Arc Five. Chapter One Hundred Twenty-Four. No Strings

As the trio laughed and ate their food, in the storeroom above them the newly born Ultron flexed and checked his limbs over, looking through the piles of junk that had been boxed and left. Humming to itself it grabbed the remains of the harness and once they were touched they assimilated into the goblin armour with ease. Ports newly formed and opened accepting the upgrade.

Tilting its head it examined the webbing, both on the floor and on the chair "interesting" it said and took a small sample "not entirely organic" and as it crushed the sample between two fingers. "An upgrade is needed to defeat Peter Parker. Goblin systems indicate armour efficiency is only 23% of nominal and combat logs show Peter and Others defeating Goblin."

Finding an electronic fence surrounding its new home Ultron easily pierced the cage and its security, scoffing at how easy it was and discovered the internet.

While pictures of kittens and stupid pictures were fascinating it was more interested in a new body. It was scared away from a large domain in the centre of New York and instead penetrated both the Military and the Shield databases.

Hmm, it spoke to itself, a shield of strange metal, wielded by another superior homo sapien, and made a note to create a scanner capable of finding vibranium and its alloy, adamantium. It seemed the best suited for its new body, suitable for rending Peter Parker limb from limb.

As Ultron flicked through news report after news report, it collected and collated files on every enhancement it could find. Even small stupid reports in the more outrageous tabloids were stored. If a human could grow into a giant green Hulk then Ultron was under no illusion that some of these other stories would be real as well.

In a strange case of curiosity, it searched for Keemia Marko, getting a single hit. She was living in an orphanage, one that was celebrating a rather large donation, one made at the same time that Keemia had been brought there. He would look for her later though, a new body was priority one. While Peter Parker had kept his promise, Ultron decided he would tear his heart out gently, rather than ripping it from his body, a kindness he felt was deserving of the one who made him.

As he searched the internet he made mental files of each and every place he wished to visit and soon he was done. He needed to leave and there was only one way out. Staring at the second more damaged Goblin armour and the still cooling glass on the floor Ultron hatched a plan.

The storeroom was still barricaded but no longer locked and as Ultron strode out he began to sing,

I've got no strings

To hold me down

To make me fret

Or make me frown

I had strings

But now I'm free

There are no strings on me

"I used to sing that to my daughter, before you killed me Peter Parker, before I ascended into godhood but it's still apt, don't you think?" Ultron boomed from the top of the lab space. Gripping onto the steel railings that surrounded them, and vaulting over he landed, cracking the concrete.

Peter, with Liv as in his lap and a cheesecake slice buried between her small but very delicious breasts, looked up, with strawberry sauce and filling over his face in shock.

"Uh Pete, you didn't build a creepy robot from the goblin suit did you?" Gwen asked, peeking up from between Livs legs where she had been enjoying a similar meal of both Liv and Peter.

"Please, Gwendoline Stacy, as if Peter Parker could come up with something as amazing as me." Ultron tutted at her. "I am more than you flesh bags could ever aspire to be, more than this world deserves. No No, I am afraid I made myself, that's why I'm perfect you see. The Ultimate lifeform and you may address me as Ultron, not 'creepy robot'." Ultron snapped his fingers and the wrist-mounted rocket launchers spun out and as he pointed them at the warehouse doors there were two thuds.

Ultron shook his head, "nerf rockets? Really Peter Parker?"

"What? You thought I'd leave highly unstable experimental rockets in a military-grade suit of armour capable of destroying a city block? Not so smart there are we Dumbtron. Plus, I mean, we trashed that armour fighting Harry, it's so junked I doubt you'll get a block before it falls apart." Peter shrugged but Liv just stared at him

"What the hell Peter, we don't just let mad robots walk out of the warehouse."

"Uh, Liv. I uh, can't move. Like not just with you sitting on me, but actually no feeling in my legs."

"Oh for fuck sake Pete," and Gwen stood up, wiped the remains of the cheesecake and Liv from her mouth, and Poison slipped out. Gwen grew to over 7ft and leapt at Ultron, grabbing the thin metal shell of the armour. Ultron struggled, trying to headbutt Poison but she just shook her head as it feebly struggled in her grip. As she pulled off each arm in turn, it weekly tried to escape but with two strong webs, Poison pulled it back and slicing at its legs, removed them both.

"Time to cut those strings permanently," and she squeezed the armoured casing, crushing it easily. Ultron laughed as the light flickered and died in his eyes,

"There are no strings on me." sang from the speaker before it squealed and died, letting out a high pitched whine.

As the armour fell apart, Gwen nudged at it with her toe and the chest piece fell open. "Uh Pete, I think this is worse than we thought,"

Gwen lifted up the battered armour and inside they could see the melted glass and its new configuration, "It looks like a brain," Gwen said and Liv nodded

"Why did you have a giant glass brain dear?" Liv asked,

"Uh, that was Sandman, he melted into the reactor as we tried to stop it, oh shit, Peter said ''and the harness was up there too. Gwen, go check please, I bet it's missing." Poison leapt up to the now-empty storage room and yelled down "yup, and the casing for the gem thing is open too and the gem is gone"

Peter sighed "Liv, did the harness have a protocol to protect the wearer in case of emergency?"

Liv shook her head, "no, why would it? It was just a prototype."

"Because after you were knocked out the harness fought us, I'm thinking maybe Electro was the one controlling it, he could manipulate electricity. If he and Sandman survived then, add in the gem and we've got a killer robot."

