Spring hadn't fully passed yet, but even the chilly air by the riverside couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of a group of high school students enjoying a holiday barbecue party. Laughter drifted across the shore while the smell of grilled meat mixed with wood smoke from several crackling bonfires.
David sat quietly near one of the fires with a bottle of fruit beer in his hand.
[Template Fusion Progress: 93%]
After taking a slow sip, he lifted his eyes and stared across the frozen surface of the river in the distance. The thick sheet of ice reflected the pale sunlight, making the entire landscape look quiet and distant.
A few days earlier, after he had beaten Tina into a vegetative state, he and Clark had returned home together.
Jonathan had been standing nervously at the front door with a shotgun in his hands. The moment he saw both of his sons return safely, the tension in his shoulders finally eased.
But relief quickly turned into concern.
He immediately began questioning David about why he had chased after Clark in the first place. The tone of his voice carried both worry and frustration, the kind only a father could show when afraid something terrible had almost happened.
Clark stepped in before David could respond.
Not wanting their parents to worry any further, Clark calmly explained that he had knocked Tina unconscious during the fight and then left her outside the small town police station.
The story sounded convincing enough.
Later, the police discovered that the stolen one hundred thousand dollars had been transferred into Tina's school locker. However, there was still not enough evidence to formally charge her.
Tina remained unconscious in the hospital, temporarily detained as a suspect while the authorities tried to piece together what had happened.
After that night, Clark had been unusually quiet around David.
For several days, the two brothers barely spoke.
David felt a little awkward knowing Clark had once again taken responsibility for something he had done. Still, in his mind, the situation wasn't really a big problem.
"The son of Krypton who insists he can't cross that line now… will eventually snap the neck of the last survivor of his own people."
David thought about the future version of Clark he remembered.
Clark wasn't truly stubborn or inflexible. He was simply too young right now, and he still looked at the world through idealistic eyes.
Beside the fire, David slowly flexed his fingers.
The muscles in his arm tightened like twisted steel cables. Beneath the skin, strength surged like a volcanic eruption waiting to break free.
The Thanos template had granted him overwhelming physical power.
"But it's still not enough."
Even someone as powerful as Superman had nearly died many times in this dangerous world. Earth itself had faced destruction again and again.
In some timelines, the planet had even been completely destroyed.
David raised his gaze toward the sky.
His eyes seemed to pierce through the blue atmosphere, reaching into the endless universe beyond.
Despite possessing the Thanos template, he had no desire to dominate the cosmos or take on grand responsibilities like protecting the entire universe.
His goal was far simpler.
"I just need to keep getting stronger," he thought quietly. "Strong enough that no matter what happens, I can protect myself and my family."
It sounded like a modest ambition.
But achieving it would be incredibly difficult.
That was exactly why he never intended to waste any opportunity to collect emotional energy.
"I hope the next template is just as powerful as Thanos."
The events of the past few weeks had been unusually intense. Clark's strength continued to grow rapidly as he matured, and the emotional reactions he generated were becoming stronger as well.
Because of that, the template fusion process had accelerated dramatically.
The next template probably wasn't far away.
A flash of anticipation appeared in David's eyes as he took another quiet sip of his drink.
"It would be nice if the next one came with abilities that don't rely entirely on physical strength."
That way he wouldn't constantly have to hide his abilities from his parents.
He didn't want them worrying about what had happened a few days ago.
Suddenly, a small commotion rippled through the party.
A girl had just arrived.
She walked into the gathering like a beam of silver moonlight cutting through darkness. Her presence instantly drew attention from everyone nearby.
The boys around the barbecue grills froze.
Many of them were still holding skewers of half-cooked steak when they noticed her.
One boy hurried to stand up and invite her to sit with their group. Another rushed forward a moment later, nearly bumping into him in the process. A few of them even started arguing about who had asked first.
"Sorry," the girl said politely.
Her voice was calm and confident, and she didn't look the least bit nervous despite the sudden attention.
She declined every invitation with an easy smile.
David, Clark, Chloe, and Peter all turned their heads toward the commotion.
"Who is that?" Clark asked with confusion, tilting his head slightly. "She looks a little like Lana."
David glanced at the unfamiliar girl and spoke casually.
"Is that the excuse you're using now that you're starting to like someone else?"
"I'm serious," Clark insisted quietly. "She really does look similar."
"I don't see it," Chloe said, agreeing with David as she folded her arms. Her tone carried a slightly unnatural edge.
"Other than the black hair, their faces and personalities feel completely different."
"She's a transfer student," Peter added, staring at the girl like his soul had left his body. "I heard she just enrolled at our high school. Her name's Kayla."
