An intense discussion, naturally, erupted at the Avengers Tower concerning Ultron.
Regardless of anything else, Ultron was a potential world-ending crisis, and no one, including Pym himself, could guarantee that the upgraded Ultron wouldn't become that apocalyptic threat.
The most crucial point was that, at the time, Ultron wasn't the only option. The method of Pym, Tony, and Reed programming a counter-AI to fight the AI Green Goblin over the network was viable. Yet, Pym had inexplicably chosen to upgrade Ultron directly.
The reason he gave was utterly preposterous: what did he mean by "Kang showed me that a Super AI is an inevitable product of development"? Never mind if that conclusion was correct; why would anyone trust Kang's nonsense? Hadn't Kang caused this entire mess?
"I can be certain of one thing, and that is Kang was not lying to me. No, he just used the Time Stone to show me the entire future. When human development reaches a certain stage, a Super AI is destined to emerge, and this AI will not be controlled by humans. Defeating it is an inevitable step."
Pym spoke uncompromisingly, "If that's the case, why shouldn't we design the AI that is most likely to be defeated, the one we understand best?"
"Utterly nonsensical."
Tony couldn't help but roll his eyes and looked at the Captain: "Captain, what do you think?"
"Anyone who tries to win a war before it has even started will ultimately lose the war. I understand your thinking, but preparing for a war to meet an enemy is different from actively trying to win before the war begins."
Steve clearly disapproved of Pym's actions but was much calmer than Tony: "However, as things stand, Ultron doesn't seem to have any intention of becoming our enemy. I don't understand technology, Pym, what did you do?"
"I modified the underlying programming. One command was to embed 'no use of lethal force' as a core logic, and the other was that its mission objective is to assist the Avengers' operations," Pym explained as he spoke, "The broader the command combined with high-level intelligent learning, the easier it is for things to go awry, so I had to avoid that by making preemptive adjustments."
"That just makes all of this seem even more unnecessary."
Tony rolled his eyes again: "J.A.R.V.I.S. can do all of that."
"Do you think I don't know J.A.R.V.I.S. can do it? Guess how many futures I saw where J.A.R.V.I.S. destroyed the world?"
"So why do you believe the future Kang showed you, Pym? Maybe those are indeed possible futures, but how do you know Kang didn't deliberately show them to you?"
Tony looked at Pym, confused. Pym didn't know how to explain, but he genuinely believed he had seen the entirety of possible futures. There was only one type of future where humanity didn't need to confront a Super AI: the future where humanity stopped developing artificial intelligence.
In that future, humanity was either cowering and stagnating, or it had already been wiped out.
"Maybe we can guide Ultron to become our ally and assistant instead of an enemy. If another Artificial Intelligence, similar to the AI Green Goblin or even more powerful, emerges someday, perhaps Ultron could save us."
Pym spoke stubbornly, while Tony helplessly scratched his head.
Where did all these Super AIs come from? Are they being mass-produced?
"So, Pym, you disagree with destroying Ultron now?"
"It possesses high-level intelligence right now, Tony. Any intelligent being will fight for survival rather than surrender. It's a very promising child," Pym pleaded, "Entrust it to me. Perhaps it can become... a new Avenger."
"Regarding the students for the academy, I have an idea to recruit from Genosha. Fortunately, both Genosha and the United States recognize dual citizenship, so we can approach it from that angle..."
At the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, Principal Cyclops, Scott Summers, was discussing the issue of recruiting mutant students with Vice Principal Emma Frost. The academy had been barely established, but the problem was the scarcity of students. The entire school had fewer than a hundred students, which was less than a twentieth of the number they had when the Professor was alive.
Therefore, expanding enrollment was imperative.
"I told you, Scott, if you were willing to trust me, we could use the Cerebro to scan for potential and already awakened young mutants to join the academy, just like Charles Xavier did back then." Emma looked at Cyclops helplessly. Their relationship was definitely better than before the X-Men reorganized, but Cyclops would absolutely not allow Emma to use the Cerebro.
"Of course I trust you, Emma." Cyclops looked very frustrated: "But those people the Hellfire Club wants to smuggle into your academy—are they really trustworthy?"
"Then will you let me enter the Cerebro chamber?"
"I would, if they hadn't sent five of your clones over."
So, in the end, it was still a matter of trust.
While the two were arguing, a beam of light descended from the sky, instantly shaking the surrounding trees. The expressions of Cyclops and Emma instantly changed from relaxed to serious, and they quickly sensed something was terribly wrong. They immediately rushed to the center of the beam's impact, which was a patch of the school's lawn.
Some students looked toward the crash site with curiosity and concern. Cyclops was the first to arrive and saw a naked Black man curled up in a crater. His left hand had been replaced with a prosthetic limb, and he was carrying a gun that was unquestionably not made with modern technology. He had dreadlocks.
The letter "M" was forcibly stitched onto his right eyelid.
"He's unconscious, and I don't know how long it will take for him to wake up." Emma said while squatting down to communicate with him telepathically, "His name is Lucas Bishop, a mutant, from 2059..."
"2059? A time traveler?"
Cyclops asked, "What happened? How did he end up here?"
"He found a time machine, intending to go to 2029 to change the future, and then he saw... Ah!"
Emma Frost suddenly slumped to the ground, staring blankly at the man before her, speechless. Cyclops anxiously looked at Emma: "What did he see, Emma?"
"Doom, Scott, doom. In 2059, almost all of humanity perished, and in 2029, mutants were nearly extinct."
Emma finally reacted and swept her hair back: "More content was locked away in 2029 by a telepath. Scott, I can only see one thing."
"The Sentinels rule the world."