同章对照

A few minutes before the shootout, Ryan was sitting behind Vulcan inside her mech, both partners in crime observing Dynamis’ HQ through a computer screen. The tower looked like some game’s final dungeon, with increasingly dangerous enemies guarding each floor with the boss at the very top. It almost made Ryan wish for a suicide run, but that would be for another time.

His suit awaited him.

“Should you be drinking while driving?” the courier asked Vulcan, who just finished a bottle of vodka.

“I haven’t taken enough to feel any effects,” she replied, opening a hidden compartment and putting the empty bottle there. Ryan noticed a few other bottles inside, including a Bordeaux wine and a few other delicacies. Vulcan immediately rose up further in the courier’s esteem for showing such exquisite tastes.

“You have a minibar?”

“I’m a Genius,” she replied with a smirk. “Maybe I will put one in your power armor when I get around to making it. I’m thinking of something sleek, optimized for close combat.”

“I would prefer a Megazord honestly.” Maybe it could have a panda-themed animal mode?

“From those Japanese-American shows?” She made a disdainful face. “They’re campy as hell!”

“Hey, don’t spit on my childhood,” Ryan complained, before squinting. “Wait, you watched them too?”

“I looked into many sci-fi TV series for inspiration,” Vulcan admitted with a look of brief embarrassment, before changing the subject. “Anyway, I finished scanning the area, and we’re good.”

“So we’re going in?”

Vulcan looked over her shoulder, with Ryan leaning on her back due to the cockpit’s lack of space.

That may have come out a bit dirty.

“I studied their defenses,” Vulcan told him before focusing back on the screen. “Been itching to test my stealth system on Dynamis, but never got the occasion. I still can’t believe Livia gave her blessing, especially if she doesn’t know how it will end.”

“She gave her blessing because she doesn’t know,” Ryan pointed out. The mafia princess seemed as desperate as he was for new and unexpected entertainment. “Thanks for helping.”

“I wouldn’t try that if Alphonse Manada was in town, even for your pretty face,” Vulcan admitted. “That ruthless mofo is everything his brother isn’t. Even without him nearby, we have minutes before they send heavy hitters after us, after which we’re toast. Grab the suit and don’t play around.”

“Not even a little?”

“Don’t play around, Ryan,” Vulcan replied firmly, pointing at the building right next to Dynamis' HQ, namely the Il Migliore tower. “Their best can take on our best, and it’s their territory. They will move to reinforce the strategic areas like the labs once the alarm is sounded, but confusion will only buy us so much time. Now hold on to me.”

Ryan sighed but consoled himself with the thought of finally getting a cashmere wool suit.

In preparation for this fateful moment, the courier had left most of his clothes behind at Jamie’s place, except for his pants, shirt, mask and hat. The only thing he carried with him was the plushie, too dangerous to be left without supervision; Vulcan put it in a compartment inside the mech, sealing its evil away.

Vulcan had her mech fly off its current spot and above New Rome, shrouding its metal hide with some kind of camouflage. It might trick Dynamis’ radars and drone defenses, at least until impact.

Vulcan’s mech quickly accelerated, the g-force increasing until Ryan had no choice but to hold on to the pilot to avoid being thrown backward. He could see Dynamis’ building get closer and closer on the computer screen, wing-shaped drones flying around the perimeter. The combination of speed, low altitude, and stealth hid the power armor from their gaze.

And then, the mech hit the building like a missile, shattering the twentieth floor’s windows and most of its ceiling. Vulcan powered through furniture, assembly lines, and wardrobes before finally stopping.

“Go, go, go!” Vulcan shouted at Ryan while the cockpit opened, the courier immediately emerging from the mech.

Dynamis’ wool factory was a sanitized floor lacking anything resembling warmth or color, with mechanical arms replacing humans as part of the assembly line. Only a few desks oversaw the production lines, and since they each housed a computer, they probably belonged to engineers. Two elevators and stairways linked the floor to the rest of the building south of the duo’s current position.

Alarms started resonating across the floor, metal panels closing the windows outside and security cameras immediately focusing on the intruders.

