Chapter 82 Recent Changes_1

The plan to feed the Symbiont with some brains finally failed, because Shiller found that the Symbiont was not only always hungry but also incredibly finicky about the taste.

"What do you think of him? I dare say, he must have killed dozens of people, he's a mob bully..."

"No, his brain isn't tasty enough, I won't eat it."

"Then how about him? Look, a lawyer who defends serial killers, he must be smart, right?"

"His brain doesn't taste good either, it's not my taste."

"Then what about this one? I've heard that he once robbed the biggest bank in Manhattan..."

"Must be bitter."

With no candidates to be found, Shiller returned to his psychology clinic, arguing with the Symbiont in his mind: "Why are you so picky? Can't you just compromise a bit? Why can't you eat the brains of some ordinary criminals?"

"So why don't you drink American-style coffee?"

Shiller was at a loss for words, the Symbiont was getting smarter and smarter.

"Ok, but you have to tell me where do you want to have your Italian espresso?"

Just after Shiller asked this question in his mind, there was a knock on the clinic's door, and Steve, who had just returned from a morning run, walked in. The Symbiont happily said, "...Italian espresso is here."

Following Captain America was Natasha, before Shiller could speak, a yellow figure flew over. Natasha shoved Pikachu into Shiller's embrace, saying, "First off! There's no pet fostering service at S.H.I.E.L.D!"

"But the contract...."

"We just modified the contract! Absolutely no fostering rodents!"

"That's discrimination. Cats and dogs are okay, why not rodents?"

"Absolutely!" Pikachu chimed in, "Why not rodents?"

"Shut up!" other people said in unison.

"Now no dogs and cats either. We've eliminated that employee benefit, and it was a unanimous decision."

"I only left him there for a few days...."

"A few days??? How much longer were you planning to leave him there??? Coulson went through six phones in just seven days, Director Fury used up all his vacation days just to avoid it, the UN inspection team left hastily after only two days, even the army General, who always enjoyed giving S.H.I.E.L.D a hard time, bought his own economy class ticket and left overnight..."

Natasha stood at the door, hands on her hips, clearly irritated. "The only good news is that the damage he caused and the compensation for the staff's mental trauma will give Nick a 50% reimbursement increase in next month's report...."

Shiller looked down at Pikachu and said, "I remember you promised me you would behave...."

Holding Pikachu's small hands, they stared at each other. Pikachu looked quite innocent with his large, round black eyes. He then snorted and jumped onto the couch.

"PIKA——PIKA!"

"You were gone for a long time." Steve said as he sat down on the couch.

"So, what's been happening recently?"

"No big issues, but a lot of minor troubles." Steve replied.

"Oh?" While washing a cup in the kitchen sink, Shiller asked, "What kind of troubles?"

"Stark and the military have completely fallen out." Natasha said: "He claims to have evidence of the military's plot behind the Afghanistan kidnapping, though I think it's a deliberate trick by Obadiah."

"Are you saying that Obadiah actually planned the kidnapping and then put the blame on the military? Is he that unwilling to let Stark Industries work with the military?"

"Obadiah is like a hen guarding her eggs. He won't let anyone interfere with Stark Industries. Whoever dares to touch his life's work, he'll find a way to get rid of them."

"Even before Stark was kidnapped, Obadiah was already under heavy military pressure. The military's greed knows no bounds. They want so much, it even jeopardizes the core interests of Stark Industries. Obadiah has been displeased with them for some time."

"They did just want to buy some ordinary weapons at first. But Stark Industries' weapons work too well. The military wants their technology so they can imitate them and produce their own. Obadiah of course won't allow this to happen."

Natasha leaned back on the couch as Steve poured her a glass of water. "Thanks," she said.

Then Steve said, "But it still seems outrageous to me. Just to destroy the relationship between Stark and the military, Obadiah had terrorists kidnap Stark?"

"Obadiah is very smart. He knew Stark would eventually develop some amazing technology. He needed to give Stark a reason to never compromise with the military so that his life's work wouldn't be stolen by the military."

"As long as Stark, who controls the core technology, refuses to talk even if he dies, at least the core technology of Stark Industries will be preserved."

"But that's at the expense of his nephew's life."

"Obadiah wouldn't care." Natasha lit a cigarette and then asked, "You don't mind me smoking here, do you?"

"Go ahead," Shiller said.

Natasha looked at Steve, and Steve said, "I don't smoke, but there are quite a few people who smoke on the battlefield, I don't mind."

The female agent slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, it seemed that her stress was pretty high, Stark's complete break with the military wasn't entirely a good thing for S.H.I.E.L.D.

The current relationship was like this, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the military had always been at odds, because of the allocation of military funding and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s overly outrageous enforcement power.

The conflict between Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. was mainly due to his father and Stark not wanting to be abducted by official organizations.

