Chapter 81
Scratching Eugéne-Henry’s ears, Ryan mentally rehearsed his viin speech. He had put on the war hat, and prepared for battle.
Since Frank and the improved Mosquito were too big for the presidential van, the group instead switched to a light ck truck
and put the heavy-hitters in the back. Tea drove with a bandit’s hood covering her face, which made the android look like a
hostage-taker. Sarin sat at the front, while Ryan kept the second row of seats for himself.
“Ah,” the Doll said while she looked at the road. “I feel nostalgic. It reminds me of the times we went out on pics outside the
farm.”Content ? copyrighted by N?velDrama.Org.
“Except with more mayhem,” Ryan added, his cat meowing on hisp. “And property damage.”
“This better be worth it,” Sarin said while typing on a tablet. “Even with the bunker under our control, we’re taking on Dynamis.
The gov.”
“No, we''re putting big business back in its ce,” Ryan replied. “If my n works, and it will work, Dynamis will be too busy
tearing itself apart to target us. Besides, Hector’s ultimatum ends today. Either we leave, or he does.”
“Yeah, yeah, | get it.” His second-inmand marked a short pause, as she looked at the road. “Ryan, that bloody thing on the
video... it''s inside all of us?”
“Inside everyone who took a Knockoff Elixir.” Which ording to his calctions, covered around ten percent of New Rome''s
poption. Knockoffs cost a lot, but not as much as a house, and both Dynamis and Augustus made extensive use of the
substance to bolster their forces.
One in every ten people they crossed on the street could be a Bloodstream clone at any moment.
“So almost all the gang,” Sarin said. “Whoever thought it was a good idea deserves to get shot.”
“Tobopanies kill half their clients,” Ryan replied. Knowing Darth Manada, he probably thought the profit margin was
worth the risk.
“They can’t get away with it,” Tea argued. “That''s monstrous.”
“Agreed.” Sarin nodded sharply. “And besides, they refused to pay us after all the risks we took fighting Augustus. Sweet
revenge it is.”
“Sarin, Darling, are the videos ready?” Ryan asked.
“Yes, but Dynamis will probably take them down within minutes. They control the Dyn and the airwaves.”
“Most, but not all of them,” Ryan said, as the truck stopped to pick up the crew’sst member. She opened the door to the
courier’s left, and climbed inside the car.
For her first viin outing, Livia had settled on something simple, yet elegant: a ck lounge suit with a red shirt and necktie
underneath, alongside a Daft Punk-inspired helmet with the same color scheme. The outfit, while unable to hide her feminine
curves, gave her a stylish androgynous look.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Ryan introduced his new sidekick. “I present to you the one and only First Lady of our presidential
regime, Queen Crimson!”
“Greetings,” Livia shyly introduced herself to the group. “I... I’m honored to meet you all.”
“Wee, I’m the Doll!” Tea introduced herself warmly, while Sarin let out a grunt. “We''re going to have a fun time, you''ll see!”
The gynoid sounded disturbingly eager to participate in a criminal enterprise.
“Mr. President.” Ryan turned his head, Frank ncing through the window separating the light truck’s seats from its cargo. “Are
you a Mormon?”
“No, though | will probably have to call myself a god at one point.” He couldn''t finish a viin run without one megalomaniacal
speech or two. “Why such a question, Agent Frank?”
“You have the new and old First Ladies in the same car,” the giant exined. “Unless one of them is an intern?”
“| have only one wife, Agent Frank,” Ryan said, looking into the giant''s eyes. “And her name... is AMERICA!”
Well, the courier once had a rockstar phase with all the debauchery it implied. By the loop’s end, he had so many groupies, he
didn’t remember half of them and could no longer walk straight. However, mindless sex’s novelty had quickly worn out. Ryan
preferred an exclusive, intimate rtionship with one person; something with a deeper connection than superficial lust.
He was looking for a soulmate.
“The Underdiver won''t be joining us?” Livia asked, a bit curious.
Ryan’s mood instantly worsened. “No, she won''t.”
