When Ethan mentioned the ruins, the irritation on Tony Stark's face gradually faded.
By the time Ethan reached the final part of the story, Tony's entire body had gone rigid. His hands trembled slightly, and the usual sarcasm in his expression had completely disappeared.
Before Ethan could finish the sentence, Tony spoke quietly.
"The words said… 'Stark Industries.'"
Ethan nodded once.
Tony slowly turned his head and looked at Wanda and Pietro again. This time there was no arrogance or annoyance in his eyes. Instead, guilt and deep regret filled his expression.
Tony had always claimed that the weapons produced by Stark Industries were meant to defend peace. That was the idealistic explanation he had given himself for years.
But reality had proven far more complicated.
Countless tragedies had occurred because of weapons bearing his company's name. Innocent people had died, families had been destroyed, and cities had been torn apart.
Those outcomes were undeniable.
If Tony truly believed weapons could guarantee peace, he never would have shut down Stark Industries' entire weapons manufacturing division the moment he returned from captivity.
And the reason he had chosen to become Iron Man—the reason he had thrown himself into the life of a superhero—was largely because he wanted to correct those mistakes. Even if he wasn't personally responsible for every tragedy caused by Stark Industries products, Tony believed he still carried part of that burden.
For a moment, the room fell silent.
Tony looked at the twins standing in front of him.
Then he spoke.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Because of my company's weapons, you had to go through something no child should ever experience. If there's anything I can do to make it right, tell me. As long as it's within my power, I'll do it."
Hearing those words, Wanda and Pietro looked a little lost.
They were only fifteen years old. Situations like this were far outside anything they had ever dealt with before.
Instinctively, the twins turned to Ethan for guidance.
Ethan smiled faintly.
"You can decide for yourselves," he said.
In the original timeline, Wanda and Pietro had been trapped beneath the rubble for two full days and nights. During that time they had stared at the words "Stark Industries" on the missile in front of them while waiting for it to explode.
That experience had left them with deep psychological trauma.
Their hatred toward Tony Stark had taken root during those two endless days of terror.
But things were different now.
Ethan had rescued them after only five hours. Soon afterward he adopted them and gave them a real home.
Because of that, although the twins still carried some resentment toward Tony, it had never grown into true hatred.
Wanda held onto Ethan's arm and looked at Tony.
"No," she said softly. "I'm living a good life now."
"Me too," Pietro added.
He hesitated for a moment before continuing.
"Wanda and I were lucky to meet Ethan. But there are still many war orphans like us in Sokovia. If you can, Mr. Stark, please help them instead."
Tony blinked in surprise when he heard that.
Then he glanced toward Ethan with a small smile.
"You were right," Tony said. "They really are good kids. I'm honestly jealous of you."
After a moment of thought, Tony continued.
"In that case, I'll set up a ten-billion-dollar fund to support war orphans in Sokovia—education, living expenses, everything. What do you think?"
He looked directly at Pietro while speaking.
Ever since Tony publicly revealed that he was Iron Man and announced Stark Industries' transition into clean energy development, the company's stock price had skyrocketed.
The company's market value had already surpassed two hundred billion dollars and was rapidly climbing toward three hundred billion.
After Obadiah Stane's death, Tony had inherited his shares. On top of that, Ethan had allowed Tony to control the voting rights for his own fifteen percent stake.
Altogether, Tony directly or indirectly controlled sixty-seven percent of Stark Industries.
That meant Tony possessed absolute authority on the board of directors.
Ten billion dollars wasn't even close to the company's financial limit. Even fifty billion could be approved without serious resistance.
Hearing Tony's declaration, Ethan silently cursed in his mind.
Out of that ten billion dollars, one and a half billion technically belonged to him.
Pietro's single sentence had just cost him a massive amount of money.
This little brat should learn from Wanda and stop talking so much.
No.
Ethan immediately began thinking of ways to punish him. Cutting the kid's allowance for a few months suddenly felt like a very reasonable idea.
"Y-yes… that's good," Pietro said.
The number Tony mentioned had completely stunned him. For a brief moment he even felt a little regretful.
He hadn't expected Tony's compensation to be that large. If things had gone differently, some of that money might have ended up in his own hands.
But after thinking about it again, Pietro realized the fund would help many children who were just like him and Wanda once were.
That thought made him feel much better.
Besides, next month his allowance was scheduled to double again. With that in mind, Pietro quickly stopped worrying about it.
Of course, if he knew that his allowance would soon disappear for several months, he might very well faint in the bathroom.
Tony suddenly seemed to remember something.
"By the way, Ethan, what happened this morning?" he asked. "You left before I could ask about it. Do you need help with anything? Whether it's the military or Washington, I can pull a few strings."
He crossed his arms and added with mild irritation, "Also, buddy, you should probably give me your phone number. Do you know how annoying it is to fly from Los Angeles to New York every time I want to find you?"
"You could just move Stark Industries from Los Angeles to New York," Ethan said casually.
Tony paused.
Then he nodded thoughtfully.
"Not a bad idea," he said. "Let's do that."
Ethan stared at him in disbelief.
Just like that?
But when Ethan thought about it more carefully, Stark Industries had indeed relocated to New York in the original timeline. With that realization, he decided not to question it further.
Tony leaned forward again.
"Seriously though, you still haven't told me what happened earlier."
"It's already resolved," Ethan replied. "You came here for nothing."
"Don't flatter yourself," Tony scoffed. "I was just passing by to check in."
He glanced at the clock and grimaced.
"Since everything's fine, I'm leaving. Pepper's waiting for me. I can't believe I wasted half my day here."
With that complaint, Tony turned and headed for the door without another word.
Once the outsider was gone, the twins immediately returned to their normal behavior.
Wanda and Pietro collapsed onto the sofa like two exhausted jellyfish, completely abandoning the polite posture they had maintained earlier.
Seeing that, Ethan's forehead filled with black lines.
Where did these two learn such terrible habits?
"You two," Ethan said sternly, "come here."
The moment they heard his tone, Wanda and Pietro instantly sensed trouble.
Neither of them dared to stall.
They hurried over and stood obediently in front of him.
"What's wrong?" Wanda asked cautiously.
Ethan folded his arms.
"This morning you ran into a few gun-wielding thugs and still ended up getting injured," he said coldly. "And you two dare to call yourselves superpowered?"
Just thinking about the situation made him irritated.
If their abilities were weak, that would be understandable. Normal superpowers often struggled against modern firearms.
But Wanda and Pietro's powers were anything but ordinary.
Even Ethan himself considered their abilities borderline overpowered.
Against a handful of armed criminals, they should have been completely untouchable. Even against hundreds of heavily armed soldiers, either one of them should have been able to dominate the battlefield.
"It turned out fine," Pietro muttered quietly.
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
"It turned out fine today," he said. "But what about next time? What if I can't get there in time?"
His voice became sharper.
"Pietro, would you be willing to watch Wanda die? Wanda, would you want what happened this morning to happen again?"
The twins immediately shook their heads.
Seeing their reaction, Ethan finally continued.
"If you don't want that, then starting today you'll train your powers for two hours every day."
He glanced directly at Pietro.
"And you—because of your terrible performance this morning—your allowance is suspended for three months."
For a moment, Pietro's face went completely blank.
....
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