同章对照

Ryan woke up on a terrible mattress, with a cat on his chest.

The animal looked at the courier with its big blue eyes, as he emerged from his deep sleep. The Persian cat had a coat of fur of the purest shade of white, and the lazy expression of a creature sleeping eighteen hours a day without shame.

It was...

It was the perfect Bond Villain cat!

Ryan immediately let out a cry of joy, while the cat looked at him with noble curiosity.

“I’m gonna call you…” Ryan briefly raised the feline above ground to check if it was a male or female, and then let his imagination do the rest. “Eugène-Henry von Schrodinger!”

Eugène-Henry meowed in response.

“The name sucks,” someone complained from the ‘room’ right next to his—another animal cage repurposed into a prison cell. Ryan recognized the voice as Sarah’s. “It sucks hard.”

“Much like many geniuses, I’m way ahead of my time,” Ryan replied, scratching Eugène-Henry behind his ears. “You like that name, don’t you? You like it, don’t you?”

“Is that the white cat?” Sarah peeked into Ryan’s private space, finding the courier sitting on his bed sheet, the cat on his lap. The courier promised himself to work on his diabolical mastermind pose, though he needed to get a cashmere suit first. “It has a sixth sense to find suckers willing to feed it. That’s why it’s so fat.”

“Hey, he’s not judging you on your appearance!”

“Once, I showed him a rat, like one meter away from his face, and that lazy furball didn’t even react.”

“Slander!” Ryan defended his new sidekick. “Is there a shower though? I think I caught fleas sleeping on that bed.”

“Yes, but the water is muddy. Ma says she will fix it today after she checks your car.”

Check his—

“Goddammit, I hope she doesn’t find the bodies,” Ryan said, rising up from the bed. Eugène-Henry instantly took over his place and moved below the bed sheet, to better protect the mattress from intruders.

“There’s a spot for that,” Little Sarah said casually. “The druggies call it the Happy Hole.”

As it turned out, Rust Town did have tourist spots.

Ryan started dressing, but immediately noticed something wrong. Namely, his A-bomb was missing, and some of his weapons weren’t at their place. Someone had clearly checked on his belongings while he was asleep.

Shortie may be willing to help, but she didn’t fully trust him yet.

The courier emerged from the orphanage to find Len tinkering with his car, having opened the car hood to look inside. She had put the water gun aside, to her right.

“Comrade Shortie, just because it’s an all-American car doesn’t give you the right to wreck it,” Ryan said. “Find yourself a Lada.”

Len turned her head away from the engine, and Ryan's playful demeanor disappeared instantly when she grabbed the water gun. “Riri, what have you done?”

What did he do?

What didn’t he do?

Ryan glanced inside the car hood, his old friend keeping her weapon aimed at his head. Unfortunately, Len had found the brain and jumped to the wrong conclusions.

“Riri, have you…” Len clearly didn’t want to finish her sentence but forced herself to. “Did you put someone in there?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many tries it took before I found the right person.” He immediately raised his hands while Len made a mortified face. “Relax, I’m kidding, I’m kidding! It’s not even sentient!”

“Riri, don’t, don’t joke about this,” she sputtered, keeping her weapon raised.

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized. “I default to humor when I’m stressed, and I didn’t have my morning coffee.”

Len remained as stiff and grim as ever. “Riri, where did it come from?”

“It’s vat-grown, a gift from another Genius.” No answer. “Shortie, I’m not a serial killer, and I don’t abduct hobos off the road to experiment on them.”

“Riri, I… I want to believe you’re not crazy. I really want to.” She shook her head. “But you keep a thermo-nuclear device with children nearby.”

Oh God, if only she knew about the plushie. “Len, there are no permanent consequences around me.”

“But what if you’re wrong?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe every time you die, and leave a nuclear crater behind?”

“That’s not how my power works,” Ryan reassured her. “I guarantee you I’m not jumping into an alternate universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew I left a mess behind. My power only affects our universe, and all I do is give it an alcohol blackout.”

“That’s even scarier,” Len said, still struggling to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost at will. It’s not mere time-manipulation, but reality warping.”

“Yes, Shortie, some people get water guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on the tip of her gun. “So, can you…”

She hesitated, clearly torn between trusting him and her own fears about him, but eventually lowered the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I… even if there are no consequences from your point of view, I don’t want anything dangerous near the kids.”

