"I'm Peter Parker," Batman said, opening his arms to the sibling pair who had just stepped off the plane. "Welcome to New York."
Wanda and Pietro exchanged a wary glance before sister Wanda cautiously extended a hand:
"Mr. Parker, thank you for rescuing us from that country."
A smile carrying a high degree of approachability hung on Batman's face. Matched with Peter Parker's youthful visage, his words naturally carried a hint of persuasiveness:
"I believe you must have heard of the Parker Group and know what kind of enterprise it is. As the founder of the Parker Group, I have no reason not to rescue you."
Wanda smiled somewhat sheepishly, tucking a lock of red hair from her forehead behind her ear.
During their flight, the sibling pair had already reviewed a massive amount of information on the Parker Group, knowing that ever since its rise, the company had never abandoned the charitable sector.
One could even say that if not for the fact that the Parker Group's memory fibers, energy, and prosthetic applications possessed a vastly broad market and were in high demand, falling desperately short of supply—
Otherwise, given the scale of the Parker Group's philanthropic efforts, it would likely have declared bankruptcy within a week.
Yet now, far from going bankrupt, the Parker Group had recently announced its entry into the aerospace sector, even acquiring a satellite launch base currently under construction.
"Yes, Mr. Parker. It's precisely because we have a certain understanding of you that we chose to trust your arrangements and leave Sokovia," Wanda said.
Though the deed had actually been carried out by Tony Stark, the business with the Jericho missile made it impossible for Tony to show his face, forcing him to dump the entire affair onto Batman's head.
Once Batman agreed to step in on Tony's behalf, Tony had described the specific actions he took over those past few days to prevent any slip-ups.
"Then do you know my purpose in bringing you to New York?" Batman asked.
"We know," Wanda said.
Her younger brother Pietro also nodded from beside her. He looked even shyer than his sister Wanda; his teenage face still bore a smattering of freckles, while his slightly long silver hair lent him an exceptionally striking air.
In short, this sibling pair made up an absolute textbook combination of a stunning beauty and a handsome young man.
"As long as you know," Batman said.
He still didn't know what excuse Tony had used to dupe the siblings into leaving Sokovia, as Tony hadn't brought it up at all.
Yet this did not prevent Batman from conversing with the siblings with an unperturbed expression.
Mid-conversation, the three of them sat together in the backseat of the luxury executive vehicle driven by Happy.
This was a six-seater car, featuring the driver's seat and front passenger seat up front, while the four rear seats were arranged in a face-to-face configuration.
Batman sat across from the sibling pair, a gentle smile consistently maintained on his face as he watched them, gradually dismantling the guards in their hearts.
"So, Mr. Parker..." Wanda hurried to speak up.
Batman raised a hand to cut her off:
"Just call me Peter. Mr. Parker sounds far too formal."
"Mr. Peter," Wanda quickly corrected her address. "Can you really find our father for us?"
Batman: "..."
He now understood why Tony had acted so evasive and refused to answer when Batman asked for the justification he used to get the siblings out of Sokovia.
"I will. But conventional search methods won't work, and while we're searching for him, you must follow my directives," Batman exhaled and said.
Wanda and Pietro exchanged an excited, nervous glance, giving each other a gentle nudge with their elbows.
Clearly, this innocent pair of mutant siblings had already bought into what Batman had said.
"Of course. That's the condition for you helping us," Pietro said.
With that, Pietro lowered his head and offered a shy smile. Batman noticed that a trace of bitterness was intertwined within the pair's smiles.
In Queens, far from the Avengers Compound but still within an upscale residential district, Happy parked the car in front of a detached villa.
Spanning an area a kilometer around, the zone—inclusive of gardens, an artificial lake, and shaded paths—entirely belonged to the identity of Peter Parker.
"This is one of my vacant residences. From now on, it's your new home," Batman said, leading the siblings as they walked along the edge of the artificial lake.
He walked ahead, appearing as though he hadn't noticed the flicker of crimson that flashed across Wanda's eyes behind him.
"Mr. Parker, I think we need to have a serious talk," Wanda's voice turned somewhat chilly as she gazed at the tall, upright back ahead of her. "We're sorry we used you to leave Sokovia, but I believe you're simultaneously exploiting us."
Batman turned around, looking at the wisp of crimson swirling around Wanda's fingertips without a trace of surprise on his face.
"To be precise, actually, we are in a cooperative relationship," Batman said. Still maintaining his identity as Peter Parker, some things weren't convenient to spell out.
Even so, this wasn't something a mutant could easily manipulate.
"Cooperation? You must have used some method to notice the uniqueness of our sibling pair, and now you want to utilize our abilities to do what? Eliminate your competitors? Or gain an extra ounce of political leverage among government officials?" Wanda watched the young Peter Parker, her voice growing increasingly cold.
Beside her, Pietro remained motionless with his head lowered, his eyes fixed intently on the tips of his shoes as though entirely ignoring the dialogue between his sister Wanda and the young entrepreneur Peter Parker.
"What if I told you my true objective is simply to prevent you from becoming Hydra?" Batman said.
Pietro jerked his head up, his figure vanishing from the spot in an instant.
No! He hadn't truly vanished; Batman could clearly perceive that in a split second, Pietro's silhouette simultaneously manifested in every single room across the artificial lake, the garden, and even the detached villa.
His speed had reached its absolute zenith, to the extent that even Peter Parker's super-powered dynamic vision failed to keep pace, leaving the residual images lingering in the retina.
In all directions, virtually every open space was blanketed by the figure with Pietro's silver-white hair.
The very next instant, all the silver shadows abruptly snapped inward, and Pietro stood right back in his original spot, perfectly intact.
He offered a shy smile toward Batman, then turned his head to give a shake of his head toward his sister Wanda.
Wanda's eyes flickered, her inner thoughts unreadable, while Batman stood quietly without moving, observing the sibling pair.
A few seconds later—Boom!
The airflow displacement triggered by Pietro traversing space at breakneck speed suddenly erupted. Tornadoes materialized out of thin air, ripping up entire sections of turf from the lawn.
The tornadoes appeared just as quickly as they vanished. A few more seconds later, the fierce gales whipped up by his rapid movement vanished without a trace.
"During the Battle of Manhattan not long ago, I trust you both caught wind of it even down in Sokovia," Batman said. "Hydra is not only the enemy of superheroes, but likewise the enemy of ordinary people like us."
"Sokovia has degenerated into Hydra's domain. I don't wish to see you become their capable thugs after joining Hydra. That is my purpose, as an ordinary person, for choosing to bring you out of Sokovia to New York."
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