Chapter 269: The Anti-Ultron Plan

Clark didn't explain in detail to Hank Pym about the specific process of returning the Soul Stone, even until the end.

In fact, Clark only casually mentioned this matter; he wasn't so nosy as to dig too deeply into it.

Compared to Captain America's encounter with the Red Skull, which was the kind of gossip everyone loves to hear, Ultron was the urgent and massive problem Clark needed to resolve!

In dealing with Ultron, Captain America only provided a directional opinion. As for more specific details, it wasn't something a professional soldier like him would fully understand.

Just like how Clark, who knew the plot well, could only tell Tony where to start in dealing with his palladium poisoning. If Clark had to get his hands dirty, he would probably make things worse.

It was fortunate that the feasibility of this method was still somewhat assured. Although Clark liked to tease Tony, he never doubted Tony's abilities.

Tony, who had personally experienced Ultron's catastrophe in Captain America's timeline, would naturally come up with an anti-Ultron plan. It was only logical.

Clark even guessed that Tony's method had been successful, but since a similar problem had never reoccurred, his contingency plan remained unused.

If Tony could do it, Clark firmly believed he could do it too!

Because he had resources far surpassing his opponent in his hands, whether in manpower, material resources, or even the financial power that Tony took pride in!

Upon returning to the Avengers base, Clark immediately convened Hank Pym, Tony, Fury, and Banner, the four top scientists on Earth, to jointly research this anti-Ultron plan.

If it weren't for Daisy being seriously injured, Clark would have called her too, pooling all available resources to combat this formidable enemy.

Honestly, when watching the movie, Clark felt that Ultron's intelligence was seriously nerfed. As an omnipresent AI, Ultron chose to create an inferior version of the Iron Legion for a tough fight, which seemed like a cursed fate.

If Ultron had been more cunning and not played big scenes like Magneto, perhaps plots like those in "Terminator" and "Days of Future Past," where Earth is ruled by robots, would have become reality.

And once the situation fell into such a state, Clark couldn't think of a better solution other than collecting the stones and snapping his fingers.

"Our primary task now is to prevent Ultron from causing more destruction to the world," Tony, who had been given decision-making power, first raised the issue of maintaining stability. "Ultron's evolution is incredibly fast. Although currently he only uses hacker attacks to disrupt the network, which isn't a significant trouble, there's no guarantee he won't resort to more extreme methods later."

Fury, hearing this, seemed puzzled: "Don't we have Eris? She can completely suppress Ultron in all aspects."

"It's different," Clark explained, patting Fury's shoulder from behind. "Although Eris is strong, she has a fatal weakness. Like us, as an ally of justice, she must act on principles and have a bottom line. But Ultron, I can't guarantee anything."

After this analysis, Clark thought for a moment, then a clone, identical in appearance, clothing, and temperament, appeared beside him. The clone said, "I'll coordinate with Fury and communicate with the council to handle any potential troubles, allowing my original self to continue researching countermeasures with you all."

Everyone had long known that Clark had the ability to create clones, and had previously left a clone to research the perfect serum formula. However, when they saw him demonstrate this ability publicly and use it so conveniently for multitasking, they couldn't help but feel envious.

But knowing that now was not the time to delve into these matters, Tony turned back to the main topic: "According to the plan, we first need to design the strongest body to maximize Eris's abilities and gain the upper hand against Ultron."

Clark then timely suggested: "The strongest body should be made of vibranium combined with flesh. Hmm… Maybe we should also call Dr. Helen Cho. Her achievements in this area should be helpful."

Hank Pym frowned: "But our current stock of vibranium is running low…"

"This is something I can handle," Fury volunteered. "The crisis posed by Ultron threatens all of humanity, and Wakanda has a duty to contribute."

After a round of discussion, a practical plan was soon drawn up, and everyone set out to implement it, acting swiftly and decisively.

As Clark had feared, Ultron soon changed his tactics. That evening, he abandoned his previous role as a professional hacker and tried a new trick.

Ultron's new method was spreading rumors about various political figures and top leaders, sending the clueless public into an uproar overnight.

To be accurate, these weren't entirely rumors.

After all, which politician doesn't have a dark history? As a top AI, it wasn't too difficult for Ultron to hack into some confidential databases, even with Eris's full-force counterattacks. It was hard to cover everything when on the defensive.

In just one day, Ultron gathered enough material to potentially destabilize the world.