“Len, they have guns.”

“Because they need weapons to defend themselves in this shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri, won’t help anyone. It’s just death in a can.”

“Okay, I will get rid of it.” He would hand it over to Vulcan, as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it back then? I swear you will never see that bomb again.”

She hesitated for a long, agonizing minute, before searching in her jumpsuit and handing him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her reluctance to give the weapon away, but she did it.

Although Len didn’t trust him, she wanted to. He wouldn’t disappoint her.

“Riri, why did you even put your hands on a weapon like that?” she asked, as the courier put the bomb inside one of his coat's inner pocket.

“You really want to know?” Len nodded, and Ryan sighed. She wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to have a nuke as a restart button.”

"Can't you automatically restart with your time-stop? You said it caused you early restarts."

"No. When I said an early restart, I meant an early restart. Have you never wondered why I called myself Quicksave?"

She finally caught on. "That's how you 'save.'"

"Yeah." By the time the courier had caught on to this mechanism, he had already burnt a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get back in time, I figured I should make it interesting."

The Genius looked at him with a mix of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do you think your life is worthless?”

“No, of course not, I love living." If he had wanted to die for good, he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist, there’s always a chance things will improve.”

After an uncomfortable silence, Len abruptly changed the subject. “You slept well?”

“Eh, I’ve slept in way worse places,” the courier replied, before shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever you do, Len, don’t sleep in Monaco.”

“Monaco? Why?”

“Shortie, I come from the future. Don’t go to Monaco.” He glanced at the car, and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in their proper place. “Should I expect a mounted water turret? Please tell me that you added a gadget.”

“I was just checking the Chronoradio and its associated parts.” Only then did Ryan notice that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len kept the gun in hand.

Baby steps.

“Pretty good tech, huh?” Ryan boasted about his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long line to work on this baby.”

“I saw that. There’s a lot I could work with, actually.” Len closed the hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you hook up a miniature particle accelerator to your radio?”

Ah, that was such a long story. Ryan worked many loops and decades on that particular quest.

“The Purple World is something of a crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet Genomes summon creatures like that monster from Alien? Or gremlins?”

“They’re pulling them from these dimensions?”

“Yes. Most of these universes radically differ from our own, but some are alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable and constantly fluctuate, only becoming ‘real’ when observed.”

“I don’t follow you.”

“Well, we humans think time is stable, that the past is set in stone, but in truth, it’s like the water you love so much, ever changing.” Ryan’s experience had taught him as much. “I mean, I just have to jump back and poof, it changes.”

“Have you never considered...” Len trailed off with a worried frown, unable to say it out loud.

“That I destroy the universe and everyone in it when I die? I try not to think about it.” If only because of the horrors involved. It was a rabbit hole of depression, questionable ethics, and self-misery. He preferred to think of it as a universal memory-wipe. “Anyway, I thought the Chronoradio could help me locate a specific reality, and then cross over.”

“A timeline where things went well for us,” Len guessed.

“Yes,” Ryan replied with a sigh, opening his car’s door. “But I never found a way to reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I can do with the Chronoradio is listen to what could have been.”

“You’re going?” she asked with a worried frown. Did she think he would get himself killed? Then again, they were close to the Junkyard. “What about that undead madman in the backseat?”

“I’m supposed to receive a recruitment offer from Wyvern and then Vulcan, but I’m not sure if she will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to have my windshield cleaned, and Bone Daddy will become someone else’s problem.”

“Wyvern?” Len answered with a deeper frown than before.

“I heard Dynamis jailed you, so I investigated,” Ryan admitted. “What happened exactly?”

“They use the citizens of Rust Town as underpaid labor in their factories,” Len said with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed themselves, but provide neither healthcare nor safety guidelines. One out of five people gets maimed or killed.”

“I don’t think Il Migliore supports these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more self-obsessed than actively malicious.

“They turn their eyes away from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties. Since nobody would stand up for this place, I did.”

“So you attacked one of Dynamis' installations?”

“The chemical plant,” she gave more details, her face turning grimmer. “But… they caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led the Private Security to my old workshop.”

“One of the people you tried to fight for?” Ryan guessed, his friend nodding. “I’m sorry.”

“I guess… I guess people always try to take the easy way out.” Len shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for free. I had to help the Augusti transport their drug, take their blood money.”

