同章对照

Ryan had to admit it, being the damsel in distress was a nice change of pace. Usually, he was the one doing the rescuing.

But it wasn’t very relaxing, for the Junkyard had erupted into complete chaos. An increasingly taller Frank traded blows with Wyvern in dragon form, the colossal reptile pushing her opponent against a pile of molten trash. For every hit the superheroine inflicted, the Psycho seemed to gain additional height. However, Lanka sniped him with white-colored spheres from her vantage point, shrinking Frank and keeping his size manageable.

Was she Cancel’s lost sister or something?

“You teamed up with Wyvern?” Ryan asked Jasmine, astonished.

“Temporarily,” Vulcan replied, unleashing a volley of bullets at Adam. While the Psycho’s carbon skin shrugged off the projectiles, the repeated shock prevented him from moving forward. “Very temporarily.”

You could tell the situation was bad when those two set aside their differences.

Having devoured the Land and left nothing behind, Chitter’s rats moved on to Adam, but the Meta’s leader proved to be a harder meal. He stomped on the rodents, turning them into blood smears on the ground; even when they tried to bury him under their weight, his enhanced strength allowed him to shrug them off.

Exploiting the distraction, Ryan grabbed a knife with his unwounded arm and managed to free his leg from the Land’s dirt binding with it. Meanwhile, Jamie, showing his badass samurai credentials, jumped off his rookery and created a sword of red light mid-flight. Swinging his blade during the descent, he cut through Frank’s back as easily as butter, leaving a scar around the waist.

Unfortunately, the Psycho’s metal body quickly regenerated from the wound, and while Lanka slowed down his exponential growth, she couldn’t stop it. Frank would reach eight meters in height soon.

“Anything that can take down the communication tower?” Ryan asked Jasmine, needing to shout to be heard over the sound of gunfire. “I mean, their gun is bigger than yours, no offense.”

“I wasted most of my good stuff on the reptile over there,” Vulcan replied with frustration, quickly running out of ammo. Without suppressing fire, Adam was now free to move and brought out a warhammer from his gullet. “Cover me while I reload.”

To give himself more time to think and plan, Ryan activated his power. The world turned violet, the courier looking under his suit with his left arm. He couldn’t feel the right one, Adam’s chain having shredded its key muscles.

Could a Desert Eagle be powerful enough? A higher caliber gun perh—

“So you were the source of these anomalies.”

Ryan flinched, before looking up to the skies.

A man of ivory floated above the Junkyard, shrouded in a blinding electric aura; powerful streams of whitened winds came from his feet, allowing him to hover above the ground. He alone moved in the frozen time, standing above and looking down on the humans below.

Electrohydrodynamics. He used electrical charges to ionize air molecules and allow himself to fly.

“I was starting to wonder,” said Augustus, carrying a half-burnt corpse in his hand. From the clothes, Ryan recognized it as Acid Rain’s. “You would make a powerful Saturn.”

Time resumed, and Lightning Butt focused on the other people present.

The moment Augustus came into view, everyone stopped moving; even the blinded Adam seemed to have sensed his presence. The lightning emperor’s mere presence, and the sheer electrical tension coming from his person, cowed everyone present into silence.

“You failed,” Augustus told Adam, tossing Acid Rain’s corpse on the ground below like a piece of trash. “Even Hargraves’ flames could not warm me. You thought this feeble light could kill me? You thought that anything could kill me?”

To his credit, Adam quickly recovered from his surprise. “Frank, squash him!”

The now eight meters-tall giant immediately pushed Wyvern aside and attempted to smash Augustus with both hands, the way a man crushed a mosquito. Instead of dodging, the lightning emperor raised his arms and stopped the giant’s hands with his own.

As he did, Frank’s metal skin shifted around Augustus’ fingers, covering them; even Mob Zeus looked briefly surprised by this development. It seemed Frank the Mad’s metallic structure tried to digest Augustus’ hands but struggled to. It reminded Ryan of a dog trying to chew a bone too hard for its teeth.

But it made no difference.

Augustus looked at Frank and blasted the titan’s head with a blinding lightning bolt from his eyes. The sheer power behind the blow melted the Psycho’s steel body, leaving a pile of molten metal where the brain should have been. Though pieces of him remained stuck to Augustus, Frank collapsed to his back.

“Ryan, get down!” Vulcan activated her propellers and grabbed Ryan, flying out of the giant’s falling shadow. Chitter’s rats fled in all directions, while Wyvern, Jamie, and Adam dispersed. Frank hit the ground and blew dust in all directions, missing the tower by an inch. He remained still, even after the dust settled.

Without wasting time, Augustus gracefully landed on the ground and began to slowly walk towards Adam. Instead of cowering, the nihilistic Psycho glared back at the invincible man.

“My sister, daughter, and goddaughter died because of you.” There was no word on earth to sum up the cold fury coming from Lightning Butt’s mouth right now. “Their deaths were swifter than yours will ever be. I promise you a Tartarus.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Adam replied while swinging his warhammer at the invulnerable man’s head. “Even if I die, I already won! You all lost!”

