Chapter 57
Ryan had to give it to Dynamis. Thepany spoiled its heroes rotten.
Enrique had granted the courier a full penthouse suite, located on the Optimates Tower’s twenty-fifth floor. Ryan slept in an
apartment-sized bedroom, with a sma screen TV and an unbeatable picturesque window view of the city. The suite was fully
stocked with amenities and tastefully decorated, with no inch of ground left without a carpet; each piece of furniture had been
carefully selected to create an atmosphere of opulent rxation. The bathroom included a private pool with a Jacuzzi included,
and even a bar.
The suite itself was only part of the package though. Ryan had a dedicated staff avable at all times to fulfill all his whims, from
the mundane to the truly bizarre. The courier had tested the waters and learned almost nothing was off-the-table for him, from
drugs to prostitutes; so long as none of his excesses made their way to the media anyway. And the cherry on top of the cake, the
walls and windows were soundproof.
Of course, the suite was filled with cameras spying on him, but Ryan hacked them five minutes after taking over.
On the morning of May 11th, the courier finished dressing in his new costume, when he heard someone ring the bell. “Somebody
call security, the poor are at the gates!” he dered through the inte, though a camera system showed him Wardrobe and
Atom Cat waiting on the other side. “I can’t stand the stench of the middle-ss!”
“Does Your Majesty want cake for his morning breakfast?” For once Felix didn’t wear his face-mask, revealing his true face to the
world... and quite the handsome one too! He looked like a masculine version of his gorgeous sister.
“Hi, Ryan!” Wardrobe said, much more politely. “Can we get in? We have a tight schedule today!”
Ryan lowered himself to let these guests inside hisir, even if Atom Cat looked too much like a nouveau riche for his refined
patrician tastes. The splendor of his suite immediately floored his teammates.
“How is it that your ce is bigger than mine?” Wardrobe asked, green with envy, as they made their way into the main room.
Ryan’s sofa wasrger than most king-sized beds, and faced a state of the art home cinema. “I thought only Pro Leaguers could
get a penthouse suite?”
“| have special needs,” Ryan replied, trying to sound as foppish and pompous as possible. “I fall ill without three hundred square
meters to live in.”
“| have a big one too,” Felix said, his dirty, plebeian mind unimpressed by the luxurious penthouse. “I suppose Enrique wanted to
make us feel wee.”
That, and to bribe them. Ryan hadn''t gotten anything like this suite in his previous Dynamis Run, probably because Enrique
didn’t feel the need to cate him. “What did Greenhand say when you gave him the recording?”
“He said ‘thank you’, and sent us on our way,” Felix replied with a scoff.
Disappointing, but not surprising. ckthorn probably needed more time to make a move against his patriarch.
Unfortunately, Ryan wasn’t certain they had it with Psyshock still atrge. On one hand, his demise had caused Adam to throw
away all caution in his attempt to unlock the satellite, but Psyshock also provided near-limitless cannon fodder to throw at the
bunker’s defenses. Though Ryan and Len warned residents like Paulie to escape the district, the courier had no idea if it would
slow down the Meta-Gang’s progress.
Ryan remembered that Vulcan’s disastrous assault on Rust Town happened on May 12th, with Psyshock sting everyone to
kingdome with Mechron’s mech. It meant that even with Psypsy, the Meta shouldn’t unlock the bunker’s full power before
that date, or else they would have used the Bahamut on the invaders. After May 12th though, this loop would enter uncharted
territories.
And that was without taking Livia into ount.
“Though | saw Wyvern go into his office right after us,” Atom Cat added. “She looked rather pleased too. | wonder why.”
“If you want to hear all the hero gossip, you have found your gal,” Wardrobe said with a wide smile. “Do you know ckthorn and
Wyvern are an on-and-off item?”
“No way!” Ryan said with shocked surprise. “But what about Vulcan?!”
“| thought they had a passionate love-hate rtionship going on too, but no! Devilry is into girls though, but Wyvern politely let
her down when she made a pass at her.” The stylist looked at the two boys with her big, beautiful eyes. “Are you both...?”
“I''m straight,” Felix said quickly, “and not looking for romance.”
“I''m flexible,” Ryan said with a seductive voice, “and avable.”
“| thought you were dating the Underdiver?” Wardrobe looked both curious and slightly disappointed. “The romantic tension is
palpable between you.”
“It''s...” The courier looked away. “It’splicated. I’m looking for something new.”
