Chapter 66: Protective Brother

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Protective Brother

The next day.

The weather couldn’t have been better. The sky stretched endlessly overhead, clear and cloudless beneath brilliant sunshine.

Wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and sunglasses, Daniel lounged comfortably on a recliner, sipping a cold drink.

Golden sunlight traced every line of his body, highlighting muscles that looked as if they had been forged from steel itself. Combined with his ridiculously good looks, the sight was enough to make more than a few women nearby swallow nervously.

Yet none of them came over to talk to him, because Susan was lying right next to him. Any woman who even looked like she was about to approach would immediately be met by Susan’s murderous glare and retreat before taking a second step.

Of course, there were always a few women who were extremely confident in their looks. Those women ignored Susan entirely and walked straight towards Daniel.

Whenever that happened, Susan would suddenly find endless topics to discuss with Daniel, keeping him occupied and giving him no opportunity whatsoever to pay attention to anyone else.

Susan had clearly spent a lot of time getting ready. Combined with her natural beauty, she still stood out effortlessly among the crowd of attractive women around the pool.

Today she was just absolutely stunning. What made her grind her teeth in frustration, however, was that she had spent over an hour carefully applying her makeup.

And after Daniel saw her, he didn’t say a single word about it, not one compliment. Instead, he’d spent the entire morning looking at other women.

’I might as well have put on all this makeup for a dog!’

Meanwhile, Daniel had reached a completely different conclusion. Sunglasses were one of humanity’s greatest inventions. With a pair of dark lenses covering his eyes, nobody could tell where he was looking.

"This one’s pretty good."

"Huh? The one beside her isn’t bad either."

Daniel silently evaluated the scenery around him. T’Challa’s taste had improved dramatically. Out of the dozen or so girls he’d invited, Daniel felt three or four easily deserved a score above eight.

At this point, Carol had long since been tossed out of Daniel’s thoughts. After all, she was safe and the Ancient One had even said that six years from now, Carol would return doing better than if she’d stayed by his side.

His sister had grown up. It was time for her to experience the world herself. The universe was filled with countless stories and wonders. Letting Carol experience them wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, when she came back, Daniel was half-tempted to ask her to take him sightseeing across the cosmos. Because one day, he fully intended to venture into space himself.

The universe was too vast, there was too much to see. If he were fast enough to travel between worlds without spending years drifting through endless loneliness, he probably would’ve left Earth already.

’It’d be nice if Carol came back with a spaceship,’ Daniel thought.

If that happened, he’d definitely go exploring. Then another thought struck him.

What about John and Mary? What about his friends? By the time Carol returned, he might even have a girlfriend. What would happen then?

He couldn’t exactly disappear into space for years and come back to discover he’d been cheated on. That would be tragic.

’Maybe I could just take everyone with me?’

The idea lasted all of three seconds. Everyone had their own lives, their own families, their own friends. How could they abandon everything just to wander through the universe with him?

Daniel realized he was thinking way too far ahead, it was better to focus on the present and by "the present," he meant looking at beautiful women.

The future could wait.

As for Carol? He wasn’t worrying about her anymore. Eventually she’d come anyway.

Why should he stress over it now? For all he knew, six years later she might come back with a husband. The thought made Daniel pause, then he seriously considered how he’d react if Carol really did return with a man.

Can he accept that? Daniel immediately shook his head.

It was impossible. There was no way he was approving that relationship. The odds of him beating the guy half to death were much higher. If he was feeling generous, maybe he’d only cripple him.

After all, he’d spent over a decade with Carol and most of the time it felt as if he had raised her as an older brother. How could he calmly watch someone take her away?

Daniel had developed a very strange mentality towards Carol. It was less like a brother, but more like an overly protective father.

Then his imagination got even worse. What if Carol came back pregnant? Or maybe she’d spend too much time in space and develop unusual tastes?

What if she brought home some bizarre looking alien boyfriend? Or worse... several bizarre looking alien boyfriends.

Daniel shuddered, he couldn’t continue that train of thought. It was too horrifying and disturbingly possible.

Carol had never dated anyone despite being a teenager. Maybe she genuinely had unconventional tastes, maybe she liked weird things. The more Daniel thought about it, the more agitated he became, he felt incredibly conflicted.

