Only after seeing Tony drink the liquor did Dr. Jasper scratch her hair, straighten her pajamas, and begin telling her story.
She had been an orphan since childhood—not in West Germany, but in East Germany.
A Polar Bear orphanage? It was practically a prison. Not only did you have to work, but you also endured nonstop brainwashing propaganda. You had to constantly praise the great leader's glorious achievements just to get food.
So when she was a little older, she ran away and ended up in Bulgaria. After living on the streets there for several years, she came to understand that only knowledge could change one's destiny.
"I spent much of my life struggling—for food, for survival, for fleeting ideas. I know where I got the courage to leave and make my way in the world, but you, Tony, the son of Stark—why did you leave home?"
She asked him.
Tony could only shrug one shoulder. "Maybe I wanted to experience sleeping on the streets too."
The doctor smiled and refilled her glass. "Well, when I was young, I learned one thing: through hard work, I could earn my place in the world. And I succeeded. Later, I met O'George, a man from an old German aristocratic family. He accepted me and gave me a home. Honestly, his family and friends were all a little crazy."
Tony wanted to ask what the assassins had meant earlier when they shouted "Hail Hydra" and claimed Jasper had betrayed them. He had heard that Hydra was the world's largest terrorist organization.
But he wasn't sure whether Stark Industries had any ties to Hydra. After all, his family was in the arms business, and businessmen recognized money, not people.
Naturally, he had studied history. He knew that during World War II, Hydra had stood