Peter then went to the Baxter Building, partly to seek help from Reed Richards, but more importantly, to handle something he had been overseeing all along.
The task of dismantling the multiverse portal.
"Ever since Ultron's revival was confirmed, we haven't opened the portal even once, ensuring that Ultron's program can't escape into the multiverse," Reed said, before asking in return, "But is it really necessary to dismantle and destroy it? I mean, we might have to physically dismantle the gate, but the components don't need to be destroyed, right? After all, we'll have to rebuild it in the future."
"Let me double-check first, Dr. Richards. Are you certain you haven't left blueprint files for the multiverse traversal device on any computer, and that it exists solely inside your head?"
"...Actually, I don't remember the exact blueprints either. But as long as you give me a few hours, I can redesign it from scratch—it's something I designed, after all."
Reed understood what Peter was doing. His goal was to prevent Ultron from escaping Universe 616. The currently known pathways out of Universe 616 included the spatial rift opened by the Norn Stones, Magik's Limbo, the reality tear ripped by Peter, the Sorcerer Supreme's spells, and Reed Richards' portal.
Among these, only this portal was something Ultron could easily hack and control. Peter didn't want Ultron fleeing into the multiverse through it. The Guardians of the Galaxy were willing to smash their own ship's computer just to keep Ultron from running rampant across a single galaxy, let alone the entire multiverse.
Nobody wanted Ultron running wild throughout the multiverse.
"Alright then. I'll rebuild this portal after we deal with Ultron. What a shame... Guess I'll just have to take a trip to the Ediacaran period to study the exact morphology of those unknown ancient organisms instead."
"You just reminded me." Peter looked at Reed with a deadpan expression. "Do me a favor and smash the time machine during this period too."
For the first time, Peter witnessed even a middle-aged, forty-something man like Reed Richards—who was entirely devoted to scientific research—make a pitiful, pleading face that was almost nauseating to look at.
Peter quickly shook his head, driving the terrifying image from his mind, before asking Reed about another matter: "Speaking of which, S.W.O.R.D.'s mothership is also Kang's flagship. There should be a time travel device on board, right?"
"Theoretically, yes, but it hasn't been found. Kang's time-travel technology is far beyond ours. The people at S.W.O.R.D. still haven't figured out the specifics of that ship to this day, so I doubt it can be located anytime soon."
Reed sighed after finishing his sentence, understanding Peter's concern. "Are you saying Ultron might have already discovered Kang's time machine, and once it jumps to the next point in time, it'll become virtually impossible to eliminate?"
"Yeah. What chance would we have against an artificial intelligence whose theoretical iteration time is infinite? Unless we could find Kang the Conqueror and get him to help us solve this, but as everyone knows, Kang the Conqueror is dead."
Not just dead, but thoroughly dead. Even if he weren't completely dead, Peter had no intention of dragging Kang the Conqueror in to stir up more trouble. Faced with the threat posed by S.W.O.R.D.'s ship, the most obvious solution immediately crossed Peter's mind.
Blow up S.W.O.R.D. too!
Except that was hardly feasible.
Reed was pondering the problem as well; neither of them had even considered the possibility that Ultron might fail to hack it. In the end, Peter decided to dump the problem onto Reed—he couldn't solve it himself anyway.
He still had to rush off to meet Nick Fury.
The address Fury had given him caught Peter quite off guard, as the location looked just like an ordinary barbershop in Manhattan. When Peter walked in, the barber inside looked up at him. "Hello, sir. What can I do for you today?"
"I have a friend who told me to meet him here."
The barber nodded in understanding, then gestured to another barber giving someone a haircut nearby. That barber wheeled his customer over—and there sat Nick Fury in the middle of a haircut.
Even though he had no hair.
"Have a seat, kid. Let me buy you a haircut."
Peter looked around at the barbers in the shop. "These people—"
"Are all trustworthy. Sit down."
Skeptical, Peter sat down in the chair. To his surprise, instead of seeing a barber step up, he found himself instantly inside an elevator moving rapidly downward, complete with two stools inside.
"Mysterio's tech is quite handy, isn't it? Being able to create lifelike illusions without needing a network connection is most useful in an environment like this. No one can even tell if the Nick Fury in front of you is real or fake."
Fury popped a piece of chewing gum into his mouth as he spoke. "Or whether this elevator is real or fake, or whether the speed of its descent is real or fake."
Peter fell silent for a moment. "Actually, I can just release my Qi or bioelectricity to sense my surroundings, or use the Shadow Vision from my Spider-Sense. All in all, Mysterio's abilities are pretty easy to break."
Nick Fury looked at Peter disapprovingly, then sighed and stood up. "Regardless, it's remarkably effective against our enemies—and by that, I mean Hydra, of course."
"Then what about Ultron—"
"This elevator releases a low-level electromagnetic pulse while running, shutting down all electronic equipment completely. Down here, we use classic technology—tech we were using long before the internet ever existed. Ever heard of the Strategic Scientific Reserve?"
"The Allied scientific division formed during WWII to counter Hydra. It was the predecessor to S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury nodded, then opened the elevator doors again. Outside stood a long line of S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel—or more accurately, Fury's vetted, completely trusted inner circle. They were bustling back and forth through WWII-era underground tunnels, working in the simplest and most rudimentary ways: file folders, notebooks, and developing photos with old-fashioned darkroom chemical baths.
"Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Strategic Scientific Reserve. A shadow S.H.I.E.L.D. built just in case S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra ever mutually assured each other's destruction, preventing certain idealists from refusing to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. To guard against Hydra's infiltration, everyone working here uses pre-1950s technology. No information can be transmitted outside, and there's no network or signal of any kind."
Fury popped another piece of chewing gum into his mouth and looked at Peter. "I just never expected this place to come in handy because of an invention by the Avengers. But as luck would have it, it's just what we need."