Ryan didn’t pay it any attention. A Gregorian song in his head drowned all noise outside, his attention entirely focused on something straight out of his wildest dream.

The freshly made cashmere wool suits were gathered in a wardrobe near his position, each one a different color. Among them was a purple-dyed one, with pants included.

The perfect suit had been waiting for him all along.

No man would have been insensible to such a sight, and Ryan was no exception. He carefully touched this luxury cloth with his bare hands, feeling the texture, the warmth, the weight of the thousand euros spent on making this vision of heaven. He took this snazzy suit away from the wardrobe, basking in its glory.

Suddenly, Ryan decided that existence wasn’t meaningless. All the conflicts in mankind’s history had been worth it, for they led to the creation of this suit.

“Ryan!” Vulcan shouted at him from inside her mech, growing tense and impatient. The machine had to lower itself not to hit the ceiling. “What the fuck are you waiting for?”

“I’m sorry…” Ryan had to suppress tears of joy. “This… this is the meaning of life!”

Unfortunately, newcomers decided to interrupt his divine revelation.

A six-man squadron in white power armor stepped out of the two elevators, escorting Blackthorn. The Dynamis executive finished adjusting his suit as if preparing for a meeting rather than a fight.

“Mr. Romano, Miss. Sharif,” Enrique Manada said, always dryly polite. “If you wished to make a late-night appointment, we had a receptionist downstairs.”

His soldiers pointed their weapons, powerful laser rifles, at the two Augusti Genomes. Vulcan raised her own cannon-arm at them, both groups facing each other in a tense standoff. “I don’t take appointments,” the Genius declared, trying to sound badass, “I force them.”

Ryan groaned at her lack of wit. She needed some coaching on that front.

“Your attack is bound to fail,” Enrique said with icy confidence. “The labs are secure, Don Hector is in another location, and our heroes will be there any minute. I don’t understand what you’re trying to do here, but this was suicide to even try.”

“Oh, a minute is fine,” Ryan replied, walking towards Vulcan’s mech. “We just finished our shopping and we will be on our way.”

“You won’t get—” Blackthorn suddenly stopped, his composure disturbed by something for the first time in the conversation. “Wait, what do you mean by shopping? I don’t understand.”

Ryan pointed a thumb at his shirt.

“Good.”

Ryan stopped time, and when it resumed, he had stripped down to his underwear. He kept only his mask, hat and boxers on, the rest of his clothes on the floor.

Six laser rifles were instantly pointed at him: five at his head, and one at his crotch, by far his most powerful weapon. “Behind me, sir, he’s going to flash you!” a soldier said, moving in front of a speechless Enrique Manada.

Ryan ignored the jab, even as the entire squadron seemed ready to blast him to death at a moment’s notice. He slowly put on the suit, pants last, ignoring the pervading tension in the room. No one dared interrupt him, his sheer moxie and the absurdity of the situation commanding everyone’s full attention.

“Better.”

Once he had put on the suit, Ryan started closing its buttons.

Slowly.

Methodically.

Lovingly.

Finally, once he had finished dressing up, Ryan put his hands on his waist. The suit’s colors mixed perfectly with his mask and hat, making him look fabulous. The way any Genome’s costume should.

“Perfect.”

For a moment, nobody dared utter a word.

Enrique Manada looked at the courier, left speechless by the time-manipulator’s overwhelming glamour. Il Migliore’s manager glanced at the suit, then at Vulcan, and finally at his men; they rolled their shoulders in confusion, so he looked back at Quicksave.

“You… you broke into our HQ… threatened to start a war… for a suit…” Enrique seemed unable to make a full sentence, interrupting himself whenever he said more than five words. He kept raising and lowering his hand as if trying to point out something, but unable to finish his action. “Not for the Elixirs... or Don Hector... but for a suit...”

The Brand Manager turned as stiff and lifeless as a Dynamis ad.

“Sir?” One of the armored soldiers turned to Enrique, keeping his rifle pointed at Quicksave’s crotch. “Sir, what do we do? Sir?”

“You can’t possibly… this has to be a diversion… can’t possibly be that stupid...”

