A terrifying explosion echoed high above the Earth, and Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and Victor Doom were engulfed in a blaze of fire and heat. Just as they thought all hope was lost and that they were facing their imminent death, everything around them seemed to slow down. In their dazed state, they saw a familiar figure appear before them. His presence dispelled the heat and the threat of death, bringing a comforting warmth that lulled them into a peaceful sleep.
With a whoosh, Clark emerged from the flames, carrying the three unconscious bodies through the sky. He exhaled a blast of freezing breath, instantly freezing the fire into solid ice. The beautiful sparks of fire were now trapped within the ice, shining brilliantly under the sunlight. However, the massive ice-and-fire formation began to plummet toward the Earth.
If this enormous block of ice and fire were to crash to the ground, the impact would be as devastating as a small meteor strike. But Clark wouldn't let that happen. His eyes glowed red as he unleashed his heat vision upon the ice-and-fire mass, instantly vaporizing it into nothingness, leaving no trace of the once-burning material.
After completing this task, Clark exhaled and murmured to himself, "The more condensed energy of this heat vision is indeed powerful, but it also consumes a lot more energy. In a battle of equals, I can't rely on it as a regular attack..."
With another whoosh, Clark vanished from the spot and reappeared at a hospital under the Avengers' care. This hospital had treated many patients from the Spider-Man incident, and it was the best place to bring the three survivors for medical attention.
"Superman is here again. Where did he save these three from this time?" The medical staff in the hospital were not surprised by Clark's arrival; they were used to it. In fact, about 90% of the patients in the hospital had been rescued by Superman from various places.
"These three are wearing spacesuits. Could they have come back from space? But I haven't heard of any recent space missions..." someone remarked, noticing the spacesuits on Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and Victor Doom.
"Who cares? We'll find out from the news later. It's not like spacesuits won't make the headlines."
After leaving the three in the hospital, Clark didn't stay long. He briefly informed the doctors of their condition and then departed.
In truth, Reed, Ben, and Doom hadn't sustained any serious injuries; they had simply been overwhelmed by the near-death experience and temporarily passed out. After resting in the hospital for a short while, they began to wake up one by one.
The first to awaken was Ben Grimm, whose physical constitution was the strongest. He clearly remembered what had happened before he lost consciousness. When he realized he was still alive and in a hospital, Ben breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled, "Heh, people always say I'm the dumbest of the three of us, but it turns out that in a critical moment, my brain was the one that saved us. If I hadn't thought to call for Superman's help, we would have died in that explosion, and there wouldn't have been enough of us left to bury..."
As Ben muttered to himself, Victor Doom also slowly regained consciousness. When he realized he wasn't dead and that he hadn't even suffered any injuries, Doom sighed in relief and recalled the last moments before he passed out, "Superman? Extraordinary power?"
"Doom, what are you mumbling about? Superman saved us! How smart am I? If it weren't for me, we'd be dead right now!" Ben said cheerfully, not holding any grudge for what had happened on the spaceship. To Ben, they'd been through life and death together, so there was no point in holding onto petty grievances. In his mind, their failed space mission was just a mistake by Reed Richards, and he believed Reed would be more careful next time.
However, Doom's reaction to Ben's words was different. He didn't respond but sat on the bed, lost in thought.
"Hey! Doom! I'm talking to you!" Ben frowned in annoyance when Doom ignored him. "We should celebrate our survival and thank Superman for saving us!"
"Celebrate?" Doom finally looked up at Ben, then sneered, "Survival is great, but you're being way too optimistic. We need to think about how to deal with the aftermath of the failed space mission. Do you realize how much money we lost for the investors? Do you think they'll just let us off the hook?"
"Even if we owe money, we'll pay it back gradually. With Reed's intelligence, we can come up with another plan and get more investment," Ben said, a bit taken aback by Doom's seriousness.
"Reed's intelligence? If it weren't for his so-called intelligence, do you think we would have ruined this space mission? Not only did we waste all the investors' money, but we nearly died. And now that word gets out, who do you think will ever invest in us again? We'll be pariahs, avoided by everyone!" Doom jumped out of bed and stared Ben in the eyes, his voice full of anger.
