"Hm?"
Victor stared in the direction where the figure had vanished, his eyes narrowed as confusion and surprise flickered across his face.
How could someone in this small town move at a speed comparable to Clark?
"The direction that guy came from… that's Avery's house."
Victor's expression shifted several times in rapid succession. A bizarre possibility suddenly formed in his mind.
Maybe Clark hadn't simply lost his abilities.
"Come on, Clark."
Without wasting another second, Victor grabbed Clark by the arm and hurried down the road toward Avery's neighborhood.
Clark, still confused, followed quickly behind.
When they reached the house, the front door had already been destroyed. The wooden door looked as if it had been struck by a rocket, shattered into pieces that lay scattered across the grass in front of the porch.
From inside the house came the sound of a woman crying uncontrollably.
"Not good!"
Clark rushed inside immediately.
Their geography teacher, Mr. Reagan, was sitting on the sofa with help. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead, and his expression was full of shock and pain. Beside him, Avery's mother Beth clung to her husband while sobbing helplessly.
Clark let out a breath of relief when he saw that they were still alive.
"Aunt Beth, what happened?"
Victor stepped inside after Clark, frowning as he glanced at the broken door.
"Avery… he hasn't been himself since he came home yesterday."
Beth's eyes were red and swollen from crying.
"Just now he tried to run away from home. His father tried to stop him… but Avery threw him aside."
Her voice trembled as she spoke.
Reagan had tried to grab Avery's arm to stop him from leaving. Avery casually pushed him away, and Reagan was sent flying across the dining table before crashing onto the sofa nearly eight meters away.
If the sofa hadn't softened the impact, he might have suffered broken bones.
"Then Avery kicked open the door," Beth continued through tears. "There was this loud explosion of wind, and he disappeared in the blink of an eye."
Reagan himself still couldn't understand it.
How could his son suddenly possess such terrifying strength?
"Run away from home? Where did he go?"
Clark asked anxiously.
They needed to find Avery quickly. In his current emotional state, he could easily do something irreversible.
"Wait a second, Clark."
Victor pulled him back toward the doorway.
After hearing Beth's explanation, Victor felt even more certain about his suspicion.
"Aunt Beth's description… doesn't that sound familiar to you?"
Clark frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Victor lowered his voice slightly.
"He survived being struck by lightning. He's incredibly strong and unbelievably fast—fast enough that the human eye can't track him."
Victor paused.
"I don't think Avery gained those abilities through mutation."
Clark blinked.
"Not mutation?"
Victor continued calmly.
"A moment ago I saw someone leaving town at dozens of times the speed of sound."
His eyes darkened slightly.
"And that direction… was exactly here."
Victor looked straight at Clark.
"You lost your powers yesterday."
"And at the same time Avery suddenly gained powers identical to yours."
Clark froze.
His mouth slowly opened.
"You… you mean…"
The thought felt almost impossible.
"You're saying the lightning and meteorite transferred my powers to Avery?"
Victor didn't even have time to nod before Clark spun around and hurried back toward the couple.
"Aunt Beth!"
Clark's voice was urgent.
"Avery might be in serious danger. Do you know where he went?"
Beth wiped away tears, still shaken by her son's sudden transformation.
"I… I'm not sure."
Her voice trembled.
"He said this place made him uncomfortable. He said he was going somewhere that was a paradise for powerful people."
Clark frowned.
"A paradise?"
Beth nodded weakly.
"He said there were no laws there… and that the people living there were numb and waiting to be conquered."
She repeated the strange words Avery had spoken before leaving.
"He said it wasn't far away. And one day he would return…"
Beth's voice broke as she continued.
"When he comes back, he'll erase everything in this town that makes him uncomfortable."
Her hands trembled.
"He said that when the time comes… he could do whatever he wants."
Victor let out a cold laugh.
"Do whatever he wants?"
Greg had once believed he was evolving into something superior to humanity. Now Avery had gained Kryptonian power and already believed himself to be some kind of god.
