49: Exile
Antarctica was a strange place. Not for the first time, Daniel found himself admiring the peculiar frozen landscape, lost in deep thought.
In his previous life, he had heard countless conspiracy theories about the site. He had even come close to believing some of the more convincing ones. You couldn't blame him—there were days when he was simply bored, and reading about secret government experiments seemed far more entertaining than playing online games until he fell asleep.
That being said, he would be lying if he claimed he wasn't curious about verifying some of those wild conspiracy theories now that he had the means to do so.
'Come to think of it, am I not now part of one of those crazy theories?' He recalled some videos and posts talking about UFOs buried in the ice and possible ancient alien civilizations hidden there. While it wasn't exactly the same, he figured the Kryptonian fortress could tick several of those boxes.
'Who would've thought? In the end, the conspiracy theorists were right.' He couldn't help but find this amusing but eventually decided to dismiss such idle thoughts from his mind.
Although exploring the frozen continent would be interesting, it wasn't a task that sounded very appealing once you remembered the place spanned a hefty 14 million square kilometers to search through.
'Maybe later...' Or he could simply ask Lara to use the fortress's scanners to try mapping the site. Who knows? If they were lucky, there might actually be something worth finding.
With that idea filed away in the back of his mind along with a few other less relevant thoughts, Daniel landed softly in front of the fortress, causing a breeze to stir the snow that had begun accumulating around the area.
The alien structure seemed to sense his arrival, for without him needing to do anything, the crystalline material began to shift and reshape itself, opening an entrance for him.
With light steps, Daniel entered the place as if it were his second home. Truthfully, it wasn't hard to feel at ease in the fortress. Perhaps it wasn't his in the strictest sense of the word, but with Carol holding ultimate authority over the place, he could very well call it his own.
Though he wouldn't say that out loud, especially not near her.
'I need to stop abusing this place.' Not for the first time, that thought crossed his mind, and as with all those other times, he had to reluctantly push it aside.
Even if he didn't want to, for the moment, he was forced to rely on the fortress and its facilities for various things.
'Come to think of it, now that Stark Industries' shares are at their peak, I should sell the ones I bought back then. That should give me enough startup capital to kick off some of my long-term plans.' One of those plans, of course, was to have his own secret base with high-level technology. Sure, one could argue he already had his workshop on his farm, but calling that his secret base was a bit embarrassing, considering he was the world's first superhero.
As he considered his future plans, he soon reached his destination: the general recovery area, where the Kryptonian immersion capsules were neatly lined up. If this were a human base, this place would likely be considered the medical bay or something similar.
Reaching the only immersion capsule in use was as simple as taking a few steps into the room. With a single command, a projected screen appeared before him, displaying dozens of medical diagnostics.
'I guess it finally happened.' Daniel couldn't avoid grimacing as he read the latest analyses. Although he had foreseen this development thanks to all the genetic knowledge he had gained in his research, seeing his fears beginning to materialize wasn't something he liked, no matter how beneficial the data he was obtaining might be.
"Have you finally decided to wake her up, or will you keep letting her play Sleeping Beauty?" Lara's voice did little to distract him from his concern, but it was an interruption he was internally grateful for.
"I see you've started making pop culture references. Should I be worried?" At his comment, Lara snorted mockingly. It was such a natural and human-like expression that Daniel might have mistaken her for a real person if not for the absence of a heartbeat from her projected body.
"You should've started worrying the moment I gained access to the internet. You're lucky I'm not a newly created AI, or you might really have a Skynet on your hands."
Yeah, Daniel probably should've thought that part through better when he did nothing to prevent her from accessing the global network without restrictions. In his defense, Lara wasn't like other AIs. In essence, she was already a "mature" and complete "being" thanks to the memories of the original Lara, so Daniel trusted that she was unlikely to be corrupted or manipulated.
Although, considering his luck, it might be better not to tempt fate.
Unaware of the kind of thoughts running through Daniel's mind, Lara approached the immersion chamber, gazing with interest at the sleeping girl inside.
"Humans are certainly more mysterious than Jor-El and my original self had anticipated. To think that potential like this lies latent and hidden deep within their DNA..."
"Does it make you regret choosing Earth as Carol's destination?" Daniel couldn't help but ask, to which Lara shook her head after a moment of reflection.
"No... Even if my original self had known this, she still would have chosen Earth." Hidden dangers or not, the facts spoke for themselves—Carol had grown up strong and healthy. For Lara, her choice was undoubtedly the right one, and there was no reason to regret or doubt it at this point.
