同章对照

Atom Smasher wasn’t one for words, so he went straight for the kill.

His glowing hands unleashed a stream of red particles at the presidential guard. Sarin reacted quickly enough to retaliate with a shockwave, the blasts colliding in the middle of the room. The resulting explosion shattered all the Knockoff bottles on the production line.

Ryan froze time, Black and Violet Flux floating out of his armor, as he dragged his allies away from an Elixir shower. Even if one half of his team wore armor and the other regularly dosed on the juice, any drop seeping through a crack would ruin everything.

The courier always knew a fight with Fallout was a possibility, so he prepared accordingly. His and Len’s suits had been reinforced against heat and radiation, enough that they could survive sustained exposure; the Saturn armor could probably survive a close encounter with Leo Hargraves. And as he guessed, Sarin’s shockwaves could match the nuclear cyborg’s weaker particle beams, probably since they both drew energy from the Red Dimension.

However, Fallout had shown in Malta that his power could rival an A-bomb. While he shouldn’t go all-out in his main laboratory, Ryan had no idea how far his abilities and durability extended. Neither did he find blueprints of the cyborg’s armor in Dynamis’ database, nor a way to hack it.

But Ryan loved challenges, and he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

When time resumed, the production line was drenched in multicolored fluids. The robotic arms preparing the bottles had short-circuited, though the power armors in the room kept working.

“We should have killed you both years ago.” Alphonse Manada aimed his right arm’s energy minigun at Len and Ryan. “Completed the family set. I had the gut feeling you would prove troublesome.”

“You already killed us once,” Shortie replied, raising her water rifle. “This… this is payback.”

Len and Sarin attacked Fallout before he could open fire, the former with a stream of pressurized water, the other with a shockwave. Alphonse raised his left hand and expanded a shield of crimson particles outward from it, protecting himself. He then opened fire with his minigun, unleashing a volley of plasma shots.

What the weapon lacked in accuracy, it more than made up in firepower. The projectiles tore through walls and machines like butter, forcing everyone to dodge. Mongrel and Shortie managed to duck out of the way, but Ryan had to freeze time to spare Sarin five holes in her suit. “You know, if I keep saving you, people will start talking,” Ryan told his damsel in distress once time resumed.

“Don’t focus on me, take down that jackass!” his VP snarled back. “I don’t need help!”

Mongrel used an aerokinetic blast to propel himself towards the ceiling, and then threw a fireball past Fallout’s particle shield from his vantage point. The flames heated up the metal armor, but failed to inflict any damage while Alphonse slowly stepped forward. The reinforced walls were starting to look like cheese.

“Minions, keep him busy,” Ryan ordered his troops, while he dashed forward. Shockwaves, flames, and pressurized water forced Fallout to raise his shield, leaving his back exposed.

The courier stopped time and a purple phantom raced after him. Ryan crossed dozens of meters in a dash, dodging plasma bolts frozen in midair as he tried to figure out a plan. One of his devices could probably take down the nuclear disaster, but the cyborg’s power armor might have a countermeasure. The group needed to soften Fallout up first.

Ten seconds…

The courier bent a corner around the room, the ghost of the future past gaining ground on him. But it was nowhere close to catching up.

Fifteen seconds...

Ryan positioned himself behind Fallout, his feet anchored in the ground.

Twenty seconds...

The ghost almost reached Ryan before the courier unpaused time. He activated his armor’s chest blaster, unleashing a searing white burst of energy from it.

As Vulcan warned, the recoil almost threw Ryan on his back. The intense heat created a bubble of compressed air around the cannon that pushed him backward, but the armor’s servos held. His cashmere poncho, however, turned to dust; another victim of this bloody, senseless war!

The blast hit Alphonse Manada in the back and propelled him forward like a cannonball, the impact tearing the minigun from his arm. Ryan’s teammates dodged out of the way as he crashed into the reinforced door. Already weakened by the minigun fire, most of the wall collapsed and Fallout continued his flight into the next room.

Ryan let out a cough, his chest burning. It came from the heart, as they said.

“Nice shot,” Sarin mused. “Is that what a drone strike looks like?”

“Sometimes, a leader must get his hands dirty,” Ryan replied.

“He’s not dead yet,” Len warned as she stepped into the next room, right before letting out a horrified wail. The rest of the group quickly followed, and froze.

The next room contained an entire factory so large, the ceiling probably took space from the floor above. A maze of machinery and tangled pipes formed the next part of the assembly lines, bordered by a catwalk wide enough to let a battalion walk in formation; Ryan guessed that this allowed groups of soldiers to take positions in case of an emergency. Strange devices covered in bulbs and flashing lights thrummed as they vomited Knockoff Elixirs. The usual mad scientist lair, in short.

The sight that awaited them made even Ryan, who had grown jaded to everything, pause for a moment.

A dozen naked humans floated in glass containers above the production line, like lightbulbs atop metal altars. Tubes injected thick red blood into their back intravenously, and others pumped out Elixir-colored liquids into the machinery. Ryan’s eyes stopped at the closest prisoner to the entrance, a muscled woman with black hair and white dragon scales growing on her neck.

Wyvern.

Ryan also noticed a carbon copy of Devilry, and a feathered man which he identified as Windsweep, the Tempest Knockoff’s template. Others the courier didn’t recognize, but one pod contained a half-formed embryo of a panda-human hybrid.

Clones.

They were modified clones of the Knockoff’s templates, transformed into living organ processors. Bloodstream’s fluids passed into them, absorbing their genetic material before being processed into Knockoffs.

“Shit…” Sarin said, unable to take her eyes off the clones.

Mongrel had a similar reaction. “I’ve been drinking people?”