Truth was, when Ryan woke up this morning, his drowsy mind had wondered why Jasmine wasn’t in the bed.
And then he remembered, and he felt the pain of losing her all over again.
Ryan knew he shouldn’t have grown attached to a woman or lowered his guard, but the damage was done. He didn’t want to
forget Jasmine, not after she made him promise not to, but the courier only knew one way to numb the emotional pain. Filling the
gaping void with distractions; better to keep running forward than sit alone with his regrets.
“Is that a Batman-Catwoman thing where you fight on two different sides of thew, and you want to be together, but the world
conspires to keep you apart? We can work with that, you know!”
“Hey, Kitty!” Ryan abruptly changed the subject and asked his second-favorite cat. “Something has been bothering me for a
while. Did anybody ask you how Lightning Butt’s invulnerability works?”
“You can’t evade me forever, Ryan,” Wardrobe said, determined to learn everything about his romantic life.
Felix snorted at Mob Zeus’ nickname, though it put him in a bad mood. “Enrique already beat you to it. No idea, and he murdered
everybody who could possibly harm him.”
“Do you have a list of them?” Ryan asked. With the information he had gathered from his previous loops, he could perhaps find
the true nature of Mob Zeus’ invulnerability. He wanted peace with Livia, but he had the feeling he might have to confront
Lightning Butt at one point in order to achieve his Perfect Run.
“| know a few, but the only person with the full list is Mercury, the organization''s spymaster,” Felix replied.
“| thought that talking skull controlled gambling dens and moneyundering?” Ryan asked. “Come to think of it, | wonder why
they stillunder money when there are no taxes to pay.”
“It''s because Mercury’s division is a submarine,” Atom Cat replied.
“He can breathe underwater better than bugs?”
“That’s not funny Ryan,” Wardrobe said as she sat on the sofa, though she forced herself not to smile at his pitch-ck joke.
As it turned out, Shortie’s bubbles were an experimental technology, and not that reliable. Mosquito’s water prison ended up
malfunctioning, perhaps due to his peculiar biology, and caused him brain damage from ack of oxygen.
Then again, what did Ryan expect? Communists could never make good products.
“Don’t know, | never tried to drown him,” Felix mused. “Augustus uses theundered money to infiltrate Europeanmunities
that oppose him. Mercury funnels dirty money into ‘legitimate’ businesses that then take overpanies, institutions, farms,
etc... he even managed to infiltrate some of Dynamis’ contractors from what | heard. Don’t kid yourself, every branch of that
organization supports a criminal takeover. Everyst one.”
Atom Cat then crossed his arms while Wardrobe put on the TV and checked the news. “And... as | told Enrique, | think there’s
something wrong with Augustus.”
“You mean besides the sociopathic narcissism?” Ryan asked, though he shared the same intuition.
“He has been strangely lethargic in thest few years. Beforehand, he used to track down some foes himself, to remind the
masses that he’s a tough psychopath you don’t want to mess with, but now he lets Pluto do it for him and hasn''t left his vi in
years. Dad told me he seems to forget the world exists for minutes at a time, and he keeps an electrical halo around himself
whenever he’s in public. When | asked Livia why, she wouldn''t answer.”
“He’s sick?” Wardrobe asked with a frown.
“| dunno, he’s supposed to be invulnerable.” Felix shrugged. “Maybe it’s just age or depression.”
Ryan didn’t think so. The courier must have annoyed Lightning Butt for four years with his time-stops, but it literally took an
orbitalser for the mob boss to get out of his house. The courier had seen the signs on the wall; the sick, sullen face Mob Zeus
hid beneath his bright halo, the way his family members were uneasy around him...
Something was wrong with New Rome’s Godfather.
“Hey, look!” Wardrobe interrupted their discussion, a finger pointed at the TV. “They’re talking about us!”
Ryan nced at the sma screen, as the news showed a recap of yesterday’s events. The main video showed the Panda
proudly bringing the Psychos into custody, Wardrobe answering journalist questions while Atom Cat ignored them, and Enrique
congratting everyone for making New Rome a safer ce. Someone had also managed to find a photo of Ryan in his old
costume, and Dyn theories proliferated on him.
Truly, the headlines said it all: “The Menagerie: II Migliore’s newest golden children!” “New hero team deals a heavy blow to
Psychos everywhere! “Who is Quicksave?”
