Chapter 3421: Midnight Sons (Part 31)

Before Shiler could even speak, Stark squeezed inside. Wearing that iron shell, how could Shiler squeeze past him? He could only take two steps back to avoid the sharp edge. Stark thus swaggered into the clinic.

"Cough, cough." Stark cleared his throat, but when it came time to speak, he didn't know what to say. After a long pause, he covered his mouth with his fist and said nonchalantly, "Why did you move back here again?"

"Didn't you know? Arkham Asylum is undergoing renovations." Shiler walked to the coffee machine, opened the back cover, replaced it with fresh coffee beans, then changed the milk carton, saying while busy, "I'm currently selecting a suitable material supplier. Do you have any suggestions?"

"I can introduce you to the supplier for Stark Tower's renovation," Stark said, "but I don't know if they are good at renovating hospitals; you can talk to them. Perhaps they can introduce you to a professional."

"Okay, just send me their contact information." Shiler took a coffee cup from the shelf next to him, rinsed it under the faucet, and then wiped it dry with a sponge.

He turned to place the coffee cup and glanced at Stark, saying, "Just put the wiretapping equipment on that table over there."

Stark put down some things and then said, "Are you sure you know how to use it? It's best to place this thing discreetly, otherwise, they might find it during a body search."

"Why would you think I'd let them search my body?"

"That guy won't let you just walk into his company." Stark walked to the sofa and sat down, the iron suit instantly disappearing, leaving only the headset and a pair of glasses.

"Okay, I know. I can walk into your company whenever I want. Leaving this topic aside, let's talk about Dario Agger; what do you know about him?"

"He is a very annoying guy, arrogant, thinks highly of himself, and he doesn't understand technology at all; he's just a pure speculator." Stark shook his head.

But soon he pretended to be objective and said, "But this guy does have some ability. Jarvis's investigation of him didn't find any flaws. The last incident caused Roxxon Corporation's stock price to plummet, but they quickly restored their reputation. This proves he still has some talent in business."

"I suspect that the minotaur monster that rampaged in Manhattan yesterday was Dario Agger." Shiler placed a cup of hot coffee in front of Stark and then went to pour one for himself.

Stark narrowed his eyes slightly, picked up the coffee cup, and rubbed the handle with his fingers, saying, "Any evidence?"

Shiler shook his head, held the coffee cup, sat opposite Stark, and said, "I took Danny to Manhattan yesterday, and he caused me trouble on the way, wanting to use me to delay meeting someone he hated."

"Unsurprisingly, that person was me."

"I guessed as much. I used a small trick to resolve his conspiracy. After that, the minotaur monster appeared."

"Then he said he was affected by the monster invasion, his car was totaled halfway, and the driver died, so he had to delay the meeting with me. He must have taken this gap to meet the Dark Elves and settle the trouble there," Stark continued.

"Dark Elves?"

Hearing Shiler's question, Stark was stunned for a moment, then remembered that although Moon Knight knew about the Dark Elves' trouble, Shiler did not.

Thinking about having to converse with Shiler based on the information gap between his two identities made Stark's brain feel like it was smoking. You say you want to be a superhero, so just be one; why must you be a superhero who hides his identity?

"Yes, the Dark Elves... forget it, you're just an ordinary psychologist; there's no need to understand these things." Stark chose the simplest way to gloss over the topic.

Just as Stark was about to continue, the clinic door was pushed open again. Natasha walked in first, and before anyone was seen, her voice came through: "Doctor, when you were fighting that minotaur yesterday, did you record the footage of him transforming? Nick said if we can get leverage on him, S. H. I. E. L. D. can arrest him immediately..."

Then Steve's voice followed: "That guy disappeared near the Roxxon New York headquarters; it definitely must be Agger..."

The two walked in one after another, and seeing Stark was also there, they were stunned for a moment. Steve seemed to have suddenly lost his memory, turned his head, and said, "What did Nick ask us to come here for?"

"Ah... we came to get the latest psychological evaluation report," Natasha nodded and said, "Doctor, are you done? If you are, give it to me; I'll take it back for filing."

"That's right, Carter asked me to come over and take a look. She doesn't do field work recently; she works in the archives..." Steve also said immediately.

Watching the two sing in harmony, Shiler chuckled inwardly. Stark thought all the superheroes were playing the superhero game with him, not knowing that everyone was still playing the "we don't know if there's a cat in the box" game with the anxious Iron Man.

Stark's goggles covered his eye-roll well, but he still sat on the side of the sofa, making room for the two.

At this time, Natasha saw the wiretapping equipment on the table, raised her eyebrows, looked at Stark, and said, "You finally got infected by Batman too? I really didn't expect you to be the first to poison Dr. Shiler..."

"You've wronged me there," Stark immediately cried out, "It was clearly a certain doctor with extremely high professional ethics who is going to conduct a psychological treatment the day after tomorrow that is absolutely private and impossible to be wiretapped."

