Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4350 - 3445: Midnight Sons (7)

In the Avengers' base, a cup of coffee was placed on the table. The sound of the cup meeting the table woke Stark. Steve waved a hand in front of him and said, "You've been spacing out for half an hour, aren't you going to take a shot?"

Next to him, Peter was rubbing the tip of a pool cue, pushing up his glasses, and said, "Didn't the doctor say everything was going to be fine? Why are you so tense?"

"Aren't you worried at all?" Stark pretended to come back to his senses, crossed one leg over the other, looked to the side, and said, "For example, what if he suddenly appears here but doesn't recognize us at all? Or bursts in and goes crazy, trying to kill everyone."

Peter pulled back his head, almost squeezing out a double chin, his features crumpled together, seemingly completely unable to understand why Stark would think that way. He continued rubbing the pool cue and said, "Why would that happen? What do you think is the cause of something like that?"

"Just some mishaps."

"Then why don't you worry about your computer system never booting again when you update it? Or a dinosaur suddenly jumping out of the screen to eat you?"

"Because the program is stable," Stark said, spreading his hands, "Every code in the computer system has logic. If there's no logic issue, there won't be any surprises."

"Isn't that the same with Doctor Schiller?"

"You think he's like that?"

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Peter nodded and said, "You should consider that. People like us, ordinary folks, always have an illogical side in our psychic world, filled with all kinds of coincidences, like an unknown black box whose structure you won't know until you open it."

"But Doctor Schiller isn't like that. The fact that he can maintain his mental system operation in such a bizarre way proves that the proportion of coincidence in it must not be much. Otherwise, the operation mode wouldn't last if incidents happened every day."

"So his psychic world is more logical than ordinary people's, like a meticulously designed computer system. It won't randomly black out, much less have something strange break the laws of physics and jump out of the screen to hit you."

Stark thought silently. Steve walked back to the pool table, shook his head, and said, "Even if he suddenly goes mad, you can't restrain him? An irrational Schiller is certainly not harder to deal with than a rational Schiller."

Those words hit the spot. Stark suddenly snapped out of it. He quickly stood up, grabbed the pool cue, pushed Peter aside, and hit the cue ball.

"If he malfunctions, we'll fix him," Stark said, looking satisfied as the yellow ball rushed toward the middle pocket, quickly rubbing the pool cue, "I can fix anything. Of course."

Footsteps sounded from outside the door. Stark's hair stood on end. He spun around like a vigilant badger to look at the door.

A red-haired female agent pushed the door open. Stark deflated like a balloon, wobbled, and stabilized himself with the edge of the pool table.

Natasha looked puzzled. She looked at Stark and said, "What's up with you?"

Then she seemed to misunderstand something, licked her lips, and said, "Alright, Tony. I admit some of my previous wordings might have been a bit harsh. Even if you're not a great bedmate, we're still good friends. I absolutely didn't mean to forget friends for a fling..."

Steve sighed lightly, looking at Natasha said, "If he could spend half as much thought on you right now, all our problems would be solved."

"What's going on?" The female agent craned her neck forward, showing some curiosity.

"Doctor Schiller is having a system update," Peter said, clutching the pool cue with his elbow, "He's been like this ever since he heard about it."

"A system update, update of what system? Oh, his own system," Natasha adjusted her hair and said, "What prompted the sudden update?"

"Version optimization," Peter summarized, "Removing the fixed skill design for characters, putting all skills of all characters into the general pool. Characters can choose skill combinations themselves. There's also a certain probability of gaining negative attributes of the skill's corresponding character."

"You can't describe it like it's some cheap web game!" Stark shouted, "It's not that simple!"

"It's just that simple, Tony. Can you calm down?"

Stark threw his head back and let out a yell. Natasha leaned a hand on the edge of the pool table and said, "Looks like we should hire another psychiatrist for S.H.I.E.L.D., to soothe a certain immature baby in Schiller's absence."

"He's taking a leave from S.H.I.E.L.D. too?"

"Yes. I was just about to say that," Natasha took out her phone, looking at it as she spoke, "Nick said he's taking a month's leave, seems like he wants to experience life as a street hero. The Avengers need to keep a close eye on New York lately to prevent any trouble."

"I will," Steve lined up a shot and said, "The publicity about the Star ship's completion has made those lurking in the shadows restless. It's like they're planning one last hurrah."

"Miles has grown a lot, he's a qualified Spider Man now. With him around, I'm quite at ease," Peter glanced at his watch and said, "I need to go to Eddie's to adjust the optical parameters for the Star ship's livestream, you guys go ahead and continue."

Natasha smiled as she saw him off, saying, "Our street kid is growing into a big scientist."

Peter gave her a smile, no longer as green and flustered as he used to be. Natasha watched him leave, closing the door softly.

"How was the game's ending?" Steve asked.

