同章对照

“No.”

Watching the Dynamis CEO’s face on his computer screen, Ryan scratched his cat’s ears. This G2 conference call wasn’t going well. “I think I misheard, Mr. Manada.”

“I said no,” Hector replied, the two using a secure channel to communicate. “No more Knockoffs. My agreement was with your predecessors, and their demise changes everything.”

“Certainly we can continue where they left off.”

“Listen to me, you little shit,” the CEO said, his calmness all but gone. “I know you met with the Augusti and hashed out a peace agreement. Psyshock brainwashed people on my staff, inside my house. Your people didn’t deliver and backstabbed me. So why should I honor my side of the bargain?”

How did he know about the meeting with Livia? Ryan had done his best to cover it up. Either the CEO had an advanced surveillance system, or plants among the Augusti. Perhaps both.

As for his reaction… Ryan thought the Dynamis/Meta-Gang alliance had collapsed in the past because Psyshock’s death ruined the brain-copying project, but he was mistaken. In truth, the brainjacker had initiated a slow, insidious takeover of Dynamis, brainwashing staff members and executives one by one. Psypsy’s demise had exposed his treachery, and made Hector Manada aware of the Meta-Gang’s true, nefarious intentions.

If only he hadn’t been greedy enough to hire them in the first place...

“Then I guess I will reveal the recordings of your discussions with the previous administration,” Ryan said, upon realizing he couldn’t maintain the old juice connection. “Because they kept recordings.”

Hector squinted. “Are you blackmailing me, Mr. Romano?”

“I prefer the term plata o plomo, Mr. Escobar.” Ryan always thought the CEO looked like a Colombian cartel leader.

“Then you’re firing blanks. A scandal will cost me less to cover-up than another knockoff delivery.”

“Then perhaps your competition—”

“We both know Augustus will never forgive the attacks on his territory, even if you submit to him. Your group signed its death warrant the moment you shook the hornet nest.”

That was why he had hired the Meta-Gang in the first place. They were the only Genomes mad enough to take on the Augusti in spite of the deadly consequences, except the Carnival. Still, Ryan had one last card up his sleeve. “Then I should reveal what’s inside your knockoffs. I’m sure your people will love buying a Psycho-in-a-can.”

Ryan had to give it to the man, he had a good poker face. But the courier could see the tension at the edge of his gaze. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“I know what you and your pet scalie keep in Lab Sixty-Six.”

“No, you don’t.”

Damn, he wasn’t biting. For all his faults, Hector Manada was cautious enough not to reveal truly incriminating information. Unlike Psyshock, he knew how to deal with bluffs. “Bloodstream.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Hector replied with a smug, punchable smile. “Do you have any proof?”

“I’ve analyzed the knockoffs,” Ryan lied. “I can publish the results.”

The CEO didn’t believe him, or at least not fully. But the courier could tell he had hit close to the mark. There was a link between the knockoffs and Bloodstream, as much as Ryan loathed to admit it.

“Many have tried to discredit our work, and yet we remain.” Hector Manada joined his hands. “Here’s my one and only offer, Mr. Romano. You keep the knockoffs, release my technicians, return my technology, and skip town within forty-eight hours without making waves. You will carry the secret of this agreement to your grave, and I will let you be. This experiment will have been a failed joint venture, but maybe we could make another deal in the future.”

Yeah, right. “And if I don’t file for bankruptcy?”

“Then I will answer with force,” Hector stated the obvious. “Enrique and Wyvern have been pestering me about sending Il Migliore to drive you out of Rust Town. My stamp of approval is the only thing standing between you, and annihilation.”

Gee, another big business threatening the government. It almost made Ryan want to become a socialist. “I’ll consider your offer.”

“Forty-eight hours, Mr. Romano. No more, no less.”

Ryan cut the communication, and Sarin entered the oval office soon afterward. “So?” she asked. “How did it go?”

“Everything is going according to plan,” Ryan said sinisterly, Eugène-Henry purring on his lap. Hector Manada had walked into a trap without even realizing it, and the courier had secured two days of non-interference. “Is everyone ready for the operation? We’re storming the mainframe or we’ll die trying.”

“Yeah, but there are new people at the Junkyard’s entrance. They fit the descriptions you gave us about that brainy guy and his robot daughter, so Gemini didn’t shoot them on sight.”

Alchemo had already reached New Rome? He must have dropped everything and left right after Ryan gave him the call. “Bring them to the hangar, Miss Vice-President.”

“Gotta ask, you’re sure of what you’re doing, right?” Hazmat Girl asked, a little worried. “I mean, even with our losses in manpower, we’ll run out of juice soon. You really don’t want to see the others when they’re missing their shot.”

Having lived with Bloodstream for years, Ryan had a pretty good idea how it would turn out.

Leaving Eugène-Henry in the oval office, the president walked towards the hangar, only to meet with a rabbit plushie in a corridor. The terrible creatures had grown more numerous lately, and without any children to bond with...

