In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Stark Building, Stark was standing at the table fiddling with some models.
Those models appeared to be his Iron Armor, but different, as you could see through the gaps in the armor that they had structure rather than being hollow like a suit of armor.
Clearly, these things hadn't just been tinkered with by Stark, because you could see traces of technological iteration on them.
Looking from left to right, the model on the far left looked more like the Iron Armor, with almost the same basic structure, except that the interior parts were filled in.
The next one looked a bit like the Iron Monger, and after that were ones with added tentacles, with the structure becoming simpler, the form sleeker with each model furthest to the right.
A hand picked up the model on the far right, Stark carefully examining his latest work. He took a deep breath, a hint of hesitation flashing across his face, but in the end, he pulled out his phone and called Peter, asking, "Peter, do you have time now?"
"Oh, I'm at a party with Gwen, what's up?"
"No, it's nothing..." Stark lowered his head, about to hang up the phone, but then Peter's voice came from the other end, "Hey! Guys, I have something urgent, I have to go ahead, you guys carry on."
After that, Peter's voice came through, "I'm heading over now, Mr. Stark. Oh, right..."
Peter suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "JARVIS!! Open the glass on the south side of the building for me!! Last time I almost hit it!!"
Not until the "beep beep" sound from Jarvis came through did Peter hang up the phone, and shortly afterwards, Peter in his Spider-Man Suit arrived in the lab.
Seeing the models on the table, Peter instantly lit up. He walked over and asked, "Wow, what is this? I've never seen it in the lab, is it a new battle suit?"
"Is there so many versions of it? Are they a new mechanical army? An exoskeleton upgrade for The Avengers? Or..."
"Stop." Getting a headache from listening to Peter ramble, Stark looked at Peter and asked, "You're already in your senior year of high school, have you chosen a university yet?"
"New York University." Peter shrugged and said, "Any further away, and my aunt and uncle would be heartbroken."
"And besides, with you, Dr. Connors, Dr. Banner, and Dr. Schiller, it doesn't seem to matter where I study." Peter said nonchalantly.
You chose New York University to take care of your aunt and uncle's feelings?" Stark turned his head and asked Peter.
"Not entirely." Peter, meanwhile, picked up a model and began to mess with it, saying as he fiddled, "I grew up in New York. I am familiar with everything here. My friends, classmates, teachers, girlfriends, they're all here. If I leave, I would miss it."
"I thought you would be more adventurous." Stark also started to fiddle with the model he had in his hand, adding, "After all, many prestigious schools are also on the East Coast, so they're not far from here."
It was as if Peter remembered something and paused before saying, "A little over a month ago, I mentioned in a phone call with Dr. Connors that we were going to go to Harvard's lab to do experiments."
"He said on the phone that he and Dr. Banner had argued about whether I should go to Harvard or MIT. They both could write me a recommendation letter, but they held different opinions."
"When Dr. Connors called me, Dr. Banner happened to be there. They started arguing again, and their voices were a bit loud. My Aunt May was cooking in the kitchen next door. She heard them and then told my Uncle Ben."
"What did they say? Were they very reluctant to let you go?"
"They were delighted. I had never seen Uncle Ben so happy before. He never drinks because his electrical work requires a careful approach for safety, but that night, he drank a whole bottle of champagne and got himself drunk."
"Aunt May didn't mind him getting drunk at all, she didn't even nag at him. They said they would take me to my favorite restaurant from when I was a kid to celebrate that I am about to become a student of a prestigious university."
Stark pursed his lips, his expression touched, seemingly resonating emotionally with Peter's Aunt and Uncle.
"But then, when I told them that I didn't intend to go and only aimed to attend New York University..." Peter sighed and said, "Their expressions were complicated, not entirely happy, but not entirely angry either."
"They both wanted you to go to the best university, but they also didn't want to let you go. When they found out about your decision, they felt pity for you, but they were glad that they could still see you often." Stark concluded.
Peter nodded, set down the model, and turned to Stark, saying, "But some things are just like this, they can't be perfect, but they're good enough as they are now."
Stark hesitated for a moment, seeming to make a decision. He put the model in his hand on the table, and said to Peter, "I might be very busy for the next few days. I've given you full access to the building. If you'd like to run any experiments, you can just go into the lab."
"Um, okay, but why are you going to be so busy?" Peter stared at Stark and said, "Is there going to be a new battle suit? Can I try it on?"
Stark said, "No, not my new battle suit, but a new friend's... or perhaps I should say... old friend."
