Tony has always been confident in the weapons he manufactures, unlike those from Hammer Industries.
There has never been a mistake. The weapons and missiles he creates are always the most advanced and outstanding in the world, without any flaws.
Moreover, he has never engaged in the private sale of arms.
Firstly, the Department of Defense would not permit it. Secondly, he has never been interested in the profits from smuggling arms, so there is no reason they would end up in the hands of Sokovian rebels.
His instinctive rebuttal was enough to make Wanda and Pietro, who were staring at him impassively, take notice. A sudden realization hit him.
If it wasn't like that, these two wouldn't have come to find him.
But, why did the missile misfire?
This was completely inexplicable.
"My ability is to alter probabilities," Wanda explained, noticing Tony's expression. He suddenly understood. Wanda stepped forward a few steps, causing Tony to instinctively step back, raising his arms in a gesture of surrender: "Trust me, I absolutely did not authorize the company to sell arms privately."
"I never lie."
"You have deceived many people; I don't need to give examples."
"Okay, but that wasn't an intentional deception. It was just unconscious forgetfulness. I know I have many flaws and am not likable, and I don't care. But believe me, I never did this; I swear."
Tony said earnestly.
"I will confirm this. I cannot see your memories; your villa has devices that guard against mind control."
"Uh, you can read memories?"
Tony's face changed dramatically; he didn't want anyone to probe into his memories and privacy.
Realizing this, Wanda erased the mental defense devices in the Marbury Seaside Villa with a thought. She looked at Tony and asked, "Did you lie?"
"NO, I have never authorized the company to smuggle arms. If such a thing were discovered, the Department of Defense and the U.S. government would demand enormous compensation from Stark Industries and would not hesitate to dismantle it."
Tony's eyes became empty and calm as he spoke.
"Detected unknown anomalous energy, activating defense mode, mode deactivated," Jarvis's calm voice reported. But as an AI, Jarvis was powerless after Wanda modified all the equipment in the villa.
Ignoring Jarvis's voice, Wanda continued, "Besides you, who else could authorize the smuggling?"
"Obadiah Stane. He holds the most shares after me and is the CEO. He is the most likely to have authorized the sale of arms."
As Tony finished speaking, his empty eyes immediately became lively, full of surprise and uncertainty as he looked at the girl before him.
Behind him, Pietro casually walked to the bar, picked up an expensive bottle of whiskey and an empty thick-bottomed glass, poured himself a drink, but just as he was about to take a sip, Wanda glanced back, making his raised hand freeze, and he sheepishly put it down.
"Contact him; I need to see him."
After giving Pietro a warning look for trying to steal a drink, Wanda turned back and said calmly.
Tony hesitated. No matter what, Obadiah was his uncle, who had watched him grow up and had a deep friendship with his father. But seeing the girl's cold eyes, he knew he had no choice. If he didn't do it, she would control him to do it.
He went back to his room, took out his phone, and returned. Under Wanda and Pietro's gaze, he said, "You should know, Jarvis dialed a distress call. I think he already knows about this."
"He won't know."
"Uh, okay." Tony hesitated but still dialed Obadiah's number.
Soon, the call connected.
"Tony."
"Hey, Stane, remember my project idea?"
"Jericho? You have a concept?"
"Of course, I'm Tony Stark. Want to see the results?"
"Oh my God, Tony, you're a genius. I'll be there in ten minutes."
After hanging up, Tony looked complex: "What did you do?"
He couldn't understand how the girl before him managed it.
Wanda didn't explain. She just walked to the balcony of the seaside villa, gazed at the distant sea, and said nothing. Her ability to alter reality had many limitations due to her current strength, but preventing Jarvis from sending a distress signal was within her power.
Thus, Jarvis's distress signal was erased, and naturally, Obadiah wouldn't doubt Tony's words.
Tony sighed, returned to his room to get dressed, then went to the kitchen to make two glasses of juice. After adding some ice, he handed one glass to Pietro. Pietro glanced at Tony, who shook his head and said, "I won't encourage you to drink alcohol, even if you could easily kill me."
