"Alright, I get it, you don't need to say anymore." Stark propped his elbow on the table, pressing his fingers against his forehead, and said, "I admit, I do have some symptoms, but they're not severe, right?"
Then he continued reading. After a while, he remarked, "Bipolar disorder? This seems a bit..."
Stark shook his head exasperatedly as he continued to flip through. Later, he commented:
"Post-traumatic stress disorder...Do you know? These symptoms listed here..."
Stark pointed to certain sentences in the book with his finger, saying, "Reliving the trauma, hyper-alertness, avoidance, and so on...This reminds me of someone..."
Stark fell silent again. Not two minutes passed before he closed the book with a snap, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Jarvis, you were right. I shouldn't be reading this stuff at night."
Suddenly, he sat upright, reopened the book, and dived headfirst into the sea of knowledge, staying immersed until morning.
The next morning, as soon as Steve entered the S.H.I.E.L.D. cafeteria, he saw Stark poking his head around behind the buffet counter. He walked over, tapped Stark on the shoulder, and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Stark fluttered his eyelids, gave Steve an up-and-down look, and replied, "Nothing, I was just waiting for you."
"Waiting for me? For what?"
"Did you forget? We still have an important discussion pending about your 'good friend'..."
Steve turned to get a tray without addressing the topic at hand. Stark squinted his eyes, saying, "Even if he was brainwashed by Hydra, that can't erase the fact that he's harmed innocent people."
"But he's saved many more; he was once a heroic warrior, just had an unfortunate incident..." Steve picked out bread with tongs while Stark stood behind the counter, whispering into his headset, "Jarvis, did you see that? He just picked up the same piece of bread and put it back three times."
"What if among those innocent civilians murdered by him, one of them was your other friend?"
"Impossible." Steve instinctively denied, but Stark continued, "Is it really impossible, or you just don't want to imagine it?"
"Let's not talk about this anymore." Steve turned back to the counter, putting down the tongs. He spoke rapidly, "Mealtime is not the ideal time for this conversation. Let's sit over there."
To Stark's surprise, when they revisited the topic, his perspective was more observational, more scrutinising Steve's reaction. He noticed details he never paid attention to previously.
Once they sat at the table, the ordinarily talkative Captain America was much quieter. Stark took the initiative to ask, "How did you meet him? Did you join the army together?"
Usually, Steve would enthusiastically share his story of narrowly escaping elimination during recruitment, a tale he had told Peter countless times. It never failed to excite him.
This time, however, Steve bit into his sandwich in silence. As a leaf of lettuce fell out, he instinctively tried to catch it with his mouth but paused, worrying it would look uncouth.
Stark watched him closely. He realised that Steve had adopted an anxious and defensive posture, clutching his arm, his elbow on the table, his arm in front of his body as a shield. Although he was holding a sandwich, the tension in his muscles signaled his nervousness.
Stark had rarely seen Steve like this. The Captain was usually cheerful, confident, and communicative, always able to discuss any topic humorously and affably.
But now, he was in a state all too familiar to Stark, a state he himself adopted when his anxiety flared up.
Reflecting upon it, Stark realised it was not the first time he has seen Steve in this state, he just had ignored these details in the past.
Then, Stark started thinking about himself. Was he also like this when facing the psychologist? Did he wear his symptoms on his face?
All of a sudden, he couldn't help but chuckle bitterly. He could now empathise with how Doctor Schiller felt when he first asked if he had the Mind Reading Technique: a combination of absurdity and frustration.
Stark quickly noticed that if he blurted out the comment that was on the tip of his tongue, it would strike Steve where it hurt most, plunging him into an even deeper anxiety. Like a sword piercing his soft side.
This would cause far more pain than a barrage of hundreds, if not thousands, of missiles. But in the end, Stark held his tongue.
He changed the subject, saying, "Let's talk about The Avengers' work instead. How do we plan to proceed against Hydra?"
Steve bit a large chunk out of his sandwich, chewed it laboriously, and swallowed. This state of being helped him look busy, so he devoted all his energies to a simple task.
"Did you mention earlier that the assassination cases might be related to Hydra?" Steve asked.
"Yes, I don't believe it's a coincidence that all these assassination cases occurred precisely when we're striking back at Hydra."
"Then we should start from there. Murder always leaves traces. Once we find out who the murderer is, we might be able to understand the reasons behind Hydra's strange behaviour."
Stark noticed that coming into a field he was comfortable with made Steve's tension ease somewhat. He relaxed his elbows, held the sandwich lower, and revealed his face.
All at once, Stark remembered his conversation about mechas with Schiller. It felt strangely similar to the present situation.
"Also, remember how you told me if someone seems a bit unfamiliar all of a sudden, we shouldn't rule out the possibility of them being replaced by Hydra?"
"Yesterday, I had Jarvis analyse Schiller's behaviour. The data Jarvis provided pointed out that his behaviour, compared to the Schiller we know, overlaps very little."
But to his surprise, Steve shook his head, and said, "If he really was replaced, the overlap wouldn't be so low. He would definitely imitate the original Doctor Schiller closely, only exhibiting minor discrepancies."
"So it's not like changing into an entirely different person. Wouldn't that be telling us outright that he has been replaced?"
"What if they anticipated our anticipation?"
"Then Hydra would be ruling the world already."