Finally, he decided to stop thinking altogether, it was annoying him. Throwing all those ridiculous thoughts out of his head, Daniel returned to appreciating the scenery around the pool.

Mostly by staring at certain peaks.

Nearby, Tony seemed to have gotten tired of swimming and returned from the pool. He dropped onto the recliner to Daniel’s right.

Looking at Tony, a new idea suddenly popped into Daniel’s head.

’Everyone already knows about my abilities now. Shouldn’t I go grab some meteorites from space? Or maybe dive into the ocean and recover ancient treasures or jewelry?’

’There’s no way I can keep letting Tony make fun of me for being poor.’

Sure, spending Tony’s money felt great, but Daniel had his pride.

What was he supposed to do in the future if he wanted a sports car, or a private jet, or a yacht? Ask Tony for money every time?

Even Daniel felt that was a little shameless. Nobody in their friend group really cared about money. Still, if word got out, it would be embarrassing. So, right now, making his own fortune sounded much better.

"Tony."

"Hm?"

"Do you know any channels for selling valuable stuff?"

Tony glanced over.

"What are you selling?"

Then his eyes narrowed.

"You don’t own anything valuable."

A grin appeared on his face.

"Unless you’re planning to sell blood."

He pointed at Daniel.

"One million dollars per milliliter. I’ll buy as much as you can provide."

"Not happening."

Daniel rolled his eyes.

"I was thinking of bringing back some meteorites from space."

Tony blinked.

Daniel continued proudly.

"Or soil from Mars. Moon rocks. Whatever. As long as it’s somewhere in space, I can get it."

He spread his arms dramatically.

"The entire space is basically my backyard."

The smugness in his voice was impossible to miss.

How about that? You can’t do that, can you?

I can.

Let’s see you call me poor now.

You may be rich, but you still can’t fly.

I can.

Just imagining Tony being unable to respond made Daniel feel fantastic. Back when his powers were still secret, Tony used to show off constantly. Sports cars, money, technology, achievements. Daniel had never had a good comeback and now he did.

The next time Tony bragged about some rare luxury supercar, Daniel could simply reply.

"I can fly."

Checkmate.

Although, to be fair, Daniel was genuinely jealous of Tony’s enormous collection of sports cars. That was one of the reasons he wanted money in the first place.

Tony opened his mouth, then closed it.

For a long moment, he couldn’t think of a response, eventually he managed.

"I can sell them for you."

Daniel brightened immediately.

"But I’m charging a commission."

"How much?"

"Thirty percent."

"Deal."

Daniel waved a hand carelessly.

"There are countless meteorites out there. I’ll even bring one back as a gift for you."

"We’re friends."

"Just tell me what kind you want and I’ll grab it, also it’s free of charge."

Daniel felt amazing. So, this was what it felt like to flex on someone, no wonder Tony enjoyed it so much.

Tony suddenly didn’t feel like talking anymore.

"Bring them back first," he said dryly, "and try not to get shot down."

The comment instantly reminded Daniel of a certain embarrassing experience.

He decided that before hauling meteorites back to Earth, he’d better contact the commander from that Air Force base he’d met before.

That was the only military connection he had. Hopefully the guy could give the higher ups a warning. Because if he got shot down a second time, Tony would laugh himself to death.

"Relax." Daniel waved dismissively. "It won’t happen and I’m going tomorrow."

Then he grinned, "Seriously, you don’t want anything from space? I’m telling you, the last time I bathed in a volcano on Venus, that lava was incredible."

It was pure bragging, nothing but bragging. Tony felt physically uncomfortable listening to him. At that moment, he made a decision.

He would not tell Daniel that many meteorites weren’t actually worth very much. Some were only worth a few thousand dollars, others might fetch tens of thousands at best.

In fact, Tony was seriously considering scamming him, no matter what Daniel brought back, he’d just claim it wasn’t valuable. That would teach him a good lesson.

Seeing Tony remain silent, Daniel didn’t think much of it. Instead, he lay back in his chair with a satisfied smile, a single thought echoed repeatedly in his mind.

’I’m about to be rich!’