Infiltrating the Internet

"That guy is hiding in the internet." Stark frowned. "He could be in any system in any department, or anywhere else. He's a program, like a ghost wandering the Earth through the network. He can't be captured at all."

"Indeed." Richard, who was in the director's office, nodded. "Unless you throw him some bait—something he might be interested in—and set up a data trap. Three minutes. We only need to trap him for three minutes, and we'll have a chance to take him out in the digital world."

Stark tapped the transparent glass tabletop with his knuckles.

"Something he'd be interested in? Like what? A plan for human extinction?"

"That's an idea." Richard nodded seriously.

Stark narrowed his eyes. "Are you joking?"

"I'm serious," Richard said. "Ultron is very smart, but he's still just a program, right? We have to play by a program's rules."

Stark paused, thought for a moment, and quickly grasped what he meant.

"I see. I understand now." He spoke thoughtfully, as though a new path of thought had opened up before him. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s network division will handle that."

Richard smiled and scratched his head. "Not to be discouraging, but I have to say, I really can't praise S.H.I.E.L.D.'s cybersecurity. I think you noticed that back when Fury was still director."

Stark tilted his head and thought about it. It really did seem to be true. Back then, he had felt that for a high-profile international organization like S.H.I.E.L.D., their cybersecurity was utter crap. Every time Stark hacked into their systems, it was like child's play. He had secretly thought then that if he ever became director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he would fire the entire department.

"Fine. Maybe I should handle it myself," he said.

"I do have someone to recommend for the hacking work," Richard said.