Off-Field Technical Guidance

Schiller and Stark stood before a damaged Mark II mech.

Stark said, "Listen, the problem here is the braking system is completely fried. Before we can modify it, we need to fix this first."

As he spoke, he picked up a wrench and walked over, starting to tinker with the mech.

Schiller stood behind him, saying to the Symbiote in his mind, "No, no, you can't eat his brain."

"But his head looks so delicious, really delicious, it smells so good."

"But..."

Schiller put his hands on his hips, covering his forehead with one hand. He reorganized his thoughts and said, "You can't just eat people's brains, because..."

Schiller paused for a long time. He thought, Well, even though this species looks strange, their taste is surprisingly consistent.

"If you eat his brain, we can make our own," the Symbiote said.

"No!"

"Okay..."

Stark, completely oblivious, tinkered for a while, then tapped a nearby railing with his wrench, moved to a different spot, and continued to fiddle, saying, "Magic armor? That sounds really good. I think it's a special kind of nuclear power. What do you think is its best application? Oscillation? Or extreme compression?"

Schiller asked in his mind, "...What is its best application? Oscillation or extreme compression?"

"Decomposition and reconstruction," the Symbiote said.

"Decomposition and reconstruction," Schiller said.

As he spoke, he placed his hand directly on the unfinished joint. A large section of parts there flashed, and when they returned to their original position, they were brand new.

Stark stood up, his eyes wide. Crossing his arms, he said, "This so-called magic you're talking about seems much more powerful than your demonstration of anti-gravity."

"It's me, it's me, it's me, it's me..." the Symbiote began to clamor in Schiller's mind again.

Schiller said, "Alright, alright, it's you."

He had to admit, the Symbiote was a bit more useful than magic. After all, his current magical abilities were only low-level, good for bluffing, but when it came to actual combat, he had to rely on the Symbiote.

"The armor can be shrunk, very small," the Symbiote said in Schiller's mind.

"Shrink the armor," Schiller said.

"I've certainly considered that. My Mark V, and subsequent versions, were intended to be compressed into a briefcase. It's just not fully developed yet, so I can't carry it around freely."

"I think the briefcase plan is a bit conservative."

"It can be smaller?"

"Of course."

"How small do you think it can be compressed?"

Schiller asked the Symbiote in his mind, "How small do you think it can be compressed?"

"A bottle of Venom."

"It can be compressed to the size of a small bottle of Venom?" Schiller asked.

"I want to drink," the Symbiote said.

Schiller rolled his eyes in annoyance. It could even bargain now.

After the Symbiote happily drank a bottle of alcohol, he said, "A cigarette can be compressed to the size of a cigarette."

When Schiller told Stark this, Stark paced excitedly around the room. He said, "This is truly atomic-level structure and reorganization. If you put it that way, perhaps it can be smaller than a cigarette, maybe even reach the nano-level..."

"Can it be smaller than a cigarette?" Schiller asked in his mind.

"Yes, but it will explode upon deployment," the Symbiote said.

So Schiller told Stark, "Actually, it can be made smaller, but I can't guarantee the deployment process will be safe."

Stark said, "In any case, let's start. Let's create a more era-defining technology, and then I'll just throw all those old versions of the armor to the military and let them deal with the trash. It'll even save me electronic waste disposal fees. Pepper will be happy."

"The benefits of being able to arm yourself at any time are too great!" Stark clenched one fist and pounded it into his other palm, saying, "And I can even fit the complete Jarvis into a phone. A phone with such a powerful intelligent butler, can you believe it?"

Schiller said, "...God bless Jarvis."

A moment later, Stark took the somewhat worn Mark II off the rack. Before he could get a good look, a flash of gray mist appeared, and the Mark II vanished.

Then Schiller reappeared, holding a metallic cigarette, which he handed to Stark. Stark asked, "It's done already?"

"What else would you expect?"

"Shouldn't there be some incantation... I mean, like some ritual, and a staff..."

"No need, that's too low-level," Schiller said.

Stark blinked. Suddenly, he had infinitely wonderful expectations for magic.

However, later, these expectations would drive Strange almost mad. He was just a mage, how could Iron Man treat him like an omnipotent god? No matter what, Iron Man would always be like, "Let's leave it to the omnipotent magic!"

Hearing that the Sorcerer Supreme needed preparation to cast spells, Stark called Strange a "low-level mage," which almost made Strange break his staff in anger.

Regardless of how Schiller's current actions would make Strange, who would later interact with Iron Man, completely exasperated, he was currently giving Stark a lot of pleasant surprises. Stark said, "How do I turn this into armor? How do I wear it?"