“The Menagerie, seriously?” Atom Cat asked with a heavy sigh. “I should have called myself Atom Smasher.”
“Felix, even marketing wouldn''t let you use such a silly name,” Wardrobe said with a smirk. “I heard rumors they want to pitch us
as a team, young and hip. | will be the leader, as the senior Pro Hero, and you''ll be my padawans.”
“Yuki, no!” Ryan protested, horrified. “You know what happens to mentor figures in hero stories? Don’t be my Obi-Wan,
please!”
“| know, it seems like a bad idea, but think long-term!” Wardrobe insisted. “I can stage my retirement with a Merlin costume, as
you are inspired by my demise to be true heroes! And then, | can make a surpriseeback tour dressed as Jesus!”
Felix clearly didn’t understand her evil scheme, but Ryan thought it made perfect sense. “Anyway,” Atom Cat said. “Time to go.
We have to go to the Dynamis HQ next door and meet with Dr. Tyrano.”
“The Elixir expert?” Ryan asked, suddenly curious.
“Yeah, he wants to study our powers.” Felix shrugged again. “The Panda is already there for a thorough checkup.”
“And then afterward, we go to Star Studios,” Wardrobe said with a bright smile. “We''re going to appear in the stinger of Wyvern''s
Flight II!”
“Before we go.” Ryan looked at Wardrobe. “Yuki, | have something for you.”
“Oh, a gift?” She smiled at him. “I love gifts! | never have enough of them! What kind of gift?”
“Let me tell you of its backstory first. | was about to go to bed, wearing only my boxers, when | was struck by a surge of
inspiration. A wild Dionysian spirit possessed my body, and forced me to put on the bowler hat.”
“You should have kept your scarf,” Wardrobe replied, worried for his mental stability. “| warned you. | warned you!”
“Yes, but it’s alright. Because my muse inspired me to repay the debt | owe you. You, who had made this perfect costume! | had
to return the favor!” Ryan moved into his bedroom, and returned with his gift. “The media call us the Menagerie because we have
an animal theme going on. Timmy is a panda, Felix is a cat, | have a rabbit plushie. | figured that, even if you can turn into an
animal mascot, | had to make something for you. | remembered you had a few scandalous magazines in your office, and it
clicked.”
Ryan presented her with his newest creation: a homemade costume for his favorite stylist.
His marvelous creation, inspired by his very own rabbit plushie, included a headband with brown rabbit ears, a red ne with
a yellow ribbon, and a ck velvet leotard. Pairs of ck tights, high heels, and golden braceletspleted the set.
In short, it was a yboy Bunny Costume.
Felix blinked repeatedly, and then looked at Yukiko with apprehension. This foolish plebeian probably thought the stylish hero
would take offense, for this scandalous, 18+ costume left almost nothing up to the imagination.
“A Puff-Puff costume!” Wardrobe squealed in joy. “How did you know | didn’t have one?”Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.
But she was a woman of culture above all else.
“Wait, Yuki, you like that?” Felix asked Wardrobe, astonished, as she examined the costume with a joyful face.
"| love kinky costumes," she replied. "I just never get to wear them."
“Of course you don''t, it’s indecent!”
“But it''s made of velvet!” Yuki’s fingers touched the bunny ears, her eyes widening in rapturous surprise. “And the ears, they’re
real fur! Mink? Mink.”
“| always keep mink fur in my car trunk,” Ryan replied proudly. “You never know when you might have a clothing emergency.”
Atom Cat looked at him strangely. “There are still wild minks in Italy?”
“There were,” Ryan whistled ominously, before focusing on his new BFF. “I wanted to make the Dragon Ball costume, but then |
remembered you couldn’t use anything copyrighted.”
Wait, did copyright still function if the country where it was registered no longer existed? Yuki’s power made no sense.
“Ryan, you are adorable and | love it,” Wardrobe replied before grabbing the costume. “I''ll put it in my room and try it on tonight.”
“No way Dynamis will let you dress like that in public though,” Felix stated the obvious.
“Wyvern wears a leotard just fine,” the stylist pointed out.
“Yes, but it isn’t a yboy bunny costume, and didn’t youin that Dynamis markets you as a kid-friendly superhero
before?”
Wardrobe instantly deted. “Oh, yes, that’s right, | forgot about it... it will sh with my current branding.”
“Wait, wait, | know a way to market it,” Ryan said, struck by inspiration. He couldn''t let his new BFF down. “Yuki, you are
transitioning from the Little League to the Pro Circuit. You are leaving the innocence of childhood behind, for the grim and gritty
reality of crime-fighting.”