“Let’s play outside!” the possessed toy asked, hopping in front of Ryan’s feet.

“No,” said the president, but the abomination wouldn’t listen.

“Let’s play outside!” the plushie insisted, one of its paws revealing a switchblade.

“Not yet,” Ryan replied, the promise of future destruction pacifying the beast of the end times.

When he reached the hangar, Ryan found Frank dragging an old, 1986 Fleetwood Bounder right next to the unused Mechron mech. Alchemo and the Doll stepped out of it, all under Sarin’s watchful gaze.

“Careful, I have precious equipment in the back!” Alchemo was still the same brass and steel cyborg with a brain-in-a-jar for a head and syringes for fingers. It took Ryan all his willpower to keep a straight face at the betrayer, as he grunted at Frank for carelessly handling his car.

His android daughter Tea, alias the Doll, had changed a little. She was still a lovely redhead dressed like the stereotypical country-girl, but she had covered her arms with synthetic skin, making her truly lifelike. If Ryan didn’t know her true nature, he might have mistaken her for a human of flesh and blood.

And she glared at Ryan the second she spotted him.

“All clear, Mr. President!” Frank greeted the leader of the free world with a military salute. “Your guests have arrived!”

“Good work, Agent Frank,” Ryan congratulated him, while the Doll moved in his direction. “Hey, Tea, long-time no se—”

She slapped him in the face with enough force to make him flinch.

Sarin prepared to blast Tea to smithereens, while a furious Frank took a step forward. “Wait, wait, it’s okay!” Ryan calmed his bodyguards with a raised hand. “She’s my ex! She can do that!”

“Oh, she is a former First Lady?” Frank asked, instantly calming down. “A damn fine country girl you found, Mr. President. It reminds me of my native Texas, and the good old times...”

“You…” Tea glared at Ryan. “No word for two years, and that’s all you have to say? Long-time no see?”

Ryan sighed, as he massaged his cheek. He could have dodged with a time-stop, but a part of him thought he deserved it. “Was that really warranted?”

“That’s all you deserved,” Alchemo said dryly.

“Ryan, I understand you might have your reasons for leaving us. You always were a free-spirit, and that’s what I loved about you.” Tea crossed her arms. “But you didn’t even write!”

Well… Ryan did send letters once, asking how their robot cow was doing, only to receive a confused answer. As it turned out, he had referenced events erased in a previous loop, and something they never built in the final one.

The realization had crushed him so much he had erased that timeline too.

Unfortunately, Ryan knew a lot more about Doll than the other way around. He had learned everything about her past, everything she liked, everything she hated… they had done all the things Tea had dreamed of, like visiting France, but she only remembered a fraction of their shared experiences. From her point of view, Ryan and her had a brief fling; from his, they had been together for years.

And much like how Jasmine forgetting him had hurt, Ryan simply couldn’t stand carrying the burden of a shared past alone, especially after Braindead’s betrayal. So he left and tried to forget.

And yet… when he looked at her, Ryan realized some people he left behind had cared. That the little time they remembered spending with the courier had mattered. And it made him feel regretful.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan said, not knowing what else to say. “I’m sincerely sorry.”

“That’s a start,” Tea said, her face softening a little. She simply couldn’t hold a grudge. “But you have a great many things to explain. What are you doing with these monsters?”

“Hey, I’m not a tincan pretending to be human,” Sarin snarled, the Doll ignoring her.

“You are a member of the Meta-Gang,” Alchemo said with disdain. “Frankly, the only reason we’re even here is because I owe this biological waste of a Violet a favor. I don’t even understand why he’s working with you.”

“Yes, Ryan, I thought you hated Psychos?” Tea asked, a little fearful for his well-being. “They… they aren’t forcing you to work with them?”

Sarin snorted. “You got it the other way around.”

“Nobody controls the USA,” Frank added. “We arrested our alien overlords and enslaved them.”

“I won a civil war for control of this great nation,” Ryan said. “Now I’m trying to find a cure for the Psycho condition… and to help a friend in need, first and foremost.”

While the Doll immediately looked concerned, Ryan’s words only aroused Alchemo’s scientific curiosity. “A cure for Psychos, you said?”

“Alright, Ryan, I’ll trust you. For old time’s sake.” Tea put her hands on her waist. “But there’s still one person you’re going to apologize to.”

The courier glanced at the minivan. “He’s inside?”

“Yes,” Tea replied, utterly serious, “yes he is.”

Ryan took a deep breath, and carefully opened the van’s backdoors.

As expected, Alchemo had brought a sizable part of his workshop, from wetware computers, multicolored jars of questionable content, miniature brain-scanners… and a toaster. Ryan looked at it, noticing four small wheels carrying it forward.

The tiny object drove to the edge of the car, facing the courier.

“Hi, Ryan,” the toaster’s vocalizer mimicked Schwarzenegger’s Terminator voice.

“Hi, Toasty.” Ryan could feel the others’ stares peering on his back. This was awkward. “You have wheels now?”

