Chapter 45


    Back when he yed open world games, Ryan always loved to set the Al against itself. To lead one monster on the path of a


    settlement, and then watch NPCs fightputer-generated enemies for his entertainment. The courier always found it rxing.


    The real-life sight was a lot more stressful.


    Dynamis’ aerial force had unleashed a rain of missiles, which Jasmine’s anti-aerial defense had mostly detonated mid-flight.


    Geist, now a howling specter the size of a building, also redirected some of the projectiles with telekic force, blowing up two


    of the helicopters.


    Unfortunately, the Augusti had less luck with the enemy Genomes. The invulnerable Wyvern had smashed through the fortress’


    outer wall, sending stones flying in all directions; the pyrokic Devilry had started bombarding the supeb’s defenses from


    above, targeting the turrets, and the aeromancer Windsweep had summoned a miniature tornado to try to repel Geist.


    “Hey, Quicksave, want to bet with poor old Mortimer?“ Mortimer said, shooting at the helicopters without taking cover. Bullets and


    projectiles phased through his body harmlessly. “The one who kills the most corpos wins!”


    “Do non-lethal takedowns count?” Ryan asked. The courier was still sitting on his chair with a gun in hand, using a mix of


    timestops and urate shots to blow up missiles before they could actually hit the fortress. “Because | left my best, anti-war


    helicopter stuff at home.”


    Aprojectile aimed for his location, so the courier stopped time, moved the chair away, and let time resume once he had reached


    safety.


    “Showoff,” Mortimer said, unimpressed. “You''re worse than Fortuna.”


    “Hey, | resent that remark,” Ryan protested, tossing his gun away when he ran out of bullets. “I work on looking perfect, while her


    power does all the work.”


    Truthfully, Ryan was starting to be a little worried. While the fortress’ human and automated defenses resisted well,


    Dynamis was making progress, and the courier wondered how Augustus would react to a very public assault on his drug factory.


    Ryan suspected reinforcements would be on their way soon and turn the already chaotic situation into a massive brawl.


    In short, he couldn''t wait.


    With some of the defensive turrets down, helicopters managed tond atop the outer wall. Soldiers in riot gear or advanced


    power armor engaged the Augusti defenders in a firefight on foot, while Wyvern kept hitting the fort in an attempt to make a hole


    into the facility. The ground shook with every blow of the giant dragon, although it seemed Vulcan had reinforced the old stone


    walls.


    Eventually, Ryan noticed another helicopternding in the garden nearby. A group of eight riot gear troopers stepped out of it,


    escorting two Genomes. One was a man with long ck hair wearing a stylized, Mad Max-like mix of rusted steel armor and


    cloak. Most of his face was covered by a red scarf and ck goggles, and worryingly, he carried an explosive belt around his


    waist.


    The other, more colorful one, was a young woman Ryan’s age, perhaps of Chinese or Japanese descent. She reminded the


    courier of these pre-war K-pop idols, dyed hair, lovely face, and cute brown eyes. She wore a strange dress whose colors and


    length seemed to shift as the courier looked. Her bright, shy smile contrasted with the chaos around her.


    “Reload and Wardrobe,” Mortimer said while opening fire at the neers, the riot troops forming a plexiss shield wall to


    protect themselves. The Dynamis Genomes hid behind them, listening to orders thanks to earplugs. “Just great, | can’t stand


    Reload!”


    “Why, because of his terrible fashion sense?” Ryan asked, rising to his feet and grabbing his chair as an improvised weapon.


    Seriously, Dynamis’ marketing department should be eradicated; how could they advertise such a fashion disaster?


    “Because he just won''t die!” Mortimer snarled, reloading his rifle. “He’s the worst kind of Violet!”


    That made Ryan quite curious. He looked at the apocalypse punk disaster behind the shield wall, but couldn''t figure out his


    power from how he looked. “Last warning, Romano!” one of the troopers said, readying his own firearm behind the shield wall.


    “Surrender now, or we open fire back! We''re allowed to use lethal force!”


    “Didn''t anyone tell you, I''m immortal!” Ryan shouted back, raising his chair threateningly while explosions resonated in the


    background. “I''lle back to haunt you!”


    “Oh, you’re a Yellow too?” Wardrobe asked from behind the wall, more curious than anything.


    “He’s distracted, shoot him!” one of the troopers shouted, pointing a rifle over the plexiss wall. Mortimer immediately opened


    fire, disarming the man with a well-ced bullet while Ryan threw the chair at the corporate police.


