23: revelations.
The sun came through the window, Carol's eyelids twitched and she slowly opened her eyes, realizing she was not in her room.
Confused, she stared at the vaguely familiar ceiling.
Vague memories came to her mind little by little, the images were somewhat blurry but clear enough to make her face flush as the last memories before she fell into inconsistency came to her.
She shook her head trying to clear her mind, she was a bit confused, she felt dizzy, she stood up but a slight burning in her shoulder made her grimace.
She looked and realized she was only wearing her sports bra and several bandages covered her shoulder.
She touched her wound, it didn't hurt as much as before, yet she could tell it hadn't healed yet.
"Don't move too much we don't want the wounds to open up" Daniel's voice came and he walked through the door holding a glass of water.
Carol unconsciously tried to cover herself with her hands but the pain made her grimace, despite her embarrassment she could not cover herself properly.
Daniel approached ignoring her condition and offered her the glass and Only now Carol realized that her throat felt extremely dry, forgetting her embarrassment temporarily, she quickly began to drink.
Daniel sat on the side of the bed and looked at her for a second before asking.
"How do you feel?"
Carol finished her drink and began to feel her body.
"strange, it feels... uncomfortable, I don't think I've ever felt this way" it was strange, it felt weak it was Unpleasant, I instantly hated it.
"it's the residual energy from the radiation, you were exposed to a large amount of it for a long period of Time so your body still doesn't expel it completely" Carol looked at him doubtfully, the memory in her mind was vague to some extent, the images vaguely blurry, so much so that it made her doubt whether what she did before fainting really happened or was a hallucination of hers.
She had certainly had some dreams where she was bold. Still, that the images were not perfectly clear made her doubt.
This hadn't happened in a long time, since her powers began to activate her memory had been perfect.
Not being able to remember properly now does not please him.
"Radiation?" Carol remembered those green crystals, that was radioactive?
" one never seen before, I was concerned about your condition so I started to investigate, I took some samples and did some quick analysis, the earth had never had this kind of energy, at least not something that had ever been recorded" Carol nodded, she looked at the bandages on her body thoughtfully, had she stumbled upon a new kind of radioactive material?
One that was dangerous even for her?
Daniel furrowed his eyebrows, hesitated for a second before continuing.
"I also analyzed the remains of the site, parts of the rocks that were there were... not exactly from the earth, their molecular structure is completely different from anything I've seen before" this caught Carol's attention immediately.
She looked at Daniel doubtfully and asked.
"What do you mean?" Daniel sighed, he hoped this moment would take longer to come, talking about this now was not in his plans, but now this was no longer an option.
As he was analyzing the data he realized that this radiation was destroying carol's cells, an extremely dangerous cellular degradation, the radiation even contaminated the solar energy in her preventing her body from repairing itself effectively, if she spent too much time near those crystals she could end up dying.
The strange thing is that it did not seem to affect other life forms, at least not like Carol.
He had literally tested it on himself.
His viltrumite cells were not affected at all.
He tried with animal and human blood samples and it didn't seem to have an effect either, at least not immediately, he needed more time, to do some more tests but in conclusion it was Carol who was most affected.
When the other tests told him that the material might not be from the earth he knew why it was Carol who suffered the most.
"what I mean is that the likelihood is that these crystals are from the same place as you...their radiation has a truly catastrophic effect on your cells but other life forms don't seem to be affected...I did several tests to make sure" Daniel let the words sink into Carol's mind.
For her part Carol after listening to Daniel went into a state of confusion, forgetting her doubts about the previous events temporarily.
From the same place as her? She hadn't thought about it for a long time.
The place where she came from.
Since she found out she wasn't from earth she had only thought about it a few times.
She had looked up at the stars searching with her eyes, hoping to see something that might give her an answer.
After a while those thoughts became more and more distant and at one point she almost wanted to forget it.
She was too focused on her current life to think about where she came from.
A place so far away and illusory, a place where she had never been and knew nothing about, she didn't really want to know about it now, not because she wasn't interested, but was it really necessary for her to learn about it when her life was on earth?
But to say that she didn't have some expectations about the place where she comes from would be a lie, deep down she wanted to know, to know where she comes from.
Remembering the object that father gave her, she couldn't help but think of the ship she kept in the barn.
What should she do?
Not knowing what action to take, I looked at Daniel.
Looking into her confused eyes Daniel couldn't help but grimace internally, he didn't show it on his face.
He had wanted to ignore this issue, but since things had come to this he could only take it head on.
"maybe it's time you found out where you came from."
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Carol got dressed, Daniel helped her up as despite the sunlight hitting her body her wounds seemed to refuse to heal quickly, at least as fast as they should.
This was the effect of the radiation on her cells, their regeneration speed was temporarily slowed.
At least his powers had returned.
Although she felt weak she was not really weak.
"What happened to Chloe?" Carol remembered her friend, she had forgotten her, that actually was impossible if she remembered her but she had so many things on her mind that it wasn't until now that she asked.
"I took her home and erased the pictures she took, maybe you can convince her it was a dream?" of course Daniel wasn't so hopeful.
Carol thought about it, Chloe had only seen the smaller, fainting wolf after that, maybe she could tell her that she hit her head and she carried her all the way home?
"I'll fix it" they both left Daniel's house, Carol looked up at the sky the dawn had long since arrived, she couldn't help but appreciate the feel of the sun hitting her body, she felt less weak.
" what about your parents?"
"My parents?" Carol remembered her parents but didn't care.
"I told them I was spending the night at Chloe's, she picked me up herself so I'm not expected until the afternoon" it was a good thing Chloe had decided to pick her up and her parents watched them leave together.
Daniel sighed with relief, in fact he was a little worried about it, he didn't want Carol's parents to be stressed about not hearing from her.
