Chapter 94: Small Hand for Getting Rich_1

Natasha rushes into the psychiatric clinic, speaking quickly on the phone while she says to Shiller, "I need 30 reports... no, no, no, make it 50, 50 psychological diagnostic reports."

Shiller is writing on the bar. Without lifting his head, he raises his eyelids and asks, "What kind of disorder?"

"Post-traumatic stress disorder or something? I forgot, anyway, it's the disease you get after going to war. I need 50 copies."

"Handwritten copies won't be fast enough, we can only generate electronic reports. Where is the list of names?"

Natasha picks up another phone and says, "Send the list of names to my phone immediately… no, never mind, I'll give you an address, fax..."

On the other side, Peter comes out with a stack of papers and says, "Doctor, I don't quite understand this reimbursement application. Even if the monster didn't make it here, they want to include the cost of damage to dish sponges. Isn't this a bit...?"

On the other side, Doctor Connors is also on the phone. He says, "Yes, the development cost of the cure potion is expensive because... because the ingredients are expensive. Just tell them that. They wouldn't understand."

"There are at least dozens of rare elements in it. Which ones? Look it up in the periodic table, whichever is expensive…"

Stark hands a paper to Natasha, he says, "This is the power usage report of Stark Building. Connors and Peter conducted experiments in my high-end lab for 1 hour and 43 minutes. The average electricity fee per minute is 56,000 US dollars, and the equipment wear and tear cost as well. Oh, yes, Peter used too much force and scrapped a device worth more than a million US dollars. We need to account for that..."

Natasha takes the paper and mentions without looking, "Counting casualties? How many casualties do you think are appropriate? We've recently had 32 field personnel stationed in New York. Let's just say they all died. Let's say that compensation is 500,000 US dollars per person..."

"What? They want us to be bolder? How many agents are there on the entire East Coast? Nationwide? Isn't that a bit excessive? Would it make us look useless if we claim that a single monster killed all our agents nationwide?"

She then asked Peter, "Do you have any leftover potions?"

"We have two left, but if you need them, we could make more."

"Nick wants more. You know, since the military created such a dangerous monster, it makes sense for them to buy more of this potion as a precaution, right?"

"How many does he want?" Doctor Connors asks.

Natasha speaks into the phone again, then says, "Can we get 200?"

Peter nearly spits out his drink and says, "That serum was modified from lizard serum, there were only 7 in total, Doctor Connors has been working on it for months..."

"Nick is selling them for 3 million each."

Instantly Connors throws on his coat and says, "Let's go, Peter."

He then turns to Natasha and tells her, "Wait for us, no more than two days, and 200 potions will be handed over to you."

As Peter is dragged away, Shiller takes the reimbursement form from him and says, "Peter is too naive. Four dish sponges? How long will that last? Let's start with 4000."

Pikachu leaps onto the table, saying, "Add two cans of peanut butter for me. Oh, no, make it 2000 cans. That monster is too scary, my peanut butter suffered a great loss!"

Shiller jots down some notes, then asks, "So how many points did you say I could get?"

"Two percent off each report for you, three percent off for this application."

"Wait wait, are 50 reports enough? I think the battle was pretty intense this time and the SHIELD agents must have been left with some after-effects. Let's start with 300, all handwritten with an extra percentage, how about that?"

Steve stands in the middle of the room with his arms crossed. He says, "I know the world has changed, I know I'm old, but has it really changed this much?"

"Didn't we take care of that monster in no time? 4000 dish sponges, did he smash the entire kitchen of a New York restaurant?"

Hearing the outrageous casualty numbers from Natasha, Steve says, "I understand that Nick is trying to get more funding. But aren't the military people stupid? Can't they see how much loss there is?"

"This doesn't matter, Captain," Natasha waves her hand, "We are the victims. As the victims, we say how much there is and that's how much there is."

Before Steve can protest, Coulson rushes in. He pulls Steve to the couch with a pen and paper and starts interviewing him.

"What's this for? Why are you interviewing me?"

"So you won't have to write combat reports, Captain Steve."

"Well then…"

"How was the process of defeating this monster? Was it smooth?"

"Hmm, though there were some twists and turns, overall, it was fairly smooth."

"Could you elaborate on the twists and turns?"

"The monster was quite powerful. At the beginning of the battle, the shield couldn't inflict much damage. So I immediately changed the tactics…"

Coulson writes on paper, "The Red-throated lizard has incredible strength, far beyond what Captain America had anticipated. His shield attacks had no effect on the monster. The initial battle was extremely difficult, almost like a desperate struggle for survival."