At sunset, the coastline of New York was covered by the brilliance of the setting sun, as if there was a heavy snowfall made of gold foil last night. Not far from the coast, a cruise ship was slowly setting sail.
It can be seen from the appearance that this is a luxury cruise ship, and after the light gradually dims, the cabin lights up brilliantly, and the people who go out to sea on the yacht quietly enjoy the coming night.
On the restaurant terrace in a prime location on the second deck, two figures in suits were sitting at the edge of the dining table. Grant was playing with the food on the plate absentmindedly, and Schiller had finished his meal and was leaning back on his chair.
Watch the sunset with the sea breeze.
After a while, he stood up, and Grant followed him without saying anything. Schiller quickly walked through the restaurant, and then walked through the crowded dance floor. From those elegantly dressed gentlemen and ladies,
and the dim light reflected by the exquisite glassware.
He came to the corridor of the cruise ship cabin. After standing in front of a door, he knocked on the door. Schiller's voice sounded at the same time as the door opened. He said: "The moment you see me, you will
I thought you were discovered by SHIELD, but on the contrary, Nick tracked you down, but I hid the past for you, Alexander Pierce."
An old man with half-white hair appeared behind the door. He was stunned for a moment after hearing Schiller's words, but when he saw Grant Ward standing outside the door and the gun in his hand, he knew he had no choice.
.
For a moment, Pierce seemed to have aged several years. He no longer looked as high-spirited as he did at the Security Council seat. He slowly stepped back and allowed Schiller to walk in.
Schiller raised his head, looked around the room, and said: "I know what you are going to say to me, 'The most dangerous place is the safest place,' but the reality is that you don't want to go to those places.
Suffering in a dark and damp underground fortress, the risk of hiding on a cruise ship is described as your foresight and foresight."
"You know that when you did this kind of thing in the past, you were just taking chances. Every time you survived, you would tell yourself that you must use a different method next time. But after so many years, you still only know this trick.
, Pierce, you and I both know exactly why you are alive today."
Pierce's face became extremely ugly. He had never heard such sharp words that directly pierced his heart in his life. Agents like to be straightforward and don't like to waste time, but they don't like to pry into other people's hearts, and they rarely do anything.
Bring up this topic during conversation.
But the psychiatrist in front of me didn't seem to have such scruples, which just showed that he came with bad intentions.
Pierce quickly adjusted his state. He knew that a fierce battle was waiting for him next. Schiller shot him without opening the door, which showed that the two of them still had something to talk about.
In the same night, Stark took off his mecha and was reading a book in front of the experimental table. He rubbed his fingers with his fingers, shook his head and said: "If I hadn't put those things in one night before,
If I have memorized all the messy game theory, I may not have the patience to sit here and read these books related to mental illness and psychology."
"Sir, I suggest you not to get too involved. People often like to bring cases in psychology and psychiatry into themselves, which may affect your emotions."
"It seems that your current level is much better than mine, but I want to say that I will catch up with you soon, Jarvis." Stark didn't take it seriously at all.
"Originally, I had no interest in this kind of thing, but Schiller's performance today made me very suspicious. Just like the conclusion you came to, he seemed to be a completely different person. This does not seem to be explained by multiple personalities, and you
He said there was nothing wrong with his body, and the veins and nerve structures were completely consistent in the scan."
"If he is really sick, then I will find a way to cure his illness. If he is replaced by Hydra, then I will expose this conspiracy and rescue him. Think about his expression.
How wonderful, haha!”
Stark laughed twice and continued to read, but as he looked, his expression became a little wrong. He held the page between his two fingers and turned it over, and asked hesitantly: "Jarvis,
Did you learn the part about anxiety disorders?”
"Yes, I have more detailed information here, do you want to hear it?"
"No, no need." Stark replied immediately. He bit the inside of his lower lip, shook his neck slightly, straightened his spine back, and then said faster: "I'm fine now.
If you had learned this trick earlier, maybe I wouldn't have to be blackmailed by that vampire doctor."
Jarvis was silent and didn't speak. Stark tried to divert his attention back and continued to read, but looked at him and asked again: "What kind of disease is this? Narcissistic personality disorder? Narcissism."
Is it considered a disease?"
"Malignant narcissism can lead to violent behavior, which refers to being extremely self-centered and harming other people..."
Stark was silent for a moment and said, "Do you think I'm narcissistic?"
"I can't answer that question."
"Okay, I get it, you don't need to say anything." Stark put his elbows on the table and put his fingers on his forehead and said: "I admit, I am a little bit, but it shouldn't be to the level of viciousness.
?”
Then he continued to look down, and after a while he said: "Bipolar disorder? This is a bit..."
Stark shook his head and sighed while scrolling down. After a while, he said:
"Post-traumatic stress disorder...you know? These manifestations written here..."
Stark pointed at a few lines of text in the book with his fingertips and said: "Re-experiencing trauma, heightened alertness, avoidance, etc., this reminds me of a person..."
