The weather in New York was gradually turning colder, and the morning mist clung to the windowpanes, leaving a hazy White film that blurred the recently lit streetlights into a soft, yellow glow.
Schiller held a cup of coffee, sitting at a desk in Stark's laboratory, when Mr. Stark walked over with a large stack of data and said, "We need to modify joint number 5 again, and then conduct a control group experiment with joint number 13. Also, there's an issue with the data for the outer armor of arm number 7. I'll need to readjust that later…"
Schiller said, "Can't you take a break? Aren't you tired?"
Mr. Stark spread the data files on the table and organized them, saying, "You've asked me that question at least 20 times tonight, starting from 7 PM yesterday and continuing until 7 AM this morning."
"That's because you've been dragging me to do experiments since 7 PM yesterday. I haven't even had time to drink a cup of coffee."
"And what are you doing now? Three minutes have passed. Are you finished drinking? We still have two sets of expansion experiments to do, and they must be completed before 8 AM today."
Schiller collapsed onto the desk.
Peter walked out from behind the laboratory's glass door, holding two documents. He said, "Mr. Stark, there seems to be a problem with the external support frame of leg bone number 5. In the third set of data Jarvis just gave me, the bone support structure seems to show a tendency towards instability, and the frame also has a risk of cracking. Although Jarvis suggests we change the material, if we use a keel that's too hard, the flexibility and agility will be weakened…"
Mr. Stark took the documents from Peter's hand. He looked at them and said, "This isn't a big problem."
He pointed to the design drawing for Peter. "We'll add a buffer system to this joint later, and then move this part down two centimeters…"
Peter stroked his chin, thinking. Mr. Stark stepped forward and pulled Schiller up. He said, "Normally, it only takes you 3 seconds to drink a strong coffee, but now you've been drinking for almost 5 minutes. Get up and get to work."
"My magic ability needs to recover…"
"I remember someone saying that was a low-end operation?"
Schiller covered his eyes and said, "Can't you just bring over a complete Mark armor, and I'll cast magic on it once, and then you can just use it directly? Why do you insist on disassembling it into individual parts for experiments?"
Mr. Stark said, rather exasperatedly, "Why do I sometimes feel like you know a lot about these things, but other times I feel like you're a mechanical White idiot?"
He spread the design drawing on the table and pointed to the patterns on it, saying, "Do you see? Once you use magic to help me solve the shrinking and expansion problems of Mark 4, I can focus the design on its performance and functions. But once I improve the performance and functions of a certain part, I must retest whether it can shrink and expand again, or whether its functions after expansion are the same as I expect."
"So I must conduct a large number of modular experiments to test whether a certain function, when individually shrunk and expanded, will achieve its effect as I expect."
"So, is there any component that hasn't met your expectations?" Schiller asked.
"What if it's the next one?" Mr. Stark said.
These damned rigorous science students. Schiller collapsed onto the desk again.
Peter said, "I agree with Mr. Stark. The manufacturing of this armor is no joke. Once you fly tens of thousands of meters high, and a certain component malfunctions, it would be too dangerous."
"Not only that." Mr. Stark said, while organizing the design drawings, "The effects of low-power operation, high-power operation, and even overclocked operation are all different. You must ensure that it performs as perfectly as possible at every level of energy efficiency output."
Then Mr. Stark pulled Schiller's arm and dragged him back to the experimental bench. Peter handed over a component, Schiller disassembled and reassembled it, then Mr. 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 Mr. Stark were indeed doing experiments, but Schiller felt like he was just screwing light bulbs on an assembly line.
The Symbiote kept repeating in his head, "Their heads smell so good, really so good, I want to eat them, can I eat one of them? Just one, and then the other for the next meal. I want to eat the blue-eyed one first…"
Schiller found that the Symbiote seemed to be able to detect human brainwaves. When a person's brain started to work rapidly, it would detect a kind of pheromone released from their brain. The faster the person's brain activity, the better it smelled.
Unfortunately, for the Symbiote, the brains of super geniuses like Peter and Mr. Stark were like a walking, super-delicious fried chicken, utterly irresistible.
Somehow, the Symbiote had also learned to repeatedly play the sound of drooling in Schiller's head, making him hungry too.
Schiller finished screwing in the last light bulb handed to him and said, "Let's go eat something. Aren't you hungry?"
Mr. Stark threw him two compressed biscuits and said, "Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s new toy, I can now work for 40 consecutive hours."
