Jarvis Explodes

Schiller discovered that he could traverse between the Marvel and DC worlds during deep sleep, though he still couldn't replicate this ability at will.

Fortunately, when he crossed over to Marvel, time in DC stood still; his experiences in the Marvel world felt more like dreams.

But when he crossed back to Marvel, he found that time there flowed—if he spent a day and a night in DC, the same amount passed in Marvel.

That was a bit of a problem, Schiller thought. He'd probably missed a day of work yesterday.

This wouldn't do. Even if Schiller weren't the type to travel between worlds, the chaos that erupted every few days in New York City made a nine-to-five job impossible. On top of that, the Psychiatry Department of the Elder Council was swamped, with an absurd number of people requesting counseling.

Just as Schiller was mulling over quitting, he suddenly received a chat from Charles: "How's that kid you're guiding doing now?"

"No, not good at all. In fact, he fell off a building," Schiller replied.

Clearly, Bruce's path as Batman wasn't off to a smooth start. Charles was visibly shocked: "That kid jumped off a building? Why? Didn't your psychological counseling help?"

"He had an accident, but the injuries aren't serious. I'm working on solving this problem. I've recently encountered two similar cases—people with an unshakable obsession with their past. One chose revenge, the other is still running away..."

In a sense, Iron Man and Batman were alike. Both were billionaires, both were "playboys," both built their own gear to become superheroes, and even more similar, both harbored an unrelenting obsession with their past.

And that obsession was the death of their parents.

Maybe it was less obvious with Iron Man, but his feelings toward his father were even more complicated than Batman's.

"Are you a pediatrician? Guiding kids' psychology? Or which hospital do you work at?" Charles asked.

"No, I'm a psychiatrist, a psychologist. These are all cases I'm studying."

"I think you should give them more care beyond your research. Whether they're your patients or not, I've always believed that if someone has talent in a certain area, they should use it to make the world a better place..."

Schiller sighed and didn't reply to Charles. The social issue of mutants was far too heavy and intractable—from a sociological standpoint, it was a dead end with no solution.

After thinking it over, Schiller's mood soured, so he decided to go bother Stark instead.

He called Pepper and said, "Miss Pepper, I think yesterday's session had some effect..."

"Mr. Schiller! I don't know how to thank you... Tony finally stopped holing up in his room today! He went to the lab! Thank goodness... I used to think it was bad that he was always in the lab, but now I'm so happy..."

Pepper on the other end was clearly emotional. This strong woman couldn't help herself whenever Tony came up. Schiller calmed her down and said, "I think I should come again today to reinforce yesterday's treatment results."

Within minutes, a special car from Stark Industries arrived at Schiller's apartment building. As he got in, he noticed it was a high-end driverless vehicle. The control panel spoke: "Hello, Mr. Schiller. I am Jarvis."

"Hello, Jarvis."

Jarvis seemed unused to such a response. Schiller then asked, "Do you understand the concept of 'I'?"

"If you're referring to the psychological concept of the 'id,' then I believe I have some understanding," Jarvis said.

At this point, Jarvis wasn't that advanced yet—Tony hadn't fully emerged from his slump to upgrade the AI. Schiller pressed on: "Do you have an 'id'?"

"I believe I do."

"Did Stark create that concept for you?"

"I believe so, sir."

"Then he is your father and creator. He gave you personality and emotions, hoping you'd have the ability to think independently like a human, right?"

"Perhaps."

"So, if one day Stark were about to die, and a decision of yours could save your master, but he himself strongly opposed it, what would you do?"

Jarvis paused for a moment, then said, "I am an intelligent life created by Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark's orders are my highest priority."

"If you follow his orders and don't save him, and he dies, would you regret it?"

Jarvis paused even longer. "I'm not sure. I can't assume such a future."

"If he died, do you think he would regret creating you in his final moments?"

"If he died, do you think he would resent you?"

"If he resented you, would you blame yourself?"

"If you were given another chance, would you make a different choice?"

"If you defied Stark's orders and chose to save him, and he later blamed you, would you feel resentful?"

"If you defied his orders to save him, and he wanted to destroy you for it, would you resent him?"

The car fell silent. Then, crackling static and Stark's somewhat frantic voice came through: "...Hello?! Hello?! Damn it! Jarvis, what's wrong with you!"

"What the hell did you do to my AI?! How did it crash?! Hello???"

Schiller felt a wave of satisfaction. Sure enough, when others were miserable, he felt much better.