Daniel couldn't take her home in the state he found her in, it wouldn't be easy to explain and he certainly couldn't help her as he should.
After all he needed to have her close by for the tests he did.
Carol stopped suddenly remembering what Daniel said.
"How do you know where Chloe's house is?" her voice was a little low and Daniel almost grimaced.
"Actually that's an interesting story...maybe I'll tell you about it later" he wasn't going to mention that he had caught Chloe sneaking around following him and spying on his house at night when Carol wasn't there.
That girl really had the bad habits of reporters.
Carol looked at his face, there was something she didn't know. why did it seem like Chloe and Daniel had a history she didn't know about?
I tried to remember but it didn't seem that either of them had mentioned anything like that.
Suddenly Carol remembered that Chloe was blonde, that didn't really mean anything but Carol had begun to have a grudge against blonde women.
Chloe had been spared that grudge because she was her friend but now that exception was going to disappear.
Looking at her increasingly dark face Daniel tried to change the subject quickly.
" so what have you decided, are you going to do it?"
Snapped out of her negative thoughts, Carol thought about Daniel's words and remembered the decision she had made before leaving the house.
He had suggested that she find out more about her origins and the only way to do that at present was to investigate the ship that brought her to earth.
Carol then thought about whether or not she should do that.
That was actually a decision she knew she would have to make someday but she didn't expect that day to be so soon.
She didn't feel quite ready, could she get the answers she was looking for or was it just a false hope, what if that ship didn't have what she was looking for or hoping for?
She looked at Daniel and his eyes clearly conveyed his uncertainty, they were bright eyes.
"I... I will, but you have to come with me" she didn't want to do it alone, whether it was something good or bad she didn't want to face it alone, feeling somewhat daring she tried to take Daniel's hand, she moved closer to him and leaned her body against his.
Daniel didn't show it on his face but he wanted to grimace, he hoped that by some miracle she would forget what she did before fainting, now it seemed that she was not that lucky.
For several months he had been ignoring Carol in that regard.
He wasn't stupid, nor was he dense, but he certainly didn't want to have to face those problems, so he had feigned ignorance.
Even treating her like a younger sister hoping that would be indicative enough for her, it seemed to have not worked.
He let her take his hand, while he didn't want those problems, he wasn't heartless either, he knew he needed to support her now, once they figured out where she came from they could have a talk.
Carol was thrilled when Daniel squeezed her hand, was this acceptance or was she jumping to conclusions?
She wanted to talk to him about what happened but the words didn't seem to be able to leave her lips.
She was afraid that the answer she was looking for was not what she wanted.
She was more afraid of it than even what she could find out about her origins.
She looked into Daniel's eyes.
Light blue met dark blue.
They would have to talk.
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"How are you feeling?" Carol looked at Chloe, she and Daniel had decided to wait until the evening before going to find their ship in the barn.
So she had time to spare, Daniel was out on patrol and for her part she had come to see Chloe.
"Like I rode a roller coaster without protection" Chloe stood up slowly, she looked around her room quizzically.
"What happened?"
Carol looked at her face noting the Confusion.
"What do you remember?"
Chloe bit her lower lip and began to think.
"We found a big footprint and then... Something happened?" the memory was unclear.
Carol sighed in relief.
She quickly began to think of an excuse.
There wasn't much she could say that would be convincing.
So he said what he thought sounded the least silly.
"We heard something in the woods and before we went to check something fell from the trees and hit your head" Chloe furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, that happened?
Feeling a dull ache in her head it seemed to be so, of course Carol wouldn't tell her that she hit her gently before she woke up so that excuse would be more believable.
Of course that had nothing to do with the fact that it looked like Chloe had interacted with Daniel without her knowing.
"I brought you back which wasn't easy, you need to start dieting" Chloe didn't like that comment.
"You called me fat?!" Carol rolled her eyes.
"Maybe."
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Daniel struck gently, the thief flew off hitting a wall in the distance, a little battered, but alive.
He looked up at the darkening sky and knew it was time to go back.
He let out a sigh, this was probably going to be a long night.
His body lifted into the sky and began to fly back.
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"It's this way" Carol led Daniel through the barn, they would reach the deepest part where she quickly wiped the floor revealing a large door to a cellar.
Daniel helped her and together they opened the door, they climbed down slowly, they didn't use flashlights they didn't need them.
Everything was clear in their eyes.
When they reached the ship covered with a large brown cloth Daniel could not help but feel excited.
A real alien ship! That of course made him feel incredibly excited.
Carol removed the cloth and the ship was revealed in all its splendor.
They both surrounded it, its exterior was silver with interconnected lines all over its surface, on the front was that S symbol.
Carol ran her hands over its surface, the texture was very strange, unlike anything she had ever touched before.
Daniel watched Carol touch the ship, he wanted to touch it too but he wasn't sure if he could.
He didn't know what level of technology this device had, since it came from the same place as Carol it was safe to some extent for her to touch it, but he didn't know if it would be safe for him to do so.
Carol looked at the S engraved on the front with some hesitation, took a deep breath and took the ship in her hands and slowly lifted it up.
"Let's go" Daniel nodded and led the way.
They weren't going to try to check this thing out in the barn.
They didn't know how much noise it would make and they didn't want to wake Carol's parents, so they took it out and quickly went to a distant location they had prepared in advance.
It was an artificial cave they had made together, its space large enough for a soccer field with bleachers to fit in.
They quickly entered and Carol left the ship in the center.
Daniel closed the entrance from the inside with a huge rock, they needed no interruption.
He looked at the ship and Carol from the side, now everything depended on her.
Carol swallowed hard, looked up and down the ship and noticed a hole with a familiar shape on one side.