Schiller asked in his mind, "How does he turn this into armor? How does he wear it?"

The Symbiote let out a drunken hiccup and said, "Think about it in your head."

Schiller said, "Think about it in your head."

Stark paused for a moment, then hesitantly recalled the original armament method of the Mark II in his mind.

Almost instantly, the Mark II was worn on his body. This change happened without any process, almost like an atomic-level reorganization.

Stark asked, "What is the principle behind this?"

Schiller asked in his mind, "What is the principle behind this?"

The Symbiote said, "Thought perturbation."

Schiller said to Stark, "Thought perturbation."

"Are you talking about brainwaves or bioelectricity?"

The Symbiote in Schiller's mind was a bit groggy from drinking and seemed unable to answer questions. So Schiller said, "Please don't explain magic with science. If it works, it works."

Stark was itching to start researching immediately. He turned to Schiller and said, as if disowning him, "Alright, alright, I get it. Your magic is amazing. You just wait, one day I'll be able to use it better than you."

Then he showed Schiller out.

Schiller was practically escorted out of Stark Tower, but he wasn't angry. Stark was always like this; once he got the urge to experiment, he ignored everything else.

As soon as he returned to the clinic, he saw Steve waiting for him. Steve greeted him and said, "Nick sent me on an errand. He wants to see you. I think it might be about Stark."

Then Schiller shouted into the air, "10 million dollars an hour, how about it? Director Nick?"

"You're asking for the moon." A voice came from the phone clipped to Steve's belt.

Schiller shrugged and said, "Fine, I was originally going to send you an invoice for a hundred million."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then it said, "And an additional invoice for 50 million in late fees..."

"Deal," Schiller said.

Not long after, Schiller arrived at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s International Reception Center again. Nick, wearing an eyepatch, shook hands with Schiller, and then they sat down face to face. Coulson poured them both a cup of coffee, giving Schiller an espresso.

Schiller downed his coffee in one gulp, but Nick picked up his cup and drank slowly. Schiller spoke first, "Should we discuss business first, or should I send the invoice first?"

"Let's do the invoice first," Nick said.

After a while, Nick asked him, "I know Stark gave the mech technology to the military, but that's not important. We don't want those mechs."

"You want the man himself."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded by his father."

"If you bring this up with him now, you'll never get him to join in your lifetime."

"Also, if you want him to join, you talk to him. Don't come to me. It's useless even if you do, I'm just a psychologist, not his father."

"We don't want you to persuade Stark. We also know he doesn't listen to advice. What do you think of our idea? A team composed of individuals with special abilities?"

"It's a good concept, but it depends on who they work for."

"Don't they work for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Then who does S.H.I.E.L.D. work for?"

Nick frowned and decisively skirted the topic. He said, "Alright, we want to invite you to join..."

"As you said, it's a team composed of individuals with special abilities. I'm just an ordinary person. I've never jumped further than 3 meters."

Nick opened his mouth. He felt Schiller was treating him like an idiot.

"Listen, we don't care how you disappeared and suddenly appeared hundreds of meters away, nor do we care where that yellow rat with a Canadian accent came from. We can also overlook your terrifyingly accurate psychological analysis, but a certain neurologist personally told us that you threatened him with a floating ballpoint pen..."

Schiller said to the Symbiote in his mind, "You are not allowed to eat other people's brains casually anymore, except for Strange's."

Schiller said, "Do you believe in magic?"

"The power of certain sciences creates these individuals with special abilities, so I also believe that other powers can create other people. Are you one of them?"

"No, I'm just an ordinary person, but I think I can exchange my freedom for some information."

"About what? Magic?"

"That's right. I believe you should have the authority to mobilize satellites. Investigate where a missing network in New York connects to."

Nick frowned, but Schiller didn't say any more to him.

The wireless network of the New York Sanctum should still rely on modern network systems, not some magical network. It's just that they used magic to conceal the access path to this network.

If Nick was willing to investigate, he would definitely find some clues.

The reason Schiller didn't refuse forcefully was that in the subsequent major events, the Avengers would still be needed to save the world. He wasn't going to deal with those enemies himself, fighting creatures like Lizardmen or Red Hulk.

At most, for his own safety, he would provide a little help. Therefore, he still needed to maintain contact with these superheroes so that in future events, he could be a refreshing... troublemaker.

Holy crap!!!

Thank you to "Yi Anfei" for the 50,000 Qidian coins reward!!!!

Thank you!!!

I saw the rewards from everyone else too!! Thank you all!!