“Nope! Not a word from you!” The young man slammed his spatula on the dinner table when an older man raised a finger and was just opening his mouth. They looked quite a lot like each other, sporting the same dirty blonde hair and eyes of zircon green. However, his facial features were much more delicate – something he took after his mother, who was quietly wiping her cold sweat away from her forehead.

The husband and wife quickly exchanged a glance with each other as what happened 18 years ago replayed in their minds. They would have one final fight, one final duet before forever calling it quits. It would be their Magnum Opus, a performance so great that it would be remembered through the ages. Unfortunately, as they waltzed above an island in the middle of the Pacific, they miscalculated. They triggered a volcano eruption.

And not just any volcano, a supervolcano.

In order to stop a global catastrophe from engulfing the world, the Guardian and the Sorceress Queen combined their power to siphon the energy off from the super volcano and divert it into themselves. The volcano still went off, but it would no longer trigger a nuclear winter. However, the superhero and supervillainess both fell in battle as they exploded in a burst of scintillating light. The superheroes and supervillains couldn’t even find a trace of them. Their sacrifice would be passed down in history as a rare moment when a hero and villain worked together to stop a worldwide disaster, an example that all of them should strive toward.

Despite their survival, the two decided to call it quits and finally settle down together. They had enough of the charade anyway. It was definitely not because of the fact that what happened would make their insurance premium shoot up into the stratosphere should they want to continue superheroing/supervillaining.

“Honey… We can explain,” The beautiful woman tried to break a smile. However, when the youth gave her a glare, she felt like a snake was staring down at a rodent. Unfortunately for her, she was the rodent in this case. Ah, their beloved son. The proof of their love and their pride. Despite barely being of age, he was already as powerful as them at the height of their power. And luckily for them, he was blessed with domestic skills too. They could only survive off TV dinners for so long.

“Oh, yes. You’ll explain alright…” The youth grabbed a printed article and pointed at the picture that filled half a page. It was the picture of the youth smiling at a camera and the picture of the Guardian at the corner with a caption underneath it saying: “The Guardian’s surviving son found?! Saved dozens from a burning building!”

The resemblance was uncanny.

Normally, he would think that it was just some nonsense that the media cooked up. However, he would never mistake his own old man for someone else. Even if he was wearing a pair of ugly spectacles nowadays. He didn’t even have to dig too deep into it before he found out that the Guardian’s nemesis, the Sorceress Queen, looked exactly just like his mom without the heavy makeup and that ridiculous gothic dress and crown.

“My dad is the Guardian and my mom is the Sorceress Queen?” The young man groaned as he slumped into his chair and left the spatula on the table before covering his head with his hands. He was already having a headache when he thought about the horde of paparazzi outside on their lawn and on the roads right now. He couldn’t even take the trash outside, and it was almost collection day already. “The HOA is going to have a field day with this…”

“Well… The HOA is going to be the least of our problems…” the Guardian mumbled.

“What do you mean?”

“On, right,” The Sorceress Queen slapped her forehead. “Since this means we’re technically found out, daddy dearest is going to pay us a visit very soon.”

“Huh?” The youth asked, as confused as ever. “Daddy dearest?”

“Your grandfather. He never approved of our marriage… He promised to leave us alone as long as we keep things a secret. His edict basically shields us from all sorts of divination, but now…” She shot up from her chair and quickly headed up the stairs. “Alright, honey. Stop moping around and help me pack up! We have to leave before the rest finds out…”

“The rest?” The youth gave his mother another confused glare.

“The entire extended family. And then, there’s the Superhero League and the Coven of Shadows… I mean, we have a lot of friends and enemies, and I’m not sure whether they’re that thrilled to find out that we’re alive after all.” The youth’s dad counted as he too left the table and climbed up the stairs together with his wife to pack up. “Why are you still sitting there? Come on, get moving. We’ll explain everything else on the way, but we really need to go right now…”