Len’s hands trembled on her water rifle, her gaze following the blood. The pipes funneling it into the clones traveled through the walls, and towards another room behind a reinforced door.

The scaly Doctor Tyrano worked behind a large control panel near the cloning pods, his reptilian claws typing on a special keyboard adapted to his saurian biology. He briefly looked up his screen at the people invading his laboratory, but his reptilian expression was one of supreme disinterest.

“I’m busy,” Dr. Tyrano said while returning to his computer. He even ignored Fallout, who had landed on the catwalk and quickly risen to his feet. “Take it outside and come back later. I’m on the verge of a breakthrough!”

“You cloned the Panda!” Ryan raised an accusing finger at the scientist. “You maniac!”

“Blame the kids’ division!” he replied while continuing to type. “They’re obsessed with furry mammals!”

“You… you twisted...” Len snarled at Alphonse Manada. Crimson particles flowed out of the cyborg’s back, right where Ryan hit him before. “All of that… all of that pain, for a fistful of euros?”

“It’s all for the dream.” Alphonse shrugged off fireballs thrown by Mongrel, his metal shoulders opening to reveal rocket launchers. “All for the dream.”

Fallout fired a dozen rockets, clearly no longer caring about collateral damage. Ryan attempted to stop time, but immediately canceled the effect when his past self appeared in very close proximity. The armor extended his time stop, but also his cooldown period.

The president activated the suit’s laser weapons while shielding Len with his body, Sarin assisting him in blowing up the projectiles before they could reach them. While they avoided a direct hit, stray shrapnel ripped holes in Sarin’s suit and Mongrel’s chest.

Explosions shook the lab as Alphonse’s projectiles hit the ceiling, the assembly line, and the cloning pods. One rocket incinerated the Panda’s misshapen duplicate, while another damaged the pipes and caused blood to drip onto the catwalk. Though Len’s armor was undamaged, she looked at the red fluid with fear and disgust.

“Stop, Mr. Vice-President!” Tyrano shouted at Alphonse, diving beneath his control panel to avoid a rocket. “You’ll destroy the laboratory!”

“I’ll stop when they’re dead!” Atom Smasher snarled back and kept firing. The entire floor trembled as rockets hit the ceiling and blew holes in the catwalk. The wounded Mongrel had to dive to the side to avoid another projectile, while Ryan took another to the chest; thankfully, the Saturn armor shrugged it off.

This made Ryan worry. The Architect designed Lab Sixty-Six to make sure the laboratory would survive even the building’s collapse, but she didn’t mention anything about internal structural damage.

When Fallout thankfully ran out of projectiles, he raised his shining hands in Len’s direction to blast her.

Having reached his cooldown period’s end, Ryan froze time and quickly punched Fallout in the glass dome protecting his head. Empowered by his armor’s enhanced strength, the blow cracked the reinforced glass, making the Dynamis cyborg stumble back. His particle beams instead hit the ceiling, melting the steel.

“This glass dome isn’t protecting me from you.”

Red particles so similar to Ryan’s own flew out of the crack in Fallout’s helmet. The crimson, shining skull behind it seemed to scowl and breath nuclear fire. The air around him shimmered with heat.

“I am the hand that splits the atom, the light that slays life.” His fists burnt with a crimson glow, a promise of death and cancer. “All that I touch withers, and dies.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you?” Ryan raised his fists, revealing the blades hidden in his forearms. “I’m immortal.”

Alphonse attempted to grab the courier’s head with his glowing hand, and he was surprisingly faster than he looked. Ryan deftly dodged and responded with a punch of his own, but to his surprise, Fallout managed to deflect the blow and counter with another.

“You know Krav Maga?” Ryan asked in disbelief, but the armored cyborg responded with a particle beam to the face. The courier lowered himself to dodge the attack. “Minion!”

“On it!” Powering through his injuries, Mongrel launched an aerokinetic blast of air at Fallout’s left knee, making the heavy colossus stumble. Ryan exploited the opening to ram his fist and blade through the cyborg’s helmet.

Though the glass dome shattered into tiny pieces, releasing red particles into the air, Ryan’s retractable blade also shattered upon hitting Fallout’s skull. Perhaps the courier’s previous clash with Wardrobe had weakened it.

Fallout exploited Ryan’s brief surprise to viciously headbutt him, his skull unleashing an energy pulse on impact. The courier’s vision flashed red for a moment as the shock sent him flying backward, but the Saturn armor resisted.

Ryan gathered his thoughts as he lay on the floor, his vision blurring due to what felt like a concussion. Alphonse Manada loomed over him while what remained of his glass helmet melted. A crimson nuclear fire erupted from inside the cyborg’s suit, making Fallout’s skull look like the Terminator emerging from the flames.

His hand reached for Ryan’s head, but a stream of pressurized water hit him from the side. The liquid heated up into steam at his contact, but offered the courier a brief respite.

“Riri, back off!” Len had moved behind Tyrano’s control panel, while Mongrel flanked Fallout with air blasts. Sarin herself still struggled to cover the holes in her suit. Her gas leaked out, rusting the machinery and even the floor.

Ignoring the minions’ attempts to distract him, Fallout raised his armored foot above Ryan’s head, and attempted to smash it beneath his heel. Of course, Ryan had patented this authoritative move, and took outrage.

The courier froze time, violently kicked Alphonse in the chest to make him stumble, and rolled away to safety. Unfortunately, even the time-stop didn’t shield the courier from Fallout’s radioactive presence, as the constant warning messages on his armor’s lenses attested. Just approaching that Chernobyl advertisement might kill a normal human in seconds, and a Genome in minutes. They needed to take him down now.

