Chapter 3420: Midnight Sons (Part 30)

By the time Dr. Otto landed, Shiler had already rushed over. Seeing the other man aiming a high-energy ray gun, he instinctively dodged to the side.

"Zzz—"

A blindingly dazzling beam of light shot from the muzzle. Even Hulk hurriedly lowered his head to avoid it, and Captain America used his shield to cover his eyes. The brilliance was so intense that just a glance would scorch one's retinas.

Only Dario, who knew nothing of Otto, had red magical light flickering in his palms, a magical shield blocking his front. However, under the massive energy output, the magical shield lasted less than three seconds before shattering instantly, and the energy beam struck him square in the chest.

Dario was sent flying, a large hole burned into the skin of his chest, his lungs charred black, and his ribs on both sides exposed.

The others gasped; they had expected Otto's energy gun to be powerful, but not this powerful.

Otto had been researching the Artificial Sun project. However, ever since the Solar System Development Plan began large-scale conversion of the true sun's energy, he had changed his research focus to highly compressed miniature suns.

The high-energy ray gun was born under these circumstances. It is no exaggeration to say that his gun now contained a miniature sun with nearly completed fusion reaction; its instantaneous output could melt almost anything.

Although it suffered from a long cooldown, high failure rate, and indiscriminate light attacks, there was no denying that the power of this first shot was quite astonishing.

Currently, the newly launched human starships carried an enlarged version of this high-energy ray gun, which was the only ship-borne weapon that applied purely human scientific technology. It wasn't developed by Otto, but research in the same direction had led to the same destination; Otto's main achievement was in miniaturization.

This shot served to wake Dario up.

Looking at the fully armed Avengers members before him, he couldn't figure out for a moment how he had ended up opposing them.

Then, he saw Moon Knight mixed in the crowd. He scrambled up from the ground, pointed in that direction, and shouted, "He was the one who started it! Why aren't you attacking him?!"

Everyone turned to look in Shiler's direction.

Natasha gave Steve a look, and Steve raised his shield, saying, "Get this monster out of the main city area first, don't let him hurt anyone!"

The Avengers rushed forward. The wound on Dario's chest was self-healing, but under the influence of various attacks, the speed was slow, and he had to turn and run away in a sorry state.

As he ran, he cursed, "You damn bastards! That guy in the white clothes is the terrorist who blew up the information center! You should be chasing him!"

Natasha, in the helicopter, picked at her ear.

Dario was nearly bursting with grievance, but Natasha didn't see any problem. Even without mentioning their personal friendship with Shiler, did you not open your eyes to see what you two look like?

One is covered in fur, has two horns on his head, eyes flashing red, charging into the city without a word, crushing half a street with one step; the other is draped in a silver cloak, holding a staff, coming with the light and going with the wind. Who do you think the superheroes are going to attack first?

"Understand the importance of skin and special effects now?" Shiler said to Khonshu, "A guy like him would have to have his documents checked three times just for helping an old lady cross the street. A guy like me, even if I killed until the blood flowed like a river, the superheroes would still have to be polite before resorting to force."

Khonshu's bird beak moved, emitting a clicking sound, but he didn't refute, instead changing the subject: "You exposed your identity in front of Dario. If he manages to escape today, you'll be in danger."

Khonshu had thought Shiler would say he couldn't escape. Instead, Shiler shook his head and said, "He won't reveal my identity."

"Why?"

"I'm quite popular on the internet, with many fans, and a small portion of fanatical ones. If he reveals that I am the terrorist who blew up the Oregon information storage center, but can't produce any evidence, it will only make my fans sympathize with me more."

"Then what if he only says you are Moon Knight?"

"That will only bring me more fans."

Khonshu was speechless. Shiler continued, "If he's smart enough, he'll think he's got leverage on me and then come to negotiate."

"What leverage do you have?"

"Just as he said, I am friends with many people in the Avengers. Now, his plan has caused the Dark Elves to suffer heavy losses; he needs a stronger backer to have the confidence to negotiate with the Dark Elves."

Shiler flew toward where he had parked earlier, and upon arriving, found that the blue Ford had no problems other than minor scratches. Thus, he changed out of his Moon Knight attire and drove toward the repair shop.

"In the eyes of such people, there is no distinction between countries, races, or even civilizations; they lean toward whoever can bring them benefits."

"The Dark Elves can provide them with better technology, allowing them to maintain their monopoly on traditional energy in the post-solar energy era, so they can sell out Earth's interests without hesitation; but once the Dark Elves start causing them trouble, and the superheroes on Earth can protect them, they immediately start trying to win over the superheroes."

"Even if you blew up their information center?"

"Even if I not only blew up their information center but also specifically came to provoke him, and even led the Avengers to beat him up, he can only swallow his pride. Because he thinks that as long as he endures for a moment, he can always make a comeback later."

