75: Cosmic Awareness
Carol's arrival didn't make Daniel forget his plans; after a brief chat to catch up and some final preparations, the two followed Lara's guidance and soon reached a room that the woman had prepared as a special training chamber.
It was set quite far from any important area of the fortress, almost as if it were an independent section sinking deep into the Arctic underground.
The crystalline alien material that made up its structure had been reinforced to the extreme. Though it wasn't one of the most resilient materials in existence, Lara had done everything possible to increase its durability, pushing the fortress's transformation capacity to its limits.
The result was a training chamber that—even for a Kryptonian—would be difficult to destroy without at least exerting a fair amount of effort.
Of course, it wasn't infallible, but it was the best Lara could do at the moment to reduce risks and ensure that any incident occurring inside would hardly affect the exterior.
"Oh? It's robust!" Carol said with some amazement, tapping one of the walls lightly with her knuckles. Though it didn't seem like it, she was applying enough strength to bring down any modern building on contact, and yet, the room didn't even tremble.
Daniel, for his part, didn't get distracted looking around. Instead, he walked to the center of the chamber and simply dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged with his hands resting on his knees.
At his side, Lara's projection reappeared, her posture as firm as always, with her arms behind her back and her head held high.
That image, combined with her tall stature and her mostly indifferent expression, made Daniel feel as if he were being watched by a strict, stern military officer… though only in appearance.
He knew that this attitude was nothing more than a remnant of her days in Krypton's armed forces, but once you got to know her well enough, you could realize she was far more relaxed and calm than she appeared.
"Have you already decided what you'll try first?" she asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Yes, I have an idea," he said vaguely, feeling the energy tingling beneath his skin.
Seeing her mother appear, Carol stopped wandering around the room and approached them, sitting in front of Daniel with great curiosity.
At first, she wasn't supposed to be there, but when she heard what they were going to do, her interest was immediately piqued, and she asked if she could watch. Daniel found no reason to refuse, and despite the implicit danger, Lara said nothing to stop Carol from accompanying them.
Daniel noticed her intense gaze but only gave her a brief nod before ignoring her and focusing on what he had to do. Pushing aside all distractions, he closed his eyes, turned his senses inward, and sank into a state of deep meditation.
Disorientation came quickly. Although he was no longer being harmed by cosmic energy, its mere existence still caused the inner 'vision' granted by his core to be more detailed than usual, making it difficult for him to get used to.
'What is this?' he thought, pausing as he perceived a strange abnormality.
Thanks to the perspective that allowed him to contemplate his physical structure in a dimension beyond the three-dimensional, he was able to notice how the cosmic energy within him 'vibrated,' so to speak.
It was a gentle pulse, almost silent, like a distant call yearning to be heard.
Since when had this been happening, and why hadn't he realized it until now?
'It must have started when my body fully adapted to the cosmic energy,' he quickly concluded, recalling how he had explored his inner body several times while still in the process of adaptation, without noticing such an abnormality.
He was quite sure that something like this hadn't been present back then, so it could only have appeared afterward, once he had completely healed and hadn't had the time to examine his condition more closely, distracted by his encounter with Diana.
Not knowing what to do, Daniel pondered it for a few moments before deciding to 'brush against' the anomaly tentatively with his mind.
'Oh!?' A shiver ran down his spine as all the cosmic energy within him lit up like the lights on a Christmas tree.
In his mind, abstract information suddenly appeared, not a memory, not something that could be expressed in words, but a revelation, the resonance of a superior force inviting him to open its doors.
Instinctively, he understood the steps to follow. It was something simple, basic: he only had to allow the cosmic energy to link with his mind and each of his senses in order to go beyond and reach a new level of 'depth,' thus gaining a new capacity.
He didn't know exactly how to name it, but calling it some kind of super "sense" seemed incorrect, despite its clear relation to them.
No, it wasn't as simple as being able to "see," "feel," or "hear" differently; it was something more: a new form of consciousness that even his Viltrumite brain seemed barely capable of glimpsing.
'Is this what they call cosmic awareness?' he wondered, though he wasn't entirely sure.
Again, that term was something he had only heard in passing. He didn't have many details beyond knowing it was something possessed by Galactus and silver surfer; perhaps also the Celestials, considering that they too wielded cosmic power.
'I suppose the only way to understand it better is by using it, but…' Daniel hesitated, feeling his neurons begin to die in vast quantities just from 'thinking' about activating it, as if they were unable to withstand the weight of such an action.