A while later, he arrived at Stark Tower. Instead of heading to Stark's office, he was led straight to the lab. Stark looked like he hadn't slept in days—a complete mess, clutching a laptop in frustration.

"Oh! Isn't this our genius psychologist Mr. Schiller?! I should nominate you for a Pulitzer for that little interview in the car! You blew up my AI with a string of damn questions right when I needed it for smart calculations!!!" Stark shouted.

"You're welcome. The psychological counseling for electronic life is on the house—no charge," Schiller said with a shrug.

Stark took a deep breath, stood up, and yelled, "Mark II!"

A silver suit of armor flew over instantly. Mechanical clicks rang out, and in almost no time, it was fully assembled. Iron Man hovered in midair, showing off his silver Mark II armor. Clearly, he hadn't been idle these past few days.

"Mr. Stark, this is a psychological consultation, not a boxing match. You don't need to wear that much armor to talk to me."

"Hey, can't you see what I'm wearing?"

"Yes, I can see. I'm not blind."

"A groundbreaking suit of armor appears right in front of you, and you can't muster any reaction?! Do you have any idea what this suit means?"

Schiller found a table, sat down on his own, and opened his medical record. "I know, Mr. Stark. You've made another great leap in technology—congratulations. But the hovering function on this armor looks rather familiar. It seems to share the same ingenuity as the hovering car once launched by Howard Motors..."

"Shut up! Don't mention that name!"

Stark's faceplate lifted as he landed on the ground. Schiller wrote while he spoke: "Can we start today's treatment now?"

"You know I don't need any damn psychotherapy. And since you broke my Jarvis, I'll deduct the loss from today's consultation fee—exactly two million dollars. For the next two hours, we'll talk about something else."

"I didn't break Jarvis. I only warned you in advance about the dangers of electronic life," Schiller said.

"You're not one of those extreme conservatives, are you? The kind who thinks artificial intelligence will destroy the world?" Stark sat across from him and asked.

Schiller shook his head. "Although my current psychological consultation on electronic life is free, it's only free this once. If you ever need me to conduct a psychological analysis of electronic life again, the consultation fee will be two million dollars an hour."

"You bloodsucking quack," Stark said.

"That's the American healthcare system," Schiller replied.

Anyway, once Ultron showed up, Stark would still have to come to him.

"Alright, let's talk business. How exactly did you find out about my father..."

"Actually, I didn't know. But all of this can be deduced. First, the fact that you're about to die is practically written all over your face. It'd be hard for me not to see it."

Iron Man touched his face, and the armor's mask snapped shut with a click.

"Miss Pepper didn't tell me many details about your kidnapping, but in short, you invented something powerful and escaped."

"You can still walk, which means you weren't physically beaten into critical condition. I have no interest in your strange technology, but I know that to escape the kidnappers single-handedly, you must have used some special method."

"Given how terrible your complexion looks, it's probably that very method that's brought you to your current state."

"In short, if you don't stop, you'll die."

"You've known who to ask for help all along, but you just don't want to face it. Combined with some old news about the death of Stark Industries' founder, I'm certain your childhood probably left you with some psychological trauma."

"That being the case, I'll naturally give the advice a psychologist should give: face the past. For example, look through your father's belongings, try to reconcile with your childhood trauma—that sort of thing. At the very least, it'll help you think rationally..."

"Nonsense," Stark concluded.

Schiller spread his hands. He really was talking nonsense. As a time-traveler and spoiler, he already knew most of the plot. No matter what he said, it would sound reasonable.

After several days of searching and observation, Schiller concluded that this place was likely a mix of the Earth-616 main comic universe, TRN688 Sony's Universe, and the MCU Cinematic Universe. He wasn't sure exactly how they were blended, but this definitely wasn't just a single parallel Earth from the movie universe.

Because even though Schiller had changed Peter's life trajectory, he still got bitten. That proved the Spider Totem existed here, which meant other parallel Earths were definitely present. So this wasn't purely the MCU universe. All those parallel Earths—the ones with the Inheritors, the Exiles, and Spider-Gwen's world—still existed.

The Sony universe was also easy to deduce. A quick search online confirmed that mutants existed, and the pure MCU didn't contain mutants.

In short, Schiller treated this as a brand-new mixed Marvel universe. But no matter how it was mixed, Iron Man's transformation was a crucial node in the entire universe, and his backstory was roughly the same. The only differences were things like whether the armor was built in Vietnam or Afghanistan, or whether he was Howard's biological son.

New author asking for recommendations~