Tony was stunned upon hearing this, feeling somewhat confused. "There's no problem with what you said. I created Ultron specifically to deal with the Skrulls, and its core is your Mind Stone, so ownership naturally belongs to you. But what do you mean by putting a final shackle on it?"
"If you're afraid it'll go rogue like Skynet in the Terminator, I think you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I'll program the Three Laws of Robotics into it beforehand."
Hearing this, Ryan looked at Tony with a mysterious smile and shook his head.
"The Three Laws of Robotics? Tony, intelligent life and artificial intelligence are different, especially intelligent life born from power outside the rules. Your Three Laws of Robotics won't have the slightest binding force on it!"
"Only magic can defeat magic, do you understand, Tony..."
Only the Mind Stone could suppress the intelligent life born from the Mind Stone.
Just like in the original story, only Vision, who possessed the Mind Stone, could trap Ultron within a robotic body.
But at that time, Vision's application of the Mind Stone was still too immature—or rather, Vision himself wasn't qualified to use the Mind Stone's true power. Like Ultron, he was merely a part of the Mind Stone, not its Master.
If Vision had truly mastered the Mind Stone, he wouldn't have just trapped Ultron in a robot body; he could have directly modified Ultron's underlying code right then and there, turning Ultron into an obedient puppy!
And this time, Ryan intended to turn Ultron into a good dog that only listened to him!
Ignoring the lost-in-thought Tony, Ryan stood up and clapped his hands.
"Alright, the method for finding the lurking Skrulls has been confirmed. It's decided that Ultron, the super-intelligent lifeform developed under Tony's lead, will find them one by one. Now, I'll announce the final matter, and then the meeting is adjourned..."
Hearing this, everyone focused their gaze on Ryan, waiting for him to announce the final matter.
Ryan looked around at all the members of the Spider Family, his voice turning cold as he said, "The final matter is that for the coming period, please be mentally prepared. A lot of non-existent dirt on you will be exposed, and you will encounter unprecedented cyberbullying..."
Everyone was shocked, and the smart ones reacted immediately.
"BOSS, are you saying the Skrulls will transform into our likenesses and cause trouble everywhere to ruin our reputation?"
Ryan nodded slightly, confirming their suspicion.
"Exactly. Otherwise, what do you think those two Skrulls masquerading as Gwen and me were trying to do? Weren't they trying to disintegrate us from the inside?"
"It's just that they were too stupid and didn't understand what Spider-Sense is at all..."
Hearing that his reputation was about to be ruined, our friendly neighbor Peter Parker was the first to stand up in a panic. "Ryan, how should we prevent this?"
Upon hearing this, the others also looked at Ryan with anxious eyes.
After all, the Spider Family's reputation was currently at its peak, the height of their 'career.' No one wanted to suddenly fall from grace at this pinnacle.
Reputation can give someone the motivation to persist in doing something.
But reputation can also trap and limit a person.
And currently, most members of the Spider Family cared too much about their reputation.
This time, Ryan wanted to desensitize them directly!
Ryan's gaze became indifferent. "Prevent? Before Ultron is created and before our counter-offensive against the Skrulls officially begins, we have no way to prevent all the hundreds of thousands of lurking Skrulls, and we don't need to prevent it..."
Hearing this, Peter became even more anxious. "But if we don't prevent it, won't the reputation our Spider Family has built over several years be completely destroyed by these guys?"
At this moment, Chief Stacy, who had been listening, spoke up. "Maybe I can have the New York Police Department issue a statement to explain to the citizens on behalf of the Spider Family?"
Ryan looked at Chief Stacy. "Explain? How would you explain? Directly say there's a shapeshifting race lurking among us humans, and they're the ones framing the Spider Family?"
"If we announce it directly like that, putting aside whether the Skrulls would immediately counter-attack and choose to go down with humanity, even within humanity itself, a crisis of trust where everyone feels in danger would likely occur first."
Chief Stacy thought about it and realized it was true!
If the existence of the Skrulls was announced before thorough preparations to deal with them were made, with the poisoned 'freedom' ideology in America, people would probably take up arms immediately. Under the banner of hunting aliens, they might even start killing people randomly in the streets!
Peter pounded the table unwillingly. "Are we just going to do nothing and watch them wear our skins while they completely destroy the reputation we worked so hard to build?"
The others also looked dejected, unable to think of a way to avoid the impact on the Spider Family's reputation...
Seeing that their focus always revolved around the Spider Family and their own reputations, Ryan shook his head in disappointment.
"Reputation, reputation, reputation. Everyone, you aren't celebrities; you don't need the boost of a reputation. Do you help people just to increase your own fame?"
Hearing this, everyone was stunned.
That's right, they weren't packaged celebrities; they were Superheroes. They helped people not for money or fame. Their principle was Ryan's phrase, 'With great power comes great responsibility,' which was why they selflessly helped the innocent...
When did they become so concerned with empty fame?
Seeing the look of reflection on the faces of everyone in the Spider Family, Ryan spoke again in a disappointed tone.
"I'm very disappointed in you, and I'm very disappointed in this city. You rely too much on so-called reputation, and this city relies too much on the Spider Family..."
"Perhaps this Skrull incident isn't entirely a bad thing. At least you spiders, who grew up in a greenhouse, can truly experience the dark side of this World..."
"And the people of this city can also learn what kind of scene a New York without the protection of the Spider Family will truly be..."
"Therefore, I am now issuing a new order: until Ultron is manufactured, all of you are to suspend your actions as Superheroes. No matter what the Skrulls do in your likeness outside, you are not allowed to interfere..."
"Those who violate this can get the hell out of the Spider Family themselves."
After saying this, Ryan took one last deep look at all the members of the Spider Family present, then turned and left the meeting room.
When New York was invaded by aliens several times before, hadn't many trolls in reality and online expressed great dissatisfaction with the destruction he and the Spider Family caused while fighting the aliens?
They even stood on the moral high ground, saying things like: why didn't they come earlier, why didn't they stop it in advance? They claimed the Spider Family protected nothing and even lumped the Spider Family together with the aliens who were actually destroying the city!
Although most of what those trolls said about Ryan was true, Ryan was still very annoyed!
Saving you is out of the sentiment of being fellow humans, but if I don't save you, that's my own will. No one can use morality to force me on how to do things!
This time, he wanted this city of New York, which had been invaded by aliens who-knows-how-many times, to know just how miserable and helpless they would be when facing an alien invasion in a city without Superheroes!
Next, New York will be a city without heroes!