Evil Reaps What It Sows

The weather in New York began to gradually turn cold. The morning mist clung to the window panes, leaving a layer of hazy white that haloed the newly lit streetlights in a dim, yellowish glow.

Schiller sat at a desk in Stark's laboratory, holding a cup of coffee. Stark walked over with a large stack of data and said, "We need to modify joint number 5 again, and then do a control group experiment with joint number 13. Also, the data for the number 7 arm armor is problematic. I'll need to readjust it later..."

Schiller said, "Can't you rest for a bit? Aren't you tired?"

Stark spread the data sheets on the table, organizing them as he spoke, "You've asked me that question at least 20 times tonight. You started asking yesterday at 7 PM and haven't stopped until 7 AM this morning."

"That's because you've been dragging me into experiments since 7 PM last night. I haven't even had a moment to drink my coffee."

"Then what are you doing now? It's been 3 minutes. Have you finished drinking? We still have two sets of experiments to conduct, and we must finish them before 8 AM today."

Schiller face-planted onto the desk.

Peter walked out from behind the laboratory's glass door, holding two documents. He said, "Mr. Stark, the external bracket for leg bone number 5 seems to have a slight issue. In the third set of data Jarvis just gave me, the bone support structure appears to be trending towards instability, and there's a risk of the bracket fracturing. Although Jarvis suggested we change the material, if we use a Dragon Bone that's too hard, the flexibility and agility will be weakened..."

Stark took the documents from Peter's hand and looked at them. "This isn't a major problem."

He reached out and pointed to the design, showing Peter. "We'll add a cushioning system to this joint later, and then move this part down by two centimeters..."

Peter stroked his chin in thought. Stark stepped forward and pulled Schiller up. "Normally, you only take 3 seconds to drink a cup of strong coffee. You've been drinking for almost 5 minutes now. Get up and get to work."

"My magical abilities need to recover..."

"I seem to recall someone calling that a low-level operation?"

Schiller covered his eyes and said, "Can you just bring over a complete suit of armor, I'll cast a spell on it once, and then you can just take it and use it. Why do you have to dismantle it piece by piece for experiments?"

Stark said, somewhat speechless, "Why is it that sometimes you seem to understand this stuff, but other times you seem like a mechanical idiot?"

He spread the design drawings on the table and pointed to the patterns on them. "See? Once you help me solve the shrinking and expanding issue of the Mark 4 with your magic, I can focus the design on its performance and functionality. But once I improve a certain part's performance or functionality, I have to re-test whether it can shrink and expand, or whether its function after expanding is the same as I expected."

"That's why I have to conduct a large number of modular experiments to test if a certain function achieves its intended effect when it's individually shrunk and expanded."

"So, is there any component that hasn't achieved your desired effect?" Schiller asked.

"What if it's the next one?" Stark said.

These damned, meticulous science nerds. Schiller face-planted onto the desk again.

Peter said, "I agree with Mr. Stark. Manufacturing this kind of armor isn't child's play. Once you're flying tens of thousands of meters in the sky and a component fails, it'll be too dangerous."

"Not only that," Stark said, organizing the design drawings, "the effects of low-power operation and high-power or even overclocked operation are different. You have to ensure it performs as perfectly as possible at every energy output level."

Then Stark grabbed Schiller's arm and pulled him back to the workbench. Peter handed over a component, Schiller disassembled and reassembled it, and then Stark took it for testing. Peter handed over another component, Schiller disassembled and reassembled it again, and then it was taken for testing.

Peter and Stark were indeed doing experiments, but Schiller felt like he was just tightening light bulbs on an assembly line.

The Symbiote kept repeating in his mind: Their heads smell so good, really so good, I want to eat them, can I eat one of them? Just one, and then eat the other one for the next meal. I want to eat the blue-eyed one first...

Schiller realized that the Symbiote seemed to be able to detect brainwaves. When a person's brain started to work rapidly, it would detect a pheromone released from their minds. The faster the person's brain activity, the more fragrant they smelled.

Unfortunately, for super-geniuses like Peter and Stark, their brains were like walking, super-duper, incredibly fragrant fried chicken to the Symbiote – simply irresistible.

Somehow, the Symbiote also learned to repeatedly play the sound of swallowing in Schiller's mind, making him hungry.

Schiller finished tightening the last light bulb that was handed to him and said, "Let's go eat something. Aren't you guys hungry?"

Stark threw him two compressed biscuits and said, "Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new toys, I can now work for 40 hours straight."