However, the courier noticed something interesting as he rose back to his feet. The Black Flux he produced devoured Fallout’s crimson variant, like black holes eating light.

Questions for later.

Deciding to use his trump card, Ryan opened a small compartment in the armor's backpack, a black sphere no bigger than a tennis ball coming out. The courier tossed it at Fallout, the projectile hitting him when time resumed.

The black sphere expanded the moment it hit the titan’s skull, transforming into biomechanical goo.

“What’s this?” Fallout snarled angrily, as the substance spread on his skin and armor. Though Ryan worried otherwise, the cyborg’s mechanical suit had no contingency to resist the hostile takeover. The goo repurposed its steel to make more of itself, restraining the Red Genome.

“Nanomachines, son!” Ryan gloated. Mechron had used them to extract material in radioactive, high-temperature areas, but the courier repurposed them as a capture device. After all, as a president, he had to fight against nuclear proliferation.

Within seconds, Fallout found himself encased in a black goo coffin; unable to move, unable to fire a beam. Dr. Tyrano dared to peek over his computer while Ryan’s group relaxed a little. Perhaps the device would prove just as effective against Augustus.

Then the Saturn armor sent an alarm message, as it noticed an abnormal heat increase.

“Override safeties,” Fallout snarled, his body producing more and more light. Though the goo attempted to fully cover him, light rays came out of small cracks, the air growing oppressive. “Override!”

Ryan’s suit sent alarm messages, as the heat around Fallout increased. “No, no!” he panicked, the nanomachines corroded by the sheer amount of Red Flux coming from the trapped Genome. “You will blow up the place if you continue!”

“But you will be dead!” Fallout answered angrily.

“Cool him off!” Ryan ordered his troops. “Cool him off!”

Len bathed Fallout with water, and Mongrel with pressurized air, but neither helped much. The lab’s fire sprinklers activated, but the liquid turned to steam before it even reached the cyborg.

Half a dozen cracks rapidly formed in the nanomachine coffin, particle beams leaking out. One hit Ryan in the chest with such intensity he could feel the heat through the armor, and another...

Another split Mongrel clean in half at what seemed like lightspeed.

Realizing the danger, Ryan froze time. He quickly dashed towards the agonizing Sarin, grabbed her by the parts of her suit without holes, and dived behind the assembly line for cover.

The nanomachines gave out when time resumed, melting into a charbroiled shell. More stray particle beams came out of Fallout’s body, shattering the prison from within, cutting lines in the ceiling and the catwalk. Metal plates fell from above, the whole place collapsing. “Sir, calm down!” Ryan heard Dr. Tyrano shouting from his hiding spot. “You’ll kill us all!”

Perhaps the risk of harming his lead scientist calmed Fallout, for he stopped sending particle beams in all directions. Ryan peeked at the maddened Genome from his hiding spot.

Alphonse Manada had shed the nanomachines, his armor, and his humanity. He had turned into a blackened skeleton surrounded by incandescent flames and Red Flux particles. He had become a raging nuclear hazard, the ground melting beneath his feet.

“Come out, Quicksave!” Fallout’s voice now boomed like the heart of a burning star, as he looked for the president. “Come out and fight!”

He was like Hargraves, and just as durable.

The realization sent a shiver down Ryan’s spine, as he realized he had drastically underestimated Dynamis’ ace-in-the-hole; Fallout could have vaporized the group alongside the entire building, if he didn't risk destroying his own HQ. The courier should have asked Mechron’s AIs to develop a superweapon to take that living A-bomb down.

“Anything else that can kill him?” Sarin whispered at Ryan’s side, leaking out so much that her suit had flattened at the fingers. The courier had to stay a few meters away to prevent her from corroding his armor.

“None that won’t risk killing everyone here,” Ryan admitted, only to hear footsteps echo from the previous room. Unless...

“Mr. President?”

Who needed a secret weapon, when they had a secret agent?

Frank had managed to climb up the elevator shaft and walked into the laboratory, his body absorbing machinery pieces on contact. The giant glanced at Alphonse Manada’s otherworldly redness, and immediately put the two and two together.

“A Soviet Mexican!” Frank let out a roar of pure patriotism. “I knew it was all connected!”

He had uncovered the true conspiracy behind everything.

Alphonse blasted Frank with streams of red particles, melting the metallic giant’s outer layers. The nuclear Genome didn’t even need to use his hands anymore; his chest, his mouth, his entire body emitted energy in any direction he wished.

Yet as a true American badass, Frank powered through the radiation and tackled Alphonse like a football player. Both colossi crashed into the wreckage of the Wyvern clone’s pod, trading blows powerful enough to shake the room. For a moment, Ryan hoped that his bodyguard might turn the tide.

But for all his might, Frank’s metal hands softened whenever they hit Fallout. The heat was too intense, and the Red Genome’s unique biology granted him heightened resilience. Much like Mr. Sunshine, Alphonse Manada had become something more than human; a living nuclear core.

And the factory’s ceiling kept raining metal panels.

“Stand still!” Ryan told Sarin, as he gestured at Len from across the room to stay hidden. “We’ve got to run before the ceiling collapse on ou—”

“Don’t waste time with us,” Hazmat Girl replied with a grunt. Frank let out a pained growl, as Fallout grabbed his metal head and started to melt it. “You go. You and your girlfriend.”

“What?”

“The cure!” Sarin shouted from behind the assembly line and blasted Fallout off Frank with a shockwave. The radioactive Genome bled light and the sustained blast made him stumble, but it didn’t throw him off balance. “You need the data inside this place? Then take it while we keep him busy!”

“That’s suicide!” Ryan protested, assisting her by firing his chest laser at Fallout. The Red Genome formed a shield of crimson particles around himself, while Frank regained his footing. “You’ll get buried alive, if he doesn’t kill you first!”

