Having this card meant being an unquestionable VIP at Citibank.
Whether you wanted to reach for the moon or dive into the sea for a whale—As long as it was within its capabilities,
Citibank would serve with full dedication and do its best to deliver.
When this card appeared, most doors across America would open for its holder.
From political resources to shopping trips and school admissions, almost any problem could be easily resolved.
But this very card, symbolizing "noble status," was tossed—without hesitation—right at Lyon's face by the chestnut-haired girl staring directly at Tony.
Of course, Lyon didn't let it actually hit his face. He caught the black card between two fingers.
The brother standing next to the girl twitched slightly at the corner of his mouth. His strained expression nearly broke, like he was trying not to laugh.
But the girl's gaze was sharp like a blade, without a trace of regret. She finally shifted her eyes from Tony and gave Lyon a glare.
For some reason, Lyon felt that the girl, at this moment, was putting on a front—tough on the outside, but not so solid within.
But her tone was firm: "Take your money back!"
"We'll find out the truth ourselves. Don't think you can pin all the blame on a dead man and expect us to believe it like idiots!"
"Even if you're Superman and Iron Man, we won't submit. We don't want your filthy Stark money either!"
Lyon suddenly understood—they weren't here for revenge. They were here to return the money.
He glanced at the bank card in his hand. The golden pattern on it gleamed brilliantly under the sunlight.
Didn't expect Natasha to be this thorough.
While handing them money, she'd even gone the extra mile and arranged for black cards for the siblings.
Still, for some reason, this scene gave him déjà vu.
After she finished, the girl looked at Tony again. "Tony Stark, even if those bombs really were sold by that Obadiah, you're not innocent either! You made them. You're still an executioner!"
At this point, her brother seemed to have finally recovered from the shock of suddenly losing such a large sum of money.
He nodded in agreement, his eyes sharp as blades as he stared at Tony. "This isn't over."
After saying that, the two of them stepped back, one step at a time, still staring at Tony—as if to show him just how determined the siblings really were.
"You two," Tony suddenly called out.
Under the wary gazes of the siblings, he slowly began to speak.
"I'm truly sorry for what you've been through. I also regret some of the things I once thought and did."
"I've been doing my best to make up for the mistakes I made in the past."
"Maybe you don't want compensation—but honestly, this is the best outcome."
Tony handed the black card in Lyon's hand back toward the siblings. "Take it. You need it."
But the two of them didn't reach out to take it.
Instead, their expressions grew even colder.
"You think money can make up for everything?" Pietro suddenly said.
"That night! We were just watching The Dick Van Dyke Show on the couch. Everyone was happy. That night should've been warm and peaceful! But then, out of nowhere, a bomb came in! The whole building was collapsing!
I pulled Wanda under the bed—by then, Mom and Dad were already dead. And then the second bomb hit!" It was just three feet away from us.
And on it… was written Stark!
That bomb never exploded.
We just stared at those letters—Stark—And every second felt like it could be our last."
Wanda, eyes rimmed red, took over the story: "That bomb, with its constant threat of exploding, hung over us for two whole days."
"We hid under the bed, waiting for you to come kill us—we waited two days."
"Someone tried to pull us out, but every time a piece of rubble was moved, we thought—that's it, the bomb's going to go off now."
Pietro cut in again: "Tony Stark, maybe you're used to using money to atone for your sins, but what you owe us—this debt—isn't something money can cover!"
He pulled a photo from his pocket.
It showed a family of four—a much younger Pietro and Wanda, with their parents.
"We don't understand any grand truths. All we have is this one precious, precious photo."
He held it up. "Besides this photo, we've got nothing left!"
"We'll never forgive you," Wanda said.
"But the Avengers saved Sokovia. We owe them once, so we'll investigate the truth."
With that, the siblings turned and walked away.
This time, Tony didn't try to stop them.
At first, he had assumed the siblings had placed all their hatred over their parents' deaths squarely on him.
He thought they were too young to understand that the real culprit was the force that used the weapons—not the one who created them.
But he hadn't expected—That the two of them had been trapped for two whole days with a bomb marked Stark.
Had spent those two days in fear, walking on the edge of death.
Under that kind of terror, forced to the brink of survival, no one could remain completely rational. No one could avoid hating the name printed on that weapon.
The siblings' past now weighed on Tony's heart like a heavy stone.
He no longer planned to try and stop them. Some things really couldn't be made up for with material compensation.
"Hold on a second, you two," Lyon suddenly called out to them.
The siblings clearly looked a little impatient.
But when they turned around and saw Lyon, most of their impatience instantly faded.
