Chapter 53 - Life and Death at Full Speed_1

"He's in a very bad shape. In addition to the risk of infection caused by the messy wires he planted in his own body, he's old, his body doesn't recover as swiftly as the young. There's a large risk of complications after injury. Even if he can survive the infection and inflammation, his bodily functions have already suffered severe damage. You might want to ask him if he has any last requests..."

Stark banged on the table, startling Strange. The tricky doctor chimed in, "You better make sure that my consultation fee is worth your temper."

"I'm pretty sure, your courage matches my force," Shiller told Strange.

Stark gazed at Obadiah, lying on the experimental table. His pupils were already starting to dilate. An extreme emotion engulfed Stark, he didn't understand why Obadiah had to do this.

"I've always wanted to prove to Howard. The bio-tech route I proposed was not in vain. It could grant people enough strength. Even if their bodies have aged, they can still perfectly control the Mecha via their physical strength..."

"But you're about to die!" Stark snapped, "What could be more important than life?!"

"Howard died earlier than me..."

Stark fell silent, and then, he heard Obadiah sigh, "He deserved to die early, it's a shame, he died too early..."

A complicated emotion welled up in Stark's heart. He knew that the relationship between Obadiah and Howard was not as most people imagined, a perfect partnership.

When you're with a genius, jealousy is inevitable. Perhaps at some point, Obadiah wanted to prove that he could do it without Howard.

But without Howard, he didn't know who to prove his worth to anymore.

Obadiah had gotten old, perhaps he knew, if he didn't do it now, he would never have the chance again.

Some Stark had to acknowledge him. If old Stark could not, then maybe Little Stark could.

"I must find a way to save him!" Stark rushed to another experimental table, frantically searching for information. He wasn't in a state to think about Obadiah stealing his Mecha core now. After all these years, Obadiah was practically his only family, and now he was dying. Stark didn't care about anything else.

"Cardiac stent! We must make a cardiac stent for him!" Stark said.

Strange shook his head, "You're utterly medically illiterate. His heart is on the edge of failure. This is not a problem a stent can solve."

"Then put in some more!"

"Unless you can create a mechanical heart for him. His current heart can't perform the function of supplying blood to his body. In at most three hours, he'll die of heart failure."

"Are you just a doctor who denigrates others?!" Stark angrily asked. Strange was even more furious, he said, "This playboy has wasted a whole afternoon for just a word! I'm being brutally honest! He's gone! Don't treat doctors as Gods. He's created seven to eight holes in his own heart. Even God can't save him."

Shiller patted Strange's shoulder, "Don't you see the current situation? This billionaire who's only left with money, is willing to pay any price to save his uncle. As long as you can propose a solution, name your price."

Strange rubbed his temples, "We're all doctors. Don't I want to earn this money? If he can be saved medically, then nobody in the world can't be."

"What did you just say??" Stark suddenly turned to ask.

Strange was taken aback, "What did I say?"

"Right... A mechanical heart! Redo a heart for him!"

Shiller glanced at his watch, "You have only three hours."

After finishing speaking, he glanced at Obadiah again.

"That's a very optimistic estimate. I'm afraid, after two hours, even if there's a new heart, his entire body would die from lack of blood."

Stark didn't say anything, he suddenly became calm, no longer so irritable, his clever brain, nefariously cursed with knowledge, had all its threads spinning wildly.

"This is absurd, you want to give a living person a mechanical heart, how about the rejection response?" Strange asked.

Stark directly punched him. Shiller dragged him out of the lab. Strange, rubbing his nose, said, "Damn rich people..."

"Don't complain, think about the seven to eight figures consultation fee he's going to pay you afterwards. Does that make you feel better?"

"Will he really pay that much?"

"That's Stark, look at your feet, each brick here could be your monthly salary."

Strange was unusually quiet; it seemed that the upcoming huge consultation fee didn't make him feel any better.

After a while, Stark suddenly rushed out saying "I've got an idea! Yes, I have a solution! The Ark Reactor, that model..."

"I need an assistant, come on! Come here quickly!"

Strange sat still, and Shiller had to stand up, "I'll come, I hope it's not just changing light bulbs."

Upon entering the laboratory, Stark had made a mess of things. Shiller stepped over scattered files and documents lying on the floor, as Stark began working over an experimental desk filled with various complex apparatus. As he tinkered, he started speaking, "That model isn't just useful for energy reaction, its structure is incredibly well suited to the human body, as for rejection reaction…"

Suddenly, Stark stopped what he was doing. He propped his hands on the table, then lowered his head. In a soft voice, he said, "I almost died from the rejection reaction too...maybe this is retribution."

