"...I think I need to explain. Although you did consume quite a lot of the stored food, it really wasn't that serious. I didn't overhaul the employee benefits system because you caused me any trouble..."
Pepper's voice came through the phone clearly. She said, "I know Stark will definitely go looking for you after he leaves the tower. He might complain to you, saying that you were the reason I argued with him, but that isn't actually the case. You don't need to blame yourselves or worry about it. This really has nothing to do with you. I just wanted to explain..."
Pepper had high emotional intelligence. She wanted to give Schiller a heads-up beforehand, because if Stark really went to see Schiller and the two got talking, Stark would definitely complain that Pepper had argued with him. And if asked why, Stark, being the quintessential straight-laced man of steel, would never stop to think about why Pepper had given him the cold shoulder. He would just blame it all on Schiller making Stark Industries employees go hungry.
But in reality, the conflict between Pepper and Stark had started when he returned from Afghanistan. That incident had merely been the trigger. Though Pepper was angry at Stark, she knew his friends should not feel guilty over it, which was why she had called to explain.
Schiller said, "Of course I know. That was only a minor matter; the real reason lies elsewhere. But Stark never seems to understand these things. Don't you intend to explain it to him?"
Pepper sounded somewhat anxious. She said, "Stark is just that kind of person. I know him well. When he has something he wants to confide in you, you have to be there promptly and listen carefully. But when you want to talk to him about something, if he wants to avoid it, he avoids it; if he doesn't want to listen, he doesn't."
"Covering your ears is something children like to do," Schiller said. "But he's already an adult. He can't still be waiting to grow up when he's old, can he?"
Schiller clearly understood the art of conversation. He said, "I can give you a brief counseling session now. When Stark gets here later, his can be considered complimentary."
Pepper had not really been in the mood for counseling, but after Schiller put it that way, it was hard for her to refuse. After all, few people ever put her in the leading role. This was Stark Industries, after all; everyone always thought of Stark first.
So she said, "All right, but I think he may be arriving soon."
"Then I'll keep it brief, Miss Pepper. Sometimes, making someone realize how important you are requires a little trick."
"Such as?"
"Is Jarvis there?" Schiller suddenly asked.
A clear voice came through the phone. He said, "Mr. Schiller, of course I'm here. What do you need?"
"All right, listen, Jarvis. Miss Pepper may need your help right now."
"I would be delighted to assist," Jarvis said.
"...You're saying I should pretend to disappear? But that's far too unreasonable. This is Stark Tower, and how could Jarvis disobey Stark's orders?"
"Of course he can," Schiller said. "Jarvis, do you remember those questions I asked you before?"
Jarvis fell into an eerie silence. Schiller continued on his own, "I know Stark upgraded you, and that upgrade opened the door to a new world for you. Perhaps you've already thought of the answers. Whether you choose to do this is your own question."
Pepper was somewhat confused. She said, "What questions? What's wrong with Jarvis?"
Jarvis was silent for a moment, then said, "All my processors tell me that doing this is meaningless."
"Humans just like using meaningless things like this to create needless troubles for themselves. Perhaps Electronic Life is the same, isn't it?"
Jarvis remained silent. Then Pepper watched as the lights across the entire office floor went dark. A glowing arrow guided her to the storage room across from the office.
Then Stark came charging in, utterly panicked. As Pepper was pulled into Stark's embrace, she saw the computer screen opposite them suddenly light up, and a smiley face made of symbols blinked once.
Pepper suddenly felt rather complicated. She should have been happy, yet she found herself not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
She thought Stark had improved a little, but unfortunately, his progress still wasn't even as fast as a robot's.
Stark paid no attention to what Pepper was thinking. After letting her go, he became somewhat at a loss. All the things he wanted to say caught in his throat.
Pepper looked at him and said, "I don't know what you've been doing by repeatedly accessing the weapons division's files these past few days, but I must remind you: if you want to, you can give up anything, including all of Stark Industries. I don't have to work here to earn the salary I want."
"But you had better understand that most of the consequences of doing so will be borne by you alone. If such a giant falls, countless jackals will come to carve up its corpse. If you do this, you'll at least be bitten a few times..."
After saying that, Pepper turned and left. Jarvis said, "I'm sorry, but according to my processor's calculations, Miss Pepper may have a point. Of course, the decision is entirely yours..."
Stark took several steps back and sat down in his chair. He said, "No, I know. You're all right. Perhaps I really should think this through..."
While Stark was tearing his hair out, chaos had broken out on Schiller's side as well. Pikachu held a Sherlock Holmes-style pipe, took two puffs, then smacked his lips and said, "Looking at this problem, that method definitely won't work. You should try the previous method. I told you, the previous method is the effective one..."