His core repaired the damage as quickly as it appeared; even so, the risk was evident.
The logical choice would have been to stick to his original plan and not act recklessly, but his instincts told him otherwise. Something deep inside urged him to open the doors to that force, tempting him, as if by doing so he could find the answers to all his questions.
'Delaying it makes no sense. Even if my entire brain liquefies, as long as I can gain a better understanding of cosmic energy, I think it'll be worth it.' He finally decided, pushing aside any worries and reaffirming his determination.
The fact that the brain lacked pain receptors only made the decision easier.
Taking a deep breath, Daniel focused completely and, without hesitation, let the barrier that protected his mind from external influences fall, allowing all his senses to fully merge with the cosmic power.
'Eh…?' It was as if something short-circuited.
One moment he was still Daniel, and the next, every notion of himself vanished like smoke in the wind.
His individuality, his ego, his identity… his very essence was lost, dissolving only to be transformed into something greater.
Past, present, and future... now he existed in every place and at every instant.
He became a nascent star, its emerging planets, its moons, and then its oceans. He was its waves, its land, and its wind. He was the first plant, the first tree, its leaves and its roots.
He passed through countless forms, from the inanimate to the sentient: birds, fish, mammals, and reptiles. Each different and unique in its own way, yet limited… until finally, something different and more special sprouted.
Consciousness and intelligence: the first… but not the last.
He crawled, walked, stumbled, and fell. He felt hunger, thirst, loneliness, joy, and fear.
He felt love, he knew loss. He screamed in rage, in helplessness… and then, nothing.
And it repeated. Countless times, countless eras, again and again, until that planet was nothing but a desolate land. Until that star, once bright, began to fade.
He was the first and, in the end, he was also the last.
But that was only a small part of what he witnessed: tiny and insignificant, inconsequential, yet at the same time important. Because the cycle was omnipresent, in every world, in every galaxy, throughout the universe.
He was life! He was death! Creation and destruction acting in unison.
He was! was!… was....... Everything.
"Bluarghhhhhhh!"
Daniel's eyes snapped open and, before he could stop it, a torrent of crimson liquid burst violently from his throat and nose, staining everything in front of him.
"Daniel!" Carol shouted, alarmed as she saw blood streaming even from his eyes and ears.
She rushed toward him and held him in her arms as best she could, trying to contain the uncontrollable spasms that began to shake and twist his body.
But at that very moment, a blue light began to emanate from his skin, and in a fraction of a second, arcs of radiant energy shot out from within him, lashing chaotically at everything around.
"Ugh!" Carol groaned, startled by the sudden pain. Though she had never before experienced an electric shock, she imagined this must have been something similar. Still, such a minor discomfort wasn't nearly enough to drive her away.
Instead, the sudden sensation of weightlessness was what almost made her let go. With a sudden jolt, their bodies were hurled upward, leaving the ground at high speed until they crashed thunderously against the ceiling.
'Did his ability go out of control?'
Carol clenched her teeth, tightened her grip, and, activating her own power of flight, tried to counter the inertia to keep them steady. But, as if the universe mocked her actions and went against her will, nothing turned out as expected.
Instead of slowing their advance, she only made them start bouncing from one side to the other, crashing against the walls, the floor, and the ceiling once more, in a struggle with no direction.
The entire room began to tremble; cracks spread across its crystalline surface, adding to the craters that already scarred it.
The only one untouched by the chaos was Lara, who watched the once-white room now completely stained red, her brows furrowed and a glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes.
'What happened?' was the only question in her mind. From her perspective, Daniel hadn't done anything: he had simply closed his eyes, and suddenly all her sensors went haywire and blood began to spill everywhere.
Checking the real-time scans, Lara found herself even more confused. Unlike what she expected, she detected no mortal wounds. By every parameter, Daniel's body was healthy. But then, where was all that blood coming from?
'No, that's not it. The wounds are healing faster than the scanners can register,' she concluded, arching her brows.
This was beyond a mere superior healing ability, beyond even super-regeneration.
It made no sense: no biological organism in the universe should be capable of something like this.
For a moment, she wondered if it was the work of the cosmic energy within him, but she quickly dismissed the idea. Even if the scanners could not fully register what was happening inside his body, they were not useless; to Lara it was evident that the cosmic energy was not cooperating to heal him, rather the opposite.