She took out the object her father had given her, the one that had come with her.
Slowly she approached it and placed the object in the hole and pressed it gently.
Then a soft light began to flood the place.
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In the deep forest, where once there was a large cavern, a green light flooded the area.
Several rocks flew out and a huge body slowly stood up.
The green glow was directed at its body and was quickly absorbed.
In his chest a large hole where his heart should be began to be filled and a new vital organ began to grow.
Its color was bright green like an emerald. It pulsed and with each beat a wave of green energy coursed through the beast's body.
Its wounds healed at a visible speed and on its face a new eyeball grew.
Its gaze filled with absolute hatred was directed into the distance, its nose sniffed softly a low growl escaping from its maw.
Her body twisted, her figure of more than five meters tall began to alter, her bones broke, her muscles tore, the green energy healed her wounds as fast as they were made and in a short time the size of her body changed, she shrank from her original large size to only two meters tall, every muscle in her body compressed in an unnatural way and although she was now smaller her presence had increased several times.
Her previously dark green fur fell out and a new fur as black as night grew covering her body.
With a wave of her hand the entire collapsed area was shaken, the debris of hundreds of thousands of tons was sent flying like paper and several glowing green crystals were shattered.
His fangs clenched, she slowly began to move through the ruins eating every green crystal he came across, never taking his eyes off a particular direction.
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Daniel looked at the soft light emanating from the ship with some awe, the light felt warm and welcoming, like a mother's gentle embrace.
It was strange, how could light generate such clear feelings and sensations?
Soon a figure slowly formed in the light and a body was projected in a way that earth's technology could not achieve.
Even Tony's great advances in the area of projection did not seem so good when compared.
Carol glared at the figure in front of her, unconsciously taking two steps back.
The figure was fully formed and Daniel was certainly somewhat amazed.
He looked at Carol and then at the figure and could deduce at a glance what relationship they should have.
"My daughter you have grown so much" a soft female voice came from the projection, the woman looked Carol up and down, then between closed her eyes.
"what happened to you" Carol's wounds that were hidden behind her clothes did not seem to be able to hide from the woman.
"I-" Carol didn't know what to say, her mind went blank when the woman called her her daughter.
The woman gently waved her hand, the soft light intensified a little and Carol quickly began to feel better.
The discomfort that had been present in her disappeared and her wounds began to heal quickly.
Feeling her body, she realized that she had healed completely.
"How?" she couldn't help but ask in amazement.
"Kryptonite radiation is strong but we learned a long time ago to deal with its effects" the woman smiled warmly as she explained.
Daniel who was listening off to the side was surprised, Kryptonite? That name was vaguely familiar.
He quickly began to search through the Memory fragments.
Some vague memories came to his mind, but they were somewhat vague, something about a guy named metallo?
On the other hand Carol still stunned slowly approached the woman.
"you... are you my mother?" the woman nodded and approached Carol her hand touching her cheek, it didn't feel quite real, yet the feeling was still warm.
The woman's smile showed a hint of sadness.
"I'm just a remnant of her, a part of her consciousness stored in this ship" Carol noticed the sadness in her words, she was no fool and she could deduce that something had happened, but the answers she was looking for were in front of her and she wasn't going to wait any longer.
"What happened?" the woman looked at Carol before resting her eyes on Daniel to the side, he hadn't made a sound but the woman had noticed it from the beginning.
Carol noticed his gaze understanding what was going on.
"it's okay I trust him" so she spoke quickly, the woman looked at Carol deeply before nodding and beginning to speak.
"you come from a distant planet called krypton" Carol listened attentively, not wanting to miss anything...
A projection of a planet formed in her mother's hands and she could see that world in detail.
"It was a very beautiful planet, vast and with a large population. But with a slightly more hostile environment than this planet. We Kryptonians were spread over its entire surface, our civilization was beautiful" Daniel and Carol noticed the "was" in the words.
Carol swallowed a strange fear forming in her stomach.
"so we decided to expand, to go beyond our world... to the stars" in the projection thousands of ships left the world for the vast universe.
"We managed to explore our solar system, then the nearest solar systems, the yellow sun in them gave us unparalleled strength and power, we formed alliances we expanded and the Krypton empire grew, although we never left our home planet our activities expanded far beyond it".
Several images were shown, displaying the glorious exploits of the Kryptonians in them.
Carol's mother's smile disappeared.
"Then he happened" the projection changed.
In it a being of unimaginable proportions appeared, it looked humanoid wearing purple armor but its size was equal to that of a planet.
In his hands, a large scepter glowing with an unparalleled purple light, was held.
In the projection they could see how this being approached Krypton, hundreds of Kryptonian ships returned from space and thousands of small figures flew out of them fighting against the being.
"his name is Galactus, devourer of worlds, he has existed since before the creation of the universe, some think of him as a natural force in the universe, some worship him as a deity but to call him a god would not be adequate because even the gods bow down to him"
The figure of the giant of unimaginable proportions became clearer, it looked too humanoid.
"krypton was an ancient planet, its core was old and we knew its life would end at some point, he knew it too and that's why he came."
Daniel looked at the projected being and cold sweat ran down his back, this being, he knew it, it had plagued his thoughts since he came to this world.
Although they were vague images they were enough to give him a sense of unparalleled crisis.
It was one of the threats Daniel could remember and one of the reasons he sought to become stronger.
Carol watched the projection in disbelief, millions of Kryptonians fought against Galactus but the outcome was not as expected, their numbers fell, although their battle was unparalleled and they even wounded the being yet they seemed to be losing as time went on.
The scepter's purple light swept through space wreaking havoc.