His weapon flattened on impact, while Augustus didn’t even flinch.

“Well, it was fun while it lasted,” Adam said, before outright shouting. “Adam to Bahamut! Change target to current lo—”

Augustus casually backhanded Adam in the face, tearing off his jaw and sending the carbon-made man to the ground. The emperor then kicked the Psycho in the stomach with enough strength to make him crash against the orbital tower. While everyone looked on, too terrified to move or say anything, Lightning Butt started stomping his victim. The Psycho’s hardened shell folded like aluminum under the savage beating, bones breaking, legs twisting.

When at long last, Adam had become a bloody, battered mess on the ground, Augustus lowered his neck to look at his victim dead in the eyes. “Any last words, vermin?”

Adam laughed.

It wasn’t a laugh of despair or madness, but the taunting cackle of a monster happy with his work. A loud, gregarious laughter of pure schadenfreude.

It only enraged Mob Zeus further.

“At the end of the day, for all your delusions, you only bear the first man’s name.” Augustus raised his foot above Adam’s face. “While I am a god.”

Augustus stomped on the head with a sickening crack. Adam fell silent, drool falling off his mouth; his outside turned from carbon to scarred skin, weak and vulnerable. The Meta was still breathing, but with a nasty concussion.

He might soon wish he was dead though.

“Soldiers, grab this piece of trash and send him to Venus. He will not die until I have him nailed to a cross on Ischia Island, his screams soothing my daughter’s soul.” Augustus then turned to Wyvern. “We fight now?”

“Fight over what?” Wyvern regained her human form and waved a hand at the devastation around them, while Jamie and Lanka immediately rushed to tie Adam up. “The ashes?”

“Then get lost,” Augustus replied, glancing at the communication tower. “Now that I look at this cursed ground clearly, there is an entire crypt of metal beneath our feet. Mechron’s tomb I assume.”

“What are you going to do?” Wyvern asked with a frown.

“Finish what Hargraves did not have the guts to.”

Lightning Butt’s electrical aura grew brighter and stronger, his body building up energy inside itself. The courier immediately realized what the thunder emperor planned, and how it would ruin everything.

“No!” Ryan pleaded, turning to Vulcan, whose face he couldn’t see beneath her helmet. “There’s still bound to be something down there that we can use!”

“Ryan,” his girlfriend replied with a hint of finality. “It’s over. If we stay, we die.”

Augustus unleashed a lightning blast at the orbital tower, his overwhelming power short-circuiting the force fields and snapping the building in half. One half of the tower fell on the junkyard’s ground with a cataclysmic shockwave. The aura around Augustus briefly vanished, revealing the human underneath: a statue of ivory, with pieces of Frank’s body still stubbornly attempting to eat away his hands.

Lightning Butt looked sick, his cheeks creased and his eyes sullen. But he was already recharging, and this time his aura turned brighter than ever.

Vulcan grabbed Ryan in her arms and flew away, the courier too weakened by his wounded arm and blood loss to protest. Everyone evacuated in short order, Wyvern assisting Lanka and Jamie in dragging Adam away, and leaving the lightning emperor alone.

Twenty minutes later, a mighty thunderbolt hit the junkyard in a cataclysmic detonation, burying Mechron’s bunker once and for all.

---

As expected of Rampage’s side-effects, Ryan started throwing up everything he had eaten in the last few days once the drug wore off. With his existing wounds and a damaged arm, Jasmine had him sedated.

When the courier woke up in a hospital bed, it was surrounded by his friends and a cat. Jamie sat on a chair with his girlfriend on his lap, and Jasmine was petting a white cat. Only Lanka stood on her own feet, her back against a white, featureless wall.

“Hello, sleeping beauty,” Lanka mused, though her usual devil-may-care attitude had softened up a little.

“My, were you worried for me?” Ryan asked, raising his bandaged left arm. He could actually feel pain now, which was an improvement over its previous state. “Didn’t anyone tell you I’m immortal?”

Ki-jung chuckled, though her boyfriend didn’t. Jamie was happy to see the handsome courier alive but clearly didn’t like the joke.

“There.” Jasmine all but dumped the white cat on her boyfriend. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Schrodinger!” Ryan grabbed the cat, who immediately took the courier’s lap as his own throne. “You’re alive!”

“I don’t know how,” Jasmine admitted. Ki-jung looked at the cat with a worried gaze, clearly forcing herself to stand the feline’s presence for Ryan’s sake. “Out of everyone at the factory, only that fucking cat made it out alive. That pet is luckier than Fortuna.”

“Did she make it out?” Ryan asked, before correcting himself. “Who else made it out?”

“Precious few,” Jamie admitted with a sorrowful face.

“Fortuna and her parents were far enough away from ground zero to avoid being killed outright, probably thanks to her busted luck,” Lanka added. “The house almost collapsed on us when the Meta targeted Mt. Augustus, but we avoided incineration. Neptune survived too.”

“Is…” Ryan’s voice died in his throat. “Is Len alive?”

The group exchanged glances, while Jasmine scowled outright.