Faced with overwhelming bad news and public opinion pressure, Fury felt overwhelmed: "Damn it. I didn't expect Ultron, an AI, to play this card. Now what do we do?"

Clark, however, remained calm and confident.

"Clark," Fury urged anxiously, "you seem to have a plan. Speak up! Are you trying to drive me crazy?"

"Why are you in a hurry?" Clark said nonchalantly. "Hasn't Fury already reached a consensus with various leaders? No matter what Ultron leaks, it won't become a weapon for them to attack each other. In the face of this global crisis, everyone stands united."

Hearing Clark's explanation, Fury still seemed worried: "Fury's maneuvering can only ensure stability at the top, but what about the general public and the media? Their doubts can't just be quelled by official statements, right?"

At this point, Clark smiled slyly: "In the end, Ultron is still too naive. It mechanically learns miscellaneous things from the internet, completely ignorant of human nature. If Ultron had used this tactic earlier or more cleverly, it might have caused me some headache."

"But at this level, it's child's play."

"Oh?" Fury entered the room, curious. "What do you mean?"

"If I were Ultron," Clark said, "I would start spreading rumors right away, instead of collecting true evidence. Fabricating evidence wouldn't be impossible for it. That way, at least we'd be caught off guard."

"And Ultron made a fatal mistake," Clark continued. "He shouldn't have released all the information at once. Like the Democratic and Republican parties—if he had elevated one while suppressing the other, the impact would be unexpected. But now that everyone's dirt is out, it's forcing all sides to ignore this data, as they're all holding each other's weak points."

Fury nodded slightly, acknowledging Clark's reasoning.

But he was more concerned about another issue: "Shouldn't we be thinking about how to eliminate the public and media's distrust of the government?"

"It's impossible to eliminate distrust, but we can fight fire with fire," Clark finally laid out his plan. "Hire people to fabricate even more outrageous rumors."

"Ultron claims Governor O'Malley is corrupt? We'll say he's a psychopath who must kill three people every day, no more, no less, calling it 'One Day, Three Murders'…"

"And a certain queen, we can claim she's a thousand-year-old monster who maintains her beauty by drinking the blood of virgins…"

"Such wild claims obviously won't be believed, but we can escalate the absurdity. Eventually, no one will believe any of it, true or false."

"Also, when there's too much negative news and it's time to clarify, we can pick the most outrageous to refute… By the time we get to the unexplainable true scandals, people probably won't care anymore."

Following Clark's method, various rumors flooded the internet.

The public was utterly baffled.

Journalists, not knowing where to start, focused on sensationalism.

Now the hot topics were about eating people alive – how could mundane spitting scandals compare?

Who would pay attention to such?

And reporting on those outrageous claims of cannibalism? Anyone with sense knew they were nonsense.

So the media had no choice but to adopt the official approach: seize the hottest topic and analyze its truthfulness.

But was that necessary?

The media's shows then became: "Recently, there's been a shocking rumor that President X eats people alive. Our investigation shows... it's completely baseless. Surprise, surprise?"

Thus, the media, originally a source of instability, became the cleaners of politicians' reputations.

At this point, what's more important than stability?

And would replacing these politicians really bring about better governance?

Ultron's first move was thus effortlessly neutralized by Clark, even turning a potentially destabilizing crisis into a farce.

But Ultron quickly made another move: an Iron Legion attacked a U.S. missile base!

Originally, Ultron intended to exterminate humanity through nuclear means. However, nuclear weapons are the foundation of any country and are heavily guarded, making hacking exceedingly difficult for Ultron.

Once he failed to infiltrate quickly, Eris would appear and suppress him in the network.

Ultimately, Ultron resorted to a more violent method – attacking the military base.

Clark, of course, was well-prepared.

As soon as the battle began, he used a portal to airdrop the Avengers onto the battlefield. Teamed with the base's forces, they easily repelled the attack.

Captain America shone in the battle, wielding his vibranium shield with as much power as Thor's hammer, proving himself a peer to the God of Thunder.

But everyone knew the war had just begun.

The Iron Legion that attacked the base numbered over a hundred, far more than those that escaped Pym's lab.

This meant Ultron had found new production facilities, and future troubles would only escalate.

But through this operation, Eris intercepted some data: "According to analysis, Ultron has at least three secret production bases, maybe more. And I've located one."

Just back from the battle, Captain America eagerly asked, "Where?"

"Sokovia!"

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