'Could it be his atoms?' It seemed the only viable option. The smart atoms, as he had called them, had already demonstrated properties that completely defied conventional logic; that they might be capable of repairing such extreme physical damage wasn't impossible.
To witness such an unusual phenomenon was, without a doubt, both fascinating and revealing.
Now Lara had a clearer idea of how it had been possible for his body not only to adapt to cosmic radiation, but also to assimilate it to the point of being able to generate more on its own.
Not for the first time, she found herself intrigued by Daniel's strange physique. Before, she had tried not to pay it too much attention, as, in her opinion, delving into such matters was not her place.
As a mere remnant of what was once a true living being, her only task and purpose of existence was to ensure Carol's well-being and prosperity, providing her with guidance, support, and help whenever she needed or asked for it.
Anything else, no matter what it was, was unnecessary. And although it might have seemed she was not entirely fulfilling that duty by also helping and complying with Daniel's requests, the truth was she only did so because Carol had asked her to.
As long as whatever Daniel did posed no threat or danger to her daughter, Lara did not mind lending him a hand from time to time, as a way to pass the time.
Anything more than that neither concerned nor should concern her. But, for some reason, this time she felt she could no longer keep ignoring the intensity of her own internal curiosity, even though it should have been easy to do so.
Her consciousness was nothing but numbers and data, an extremely advanced virtual intelligence, yes, but still false, synthetic, little more than a digital ghost of what had once been real.
Things like desires and personal interests shouldn't exist within her nor interfere with her decisions and duties… or at least that was how it was supposed to be.
It was strange. She knew she shouldn't dwell on it so much, but she couldn't help herself.
There was a reason why the real Lara had gone against Krypton's strict regulations and become a scientist, abandoning without hesitation the role she had been born into as a militant.
It was an overflowing curiosity, an ever-present hunger for knowledge that stayed with her even until the day of her death... And, to the misfortune of the current 'Lara', that troublesome trait had been inherited by her entirely.
'A little personal research should not be a problem. I usually have plenty of free time, and as long as it does not interfere with anything important, I can allow it…' Despite her doubts, Lara ended up finding an excuse for herself, completely forgetting her earlier refusal.
Now she only needed Daniel to allow her to study his biology more closely.
Knowing him, Lara did not think it would be very difficult, and since he could heal so quickly, opening him up for a while should not be too much to ask, right?
In the brief moment she became distracted with such thoughts, the tremors finally ceased and Daniel stopped moving uncontrollably.
"Y-you okay?" Carol asked in a broken voice.
She was out of breath; restraining Daniel had taken far more effort than she expected. Faint bruises covered her blood-soaked body, caused by the struggle and the constant collisions that had completely deformed the training room to the point of nearly collapsing it.
"S-sorry," Daniel murmured after taking several deep breaths. His whole body felt heavy, drained of strength, and all he could do was cling to Carol's embrace to keep from collapsing onto the floor.
"Looks like your idea didn't work very well," Lara said as she came up to them, and Daniel could only let out a faint laugh at her words.
"I… wouldn't exactly say that."
His words made her look at him in confusion, but he didn't explain directly. Instead, he extended his hand toward the bloodstained floor and let the power inside him flow, making the tips of his fingers glow faintly.
For a moment nothing happened, but the next instant the entire interior of the room began to glow with a faint blue light, starting with the blood that covered it. As if it had a life of its own, it flowed through the surroundings, sliding into the cracks and spreading like clay over the craters until it completely fused with the crystalline material.
In the blink of an eye, the ruined room vanished and, before the astonished eyes of Carol and Lara, returned to its original state, restored exactly as it had looked at the beginning.
"What was that?!" Carol exclaimed, stunned, her eyes wide open. She looked around several times before returning her gaze to Daniel's face, half buried against her chest.
Daniel adjusted himself more comfortably in her embrace, with no intention of moving away, then answered in a tired yet, at the same time, excited voice.
"Pretty cool, huh? Even though I couldn't learn all that much, managing a bit of matter manipulation at this level is still possible," he said, showing off a bit.
His words were somewhat incomprehensible to both of them. From their point of view, Daniel had only sat down to meditate for half a second, then vomited an impossible amount of blood and gone into a fit of uncontrollable spasms.
Neither of them understood at what point in that process Daniel had found the time and means to learn how to manipulate matter as if it were nothing.
Seeing that both were staring at him with similarly confused expressions, Daniel let out another small laugh before trying to explain.
