It had been two years now since Anthony was called back to New York, and throughout the past two years, a couple of things had changed. The once small Clarke house, which was once filled with childish laughter, now hummed with a different energy.
Inside Nathan's room, which was once filled with various childish toys, papers cluttered on his desk, scattered with blueprints, open textbooks, and glowing tablet screens.
The faint whirr of a soldering tool buzzed as he adjusted the wiring on a miniature drone, its tiny rotors spinning for a second before cutting out with a sharp click.
Over the past two years, after he took his father's parting words to heart and started to see his intelligence not as a tool that he was made to believe by the orphanage directors back in his previous life, his intelligence had gained a significant boost.
The current Nathan's now was much sharper than his previous self, who only got to learn theories and never got the chance to put them into practice.
Over the past two years, Nathan had been absorbing, dissecting, and rebuilding the majority of the things that his father left behind, along with other materials that were sent to him by his father. While other children filled their afternoons with games, he filled notebooks with equations and sketched inventions using the leftover tools and journals his father had once carried back and forth from New York.
His father's old laptop, dented on one corner, sat open on the desk. Lines of complex code filled the screen, half-finished projects that had never been explained to him but which he was already deciphering. Beside it, a row of dusty scientific journals and an open notebook that bore his father's careful handwriting, equations trailing into the margins.
After basically taking over his father's lab in the basement, his mother often stood in the doorway, watching him. She saw her husband's focus in his eyes, his stubbornness in the way he refused to stop until a design worked. She saw brilliance growing out of determination — a genius born not only from bloodline but from longing and hard work
'I'm almost done.'
Tucking away a few stands of hair from his face and then adjusting his glasses, Nathan muttered to himself as he focused on adding the finishing touches to his drone.
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While Nathan worked on his little project, from the kitchen came the warm scent of baked stew and fresh bread, filling the air with comfort. The clatter of plates echoed as the mother set the table, her movements practiced, but her face thoughtful. She glanced at the clock above the stove, then called out to Nathan.
"Dinner time, honey! Come on down, before it gets cold!"
Back in his room, Nathan groaned at being pulled away from his work, especially when he was so close to finishing the programming code that he was writing for the drone.
"Coming!"
Nathan shouted back, the floorboards creaking beneath his quick steps as he stood up from his chair and bounded down the stairs, and immediately as he reached the dining room, he quickly slid into his chair at the table, brushing hair from his forehead.
"Smells good, Mom."
"Eat up. You'll need your strength. There's something I need to tell you."
" What's wrong, Mom?"
A faint smile blossomed on Eva's lips as she ladled a spoonful of stew into his bowl; however, very deep in her eyes, Nathan spotted something that his mother thought she was hiding, and he didn't hesitate to ask her about it. However, before she could answer, the front door creaked open. The sound was sharp and foreign, like the house itself holding its breath. Heavy footsteps crossed the threshold, slow but certain.
Eva's hand stilled on the ladle, her eyes flicking toward the hallway and Nathan turned around in his seat, spoon clattering softly against the bowl.
Nathan's eyes widened in surprise the moment he looked towards the door as standing in the doorway was his. Slightly older now, streaks of faint gray running through his hair, his frame carrying the weight of the past two years spent in labs and research halls. His eyes, however, lit up the same way they had on the day he left, softening as they landed on his son.
Nathan froze, lips parting, as though he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing, but there was no denying what he was seeing.
"Dad…?"
Nathan's voice cracked on the word.
"I'm home,"
Anthony's throat shook as he spoke, his voice was steady, but beneath it was a tide of emotions — pride, longing, and many more.
For a long, suspended moment, the three of them simply stared across the small dining room — the stew cooling on the table, the hum of the refrigerator filling the silence, the weight of the past two years pressing into this single instant.
The long suspense was suddenly interrupted as Nathan shoved his chair back with a sharp scrape and rushed forward, arms flinging around his father's waist.
Anthony, in response to Nathan's hug bent down, holding him tight, eyes shut as if anchoring himself in the reality of the embrace.
Eva's hand resting against her chest, whispered so softly it was almost lost beneath the sounds of the house
"Welcome back."
After the long hug between father and son, the Clarke family sat together at the table, though the food had grown lukewarm, Nathan barely noticed as his eyes never left his father, studying every detail as if afraid he might vanish if he blinked too long.
Anthony, on the other hand, held his spoon with steady hands, but his gaze kept drifting to his son, drinking in how much he had changed. The roundness of childhood had faded, replaced with sharp features, bright curiosity in his eyes, and a maturity that only came from growing up too fast.
"You're taller than I imagined you would be at just twelve years old, son."
In a tone that expressed the weight of how much he had lost with Nathan, Anthony spoke with a small, trembling smile tugging at his lips.
"Twelve and a half."
With a grin on his face, Nathan corrected his father on his actual age.
Warmth filled the house again as the sound of cutlery against bowls mixed in with Nathan's eager chatter as he caught his father up on school, on the projects that he has been working on, and finally on his dream of becoming someone like his father, a person who helps the world through his research and inventions.
A wide and prideful smile spread on Anthony's lips as he listened to Nathan's words; however, his expression soon grew serious as he set his spoon down with a faint clink, folding his hands together, and then looked at his wife and kid.
"There's something you both need to know."
Nathan's chatter stopped mid-sentence as he picked up on the serious look in his father's eyes and Eva straightened her back, bracing herself for what her husband was going to say.
"It is true that I work for one of the world's largest tech conglomerates, but it is not the only place that I work for."
In a deep and steady voice, Anthony began his story carefully.
"I am also a part of a secret, government-funded organization tasked with the noble quest of protecting not only our country but the entire world from danger, and now that the project that I am currently head of has reached a stage where it needs 100% attention, I've been called back permanently."
"Called back… for what?"
Both Eva and Nathan asked simultaneously, with a clear frown on their face, which made Anthony swallow hard.
"There are things happening in the world… discoveries that have changed everything we know about the world, about the future, and they're dangerous, especially if in the wrong hands. I can't explain all of it — not yet. But I will tell you this—"
Anthony leaned forward as he continued, his voice firm.
"The work I've done, the work I'll continue from here onwards, it's not just for the government. It's for you. For both of you. For your future and to better ensure a 100% success rate, I have been given permission to bring the only distracting thing in my life, which is why I have come back; we are all going to New York."
"... Moving to New York?"
"That's right, honey. This will ensure the safety of both of you from those who wish to acquire my research results for evil deeds... The world that we know is changing, and at a very fast rate at that."
While Eva's expression darkened even more after hearing Anthony's words, Nathan, on the other hand, had a completely different reaction as his eyes shone with recognition.
As a reincarnator who had read and watched the majority of Marvel Studios' projects, he knew exactly what his father was talking about, and his recognition of the situation also gave rise to worry because if his father is a member of the organization he was thinking about, then they are in danger.
"We will be departing within a month from now... I know you are not in favor of this decision, and I don't blame you; however, this is the only way to keep both of you safe from the darkness related to my work."