Schiller took a deep breath and said, "Then aren't you tired? And you, Peter, you haven't slept for almost two days, have you?"
"The reason I brought this kid over is that he has much more energy than others."
Peter also shrugged and said, "Ever 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, as a sorcerer, why would you feel tired? Don't you have any magic to refresh yourselves?"
Schiller wasn't feeling physiologically tired. With the Symbiote, he could even go without eating, drinking, or sleeping. However, anyone who had been screwing light bulbs here for over 20 hours would feel mentally exhausted.
Schiller didn't understand their armor designs at all, but whenever Mr. Stark came out from behind the glass door excitedly showing off his new ideas, Schiller still had to act as a cheerleader and applaud him. If he didn't, Mr. Stark would rush back into the glass door, and after a series of clanging explosions, come out with new ideas again.
Mr. Stark said, "How can you be so indifferent to such a great endeavor? This is a milestone in the history of human science! Perhaps even in magic! For the first time, we have combined the product of human technology with a new magical force. Aren't you looking forward to the results they produce?"
"I'm more concerned about another issue." Schiller said, "Do you plan to call this series of armors 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 would be sad. He also participated in the creation."
Mr. Stark scratched his head. Peter said, "I don't mind that, but rather than a name, I think the new armor should have a cooler appearance, completely different from the Mark series."
"I think you could design it to be blue." Schiller said, "It matches magic well and can also distinguish it from your Mark series."
"Then let's speed up. As soon as we test all the parts, we can start assembling it, and very soon we can paint it a beautiful color. I think blue and silver would look good together."
"Also." Mr. Stark looked at Schiller and said, "I think this armor should have some magic attack capabilities."
"But I'm sorry, the magic I learned doesn't have any attack capabilities." Schiller said.
"What about that anti-gravity spell? I think being able to float objects isn't bad."
"You could consider magnetism." Schiller betrayed Magneto without any psychological burden. He said, "Perhaps magnetism is stronger than you think."
By the time Natasha arrived, these three had been without sleep for almost 50 hours. Schiller and Peter looked relatively normal on the outside due to their superpowers, but Mr. Stark had huge panda eyes. Natasha said, "We were almost going to issue a missing persons report for you. You've been gone for almost three full days."
"But we have an excellent result!" Mr. Stark said.
Immediately after, Natasha saw Mr. Stark pull out a cigarette. The Agent smiled and said, "It seems you're still so unromantic. I haven't smoked since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Is it a bit late for you to start taking care of your health now?" Schiller asked her.
"Taking care of my health? I'm not doing it for health! Have you ever seen a Russian take care of their health? That damned smoke detector in the S.H.I.E.L.D. office goes off more than 20 times a day. I quit smoking because I couldn't stand the noise anymore."
"Hey, look here! What are you two talking about? Look at me, look at my achievement!" Mr. Stark said.
He tossed the cigarette upwards, and in an instant, an armor composed of silver and dark blue appeared on him.
This armor indeed had a slightly different appearance from the Mark series. It appeared lighter, more streamlined, and fit Mr. Stark's body more closely. Moreover, it made no mechanical sounds during its armament and movement, unlike other armors. Rather than an armor, it was more like a uniquely styled bodysuit.
Schiller stood up and said, "Originally, you were 10 centimeters taller than me when wearing the armor, but now you're only 3 centimeters taller."
"Is that the point?!"
"Of course, because without the armor, you're one centimeter shorter than me."
"It's two centimeters shorter, sir." Peter said, "You still have to subtract the shoes."
Mr. Stark took a deep breath. He lightly leaped, and the armor floated in the air without the usual loud commotion. Mr. Stark said, "Thank you for giving me the inspiration. I also felt that jet propulsion was a bit cheap, but this magnetic levitation system is still somewhat immature. I still need to improve it."
Schiller quickly asked Natasha, "Did Nick Fury need me for something? I can go over and give him another invoice, no matter how big."
Natasha said, "Well, yes, there is something. It seems to be related to those ninjas Captain and Peter dealt with before."
"So, you came for Peter, then Schiller…" Mr. Stark said,
"No, no, I've received a lot of money from S.H.I.E.L.D., and I think it's necessary to give them all a basic psychological and emotional test. You know, this is very important for some field Agents, it can prevent them from going crazy due to anxiety."
"No charge this time?"
"Of course!"