"I am a doctor, not a god," says Dr. Strange, standing with his hands on his hips at the doorway of the operating room. "And I am a neurologist. I cannot cure all illnesses! You cannot send me every patient!"
"So, how is Dr. Connors going?"
"I don't know. You should to ask those machines. I can't fully understand the data myself."
Dr. Strange then notices Schiller, Stark and Peter giving him a look like they're looking at a fool. He explodes, shouting loudly, "What do you all take doctor for? Wishing machine? You send any patient with any ailment to me and expect me to instantly cure them. If I can't cure them, do you still want to belittle my professional skills?"
Schiller replies, "Alright, even if you can't cure him, you at least recommend someone who can, right?"
Strange rolls his eyes and says, "Based on his current condition, you might as well pray to God."
"I hope you can save him. I can pay a lot of money," Stark promises.
"All you care about is your money. I know you're rich, but not everything in this world can be solved with money. You bring a half-dead body here, what can I do?"
"Listen, you better..."
Stark steps forward and points his finger at Strange's shoulder. His tone is aggressive, and Strange is not pleased. He pushes Stark aside and roars, "Hah, who do you think I'm, a lapdog of you rich bastards?"
As he speaks, he glances at Schiller. Before Schiller can react, Stark explodes first. He throws a punch directly at Strange, and Peter quickly rushes to stop him.
"Hey, calm down, Mr. Stark! Calm down!"
Strange bends over after being punched. He touches his nose and sees a streak of blood on his hand. He mutters a curse under his breath. Schiller holds his shoulder directly and drags him away.
Strange doesn't want to leave, but Schiller pushes hard. He is dragged out of the corridor by Schiller. Just as they turn the corner, Strange exclaims loudly, "What are you doing? You think I can't beat that damn weapon dealer?"
"Didn't you notice his unusual behavior? You plan to fight a madman here?"
Strange sits down on a chair beside the hospital corridor and says with frustration, "I really don't understand why you all have to bother an ordinary person like me. Either you have money or those strange tricks. Why do you have to appear in my life?"
Schiller opens his mouth, but he doesn't say those words. He can't tell Strange there is someone staring at his arm greedily, right?
On the other side, Peter is trying to calm Stark down. He thinks Stark is being too impatient, which is not like him before.
Although Stark sometimes is sentimental and sharp-tongued, his temper is generally controllable. He wouldn't explode at the slightest provocation, and most of the time, he can communicate with others calmly. But now, Stark appears unusually irritable.
Peter grabs Stark's arm, trying to turn him around. Stark smirks and forcefully swings his arm, pushing Peter away.
Peter stares at Stark's arm in astonishment. Even if he doesn't use much strength, he is already much stronger than an ordinary person. Without the suit, Iron Man should just be an ordinary person. How can he easily push away Spider-Man, who already possesses spider mutant powers?
Peter is confused, but he feels that something is very wrong with Stark.
He takes a few steps back and sees Schiller motioning him from around the corner. Peter looks back at Stark but ultimately turns and runs towards Schiller.
Stark stands in place, shaking his head and occasionally gesturing as if speaking to the air.
After Peter runs over, he asks Schiller, "What's happening? Is Mr. Stark sick?"
"It proves one thing," Schiller replies. "Alcohol turns people into a lump of mud."
After leaving the hospital, Stark doesn't even call for his suit. He grits his teeth and mutters, "Damn it! You can't do this! Peter is just a kid!"
"Let me eat his head. It must be delicious. You will love that feeling..." a low, hoarse voice comes from the air.
"Listen, you mussy. If you dare to control my body without my permission, I'll have Jarvis use a 500-decibel sonic cannon to pound you into flour!" Stark gnashes.
Now, let's go back a few days.
Ever since Obadiah fell into a coma, Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing department almost came to a standstill. Even though Stark had little understanding of business, he realized that Obie was the key pillar that led Stark Industries to where it was that day.
Without Obadiah, a plethora of troubles followed.
In the past, Obadiah easily maneuvered between the military, Congress, and other arms dealers, ensuring that no one took any advantage, not even the military.