"It's complicated. I can only say that the cosmic energy allowed me to briefly connect to the primordial source of creation, to be part of everything and understand it all..." As he said this, his eyes lost some of their shine, as if his mind had returned to that moment, but he quickly snapped out of that state and continued speaking.
"Of course, as I said before, I couldn't really learn all that much. My mind simply wasn't capable of enduring such knowledge; I don't even remember most of what I saw in that instant, but at least I managed to retain certain things."
It was an unexpected gain, but Daniel didn't dare think about repeating the experience anytime soon.
The connection had lasted less than a fraction of a second, but that fraction was enough to nearly shatter his spirit. Had it not been for the protection of his core, he instinctively understood that the cosmic energy would have devoured his soul, consuming his being into nonexistence.
Such was the price to pay for attempting to behold infinity when you had no qualifications to do so.
"The energy of reality…" Lara murmured suddenly after hearing his explanation, drawing Daniel's and Carol's attention.
Feeling their gazes, she came out of her thoughts and clarified her words.
"It's a term some of the oldest species use to refer to the power of the Celestials, the more 'religious' ones, so to speak. I had never paid them much attention before, but now I think that perhaps not everything they said was unfounded."
That was interesting. In any other circumstance, Daniel would have loved to ask more, but, feeling himself struggle to keep his eyes open, he knew it was better to leave it for another day.
"I'd love to hear more about that, but my head is killing me right now," he said, stifling a yawn. "Let's postpone the training for today. I need... I need to take a little nap."
He didn't wait for a response. Closing his eyes, he let the darkness claim him completely, sinking into the void of dreams.
"He fell asleep," Carol whispered as she felt his body relax against hers. Carefully, she adjusted him in her arms and moved closer to one of the walls to lean against it with him.
"You know, you could let him rest in one of the recovery chambers," Lara pointed out, but Carol ignored her as if she hadn't heard. Even so, the woman noticed how the grip of her arms on the boy's unconscious body tightened slightly, and a crimson glimmer flashed fleetingly in her eyes.
"Just saying…" Shrugging, Lara rolled her eyes before vanishing from the spot, her consciousness returning to the virtual space where she normally resided.
Seeing that she was gone, Carol relaxed and let out a brief sigh. Muttering to herself about overly meddlesome mothers and, finally, once she was sure they were truly alone, she smiled with a hint of mischief.
Not wasting the opportunity, she snuggled closer to Daniel, gently stroking his hair and resting her cheek against his.
.
.
.
An unknown amount of time later…
Blinking, Daniel felt his vision clear and his consciousness fully awaken. He slowly sat up, looking around with mild confusion.
'Am I back?' he wondered as he realized he was once again on his farm, more specifically in his room, lying on his bed.
Pushing aside the blanket that covered him, he sat on the edge of the mattress and noticed that even his clothes had changed: the suit Lara had lent him was gone, replaced only by a pair of short shorts and a white T-shirt.
Looking out the room's window, he saw the light of dawn beginning to brighten the surrounding landscape. If he remembered correctly, there had still been several hours left before sunrise when he passed out, so he shouldn't have slept too long.
'Or I could have slept for several days without knowing it,' he thought, though he considered it unlikely; if he had fallen into a coma, Carol wouldn't have brought him back.
Standing up, he stretched his muscles as usual before feeling his taste buds craving the flavor of morning coffee.
He was about to walk to the kitchen to make some, but he stopped before leaving the room as a sudden idea crossed his mind.
Scanning the room with his gaze, his eyes fell on the alarm clock beside the bed and, without thinking too much, he approached and picked it up in his hands.
"Let's see… if I do it this way, it should work, right?" he whispered to himself as a blue light began to illuminate his palms.
The alarm clock within them soon started to deform, like clay being molded by an invisible force; its whole structure began to shift and transform until, little by little, it took the shape of a large white mug with a dark, steaming liquid inside.
"Success!?" Daniel exclaimed. But before he could get too excited, a cracking sound was heard.
The "mug" in his hands trembled, covered itself in fractures and, with a sudden burst, exploded, flooding the entire room with white smoke.
A disappointed sigh echoed through the silent house.
After opening the window and airing the place out, Daniel sat back down on his bed, holding in his palms the few pieces that remained of what had once been his alarm clock.
"It's harder than I expected," he murmured, letting the cosmic energy flow through his hands once more. With a faint blue glow covering them, the broken pieces began to mend themselves until they easily regained their original form.
