Chapter 86: The End Times (1/2)
“I don’t know,” Alchemo said.
Ryan Romano slouched on his chair, the Saturn Armor’s sheer weight making it creak. Vulcan sat at his side, checking a portable computer with a frown on her face. “Well, can you give me more details, oh great keeper of knowledge?”
The cabin’s metal walls thrummed like a great beast’s bowels, as Alchemo transferred data to the Saturn Armor’s computer. Ryan watched a copy of his bioscan appear on his helmet’s lens, his organs and bones as violet as a plum.
He looked in perfect health, even after engaging in a worrying amount of euphoric substances.
“As far as the scanners are concerned, you are an average monocolor Violet Genome, with no genetic anomalies whatsoever,” Alchemo said. “You can only blame yourself for your eccentricity.”
So Ryan wasn’t a Psycho, or at least not a conventional one. The courier considered it good news. “Then how do you explain the chic jet black particles surrounding my body in the frozen time?”
“I know that I do not know,” Alchemo replied with a sarcastic tone.
“Don’t bring Socrates into this.”
“Whenever I develop a theory on powers and Elixirs, meatbag, you invalidate it!” The Genius complained. “I give up!”
“The armor’s scanners record these Black Flux particles, but I don’t know what to make of the readings,” Vulcan admitted, a cute frown of frustration on her face. “They keep changing.”
“So these particles follow quantum superposition?” Ryan asked. “The results change depending on the observation method?”
“No, the data keeps changing after being recorded.”
Vulcan turned her laptop in Ryan’s direction, allowing him to see the screen. Lines of codes and words shifted before his eyes, from binaries to trinaries, from numbers to letters and stranger symbols.
“This substance actively refuses to be categorized, and passively alters reality when I insist.” Vulcan ground her teeth in annoyance. “Either that, or you gained a second power that falsifies my data.”
“A Blue power then,” Alchemo said, jumping to the easy conclusion.
“I’m not yet colorblind, Braindead,” Ryan said. “I can tell black from blue.”
“None of this makes sense,” the cyborg complained, having grown angrier by the minute since they left the bunker. Perhaps the stress was getting to him? Ryan knew from experience that the Genius didn’t have a great mental fortitude. “A Paradox dimension? An energy that actively violates common sense? How do you want me to find logic in a situation that lacks any?”
“If the rest of our theory about Elixirs is correct, then this means you developed a link to this Black World. Perhaps even a secondary power.” Vulcan raised an eyebrow at Ryan. “What are you waiting for? Try it out.”
Ryan froze time, black and violet particles floating around him while his other self appeared in a corner. The poor ghost only advanced a few centimeters per second, desperately catching up to the courier.
Ryan glanced at his hands, and the black spots swirling around them, before raising them at Alchemo.
“UNLIMITED POWAH!” The time-traveler shouted while wagging his fingers like a maniac. “POWAH!”
And…
Nothing happened. No black lightning, no blast of antimatter. Not even the thrill of unlimited cosmic power coursing through his veins.
“Nope, nothing I can figure out,” Ryan said as time resumed. Damn it, why didn’t the dark side come with a manual? “Either I don’t have a second power, or I need to figure out what it does before I can use it.”
“Disappointing,” Vulcan said, though she sounded more playful than angry. “Do you still produce particles without the armor?”
“No more than I generate visible Violet Flux without your wonderful suit.” Ryan only produced Black Flux with the Saturn Armor on. “Neither did my main power mutate, as far as I can tell.”
His time-stop worked perfectly fine, and his ‘violet phantom’ hadn’t changed either. Thus, his save point shouldn’t have moved forward in time, though Ryan could only check by resetting. He was in no hurry to try that out yet.
For all he knew, everything would return to normal on the next save, though his gut told him otherwise. The Ultimate Darkling could apparently violate causality, so Ryan’s condition had a chance to stick.
“Then this Black Flux works on another level than our physical reality,” Vulcan theorized.
“Don’t tell me you believe in souls?” Alchemo grunted. “I thought you were a rational person.”
“A Genome like Geist has no DNA for his Elixir to hang onto, and yet persists as a freaking ghost,” Vulcan pointed out. “A similar thing happened with Ghoul as far as I know. A pity your slime friend killed him on its way out, Ryan. It could have helped us figure it out.”
Ghoul’s remains hadn’t risen up after Darkling threw them up, proving that even immortals could die. Ryan couldn’t help but wonder how Black Flux would react to an inviolable object like Lightning Butt.
The courier needed information that even Mechron’s databases couldn’t provide. Knowledge from the same place where he might find a cure for the Psycho syndrome.