"Don't get me started," Natasha walked over to the sofa, sat down, and grabbed the untouched coffee cup from Stark, taking a sip before saying, "War broke out anyway. The two sides went at it like crazy. We completed our mission and withdrew, bumped into Star Lord who just entered the game on the run."

"What tag did he choose?"

"War, but he probably thought it was interstellar war. Didn't expect it to be medieval magic combat. You wouldn't believe how funny his face was," Natasha chuckled to herself.

"Who was he teamed up with?"

"Gamora."

Steve raised an eyebrow at Natasha and said, "Is there something going on between the two of them?"

"Seems like there might be something," Natasha thought for a moment and said, "But actually being together would be really hard. By the way, Agent Carter is back to work today. You want to go and see her?"

"Let's go together," Steve glanced at Stark and said, "You haven't gone to S.H.I.E.L.D. in years, have you?"

"I don't want to go," Stark stared blankly at the pool balls on the table.

"Oh come on, don't be like that," Natasha walked over and gave Stark a hard slap on the back. Stark yelped and glared at Natasha.

Natasha mimed a zippered mouth gesture beside her lips and said, "If you want me to keep my mouth shut in front of Pepper, you better keep a close watch on me."

"I really don't have time to discuss this with you right now," Stark said, but still tossed the pool cue aside and followed Steve out.

They took the flying shuttle to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters in New York. Ever since Nick took over the Time Management Bureau, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' office was moved back to the ground; the Sky Carrier was used for Time Management Bureau affairs.

As Steve and his group just entered, they saw Coulson. Stark gave him a glance and was stunned, with one hand in his suit pocket, checking him out, eyes judging up and down.

"Dude, did you get younger?"

After shaking hands with Steve, Coulson turned to him and said, "You're not seeing things, Tony. I did get younger."

"Never thought you'd be someone to get cosmetic surgery."

"Of course not, I just ate a Golden Apple," Coulson shrugged and said, "This way, Nick's already waiting for you."

"Golden Apple?" Stark thought he was punching out a new type of dad joke and paid it no attention.

The group moved through the office area to the door of Nick's office, only to bump into Carter coming out with a file in hand.

Natasha gave Steve a look, Steve was about to approach when Carter hit him with a warning glance. Steve could only resign himself to helplessly following behind as she walked off.

"What's up with those two?" Stark asked.

"Agent Carter doesn't like interacting with people during work hours, she's very dedicated," Natasha explained as she pushed open the door.

Coulson followed Stark in and said, "You've been in the lab too long, you're starting to become a caveman."

Stark wanted to snap back but couldn't think of anything, so he just glared at Coulson.

It turned out that Nick wasn't alone in his office. A blonde woman in uniform stood in the corner, and the entire office looked like it had just weathered a storm.

Natasha paused too, but Coulson seemed unsurprised. He walked to Nick's desk, and then... picked up a kitten?

"Wait a minute, is that..." Natasha pointed at the kitten.

"This is Gugu's kid," the blonde woman approached, holding the kitten to her chest, stroking its fur, and said, "Gugu had six kittens, this is the smallest one."

"Who's Gugu?" Stark asked, totally baffled.

Nick pulled out a tabby cat from behind the desk—a borderline cat/pig—and put it on the table with a thud. Nick sighed and said, "That's Gugu."

Stark went over, scratched the tabby under its chin, then said, "Just a few kittens made it like this?"

"Kittens?" Nick picked up the tabby and pointed it at Stark. Stark didn't know what he was up to, standing there dumbstruck.

Coulson was prepared. At the moment Gugu's mouth spewed forth a mass of tentacles, he pulled Stark away.

Nick grinned and said, "Come on, Coulson. It's nothing to be swallowed by Gugu, worst case, you spend a week in jail."

"Boss, she just had kittens, she's still weak. Eating too much will upset her stomach," Coulson said with some frustration.

"What the hell's dog turd!" Stark took a few steps back abruptly, staring at the cat in shock.

"Gugu is a Cosmic Beast. A creature that looks like a cat but can actually swallow everything into an alternate dimension," the blonde woman explained, "Gugu just had a litter of kittens, and I'm here to find them homes."

"You're looking for Earth homes for these things?" Natasha hesitated to speak.

The blonde woman nodded, saying, "Earth is actually the safest place for them because Cosmic Beasts are very rare in the cosmos. Most races would just kill them. A few who catch them might sell them on the black market. I can't be at ease with them roaming the cosmos."

"Don't you wonder why they want to kill this thing?" Stark asked.

"Most races think they're dangerous."

"And they are indeed dangerous."

"Not that exaggerated," the blonde woman shook her head, "To superheroes like you, it's not really a trouble at all. That's why I asked Nick to help find them homes."

"Don't worry, Carol, I'll find good homes for these little guys," Nick reassured, petting the tabby cat's head.