In the office of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s psychologist, Schiller spun his office chair, frowning deeply at the documents in his hand. When the chair turned back around, he set the papers on the desk and looked at Coulson across from him. "You mean Stark Industries wants to interfere with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s efforts to bring in the Symbiotes and strengthen its agents' combat capabilities?"
Coulson nodded, resting his hands before him and leaning back casually in his chair as though making small talk. "We don't know why Stark Industries suddenly became interested in Symbiotes. Back when Osborn Group was developing biotechnology, they considered working with the Gortal people to extract Symbiote factors from them and create biological armor."
"But individual combat armor is no longer such a hot project. Old Osborn has lost interest in those sticky Symbiotes, and he hasn't had any designs on Venom for a long time."
Schiller considered this intently as Coulson continued, "It seems the situation has reversed. Osborn Group is more interested in Mercury now, while Stark Industries has turned around and begun researching Symbiotes."
"At least according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence, Stark Industries' technological path has little to do with biotechnology, and there's no real need for them to change direction."
"That means Stark's sudden interest in Symbiotes isn't about researching them." Schiller began sorting through the tangled threads in his mind.
It was now known that Main Universe Batman from the DC world had entered Tony Stark's consciousness space through Soul Synchronization, but he certainly had not gone there as a tourist. Batman did nothing without a purpose.
The two had not known each other before, nor had they heard of each other's reputation. They had merely learned of each other's intelligence through the resonance of souls with Schiller as the medium. That was the crucial point.