32: Step By Step

"I am Iron Man." Daniel stood still, looking at several screens in his workshop where Tony's conference was being broadcast. A flashback of a similar but very different scene suddenly came to him, making him smile.

"Quite reckless, huh? Well, I guess that's something that can't be changed." Revealing his identity just like that, only Tony Stark could afford such a luxury. Thinking about it, he remembered he needed to check Overwatch's work. His virtual intelligence had advanced by leaps and bounds these days. Occasionally, Daniel would dedicate one or two hours a day to review its code and implement some improvements.

With access to Kryptonian technology, he could have turned Overwatch into a fully-fledged artificial intelligence, but he didn't. He decided to keep working on Overwatch on his own. It was like a personal project, almost a child in a sense. The thought of using "shortcuts" left a bad taste in his mouth, so he didn't do it.

"What's up, Overwatch?" he asked, and one of his monitors lit up. The image of an eye made of white lines on a black background appeared, followed by several data points.

"All systems are operating at one hundred percent, sir. Also, I have detected several facial recognition attempts in the last few hours using various scanners and databases around the world. As expected, they have yielded nothing."

Daniel nodded. Probably almost all of those attempts used images of his real face. After all, he had revealed it to the whole world publicly. It would be really foolish if no one tried to find out who he was, having such clear images and from various angles of his face. Of course, they found nothing, as his real face had long been removed from any database thanks to Lara.

On the other hand, he looked at the data presented by Overwatch and smiled, noticing some searches done using images of his "false" face, searches that also ended in nothing.

Daniel was neither stupid nor careless. He had foreseen that someone might figure out that his "disguise" was not normal and had taken several countermeasures regarding that.

The mask that altered his facial features was just one of those things, the most likely to be discovered, actually. That's why he never really trusted it. He knew that one way or another, it would be compromised, so he prepared for when that happened.

That’s why he didn’t care at all if Natasha or Fury saw through it. Besides that, the Kryptonian mask didn’t have just one “face” after all. Its ability to modify physical characteristics and traits by manipulating light waves meant that whenever necessary, he could change his “disguise” whenever he wanted.

So when he decided to go along with Tony's game and celebrate with him, he did so without fear since he knew it was just a disposable face. Of course, there was the whole matter with his information registered in the databases as Daniel Warren Evans, where his fake face had been used to replace his real one.

But he had also taken care of that.

He had long left backdoors in the databases containing this information, which wasn’t much in the first place. The images that Lara had modified for him were not just a one-time touch-up, but rather highly advanced software that would activate every time an image of him using the mask was used to try to find information about his identity in these databases.

Its function was simple: modify each image again and assign it a new automatically generated fake face, while at the same time this new face would be sent to the watch he used to activate the mask. This way, he would know when someone was suspicious of him and could change his face at any time. Of course, this system had some flaws.

It might work three or four more times but not always. The reason was simple: he could modify the images on the network, but he couldn't modify the images in people's minds. He could easily discard his first fake face because only Tony and the people at the party, those two girls he had slept with, and Shield had seen it. These people only knew that he called himself Daniel and that was it. They didn't know where he lived, where he came from, or anything else.

But if for some reason his next fake face became more publicly known along with his real name, then he couldn't keep using the same trick.

"I need to be more cautious." For now, he could keep using the first fake face but not as Daniel Warren Evans. He would assign it another identity. It would still be Daniel, as that was the name Shield had likely associated with that face, but he could modify everything else. On the other hand, he already had a new face to use as a substitute for his "real" identity.

That's the one he would need to protect more. It was probably best if he only used it in Smallville and its surroundings and used the other fake face for everything else that didn't require him to be Defiant or Daniel Warren Evans.

"Daniel McLovin? No, that sounds too fake. Daniel Darkmore? Sounds mysterious. I'll go with that." Creating a new identity was pretty easy for him. Even so, he would probably ask Lara to review it later just to be sure.

It seemed like he was going to a lot of trouble with this, but it was actually quite entertaining.

He would just need to create the papers and identification later, which was quite simple, and he could act as three different people if he wanted to.

"Though I probably won’t need to," he spent almost all his time as Defiant and rarely as Daniel. In fact, he would probably spend much less time as Daniel now that the Avengers were forming. Still, he hadn't forgotten his intention to start a company, though that was still in its early stages due to how busy he had been.

It was probably better if he assigned the project to someone else and he only provided the essentials. That way, he would be less busy. He needed to think about it.