Shiler waited at the repair shop until evening before driving to Wanda's house. Wanda knew what had happened in Manhattan, so she didn't pay attention to the car, but hurriedly came to Shiler's side and said, "Are you okay? Doctor?"

Shiler shook his head and said, "How are the cats? Have they been vaccinated?"

Wanda nodded, leading Shiler into the house, and said, "They are very well-behaved and very cooperative. The doctor even dewormed them. I bought a lot of kitten food; you can take some, they quite like it."

Shiler nodded. After walking over, he saw four little beans rolling on the sofa, and he laughed, walked over, hugged the pitch-black one, and stroked its head.

"This cat's breed looks like a British Shorthair," Wanda said. "At least that's what the pet doctor said. You need to be careful to control its weight; don't let it eat too much."

Shiler stroked the little black cat's head. From the contours of its face, one could tell it was a purebred cat. Its two large, round eyes were golden because it was too black. All over its body, one could only see two golden circles.

Then, he looked at the remaining three kittens; one was an American Shorthair, one was a Li Hua, and one was an orange cat like Goose.

"Have you named them yet?" Shiler asked.

"Of course. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, how about that?"

"Not bad." Shiler put the little black cat into the travel crate, carried it, and said while walking out, "I thought you would call them Erik, Lorna, and Pietro."

Wanda, who had walked out the door, froze. The evening sunset shone on her red hair, making the healthy blush on her face even more obvious. This made her look like a still flame. She seemed to have started seriously considering Shiler's suggestion.

"If you were raising three cats, what would you call them? Doctor?" Wanda shouted at him from the doorway.

"It wouldn't be Tony, Stephen, and Peter, anyway," Shiler said, turning back with a smile.

Facing the sunset, Shiler drove home. Upon returning to the second floor of the Moon Temple, Shiler had just put the cat down when the phone rang.

"Dr. Shiler? I think we can talk."

A familiar voice came from the other end of the phone. Shiler didn't hear any weakness in his tone; it seemed the Avengers hadn't beaten him hard enough, or perhaps they would be more willing to sit in an office and fill out psychological evaluation forms.

"I don't think we have anything to talk about," Shiler said.

"You should know what you've done. Even if you're confident you didn't leave any evidence, if Roxxon Corporation insists on investigating, you'll be in trouble. Why not talk about cooperation, and let the past be wiped clean?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. But if you want to meet me, you should go find Nick and ask about my salary level first."

"I heard, Stark gives you 300 million USD a quarter. I don't know how often he meets with you, but if you're willing to come, the money will be deposited into your card on time."

"I am a psychologist. If you wish to receive psychological treatment, I can give you an expedited appointment. Where shall we meet?"

"Roxxon New York headquarters. You should know the address."

"Okay, how about tomorrow?"

"Uh, still too early. The day after tomorrow. But I hope our treatment process is completely private..."

"You can rest assured about that; I have quite a professional code of ethics."

After hanging up the phone, Shiler turned and called Stark. This was the first time he had called Stark as Shiler since choosing to become a superhero.

"Hello? Tony? The chairman of Roxxon Corporation invited me to their company headquarters the day after tomorrow for psychological treatment. What do you think?"

"Of course not. Why do you always think about money? I just want to tell you that I am a doctor with very high professional ethics, and this treatment is completely private, absolutely will not be leaked, and impossible to be wiretapped..."

"Okay, I know. Just have the mecha sent to my clinic."

Hanging up again, Shiler called Nick. Before he could speak, Nick roared first.

"Look at the mess you've made! That damn monster caused a rampage in Manhattan; do you know how much money is needed for the aftermath?! This will be deducted from your salary!! And Oregon..."

"Calm down, Nick. The chairman of Roxxon Corporation invited me to their company headquarters for psychological treatment. I want to emphasize to you that I am a doctor with quite high professional ethics, my fees are quite reasonable, and I absolutely will not open my mouth like a lion..."

"Oh... oh, oh—yes. You have always been S. H. I. E. L. D.'s most ethical employee. However, occupying your working hours to provide him with private treatment naturally should compensate you with enough lost-work fees. Don't worry, I'll negotiate; I absolutely won't let you suffer a loss."

"Then I'll trouble you, Director. About the matter in Oregon..."

"It's all that damn Agger shirking responsibility, maybe it was his employee training that wasn't done well, and a temporary worker's misoperation caused the server to explode, which blew up the information storage center, and he even wants to extort us; no way!"

"Then I'm relieved. Happy cooperation, Director."

Putting down his phone, Shiler drove back to the clinic. Not long after, he heard a knock on the door, and when he opened it, he saw Stark wearing his mecha.

?? Absolute Batman is really so big and so cute, so cute.

? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3421 =====