But without him, Pepper barely could handle some of the business matters. However, when it came to political maneuvers, she wasn't as sensitive, and Stark himself was clueless about it.
He suddenly found, he had been living in a sort of vacuum all along. He could just stay in the lab, focusing on his genius inventions, while the tumultuous waves of political struggles had no impact on him.
But then, without Obadiah, Stark had to face it all himself.
Although Stark had a genius brain, his mind didn't operate in that respect. The military exerted various pressures on him, and Stark had limited means to fight back.
He couldn't immediately untangle the intricate relationships among the various forces. Even though his intelligence would eventually allow him to learn, he initially felt overwhelmed.
The military seized this opportunity and acted decisively, immediately launching a campaign to use public opinion to put Stark Industries in a deep trouble.
Stark faced immense pressure. It's different from the feeling of not being able to produce successful experiments or inventions. He couldn't even find an outlet to vent his frustrations and ended up resorting to his old habits -- smoking and drinking.
All kinds of extreme emotions piled up in his mind, which caught the attention of a homeless alien,
Venom—an special symbiote which has recently separated from its mother symbiote, a genius child within the symbiote species.
It's well-known that this species can be attracted to humans' intense emotions. Originally, Venom attached itself to a normal journalist who had just gone through a divorce. But when this journalist was interviewing Stark, Venom couldn't resist the emotions and captivating smell radiating from him.
So, this audacious symbiote seized the opportunity when the journalist stabbed the microphone towards Stark's face, instantly detaching from the original host and hopping onto Stark himself.
Originally, Stark didn't notice anything wrong. Venom's an experienced symbiote. When it first attached to a host, it remains dormant for a certain period, avoiding intense resistance from the host.
But soon, Stark started to sense that something was off. He wasn't an ordinary person. With a brain cursed with knowledge, he keenly felt that his intense negative emotions were being channeled out, making him even more desperate to numb himself with alcohol to ensure these emotions didn't erupt and harm others.
Jarvis also discreetly alerted his master with some data, indicating that his mental state and personality were starting to falter, which meant Stark was trapped in a strange induced state.
This state didn't last long.
At the time when the Lizard broke into Stark Tower, Jarvis had to use emergency wake-up measures to rouse the heavily drunken Stark. But in reality, Stark wasn't awakened by Jarvis; he was awakened by the Venom within him, which screamed in agony due to the massive sonic boom.
It was then that Stark found the feeling of being controlled actually came from a mysterious alien parasitizing his body.
Jarvis's sonic waves caused Venom to wildly rampage inside Stark's body. Stark discovered the true face of this extraterrestrial being—a blob of black, slimy mud.
Then he realized that this alien possessed intelligence on par with humans. It wasn't only capable of communicating with him but also claimed to have access to all his personality and memories.
Indeed, Venom said it, as same as what it said to every host. It was a clever tactic to lower their guard, by repeatedly emphasizing the unity between the host and the symbiote.
Actually, to some extent, what he said is true. Although this race doesn't look good and appears gooey and sticky, they are not an evil race in the comic books. When they are born, they are like a blank slate.
They are more like a "parasitic race" that couldn't forcefully consume and erase the host's personality. Instead, they adopt a gentler way to coexist with them. The host and symbiote are more like partners rather than a relationship of control and being controlled.
The army of symbiotes scattered throughout the universe have also parasitized many races. They help these aliens gain stronger physical strength, but they mostly choose highly intelligent races.
It's because they needed the independent personality of the host to provide them with emotional energy, which is the foundation of their existence. They are not like some evil parasitic races that turn various intelligent beings into mindless zombies directly. Symbiotes couldn't do that. If their hosts couldn't think, then they wouldn't have food to eat.
Venom understands this as well. If it couldn't gain the trust of its host, then it would have to wander around hungry every day.
To Venom, Stark was like a perfect meal ticket. As Stark was going through a tough time and his emotions changed drastically every day, Venom could gain a lot of energy every day.
But soon, Venom realized it had been too naive to the matter of finding a meal ticket.