Hearing her response, Daniel simply smiled, wondering if she would say the same in the future when the real problems began hitting Earth continuously. No doubt, seeing her expression in that moment would be extremely interesting.
"Setting idle chatter aside, to answer your initial question, I'd say I'll let her sleep a bit longer. The changes this might cause aren't something easily predictable, so I'd rather let them fully manifest before dealing with them."
After all, even with all the research he had done, he still didn't know much about the X-Gene. Witnessing its awakening in such detail thanks to Kryptonian technology was undoubtedly an unexpected gain for Daniel, though he would have preferred it not to come at the cost of Harleen's physical and mental health.
'With this, I now know two methods to force the awakening of this mysterious latent gene in humans.'
The first method he had discovered was from Greg, who awakened the X-Gene due to exposure to the alien radiation of kryptonite. The second, obviously, came from Harleen and the chemical soup still coursing through her system. Although, if you thought deeply about it, perhaps they weren't entirely "different" methods after all.
'A response to severe trauma in the body? Or perhaps extreme stress on the mind?' He didn't have enough data to be sure, but he felt he wasn't too far off from the truth.
Perhaps the only good thing about this was that Harleen didn't have an M-Gene present to make everything worse.
.
A few minutes later, in another part of the fortress
Daniel gazed at the neatly stacked pile of silvery ingots with bluish highlights on their surface. They didn't seem like anything out of this world—just another metal at first glance. Sure, the way they reflected light was a bit interesting, but aside from that, few people would give them a second look unless they had an exceptionally sharp eye.
'Appearances really are deceiving, huh?' Daniel couldn't help but think as he stretched out his hand and grabbed one of the ingots. He toyed with the object, which barely fit in his palm, for a moment before beginning to apply force with his grip, veins starting to stand out on his arm from the effort.
After almost a full minute of steady squeezing, he finally gave up and decided to stop, his eyes narrowing as he frowned at the ingot.
'Looks like even if I've gotten stronger, I still have a lot of room for improvement.' Despite his efforts, only faint marks could be seen on the metallic surface—marks created by pressure that would have destroyed any other metal on Earth.
But not vibranium.
"A truly amazing metal, even for Kryptonian standards," upon seeing his actions, Lara, who seemed to always be present anywhere in the fortress, commented honestly.
"You've studied it for quite some time now. Is there really no way to synthesize more of it?"
At his question, the woman rolled her eyes. "I've told you already, Kryptonian technology, advanced as it is, isn't omnipotent. Your idea of creating more of this metal artificially is undoubtedly intriguing, but if creating something as unique as this were that easy, then it wouldn't be so special, don't you think?"
At that, Daniel could only sigh with slight disappointment. It seemed his idea of obtaining an unlimited supply of vibranium would have to be shelved for now.
The thought had been on his mind since the fight with Obadiah, which was why he had Carol bring the remains of the man's suit to the fortress and let Lara study the metal in depth.
Although it wasn't certain, he had held the faint hope that Kryptonian technology could give him the key to obtaining much more vibranium. Now it seemed he had been overthinking things.
"In that case, let's forget about this for now." He wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do with the vibranium—maybe give it to Tony, or perhaps use it for something else. For now, he wasn't in a rush to decide.
'Would selling it to him be too blatant?'
Now that was an interesting thought...
"If you don't mind, I'd like to keep working with it. While what you're asking for isn't possible at the moment, I think I might be able to find other uses for it."
At Lara's unexpected request, Daniel rubbed his chin thoughtfully before shrugging and agreeing.
"If you think it can be useful to you, then I don't mind." It wasn't as though it was all the vibranium on Earth, and while getting more would be complicated, it wasn't like he had any urgency that made him greedy with the metal. Letting Lara use it wasn't an issue for him.
'Looks like I won't be able to swindle some money out of Tony.' Truthfully, he probably wouldn't have sold it to him anyway. If there was one thing Daniel could boast about, it was his ability to be generous with the people he considered close.
Of course, depending on whom you asked, this could just as easily be seen as a disadvantage.
Seeing that he had so easily agreed to her request, Lara raised an eyebrow with slight surprise. After all, anyone else would have hesitated to give something as valuable as vibranium without getting something in return. The fact that Daniel simply shrugged and handed it over made her reconsider some of her opinions about the young man.