He continued staring without blinking.
"Maybe my real youth finally begins today."
Chloe looked at him sideways.
"Judging from her vibe—like some kind of jungle explorer—I doubt she'd be interested in a guy who's shorter than she is."
Chloe was sitting slightly apart from the main group of partygoers. Seeing all the attention focused on the new girl seemed to put her in a slightly sour mood.
"Chloe," Peter said slowly, sniffing the air, "I think I smell something sour."
The remark struck directly at Chloe's weakest point.
Peter immediately gritted his teeth when she glared at him and tried to defend himself.
"I just hit my growth spurt late," he muttered stubbornly.
At that exact moment, the girl in the distance suddenly glanced toward their group.
"Hey—she's looking this way," Peter whispered excitedly.
Kayla stood tall and slender among the crowd.
Her skin carried a healthy wheat-colored tone, and her long black hair was braided neatly behind her back. Her facial features had a striking mixed heritage look, and the aboriginal-style necklace around her neck gave her a wild, natural charm.
Peter quickly straightened his posture.
He coughed lightly, adjusted the way he sat, and tried to pretend he was deeply focused on grilling meat instead of staring at her moments earlier.
He even forced a thoughtful expression onto his face, hoping she might notice.
But when he casually glanced back after a few seconds, he saw that Kayla had already joined a group of girls nearby. They were laughing and chatting while preparing their own barbecue, paying absolutely no attention to him.
Peter instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.
[Curiosity from Kayla +0.04, Doubt +0.03, Kindness +0.02, Vigilance +0.02…]
David quietly drank his fruit beer while narrowing his eyes slightly at the girl.
"A metahuman?"
In this town, that possibility wasn't surprising anymore.
What puzzled him was the pattern of emotions he was sensing from her.
Curiosity… kindness… doubt… vigilance.
The signals kept shifting in subtle ways.
"Why kindness and caution at the same time?" David wondered silently. "And why does the caution increase when she gets closer?"
The emotional fluctuations felt contradictory.
Clark, meanwhile, wasn't paying attention to Kayla at all.
His eyes were fixed on Lana in the distance.
She was sitting on a large rock near the lakeshore, quietly grilling meat by herself.
Whitney stood beside her.
He kept trying to talk to her, occasionally leaning closer as if trying to persuade her about something. Lana replied every now and then, but there was no joy in her expression.
Instead, there was a trace of sadness in her eyes.
Still, the fact that two people who had broken up could sit together and talk peacefully already said a lot.
Clark had been angry for days after the incident with Tina. Yet when Chloe and Peter teased him and David earlier, his reaction had been far milder than before.
He had even deliberately insisted that he didn't feel cold at all.
Clark stabbed at the grill with a metal fork and flipped the sizzling steak again.
Then he glanced sideways at David.
Tina had been beaten into a vegetative state by his brother. When it first happened, Clark had been furious.
But he couldn't deny something else.
When Tina transformed into their mother's face, he had also felt a surge of uncontrollable anger inside his chest.
"Especially when I remembered she wanted to kill Mom afterward," Clark thought quietly. "I really couldn't feel much sympathy for her."
In truth, Clark was more worried about David than angry at him.
He had begun to suspect something uncomfortable.
Maybe it wasn't David who needed to change.
Maybe he was the one who would slowly have to adapt to the colder way David handled things.
"Clark, stop staring and do something."
Peter's voice suddenly broke his train of thought.
He nudged Clark with his elbow and winked.
"Whitney's clearly trying to get Lana back," Peter whispered. "And you're just sitting here like a coward."
"I…"
Clark's personality had always been a little shy.
Competing with Whitney directly for Lana's attention had never been easy for him.
Peter shook his head helplessly when he saw Clark hesitate again.
"Lana's been volunteering at a nursing home in town for the past two weeks," David suddenly said.
Everyone turned to look at him.
"Tomorrow's the weekend," he continued calmly. "Whitney has football practice."
David then turned his head slightly toward Clark.
"Clark, have you finished your thirty hours of community service yet?"
The school required every student to complete thirty hours of community service each semester to encourage responsibility toward the community.
Clark's eyes lit up immediately.
He understood what David was suggesting.
"Th-thanks, David," Clark said awkwardly.
"My brother's always been smarter than me," he thought. "He always comes up with the best ideas."
"You're welcome," David replied casually before taking another sip of fruit beer.
"Besides," he added lightly, "you've already taken the blame for me twice. Acting like the older brother and all that. I should return the favor."
Clark froze.
"…What blame?" Chloe asked curiously.
....
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