He looked at an incoming message that appeared on one of his monitors, pulling him out of his thoughts.

It seemed that Tony was back home and had responded.

It was about their next meeting. After a few messages, they both agreed that three days from now was a good date. Daniel still had some things to resolve, and Tony needed to rest a bit and deal with all the commotion his recent revelation had caused.

Neither of them was in a hurry. Well, Shield probably was, but they would have to wait.

For now, he needed to finish one of his projects and get rid of all the kryptonite in Smallville.

After all, he couldn’t let something like that be loose for anyone to take and put Carol in unnecessary danger. He had already designed the plans for a device capable of detecting the radioactive signature of that material; he just needed to build it. Then, he would make a quick sweep through the town to find everything he could. He would probably need Lara's help later to create a larger-scale detector that covered the whole planet, but that would come later.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Step by step.

.

.

.

Carol had spent hours running from her closet to her mirror. Her appearance had never been something that mattered to her in the past. In fact, she spent more time trying to go unnoticed than thinking about superficial things like what to wear.

That was a mistake. Now, as she looked at all her clothes piled on her bed, she couldn't help but bite her lip in frustration.

Everything was so... bland, too simple, gray, boring, nothing suitable for a date.

Sure, she had more recent and less boring clothes that she had started wearing to spend time with Daniel, but most of it was workout clothes, still quite unsuitable for a date.

Well, technically it wasn’t a date, but in her opinion, those were just details.

In the end, she had to choose a dark turtleneck shirt with long sleeves, the least baggy one she owned, as well as a knee-length skirt and a pair of stockings along with some dark boots she borrowed without her mother noticing.

It wasn’t exactly what she was looking for, but at least it looked decent.

Of course, she didn’t forget that she needed to wear the trench coat Daniel had given her. After all, you never knew when an accident might happen.

In the end, she looked more formal than she wanted, but it would have to do.

She hoped it would be enough.

Of course, that’s when she tried putting on makeup.

Although she almost never did it, she remembered when she was younger and her mother, Martha, had taught her some things about it while they played. It hadn’t interested her much at the time because, thanks to her superior senses, she could feel and see how makeup was just a simple layer of chemicals on the skin.

Well, it seemed that simple layer of chemicals was more important than she thought. Even so, covering her face with those things wasn’t something she would normally do, but this wasn’t a normal occasion.

Of course, she wasn’t going to overdo it. It would be bad if she ended up looking like a clown by mistake.

She just put some eyeshadow, a bit of eyeliner, and some lip gloss. Simple but still significant enough to make a visible change.

Carol looked intently at the mirror, searching for any possible imperfection. When she was sure everything was more than perfect, she nodded and smiled, a smile that would have astonished countless people, leaving them speechless.

Would he like it? Was it too bold? Maybe she should wash her face and take it all off.

Of course, Carol couldn’t help but have doubts. She looked at herself once more, trying to encourage herself.

“You are beautiful, objectively more beautiful than any woman in this town.”

“And you have a better figure, clear and perfect skin, long legs, and damn it…” saying all that out loud felt quite strange.

She couldn’t help but sigh. Looking at the mirror, she met her own eyes in tense silence, a faint red glow emerging from her pupil.

“You can do this, you can do anything.” She was not like the others, she was different, always different, More faster, stronger, harder, Simply better.

More special.

She couldn’t lose to ordinary women. Stupid blondes? Super spies? None of that compared to her, they were nothing more than second-rate dishes.

She was superior in every way, it was clear.

She just needed Daniel to realize that.

.

.

.

In another part of the United States.

"Rick!"

In a dark and messy room, papers, cables, and disassembled pieces of various appliances filled the space. Sitting in front of a desk illuminated by a table lamp, an 18-year-old young man focused intently on the gadget in front of him.

His hands moved carefully, soldering the electronic components with extreme precision. He was almost done; he could see it.

"Rick!"

He set down the soldering iron and carefully manipulated the pieces, checking each part repeatedly, not wanting to miss anything, verifying its condition.

Then he connected a cable to one of the newly soldered ports and watched as row after row of coded data began to appear on one of his screens.

His eyes didn't blink even once, causing them to start drying out.

"Rick!" The shout sounded right next to his ear, making him jump in fright, almost falling to the floor. Luckily, he managed to avoid dropping the device from his hands and quickly put it back on the desk.

With his heart pounding in his chest, he turned to see who had interrupted him without permission in his room.