This time, what he managed to obtain after recklessly risking it and activating Cosmic Awareness for the first time was, without a doubt, substantial, yet at the same time limited. His 'new' power to alter matter was neither absolute nor easy to wield.
Even though he had barely experimented with it, Daniel already had a vague, instinctive sense of its limitations, as well as the theoretical path to overcome them.
"It all comes down to a lack of power," he thought with a slight frown.
It wasn't just about raw power. Even if Daniel had a million times more cosmic energy within him, that wouldn't mean he could achieve more; in fact, the only likely result would be an even bigger explosion in the event of failure.
What he truly needed was computational power, or, in other words, processing capability of the highest level: a brain, a mind, and a spirit capable of withstanding the burden of shaping reality itself down to the minutest detail according to his will.
To put it in simpler terms, it was like having access to the energy of an entire nuclear reactor and using all that power to run an old Windows XP desktop computer to play Minesweeper…
If he wanted to make this power stronger, he needed to upgrade the "hardware and software." But saying it was much easier than doing it.
The hardware was the physical: his brain and his mind. If he set his mind to it, Daniel was sure he could find a way to improve both. The problem was the software, the spirit, in other words, his soul. To handle cosmic power and affect reality, one needed to make use of both. But… how on earth do you train the soul?
No matter how much he thought about it, he felt that if he wanted to know the answer, he only had two options.
The first, and the one he least wanted to take, was to ask the sorcerers for advice. He still had unfinished business with their leader, and it was possible that wouldn't end well, and Daniel didn't want to pretend to be "friendly" just because he needed their help.
Fortunately, he had a second option: Diana. Even if her knowledge of the mystical arts wasn't that deep, by her own words, he felt much more comfortable turning to her.
He only hoped she had a way to help him, or else he'd have to look for a third alternative.
'I should go visit her in a few days,' he decided.
It wasn't as if he were in a rush; for now, cosmic energy and its possible uses were more of an extra tool for him: useful and entertaining to employ, no doubt, but not exactly essential.
"But in the future that will change," he thought, gazing at the blue sky through the window.
There were threats out there he knew he could not face with brute force alone. For those, he needed to strengthen his mastery of cosmic energy first.
"Luckily I can cheat a little, even if it can only be used to repair things," he said with a faint smile, placing the alarm clock back in its spot.
As demonstrated earlier, his control over cosmic energy was still far from good enough to modify matter without problems. If he wasn't careful and lost concentration for even a single instant, the result would be a destabilization in the object's atomic structure that would culminate in a thunderous explosion.
So, how had he managed to repair the training room in the fortress and return the alarm clock to its original state?
The answer was simple: he had used his core.
Originally, the core only allowed Daniel to "heal" himself. But by using cosmic energy as an anchor, as long as he directly touched an object and infused his energy between its molecules, the core would recognize that object as an extension of his own body.
That way, if the object was destroyed or damaged, he could use his core as a co-processor and guide the cosmic energy in the right way, helping it repair any kind of damage with ease.
It was like adding extra components to his "computer," though they were specialized solely in the task of 'repairing' and nothing else.
Daniel only needed to endure a small part of the burden and supply the necessary energy. It was almost perfect, if not for its two drawbacks.
The first of them was distance: any object he wanted to repair needed to be in direct contact with some part of his body; otherwise, his core could not establish a stable connection.
Even so, such a problem was not insurmountable, as he demonstrated in the fortress by using his own blood as a bridge to extend his range and affect the entire training room, a somewhat chilling method, but feasible.
The greater problem was the second, although in truth it was more of a general issue with his ability to manipulate matter and not something strictly related to his core.
"I can't use it on living beings" he thought, picking up one of the few plants in his house, something Carol had brought at some point to decorate that place which, otherwise, was almost empty.
His hand caressed the leaves, the tips of his fingers glowing with a faint blue light as the cosmic energy slowly spread through its structure. The sensation he obtained when inserting his energy into it was very different from what he experienced when doing so with something lifeless.
With inanimate objects it was like touching water: easily manipulated, moldable. But in living organisms it was like trying to touch fire: scorching and wild, as if something within them resisted, a faint spark of what he called "will" or "spirit."
It reminded him of the way Harleen's powers worked; in fact, the concept was probably the same.
Every 'sentient' being in the universe, no matter how insignificant, possessed a spirit, and along with that spirit came a will that allowed them to resist, to a greater or lesser degree, being 'changed.'
