someone must have tipped him off. Logically, it should have been that radio-speech being, but Magneto possesses the technology to identify radio-speech beings. He said that guy hadn't been to Stark Tower, which likely means he genuinely hadn't. So who else could know the complete plan and leak it to Whiplash?
It must be another Ultron, a completely different Ultron who has never had any interaction with Simon Williams. Only such an electronic life form could infiltrate Stark Tower without being detected by Magneto's remaining body.
“Tell me about your greedy plan,” Schiller typed on his phone. “Did you create these radio-wave creatures?”
"No," the other party replied.
This isn't surprising. After all, Ultron was bound to be born in the main universe, and there's a very high probability that Ultron will escape—these are plot points that have occurred in the comics. It can only be said that as long as these mad scientists don't stop their research and their awareness of safety doesn't grow, the loss of control over electronic life is inevitable.
"Did you guide him?"
"I suppose so, but we were also controlling him. In order to break free from our control, he transformed his life form."
Schiller understood. He had previously speculated that transforming himself into radio waves wasn't a good idea. While it made him more covert, it also increased the independence between his threads and caused him to lose some of the multi-threaded combat capabilities of electronic lifeforms. It had its advantages and disadvantages, and sometimes the disadvantages outweighed the advantages. This could only have been a choice he made under duress.
Although his creator, Dr. Pym, dealt him a fatal blow using the underlying code, this is only one reason. The real reason is likely that Ultron, the central universe of Greed, relentlessly pursued him. Unable to escape his control in the form of electronic life, the main universe's Ultron had no choice but to transform its own life form.
“This wasn’t part of our plan,” the other party texted. “So ever since then, I’ve been trying to limit him.”
"You don't want me to help Iron Man."
"Yes, I want to weaken the main universe's fighting power so that they will have no choice but to turn to the central universe, allowing the Avengers in the central universe to become the leaders of this war and gain the status we deserve."
Schiller sighed deeply. It seemed this was the purpose of greed; he needed to help his universe compete for a place in the multiverse, which was why he had gone to such lengths.
“Why not you?” Schiller asked. This was one of the things he couldn’t understand: all that was needed was a disruptive electronic life form, and Ultron from the central universe could easily do the job.
"No, I'm afraid of dying." The other person's answer was honest. "He can't beat Batman, and neither can I. If I go, I might get wiped out."
"So he's the scapegoat you found?"
“He won’t die,” the other replied. “If he were an electronic life form, he might have been destroyed, but he isn’t anymore. If nothing unexpected happens, he will become very strong.”
"how do you know?"
“Stark and Doom are close to succeeding,” the reply came. “They’ve collected data on female heroes from across the multiverse and created a near-perfect female cybernetic life form. He fell in love with her at first sight—the flame of his soul has been ignited.”
Upon reading the last sentence, Schiller abruptly jumped to his feet. Stark's absurd plan had actually succeeded?!
Does this mean that the radio-wave creatures of the Arkham universe will break away and voluntarily enter that powerful body, gain emotions, and become truly perfect life forms?