“Well, I don’t intend to go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s an Augusti-exclusive option as far as I can tell.”

Len clearly didn’t like the idea. Even if she collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From what you told me, he has to die for his ability to activate.”

“If he’s smart, he will have a suicide button.” Hopefully, it wouldn’t be a thermo-nuclear device. Besides making the world a better place, taking down Psyshock would also prevent him from piloting that Mechron mech later on. “And while I don’t believe it, Vulcan says she can enhance my power. Unless you have another suggestion, they seem like our best option.”

Unfortunately, she didn’t have any alternative. “I’ve… I need more time, Riri. Time to figure this out.”

“Figure out my power, or us?”

“Both,” Len replied while looking away. “I want to help you, Riri. I really do. No one else should have to go through what you did.”

“Thanks,” Ryan said with genuine warmth. “The fact that you want to help at all means a lot to me.”

She blushed a little. “But the thing is Riri, even if we succeed in helping you, I… I’m not sure if there will be a we after that.”

We.

That word had brought back memories of the time when Ryan believed they had a future together. He thought his feelings for Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But every time he looked at his old partner, the courier always wondered what could have been.

And what could never be.

“There are things I can’t forget, Riri,” she admitted. “My father, that stuff with the bomb…”

“You don’t feel safe around me,” Ryan stated the obvious. Like Bloodstream.

Len shook her head sadly, and the courier drove away in silence.

---

“So, let me get this straight,” Shroud joined his fingers, like an evil mastermind. “There is a cache of Mechron technology below the Junkyard, which the Meta-Gang is trying to access. And Dynamis supplies them with knockoff Elixirs, contacts, and weapons.”

“Meow, that’s right,” Ryan replied, keeping Eugène-Henry in his arms, while Ghoul’s skull snarled inside a glass box. The courier briefly wondered if it was possible to waterboard on a head without the lungs, but pushed the thought aside.

Shroud remained silent for a moment. “This is concerning.”

What an understatement. Ryan tried to top it. “And the Titanic had a leak.”

The glass Genome turned around and started typing on his computer, various documents appearing on the screen. Ryan recognized them as financial statements, supply run reports, and logistical analyses. Shroud ran a program, apparently noticing a few troubling elements.

“There are some strange gaps between the stated numbers of knockoff Elixirs Dynamis produces, and what’s actually sold in their stores,” said the hacker. “I thought they were a statistical error margin or thefts, but it could easily disguise off-the-books deliveries to the Meta.”

“Could it be disguised by mooks or managers?” Psyshock could have brainwashed a few employees, subverting Dynamis without their knowledge; though the lack of attack on the company’s operations made that unlikely.

“Not without complicity from an executive,” Mr. Windshield replied. “They keep a tight ship on these potions.”

“Maybe Blackthorn then.”

“Unlikely,” said the SafeLite advertisement. “From what I know, he’s clean.”

“Have you seen his office and costume?” Ryan asked, Eugène-Henry meowing. “He’s obviously a diabolical mastermind.”

“What about his office? It looks great.” Clearly, he had spied on the place. “Do you know why Blackthorn ended up as Brand Manager and in charge of Il Migliore?”

“Because Hector Manada only trusts his sons.”

“Partly, but while Il Migliore’s heroes do fight crime in New Rome, they don’t wage war against truly dangerous Genome warlords like Augustus or decide Dynamis’ future. Their true job is to serve as the company’s face and follow directives, not make them. Enrique's position is prestigious, but not one with much power.”

“I see where this is going, and not just because you’re translucent.”

“Enrique Manada was groomed to become Dynamis' vice-president, until he started openly pushing for social reforms and Rust Town’s redevelopment,” Shroud explained. “The board sacked him, and the chairman decided to select his brother Alphonse as the VP instead. It backfired when Hector had to send Alphonse to wage war in Sicily to avoid a clash with Augustus, but you see my point.”

“Well, Blackthorn still looks like a Comic Book villain.”

“You’re the one looking like a villain with that cat. Why did you bring it here, by the way?”

Because Ryan was a cat person, as Felix could attest. “It’s a Schrodinger’s Cat, he increases my power twofold.”

“Don’t you need to use a black box first?” Shroud deadpanned, before turning serious. “Unfortunately, I have no proof except your word on the bunker question.”

