"Reed, sometimes I really Envy you, but I hate you even more because you are happier than I am."
Victor looked with pleasure at Reed, who had already been frozen into an icicle by Liquid Nitrogen. The temperature of over seventy degrees below zero caused Reed's fluid rubber body to instantly become rigid. However, Reed's vitality was very tenacious, which might be related to his mutation under cosmic rays. Now he was so cold that even his snot had turned into ice shards, but his eyes still revealed confusion.
He was just an orphan and a poor kid; how could he make a noble, wealthy second-generation heir jealous? Reed didn't understand. He had always treated Victor as a good friend. Even when Victor wanted to pursue the goddess Susan, whom Reed liked most, Reed eventually let go of his feelings for Susan to give Victor the chance. He never expected that the person he considered a good friend would actually betray him and even speak words of hatred to his face.
He wanted to loudly refute Victor, but his mouth and teeth were frozen shut, making it completely impossible to open his mouth. With no other choice, he could only silently endure Victor's hatred, forced to just watch without being able to do anything.
"Because of you, I lost my chance to make a comeback. Just because I'm not American, they all view me as an enemy. They wanted to kill me while I was weak, basically wanting to treat me as a mere supplier. Reed, even if you have no parents, you are American. The Military favors you and even gives you many privileges. What can I get? Nothing but endless exclusion and mockery. Our treatments are completely different."
Victor, who had been in a good mood, felt a surge of anger when he thought about his experiences over the years. Simply because he wasn't American, he faced obstacles in everything he did here, while Reed was able to gain the favor of Military bigwigs. He was indignant; why could Reed obtain things that he, Victor, could not?
The inability to gain recognition and being looked down upon had completely destroyed Victor's heart. He loathed the United States and this unequal world even more, but his deepest hatred was for Reed, who always seemed to be one step ahead of him. This man was like a mountain weighing down on his head; Victor felt that if he didn't eliminate him, he would continue to be overshadowed by Reed in the future.
"Sufficient heat can fix that rubber-like body of yours, making it stiff. You won't be able to escape this chair, Reed. Your bodyguard, Ben, has already been taken out by me, so don't hold out any hope."
"..."
Victor slowly walked up to Reed and, with a smile, snapped one of Reed's fingers on the chair for him to see. Although Reed didn't feel the pain due to being frozen, seeing his finger pressed against the back of his hand still gave him a wave of phantom limb pain. However, Victor's actions made him realize that his gentlemanly friend was never coming back; the person before him now was merely an angry Beast wearing his friend's face.
Reed's life was in danger, but Victor was in no hurry to kill him. It was as if he wanted to thoroughly torture the man's body and mind, making Reed die in agony—that was the primary goal of this operation.
"Johnny, Ben, how are you guys?"
Following Artoria's advice, Susan had put on that tight suit. After researching together with Artoria, Susan was now able to turn invisible at will. She quickly arrived at Reed's building. Seeing the gaping hole in the structure, Susan's heart tightened. Remaining invisible to avoid the Police who had already cordoned off the scene, Susan soon reached Reed's lab. Since the explosion was on the opposite side of the laboratory, Susan didn't encounter any Police and quickly found Johnny and Ben, who were hiding in the lab tending to their wounds.
"Sis, it's Victor. He took Reed and beat Ben into this state."
Ben no longer looked like a rock man; he was back to his normal human appearance, though his body was covered in wounds. He was currently unconscious, likely from Victor's beating. However, judging by his breathing, his internal organs didn't seem to be damaged, which was good news. Reed's lab happened to be equipped with the 'Restoration Potion' invented by Artoria's company. Johnny had found it and given Ben an injection; at least Ben's wounds had stopped bleeding.
Looking at Johnny, who had no obvious wounds other than some bruises, Susan breathed a sigh of relief. But the situation was not optimistic. Reed had been captured by Victor, which made her hesitate about whether to go rescue him. While Susan was hesitating, Ben woke up.
"I'm sorry... I was tricked by Victor. His goal wasn't to treat my body; he wanted to kill Reed. I couldn't resist the temptation and listened to him. I'm such a bastard."
Waking up, Ben looked at Susan and Johnny with some confusion, then immediately remembered what had happened. He felt deeply remorseful for his actions. If he hadn't believed Victor's lies, he wouldn't have fallen out with Reed. This machine was something Reed had built for his body. After the joy of returning to his original form, Victor revealed his true intentions. Ben had instinctively tried to stop him, but Victor's steel-like body nearly killed him. Fortunately, Johnny saved him at the end; otherwise, he might have died at Victor's hands.
"This machine of Reed's can turn us all back into normal people, but it requires a massive amount of energy. That bastard used that to tempt me. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist the temptation."
The thought that Reed might meet a tragic end after being captured by Victor filled him with guilt. Because of his rock-man appearance, his wife had divorced him, which was a source of great pain for him. Yet, because he couldn't resist the temptation to fix it, he had put his friend in danger. He regretted it deeply.
"Alright, Ben. Now we need to figure out where Victor took Reed. If we can't find his location, Reed might really never come back."
Susan comforted Ben. She already had a lead; Reed was likely taken to the building where Victor used to work. That place once belonged to Victor; it was where he started. Based on her understanding of him, he would definitely kill Reed there.
"I need to use that machine again, Susan."
Struggling to climb up from the floor, Ben spoke firmly to Susan. He decided to accept that monster-like form in order to have the power to save his friend. After all, if a wife is gone, she's gone; you can find another one, but if a friend is gone, they're gone forever.
"Are you sure? You might die. I saw Reed's experiment; he almost died in there. Your success before can only be called good luck."
Before Susan could respond to Ben, Johnny looked at Ben as if he were a fool. Having witnessed Reed's experiment, he was the most qualified to speak. That half-human, half-sludge appearance—Reed had nearly died during the experiment, and he had seen it with his own eyes.
"Kid, sometimes there are things a man has to do even if he knows he might die. You haven't experienced that yet, but I'm facing something I must complete right now."
"Susan, please turn on the switch for me. You guys go on ahead! I'll definitely make it there."
Ben looked at Johnny with a smile and patted his shoulder, his mind made up. Seeing this, Susan had nothing more to say. Since he had decided, she couldn't interfere. Susan led Johnny and Ben to the machine, and Ben stepped inside without hesitation.
"Miss Artoria, I hope you can lend a hand. We need a massive amount of energy here."
Instead of turning on the machine immediately, Susan called Artoria. After all, they had just mentioned needing a lot of energy. Susan thought of Artoria and gave her a call.
"No problem, leave it to me!"
Upon receiving Susan's call, Artoria agreed immediately without a second thought. She was also very curious about Reed's machine—a device that could simulate and alter human cosmic radiation was a fine piece of tech. Artoria quickly ordered Saturday to hack into Reed's system and record the data from Ben's experiment.
"Let's go, Johnny."
"Got it, sis."
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.