“You don’t need to sugarcoat it,” Ryan declared, his hand tensing on Schrodinger’s back. “Say the truth outright. I expect it.”

“Almost everyone on Ischia Island perished, either from the laser itself or the searing ashes,” Jasmine said bluntly, though she was clearly crestfallen. “Only Geist lived if you can call it that, and the few of us who were fighting outside ground zero. The Underdiver… didn’t survive.”

Ryan said nothing for a moment. Whether it was because of the anesthesia, the tiredness, or the gnawing realization that he had completely messed up this run... he couldn’t muster the strength to feel anything.

“I’m sorry,” Jamie apologized. “I know it’s a cold comfort, but nobody could have stopped this.”

He meant well, but it only hurt more. “I could have,” Ryan said.

Once again, he had failed to protect Len from Psychos.

“You couldn’t,” Jamie insisted. “It happened in a flash, no time to think.”

“You’re a hero, Ryan,” Ki-jung said. “You probably prevented Adam from firing that beam again and killing thousands.”

“It was completely foolish, you mean!” Jasmine snarled at Ryan. “What were you thinking, attacking them head-on?”

“Hey, I tried to call for backup but nobody answered!” Ryan replied. “And I thought I could pull off a Tony Montana.”

“Well you did,” Lanka said with a snicker. “Your own drug did more damage to your system than the Meta, from what I heard.”

“We’re in Sorrento, south of New Rome,” Jamie told Ryan.

“You can still see the fires out of the windows,” Lanka said, Ki-jung elbowing her.

“It’s one of our cities, so it’s safe here,” Jamie reassured the courier, in an almost paternal way. “With your Genome metabolism, you should recover in no time.”

At this point, Ryan wasn’t sure if he should drag out his recovery time or put a bullet in his head right this instant. He decided to wait a little, to get a clearer picture of the situation. “What’s going to happen now?”

“We bury the dead,” Jamie said grimly. “After that, we rebuild and we continue to move forward. That’s all we can do.”

“I don’t think now is the time to speak of it,” Ki-jung told her fiancé.

“Yeah.” Jamie rose up alongside his girlfriend. “We’ll let you rest, my friend. Lanka.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lanka said, as the trio left Jasmine and Ryan alone. The courier heard her grumble while closing the door behind them. “Goddamn lovebirds…”

Vulcan waited a few seconds for the other Augusti to leave, before turning to Ryan.

“You’re holding up?” She tried not to sound concerned but wasn’t very good at it. “You owe me one.”

“Unfortunately, I can only pay with my body; my money went down in ashes.” Ryan’s response drew a chuckle from the Genius. “Is my car alright?”

“No,” Jasmine shook her head, mourning this beautiful device’s destruction too. “Adam blew it up alongside my foundry.”

If Len’s demise hadn’t finished off Ryan, his car’s murder did. The Chronoradio was gone, and even if he memorized the plans for Len’s device, it wouldn’t work without the brain powering the Plymouth Fury.

What did his car do to the Meta to deserve such bitter treatment? Besides running them over again and again?

Someone knocked on the hospital room’s window, the Genome couple immediately looking up at it.

“Hi,” said Wyvern while opening the window from the other side. Ryan found the scene extraordinarily familiar.

Jasmine immediately revealed a gun hidden beneath her trousers, pointing it at Wyvern’s face. “Get the fuck out of here, Laura.”

“Jasmine, can we stop doing… doing this?” Wyvern sighed. “Stop fighting for once? After everything that happened, aren’t you tired of it too? I come in peace.”

Vulcan kept her weapon raised, finger on the trigger… and then lowered it.

“How did we fall apart?” Wyvern asked, looking down while she entered the room through the window and landed on the floor.

“You started it,” Jasmine replied, putting the gun aside. “Aren’t you helping the civilians?”

“I was, but the Carnival arrived to help.”

Jasmine’s eyes widened in alarm. “Does Augustus know?”

“Not yet, but he will soon,” Wyvern said. “He and Leonard can’t stand each other, so I expect more fighting soon.”

“What about Dynamis?” Ryan asked.

“What I always feared will come to pass,” Wyvern admitted. “Alphonse Manada is in charge of what remains, including all the troops in Sicily, Libya, and Spain. The truce won’t hold with him in command. If anything, I think he sees it as an opportunity to wipe you all out for good.”

“There’s going to be a new round of Genome Wars,” Jasmine muttered. “They’re going to fight over the scraps.”

“Yes.”

An awkward silence fell on the room. While he wouldn’t live to see it, Hannifat Lecter had won. He had ruined Europe for years to come.

And worst of all... the plushie was still out there.

“This is your fault,” Jasmine told Wyvern with a scowl. “You hired the Meta. You planted the seeds from which this disaster grew.”

“I… I didn’t,” Wyvern shook her head. “Jasmine, I swear I didn’t know. Neither did Enrique, bless his soul. If anyone is at fault, it’s Hector. I would have stopped him if I had known.”

“That’s your problem, Laura. You could never pay attention.” Vulcan shook her head, skeptical. “Why are you here?”