“Psyshock is going to attack the orphanage soon, you can ask him yourself then. If he survives.”

“You think she will show up?” Shroud asked. Clearly, he had mind-reading on top of his glass control. “No, that was a stupid question. Of course she will, it’s a golden opportunity to strike at the Meta. If the Augusti trust your intel.”

“Well, if she doesn’t we will have to put Psypsy in an aquarium, like the squid he is.” Ryan shrugged. “Any hope we team up to attack the Junkyard? I would do it on my own, but something tells me it will be a blast.”

“We won’t have the numbers to directly challenge the Meta-Gang for some time,” Shroud admitted. This confirmed Ryan’s suspicion that he was only the vanguard, with the rest of his team scheduled to arrive later. “But if I confirm your information, then we will have to. Adam getting his hands on Mechron’s technology will cause a disaster.”

“Just to be sure, Mechron isn’t behind everything?”

“No, he’s very dead.”

“Are you sure?”

“Leo was there when he perished,” the glass manipulator replied. “Mechron is as dead as they come, and unless he has a hidden clone in storage, he isn’t coming back. Not from that.”

Was that a little unease Ryan detected in his voice? Mechron’s demise must have been something disturbing to bother the hardened assassin. “Come on, give me the gory details.”

“You will have to ask Leo himself,” Invisiboy refused to indulge the courier. “I will hold up our end of the bargain, and help defend the orphanage if you can’t get the Augusti onboard. In return, please don’t tell them about the Junkyard. If there really is a Mechron bunker beneath New Rome, it should remain buried.”

“Afraid Mob Zeus finds a bag of flour inside?”

“Even you must understand it won’t end well if he gets his hands on Mechron’s technology.”

Ryan shrugged and left the meeting with the path ahead clear. He would go to the Bakuto, but instead of pretending to look for Len, he would instead tell Zanbato he wanted to fight the Meta-Gang and that he didn’t trust Dynamis to do that. With luck, Ryan might secure a big surprise for Psyshock.

However, although he hadn’t noticed, Shroud gave the courier a key piece of information that greatly worried him.

“You will have to ask Leo.”

Namely, that Leo Hargraves would come to New Rome, probably with the rest of the Carnival in tow. If Ryan cross-referenced that tidbit with information gathered in the previous loops, then he had three weeks before the Living Sun and Augustus settled their rivalry in blood.

Ryan had better not be in New Rome by then.

瑞恩在一张糟糕透顶的床垫上醒来，胸口趴着一只猫。

他从沉睡中悠悠转醒，那只猫正睁着蓝色的大眼睛看着他。这只波斯猫一身皮毛洁白无瑕，神情懒洋洋的，一看就是那种每天睡十八个小时还毫不羞愧的生物。

这简直是……

这简直是邦德电影反派的完美配猫！

瑞恩当即欢呼一声，那只猫则带着高贵的好奇打量着他。

“我要叫你……”瑞恩把猫举起来，飞快地确认了一下公母，随后任由想象力发挥。“欧仁-亨利·冯·薛定谔！”

欧仁-亨利喵了一声作为回应。

“这名字烂透了。”隔壁“房间”里有人抱怨。那也是一间由动物笼子改成的牢房。瑞恩认出了莎拉的声音。“烂得没边。”

“和许多天才一样，我远远走在了时代前面。”瑞恩回答着，挠了挠欧仁-亨利的耳根。“你喜欢这个名字，对不对？喜欢，对不对？”

“是那只白猫吗？”莎拉探头窥视瑞恩的私人空间，看见快递员坐在床单上，猫趴在他腿上。快递员暗自决定，一定要好好练练邪恶幕后主脑的坐姿，不过得先弄套羊绒西装。“它有第六感，能找到肯给它喂食的冤大头。所以才这么胖。”

“喂，它可没对你的长相评头论足！”

“有一次，我指给它看一只老鼠，离它的脸也就一米吧，那个懒毛球连点反应都没有。”

“诽谤！”瑞恩维护起自己的新搭档。“话说，这儿能淋浴吗？我觉得在这床上睡了一晚，染上跳蚤了。”

“能，不过水很浑。妈妈说今天检查完你的车，就来修。”

检查他的——

“该死，希望她别发现那些尸体。”瑞恩说着，从床上起身。欧仁-亨利立刻占领了他的位置，钻到床单下面，以便更好地守卫床垫，抵御入侵者。

“有专门扔那个的地方。”小莎拉随口说，“瘾君子们管它叫欢乐洞。”