“I think you made his brain bug the hell out, Quicksave,” Vulcan mused out loud, her cannon arm still pointed at Dynamis’ squadron.

“I’m…” Enrique shook his head, still unable to regain his composure. “I’m trying to process the sheer stupidity involved.”

“Oh,” Ryan said, “and here I thought you were the smart one.”

The taunt snapped Blackthorn into action. The rose on his business suit grew to the size of a small cannon and fired a volley of sharp thorns at Quicksave, who dodged with a combination of time-stop and hiding behind the closest desk.

Vulcan immediately opened fire back with her weaponry, only for an armored soldier to shield Enrique with his body. The power armor resisted an artillery shell, although it made the bodyguard stumble. The rest of the squadron retaliated with lasers, targeting Vulcan first.

“Shoot them!” Enrique ordered while grabbing a Beretta hidden inside his suit, a hint of anger breaking through his composure. His rose fell off his costume and started growing to colossal size, turning into an abomination of thorny vines.

Ryan peeked over the desk only to quickly hide back behind it, a laser barely missing his head and incinerating his beloved hat instead. The situation had devolved into an open shootout, lasers and artillery shells flying in all directions. The ceiling started crumbling above them, chairs and office supplies falling through growing holes.

“Romano!” Enrique Manada pointed his gun at the courier, while furious vines moved to surround him. “Drop that cashmere suit!”

“Stay back!” Ryan shouted from his hiding spot, noticing a few pencils and a suit’s sketch on the desk. “I’ve got a bottle of Roundup, and I’m not afraid to use it!”

“You people have gone too far this time,” Enrique snarled, his pride wounded. “You think this is a game? Are you high?”

“Naturally so!” Ryan stopped time as vines lunged at him from all directions, leaping over the desk and grabbing the pencils while at it. When time resumed, Blackthorn’s mutant rose crushed the spot where the courier used to hide.

Enrique reacted by pointing his gun at the time-traveler’s chest. Ryan threw the pencils at the manager’s hand with near-superhuman accuracy, forcing him to drop his weapon. However, before the courier could reach Blackthorn, rope-sized roots broke through the ceiling and attempted to grab him by the neck like a noose.

Ouch, so Il Migliore’s manager could not only control plants in a large radius but boost their growth too.

“I guess you should have called yourself Greenhand,” Ryan mocked Enrique but was forced to run away to avoid the deadly plants. The courier rushed at Vulcan’s mech, managing to grab his old clothes on the ground while a laser barely missed his shoulder.

“Get i—” Vulcan ordered, the cockpit opening. Ryan froze time again, climbed on the mech’s back, and then slipped inside, “—n!”

Without a pause, Vulcan closed the cockpit and activated the propellers. The mech flew straight through the metal panels covering the windows, shrugging off lasers and thick vines. The vegetal abominations couldn’t catch up with the mech once it escaped the building, Enrique glaring at it through the window's hole.

Flying Dynamis drones immediately gave chase and fired at Vulcan, who responded by accelerating. Ryan had to grab the Genius by the waist to avoid being thrown back by the sheer g-force involved, as the mech flew away towards the Mediterranean Sea.

Vulcan kept increasing the speed and lowered her altitude until her mech all but touched the waters, distancing the drones. After a five minutes chase, the mech lost its pursuers and decelerated.

Once safe, Vulcan and Ryan looked at each other while still high on adrenaline, then erupted into shouts and victory cries.

“That was amazing!” Vulcan laughed, beaming with joy.

“Yeah, right! It’s comfy and classy!” Ryan examined his new suit. “As if it were made for me!”

“I can’t wait to see the news tomorrow morning and the Dynamis press release!” Vulcan grinned ears to ears. “It will have been worth it just to see that Manada ass’ face while trying to explain this! He can’t even cover it up!”

“So we win the bet, chief?” Ryan asked mirthfully.

“Oh yes, we do!” Vulcan replied with a chuckle. “Handily.”

“I hope there’s a prize,” Ryan deadpanned, seeing a notification on the screen. “Looks like we’re getting a call.”