“I came to apologize,” the heroine admitted, causing Jasmine to blink in surprise. “I still don’t understand how we went from friends to enemies, but after all that happened, I’ve been reevaluating my choices. I don’t want to fight you again, and… whatever I did that caused you pain… I wish to apologize for it.”

Jasmine listened without a word, different feelings changing her expression. From disbelief, to anger, to regrets. “Get out, Laura,” she finally said, unable to process it. “Get out.”

“I understand,” Wyvern replied with a scowl, before turning to the courier. “Romano, I’m not sure why you chose to join the Augusti, but… what you did was very brave. There’s still time for you to turn your life around, become a force of good in the world.”

“Yeah,” Ryan replied, looking at the sleeping cat on his lap. “There’s still time.”

With one last glance to Jasmine and Ryan, Wyvern flew through the windows, probably to rejoin New Rome.

“You knew,” Jasmine said once she was gone, glaring at her boyfriend. “About that Mechron bunker. That’s what you were hiding.”

“I knew Mechron kept a weapon stash below,” Ryan admitted. “Not that he had an orbital laser’s control panel.”

“And you didn’t tell me?!” she snarled. “Fuck, Ryan, we slept together! In my bed! It couldn’t hurt to trust me a little!”

“Jasmine, I swear—”

“Shut up,” she interrupted him, looking away. “Just shut up.”

Schrodinger let out a cute meow as if to alleviate the tension in the air. Ryan petted him between the ears, wondering if Shub-Niggurath had also survived the devastation. Though most of his thoughts were for the orphans in Len’s undersea base. With luck, the automated systems would provide for them, but without Shortie…

All in all, this run had been a disaster.

Mechron’s bunker had been blown up, like his car, the Chronoradio, and whatever brain-copying research Dynamis stockpiled in their HQ. His plan to transfer someone else’s consciousness through time had been dashed.

The courier only had one option left; his only chance to salvage something from this run, and that was Vulcan’s power-enhancing armor. But would she help him after everything? He wasn’t sure.

At this point, he should just ask Vulcan for her gun and pull the trigger.

And yet…

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Jasmine broke the silence. “I know I’m beautiful, but that’s just creepy.”

“I was thinking about what you said,” Ryan said. “A little trust. You knew I was hiding things but you said nothing to Augustus or the others. Why?”

“I wonder myself,” the Genius replied with a shrug. “I dunno, you’re smart, you’re fun, and I like you. Simple as that.”

“Like, as in present? So you still have a thing for me.”

“Don’t push it, Ryan,” she replied, though he saw the edge of a smile on her lips. “Yeah, I still have a little crush, and that’s why I’m mad at you for your stupidity. You can only really be pissed at people you hate or care about.”

Ryan smiled a little, though the heart wasn’t in it. Thing was, he had plenty of people he had grown to hate, but very few people to care for. He had always remained careful not to get attached to others because it only hurt more when he looped.

Thing was, Vulcan had kept some of his secrets when she could have easily betrayed him. Even now, she hadn’t completely written him as a lost cause. She wasn’t a good person, as his Dynamis loop could attest, but she wasn’t all that bad either.

A little trust… it had been a while since Ryan had trusted anyone except Len, because trust was a fragile thing that could easily turn into an open wound. Because it was something that once given couldn’t be easily taken back.

But this whole disaster happened because he couldn’t trust anyone but Len with the bunker’s secrets. If Ryan always did the same things all over again, then he would get the same results. Maybe… maybe it was time to change.

Maybe it was time for him to change.

“Jasmine.”

“What?”

“I can time-travel.”

Trust was a two-way street, after all.

瑞恩得承认，当一回落难佳人，倒是不错的调剂。通常都是他去救别人。

可这也谈不上多轻松，因为废料场已经彻底乱了套。越长越高的弗兰克正与化作巨龙的双足飞龙对打，庞大的爬行动物将对手推向一堆熔融垃圾。这位超级女英雄每打中一次，那个疯魔似乎就会再长高一点。不过，兰卡在高处用白色光球狙击他，让弗兰克缩小，将他的体型控制在还算能应付的范围内。

她该不会是消除者失散多年的姐妹吧？

“你跟双足飞龙联手了？”瑞恩惊讶地问贾丝敏。

“暂时联手。”伏尔甘答道，朝亚当扫出一串子弹。疯魔的碳质皮肤挡下了子弹，接连不断的冲击却让他无法前进。“非常短暂的那种。”

连这两个人都能暂时放下恩怨，足见局势已经糟透了。

吱喳的老鼠将大地吃得一点不剩，随后转向亚当，可超能帮的首领是块更难啃的硬骨头。他一脚脚踩下，将鼠群碾成地上的血迹；就算老鼠们试图靠数量把他活埋，强化过的力量也让他足以将它们甩开。

趁着敌人分心，瑞恩用没受伤的手抓住一把刀，终于将腿从大地留下的泥土束缚中解放出来。与此同时，杰米拿出了武士高手的真本事，从高处一跃而下，在半空中凝出一把红光长剑。他下落时挥动剑刃，像切黄油般轻松地劈开弗兰克的后背，在腰间留下一道伤痕。

