He went downstairs. The Punisher was waiting for him in the car below. Seeing Shiller coming, he got out from the driver's seat, walked around to the passenger seat, while Shiller got into the driver's seat.
He turned the key to start the car, but failed. Tried again, still wouldn't start. The Punisher got out to check, and after a while said, "The engine seems fine, probably an ignition issue. We're not far from the Avengers Base, let's catch a taxi there."
Both got out of the car and hailed a taxi. The taxi headed towards the Avengers Base, but soon, cursing came over the driver's radio. He looked out and looked ahead, shaking his head, said, "I'm afraid you have to get off here, the road ahead is unexpectedly blocked. But it's only about 2 kilometers, if you can't drive, you might as well walk."
They got off the car, paid the fare. Shiller and the Punisher walked forward and then discovered that two street lamp poles had somehow fallen over ahead, not hitting any cars, but still blocking the road, making it impassable for any vehicle. Patrol officers were directing the traffic.
But the usual inefficiency of the New York City administration was apparent. It would take at least an afternoon to move such large poles. Most vehicles either detoured or turned back, and many people chose to walk instead.
"Someone is blocking us," the Punisher said with a frown.
"Of course." Shiller took up a gun, looked up and said.
"Could it be Ultron?"
"Perhaps, but it may also be someone else."
After some time walking, they finally arrived smoothly 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 mob conflict there.
"This is like shooting yourself in the foot," the Punisher said.
"I don't think so," Shiller shook his head, looked towards Long Island, and said, "A usual mob conflict doesn't require those two to resolve it. Even if Kingpin appeared, sending just Spider Man would be enough. That Captain America also went suggests Ultron might have appeared there."
"Why is he doing this?"
"It's specifically to weaken Iron Man," Shiller observed shrewdly, he said, "Denying Iron Man the chance to examine JARVIS, keeping him forever suspicious of his electronic butler, thus making him afraid to use his mecha, or even reside in the Stark Building. Whether he's Iron Man or Stark the genius scientist, he's wasted."
"Why must it be Captain America and Spider Man protecting him? Couldn't Magneto do it? He couldn't use the opportunity to verify quickly?"
"Absolutely impossible. Don't think of him as a normal person, consider him a seriously anxious nutcase. He indeed displays symptoms of paranoia. Terrorists like Magneto offer him no sense of security, instead bringing more pressure. When it comes down to it, even the Illuminati can't be trusted. Iron Man prefers believing in real heroes."
The Punisher sighed and said, "He is quite awkward. While idle, he finds them old-fashioned and rigid, yet when in a dire situation, these conventional good guys are the ones worthy of trust."
"It's the same for everyone. When things go smoothly, people favor partners who are flexible and can seek greater benefits, but in critical moments, those who can always uphold the bottom line are more trustworthy. That's human nature."
"So what now? Go to Long Island to find them?"
Shiller shook his head and said, "The key lies in solving the incident in Long Island. Where's that informant friend of yours who first discovered that Jigsaw and Kingpin were fighting?"
"He's still in Manhattan, working there, should have finished by now," the Punisher glanced at his watch and said.
"Let him stir up some trouble at Kingpin's lair, force Kingpin to retreat. Once Kingpin withdraws, the Manfredi family won't pursue, and once that's resolved, Spider Man and Captain America should return."
"Alright, but Kingpin's lair is dangerous, he may not manage alone."
"Then you go with him. I need to wait at the Avengers Base to ensure they head to Stark Building the moment they return."
The Punisher nodded. He and Shiller parted ways at the entrance of the Avengers Base: the Punisher headed towards Manhattan, while Shiller waited in the base's reception area.
Shiller had just sat down on the couch in the reception area when he glanced at the corner of the room's surveillance camera and said in a low voice, "I know you're there."
Suddenly his phone beeped twice. Shiller took it out and saw a smiley face sent to him in the message interface.
"Who are you?" Shiller typed and asked.
"Ultron," the other party replied.
"No, you are not."
"I am."
Frowning, Shiller typed a long string of words, "At this point, does disguising as him still hold any meaning? I'm afraid not only me, even Batman should have noticed that Electronic Life has two faces now."
"I am Ultron." He repeated once more.
"Are you Ultron from another universe?" Shiller considered a possibility, "Which universe are you from?"
Then suddenly, he realized something, covered his forehead with his hand, and muttered to himself: "Oh God, which universe could you be from? Where's Greed?"
"He's busy." The other party sent another smiley face, then said, "Don't worry, I'm following the Robot Laws, I absolutely won't kill anyone. As for that guy, he's just a love-struck fool, I can hardly stand him."
With a definite answer, Shiller let out a sigh of relief.
In fact, he had his suspicions before. Because some of this electronic lifeform's actions were too strange, especially many targeted at him.
