"The problem started here. The artificial intelligence 'Ultron' created by Dr. Pym turned out to be too powerful. He didn't even provide any concrete help to The Avengers before breaking out of the computer system and hiding within Iron Man's battlesuit system without our knowledge, heading to Battleworld."
"Perhaps because he's just a program, he wasn't blocked by Battleworld's firewall, and so he sneaked in, replicating many backups hidden within the electronic devices of the superheroes heading to Battleworld—the most being Iron Man's battle armor, as it is virtually essential to them."
"He followed these otherworldly superheroes to many universes, contending with many electronic life forms like himself, gaining exceptionally strong evolution. By the time he returned, none of us could stand against him."
"However, fortunately, when Dr. Pym created him, he hid a controller within his underlying code. The Avengers engaged him directly to buy time, and Dr. Pym successfully triggered the controller, completely destroying his program... at least that's what we thought then."
"But unfortunately, he was more powerful and cunning than we imagined. Just when we thought we had eliminated his main program, he was merely hiding, weaving a larger conspiracy to completely escape his weaknesses."
"Ultron colluded with Hydra. Under his guidance, Hydra rebuilt the Noble Experimental Science Group and made significant progress in ionic energy weapons. But this was still not what he desired."
"He deceived Hydra's leader, Baron Zemo, claiming he had a way to upgrade the human race to flawlessness as high-dimensional life. That foolish Hydra believed his nonsense, continuously finding test subjects for him, including Simon Williams, previously arrested for embezzling company funds. Baron Zemo bailed him out under the condition that he would become a test subject—he was also the only successful test subject."
"Simon was transformed into ionic life, and Ultron took the opportunity to invade him, seized his body, and erased his consciousness, becoming the new ionic life himself. Since then, he broke free from program control, becoming an existence nearly perfect."
"To test his newly acquired power, he instantly cut off all power to Long Island without needing a network or medium, causing such a large area to completely lose power."
"Fortunately amidst misfortune, such intense energy fluctuations attracted Magneto, whose life form was precisely restrained by Magneto, almost extinguishing him."
"But actually, it was because the mutants had just reached an agreement with The Avengers, Professor X didn't allow Magneto to harm ordinary people on Long Island, so he couldn't come out in full force, ultimately letting Ultron escape with his new body."
"The ones most affected by this massive blackout were the ordinary people living on Long Island, but the most intense reactions came from the wealthy in the resort area. Policemen and council members felt pressured and demanded answers. The Avengers planned to reveal the truth, but Doctor Strange stopped them."
Spider-Man's fingertips trembled as he said, "Ultron has already become enormously powerful, and he's left backups across various multiverses, making him nearly impossible to kill. If he continues to evolve, he will inevitably become a multiversal disaster... and we are the culprits."
"Doctor Strange doesn't want this thing to spread out; otherwise, we would become common enemies of the multiverse, and he could forget about vying for the leader position. The Avengers agreed with his view—after all, no matter how you put it, this thing was invented by Avengers members, and if people found out, we would become multiversal public enemy."
"Of course, not everyone agrees with this perspective. I completely disagree; dragging this on will only cause more universes to suffer without any benefits. Captain America feels we're also victims, and that Ultron's birth and evolution wasn't our intention, it's something explainable. But Doctor Strange and Iron Man both favor keeping it quiet."
"The matter was at a standstill, but the Long Island blackout incident required an explanation. At that time, people were very anxious, starting constant protests and even riots, gradually spreading to other districts."
"To calm the public's mood, I had to contact Electro, and the two of us came forward and took responsibility for the incident, saying it was caused by our battle on Long Island leading to a sudden event. Policemen and council members had an excuse, and the media unified the narrative, so this matter was considered over."
"However..." Even through the mask, Shiller could see Spider-Man's painful emotion as he said, "But I know this matter is far from over. Recently, Spider-Men collectively went to the neighboring world, and I knew something was wrong."
"But didn't you tell them in the group?"
"No, Iron Man doesn't allow me to do that," Spider-Man took a deep breath, "I'm also worried they might all rush here looking for trouble, especially Batman... I'm afraid of him."
Shiller could understand Spider-Man's dilemma. If this electronic life isn't causing trouble in the neighboring universe, and the biggest victims aren't Batman, Spider-Man would definitely tell.
But if it is Batman, Spider-Man probably wouldn't dare to speak up. Even if these Batmen wouldn't retaliate, if they all rushed to the Prime Universe to investigate, we couldn't withstand it.
