The moment the door slammed shut, the living room fell into dead silence.
Maria and Carol stood at the foot of the stairs, the tension and shock still written all over their faces. They hadn't seen everything that happened outside clearly, but the invisible pressure in the air—and Levi's casual yet domineering "Are you worth it?"—had reached their ears without missing a beat.
Especially Carol.
She stared at Levi's back, calm as if he'd merely chased away a fly, and her emotions churned violently. She had always known he was strong—but not this strong. That one-eyed man was obviously someone with real authority, the kind who commanded rooms by simply standing in them. Yet in front of Levi, he hadn't even earned the right to step inside, reduced to silence and forced to retreat.
That wasn't just suppression through power.
It was total domination—of status, strength, and mindset—on an entirely higher level.
"They… just left?" Maria asked softly, still unable to believe it. She crept to the window and lifted the curtain slightly, watching as the black SUVs silently turned around and drove off one by one, soon disappearing into the night of the small town.
"They're gone."
Levi turned around, his face once again wearing that lazy, harmless expression, as if the cold, oppressive presence from moments ago had never existed.
"I told you—if I'm here, no one's disturbing you."
As he spoke, he walked over to the couch, dropped into it, and casually picked up the cup of coffee on the table. He took a sip, then frowned in distaste.
"It's cold."
Then he pointed at the old photo album spread across the table.
"Alright, flies are gone. We can continue. I wasn't finished yet. Turns out your hair was even messier when you were young."
The light, joking tone instantly dispersed the heavy atmosphere in the room.
Carol looked at him, her gaze complicated.
Just how many sides did this man have? Powerful, mysterious, domineering—yet in the next second, he could joke around like the guy next door.
Maria finally let out a breath she'd been holding. She gave Levi a grateful look and took the cold coffee from his hand.
"I'll make a fresh pot," she said. Then she turned to the little girl at the stairs.
"Monica, go back to bed. It's late."
"Okaaay…"
The girl responded, but her big, dark eyes stayed glued to Levi, filled with unrestrained curiosity and a hint of awe. She had seen what happened—the sniper being yanked out of nowhere. To an eleven-year-old, that was way cooler than anything in a comic book.
---
Nothing happened that night.
The next morning, when the first rays of sunlight slipped through the blinds and cast mottled shadows across the wooden floor, Levi had already finished his morning training in the backyard and was sitting at the dining table.
A simple American breakfast was laid out: sunny-side-up eggs cooked just right, sizzling bacon, golden toast, and a steaming cup of black coffee. Maria's cooking had that unmistakable taste of home.
Carol sat at the table as well, but she was clearly distracted. She poked at her eggs absentmindedly, her gaze unfocused. She hadn't slept well—her mind kept replaying fractured memories, old and new, mixed with Levi's unfathomable strength.
"What's on your mind?" Levi asked, chewing on his toast.
"The Kree," Carol said, putting down her fork. Her expression turned serious.
"Yon-Rogg and the others won't just let this go. They'll find me soon."
"I know." Levi nodded calmly, taking a sip of coffee.
"That's why you need to get stronger—quickly. Not by firing bigger energy blasts, but by learning control. Feel it. Make it part of you, as natural as breathing."
"Like what you did?" Carol asked.
"Something like that," Levi shrugged.
"My situation's special—you can't copy it. But the principle's the same. Your body is an energy reactor. Your will is the control valve. The Kree installed a cheap one—with a backdoor. Now you need to rip it out and replace it with one that belongs entirely to you."
Carol nodded, half understanding, half not.
---
The following days passed with surprising calm.
Levi and Carol stayed at Maria's place like distant relatives visiting for a while.
During the day, Carol went out with Maria in the old pickup truck—wandering around town, visiting bars they used to frequent, trying to recover more memories of Carol Danvers through familiar places. She relearned how to use a microwave, got used to Earth food again, and even watched a painfully boring late-90s romance movie with Maria and Monica.
Levi, meanwhile, spent most of his time inside the house or on the open lawn in the backyard.
To anyone watching, it looked like he was just zoning out or sunbathing.