可惜，疯魔的金属身躯很快就从伤势中恢复过来。兰卡虽然减缓了他指数级膨胀的速度，却没法将其彻底阻止。弗兰克很快就要长到八米高了。

“有什么东西能打掉那座通讯塔吗？”瑞恩问贾丝敏，必须扯着嗓子喊，声音才能盖过枪炮声。“我是说，他们的炮比你的大，没别的意思。”

“我的好东西大半都浪费在那边那条爬虫身上了。”伏尔甘懊恼地答道，弹药很快就要打光。没有火力压制，亚当恢复了行动自由，从喉咙里掏出一柄战锤。“掩护我换弹。”

为了多争取一点思考和谋划的时间，瑞恩发动了能力。世界染上紫色，快递员用左手掀开西装，查看里面的装备。他已经感觉不到右臂了，亚当的锁链撕烂了那里的关键肌肉。

沙漠之鹰的威力够不够？口径再大些的枪也许——

“原来那些异常都是你造成的。”

瑞恩一惊，抬头望向天空。

一个象牙般的男人漂浮在废料场上空，周身笼罩着刺眼的电光；强劲而泛白的气流从他脚下喷涌而出，让他悬停在地面上方。在凝固的时间里，只有他仍能活动，高高在上，俯视着下方的人类。

电流体动力学。他用电荷将空气分子电离，借此飞行。

“我早就开始纳闷了。”奥古斯都说道，手里提着一具烧焦了一半的尸体。从衣服上，瑞恩认出那是酸雨。“你会是个强大的萨图恩。”

时间恢复流动，闪电屁股将注意力转向在场的其他人。

奥古斯都出现的瞬间，所有人都停下了动作；就连双目失明的亚当似乎也察觉到了他的存在。仅仅是这位雷电帝王的现身，以及他周身那股骇人的电力压迫感，就足以让所有人噤若寒蝉。

“你失败了。”奥古斯都对亚当说，像丢垃圾一样，将酸雨的尸体扔到下方的地面上。“连哈格雷夫斯的火焰都暖不了我的身子。你以为这点微光就能杀死我？你以为这世上有什么东西能杀得了我？”

不得不说，亚当很快便从惊愕中恢复过来。“弗兰克，把他拍扁！”

已经长到八米高的巨人立刻推开双足飞龙，试图双手合拢，将奥古斯都拍死，就像人拍死一只蚊子。雷电帝王没有闪避，而是抬起双臂，用自己的双手挡住了巨人的手掌。

就在这时，弗兰克的金属皮肤沿着奥古斯都的手指蠕动，将它们包裹起来；就连黑帮宙斯也为这突如其来的变化惊讶了一瞬。疯子弗兰克的金属组织似乎想消化掉奥古斯都的双手，却很是吃力。瑞恩想起了狗啃一根牙口根本啃不动的硬骨头的模样。

但这并没有改变什么。

奥古斯都看向弗兰克，双眼射出一道耀眼的闪电，轰在巨人的头上。这一击蕴含的力量熔化了疯魔的钢铁之躯，原本该是大脑的地方只剩下一摊熔融金属。尽管仍有部分身体黏在奥古斯都身上，弗兰克还是仰面倒了下去。

“瑞恩，趴下！”伏尔甘启动推进器，一把抓住瑞恩，飞出了巨人倾倒时投下的阴影。吱喳的老鼠四散逃窜，双足飞龙、杰米和亚当也各自躲开。弗兰克砸在地上，掀起漫天尘土，离通讯塔只差分毫。尘埃落定后，他仍一动不动。

奥古斯都没有耽搁，姿态优雅地落到地面，开始缓缓走向亚当。这个信奉虚无的疯魔没有畏缩，反而怒视着那无敌的男人。

“我的姐妹、女儿和教女，都因你而死。”此刻从闪电屁股口中吐露的冰冷怒火，世间没有任何词语足以形容。“她们死得快。你绝不会这么快解脱。我保证，你会尝到塔尔塔罗斯的滋味。”

“无所谓。”亚当一边回答，一边抡起战锤，砸向那刀枪不入的男人的头颅。“就算我死了，我也已经赢了！你们全都输了！”

战锤在碰撞中变了形，奥古斯都却连晃都没晃一下。

“好吧，至少这段时间玩得挺开心。”亚当说完，突然放声大喊，“亚当呼叫巴哈姆特！目标改为当前位——”

奥古斯都随手一记反抽，打在亚当脸上，扯掉了他的下颌，将那具碳质身躯掀翻在地。随后，帝王一脚踹中疯魔的腹部，力道之大，让他直接撞上了轨道通讯塔。所有人都惊恐地看着，不敢动弹，也不敢出声，闪电屁股则开始一脚脚踩踏他的猎物。在这番残暴的殴打下，疯魔的坚硬外壳像铝片一样凹陷，骨头折断，双腿扭曲。

