That evening, Lyon returned to his usual, shalessly carefree life.
The next morning, at the breakfast table.
Yelena and Sherry were eating voraciously.
Both friends seed to be competing over who could make their cheeks puff up more, their mouths full like hamsters.
It was just a simple nutritious breakfast of noodles with eggs, but they ate it like a grand feast.
Lyon had just finished showering and was drying his hair as he sat next to Natasha.
"Has anything co up at the company recently?" he casually asked.
Natasha, looking at the news projection in her hand, chewed her noodles. "Apart from the fact that the BOSS only showed up once this entire month, everything is normal."
Lyon seed to have missed the implication. "That's great then."
He then turned to Yelena, whose face imdiately stiffened, and asked her.
"What about the superhero company? Don't tell you've been too busy making that movie to pay attention."
"This..." Yelena avoided eye contact, looking guilty. "Well, the company only has two superhero IPs, so making just one movie—"
"Hmm?" Lyon raised an eyebrow. "I'll give you another chance to rephrase that."
"Hey, hey, I an it!" Yelena jolted, "It's all Tony Stark's fault, boss, it's all his fault, the movie was all his doing!"
Natasha, sitting nearby, slapped her forehead, looking defeated.
"Yelena, Lyon was asking about things other than the movie," Natasha said, sotis genuinely at a loss with her little sister.
She was usually pretty smart, but when it ca to Lyon, her brain seed to turn into a single-thread processor.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Yelena made a sound like a rooster crowing, "Other areas are doing well too."
She began counting on her fingers. "The company's market has already expanded globally.
The annual revenue from rchandise is expected to exceed 30 billion dollars.
However, there hasn't been much progress with signing new superheroes.
After all, there are only two superheroes right now. Speaking of which, the n in Black could also be considered a superhero team.
Could we perhaps sell n in Black rchandise too?"
The annual revenue of 30 billion dollars was pretty close to what Lyon had originally expected.
The reason for such a significant inco?
It was because Superman and Iron Man rchandise had been distributed across global markets with almost no counterfeit competition.
Without these key conditions, no matter how popular an IP was, there was no way it could generate such massive sales in just a year.
For example, take Pokémon from his previous life.
That IP had been wildly successful, yet it had taken several decades to reach 100 billion dollars in revenue.
But if market restrictions and piracy issues had been eliminated—That 100 billion could have easily multiplied several tis over.
"Apart from the films, you guys can handle the rest of the operations however you see fit," Lyon said.
"This company was originally created to fund the n in Black, so you should be able to support yourselves independently."
"Oh, got it, Boss!" Yelena nodded rapidly, like a pecking chick.
"What about the n in Black? Have all the people kidnapped by HYDRA been returned ho?" Lyon asked.
"Most of them have reunited with their families," Natasha replied. "But there's still a small group that's more… complicated."
Her tone shifted slightly.
"So of the people kidnapped by HYDRA… actually ended up siding with HYDRA due to brainwashing and other psychological conditioning."
"If we let them go freely, they might beco seeds for a new HYDRA resurgence."
"But if we kill them all, that would be too extre—after all, they haven't actually done anything yet."
"They were simply kidnapped… and then brainwashed into believing in HYDRA."
"So, after discussing it, we decided to use the Red Room's techniques to conduct reverse brainwashing on them."
"Right now, this group of people is gradually returning to normal."
"After deprogramming them and sending them back to their hos, we will continue to monitor them for a long period."
Lyon took a sip of milk. "Good job!"
"But…" Natasha hesitated.
"But what?" Lyon asked, taking another bite of bread.
"There are two siblings among them."
"They weren't brainwashed. Instead, after being kidnapped, they voluntarily joined HYDRA."
"You're bringing them up specifically… Does that an there's sothing special about them?" Lyon had zero goodwill toward HYDRA.
"They're from Sokovia. When they were ten years old, their parents were killed by a Stark-manufactured missile…"
Natasha paused slightly.
"After that, the two siblings struggled to survive in war-torn Sokovia. Joining HYDRA was their way of seeking revenge against Stark."
Sokovia…
Lyon's chewing slowed.
Two siblings, parents killed in a Stark missile strike, and voluntarily joining HYDRA—
It could only be Scarlet Witch Wanda and Quicksilver Pietro.
"Did the n in Black brainwash them?" Lyon's expression grew somber.
"Not yet. They're next in line."
Natasha bit her lip.
"They're actually very similar to Yelena and . Both were forced to face harsh realities as children."
"If you object to the brainwashing, then after it's done, we were planning to offer them so form of compensation," Natasha explained.
Lyon didn't respond imdiately.
After thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head.
"There's no need to brainwash them. They don't actually believe in HYDRA's ideology. They only joined to use HYDRA as a tool for their revenge against and Tony."
"You know them?" Natasha was surprised.
Lyon casually tapped his ear. "Overheard it."
"Tell the n in Black to release them. Tony does owe them for what happened."
"Then… set them up with a place to live, proper identification, and ten million dollars in compensation. Too much money would just make them more suspicious."
Natasha finally understood.
"You're sure about giving them that much?"
"Of course," Lyon smirked. "Take it from Tony's account."
Lyon downed the rest of his milk in one go.
"But you need to tell them sothing else. The missiles in Sokovia—those were sold by Obadiah Stane. And that bastard tried to kill both and Tony just a few months ago. He's the real culprit."
Natasha gave him a strange look.
"If I rember correctly, Obadiah committed suicide out of guilt, didn't he?"
"You rember correctly. Oh, and to prevent those siblings from holding onto their revenge, make sure to tell them that Lyon Stark is Superman."
Natasha finally understood.
"You want them to realize that their real enemy is already dead, and that they should let go of their grudge?"
"Exactly."
Lyon spread his hands.
"I'm the sa age as those two. When their parents died, I was also ten years old. I can completely understand how they feel. But I believe they'll figure it out—If they are too foolish. I'll just kill them."
Natasha nodded.
"Got it."
After breakfast, Natasha suited up and flew off to the Helicarrier.
Yelena took Sherry to Stark Industries for the day.
Lyon stayed ho.
He stood by the living room window, looking down at the busy streets below.
Co to think of it—He actually liked Wanda.
Strong. Beautiful.
And an absolute romantic at heart.
It was too bad that, in her eyes, Stark was probably the most unforgivable monster alive.
__________
Read 15 Chapters ahead:
Patreon/LiveLifeLove
Reviews
All reviews (0)