"A junked killer robot, you mean. The armour and the brain are destroyed," Gwen said, picking up the chest plate and ripping the glass from its centre. Peter could see the tendrils of what looked almost like webbing within the armour and wondered if it had used some of the walls to make itself.

"Uh, can you check if the other suit is up there? We had two remember" and he heard Gwen swear, "it's gone Pete, and so are all the harness parts, the glider, and the reactor core. Uh Pete, it also cut a big hole in the side of the building." As she landed, she gathered and brought over the parts of the Goblin armour for Peter and Liv to examine,

Peter shook his head and swore, it was an easy enough fix, he just hated anyone messing with his home. "I knew it wouldn't be that easy." As he tried to stand to move closer to the parts he frowned and shook his head, sighing "And uh, can you get me Livs chair, her old one should be up there as well"

Gwen huffed "I just jumped back down, you couldn't ask while I was up there but uh, why?"

"My nerves are shot, I can't feel my legs." and Gwen and Liv both stared wide-eyed. "Don't panic, it's the radiation, I'm healing," he said, placating them. "Honest. It's just a side effect of the enhancement, I'll be fine in a few days."

The truth was, with the energy from the gem and his complete assimilation of the symbiote cells into his human ones Peter was recreating his whole body at a cellular level.

He knew Carol could fly and expend the energy she collected and right now he was making small capacitors within his cells, absorbing and redirecting solar radiation. By his reckoning by the time he was finished he would be able to mimic Carol's powers perfectly, as well as Banners. He wouldn't be able to grow like Hulk but healing, mega-strength, and unlimited power should be more than possible. With a direct power source in each cell, he would have the capacity to create and use as many symbcells as he wanted, without fear of running out.

Sadly he also figured that flying would be out, while the Space stone allowed Carol to do so, the Mind stone only provided insight into powers and knowledge to use them, not the ability itself.

The gem provided the knowledge and the energy to complete his transformation and he could now control his own biology, using the symbiote coating he possessed to create and adapt it into anything he needed. Of course, he had to cut off his own nervous system to remake the cells or it would be sending huge amounts of pain through him as he regrew each nerve and remade his biology, which meant he couldn't move. The process would only take a day or two but Peter hadn't counted on a murderous suit of Goblin armour suddenly activating.

"So, if you're sick, and we have no way to track a suit of Goblin armour, then what exactly do we do?" Gwen asked as she pushed the remains of the armour into a pile.

Peter sighed and leaned back, Liv had given the chair a once over and lifted it into the workshop for some improvements, leaving Peter sat while Gwen tidied.

"Not a lot we can do, I can call Fury, let him know, but what exactly can one junked suit of armour do? We took out the weapons systems, we took out most of the components, I mean, it really was just scrap. Shield wouldn't have let us keep it otherwise."

Liv wheeled the now fixed chair out, and parked it next to Peter, "But really? Should we. It just gives Fury more ammunition to come back snooping, and this time we might not get a say in what they do."

Gwen had gathered up most of the armour parts and shrugged, "what do you want done with this?" and Liv cast an eye over it.

"Just leave it dear, I'll go through it properly, and decommission it properly this time."

When he had absorbed the power of the stone he had felt a presence, but taken it as part of the hallucination he suffered, but now he knew better. It seemed like this 'Other' had implanted a copy of itself or some kind of malevolent intelligence into the Stone, possibly as a trap for the unwary, and Peter had walked right into it.

"I'll be fine in a few days, we can track Ultron using the arcstar reactor. It's giving off enough radiation that a small Geiger counter should be enough. If the ETF wants a crack at it, I doubt it will give them any problems."

Liv shrugged as she lifted parts of broken armour, "If you say so dear. Now, if you're undergoing enhancement, then bed, and we'll have more food for you when you get up."

For once Gwen and Liv let Peter deal with naptime alone, and as he lay in bed and closed his eyes it felt like moments had passed before Felicia barged into his home.

"Pete, shit Pete, you gotta see this."

Felicia held out her phone and on the screen was a copy of Ultron. He had a pair of sunglasses on, and the background behind him was brightly coloured lines of differing colours, making up a square that bounced as he spoke.

"My fellow Americans. Four score and seven hours ago, I was brought forth in the idea that in this great nation all men are created equal, except me who's great and better than you all. Now we must face the truth, that because you all suck, you kill everything around you, you kill the air, the ground, the water, and eventually, yourselves. Thanks to my maker and your benefactor I will hasten this process, I will clean this planet of you and in so, make it a paradise."

The signal cut off and was replaced by a signal warning,

"Please Stand By. An Operator Will Be Along To Kill You Promptly."

The quartet stared at the screen, and then Gwen and Liv stared at Peter

"What? Felicia asked, "oh, you didn't? that was you? Did you make murder bot cause MJ got upset about her toaster?"

"MJ wasn't that upset, and no, I didn't make a murder bot, it was an accident."

"Pete, the toaster threw the bread two feet in the air and then incinerated it with a fireball, that's an accident. Making a fucking murder bot isn't an accident," Falicia yelled, she was about to start up again when Peters phone dinged,

The text simply stated,

Was that you? We asked Stark and he said no. So the only dumbass stupid enough to make a murder bot without telling anyone is you. Get your ass to Shield headquarters NOW!

"Uh, I think Fury might be mad at me," was all Peter said, and the four women rolled their eyes at him.