Chapter 4344 - 3439: Midnight Sons (1)
Shiller walked into the spacious and bright ward where Harley, laying on the bed and covered with a blanket, was idly trying to spit cherry pits accurately into the trash can beside her.
"How's it going, miss?" Shiller walked over with a smile and said, "Your attending doctor told me the delivery went fairly smooth. How are you feeling now?"
"Not too bad." Harley puffed out her cheeks and said, "Just a bit bored in the hospital. Jack still won't let me get discharged, insisting on observing for another week. I'm really feeling suffocated."
"Observing for a bit longer is beneficial," Shiller persuaded. He sat down next to the bed, poured a glass of water for Harley, and then asked, "Have you thought of names for the babies?"
"Thomas and Henry." Harley shrugged and said, "Sounds pretty old-fashioned, doesn't it?"
"I thought it would be Thomas and John," Shiller said, "Actually, they're not bad, such names are less likely to get mixed up. Was this Jack's idea?"
"Sort of." Harley nodded and said, "He actually wanted to name the firstborn David, but I think Thomas is better. They're all quite old-fashioned anyway, might as well go with something more common."
Shiller and Harley chatted for a while, then he saw Pale Knight coming over with a stack of reports. He stood up and gave his place to Pale Knight, who nodded at him.
"The children are doing well, but..."
The moment 'children' was mentioned, Harley grew anxious. She kept stretching her neck trying to peek at the reports in Pale Knight's hand. Pale Knight adjusted her bed to make her more comfortable, then said, "The good news is, physically, there are no issues. The bad news is, we might have to raise two superpower users."
Harley was clearly stunned. She said, "Superpower users? How come? Aren't we both normal humans?"
"The toxin you inhaled during pregnancy has caused a mutation in the children's genes. Fortunately, it's not in a bad direction. Both kids have about three times the muscle strength of a normal person, and their cardiopulmonary function is also double that of a normal person."
"Wow, are we going to raise two strongmen in the future?"
"I'm afraid so. It's still unclear how well they can control their muscles, and if it's not good, we might need to provide them with special training."
"Us? Are we really up for it?"
"I think it will be fine." Pale Knight gently brushed Harley's long hair and then said, "No matter what the future holds, we will face it together."
Shiller and Pale Knight left the ward together. Outside the room, Pale Knight said, "It's good that Harley gave birth here. I don't think our hospitals back home could have a doctor who could get up and continue working immediately after being kicked over by a newborn less than ten seconds after birth."
Shiller smiled and said, "That's rare around here too, but the doctors here are indeed more experienced."
As they walked downstairs, Shiller said, "I heard Harley had an episiotomy. To ensure a good recovery, it's best you stay here a while longer."
"Of course," Pale Knight nodded and said, "Although Harley was quite active during her pregnancy, the twins were too big for a complete natural birth. She really suffered a lot."
"Then spend more time with her. There's nothing urgent here, Mr. Mayor. Once she's recovered enough, you're welcome to come to the farm."
Pale Knight finally smiled, saying, "I will. Ready to welcome a crazy mother and two strongman kids?"
"My farm is ready for that."
After parting with Pale Knight, Shiller drove back to the farm from Los Angeles. As soon as he returned, he heard the lively chatter inside the house. Approaching the door, Shiller grasped the doorknob, faintly hearing discussion about a Battleworld copy inside.
Shiller pushed the door open, and everyone stood up. Dick said, "Doctor, you're back? How's the new mom?"
"She's fine. But Mr. Napier's kids turned out to be superpower users."
"Superpower users? What kind of superpowers? Mutants?" Harley showed keen interest in the topic, saying, "Is it because of Quizer's genes? Could I also give birth to a superpower user?"
"For that you might need to inhale some toxic gas," Shiller put down the snacks he bought on the table and said, "Think of Captain America's superpowers, simply put, like strongmen."
Harley let out a disappointed sigh, saying, "I thought it would be something cooler. Having dealt with so many mutants, I also want to transplant some X genes into myself."
"Then you better make sure you get Omega level or Alpha level powers, and they must be the kind you can control yourself. That's about 0.01% of all mutants."
Recalling their earlier conversation, Shiller asked, "Have you played the latest double copy? How does it feel?"
"Not bad, I'm quite interested in the theme," Tim was the first to speak, "I finally became a Mage."
Jason rolled his eyes and said, "The magic of that world isn't quite the same as the real world; there's a lot to learn. I just can't get into it..."
"You chose a magic theme?" Shiller asked.
"No, we chose school. Turned out to be a medieval magical school. Both of us became apprentices in the Mage Tower, every day it's about those tricky spells and runes..."
Shiller became more convinced of his guess, it seems that all free double copies are in the same big map.
"Have you guys completed the task?"
Tim nodded while opening a snack and said, "Yes, our task was pretty simple. Just attending classes, learning, and solving cases sent by the Royal Family on our own when the teacher wasn't around. We did pretty well."
"What about you?" Shiller asked Harley.
