Boom!
The terrifying shock wave blasted Reed backward. The entire hospital room was a wreck, as though a typhoon had torn through it.
Blood sprayed from Reed's mouth. Lying on the floor, he stared gravely at Victor, his mind racing as he tried to find a way to escape.
Victor casually lowered his finger and shook his head. "A clone is still just a clone. To think this is all it can manage."
Then Victor looked at Reed and said calmly, "Stop struggling. I don't know where you got this power, but you're still far too weak."
"Surrender quietly, and you'll spare yourself some suffering."
A faint smile appeared on Reed's battered face. "We spent four years together in college. Don't you know me by now? When have you ever seen me give up?"
"Fair point." Victor chuckled despite himself, then shook his head.
"In that case, I'll just send you on your way. Searching you will be harder once you're dead, but it won't make much difference."
As he spoke, light began gathering at Victor's fingertip again.
Reed's pupils contracted. He glanced at the window behind him out of the corner of his eye, gritted his teeth, and sprang off the floor, slamming into it.
Bang!
With the sound of the wall cracking, Reed smashed straight through the window. As the powerful sensation of free fall seized him, he instinctively tried to grab something.
Just then, something strange happened.
His arm stretched impossibly far in an instant, grabbing the railing on the top floor and slowing his fall.
At the shattered wall, Victor had been about to attack when he saw what happened. His gaze sharpened, and the attack poised at his fingertip dissipated.
He had suddenly changed his mind. He wanted Reed alive!
If Reed's transformation in the