Upon seeing Reed emerge from the machine, Victor raised an eyebrow under his mask. If he hadn't already heard the secretary's report of the experiment's failure, based solely on Reed's appearance, he would have thought that the experiment had succeeded.
The following events unfolded as the secretary had described. Within seconds, Reed, who had previously been standing still, began to experience problems. His face drooped downwards, and then his arms and body were like melting rubber, collapsing to the ground. In the video, Reed continued to address Sue anxiously, "I can make it work. It can work. I just need the power to control the storm..."
"More power..."
Upon hearing Reed's repeated words to Susan in the video, Victor's eyes flickered with an unusual color. He immediately turned to the secretary beside him and ordered, "Take me to the Baxter Building right now."
Although Victor's body had already begun to mutate under the influence of the cosmic storm's radiation, the entire transformation process was still too slow. At the same time, his control of lightning power wasn't as strong as expected. The amount of electricity he could produce was not only far inferior to that of Thor, one of the members of the Avengers but even to Electro, who had caused a great disturbance in New York before. This result clearly left Victor dissatisfied because he wanted to gain more power and wasn't satisfied with the current situation.
.....
Inside the Baxter Building, a dazzling red light flickered as a massive energy source converged within the building. Even Times Square was affected, as screens began to flicker on and off.
After an intense experiment, the door of the machine opened, and Ben stumbled out, reverting back to his human form.
"We did it?!"
Ben looked down at his arms, which had returned to their original appearance, and touched his now fleshy cheek. He couldn't help but laugh in excitement.
Among the Fantastic Four, he was the most eager one to return to his human form. After all, unlike the others, the radiation from the cosmic storm turned him into a monster without any human-like features left. And because of that, he even lost his beloved.
After the machines died down, Ben pulled up his now-loose pants and stepped out of the machine, shouting, "Victor? Victor, it worked! Where are you? It worked! The machine worked for me, it can work for you too."
"Oh it did, Ben. It worked perfectly."
Victor emerged from the shadows, looking even more different from the last time Ben had seen him. After absorbing the energy of the cosmic storm, Victor's body had completely turned to metal, and he even made the sound of metal colliding with the floor as he walked.
"You've regained your human form, and I've gained ... power."
"You planned this...," Ben suddenly realized as he looked at Victor, who had become even more terrifying.
"Oh, I've always wanted power, now I have an unlimited supply."
If it were before, facing the powerful and endlessly strong Thing, Victor might still be wary. But now, facing the ordinary man Ben, Victor didn't even bother to conceal himself. After all, as an ordinary person, Ben posed no threat to him whatsoever.
Victor: "This is what a man looks like when he embraces destiny."
Ben: "You lied to me!"
Victor: "No, I didn't lie to you. I helped you fulfilled your wish to turn back into a normal man. And now that your dream has come true..."
As he spoke, Victor lifted his fully metallic arm and looked coldly at Ben, "You can die without any regrets."
For Victor, the Fantastic Four were obstacles in his way, with Reed having destroyed his career. Now that he had even more powerful abilities, he naturally wanted revenge. And Ben was his first target for revenge.
If Victor's blow landed, there was no possibility of defense for Ben, who was now just an ordinary person. He might even be killed by Victor.
Just as his arm was about to fall, a hand stretched out from mid-air and quickly wrapped around Victor's arm.
"Reed."
Looking down at the arm that had wrapped his entire arm, Victor's masked face looked even colder.
"Victor?"
Reaching out his arm, Reed wrapped the strange figure that appeared in the lab. He heard the voice coming from under the mask, and a hint of confusion appeared on his face. Due to the after-effects of his previous experiment, he was resting on the second floor of the lab.
"What's going on?"
Reed looked at the figure that resembled Victor and Ben, that transformed back into a human, and his confusion deepened.
"Right on cue, Reed." Victor turned his head and looked at Reed.
"Reed, be careful. Victor absorbed the radiation and wants to..."
Seeing Reed appearing, Ben shouted anxiously.
Bang——
However, before Ben could finish revealing Victor's ambitions...
While Reed used his rubber arm to wrap around Victor's arm, Victor lifted his other arm and smashed it on Ben's body. With a muffled sound, Ben was thrown out and hit a shelf, instantly becoming unresponsive and potentially dead.
"Ben!"
Seeing this, Reed's expression suddenly changed. He looked at Victor with red eyes and asked, "Why are you doing this, Victor?"
"Why am I doing this?"
Victor sneered, "The great Reed Richards, you always think too highly of yourself. Because of your self-importance, we encountered an accident in the space station, and my career crumbled. Fortunately, that's all in the past. Now, I have more power than ever before, and I'll control everything, whether it's power or your research. And you, Reed. Your existence is now just a hindrance. In the past, I would kick away stumbling stones, but now, I can crush them."
"From now on, call me by my new title, Reed. I am... Doctor Doom!"
...
-:BingeFics:-
Receive privilege access of next 40 chapters
Visit: -patreon.com/bingefanfics
…