"Was the whole thing Reed's fault? I admit, Reed made a calculation error, but don't forget, you were there too, Doom! You always claim to be as smart as Reed, but why didn't you catch his mistake earlier?" Ben stood up, towering over Doom, and glared back. "If you had caught the error, this wouldn't have happened. You didn't because you wanted to prove you're smarter than Reed, but you failed!"
"You've always wanted to prove you're smarter than Reed, but you never had the chance. Even now, I know why you brought Reed along! But don't forget, if it weren't for you, Reed would have already joined the Avengers!"
"The Avengers! I knew it! You and Reed are still thinking about the Avengers. You think they'll bail you out? Tony Stark only offered you a job. Do you think they'll pay off your debt for you?" Doom sneered, his eyes narrowing as he faced Ben.
"Oh, I forgot. Only Reed was accepted into the Avengers. You, Ben Grimm, are just an extra, not even worth that. You're waiting in Stark Industries for a chance, but you don't even have a one percent chance of passing their assessment!"
"Quiet down! No fighting in the hospital!" A plump nurse burst into the room just as Ben was about to respond, scolding them with a stern look. "If you're awake, go get checked out. If everything's fine, you can leave! But stop disturbing the other patients!"
"I'm going for my check-up," Doom said, giving Ben one last cold look before leaving the room.
"And you?" the nurse asked, seeing that Ben hadn't moved.
"I'll wait until he wakes up," Ben replied, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.
"Fine, but keep it down," the nurse said, her tone softening a bit before she left the room.
"You're not much help, but even if you woke up, with your big mouth, we still wouldn't stand a chance against Doom. And I bet you'd blame yourself for everything..." Ben muttered as he looked at the still-unconscious Reed Richards.
Meanwhile, Doom quickly completed his check-up and began the discharge process. Since this was an Avengers-affiliated hospital, Doom and the others' identities had already been registered, and JARVIS had informed Tony Stark about their situation. However, Stark hadn't had time to respond yet.
"You're leaving already? Aren't you with them?" the hospital staff asked, noticing Doom's information on the computer.
"We're not really together. We were just working together on this project," Doom replied, his eyes narrowing slightly as he sighed. "This explosion was caused by Reed Richards' calculation error. I need to leave quickly to handle the aftermath..."
"Alright, you can go," the staff said, nodding and not asking any more questions.
Doom left the hospital with his belongings, his mind racing with thoughts. "They didn't mention a bill, so this must be an Avengers hospital. Our identities have been verified, and it won't be long before the investors find out what happened..."
"I've already shifted the blame, but that won't be enough. Even if it's Reed's fault, the investors won't let me off the hook. I'll still owe a huge debt, and no one will ever invest in me again!"
"This means I have no future here. I'm saddled with debt and may never recover. I need to find a way out..."
"The Avengers! Superman! Extraordinary power has already surpassed the mundane. If I had extraordinary power, why would I care about any of this? Yes, what use is money or capital compared to that?"
"But I can't pursue extraordinary power here. I'll eventually be found by those investors. I need to leave, go somewhere else to develop my powers, and deal with everything else later!"
"As for Reed and Ben, humph! This whole mess is their fault. Let them bear the responsibility and slowly pay off the debt! I wonder how they'll manage to raise money for investments without me. Do they really think the Avengers will take them back?"
Having made his decision, Doom's lips curled into a cold smile as he disappeared into the bustling crowd.
Back in the hospital room, Reed Richards remained unconscious. Whether it was due to being beaten by Doom, his physical weakness, or overwhelming guilt, he didn't wake up until much later.
When Reed finally woke up and hadn't even had a chance to speak to Ben Grimm, several figures burst into the room, their faces cold as they looked at Reed and Ben. The leader frowned and asked, "Doom really ran away?"
"Doom ran away?" Reed was stunned and looked at Ben in confusion. "What happened?"
"He woke up, went for his check-up, and left right after. I don't know where he went..." Ben replied, shaking his head
slowly. "I knew that kid wasn't reliable..."
"He may be unreliable, but I'll catch him. I've also heard that this disaster was caused by your calculation error, Reed Richards. So, how do you plan to repay the debt?" the leader sneered, cutting Ben off.
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