直到亚当终于变成地上一团血肉模糊的烂肉，奥古斯都才低下头，直视猎物的双眼。“还有什么遗言，害虫？”

亚当笑了。

那不是绝望或疯狂的笑，而是一个怪物对自己的杰作心满意足时，发出的讥嘲狂笑。那笑声响亮而爽朗，透着十足的幸灾乐祸。

这只让黑帮宙斯更加暴怒。

“不管你有多少痴心妄想，说到底，你也只是顶着世上第一个人的名字。”奥古斯都将脚抬到亚当脸的上方。“而我，是神。”

奥古斯都一脚踩上他的脑袋，发出令人作呕的碎裂声。亚当不再出声，涎水从嘴边淌下；他的外表从碳质变回了伤痕累累的皮肤，脆弱，不堪一击。这个超能帮成员还在呼吸，却遭受了严重的脑震荡。

不过，他可能很快就会宁愿自己已经死了。

“士兵们，把这块垃圾抓起来，送到维纳斯那里。在我把他钉上伊斯基亚岛的十字架，用他的惨叫抚慰我女儿的灵魂之前，他不准死。”奥古斯都随后转向双足飞龙。“现在轮到我们打了？”

“为了什么打？”双足飞龙恢复人形，抬手示意四周的惨状。杰米和兰卡则立刻冲上去捆绑亚当。“为了这些灰烬？”

“那就滚。”奥古斯都答道，瞥了一眼通讯塔。“现在仔细看看这片受诅咒的土地，我们脚下竟有一整座金属地宫。想必就是梅克隆的坟墓了。”

“你打算做什么？”双足飞龙皱眉问。

“完成哈格雷夫斯没胆量做的事。”

闪电屁股周身的电光越来越亮，越来越强，体内不断积蓄着能量。快递员立刻意识到，这位雷电帝王打算干什么，以及这会如何毁掉一切。

“不行！”瑞恩转向伏尔甘，恳求道；头盔挡住了她的脸，他看不见她的表情。“下面肯定还有我们能用得上的东西！”

“瑞恩，”女友回答，语气里带着一丝不容挽回的决绝，“结束了。留下来，我们就会死。”

奥古斯都向轨道通讯塔释放出一道雷电，压倒性的力量让防护力场短路，将塔身轰成两截。半座塔砸落在废料场的地面上，掀起灾难般的冲击波。奥古斯都周身的光芒短暂消失，显出被遮掩的人形：一尊象牙雕像，手上还黏着弗兰克的身体碎片，顽固地试图啃噬他的双手。

闪电屁股面带病容，双颊起皱，眼神阴郁。但他已经在重新蓄能，这一次，周身的光芒比以往任何时候都要明亮。

伏尔甘将瑞恩抱在怀里，飞离了现场。受伤的手臂加上失血，让快递员虚弱得无力抗议。众人迅速撤离，双足飞龙帮着兰卡和杰米将亚当拖走，只留下雷电帝王独自一人。

二十分钟后，一道威力惊人的雷霆击中了废料场，引发毁天灭地的爆炸，将梅克隆的地堡彻底埋葬。

---

正如预料的那样，狂暴的药效一过，副作用便找上了门，瑞恩开始把过去几天吃下去的东西全往外吐。考虑到他身上原有的伤势和受损的手臂，贾丝敏让人给他用了镇静剂。

快递员醒来时，正躺在医院的病床上，床边围着朋友们，还有一只猫。杰米坐在椅子上，女友坐在他腿上，贾丝敏则在抚摸一只白猫。只有兰卡站着，后背靠在一面空无一物的白墙上。

“你好啊，睡美人。”兰卡打趣道，不过她平日里那副满不在乎的态度，此刻也柔和了几分。

“哎呀，你们这是在担心我？”瑞恩问，抬起缠着绷带的左臂。他现在确实能感觉到疼了，比起先前的状况也算有所改善。“没人告诉过你们，我是不死之身吗？”

基贞轻笑了一声，她男友却没有。杰米很高兴看到这位英俊的快递员还活着，但显然不喜欢这个笑话。

“给。”贾丝敏几乎是把白猫直接扔到了男友身上。“现在轮到你了。”

“薛定谔！”瑞恩接住猫，它立刻将快递员的双腿当成了自己的王座。“你还活着！”

“我也不知道它是怎么做到的。”贾丝敏承认。基贞忧心忡忡地看着那只猫，显然是为了瑞恩，才强迫自己忍受这只猫科动物的存在。“工厂里那么多人，就这只该死的猫活着出来了。这宠物的运气比福尔图娜还好。”

“她逃出来了吗？”瑞恩问，随后改口，“还有谁逃出来了？”

“寥寥无几。”杰米神色悲伤地承认。

“福尔图娜和她父母离轰击中心足够远，没有当场丧命，多半得归功于她那好到不讲理的运气。”兰卡补充道，“超能帮轰击奥古斯都山时，房子差点塌下来把我们埋了，但我们没被烧成灰。尼普顿也活下来了。”