原来锈镇还真有旅游景点。

瑞恩开始穿衣服，却立刻发现不对劲。具体来说，他的原子弹不见了，有几件武器也被挪了位置。显然有人趁他睡着时检查过他的东西。

小矮个也许愿意帮他，却还没完全信任他。

快递员走出孤儿院，看见蕾恩正摆弄他的车。她打开了引擎盖，探头查看里面，水枪则搁在右手边。

“小矮个同志，就算这是辆纯正的美国车，你也没权利把它拆了。”瑞恩说，“自己找辆拉达去。”

蕾恩从发动机上方转过头来。见她一把抓起水枪，瑞恩嬉皮笑脸的模样顿时消失了。“瑞瑞，你都干了什么？”

他干了什么？

他又有什么没干过？

瑞恩往引擎盖下面瞥了一眼，老朋友的武器始终对着他的脑袋。不幸的是，蕾恩发现了那颗大脑，还误会了。

“瑞瑞，你是不是……”蕾恩显然不愿把话说完，却还是逼着自己问了出来。“你是不是把什么人装进去了？”

“说出来你都不信，我试了多少次才找到合适的人选。”蕾恩满脸惊骇，他立刻举起双手。“别紧张，开玩笑的，开玩笑！它连自我意识都没有！”

“瑞瑞，别，别拿这种事开玩笑。”她结结巴巴地说，依然举着武器。

“对不起，对不起。”他道歉，“我一紧张就习惯开玩笑，再说今早的咖啡还没喝呢。”

蕾恩的身体依旧绷得紧紧的，神情阴沉。“瑞瑞，它是哪儿来的？”

“培养槽里长出来的，另一个天才送的礼物。”没有回应。“小矮个，我不是连环杀手，也不会从路边绑架流浪汉做实验。”

“瑞瑞，我……我想相信你没疯。我真的想。”她摇了摇头。“可你带着热核装置，旁边就是一群孩子。”

老天，她还不知道毛绒玩偶的事呢。“蕾恩，在我身边，什么后果都不会永久留下。”

“可万一你错了呢？”她咬着下唇问，“万一你每次死后都是跳进另一个宇宙，留下的却是一个核爆坑呢？”

“我的能力不是那样运作的。”瑞恩安抚她，“我向你保证，我死后不会跳进平行宇宙。我查证过。要是知道自己会留下一堆烂摊子，我每个星期干的事，至少有一半都不会去干。我的能力只影响我们这个宇宙，我做的不过是让它喝酒断个片。”

“这更吓人。”蕾恩说，仍在努力理解他的能力究竟能影响多大的范围。“如果你说的没错，那你几乎可以随心所欲地改写整个时空连续体。这不只是操纵时间，而是扭曲现实。”

“是啊，小矮个，有人的圣诞礼物是水枪，我收到的却是‘胖子’。”瑞恩把一根手指搭在她的枪口上。“所以，你能不能……”

她犹豫了一下，显然在信任他与对他的恐惧之间左右为难，最终还是放下了水枪。“住在这里的时候，你得规矩一点。”蕾恩说，“我……就算在你看来不会有后果，我也不想让任何危险的东西靠近孩子们。”

“蕾恩，他们有枪。”

“因为在这个烂地方，他们需要武器保护自己。”天才回答，“但那颗核弹，瑞瑞，它帮不了任何人。那就是罐装的死亡。”

“好吧，我会把它处理掉。”他可以交给伏尔甘，聊表友谊。“那能还给我吗？我保证，你再也不会看见这颗炸弹了。”

她足足犹豫了漫长又煎熬的一分钟，才从连体服里翻出炸弹，递给他。瑞恩伸手接住，两人的手套轻轻擦过。快递员感觉得到，她不愿把这件武器交出去，但她还是给了他。

蕾恩虽然还不信任他，却想要信任他。他不会让她失望的。

“瑞瑞，你到底为什么要弄一件这样的武器？”快递员把炸弹塞进大衣的一个内袋时，她问道。

“你真想知道？”蕾恩点头，瑞恩叹了口气。她不会喜欢这个答案。“因为我无聊，而且我觉得拿核弹当重开按钮应该挺好玩的。”