“Yep, Tea installed them when I got tired of watchin’ TV all day.” Unlike the others, there was no hint of reproach in the toaster’s voice. “Two years, Ryan. Two years. I hope you toasted a lot of chicks in that time, because I couldn’t get any.”

“Yeah, being a toaster probably reduces your opportunities,” the courier mused.

“There, still the same ol’ ableist.” The toaster let out a click sound. “Damn, I missed you, man. I love life on the farm, but you added a certain je-ne-sais-quoi.”

Sarin kept glancing between the toaster and Ryan, completely at a loss of words. “What, you thought the plushie was my first creation? That I was a one-trick pony?” the courier deadpanned. “I went through a robot-building phase.”

“Yeah, he was scraping the bottom of the barrel when he made me,” Toasty said as he drove out of the car and onto the bunker’s floor. “A lil’ bit of advice, don’t let him tinker in his boxers. You’ll spend days picking up the scraps.”

“You made an intelligent toaster.” Sarin glanced down at Ryan’s creation with skepticism. “Why a toaster?”

“I feel I'm being judged right now,” Toasty said.

“At one point in my life, I wanted to settle in France,” Ryan explained, “my greatest anxiety was to wake up with a lot of bread... and no way to toast it.”

Sarin put a hand on her gas mask without a word. “You know what, I don’t care anymore.”

“That’s not even the worst thing he did!” Braindead snapped, having held a grudge for years. “That dumbass equipped my gynoid construct for sex, and then left his dirty body fluids everywhere!”

“It’s okay, Dad, I have a cleanup routine,” the Doll replied, not at all embarrassed by the open outburst. “We talked about this.”

“Wait, you slept with a robot?” Sarin asked Ryan, finally putting the two and two together.

“I slept with everything and everyone.” Though in the end, after centuries of experimentation, Ryan discovered he was mostly attracted to human-shaped women. The courier wouldn’t say no to a new experience, like Darkling, but he clearly had a weakness for female Geniuses shorter than him. “I even equipped her with a detachable—”

“Anyway, a Mechron base, huh?” Alchemo changed the subject, instantly recognizing the bunker for what it was. “Did you escalate from drug dealer to terrorist when I wasn’t looking?”

“It’s not terrorism when our country does it,” Frank replied. “It’s an armed intervention.”

“Oh, awesome, a mecha!” Toasty rolled in front of Mechron’s scorpion war machine. “Could you upload my personality matrix into it? I mean, a giant robot is just a toaster with too much power. It’s meant to be, baby!”

“Is that why you need my unlimited genius?” Alchemo asked Ryan, while the toaster happily rolled around the mech. “For another prank?”

“No,” the courier replied dryly. “As I said, a friend needs help.”

Alchemo and his daughter exchanged a glance, their demeanor changing from angry to concerned. “Show me,” the Genius asked.

---

After taking over the Meta-Gang, Ryan had Len transferred to the infirmary, changing the place from Psyshock’s brainwashing assembly line into a true medical block. His comatose friend slept on an operation table, hooked to a respirator located right next to Dynamis’ brain-copying tech. She looked so peaceful in her sleep...

Unfortunately, the other patient in the room was insufferably loud.

“You thief, I’ll slay you!” Acid Rain strained against her restraints, strapped to an operating table. “I’ll escape, and when I do, I’ll rip you to pieces! I’ll carve the gate open with your bowels!”

“Hmm, typical Psycho.” Alchemo raised a handheld scanning device at her head, information appearing on the surface of his dome-head. “As expected, her head contains a nasty package of tumors and mutant neurons. I’m surprised she can even talk.”

“It’s getting harder to sedate her, Boss,” Sarin warned Ryan. “I think she’s building a tolerance.”

“I’ll slay you!” Acid Rain snarled at the courier. “You’re keeping them away from me! All of them! If it weren’t for you, I would, I could go back! I could go all the way ba—”

Alchemo hit the captive Psycho in the neck with three syringe-fingers, and injected her with colored liquids. Acid Rain let out a savage growl as her veins turned green from the intravenous transfer, before her voice died in her throat. A few seconds later, her gaze turned empty and lifeless.

“You know, if you wanted to practice euthanasia, there’s a retirement home two districts away from here,” Ryan told Braindead.

“I applied a treatment for brain cancer, and mood stabilizers,” Alchemo explained. He couldn’t understand black comedy. “They will destroy the cancerous growths, stabilize her humors, and repair the damaged neurons. It will be a temporary fix as long as her Psycho condition produces new mutations, but it should stabilize her mind for a while.”

“Huh…” Sarin crossed her arms. “Could you do the same with Mongrel? The juice wrecked his brain pretty bad too.”

“I thought you didn’t care about helping others,” Ryan said, remembering how Alchemo had gone along with his drug cartel plans, but never really cared about curing people’s illnesses.

“I didn’t,” Braindead admitted. “But the Doll nagged me into it.”

“I thought we should give back to the world,” the gynoid said with a smile and a happy nod. “So many people suffer from tumors due to the aftereffects of Mechron’s plagues, so I asked Dad to make a cure.”