Pietro took the juice without a word. Tony went to the balcony and offered the remaining glass to Wanda. She didn't take it, but Tony didn't mind. He leaned forward, elbows on the railing, as the sea breeze tousled his disheveled hair, his face showing signs of weariness.
"Jarvis reported to me the detailed data on the Sokovia War that year. Officially, it was just a simple rebel uprising. They overthrew the government at that time, but many details don't add up; someone must have altered the information."
Tony hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I'm sorry. I didn't manage the company well, and our weapons fell into their hands."
"In the past, Pietro and I thought you were our enemy. Hatred kept us going, but he made me realize that our thinking was naive," Wanda said without turning around. Tony listened intently, curious about who "he" was but didn't interrupt, allowing Wanda to continue.
"Although you aren't the main enemy, the weapons you created left a huge shadow over us. So for the next five years, congratulations, Mr. Tony, you'll lose a certain function."
"What?" Tony was stunned.
Ten minutes later, the burly and strong Obadiah, dressed in a suit, arrived in the villa's living room. Seeing Tony sitting on the sofa looking desperate, he was puzzled and just about to speak when he saw a flash of white light out of the corner of his eye. The next second, he felt a strong hand grip his neck, lifting him off the ground.
"You, Tony," Obadiah struggled weakly. He saw a strange, white-haired young man before him and had no idea what was happening. Why was this kid attacking him in Tony's villa? Did Tony want to kill him?
Tony Stark, still sitting on the sofa in despair, ignored Obadiah. He couldn't imagine living without women for five years, a thought that tormented him.
Pietro looked at Wanda, who nodded, and he immediately let go.
Obadiah collapsed on the floor, face red, clutching his neck and coughing violently. After a while, he looked at the twins and said in a low voice, "I..."
Before he could finish, Wanda interrupted, "Remember Sokovia?"
"Sokovia?" Obadiah was confused. He vaguely remembered the name. Wanda walked over, bent down, and stared at him, her voice cold as ice, "In 2000, under your orders, a batch of weapons was sold to the Sokovian rebels."
"You might not remember well; I found this information deep in your memory. Unexpectedly, you treated Tony like a godson but wanted to kill him and take his shares in Stark Industries."
"Do you now understand why you must die?"
Listening to Wanda's calm words, Obadiah was shocked. He glanced at Tony, whose expression changed, and said grimly, "I'm a businessman. They bought my weapons. What they do with them has nothing to do with us."
"Your family was destroyed in the war. This has nothing to do with the arms dealer. Even without us, they would have waged war. I was never your enemy."
"Good point, but you still have to die because I hate you. That's the only reason."
Wanda said nothing in response.
Her and Pietro's anger had to be directed at someone. Originally, she wanted to kill Tony Stark too, but his behavior made her change her mind. So, it had to be Obadiah.
Gazing at Obadiah, she activated her power.
Obadiah's entire being disappeared from the world as if erased from a blackboard by a rubber.
His erasure brought a strange feeling to Wanda and Pietro.
Emptiness?
No, the twins didn't feel that way. Their real enemy was still alive. Obadiah's death merely removed the shadow of that missile from their hearts.
Wanda and Pietro glanced at Tony. Without another word, they prepared to leave.
However, just a second before leaving, their expressions suddenly changed.
A mysterious force swept through the entire Marbury beach villa. Wanda instinctively looked at Tony, her eyes glowing red, while Pietro's body crackled with white lightning, time slowing down.
Boom!
A terrifying explosion echoed through the sky, and the Marbury beach villa was instantly destroyed in the massive blast. The raging shockwaves swept across the area. Fortunately, there were no other villas nearby, so no innocent people were harmed.
The explosion shattered the hillside, sending rocks tumbling down, and even the ocean waves surged due to the blast.
Zzz~~
Not far from the coastal road, white lightning flashed, and Pietro stopped, revealing himself, Wanda, and Tony, with a dozen unconscious bodyguards lying nearby.
Clearly, at the last moment before the explosion, Pietro used his super speed to save everyone, including the unconscious guards.
"What the hell! My favorite villa, and all my beloved collections inside," Tony exclaimed, finally reacting. He first noticed the dozen guards lying on the ground nearby, sighed in relief, then held his head in frustration.