“It’s the defunct channel from my old Dynamis days,” Vulcan said, picking up the call.

“Sharif, do you even understand what you have done?” Enrique spoke on the other side of the radio. “You vandalized our HQ to steal a cashmere suit? You think you are above consequences?”

“You should thank us for testing your defenses,” Vulcan replied with a grin.

“Dynamis won’t take this lying down,” Enrique replied, his tone laced with menace. “This time, you’ve pissed into a volcano.”

Vulcan responded by shutting off the channel. “So what next, chief?” Ryan asked. “I mean, you’re the designated driver there.”

“Jasmine. You can call me Jasmine when there’s no one around.” She looked through the screens, checking if anyone followed them so far, but her stealth device worked perfectly. “We’re going home.”

“Uh, Jamie’s house is the other way.”

Jasmine looked over her shoulder, looking at him as if he were the biggest idiot she had ever met. “We’re going to my home.”

Oh.

Ryan took in her proposal, and while he was short on words for a moment, something quickly came to mind.

“Is Wyvern the safe word?”

Vulcan’s hand lunged for Ryan’s hair, grabbed it, and forced his head to move within an inch of her own. “Yes it is, smartass,” the Genius said, showing the courier her bare teeth, “but spoiler warning.”

Vulcan whispered into his ear.

“I won’t be listening.”

交火前几分钟，瑞恩正坐在伏尔甘的机甲座舱里，就在她身后。两名共犯一起透过电脑屏幕观察迪纳米斯总部。那座高塔简直像某个游戏的最终迷宫，每上一层，镇守的敌人就更危险，最顶层则是大头目。这情景几乎让瑞恩想来一趟自杀式闯关，不过，还是留待下次吧。

他的西装还在等他。

“你这样边开边喝，合适吗？”快递员问伏尔甘。她刚喝完一瓶伏特加。

“这点量还不足以让我有感觉。”她说着打开一个暗格，把空瓶放了进去。瑞恩注意到里面还有几瓶酒，包括一瓶波尔多葡萄酒，以及其他几样佳酿。如此精妙的品位，让伏尔甘在快递员心目中的地位立刻又拔高了一截。

“你还有个迷你酒柜？”

“我可是天才。”她得意地一笑，“等我腾出手来给你造动力装甲，说不定也给你装一个。我打算做得利落一点，专门强化近战性能。”

“说实话，我更想要一台合体巨神。”或许还能有个熊猫造型的动物模式？

“那些日美特摄剧里的？”她一脸嫌弃，“浮夸得要死！”

“喂，别糟蹋我的童年。”瑞恩抗议，随后眯起了眼睛，“等等，你也看过？”

“我为了找灵感，研究过不少科幻剧。”伏尔甘承认，脸上闪过一丝窘迫，随即转移了话题，“总之，这一带扫描完了，可以行动。”

“那我们这就进去？”

伏尔甘回头看了他一眼。座舱空间太小，瑞恩正贴在她背上。

这话听起来可能有点荤。

“我研究过他们的防御。”伏尔甘说完，重新看向屏幕，“早就手痒，想拿迪纳米斯试试我的隐形系统了，一直没找到机会。我还是不敢相信莉维娅居然点了头，尤其她还不知道最后会怎么样。”

“她就是因为不知道，才点头的。”瑞恩指出。那位黑手党公主似乎和他一样，迫切地渴望一些新鲜、出乎意料的乐子。“谢了，肯来帮忙。”

“阿尔方斯·马纳达要是在城里，就算看在你这张俊脸的分上，我也不会干。”伏尔甘坦言，“那狠毒的王八蛋，和他兄弟截然不同。就算他不在附近，我们也只有几分钟，然后他们就会派狠角色来追杀我们，到时咱们就完蛋了。拿了西装就走，别玩花样。”

“一点都不能玩？”

“别玩花样，瑞恩。”伏尔甘语气坚决，指了指紧挨着迪纳米斯总部的建筑，也就是至优者大楼，“他们最强的那批人，足以抗衡我们最强的那批，何况那里还是他们的地盘。警报一响，他们就会去增援实验室之类的战略要地，但这点混乱替我们争取不了多少时间。现在，抓紧我。”

