The dark cloud that had been hanging over Tony's heart had, without him even noticing, begun to lift.
He looked at the brother beside him — the one who'd just been ripping into him mouth-first — and at the way Henry could argue nonsense with a straight face. Somehow that hollow place inside him felt a little less empty. That bastard's tongue could kill a bull, but having a blood relative by his side made things feel not quite so terrible.
"All right, all right." Tony finally waved a hand, ending the pointless quarrel himself. "I admit it — your taste is irreparably terrible, but every now and then you say something that's not completely idiotic."
He sat up, the expression sliding back into the serious, genius mode everyone knew. The light of calculation returned to his eyes.
"Business," he said, snapping his fingers. "Jarvis, bring up our Europe route."
"Yes, sir."
A massive three-dimensional map of Europe bloomed on the cabin's holo display. Hundreds of red dots blinked across it — each one a known or suspected Hydra node.
"All right," Henry's interest picked up when he saw the dense scatter. "Where's our first stop this time? Berlin? Rome? Or—"
"Before we pick a destination," Tony interrupted and his face went oddly pleased. "I want to show you something interesting."
He waved; the European map folded away and a complex network diagram took its place. Data flowed through it like blood through veins; much of it funneled into a skull-octopus mark entrenched deep in the mesh.
"That is—" Henry recognized it instantly but played ignorant. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal net?"
Tony's tone turned ice-cold. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal network. Before the hearing I got curious and had Jarvis take a stroll through the one-eyed man's backyard. Guess what I found?"
He didn't wait for an answer. "Exactly what you said — S.H.I.E.L.D., supposedly the world's guardian, is full of holes. No — calling it a sieve insults sieves. It's Hydra's employee cafeteria. Worms everywhere. They're embedded in every department, every corner. Our father set that agency up to stop this — and now look. The joke of the century."
Henry listened without surprise; for someone who'd come through time and had seen things, this was textbook. Still, he raised an eyebrow. "So those red dots are what you pulled from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database?"
"Not entirely." Tony shook his head with the arrogant little smile that belonged to a genius. "I had Jarvis and the Web take the traces of all suspicious persons within S.H.I.E.L.D. — their digital footprints, fund flows, encrypted comms. We followed those traces and unearthed their nests across Europe."
He tapped the holo. The network snapped into focus on an ancient castle perched on a snowy peak in eastern-European Sokovia. The 3D model showed Gothic roofs, thick stone walls, and a sprawling underground complex.
"There." Tony pointed, his eyes hard. "This is one of their densest nodes — top-tier defenses, heavy encryption. The Web can't fully penetrate it, but it's definitely a major Hydra site. Could be a research facility."
Henry's gaze flickered. Baron von Strucker's base, he knew. In the original timeline, Wanda and Pietro were twisted by the Mind Stone there, becoming Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. But this timeline didn't match that arc. It was still the Iron Man 2 era; Loki's scepter hadn't shown up on Earth yet — it was with Thanos. So what exactly is Strucker running here? Human experiments? Training? Are the Maximoff twins even here yet? Wanda was born in 1989 — nineteen now; have her powers awakened? Lots of questions swarmed Henry's mind, but his face stayed neutral. He shrugged and said, in his usual tone, "So your plan is to storm a place that looks like Dracula's holiday villa and… see what skeletons are in the basement? Tony, a few hours ago you called me reckless, and now… this plan is basically creative but tactically bankrupt."
"That's called directness — maximum efficiency," Tony fired back immediately. "We're not doing archaeology. We're doing pest control. No need for elaborate plans: kick down the door, smash anything that looks wrong. Simple."
Henry looked at him — at the man who'd just ended Bucky and needed an outlet for the storm inside him — and sighed. He understood. This Hydra base was perfect target therapy.
"Fine. You're right." Henry spread his hands. "But if a cape-wearing ancient pops out, I'm not doing the blood-plasma catering."
"Thanks for your concern, but I'm more worried about the Hydra scum." Tony didn't bother to be grateful. He stood, stretched the stiffness out of his frame, and moved like a man who'd already decided.
"Then it's settled." He snapped his fingers. "Our first stop on the Hydra Europe annihilation tour: Sokovia."
His voice echoed through the cabin — resolute, cold. The dark fog that had been clouding his eyes re-formed, but this time it wasn't sorrow or pain. It had turned into a hard, precise edge: murder in the name of justice.
Tony had always feigned indifference toward his parents for complicated reasons. Truth was, he'd wanted their approval and resented their distance. Now stripped of status — not the billionaire playboy, not the world's wunderkind — he was a son with a simple, consuming purpose: avenge them. And he had a brother who looked like a blunt instrument, but also his only family.