“A dark age phase...” Wardrobe muttered to herself. “And then when | be too grim and controversial, | emerge from the
darkness with something ssy and elegant! Like a bodysuit with a cape!”
Ryan summarized her marketing strategy in one sentence. “A seamless transition from kid’s mascot, to adult icon.”
“You know what, | don’t think I’mfortable wearing this in public yet, but | will totally wear it in private!” Wardrobe kissed Ryan
on the cheek. “Thanks. You really shouldn’t have.”
“Wardrobe, there are beautiful things in this world... and you’re one of them,” Ryan admitted, struggling to hold back tears. “I felt
so alone before meeting you. Thest bastion of culture in a world gone mad.”
“| felt the same way too,” she replied, with tears in her eyes. “When | joined... When | joined, they asked me to wear synthetic
fibers. Synthetic fibers! No respect! No respect!”
“It''s okay, Yuki, it’s okay,” Ryan said while hugging Wardrobe, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Cry on my cashmere suit. Do
you feel the softness? Do you feel better?”
Atom Cat watched the scene without a word, his face nk and his eyes squinting. Ryan felt attacked. “Hey Kitten, stop judging
us.
“Please don’t reproduce,” Felix deadpanned. “New Rome won''t survive three of you.”
In the previous loop, Ryan had long talked with Vulcan about Lab Sixty-Six, the birthce of knockoff Elixirs. She particrly
disliked the Genius behind the operation, the so-called Dr. Tyrano; so when the courier learned they were supposed to meet him,
he hoped to get a free tour of the mysteryb.
But as it turned out, Dynamis afforded their head science honcho two floors for his experiments, and the group had an
appointment in Lab Sixty-Five.
Even there, security was tight. Automated cameras monitored everything in the Dynamis HQ building, from the entrance lobby to
the parking lot. One needed keycards to ess each floor individually, so no thief could ess everything even if they had
stolen the necessary key. Guards in power armor waited before all elevator doors while drones patrolled the corridors, assisted
by infrared and motion-detection systems.
Even Ryan would have a hard time sneaking in undetected, and it would certainly take more than one loop. An open assault or
suicide run would be easier.
When they passed through the st doors leading to Lab Sixty-Five, the time-traveler expected to enter some kind of dimly-lit
mad scientist’sir. He was slightly disappointed. While theb included mainstay features like liquid-filled tanks containing what
appeared to be dinosaur embryos and operation tables, it was well-lit and clean.
Though the scene before them made up for the ce’s ndness.
“Sifu, save me!” The naked Panda had retreated to a corner of theb, putting an operation table between himself and some kind
of humanoid dinosaur. A monstrous, horned dog with scales instead of fur barked at the scene. “He wants to cut me open!”
“l only need a lung!” The humanoid dinosaur hybrid reminded Ryan of a two meters tall T-rex, albeit with human-sized arms,
ck scales, and crimson eyes. The strange mutant wore a whiteb coat and tiny sses optimized for his head shape, but
most importantly, he carried a scalpel and a syringe in each hand. “Stop struggling, or | will have to use anesthesia.”
“You''re not vivisecting the Panda!” Ryan instantly froze time and disarmed the dinosaur, tossing his weapons aside. “He’s the
last of his kind!”
“Yeah, back off, doc!” Felix warned, hands raised as if willing to use his power inside theb.
“Oh, hi Mr. Tyrano!” Wardrobe waved a hand at the saurian with a bright smile.
“Oh, hi Yuki!” the scientist replied with a deep reptilian voice, stopping his Panda harassment to look at Ryan. “You, from your
power, | assume you must be Cesare Sabino?”
Ryan instantly flinched, his yful mood reced with frostiness. “How do you know that?”
“Sabino?” Felix asked with a frown. “Isn’t that the Underdiver''s family name?”
Wardrobe gasped in shock. “No way, you are—”
“We''re not blood-rted!” Ryan quickly said, raising a finger at his BFF. “Don’t you dare write fanfics about us!”
“What, really? You are adopted?” Dr. Tyrano didn’t hide his disappointment. “Such a shame, | would have loved topare
samples from various Genome rtives. It is a rare opportunity.”
“Wait, you took Len’s DNA?” Ryan asked, squinting suspiciously at the Genius.