After the disastrous Knockoff test, Shortie had locked herself in her room and refused to leave it. She didn’t let anyone inside, not
even Ryan or Sarah. While the Genius had loved her father, in the end, that rtionship was an open wound that never healed.
All the progress she had made in thest loop seemed to have been washed away by the fear and the pain.
And Ryan could only help her if she let him in.
“I''m... I''m sorry,” Livia said, upon sensing his unease. “I didn’t mean...”
“Queen, | love your costume!” Tea said at the front, trying to guide the conversation towards less awkward grounds. “Especially
the French-techno style!”
“Oh, thank you.” Livia joined her gloved hands together, and though Ryan couldn’t see her face beneath the helmet, he would
have bet his hand that she looked embarrassed. “Do you like it too, Quicksave?”
“| can’t diss anyone wearing a Dior suit,” Ryan reassured Livia, Eugene-Henry moving from hisp to the Augusti princess’. “See,
even my cat approves. He only epts the best.”
“Is it wise to bring him?” Livia asked, petting the feline while the truck moved towards Dynamis’ Star Studios. “I know cats have
nine lives, but he will be in the middle of a warzone.”
“| guarantee you that everything will happen as | have foreseen,” Ryan said ominously, before giving her the Fisty Brothers to
wear. “Put them on, please.”
“Gauntlets?” Livia asked. “What do they do?”
“They turn people into donuts,” the courier replied before checking the time. “ording to our schedule, we have roughly one
hour before Wardrobe and the others check-in to do their cameos. We''ll arrive right in time for the morning news.”
Soon, the truck reached the confines of Dynamis’ Star Studios. The park already buzzed with activity, an army of technicians and
interns moving towards the cafeteria for their morning coffee shot. Two guardszily controlled cars trying to get past the security
checkpoint, none of them wearing power armor. As Ryan learned from his previous visits, Dynamis didn’t expect anyone to
attack the ce.
“Everyone put on their seatbelts?” Tea asked, her hands tensing on the driving wheel as they approached the checkpoint. “Ryan,
subtle or loud?
“Loud.”
Was that even a question?
The Doll smashed the elerator, and the truck rushed at the checkpoint like a bull at a matador. The guards jumped off the side
of the road to dodge, as the Meta-Gang’s vehicle smashed through the security barrier. The vehicle continued its course through
the parking lot at full speed, before abruptly stopping in front of a warehouse.
Technicians watched, astonished, as the superviin crew exited the car. Ryan carried Eugéne-Henry in his hands, Livia
struggled to put Fisty over her gloves, the Doll opened the truck’s container to free its passengers, and Sarin unleashed a mighty
shockwave to the skies.
This time, the Studios’ staff finally understood the danger and fled in panic.
“Finally out!” Mosquito said as he exited the truck’s container alongside Frank. Having overfed on high nutrient blood, the
bugman had almost doubled in size. The crimson flesh beneath his exoskeleton had turned green, his muscles swelling until
they became almost grotesque. Ryan thought he should change his name to Beefcake. “That’s thest time | share a ride with
you, Frank.”
“Mosquito, dear, you protect the car, survey the area, and raise the rm if someone tries to fly in,” Ryan said. The Doll grabbed
a rocketuncher hidden beneath the seats and locked the truck. “Time to dazzle New Rome.”
Sarin blew up the warehouse’s entrance with a shockwave, while Beefcake took flight and ran circles above the studio. Ryan
walked into the hole first, like a boss, while his minions followed in regimented order.
The group entered a reception hall, ignoring the terrified secretaries, interns, and workers too afraid to stop their advance. Most
of the security guards weren''t paid enough to fight a band of Genomes, but one did dare to threaten Ryan with a gun. The
courier froze time and disarmed him with one hand, using the other to carry his cat.
Ryan eventually reached a door protected by a keycard lock, reading the words ‘News Studio’ written on it. “Agent Frank?” the
president asked his trusty bodyguard. “Open the door.”
The iron giant immediately looked around, and quickly noticed a terrified technician with a keycard around his neck; Ryan quickly
identified him as Kevin, one of the scriptwriters working on the movie in the previous loop. The man had frozen in ce, holding
a steaming coffee cup in his hand.
