Chapter 63: Early Winter Routine (Part 2)

As social animals, humans always tend to conform; being in a certain environment inevitably changes you, and Stark now understood this deeply.

Peter spent his days sweetly doting on his childhood friend Gwen; after they officially confirmed their relationship a while back, they began dating two or three times a week.

The Spider-Man who hadn’t yet met his future father-in-law was practically bursting with happiness, talking excitedly every day about the little gifts his girlfriend gave him or the restaurant dishes he’d eaten that were especially delicious.

Stark had to admit that even though Peter’s details sounded childish and the restaurants they visited were roadside stalls Stark, a billionaire, would never set foot in, each time he heard Peter’s descriptions, Stark could fully feel his joy.

Besides Peter, thanks to the loose tongue of the clever little brat Strange, the story of Shiler and his wife, after being amplified by countless tongues, grew richer in detail and increasingly tragic.

Originally, it was just information Colson obtained during his routine investigation of Strange, but such a juicy rumor could never stay bottled up inside him; the next day, Natasha and Nick heard from Colson a version that sounded remarkably real and detailed.

Strange’s few brief sentences were expanded by the brilliant agent Colson into a full story, and when this tale reached Natasha and Nick, Natasha, being a woman, had a strong interest in romantic love stories; her uniquely feminine emotional mind added even more imagined romantic details, making it feel more authentic.

Nick, however, was a skeptic; upon learning this fact, he would inevitably investigate.

His investigation actually uncovered some faint traces.

He discovered that the payment from S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stark to Shiler had originally remained in Shiler’s U.S. account, but recently, this large sum had been transferred to an international account in Switzerland; after that, Nick could no longer track the money’s destination, and he suspected it was being used by Shiler to sustain his wife’s life.

A while back, Shiler told everyone he would be away for a while; at that time, Nick had wanted to track his movements, but S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had scoured the area like casting a net over fish, yet found not a single trace—Nick believed Shiler had likely used magical abilities to reach his wife.

Nick always believed that to be a good agent, one needed not only meticulous logical thinking but also the ability to make associative leaps; often, an accidental insight could bring unexpected changes to an operation.

Thus, with all these factors combined, Nick became certain the story was almost certainly true.

He believed Shiler’s wife was probably not American, since he found no record of such a vanished woman in the files; Shiler might have met her during his studies abroad, and after falling in love and marrying her, she may have contracted an incurable yet progressively worsening illness. Combining this with Shiler’s earlier mention to Strange of low-temperature technology, Nick deduced that Shiler likely possessed a technique capable of cryogenic preservation, freezing his wife to halt her condition’s deterioration while continuously seeking a cure.

What Nick saw in this story wasn’t merely tragic romance—he had long wanted to fully recruit Shiler to S.H.I.E.L.D. and have him work for them; if S.H.I.E.L.D. could make progress in curing his wife, Nick was certain they would soon gain another powerful ally.

Therefore, Nick obtained files on various neurology experts, planning to see who might be qualified to solve this problem.

If Shiler had heard Nick’s thoughts and learned the story he’d imagined, he would have applauded this king of agents—wasn’t this exactly the love story of Mr. Freeze and his wife?

Mr. Freeze’s story was good, but mine is next.

Later, when this story reached Stark’s ears, he naturally assumed Nick had solid evidence, and thus concluded that Shiler had indeed spent years desperately seeking a cure for his wife.

This revelation shook Stark deeply, for throughout his upbringing, most people he’d encountered were just like his father—debauched, wasteful scoundrels.

But the deadlier blow came from Captain America, Steve.

A few days ago, Stark noticed Steve had stopped his morning runs, so he asked Shiler what was wrong; Shiler said Steve had been in low spirits lately.

Stark was thrilled—Captain America in a bad mood meant Iron Man’s mood improved.

When Steve returned, Stark had planned to mock him mercilessly, but Steve looked utterly exhausted, Shiler wore a serious and sorrowful expression, and Peter barely dared to breathe.

During the days without Pepper, Stark had wandered everywhere and had finally learned to read the air a little; seeing everyone like this, he swallowed his words.

Later, he went back to Shiler to ask what had happened to Steve, but Shiler only shook his head and told him to ask Steve himself.

How could Iron Man possibly go ask Captain America directly?

But Stark’s insatiable curiosity eventually drove him to approach Steve.

Then he learned from Steve’s own lips the romantic love story spanning a century with Peggy.

A weak, helpless new recruit met a graceful, ever-caring female officer; after this recruit became the famed Captain America, they fought side by side, each the other’s perfect soulmate—even after a century, Captain America remained certain that Peggy was his one and only perfect dance partner.

