Chapter 54: 1990

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: 1990

In the blink of an eye, two years had passed. Over those two years, everyone had changed quite a bit.

Daniel was seventeen now.

He had grown even taller, reaching an impressive 1.96 meters (6’5"). Standing between Tony and T’Challa, he towered over both of them by nearly a head.

T’Challa had only just passed 1.83 meters (6’0"), while Tony was still a little under that.

They had all matured a great deal, and their friendship had only grown stronger.

The rooftop above their dormitory had gradually become their regular hangout spot.

Tony and T’Challa had even spent a fortune renovating it. A swimming pool, a kitchen, bedrooms, entertainment areas, everything was there. The four of them, Daniel, Tony, T’Challa, and Susan, each had their own private room.

To complete the renovation, Tony and T’Challa had poured several hundred thousand dollars into the project.

And in the 1990s, several hundred thousand dollars went a very long way.

The rooftop had practically become an entire extra floor of the building. In fact, for Tony and T’Challa, it had become so luxurious that whenever they met a girl, they no longer bothered going to hotel rooms.

They simply brought them back to the rooftop. The place was practically comparable to a presidential suite.

Susan had become even more beautiful over the past two years. Yet she was still single.

Plenty of boys at school pursued her, but she turned every one of them down and every single time, she used Daniel as her excuse.

As a result, Daniel had suffered countless headaches because of it. Unfortunately, he’d made the mistake of treating Susan like one of the guys.

And when a friend needed help, how could he refuse?

The problem was that now the entire college believed he and Susan were dating.

Even the number of girls approaching him had noticeably dropped. That fact depressed Daniel for quite a while.

Not that he planned to date them. But having girls pursue him was great for his self-esteem.

Now? He was still completely single.

Single through sheer ability.

A true master of being single.

Still, Daniel felt that he should finally be able to get a girlfriend.

Over the last two years, he had frequently slipped away into space whenever he had free time. His strength had increased at an astonishing rate.

More importantly, his control over that strength had improved tremendously, and there was no helping it.

After using his powers every day for two years straight, anyone would get better.

Daniel estimated that while he still couldn’t safely do certain more intimate activities, ordinary things like hugging and kissing shouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Unfortunately... Susan had dragged him down with her.

As for Tony, he had thoroughly corrupted T’Challa and completely led him astray.

Over the past two years, nobody knew how many girls the pair had charmed. Whenever they had free time, they headed straight for bars and clubs.

Now T’Challa was practically an expert in every form of entertainment imaginable. He had become just as much of a playboy as Tony.

The two got along suspiciously well. It was as if they were practically joined at the hip.

Sometimes Daniel felt like he was the one being left out.

Despite all his trips into space, Daniel had still never brought back a meteorite.

Tony definitely had connections that could help him sell one. The problem was explaining where it came from.

Tony might be arrogant and narcissistic, but he was definitely not stupid.

If Daniel’s explanation wasn’t convincing enough, Tony would absolutely start asking questions and Daniel wasn’t ready for Tony to learn about his abilities yet.

Partly because he didn’t want to shatter Tony’s confidence and partly because he was afraid Tony might try to dissect him.

Putting aside his personal life, Tony was a complete mad scientist when it came to research. Sometimes he would lock himself away for ten days or even half a month conducting experiments.

Whenever that happened, T’Challa would complain to Daniel that going to bars alone wasn’t any fun.

As for Daniel, he never liked bars in the first place, they were far too noisy. With his hearing, enduring that environment was practically torture.

If Tony ever learned how powerful he really was, Daniel was certain he’d ask for blood samples, hair samples, tissue samples, sperm samples... and who knew what else.

And Daniel was sure that he didn’t want to do it.

There was also another problem, that there wasn’t anything on Earth capable of injuring him anymore.

If Tony wanted blood, Daniel would have to injure himself first.

The whole thing felt bizarre.

....

Over the past two years, Carol had changed significantly as well. She had always carried a naturally heroic presence.

After two years in the military, that presence had become even more pronounced. Now she practically radiated confidence and strength wherever she went.

Because of her outstanding performance during service, she had been selected for some kind of highly classified military project.

She had been gone for a long time and rarely came home. Whenever Daniel asked about it, she refused to tell him anything.

"It’s classified," was always her answer.