“你不能靠暂停时间自动重开吗？你说过那会让你提前重开。”

“不能。我说提前重开，指的就是提前重开。你从没想过，我为什么叫自己快存吗？”

她终于明白过来。“你就是这样‘存档’的。”

“对。”等快递员弄明白这套机制时，他已经断掉了太多退路。“既然回到过去非得自杀不可，我想，不如让它有趣一点。”

天才看着他，眼里混杂着怜悯、悲伤与疼惜。“你觉得自己的命一文不值吗？”

“不，当然不是，我喜欢活着。”要是他想彻底死掉，早就找消除者那种人打一架了。“只要我还活着，一切就总有变好的可能。”

令人不自在的沉默过后，蕾恩突然换了个话题。“睡得好吗？”

“还行，比这差得多的地方我也睡过。”快递员答道，随即想起自己最惨的几次死法之一，不由得打了个哆嗦。“蕾恩，不管你做什么，千万别在摩纳哥睡觉。”

“摩纳哥？为什么？”

“小矮个，我可是从未来来的。别去摩纳哥。”他看了看车，蕾恩有些慌乱地开始把发动机的零件装回原位。“我能期待一座车载水炮塔吗？求你告诉我，你加了点新玩意儿。”

“我只是在检查时空收音机，还有相关的部件。”瑞恩这才注意到，蕾恩虽然不再拿枪指着他的脸，手里却始终握着枪。

慢慢来吧。

“技术挺不错吧？”瑞恩把一只手搭在引擎盖上，吹嘘起自己的车。“有一长串天才动手改过这个宝贝，你是最新的一位。”

“我看出来了。其实，这里面很多东西我都能利用。”蕾恩忙完，合上引擎盖。“瑞瑞，你为什么把一台微型粒子加速器接在收音机上？”

啊，这可就说来话长了。单是这项任务，瑞恩就忙了许多轮循环，花了几十年。

“紫色世界有点像个十字路口，交汇在那里的不只是时间与空间，还有各种不同的维度。”快递员解释道，“你知道，有些紫系基因者能召唤生物，比如《异形》里的那种怪物，或者小魔怪？”

“他们是从这些维度里把它们拉出来的？”

“是的。这些宇宙大多数都和我们的宇宙截然不同，但也有一些，是地球原本可能走向的另一种历史。通常，这些历史并不稳定，而是在不断波动，只有被观测时才会成为‘现实’。”

“我没听明白。”

“嗯，我们人类觉得时间是稳定的，过去已经板上钉钉，可实际上，它就像你那么喜欢的水一样，时时刻刻都在变化。”瑞恩的经历早已让他明白了这一点。“我的意思是，我只要跳回去，噗，一切就变了。”

“你难道从没想过……”蕾恩担忧地皱起眉，没能把后面的话说出口。

“我死的时候，会毁掉宇宙和里面的所有人？我尽量不去想。”哪怕只是因为其中蕴含的恐怖。那是个越陷越深的无底洞，里面满是抑郁、伦理疑问与自我折磨。他更愿意把它看成一次全宇宙的记忆清除。“总之，我原本以为时空收音机能帮我定位某个特定的现实，然后穿越过去。”

“一条我们一切顺遂的时间线。”蕾恩猜道。

“对。”瑞恩叹息着回答，拉开了车门。“可就算有定制的粒子加速器，我也始终没找到前往另一个地球的方法。我能用时空收音机做的，只是听听那些原本可能发生的事。”

“你要走了？”她担忧地皱着眉问。她是不是以为他会把自己弄死？不过话说回来，他们确实离废料场很近。“后座那个不死的疯子怎么办？”

“按理说，我会先收到双足飞龙的招揽，然后是伏尔甘。不过我待在锈镇，不知道她还会不会找上门。之后我得去清理一下挡风玻璃，骷髅老爹也就该成为别人的麻烦了。”

“双足飞龙？”蕾恩的眉头皱得更深了。

“我听说迪纳米斯把你关起来过，就调查了一下。”瑞恩承认，“到底是怎么回事？”

“他们把锈镇的居民当成工厂里的廉价劳力。”蕾恩愤怒地说，“让他们做危险的工作，给的那点欧元只够糊口，却既不提供医疗保障，也没有安全规范。每五个人里就有一个伤残或丧命。”