    The projectile bounced off the shields, while Wardrobe’s clothes literally changed shape. Her strange dress transformed into a


    wolf mascot suit, and she leaped over the garden with the strength and agility of a werewolf. Ryan had to stop time to prevent


    her from pouncing on him like a mouse, using the brief time window to put the Fisty Brothers on.


    “Oh my, here | go dying again!” Reload said gregariously, as he leaped over the troopers’ shield wall, and rushed at Mortimer’s


    cover like a suicide bomber. In a scene straight out of an action movie, the hitman shot the hero in the chest, but he continued


    his charge. Reload jumped at Mortimer, who quickly phased through the ground below. The hero’s belt detonated and blew


    Mortimer’s stone cover to smithereens.


    Ryan sensed a vague, familiar sensation at the back of his skull. At first, he thought it was Acid Rain’s doing, until Reload’s body


    reformed at the spot where he died in a sh of violet light,pletely unharmed. His intact suicide belt was still around his


    waist.


    “You copycat, | was wearing suicide belts before they went mainstream!” Ryan pointed an using finger at Reload, running in


    circles to escape Wardrobe’s ws. “If you stop time, I''ll sue!”


    Why didn’t Dynamis call him Timelord?


    When Mortimer didn’t reappear, the troopers turned to Ryan and started providing Wardrobe with suppressing fire. The happy


    courier stopped the clock to avoid the bullets and closed the gap with the mooks, punching the closest one with Fisty when time


    resumed. Much like the cannon fodder they were, they went down in one hit.


    While her boyfriend was busy brawling with the troopers, a fully armored Vulcan emerged from the fortress, tackling Wyvern


    rugby-style. The mech pushed the surprised dragon back against Ischia Ind’s reefs, the transformed hero responding by


    unleashing a stream of aurora-like light with her maw. Crimson beams came out of the fortress to shoot the helicopters, probably


    Sparrow’s doing,


    As Ryan single-handedly demolished the trooper corp and Wardrobe remained at a distance, trying to figure out her approach,


    Reload entered the melee. He looked under his armor and brought out a tiny metal rod.Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.


    Asword of violet light came out.


    Ryan interrupted his one-sided beating of a trooper to look at the divine weapon, mesmerized by its perfection; a pure, timeless


    design, and the purest shade of violet he had ever seen. It would match his suit perfectly.


    It was love at first sight.


    Ryan instantly activated his power, stole the de, and kicked Reload in the frozen time.


    When time resumed and the hero fell on his back among the flowers, Ryan raised his trophy up to the skies. It was as weightless


    as a feather, but much to his disappointment, it made no sound.


    “Schvrmmmmmmm!” the courier said, trying to imitate a real lightsaber’s noise. “Schvrmmmmmmm!”


    He would never let it go.


    “Hey, myser de!” Reloadined, rising back to his feet while Ryan returned to beating on the troopers.


    “A lightsaber!” Ryan shouted back at this ignorant fool, absentmindedly slicing a Dynamis mook’s shield and rifle with it like


    butter. “Search your feelings. You know it to be true.”


    At this point, his quips wrote themselves.


    “Thankfully,” Reload said while drawing a second, crimsonser de, “I got a spare!”


    Wrong color though.


    By now, Ryan had kicked the ass of every mook present or disarmed them, leaving only the two heroes to challenge him. The


    troopers fled back to the helicopter and quickly retreated from the ind entirely, the Genomes facing each other in a Mexican


    standoff. The courier briefly nced at Jasmine, but his girlfriend seemed to have the situation well in hand. The Genius and


    Wyvern were engaged in a long-range aerial firefight, with Vulcan repelling her ex-partner from the ind’s perimeter.


    “Hey, Quicksave!” Wardrobe’s werewolf suit transformed into a Jack O’Lantern Halloween costume. A pumpkin mask covered


    her head, the lips moving as if they belonged to a living being. “Is it true you can stop time?”


    “Yes, | can!” Ryan replied with the same friendly tone, pointing his lightsaber at her like a fencer. Reload raised his own weapon,


    trying to find an opening; or perhaps to look cool. “Is Felix the Cat with you?”


    “Oh, he wanted toe, but Enrique said no!” Wardrobe replied, manifesting a yellow facsimile of a fieryntern in her hands


    and throwing it at Ryan like a stone. “I’m Wardrobe by the way! Nice to meet you!”