It was because of that will that Daniel could not simply influence their existences, not even with his core… at least not without first crushing their spirits and imposing himself over them.
Which, of course, was not something he was willing to do.
"Everything would be easier if I could ask for permission like she does…" he thought, as the image of the blonde psychiatrist crossed his mind.
"Eh… maybe that could work?" His eyes widened suddenly as a new idea began to take shape in his head.
He didn't know how Harleen's power did it, but he sensed that achieving something similar to that 'communication of wills' he perceived when she gave an 'order' shouldn't be impossible.
"What do you say? Do you want to have some nice, colorful flowers on you?" he asked the plant with complete seriousness, and in response it did nothing.
Narrowing his eyes, Daniel focused completely on it, staring without blinking.
"Uh, looks like you want some water?" he said after several minutes, but once again he got no response.
'Did I imagine it?' he wondered, somewhat unsure. Maybe this would take some time.
'Well, nothing worth having comes easy.'
Shrugging, he carried it back to its place and, with barely any effort, gathered a small amount of water molecules over his palm, forming a crystalline sphere the size of a baseball, which he then let fall gently onto the plant like a light drizzle.
"Now I have the supreme power of garden sprinklers," he joked with a smile.
Once his little experiment was done, he was ready to head down to the kitchen and make himself some breakfast, along with a good cup of coffee, but a sudden sound from the main entrance stopped him cold.
'Is someone knocking on the door?' A shiver ran through him. Even though he hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on around him, he didn't feel like he had been so distracted that he wouldn't notice if someone approached his house.
Sharpening his hearing, he tried to get a sense of the situation but strangely only caught the rapping of knuckles against wood. There were no heartbeats, no sounds of breathing, no presence.
Frowning, his figure vanished in a blur of speed, whipping up a powerful gust in the room. An instant later he appeared in front of the entrance, staring at the closed door from which the knocks came.
'Could it be a ghost? But it's broad daylight…' he thought, stretching his hand toward the doorknob. X-ray vision would be pretty useful right now; maybe later he should try to see if cosmic energy could give him something like that.
With his body tense and ready for confrontation, Daniel didn't hesitate and turned the handle, throwing the door wide open in a single swift motion that almost made the wood burn from friction.
His fist shot forward, tearing the air with its force, but just as it was about to strike its target he stopped abruptly, less than a centimeter from the surprised face of…
"Harleen?!"
The wind stirred, whipping her platinum hair out of control. The woman blinked with no expression on her face, her pupils shrunken and her eyes fixed on the fist that had almost struck her.
'Speak of the devil…' he muttered to himself.
A silence fell between them; they could only stare at each other, not knowing what to say. At least until Harleen decided it was enough and, with a broad smile, threw herself at him, wrapping her arms and legs around his body in a tight embrace.
"Surprise!" she exclaimed, squeezing him with unexpected intensity.
Shaking his head, Daniel snapped out of his brief daze and tried to give her a sincere smile, but the corners of his lips couldn't help twisting slightly.
"Sorry, I thought you were a ghost," he said, apologizing, and upon hearing it, Harleen almost snorted, barely holding back her laughter.
"Hey! I know I'm pale, but not that pale," she answered with a playful pout.
"I mean…" Daniel stumbled over his words, realizing he had sounded a bit rude, especially considering what had happened to her skin because of the chemicals.
"It's fine, it's fine, don't worry about that. I forgive you, Dany~" Harleen consoled him, patting him on the head, her voice full of fake 'magnanimity.'
Daniel's left eyelid twitched, but soon his expression relaxed, a low sigh slipping from his lips.
"I'm glad to see you're in a good mood."
And he meant it. Unlike the last time he saw her, her eyes shone with clear liveliness. He didn't know why she was so cheerful, but he definitely preferred this attitude over her depressed self any day.
If only her brain would start working normally again, then everything would be better.
"Eh, did you just have a bad thought?" she whispered, her cool breath tickling his ear.
"No," he replied, refusing to admit anything.
Harleen narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but in the end didn't press the matter and instead changed the subject.
"Tell me, aren't you wondering why I'm here? Surely you're curious!"
"I'm not sure I want to know," he wanted to say, but didn't. Instead, he thought it over for a moment while she climbed over his body like a nimble snake until she ended up sitting on his shoulders, her hands trying unsuccessfully to pinch his cheeks.
"Did you have any trouble with your powers?" he asked with concern, unable to find another reason.
