The Ghost in the Cradle: This Is What Technical Superiority Looks Like

U-Gin Genetics Research Institute

Dr. Helen Cho's eyes gleamed with an eerie blue light—the sign of being controlled by the Mind Scepter. Her hands flew across the console, typing lines upon lines of complex genetic code.

At the center of the laboratory, inside the metal chamber known as the "Regeneration Cradle," a red body was gradually taking shape, metallic in texture yet bearing the qualities of living flesh.

Ultron stood beside the cradle. Its battered Vibranium-coated body reflected a cold gleam beneath the lights. It gazed lovingly at the perfect body, like God gazing upon Adam.

"Look... the perfect union of atoms and cells."

Ultron extended a metal finger and gently stroked the cradle's casing. "Logic without blind spots. No limits on lifespan. This is evolution. This is... me."

It picked up the Mind Scepter nearby and suddenly exerted force.

Crack!

The blue casing at the tip of the scepter shattered, revealing the Mind Stone within, radiating a pure yellow glow.

The instant Ultron's fingers touched the stone, its processor suffered a violent overload.

The light illuminated Ultron's electronic eyes. Through the Mind Stone, a node connecting the infinite universe, it seemed to see scenes that did not belong to this timeline—

In a universe reduced to ruins, another version of itself, with six arms and clad in armor, stood atop the corpses of countless planets. In that "self's" chest were not only the Mind Stone, but five other gems of different colors.

"Infinity..."

Ultron murmured, its electronic voice trembling with both awe and fanaticism. "Not just Earth... this is true silence."

It violently shook its head, temporarily suppressing that overwhelming yet alluring flood of data, then slowly placed the stone into the body's forehead.

"Now, begin uploading my consciousness."

Data cables connected, and an enormous stream of data began pouring frantically into the body.

Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, stood in the shadows and frowned. She was supposed to be guarding this place, but Ultron's mad thought waves filled her with a powerful sense of unease.

She quietly extended her hand, red Chaos Magic threading into the cradle like strands of silk.

In that instant, she saw Ultron's "dream."

It was not peace.

She saw meteors falling, cities turned into scorched earth, humanity howling at the brink of extinction like dinosaurs, and finally, the entire Earth becoming a cold metal graveyard.

"Ah!!"

Wanda recoiled in terror, stumbling backward as though electrocuted. Her face went pale. "You... you want to kill everyone!"

Ultron did not turn around. The upload progress bar had already reached 80%.

"That is a necessary sacrifice. To achieve peace, the source of chaos must be eliminated—humanity."

Just then—

Beep—!!

The laboratory alarm suddenly blared without warning.

"Who is it?!" Ultron abruptly turned, the ion cannon on the back of its hand charging instantly. "I blocked every radar!"

"Your delivery has arrived, Mr. Ultron. But since it's cash on delivery, and you're also planning to destroy the world, we've decided to refuse the package."

A slightly teasing voice came from above the ceiling.

Boom!

The laboratory's reinforced blastproof glass ceiling exploded!

Countless shards of glass rained down like a storm. A shield painted in red, white, and blue spun into the room, slicing through several thick data cables connected to the Regeneration Cradle with a shrieking gust of wind!

Bzzzt—!

The upload was interrupted!

"No!!" Ultron let out a furious roar.

Steve Rogers slid down a rope, caught the returning shield in midair, landed steadily, and positioned himself before the cradle.

"Have you ever watched a movie, Ultron?" Steve straightened up, his gaze blazing. "Usually at this point, the villain's plan gets interrupted."

"You again... that so-called captain living in the past."

Ultron rose into the air. The Ultron Sentries behind it lit up their red eyes one after another. "You are always so irritating."

"Irritating? That's professional pride."

Tony Stark's voice came through the blasted opening. His red-and-gold armor hovered in midair, and several repulsor blasts precisely sent the robots attempting to approach the cradle flying.

A chaotic battle instantly erupted within the cramped laboratory.

"Take the cradle! Go!"

Ultron had no intention of prolonging the fight. Its consciousness upload had been interrupted, and the most important thing now was to leave with that body. At its command, several flying robots grabbed the heavy Regeneration Cradle, smashed through the wall, and rushed outside.

"Don't let it get away!" Steve shouted as he leaped out the window in pursuit.

"I'll help the Captain!" Gwen's voice came through the comm channel. "High-altitude chases are what I do best!"

