The solar storm remained as fierce as ever. The massive factories built around the sun swayed like trees in the storm. Automatic drones and ships shuttled through the sunspots. Against the ultimate brightness, there were darker shadows. A squad was waiting in the shadows of the cargo transfer.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The huge explosions reverberated across the universe space, and even before the sun, they exploded with extreme dazzling fire. Accompanied by screams, the advancing ambush squad was utterly destroyed.
More robots were released from the factory. They quickly captured the raiders' aircraft. The robots began merciless slaughter, and life vanished into the dark universe space. In the distance, the eyes on the huge metal head within the steel ring emitted a faint light, and three of the four connecting pillars were already destroyed.
When the last raider slowly stopped breathing, the moment the brain wave disconnected, a figure wearing a giant metal helmet tightened his fingers. He exhaled the air from his chest and declared through the mental link: "The squad led by Scott to raid the Red Orchid Factory has been completely wiped out, and the Mother Module remains online. Now, mutants should seek help from the multiverse."
It had been snowing for two days in New York, burying all the streets, and this level of snowfall hadn't been seen on the East Coast for decades. With ground traffic almost at a standstill, nearly everyone opted for flying shuttle travel. This led to queues forming at the flying shuttle stations.
Shiller got off at the Elders Council Hospital Station, tightening his clothes. As soon as he stepped out the door, he felt the howling cold wind, so he wrapped his scarf tighter and pulled his mask up.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
Shiller walked down the stair from the flying shuttle platform, entered the hospital building's roof terrace door, and greeted colleagues. Almost everyone was holding hot coffee, with snow still not melted on some people's heads.
"Good morning, Dr. Rodriguez."
"Good morning, Doctor. Do we have a consultation today?"
"Good morning, Doctor, want a cup of coffee?"
Shiller went downstairs, walked another hallway, and arrived at the emergency department nurse station. Even on such snowy days, the emergency room was still very busy. Smelling the strong scent of blood in the hallway, Shiller stopped a hurried nurse: "What's going on?"
"A series of car accidents." The nurse frowned and said, "And a small bus fell into the river. Over twenty people were injured, and two have excessive bleeding."
"Is there any threat to life?"
"No, but there're quite a few organs to put back in, the emergency room is busy." The nurse shook her head and said.
Shiller sighed, and turned to leave. Just as he walked onto the second floor, he ran into David hurrying downstairs, who just became a practicing physician last month but was still learning.
"David," Shiller called out, "Where are you going?"
"Wanda asked me to help in the emergency room, the injured are a bit too many, they can't handle." David said, "Did you just come from there, Doctor?"
"Yes, I was going to find Wanda, but heard he was busy, so I didn't go over."
"What's your business with him?" David asked.
"Actually, it's not much." Shiller mumbled. David squinted his eyes, so Shiller had to lower his voice, "Honorable Godhand Mister has piled up forty-six medical records, only started writing last month's this month. I really can't catch up, so I can only find some help..."
David's eyes widened and said, "Last month's, aren't the patients discharged?"
"Yes. The patients are discharged, only wrote the admission course, some didn't even get that written. Otherwise, would I be finding help?"
"These surgeons are really crazy." David said, "But I must go to the emergency room, probably can't help you with the records."
"Fine, I'll think of something else myself."
Shiller shook his head, continued upstairs, hoping to find a few acquaintances to be the scapegoats. Otherwise, Strange's debt could never be repaid.
Unfortunately, Elders Council Hospital was really too busy. The doctors, apart from seeing patients, had to teach students. At the mention of supplementing medical records, they all shook their heads, with their own pile unwritten too.
Normally, such things are done by interns. But Strange's interns are at least God's fingernail clippings, similarly rotating around the operating table every day. The medical record debt of these people combined may be more than Strange's, no one can help anyone.
After a round in the hospital with no gains, Shiller was out of options. He rode the flying shuttle to Stark Group, intending to seek the help of all-powerful AI, to let JARVIS act as a generative AI and help write the medical records.
Unexpectedly, Stark, who had been staying home with the kids recently, came today. As Shiller entered the office, both were stunned.
"What are you doing here?"
"How did you get in here?"
The two of them asked in unison. Shiller said, "This is your office, not your lab; how could I not get in?"
"Oh, I forgot." Stark tapped his forehead. "Lately, taking care of the kids is making my head spin, and all I hear in my dreams is Little Morgan's voice. But why can't I work in my own office?"
"Every time you come to the Stark Group, you dive straight into the lab. You always say the business atmosphere in the office affects your genius inspiration…"
"I need a break," Stark said. "I know you might not believe it, but taking care of kids is the first time I've ever truly felt what fatigue is. In the past, I used to pull all-nighters in the lab without feeling this way."
Shiller glanced at Stark. He actually looked fine, but his mental state seemed much more normal—less anxious and neurotic. Clearly, if people have no distant worries, they must have immediate concerns.