Frank lifted the scriptwriter by the pants, spilling the coffee all over the floor, and dangled him in front of the lock like a toy. The
door opened upon registering the keycard.
“After you, Mr. President,” the giant said, as he dropped his victim onto the floor. From the brown spot on his pants, the
scriptwriter had soiled himself.
“Thank you,” Ryan said while moving through the open door, only for Frank to walk through the walls around it as he followed. To
each their own entrance.
New Rome’s news set was a wide circr room the size of an apartment, with half the walls covered by arge 3D screen. A
well-lit anchor news desk faced two cameras, and a horde of low-wage ves kept in eternal darkness. A handsome, brown-
haired anchorman sat on a leather chair, having been ready to deliver the morning news when the Meta-Gang invaded the set.
“Everyone, hands behind your heads!” Sarin snarled angrily, as Tea threatened the staff with her rocketuncher. The fearful
screams didn’tst long, reced with cowering silence as Frank and the Doll herded half a dozen technicians into a corner. The
cameramen continued their work under Sarin’s surveince.
“| swear everything will be alright, if you don’t resist,” the Doll promised the hostages, even as she threatened them with a rocket
launcher. “We don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“They''re our hostages, don’t coddle them,” Sarin said, as she hooked her tablet to a recording device. Livia stood in the
background, too anxious to say anything. The Augusti princess didn’t have much experience with field work.
Ryan calmly approached the anchorman, and silently threatened his vital space. The man rose from his seat without a word and
joined the other hostages, leaving the courier free to take over the chair. Eugene-Henry meowed on hisp, looking at the
cameras like a furred diva.
“Do | look intimidating enough?” Ryan asked Livia, as he adjusted his suit.
“If you could raise your hat a little, that would be perfect.”
Ryan followed her advice and basked in the spotlight.
“We''re live, Boss,” Sarin said, forcing a cameraman to focus on Ryan’s mask.
The president silently nced at the various technicians, noticing a young teen with brown hair and e. “You''re an intern?” he
asked her.
“U-uh, yes sir!”
“Bring me coffee. With milk and sugar.” The young teen immediately fled out of the room to fulfill his order, though Ryan wasn''t
sure she would return.
In any case, the courier scratched his cat’s ears, and introduced himself to the camera. “Good morning, America! While it’s
saddening you won''t hear the weather report—spoiler warning, go to the beach today—oh boy, will you get something better. |
am Mr. President, and this is my message.”
He was born for this.
m Ryan Romano. Leader of the free world, conqueror of Monaco, and democratically elected chairman of the Meta-Gang.
Yes, the same Psycho band that took over that dump of a northern district. We are currently taking Star Studios hostage until our
demands are fulfilled. Don’t try to take us off the airwaves, because if anyone tries...”
Ryan put his mini A-bomb on the news desk.
“| call it the North Korea special,” he exined in simple terms. “Using highly sophisticated Genius technology tooplicated
for you to understand, this device can induce a thermonuclear detonation that will burn the whole city to ashes. If | were you, |
would pack your stuff and leave for Mn.”
Ryan could hardly see the hostages’ faces with all the lights aimed at him, but he heard some of them gasping in shock.
Yeah, who would be desperate enough to go to Mn?
The intern returned with the coffee, and put it at the desk’s edge, as far away from Ryan as possible. “Thank you, ve,” the
president said. “You shall be spared.”
“Can | go now?’ the intern asked, sweating profusely.
“You can go to the photocopier,” Ryan crushed her hopes of a better life, before focusing back on the camera. He noticed Livia
pushing the intern towards the other hostages, but didn’t pay much attention. “Now, perhaps you''re wondering why this is
happening, so wepiled a short movie.”
The screen behind his desk broadcast his recorded talk with Hector Manada.
Well, of course, the courier had ‘edited’ the film to make it fit within a five minutes length, but such were the rules of sensational
journalism. He would probably release a director’s cut one day.
“No more Knockoffs,” Hector Manada’s voice echoed behind Ryan. “My agreement was with your predecessors, and their
demise changes everything.”