"A paradise for the powerful… no laws…"
Clark tried to make sense of those words.
Where could such a place be?
A war zone?
Victor turned his head slowly and looked toward the distant horizon—the direction the mysterious figure had disappeared.
His eyes sharpened.
"The answer is obvious."
Clark looked at him.
"Where?"
Victor said quietly,
"Gotham."
Clark's expression changed instantly.
…
A city close to Metropolis.
A place where the law often meant nothing to the powerful.
A place where crime was so common that many citizens had grown numb to it.
There was only one place that description could match.
After offering a few comforting words to Mr. and Mrs. Reagan, Victor and Clark hurried back home.
They quickly explained everything they had seen and the conclusion Victor had reached.
Jonathan listened carefully, his brows slowly tightening.
"So you're saying Clark's powers were transferred to Avery through lightning?"
The idea shocked him.
If it was true, Clark losing his abilities might not be a blessing after all.
"Gotham…"
Martha looked uneasy.
"If Avery goes there and learns the wrong things… what if he starts using that power to hurt people?"
Jonathan and Martha both understood exactly how powerful Clark was. They had spent years patiently teaching him to control his strength and use it responsibly.
Avery had suddenly gained that same power.
Who knew how he might behave?
"That's exactly the problem," Victor said calmly.
"Avery clearly wasn't planning to use that power to repair fences or plow fields."
A faint sneer appeared in his eyes.
"He has much bigger ambitions."
Avery had said he would return one day and erase everything that made him uncomfortable. That alone suggested something darker.
Victor suspected Avery had already discovered that meteorites were his weakness.
"We have to bring him back," Clark said firmly.
His expression was serious as he clenched his fists.
"I can't allow anyone to be hurt because of powers that originally belonged to me."
"But…"
Martha hesitated.
How could they possibly stop him?
"Mom, Dad," Victor said after thinking for a few seconds.
"I might need to take a trip."
Both of them looked at him.
"A long trip."
Victor coughed lightly before continuing.
"I'll help Clark clean up this mess and bring Avery back."
He didn't believe Clark—the future Superman—would permanently lose his powers. If they could be transferred away by accident, they could probably be transferred back.
"Victor?"
Clark stared at his younger brother.
Victor's tone sounded different than usual. Clark could already guess what he was planning.
But looking at him now, Clark wondered whether their parents would worry even more.
Surprise from Clark +1.5, worry +1.6…
Victor's eyes flickered slightly.
Helping Clark regain his powers wasn't the only reason.
Ever since Clark lost his abilities, the emotional points Victor gained from him had dropped dramatically.
The main source of emotional energy—his biggest "gold mine"—had suddenly disappeared.
"The integration speed of my abilities dropped more than ten times."
Before, the progress felt like riding a bicycle.
Now it felt like crawling at the pace of a turtle.
"So what exactly are you planning to do, son?" Jonathan asked.
Victor pulled something from his pocket.
"A meteorite."
The stone was no bigger than a thumb.
Clark instinctively raised his hands to shield himself.
"Wait—!"
But nothing happened.
The meteorite emitted only a faint green glow that was almost invisible in daylight.
Clark blinked.
He didn't feel weak.
He didn't feel sick.
He cautiously touched his chest.
"I… I'm fine?"
Victor wasn't surprised.
On the way home earlier, he had already secretly tested the meteorite near Clark without telling him.
"Avery didn't just gain abilities similar to Clark's," Victor explained.
"He probably inherited the same weaknesses."
Martha looked deeply worried.
"But that's still incredibly dangerous."
The thought of her youngest son traveling alone to Gotham—a city full of criminals—and confronting someone with super strength and super speed was terrifying.
"Victor," Jonathan said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Let's slow down and think this through."
Charging into Gotham with nothing but a meteorite sounded far too reckless.
Victor looked at his parents' anxious faces.
Then he opened his mouth calmly.
"Actually… you don't need to worry about me."
....
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