Cassandra's ability to glimpse the future was unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Sometimes she could see only a few minutes ahead. Other times, her visions stretched all the way to the end of someone's life. Most of the time, however, she could not deliberately observe the constantly shifting future of a person who was actively changing their path.
Clark had hoped to ask her to look again.
He wanted to know if the determination he had just formed—to prevent his brother from ever walking down that terrible road—would change anything. If the future had already begun shifting because of that decision, maybe Cassandra could see it.
But that wish could not be fulfilled.
"I'm tired, children."
Cassandra smiled peacefully as the ticking of the nearby clock filled the room. Clark looked slightly confused, realizing that he hadn't actually started reading aloud with the elderly woman like he was supposed to.
"You didn't really think Ms. Cassandra needed someone to read to her, did you?"
David patted Clark lightly on the shoulder and stood up.
Clark blinked, suddenly realizing the obvious.
Cassandra could read Braille perfectly well. What she truly needed wasn't someone to read books to her, but someone to help her glimpse the vivid and colorful world through the fragments of future she sometimes saw.
"Ma'am, excuse us."
Clark finally recovered from his daze. He glanced at the clock on the wall and realized they had already stayed much longer than expected.
"It seems we've taken up enough of your time."
"I'll see you again this afternoon."
Cassandra nodded warmly.
"Child, I can only show you fragments of the future," she said gently as Clark prepared to close the door. "Without knowing the full story, you should be careful about making judgments."
Clark paused mid-step.
"When it comes to your family," Cassandra added kindly, "you must have more patience. And more trust."
Clark stood there quietly for a moment.
"I understand. Thank you, ma'am."
He nodded respectfully before closing the door behind him.
Originally, Clark had planned to spend the rest of his community service time downstairs. An elderly resident liked playing chess, and Clark thought sitting with David and playing a few games would help pass the time.
But things didn't go quite as expected.
After two games, the old man refused to continue.
"That's enough," the elderly man said, rubbing his forehead with clear frustration. "You're letting me win."
David had indeed been holding back slightly at first, trying to make the game more enjoyable for the old man. But when he finally played seriously for one round, the game ended almost immediately.
The difference in skill was simply too great.
Playing chess with someone far better than you was rarely fun, especially when you were the weaker player.
"You two go ahead," the old man waved them off tiredly. "I'll tell the hospital staff you stayed here playing chess with me."
With no other choice, the brothers left the room.
It was almost lunchtime anyway. Rather than eating at the nursing home cafeteria, both of them preferred the idea of heading home and enjoying Martha's famous seafood chowder.
When they walked downstairs, they saw Pete's car still parked outside.
Pete himself, however, was nowhere in sight.
"He's probably still looking for his keys," Clark guessed.
"Clark."
David glanced at his brother as they stepped outside the nursing home.
"You're planning to go home looking like that?"
Clark walked slowly beside him, his brows still furrowed with lingering worry. His mind clearly hadn't left Cassandra's vision yet.
"What do you think Mom and Dad will say when they see that face?"
David raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly.
"What exactly did you see in my future to make you so uneasy? Did I lock you inside a meteorite coffin?"
He paused deliberately.
"Or maybe I stole Lana away from you."
"N-nothing like that."
Clark's answer came far too quickly.
David stared at him in silence.
"…You realize even a kid wouldn't believe that lie."
Clark, despite possessing unimaginable strength, was a terrible liar.
David sighed.
"Let me think about it first before I tell you," Clark said after a moment.
He still wasn't sure whether revealing the vision would help or harm his brother. For now, he decided he needed time to figure it out.
Clark glanced back toward the nursing home.
Originally he had hoped today would give him an opportunity to spend more time with Lana—maybe chatting together in the cafeteria. But after everything that had happened, he had completely lost the mood.
"It's your future anyway."
David shrugged casually.
He was curious about what Clark had seen, but he wasn't particularly worried.
The future was not something he intended to fear.
"The future is under my feet," David thought calmly as they walked along the quiet rural road. "My life is something I control."
Where the ship of life sailed depended on the person steering it.
There were countless people in this world who claimed to predict the future. If he let every mysterious prophecy shake his mind, he would spend the rest of his life worrying instead of living.