“Now that Mongrel is dead…” Hazmat Girl briefly glanced at her ally’s corpse, and the possibilities his Elixir represented. “Now that he’s gone, none of this matters anymore. If that cancer advertisement kills you… if he kills you all of this was for nothing.”

She had accepted this loop was a lost cause.

“Your life matters!” Ryan protested, but almost stumbled as the ground trembled. The constant explosions had fragilized the factory’s foundations. “Sarin, don’t—”

“That’s not my name, jackass!” she snarled. “Why won’t you leave?”

“Because I’m not Adam!” Though the Meta were assholes… though he made use of them for his own objectives, Ryan couldn’t let them sacrifice themselves for him. “I promised I would help, and I still can!”

As long as they lived, they could find a way. Whether in Antarctica or somewhere else.

Sarin looked at Ryan in surprise, unable to say a word for a few seconds. But in the end, she had made her decision. “Then remember your vow next time around.”

Ryan’s heart skipped a beat, his fists clenching. “What’s your name?” he asked. “Your real name?”

She looked at Fallout. “Bianca.”

She dashed at him like a suicide bomber, while Ryan looked away as another friend went on to die for him.

No matter how many loops, that part never got any easier.

“Next time, I’ll save you,” he swore to himself, before freezing time. Regrouping with Len, the courier immediately grabbed Dr. Tyrano and slammed him against his control panel when time resumed. The dinosaur looked at him in alarm, his breath short from the heat. “Open the door to the next room. Open it now.”

“Why wou—” Dr. Tyrano didn’t protest long, as Len put her water rifle against his chin. “Uh, you make a convincing argument.”

Ryan froze time again, carrying both Len and Tyrano across the room. He sent a glance at his allies, his heart freezing in his chest. Alphonse punched a hole inside a half-melted Frank’s chest, and a cloud of gas escaped from an empty hazmat suit. The ceiling below the shining Fallout had started to rust.

“Why?” Len asked when time resumed, the trio had reached the blast door to the next room. Her helmet turned to glance at the damaged pipes, and the blood flowing out of them. “Why did you turn my father… why did you make all these horrors?”

“What, the Knockoffs? This is but the first step of my plan!” Dr. Tyranno admitted while putting his hand on the door’s bioscanner, unlocking it. “I am refining the substance so that it can not only change the host’s species, but its entire biological class! From mammal, to reptile!”

Ryan instantly put the two and two together. “You can’t possibly mean—”

“Yes!” The Genius turned to look at them with maddened glee, as the door opened. “Soon, I will create a Knockoff Elixir that can permanently turn any human, INTO A DINOSAUR!”

Ryan looked at the deluded, scaled furry.

In hindsight, he should have expected such a motive.

“Consensually,” Dr. Tyrano added, almost as an afterthought. “Becoming a superior reptile should be a fundamental mammalian right.”

The courier wanted to hate him, but he loved dinosaurs too.

A loud crack echoed across the facility, as the ceiling finally collapsed. Ryan barely had the time to force Len and Tyrano inside a steel corridor, before tons of steel and concrete collapsed inside the Knockoff factory. Alphonse, Frank, and Sarin vanished from the courier’s sight as they were buried alive. Dust and smoke flowed inside the corridor, while debris closed the exit.

Ryan and Len exchanged a silent glance, none of them uttering a word.

The others had earned their minute of silence.

Ryan, Len, and Scalie reached the heart of the facility after a short walk, a large, dimly lit atrium of thick steel and concrete. An enormous mechanical aquarium stood at its center, linked to complex medical devices, pipes, tubes, and a computer system.

As for the fish swimming inside...

It was a true shoggoth, an eldritch blob more deformed than Darkling had ever been. A dark red, protoplasmic slime as large as a house; a shapeless, twisted amoeba with temporary eyes forming on its putrid surface. If that thing had once been human, one couldn’t tell so at first glance.

And yet…

And yet in spite of everything, Ryan recognized him.

It was him, in all his bloody, mutated glory. His long-dead nightmare had risen from the ashes. Len dropped her water rifle at the floor, rushing to touch the glass with her hand. The blob’s eyes looked at his daughter, both reunited at last.

In the end, blood called to blood.

原子粉碎者不爱废话，上来就下了杀手。

他发光的双手向总统卫队喷出一股红色粒子流。沙林反应极快，立刻以冲击波还击，两股能量在房间中央撞在一起。爆炸随之而起，将生产线上所有仿制灵药瓶震得粉碎。

瑞恩暂停了时间，黑色与紫色通量从装甲中飘散出来。他拖着同伴，避开了当头洒下的灵药。哪怕队伍里一半人穿着装甲，另一半人常把这玩意儿当药嗑，只要有一滴渗进缝隙，一切就全完了。

信使早就知道，自己有可能得和辐尘打上一场，因此做过相应的准备。他和蕾恩的装甲都加强了隔热与防辐射性能，足以让他们在持续暴露于高温和辐射的情况下活下来；萨图恩装甲大概连近距离遭遇利奥·哈格雷夫斯都能扛住。而且，正如他所料，沙林的冲击波足以抵消那个核能改造人的较弱粒子束，大概是因为双方都从红色维度汲取能量。

然而，辐尘在马耳他已经证明，他的力量足以媲美一枚原子弹。虽说身在自己的核心实验室里，他应该不会全力出手，但瑞恩根本不知道他的能力和抗打击能力究竟有多强。他也没能在迪纳米斯的数据库里找到这套改造人装甲的设计图，更没找到入侵它的方法。