“The Private Security takes DNA scans of everyone in their custody,” Felix reminded him.
Dr. Tyrano shrugged it off. “Doesn’t matter, | will still need a sample anyway.”
“| wouldn’t rmend it,” Ryan replied, slightly bothered by this scaled man. The courier loved attention, except when it
involved being carved open on an operation table. It happened to him enough times already! “I’m a drug so addictive, you won''t
be able to get enough of me.”
“You have a Green power in addition to your Violet one?” Dr. Tyrano asked,pletely missing the point. Clearly, humor was a
mammal-only feature. “Then, | will need blood or hair, though sperm can work too. Some people prefer ejaction to extraction.”
“What, Quicksave, you didn’t do a DNA test when you joined?” Wardrobe asked.
“No, it’s against my religion.”
“You should reconsider,” Dr. Tyrano insisted, his strange reptilian dog leaping into his arms. “Violets are the second rarest
powers in cirction after White Genomes! Think about science!”
“Yeah, nope,” Ryan replied, while the Panda breathed easy now that he no longer interested the scientist. The courier patted his
sidekick on the shoulder, before looking at the dinoman’s strange pet. “What is this?”
“It''s Tricerador, one of my creations,” Dr. Tyrano answered, petting the abomination against nature behind the horns. “Half
Labrador, half triceratops.”
“So it’s like the typus of dinosaurs?” Ryan asked, his mood softening as he scratched the beast’s belly. The animal made a
saurian sound, but wagged its tail like a dog. “Can you make a dinocat?”
“| tried to splice a Persian cat and a velociraptor, but the end result died,” the mad scientist replied. “But I, Dr. Tyrano, swear that
each household shall have its own dinosaur one day! And | would have already done so, if management didn’t pester me about
that T-rex hunting safari!”
“What, they want to create a reserve where rich people can hunt dinosaurs, like lions?” Felix asked.
“Ridiculous, right?” said the man who tried to cut open a Panda one minute ago.
“For a moment, | forgot we lived in a world where everything is for sale.”
In any case, Ryan immediately forgave the doctor for his terrible first impression. Someone wanting to make dinosaur pets
couldn’t possibly be a bad person, no matter what Jasmine could have said.
“Felix, don’t me Dr. Tyrano, he is a misunderstood genius,” Wardrobe dered, with her hands on her waist. “He’s the one
who made me my hero costume.”
“A techno-organic symbiote capable of mimicking the shape of pre-recorded costumes,” Dr. Tyrano exined almost absent-
mindedly, while his Tricerador escaped his grip to wander around theb. “Anyway, since you are new | want to test your powers
in a controlled environment. See if there are potential interactions, record the energy readings, etc...”
“By dissecting one of our teammates?” Felix mused, while the Panda cowered.
“He fully regenerates whenever he switches from one form to another!” Dr. Tyrano all but shouted. “Even Wyvern needs time to
heal naturally, but not this werebear! With his ability, we could have an infinite, renewable source of organs!”
“The Panda... the Panda was abducted by someone like this once.” The poor animal seemed to relive a particrly nasty PTSD-
induced episode. “They thought they could make aphrodisiac from his blood. The Panda... the Panda had to flee.”
“Now, | have to figure out where the extra organic materiales from by studying the transformation,” Dr. Tyrano said,
completely oblivious to his animal cruelty.
Ryan needed to distract him, before he harmed his sidekick. “Well, there isn’t much to check,” he lied to the scientist. “I can stop
time, my pandawan can shapeshift, and my cat can blow up pebbles.”
Wardrobe chuckled. “You can stop time and there is nothing interesting about that?”
“About the pebbles part, after ourst battle, | realized | could modte my explosions.” By now, Felix ignored all of Ryan’s cat
jokes, much to the courier’s displeasure. “Charge weapons, dy the st by a few seconds, and then throw them.”
Dr. Tyrano nodded a few times as he listened to the exnations, as if they confirmed his own observations. “As | thought, you
probably charge solid matter with a unique form of energy, causing it to detonate afterward.”
“Red Flux?”
Ryan flinched as Dr. Tyrano’s head abruptly snapped in his direction, so fast it fooled even the Genome’s enhanced sense of
timing. “How do you know that?”
“Well, I''ve been studying powers with myst Genius girlfriend,” the time-traveler said. “We kinda figured out Genome powers
come from alternate dimensions, one for each Elixir color.”
