Pietro worked outside the town, and half a month's salary was barely enough to buy a secondhand laptop. That showed how underdeveloped the economy was in this small country and its remote towns.
A drone like the one Lorna saw was already worth a lot for its streamlined alloy shell alone. Even as a toy, it would cost tens of thousands of dollars.
There was no way anyone in this town could afford something like that.
More importantly, Lorna's magnetic field could easily cover the entire town. Yet she hadn't sensed any magnetic fluctuations resembling a remote control.
'Outsiders.'
Quickly coming to that conclusion, she raised one hand forward. The drone hovering in front of her was immediately wrapped in green magnetic energy, and its metal casing began to deform rapidly.
She had to destroy it. For her safety, and for her family's.
* * *
Meanwhile, not far ahead, just beyond the invisible boundary of the barrier, two men were operating the remote control. From the drone's live feed, they had seen Lorna's reaction clearly.
That was all they needed to confirm their target.
"Hurry up, Mike! Forget the drone, just back up the video footage. With this data, we can collect the reward Tony Stark promised. That's five million dollars!"
"I know, Edwin. Almost done backing it up!"
The two of them were working together. One controlled the drone, while the other held a newly developed device from Tony.
An energy sensor. It could detect all forms of energy.
Its range and sensitivity were far from perfect, but for Tony, that wasn't a problem. All he needed was a tool that could alert when something unusual happened.
Next, he hired a large number of local people and gave them the energy sensors to search throughout Sokovia for any abnormal energy fluctuations.
With money paving the way, it took only a few days to lead to this discovery.
* * *
Back inside the barrier, Lorna began to feel uneasy. As she used her magnetic powers to analyze the drone's internal structure, she discovered the hidden camera tucked inside it.
Knowing someone had indeed found them, she didn't hesitate. With a light clench of her fist, her magnetic energy crushed the drone into a heap of scrap metal.
But the sudden noise drew Wanda's attention as she arrived at the school.
"Something's wrong! Lorna!"
Sensing her sister had used her powers, she too reached out with her own ability to contact Pietro. At the same time, she found an excuse to leave school and rushed home.
* * *
Outside the barrier, the two guys who had been scanning for anomalies were already bursting with excitement.
The drone was destroyed, but they didn't care. What really mattered was the memory card holding the footage from moments earlier—footage now worth five million dollars.
"Five million, Mike! That's five million! Enough for both of us to take our families, move to the U.S., and live rich for the rest of our lives!"
Edwin was ecstatic. Across from him, Mike looked just as thrilled.
But in the next moment, as if a gust of wind had swept through, the memory card in their hands vanished. Standing right in front of them now was Pietro, holding that very card worth five million dollars.
"Can you tell me something?" He looked down at the card in his hand, his expression darkening.
"Who sent you here?"
Seeing their future worth five million now resting in Pietro's hand, neither man had any intention of talking. Instead, they raised their fists and charged straight at him.
"Drop that card!"
But to Pietro, a regular person's attack moved as slow as a crawling snail.
He tilted his body slightly, effortlessly dodging their punches. Then, at a speed they couldn't even process, he tossed them both through the air, making them crash hard against the ground.
"So it's true. You've got powers too!" Mike exclaimed.
Rather than feeling afraid, the two men grew even more excited after seeing Pietro's abilities.
After all, Tony wasn't offering five million for the whole group. It was five million per person.
Pietro noticed that too. He realized there was no way he could get them to confess who was behind this. So, he simply stepped aside.
"Wanda, I'm out of options. I'll leave the rest to you."
Hearing Pietro's words, the men lying on the ground slowly turned their heads, only to see Wanda standing behind them in a khaki dress. Her hands were glowing with swirling Chaos Magic that was inching closer to their heads.
"W-Wait! What are you doing?!"
Finally understanding the danger of this unknown power, real fear began to show on their faces.
But unlike her brother, Wanda wasn't interested in talking.
When the Chaos Magic surged into their minds, their memories were laid bare before her—every single detail, with nothing hidden. Then, just as fast, all memories of the day were erased completely.
By the time it was over, the two men had lost everything they knew about Wanda's family. They even forgot they had ever been hired by Tony. Supporting each other, they staggered out of the town with blank expressions.
But even after wiping their memories, the Maximoff siblings still couldn't truly feel at ease.
"It was Tony Stark, wasn't it?" Pietro asked in a low voice.
"Yeah. Looks like he's figured out a way to track my magic now. If he really wants to, it won't matter where we hide. Sooner or later, he'll find us."
Both of them fell silent. They really didn't want to be pulled back into the chaos of that world. All they wanted was to live their lives in peace, like they were now.
But unfortunately, the people outside this town had no intention of letting them.
* * *
Once Pietro and Wanda returned, they didn't tell Lorna the truth. They only said that a rich tourist had come to the area for fun and accidentally flew a drone into the town.
After offering that simple explanation and calming her down, they returned to their regular routines and tried to go about the rest of the day like nothing had happened.
But that night, with dinner done, when Lorna went back to the attic, the siblings didn't go to bed. They sat quietly in the living room, as if they were waiting for someone.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before a voice broke the silence.
"Oh? I thought you'd all be asleep by now. Didn't expect you to still be up."
Tony's voice carried a familiar smugness as he casually pushed the door open like it was his own house. He walked in and sat directly across from them.
"It's been a month. You two really made me work for this. Mind telling me why? I'm just here to ask for a favor. It's not like I won't pay. So why avoid me like the plague?"
**
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