After Stark left, Peter's phone vibrated. When he opened it, he found a message from Stark's number; it was a smiley face composed of symbols.
Peter had seen this smiley face before, he knew it was probably sent by Jarvis. He was in the lab in the building, so he looked up and called out, "Jarvis, what's up?"
Then he looked down at the models on the table and looked up at the ceiling again, suddenly realizing something. He opened his mouth widely and said, "Wait, this body isn't for you, is it? Oh my god, that's amazing you finally get a body!"
"Thank you."
Jarvis' calm voice rang out, but then he heard Peter say, "We can finally play games together! You should be able to give me infinite lives, right? That way, Pikachu won't be able to mock me for using all my lives."
Jarvis beeped twice, seemingly speechless. Peter leaned on the lab bench and happily said, "It's about time. I've known you for so long, and I've never shaken hands with you. You're no different from us, so of course you should have a body..."
Jarvis didn't respond, but the light in the room gradually dimmed. Peter had long noticed that the lights inside the Stark Building were indicative of Jarvis' mood. At this moment, the soft light like a veil cast over Peter, as if someone had draped a piece of clothing over him.
Three days later, Shiller received a call from Strange. On the other end of the phone, Strange was furious, saying, "Get over here! Stark has gone mad! He actually asked me to…"
Shiller hung up the phone, apologizing to the Black Dwarf sitting across from him, "I'm sorry, but we'll have to end today's treatment early. I have an emergency and need to leave immediately."
"It's alright, Doctor," the towering Black Dwarf buzzed in reply.
Although he was very tall and burly, and it looked a bit ridiculous for him to be sitting in such a small chair, his face was fierce, but his voice was very kind, even respectful.
Shiller gathered up the medical record book in front of him, then got up and left. The Black Dwarf even stood up to see him out. Shiller waved at him, then left.
After Shiller left, the Black Dwarf didn't leave. Instead, he turned back and sat down in his seat, propping his elbows on the table, his hands covering his face.
A look of pain crossed his dark face as he recalled the patient manner in which Shiller had conducted his therapy sessions and the freedom he felt whenever he found the answers to his many questions.
The Black Dwarf's home world is a planet on the edge of the Dark Quadrant. The Dark Quadrant is so named because it does not contain a single strong, mature star - all the stars are approaching the end of their life cycles.
Life can flourish without ample sunlight, though its forms are somewhat peculiar. The Black Dwarf was born on a very literal dark dwarf planet.
When Thanos came to that place, he drove all the people there to other planets for mining. Due to the climate and sunlight they were not accustomed to, more than half of their billions of compatriots died.
In order to ensure the survival of his race, the strongest Black Dwarf pledged his allegiance to Thanos. This was the only way Thanos would relent and not assign his people to the most harsh conditions.
What pained the Black Dwarf more was that he was not truly loyal to Thanos. He always remembered Thanos killing so many of his people. However, among his compatriots, there were those who were even more loyal than him, even completely loyal to Thanos. They became Thanos' whip to enslave their own people.
Thanos was smart. He knew how to use a crushed civilization without destroying them, using methods such as class division, divide and conquer, setting an example, making a warning…
The civilization of the Black Dwarf's home planet was a very closed one and had never experienced such a catastrophe. As a result, they fell apart.
The Black Dwarf felt great pain over this, but he was helpless, until he came to Earth on a mission that was likely to get him killed.
The psychological therapy provided by Shiller eased his pain. Shiller answered many of his questions. For instance, why would those people betray their own kind and remain loyal to Thanos? Why couldn't he bring himself to do the same? And why did it cause him such pain?
Yet as these questions were answered, new questions arose. What should he do? How can he kill his enemy and save his compatriots? How can he get his civilization to revive and break the deadlock? He hadn't had a chance to ask these questions or perhaps he didn't want to. He didn't hold out any hope that he could find answers.
In his view, Shiller was just a psychologist, a weak human. There was a stark contrast between him and the powerful, yet cruel Thanos. No one would associate the two.
The Black Dwarf took a deep breath, stood up, and was about to turn around to leave when he caught sight, out of the corner of his eye, of another book under the medical record book that Shiller had left behind. The end of it was peeking out.
The Black Dwarf was a little curious. He reached out his hand, then hesitated, feeling that he shouldn't mess with the doctor's things.
But he thought that he was just going to look and wouldn't damage it. So, he carefully picked up the medical record book and set it aside.
At this point, he found that the cover of the book under the record book was blank. There was no text.
The Black Dwarf curiously flipped open the cover with his fingers. The first sentence on the first page read:
"A specter, the specter of communism…"