Ever since awakening his superpowers and after repelling Dormammu at Kamar-Taj, Pietro had been acting as a superhero on the streets of New York.

His code name was "Quicksilver," and his time to carry out justice was after school hours.

By now, Quicksilver had made quite a name for himself in New York.

It was said that about a month ago, during the days when Kingpin mysteriously vanished, he even took down several of Kingpin's strongholds.

Little Peter Parker knew about this street hero.

But he clearly did not agree with Pietro's opinion.

Which was evident from the fact that, at the dinner table, he sat directly across from Pietro, his mouth stuffed full of bass, but his eyes fixed on Pietro, silently expressing his disapproval.

On the other side of the table—

Natasha and Aunt May were having a lively conversation.

As a super spy, Natasha's skill in handling interpersonal relationships was unquestionably superb.

Every word she said landed squarely in Aunt May's comfort zone.

By the end of the meal, Aunt May already regarded Natasha as a close confidante.

She even took the initiative to offer help washing the dishes, suggesting that Peter and the others head to the living room to play.

This made Lyon, who had been about to "clean things up" from the table, stop mid-motion.

In response, Natasha raised an eyebrow and gathered the dishes. "Actually, we have a dishwasher, so it's not that much trouble."

Though she said that, she still teamed up with Aunt May to usher everyone else out of the dining room.

"Looks like your Aunt May really likes Natasha, Peter," Lyon teased as he lightly flicked Peter's nose with a finger.

Little Peter blinked. "That's great! But I guess Natasha also likes her! After all, Aunt May is the best person in the world!"

"Oh? Is that so? Weren't you just saying at the dinner table that Iron Man is the best person?" Pietro leaned in close, pressing his cheek toward Peter.

"That's different! Iron Man is the best in the outside world, Aunt May is the best at home!" Peter retorted.

"No, no, no—repeat after me, no, say it a thousand times—Quicksilver is ten times better than Iron Man!" Pietro countered.

"He is not!" Peter jumped up. "Quicksilver's good, but he's new—Iron Man is the best!"

"Quicksilver!"

"Iron Man!"

The two of them—one big, one small—argued back and forth, giving Lyon a strange sense of déjà vu.

He rubbed his chin and glanced around, spotting Yelena and Sherry back on the sofa watching Tom and Jerry again.

Ah. That's where the déjà vu was coming from.

"Was your brother always like this?" Lyon looked down at Wanda.

But Wanda just happened to be sneaking a glance at Lyon.

Their eyes met. She froze for a second, then quickly looked away in a flustered panic.

"H-He's always been like that... like, like someone who never grows up." Wanda stammered. "Don't worry about him!"

Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes dodging yet unable to hide the joy bubbling beneath.

All these subtle expressions didn't escape Lyon's notice.

…Wait a second, what's with this romcom-like development?

Lyon was momentarily stunned. After just one month apart, why did Wanda seem even more shy and bashful?

He thought for a moment.

Wasn't this exactly how girls act when facing someone they like?

So much time had passed, and yet…

It seemed that even after Wanda ran away that one time, her rapidly beating heart still hadn't calmed down.

If anything, the skittish little deer inside her chest had only grown more restless.

It made sense, thinking about it.

Even though they hadn't seen each other in person… In the news, Lyon had practically been buying front-page real estate all month long.

On websites and in newspapers, there was constantly a full-page high-resolution photo—

Captioned: "Superman Saves the World Again."

And then there was that photo—Superman's physique was so outrageously perfect it could make anyone, even aliens, stare in disbelief.

Now imagine any girl with even the slightest crush seeing that.

Of course she'd roll over a few extra times in her sleep... maybe even clutch her blanket a little tighter and slip her hand under her pajamas..

Suddenly, countless lessons from Tony—spoken words, personal examples, hands-on demonstrations—all surged into Lyon's mind.

He temporarily set aside the idea of asking the twins for blood samples.

Instead, he grinned mischievously and leaned in closer to Wanda.

"Come to think of it, it's been a month and you still haven't come looking for me. How's your Chaos Magic training going? Don't tell me… you've been avoiding me?"

"I haven't..." Wanda lifted her head, as if summoning the courage to meet his gaze.

But the moment their eyes met, her voice softened again.

With Lyon standing so close, she instinctively took a step back.

"The practice has been going smoothly... I just didn't come to find you…"

Perhaps realizing how unconvincing that sounded, Wanda quietly took another step back.

"Is that so?" Lyon stepped forward, "That's not very convincing, you know. I haven't even sensed you around…"

As he advanced, Wanda retreated one step for every one of his.

Before he could finish speaking, Wanda had already been cornered against the wall.

With nowhere left to retreat, she let out a soft growl like a startled animal, quickly pulled two test tubes from her pocket, shoved them into Lyon's hands, then turned and bolted.

"T-This is the blood you wanted! I-I-I'm going to the rooftop gym to practice Chaos Magic!"

Her heart racing, Wanda launched a burst of Chaos Magic from both hands and struck the air in front of her.

A spatial portal actually opened.

It led directly to the gym on the top floor.

She ran through it, and the portal closed behind her.

Lyon stood there, stunned.

"Using Chaos Magic to open a spatial portal? She's really been practicing hard… and even developed a unique ability of her own?"

Chaos Magic could supposedly rewrite all of reality.

But he didn't recall any other version of the Scarlet Witch in the cinematic universe using it to open spatial portals.

This ability must be something Wanda had developed herself.

"Truly impressive."

Lyon didn't immediately go after her.

Instead, he looked down at the two vials of blood in his hand.

"If I let the Blacklight Virus consume Wanda's blood, would I… be able to directly grasp Chaos Magic?"

Although he knew it was unlikely… Lyon couldn't help the heat that rose in his chest.

He sent the blood into his inner world.

The Blacklight clone, now in the form of a pitch-black humanoid liquid, immediately stepped forward and devoured it.

Pietro's blood was absorbed first.

As expected, the superspeed ability that the Blacklight clone had already acquired from the Inhumans and Eternals was further enhanced.

Next came Wanda's blood.

Within it lurked a modest but unmistakable trace of Chaos Magic.

Once Lyon used his genetic authority to purge it — The blood, stripped of its magical protection, was also rapidly broken down and absorbed.

A few seconds later…

Blacklight Lyon's body surged with writhing black-red tendrils before transforming into Wanda's form.

He raised both hands and attempted to cast Chaos Magic.

But apart from the vast sea of genetic essence surging within him, no magic emerged at all.

"Looks like relying solely on genes really isn't enough. For Wanda to use Chaos Magic, there must be some specific component tied to the soul as well."

Blacklight Lyon tried enveloping himself in the energy of the Space Stone again.

But still, there was no reaction.

The energy from the Stone didn't awaken Chaos Magic in him the way it did for Wanda.

"Even if I used the Super Skrull's method to replicate superpowers, I probably still couldn't replicate Chaos Magic."

Back in reality, Lyon shook his head. "I'd better go talk to Wanda."

He drew a rune gate in the air and stepped through, arriving beside Wanda in the rooftop gym.

______

Read ahead of WN at Patreon.com/LiveLifeLove