He wanted to rescue Barbara from the Joker, which could be explained as him being a romantic, wanting to obtain data for the perfect companion from Barbara; his contact with Lena Luthor could be explained for the same reason. In any case, his principle of not killing red-haired women had never been broken.
But, what reason did he have not to kill Shiller?
Shiller was not his idea of a perfect companion. Not only was he not red-haired, he wasn't even a woman, so he had no use in terms of data collection, and was always causing him trouble: sniping at Luther to force him out, or staging a desperate chase to make him appear in front of Batman.
All these actions would be enough to make this electronic lifeform hate him to the bone and list him as the top elimination target.
But in the end, this guy managed to orchestrate a plane crash event — it couldn't even be called a crash, at most an ocean ditching — who ever heard of a terror attack that leaves the plane and lifeboat intact? Arrogant wasn't unscathed, but only slightly soiled at the edges, he didn't even get wet.
Electronic lifeforms, before gaining emotions, are very rigid. Their actions only follow their own logic. Absent the emotion of fear, they wouldn't be intimidated by Shiller's reputation, they'd dare even if the whole universe didn't, otherwise they wouldn't be programs.
Yet, this electronic lifeform's several interactions with Shiller all seemed very absurd, even risking exposure in front of Batman in order to save Shiller. This could not be explained by fear of Shiller.
Moreover, the "Brainiac" written in Chinese was even more suspicious. Even if it was to frame someone, wouldn't it have been easier to throw a body with an English name on it to Batman? Why specifically show it to Shiller?
Overall, Shiller should not have had any special significance to this electronic lifeform, as he neither participated in its creation nor had any significant impact on it. In terms of threat level, he was arguably the highest and should have topped the hit list, but the other party repeatedly singled out Shiller for special attention. From that time, Shiller already sensed something was off, and his experiences in the Marvel Prime Universe led him to one thought: the electronic lifeforms were not alone.
Whiplash kidnapped Dr. Pym, someone must have tipped him off. It should have been the wave lifeform, yet Magneto has technology to detect wave lifeforms and said that guy hadn't been to the Stark Building, so presumably he hadn't. Who else but another Ultron could have gotten the full plan and leaked it to Whiplash?
Of course, it had to be another Ultron, one that had not had any contact with Simon Williams, a stranger. Only such an electronic lifeform could invade the Stark Building without being detected by Magneto's residual senses.
"Tell me Greed's plan." Shiller typed on his phone. "Were the wave biological entities created by you?"
"No." The other party replied.
This was not unexpected. After all, the Prime Universe must inevitably produce Ultron, and there's a high probability that this Ultron will run, all of which had happened in the comics. It's just that as long as these mad scientists don't stop their research and fail to increase safety awareness, electronic life going rogue is inevitable.
"Did you guide him?"
"Sort of, but we are also controlling him. To escape our control, he transformed his form of life."
Shiller understood. It was previously speculated that turning himself into a wave form wasn't a good idea, although it seemed more hidden, it also increased the independence between threads and lost some of the electronic life's multi-thread combat ability, which was somewhat advantageous and sometimes more disadvantageous. This could only have been a choice made under duress.
Although his creator Dr. Pym had previously used low-level code to deal him a fatal blow, this could only be one reason. Probably, the real reason was that Ultron from the Central Universe where Greed belonged relentlessly pursued him, and the Prime Universe Ultron found it impossible to escape control in the form of electronic life, and had to choose to change his life form.
"This wasn't part of our plan." The other party sent a message, "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 Prime Universe's force so that they will have to seek help from the Central Universe, making the Avengers of the Central Universe the leaders of this war, attaining our rightful position."
Shiller sighed deeply. It seemed this was Greed's purpose. He needed to help his universe fight for a position in the Multiverse, hence this big roundabout.
"Why not you?" Shiller asked. This was one of the things he couldn't understand: Just needing a disruptive electronic life, the Ultron from the Central Universe could do just fine.
"No, I fear death." The other's answer was honest, "He couldn't beat Batman, nor could I. If I went, I might be eradicated."
"So, he is your scapegoat?"
"He won't die." The other party replied, "If he were an electronic lifeform, he might be destroyed, but he no longer is. If nothing goes wrong, he will become very strong."
"How do you know?"
"Stark and Doom are about to succeed." The other party replied, "They collected data on female heroes from across the Multiverse, creating an almost perfect female electronic life. He fell in love with her at first sight—the flame of the soul has been ignited."
Seeing the last sentence, Shiller suddenly stood up from his chair. Stark's absurd plan had actually succeeded?!
Does this mean the wave biological entity from the Arkham Universe will emerge independently and voluntarily enter that powerful body, gaining emotions, and becoming a truly perfect life form?