    Well, she took the battle as seriously as Ryan himself did. A shame they were fighting on opposing sides, the courier was pretty


    sure they would get along great.


    Using his pilfered lightsaber, Ryan cut thentern projectile in half, the strange device copsing into harmless yellow dust,


    before parrying Darth Reload’s de as he attempted to nk him. The twoser swords met without one going through the


    other, and Ryan used a timestop to dodge a new firentern from Wardrobe. This time the projectile exploded into ghostly fire


    upon hitting the ground.


    Her power was weird.


    Unfortunately for him, Reload was an amateur with a fancy weapon, while the courier had mastered every style of


    swordsmanship known to mankind. While the setup was epic, the lightsaber duel left Ryan wanting.


    “Seriously, at this point, you force me to use only one hand,” the courier said, putting an arm behind his back and parrying all of


    the hero''s strikes with the other. “And it still feels unfair.”


    “I''ll show you unfair!” Infuriated by the taunt, Reload attempted to detonate his suicide belt, but Ryan used his timestop to move


    out of range. The hero exploded into dust, before reforming.


    “Use your anger!” Ryan mocked him, absentmindedly cutting a fieryntern from the side. “Use your pain! I’m sure you have a lot


    to draw upon!”


    “You can spam time-stop?” Reload snarled with anger, wildly striking the rival Violet Genome with his de the moment he


    recovered. His poor attempt at breaking past Ryan’s defense didn’t work, but it only frustrated him further. “You overpowered


    cheat!”


    “Unlimited power!” Ryan replied. With a swift move, the courier cut the hero’s arm off... only for it to reattach itself to the body.


    Limited time-rewind, except applied to the body and objects in close contact. He refused to go down, no matter the amount of


    failed tries.


    Ryan felt some spiritual kinship for this guy. Not enough to take him seriously of course, but he would probably invite him for a


    drink once the dust had settled.


    “Why don’t you transform into Supergirl though?” Ryan asked Wardrobe while dodging a strike from Reload. He stopped time,


    grabbed the hero by his scarf with his free hand, and used the momentum to throw him at his teammate. “You could wrap up this


    battle in seconds if you did!”


    “| can’t, that''s copyrighted content!” the Yellow Genome replied as time resumed, her costume transforming into a bedsheet.


    Reload went through her body as if she wasn’t even there. “I can only use public domain stuff!”


    “What, intellectual property is your Kryptonite?” Ryan asked, immensely disappointed. “How does that even work?”


    “| don’t make my power’s rules, alright!” Wardrobe replied with a scowl, wounded by hisment. Her costume changed once


    more into that of a witch, and she shot a lightning bolt at Ryan with her fingertips.


    “Sorry, sorry,” Ryan told Wardrobe, blocking the lightning with his beam saber, Star Wars-style. “Honestly, | would totally hit on


    you under normal circumstances. You''repletely my type, but | have an exclusive contract right now.”


    “Oh, thanks, but | have an exclusive contract too!” she said cheerfully while Reload rose back up. If anything, Ryan admired his


    perseverance. “Do you want to be my archenemy? I have none, and marketing says it boosts the ratings!”


    Well, Psyshock was dead in this loop, so... “Sure, I’m free every weekend!”


    “Thanks!” Wardrobe’s costume changed again, this time turning into a mummy cosy. The flowers around her immediately


    turned to dust, and her bandages transformed into tattered leashes flying towards Ryan. The courier hastily cut them with his


    laser de, while Reload attempted to nk him from the left.


    It confused Ryan why Wardrobe didn’t change into another Genome, or stick to one form instead of switching constantly.


    Perhaps it was her fighting style, or her ability, however versatile, had a time limit.


    Still, it was one of the best fights he had since he arrived in New Rome! Completely worth the trip!


    “His power ispletely busted!” Reloadined, as Ryan briefly stopped time to dodge one of his strikes. “Wardrobe, you


    got anything that can resist it?”


    “| think | do, but Enrique won''t like it!” she replied, her costume shifted. Ryan stopped moving, observing the scene unfolding.


    Wardrobe’s costume transformed into the guise of an ancient Greek god, including a toga, sandals, and aurel crown of gold.


    The costume seemed to cover her skin, turning it into an unnatural shade of white.


    It made her look like an ivory statue of—


    Shit.


    Ryan immediately stopped time, turning the world purple.