"Although I'm curious about what you plan to do with the vibranium, I'll postpone finding out until later. See you later, Lara," Daniel said, starting to walk toward the exit. He had no more matters to deal with in the fortress at the moment, so he decided he might as well return to his farm, work on a few things in his workshop until nightfall, and then get a good four or five hours of sleep before starting his usual patrol around the planet.
After that, he could think about the other matters he needed to handle, like his meeting with S.H.I.E.L.D., his search for scientific minds to deal with the M-Gene, and that talk with Matt, which he wasn't exactly looking forward to having.
'Speaking of scientific minds... seems like that science fair I heard about is still on. Maybe I should check it out?' As someone who was always attentive to global news, it wasn't hard for him to learn that the Baxter Institute had decided to go ahead with the event instead of canceling it, as many had speculated they would. In fact, they had been promoting it more than in previous years, which finally caught his attention again.
In fact, Daniel had already been planning to make time to attend the event before all his plans were interrupted by the arrival of Graviton, causing him to "forget" about it a bit until now.
"Are you going back to Smallville?" Lara suddenly asked, causing Daniel to snap out of his thoughts and stop in his tracks to turn and look at her curiously.
"Do you need me to pass a message to Carol?" Apart from that, he couldn't think of any other reason why Lara would ask about his destination.
To confirm his thoughts, the woman nodded.
Then she waved her hand, causing one of the nearby walls to begin to shift, opening a path for a crystalline pedestal with a dark-colored, elongated rectangular object placed on top.
With some curiosity, Daniel approached and took it, examining it carefully before realizing it was just an elegant case. He then proceeded to open it to see its contents, which turned out to be a pair of large round lenses in a thin frame that reminded him of the ones Carol usually wore.
"I'll assume these aren't just ordinary glasses."
"You assume correctly. Although they are designed to look like ordinary glasses, they are actually an advanced device I've been working on and recently finished. I'd like you to deliver them to Carol if possible."
"I can do that," Daniel nodded and closed the case again before storing it in one of the pouches on his tool belt. "If there's nothing else, then I'll be on my way. If something important comes up, remember to call me." With that said, Daniel waved goodbye. This time, Lara didn't stop him and simply watched him leave. Of course, she could have waited for Carol to come and then given her the glasses personally, but knowing her daughter, she'd probably appreciate it more if Daniel delivered them.
'I'd better get a great gift next Mother's Day,' she thought as her projected body dematerialized and her consciousness returned to the virtual world.
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.
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In Smallville.
Carol hadn't realized how boring school could be once you had already learned everything it could possibly teach you.
Her tutoring under her mother had led her to use her superhuman learning ability to get ahead in all possible subjects at record speed, and without realizing it, she now probably had enough general knowledge to take all her remaining exams blindfolded and achieve the highest possible grades.
It wasn't that this was a bad thing, but it did make attending classes a total waste of time for her. The teachers had nothing new to teach her, and their methods were significantly inferior to her mother's, making listening to them simply boring at best.
Perhaps if she had a more dazzling social life, it might have been more bearable, but with Chloe being her only friend at school, it left her with few options to pass the time.
Not to mention homework—another irritating and useless thing to add to the list. Carol couldn't understand why teachers went out of their way to assign such unnecessarily tedious tasks that barely served any purpose. Well, maybe she was being a bit harsh. Perhaps the other students needed them, but the problem was that she wasn't one of those students.
'Thinking about this is just making me more annoyed.' Carol sighed and looked at the sunset in the distance. Unlike other days, when she would simply use her super speed to get home, this time she decided to take a slow walk to clear her mind—something she rarely did, but which was relaxing in a certain way.
'It's been a while since I came this way,' Carol looked at the Smallville river as she approached the railing of the bridge she was crossing. Some childhood memories flashed through her mind for a moment before she shook her head. Living in the past was something she didn't want to do. Now, she appreciated the present and looked to the future with hope.
'It's better if I head back, maybe Daniel will return soon.' That was a much more pleasant thought to focus on. Unfortunately for her, it was quickly interrupted by the screeching sound of tires skidding against the asphalt and the roar of a car engine approaching too closely in her direction.
.
A few moments earlier.
Lena Luthor hadn't been having the best days lately.
"How dare he!" Her hands gripped the steering wheel with all the strength she could muster, the words escaping through her gritted teeth with palpable venom.
Her reddened eyes barely paid attention to the road ahead as the speedometer needle climbed higher and higher.
Her mind was too preoccupied with the events of the past few days, leaving her blind to the imminent danger.