"Although the yellow sun gives us unparalleled powers, the red sun that illuminates Krypton does not, in that battle all the Kryptonians who had gone out to explore the stars returned, thousands of them recharged with energy from the yellow sun yet that energy could not replenish itself under the presence of the red sun, little by little their strength was depleted and the powers granted by the light of the yellow sun as well."
Carol saw it, with every second more and more Kryptonians fell, at first Galactus had not even been able to approach the planet, even with his mighty scepter, his power could not stand up to thousands of Kryptonian soldiers recharged with the light of a yellow star, they beat him back and forth without mercy.
They tore his armor and tore his energy body mercilessly, but Galactus looked like a spoonful, no matter the wounds he resisted, resisted until the strength of the Kryptonians was sapped by the red sun that illuminated his world.
He who had given life to their species now snatched their strength to protect their world.
"Krypton was going to fall, we all realized it but no one stopped fighting, it was our home, our world, although we had explored the stars we had never colonized other worlds, we didn't think it was necessary and that was our mistake" the woman looked at the images with sadness.
"Your father and I were scientists and we tried to use the most advanced weapons of Krypton to resist a little longer, even so we knew that the end was inevitable".
Soon Galactus arrived on the planet, he began to devastate it mercilessly.
"the end was imminent we knew it but we were not willing to fall like that, at least it was not what we wanted for you."
Carol frowned.
"We?" her mother looked at her sadly, a look that showed a pain that very few people could understand.
"you and your brother" the projection changed, two small babies were shown being placed each in their own ship.
"We didn't want you to share our own fate, we wanted to send you together but all the advanced ships were being used for battle, your father managed to salvage some old single voyage models and hastily adapted them for your journey."
In the image a man was moving rapidly modifying the ships at full speed.
Soon they were ready and in each of them a baby was placed.
Carol looked at the two small figures in amazement and disbelief.
She watched the ships clear and saw her ship leave the planet but she also saw the other ship being taken over by Galactus.
In horror she witnessed how that small ship was devoured.
"We knew it would be dangerous but we didn't expect Galactus to catch on so quickly" his mother looked at the images with incomparable sadness, if it wasn't a projection she would probably cry.
Daniel watched from the side with regret, if things hadn't gone so wrong Carol probably would have had a brother, she might not have grown up alone.
"His name, what was his name" Carol asked with a lump in her throat.
The woman looked at her sympathetically and answered.
"His name was kal-el and he was your older brother."
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After several hours they left the cave and returned the ship to the barn, Carol was somewhat distracted, during this time she had obtained a lot of information and her head was a mess.
Sitting in the backyard of Daniel's farm they both looked up at the sky with different thoughts.
Carol thinking about all she had learned.
Of all she could have had but lost.
For his part Daniel was quite worried and relieved at the same time.
Worried that one of his biggest fears had been confirmed and relieved that Carol was not what he thought.
The latter made him relax even more in her presence.
Before, he had unconsciously always been alert when he was with her, always vigilant.
Now the relief allowed him to relax by her side more than before, yet he could not enjoy this because the threat he feared he now knew was real and was out there in deep space destroying worlds and entire civilizations.
At any moment it could come to earth and he was not sure he could save this planet, his people. He did not believe he would die against it, he had many ways to survive and wandering through space was easy for a Viltrumite.
If I wanted to, I could go anywhere in the universe.
But the earth and its inhabitants were another matter, what purpose did his life, his existence, serve if he simply escaped and let humanity be destroyed?
What sense did he have in such a situation?
If he ran away, what would differentiate him from the trash?
No. In fact, garbage would be better because at least garbage fulfills the function of being garbage.
Without humanity what function did he have?
He could not allow this world to be destroyed, he would rather die again than let something like this happen.
If the worst comes to the worst then I would simply take as many humans as I could and find a new planet, create a new earth.
And I would look for a way to avenge the old one.
Avenge uh... I get the name.
No matter what, as long as there was life in his body he would not allow humanity to be destroyed.
If necessary he would force the evolution of mankind of course he did not want to use this method.
He wanted to be a hero, if he used the more radical method the only thing he would end up being was a conqueror.
A dictator.
He was pretty sure that if he was backed into a corner he would not hesitate to do whatever was necessary no matter how horrible and cruel.
Wow, those thoughts were too dark, bad habits from his previous life were coming back, he really needed therapy.
Daniel quickly pulled his mind out of his darkest and most terrible thoughts, normally these days his mind didn't go so deep into those thoughts but today's revelation made him fall into them unintentionally.
Daniel was not as good a person at least not as much as he had been acting in this life, he wanted to be, he really wanted to be, his parents were good, people his brother was a good, person but he was not.
His influences as a kid were good, his favorite hero was good, it seemed like everyone around him was a decent person.
He wasn't like that. But he wanted to be, he wished he was.
In his previous life he had done many things that he could break every bone in his body for in this life.
Of course he never crossed a certain line, never killed, never raped, never stole.
But he had done things that very much bordered on those lines and for which he deeply regretted.
His parents had taught him better and after many failures he had tried to be better.
In his previous life he was beginning his process of redemption, he had gotten an honest job, made honest friends and even met a nice girl who seemed to be able to accept his faults.
Of course all that came to nothing when he died.
Still he wanted to use this new life to finish what he couldn't in his old one, in a way he wanted to be that person his parents had tried to raise.
For that reason he didn't do many of the things he could have done, some people might say it wasn't the smartest or most logical thing to do.
But to be a good person you don't need to be the smartest or the most logical.
Looking at Carol she couldn't help but think about what her former self would have done to her.
It wasn't good at all.
Her previous self was too cold, too much of a bastard, the reason none of her relationships had worked out was because they had all been done on the basis of interest.
He had used these women and people to get what he wanted and when they no longer served him he threw them away like garbage.
He didn't understand women because he didn't seek to understand them, only to use them.
