Unfortunately, JARVIS's prediction became reality; it hadn't even gotten dark when Pepper came storming in, practically dragging Stark by the collar.
Pepper looked well, in fact, a bit too good; Shiller gave the lady a once-over and noticed she appeared ten years younger, with thick hair and a rosy complexion, while Stark next to her sported two black eyes, looking like he had been out thieving in the night.
Unconcerned that they were in the psychiatric department of the Elders Council Hospital and not Shiller's little clinic, Pepper started recounting events as usual.
There really wasn't anything hard to understand; ever since discovering that Pepper was ill, Stark had become like a street cockroach—someone would step on a leg, and he would demand the floor's quality be checked three times over. In short, his anxiety had exploded.
Logically, someone like Stark, who had seen all kinds of situations, shouldn't fall ill over such matters, but after Earth's technological breakthrough, Stark didn't get a moment's peace, working for hundreds of continuous hours fused to a Magic Core was commonplace.
If it were like before, merely toiling away in the lab, it wouldn't have been much for him, but as everyone knows, the bigger the operation, the more troubles arise. Within scientific research, it isn't the science itself that drains the most energy, but dealing with all the troubles so that one can focus on science.
Stark found himself trapped in this state; he was desperate to resolve all external troubles so he could return to the lab, but his current position meant those troubles were never-ending.
Today this country and that country squabbled over patent rights; tomorrow that country's satellite would invade another's space; the next day a technology shared would have issues during practical applications.
Stark could certainly choose to ignore it all if he were ruthless, but the problem was that he was a perfectionist. Whenever it came to any technology, he had to go see for himself.
Often, though, technology was just a pretext; people just wanted him to cut through lawsuits, or simply to prove their own correctness.
After the third industrial revolution, while countries appeared friendly and generally united on the surface, humans will be humans—with no shortage of friction behind the scenes.
Although Captain America and the Howard Couple later took over soothing international relations, constantly shuttling between to mediate, they managed to handle it somehow.
But soon humanity took a giant leap towards the interstellar era, and affairs within Interstellar Society became even murkier. Through Asgard, humanity began to exchange technologies with some mid-development civilizations, and Stark had to be vigilant to prevent humans from being taken advantage of, never relenting in negotiations.
While keeping an eye on international affairs, monitoring experiments, and also watching Interstellar Society, all of these matters were life-and-death, potentially affecting the future path of the human race. Any perfectionist in such a predicament had the risk of exhausting themselves to death.
So when Pepper's health also started failing, the cumulative pressure from overexertion burst, Stark's anxiety disorder began uncontrollably erupting again, and as always, he refused medication.
"I'm not sick, I'm just a bit tired, I'll be fine after some rest," Stark said, straightening the collar of his shirt.
"But the psychological assessment system in your own Mecha has been sounding alarms for two weeks," Pepper countered with reason, "Are you saying the psychological assessment system you wrote is flawed?"
Stark, caught off guard, stubbornly responded, "How could it? The system I wrote is fine; maybe the alarm is broken."
"Hold on a moment, ladies and gentlemen," Shiller said, tapping the table with his pen, "I know you're anxious, but hold off on feeling anxious because there's something coming up that you'll really need to worry about."
But the two paid no attention to Shiller, preoccupied with their own argument, and assuming that what Shiller was saying was just those comforting words for patients with anxiety disorders.
Shiller cleared his throat and said, "Right now, there's a super time bomb lurking in our hospital. If it explodes, not only Earth, but approximately half the Milky Way will be obliterated, and the universe might even restart because of the explosion."
The two finally quieted down and stared at Shiller wide-eyed.
"Ready to sit down and listen now?"
They quickly settled at the table with Stark asking, "Tell me this is just something you made up to get our attention."
"Of course not. Didn't Professor X tell you? He has a son, an Omega-level Mutant with over 200 Omega personalities in his head, and they are still increasing. And he's mentally ill, unable to control himself," Shiller revealed.
Stark gasped.
From Professor X and Magneto alone, one could understand how powerful Omega-Level Mutants were, and now, there were not one but over two hundred of them. More importantly, the individual in question was insane—if they lost control, there would be no need for anyone to be anxious any longer.
"Where did he come from?" Stark asked with suspicion.
"You'd have to ask Charles about that, but that's not the point right now. If you have confidence in your psychological assessment system, then take this," Shiller said, handing Stark a copy of a medical file, "Analyze it, then think of a solution to see if my mental assault strategy will work."