“我不觉得至优者会支持这些做法。”就连他在研讨会上见过的那些初级英雄，看起来也只是自恋过头，而非主动作恶。

“他们对真正的问题视而不见。”蕾恩摇了摇头，“不是所有罪犯都戴面具。大多数都穿西装、打领带。既然没人肯为这里出头，那就我来。”

“所以你袭击了迪纳米斯的一处设施？”

“化工厂。”她补充了细节，脸色愈发阴沉。“可是……他们抓住了我。有人出卖了我，带着私人安保队找到了我原来的工坊。”

“是你想为之抗争的人之一？”瑞恩猜道，朋友点了点头。“很遗憾。”

“我想……我想人总是会挑省事的路走吧。”蕾恩摇头，“把我救出来的不是双足飞龙，是伏尔甘。而且即便如此，也不是白救的。我不得不帮奥古斯蒂运毒品，收他们带血的钱。”

“嗯，我这次没打算去迪纳米斯。”瑞恩安慰她，“我只看到一种彻底杀死心震的办法，而就我所知，那是奥古斯蒂独有的选项。”

蕾恩显然不喜欢这个主意。即便她和伏尔甘合作过，对伏尔甘所属的组织也显然没什么好感。“我们可以把他抓起来。”她说，“按你的说法，他必须死掉，能力才会发动。”

“他要是聪明，就会准备一个自杀按钮。”希望不是热核装置。干掉心震，除了能让世界更美好，还能阻止他之后驾驶那台梅克隆机甲。“而且，虽然我不信，伏尔甘说她能强化我的能力。除非你有别的建议，不然他们似乎是我们最好的选择。”

遗憾的是，她没有别的办法。“我……我需要更多时间，瑞瑞。需要时间把这件事想明白。”

“想明白我的能力，还是我们的关系？”

“都有。”蕾恩移开视线，答道，“我想帮你，瑞瑞。真的。任何人都不该再经历你经历过的那些事。”

“谢谢。”瑞恩说，语气里满是真诚的暖意。“光是你愿意帮我，就已经对我很重要了。”

她微微红了脸。“可问题是，瑞瑞，就算我们真能帮到你，我……我也不确定，到那时，还会不会有一个我们。”

我们。

这个词唤回了从前的记忆，那时瑞恩相信他们会拥有共同的未来。他以为，在那么多次重开之后，自己对蕾恩的感情早已改变，超越了少年恋情的范畴。可每次看着这位老搭档，快递员总会忍不住想，那些本来可能发生的事。

以及那些永远不可能发生的事。

“有些事我忘不掉，瑞瑞。”她坦言，“我父亲，还有炸弹的事……”

“在我身边，你觉得不安全。”瑞恩说出了显而易见的事实。就像在血流身边一样。

蕾恩难过地摇了摇头，快递员一言不发地开车离去。

---

“那么，让我理一理。”裹尸布像个邪恶的幕后主脑，双手指尖相抵。“废料场下面藏着一批梅克隆的科技，超能帮正试图进去。而迪纳米斯给他们提供仿制灵药、人脉和武器。”

“喵，没错。”瑞恩抱着欧仁-亨利回答。食尸鬼的骷髅头在玻璃箱里咆哮。快递员一瞬间有些好奇，不知道能不能给一颗没肺的脑袋施水刑，随即便抛开了这个念头。

裹尸布沉默片刻。“这令人担忧。”

真够轻描淡写的。瑞恩决定比他更胜一筹。“泰坦尼克号也就是漏了点水。”

玻璃基因者转过身，开始在电脑上敲打键盘，屏幕上浮现出各类文件。瑞恩认出了财务报表、补给运输报告和后勤分析。裹尸布运行了一个程序，似乎注意到了几处令人不安的地方。

“迪纳米斯公布的仿制灵药产量，和门店的实际销售数量之间，存在一些奇怪的差额。”黑客说道，“我原以为那是统计误差，或者有人偷货，但用来掩盖给超能帮的账外供货也完全说得通。”

“普通喽啰或者经理有本事把这事瞒下来吗？”心震可能洗脑了几个员工，在迪纳米斯毫不知情的情况下渗透了公司；不过，公司的业务从未受到袭击，这种可能性也就不大。

“没有高管配合，不可能。”挡风玻璃先生回答，“这些药剂管得很严。”

“那也许是黑棘。”

“不太可能。”这个SafeLite广告说道，“就我所知，他是清白的。”

