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Time advanced to April 1999, and spring finally arrived in Alaska.
As the snow melted, the forests and mountains regained their green hues. Aside from the snow still lingering on the mountaintops, the land itself was awakening from winter. Small animals that had endured the long cold season emerged from hiding, busily searching for food and mates.
At the edge of a northern inland town, a strange pair appeared:
One man.
One tiger.
The unusual sight left onlookers staring in disbelief. Many found themselves wondering why the "cat" beside the man was so enormous—it was nearly the size of a brown bear.
As for the man himself, he was difficult to describe.
His black suit looked perfectly respectable and well-tailored, carrying an understated confidence.
Yet his face presented a stark contrast.
Long hair.
A full beard.
An unkempt appearance.
Looking only at his head, one might mistake him for a drifter.
But no drifter maintained such obvious cleanliness and care.
Meanwhile, the tiger's coat gleamed with health.
After surviving an Alaskan winter, Katie hadn't lost much weight at all.
If anything, she had grown noticeably fatter.
Whenever hunting proved unsuccessful, Henry simply went into town and bought food.
Having experienced hunger before, the Kryptonian simply couldn't tolerate skipping meals.
Better fat than starving.
That was Henry's philosophy.
As a result, neither he nor Katie ever missed a meal, regardless of his intentions to escape the noise of civilization.
Of course, some things still needed to be avoided.
During this period, Henry hadn't carried a cellphone with him, meaning most calls went straight to voicemail.
The people trying hardest to reach him weren't members of S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA hoping to stir up more trouble.
Instead, they were recruitment agencies from across the United States—and even Europe.
Some universities had gone so far as to offer teaching positions, hoping to hire him as a lecturer.
The hardest-hit sector was the imaging and visual-effects industry.
Everyone wanted to replicate Stark Pictures' success and become the technological leader in their own field.
Thanks to the glasses he wore and their connection to satellites overhead, the technological world he had built for himself was never truly far away.
He still received all those messages.
Not to mention that he periodically adjusted Miss A's algorithms while continuing his quiet battle of wits with Tony Stark.
Even so, most of his time was spent wandering through Alaska's winter wilderness with Katie, appreciating snowy landscapes he had never truly taken the time to enjoy in either his previous life or his current one.
Now that the snow was melting and fresh shoots were pushing through the earth, Henry felt that his self-imposed exile had accomplished what it needed to.
He had already spent more than a decade living in forced isolation, with no one to talk to.
Tom Hanks had at least possessed Wilson the volleyball while stranded on his island.
During these months in the Alaskan wilderness, Katie's presence had been indispensable.
Without that "tabby cat" beside him, Henry doubted he could have endured even a single day.
The reason for this exile was simple:
He needed to find a way to completely heal his eyes.
That wasn't something he could seek from external sources.
The answer could only be found through introspection.
And introspection was difficult in a place like Los Angeles, where temptations were everywhere and countless eyes were constantly watching him.
Besides, after crossing so many names off his to-do list, Henry knew his own mental state had become somewhat abnormal.
He genuinely needed a different environment.
A place where he could reset himself.
These months had allowed him to identify certain clues regarding his recovery.
Unfortunately, they had not fully restored his eyesight.
The simplest explanation was this:
A fragment of a vast power fundamentally incompatible with this universe—a remnant carrying destructive properties—had become trapped within his eyes.
His eyeballs were caught in a perpetual cycle.
The lingering force damaged them.
His Kryptonian physiology repaired them.
The two processes happened at precisely the same rate.
As a result, his vision neither improved nor deteriorated.
It remained suspended in an imperfect balance.
As for the source of that power...
Henry vaguely remembered receiving it while pursuing the Void through multidimensional deep space.
At some point, within another dimension, he had used the Void as a punching bag and exchanged a single punch with an unknown entity.
That was when the foreign power invaded him.
Who the other being had been, Henry never saw.
Nor did he ever figure it out.
Immediately after that punch, both he and the Void had been violently expelled back into their current universe.
Almost as though the other side had rejected their presence and simply forced them home.
Originally, the power wasn't particularly harmful.
It merely felt uncomfortable.
Eventually, his body would either expel it or assimilate it.
Either way, it wasn't something that should have remained unchanged forever.
But then he had used that power himself.
Used it to annihilate the Void and the Phoenix.
Even if those two somehow survived, they must have been severely injured.
A result that astonishing couldn't come without a price.
His damaged eyes were the payment.
Do I really need to soak inside the Sun like a hot spring to recover?
That question remained unanswered.
Yet one of the primary reasons he decided to end this retreat despite his incomplete recovery was a voicemail.
The message came from New York.
Specifically, from Maria Thomson, Katherine Hepburn's private caregiver.
After returning to town, Henry placed a long-distance call.
The line was quickly answered.
A familiar voice greeted him.
"This is Maria Thomson. Who's calling?"
"Ms. Thomson, this is Henry Brown."
He paused.
"You left me a message. Is something wrong? How is Katherine doing?"
A bitter laugh came through the receiver.
"Katherine's condition hasn't been good for quite some time."
Maria sighed.
"Recently her dementia seems to have gotten worse.
"For the past few days she's been insisting she wants to see Spencer Tracy.
"She wants to see Howard Stark.
"And she wants to see you."
Maria paused.
"We obviously can't let Katherine go looking for the first two.
"You're the only one who's still alive.
"So I was hoping you could come to New York and see her. Maybe calm her down a little.
"I'm sorry. I know it's unfair to trouble you like this.
"But I don't know what else to do."
On his end of the line, Henry could only smile helplessly.
"What have I done to deserve being mentioned alongside those two?"
He sighed.
"Alright. I'll come.
"But I'm in Alaska right now.
"Even if I leave immediately, it'll still take several days to reach New York.
"Please be patient."
"Thank you."
Maria sounded relieved.
"I'll tell Katherine.
"Hopefully that'll calm her down."
"Is it really that bad?" Henry asked.
The question immediately opened the floodgates.
Maria began venting all her frustrations.
"Ever since Katherine was hospitalized with pneumonia during the winter of 1996, her condition has been declining.
"She eats less.
"She barely talks.
"The dementia comes and goes.
"Sometimes she doesn't even recognize me.
"Actually, back then her sister, Peggy Perry, wanted her to move back to Connecticut.
"But Katherine keeps sneaking back to New York and living alone in her Manhattan apartment.
"The building doesn't have an elevator, so she rarely goes downstairs.
"She spends all her time indoors.
"No exercise.
"No physical activity.
"And her health keeps getting worse.
"I'm not with her every minute of every day.
"Honestly, I don't even know how to take care of her anymore."
Quite a bit of resentment there, Henry thought.
All he could do was offer encouragement.
"Alright, Maria.
"Just hang in there a little longer.
"I'll get there as quickly as I can."
"Please hurry."
Then, away from the phone, Maria suddenly shouted:
"My movie star! My Oscar-winning grandmother!
"Spencer isn't hiding inside the fireplace!
"Don't climb into it!"
The call abruptly disconnected.
Henry stared at the receiver.
It seemed the situation was far more urgent than he'd expected.
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