Chapter 281: Blonde Insecurities, Maternal Closure

Last night left all the ladies exhausted.

They were all cuddled close to Scott, practically using him as a human island.

Even Brigid had finally grown tired of taping them on her camcorder; she had set the device aside on a dry towel and slid into the water to cuddle him as well, her small arms wrapped securely around his waist.

Scott looked down at the pile of beautiful, sleeping superheroines with a gentle smile softening his face. He let out a quiet, breathy chuckle.

『Man... I am one lucky SOB.』

Gwen and Emma were completely out, snoring softly with a bit of drool pooling right onto his bare chest. Next to them, Beca purred like a content, tired cat as her fluffy fox ears and tail twitched the more she sweetly curled her body into Scott’s warmth. He glanced over at Nadia, who was sleeping just as peacefully, but mumbling something in her sleep.

"...three grams of amoxicillin... mix with the silver nitrate... hnnn..." (⸝⸝ᴗ﹏ᴗ⸝⸝) ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

Scott shook his head, keeping his laughter internal so he wouldn’t wake them. The only person in the entire jacuzzi who wasn’t sleeping in his arms was Kara. She was sitting directly across from him in the water, her hands submerged as she looked down with a profoundly sad face.

If anyone in the mansion possessed a direct line to Scott’s weaknesses, it was Kara. When she wasn’t on duty, she looked so incredibly soft and innocent; those lovely turquoise eyes of her could grow so big and sparkly that they rivaled a pair of sad puppy dog eyes. It was always difficult for Scott to believe that this gentle girl managed to be one of the scariest, most intimidating faces in the global media. Anyone who didn’t know her personally would assume she was a strict, unyielding, and incredibly proud superhero with a harsh military upbringing.

Well, the military part was definitely right.

Kara had mentioned a few times that before she came to Earth to act as an interplanetary diplomat, back on her home planet of Cortia, she had been a hardened member of an elite alpha squad in the Cortian military.

Scott frowned slightly as he stared at her.

『All that rigid military training... plus the fact that she doesn’t know a damn thing about Earth’s social customs... it must make it so hard for her to connect with people. Including me.』

He felt a heavy stab of guilt in his chest.

She had been completely left out of the fun earlier and now she looked like a forgotten child.

Just as Scott opened his mouth to try and cheer her up, Kara began to nervously twiddle her thumbs under the bubbling water.

She lifted her head.

"Uhm, Scott... you really don’t have to feel bad about what happened earlier. It is entirely my fault for not trying to get more involved. I... I just get very embarrassed by this sort of thing." 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Her porcelain cheeks were dusted red and her voice was incredibly soft.

Scott raised a brow.

『She gets shy about group stuff, but she doesn’t have a single problem with having one of the absolute weirdest, most sexually insane kinks on my list? I don’t think I’ll ever understand women.』 (｡· v ·｡) ?

Kara continued to twiddle her tiny thumbs as she looked away shyly.

"When the High Command first ordered me to come to Earth and serve as a diplomat, I was terrified. But then I found out that my cousin... the one you know as Z-rank hero Fortitude was already stationed here. I decided to accept the deployment to make House Negrid proud... and to ensure my father, who is a high-ranking general, wouldn’t be ashamed of me."

She let out a soft sigh until her shoulders dropped.

"There are so many cultural and social struggles here. Fortitude literally forced me to watch millions of Earth movies and read thousands of historical books just so I could comprehend human history and cultures. It is not that I do not understand your people’s customs, Scott... it is just that I am constantly terrified I will never fully be accepted. And if I fail... it will ruin the diplomatic relationship I want Cortia and Earth to have."

She stopped twiddling her thumbs.

Now, she just looked thoroughly defeated.

Scott didn’t say a word. He gently untangled himself from the sleeping pile of girls, taking extra care not to wake Emma or Nadia, and swam across the jacuzzi until he was right in front of her. He reached out and placed a warm hand on her small head to gently ruffle her wet hair.

"Hey."

Scott said softly.

"Do you have any idea that I used to have a massive poster of you hanging on my bedroom wall?"

Kara blinked, her turquoise eyes growing wide.

"Huh...?"

"I’m serious..."

Scott chuckled, leaning closer.