Pinpointing where her troubles began would be difficult, but if she had to say, it probably started when she and her brother, Lex, took over the family company together after their father's sudden death.
She thought things were going well. Even with the world starting to go a bit crazy, Lena believed that she and Lex could hold it together and put aside any disputes. Sure, maybe her relationship with her brother hadn't been the best in recent years, but they were still siblings, right? That had to count for something.
Too bad Lex didn't think the same.
Lena wanted to say she had seen it coming, that she had expected it. But the reality was that the betrayal had caught her completely off guard, leaving her utterly unprepared. Then again… who prepares to be betrayed by their own family?
She should have known better. Lex, after all, was their father's son.
"Stupid! Stupid!" Lena couldn't help but curse herself as her thoughts returned to that moment.
.
A few days ago, Luthor Corp's headquarters, in the tallest building in Metropolis.
"You can't do this!" The words almost echoed throughout the office. Lena Luthor clenched her fists as she stared at her brother, disbelief still evident on her face.
"But dear sister, I already have." Alexander Luthor looked at his sister with amusement and a trace of disdain in his voice, a confident smile forming at the corner of his lips.
"You!" Seeing the anger beginning to fill Lena's eyes, Lex mocked her internally before standing up and placing a hand on his chest with a "confused" expression.
"I don't understand your fury, Lena. I clearly remember how much you despised this company. In the end, I only did what I thought you wanted." Seeing his act of false grievance, Lena felt bile rising in her throat, her face almost shifting from red to green.
"You know that's not true! I didn't despise the company; I despised the one who ran it and how he did it!" At those words, Lex couldn't help but drop his act and let out a scoff.
"And now that our father is dead, you think you can come in and do whatever you want? Don't be naive, Lena."
"I'm still part of the board! My shares are no less than yours!" Her retort was met with a low laugh, leaving her confused.
"And that's why you're not out on the street. In fact, you should thank me. Leaving you that old fertilizer plant in that tiny little town is more than most people could dream of." Lex walked toward his sister, a disdainful smile forming on his face.
"You always said you didn't want to be part of what our father did. I just fulfilled your dream. Now you can do whatever you want in Smallville. With your abilities, I'm sure everything will turn out wonderfully. No need to thank me."
Before she could stop herself, Lena's palm shot forward, a sharp slap ringing loud and clear.
Lex blinked, raising a hand to rub his now slightly reddened cheek.
"I thought you were better than him, but now I see I was wrong. You're exactly the same."
Lena breathed heavily, looked at her brother one last time, then turned and began to leave.
Continuing to argue was useless. She knew she had lost this fight. She had acted too late. Lex had played his cards too well, and now the entire board of shareholders was on his side.
Despite knowing this, she had still come here, still hoped it was all a mistake—that there was still a fragment of the older brother who had cared for her as a child somewhere inside Lex.
But she had been wrong. It seemed Lionel Luthor hadn't died alone.
.
Back to the present.
With bitterness still flooding her mind, Lena began to think about her future plans.
Of course, she wasn't going to let things end like this. If Lex thought that banishing her to an old factory in the middle of nowhere would be enough to get rid of her, then he was sorely mistaken.
She would show him.
"Just wait, you bald bastard son of a—" Her curses were abruptly cut off when her eyes caught sight of what appeared to be a coil of wire falling from the back of a cargo truck, sliding directly into her lane, right in front of her car...
"Oh, shit!" It was too late for her to try to avoid it. She barely began to turn the wheel when her tires ran over the wire, causing them to blow out abruptly. The sudden jolt made her swerve sharply, and the car spun out of control, heading straight toward the edge of the bridge she was crossing.
In her shock, she barely noticed the figure standing near the railing.
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Note:
What a long wait!
This time, I mostly focused a bit on Daniel and some of the things that had been left pending. On the other hand, the other characters aren't standing still, and events continue to unfold, even behind the scenes.
Now Lex Luthor has full control of LuthorCorp, and the consequences of that might not be very pleasant.
Meanwhile, Lena arrives in Smallville—whether that's good or bad, we will see in the future.
Next up is Chapter 50! I never thought I'd make it this far! Over 200,000 words! I'm really happy and grateful for all the support that has allowed me to get to this point.
With that said I can only hope that things continue on the right track, December 25th is almost here so I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas in advance, I hope you all have a great time whether alone, with your families or friends, no matter what situation you find yourself in I wish you happy holidays :D
Finally remember that You can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon ( patreon.com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D