“你见过他的办公室和那身行头吗？”瑞恩问，欧仁-亨利喵了一声。“他明摆着就是个邪恶的幕后主脑。”

“他的办公室怎么了？看着很棒啊。”显然，他监视过那个地方。“你知道黑棘为什么最后成了品牌经理，负责至优者吗？”

“因为埃克托·马纳达只信任自己的儿子。”

“有一部分是这个原因，但至优者的英雄虽然确实在新罗马打击犯罪，却不会向奥古斯都那种真正危险的基因者军阀开战，也无权决定迪纳米斯的未来。他们真正的职责，是充当公司的门面，执行指令，而不是制定指令。恩里克的职位很有声望，却没有多少实权。”

“我看透你想说什么了，可不只是因为你半透明。”

“恩里克·马纳达原本是按迪纳米斯副总裁培养的，直到他开始公开推动社会改革和锈镇的重建计划。”裹尸布解释道，“董事会撤了他的职，董事长决定改选他的兄弟阿尔方斯做副总裁。结果适得其反，埃克托为了避免和奥古斯都发生冲突，不得不把阿尔方斯派到西西里岛打仗。不过，你明白我的意思了。”

“好吧，可黑棘看着还是像漫画反派。”

“抱着那只猫，像反派的人是你。话说，你为什么把它带过来？”

因为瑞恩是个爱猫的人，菲利克斯可以作证。“这是一只薛定谔的猫，能让我力量翻倍。”

“不需要先拿个黑箱子来吗？”裹尸布面无表情地反问，随即严肃起来，“遗憾的是，关于地堡，除了你的一面之词，我没有其他证据。”

“心震很快就会袭击孤儿院，到时候你可以亲自问他。前提是他还活着。”

“你觉得她会来？”裹尸布问。显然，除了操纵玻璃，他还会读心。“不，我这问题太蠢了。她当然会来，这可是打击超能帮的绝佳机会。如果奥古斯蒂相信你的情报的话。”

“嗯，她不来，我们就只能把心心关进水族箱了，反正他就是条鱿鱼。”瑞恩耸耸肩，“有没有可能联手进攻废料场？我倒是可以自己去，不过总觉得那会是一场爆炸性的大乐子。”

“我们暂时还没有足够的人手，没法正面挑战超能帮。”裹尸布承认。这证实了瑞恩的猜测：他只是先锋，其他队友预计会在之后抵达。“但如果我证实了你的情报，就非去不可了。让亚当拿到梅克隆的科技，会酿成灾难。”

“保险起见，确认一下，梅克隆不是这一切的幕后黑手吧？”

“不是，他已经死透了。”

“你确定？”

“他死的时候，利奥就在场。”玻璃操纵者回答，“梅克隆死得不能再死了。除非他还暗藏着一个备用克隆体，否则绝不可能回来。经历过那种事，不可能。”

瑞恩是不是从他的声音里听出了一丝不安？能让这位身经百战的刺客都心有余悸，梅克隆的死状一定相当骇人。“来嘛，讲讲那些血淋淋的细节。”

“你得亲自问利奥。”隐形小子不肯顺快递员的意。“我会履行我们这边的约定，如果你拉不来奥古斯蒂，我会帮忙守卫孤儿院。作为交换，请不要把废料场的事告诉他们。如果新罗马下面真有一座梅克隆的地堡，就该让它继续埋着。”

“怕黑帮宙斯在里面找到一袋面粉？”

“就算是你，也该明白，让他拿到梅克隆的科技，绝不会有好结果。”

瑞恩耸耸肩，结束会面离开，接下来的路线已经明了。他会去博徒，不过不再假装寻找蕾恩，而是直接告诉斩马刀，自己想对付超能帮，也不相信迪纳米斯会去做这件事。运气好的话，瑞恩说不定能给心震备上一份大惊喜。

不过，裹尸布自己并未意识到，他向快递员透露了一条关键信息，令瑞恩深感不安。

“你得问利奥。”

也就是说，利奥·哈格雷夫斯会来新罗马，而且很可能带着嘉年华的其他成员一起。把这个细节与前几轮收集到的信息对照起来，瑞恩便能推断，三周后，活体太阳与奥古斯都就会用鲜血了结彼此的恩怨。

到了那时候，瑞恩最好已经不在新罗马了。