Ryan would take a winter vacation next time around.
Alas, they had other matters to deal with right now, as Shortie reminded him when she opened the cabin’s door in full power armor. “We’re surfacing, Riri,” she said, her voice firm and without any trace of hesitation. “It’s time.”
“Finally,” Vulcan said, as she closed her laptop. “Time to put on my supersuit.”
“Your immense culture is by far your greatest quality,” Ryan congratulated the short Genius, who responded with a smirk. “So, you’re coming with us?”
To his surprise, she shook her head in response. “I’m afraid that’s where we part ways. Boss’ orders. I’ll scramble Dynamis’ communications on my way out, which should help a little.”
Ryan didn’t hide his disappointment. “Don’t let the patriarchy tell you what to do, come fight the system with us!”
“Yeah, well, I like you, but not enough to disobey Augustus for your sake. You’re a Saturday morning cartoon comedian, but that mofo is more lethal than Ebola.”
“What’s happening?” Len asked, concerned. “Is it about the Carnival?”
She worried the last loop’s event might repeat itself.
Unfortunately, this loop’s apocalypse would be much worse.
“Nah, you heard about that rabbit cryptid thing on the news?” Vulcan asked, everyone looking away. “Well, it’s apparently a self-replicating killer robot, and currently assaulting our HQ. Augustus asked everyone to mobilize, which means they’re replicating faster than he can kill them himself.”
The midget glanced at Ryan with a knowing look. “You wouldn’t have anything to do with that?”
“Nah…” he lied. “I want to rule the world, not destroy it.”
She whispered into his robotic antennae, as if they were ears. “I’m a Genius, but I’m also a genius. So don’t fuck with me.”
Two loops too late for that. “You should be fine, don’t worry.”
With her height, the plushies would probably mistake her for a child.
“Yeah, make sure to skip town afterward. I would be loath for us to end up on opposing sides.” Vulcan rose from her seat with a grin, the laptop under her arm. “I had fun.”
“Same,” the courier replied.
“Underdiver?” Vulcan glanced at Len, much to the shy Genius’ surprise. “Don’t hang out too much with him. You’ve got a great future ahead of you, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to live fast and die young.”
“I’ll… keep that in mind,” Len replied sheepishly, Vulcan leaving the room afterward with a shrug.
Alchemo waited for Ryan’s ex-girlfriend to vanish, before turning at the man himself. “So… what will it be?”
“You and Tea will stay behind on the submarine, so we can evacuate in short order,” Ryan explained. If all went well, they could raid Lab Sixty-Six within a short timeframe and flee before Dynamis could mobilize. “You keep sending the brain maps to Livia in our absence.”
“I already sent the ones you wanted, alongside a copy of Sarin’s molecular structure,” the Genius said, having failed to find a better solution. “Am I forgetting one?”
Yes, he did.
“Braindead, you’re an asshole.” Ryan’s bluntness caused the cyborg to flinch. “However… I’ve befriended assholes before, and someone taught me to let go of the past. To move on.“
The courier struggled to find the right words, while Len watched on without any of her own.
“What you’ve done, what the other you did… It hurt. It hurt more than you can imagine. But as you said it yourself, you’re no longer that person. The Alchemo that betrayed me is dead, while you are alive. So, while it feels wrong, I…” Ryan let out a long, long sigh. “I will give you a second chance. Send your own brain map to Livia.”
The cyborg marked a short pause, his lack of facial expressions making his thought process unclear. “Thank you, Ryan.”
“You won’t get a third chance,” the courier warned. “So don’t waste it.”
“I won’t,” the Genius promised, before excusing himself with a short nod.
“Is it wise to bring so many people with us, Riri?” Len asked with concern once Braindead had left the cabin.
“No. But I would rather extend a hand and be disappointed, than never do so and stay alone forevermore. Livia has a point, fear and paranoia lead nowhere.” Len looked at her best friend without uttering a word, her face hidden behind her helmet. “What?”
“Nothing,” she lied, though Ryan didn’t press the issue. “Are you ready?”
“Are you?” Ryan asked the hard question.
“No,” she admitted. “No, I’m not. But I… I can’t delay anymore. There is no other choice.”
“Well, let me put on an accessory and I’m ready to go…” Ryan searched the cabin for the last missing part of his outfit: a black cashmere poncho, which he immediately put on his armor. “How do I look?”
Len giggled, which the courier thought to be the most wonderful sound in the world. “You look cute.”
“I would have preferred you to say fearsome, but cute is nice. Besides, with all the plushies running around, I’m sure leporiphobia will become mainstream soon.”
Even Ryan had to look that word up.