High Evolutionary was no clownish villain like the one in the film adaptation—at least, based on the limited information Earth-616 had on him so far, several conclusions could be drawn.
First, just like Richard Parker, High Evolutionary was once a student of Mister Sinister. Richard Parker had single-handedly driven the entire Savage Strength Project, and even now, everyone was still riding his coattails.
High Evolutionary, on the other hand, had spent all his time pursuing another project: evolving other biological organisms into hyper-intelligent lifeforms. Peter was not entirely sure what kind of schemes this universe's High Evolutionary had pulled off or how massive they were, but one thing was certain—Counter-Earth was out there.
And naturally, Rocket Raccoon had no intention of letting High Evolutionary off the hook. That man was the primary culprit behind Rocket's horrific modifications. In fact, according to Peter's description, High Evolutionary had modified an entire planet's worth of animals.
Yet along with excitement, Rocket felt a deep... terror.
"Haha! No wonder I searched for that bastard for so long without finding a trace. Turns out he was hiding in a backwater place like Earth, tucked away inside another dimension."
The fur all over Rocket stood on end. Star-Lord glanced at him and said, "Alright, Rocket. Once we open the door to that place, we'll all charge in, drag that bastard out, and take him down."
"Ha! I don't need your help, Peter. I'm going to settle this with him by myself."
Or go off to die alone.
Rocket did not say those words aloud, but Star-Lord understood his underlying meaning perfectly. "Even so, you still need to get the door open first," Star-Lord continued. "Didn't you see that the Earthlings plus a Kree scientist couldn't even breach it? They only passed the news along to us."
Hearing this, Rocket relaxed slightly, took a deep breath, and turned to Peter. "Hey, listen up, kid. I've got some scores to settle with this High Evolutionary guy. So listen good: if you ever plan on picking a fight with him and don't call me, I'll blow up your house."
"I think if we can confirm he's a bad guy, we definitely won't turn down extra help," Peter replied.
After sharing this piece of news that was undeniably beneficial to the Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter brought up the issue the Avengers needed help with.
"Besides that, we've run into a bit of trouble. Simply put, an AI—or strictly speaking, several AIs—are causing a ruckus. So we need some people to help us tackle this problem from a cosmic perspective."
Star-Lord finally got the chance to ask the question he had been holding in earlier. Sitting on the edge of the table, he asked, "Like The Terminator?"
"Not quite that extreme. It's just that his method for executing his program is way too aggressive. At least, several of the programs we know of are heading toward radicalization."
Peter went on to chat with Star-Lord and Rocket about the various Ultrons. In truth, S.W.O.R.D. Ultron was essentially copying the Supreme Intelligence, which made it impossible to refute logically. Gospel Ultron had not yet fully developed its own theory, and Avengers Ultron had actually joined the Avengers.
Therefore, Peter hoped the Guardians of the Galaxy would help deal specifically with Legion Ultron.
After listening to Peter's explanation, Star-Lord gained a rough understanding of the situation. "So, what you want us to deal with is an artificial intelligence that... well, how should I put it... is basically a junta? It created a powerful army to forcibly monitor all of humanity, using that military power to lower the rate of violence."
"...Something like that."
"Then isn't the problem obvious?" Star-Lord stroked his chin. "Where there is oppression, there is resistance. His rule can't possibly result in absolute peace."
"You've got it wrong, Quill. That metalhead doesn't care about the lives of rebels; he only needs to ensure the relative safety of humanity as a whole," Rocket chimed in quickly, offering his own perspective. "Hmm... but the military government comparison is pretty accurate. I've got an idea: since this thing's goal is to guarantee human safety, we just need to prove that his plan will only lead to non-stop war. Oh, I mean interstellar war."
If Ultron's plan constantly led to interstellar war, it would fail entirely to guarantee human safety, causing Legion Ultron's programming to crash—just like Gabe Newell Ultron.
Peter thought about it for a moment before raising a critical question: "How do you prove that Ultron's actions will lead to endless interstellar war?"
Rocket spread his paws. "I have no idea."
Peter: "?"
"You've gotta ask Gamora that. She's Thanos's adopted daughter; she definitely knows how to prove something like this."
A few minutes later, Gamora sat on the sofa. After listening to the three of them explain everything about Ultron, she threw up her hands. "There's no way to prove it."
"You really can't prove it?"
"The point is, I can't be sure of that AI's behavioral style or logic pattern, nor do I know how to debate it. You can't expect me to construct an argument out of thin air, can you?"
Gamora felt the request was unreasonable. Hearing this, both Peter and Star-Lord scratched their heads, though Rocket didn't overthink it. "Doesn't matter. It's fake anyway, just bluff your way through it."
"Wait, the warship we're on right now is connected to the network, right?" Star-Lord suddenly asked. "Does that mean what we're saying can be heard by that AI?"
Peter remained silent. It was an unavoidable dilemma; humanity was heavily reliant on the network, and without it, many systems simply could not function. They had no choice but to scheme out loud right in front of Ultron.
The good news, however, was that the Ultron aboard the S.W.O.R.D. vessel was not the same Legion Ultron they needed to deal with. Because of that, the two Ultrons probably wouldn't communicate with each other... right?
"Spider-Man! We have a situation!"
Mar-Vell alerted Peter through the network. Peter quickly accessed S.W.O.R.D.'s surveillance network over Earth via his suit, discovering that Legion was currently leading the Mechanical Avengers in strikes against Hydra bases across the globe.
Yes, across the entire world.
Before long, Captain America's communication came through as well.
"Hey, Spider-Man. Ultron has made a move. His target is Hydra. Tony is worried Ultron might be searching for some hidden Hydra secrets, so the Avengers need to deploy and keep an eye on them."
"Or maybe it's just a distraction to lure us away."
"Perhaps. You head over to Madripoor. You've been there before, and Ultron's forces just uncovered a secret Hydra research base over there—looks like it was studying an enhanced version of the Erskine Serum."