My Dearest Uncle~

Watching the burly man before them surrender so cleanly and decisively, even Luca and Shamira couldn't help but exchange glances.

In truth, when they had followed the man by car all the way to this remote pier, both had been bracing themselves for a major battle. Shamira had even been considering how to persuade the young master to hold back before she had finished parking.

Who would have thought that when Luca activated his Tracking Glasses and scanned the warehouse using thermal imaging, he would discover that this massive space was guarded by a mere four people? The two of them decided on the spot to strike while the iron was hot and simply "stormed" the place.

As it turned out, those four unlucky guards hadn't even managed to make a sound before Shamira had neutralized them all in total silence. The bearded brute currently sitting before them, suspected to be the leader, was the final threat Luca had identified on his thermal display.

However, faced with this man who appeared so cooperative—even ready to confess everything—Luca paid him no mind. Instead, he walked straight past the man, who sat with his hands raised, not daring to move, and approached the wooden door behind him.

He reached out and gently pushed the door open.

Inside the room, a man with his hands and feet bound tightly was sprawled on the floor, inching his way toward the door. Seeing this, Luca leaned down slightly to look at the man, whose mouth was sealed with duct tape. Whether due to the reflection of the lights or not, the transparent half-rimmed glasses on Luca's face were suddenly covered in a bright white glare, making it impossible to see his eyes.

"My dear uncle, is this the partner you found?"

Yes, the man tied up like a common prisoner was none other than Luca's opportunistic uncle, Dragan. It was precisely because he had spotted "Dragan" via thermal imaging that Luca had ignored the bearded man in the outer room and walked straight in.

"Oh, my mistake. It seems you can't talk like that~"

With a smile still playing on his lips, Luca reached toward the man's face and ripped the tape off Dragan's mouth in one swift motion.

Riiip.

A sharp sound echoed, followed immediately by Dragan's pained cries. Seeing a few strands of beard still stuck to the tape, Luca flicked his hand in disgust and tossed it aside.

"Luca! Luca! You have to believe me, I didn't do any of this! It was Kingpin—it was all Kingpin forcing me! I'm your uncle, why would I ever want to send people to assassinate you?"

The moment Dragan could speak, he began to wail and plead, ignoring the burning pain on his face. His features were twisted, his face a mess of tears and snot. Yet, instead of showing sympathy, Luca recoiled half a step in even greater disgust. Even though his right hand was a mechanical prosthetic crafted by Stark, Luca had no desire to get any filth on it.

However, Dragan's words caused the playful look behind Luca's lenses to turn serious. Previously, upon learning there were only a few gangsters in the warehouse, that Dragan himself was a captive, and that this location wasn't even in Hell's Kitchen, Luca had begun to wonder if his earlier suspicions were merely biases born from having read the Marvel series. He had thought perhaps this had nothing to do with Kingpin, and that it was all just his own overactive imagination. He had assumed that once he dealt with this group, he could rest easy.

Who would have thought that Dragan would expose the true mastermind the moment he opened his mouth? Damn it, it really wasn't going to be that simple! Luca cursed inwardly, though he remained composed on the surface.

Seeing Luca's expressionless face, however, Dragan grew even more terrified and scrambled to plead his case further. "Luca, for the sake of your mother Gina, spare me this once! It's all Kingpin's fault; he's the one who approached me and told me to fight you for the company. And the people who tried to kill you were sent by Barton! If you want revenge, go find him!"

Before Luca could even react to this, the bearded man outside—who had been quietly waiting to face his "judgment"—suddenly burst into a roar of curses.

"Bullshit! You bastard, Dragan! You were the one who came to me and said we should pull this job! And didn't Kingpin get screwed over by you too? Why the hell are you playing the innocent victim here? You're nothing but a sewer rat! A worm! You son of a bitch!"

Listening to the continuous stream of curses from outside, Luca's expression finally relaxed, a look of keen interest returning to his face as he stared fixedly into Dragan's eyes.

"Oh ho~ I suppose that must be the Barton you mentioned?"

"My dear uncle, it seems you haven't been entirely honest with me, have you?"

Faced with Luca's calm and collected demeanor, Dragan panicked. He tried to offer a defense, but Luca stepped on his head, forcing him to shut up. Ignoring Dragan, who was racking his brain for ways to keep hiding the truth, Luca stood back up and issued an order to Baymax outside.

"Baymax, help me take that bearded man to the open area of the warehouse. Keep him under control—don't let him run, and don't let him make a sound."

At these words, Baymax, who had been staring blankly at a spiderweb on the ceiling, immediately stood at attention.

"Baymax understands." (●-●)

Baymax then trotted over to the man named Barton, covered his bearded mouth with one large hand, and gripped his shoulder firmly with the other.

"Hello. I am taking you outside now. Please do not struggle violently, so as to avoid injury." (●-●)

With that, ignoring the man's frantic struggles, Baymax dragged him out of the room and stood him still in the middle of the warehouse floor.

Baymax's powerful grip was like an iron shackle weighing a thousand pounds; no matter how Barton struggled, he couldn't budge an inch, eventually collapsing like a fish out of water, his body limp as he stood there motionless.

Seeing that Baymax had managed to restrain the fellow named Barton, Shamira thought for a moment before holstering her gun and stepping into the room.

"Young Master, you can leave the dirty work to me."

After saying this, Shamira cast a look of disdain at Dragan on the floor, then walked straight behind Luca, standing as silent and still as a stone statue of a guard.

"Alright, now that the irrelevant parties have left, it's time for you to help me clear up my confusion, Uncle."

"However, if the answers you give me happen to conflict with Barton's, I'm afraid someone is bound to be punished for it later~"