"Ah, I remember now!" Tony exclaimed, pretending to have a sudden epiphany. "So, you can travel to other worlds?"
"Yeah, that's right," Leon replied flatly, ignoring the old man's theatrics. This guy had clearly just forgotten.
"My God, you're a little genius! So that means the parallel world theory—or the otherworld theory—has been proven by you!"
Tony looked genuinely shocked. But then his expression shifted, turning sincere and earnest.
"When you travel to another world, you must take me with you! Just imagine the experience!"
He paused, then added jokingly, "And if you're going to look for Kryptonite, take me along too! When you're turned into an ordinary guy by it, I can take that chance to kick you a couple of times from the sidelines."
Leon was used to Tony's awkward ways of showing concern. He thought for a moment, then replied without outright refusal, "We'll talk about it when the time comes."
"Alright, enough about chasing power for now!" he added quickly, cutting off any further remarks.
Noticing Tony was about to speak again, Leon shifted the topic. "Let's go back inside. We still need to discuss those things I've wanted to do for a long time."
…
Half an hour later, they were back in the lab, sitting around the workbench. Tony, dressed casually in a bathrobe, listened to Leon intently. His expression gradually turned grave.
"This time I'm back, there are only three things I want to do," Leon declared, raising three fingers.
Tony raised an eyebrow. Leon's tone suggested that each point was no trivial matter.
"The first is to deal with Obadiah."
Leon paused for emphasis.
"That goal has already been achieved. I've told you repeatedly that something was off with him, and now it's been confirmed."
Tony gave a solemn nod. There was no denying that anymore.
"The second thing is to eliminate the Ten Rings. They kidnapped you, and I'll make sure they pay. I'm starting tomorrow."
"And the third…" Leon paused again, this time longer, "is to investigate the truth behind our parents' deaths."
Tony visibly flinched. The first two points he could stomach, but this one? His entire demeanor shifted.
"The truth? What truth? Didn't they die in a car accident?" he asked, voice tight.
Leon couldn't just blurt out that he knew the Winter Soldier, Bucky, was the killer. He had no concrete evidence yet. And the truth wasn't just about Bucky—it involved something much bigger.
What he was after was far more vast: Hydra itself.
"I've always had my suspicions," Leon said, placing his hands together and resting his chin on them thoughtfully. "If it was truly just a car accident, why did the weakest one—me—survive, while they didn't?"
"Leon, that's because the car caught fire and they couldn't get out. You were thrown clear. You were wrapped in swaddling cloth—your neck was protected," Tony responded, surprisingly composed.
Yet even as he spoke, part of him wanted to believe Leon's theory. Maybe he'd been waiting all these years for someone to say it: that his parents' deaths weren't just a tragic twist of fate.
Eighteen years ago, he had been away from home, caught in the middle of an argument with his father. When the news came, he was still nursing anger, thinking he'd return to Los Angeles soon to confront Howard. Then came the sealed envelope—confirmation that everything had ended.
He never got the chance to resolve things. That regret, the guilt—it had never left him. Over the years, he developed an aversion to taking things from people's hands. It was a strange habit, rooted in that moment someone handed him the death notice.
Maybe deep down, he had always hoped someone would tell him it wasn't an accident. That way, he could have a clear target. A reason to let out all the anger buried beneath his flashy exterior.
But that same hope made him cautious. He didn't want to risk harming innocents based on suspicions.
In Afghanistan, Tony had learned more than how to build armor—he had learned the value of life.
"Sure, on the surface, it looks like an accident," Leon acknowledged. "But what if that baby—me—was meant to die too? The cloth around my neck should've suffocated me. But the killer didn't realize something."
Leon leaned closer.
"He didn't know that baby carried dormant Kryptonian blood."
Before, Leon couldn't understand how he had survived that crash. The Winter Soldier was a mindless assassin—not someone who made mistakes.
But now he knew it wasn't a mistake. It was the unawakened Kryptonian bloodline that gave him extraordinary resilience. Even though his powers hadn't manifested at the time, they were enough to keep him alive.
His words struck Tony like a bolt of lightning.
"You're saying…" Tony stammered, mind spinning.
Leon continued calmly, "When I was a kid, I also thought this idea was baseless. Everyone agreed it was an accident. So why did I feel differently?"
"But after I awakened my abilities, I realized I might've always known the truth—just not consciously."
"Those memories from the accident… I didn't retain them, but they were etched into my subconscious."
This was no exaggeration. After unlocking his super brain, Leon began to sense faint impressions of things from before he turned one year old. No full memories, but fragments, emotions—flashes.
The human brain is complex. Memories are stored through neuron activity, and before the age of one, those neurons aren't fully developed. So, while his conscious mind had no record, something deeper remained.
But this wasn't just a physiological matter. In the Marvel world, with mystic forces and genetic oddities, anything was possible. One day, perhaps, he would retrieve every detail.
Leon's voice dropped an octave. "Since I came back, I haven't stopped digging into it. And now, I've found the truth, Tony."
"You're serious!?" Tony shot up, eyes wide with both hope and fury.
Leon nodded, calm and unwavering. "My super hearing picked them up. The killers—they're part of something bigger."
"Who are they!?" Tony's voice turned razor sharp.
"Hydra," Leon said flatly.
"Impossible! Hydra is finished! That was history—closed!" Tony argued, though he clearly believed Leon. It was just hard to accept.
"They were defeated, but only temporarily. Cut off one head, two more grow. Hydra has revived," Leon said, his tone darkening.
"I've combed through classified documents over the past few days. I found something buried under layers of secrecy. Behind the world's largest official agencies, there's a hidden power working in the shadows."
Leon continued, "This group operates under the International Security Council. It's called the Homeland Strategic Defense, Attack and Logistics Division. Or, as we know it—S.H.I.E.L.D."
Tony stiffened. That name carried weight.
"It used to be called the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Founded by our dad and others. But after World War II, during the Paperclip Project, they absorbed German scientists and talent."
"Some of these people were loyal to Hydra. And they never stopped being loyal."
Tony's face turned grim. He could already see where this was going.
"So, those people climbed their way up within S.H.I.E.L.D.… and resurrected Hydra?" he asked slowly.
Leon nodded. "Exactly. And our father, as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders and leaders, became an obstacle."
Tony exhaled heavily and sat down again. He clenched his jaw. "How many Hydra agents are inside S.H.I.E.L.D.? Does the current director know?"
Leon's next words made him jump to his feet again.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has tens of thousands of agents. Most of them? Hydra. The last director was Hydra. The current one—he's not officially Hydra, but he might as well be. He's worse."
"What!?" Tony gasped. "So, the whole organization is basically controlled by Hydra!?"
Leon didn't answer. He didn't need to. The silence confirmed it.