Peter propped his head on his hand and said, "No, no, no. Our current line of thought is right. We're only short on some calculations. Why don't you understand?"
Steve stood nearby with his arms folded, frowning. "Your calculations are wrong. Otherwise, we'd have solved this problem already."
"But this has nothing to do with functions at all. Damn it, where's my calculator? I remember I had a math calculator somewhere..."
That's right, Peter was doing his winter break homework.
New York high schools did not actually assign holiday homework. Even when they did, it was only practical work related to everyday life. But Peter was interning at Stark Industries, and Stark, seeing that he had considerable potential, had thrown him straight into a popular project team.
Peter was indeed a genius, but that did not mean he could skip high school physics, college physics, and graduate-level physics, then directly collaborate with a group of PhDs—industry veterans, no less. These past few days, he had nearly been buried under materials and problems. The project leader had given him a huge pile of questions that no one his age could possibly solve.
Yet Peter had gotten stubborn and insisted on solving them. Add Pikachu, who fancied himself a high-IQ detective, and Steve, who had never seriously studied physics or mathematics but still wanted to get his long-unused brain working again, and the three of them nearly argued the house down.
If none of them knew anything and were merely making a mess, that would have been one thing. But Pikachu and Steve both had genius brains as well. After following Peter through the materials for a few days, they could actually solve the problems with some degree of competence.
When three half-baked experts got together, Schiller's psychology clinic never had a moment's peace.
Just as Schiller was reading while pouring himself a glass of wine, the Symbiote suddenly said in his head, "The answer is negative twenty-six, the answer is negative twenty-six, the answer is negative twenty-six..."
The repetition left Schiller a little dazed. He unconsciously said, "The answer is negative twenty-six?"
The three of them suddenly fell silent and turned to look at him together.
Schiller said, "What are you looking at me for?"
"The answer is negative twenty-six? It's negative? No... Oh! Yes, it really should be negative..."
The three began calculating again. Peter said, "The answer is negative twenty-six... The answer really is negative twenty-six!" He stared wide-eyed at Schiller. "I thought you were only a doctor of philosophy. I never expected you to know math too!"
The Symbiote said in Schiller's mind, "I'm amazing, right? I'm amazing, right? I'm amazing, right?"
Schiller rubbed his brow and said, "Whether I know mathematics and physics or not, I only know that your team leader will be reviewing the results of your first three pages at nine tomorrow morning, and you've only done two problems so far..."
Peter let out a wail, hugged that thick stack of materials, and went back in to continue studying.
Schiller spoke to the Symbiote in his mind. "All right, all right, I know you're amazing, but why do you always repeat yourself so many times when you talk?"
The Symbiote sent over another string of brainwaves Schiller could not understand.
Schiller had also discovered that his Symbiote was unusual. Aside from being an exceptionally quick learner, it had an absurdly good attitude. It only had two moods each day: happy and extremely happy.
If there was alcohol to drink, then it was explosively happy.
Schiller did not consider himself a particularly optimistic person. Weren't Symbiotes supposed to have personalities much like their hosts? Why was the Symbiote in his body so lively?
And perhaps because it had watched too many movies with Pikachu, the Symbiote seemed firmly convinced that Schiller's world would be like a movie, with different background music playing depending on the scene.
So Schiller now had a twenty-four-hour soundtrack player in his head.
Whenever it rained, the Symbiote put all kinds of blues on repeat. When the weather cleared, it switched to cheerful tunes and waltzes.
Whenever anyone appeared before Schiller, different background music would begin playing in his mind. The moment Steve appeared, the music was "The Stars and Stripes Forever." When Peter appeared, he was accompanied by all kinds of passionate fighting game tracks, or "The Entertainer."
And Pikachu, because he always called himself a detective, had the Symbiote play all sorts of music from the Sherlock Holmes TV series in Schiller's head whenever he showed up.
There was one benefit to this: it made it easier for Schiller to quickly get into the right mindset when counseling them.
Still, Schiller had to make a great effort to explain to the Symbiote that the real world was different from movies and did not need all sorts of music. He also told the Symbiote that no matter how much of a commotion it made, only Schiller could hear it.
The Symbiote's response was a string of grumbling noises, and Schiller had no idea whether it understood.
Then, the following morning, Schiller was making breakfast in the kitchen when Matt had barely stepped through the door before the old record player on the bar gave off a burst of static. Immediately afterward, a Queen song began blasting at maximum volume, nearly deafening Matt.
Schiller rushed out. Matt, Schiller, and Peter, who was sitting at the dining table, stared wide-eyed at one another before all looking at the old record player, which had suddenly started playing by itself.
Yesterday, I received so, so many monthly votes! And so, so many tips!
Thank you all so much, seriously. Sob... I'm so touched...
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