In reality, his consciousness was deep within his mental world, working like an ultra-precise engineer—constantly analyzing, refining, and mastering the fused energy inside him.
He could feel his control over space steadily improving—slow, but rock-solid. From crude twisting and compression, he had reached the point where he could split a single suspended droplet of water perfectly in half from the inside, without changing its outer shape or causing any energy disturbance.
That level of precision was the truly terrifying part.
It meant that if he wanted to, he could silently sever someone's artery—and the victim wouldn't even know how they died.
At the same time, Levi was thinking about his next move.
His ability list already included S-Rank Regeneration, Super Soldier Serum, Binary Form, Basic Atmospheric Control, Kinetic Infusion, Enhanced Senses and Physique, and Morphological Mimicry. Offense, defense, endurance, disguise, AoE—he had almost no obvious weaknesses.
But Levi never believed in having enough trump cards.
This universe ran deep. Even setting aside cosmic gods lurking in the shadows, Thanos alone wasn't something his current toolkit could guarantee victory against.
His system allowed him to copy one ability per week. Three days remained until the next cooldown ended. He needed a new target.
Nick Fury hadn't sent anyone else—but Levi knew better. That old fox hadn't given up. There were "eyes" lingering around the town's outskirts, neither too close nor too far. Once or twice, Levi even picked up extremely faint communications signals—technology that didn't belong to this era. S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to reach him through encrypted channels.
Levi ignored all of it.
He enjoyed this dynamic—enemy in the dark, himself in the light. The more Fury guessed, the more he overthought, the safer Levi became.
---
That afternoon, Levi was lying on a deck chair in the backyard, eyes closed, contemplating spatial folding, when a small figure tiptoed up beside him.
It was Monica.
She held a glass of lemonade with a straw, carefully offering it to him.
"M-Mr. Chen?" she asked softly. Ever since learning that Levi's alias was Anthony Chen, she'd been calling him that.
"Mom asked me to bring you some water."
Levi opened his eyes, smiled, and took the glass.
"Thanks, Monica."
"You're welcome."
She didn't leave. Instead, she stood there, hands clasped behind her back, twisting the hem of her shirt—clearly wanting to ask something.
"Something else?" Levi asked.
"Um…" Monica hesitated, then finally gathered her courage.
"That night… the bad guy—were you the one who knocked him out?"
Her eyes sparkled with pure curiosity.
Levi looked at her for a moment. He remembered that in the future, this little girl would gain incredible energy-manipulation powers of her own and become the hero Spectrum. Maybe planting a seed now wasn't such a bad thing.
Instead of answering directly, he raised a finger.
A single crystal-clear droplet rose from the lemonade, floating against gravity.
Monica's mouth slowly formed an "O".
The droplet began to change shape—first into a tiny butterfly flapping its wings, then it circled her once. Next, it turned into a miniature cartoon spaceship identical to the one on her pajamas. Finally, it became a little stick figure waving at her.
"Waaah—!"
She couldn't help but gasp. It was a hundred times cooler than any magic trick she'd ever seen.
"This isn't mind control," Levi said gently.
"It's… understanding the world on a deeper level. When you can read the 'code' that makes up reality, you can make small edits."
He flicked his finger lightly.
The watery stick figure floated over and tapped Monica's nose before collapsing back into a cool droplet.
She touched her nose instinctively, then burst into giggles, looking at Levi with pure admiration.
Just then, Carol and Maria walked out from the house.
Carol watched Levi interacting with Monica, her expression softening. Over the past few days, Levi hadn't said much—but he was like an anchor. As long as he was here, people felt inexplicably at ease.
"Looks like kids really like you," Carol teased.
"Maybe," Levi replied casually.
Suddenly, his smile froze.
His eyes sharpened, lifting toward the sky.
Before Carol or Maria could react, Levi's figure left a faint afterimage—and in the next instant, he was standing on the roof.
"What is it?" Carol tensed immediately, energy stirring within her.
"We've got company," Levi's voice came down coldly.
"And they're here for you."
The blue sky above held a tiny black dot—rapidly expanding.
The next second, a green energy beam tore through the sky like a death ray, roaring straight toward Maria's house.
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