Chapter 94: A Little Expert Who Gets Rich
Natasha hurriedly rushed into the Psychological Clinic, speaking quickly on the phone while telling Schiller, "Give me 30 reports...no, no, make it 50 reports, 50 psychological diagnosis certificates."
Schiller was writing something at the counter, he didn't even look up, he just lifted an eyelid and asked, "What symptoms do you need?"
"Post-traumatic stress disorder, or something like that? I forgot, anyway it's the disease that people get after fighting in a war. I need 50 copies."
"Handwriting won't be possible in time, we can only generate electronic reports. What about the list of names?"
Natasha picked up another mobile phone in her hand and said, "Send the list of names to my mobile phone immediately. Forget it, I'll give you an address, you can fax it over."
Meanwhile, Peter walked out with a stack of papers and said, "Doctor, I don't understand this expense reimbursement form. Even if the monster didn't reach us, we have to report the loss of dishwashing sponges. Isn't this a bit..."
Dr. Connors was also on the phone, saying, "Yes, the R&D cost for that healing medicine is expensive because...because the ingredients are expensive. Just tell them that, they won't understand anyway."
"We used at least dozens of rare elements in this, which ones? Look it up in the periodic table yourself, the expensive ones are the ones we used."
Stark handed a paper to Natasha and said, "This is the electricity bill for Stark Tower. Connors and Peter conducted 1 hour and 43 minutes of experiments in my high-end laboratory. The average cost per minute of electricity is $56,000. Plus, there's the cost of wear and tear on the equipment. Oh, and because Peter used too much force, he also destroyed a piece of equipment worth over $1 million, which is included in the loss..."
Natasha took the paper and didn't even look at it. She picked up another phone and said, "Can you give me the casualty count? How many do you think is appropriate? We have 32 field agents currently stationed in New York, why don't we just let them all die, and compensate their families with $500,000 each...""What? You want to be bolder? How many agents are there on the entire East Coast? Nationwide? Isn't this a bit too much? Letting a single monster kill all of our agents across the country would make us look useless, wouldn't it?"
Afterwards, she hung up the phone and asked Peter, "Do you still have any of that Medicine left?"
"We have two more doses, but if you need more, we can make some more."
"Nick wants more, you know, military has created such a dangerous monster, so it's reasonable for them to buy more of this medicine as a preventive measure, right?"
"How much does he want?" Dr. Connors asked.
Natasha talked on the phone again and said, "200, can you provide that?"
Peter sprayed water out of his mouth and said, "That serum was made from lizard serum. There were only seven in total, and Dr. Connors worked on them for months..."
"Nick will sell them one for 3 million," Natasha said.
Dr. Connors immediately put on his coat and said, "Let's go, Peter." (XD)
Then he turned to Natasha and said, "Wait for us, we'll deliver the 200 medicines to you in no more than two days."
When Peter was pulled away, Schiller took the expense reimbursement form from his hand and said, "Peter is still too naive. Four dishwashing sponges? How long can that last? Let's get 4000 of them first."
Pikachu jumped onto the table and said, "Add two cans of peanut butter for me. Oh no, it's 2000 cans of peanut butter. That monster is too scary. I suffered heavy losses on my peanut butter!"
Schiller wrote and drew on the form and said, "Okay, that's about it. By the way, you said I could get a few points, right?"
"You get 20% of each report, and you get 30% of this expense reimbursement application."
"Hold on, is 50 reports enough? I think the battle was really intense this time, and SHIELD agents risked their lives. There should be many after-effects. Let's start with 300, all handwritten and signed, and give me an extra 10%. How about that?"
Steve stood in the center of the room, hugging his arms, and said, "I know the world has changed, I know I'm old, but it hasn't changed that much, has it?"
"We didn't take down that monster in just a few moves? Did it really smash the entire back kitchen of the New York restaurant with $4,000 dishwashing sponges?"
Hearing Natasha throw around such exaggerated numbers for the damages, Steve said, "I know Nick was trying to secure more funding, but the military isn't foolish. Can't they see how much we lost?"
"That's not important, Captain," Natasha waved her hand and said, "We are the victims. Whatever we say we lost, that's how much we lost."
Before Steve could respond, Coulson burst in, holding a pen and paper, and pulled Steve onto the sofa, starting to interview him.
"What's this for? Why are you interviewing me?"
"So you won't have to write a mission report, Captain."
"Well, alright..."
"How was the process of defeating this monster? Was it smooth?"
"Uh, there were some hiccups, but overall it went smoothly."
"Can you elaborate on the parts with hiccups?"
"The power of this monster is quite strong. At the beginning of the battle, Shield's attack didn't have much effect, so I immediately changed tactics..."
Coulson wrote on the paper: "Red Lizard is extremely strong, far beyond Captain America's estimation. His shield strikes had no effect on the monster, and the early battle was extremely difficult, almost a life-or-death situation."
"Of course, it got better later on. Although he is strong, he doesn't have much brainpower and appears very impulsive. Such an opponent is relatively easy to deal with..."
Coulson wrote again: "Red Lizard is incredibly aggressive, and his angry power makes him even stronger. Captain was almost forced to retreat, and the monster always had the upper hand."
"Of course, I have to admit that Tony Stark Jr.'s Mech armor explosion played a role..."
Coulson continued to write quickly: "Iron Man used his expensive Mech armor for a glorious, irretrievable self-destruct. This finally made the monster take two steps back. According to Captain America, at least 20 waves of explosions occurred, with five Mech armors surrounding and exploding in each wave, before that monster finally fell down."