“蕾恩……”瑞恩的声音哽在喉间。“蕾恩还活着吗？”

几个人交换了一下眼神，贾丝敏更是直接沉下了脸。

“不用拐弯抹角。”瑞恩说道，放在薛定谔背上的手绷紧了。“实话实说吧。我有心理准备。”

“伊斯基亚岛上几乎所有人都死了，不是死于激光，就是死于滚烫的灰烬。”贾丝敏直截了当地说，尽管她显然也十分难过。“只有幽魂活了下来，如果那也算活着的话。另外就是我们这几个在轰击中心之外交战的人。深潜者……没能幸存。”

瑞恩一时没有说话。不知是因为麻药、疲惫，还是那个不断啃噬他的念头——他已经把这一轮彻底搞砸了……他连感受任何情绪的力气都没有。

“对不起。”杰米歉然道，“我知道这么说没多少安慰，但这件事谁也阻止不了。”

他是好意，却只让瑞恩更难受。“我本来可以的。”瑞恩说。

他又一次没能保护蕾恩免受疯魔的伤害。

“你做不到。”杰米坚持道，“一切都发生在一瞬间，根本没时间思考。”

“你是个英雄，瑞恩。”基贞说，“要不是你，亚当恐怕还会再次发射那道光束，杀死成千上万的人。”

“你是说他蠢透了吧！”贾丝敏冲瑞恩吼道，“正面冲上去打他们，你到底在想什么？”

“喂，我试着叫过支援，可没人接啊！”瑞恩反驳，“而且我以为自己能当一回托尼·蒙塔纳。”

“你倒是做到了。”兰卡嗤笑道，“听说你自己嗑的药，对身体造成的伤害比超能帮还大。”

“我们现在在索伦托，新罗马南边。”杰米告诉瑞恩。

“从窗户还能看到大火呢。”兰卡说道，基贞拿胳膊肘顶了她一下。

“这是我们控制的城市之一，所以这里很安全。”杰米安慰快递员，语气近乎慈父。“以你的基因者代谢能力，应该很快就能恢复。”

到了这一步，瑞恩也不确定自己是该把养伤的时间再拖上一阵，还是立刻往脑袋里送颗子弹。他决定再等一等，把局势了解得更清楚些。“接下来会怎么样？”

“我们安葬死者。”杰米沉重地说，“然后重建，继续往前走。我们能做的只有这些。”

“我觉得现在不是谈这个的时候。”基贞对未婚夫说。

“是啊。”杰米和女友一起站起身。“我们不打扰你休息了，朋友。兰卡。”

“行了，行了。”兰卡说。三人离开，把房间留给了贾丝敏和瑞恩。关门时，快递员还听见她在嘟囔：“该死的小情侣……”

伏尔甘等了几秒，待其他奥古斯蒂成员离开，才转向瑞恩。

“还撑得住吗？”她想让自己听起来没那么担心，可惜掩饰得并不好。“你欠我一次。”

“可惜我只能肉偿了，我的钱全烧成灰了。”瑞恩的回答让这位天才轻笑了一声。“我的车还好吗？”

“不好。”贾丝敏摇摇头，同样为那辆美妙机器的毁灭而哀悼。“亚当把它连同我的铸造厂一起炸了。”

就算蕾恩的死还没能彻底击垮瑞恩，爱车遭到谋杀也足够了。时空收音机没了；即使他记住了蕾恩那台装置的图纸，没有驱动普利茅斯“狂怒”的那颗大脑，它也无法运转。

他的车到底对超能帮做过什么，值得他们下此毒手？除了反反复复从他们身上碾过去？

有人敲了敲病房的窗户，这对基因者情侣立刻抬头望去。

“嗨。”双足飞龙从外面打开窗户，说道。瑞恩觉得这场面熟悉得过分。

贾丝敏立刻亮出藏在裤子里的枪，对准双足飞龙的脸。“给我他妈滚出去，劳拉。”

“贾丝敏，我们能不能别再……别再这样了？”双足飞龙叹了口气。“就这一次，别打了，行吗？出了这么多事，你难道还没厌倦吗？我不是来找麻烦的。”

伏尔甘仍举着枪，手指扣在扳机上……然后放了下来。

“我们怎么会闹到决裂的地步？”双足飞龙问，垂着眼从窗户进来，落在地板上。

“是你先开始的。”贾丝敏答道，把枪放到一旁。“你不是在帮平民吗？”

“本来是，不过嘉年华赶来帮忙了。”

贾丝敏惊得睁大双眼。“奥古斯都知道吗？”

“还不知道，但他很快就会知道。”双足飞龙说，“他和伦纳德谁也容不下谁，所以我估计很快还会再打起来。”

“迪纳米斯呢？”瑞恩问。

“我一直担心的事要成真了。”双足飞龙承认，“阿尔方斯·马纳达接管了剩下的一切，包括西西里、利比亚和西班牙的全部部队。他来指挥，停战就维持不下去了。不如说，我觉得他把这当成了一个机会，可以把你们彻底赶尽杀绝。”

