Brave Tony Throws His Brother Under the Bus

The enormous sun slowly sank behind Gotham's skyscrapers.

Darkness quietly spread through the luxurious hotel room, eventually swallowing the entire space.

The crystal chandelier in the shared living room remained unlit.

The only light came from Diana's Lasso of Truth.

The Lasso of Truth was a divine artifact forged by the god of fire in the DC Universe, utterly unbreakable.

Anyone bound by it could not speak a single lie. It was practically a truth serum among divine artifacts.

If Leon were bound by the Lasso of Truth, even he could not say for certain whether it would affect him.

The odds were not high, though. His energy level was already comparable to a stellar body; there was no reason he should be subdued by an artifact of Earth's ancient gods.

But considering how little sense things in American comics tended to make, Leon had still taken precautions.

So the one currently tied up was not him.

It was Tony.

Poor, brave Tony.

He had originally been watching the show with JARVIS from a corner of the living room.

That afternoon, Leon had just returned with two girls between whom the atmosphere was rather delicate.

At JARVIS's reminder, Tony immediately perked up and rushed into position.

In an inconspicuous corner of the living room, he had temporarily fashioned a recliner out of nanomaterials, poured himself a cup of coffee, and waited eagerly.

He was truly delighted.

So delighted that wrinkles had formed at the corners of his smiling eyes.

When Leon was little, he had always ruined Tony's fun.

Now, Tony was not saying he wanted revenge, but adding a little fuel to the fire when the girls questioned Leon later was perfectly reasonable, right?

Yet the story did not unfold the way he had imagined.

He, too, had once