Shiller and Stark were standing in front of a damaged Mark 2 mecha.
Stark said, "Listen, the problem now is, the braking system here is completely wrecked. Before we transform it, we need to repair it first."
With that, he picked up a wrench and began tinkering with the mecha.
Shiller, standing behind him and in his mind said to the symbiote, "No, you can't eat his brain."
"But his head looks so tasty, it's really tempting and smells good."
"But..."
Shiller, hands on hips and a hand covering his forehead, rephrased his words and said, "You can't just eat people's brains because..."
Shiller paused for a moment, he thought, well, even though this race looks strange, their tastes seem to be remarkably uniform.
"If we eat his brain, we can make it ourselves." The symbiote said.
"No!"
"Okay..."
Unaware of all this, Stark continued tinkering with the mecha and said, "Magic armour? It sounds great. I think it involves some kind of atomic power. What do you think is the best application form – shock or ultimate compression?"
In his mind, Shiller asked the symbiote, "What's the best application form? Shock or ultimate compression?"
"It's decomposition and reconstitution." The symbiote replied.
"Decomposition and reconstitution." Shiller echoed.
Having said that, he pressed his hand directly onto an un-repaired joint. A collection of parts flickered momentarily, and when they returned to their original position, they seemed brand new.
Stark stood up, his eyes widened, he crossed his arms and said: "This so-called magic seems a lot stronger than your demonstration of weightlessness."
"It's me, it's me, it's me, it's me..." The symbiote started screeching in Shiller's mind.
Shiller said: "Alright, alright, you're the one that's great."
He had to admit, the symbiote was more practical than magic. At least, his current magic ability was only low-level. It could scare people, but when it really came to its use, he still had to rely on the symbiote.
"Shrink the armor—it can get really small." The symbiote suggested in Shiller's mind.
"Shrink the armor." Shiller echoed.
"Of course, I've considered doing that. My Mark 5, and subsequent versions, are designed to be compressed into a suitcase. However, it's still in development and I can't quite make it portable just yet."
"I think the suitcase plan is a bit conservative."
"Can it get smaller?"
"Definitely."
"How small do you think it can get?"
Shiller asked the symbiote in his mind, "How small do you think it can get?"
"A phial of fear venom."
"It can shrink to the size of a small phial of fear venom?" asked Shiller.
"I want to drink it." the symbiote said.
Shiller, rolled his eyes. The symbiote had learnt to bargain.
After the symbiote gleefully drank a bottle of alcohol, it said: "A cigarette. It can shrink to the size of a cigarette."
After Shiller told Stark, Stark seemed a bit excited and started pacing around the room. He said, "This is indeed an atomic level structuring and reforming. If it can shrink to this extent, maybe it can become even smaller than a cigarette, perhaps even get to nanoscale..."
"Can it get smaller than a cigarette?" Shiller asked in his mind.
"Yes, but when it expands, it will explode." The symbiote said.
Shiller told Stark, "According to the symbiote, it can, in theory, get even smaller, but I can't guarantee that the expanding process will be safe."
Stark said, "In any case, let's start. We are going to develop a technology that eclipses this era. Then I will dump all those old versions of the battle armors to the military, and let them help me deal with the trash, saving my electronic waste disposal fee, Pepper will be so pleased."
"Having armor ready at all times has so many advantages!" Stark clenched a fist with one hand and beat it into the palm of his other hand, "And I can even put a complete Jarvis into a mobile phone. Can you believe having a cell phone with such a powerful butler?"
Shiller said, "...God bless Jarvis."
Shortly after, Stark took down the slightly worn Mark 2 from the shelf. Before he could get a good look, a cloud of gray mist flashed by, and the Mark 2 disappeared.
Then Shiller appeared holding a metal-looking cigarette. He handed it to Stark, and Stark asked, "It's done?"
"What else are you expecting?"
"Shouldn't there be some spell casting… I mean, like a ceremony or a magic wand..."
"Those aren't necessary, they're too outdated." Shiller said.
Stark blinked his eyes, suddenly loaded with infinite dreams for magic.
However, later on, these expectations almost drove Strange insane. He was a mage, just a mage! He couldn't understand why Iron Man regarded him as some powerful god. No matter what they were doing, Iron Man would always say, 'Let's leave this matter to the omnipotent magic, shall we?'"
Hearing that the Supreme Magician needs preparation to cast spells, Stark started to call Strange a "low-end mage". Hearing this, Strange nearly broke his magic wand out of anger.