“Besides, saving my neurocomputers from Alzheimer and similar issues was one of my top priorities,” Alchemo said, digging himself deeper. “I had plenty of test subjects this way.”

Yeah, still the same amoral mad scientist. At least the Doll acted as his Jiminy Cricket.

Ryan glanced at the unconscious Len. “Could you cure depression?”

“I can solve the physiological troubles associated with the syndrome, like chemical imbalances, but not the psychological roots. I’m no psychiatrist, and I don’t have time to listen to whiners.”

Still, if Shortie could avoid relying on antidepressants, perhaps… perhaps she could finally heal.

Tea didn’t miss the lingering gaze he sent to Len. “Is she…”

“It’s her, yes,” Ryan confirmed, the Doll looking at the unconscious girl with interest. “Len.”

“You came to this city to find her, isn’t it? That’s why you left. You still wanted to find your friend, after all this time.” The gynoid gently took Len’s hand in her own. “She feels so cold, the poor girl...”

“Mmm…” Alchemo examined the comatose Genius with his scanner. “Someone repeatedly attempted to rewrite her brain patterns in a short amount of time, stressing out her neurons to the point of a near complete shutdown. She won’t wake up on her own, I assure you.”

Ryan bristled, though he wasn’t surprised.

“We’ve got a copy of her mind.” Livia had sent the file, but begged for a better way to record the information; a brain map copying a human mind needed many lines of code. She strained her fingers typing the whole thing, and even then Ryan suspected her power had helped a great deal in processing the whole thing. “Could you repair her brain with it?”

“What is the point of overwriting someone’s mind with their own?” Alchemo asked with skepticism, before deciding he didn’t care. “Do you have the device that causes these problems in the first place?”

Ryan pointed a finger at Dynamis’ brain tech, letting the Genius examine it in detail. He didn’t look very impressed. “Mmm… I see… very subtle, yes,” Braindead said, as he examined the system’s helmet, “the system is booby-trapped, and will corrupt the new pattern during the overwriting with foreign elements…”

“Can you repair it?” Ryan asked.

“No,” Braindead answered bluntly. “The sabotage affects the machine’s essential parts. However…”

“However?” the courier raised his head with hope.

“However, I can easily reverse-engineer this machine and make my own. One that will work as intended.” Alchemo glanced at the infirmary’s walls, as if looking for a hidden camera or plan. “Is there a Genius workshop in this base? Knowing Mechron, he must have had a matter replicator assembled somewhere.”

“There’s one yes,” Ryan said, remembering it from the blueprints. “A biomechanical blue brain controls the base. We intend to force our way to the mainframe and take it over.”

“A U.B.,” Alchemo guessed. “A Universal Brain. The ultimate biomechanical data storing device. I always tried to build one, but never had the resources for it.”

It said something about Mechron that he was better than most Geniuses in their own specialty. “You could hijack it?” Ryan asked. He intended to do it without Alchemo’s help, but if the Genius had turned over a new leaf…

“If I can get access to it, yes. I suppose it is easier said than done?”

Big Fat Adam managed to do so twice as far as Ryan knew, though by throwing countless people at the defenses. Nora’s structural analysis should allow them to reach the mainframe quickly, but not without a fight. “Well, we were preparing to launch an assault before your arrival. I know you’re useless in a fight, so—”

“I’m not ‘useless,’” Braindead weakly protested. “I am a man of science, not a sharpshooter, but I can defend myself.”

“Not against robots,” Ryan said, glancing at Frank. “Which is why the US Secret Service will ensure your safety.”

“He will be safe, sir,” the giant assured him. “No president died under our watch! None that mattered!”

Of course.

“I’m coming, Shortie,” Ryan told his comatose partner. “Just wait.”

“不行。”

瑞恩望着电脑屏幕上迪纳米斯首席执行官的脸，挠了挠猫的耳朵。这场G2电话会议进展不顺。“我想是我听错了，马纳达先生。”

“我说不行。”埃克托答道，两人正通过加密线路交谈。“不会再有仿制药了。我是和你的前任们达成的协议，他们一死，一切都变了。”

“我们完全可以接手，继续合作嘛。”

“听着，你这小王八蛋。”首席执行官几乎已经失去了镇定。“我知道你跟奥古斯蒂见过面，还谈了份和平协议。心震给我的员工洗脑，都洗到我家里来了。你们没办成事，还反过来捅我一刀。凭什么要我履约？”

他怎么知道自己和莉维娅见过面？瑞恩已经尽力掩盖此事了。要么这位首席执行官有一套先进的监控系统，要么奥古斯蒂里有他的眼线。也可能两者都有。

至于他的反应……瑞恩原以为，以前迪纳米斯与超能帮的联盟之所以破裂，是因为心震的死毁了大脑复制项目。可他错了。实际上，那个劫脑者早就在悄悄蚕食迪纳米斯，一个接一个地给员工和高管洗脑。小心心一死，背叛就败露了，埃克托·马纳达也由此看清了超能帮真正的险恶用心。