Schiller took a deep breath and said, "Aren't you tired? And you, Peter, you probably haven't slept in almost two days either, right?"

"The reason I brought this kid over is that he has much more energy than others."

Peter shrugged. "Since I gained my abilities, I only need to sleep for a very short time to stay energetic. I just slept for 15 minutes in the lounge, and I feel pretty good now."

"Rather, why would you, a mage, feel tired? Don't you have any spells to refresh yourselves?"

Schiller wasn't actually feeling physically tired. With the Symbiote, he could even go without eating, drinking, or sleeping. But anyone who had been tightening light bulbs here for over 20 hours would feel mentally fatigued.

Schiller didn't understand their armor design at all, but whenever Stark excitedly came out from behind the glass door to showcase his new ideas, Schiller had to act as a cheerleader and applaud him. If he didn't, Stark would rush back through the glass door, and after a series of clanging explosions, he'd come out with new ideas.

Stark said, "How can you be so indifferent to such a great cause? This is a milestone in human scientific history! Perhaps also in magical history! We've combined a product of human technology with a new magical power for the first time. Aren't you looking forward to the results they will produce?"

"I'm more concerned about another issue," Schiller said. "Are you planning to call this series of armor Mark as well? I think it should have a new name."

"A new name? How about the S series? The first letter of your name and my surname."

"Peter will be sad. He participated in the manufacturing too."

Stark scratched his head. Peter said, "I don't mind that, but compared to the name, I think the new armor should have a cooler appearance, something completely different from the Mark series."

"I think you could design it in blue," Schiller said. "It would match magic well, and it would also differentiate it from your Mark series."

"Then let's hurry. As long as we test all the parts, we can start assembling it, and then we can quickly paint it a beautiful color. I think a combination of blue and silver would be nice."

"Also," Stark said, looking at Schiller, "I think this mech should have some magical attack capabilities."

"But I'm sorry, the magic I learned doesn't have much attack power," Schiller said.

"What about that zero-gravity spell? I think being able to levitate objects isn't bad."

"You could consider magnetism," Schiller said, betraying Magneto without any guilt. "Perhaps magnetism is stronger than you think."

By the time Natasha arrived, the three of them had been awake for nearly 50 hours. Schiller and Peter, having superpowers, still looked relatively normal on the outside. However, Stark had huge panda eyes. Natasha said, "We were about to put out a missing person's report for you. You've been gone for almost three days."

"But we have an excellent result!" Stark said.

Immediately after, Natasha saw Stark take out a cigarette. The female agent smiled and said, "It seems you're still as unromantic as ever. I haven't smoked since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D."

"You're only thinking about health and wellness now, isn't that a bit late?" Schiller asked her.

"Health and wellness? I'm not doing this for health and wellness! Have you ever met a Russian who cares about that? The damn smoke alarm in the S.H.I.E.L.D. office goes off more than 20 times a day. I quit smoking because I just couldn't stand being bothered by it anymore."

"Hey, look here! What are you guys talking about? Look at me, look at my accomplishment!" Stark said.

He tossed the cigarette up, and in an instant, a suit of armor composed of silver and dark blue appeared on him.

This armor was indeed slightly different from the Mark series' design. It appeared lighter, sleeker, and fit Stark's physique more closely. Furthermore, the process of him arming himself and his movements produced none of the mechanical sounds emitted by other battle suits. It was less like a suit of armor and more like a uniquely designed bodysuit.

Schiller stood up and said, "Originally, you were 10 centimeters taller than me when wearing your armor, but now you're only 3 centimeters taller."

"Is that the important part?!"

"Of course, because without the armor, you're one centimeter shorter than me."

"Two centimeters shorter, sir," Peter interjected. "You still have to account for the shoes."

Stark took a deep breath. He leaped lightly, and the battle suit floated into the air with much less commotion than before. Stark said, "Thank you for the inspiration. I also felt the jet propulsion was a bit outdated, but this magnetic levitation system is still a bit unrefined. I need to improve it further."

Schiller quickly asked Natasha, "Does Nick Fury need me for something? I can go over and write him another invoice, any amount will do."

Natasha said, "Well, yes, there is something. It seems to be related to the ninjas that Captain and Peter dealt with before."

"So, you're here for Peter, then Schiller..." Stark said, "No, no, no. I've received a lot of money from S.H.I.E.L.D., and I feel it's necessary to give them all a basic psychological and emotional test. You know, it's very important for some field agents to avoid them going crazy due to anxiety."

"This time it's not for a fee?"

"Of course!"