Tony's Guilt

Ten minutes later.

"How does it feel, Tony, to be leaving the temporary home you've lived in for the past few months? Feeling reluctant to leave?"

Leon floated above the cave, carrying Tony and Yinsen in one hand each.

He teased, "This is a wonderful experience most people would never encounter in their lifetimes. Care to share your thoughts?"

Tony's hair was blown into a mess by the wind. "You call this a wonderful experience? Damn it, Leon. If you hadn't become Superman, I'd arrange for you to have the same wonderful experience once we got back."

"All right, all right. Looks like you're not in a good mood. My mistake. I'll shut up." Leon closed his mouth.

Yinsen interjected at just the right moment. "Um... Mr. Leon, may I ask what you plan to do with the base below? Will you leave it to the United States?"

Yinsen had no favorable impression of the American authorities whatsoever.

He believed there had to be some American involvement for these terrorists to be so rampant.

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

He looked at the crates of weapons and ammunition below, all bearing the Stark logo, his expression dark and still.

"No problem." Leon agreed and flew higher with the two of them.

Once they were far enough away, heat vision shot from his eyes, instantly igniting all the explosives in the base.

Boom!

Crate after crate of ammunition inside the base detonated in sympathetic explosions.

All the blasts intertwined in a chain reaction. Flames engulfed the entire area, and a mushroom cloud more than ten meters high rose with a thunderous roar as smoke rapidly spread.

This terrorist base, no small operation by any measure, had become a thing of the past.

"How terrifying... It's finally over." The heat from the explosions scorched Yinsen's cheeks as he murmured softly.

"It's over. This awful chapter of your lives has finally come to an end." Leon nodded.

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

"Tony has an old friend there. He'll send you back to the United States."

Leon turned and flew away from the base. "But I won't be going with you. For now, these powers of mine aren't suitable to be associated with my identity."

Yinsen seemed to have other thoughts, but after glancing at the ground hundreds of meters below, he wisely chose to follow the arrangement.

At those words, Tony's gloomy expression, which had persisted ever since his escape, froze.

After hesitating, he asked, "You said they aren't suitable for now. Does that mean you plan to do something later, Leon?"

"That's right," Leon admitted. "There are things I've wanted to do for a long time, but I didn't act because I lacked the strength."

His tone was calm. "Once we're back, I can show the various sides my strength while handling those matters."

"That way, even if my true identity is discovered someday, those annoying flies won't dare make a move so easily."

"As for exactly what it is, we'll talk after we get back."

Even someone as powerful as Superman still had Lex Luthor constantly jumping around and causing trouble.

Not to mention him, a young man who had only been soaking up sunlight for half a year.

Leon had no doubt that once his physique and powers were exposed, covetous eyes from every side would immediately come flocking.

Unless he displayed strength beyond all others beforehand, along with an attitude that showed he would never show mercy.

Otherwise, trouble would be endless.

Most people feared power but did not cherish virtue. There was no doubt about that.

"What, are you going to advise me not to make too big a commotion?" Leon asked.

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

He paused for a long while before finally letting out a long breath and speaking awkwardly.

"Leon, I... I want to say... I'm sorry I didn't take your advice and shut down Stark's weapons division."

Deep guilt appeared on Tony's face.

That guilt was not directed at Leon, but at all the ordinary people harmed by the weapons Stark had sold.

More than a year ago.

When Stark Industries' electronics business had spread across the entire world.

Leon had proposed separating and shutting down the weapons business.

But Tony had not taken it seriously at the time. He had only thought Leon had just come of age, had not seen much of the world, and was being overly sentimental, so he brushed him off with a few words.

Thinking back on it now, Tony felt nothing but profound self-reproach and guilt.

"There's no need to apologize..." Leon was somewhat surprised, though not overly so.

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

God knew whether Tony had sincerely apologized more than ten times in his entire life.

Even when he had made mistakes in the past, he would only awkwardly make up for them in other ways. When had he ever admitted fault?

It seemed Tony had indeed "grown" a great deal during his time as a captive.

"The past can't be undone. As the saying goes, it's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost."

"Make up for your mistakes properly from now on, Tony."

Leon comforted him in a gentle voice. "And isn't the Miniature Arc Reactor you developed this time something that could become widely used as a basic energy source and benefit the world?"

"I believe the whole world will change because of you in the future and become a better place. So feel guilty when you should, but don't stay trapped in that guilt."

Tony listened quietly to Leon's words. It was rare for him not to interrupt someone in the middle of a long speech like this.

Only after Leon finished did Tony give a self-mocking smile. "Maybe you're right... Oh, and there's Obie's matter too..."

"Obadiah definitely has a problem." Leon cut him off directly. "Even if I told you now, you'd still hesitate. So wait for me in Los Angeles, and then we'll go settle things with him directly."

Tony instinctively wanted to try persuading him again, since he still held some hope for his uncle in his heart.

But he opened his mouth and ultimately said nothing.

Instead, he nodded in a muffled voice. "I'll listen to you."

Hearing that, Leon couldn't help curling his lips upward.

It seemed this experience had raised his standing with Tony as well.

They said people couldn't teach people, but one experience could teach them everything.

It really was true.

After flying a while longer, Leon landed with the two of them in the desert.

"All right, this is as far as I'll take you. The military base is eight kilometers ahead. Here, this is a flare gun. After I leave, fire it into the sky and someone will come find you."

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

"Wait!" Tony hurriedly called after him again. "I forgot to say, remember to bring my armor home when you go back. And if the blueprints weren't burned, bring those too!"

"Motherfucker? Why didn't you tell me while we were in the cave?"

"I thought you couldn't carry any more things with just two hands, so I told you now."

"Tony, you're something else!"

Leon gave him the middle finger behind his back, shot into the sky, and broke the sound barrier as he departed.

The two men left on the ground blinked as they watched the trail Leon had carved through the clouds, then shrugged at each other.

"If your brother flies like that near a military base, won't he be discovered?" Yinsen asked.

Tony raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, my brother? Didn't someone calling himself Superman rescue us just now and then leave? We didn't even get a clear look at his face."

Yinsen suddenly understood. "So that's how we escaped? Then Superman really is a warmhearted good man!"