不过瑞恩喜欢挑战，而且手里还藏着几招。

时间恢复流动后，五颜六色的液体淋遍了整条生产线。处理药瓶的机械臂已经短路，不过房间里的动力装甲仍在运转。

“我们几年前就该把你们两个一起杀了。”阿尔方斯·马纳达将右臂上的能量转管机枪对准蕾恩和瑞恩，“让你们一家凑齐。我当时就有预感，你们迟早会惹出麻烦。”

“你们已经杀过我们一次了。”小矮个举起水枪，回答道，“这次……这次是来讨债的。”

不等辐尘开火，蕾恩和沙林便先发制人，前者射出一道高压水流，后者打出一记冲击波。阿尔方斯抬起左手，一面由深红粒子组成的护盾从掌心向外展开，将他护在后面。随即，他用转管机枪开火，射出一轮等离子弹。

这件武器准头不够，火力却绰绰有余。弹丸像切黄油一样贯穿墙壁与机器，逼得所有人纷纷闪避。杂种和小矮个及时俯身躲开，瑞恩却不得不暂停时间，免得沙林的防化服上多出五个洞。“你知道吗，要是我老这么救你，别人可要说闲话了。”时间恢复流动后，瑞恩对这位落难佳人说道。

“别管我，干掉那个混账！”他的副总统吼了回来，“我不需要帮忙！”

杂种操纵气流，将自己猛推向天花板，随后居高临下，越过辐尘的粒子护盾扔出一颗火球。烈焰烧热了金属装甲，却没能造成任何损伤。阿尔方斯缓步向前，四周的加固墙壁已经快被打成筛子了。

“喽啰们，拖住他。”瑞恩向部下下令，自己则疾冲向前。冲击波、火焰与高压水流迫使辐尘举盾防御，将后背暴露在外。

信使暂停了时间，一道紫色幻影随即追赶而来。瑞恩一口气奔出几十米，在凝固于半空的等离子弹之间闪转腾挪，同时思索对策。他带来的一件装置大概能解决这个核灾难，但那改造人的动力装甲里也许有应对措施。他们得先削弱辐尘。

十秒……

信使沿房间拐过一个弯。那道来自未来往昔的幽灵渐渐拉近了距离，却还远远追不上他。

十五秒……

瑞恩在辐尘身后就位，双脚牢牢扎在地上。

二十秒……

那道幽灵几乎就要追上瑞恩，信使这才解除了时间暂停。他启动装甲的胸炮，射出一束炽白的能量。

正如伏尔甘警告过的那样，后坐力差点把瑞恩掀得仰面栽倒。高热在炮口周围形成了一团压缩空气，将他向后推去，所幸装甲的伺服系统撑住了。他的羊绒斗篷却化为了灰烬，又一个牺牲在这场血腥而无谓的战争中的无辜生命！

能量束击中阿尔方斯·马纳达的后背，将他像炮弹一样轰飞出去，冲击力还扯掉了他臂上的转管机枪。瑞恩的队友纷纷闪开，他一头撞上加固门。墙体早已被转管机枪的火力打得残破不堪，此时大半都塌了下去，辐尘继续飞进了隔壁房间。

瑞恩咳了一声，胸口火辣辣地疼。这一击可真是发自肺腑。

“打得漂亮。”沙林若有所思地说，“无人机空袭就是这样的？”

“有时候，领袖也得亲自动手。”瑞恩回答。

“他还没死。”蕾恩一边提醒，一边走进隔壁房间，紧接着便发出一声惊恐的哀叫。其余人连忙跟上，然后全都僵在了原地。

隔壁竟是一整座工厂，规模大得惊人，天花板大概已经占用了上一层的空间。迷宫般的机器与盘根错节的管道组成了后续的生产线，旁边环绕着一条检修走道，宽得足以容纳一个营列队通过；瑞恩猜测，这是为了让士兵在紧急情况下成群进驻布防。布满灯泡与闪烁指示灯的古怪装置嗡嗡作响，源源不断地吐出仿制灵药。总之，就是典型的疯狂科学家老巢。

然而眼前的景象，就连早已对一切麻木的瑞恩都不禁怔了片刻。

十来个赤裸的人体漂浮在生产线上方的玻璃容器里，宛如一座座金属祭坛顶端的灯泡。管子从他们背后接入静脉，注入浓稠的鲜血，另一些管子则将灵药颜色的液体抽入机器。瑞恩的目光停在离入口最近的囚徒身上：那是个肌肉结实的黑发女人，颈部长着白色龙鳞。

双足飞龙。

瑞恩还看到了一个与邪魔一模一样的人，以及一个浑身羽毛的男人。他认出那人是风卷，“暴风”仿制灵药的模板。其他人信使都不认识，但有一具舱体中装着个尚未成形的胚胎——熊猫与人的混合体。

克隆人。

他们是以仿制灵药的模板为原型制造的改造克隆体，被变成了用自身器官加工原料的活体机器。血流的体液流经他们的身体，吸收他们的遗传物质，再被加工成仿制灵药。

“操……”沙林说，目光始终无法从那些克隆体身上移开。

杂种的反应也差不多。“我一直在喝人？”

蕾恩握着水枪的手不住颤抖，目光沿着血液延伸。向克隆体输血的管道穿过墙壁，通向另一扇加固门后的房间。

满身鳞片的提拉诺博士正在克隆舱附近的一座大型控制台后工作。他那爬行动物的利爪敲打着一副特制键盘，那是专为他的恐龙身体构造设计的。他从屏幕前抬起头，短暂地看了看闯进实验室的人，那张爬行动物的脸上却尽是漠不关心。

“我正忙着。”提拉诺博士说完，又回头盯住电脑。就连摔在检修走道上、迅速爬起来的辐尘，他也一并无视了。“出去打，晚点再来。我马上就要取得突破了！”