Several years have passed, and Little Morgan has reached an age where she's boundless in energy and bounces around. While Pepper is busy with company affairs and taking care of Helen, most of the responsibility for looking after Little Morgan falls to Stark. And he's obviously not the type to comfortably leave his child with a nanny. Little Morgan is almost driving him into being a normal person.
"I want to go on a trip," Stark said surprisingly.
Shiller couldn't help but give him another look-over. Sitting at his desk, Stark began planning, "I want to go to a warm place, quiet, secluded, where I can think on my own."
"I can totally understand that desire to escape. But if someone actually threw you into a big forest, I bet it wouldn't be long before you'd start missing your lab equipment."
"I want to take that equipment with me," Stark said. "I want to do research with pythons in the tropical rainforest, blending nature and machinery perfectly."
"You're hopeless," Shiller sighed and then sat opposite him. Stark finally remembered to ask, "Did you come looking for me?"
"Of course not, I'm here to find Jarvis to fill in some medical records."
Stark wasn't interested in such matters; he waved his hand and said, "Then go ahead. Once you're done, come find me. We can have a drink together tonight, and let's call Steve too…"
So Shiller started messaging JARVIS. But with no response to the phone messages, Shiller sent him a Battleworld message and then learned that he wasn't even in this universe.
Shiller sighed deeply, uncertain whether it was his bad luck or Strange's. When medical records couldn't be completed, everyone was busy, and not a single person could help.
Shiller seemed to accept his fate. Initially intending to return to Arkham Sanatorium to finish them all at once, plans to meet Stark for drinks in the evening, poor road conditions, the inconvenience of going out, and a hint of avoidance led him to skip writing today.
The two of them just lounged in the office, engaging in idle chatter. Stark now says whatever comes to his dreaming mind, and after listening for a bit, Shiller began to feel sleepy and dozed off at the table.
"Shiller! Shiller! Where did you go?! Quickly, come here!"
Shiller awoke with a start, only to find himself lying alone on the sofa, with a blanket covering him and Stark nowhere in sight. But if Stark didn't call him, then who…
"Shiller, it's me, Charles. The Luminous Alliance is one short without you; hurry over."
"What? Going to the Luminous Alliance? How do you drink in the Psychic_Battlefield?" Shiller was still somewhat groggy.
"What's wrong with you, Doctor? We're not here to drink; there's an emergency, hurry over!"
Shiller finally came to his senses. Stark being summoned didn't even call him. Shiller wrapped the blanket around himself again, ventured into the Luminous Alliance base within the Psychic_Battlefield, only to find a worried-looking Charles.
Shiller was very surprised. What could make Charles this anxious? Could it be Reed…
"We received a distress signal," Charles said, "from a universe that participated in the Multiverse war. The mutants there have established an independent nation, but things aren't going well. The human government has constructed the Red Orchid Factory near the sun to produce offensive robots targeting mutants and also seeks to develop a super AI-like robotic central core 'Mother Module'."
Shiller immediately understood. While many universes have the Red Orchid Base, including their own, there aren't many where mutants have established independent nations. Apart from theirs, there's another one, the renowned 'X Royal Family.'
This comic tells the story of mutants uniting to establish their own country, one of the more uplifting mutant comics. Be it the X-Men or the Mutant Brotherhood, even including the Hellfire Club and Apocalypse, all mutants unite to build their home, and they eventually succeed.
The comic ends well, not only successfully founding a nation but also resurrecting the sacrificed mutants. By rights, nothing should go wrong, so why seek Multiverse aid?
Charles continued, "To prevent the Mother Module from activating, Laser Eye Scott organized a suicide squad, including powerful mutants like Wolverine and Phoenix, to raid the Red Orchid Factory. They fought valiantly and destroyed three of the Mother Module's pillars. However, during the destruction of the last one, there was an issue."
While he was narrating, Shiller also recalled the storyline of this comic. This raid indeed had some setbacks, with all eight squad members perishing, but normally, all four pillars should have been taken down, rendering the Mother Module useless. From what Charles indicated, all of them tragically died, but the Mother Module survived? How did such a variable occur?
Charles sighed deeply and said, "Initially, the mutants from that universe had united. Still, there was a disagreement on whether to participate in the Multiverse war. At that time, they were at a crucial negotiation point with the human government. Professor X believed that, even so, they shouldn't miss the Multiverse activities, considering the long-term future of mutants. But the Mutant Brotherhood and Hellfire Club held dissenting views."
"Did they have a falling out again?"
"Not exactly," Charles shook his head, saying, "Although they disagreed, they still came. The problem was here; the suicide squad members got injured during the Multiverse war, leading to their successful ambush by the sentinels dispatched by the Red Orchid Factory. Even Phoenix couldn't release her powers in time, leading to the last pillar remaining undestroyed, and the squad members were all already dead."