“又一轮基因者战争要来了。”贾丝敏喃喃道，“他们要为这点残羹剩饭开战。”

“是的。”

病房陷入了尴尬的沉默。尽管活不到亲眼见证的那一天，汉尼胖·莱克特还是赢了。欧洲往后多年的日子，都被他毁了。

而最糟糕的是……那只毛绒玩偶还在外面游荡。

“这都是你的错。”贾丝敏沉着脸对双足飞龙说，“是你雇了超能帮。酿成这场灾难的种子，是你亲手埋下的。”

“我……我没有。”双足飞龙摇了摇头。“贾丝敏，我发誓，我不知道。恩里克也不知道，愿他安息。真要怪谁，那也是埃克托的错。如果我知道，我会阻止他的。”

“你的毛病就在这里，劳拉。你从来就不会留心。”伏尔甘满腹怀疑地摇头。“你来干什么？”

“我是来道歉的。”这位女英雄承认，贾丝敏惊讶地眨了眨眼。“我还是不明白，我们怎么就从朋友变成了敌人。但经历了这么多事，我开始重新审视自己做过的选择。我不想再跟你打了，而且……无论我做过什么伤害了你……我都想为此向你道歉。”

贾丝敏一言不发地听着，各种情绪在脸上交替浮现。从难以置信，到愤怒，再到懊悔。“出去，劳拉。”她最终说道，一时无法消化这一切。“出去。”

“我明白。”双足飞龙皱着眉回答，随后转向快递员。“罗马诺，我不清楚你为什么选择加入奥古斯蒂，但是……你做的事非常勇敢。你还有时间改变自己的人生，成为这个世界上一股向善的力量。”

“是啊。”瑞恩望着腿上睡熟的猫，答道，“还有时间。”

双足飞龙最后看了贾丝敏和瑞恩一眼，便从窗户飞了出去，大概是要返回新罗马。

“你早就知道。”她一走，贾丝敏便瞪着男友说道，“梅克隆的地堡。你隐瞒的就是这个。”

“我知道梅克隆在下面藏了一批武器。”瑞恩承认，“但不知道他连轨道激光炮的控制面板都有。”

“可你居然没告诉我？！”她怒道，“操，瑞恩，我们上过床！在我的床上！你稍微信我一点能怎么样！”

“贾丝敏，我发誓——”

“闭嘴。”她打断他，别过脸去。“你给我闭嘴。”

薛定谔可爱地喵了一声，仿佛想缓和空气中的紧张。瑞恩摸了摸它两耳之间的脑袋，不知道莎布·尼古拉丝有没有在这场浩劫中活下来。不过，他更多还是在想着蕾恩海底基地里的孤儿们。运气好的话，自动系统应该能照料他们，可没有小矮个……

总而言之，这一轮是场灾难。

梅克隆的地堡被炸毁了，和他的车、时空收音机，以及迪纳米斯存放在总部的那些大脑复制研究资料一样。他将别人的意识跨时间传送的计划，彻底落了空。

快递员只剩下一个选择，那也是他从这一轮里挽回一点收获的唯一机会——伏尔甘的能力增幅装甲。可出了这么多事，她还会帮他吗？他没有把握。

到了这一步，他干脆该向伏尔甘要来那把枪，扣下扳机。

可是……

“你干吗那样看着我？”贾丝敏打破了沉默。“我知道自己很漂亮，可你这样怪瘆人的。”

“我在想你刚才说的话。”瑞恩说，“稍微信任你一点。你知道我有事瞒着你，却没告诉奥古斯都，也没告诉其他人。为什么？”

“我自己也纳闷呢。”这位天才耸了耸肩。“不知道，你聪明，有趣，而我喜欢你。就这么简单。”

“喜欢，现在也喜欢？这么说，你还是对我有意思。”

“别得寸进尺，瑞恩。”她答道，不过他看见她唇边浮起了一丝笑意。“对，我还是有点迷恋你，所以才会被你的蠢劲气成这样。只有对自己讨厌或在乎的人，才会真正动气。”

瑞恩淡淡笑了笑，心里却并没有多少笑意。问题是，他逐渐恨上的人很多，在乎的人却寥寥无几。他一直小心翼翼，不让自己对别人产生感情，因为每次循环时，那只会让他更痛苦。

可伏尔甘本可以轻易出卖他，却替他保守了一些秘密。即使到了现在，她也还没彻底认定他无可救药。她不是个好人，他在迪纳米斯的那一轮足以证明；但她也没有那么坏。

一点信任……瑞恩已经很久没有信任过蕾恩以外的人了，因为信任是种脆弱的东西，轻易就会变成一道血淋淋的伤口。因为它一旦交出去，就很难再收回来。

可这整场灾难之所以发生，正是因为他信不过蕾恩以外的任何人，不肯将地堡的秘密相告。如果瑞恩永远只会一遍遍重复同样的做法，那他得到的也只会是同样的结果。也许……也许是时候改变了。

也许该改变的是他自己。

“贾丝敏。”

“干吗？”

“我能穿越时间。”

毕竟，信任是相互的。