“你克隆了熊猫！”瑞恩伸出手指，指着科学家大加指责，“你这个疯子！”

“要怪就怪儿童业务部！”他头也不抬，继续敲键盘，“他们就迷那些毛茸茸的哺乳动物！”

“你……你这个变态……”蕾恩向阿尔方斯·马纳达怒声道。改造人背后，刚才被瑞恩击中的位置正流出深红色粒子。“这一切……这么多痛苦，就为了几个欧元？”

“一切都是为了那个梦想。”阿尔方斯任由杂种扔来的火球打在身上，毫不在意。他金属肩甲打开，露出火箭发射器。“全都是为了那个梦想。”

辐尘一口气发射了十几枚火箭弹，显然已不再顾忌附带损害。瑞恩试图暂停时间，却发现过去的自己出现在极近的位置，只好立刻解除。装甲延长了他的时间暂停，却也延长了冷却时间。

总统用身体护住蕾恩，同时启动装甲上的激光武器。沙林配合着他，在弹头飞到面前之前将其引爆。他们虽然避开了直接命中，乱飞的弹片却还是撕穿了沙林的防化服和杂种的胸膛。

阿尔方斯的火箭弹击中天花板、生产线和克隆舱，爆炸震撼着整间实验室。一枚火箭弹将熊猫的畸形复制体烧成了灰，另一枚打坏了管道，鲜血滴落在检修走道上。蕾恩的装甲虽然毫发无伤，她看着那些红色液体的眼神却满是恐惧与厌恶。

“住手，副总裁先生！”提拉诺朝阿尔方斯大喊，扑到控制台底下躲过一枚火箭弹，“你会毁了实验室的！”

“等他们死了我就停！”原子粉碎者怒吼着回应，继续开火。火箭弹击中天花板，在检修走道上炸出一个个大洞，整层楼都在颤抖。受伤的杂种不得不向旁边扑倒，躲开又一枚火箭弹，瑞恩的胸口则挨了一发；幸好，萨图恩装甲轻松扛了下来。

瑞恩开始担心了。建筑师在设计六十六号实验室时，确保了它即使遭遇整栋大楼坍塌也能完好无损，可她没提过内部结构遭到破坏会怎样。

谢天谢地，辐尘终于打光了弹药，随后又将发亮的双手举向蕾恩，准备轰击她。

冷却时间终于结束。瑞恩暂停时间，飞快地一拳打在保护辐尘头部的玻璃罩上。装甲赋予他的强大力量让这一拳打裂了强化玻璃，迪纳米斯的改造人踉跄着后退。原本瞄准蕾恩的粒子束击中了天花板，将钢铁熔化。

“这玻璃罩可不是为了保护我，不受你伤害。”

红色粒子从辐尘头盔的裂缝中飞出，与瑞恩自己产生的粒子极为相似。罩子后面那颗发光的深红骷髅仿佛怒容满面，呼吸间吞吐着核能烈焰。周围的空气在高温下扭曲。

“我是劈开原子之手，是灭绝生命之光。”他的双拳燃着深红的光芒，昭示着死亡与癌症，“我所触及的一切，都会枯萎，继而死亡。”

“没人告诉过你？”瑞恩举起双拳，亮出藏在前臂里的刀刃，“我是不死的。”

阿尔方斯伸出发光的手，试图抓住信使的脑袋，动作竟比外表看上去快得多。瑞恩灵巧地闪开，回敬了一拳，没想到辐尘居然拨开这一击，又反击了一拳。

“你还会以色列格斗术？”瑞恩难以置信地问，披甲改造人却以一道迎面射来的粒子束作答。信使俯身躲开攻击。“喽啰！”

“来了！”杂种强忍伤痛，操纵气流轰中辐尘的左膝，让这个沉重的庞然大物打了个趔趄。瑞恩趁隙将拳头连同刀刃一并砸进改造人的头盔。

玻璃罩碎成无数细片，红色粒子逸散到空气中，但瑞恩的伸缩刀刃撞上辐尘的头骨时，也同样碎了。也许是信使先前与衣橱交手时，刀刃就已经受了损。

趁着瑞恩短暂的惊愕，辐尘狠狠一记头槌撞了过来，头骨在撞击的瞬间释放出一道能量脉冲。信使眼前红光一闪，整个人被冲击掀得倒飞出去，不过萨图恩装甲还是扛住了。

瑞恩躺在地上努力集中思绪。他的视野有些模糊，感觉像是脑震荡。阿尔方斯·马纳达站在他面前，居高临下，残余的玻璃头盔正不断熔化。深红色的核能烈焰从改造人的装甲内喷涌而出，让辐尘那颗骷髅头看上去像是从火焰里走出的终结者。

他的手伸向瑞恩的头，一道高压水流却从侧面击中了他。水一接触他便受热化作蒸汽，却也为信使争取到了片刻喘息。

“瑞瑞，退后！”蕾恩已经转移到提拉诺的控制台后，杂种则用气流从侧翼攻击辐尘。沙林还在艰难地堵着防化服上的破洞。她的气体不断泄漏，令机器、甚至地板都生起锈来。

辐尘无视喽啰们分散他注意力的企图，将装甲靴抬到瑞恩脑袋上方，想一脚把它踩碎。当然，瑞恩早已为这种彰显权威的招式申请了专利，见状自然大为光火。

信使暂停时间，狠狠一脚踹在阿尔方斯胸口，踹得他失去平衡，自己则翻滚着退到安全位置。可惜，即使时间暂停也无法隔绝辐尘身上的辐射，装甲镜片上不断跳出的警告便是明证。光是接近这个活的切尔诺贝利广告牌，就可能在几秒内杀死普通人，几分钟内杀死基因者。他们必须立刻干掉他。