"I was a huge fan of yours long before we ever even met. So don’t worry about all that diplomatic pressure. If anyone on this planet ever tries to make you feel bad or tells you that you don’t belong, you just tell me. I’ll always be there to protect my favorite hero."

The words hit Kara immensely.

Her exotic cheeks shone red like lanterns.

"I—that is—um, Scott! E-, Emma shouldn’t hear you say such things!"

Scott let out a hearty chuckle.

"Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure she won’t mind."

Kara’s frantic turned into a shy smile. Moving closer, she wrapped her slender arms around his neck, and the two of them shared a deep, warm, naked hug in the middle of the foaming jacuzzi.

—-

Half an hour later.

The mansion was completely quiet.

Scott had finally freshened up, changed into some comfortable indoor clothes, and was currently standing in the spacious living room, tossing a dry towel over his damp hair.

The morning sun was streaming through the large glass windows.

"Gwen? Emma? Nadia? Beca?"

Scott called out.

"Any of you guys awake yet? What are we doing for breakfast?"

There was no reply.

The entire house was completely silent.

Scott stopped rubbing his hair and tossed the towel over his shoulder with a smile.

『Yeah, figures. They’re probably still completely dead to the world after last night. I practically had to carry Gwen to her bed.』

Shaking his head, he walked over to the lounge area and picked up the remote, flipping on the massive flat-screen TV to catch up on the news.

The screen showed a live broadcast of the aftermath of last night’s incident. The display showed clear footage of the young mother and her little boy... the ones Scott had pulled from the burning fuel tanker.

But the focus quickly shifted to a split-screen, revealing the face of K. Konrad Kain, the city’s most notorious, loud-mouthed media pundit. The man was practically sweating through his expensive suit with a furious face as he spoke into his microphone like a hateful madman.

"The public is being blindfolded, folks! Blindfolded!"

Kain slammed his fist onto the news desk.

"Sure, what this ’Nightwatch’ character did last night looks like a sweet, heroic act on the surface. A mother and child saved from a burning tanker! Beautiful, right? WRONG! Do not be deceived by this masked vigilante!"

Scott’s eyes narrowed as he leaned forward.

"I am telling you right now!"

Kain continued to scream and his eyes bulged as he glared directly into the camera lens.

"I am absolutely certain that Nightwatch was the one who caused that accident on the Sector 4 highway in the first place! He staged it! He created a lethal hazard just so he could swoop in at the last second, play the grand hero, and manipulate the media! The man is a rogue element! He is a terrorist, plain and simple, and he must be stopped immediately!"

Off-camera, a frantic voice could be heard over the studio microphone.

"Konrad! Konrad, you’re going way off the script! Wrap it up, we’re cutting to commercial—"

"I will not shut up!"

Konrad Kain screamed, turning to glare at the studio director off-screen.

"I am a GOOD father of five beautiful daughters, and I have a moral obligation to speak the truth to this city! Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA, and the Hero Agency should all have their eyes locked onto that masked menace! He’s a public danger—"

Before the man could finish his tirade, three burly studio producers rushed into the frame, grabbing Kain by his arms and physically dragging him away from the desk while he continued to kick and shout obscenities.

BEEEEEP!

The broadcast abruptly cut to a colorful commercial about laundry detergent.

Scott watched the screen with a blank face.

『Hm... that guy is a few screws short of a complete mental breakdown. He’s so... ugh.』

He shook his head, but his gaze drifted back to the brief image of the mother and child that had played before Kain’s rant. He remembered the bruised, terrified face of that little boy—how badly he had been abused by his own mother, yet he still begged Scott to save her no matter what.

The kid’s desperate face haunted him.

Scott sighed and raised his his high-tech TV-TW wristwatch close to his mouth.

"Initiate a localized scan."

Scott commanded quietly.

"Track down a woman named Martha McQueen. Use any available street cameras, traffic feeds, or public surveillance databases in Metro City."

A holographic blue interface blinked into existence above the watch face, scrolling through data streams at supersonic speeds.

Within three seconds, an artificial voice sounded.

[Scan complete. Target Martha McQueen has been located. Current coordinates indicate she is residing inside a Knox corporate property, situated within an exclusive, high-security residential estate on upper Sector 1.]

Scott tilted his head, his brow furrowing.

"Knox? Hmm."

He immediately felt suspicious.