    All movement, all noise stopped. The raging battle in the background became nothing more than a prop, a moment frozen in


    time.


    “Oh, so that’s how it looks,” Wardrobe said, looking around in amazement at her frozen teammate. Her fingers shone with yellow


    electricity, almost golden. “It’s so pretty!”


    Chitter had warned him in a past loop, but he hadn''t listened.


    Shit, shit, shit!


    “Shit!” Ryan shouted while Wardrobe sted him with a lightning bolt inside the frozen time. The st hit him in the chest,


    propelling him backward.


    It hurt, and it looked like a bolt... but having died from electrocution more times than he could count, Ryan immediately


    recognized the attack as a pale imitation of lightning. The real thing would have killed him on the spot, but this yellow imitation


    only inflicted minor damage; it ran on movie logic rather than real thunderbolts.


    Ryan ended his unwilling flight at the edge of the garden, where the flowers reached the Mediterranean seawater. Time


    resumed, Reload immediately shouting in happiness. “It worked!”


    “| can’t hold it...” Wardrobe said, her clothes shifting uncontrobly. One second, she was dressed like Augustus, and the next,


    she wore a tyrannosaur mascot costume. “Damn it, the persona isn’t stable enough!”


    At least she can’t use the original’s full power, Ryan thought, as he rose back to his feet. Or else he would have been vaporized.


    His chest still hurt like hell though!


    “It''s over, Quicksave!” Wardrobe said with a smirk as she embraced her new saurian form, while Ryan stood tall once more,


    lightsaber in hand. “We have the high ground!”


    Ryan wanted to groan, but her delivery was just perfect.


    Though they had underestimated the power of friendship.


    Ryan sensed something emerging from the waters behind him, the clinks and nks of heavy robotic armor stepping on thend


    music to his ears. Dynamis’ heroes blinked in surprise, before taking a torrent of pressurized water to the face.


    Ryan looked over his shoulder, as his oldest friend moved to his side, her water weapon unleashing everything it had at the II


    Migliore duo. “Shortie!”


    “Sorry, sorry!” Len pleaded, her voice distorted by her underwater armor. “I came as fast as | could!”


    She maintained the water pressure, but much to Ryan’s astonishment, the liquid started splitting into two halves. Wardrobe and


    Reload stood unharmed in the middle, the Yellow Genome’s costume having once more changed to some sort of wizened old


    man cosy, white beard included.


    “You can even copy Moses?” Ryan asked his newfound rival, astonished by her power’s sheer flexibility. “What else, you can


    dress as Jesus Christ and turn water to wine?”


    “| do that at parties sometimes!” she replied, while Len stopped using her water pumps. The duo watched the other for a few


    seconds, trying to think of a way out.


    Aseries of explosions interrupted the standoff though, as a Dynamis helicopter crashed nearby in the garden, going down in


    mes and setting the flowers aze.


    Ryan looked at the Mediterranean Sea. Colossal water arms the size of skyscrapers had sprouted from the waves, pursuing the


    helicopters like snakes.


    Devilry stopped bombarding the fort to focus on these strange phenomenons, sting the water tentacles with mighty fireballs.


    Yet, even as they turned to steam from the heat, more appendages rose from the waters in an attempt to crush the flyer. Far


    away, Ryan noticed multiple jet skis making their way towards the ind; among the drivers, he recognized a few familiar faces,


    such as Greta.


    Reinforcements.


    Meanwhile, Wyvern and Vulcan had be spots in the skies, the duo continuing their battle above the clouds far out of sight.


    And though the outer wall had mostly crumbled from the bombardment, the Augusti’s fortress remained mostly intact. Geist


    shielded the hole Wyvern had made in the structure, telekically raising stones in an attempt to cover it back up.


    “Neptune,” Reload said while looking at the watery arms, before turning to his teammate. “Wardrobe, bring out the Apocalypse


    Suit!”


    “But it''s too dangerous!” Wardrobe protested.


    “If you don’t use it, he will sink us all!”


    Wardrobe inhaled, her costume shifting while Ryan and Len prepared to make their final stand, back-to-back.


    The sound of a gunshot echoed across the battlefield, and Wardrobe copsed.


    For a second, time seemed to freeze, and Ryan had nothing to do with it. The heroine’s body hit the ground while a shocked


    Reload watched, a figure having phased out of the ground right behind them.


    “Good grief,” Mortimer said without any remorse, the tip of his rifle still fuming. “Looks like Mortimer won the bet.”