然而，信使重新站起来时，却发现了一件有趣的事。他产生的黑色通量正在吞噬辐尘的深红色通量，宛如黑洞吞噬光线。

这些问题留待以后再想。

瑞恩决定打出王牌。他打开装甲背包里的一个小舱，一颗不比网球大的黑球从中冒了出来。信使将它扔向辐尘。时间恢复流动时，黑球击中了目标。

黑球碰到巨人头骨的瞬间便膨胀开来，变成一团生物机械黏液。

“这是什么东西？”辐尘愤怒地咆哮，那团物质在他的皮肤与装甲上蔓延。瑞恩先前还担心过，但改造人的机械装甲确实没有任何措施，能抵挡这种恶意接管。黏液将装甲的钢铁化作原料，制造出更多自身，将这个红系基因者牢牢束缚住。

“纳米机器，小子！”瑞恩得意洋洋地说。梅克隆曾用它们在高辐射、高温地区提取材料，信使却将其改造成了捕捉装置。毕竟，身为总统，他有义务反对核扩散。

短短几秒，辐尘便被封进了一口黑色黏液棺材，动弹不得，也射不出能量束。提拉诺博士这才敢从电脑后探出头，瑞恩一行人也稍稍松了口气。或许这件装置对奥古斯都也能同样奏效。

随后，萨图恩装甲检测到温度异常升高，发出了警报。

“解除安全限制。”辐尘低吼，身体发出的光越来越强。黏液拼命想把他完全包住，光线却仍从细小的裂缝里漏了出来，空气愈发闷热压抑。“解除！”

辐尘周围的温度不断攀升，瑞恩的装甲连连报警。“不，不行！”他慌了，被困的基因者涌出海量红色通量，正在侵蚀纳米机器。“再继续下去，你会把这里炸掉的！”

“但你也会死！”辐尘愤怒地回道。

“给他降温！”瑞恩向部下下令，“给他降温！”

蕾恩用水流冲刷辐尘，杂种则吹出高压气流，但都没起到多大作用。实验室的消防喷淋系统启动了，水甚至还没落到改造人身上，就已经变成蒸汽。

纳米机器棺材上迅速裂开了六道口子，粒子束从中泄出。一道击中瑞恩的胸膛，威力之强，隔着装甲都能感到炽热。另一道……

另一道似乎以光速掠过，将杂种干净利落地劈成两半。

意识到危险，瑞恩立刻暂停时间。他疾冲到痛苦挣扎的沙林身旁，抓住她防化服上没有破洞的部位，带着她扑到生产线后躲避。

时间恢复流动，纳米机器终于支撑不住，熔成了一层焦黑的壳。更多失控的粒子束从辐尘体内射出，从内部撕碎牢笼，在天花板与检修走道上切出一道道裂口。金属板从上方坠落，整个地方都在崩塌。“先生，冷静！”瑞恩听见提拉诺博士在藏身处大喊，“你会把我们全杀了的！”

也许是意识到可能伤及首席科学家，辐尘冷静下来，不再向四面八方乱射粒子束。瑞恩从掩体后探头，望向那个发狂的基因者。

阿尔方斯·马纳达甩脱了纳米机器，褪去了装甲，也抛弃了人形。他变成了一具焦黑的骷髅，被白炽的火焰与红色通量粒子包围。他成了一场肆虐的核灾难，地面在他脚下不断熔化。

“出来，快存！”辐尘四下寻找总统，声音如今宛若一颗燃烧恒星的核心，轰鸣不止，“出来打！”

他就像哈格雷夫斯，而且同样坚不可摧。

这个发现让瑞恩脊背发凉。他意识到，自己严重低估了迪纳米斯的底牌。如果不是顾忌毁掉自家总部，辐尘完全可以把他们所有人连同整栋大楼一起汽化。信使早该让梅克隆的人工智能研发一件超级武器，专门对付这枚活的原子弹。

“还有什么能杀他的吗？”沙林在瑞恩身旁低声问。她泄漏得太厉害，防化服的手指部分已经瘪了下去。信使不得不与她保持几米距离，免得装甲遭到腐蚀。

“有，可都有可能把这里所有人一起杀了。”瑞恩承认，这时却听见脚步声从前一个房间传来。除非……

“总统先生？”

有了秘密特工，谁还需要秘密武器？

弗兰克终于爬上了电梯井，走进实验室，身体一碰到机器碎片就将其吸收。巨人看了一眼阿尔方斯·马纳达那非人间所有的红光，瞬间便想通了一切。

“苏维埃墨西哥人！”弗兰克发出一声纯粹出于爱国之情的咆哮，“我就知道，这一切都有联系！”

他终于揭开了一切背后的真正阴谋。

阿尔方斯向弗兰克喷射出一道道红色粒子流，熔化了金属巨人的外层。这个核能基因者甚至不再需要用手；他的胸口、嘴巴、全身上下，都能随心所欲地向任何方向释放能量。

然而，作为一个真正的美国硬汉，弗兰克顶着辐射冲了过去，像橄榄球员一样撞上阿尔方斯。两个巨人一同砸进双足飞龙克隆舱的残骸，互相挥拳，每一击都足以撼动整个房间。有那么一刻，瑞恩真希望自己的保镖能扭转战局。

可弗兰克纵然力大无穷，金属双手每次击中辐尘，都会受热软化。温度实在太高，而这个红系基因者独特的身体构造又赋予了他超强的抗打击能力。就像阳光先生一样，阿尔方斯·马纳达已变成了超越人类的存在——一座活生生的核反应堆芯。