当初他要是没贪到雇用他们的地步，也就没这档子事了……

“那我恐怕就得公开你和上届政府谈话的录音了。”瑞恩意识到旧的果汁供货渠道已经保不住了，便开口道，“毕竟他们可是留了录音的。”

埃克托眯起眼睛。“你在勒索我吗，罗马诺先生？”

“我更喜欢银子还是子弹这个说法，埃斯科巴先生。”瑞恩一直觉得，这位首席执行官长得像哥伦比亚贩毒集团的头目。

“那你放的可都是空包弹。压下一桩丑闻，比再给你送一批仿制药便宜多了。”

“那也许你的竞争对手——”

“我们都清楚，你袭击了奥古斯都的地盘，就算向他投诚，他也绝不会原谅你。你们捅马蜂窝的那一刻，就已经给自己签了死刑令。”

所以他当初才会雇用超能帮。除了嘉年华，只有这群基因者疯到明知会丧命，也敢跟奥古斯蒂作对。不过，瑞恩手里还有最后一张牌。“那我该公开你那些仿制药里到底装了什么。我相信，你的顾客一定会爱死罐装疯魔的。”

瑞恩不得不承认，这家伙确实很会不露声色。但快递员还是看出了他眼底那一丝紧绷。“我不知道你在说什么。”

“我知道你和你那只鳞皮宠物在六十六号实验室里藏了什么。”

“不，你不知道。”

该死，他不上钩。埃克托·马纳达有再多毛病，至少还够谨慎，不会透露真正能坐实罪名的信息。他跟心震不一样，懂得应付虚张声势。“血流。”

“荒谬。”埃克托带着一脸欠揍的得意笑容答道。“你有证据吗？”

“我分析过那些仿制药。”瑞恩撒谎道，“我可以公布分析结果。”

这位首席执行官并不相信他，至少没全信。但快递员看得出来，自己已经猜得八九不离十了。仿制药和血流之间确实存在联系，无论瑞恩有多不愿意承认。

“很多人都试过抹黑我们的成果，但我们依旧屹立不倒。”埃克托·马纳达双手合拢。“罗马诺先生，我只给你这一个条件。仿制药你留着，放了我的技术人员，归还我的技术，然后在四十八小时内悄无声息地离开这座城。把这份协议的秘密带进坟墓，我就放你一马。这次实验就当是一场失败的合资项目，但也许以后我们还能谈别的生意。”

是啊，信你才怪。“我要是不申请破产呢？”

“那我就动武。”埃克托给出了显而易见的答案。“恩里克和双足飞龙一直缠着我，要派至优者把你们赶出锈镇。你们离灭顶之灾，就差我盖一个批准章了。”

哎呀，又一家大企业威胁政府。这几乎都让瑞恩想当社会主义者了。“我会考虑你的提议。”

“四十八小时，罗马诺先生。不多，也不少。”

瑞恩切断通讯，没过多久，沙林便走进了椭圆形办公室。“怎么样？”她问，“谈得如何？”

“一切都在按计划进行。”瑞恩阴恻恻地说，欧仁-亨利正在他腿上打呼噜。埃克托·马纳达已经踏进圈套，却浑然不觉，而且快递员还争取到了两天不受干扰的时间。“大家都准备好行动了吗？我们要强攻主机，不成功便成仁。”

“好了，不过废料场入口来了新人。跟你描述的那个大脑男和他的机器人女儿对得上，所以双子没一见面就开枪。”

阿尔凯莫已经到新罗马了？看来他一接到瑞恩的电话，就放下所有事情动身了。“带他们去机库，副总统女士。”

“我得问一句，你确实知道自己在干什么，对吧？”防化服姑娘有些担忧地问，“我是说，就算咱们损失了不少人手，果汁还是很快就要喝光了。其他人打不上那一针会变成什么样，你绝对不会想看见的。”

瑞恩和血流一起生活过好几年，对那会是什么情形心里有数。

总统把欧仁-亨利留在椭圆形办公室，起身前往机库，却在走廊里碰到了一只兔子毛绒玩具。最近，这些可怕的东西越来越多，又没有孩子可以跟它们结伴……

“我们去外面玩吧！”那只附了魔的玩具蹦到瑞恩脚前，提出邀请。

“不行。”总统说，可那怪物不肯听。

“我们去外面玩吧！”毛绒玩具坚持道，一只爪子里亮出了弹簧刀。

“现在还不行。”瑞恩答道。这番对未来破坏活动的承诺，总算安抚住了这头末日之兽。

抵达机库时，瑞恩看见弗兰克正把一辆老旧的1986款弗利特伍德·邦德尔房车拖到那台闲置的梅克隆机甲旁边。阿尔凯莫和人偶在沙林警惕的注视下下了车。

“小心点，我车后面有贵重设备！”阿尔凯莫还是老样子，一具由黄铜与钢铁构成的半机械躯体，脑袋是装在罐子里的大脑，手指则是一根根注射器。他正嘟囔着抱怨弗兰克对自己的车太过粗暴。面对这个背叛者，瑞恩竭尽全力，才勉强维持住了平静的脸色。

