2065 Multiple Levels, Assemble Once More

As it turned out, Luke's call for the sibling to return was very timely.

Wanda and Pietro, the twins who could die for each other, were actually at loggerheads over the Avengers.

Thanks to Luke's teachings, although Wanda felt guilty about the casualties this time, she didn't blame herself entirely.

The explosion had been deliberately caused by Bakshi, a remnant of Hydra.

He had just waited for the Avengers to fight the mercenaries in a public place.

The mercenaries dressed as ordinary people directly activated the explosives, not giving the Avengers any chance to save people.

Thankfully, Wanda reacted quickly and threw the explosives dozens of meters into the air; otherwise, hundreds of people would've died in the city center.

So, she didn't cause the tragedy, but had significantly reduced it.

That was why the Avengers didn't step in when Luke wanted her back.

On the other hand, Pietro was a little soft-hearted, or rather, he was protective by nature. He was a little tempted by the proposal of the Avengers being governed by an international panel.

Slowing the fighter plane down, Luke's armor opened, and he sat opposite the siblings in front of a bright and transparent window.

Everybody in the Justice League knew that Big Dipper had been on an alien planet for the last two years, so it could only be Knight who came to pick them up.

Compared with Big Dipper and his corny jokes, Knight was the person whom the younger team revered the most.

Three cups of steaming black tea sat on a round table. For a moment, the atmosphere was silent.

Luke tapped the table lightly. "Looks like you want me to give you a pop quiz. Very well, let me ask you a question."

The siblings gave each other bitter "It's all your fault" looks.

It had never been easy to answer Knight's pop quiz. If they didn't do well, they would have to do double the training the following week.

Luke smiled. "This time, let's analyze the possible aftermath of the Lagos incident. Who wants to go first?"

Wanda decisively used chaos energy to gag her brother. "I'll do it."

Pietro was aggrieved.

Luke nodded. "You're decisive, have a clear goal, and use your strength precisely. You should indeed go first."

Pietro was full of despair.

It wasn't that he was stupid, but that Wanda and Big Dipper had very similar thinking.

For example, he hadn't been prepared beforehand, which was why he was instantly silenced. On the other hand, it seemed Wanda had just been waiting for Knight to speak.

As soon as Wanda spoke, she immediately analyzed and assessed the situation in the context of the countries, the masses, and official organizations. She spoke for almost 20 minutes before she stopped.

Luke didn't comment. He simply gestured for Pietro to go ahead.

After a long silence, the hapless Pietro finally said, "She said everything that I was thinking."

Luke: "… Hm, good answer. How much of what she said had you considered?"

Pietro grimaced. "About half."

It was impossible to lie. There was no need for him to lie to Knight, nor did he have the courage to do so.

Luke nodded again. "Then what was it that you didn't think of?"

"I didn't think of the third and fourth levels to it," Pietro replied honestly, even as he complained inwardly. Who the hell knew that so many levels of consideration would be involved in such a small matter?

Luke wasn't disappointed in Pietro.

All these so-called levels of consideration were nothing more than a means of achieving a goal.

In the context of the masses, there were only two levels at most: The surface outcry for justice, and the online slander under that.

This was instigated by official organizations, which were manipulating the people from one level above.

The countries were the most complicated because they had different demands and wanted to reap some relevant benefits from this incident.

Taking all these into account, it wouldn't be strange if there were at least five or six levels at play on this chessboard, while ten levels wouldn't be unusual.

But… knowing this wasn't any use.

No matter how smart an ordinary person was, they wouldn't be able to reap any benefits if they didn't have enough resources to get things moving.

Luke had enough standing, while the so-called benefits were nothing to him.

No matter how many levels there were to consider, could any party withstand a snap of Thanos's fingers?

Luke could, so he was qualified to jump off the chessboard or even smash it. He could calmly use this matter as a teaching aid for the siblings.

The invisible fighter plane flew leisurely through the air, and there was only the sound of the three of them talking in the control room.

A few hours later, the plane returned to the Justice League base on the coast of Maine. By then, Wanda and Pietro had made up.

Pietro had learned a lesson: If you don't have enough brains, don't talk about integrity.

Although the internal conflict within the Avengers wasn't about integrity per se, integrity played a big part in their external situations and activities.

He wanted to be a good person, but things might turn out contrary to what he wanted.

Of course, the disagreement between Steve and Tony wasn't really about who was right or wrong.

It was like arguing which was more important for a student, health or grades.

The truth was that it was very hard to keep your grades up if you weren't in good health. If you couldn't do well, however, you didn't need to be a student anymore. In the end, it was up to the student to see which view won out.

The Justice League, on the other hand, was like an insular private school that taught students according to their aptitude and didn't need to bother with the outside world at all.

Wanda and Pietro didn't stay at the base for long. After dealing with some personal tasks, they took a spaceship to the alien planet for field work.

Pietro was a little better off; as long as he was careful, it wouldn't be easy for anyone to detect him. On the other hand, Wanda's chaos energy was too noticeable.

If they stayed on Earth, the siblings might be dragged into the aftermath.

It was very easy for one's worldview to become closed off after bearing witness to the politics on Earth all day long.

Going to an alien planet would not only allow them to avoid the limelight, but also to familiarize themselves with the true foundation of the Justice League, as well as broaden their horizons.

Sure enough, just a few days after they left, there was a public outcry for Wanda to be handed over under the banner of a very righteous slogan: Who would dare let two nuclear weapons roam free?

These were in fact the exact words of General Ross, who had been promoted as Secretary of State.

This General Ross was the military bigshot who had created the Hulk and the Abomination. Later, with Tony's help, he switched to a political track, and was now the Secretary of State.

He and Tony had a common goal in this matter — to control the Avengers.

The Sokovia Accords he took out were even more of a lethal weapon.

After all, Ultron was the one who had caused the incident in Sokovia, while Tony was the one who had created Ultron.

Not long ago, a female employee from Ross's HR department had approached Tony and showed him a photo of her son, who had died in Sokovia.

The woman's son had been a volunteer with the UN in Sokovia.

Ultron failed to send Sokovia to heaven, but many old buildings collapsed, and the woman's son was buried under one of them.

This combo of facts successfully KO-ed the proud yet fragile tycoon, and he was inclined to sign the Sokovia Accords

Of course, Tony had once been an arms dealer, which involved an even deeper level of consideration.

In the end, Ross succeeded.

The Avengers assembled in Berlin, Germany, but not to fight together. Instead, they were split into two groups, and were prepared to fight each other.