Ethan Blake glanced at Phil Coulson, whose face had turned completely hopeless during the press conference. With a faint smile, Ethan patted him on the shoulder as if offering comfort.
"Look on the bright side," Ethan said. "Having another superhero around isn't necessarily a bad thing. Think of it like… Captain America."
Coulson's despair instantly turned into irritation.
"That's Captain America," he said sharply. "Tony Stark is just a playboy. How can you compare them?"
Only then did Ethan remember something important.
Phil Coulson was Captain America's number one fan.
Comparing Tony Stark—at his current stage—to Captain America really was a little disrespectful to the legendary hero.
Ethan chuckled softly.
"People grow," he said. "Everyone does."
It was hard for anyone to imagine that the carefree billionaire standing on stage today would one day sacrifice himself to save half the universe.
"Hopefully," Coulson replied weakly.
He still looked miserable.
After all, he had now failed his mission twice in a row. Thinking about the terrifying director with the eyepatch waiting back at headquarters, Coulson could already imagine the outcome.
A vacation was probably out of the question for the next year.
…
After the press conference ended, Tony Stark looked completely energized.
While Coulson and Rhodey both seemed exhausted by the chaos, Tony himself was glowing with excitement.
"Ethan," Tony said proudly, "trust me. After today, Stark Industries stock is going to skyrocket."
He leaned closer and continued confidently.
"You should sell any short positions you still have and buy Stark Industries shares instead. Though honestly it might be difficult now. The whole world knows the stock will go up, so who would be stupid enough to sell?"
Tony clearly hadn't forgotten something.
Back in Afghanistan, he had tried to convince Ethan to stop shorting Stark Industries stock. Ethan had refused.
Now Tony looked extremely pleased with himself.
Ethan simply smiled.
"Oh right, Tony," he said casually. "I forgot to mention something."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"This morning I closed all my short positions in Stark Industries. Then I leveraged ten times and bought more shares." Ethan paused briefly before adding, "I think I ended up buying about fifteen percent of the company."
Tony's proud expression froze instantly.
"Fifteen percent?!"
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Wait… doesn't that make you the second largest shareholder of Stark Industries?"
"Exactly," Ethan said cheerfully. "So as the president of Stark Industries, you'd better work hard to help me make money."
He patted Tony on the shoulder with the tone of someone encouraging a hardworking employee.
Tony stared at him blankly.
"Damn it," he muttered. "I don't know why, but suddenly I'm very unhappy."
"You're unhappy?" Ethan laughed. "Because I'm feeling great."
At that moment Ethan's phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed Wanda.
He answered immediately.
"Ethan, where are you?"
Wanda's voice came through the phone trembling with panic. It sounded like she had been crying.
Ethan's expression changed instantly.
His voice remained calm, but his eyes had already darkened.
"What happened, Wanda?"
"It's Pietro," she said, her voice breaking. "He's dying."
Ethan's pupils shrank sharply.
With Pietro's speed abilities, accidents were extremely unlikely. If something had happened, it almost certainly meant someone had targeted him deliberately.
In this world, Wanda and Pietro were the people Ethan cared about most.
The moment he heard that Pietro might die, the killing intent Ethan had suppressed for years exploded uncontrollably.
The air around him seemed to grow colder.
Tony suddenly felt a faint sting across his skin.
When he looked at Ethan again, it felt like staring into a bottomless abyss. The man standing in front of him no longer seemed human, but like some ancient predator that had just awakened.
Tony tried to speak but realized he couldn't even open his mouth.
"Wanda, where are you right now?" Ethan asked quickly.
"I'm home with Pietro," Wanda said helplessly. "I don't know what to do. Ethan… where are you?"
Ethan never answered.
Because in the next second, he disappeared.
The terrifying pressure in the room vanished along with him.
Tony suddenly felt like he could breathe again.
A moment later, the door opened and Phil Coulson rushed inside. Seeing only Tony standing there, he asked urgently, "What happened just now?"
As a high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Coulson was no stranger to killing intent.
But what he had just felt was beyond anything he had ever experienced. Compared to the killing intent of Natasha Romanoff or Clint Barton, what Ethan had just released felt like standing in front of a hurricane.
Tony frowned.
"I don't know," he said. "He answered a phone call. His expression changed… then he vanished."
Coulson nodded thoughtfully.
He walked to the side and pulled out his phone to call Director Fury.
Since discovering that Ethan possessed extraordinary abilities, S.H.I.E.L.D. had already compiled several psychological profiles on him.
According to their analysis, Ethan had a lazy and relaxed personality. He had a basic sense of justice but didn't care much about legal boundaries, and he tended to hold grudges.
The conclusion had been both reassuring and worrying.
But what they had just witnessed told Coulson something important.
Something had happened that pushed Ethan beyond his limits.
Coulson sighed quietly.
Hopefully the situation wouldn't spiral out of control.
Of all the people in the world to anger, someone had chosen Ethan Blake.
Coulson silently mourned for whoever had made that mistake and hoped they would have better luck in their next life.
…
Long Island.
The moment Ethan appeared inside the villa, Wanda rushed toward him.
"Ethan! Pietro is dying. What can we do to save him?"
Pietro lay slumped against the sofa. His face was ghostly pale, and blood soaked through his shirt. The wound on his chest was clearly from a bullet, and the shot had punctured his lung.
Fortunately, he was still alive.
Ethan quietly let out a breath of relief.
"Leave it to me," he said gently. "Don't worry, Wanda. Pietro will be fine."
He approached Pietro and prepared to treat him.
As Ethan leaned closer, Pietro suddenly grabbed his arm.
Despite his condition, he forced a weak smile.
"Ethan… thanks for taking care of us these past few years," Pietro said faintly. "Looks like I'm dying… and I never got the chance to repay you. If there's a next life, I'll make it up to you."
He paused briefly before adding with difficulty, "And Wanda… she's always liked you. Take good care of her."
Ethan ignored the dramatic speech.
Without wasting time, he used telekinesis to locate the bullet lodged in Pietro's lung and carefully pull it out.
Then he took out a Senzu Bean, crushed it, and fed the fragments into Pietro's mouth.
Beside them, Wanda burst into tears.
Holding Pietro's hand tightly, she sobbed uncontrollably.
"Pietro… you'll be fine. Ethan said you'll be fine."
The effect of the Senzu Bean was immediate.
Within seconds Pietro's wounds began healing. The blood stopped flowing, and the pale color gradually returned to his face.
No one felt the change more clearly than Pietro himself.
He opened his mouth to say that he was fine.
Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
His eyes rolled slightly, and he immediately put on a weak expression again.
"Wa… Wanda…" he said faintly. "Before I die… can you call me brother one last time?"
....
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