Daniel couldn’t really be bothered to investigate whatever secret project Carol was involved in.

If he genuinely wanted to know, he could easily find out.

But Carol was an adult now. As her younger brother, he couldn’t spend every day secretly spying on her.

Besides, Carol’s current abilities were already comparable to T’Challa’s, so she was unlikely to get into trouble.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say it was very difficult for anything to happen to her.

Unless she ran into some weird aliens.

These days, the siblings only spoke once a week, that too without fail.

Every week, at the exact same time.

And tonight was supposed to be one of those calls.

Daniel had also met Carol’s friend, Maria. She had been selected for the same classified project as Carol.

At some point during those two years, Maria had even become pregnant.

As for who the father was? Nobody seemed to know.

Daniel strongly suspected the father had to be someone fairly important.

Otherwise, how could Maria have taken so much time off to go through pregnancy and childbirth and still remain qualified for such a highly classified project?

...

Daniel was lying beside the rooftop swimming pool wearing only a pair of shorts. His upper body was bare as he relaxed under the sun.

The shorts were made from vibranium.

Over the last two years, T’Challa had returned to Wakanda several times and Daniel had tagged along whenever possible.

During one visit, he’d shamelessly complained to King T’Chaka.

He talked about how his clothes were constantly getting destroyed. How he was too poor to keep replacing them... How difficult life was...

After hearing his complaints, King T’Chaka generously waved his hand and gifted him several additional sets of vibranium clothing.

Daniel still felt slightly dissatisfied.

In his opinion, the king was being a little stingy.

Why not just solve the problem permanently?

Then again, Daniel wasn’t in a hurry.

Considering his relationship with T’Challa, once T’Challa became king. Well... there would be plenty of opportunities later.

Warm sunlight poured across Daniel’s body. The light highlighted the sharp definition of his eight-pack abs.

Objectively speaking, his physique was flawless. Even Tony had been jealous for years.

At one point, Tony had even built a gym on the rooftop. He worked out enthusiastically for two days. Then never went back.

After that, Susan became the gym’s only regular user. Right now, she was inside training.

The warmth of the sun gradually made Daniel sleepy. When he woke up again, it was because Susan was calling his name.

"Daniel..."

Her voice was close.

"Come try the cookies I baked."

Whenever Susan was around, she always ended up making snacks for everyone. Otherwise, why would Tony have insisted on adding a kitchen during the renovation?

It all started after he’d tasted Susan’s cooking once.

"Mmm..."

Daniel was still half asleep. His eyes hadn’t even opened yet when Susan placed a cookie directly into his mouth. Chewing lazily, he continued lying back with his eyes closed.

"They taste great," he said.

"What did you add this time?"

Susan immediately brightened.

"I added dried cranberries."

She looked pleased with herself.

"How are they?"

"Pretty good?"

"Then eat more."

Before Daniel could respond, she stuffed another cookie into his mouth. Scenes like this had happened countless times over the years.

At first, Daniel had felt awkward. But after spending so much time with her, he’d grown completely accustomed to it.

"Well, well..."

A familiar voice suddenly interrupted.

"So, you’ve been secretly making cookies for Daniel behind our backs?"

Tony and T’Challa had just arrived on the rooftop. And naturally, that comment came from Tony.

"Of course not!"

Susan instinctively glanced towards Daniel. Seeing his completely oblivious expression, a trace of disappointment flickered through her eyes before quickly disappearing.

Then she smiled.

"You two weren’t here."

"Here, try some."

"I just baked them."

Tony grabbed a cookie and took a bite. A second later, he gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"These are amazing!"

Before anyone could react, he snatched the entire tray from Susan’s hands and hurried off with T’Challa. The two immediately started dividing up the cookies.

Susan just rolled her eyes.

"Hope you choke on them."

The four of them spent some time chatting together. Soon, it was time for Daniel and Carol’s weekly phone call. The call had become a tradition over the years.

Rain or shine.

No matter what happened.

They always talked.

But today was different.

Carol didn’t call.

Daniel waited one minute.

Then two.

Minor delays happened occasionally.

It wasn’t unusual.

But thirty minutes passed.

Still no phone call.

No message.

Nothing.

A strange feeling suddenly crept into Daniel’s chest.... an ominous feeling and he knew something was wrong.

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Throw some stones y’all.

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