Mr. Kent And ME [BL]

Shadows and Secrets

Clark looked at the picture of Soren and smiled slightly.

Soren looked so adorable in the photo, with his golden curls peeking out from under his hat, and his big scarf wrapped around him like a little roly-poly doll.

It made him look even smaller next to Clark, almost like a giant stuffed toy.

Soren saw Clark's smile and sighed.

Recognize him?

Just from the fact that he was bundled up like a penguin?

If he had known the picture would turn out like this, he'd rather freeze than wear that puffy winter jacket!

The two of them kept exploring Manhattan until after nine o'clock, when Clark said goodbye to Soren.

They waved to each other under the night sky, walking in opposite directions—Soren heading home, and Clark looking up at the dark sky.

Once Soren was out of sight, Clark took off, flying into the air.

The sonic boom echoed through the clouds above.

Soren stopped in his tracks and quickly turned around.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared up at the dark clouds faintly lit by moonlight.

That sound...

...

When Soren got home, he received a call from Tony Stark.

Tony had been investigating some matters in the Far East.

His AI assistant had reported an unknown creature attacking near Stark Tower in New York, but Tony didn't think much of it at the time.

It wasn't until later, when he got back to his temporary place, that the AI told him Soren had been near the tower earlier that day.

Tony quickly made a video call to the Hargreaves Estate, asking if Soren had been hurt in the incident.

Soren reassured him that when the attack happened, he was in a safe place and wasn't affected at all.

Tony tilted his head, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, "Looks like I need to have a chat with the S.H.I.E.L.D. folks, remind them to do their jobs properly and not let their mistakes become someone else's problem."

Soren nodded his head in agreement.

After a moment of hesitation, he asked, "I saw that big green giant... will he be locked up and punished?"

"That's not your concern, kid," Tony replied coldly, "He caused injuries to over twenty people and wrecked several buildings, all while being broadcast on national TV. S.H.I.E.L.D. has their hands full."

Soren mumbled a reply, but in his mind, he was wondering—did S.H.I.E.L.D. take his notebook?

It seemed possible.

After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. existed to deal with strange and difficult situations.

As someone from New Earth—basically an alien—Soren himself might be on their radar.

But if it really was S.H.I.E.L.D., how did they even notice him?

That night, Soren tossed and turned around, unable to sleep.

He kept going over his activities in his mind, replaying every moment he transformed into his Angemon form.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out when S.H.I.E.L.D. might have noticed him.

The next day, Soren went back to the coffee shop early, still hoping to find his lost notebook.

He asked the staff to pull up the security footage from the previous day to see who might have taken it.

But, as expected, the cameras had all malfunctioned completely during the chaos.

Frustrated, Soren went home and decided to try hacking into the city's surveillance system to check the footage from the street cameras near the coffee shop.

Luckily, the government systems of this era seemed like child's play compared to what he was used to back on New Earth.

Filled with security gaps, it didn't take much effort for him to break in and access the city's camera feeds, finding the footage he needed.

Because of the incident the day before, the streets were crowded with people.

Soren had to pause the footage at every frame, carefully scanning each passerby to spot anyone suspicious.

Soren stayed up all night, carefully watching the footage, and finally, in one frame, he spotted a thin, hunched young man walking past the street corner—carrying the blue backpack he had lost.

The young man looked to be in his early twenties, extremely skinny, with pale, almost purplish skin and messy hair.

From his appearance, he didn't seem like a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at all, more like a regular thief.

On the zipper of the bag, Soren could see the Millennium Falcon keychain he had just bought.

There was no mistaking it.

Without hesitation, Soren called 911 to report the theft.

The Manhattan Police Department was familiar to him.

A few months ago, Soren had anonymously sent them a valuable tip.

After receiving his report, the police quickly called back, confirming that they had indeed caught a repeat offender earlier that morning.

They invited Soren to come down and check.

Since he was still underage, Soren contacted Charlie and asked for a lawyer.

Together with the lawyer, he headed to the police station.

The young man was being temporarily held in the police waiting room.

Because Soren had a lawyer with him, the officers made an exception and allowed him to talk to the suspect.

What Soren saw shocked him.

The young man looked nothing like he had in the surveillance footage.

His face was swollen, bruised, and almost unrecognizable.

Soren had to rely on the man's clothes to confirm he was the one who had taken the backpack.

The young man sat in the holding room, his wrists cuffed to the chair.

He was curled up, trembling, and clearly terrified.

Soren tapped on the metal window, making a sound to get his attention.

The young man slowly turned his head.

"Where's my backpack? What did you do with it?" Soren asked, a little anxious.

The young man's eyes went blank, as if something had scared him out of his mind.

His limbs twitched slightly, and his face was full of fear.