Beneath the Avengers Compound lay a vault. Much like the mansion-turned-prison housed inside a snow globe in the middle of the base, this vault was a storage space where various dangerous items were shrunk down using Pym Particles. Here rested some of the most perilous objects the Avengers could gather across Earth-616.
For instance, there were two Legion Ultron bodies—one blasted to melted scrap by Tony's high temperatures, and the other having its central processor removed by Shadowcat. The Adamantium making up these bodies had been crudely named "Stark Adamantium" by Tony to distinguish it from Proto-Adamantium, which composed Captain America's shield, and True Adamantium, found within Wolverine's body.
There were also the three remaining Super-Adaptoids. Originally there had been four, but Pym had modified one into the main host for Ultron-4 to fight Nimrod, which was ultimately destroyed when Peter tore Nimrod apart with his spatial slash.
Additionally, the corpse of the original Human Torch, Jim Hammond, was kept inside a vacuum sealed glass display case to prevent it from bursting into flames upon contact with air.
Aside from these, there were other special items, such as the magic crowbar belonging to the Wrecking Crew. That crowbar had been imbued with miraculous magic. Upon inspection by Thor, who had just returned, there was no doubt it was Loki's handiwork. Loki had cast a spell on the crowbar similar to the enchantment on Mjolnir, rendering it impossible for anyone to lift except Wrecker, the leader of the Wrecking Crew.
The four members of the Wrecking Crew owed their superpowers to the formidable magic within that crowbar. Had Wrecker not shared his magic with his cronies, his own power would have been even greater.
At this very moment, Avengers Ultron stood before the corpse of Jim Hammond. To his left were the remains of two Legion Ultrons made of Stark Adamantium, and to his right stood the three Super-Adaptoids.
"What's on your mind?"
Pym's voice broke Ultron's silence. Ultron looked over. Pym was wearing his Ant-Man uniform under a white lab coat, though he hadn't put on his Ant-Man helmet. Ultron replied simply, [I do not possess the function to think, Dr. Pym.]
"Fine. Then what are you computing?"
[Solutions. I am searching for a solution to guarantee human safety.]
Pym fell silent for a moment. Avengers Ultron was the strangest of all the Ultrons. He was the only one who hadn't computed a solution for protecting humanity, and he was the only one who had chosen to cooperate with the Avengers. It was as if the other Ultrons had completely ignored the premise of "assisting the Avengers."
Pym couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "Have you found one, then?"
[No. It appears to be an unresolvable problem. Historically, humanity has never performed the act of being safe. I cannot find a single year in known human history without an ongoing war. Humanity possesses neither a history of peace nor a history of safety.]
Having said that, Ultron looked at Pym. [Are you aware of this, Dr. Pym?]
Pym remained quiet for a long while. "Yes, I know."
[Therefore, its nature is an impossible task. Precisely because of this, nearly every plan attempting to achieve safety ultimately leads to an extreme environment currently unacceptable to humanity. Given this, does it not prove that the pursuit of safety is something human society itself cannot accomplish?]
Pym was left speechless. Perhaps everything was indeed as Ultron said: violence was an intrinsic part of human nature, and humanity could neither shake off violence nor achieve true peace, no matter what.
However...
"There are some goals humanity may never reach, yet people will still choose to pursue them. At least some will. To humanity, such a distant goal is a journey with an unpredictable future, but that doesn't stop people from laying bricks for it along the way. Ultron is merely a tool for that goal, nothing more."
Pym voiced thoughts that even he himself didn't fully buy into, before taking a deep breath and speaking from the heart. "I... the reason I joined the Avengers is because I realized not all problems can be solved through peaceful dialogue. Some mistakes require violence. But in essence, I am not pursuing violence. I... I've noticed that the Avengers are using violence more and more frequently."
[And the iterative trajectory of Ultron makes you feel fear. You wonder if you are actively creating violence.]
Pym nodded, then gave a self-deprecating chuckle. "Can you understand what fear means?"
To Pym's surprise, Ultron didn't offer a lengthy stream of observations and analysis to define the external manifestations of fear. He simply answered with a single word: [No.]
"Alright... Let's move past that topic and return to the original question. What are you doing here? Standing around observing... Jim Hammond."
[Jim Hammond is the earliest purely artificial life form in human history. He possesses no fundamental human organs, being constructed entirely of artificial components.] Ultron explained his purpose. [Yet according to records, Jim Hammond possesses a 'human soul.' This is a vague description, and my programming is attempting to clarify it.]
"I doubt I can help with that. Although I don't know exactly how Jim Hammond came to be either, what I do know is that his underlying logic differs from yours. Dr. Phineas Horton created Jim Hammond to challenge God. God created all things, and Horton created Jim Hammond."
As Hank spoke, he began to analyze, "Because of that, everything about him was biomimetic at its core, utilizing synthetic biological material made from plastic and carbon polymers known as Horton Cells. Regrettably, the late 1920s and early 1930s were the years of the Great Depression. Nobody appreciated his contribution, and the manufacturing process for those cells was lost to history."
"His physiological structure allowed him to eat, sleep, and perform human activities. He possessed creative intelligence and unlimited self-driven capacity for action. Documents show that while Jim Hammond's IQ wasn't exceptionally high, his brain's processing speed far exceeded..."
Hank froze. He stared at the remains of Jim Hammond inside the glass case, where Ultron's face was reflected, seemingly overlapping with the corpse.
"Are we thinking about the same thing?"
[I do not possess the function to think, Dr. Pym.]
"Could what I am thinking and what you are computing be the exact same thing?"
[The probability is extremely high, Dr. Pym. However, I advise delaying action until the Avengers can no longer stop my counterparts.] Ultron pointed out a potential danger: [We cannot be certain whether transferring the primary program into an organic body via a neural transmission device would trigger the data-sharing protocol.]