"Compared to that," David muttered quietly, "there's something else that interests me more."
As they walked along the countryside road, David flexed his fingers thoughtfully.
Ever since his template fusion had passed ninety percent, he could feel an immense energy flowing through his body. It surged through every cell like a powerful current.
And as the fusion rate increased, that energy continued growing stronger.
"But I can't release it."
The problem reminded him of something from the comics.
"In the comics, Thanos could fire cosmic energy beams from his hands or eyes," David thought.
But that ability hadn't existed at the very beginning.
After leaving his homeworld Titan and beginning his rise as a cosmic warlord, Thanos had killed the leader of a group of space pirates and taken control of them. From there, he spent years raiding civilizations for technology and researching his own physiology.
"In order to fully unlock the power inside his body, Thanos eventually built armor and performed biological modifications on himself."
Those changes allowed him to channel the immense cosmic energy contained within him.
David remembered how Thanos's golden armor looked simple on the surface, as if it had been forged with nothing more than a hammer. In reality, it contained countless advanced technologies from across the universe.
One of its most important functions was helping Thanos concentrate and release his energy.
David knew the template he possessed was based on the movie version of Thanos.
"But Thanos is still Thanos," David murmured to himself. "Some core traits probably exist in every version."
In the movies, Thanos seemed completely focused on gathering the Infinity Stones and enforcing his twisted vision of balance across the universe. He probably never bothered exploring every hidden potential of his own body.
Even without energy projection abilities, his raw physical strength was enough to dominate nearly anyone.
"If he already had the Infinity Gauntlet," David thought, "shooting energy beams probably wouldn't make snapping his fingers any easier."
David shook his head slightly.
For now, the energy inside his body remained unusable.
He didn't have access to advanced alien technology. He couldn't build cosmic armor or perform experimental biological enhancements.
"So this extra ability is basically useless at the moment?"
David raised an eyebrow.
At that moment, they were walking along the rural road leading back toward Kent Farm.
"What a coincidence, David!"
A voice suddenly echoed across the quiet countryside.
The tone carried a mixture of resentment and arrogance.
A figure stepped out from a fork in the road ahead, blocking their path.
The person's skin looked strange, almost as if it were coated in frost. A pale bluish tint covered his face, and his lips had turned a deep icy color that made his expression look disturbingly feral.
"I was on my way across town to your farm," the figure sneered. "Didn't expect to run into you here."
"Sean?"
Clark stared at him in surprise.
Sean's skin color looked completely unnatural, and his body trembled slightly as if he were freezing.
"Are you alright?" Clark asked instinctively.
"Alright?"
Sean burst into loud laughter.
"I've never felt better!"
His expression suddenly twisted into something vicious as he fixed his eyes on David.
Frost spread across the grass beneath his feet.
The plants on both sides of his body instantly froze solid. When the wind blew, shattered ice fragments scattered through the air like glittering snow.
"Get on your knees and beg me," Sean said coldly.
"Then maybe I'll consider sparing your life, David."
While traveling across town earlier, Sean had once again discovered the strange ability to absorb heat.
"Have you ever considered joining the circus?"
David's expression turned cold.
It wasn't difficult for him to recognize what had happened. Sean had clearly undergone genetic mutation after being exposed to kryptonite radiation.
"With the way you look now," David added flatly, "you'd probably sell out every show."
"Your stupidity will get you killed!"
Sean roared with fury.
He leapt forward and threw a punch.
"You have no idea what kind of power I have now!"
"Sean, stop!"
Clark rushed forward instantly, trying to block Sean before he could reach David.
But the moment Clark's hands touched Sean's body, something unexpected happened.
The heat from Clark's body was suddenly drained away uncontrollably.
A brilliant flash of energy burst out where the two of them made contact. The radiant heat was sucked straight into Sean like sunlight being swallowed.
Sean's eyes widened in shock.
"How can your body contain this much heat?"
The energy flooding into him was enormous.
It felt like absorbing the output of an entire thermal power plant.
Sean's body rapidly grew stronger as the heat poured into him.
His eyes opened wide with disbelief.
"I'm getting stronger!"
....
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