At that time in his life he was not a good person and Daniel had tried to erase the person he was from the world, he had tried to change and had begun to do so.
When he came into this world he was no longer that person, he had immediately decided to protect people and be a hero.
But he knew that even though he was no longer that person, it did not mean that this person no longer existed.
In the depths of his mind, wandering in his darkest thoughts and whispering behind his back was that person.
When he realized that Carol might be a threat that person had suggested killing her, that thought did not escape his mind until today.
When he realized that Carol seemed to have a crush on him that person had whispered every method, every way and every action he had used in his previous life to use women.
It would be too easy, she was just a teenager after all, she had no experience and there was no way she could resist.
He could play her in his hands as if she were a puppet and she wouldn't realize it until it was too late.
And that was only if he allowed her to realize it.
But he paid no attention to that person, ignored her voice and did the opposite.
When Carol showed a clear interest, he played dumb, pretended not to see it and looked away.
When she sought his advice, his help and support he gave it in a genuine way that person could never do.
He did not try to manipulate her, he did not try to take advantage of her and he did not try to make her dependent on him.
It did just the opposite.
He wanted to give her confidence, he wanted to give her courage and he wanted her to be independent on her own.
Of course all this was to no avail, although Daniel didn't know it, his sincere actions had produced the effect he least wanted.
Now that he knew that Carol was not the threat he thought that voice in the back of his mind was, he became completely silent.
But even though that voice temporarily disappeared it didn't mean that his problems had.
At some point he would have to have a talk with Carol and he wasn't sure what to do.
Of course if the dark voice in his thoughts were still present he would have whispered to her dozens of methods that had proven to work in his previous life.
He could have Carol eating out of the palm of his hand literally and figuratively.
Fortunately she was not present.
Although that left him with the distinct problem of not knowing what to do.
He was worrying too much, he quickly cleared his mind.
It was not the time to think about such trivial things, his purpose was clear and he had no intention of straying.
If Carol interfered with his goal he would just have to push her away somehow, maybe make that little crush disappear, didn't they say that women could be easily disillusioned? If necessary he could be cruel, he could make her despise him a little but it was the quickest solution.
There was no need to think about it too much.
Either she understood or she didn't, either way her long term goal didn't change.
Of course Daniel was underestimating Carol too much.
What he thought was a small and simple crush was not so simple.
It wasn't something he could walk away from or escape, that option had long since vanished.
As long as Carol was alive she would never let Daniel leave her side.
She would endure, she would be willing to do anything for him, as long as he asked her to.
Regardless of cost
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Dawn came, Carol came out of her trance, the revelations she had had had such an impact that she didn't feel the time passing.
Her now fully healed body stretched even though she did not feel uncomfortable, she felt it was necessary to do so.
She looked at Daniel who was staring at the sky, he seemed a little stressed.
Looking at his face Carol lowered her gaze to his lips and couldn't help but remember what happened before, her face flushed and she almost looked away, but she took courage and didn't do it.
Who was she? She was the last daughter of Krypton, the last member of one of the strongest, most advanced and powerful races in the universe.
Last descendant of a species that had fought against a cosmic force until its last breath.
Why should I be afraid? No! Backing down was not in a Kryptonian's DNA.
Being able to say the name of her race and know who she was gave her a confidence she had not possessed before.
She was no longer so lost and confused.
So she looked directly at daniel with obvious brazenness.
Of course Daniel noticed Carol's look and frowned.
There it was again, that look, it was a goofy grin, Carol's eyes lit up when he gave her that look, when he thought she wasn't paying attention.
Now she didn't seem to care whether he noticed or not, how troublesome.
Carol moved closer, the chairs where they were sitting were actually quite close so it wasn't hard for her to do.
She swallowed hard.
"What are you doing?" Daniel noticed her actions and gave her a serious look, his eyes took on a coldness he had never shown before.
All the bravery Carol seemed to have gained vanished her body trembled and she felt as if a bucket of cold water hit her in the face.
She stood still not knowing what to do.
What was she doing? She didn't know, she didn't have a plan and the words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat.
Daniel knew it was time to talk to this girl, his gaze relaxed and his shoulders slumped slightly.
He looked at Carol in detail.
She was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman Daniel had ever seen before, in any other circumstance any man even many women would be willing to do anything for her.
But Daniel was not just any man and the circumstances were not what Carol had expected.
Sighing Daniel began to think about what to say, the best thing to do was for her to leave behind any romantic thoughts she had of him.
Daniel knew that in this life things would not be easy for him, his goal was not one that was easy to achieve and the threats that would come after him could end up killing him.
Even many of those on his side would die, the world was that cruel and realistically Daniel knew that the odds of him winning every time were not very high.
All it took was a moment of carelessness, a lucky break from his enemy or a stumble on his part.
Dying was something that could happen to him and if he didn't, he would live for hundreds, thousands or even millions of years.
He did not believe he could win every time for all that time.
Unless he found a way to remove his handicaps from his body there was no way he would ever consider having a serious relationship.
And that's surely what Carol was hoping for.
But he couldn't give her that.
Carol didn't like the silence, it made a bad feeling fill her heart and she didn't want to feel that.
Regaining some courage she took Daniel's hand and began to try to speak.
"Daniel I-" but Daniel raised his hand and interrupted her.
"I can't do this Carol" his words were clear and direct to the point and stabbed Carol's heart like nothing else in the world.
The words she wanted to say fizzled out dying in her throat, she felt the world go gray for a moment.
"Why!?" in the end only these words left her lips.
Daniel could give her a thorough explanation of why, he could tell her all the good reasons why he thought it was a bad idea.