And the main conflict between Stark and the military was the military's overly greedy appetite, and Stark's reluctance to have his inventions used in war.

None of the parties in this situation wanted to see the other two parties unite, because there would surely be one of their enemies among the two. If its power was strengthened, it would definitely make life difficult for themselves.

But they also didn't want to see a complete break between the two parties, because once a break occurred and they fought on the spot, it would certainly be the third party that had to clean up the mess.

Shiller cryptically said, "Stark's feud with the military, I suppose there's more to it than just Obadiah's doing?"

Natasha said, "That's classified, I... All right, actually it's no secret. Stark wanted to cooperate with the military to work on medical technology and exoskeletons, but as you know, what the military wanted was not these things. They wanted bigger weapons, more powerful weapons."

"So S.H.I.E.L.D. used this to sow discord between them?"

Natasha flicked her cigarette ash and said, "We just gave a gentle push from behind, more importantly, it was the groundwork laid by Obadiah early."

Steve asked with a puzzled expression, "Couldn't Stark have thought this might be a conspiracy by Obadiah?"

"He might have, but he is Tony Stark," Shiller said.

Natasha shook her head and said, "Obadiah knows his nephew too well. If he could blame everything on the military and preserve their uncle-nephew relationship, Stark would choose to fool himself and vent all his rage on the military."

"What's more important is..." Shiller also poured himself a glass of water, "Obadiah is still unconscious in the hospital, he has become a victim."

"And whoever the victim says is the culprit, is the culprit."

Steve sighed and said, "When Howard first established Stark Industries, he may not have expected this day."

"He may have anticipated it, at least he must have knew, that his genius brain and the technology in his hands would be targeted by those with ulterior motives," Shiller said.

"The current scenario is on the verge of explosion, Stark's attitude is very tough, he even clashed with a group of generals, General Johnson's matter was exposed and the military started not to trust Hammer Industries, they are very eager to press Stark to give in."

"How do you think this matter will finally be resolved? By force?" Shiller asked Natasha.

The female agent shook her head and said, "They've already had a fight, General Johnson lost, the Robot Army couldn't do anything to Stark, Stark somehow acquired some nano armor technology, if he gives a smoke to everyone, that would be bad."

"The military is urgent, but they dare not take action rashly, I think in the end it will still return to the negotiation table for interest exchange."

"There must be another fight." Shiller said, "The military won't be happy to go to the negotiation table so soon, because they know that if they don't give Stark a severe blow, they have no bargaining chips to exchange for Stark Industries' technology."

"At least we are allies for now." Natasha said, "Stark needs S.H.I.E.L.D. to share some of the pressure."

"What do you want? His nano armor technology?"

"I'm not sure, it depends on Director Fury's decision, but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s direction is different from the military's. Even if we get a large number of nano armor, we don't have personnel to arm, agents are not suitable for wearing those things, maybe Nick has other plans."

"Has he ever thought of having Stark create custom-made armor for the agents?"

Natasha extinguished the cigarette butt, then said, "You don't quite understand the working methods of an agent. Simply put, for tasks that require wearing armor, having one more set of armor doesn't improve the success rate much, and for tasks that don't require wearing armor, wearing armor doesn't bring about any better changes."

"Agents are not superheroes, most of us still have to rely on our brains to make a living."

"Brains! For food!" The symbiont shouted in Shiller's head.

"So the medical cooperation between Stark and the military also stalled?" Shiller asked.

"There really wasn't much to start with. Stark didn't directly provide the technology, but they cooperated in research and development, the military had already hired some experts, Stark provided some technical data and financial support. Of course, the cooperation should have already ended now."

"Have there been any results?"

Natasha shook her head and said, "Research isn't child's play, how could there be any major breakthroughs in such a short time?"

Steve said, "If they could truly unite, there might be many soldiers who could benefit from it."

"That's not possible. Until a clear winner is determined, neither side is willing to back down. They all believe that they can get more benefits. This is just an exchange of interests, not for the true benefit of anyone."

Looking somewhat upset, Steve said, "I understand the logic, of course. Before real full-scale cooperation can start, both sides have to probe each other countless times until they figure out each other's bottom line, and then it may be possible to establish a cooperative relationship."

"But sometimes I think, if we could really put technology and finances where they should be used, we could save a lot of people. If people think this wastage is necessary and I don't stop it, then who will empathize with those who can't be saved because these resources are being wasted?"

"Captain, I understand you have a heart full of sympathy, but you don't have to take this mistake upon yourself," Shiller said.

"I just feel that we can do better, and, I always have a bad premonition," Steve said, pursing his lips.

"Those who they think can't speak up anymore, sooner or later someone will stand up for them. At that time, the way they express themselves, it won't be with polite inquiry."