No matter how much Shiller's current behavior made Strange, who will be interacting with Iron Man in the future, exasperated, it made Stark extremely pleased right now. So he asked, "How can I turn it into a mecha? How do I wear it?"
Inside his head, Shiller questioned, "How is he going to transform it into a mecha? How will he wear it?"
The symbiont burped and responded, "Just think it out in your head."
Shiller said, "Just think it out in your head."
Stark paused for a moment, then hesitantly imagined the original armament method of the Mark 2.
Almost instantaneously, the Mark 2 was worn on his body. The change happened with no process, it was essentially a reassembly at atomic level.
Stark asked, "What the hell is the principle behind this?"
In his head, Shiller asked, "What the hell is the principle behind this?"
The symbiont answered, "Thought disturbance."
Shiller told Stark, "Thought disturbance."
"Are you saying something like brainwaves? Or bioelectricity?"
The symbiont inside Shiller's head seemed a bit buzzed from drinking, it seemed unable to answer more questions. Therefore, Shiller said, "Please don't explain magic scientifically, as long as it's useful, it's okay."
Stark was itching to start experimenting right away, so he said to Shiller in a snappish manner, "Okay, okay, I get it; your magical magic, you just wait, one day I'll use it better than you."
Then he dismissed the guest.
Shiller was practically expelled from the Stark Building, but he wasn't angry. This was Stark's usual behavior, once laboratory nerd mode kicked in, nothing else mattered.
When he got back to the clinic, he saw Steve waiting for him. Steve greeted him and said, "Nick sent me to run some errands. He wishes to meet you. I think it might have something to do with Stark."
Then Shiller shouted into thin air, "One million US Dollars an hour, how about that, Director Nick?"
"You're really gouging," a voice suddenly came from the phone hanging on Steve's waist.
Shiller shrugged and said, "Alright then, originally, I planned on charging you a hundred million."
There was a silence on the other end for a moment, then it said, "Add another invoice for a late payment fee of 50 million..."
"Deal," Shiller agreed.
Not long after, Shiller found himself back at S.H.I.E.L.D.'s international reception center. Nick, wearing sunglasses, shook hands with Shiller, then they sat down face-to-face. Coulson poured both of them a cup of coffee; Shiller's was espresso.
Shiller drained his coffee, but Nick slowly enjoyed his. Shiller asked first, "Shall we talk business first, or do the invoicing?"
"Let's do the invoicing first," Nick replied.
After a while, Nick asked him, "I know that Stark has handed over his mech technology to the military, but that's not important. We're not after his mecha."
"You're after him as a person."
"His father founded S.H.I.E.L.D."
"If you bring this up with him now, don't hope to ever get him to join in this lifetime."
"Furthermore, if you want him to join, you should talk to him directly, not come looking for me. It's useless to find me, I'm just a psychotherapist, not his father."
"We didn't want you to persuade Stark. We know he wouldn't be swayed. What do you think of our idea? A team made of people with special abilities?"
"In principle, it's good, but it depends on whom they will be working for."
"Isn't it for S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Then, who does S.H.I.E.L.D work for?"
Nick frowned and decisively avoided this topic. He said, "Alright, we wish to invite you to join…"
"As you said, it's a team made up of people with special abilities. I'm just a normal person, my long jumps never exceeded 3 meters."
Nick opened his mouth, feeling like Shiller was playing him for a fool.
"Listen, we don't care how you disappeared and suddenly reappeared several hundred meters away, or where that yellow-haired rat with the Canadian accent came from. We can ignore your horrifyingly accurate psychological analyses, but a certain neurologist personally told us that you threatened him with a levitating ballpoint pen…"
Inside his head, Shiller told the symbiont, "From now on, you can't just eat anyone's brain, except Strange's."
Shiller asked, "Do you believe in magic in this world?"
"If some scientific powers could create these special ability holders, then I believe that there are other types of powers that can create other people. Are you one of them?"
"No, I'm just a normal person. But I believe I can exchange some information for my freedom."
"About what? Magic?"
"Yes, I believe you should be granted the authority to move satellites, so look up where a certain missing New York network was connected to."
Nick frowned but Shiller didn't say any more.
The New York Temple's wireless network relies on modern human network systems, not some magical network. They just used magic to hide the access point to the network.
If Nick was serious about investigating, he would certainly find some clues.
The reason Shiller didn't adamantly refuse was that in the upcoming superhero events, they'd need The Avengers to save the world. He didn't want to personally grapple with enemies, or fistfight with the likes of the Lizard and Red Hulk.
At most, for his own safety, he'd offer a little help. So, he needed to remain in contact with these superheroes, to serve as the...troublemaker in future events.