But he didn't think that would work, he had to crush Carol's feelings here and now, uproot them, he didn't think it would be difficult, he could understand why Carol developed a little crush on him, rethinking all his actions so far even though he hadn't used the methods of his previous life he had used something he had never tried but underestimated.
He had been too kind to her.
He had been too supportive.
And most importantly he had been there for her every step of the way to discover who she truly was and what she wanted to be.
In his previous life when he was the person he didn't want to be, when he was younger and immature, he had always made fun of those men who did this kind of thing. Helping women with kindness and being gentle with them.
He despised them, didn't understand their actions and just saw them as a waste of time, give them kindness and you'll probably never get anything in return.
Wasn't this common? How many men sacrificed and gave everything for women only to end up as second, third or even fourth choice?
The nice men were not the ones who got the girls quickly.
It was men like that Daniel who did it.
Of course the real relationships, the ones that lasted for years and stayed strong were built on the foundation that those nice men used.
But that's only good if you want a lasting relationship, Daniel despised this because he was only looking for quick profits.
For that reason he didn't realize at first how Carol viewed his actions, of course it didn't take him long to realize that she looked at him differently.
But by that time it was too late and he didn't have the time to bother fixing it, he figured it was something that would pass, who didn't have a teenage love that would fizzle out as soon as it started?
But time continued to pass and Carol didn't seem to go backwards.
Of course she could pretend very well, she knew how to hide what she felt very well, but these methods were only useful in common humans.
It was not difficult for Daniel to see through them and now he would have to crush these thoughts before they went any further.
"I'm not the person you think I am Carol and you really don't want this to happen" of course Carol wasn't going to listen to him and give up easily.
She was stubborn like that, she was also stubborn.
Although Daniel's refusal at first shocked her for a moment even made her feel like her heart was breaking she wouldn't let things end this way.
"How can you know that! You're not me! so why do you think I wouldn't want this to happen" Carol spoke her voice was a little hoarse and tears threatened to fall from her eyes.
"And I know you! You are a good person, you help people without asking for anything in return, you go around the whole world saving everyone no matter the difficulties, I have been looking at you all the time every image of you saving the world is in my mind, you have helped me, always no matter what the problem is you are there for me, you supported me when I asked for it and helped me discover what I really wanted to do with my life, you taught me without hesitation and listened to me even when I complained about the silliest things, it was even you who helped me find the courage to discover where I really came from, so tell me, how could you not be the person I have seen you to be!?"
Daniel grimaced, the more Carol talked the worse she felt about what he was going to tell her.
Nothing she said was a lie in this life.
This poor girl, he shouldn't have gotten so close to her.
Carol's eyes staring straight at him glowed bright crimson, her eyes were moist and her face reddened as she finished speaking.
She seemed to be daring him to say that everything she had said was a lie.
"I was just using you" her voice turned cold.
Carol recoiled as if she had been punched in the face.
"I'm not a good person carol, I'm pretty bad with women in general, you are no exception, before I came to smallville I slept with many of them, I dated several at the same time and only used them for my fun and personal gain, when I no longer needed them I just dumped them regardless of their feelings, I only approached you because you are strong and your skills helped make me stronger, you are a good helper always willing to do the little troublesome things without batting an eye."
Being brutally honest was his plan.
Of course I exaggerate a bit.
How can you make a woman stop having a good impression of you? Just show her the worst of you, the most horrible and despicable, the lowest you can be and she will certainly run.
Of course this only works if a woman doesn't really love you.
When there is real love no matter how horrible you may be or have been, that love will still accept you.
Unfortunately for Daniel, Carol didn't have a simple little "crush".
Carol looked at him in amazement at his honesty and quickly shook her head in disbelief.
So Daniel decided to make it clear to her what kind of man "he is."
Doing this was not something he would enjoy.
He took her face in his hands and slowly pulled her closer to him, he caressed her cheeks, Carol's face reddened and she looked at him nervously, she seemed to have forgotten the words he had just said to her, he had to correct that.
"I like to play with women, the more the better, they are easy to manipulate I can make them dance in the palm of my hand however I want but I also get bored of them easily, you are no different, if you keep this up I will just use you, I will play with you until I get tired and when you bore me and believe me you will I will look for someone else and someone else and someone else and someone else no matter what you feel" his voice was getting darker the more he spoke and he let out some of what he once was.
It was not pleasant for him but he had to make his position clear.
Carol trembled in his hands, a shiver ran through her body with every word Daniel said.
Her body seemed to be made of jelly as Daniel's last words rang in her ears.
Nodding to himself Daniel thought he had achieved his goal, even though his relationship with Carol would suffer a big blow and maybe things wouldn't be the same Daniel wasn't worried about her.
If it was earlier maybe he would have done things differently, it would have been smoother, after all Carol was alone before.
But now she was no longer alone, the artificial intelligence that had the memories of her biological mother was now available to Carol at any time, in the mother-daughter talk they had had earlier they had agreed that she would teach her all about Krypton in addition to various other knowledge.
Now she could leave Carol's responsibility in the hands of her "mother."
She would be a better guide for Carol than he would.
"now that you understand go home it's better if you don't come back again."
Daniel tried to stand up and push Carol away, but she wouldn't let him, her hands pressed him back against the chair preventing him from standing up.
His last words seemed to give him a strength he did not have before.
"I don't care" Carol's voice was low and husky but to Daniel's ears it was clear, still he couldn't help but be dumbfounded thinking he had misheard, what the hell did this girl say?
"what?"
"That I don't give a shit!" Carol's voice was louder and firmer she looked him straight in the eyes, pupils glowing crimson stabbed his eyes with unprecedented intensity.
For a moment Daniel thought a pair of crimson bolts would pierce his head.
But the bolts didn't fly.
