Black Noir.

Another year has passed, and I can say it was a turbulent year, to say the least. Donna wanted to start putting Annie into competitions, just like in the original timeline, but Richard and I opposed this.

We argued that Annie was too young for that and such things wouldn't be good for her. Reluctantly, Donna seemed to give up the idea to avoid further conflicts at home. And so, Annie was spared from years of psychological torture and much anxiety.

A piece of good news is that my books were approved for publication. I'm not sure if the original authors existed or if they had the same idea yet, but I got ahead of them and managed to publish the books under the pseudonym "Jonathan Belmont," thus staying out of the spotlight.

My books earn me a significant amount of money every month and became famous to the point where I saw a child reading one of my books in the park when we went out with Annie.

As for her, well, she is better at controlling her powers, but she still burns out the lights in the house when she feels very intense emotions. She doesn't seem to be able to shoot beams of light from her hands yet, but she'll get there soon.

My projects have also advanced significantly. "The Spider" now has an improved and more minimalist design, and can now be controlled from greater distances. With the money from my books, I was able to buy quality materials and the right tools to proceed.

I am now able to speak more than twenty languages, most of them from the Americas due to proximity. Constant study and the capacity of my mind make learning and memorizing things much easier, so I could say I'm a genius, hehe.

Things seem to be improving for me. I have a cozy home and a family I care about. Every night, I go to an abandoned lot a few kilometers from here to train with my powers. I believe I've mastered all of them, being able to rescue people at high speeds of running and flying. I tested on dummies with gel similar to human skin and flesh, so it should work.

However, the only power I haven't managed to train is heat vision. In recent years, I frequently tried to use this power, but the most I've managed is to make my eyes warm up and glow red.

But so far, everything seems fine. However, I never let my guard down. Vought is after me; I know that, and until they capture or kill me, they won't stop. It's just a matter of time, and for that, I need to get stronger.

**SceneBreak** Richard and I were in the car, with Richard driving us home after we went shopping. Annie and Donna weren't with us; Donna said something about showing her friends how Annie was a hero, etc.

We were silent, only listening to the radio music. Everything was calm; the day had been good, and we had bought some sweets I liked.

"You seem to be in another world sometimes," Richard said, laughing as he looked at me.

"What can I do? It's part of the charm," I joked.

"Hahaha, you're going to sweep a lot of girls off their feet, son," Richard laughed.

" You know, Donna and I were thinking… " He said, turning off the radio and adopting a more serious tone. Noticing this, I paid attention to him.

" It's been two years since you've been with us, and I can say with complete certainty that we all love you. You're an amazing kid, and you're already part of our family… " He said hesitantly, almost afraid of how I would react.

" What I mean is, Donna and I want to adopt you. We want you to be our son, not that you weren't already, but we want to make it official, " he said, looking at me with a hopeful smile.

My thoughts raced. I didn't know what to say. Of course, I wanted to; I already considered them my family, but I wasn't aware that they saw me the same way.

However, before I could respond, a car came flying toward us. I quickly pulled Richard out of his seat and, at super speed, got us out of the car.

BOOOMM When Richard's car exploded, we were on the grass beside the road. Richard was trying to stand up, confused by what had happened and dazed from the super speed.

With effort, he got up and looked at me.

"John! Are you okay!? What was that!?" He asked, checking for any injuries on me and looking at what were now two crumpled cars on fire. However, I didn't pay attention.

My focus was on the flames of the car we had been in just seconds ago. The car that had hit us had been thrown into the air, possibly with someone inside, and looking at the flames, I saw a figure emerge.

That figure was Black Noir. They had found me.