他的仿生人女儿蒂娅，也就是人偶，倒是有了一些变化。她依然是个可爱的红发姑娘，穿得像人们印象中最典型的乡下女孩，不过双臂已经覆上了合成皮肤，看起来活脱脱就是个真人。要不是知道她的本质，瑞恩或许真会把她当成有血有肉的人类。

而她一看见瑞恩，就瞪住了他。

“一切正常，总统先生！”弗兰克向自由世界的领袖敬了个军礼。“您的客人到了！”

“干得好，弗兰克特工。”瑞恩表扬道，人偶已经朝他走了过来。“嘿，蒂娅，好久不——”

她一巴掌扇在他脸上，力道大得让他猛地一缩。

沙林准备把蒂娅轰成碎片，暴怒的弗兰克也向前迈了一步。“等等，等等，没事！”瑞恩抬手安抚保镖们。“她是我前女友！她可以打！”

“哦，是前第一夫人吗？”弗兰克问，瞬间平静下来。“总统先生，您找的这位乡下姑娘真他娘的漂亮。让我想起了故乡德克萨斯，还有那些美好的旧时光……”

“你……”蒂娅瞪着瑞恩。“两年杳无音信，你就只有这么一句话？好久不见？”

瑞恩揉着脸颊，叹了口气。他本可以暂停时间躲开的，但他心里有一部分觉得，这一巴掌自己该挨。“真有这个必要吗？”

“你也就只配挨这个了。”阿尔凯莫冷冷地说。

“瑞恩，我理解，你离开我们或许有自己的理由。你向来无拘无束，我爱的就是这一点。”蒂娅抱起双臂。“可你连封信都不写！”

这个嘛……瑞恩确实有一次写过信，问他们那头机器奶牛怎么样了，收到的回复却满是困惑。原来，他提到的是某个已经抹去的循环中发生的事，而在最终那一轮里，他们根本没有造那头牛。

意识到这一点时，他难过得无以复加，于是把那条时间线也抹去了。

遗憾的是，瑞恩对人偶的了解，远比她对他的了解要深。他了解她过去的一切，知道她喜欢什么、讨厌什么……蒂娅梦想过的事，他们全都做过，比如去法国。可两人共有的经历，她只记得其中很小的一部分。在她看来，她和瑞恩只是一段短暂的恋情；在他看来，他们已经在一起多年。

就像被贾丝敏遗忘时那样，瑞恩实在无法忍受独自背负两个人的过去，尤其是在遭到脑残背叛之后。所以他离开了，并试着忘掉这一切。

可是……看着她，瑞恩才意识到，那些被他抛在身后的人里，有人一直在意着他。在他们记忆里，与快递员相处的时光虽然短暂，却有着实实在在的分量。这让他心生悔意。

“对不起。”瑞恩不知道还能说什么。“我是真心的，对不起。”

“这还差不多。”蒂娅说，神情稍稍柔和下来。她就是没法记仇。“不过，你还有好多事要解释。你跟这些怪物混在一起做什么？”

“喂，我可不是个假装人类的铁皮罐头。”沙林咆哮道，人偶却没理她。

“你是超能帮的人。”阿尔凯莫鄙夷地说，“说实话，我们会来，只是因为我欠这个紫系的生物垃圾一个人情。我甚至不明白他为什么要跟你们合作。”

“是啊，瑞恩，我记得你不是痛恨疯魔吗？”蒂娅问，有些担心他的安危。“他们……他们没强迫你替他们做事吧？”

沙林嗤了一声。“你说反了。”

“没人能控制美国。”弗兰克补充道，“我们把统治我们的外星人抓起来，变成奴隶了。”

“我打赢了一场内战，取得了这个伟大国家的控制权。”瑞恩说，“现在，我在设法找到治疗疯魔病症的办法……不过，最重要的是帮一位有难的朋友。”

人偶立刻露出关切的神情，瑞恩的话却只激起了阿尔凯莫对科学的好奇心。“你说，治疗疯魔？”

“好吧，瑞恩，我相信你。看在过去的情分上。”蒂娅双手叉腰。“不过，还有一个人，你也得向他道歉。”

快递员朝厢式车看了一眼。“他在里面？”

“对。”蒂娅答道，神色无比认真，“对，他在。”

瑞恩深吸一口气，小心地打开了车后门。

不出所料，阿尔凯莫把工作间里相当一部分东西都带来了：湿件计算机、装着可疑物质的各色罐子、微型大脑扫描仪……还有一台烤面包机。瑞恩看着它，发现它正靠四个小轮子向前移动。

这个小东西驶到车厢边缘，面向快递员。

“嗨，瑞恩。”烤面包机的发声器模仿着施瓦辛格饰演的终结者的嗓音。

“嗨，烤烤。”瑞恩感觉得到，其他人的目光正戳在自己背上。尴尬了。“你现在有轮子了？”