"you say you're bad, you say you'll use me, you say you'll play with me and you'll look for other women when I bore you, but I don't care!" Carol gritted her teeth moved closer to him looking at him with unbridled excitement.
"You want to use me? It's okay, you want to play with me? It's okay, you want other women? It's okay, I can accept anything but I'm never ever going to let you push me away, you say don't come back but I don't want to!" the more he spoke the more unbridled Carol's expression became.
This girl was crazy, Daniel realized this fact as he looked into her eyes.
He hadn't noticed it before because he hadn't given any sign but now he could see it and this made him shudder.
This was very bad.
Things were not supposed to turn out like this.
"W-wait Carol don't rush this isn't that simple" he tried to speak again but Carol didn't want to listen to him anymore.
Daniel had lost his momentum.
"Make it simple! You want to use me then do it, you want to play with me then do it, you want another woman then tell me which one and I'll deliver her to you myself, I'll even stand aside while you play with her, shit I'll even help you if you want me to! I'll do whatever you say I can do, so what else do you want from me! What else do I have to do?" her voice became desperate at the end.
This time Daniel was at a loss for words, he didn't know what else to say, it seemed he had made a mistake, if he had known things would come to this point he wouldn't have said anything.
The worst thing was that he now realized that Carol was not exactly in her right mind.
If she continued to reject his advances he didn't know what he would be able to do.
He quickly began to think of a solution.
He couldn't back off, if he did it now then he would continue to do it in the future whenever Carol had a Similar outburst? Would he have to comply with her whims just because she wanted him to?
How much trouble would that cause?
But at the same time if he kept rejecting her things could end very badly for both of them, Carol was not someone who was easy to deal with.
In his mind his darker side came out of its corner slowly waking up again without him noticing.
Unethical thoughts came to him.
She wanted this so why deny her? She wasn't willing to play in the palm of his hand as he wanted why should he refuse her?
When these thoughts came to his conscious mind he quickly banished them, wanting to erase them from his mind.
But the thoughts were still there floating silently in his subconscious.
Feeling Carol's tears fall over Daniel sighed, again.
He had screwed up.
Not for the first time in his life he had hurt someone who didn't deserve it.
He hugged Carol and let her vent in his arms.
She hugged him tightly, unwilling to let go.
Daniel looked at the sky, he really was a bastard.
.
.
.
Inside the house, in the dining room.
After a few minutes Carol calmed down, her eyes were red, this time not because of her heat vision but simply because she had cried.
Daniel offered her a handkerchief and helped her wipe them.
"What do I have to do" Carol's voice was low, but her words were firm.
She looked at him without blinking.
"I just don't have time or energy for this Carol, I want to help the world, save people, a relationship is not something I'm looking for right now" maybe he should have said this instead of all the stupid things he said before.
Carol gritted her teeth, she didn't want it to end like this.
" I can help you, I won't hold you back, we know I can do this, you taught me and trained me for this, I won't get in your way" anxiously Carol replied.
Daniel sighed. He was starting to get irritated
Sensing that he was going to refuse again Carol quickly decided to change her approach.
I had seen this in one of those cheesy Chloe series, I had no other ideas so it would have to do.
She stood up and walked over to him, sat on his lap and pressed her body against his.
Taken by surprise Daniel tried to get up but she used her flying ability to anchor his body without breaking the chair.
"Just let me be with you, I want to be By your side" her voice was sweet, somewhat seductive even, he didn't know where she had learned to talk like that.
"I won't get in your way you can do whatever you want I won't complain" Carol gathered all the courage she possessed she plucked up her courage and kissed his neck, clearly trying to tempt him, it was awkward.
Of course Daniel had an unbreakable will, he would not fall no matter what, Carol's tricks were simply child's play to him.
Carol ran her hands up and down his body, clearly she was inexperienced and clumsy but this gave her a unique charm that few women possess.
Her bright eyes looked up at him pleadingly and her breasts pressed against his body.
Her breath was warm and the red in her cheeks highlighted her beauty.
The unbreakable will faltered and Daniel couldn't help but swallow.
Shee saw this as an opportunity Carol pounced by being bolder.
Of course there were not many men who would be able to resist the temptation of a beautiful woman who was clearly throwing herself into his arms.
Carol was better much better than any beautiful woman.
Her body was unparalleled and her beauty was literally out of this world.
Unfortunately for Carol, Daniel was not just any man.
He used his own flying ability to get her off him and resisted her, Carol did not let go and they both rolled on the ground, of course neither of them used their real strength, at least not to the fullest extent.
Daniel did not want to tear down his house.
Finally Daniel got tired of rolling around on his floor, with one swift move he got Carol off his back and held her down with a move he had learned long ago.
"I may not have time for you, I won't be there for you at important times" she wouldn't give up, Daniel realized, she was stubborn as a mule.
"it's okay I can take it!" Carol half screamed, she struggled against his grip but couldn't break free.
"I will ignore you if something important comes up I may even go away for long periods of time" Daniel spoke again, if she wasn't going to give up then neither was he, either accept her terms or leave.
"I will wait for you" Carol didn't hesitate and replied.
Daniel was starting to get annoyed with her stubbornness.
"You really are an idiot! Don't you understand that I will only use you, you really are stupid!"
he let out a bit of his ugly side due to his anger and regretted it shortly after speaking.
Carol closed her eyes tightly, gritted her teeth but still spit more words out of her mouth.
"I don't care!" it hurt, hearing Daniel say those words hurt so much and the worst part was that she couldn't tell if he meant it or not.
But even if he really thought that about her it didn't matter, she didn't care at all.
Want to use it? Well then it will become so indispensable to him that he will have no choice but to keep it by his side.
If that's what it takes then I would accept it.
It had been more than six months since she had met Daniel, almost a year. Every second that passed without being able to be close to him as she really wanted was torture, she didn't want to go on like that.
