Cassandra's visions of the future were beyond her control.
Sometimes she saw events a few minutes ahead; other times, she saw the end of someone's life. Nor could she repeatedly predict one person's ever-changing future.
Clark's hope of having his own future predicted again—to see whether his determination to stop his younger brother from going down the wrong path had worked, whether the future had changed—could not be fulfilled.
"I'm tired, children."
Listening to the ticking clock, Cassandra smiled with contentment. Clark was somewhat puzzled; he had not even begun reading to the respected elder before him.
"You didn't really think Ms. Cassandra needed someone to read with her, did you?"
David patted him on the shoulder and got up to leave.
The old woman could read Braille. What she needed was simply someone whose future would let her glimpse the vivid, colorful world once more.
"Ma'am, excuse me."
Clark came to his senses, glanced at the clock on the wall, and felt he had taken up enough of her time, so he said goodbye as well.
"I'll come see you again this afternoon."
"Child, I can only help you see fragments of the future. Sometimes, when you do not know the full picture, do not make judgments so casually."
Finally, Cassandra sat kindly in her chair and reminded Clark as he was about to close the door behind him.
"When it comes to family, have more patience and trust."
"I understand. Thank you, ma'am."
Clark froze for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully and closed the door.
He had originally planned to accompany David to a room downstairs and spend his community service hours playing chess with another elderly resident.
But after two games, the old woman no longer wanted to play. She could tell David had been holding back to make her happy, and after insisting he play seriously for one game, she was swiftly crushed again.
Playing chess with someone far above or below your level was terribly boring, especially when you were the weaker one.
"You two go on. I'll tell the staff that you played chess with me."
Feeling frustrated, the old woman rubbed her forehead and waved them away.
The two had no choice but to leave. Seeing that lunchtime was approaching, they would rather go home for Martha's signature seafood chowder than eat in the Nursing Home cafeteria.
When they went downstairs, they saw Pete's family car parked outside.
But Pete was nowhere to be seen. No one knew where he had gone; perhaps he was still looking for his keys.
"Are you really going home looking like this, Clark?
What will Father and Mother think when they see you?"
After leaving the Nursing Home, Clark's lingering worry was obvious. He walked absentmindedly, and David raised an eyebrow with a smile.
"What did you see me do in the future that has you so worried? Lock you in a coffin made of meteorites?
Or steal the Lana you've been pining after?"
"N-No, it's nothing."
"..."
"Even a child wouldn't believe that." Facing the Son of Krypton, who was terrible at lying, David sounded slightly speechless.
"Let me think about it before deciding whether to tell you, David."
Clark could not tell whether revealing what he had seen to his younger brother would do more good than harm, so he decided to take some time to think it over.
He looked back at the Nursing Home.
The purpose of coming here today had been to spend some time getting closer to Lana, perhaps chatting with her in the cafeteria. But after what had happened, he was no longer in the mood.
"It's your future, after all."
David spread his hands and did not press him further.
Curious as he was, he would not spend all day worrying over a future foreseen by a Metahuman.
The future lay beneath his feet and in his hands. He steered his own life.
"The course of life's ship is decided by oneself."
There were quite a few people in this world with precognition or divination abilities. If he let every random remark make him anxious and indecisive, he would have no time left to do anything else.
"Compared to that, there's something else I care about more right now."
As they walked, David ignored the absentminded Clark beside him and clenched his hand.
Ever since his template's fusion rate had passed ninety percent, he had felt a powerful energy flowing through his body, filling every cell. The higher the fusion rate rose, the more immense that energy became.
"But no matter what I do, I can't release it."
It could not help but remind him of Thanos from the comics.
"Comic-book Thanos could fire powerful cosmic energy from his hands or eyes, but he could not do that at first."
Not long after Thanos left his homeworld of Titan and embarked on the path of a dark overlord, he killed the leader of a band of space pirates and took his place. He then led those pirates in plundering scientific technology across the Universe to study his own body.
"To fully tap into his body's potential, Thanos made himself a suit of armor and underwent biological modification surgery, allowing him to release the immense energy contained within him."
Thanos's golden armor in the comics looked simple, as if it had been hammered into shape, but it actually contained all kinds of cutting-edge cosmic technology. One of its functions was helping him focus and release energy.
David knew that what he had fused with should have been the movie version of Thanos's template.
"But perhaps Thanos was still Thanos. Some things at the core would never change."
He guessed inwardly.
"In the movies, Thanos might have been too obsessed with searching for the Infinity Stones and playing Cosmic Population Control Director to develop his own potential."
Even without energy beams, Thanos's powerful body was enough to let him dominate the Universe.
"If he found the Infinity Gems capable of controlling the Universe, having the ability to fire energy would not make snapping his fingers any easier."
David shook his head, unsure what to do about the energy inside his body.
At the moment, he had neither the means to make a suit of high-tech cosmic armor nor the means to perform biological modifications on himself.
"This extra ability seems useless for now?"
On the road home through the outskirts, David raised an eyebrow.
"What a coincidence, David!"
A voice full of resentment and smugness suddenly rang out.
A figure slowly emerged from a fork in the road, abruptly blocking their path. His skin looked as though it were covered in ice and snow, his lips were bluish-purple, and his face appeared somewhat grotesque.
"I crossed town intending to go to your family's farm, but I didn't expect to run into you here."
"Sean?"
Clark looked up at Sean, whose skin had taken on an unnatural color as though he were shivering, and his expression turned startled. He could not help asking, "Are you all right?"
"Am I all right?"
Hearing the question, Sean threw open his arms and laughed wildly. "I've never been better!"
"Now!"
He suddenly turned to David, his voice harsh and fierce. The grass on both sides of his hands froze and shattered. As the wind blew, snow and ice whirled through the air.
"Kneel and beg me, and I might consider sparing your life, David."
As he walked across town, his ability to absorb heat had emerged again.
"Have you considered applying to a circus?"
David's expression turned cold at his words.
From Sean's appearance, it was not hard to tell that Kryptonite radiation had caused a genetic mutation in him.
"Looking like the freak you are now, you'd definitely draw a full house."
"Your ignorance will lead you to the grave."
Mocked, Sean flew into a rage and leaped forward with a punch. "You have no idea what kind of power I possess now!"
"Sean, stop!"
Clark lunged forward to stop Sean from getting close to David, both to protect his younger brother and to protect Sean.
But the instant his hands touched Sean's body, the heat in his own body began to drain away uncontrollably.
A sunlike glow appeared where the two touched and was absorbed into Sean's body.
"How can the heat inside you be greater than that of a small thermal power plant!"
As the enormous heat surged into his body, Sean's physique rapidly strengthened. His eyes widened as he cried out in disbelief.
"I'm becoming stronger!"
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