After Steve finished speaking, he stared at Coulson and said, "Can I see it?"
Coulson quickly put away the notebook and then stood up and shook Steve's hand sincerely. "Captain, you are a hero of the battle! Always have been!"
On the other side, Schiller hung up the phone and said, "Thank me. The Presbyterian Hospital has a spot. Who do you want to stay there?"
"Who do you think is most likely to get hurt?"
"Then it's Stark. After all, he controlled the Mech armor and self-destructed it. It's normal for him to be hit by shrapnel. I'll call the hospital director later to organize an expert consultation. I'll send the expense reimbursement form over later. As for hospitalization expenses..."
Natasha said, "As usual, the highest-level hospital room and nursing care. By the way, do you know any good doctors who can accompany him throughout the process? We'll pay him an hourly consultation fee."
"It's fortunate that I know a pretty good neurosurgeon. However, he has only one flaw, and that is his fees are quite expensive. Oh, wait, that should be considered an advantage now..." (XD)
In the evening, Coulson came in with Natasha and two other agents following him, carrying a stack of reports.
Schiller rubbed his hands and said, "Let me see. This should be our achievements today, right? How is it going with Director Nick?"
"Director Nick scolded everyone present, and the generals couldn't even find a chance to interject. He scolded the military from top to bottom, from their unauthorized use of military funds to develop dangerous biological weapons, to their disregard of security protocols and their private expansion of weapons depots."
"He scolded for at least six hours, and not a single sentence was repeated. The walls of the congressional chamber almost engraved his voice..."
"Did the military argue back?"
Natasha placed one hand on the documents and the other on her hip, saying, "Why do you think Nick doesn't get along with General Robert? It's because usually only General Robert could out-talk him, but now that he's dead, the rest of those military academy graduates are just wooden dummies who can only take the blame."
Coulson shook his head and said, "The military has lost a lot of people this time. That monster they created caused such a big commotion, and Congress cannot just sit idly by. The director took this opportunity to take another bite out of them."
"That lost alien creature also gave him a good excuse. Nick insists that the military stole the experimental subject from SHIELD, but the congressmen are also suspicious about it. After all, SHIELD's stuff just went missing, and then the military created a monster. These two things seem to be related in some way."
"But won't they question SHIELD's security measures?" Schiller asked.
"Security measures? When did SHIELD ever have those things?" Coulson responded.
"That's just an excuse, right?" Schiller asked again. "Actually, that symbiote wasn't the one that escaped from you guys... Wait, was it?"
Natasha shrugged and said, "No one knows for sure. All the personnel from the Hazardous Operations Unit sacrificed themselves collectively last December, and then again in March when we had budget shortages."
Okay, Schiller thought. Where Venom came from doesn't really matter anymore. He's more interested in what Venom will become now that he has had Stark as a host.
After a while, Nick's voice sounded again on the intercom, "No, the accounts still aren't balanced. You guys need to come up with a solution and get more funds."
Natasha and Coulson complained together, saying they had already thought of every possible solution, even coming up with ridiculous reasons like preventing a rat plague after a few rats died on the streets.
Schiller rolled up his sleeves and said, "I have a good solution that can at least balance your accounts for a year."
Both Natasha and Coulson looked at him, and Natasha said, "You may not understand, Doctor..."
"Actually, I think you can find a way to grant me the qualification for a legitimate sanatorium, and regularly send a batch of Agents who have gone crazy due to work stress for recuperation."
"Recuperation requires beds and medications. Of course, with SHIELD Agents working so diligently for the country, the standards for hospital rooms and beds must not be low, and the medications must be of the best quality."
"Psychiatric sanatoriums are different from ordinary hospitals. Our aim is to provide patients with a relaxed and peaceful environment. At the very least, there must be a spa, a gym, a yoga and meditation lounge."
"Of course, these are just the basics. To achieve better treatment results, we also need a horse stable, a ranch, a golf course..."
"Of course, having these facilities is not enough. Many sports must be conducted under the guidance of professionals, such as yoga masters from India, meditation masters from the Himalayas, world equestrian champions, zoologists, naturalists, race car drivers, and so on."
"I know, I know, this may cost a lot, but the Agents have shed blood and sweat for the country, and they deserve it."
"Of course, the location cannot be too far. I think the New York City area would be good. Although it is indeed expensive to have such a large piece of land, convenience is the advantage."
"Of course, considering that New York is not very peaceful, the building standards should also be based on earthquake resistance of level 10 or above. The architecture cannot be designed by ordinary people, it must be done by world-class architectural masters, and the construction team must not be sloppy. The largest construction company in the United States, what was it called again? I think their construction quality should be good."
"The ribbon-cutting ceremony after completion is also indispensable. If some old gentleman on Capitol Hill is willing to loosen his grip, we can also invite the media to let him show his face."
"We are very happy to accept visits and speeches from all parties here. You know, everyone here is a genuine warrior who has dedicated themselves to the country, so if you want to gain their support, you can't skimp on donations, right?"
"Of course, if someone donates a lot, we can also give them an honorary position as the dean. You know, I don't mind..."
After Schiller finished speaking, Coulson's walkie-talkie on his waist suddenly blared with Nick Fury's shout: "Coulson! Have him appear in my office within ten minutes!! Immediately!! Right now!!" (XD)