瑞恩叹了口气，不过想到自己终于能弄到一套羊绒西装，也算有了安慰。

为了迎接这命中注定的一刻，快递员把大部分衣物留在了杰米家，身上只留了裤子、衬衫、面具和帽子。随身带的东西只有那只毛绒玩偶，它太危险，不能没人看管；伏尔甘把它放进机甲内部的储物格，将那份邪恶封印起来。

伏尔甘驾驶机甲从停驻处升空，飞到新罗马上方，给金属外壳罩上一层某种形式的伪装。这或许能骗过迪纳米斯的雷达和无人机防线，至少能撑到撞上去的那一刻。

伏尔甘的机甲迅速加速，过载越来越强，瑞恩别无选择，只好紧抱驾驶员，免得被甩到后面。电脑屏幕上，迪纳米斯大楼越来越近，翼形无人机正在周边巡航。高速、低空加上隐形，让这副动力装甲避过了它们的耳目。

随后，机甲如导弹一般撞进大楼，轰碎了二十楼的窗户和大半天花板。伏尔甘一路碾过家具、流水线和衣柜，终于停了下来。

“快，快，快！”座舱打开时，伏尔甘朝瑞恩喊道，快递员立刻钻出了机甲。

迪纳米斯的羊绒工厂占据了一整层洁净车间，看不到半点温暖或色彩。流水线上，机械臂取代了人类。只有几张办公桌俯瞰着生产线，每张桌上都有一台电脑，想必属于工程师。在两人所在位置的南面，两部电梯和楼梯将这一层与大楼其余部分连通。

警报声响彻整层楼，金属挡板封住了对外的窗户，监控摄像头立刻对准入侵者。

瑞恩根本没理会。脑海中的格里高利圣咏盖过了一切外界噪声，他全部的注意力，都落在一件仿佛直接来自他最狂野梦境的东西上。

刚刚制成的羊绒西装挂在离他不远的衣柜里，每套颜色都不同。其中有一套染成了紫色，还配着裤子。

那套完美的西装，一直在等着他。

任何男人都不可能对这番美景无动于衷，瑞恩也不例外。他小心翼翼地徒手触摸这奢华的衣料，感受它的质地，它的温暖，以及为了造出这番天堂景象而花下的一千欧元的分量。他从衣柜里取下这套漂亮西装，沐浴在它的荣光之中。

忽然，瑞恩认定，存在并非毫无意义。人类历史上的一切冲突都是值得的，因为它们最终促成了这套西装的诞生。

“瑞恩！”伏尔甘在机甲里冲他大喊，愈发紧张，也愈发不耐烦。机器不得不压低身躯，以免顶到天花板。“你他妈还在等什么？”

“抱歉……”瑞恩不得不忍住喜悦的泪水，“这……这就是生命的意义！”

可惜，新来的几位偏要打断这场神启。

一支六人小队身穿白色动力装甲，从两部电梯中走出，护送着黑棘。这位迪纳米斯高管最后整理了一下西装，仿佛准备去开会，而非打架。

“罗马诺先生，谢里夫小姐。”恩里克·马纳达一如既往地礼貌而冷淡，“如果二位想预约深夜会面，我们楼下有接待员。”

他的士兵将威力强大的激光步枪对准了这两名奥古斯蒂基因者。伏尔甘也抬起炮臂对准他们，双方紧张地对峙。“我不接受预约，”天才努力摆出一副狠人的腔调，“我强迫别人赴约。”

瑞恩听得哀叹一声，实在没什么机锋。她这方面还需要辅导。

“你们的袭击注定失败。”恩里克冷冰冰地说道，信心十足，“实验室安然无恙，埃克托阁下在别处，我们的英雄随时会到。我不明白你们究竟想干什么，但从你们动手的那一刻起，这就是自杀。”

“噢，一分钟也够了。”瑞恩一边回答，一边走向伏尔甘的机甲，“我们刚买完东西，这就走。”

