Tony's Remorse

Ten minutes later.

"So, Tony, what does it feel like to leave your temporary residence of the past few months? Do you feel any reluctance?"

Leon carried Tony and Yinsen, one in each hand, floating high above the cave.

He joked, "This is a miraculous experience that ordinary people would rarely encounter in a lifetime. Aren't you going to have a chat and share your thoughts?"

Tony's hair was blown into a mess by the wind. "You call this a miraculous experience? Damn it, Leon, if you hadn't turned into Superman, I'd have someone arrange this kind of miraculous experience for you the moment we get back."

"Alright, alright. It looks like you're in a bad mood. My bad, I won't say anymore." Leon shut his mouth.

Yinsen chimed in at the right moment. "Um... Mr. Leon, may I ask how you plan to deal with the base below? Are you going to leave it for the U.S. military?"

Yinsen had not an ounce of affection for the American authorities.

He believed that the rampant nature of these terrorists definitely had something to do with the U.S. side.

Before Leon could answer, Tony spoke up, "Destroy it. Destroy all of... these Stark things."

He looked at the crates of weapons and ammunition stamped with the "Stark" logo below, his expression as gloomy as still water.

"No problem." Leon agreed, carrying the two of them to a higher altitude.

Once they were a safe distance away, heat vision shot from his eyes, instantly detonating the explosives throughout the base.

Boom!

The ammunition inside the base exploded in a chain reaction, one crate after another.

All the explosions intertwined, producing a cascading effect. Flames engulfed the entire area, and a dozen-meter-high mushroom cloud rose suddenly, smoke quickly billowing into the air.

This terrorist base of considerable scale thus became a thing of the past.

"Truly terrifying... It's all over." Yinsen's cheeks were burning hot from the intense heat of the explosion, and he muttered under his breath.

"It is over. At least the period at the end of this terrible memory of yours has finally been drawn," Leon nodded.

"Next, I'll send you to the military's base in Afghanistan."

"Tony's old friend is there; he'll send you back to the United States."

Leon shifted his posture and flew outside the perimeter of the base. "As for me, I won't be going with you. After all, this power of mine isn't suited to be linked with my identity for the time being."

Yinsen seemed to have other thoughts, but seeing the ground several hundred meters below, he prudently chose to follow the arrangements.

Hearing this, Tony's expression—which had remained gloomy ever since his rescue—stumbled for a moment.

He hesitated before speaking, "You said it's temporarily unsuitable, which means you plan to do something afterwards, right, Leon?"

"That's right," Leon acknowledged. "There are some things I've wanted to do for a long time, but I didn't have enough power to act on them."

His tone was calm. "After getting back, I can just take the opportunity to demonstrate my strength to various parties while dealing with these matters."

"That way, even if my true identity is discovered in the future, those annoying flies won't dare to act rashly."

"As for the specifics, we'll talk about them after we get back."

Even with all of Superman's strength, Lex Luthor was still constantly bouncing up and down causing trouble.

That was doubly true for a young man like him who had only been basking in the sun for half a year.

Leon had no doubt that once his physique and powers were exposed, covetous gazes from all sides would immediately swarm in.

Unless he proactively demonstrated unmatched strength in the mortal world and an attitude of absolute mercilessness, he would undoubtedly face endless trouble.

Most people in the world feared might rather than virtue; this was beyond doubt.

"What, are you going to try to persuade me not to cause too big a commotion?" Leon asked.

"No," Tony immediately denied, "I just..."

His voice paused for a long while before he let out a long breath and spoke awkwardly.

"Leon, I—I want to say... I'm sorry. I didn't listen to your advice before about shutting down the weapons division."

A deep remorse appeared on Tony's face.

This remorse wasn't for Leon, but for the ordinary people harmed by the weapons sold by Stark.

Over a year ago.

When Stark Industries' electronic products business blanketed the entire world.

Leon had proposed separating and shutting down the weapons business.

At the time, Tony had brushed it off, feeling only that Leon had just reached adulthood and was too inexperienced and overly sentimental, brushing him off with a few words.

Thinking back on it now, Tony felt nothing but intense self-reproach and remorse.

"An apology really isn't necessary..." Leon was somewhat surprised, but not overly so.

He knew Tony would shut down the weapons division, but he hadn't expected Tony to apologize.

Goodness knows if Tony had ever said a sincere apology more than ten times in his entire life.

In the past, even when this guy made a mistake, he would only awkwardly make up for it from other angles; when would he ever admit fault?

It seemed being kidnapped for this period of time had truly made Tony "grow up" a lot.

"What's in the past can no longer be salvaged. As the saying goes, even after a sheep is lost, mending the fence isn't necessarily too late."

"Make up for your past mistakes properly in the future, Tony."

Leon comforted him in a soft voice, "And the miniature arc reactor you researched this time—can't you popularize it as a foundational energy source to benefit the world?"

"I believe the entire world will change because of you in the future, becoming even better. So feel remorse when you should, but don't stay trapped in that remorse."

Tony listened quietly to Leon's words. It was rare for him not to interrupt someone else's lengthy speech.

When Leon finished, Tony gave a self-deprecating smile. "Maybe you're right... Oh, and about Obie..."

"Obadiah definitely has issues," Leon interrupted directly. "If I tell you now, you'll still hesitate, so I'll wait for you in Los Angeles, and then we'll go straight to him and settle the score."

Tony subconsciously wanted to try and persuade him otherwise, as he still held some hope in his heart for his uncle.

However, he opened his mouth and ultimately said nothing.

Instead, he nodded in a muffled voice. "Listen to you."

Hearing this, Leon couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

It seemed this experience had elevated his say-so with Tony quite a bit.

They say men are never taught by words, only by events; experience teaches a lesson the first time around.

It really was true.

After flying for a while longer, Leon brought the two of them down to land in the desert.

"Alright, I'll drop you off here. Eight kilometers ahead is the military base. Here, take this flare gun. After I leave, fire it into the sky and someone will come looking for you."

Leon shoved the flare gun he had swiped from the terrorist base into Tony's hands, then took off to leave.

"Wait!" Tony hurriedly called out again. "Forgot to mention—remember to go back and bring my armor home! And the blueprints, if they weren't burned, bring those too!"

"What the fuck? Why didn't you mention that earlier when we were in the cave?!"

"I figured you didn't have a free hand to carry anything else, so I'm saying it now."

"Tony, you're something else!"

Leon flipped a middle finger behind him, shot straight up into the air, broke the sound barrier, and departed.

The two men left on the ground blinked, watching the trail of clouds Leon punched through as he left, and shrugged at each other.

"Won't your brother be discovered flying like that right next to a military base?" Yinsen asked.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Whose brother? Didn't a guy calling himself Superman just rescue us and leave? We didn't even get a clear look at his face."

Yinsen suddenly understood. "So that's how we're supposed to have escaped? Well, Superman really is a helpful, good guy!"