In response, she stretched her hands out in front of him and shook both index fingers from side to side.
"Nope! Everything's fine. Now I can even control them better than before; I even managed to get close to you without you noticing, right? How about that? I call it my Stealth Mode!" she exclaimed proudly, puffing out her chest slightly.
"That was pretty surprising," he admitted.
"If you hadn't knocked on the door, I wouldn't have noticed even if you had snuck in… but don't do that with me again. I'm not used to being caught off guard and I might hurt you without meaning to," he said seriously.
Of course, that earlier blow hadn't been delivered with his full strength, but even so, if not for his quick reflexes, Harleen would now have at least a broken jaw.
"You're a buzzkill," she complained with a pout, though she still nodded, even if she didn't promise anything. Seeing his surprised and nervous face was just too much fun not to repeat.
'I just need to make sure that even if he does hit me, my body can withstand it, right?' she thought, already forming some ideas in her mind.
"Ah!" Harleen yelped, startled as she suddenly felt Daniel's hand pinch her thigh.
"Don't get any strange ideas. I'm warning you: it won't end well," he told her more gravely, sensing she wasn't planning anything good.
"Wait! How did you know? Don't tell me! Can you read minds now?" she asked in alarm.
'She's even more childish than before,' Daniel thought at her behavior. He didn't know exactly what had caused this change in her psyche. Was it her powers? The side effects of the Joker Venom toxin? Or was she simply acting the way she truly was deep down?
It was strange, and he wondered whether he should intervene or just let it be.
"Hey! Are you ignoring me?" Harleen demanded, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Using her great flexibility, she bent over until she was upside down and brought her face to within half a centimeter of his. Her long blonde hair cascaded around them, obscuring most of their peripheral vision.
Her eyes, now a deep violet, locked onto his dark bluish pupils, as if trying to peer into his thoughts.
For a moment, neither spoke, each contemplating different things.
"Do you feel... happier like this?" he asked, deciding to be direct.
"Huh?" Harleen blinked in confusion.
"Compared to the past, it's clear something has changed in you, but I don't know if that change is something good, or even something you wanted. That's why I'm asking: do you feel happier this way?"
Harleen didn't answer right away. The smile on her face faded, and her eyes lost much of the playful sparkle they had held, her expression becoming more solemn.
"Yes… I think I'm happier now," she finally said after several seconds, with a touch of melancholy and certainty.
Daniel watched her closely, catching every detail in search of something, doubt, hesitation, any simple reason to interfere… but there was none.
She wasn't lying; she was sincere, and because of that, he stopped worrying.
Childish or not, deep down Harleen was still Harleen, and despite his apparent inner complaints, he didn't really dislike her new attitude.
He just needed to get used to it.
"Come on! I bet you haven't even had breakfast yet. Let's make something together and I'll tell you the good news." As if someone had flipped a switch, Harleen's cheerfulness and liveliness returned in an instant and, without blinking, she changed the subject as if nothing had happened.
Taking a couple strands of his dark hair, she began tugging on them as if they were levers, trying to steer his movements.
"Get moving, my Linguini! It's time to cook up a star dish!" she exclaimed with enthusiasm.
'Great, now I've got a Remy on my head,' Daniel thought in amusement, but he didn't complain, no real man would complain about having his face pressed between the thighs of a beautiful girl.
Sighing inwardly, he let a small, warm smile tug at the corners of his lips, then closed the door and walked unhurriedly to the kitchen, where he began preparing breakfast for them both, Harleen still riding on his shoulders all the while.
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Note:
Over six thousand words.
Expressing what the cosmic power is capable of is difficult; its uses and applications vary greatly depending on the writer and the comic, but if it had to be summed up in simple words, it would be: "a power without limits."
Anything imaginable is possible for whoever possesses it, and, ironically, the only thing capable of limiting it is the user themselves.
As mentioned in the chapter, shaping reality to your desires requires a will capable of withstanding the weight of such an action and, in a universe where beings of unimaginable magnitude inhabit every corner, managing to make your own existence surpass theirs is nearly impossible.
So don't expect Daniel to suddenly be able to accomplish anything or pull powers out of his ass whenever it suits him.
Unlimited potential is not the same as unlimited power. Daniel still has a long, bumpy road ahead, but at least now he has the tools to rise to such a challenge.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that everything explained was fully understood. If you have any doubts or questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment; I'll do my best to clarify everything.
Thank you for your patience.
Remember that you can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon( patreon com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D