"Ben! Damn man, don't scare me like that," Reed Richards looked at his best friend with slight annoyance on his face, still clutching his chest.

The boy, about the same age as Reed, laughed, then took the backpack off his shoulders and showed it to him, opening the zipper.

"Maybe if you listened to me, I wouldn't," Reed quickly looked at the contents and smiled upon seeing the electronic components from various devices carefully placed inside. He quickly began taking them out and checking their condition.

"You're welcome," Ben said, seeing how he was being ignored again. Reed snapped out of his euphoria upon hearing him and, with an apologetic look, patted his shoulder.

"Thanks, this should be enough to finish the project." Yes, with this, he could certainly finish it.

"It better be. I don't think I can keep scavenging stuff from the garbage deposit for you, man. This time I almost got caught," he said, pointing to a tear in his pants. Reed's eyes widened upon noticing the rip in the fabric.

"What happened?" he asked while checking to make sure there wasn't a wound on his leg, but Ben stopped him, laughing a bit.

"I'm fine. Mr. McLaren has a new dog, a big and fast one. It almost caught me, but I managed to escape," he said, downplaying it. Still, Reed couldn't help but sigh.

"Sorry, Ben. I should have gone with you—" but Ben stopped him before he could continue.

"Hey! Don't worry about it. I'm the muscle, and you're the brain, remember?" Reed smiled, recalling their past when they were younger and just starting to get to know each other.

"You're more than just muscles, Ben," he couldn't help but say before straightening up and sitting back down at his desk.

Ben Grimm sighed and walked over to see what his friend was working on. Then he stepped on something strange and looked at his foot, noticing he had stepped on a dark stain of some half-eaten food.

Quickly, his gaze swept across the place, noticing the absolute mess it was, and a sour smell reached his nostrils, making a grimace appear on his face.

"Man, how long has it been since you cleaned this place? It smells like a dumpster!" He couldn't help but say it while pinching his nose with his fingers.

"At least ten days, but I'm used to the smell by now, and don't look at me like that. You know I can't waste time tidying up. I'm almost done, I can feel it, and you know the Baxter Foundation Scientific Innovation Expo is close, so I absolutely have to make this work before that date." And what if he didn't tidy up or clean for a few days? His future was more important, though he certainly would need a shower soon.

Even so, he couldn't stop now. He had to be ready because if he failed, he would miss out on one of the best opportunities of his life and would have to wait another year to try again—a year that would be wasted.

Of course, the great opportunity he was referring to was the Baxter Foundation Scientific Innovation Expo, an event where countless young geniuses wished to participate, mainly for the chance to earn a place at the renowned Baxter Foundation, the most exclusive scientific research institute in the world.

Every year, the Baxter Foundation organized a grand event where young people between 18 to 25 years old could present their own projects and be evaluated by the best scientific minds in the world. Based on the results, they could obtain a full scholarship to study at their facilities and exclusive funding for your personal projects.

Richard, who came from a family bordering on poverty, knew there was no better opportunity than this. If he could demonstrate his incredible invention and impress everyone, he could welcome a new and better future.

Away from his father, from his family, and from this damned dump he called home.

Seeing the dreamy and determined look in his eyes, Ben sighed and patted his shoulder.

He looked at some of the plans taped to the wall, barely visible by the light coming in from the still-open door, and some of the notes scattered on the floor. Carefully, he picked them all up and arranged them in a pile. He knew how hard Reed had worked on this, and it would be bad if something got ruined.

“So will your dimensional thing finally work?” he asked, watching as Reed worked on his device. Some sparks flew out, bringing to mind several memories of explosions and rooms covered in black smoke. Wisely, he decided to step back several paces just as a precaution.

"It's not a dimensional thing! It's a Dimensional Teleporter!... or it will be, once it manages to break the barrier between dimensions,"

Rick said, looking at his invention with expectations. It should work; he had to make it work.

Then his whole life would change.

.

.

.

Note:

A somewhat short chapter with some explanations, slice of life, and future drama. I'm setting things up for what's to come, aside from everything I've hinted at before. I have a lot of material I want to explore, but I have to set it up correctly.

comments, critiques, suggestions and more are always welcome. If you notice any errors, don't hesitate to point them out, and I will correct them.

you can already find the next chapter (and several more chapters) of this story on P)atreon (p)atreon .com/EmmaCruzader) All the support received is appreciated ;D