"…What do you want?" Wanda asked, lips pressed together.
In truth, from the very beginning, the siblings had been deliberately ignoring Lyon.
Normally speaking, Lyon was also a Stark—and therefore, one of their enemies.
But Lyon wasn't just a Stark. He was the Superman.
Two months ago—When the Superman held up the helicarrier and saved Sokovia, the siblings had been in a nearby bunker.
At the time, their hearts were as good as dead.
They had joined Hydra to get revenge on the Starks.
But Hydra hadn't cared about their lives at all. It had planned to nuke Sokovia—abandoning them, burying them along with their homeland.
In that moment, the only thing left in their hearts was overwhelming despair and regret.
In the midst of that despair—It was the Superman who first withstood a nuclear strike in Warsaw,
And then lifted the helicarrier away from above Sokovia. Iron Man, if anything, had just made things worse.
Only then were they—and their homeland—saved.
Just like the rest of the city's residents, Wanda and Pietro, from inside the Hydra bunker, had watched the helicarrier fly off into the distance. They were just as overwhelmed, cheering and crying tears of survival after the disaster.
Even before they knew Lyon was Superman.
Pietro only kept two photos on him—one of their family from childhood, and the other of the superhuman, though the face wasn't visible.
But now… at least for now, Pietro wasn't carrying that photo of the Superman.
After all, the superhuman had X-ray vision... Ehm.. He didn't want Lyon to see that picture.
With all these factors combined, the siblings had complicated feelings toward Lyon.
They were grateful, but also resentful.
So they had both chosen to ignore him.
Until Lyon spoke up.
"I understand how you feel, Wanda. And you too, Pietro."
The siblings froze for a moment. "You know our names?"
"Of course. Nice names are hard to forget, aren't they?"
Hearing that, the two of them were unexpectedly thrown off. Pietro, deep down, even felt a faint sense of delight.
The Superman actually said his name sounded nice!
Lyon said, "I understand you."
"Actually, I've taken revenge myself. My enemy was Hydra."
"When I was just one year old, Hydra's Winter Soldier killed my adoptive parents—and nearly strangled me to death."
"So I chose revenge. I wiped out every last Hydra agent. Then I blew off the Winter Soldier's head."
"And now, there's no Hydra left on this planet."
The siblings' hearts skipped a beat as they stared blankly at Lyon. "You… what are you trying to say?"
They suddenly remembered—they had been part of Hydra too.
"I'm saying, if you're going to take revenge, don't hold back. But also be ready to lose—and to die in return."
Lyon said, "If I strike, I don't go easy... I too only have my brother."
As he finished speaking, a faint crimson glow flickered in his eyes.
No one could stay calm under the gaze of a Superman's scarlet eyes.
In almost an instant, the shadow of death loomed over the siblings.
Pietro's breath trembled slightly. "W-Wait a second, we haven't done anything yet!"
Cold sweat broke out on Wanda's back. "Actually, we… we were going to investigate first, and then…"
She suddenly regretted coming to Lyon so impulsively today.
—They'd originally come just to return the credit card, but the moment they saw Tony Stark there, she couldn't help venting her emotions.
Looking back now, it felt unbelievably stupid.
The Stark family's Superman wasn't some comic book superhero—how could he possibly let them threaten his own brother?
Wanda tried to take a step forward to shield Pietro.
But looking into Lyon's eyes, a wave of overwhelming fear surged through her heart, freezing her in place.
"We… we just…"
Wanda tried to explain, her voice nearly cracking with tears.
But suddenly, the Lyon in her sight vanished—and at the same time, a pair of hands landed on her and Pietro's shoulders.
Wanda was so startled that goosebumps covered her entire body, and she almost screamed.
"No need to get so nervous," Lyon said casually. "What I meant was—since everything really was done by Obadiah, and had nothing to do with Tony or the rest of us, that's exactly why I'm stepping back and letting you investigate."
Wanda turned her head—Lyon's smiling face was just inches away.
"The money we gave you wasn't to atone for anything. It was a genuine apology."
"But if you want to investigate the truth, the simplest way is actually to get into Stark Industries."
"So how about sticking with me and Tony from now on? Getting closer will make it easier to find the answers you're looking for, don't you think?"
Wanda and Pietro just stared blankly at Lyon.
That fair face of his was bathed in sunlight, smiling cheerfully, completely unlike the terrifying presence from just moments ago.
He looked more like a friendly big brother from next door asking if they wanted to go fishing that afternoon.
"Huh??" The siblings were completely too stunned to think.
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