"Enough with your fatalistic view," Shiller, glancing towards Obadiah, chided.

There were signs that Obadiah was still conscious, but his extreme blood loss prevented him from speaking. He didn't look at Stark, but instead kept his gaze on the experimental desk.

Perhaps, the young Obadiah stood by in this same way, watching Howard passionately busying about the lab, inventing. Back then, they could experiment all night before having breakfast and discussing how their inventions might change the world.

Howard, brimming with enthusiasm and ambition was an unparalleled genius. Obadiah was more like his shadow. Howard was a born change-maker, whereas Obadiah merely wanted to use his abilities to better his life.

Obadiah felt his body starting to heat up, a warm current flowed from his heart to his limbs. In his blurred vision, he saw countless images playing out before him.

Howard died too early, but Obadiah was grateful that Howard died when he did. This allowed him to reminisce about their beautiful friendship near the end of his life, reliving the most passionate and glorious years of his life.

A giant rose under his hand, until it ruled the world.

He was grateful that Howard died too early. Their friendship didn't wear down and wither in the merciless worldly affairs, but remained vivid, even at the brink of his death, it felt regretless.

"You need to hurry," Shiller warned Obadiah, "We miscalculated, at most, you have one and a half hours left. He's already lost his consciousness."

Panicked, Stark turned around and exclaimed, "No!! Wait! Wait… don't, how could he…"

"Just as it was with you, the death drive is a critical factor. Once it's gone, your body will decay at an unimaginable speed."

Stark clenched the component in his hand and didn't say a word. He turned back and resumed his experiment.

Shiller mentally asked the Symbiont, "Can't you reconfigure a heart for him?"

"No, his heart lacks something. It needs a Symbiont to sustain. If he leaves me, he will die."

Upon reflection, Shiller remembered that in the comics, the elderly Eddie wholly relied on Venom to transform his cells into part of his body. If he was away from Venom, he would die too.

"There are components. They can be combined," the Symbiont added.

Shiller instructed Stark, "You can attempt to manufacture the components. I can use restructuring methods to combine it with flesh, without needing stitches or staples."

Stark showed Shiller his blueprints and explained with a pen in his hand, "The structure of the Ark Reactor can be perfectly applied to the heart. Look here, we can replace the entire left ventricle, fortify the heart muscle here, then install an artificial heart pump right here..."

Shiller called Strange over. After going through the blueprint, Strange stated, "Theoretically, it's possible, but I'd advise against it. The combination of human and metal poses significant risks. It has always been a challenge in medical science, and you're not a doctor. Even if you manage to save him momentarily, the ongoing issues with component maintenance and metal degradation are still problems..."

Shiller said, "It appears that Obadiah has always been conducting bio-mechanic research. There must be valuable data. Jarvis, can you locate where Obadiah conducts the research?"

After a beep, Jarvis came in, "Calculating... locating... location determined: the old site of Stark Industries, formerly known as Stark Auto Industries."

"Storage device detected...the data has not been uploaded. Please hold on. I'm performing a physical decrypt..."

Just a few minutes later, a mecha flew in carrying a heavy computer. Stark retrieved a thumb drive and plugged it into the computer. Soon after, Jarvis stated, "Data encrypted...decrypting...decryption complete...all data uploaded."

Stark quickly turned toward his workstation and as he opened the screen, he was struck speechless.

The screen was full of data and blueprints. Shiller couldn't understand what was written. After a moment, Stark stepped back and murmured, "Maybe he was right, perhaps he was right..."

"He found another way, a way entirely different from mechanical armor..."

"You're running out of time," stated Shiller urgently.

"No, now I only need half an hour, or even just 20 minutes. The data are ready. Jarvis will help me with the calculation right now. We will begin by constructing this model..."

One hour later, a weary Shiller, Stark, and Strange emerged from the lab. Strange's hands were drenched with blood, he exclaimed, "How can there be such a thing in this world? You guys actually manufactured a heart from clumps of junk and made it beat successfully. Goodness..."

Shiller was also far from fine. Performing a heart replacement was a physically demanding job. His chest was soaked with blood.

Stark, leaning against a wall, slowly sat down. He said, "Am I really like my father? Blindly arrogant, stubborn..."

"No..."

Stark looked up at Shiller, who had spoken.

"You're even worse than your father."