"Me? It wasn't so smooth for us." Harley sighed, dropped her hands and threw herself into the sofa, then said, "We thought that since Little Pa is good with plant science, we chose a natural science label. Turned out, they threw us onto a deserted French tower to study natural magic."
"So, did you figure it out?"
"The plants in the Game World are totally different from the real world. Little Pa's knowledge was useless. However, I secretly sold the cultivated plants to those witches who wanted to do alchemy and made quite a bit of money. The mission was barely completed."
"What was your task?"
"We were just talking about that," Tim interjected, "It's odd, the royal case we had to investigate involved a noble being poisoned by a potion. We had to trace the source of the herbs, and ended up tracking it to their herbal greenhouse..."
"Same here," Dick spoke up. "Raven in the Game World is a witch. He was wrongfully accused of making poisonous potions and imprisoned, and I had to rescue him."
"So you were also grouped together," Shiller said, "Our side was also a group of acquaintances. Everyone was linked together by various clues, and the world settings were similar to yours too."
Tim's eyes immediately lit up, and he said to Harley, "See what I told you, I knew there must be one large map that hosts all the duo players."
"Have you heard of the Westchester Duchy?" Shiller asked.
Tim was taken aback, and Jason said, "You mean that small country to the east? God, it really is one map!"
Harley also appeared thoughtful, clearly she had investigated something. Shiller said, "It seems you all were born in the Magic Empire. Has anyone encountered someone from the Steam Technology Empire?"
They looked at each other and all shook their heads. Shiller took a bag of chips that Tim passed to him, opened it and said, "Then, during the mission, did you interact with other players?"
Tim quickly nodded and said, "I met Batman. Harley seemed to have encountered Wonder Woman..."
After thinking for a moment, Shiller said, "It seems it's assigned according to the big world. While my universe doesn't belong here or there, we were placed in a small nation in between."
After discussing more about the situation in the duo world of the great world, Shiller realized that these clever guys had similar ideas to his; after completing the game, they sold the game resources for Dou World Coin or technology.
"We're planning to queue up again." Tim said, "We found that if you choose location-related tags, there's a high chance of management elements. Managing them well could be exchanged for money, so we won't need to spend on the game."
Harley was also brimming with enthusiasm, saying, "There are plenty of rich folks in the Multiverse. I sold the herbal greenhouse managed with Little Pa to the noble-born Wonder Woman, and she promised to give each of us a divine artifact from Mount Olympus. We made a fortune!"
Shiller coughed lightly and said, "Constantly playing the same mode is no fun. Maybe you could wait a while before queuing again."
"Are you serious?" Harley frowned and said to Shiller, "Aren't you known for your greed? You're not interested in making money?"
"It probably won't be a good time to make money if you go in again," Shiller thought to himself, of course, if you enter a bit later, you could probably experience the thrill of running a business in an apocalypse.
He didn't voice his thoughts, knowing these kids wouldn't listen. Who hasn't been addicted to grinding at some point?
The Batman from the Pale Knight universe had already returned. He adjusted his mindset well, and the next stop should be preparing to go to Bruce's universe to see Alfred. He hoped that he wouldn't get too excited when he meets Thomas and Martha there.
After resolving matters in Los Angeles, Shiller returned to New York. He made a trip to New York Elderly Association Hospital only to learn that Strange had taken leave. He initially thought Strange had gone back to Kamar-Taj, but after calling Kamar-Taj, he learned that Strange had gone to The Sanctum.
Shiller hadn't visited The Sanctum in a long while, mainly because Wall Street was too far from his nursing home. There was stable development there, nothing that needed his concern. His last visit might have been years ago.
Shiller took a flying shuttle to Wall Street, bought a cup of coffee, and then entered The Sanctum. Just as he entered, he saw a flaming Skull Head sitting in the hall, seemingly waiting for someone.
"Hi, Johnny," Shiller greeted, then said, "Here to negotiate business for Mephisto again?"
The flaming Skull Head shook its head, looking helpless, and said, "I'm not Johnny, I'm Danny. Danny Cage. I'm here to see the Supreme Magician."
Shiller then remembered, now in New York there were two Ghost Riders. One was Johnny Blaze, and the other was Danny Cage. They were not in a generational relationship but actual brothers, both descendants of the Cage family, and both bearing the curse of the Ghost Rider.
Johnny was always running errands for Mephisto, sometimes going to The Sanctum for insurance business, sometimes to Kamar-Taj to process Earth visas, but Danny was not often seen, mostly fulfilling the duties of the Ghost Rider.
"Hello, Danny, I am Shiller, you must have heard of me."
"My God, you are Doctor Shiller." Danny looked surprised, he stood up and shook hands with Shiller, trying hard to keep his flaming eyes from turning towards Shiller.
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"Do you need something from Strange?"
"Um, we're trying to set up a supernatural superhero group called the Midnight Sons. Director Fury said this should be handled by the Supreme Magician, I'm here to process the paperwork."