“Fascinating.” Now the courier had to take a step back as Dr. Tyrano started invading his personal space. “I came to the same
conclusions, but to have them confirmed by an outside researcher...”
Goddammit, now Ryan could smell the dinosaur’s warm reptilian breath, and Felix the Cat delighted in his unease. “That’s not so
funny when you''re the victim rather than the perpetrator, un?” Atom Kitten mocked the time-traveler.
“So you suggest the werebear’s extra organse from an alien green dimension made of organic matter?” Dr. Tyrano focused
on Ryan andpletely ignored the jab. “I would be delighted to pick your brain open andpare notes.”
“| do have a question of my own actually,” Ryan said, pointing a finger at the dinoman’s tail. “Aren’t you a Blue, rather than a
Green?”
m a Genius specialized in cloning, splicing, and gene therapy. My current appearance is the result of an experimental
transformation serum. It’s purely temporary.”
Felix hesitated, as if afraid to ask his question. “Why, Doc? What was the point?”
“Because | wanted to turn myself into a dinosaur,” the Genius replied like it was the most normal dream in the world.
“Oh God, you''re a furry,” Ryan realized. “I guess we''ll never be friends.”
“You need fur to be a furry,” Wardrobe pointed out. “It''s in the name.”
“What''s a furry?” The Panda asked naively.
Ryan looked at him with a gaze of purepassion, and quiet appreciation for the hero’s sheer luck. How could he survive in
the wild so long? “Your innocence must be protected, my young student.”
“Hey, I’m not the one judging you on your appearance,” Dr. Tyranoined.
“But seriously, it all makes sense now,” Ryan said. “I always wondered how you managed to make knockoffs at all, but your
power should give you a heads up.”
“| couldn’t make Elixirs,” the dino Genius admitted. “Not truly. What | did was synthesize a specific resource that mimicked the
properties of a true Elixir. It’s a shoddy imitation, and an imperfect one. It took years to create the Hercules serum from Wyvern,
and even then | could only replicate a subset of her ability, namely her enhanced strength.”
“And you never managed to copy my power,” Wardrobe mused with a smile.
The scientist grumbled before giving back Ryan his personal space, making circles in the room with his hands crossed behind
his back. “Because besides the usual Genome health enhancements, your Elixir didn’t change much about your gic code.
The mechanics that allow you to channel multiple abilities transcend the sphere of flesh.”
“| believe the Elixir mostly serves as an intermediary between a Genome and the dimension providing their esoteric powers,”
Ryan stated. “They also support their host by subtly guiding them with their ability, or in the case of Psychos, pushing them to
consume more Elixirs.”
Felix coughed, interrupting the discussion. “Excuse me, but... hosts, guiding? You make it sound as if Elixirs are alive and
intelligent.”
“Yeah, they are,” Ryan replied, much to his teammates’ shock. “Sort of. They''re closer to viruses.”
“Except they do not use RNA or DNA to transmit information,” Dr. Tyrano pointed out. “Though they manipte ours.”
“Sorry,” Wardrobe said with a forced smile, “you are losing me.”
“They''re like aliens who do not work the same way life on Earth does,” Ryan exined the best he could. “We don’t understand
how Elixirs carry information, but they understand and manipte how our bodies do. Enough to focus on modifying humans
only, and ignoring animals.”
“Exactly!” Dr. Tyrano shouted, happy to find someone with whom to brainstorm. “After being used, the Alchemist’s Elixirs bond to
an homo sapiens’ cells on a molecr level, rewriting the DNA to make their host the vessel of a unique power. And no powers
are exactly the same, though they may be variants, which implies the Elixir selects the ability from a collective database and
makes it unavable to new hosts.”
Yeah, Ryan figured as much after extensive testing during his previous loops. Even when divided into doses distributed to a
group, an Elixir always bonded to one person only.
Ryan could never bring himself to give someone two Elixirs at once though, not even in a research loop. Nobody deserved to
transform into the new Bloodstream.
“Unfortunately, when you have more than one, even from the same color, they start to conflict,” Ryan continued, while his
teammates clearly struggled to understand. “They edit the same genes. Think of it as two writers fighting over a script. They keep
rewriting the other’s work until the sentences don’t make sense. And you can only have two powers at most.”
“After which, the original two Elixirs in the host''s cells cannibalize the neers,” Dr. Tyrano finished, he and the courier
working in perfect synchronicity. “They repurpose new Elixir injections towards stabilizing the unstable gic code, but only for
a while before they start fighting again. Psychos instinctively know that, as the Elixirs in their bodies influence them to collect
more in a doomed attempt to reach an equilibrium.”