“对啊，我烦透了整天看电视，蒂娅就给我装了。”与其他人不同，烤面包机的声音里毫无责怪之意。“两年啊，瑞恩。整整两年。但愿你这段日子跟不少妞儿烤得火热，因为我可是一个都没泡上。”

“是啊，当台烤面包机，机会大概是要少一点。”快递员若有所思地说。

“瞧，还是老样子，歧视残障。”烤面包机咔哒响了一声。“妈的，老兄，我真想你。我喜欢农场生活，不过有你在，总有种说不出的味道。”

沙林不停地看看烤面包机，又看看瑞恩，彻底说不出话来。“怎么，你以为毛绒玩具是我的第一件作品？以为我就会那一招？”快递员面无表情地说，“我有一阵子迷上了造机器人。”

“是啊，他造我的时候，已经没什么拿得出手的了。”烤烤说着，驶出车厢，落到地堡的地板上。“给个小忠告，别让他穿着平角内裤捣鼓东西。光收拾那些碎零件，你就得忙上好几天。”

“你造了台有智能的烤面包机。”沙林怀疑地低头看着瑞恩的造物。“为什么偏偏是烤面包机？”

“我感觉自己正在受到歧视。”烤烤说。

“我这辈子有那么一段时间，想去法国定居。”瑞恩解释道，“我最害怕的，就是一觉醒来，面包多得很……却没办法烤。”

沙林无言地用手捂住防毒面具。“算了，我不想管了。”

“这还算不上他干过最离谱的事！”脑残厉声道，这口怨气他憋了好几年。“那个白痴给我造的女性仿生人加装了性爱功能，然后把他肮脏的体液弄得到处都是！”

“没事的，爸爸，我有清洁程序。”人偶答道，一点也没因为这番当众发作而难为情。“这事我们谈过了。”

“等等，你跟一个机器人上过床？”沙林问瑞恩，终于把前后串到了一起。

“我什么东西都睡过，什么人也都睡过。”不过，经历几个世纪的尝试之后，瑞恩最终发现，最吸引自己的还是人形女性。快递员并不排斥新体验，比如暗灵，但他显然对比自己矮的女性天才格外没有抵抗力。“我还给她装了个可拆卸的——”

“总之，这是座梅克隆的基地，嗯？”阿尔凯莫转移了话题，一眼便认出了地堡的来历。“我一个没留神，你就从毒贩升级成恐怖分子了？”

“我们国家干的，就不叫恐怖主义。”弗兰克答道，“叫武装干预。”

“哦，太棒了，是机甲！”烤烤滚到梅克隆那台蝎形战争机器前。“能把我的人格矩阵上传进去吗？我是说，巨型机器人无非就是功率大过头的烤面包机。这是命中注定啊，宝贝！”

“所以你才需要我无穷无尽的才智？”阿尔凯莫问瑞恩，烤面包机正在机甲周围欢快地转圈。“就为了再搞一场恶作剧？”

“不是。”快递员冷淡地答道，“我说过了，有个朋友需要帮助。”

阿尔凯莫和女儿交换了一下眼神，神情从愤怒转为关切。“带我看看。”天才说。

---

接管超能帮后，瑞恩把蕾恩转移到了医务室，将这里从心震的洗脑流水线变成了真正的医疗区。昏迷中的朋友躺在手术台上，接着呼吸机，旁边就是迪纳米斯的大脑复制设备。她睡着的样子那么安宁……

遗憾的是，屋里的另一位病人吵得让人受不了。

“你这个贼，我要宰了你！”酸雨被绑在一张手术台上，拼命挣扎。“我会逃出去，等我逃出去，就把你撕成碎片！我要用你的肠子剖开那道门！”

“嗯，典型的疯魔。”阿尔凯莫举起一台手持扫描仪，对准她的脑袋，信息随即显示在他圆顶脑壳的表面。“不出所料，她脑袋里塞满了肿瘤和变异神经元，惨不忍睹。她居然还能说话，真让我意外。”

“老大，越来越难把她镇静下来了。”沙林提醒瑞恩，“我觉得她正在产生耐药性。”

“我要宰了你！”酸雨朝快递员咆哮。“你不让它们靠近我！一个都不让！要不是你，我就会，我就能回去！我可以一直回到——”

阿尔凯莫将三根注射器手指扎进被俘疯魔的脖子，注入了有色液体。药液进入静脉，酸雨的血管变成了绿色。她发出一声凶狠的低吼，随即声音堵死在喉咙里。几秒钟后，她的目光变得空洞，毫无生气。

“你知道吗，要是你想实施安乐死，隔两个城区就有一家养老院。”瑞恩对脑残说。

“我用的是脑癌治疗药物和情绪稳定剂。”阿尔凯莫解释道。他听不懂黑色幽默。“它们会消灭癌变增生组织，稳定她的情绪，修复受损的神经元。只要疯魔病症还在引发新的变异，这就只是暂时的解决办法，不过应该足以让她的精神稳定一阵。”