“Certainly we can continue where they left off.”
“Your people didn’t deliver, so why should | honor my side of the bargain?”
“Then | should reveal what’s inside your knockoffs. I’m sure your people will love buying a Psycho-in-a-can.”
“Do you have any proof?”
The video switched to the disastrous Elixir test, of Bloodstream’s horrifying essence turning the overpriced drink into a screaming
slime. Livia let out a gasp of horror at the sight, while the hostages started to whisper between themselves.
“They''re taking down the video almost as soon as | put it on a website,” Sarin said while typing on her tablet, “but it still makes
thousands of views each time | upload it.”
The president nodded, knowing once something was on the, it would remain there forever. “I will personally perform the kids
show version, and since | do not believe in CGI...”
Ryan put three sticine figurines on the desk, representing Hector Manada, Augustus, and Big Fat Adam.
“Say hello to stop motion!”
An awkward silence followed. Tough crowd.
Ryan, who had a long experience with this kind of performance, did the voice-over. “Hey, I’m Mob Zeus!” he raised the Augustus
figurine, while doing his best impersonation of the tyrant. “And I’m EVIL!"
Livia chuckled, and Eugéne-Henry left Ryan’sp tond on the desk. The cat started ying with the A-bomb like a ball of yarn,
to everyone’s horror, and Ryan briefly interrupted his performance to nce at his pet.
“Good kitty,” he said, scratching Eugéne-Henry’s back and feeding on the audience’s tears of despair. “You like my A-bomb, huh?
You like it, do you?”
His cat meowed in response, and Ryan returned to his show.
m Hector, and | am so jealous of Augustus! He shines too much!” The courier yed Manada’s figurine, before moving
Adam’s. Each time, he imitated the original’s voice. “| am Adam! | am so fat, thatst time | used a weighing machine, it let out
death throes! | want to help, but | am poor!”
“Take my money, friendly whale! | beg of you!” ‘Hector’ answered. Nobodyughed at the spectacle, all eyes focusing on
Eugéne-Henry instead. By now the cat was rolling the A-bomb near the intern’s coffee cup, showing his royal behind to the
camera.
Ryan put a fourth figurine on the desk, representing Psyspy. He carried an oversized knife of y in his tentacle. “Il am
Psyshock,” the president voiced the brainjacker’s figurine, before moving it behind Adam’s, “and | am a traitor!”
“Mr. President, turn around!” Frank panicked, as he relived his previous charge’s murder. “Turn around!”
The Psyshock figurine stabbed Adam’s in the back, the madman copsing. The whole building trembled, as Frank punched the
ground in grief.
“And that’s where |e in, the hand of injustice!” Ryan smashed the Psyshock figurine, turning it to paste. Then he raised his
sticine-covered fist. “| have been disrespected! Humiliated! Unpaid! But never broken! They called me mad, but | will show
them! | will show them all! | am taking all of New Rome hostage, until Dynamis pays me the ransom | deserve! The outrageous
sum of one—”
“He’s gonna say it!” The Doll gasped.
“One!”
Ryan winked at the camera, and his countless fans behind it.
“One million dors!”
The tense silence was broken by Livia’s giggling and the Doll''s sobs of happiness. “He dared,” the android said. “He dared.”
“Morons dare it all, that’s how you recognize them,” Sarin replied. “Boss, you do know american dors cost almost as much as
collection stamps nowadays?”
“You wanted them to pay us in pesos, perhaps?” Ryan deadpanned.
“You would need all of Mexico to pay one million dors,” Frank said, spitting on America’s oldest enemy.
“In any case, the cavalry ising to the rescue,” Sarin said, showing Ryan her tablet’s screen. Someone was live streaming
Wyvern flying through New Rome’s skies in human form, aiming straight for Star Studios.
“They can’t silence the truth!” the president went on a rant before the camera. “We shall not give up in the face of intimi—”
Bleep.
Ryan nced at Eugéne-Henry, the cat having pushed the A-bomb’s big button and triggered the countdown.
“Well.” The president looked back at the camera, and smiled behind his mask. “That''s all folks!”