Watching Mephisto vanish, Peter turned to examine the poor soul who had been possessed by the demon lord, letting out a surprised "Huh?"
Strange looked over. "What is it? Someone you know?"
"...Not exactly a personal acquaintance. This guy is a follower of Ultron—his right arm is a mechanical prosthesis," Peter said as he released nanobots from his Nanosuit and put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses. "Yep, his body is packed with Ultron's cybernetic implants."
"The artificial intelligence you guys have been fighting?" Strange asked with a frown. "Why would Mephisto possess someone like him?"
"I'm afraid it's a warning. Ultron modified his cultists with nanobots, which means we'll likely have to fight these people when the time comes," Peter said as he provided basic first aid to the man. "The real problem is we can't just arrest these people in advance; all we can do is monitor them. If I had to guess, when the day of Ultron's arrival comes, they'll be turned into some kind of walking... brainwashing devices."
The connection between the nanobots and the cybernetic implants was something Ultron had warned Peter about. Following that hint, the Avengers had retrieved data on all of Ultron's cultists and attempted to place them under surveillance. Tony had even created a specialized virus designed to paralyze their prosthetics and round them up when Ultron iterated.
That was the tough part about being a superhero—everything required careful consideration. They couldn't just place these people under preemptive detainment; interfering with their normal lives without a concrete incident would cause endless trouble.
"As long as you guys have a plan. I really don't feel like seeing super-robots crawling all over the world, forcing me to figure out a way to save you all when the time comes."
"Then why don't you lend a hand earlier?"
Strange gave Peter a cold glare before opening a portal and stepping through. Peter let out a sigh and took off his glasses. Fortunately, everyone had been using perception-blurring magic earlier, so none of the bystanders realized that Peter Parker—a seemingly ordinary guy—had any connection to those two.
Shaking his head, Peter walked along, deep in thought. Mysterio's new helmet would likely be of limited use against Ultron. It wasn't that Ultron had figured out how to pierce Mysterio's illusions, but rather that as an artificial intelligence, Ultron could simply memorize every building in New York City beforehand and navigate purely by raw data when the moment came.
Come to think of it, how does an AI fight?
Pondering this, Peter pulled out his phone and gave Cindy a call, then reached out to Jessica. Neither of the two Spider-Heroines had anything that required special instructions; Cindy was completely reliable, and Senior Jessica had been training with S.H.I.E.L.D. lately, so her combat capabilities were assured...
At the very least, giving them a quick heads-up would ensure they could keep themselves safe during the battle.
As for Gwen...
Truth be told, Peter didn't want any of them dragged into the fight, but he had no idea how Ultron would act this time, or how his "Gospel of Ultron" operation would be carried out. Gwen's combat skills had always been somewhat subpar—after all, her various powers meant she didn't really need advanced hand-to-hand combat skills, though she had been learning them anyway.
Gwen had been squeezing time out of her schedule to learn martial arts from Felicia, something Peter had only learned recently. Though Peter wasn't entirely sure whether Gwen could actually learn solid fighting techniques from Felicia...
On the other hand, if they faced massive area-of-effect attacks, the risk of Gwen being collaterally injured was a very real concern. Peter needed to warn her in advance so she wouldn't end up getting hurt while activating her abilities. After all, Peter hadn't even tested that move himself, making its theoretical destructive potential a complete mystery.
As time ticked closer to Christmas, more and more signs pointed to an impending war. By December 20th, news outlets began widely reporting that the Avengers and the government had started relocating hospitals, tech assets, and government officials. There was no question about it—relocations were happening on a massive scale, moving people out to open, rural areas not just in New York, but across the nation and around the world.
Many began to harbor doubts, thoroughly bewildered as to what was happening. Why were the Avengers keeping the details under wraps?
Soon enough, a leak hit the press: an artificial intelligence developed by the Avengers scientist Hank Pym had spiraled out of control and was planning to conquer the world. The Avengers were mobilizing to fight it.
Until this very day...
"This is completely counterproductive—absolute madness! A report like this is the last thing we need right now."
Having already arrived on the East Coast, Captain America threw the newspaper onto the table with a scowl, complaining over the comms channel: "Coverage like this only makes things harder for us. Everyone is using this moment to attack Pym. It does nothing to resolve the situation, yet they're throwing themselves into it as if lynching Pym will magically solve the problem."
"We all know Ultron was brought back by Mephisto, and Hank deleted Ultron long ago," Wasp's voice sounded deeply worried. "I don't know... but it feels strange."
"Of course it's strange. I'd bet money this was deliberately orchestrated by certain people. They're just desperate to prove that the Avengers aren't heroes, just a bunch of self-important, super-powered jerks."
Tony was immensely frustrated by the situation, venting sarcastically in the Avengers comms channel: "I bet Hydra didn't even have to lift a finger for this. Those media scumbags never miss a chance to drag someone into the mud. Believe me, I speak from experience—twice over."
Tony was visibly infuriated with the media. The fallout from the leak was that a vast number of people had not only begun doubting and questioning the Avengers, but were actively refusing to cooperate with their efforts. The reports had produced a disastrous backfire; countless citizens, distrusting the Avengers, chose not to evacuate to the suburbs or countryside.
It really made one wonder if the people running those outlets were even human.
"Could this actually be Ultron's doing?"
Peter crouched atop the Empire State Building, chatting with the team. Today was December 24, 2013. Everyone was bracing for Ultron's arrival. Peter silently watched the clock tick closer to 7:00 AM, awaiting the storm.
After discussing the situation for a while, the team noticed Pym had remained silent throughout. Cap asked with genuine concern, "Are you doing alright, Hank?"
"I'm fine, Captain. Don't worry, what they're doing won't get to me."
Pym spoke as he stared at the bio-modified synthoid before him. "Ultron is my responsibility. I still have a job to finish."