“哦……”沙林抱起双臂。“能给杂种也来一套吗？那果汁把他的脑子也毁得够呛。”

“我还以为你对帮助别人没兴趣。”瑞恩说。他记得阿尔凯莫当年配合过自己的贩毒集团计划，却从不怎么在乎替人治病。

“是没兴趣。”脑残承认道，“可人偶念叨个没完，我就做了。”

“我觉得我们该回馈这个世界。”女性仿生人微笑着，愉快地点了点头。“梅克隆那些瘟疫的后遗症让那么多人长了肿瘤，所以我就请爸爸做一种治疗药物。”

“再说，让我的神经计算机免受阿尔茨海默病及类似问题的困扰，本来就是我的首要任务之一。”阿尔凯莫越描越黑，“这么一来，我就有很多试验对象了。”

是啊，还是那个毫无道德观念的疯狂科学家。至少还有人偶充当他的蟋蟀吉米尼。

瑞恩看了一眼昏迷不醒的蕾恩。“你能治抑郁症吗？”

“我能解决伴随这种病症出现的生理问题，比如化学物质失衡，但治不了心理根源。我不是精神科医生，也没时间听人哭哭啼啼。”

即便如此，如果小矮个能不再依赖抗抑郁药，也许……也许她终于能好起来。

蒂娅没有漏看他久久停留在蕾恩身上的目光。“她是不是……”

“是，就是她。”瑞恩确认道，人偶饶有兴致地看向那个昏迷中的女孩。“蕾恩。”

“你来这座城是为了找她，对不对？所以你才离开。过了这么久，你还是想找到你的朋友。”女性仿生人轻轻握住蕾恩的手。“她的手好冷，可怜的姑娘……”

“嗯……”阿尔凯莫用扫描仪检查着昏迷的天才。“有人在短时间内反复试图改写她的大脑模式，让神经元承受了过大的压力，几乎彻底停摆。我可以保证，她不会自己醒过来。”

瑞恩浑身一紧，虽然他并不意外。

“我们有一份她的心智副本。”莉维娅已经发来了文件，不过她央求他想个更好的办法来记录这些信息；复制一个人类心智的脑图谱，需要无数行代码。她打完整份文件，手指都快受不了了。即便如此，瑞恩还是怀疑，在处理这些信息时，她的能力帮了大忙。“你能用它修复她的大脑吗？”

“用一个人自己的心智去覆盖她的心智，有什么意义？”阿尔凯莫疑惑地问了一句，随即又决定懒得管了。“最初造成这些问题的设备，你有吗？”

瑞恩指向迪纳米斯的大脑设备，让天才仔细检查。他看起来并不怎么佩服。“嗯……我明白了……确实非常隐蔽。”脑残检查着系统的头盔，说道，“系统里埋了陷阱，在覆盖过程中，会掺入外来成分，污染新的大脑模式……”

“你能修好吗？”瑞恩问。

“不能。”脑残直截了当地答道，“破坏涉及机器的关键部件。不过……”

“不过？”快递员怀着希望抬起头。

“不过，我可以很轻松地对这台机器进行逆向工程，自己造一台。一台能按原本设计正常运作的机器。”阿尔凯莫看向医务室的墙壁，像是在寻找暗藏的摄像头或平面图。“基地里有天才工作间吗？以我对梅克隆的了解，他肯定在某处组装了一台物质复制器。”

“有，确实有。”瑞恩记得在蓝图上见过。“控制基地的是一颗蓝色的生物机械大脑。我们打算一路强攻到主机那里，把它接管过来。”

“U.B.。”阿尔凯莫猜道，“通用大脑。终极的生物机械数据存储装置。我一直在尝试造一个，但始终凑不齐所需的资源。”

就连大多数天才的专长领域，梅克隆都能胜过他们，这已经足以说明他的本事。“你能劫持它？”瑞恩问。他本打算不靠阿尔凯莫帮忙，自己来办这件事，不过，如果这位天才已经改过自新了……

“只要能接触到它，就可以。不过，恐怕说起来容易做起来难？”

据瑞恩所知，大胖亚当已经成功过两次，尽管他是靠把无数人送进防御系统里才做到的。诺拉的结构分析应该能让他们迅速抵达主机，但还是免不了一战。“嗯，你来之前，我们正准备发动进攻。我知道你打起架来派不上用场，所以——”

“我可不是‘派不上用场’。”脑残底气不足地抗议道，“我是科学家，不是神枪手，但我还是能自保的。”

“对上机器人就不行了。”瑞恩说着，看向弗兰克。“所以，美国特勤局会负责你的安全。”

“他会安全的，长官。”巨人向他保证，“在我们的保护下，从来没有总统死过！至少重要的一个都没死！”

那当然。

“我这就来，小矮个。”瑞恩对昏迷中的搭档说，“再等一等。”