“What about Mongrel?” Felix asked. “He could use more than two abilities when | fought him.”
“Ah, | can already answer that question!” Dr. Tyrano said triumphantly. “From the samples gathered from his custody, | can attest
that this Psycho consumed an Alchemist-made White Elixir, followed by almost all knockoffs avable on the open market.”
“So he’s a White with the power to have more than two powers?” Atom Cat asked, while the Genius nodded. “That’s cheating.”
“Instead of cannibalizing neers, the original Elixir seems to force them to y along like a referee. It allowed his body to
channel more than one ability, but unfortunately didn’t protect him from Elixir conflicts, mutations, and addiction. The substances
don’t destroy each other, but they still conflict. Truly fascinating.”
Such was the tragedy of Mongrel. He had earned an overpowered ability in theory, but lost the mental faculties needed to use his
limitless potential.
“Do you think the Psycho condition can be cured?” Ryan asked Dr. Tyrano. He had given up after facing roadblocks in his
understanding of Elixirs, but perhaps the saurian knew more than he did.
“Of course it can be!” The geniusmbasted the time-traveler. “Nothing is impossible!”
“Yeah,” Felix said. “Augustus has two powers without any side-effects as far as | know.”
“Oh, could the Panda get two powers?” Naive Timmy’s eyes widened in hope. “One for each form?”
“Possible, though unlikely!” Dr. Tyrano said, seizing the opportunity for a free mad experiment. “We can always try, but you will
need to sign a discharge first.”
Ryan lightly pped the Panda in the back of his skull, much to his surprise. “Ouch, Sifu, what was that for?”
“Your real power is there, arrogant young disciple,” Ryan said, pointing a finger at his sidekick’s heart. “Do not be greedy, you
already have the greatest power of all!”
“Y-yeah, right,” the Panda said and nodded, but misunderstood his master’s wisdom. “I should master it first, before thinking of
gaining a new one.”
“There are rare cases of individuals with two powers and no side-effects,” Dr. Tyrano said. “Augustus is the most famous, but not
the only case on records. Either these lucky few possessed specific genes, or their Elixirs modify different parts of the DNA
sequences without conflicting. Since unlike Psychos, Augustus’ powers haven''t formed an obvious synergy, | believe they coexist
independently.”
“| think | get it,” Wardrobe said, having struggled to follow the discussion so far. “You have two creators, but instead of fighting,
they each design a different part of the ensemble?”
“And if an equilibrium is possible, then it can, in theory, be replicated,” Dr. Tyrano dered with enthusiasm. “Imagine, giving two
powers to every Genome with no side-effect? | could be a Blue/Green and maintain this transformation permanently, joining
my bountiful intellect with a powerful saurian body!”
“But you need to figure out the reason why there is an equilibrium at all,” Felix pointed out. “All your points are mere hypotheses.
For all you know it depends on the Elixirs used rather than anything innate in the host.”
“Yes, yes, and unfortunately the few individuals with two powers in Italy refused to cooperate.” Dr. Tyrano shrugged. “In any
case, we do not yet understand Elixirs enough to cure the Psycho condition yet. But if Mechron understood enough about
powers to enhance and reverse-engineer them, then why not us?”
Ryan’s thoughts turned to the bunker below Rust Town, and hisst visit there. The courier remembered entering a room with
animals kept in Elixir-colored liquid, and Big Fat Adam said the armory included knockoff production facilities. Perhaps even a
cure for his power degeneration.
He really needed to explore that ce, after purging the Meta from it. “I would love to exchange notes on Elixirs, and especially
your brain-copy project too.”
Thest part caused Dr. Tyrano to snort in anger. “Does everybody know of it nowadays? I’m afraid you need a Level 5
clearance before | can even talk to you about it. The CEO already gave me an earful about security yesterday.”
Felix instantly tensed, while Ryan simply shrugged. “Well, my scaled friend, how can | gain one such clearance and build a
strong bond of sciencehood between us?”
“| will petition management, but the procedure usually takes months.” Dr. Tyrano snorted with disdain for Dynamis’ bureaucracy.
“Anyway, talking is time wasted, and I have a busy schedule. Go into the testing chambers and strip. You are all older than
eighteen, right? Mywyer is very adamant about that part.”