After three days of relentless effort, he finally collapsed from exhaustion.
In his dazed state, he felt himself fall into a broad yet solid chest.
Soren woke up in a warm and familiar bed.
He found himself lying on a soft latex mattress, covered by a smooth, silk quilt.
Unaccustomed to this sensation, he almost startled awake.
As he opened his eyes, he saw Renee's face at his bedside.
He suddenly shrank back timidly, his light golden, thick eyelashes casting a shadow on his pale, soft cheeks.
He seemed very guilty, unable to meet Renee's eyes, and merely pulled his blanket up a little, "Mom…"
Renee's beautiful eyes showed a hint of surprise.
Her warm, slender hands touched his cold forehead, roughly measuring his temperature with her palm, "You're awake, sweetheart. Do you feel any discomfort or pain?"
Soren curled up his legs, not daring to look at her, and cast his gaze around aimlessly, "No, Mon, I'm fine. I'm not—"
He heard Charlie's voice from the other side, "You should have told us earlier."
Soren, like a frightened animal, shivered in fear.
Had Tony told Renee and Charlie about him?
Did they know he was the Angemon that was often seen in news reports?
Would they see him as an outsider?
Would they regret adopting him?
He was so scared that the color drained from his face, and when he looked at Charlie again, his face was nearly turned ashen.
"Dad, I didn't mean to—" he desperately tried to come up with excuses, feeling his heart sinking.
Charlie's tall figure bent over him.
His face showed an expression Soren had never seen before, with his brows furrowed tightly and his eyes fixed intently on him, "If you had told us earlier, we would have called you back to Kansas with us."
——Ah?
Soren, in a daze and overwhelmed by confusion, let out an exclamation.
Renee took over the conversation gently: "That's right. We should have called you back earlier so you wouldn't have had to get hurt in Metropolis during the Black Zero event."
"...Me?" Soren still couldn't process what was happening and asked in a dazed manner.
"What's wrong? Don't you want to live with Mom and Dad anymore?" Charlie raised an eyebrow.
Soren quickly shook his head, "No, that's not what I meant—"
"Luckily, Mr. Javier brought you back. Otherwise, Mom and Dad wouldn't have been able to reach you," Renee said, her eyes welling up with tears, "Do you know how worried we were? All the wired networks in the world were down that day…"
"Renee," Charlie glanced at her disapprovingly, "It's enough that the kid is alright. Why are you telling him all this?"
Renee hurriedly wiped away the tears from her eyes, forcing a faint smile, and took Soren's hand. "That's right, darling. None of that matters. What's important is that you're safe. Mom and Dad are just relieved."
Soren was both surprised and puzzled.
He felt like he hadn't fully come to his senses, glancing at Renee and then Charlie in disbelief—hadn't Tony told them he was Angemon?
It seemed they still didn't know.
He remembered the chest he had collapsed into before losing consciousness.
"...But Mom and Dad, who brought me back?" he asked hesitantly.
Renee and Charlie exchanged glances, and Renee said, "It was Captain America. Darling, speaking of which, we haven't properly asked you why you went to Manhattan that day. You had told us before that you were very busy with work in the lab—did you almost get hit in the head by a falling spire from the Chrysler Building? Thanks to Superman and Captain America—"
"Did they say that?"
"What?"
Soren quickly waved his hand, "Nothing, I really did almost get hit by the Chrysler Building. Yes, that's right…"
He swallowed his attempts at denial and, following their lead, actively admitted his mistake.
At that moment, he noticed the TV in the room was still broadcasting the latest news.
As he slightly turned his head, he saw a familiar figure flying across the screen.
"Up until press time, Superman continues to appear around the world. He is engaged in uninterrupted and indiscriminate international rescue operations. We have learned that he is indeed the Kryptonian, Kal-El, whom the alien invader Zod was searching for. So, are his current actions an effort to mitigate the global disaster caused by him, or is there another motive? Why has he chosen to appear in the public eye only after more than twenty years? Discussions on these questions will be conducted with international political scholars and extraterrestrial life experts later. Please stay tuned for our upcoming program…"
The TV host droned on, but Soren's eyes were fixed on the red cape flying across the screen.
He watched as, through a shaky and blurry camera lens, Clark flew to a stranded train in a South African canyon and rescued all the passengers from the train.
Charlie followed his gaze to the TV, "He's become the most famous superhero in the world now, right, Renee?"
Renee nervously said, "...But I heard that the Black Zero event was caused by him…"
"That's right, hundreds of thousands of people have died in this disaster, and it all started with him. He should be responsible for it," Charlie analyzed objectively.
Soren silently watched the blurry figure of Clark on the TV.
In the pixelated phone footage, he could barely make out just a hint of Clark's red cape.
—In a world of despair and fear, only this red is the color of hope.
He remained silent.
His long eyelashes fell, as if he were deep in thought.
Ignoring his own situation, he began to worry about Clark—
Now, the whole world knows that Zod and Clark are from the same planet.
How will they view Clark?
Soren couldn't help but feel sorry for Clark—he knew better than anyone what it felt like to be out of place.
It's the disorientation of never finding a place to belong, the sense of loss and sorrow that cannot be shared with anyone.