The kid waited. Same as always. Locked away in that mediocre prison built for the villains they managed to catch over and over again. Their brilliant idea was to hand them a "second chance"—turn them into heroes through rehabilitation. Kind of ironic, really. His past still weighed heavily on him despite all the time that had passed and the whole redemption act. They weren't trying to save anyone... they just didn't want to waste useful assets. Paul lay sprawled across the uncomfortable cot inside his cell. At least he had some privacy. Everything else, though... was awful. The food sucked, the other inmates were insufferable, and even the "care" and daily routines felt like someone was trying to train a dog instead of rehabilitating a person.

Still, he'd already started putting together an escape plan. It didn't matter whether his sister agreed with it—or even if she'd be the one trying to lock him back up. He just needed the right opportunity.

After several weeks—and more visits from his sister than he cared to count—Multi-Paul finally made his move. The moment the guards slipped up, he glanced through the tiny window on his cell door... and got to work. Messy, risky... but effective.

He quietly climbed off the bed before creating clone after clone after clone. With the help of one of them, he managed to climb up to one of the recessed ceiling lights, bracing himself against the walls to keep from falling. And dying.

The cloning never stopped. More copies kept appearing until there simply wasn't enough room inside the cell. The pressure alone began forcing everything apart. The small window cracked first. Then the door slowly started giving way, bolt by bolt, hinge by hinge.

Even then, Paul fought to keep his footing on the ceiling, refusing to fall into the growing pile beneath him. It took every ounce of strength he had...

Then came the crash The cell door burst open

A flood of clones tumbled into the hallway along with pieces of twisted metal. Using the confusion to his advantage, Paul carefully climbed down from the ceiling and slipped out of the ruined cell. Naturally, that much noise didn't go unnoticed. Within seconds, a squad of guards came rushing in

Getting past them wasn't exactly difficult. Their clones flooded the corridor, keeping guards busy one after another as the real Paul got closer and closer to the main exit, or at least the corridor leading to it.

He flung open the door...

Only to find reinforcements waiting for him on the other side.

He instinctively stepped back, but the commanding officer, much more heavily armed than the others, moved swiftly. Before Paul could react, the man placed a newly created collar around his neck.*

A clone inhibitor.

"What the hell...?! What have you put on me?!" He groaned, clawing at the collar in a futile attempt to rip it off. Even trying to form another clone without success, the collar effortlessly prevented it, triggering a small alarm.