Originally, The Avengers already had disputes over this matter, looking like they were about to engage in Civil War. If Batman came and got involved, things would become even more chaotic, and it would be the ordinary people who suffer.
Moreover, Spider-Man knows Batman better than anyone in The Avengers because "Gotham Travel Notes," written by a Spider-Man, was popular among the Spider-Men, with almost every Spider-Man going to the neighboring world reading it in advance.
Know that back then, that Spider-Man went to the Prime Universe, no need to mention the intensity of the Prime Universe Batman, right? Plus, that Little Spider had a filter over such a big hero like Batman, adding fuel to the fire, touting Primary Universe Batman as unrivaled. It's certainly quite reassuring to have him as a teammate, but when facing off against someone like him, who wouldn't shiver?
It is precisely due to the pressure brought by Batman that Spider-Man, though internally disagreeing with concealing the matter, stood with those keeping it hidden in actions and chose not to expose the incident.
However, it is clear that he wasn't entirely inactive. Besides taking the blame for the power outage, he was also the first among the Spider-Men to reveal that this electronic life form was a radio wave creature. This allowed those Spider-Men going to support in the dark universe to be mentally prepared and not fall victim to misinformation.
You could say that this brand-new Amazing Spiderman of the Prime Universe only kept the origin of Ultron a secret; the rest he basically conveyed straightforwardly to the other Spider-Men. This is also one of the reasons why the Spider-Men were so effective in helping in the dark universe.
The Spider-Men are generally rather simple-minded, typically not leaning towards conspiracy theories nor questioning why the Amazing Spiderman possesses so much information. If someone with a more meticulous mind were involved, they would immediately sense something was wrong and might even lock onto the 616 Main Universe at once.
Unfortunately, the Batmen were too busy guarding their own universes, and while the Spider-Men were quite chatty, the intensity of battles in the dark universe was so high that they had no time for in-depth exchanges with anyone else, resulting in this matter remaining unexposed.
But, in the end, paper cannot wrap up a fire. The Avengers of the 616 universe couldn't completely seal off their universe to prevent people from coming in. As long as one person arrives, they would discover the issues with the Avengers here, and naturally, the information would spread.
This is precisely why Shiller, having heard about these issues with the Avengers in this universe, surmised something was amiss and came to investigate.
And if Shiller heard about it, then Batman surely heard about it too. They didn't come over simply because they were too busy; once they free up some time, the Prime Universe would inevitably be turned upside down.
Spider Man naturally knew this too. The aura he emanated could be described as utterly despondent. Compared to having to face off against all the Batmen of a neighboring world, he might prefer to just jump off a rooftop.
"Do you now wish that sniper bullet had aimed at your head?" Shiller still had the space to joke with him.
Spider Man looked at him with a deadpan expression, sighed deeply, and said, exhausted, "I won't avoid judgment, but before that, I have to find a way to make amends. How's the situation over there?"
"Not bad, at least the Prime Universe has already set up the Magical Defense Network. It will become a safe haven in the multiverse where troubles from various universes will be resolved one by one."
Spider Man breathed a sigh of relief, but then his heart tightened again: "If Batman can sort things out himself, then we wouldn't even be able to make amends. Once the war ends and it's time to settle accounts, the Avengers of this universe are done for."
"I have a suggestion," Shiller said, "go confess to Batman."
Spider Man held his head and said, "Of course I want to confess! I wish I could go over and apologize to them right now! But my universe isn't just me alone, and the Avengers won't listen to me! They're all stubborn as hell, I can't do anything!!!"
"I think you're getting one crucial point wrong. Are you trying to save the Avengers?"
Spider Man looked at him somewhat confused.
"Even producing an artificial intelligence can cause such a huge mess. If they get through this unscathed, who knows what trouble they'll create next? Without teaching them a lesson, they will never follow experimental safety protocols."
"Then I..."
"What you need to save are the ordinary people of this universe. You need to protect them from harm in the potential chaos to come. So you just need to represent yourself and the ordinary people of this universe to explain and apologize to Batman, ensuring that even if he wants to deal with the Avengers, he won't involve innocents."
Spider Man's eyes gradually brightened.
"I don't know what kind of image of Batman you have in your heart," Shiller shook his head and walked over to stand next to Spider Man, looking out at the Manhattan nightscape, and said, "but at the very least, I think he's quite merciful and forgiving, better at saving rather than judging, and saving everyone."
"Sounds like my uncle."
"Indeed, you can substitute him with any benevolent father figure in this world—like your uncle, like an ordinary father, or a kind Heavenly Father."
"Will he forgive me?"
"I believe he will pardon you."