工厂的天花板上，金属板仍在如雨坠落。

“别动！”瑞恩对沙林说，同时向房间另一头的蕾恩打手势，让她继续藏好。“我们得在天花板砸到头上之前跑出——”

“别在我们身上浪费时间。”防化服姑娘闷声回道。辐尘抓住弗兰克的金属脑袋，开始将其熔化，巨人发出痛苦的低吼。“你走。带上你的女朋友。”

“什么？”

“解药！”沙林在生产线后大喊，一记冲击波将辐尘从弗兰克身上轰开。这个放射性基因者身上溢出光来，持续的冲击打得他脚步踉跄，却没能让他失去平衡。“你需要这里的数据，对不对？那就趁我们拖住他，去拿！”

“这是自杀！”瑞恩反对道，同时发射胸前的激光炮，协助她攻击辐尘。红系基因者在身周撑起深红粒子护盾，弗兰克则重新站稳了脚跟。“就算他不杀你们，你们也会被活埋！”

“杂种已经死了……”防化服姑娘短暂地看了一眼同伴的尸体，也看了一眼他那份灵药所代表的种种可能。“他已经不在了，这一切都没意义了。如果那个癌症活广告把你杀了……如果他杀了你，这一切就全都白费了。”

她已经接受了这一轮无可挽回的事实。

“你的命也有意义！”瑞恩抗议，地面却猛地一震，险些让他摔倒。接连不断的爆炸已动摇了工厂的根基。“沙林，别——”

“那不是我的名字，混蛋！”她吼道，“你为什么还不走？”

“因为我不是亚当！”超能帮这群人是混蛋没错……他为达成自己的目的利用了他们，也没错。可瑞恩无法让他们为了自己牺牲。“我答应过会帮你们，而且现在还来得及！”

只要还活着，他们就能找到办法。不管是在南极，还是别的什么地方。

沙林惊讶地看着瑞恩，好几秒都说不出话。但最终，她还是作出了自己的决定。“那就下一轮也记住你的誓言。”

瑞恩心头一紧，攥紧了双拳。“你叫什么？”他问，“你的真名？”

她望向辐尘。“比安卡。”

她如同自杀式袭击者一般冲向他。瑞恩移开了目光，又一位朋友就这样为他赴死。

无论经历多少次循环，这一刻从来都不会更好受。

“下一次，我会救你。”他向自己发誓，随后暂停了时间。信使与蕾恩会合，立刻抓住提拉诺博士，在时间恢复流动时将他狠狠抵在控制台上。恐龙惊恐地看着他，酷热让他呼吸急促。“打开通往下一个房间的门。现在就开。”

“我凭什——”提拉诺博士没能抗议多久，蕾恩已经把水枪顶在他下巴上。“呃，你们很有说服力。”

瑞恩再次暂停时间，带着蕾恩和提拉诺穿过房间。他瞥了一眼同伴，心仿佛在胸膛里冻住了。阿尔方斯一拳打穿了已熔化一半的弗兰克的胸口，一团气体正从空荡荡的防化服里逸出。发着光的辐尘下方，天花板已经开始锈蚀。

“为什么？”时间恢复流动时，三人已经抵达通往下一个房间的防爆门。蕾恩转过头盔，看向破损的管道，以及从里面淌出的鲜血。“为什么把我父亲变成……为什么要制造这一切惨剧？”

“什么，仿制灵药？这不过是我计划的第一步！”提拉诺博士坦然说道，同时将手按在门上的生物扫描仪上，解除了门锁。“我正在改进这种物质，让它不仅能改变宿主的物种，甚至连宿主在生物分类中所属的纲都能改变！从哺乳纲，变成爬行纲！”

瑞恩瞬间想通了。“你该不会是想——”

“没错！”门开了，天才转过头，以狂喜的目光看着他们。“很快，我就能造出一种仿制灵药，让任何人类永久变成——恐龙！”

瑞恩望着这个满身鳞片、妄想连篇的兽迷。

现在想想，他早该猜到会是这种动机。

“自愿的。”提拉诺博士补了一句，仿佛刚刚才想起来。“变成更优越的爬行动物，应该是哺乳动物的一项基本权利。”

信使很想恨他，可他自己也喜欢恐龙。

一声巨响传遍整座设施，天花板终于塌了。瑞恩只来得及将蕾恩和提拉诺推进一条钢铁走廊，成吨的钢铁与混凝土便砸进了仿制灵药工厂。阿尔方斯、弗兰克和沙林被活埋，消失在信使的视野中。烟尘涌进走廊，残骸堵死了出口。

瑞恩与蕾恩默默交换了一个眼神，谁也没有说话。

那些同伴值得他们默哀一分钟。

走了不远，瑞恩、蕾恩和鳞控便抵达了设施的核心：一座由厚重钢铁与混凝土构成、灯光昏暗的宽阔中庭。中央立着一个巨大的机械水族箱，连接着复杂的医疗设备、粗细管道，以及一套计算机系统。

至于里面游着的鱼……

那是一只真正的修格斯，一团诡异的胶状物，比暗灵任何时候的模样都更加畸形。它是房屋般大小的暗红色原生质黏液；一只扭曲、无定形的变形虫，腐败的表面不断生出短暂存在的眼睛。即便这东西曾经是人，第一眼也绝对看不出来。

然而……

然而，即便如此，瑞恩还是认出了他。

那就是他，浑身血腥、变异的模样尽显无遗。瑞恩那个早已死去的噩梦，从灰烬中复生了。蕾恩任由水枪掉在地上，冲上前去，将手贴在玻璃上。黏液团的眼睛望向女儿，父女二人终于重逢。

到头来，血终究在呼唤着血。