But the ending of this romantic tale was heartbreaking: a few days ago, Steve had visited Peggy, lying frail and aged in her hospital bed, and learned from the doctor that she had little time left.

He saw the photo she had kept—not of the strong Captain America after the serum, but of the timid, bullied, weak young recruit who had just entered the army; after becoming Captain America, Steve hadn’t cried like this, nearly fainting, in years.

He was truly on the verge of collapse; he even irrationally stormed into Nick’s office and asked if there was any special serum that could save Peggy’s life.

But sadly, in the end, Steve could only accept this outcome with unbearable pain and helplessness.

This story shook Stark even more, because in Steve’s account, his father Howard had been part of this entire story—he and Peggy had once been friends.

This made Stark begin to wonder: was he perhaps too unusual?

As for women, Stark certainly wasn’t short of them—magazine models, party girls, Hollywood actresses—he changed partners daily, sometimes even several a day.

But when it came to dating, to true love, Stark reflected and realized his mind was utterly empty.

From childhood to adulthood, he had never had a single romantic experience worth mentioning, one that could resonate with his friends.

First love? He vaguely remembered something, but after straining to recall, he had to admit he’d nearly forgotten it all.

Peter and Gwen were blissfully entwined, Shiler and his wife were torn apart by life and death, Captain America and Peggy had never truly lived together.

And Stark, surrounded by these people, began using his genius mind to desperately ponder: why was he so different?

“Pepper’s been looking at me strangely lately.” In the S.H.I.E.L.D. cafeteria, Stark, Shiler, and Peter sat together eating; after Stark had been kicked out by Shiler, Pepper had no choice but to send him to S.H.I.E.L.D. Stark was unwilling, but if he refused, he’d have to sleep on the streets.

“Strange? In what way?”

“I’m not joking—I’m serious. Her gaze—I can’t quite describe it—it seems worried, relieved, but also somehow sympathetic.”

“You should take my job—you can read so much from someone’s eyes?”

Stark waved his hand dismissively: “Come on, I’ve seen a thousand women, maybe eight hundred—I can tell exactly what they’re thinking from their eyes. Tell me, what’s wrong with Pepper?”

“That depends on what you’ve been doing lately. Have you done anything different?”

“What have I done? I’m perfectly fine.”

Shiler put down his fork and snapped his fingers. “JARVIS, can you analyze any changes in your master’s recent behavioral patterns?”

JARVIS beeped twice; Stark propped his chin on his hand, waiting for his AI assistant’s response.

“Analysis indicates you have declined eighteen romantic invitations within the past week—this is the only deviation from your usual behavioral pattern…”

In an instant, Stark saw on Shiler’s face an expression nearly identical to Pepper’s.

“Damn it, I’m not…”

“You don’t need to explain. Hmm… if you’ve come to terms with it, congratulations. If you’re just physically incapable…”

Shiler shrugged. “...then you’ve got yourself to blame.”

Shiler knew that in the comics, this guy was a super stud—never mind his broken-up first love Meredith or the scheming Beyonder, he’d slept with Gamora, Captain Marvel, the Wasp, Spider-Woman, She-Hulk—all fleeting flings, then vanished.

“I’m not…” Stark put down his utensils, leaned forward on the table. “I just think none of them are any good…”

“Then who was it constantly bragging about a yacht full of beauties?”

“Fine.” Stark deflated like a punctured balloon. “I’ve never had a proper relationship. You’re always talking to me about love, romance, those sentimental stories.”

“I thought they were all there was—sexy, alluring, brief, passionate. What’s wrong with that?”

“But yesterday Peter actually said his girlfriend was willing to listen to him explain how he built those machines—they talked about nothing else for the entire afternoon!”

“They didn’t even finish—tomorrow we went to the exhibition hall, the one owned by Stark Industries. Those machines were awesome. We wandered all day and didn’t get tired…”

As Stark glared murderously, Peter silently stuffed his mouth full of sandwich.

“...Fine. No one ever wants to hear me talk about this. They’d rather hear Hollywood gossip, fashion show scandals, what’s new in winter or spring collections. Who’d actually want to listen to me explain how to build armor?”

“But you really want to talk about it, don’t you? In your eyes, armor is far more beautiful than those designer coats.”

Stark pouted—he looked exactly like a sour lemon.

“But this isn’t something you come to us for. You need to talk to Pepper.”

“But she doesn’t understand armor, and she’s already so busy.”

“Same as before: if you say it, she’ll listen.”