“你们休想——”黑棘忽然停了下来，对话开始以来，他的镇定第一次受到了动摇，“等等，买东西是什么意思？我不明白。”

瑞恩用拇指指了指自己的衬衫。

“不错。”

瑞恩暂停了时间。时间恢复时，他已经脱得只剩内裤了。他身上只留着面具、帽子和四角内裤，其他衣服全堆在地上。

六支激光步枪瞬间对准了他：五支瞄着脑袋，一支瞄着裤裆——那可是他威力最强的武器。“长官，躲我后面，他要冲您露鸟！”一名士兵说着，挡在了哑口无言的恩里克·马纳达面前。

瑞恩无视了这句挖苦，尽管整支小队看起来都随时准备把他轰成渣。他慢悠悠地穿上西装，裤子留到最后，完全不理会房间里弥漫的紧张气氛。没人敢打断他；他那天不怕地不怕的胆气，加上眼前荒诞至极的场面，牢牢攫住了所有人的注意力。

“更好。”

穿好西装之后，瑞恩开始扣扣子。

慢条斯理。

有条不紊。

满怀爱意。

终于，穿戴完毕的瑞恩双手叉腰。西装的颜色与面具和帽子相得益彰，让他看上去光彩照人。基因者的行头就该是这个样子。

“完美。”

一时间，没人敢说一个字。

恩里克·马纳达望着快递员，被这位时间操纵者压倒性的魅力震得说不出话。至优者的经理看看西装，再看看伏尔甘，最后看向自己的手下；他们茫然地耸耸肩，于是他又看回快存。

“你们……你们闯进我们的总部……冒着挑起战争的风险……就为了一套西装……”恩里克似乎已经说不出一个完整的句子，每次一说过五个词，就会卡住。他的手不停抬起又放下，仿佛想指出什么，却连这个动作都无法完成。“不是为了灵药……也不是为了埃克托阁下……而是为了一套西装……”

这位品牌经理变得像迪纳米斯的广告一样，僵硬而毫无生气。

“长官？”一名装甲士兵转头看向恩里克，步枪依然瞄准着快存的裤裆，“长官，我们该怎么办？长官？”

“你们不可能……这一定是在转移注意力……不可能蠢到这个地步……”

“我看你把他脑子搞死机了，快存。”伏尔甘若有所思地说，炮臂仍指着迪纳米斯的小队。

“我在……”恩里克摇摇头，还是没能恢复镇定，“我还在试着消化这件事里纯粹到极点的愚蠢。”

“哦，”瑞恩说，“我还以为你才是聪明的那个呢。”

这句嘲讽让黑棘猛然采取了行动。他西装上的玫瑰长到一门小炮那么大，朝快存射出一阵尖刺。快存一边暂停时间，一边躲到最近的办公桌后，避开了攻击。

伏尔甘立刻开火还击，一名装甲士兵却用身体挡在了恩里克面前。动力装甲扛住了一发炮弹，不过这位保镖也被打得踉跄了一下。小队其余成员用激光反击，优先瞄准伏尔甘。

“开枪！”恩里克命令道，从西装里掏出一把藏着的伯莱塔手枪，镇定的表象下终于透出了一丝怒意。他的玫瑰从衣服上落下，开始急剧膨胀，变成一团巨大的带刺藤蔓怪物。

瑞恩刚从办公桌后探头，就赶紧缩了回去。一道激光险险擦过他的脑袋，却烧毁了他心爱的帽子。局面已经彻底失控，变成了一场正面枪战，激光与炮弹四处横飞。头顶的天花板开始崩塌，椅子和办公用品从不断扩大的窟窿里掉下来。

“罗马诺！”恩里克·马纳达用枪指着快递员，狂乱的藤蔓朝他包围过来，“把那套羊绒西装放下！”

“别过来！”瑞恩躲在桌后大喊，同时注意到桌上有几支铅笔和一张西装设计草图，“我有一瓶农达除草剂，而且我真敢用！”

“你们这次太过分了。”恩里克怒吼，自尊显然受到了伤害，“你以为这是游戏？你嗑嗨了？”