"Don't tell me you're the one being treated," Steve showed a look of disgust, "Does replacing the recording equipment used by a psychologist with this thing alleviate your anxiety symptoms? What kind of hobby is this?"

Stark's eye-roll nearly reached the sky. When he stood up and walked toward the table, he deliberately bumped into Steve's shoulder and said, "Then what kind of hobby is it that you gave Agent Carter an inverted-color shield? Howard still has to help you hammer out an anniversary gift in Hawaii."

Natasha also showed a gossipy expression. Steve was not to be outdone; he crossed his arms and looked at Natasha, saying, "You mentioned Batman without thinking just now because you've been saying it too smoothly recently, right?"

"Alright, if you have nothing else to do, just finish your psychological evaluation reports." Shiler dug out the evaluation forms from the drawer. The three of them took a step back in unison.

"Sorry, I have something to do at the company, I'm leaving first." Stark lifted his foot to leave. Natasha and Steve also hurriedly slipped away.

Just as they walked out, they bumped into a figure. Loki was almost slapped onto the glass by Steve's sprint.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He held his staff in one hand, rubbed his nose with the other, and said, "My nose almost got stuck into my pineal gland! Seriously, if Odin had brought you along when he conquered Jotunheim, would it have taken so long?"

Hearing the dissatisfaction in his tone, Steve apologized first: "Sorry, I didn't see you. But I really have something to do; please move aside."

Loki stretched out his staff to block him: "Don't go yet, I have something to tell you."

"The key is that he also has something to tell us," Natasha pointed back. Shiler was looking over here.

"That's perfect, let's say it together." Loki received the look Shiler gave him, and he immediately returned a look: "Don't worry, I'm on your side."

Then, two minutes later, the four of them sat at the dining table, filling out psychological evaluation forms while talking about the Dark Elves.

"It has been confirmed that the current leader of the Dark Elves is not Malekith, but the general who was originally under him, Algrim, also known as the Kurse. He has not yet responded to the diplomatic note sent by Asgard, so his attitude cannot be determined."

"I think he's crazy," Natasha said bluntly, "How long would it take for Asgard to wipe out the Dark Elves?"

"One second," Loki answered very crisply, "We divide civilizations into two categories: one that needs us to use the Bifrost as a portal, and the other that only needs to be used as a weapon. They are the latter."

"Then what about Earth?" Steve couldn't help but ask.

"You are somewhere in between. Earth is protected by a magical defense network; the strength of this shield far exceeds the planetary shields of most primary interstellar civilizations and can only be solved by the Bifrost."

"But the Bifrost needs cooling and charging. If you want to shatter the shield in one blow, you might need overclocked output, and once the Bifrost is gone, Asgard's mobility will drop significantly, making it difficult to deal with Earth's mages."

"So if they must attack, Thor probably won't choose to use the Bifrost as a weapon, but will keep it as a portal. But in that case, Earth's shield becomes a problem."

Loki shook his head and said, "You have been safe in the universe for so long not entirely because of Asgard. Similarly, if other civilizations in the universe had a way to force an attack, they wouldn't always be causing trouble inside Earth."

Steve nodded, feeling relieved, but then Loki said, "Home planet security and navigation security are two different things. Unless you can move the magical defense network onto your starships, navigation security is still hard to guarantee, let alone deep-space combat."

Steve sighed and said, "Take it slow."

Natasha turned to look at him curiously: "That doesn't sound like something you would say."

"I've been dealing with the Chinese recently and learned it from them," Steve shrugged and said, "This is an answer that can deal with all pessimistic views, and at the same time, it's shockingly optimistic. They seem to really feel that as time goes by, we will have everything."

"Perhaps that is indeed the case," Loki smiled and said, "They are a civilization from the same era as Asgard; the words of the elders always have some truth."

"What do you think the attitude of that Kurse is?" Stark asked.

"Not very friendly. But I came to convey a message: Asgard will not send troops to attack Svartalfheim; whatever happens there has nothing to do with us."

Everyone understood that the point was in the second half of the sentence. Steve seemed to have suddenly thought of something and whispered a few words to Natasha. Natasha nodded and then whispered a few words back to Steve.

Stark didn't know what they were being secretive about, but he just started taking stock of the resources in his hands. However, he soon looked at Shiler and said, "You have some friends in Hong Kong?"

"You could say that." Shiler nodded.

"Do you think they..." Stark hesitated, then continued, "Would they be willing to fight? If they don't fight, we ourselves..."

"You seem to have misunderstood one thing," Shiler sighed and said, "Why would you think they don't like fighting?"

"Because they have always been opposed to radical interstellar exploration actions, have no aggression, and are slow in everything they do."

"Then where did their third-largest territory in the world come from?"

"Uh..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3422 =====