Stark was silent again. Within two minutes, he closed the book with a "snap", then leaned his back on the chair, raised his head, and said: "Jarvis, you are right, I will
You shouldn't watch this at night."
Suddenly, he sat up straight again, then opened the book again, turned out the first few pages, and plunged into the ocean of knowledge until dawn.
The next morning, as soon as Steve walked into the SHIELD cafeteria, he saw Stark poking his head behind the buffet. He walked over, patted Stark, and asked him: "What's wrong with you?"
Stark rolled his eyelids, looked him up and down, and said, "Nothing, I'm waiting for you."
"Wait for me, what are you waiting for me for?"
"Have you forgotten? We still have one very important thing to talk about, which is about your good friend..."
Steve turned to get the dinner plate and did not respond to the topic. Stark narrowed his eyes and said: "Even if he was brainwashed by Hydra, it cannot erase the fact that he has hurt innocent people.
.”
"But he saved more people. He was once a brave warrior, but he just encountered an accident..." Steve picked out the bread with a food folder, and Stark stood on the other side of the dining table, pressing the ear.
The headset whispered: "Jarvis, did you see? He just picked up the same piece of bread and put it down three times."
"But what if, among the innocent people he killed, there was another friend of yours?"
"Impossible." Steve denied it subconsciously, but Stark continued: "Is it impossible, or are you unwilling to imagine it?"
"Let's not talk about this." Steve turned around to put the food folder and said very quickly: "This is not the right topic to talk about during dinner. Let's go sit over there."
Stark was surprised to find that when he talked about this issue again, he was looking at Steve's reaction from a more objective or critical perspective, and he found more clues from it, which he had seen before.
Details that have never been noticed.
The two walked to the dining table and sat down. In the past, Captain America would be the more talkative one, but today the situation seemed to be reversed. Stark took the initiative and said, "How did you meet him? You two were together.
Joining the army?"
If it were in the past, Steve would happily tell the story of how he was almost eliminated when he joined the army, but was lucky enough to be selected. He had told Peter this story countless times, and he was always in high spirits every time he talked about it.
But this time, Steve just lowered his head and took a bite of the sandwich. When the lettuce leaves inside fell off, he subconsciously wanted to bite it with his mouth, but suddenly stopped his movement, as if he felt that this was a bit uncomfortable.
Decent.
Stark had been watching his movements, and he found that Steve was now in an anxious defensive posture, clamping his arms, putting his elbows on the table, and blocking his body with his arms, although he was holding a
It was a sandwich, but you could tell from the tense muscles in his arms that he was feeling nervous now.
Stark has rarely seen Steve in this state. Captain America always seems to be sunny, confident, talkative, able to chat on any topic, humorous, and amiable.
But now, he was in a state that was familiar to Stark, as he was also in this state when he had anxiety attacks.
He thought about it carefully, and it was not the first time he had seen Steve in this state, but before, he had ignored all these details.
Then, Stark contacted himself again. Was he like this when he faced the psychiatrist? The symptoms were almost written on his face? "
Suddenly, he felt dumbfounded. He seemed to be able to feel the absurd and helpless feeling in Schiller's heart when he first asked him if he could read minds.
Stark suddenly discovered that if the words currently hovering in his mouth were spit out, they should be able to stimulate Steve and make him fall into more extreme anxiety, just like a knife piercing his weak side.
Sharp sword.
This actually made him feel more painful than hundreds of missile bombardments, but Stark did not speak in the end.
He changed the topic and said: "Let's talk about the work of the Avengers. How will we target Hydra next?"
Steve took a big bite of the sandwich, chewed it hard, and then swallowed it. It was like he didn't know what to do now, so he put all his energy into a very simple thing to make himself look occupied.
Can be done.
"You said before that the assassination of important officials might be related to Hydra?" Steve asked.
"That's right, I don't think it's such a coincidence that there happened to be so many assassinations just when we were fighting against Hydra."
"Then let's start from here. As long as it is a murder, it will definitely leave traces. If we find out who the murderer is, we might be able to figure out the reasons for these changes in Hydra."
Stark found that after coming to the area where he was better at, Steve's nervous state relaxed a little. He spread his elbows wider, took the sandwich lower, and then exposed his face.
He suddenly remembered that Schiller had talked about mechas with him, and Stark had a strange feeling, as if he was at that moment, exactly at this moment.
"One more thing, do you remember that you told me before that if you find that a person suddenly becomes strange, you cannot rule out the possibility that he has been replaced by Hydra."
"Yesterday, I used Jarvis to analyze Schiller's behavioral logic. Jarvis's data told me that the overlap rate between his behavior and the Schiller we knew before was very low."
Steve shook his head. This was beyond Stark's expectation, and then he heard Steve say: "If he was really replaced, it would be impossible for the coincidence rate to be so low. He would definitely be pretending."
It's very similar to the original Dr. Schiller, but there are some subtle differences."
"It can't be that the whole person looks like a different person. Doesn't that clearly tell us that he has been replaced?"