“天生就嗨！”藤蔓从四面八方扑向他时，瑞恩暂停了时间，翻过办公桌，顺手抓起那几支铅笔。时间恢复，黑棘的变异玫瑰将快递员刚才的藏身处碾了个粉碎。

恩里克立刻把枪口对准时间旅行者的胸膛。瑞恩将铅笔掷向这位经理的手，准头几乎超乎人类极限，逼得他丢了枪。然而，快递员还没来得及冲到黑棘面前，绳索般粗细的树根就破开天花板，像绞索一样朝他的脖子套来。

乖乖，原来至优者的经理不但能大范围操纵植物，还能催生它们。

“我看你该叫自己‘绿手’才对。”瑞恩嘲讽恩里克，却也不得不撒腿跑开，躲避致命的植物。他冲向伏尔甘的机甲，还抽空捞起了地上的旧衣服，一束激光险险擦过他的肩头。

“快进——”伏尔甘命令道，座舱随之打开。瑞恩再次暂停时间，爬上机甲背部，钻了进去。“——来！”

伏尔甘毫不停顿地关闭座舱，启动推进器。机甲径直撞穿封住窗户的金属挡板，无视激光与粗壮藤蔓的阻拦，飞了出去。一旦逃出大楼，那些植物怪物便再也追不上机甲。恩里克隔着窗上的破洞，怒视它远去。

迪纳米斯的无人机立刻追上来，朝伏尔甘开火，她则继续加速。机甲向着地中海疾飞而去，瑞恩不得不抱紧天才的腰，免得被强大的过载甩到后面。

伏尔甘不断提速，同时降低高度，直到机甲几乎贴着水面飞行，逐渐甩开了无人机。追逐持续五分钟后，机甲终于摆脱追兵，减慢了速度。

一脱离危险，肾上腺素依然飙升的伏尔甘和瑞恩便看向彼此，随即放声叫喊，欢呼胜利。

“简直棒极了！”伏尔甘开怀大笑，满脸喜悦。

“就是啊！舒服又有品位！”瑞恩打量着自己的新西装，“简直像是为我量身定做的！”

“我等不及看明早的新闻，还有迪纳米斯的新闻稿了！”伏尔甘笑得合不拢嘴，“光是能看见马纳达那混账解释这件事时的表情，这趟就值了！他想瞒都瞒不住！”

“所以咱们赌赢了，老大？”瑞恩乐呵呵地问。

“当然赢了！”伏尔甘笑道，“轻轻松松。”

“希望有奖品。”瑞恩一本正经地说，随后看见屏幕上弹出一条提示，“好像有人呼叫我们。”

“是我在迪纳米斯那会儿的通讯频道，早就停用了。”伏尔甘说着接通了呼叫。

“谢里夫，你到底明不明白自己干了什么？”恩里克的声音从无线电另一头传来。“你们毁坏我们的总部，就为了偷一套羊绒西装？你们以为自己不用承担后果？”

“你该谢谢我们帮你测试防御。”伏尔甘笑着回答。

“迪纳米斯不会忍气吞声。”恩里克回应，语气里满是威胁。“这次，你们可是往火山里撒了泡尿。”

伏尔甘直接关掉频道，算是回应。“接下来去哪儿，老大？”瑞恩问，“毕竟，这趟负责保持清醒开车的是你嘛。”

“贾丝敏。没别人在的时候，你可以叫我贾丝敏。”她逐一检查屏幕，确认有没有人一路跟踪。不过，她的隐形装置运转得无可挑剔。“我们回家。”

“呃，杰米家在反方向。”

贾丝敏回过头，看他的眼神仿佛在看她这辈子见过的头号蠢货。“我们回我家。”

哦。

瑞恩领会了她的提议，虽然一时语塞，但很快就想出了一句话。

“安全词是‘双足飞龙’吗？”

伏尔甘猛地伸手，揪住瑞恩的头发，硬把他的脑袋拉了过来，两张脸相距不到一英寸。“没错，自作聪明的家伙。”天才朝快递员龇着牙，“不过，先给你剧透一下。”

伏尔甘凑到他耳边低声说。

“我可不会听。”