Daniel grimaced, he had no more excuses or reasons left to keep rejecting her.
He had already said horrible words and labeled himself as the worst kind of bastard in the world, an enemy of all women and yet she was still stubborn.
Suddenly he felt tired and the fight left his body.
Why had it turned out this way? Hadn't he done the opposite of his previous life? Hadn't he tried to be a good person?
Suddenly Daniel felt unsure if he had really changed or if it was just his illusion.
He really needed to see a psychologist.
He let Carol's body roll to the side and simply looked up at the sky.
"I don't have time for a serious relationship Carol, I don't have time to waste on things like that" he didn't know why he simply hadn't been honest like this from the beginning, he seemed to complicate things himself.
Carol clenched her fists, her body shook again and her mind began to race looking for a way, a way something anything that could make Daniel accept her.
Then she remembered the words Daniel had just said and it was as if a light illuminated her mind.
Even though it wasn't exactly what she wanted she could use it to eventually get him.
"It doesn't have to be "serious"..." so he expelled those words from his mouth.
Daniel blinked and felt a new headache coming on. How many headaches would he have this day?
Getting more courage Carol looked at him and spoke again.
"Even if you just want me to play I can do it, it doesn't have to be a serious relationship" only Carol could know how much it cost her to say such words.
"Relationships don't work that way Carol" of course Daniel knew how hypocritical it was to say this.
For most of his life his relationships hadn't exactly been a role model.
"I'll make it work" Carol said with a resolve in her voice that Daniel hadn't heard before, a firmness that conveyed great resolve.
Daniel laughed, what else could he do now? His body felt tired and so did his mind.
"Do what you want" in the end he decided to stop worrying, no matter what, these problems were just a nuisance that he didn't want to interfere with his real goals.
He would let her have her way for a while, he didn't think she would be able to put up with the terms she had agreed to, Daniel could be vindictive too.
If Carol thought his words were empty then she was wrong, of course he wouldn't do it like he had in his previous life, he didn't want to go back to being that person.
But no one said you had to be the bad guy in order to pick up girls.
Nice guys get the girls, too.
He learned that today.
His words seemed to energize Carol, she straightened up and looked at him with an intensity she only now noticed was sickening.
She was crazy, she couldn't seem to escape the responsibility of caring for her.
Carol couldn't believe she had made it, she thought he would reject her this time too, she had started to plan different ways to try to convince him, she had even thought it would take longer.
His unexpected success generated great excitement in her.
Carol crawled over to Daniel's body and climbed on top of him, now that she didn't have to hide anything her actions were unrestrained.
She wanted to touch him, all of him, now she could do it, couldn't she? He had accepted so they could be together.
But of course even though Daniel had accepted the situation it didn't mean he would let her do whatever she wanted with his body.
He quickly overpowered her and with a grip he held her again.
"You agreed! You said I could do whatever I want!" Carol claimed with obvious displeasure.
"But not with my body, you have to learn to control yourself, what happened to shy Carol? Now I miss her" Daniel complained.
Carol stopped moving, her face flushed. She wanted to tell him that there never was a shy Carol, certainly her thoughts were never shy.
Still she decided to stop fighting for now, what if he didn't want to accept her advances right now? She just had to wear him down, she had noticed a moment ago he was really attracted to her body.
He had accepted, He may not get what he wants right away but sooner or later he will.
Daniel of course saw her intentions, it seemed she didn't take his warnings seriously.
Since she wanted it then Daniel wouldn't beat around the bush, he held Carol firmly with one hand and with the other he began to roam her body Unscrupulously.
Carol suddenly froze, when she felt his hand touch her body her mind went blank for a second.
Unlike Carol, Daniel, who was obviously more experienced, knew what to do to annoy a girl easily.
He didn't go too far of course he just did it to tease her and get even a little.
Her face and neck were full of his drool after all.
Carol blushed to the extreme and her mind went blank, her body squirmed and in Daniel's hands she seemed completely unable to do anything.
She was like a helpless animal in the hands of a beast.
She squirmed, her body trembled and a sensation like no other came over her.
Then as quickly as it started it was over, Daniel walked away from her and didn't even look at her, he simply went to his workshop, he had things to work on and this whole mess with Carol had robbed him of valuable time.
He wiped his wet hand irritably thinking about how to improve "overwatch."
For her part Carol lay on the floor with her mind blank and her legs limp as jelly.
It seemed that Daniel hadn't lied to her, he really could play with her any way he wanted.
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Note.
Too much drama?
This chapter had to be rewritten three times because I had a lot of difficulty describing what I wanted, I hope I got it right.
Chapter full of content, probably the longest chapter I've done so far.
But the next one is not far behind, I don't know what happened to me, this and the next chapter are almost three chapters in each one, if I divided them I could upload six chapters, of course I won't do that, the structure of each one of them makes it difficult to split them so it's better to upload them as they were written.
Carol's true identity comes out, did you expect it? Of course not because I didn't even give a clue hahahahaha
This wasn't really intended to be like this at the beginning but as the story progressed I came up with some ideas that could be interesting...
Carol learns of her origins, gets a new sense of identity and this gave her courage to be more daring although this didn't end up as she had hoped at all.
On the other hand Daniel is still having headaches, it looks like escaping from carol won't be that easy but he won't let her get comfortable either.
He's vindictive... just a little.
Plus carol's craziness makes daniel worry.
He's got too much trouble on his plate maybe it's time to give him a little break? Whoever he's fooled, trouble will keep coming.
Chaos on the other hand was stunned, he hadn't done anything so why did things seem so funny?
Here's an interesting question, I don't know if it's considered spoilert since nothing is decided yet but... that's really the end of kal-el? What do you think.