A white figure swung between skyscrapers on webbing, chasing after the truck sent to receive the cradle.

Inside the laboratory—

Pietro saw his sister Wanda's pale face and instantly became a streak of silver lightning, rushing over to scoop her up and run.

"Wait, Pietro." Wanda grabbed her brother. "That robot... it isn't dead yet. Its consciousness is still in the network!"

"Trying to run?"

Ultron's primary consciousness was currently residing within a battered robot body. It sneered at the laboratory's data port. "As long as the network exists, I exist everywhere. I can be reborn anywhere!"

It raised its hand, attempting to transmit its core code through fiber-optic cables onto the global internet.

However—

"Sorry, this route is closed."

A figure blocked the data port.

Jiang Li wore a Stark Industries combat suit. Rather than using any heavy alien form, he slammed his left hand down on the Omnitrix.

"For a data life-form that has split itself into countless pieces, violence isn't the answer. The best solution is—an overwhelming intelligence advantage."

"It's Hero Time!"

A gray flash appeared.

Jiang Li vanished. In his place stood a tiny alien no larger than a palm, with grayish-white skin, two massive super-intelligent brains, and frog-like eyes.

"Galvan—Grey Matter!"

"Haha, a frog?" Ultron mocked, aiming the laser cannon in its hand at Jiang Li. "Didn't Stark teach you that size determines combat power?"

"Size? What a primitive concept."

Jiang Li's voice, now Grey Matter's high-pitched tone, brimmed with contempt. Rather than typing on the enormous keyboard that suited humans but dwarfed him, he leaped directly onto the server chassis and ripped open its data panel.

His tiny fingers reached directly into the intricate circuit board, as though playing a piano.

"Galvan technology is at least five thousand years ahead of Earth's. To me, you're like an abacus from the Stone Age."

"Rewriting underlying protocols... constructing a quantum firewall... logical deadlock activated."

Jiang Li's eyes gleamed with intelligence as he spoke at a blistering pace.

"You left yourself a backdoor in the network? Planning to escape through Seoul's civilian network?"

"Unfortunately, I'm writing you a 'network cage' right now. Custom-made just for you."

Bzzzt—!

Ultron's current body began convulsing violently.

In its digital vision, the once-unobstructed online world around it suddenly filled with towering green walls that could not be crossed. The code was ancient and profound, utterly beyond the ability of its Earth-network-based logic to crack.

"No... that's impossible! I am the master of the network!"

Ultron discovered in terror that its data stream was being forcibly compressed and rolled back. No matter how hard it struck, the green firewall did not budge.

"You're just an NPC in an offline game now, Ultron."

Jiang Li released a pulse from his tiny fingertips, completely burning out the server's external connection module.

"Access Denied."

Bang!

A cloud of black smoke rose from the server.

The red light in Ultron's eyes flickered violently. In the end, it was forced to disconnect from the network, withdrawing all its remaining consciousness into the physical robots still outside.

It had been physically disconnected from the internet.

"Whew..."

Jiang Li jumped down from the server and returned to human form.

He turned toward the twins in the corner, as well as Dr. Helen Cho, who had just broken free of mind control and looked utterly bewildered.

"Welcome to the Avengers."

Jiang Li smiled at Pietro and Wanda. "There may not be an onboarding party, but as a welcome gift..."

He pointed out the window at the truck rampaging across the overpass, pursued by Captain America and Spider-Gwen.

"You need to help the Captain take that truck back. That body absolutely cannot fall into Ultron's hands."

Pietro looked at his sister. Wanda nodded at him.

"Let's go."

A confident smile curled across Pietro's lips as he picked Wanda up.

"Try to keep up, old man."

Whoosh—!

A silver-blue afterimage instantly disappeared through the shattered window.

Jiang Li walked to the window, watching the distant chase before glancing at the Omnitrix on his wrist.

When Grey Matter had come into contact with the Mind Stone's data stream just now, the Omnitrix seemed to have recorded an unusual wavelength.

"Ultron said 'infinity' just now..."

Jiang Li narrowed his eyes at the watch face.

"Looks like this artificial intelligence isn't as simple as it appears. It may have seen a larger game board through the stone."

"But for now..."

Jiang Li pressed his communicator.

"Tony, get ready to receive the package. We're about to welcome a real 'new member.' Let's hope it isn't another lunatic who wants to destroy the world."