Scott tossed his towel onto the sofa and hurried toward the grand entrance of the mansion.

"Disengage locks on my ride and prep the engine,"

[Acknowledged. Motorbike systems online.]

Deep within the mansion’s specialized garage, the low roar of a high-end engine rumbled. A second later, Scott’s sleek, metallic-gray custom motorbike automatically rolled out of the bay, navigating the driveway until it came to a smooth halt right in front of the main entrance.

Scott grabbed his heavy black leather jacket from the coat rack near the door, slipping it over his shoulders as he stepped outside into the crisp air. He mounted the powerful machine, pulling ablack helmet over his head. He tapped the side of the visor, and a digital HUD materialized across his vision, highlighting a direct GPS route through Metro City straight to Martha’s location.

"Might as well just get this over with."

Scott muttered as he gripping the handlebars.

"It’s almost fucking Christmas already anyway..."

He revved the engine, and the bike tore down the driveway with a ferocious blast of speed. As he approached the massive, smart gates of the Graves manor, a few of the estate’s uniform maids and elderly gardeners paused their work to smile and wave at him as he passed.

"Good morning, Master Scott!"

One of the younger maids called out happily.

Scott gave them a polite nod before the smart gates slid open, allowing his bike to rocket out onto the main road and vanish into the traffic.

The young maid watched the dust settle through the closing gate, then immediately leaned onto her broom and turned toward an older gardener who was busy trimming the hedges.

"You know... Master Scott has been bringing an awful lot of world-class ladies back to Madam Graves’ manor lately. Did you see those girls last night? It’s scandalous!"

The older gardener paused to look around defensively before letting out a low grunt.

"Hush now, girl! You shouldn’t be gossiping about the Madam’s friends. It’s none of our business."

He paused for a fraction of a second, then leaned closer with a sharp smirk.

"But between you and me... the boy is definitely a bit of a pervert, isn’t he? Incredibly sexually active. I don’t know where he gets the stamina to deal with all of them..."

"Madam Graves must have him on drugs. One look at her and you can tell she’s into that group orgy stuff with hardcore sex that leaves you needing some IV the next day."

"Tsk, tsk. Poor guy."

"Mhm!"

The two of them chuckled quietly.

A few hours later.

Back inside the quiet mansion, Emma’s bedroom door finally creaked open.

The fiery lady let out a massive, bone-deep yawn as she stretched her arms high above her head. She was dressed down in a pair of incredibly tight gray dolphin shorts and a baggy United States soccer top that hung loosely over one of her shoulders. Her long hair was a messy nest, and she was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she began to pad down the grand staircase.

"Babe?"

Emma called out in a sleepy voice.

"Scott! Are you downstairs?"

She got no response.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and walked toward the kitchen.

"Scott! The cook isn’t coming in today! And after the crazy stuff we did last night, heh... ahem, I’m ninety-nine percent sure Nadia isn’t gonna cook a single thing... would you be okay if we just ordered some Indian food or something?"

She paused the exact moment she stepped into the main living room.

The place wasn’t empty.

Adeline Graves and Isla were already standing near the foyer, fully dressed in elegant, high-class traveling coats.

Several expensive designer suitcases were neatly lined up by the door, and through the large windows, Emma could see a sleek, luxury town car idling in the driveway with a private driver standing at attention. Knowing her mother’s terrifying charm, Adeline had almost certainly seduced the wealthy driver into giving them the entire ride for free.

Emma tilted her head.

"Hm?"

Her sleepy expression turned into a frown as she looked at her mother.

"Mom...?"

Emma asked, crossing her arms.

"You’re leaving?"

Adeline Graves stiffened slightly at the sound of her daughter’s voice. She forced a rigid, highly strained smile onto her flawless, youthful face, completely avoiding Emma’s gaze as she reached down to adjust the strap of her leather handbag.

"Yes, darling..."

Emma didn’t know how to react.

Her hands turned clammy.

She managed to rub her sweating palms against the sides of her stretched-out dolphin shorts before forcing a tight smile onto her face.

"Mom, uhh.."

She hurried to gather her words.

"You could’ve told me on time. If you guys were in such a hurry to leave, I would’ve arranged a proper ride for you last night."

Adeline could tell her daughter wasn’t happy.

