Peter said while eating, "It seems that the situation is not very good, and Colonel Rhodes seems to have been trying to persuade him when I went to see Mr. Stark in the laboratory yesterday. ”

Peter said, "I don't understand these things, but I do know that if Mr. Rystark's mechs fall into the hands of the military, it may not be a good thing." ”

"Colonel Rhodes is a friend of Mr. Stark, and perhaps he is also in a difficult situation, after all, he also represents the interests of a group of people." Peter said.

"You're smarter than I thought, I thought you wouldn't understand the situation."

Peter shook his head and said, "Actually, I really can't read it, but I know that everyone wants those mechs because they are really strong. ”

"No, it's because it's a weapon."

"If it was just a robot vacuum, even if it could sweep New York clean in an instant, the military wouldn't be so interested."

Peter was a little silent, and he said, "I don't think I should hand over the mech, but I know that Mr. Stark is under a lot of pressure, and you think I should...... Or am I going to comfort him, or am I going to admonish him? I can't just do nothing, can I? ”

"I think you should settle your own affairs now, if you can fully control the power of the spider mutation, maybe these things will be trivial matters for you?"

The next day, as Peter said, Schiller's psychiatric clinic welcomed an expected guest, and that was James Rhodes, also known as Colonel Rhodes.

He said to Schiller very bluntly: "The military needs Stark's mecha technology, but he seems to have been unclear, I just want to ask you, what is his plan?" Did S.H.I.E.L.D. play some role in this? ”

"Actually, you don't want to come." Schiller said. "I can see it."

Rod tugged at the corners of his mouth and said, "It seems that it makes sense for Tony to prescribe such an expensive consultation fee for you." ”

"Obviously, your boss knows that you can't ask Stark this question, or S.H.I.E.L.D. will get an answer sooner than you. But it's useless for you to ask me. ”

"The military needs Stark's mech, he can give us an advantage in many places...... It can kill a lot of people. ”

"You don't realize that your reluctance has made your words incredibly dry. Colonel Rod, I know you're also in a difficult situation, the military has repeatedly pressed Stark, but he's your friend again. ”

"So you can only deceive yourself to make yourself better, you know what these armors will be used for, but if you convince yourself that it might be beneficial to do so, you can get better from the guilt of persecuting your friends."

"It is a soldier's duty to obey orders." Rhodes said.

"Yes, but what about Stark? What about your friends? repeatedly disobeyed his friend's wishes, forced him to sell his interests, and kidnapped him with friendship. ”

"You've always known how much Tony values you, Stark doesn't have many friends, but you're definitely one of them...... Perhaps the most important one. ”

"You know he's willing to pay for you, willing to do for you what he hates the most — compromise and bow."

"You know, Stark will be willing to do it sooner or later. If you are cornered by your boss, he will definitely save you. ”

"Don't talk about it." Rhodes said.

He pursed his lips tightly into a line.

Schiller pressed the button of the ballpoint pen, and the crisp sound suddenly woke Rhodes, and Schiller said, "Maybe it's because you have something in you that he doesn't have that that he willingly does." The advice I can give you is that maybe that's the most important thing you should keep, Stark's friendship is more precious than the military, and it's not because he's richer—"

"It's the qualities that a solitary genius sees in you, the qualities that he doesn't even have, and that make him willing to pay these prices for you, are more worthy of your persistence and pride than those false and empty honors, aren't they?"

Rhodes was silent.

The next day, when Schiller went to Stark Tower, he met Rhodes who had walked out. He was followed by an adjutant whose face was visibly happy, and they seemed to have gotten something they wanted.

But Rod's face didn't get any better, he still had a tense face, he didn't look at Schiller, he just walked straight over.

Once upstairs, Stark stood in front of his armor again, taking a closer look at his work.

"Looks like you've made your decision and they get what they want, right?" Schiller asked.

"Okay." Stark turned, he first tightened the muscles in his shoulders, then suddenly relaxed, drooped his shoulders, exhaled, and said, "I know, I should stick to your previous advice, and that's right." ”

"But I didn't do it, I knew it was right, I didn't have to pay anything, I still didn't do it......"

"I knew it wasn't going to work." Schiller sat down at the table with the case and wrote in his notebook, he didn't look up, but said with a sigh: "Many people are just willing to pay a huge price to chase emotional compensation, especially for people like you who have never lacked material conditions." ”

"You'd rather give up the outcome of maximizing benefits than see Rhodes caught in the middle. You paid the price and bought back his temporary friendship with you. ”

"Yes, I know what you're trying to say, you're friends, you think so, and so does he. But especially if both parties are not so happy, the friendship can last. ”

"You keep spending money to buy, and sooner or later there will come a day when you can't afford it. When you can't afford it, maybe Rhodes will understand you, but the world won't. ”

Finally, Schiller said: "When you feed the appetites of those people, the price you have to pay for your affection will never end." ”

Stark said: "It's not that I haven't thought about it, I know that once I let go, I'm bound to keep losing. ”

"They can use Rhodes to persuade me to hand over some of the mech's technology, and one day, they can force him to persuade me to hand over all the mechs, or build more war machines for them."

"From the moment I knew how many civilians my weapons had harmed, I knew that wisdom brings not only wealth, but also disaster." Stark said, pressing his finger to his eye socket and saying, "I've only recently figured out this question, and there is always no way back from the final outcome of a genius." ”

"When everyone knows that you have a brain big enough to save the world, they will also have the ambition to destroy the world."

After a moment of silence, Schiller stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, the Stark Building window was the sunset over New York, Stark followed his gaze, the somewhat dazzling light made his eyes blur a hazy color, Schiller said, "What do you do when you have no way to retreat?" ”

"It's my home, and it's Pepper, Jarvis, and ...... All Stark's. ”

"In the end, no one can force me to hand it over."

"If they want more ......"

Stark's eyes, which always contained all kinds of feelings, looked directly at Schiller, and his expression was not heavy at all, but said calmly:

“…… Iron Man never backs down. ”

Schiller looked at him and asked:

"So, have you ever thought about toppling this ridiculous and boring negotiating table?"

"You're like a depraved devil."

"It's much better than praying to God."

"I never pray, I don't count on God, I don't believe in all those strange tricks, those ridiculous rumors and legends......"

As soon as he finished speaking, Stark saw that everything in his lab began to tremble slightly.

Then, everything floated.

For a moment, it was as if gravity had been lost, and everything floated in mid-air, cups, laptops, computers, wrenches......

The setting sun outside the window shone on the places where these things weren't supposed to receive sunlight, and Schiller stood in the center of everything, the light behind him casting a long shadow in front of him.

The shadows of all the objects overlapped into a huge net, Stark stood in the middle of it all, he stretched out his hand, a drop of water fell from the cup, fell on his fingertips, Stark looked up, he saw the countless ordinary and ordinary debris in the air, and the ordinary ceiling and wall above his head-

He saw the door to a new world.