On his way back to New York, Clark looked at the keys in his hand and smiled with satisfaction. Although Tony didn't lend him money to buy a house, living in one of Tony's villas was much more comfortable than anything he could afford on his own.
As he returned, Clark kept thinking about the "Replacer" situation and planned to check out the villa Tony gave him.
"This is it—12 Longwood Road."
Taking out the key, Clark stepped into what was soon to be his new home."Wow, this place is amazing."
Once inside, Clark couldn't help but marvel at it.
Even though it was just a small villa, the interior design made it feel quiet and cozy. It had seven bedrooms—more than enough for a family.
Behind the house, there was a large swimming pool, split into an indoor and outdoor section. On good days, he could swim outside; on rainy days, he could move indoors.
After walking through the whole house, Clark was quite satisfied. The place was high-end in both decor and layout.
"Tomorrow, I'll buy some bedding and essentials. Then I can move in."
After inspecting everything, Clark left, pleased with his soon-to-be new home.
Back at home, Clark told his parents that he planned to move out.
"Clark, why are you suddenly moving out? Do you have a partner? Bring them home sometime so your father and I can meet them."
Upon hearing the news, Mary imagined a few scenarios that were a bit too adult.
"No, I just want to live on my own," Clark replied, a twitch forming at the corner of his mouth at her assumption.
"Alright then, Clark. I've been seeing a girl recently, and I think you might like her. I'll set up a meeting sometime so you two can get acquainted."
"Uh, sure. Just let me know."
Clark knew that refusing wouldn't work, so he agreed. After all, it was just a meeting. And if it turned out well, he wouldn't mind taking things further.
The next morning, Clark arrived at the flower shop at his usual time.
"Hi, good morning, Nitari."
When he arrived, he saw Natasha had already opened the shop and was busy tidying up—watering plants and arranging flowers.
"Mr. Clark, do you know that making a lady do all this work while you show up late every day is extremely impolite?"
As soon as she saw Clark, Natasha handed him the watering can.
"Also, last night you didn't call me Nitari."
"Really? Then what did I call you? Surely I didn't call you Natasha—especially since she doesn't work for S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore."
Clark smiled while accepting the watering can. Truthfully, Clark didn't consider himself a good actor or a very slick person.
That's why he didn't want to keep pretending with Natasha. If possible, he'd rather just come clean—acting was exhausting. So in this half-confession, he hinted that he knew her real identity.
"When did you find out? How did you know? What else do you know?"
Natasha stared at Clark's "I-know-everything" expression and replayed her actions from the past few days. Everything had seemed normal. She'd even avoided direct contact with S.H.I.E.L.D. to avoid suspicion. After all, no one believed Superman's powers were real, let alone saw him as a threat.
So she was genuinely curious—how had Clark discovered her?
Clark didn't answer. He couldn't exactly say he saw it in a movie—he wasn't Deadpool.
"Take a guess. Oh, and could you hand me my glasses? Things feel a bit blurry without them."
Clark pointed at the glasses Natasha had set aside.
Hearing that, Natasha grabbed a nearby glass cup and tossed it at Clark.
"Why does Superman need glasses?"
Then she remembered what Fury had told her after she reported that Clark might know her true identity.
"If you won't say, fine. But I have something related to you that you should know."
Clark caught the glass she threw and wiped the lenses with his shirt before putting them on.
Once he did, Natasha noticed something—though Clark's face hadn't changed, his entire presence and demeanor did.
To someone unfamiliar, it would be nearly impossible to associate the man in front of her with the Superman from before. The change wasn't jarring, but natural—like how you wouldn't confuse Tony Stark with Nick Fury just because you saw them both.
That was how it felt with Clark. The glasses didn't alter his looks, but somehow made him unrecognizable.
"What's going on? And why are you staring at me like that? Have you fallen for my charm?"
As Clark joked, he placed a POS terminal in front of Natasha.
"You know, your recent actions have already pissed off Ross. Especially after your little show of strength earlier. Now, a lot of people want to capture you, study you—see if they can replicate your powers."
"Before, no one dared act because there was no one to lead the charge. But now…"
Natasha gave Clark a teasing smirk. The reason she was telling him this? It was part of a calculated plan by Fury.
First, they wanted to see if Clark would react violently when attacked by Ross. After all, he was an alien—not one of them—and might think differently.
From Fury's perspective, even though he didn't know if Clark was really Kryptonian, he had to be sure of where Clark stood. If Clark ever posed a threat, Fury, as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D., would not hesitate to eliminate him.
Second, by using Ross to pressure Clark, Fury hoped to push him toward joining S.H.I.E.L.D.—making it seem like a safe harbor.
But what Fury didn't know was that Clark, already familiar with S.H.I.E.L.D., had never considered joining. The current S.H.I.E.L.D. was infiltrated by Hydra, still obsessed with researching powers and the Tesseract.
And Clark had no interest in being ordered around every day. Just look at how Captain America, after awakening, was constantly being sent on missions.
So joining the Avengers? Maybe. But joining S.H.I.E.L.D.? Never. As for exposing Hydra? That was a whole other issue. First, who would even believe him? Second, Clark simply didn't care to bother.
As someone with original-cast-level strength, all Clark wanted was to sunbathe every day and feel himself growing stronger. That, and to watch the original story unfold.
In his past life, sitting in theaters, he often imagined playing a part in the Marvel universe. Now that he'd transmigrated and had Superman's powers, he didn't know if he was like DC's Superman or not—but as long as he stayed out of legal trouble, he could live a happy life in Marvel.
Sure, his presence might affect the original plot—but history had a way of correcting itself. In Clark's eyes, what was meant to happen would happen, with or without him.
After all, his appearance only caused minor ripples. Most of Marvel's major events were driven by conspiracies—and those had a way of self-correcting.
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