For a brief second, her rigid demeanor softened. She walked over to Emma, stepping close enough for the faint scent of her expensive perfume to be felt, and reached up to gently pat her daughter’s messy head.

"I really loved my stay here, darling..."

Adeline said softly as her amber eyes scanned the quiet hallway behind Emma.

"Actually, I was looking around for that sweet boyfriend of yours, but I didn’t see him anywhere."

Emma immediately folded her arms across her chest and her brows knitted together into a deep frown as she looked up at her mother.

"Why?"

Emma countered with a dry tone.

"So you can berate him even more? Or did you just want to say some more horrible shit to his face before you take off?"

Adeline giggled in an angelic manner.

"Language, Emma. And actually, no. I wanted to apologize to him for the way I spoke before. I truly didn’t know my daughter was dating such a lovely man."

Emma squeezed her face skeptically.

"Huh? What’s with the sudden change of heart?"

Adeline leaned in a little closer and gave Emma a playful wink.

"Let’s just say... Scott is a very ’special’ man."

Emma stared at her mother for a moment and then all the tension in her shoulders suddenly wore off. Now all she had was a genuine, soft smile that replaced the grumpy look on her tired morning face.

"Thanks, Mom."

Adeline opened her mouth.

"Well..."

Her expression shifted as if she wanted to properly explain herself and apologize for the past friction, but Emma raised a hand with a small chuckle.

"Don’t ruin the moment."

Emma smiled, shaking her head.

"We both know you won’t really mean it anyway."

Adeline faked a look of deep offense as she clutched her chest dramatically .

"Ouch! To think of your own mother."

The two ladies shared a genuine laugh.

From near the door, Isla waved enthusiastically at her big sister with a confident smile.

"I’ll make sure to visit you again really soon..."

"Oh?"

Emma smiled back at her, teasingly tilting her head.

"Is that a promise or a threat?"

The two sisters shared a warm look, and before another word could be said, the whole family moved in for a tight group hug.

As Adeline and Isla finally broke away and stepped out toward the idling luxury car, a sudden, heavy thought struck Emma’s mind. The secret she’d been keeping for quite some time now. She knew how much better she’d feel if she just told her mother that Matt was still alive, that his death had been a lie.

But she saw her mother’s peaceful, smiling face and buried those words down her throat. Instead, Emma just raised her slender hand, softly waving them goodbye as the car rolled down the driveway.

—-

Meanwhile, across the city.

Scott’s motorbike came to a stop a block away from the exclusive, high-security residential estate on upper Sector 1. After slipping past the perimeter sensors, he easily made his way to the automated smart home belonging to Curtis Knox.

"Curtis Knox..."

Scott leaned against the thick branch of a large oak tree in the backyard, perfectly hidden by the dense winter foliage. He chewed lightly on a green stalk of grass as he watched the massive polished glass window of the estate’s fancy kitchen.

Knox was the multi-billionaire tycoon who owned Priority Solutions... the corporate empire that managed a significant portion of the world’s top superheroes.

And now, Scott’s mother was dating him.

He wasn’t entirely surprised.

Martha McQueen had always possessed the kind of breathtaking, timeless beauty that could pull the most powerful and successful men on the planet.

She married Megaman after all.

Through the clear glass, Scott watched his mother.

She was laughing.

Her face was radiant and entirely full of life as she playfully chased and baked treats with the young grandkids of Curtis Knox in the ultra-modern kitchen.

Scott’s face was solemn but his eyes smiled with an ineffable touch of sadness.

He’d been abused severely by this woman during his childhood, but looking at her now, he almost forgot that she had also been a desperate victim of horrific abuse by his own father. Seeing his mother genuinely happy for the first time in her life brought back heavy memories.

He remembered the empty, soul-crushing discussions they used to have at the dinner table. He remembered the muffled sounds of his father forcing her to sleep with him even when she was crying and completely exhausted.

But looking through that window now... those dark days were completely gone.

She looked whole and safe.

Scott didn’t know exactly why he had driven all the way out here. Maybe it was to confront her, or maybe it was just to see how the monster from his childhood was doing. But seeing the pure joy on her face, he realized the best thing he could possibly do was just leave her to her new life.

He gnashed down hard on the stalk of grass and forced an unbothered smile.

"Well... at least that makes things easy for me."

He mumbled under his breath.