Stark took the file with skepticism, frowning more the further he read. He glanced at the file, then at Shiller, and back to the file before finally saying to Shiller, "Are you sure he's Charles Xavier's son?"
"Of course, I know what you're thinking, but anatomically speaking, we have completely different symptoms, the exact opposite," Shiller explained.
"Alright, I don't understand all that, but what measures do you think we should take?" Stark pondered and then said, "If the explosion really could be cosmic in scale, it's better to be safe than sorry."
"Don't worry, I am fully confident he won't explode, and we have other measures if he does," Shiller said, stroking his chin, "But the problem is that we cannot allow him to stay in a state where he could explode at any moment. So, we need to conduct a full-brain scan on him."
"With my equipment?"
"Yes, your equipment really shouldn't be delayed on checking uterine fibroids that aren't even the size of a fingernail, and by the way, I have reservations about whether that is a uterine fibroid."
"What did I say!!" Pepper raised her pitch, glaring at Stark and saying, "The most professional doctors in the entire cosmos have said it! I said it would heal on its own, just stop bothering me!!"
"But he is a psychologist..."
"Then I'll find another most professional doctor!"
Stark watched helplessly as Pepper's retreating figure disappeared, Shiller sighed, twirled his pen and said, "Although I am a psychologist, I must also emphasize to you that the role of psychological factors in disease healing has always been underestimated. Such tumors could completely disappear on their own when the patient is calm and in good spirits."
Stark tilted his head and threw himself into the sofa, holding his arms without speaking. Shiller chuckled lowly and said, "Now you understand how uncomfortable the anxiety from work withdrawal can be, don't you?"
"You damn, sneaky psychologist, you dare write 'unfit for work' in my psychological evaluation report!" Stark muttered, "As if saying I'm crazy, or that my IQ has dropped, it's simply unreasonable..."
"Relax, it's a typical symptom when you suddenly withdraw from busy work. You wonder if work without you could collapse at any moment, if Earth would really stop spinning without you. In reality, it's not the case."
"That's only true for ordinary people." Stark gave Shiller a menacing look and said, "I'm quite certain this Earth really would stop spinning without me."
"I'm afraid I have to finish this case in my hands before I can write you a rehabilitation report." Shiller shrugged and said, "And it also has to pass through the Luminous Alliance's review. I think at least Godhand Mister is on my side."
"And because of your skepticism on his expertise, he will also strike back with his professional experience, ensuring you won't get a single vote. You can't bribe him with money this time."
"You bunch of damn, sneaky doctors..."
Pepper stormed in quickly, followed by Strange, who was still in his surgical attire. As soon as he walked in, he sarcastically said, "Lady, I'm afraid this medical imbecile beside you is the main culprit for the tiny structure in your uterus, the other culprit is God."
"What do you mean?" Stark jumped up.
"What I mean is, someone thinks the most normal outcome of natural evolution that could result from increasing age and hormonal changes is a disease more serious than cancer. Of course, it's not as serious as his anti-intelligence and anti-modern medical views."
Pepper grabbed Stark, who was about to leap forward, and slapped the examination report on his face while saying, "Go on vacation, or I'll unite the board to fire you!"
"How could the board possibly..."
"Your parents are on the board, Tony Stark! Don't push me to use tattling as a last resort!"
Stark slumped suddenly, stretching out his hands in dismay and saying, "Alright, alright, truce, babe."
Pepper rolled her eyes and strode out of the office with big steps.
Stark spread his hands towards Strange and Shiller, his face saying, now you guys are happy.
Shiller put his pen and notebook on the desk and said, "It's almost time to get off work, how about a drink?"
"I still have surgery to do." Strange was unmoved.
"Yeah, you've been doing surgeries for over 50 hours straight. I'm suggesting to the hospital to charge overnight rent for every inch of the operating room floor, including the dirty linen baskets, dryers, and even the trays for forceps."
"No chance, they'll lose all their neurosurgeons."
"If you don't go, I'll tick you off on the psychological assessment."
"Sneaky psychologist."
The three of them headed towards the end of the corridor, and as dusk spilled in through the windows, the carpet that rolled in seemed to flutter like leaves past the doctors, nurses, patients, and their families in this ever-busy world, capturing a moment of leisure in the tail end of autumn.
Meanwhile, Charles walking through the hospital corridors realized he had taken a wrong turn, and it was getting dark already.
Charles pondered for a moment, concluding that it wasn't worth turning back, since he could still find his way from this side. So he confidently walked down the corridor.
The next second, with a whoosh, his figure disappeared from the corridor.