He has never been a nostalgic person, but this villa is his favorite in New York, not to mention it houses many of his collections.
Everything was gone.
He didn't care about the monetary loss, what mattered to him was that his cherished possessions were gone.
Wanda and Pietro remained silent, watching a group of suddenly appearing figures floating on the sea's surface.
"Who are those people?"
"I don't know, but they've somehow blocked this space, my mirror magic is ineffective." Wanda's eyes were tinged with red as she scanned the surroundings.
She had tried to pull everyone into the mirror dimension during the last explosion.
But due to some inexplicable interference, she failed. Fortunately, Pietro's super speed saved everyone from the blast zone.
The sudden attack made Wanda uneasy, but she soon calmed down.
She was no longer the weak girl she used to be.
Her confidence came from the vast amount of magical knowledge she had learned and her growing abilities.
"They're behind this, but we need to find the source of the interference first, otherwise, these people will be a burden," Pietro said, frowning.
Tony, who was being referred to as a burden, kept silent. Although he didn't understand what was happening, the recent events made him realize he was indeed a burden.
And so were his dozen bodyguards.
Tony felt bitter. It had been a terrible day: threatened by two twins, discovering his closest partner Obadiah had been secretly dealing arms and got killed, losing his manhood for five years due to the fallout, and now being suddenly attacked by a group of mysterious figures.
His villa and many of his collections were destroyed.
He vowed that if he survived, he would remember this day forever, marking it as a day of misfortune to be commemorated annually. And he would stay home on this day every year.
Fortunately, these two kids were kind. Even though he didn't know how they magically took down Obadiah, the fact that they saved him and the bodyguards showed their kindness.
He could also tell that the white-haired boy named Pietro, despite calling them burdens, actually meant to get them out of this space as soon as possible.
In silence, Tony observed carefully and even took out his phone, only to find that it, too, was disrupted.
His phone signal, which connected directly to his company's satellite and military satellites, was down in New York City. This indicated significant interference from the other side, though he didn't know how they achieved it.
"They have special tattoos and possess dark powers."
Wanda's sharp eyes scanned the mysterious intruders. Each of them had grayish-white skin, wore blue trench coats, and horned helmets covering the upper part of their faces. Their eyes were blood-red, and a faint tattoo could be seen on their necks.
Each of them harbored immense dark power, enabling them to float in the air.
Demons?
The term immediately came to Wanda's mind. She was familiar yet unfamiliar with demons. Her magical knowledge included descriptions of white magic and black magic, with black magic being favored by many demons.
She had never seen one before.
There were about a dozen of them, all focusing on her, making Wanda realize they were here for her.
Pietro noticed this too, his eyes flashing with a murderous glint.
He would never allow anyone to harm his sister, no matter who they were.
Wanda remained calm, noticing that the enemies were ready to move. She used her psychic powers to connect with Pietro, her voice echoing in his mind.
"Their target is me, so they will focus on me. The psychic link will help us communicate. You need to use your strengths to observe, rescue, and find the source of the interference."
Though unwilling, Pietro knew this was the best plan.
Moreover, he felt a surge of excitement. One side effect of his rapid growth was his craving for release, destruction, and combat.
This time, these attacking enemies were the perfect targets.
"Alright."
With that, Wanda didn't hold back, launching an attack before the enemies could strike.
Her hands swiftly formed magical signs.
Quick and stylish, her palms aligned.
Boom!
Instantly, the sea ahead erupted, with waves spinning like drills attacking the mysterious figures.
The sky darkened suddenly, with terrifying lightning bolts snaking through, and thick bolts of lightning crashing down.
A dual attack from the ground and sky.
"Kill the others, capture that woman alive."
The horned man's deep voice commanded. He swung his large hand downwards, and the figures floating behind him roared, their clothes bursting to reveal muscular bodies. They grew to two meters tall, with tattoos emitting eerie black light.
The surrounding space dimmed, resembling a black hole that swallowed the waves and lightning attacks.
Boom!
A blast of energy erupted. Except for the leader, all the hulking figures charged towards the coastal road, leaving trails of black light in the air.
~~~
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