Chapter 110


    Snow. Snow, everywhere.


    Antarctica was and of ice without end, a white expanse of ciers, frozen mountains, and ins so white that sunlight made


    them almost blinding to look at. It was utterly silent too. The few penguins and wildlife living on the continent nested along the


    coasts, and left the continent''s interior utterly lifeless.


    d in the Saturn Armor, Ryan flew above the frozen wastnd with only Leo Hargraves forpany. The courier remembered


    making a stop in Scandinavia andter Greend during one of his lengthiest fetch quests, but the south pole remained a


    mystery to him.


    “Have you found anything?” Len asked him through the tel.


    “Winter ising,” Ryan replied ominously, as he and Sunshine flew over a tall cier.


    “Riri, you have been repeating that each time | call you.”


    “Because people must know!” Ryan replied yfully. “| mostly see snow, but on the plus side, | haven’t seen any mosquitoes.


    Well, except the one we keep in storage.”


    No wonder he never visited this ce, there was nothing to do!


    m highly disappointed.” The courier shrugged off ayer of frost forming on his armored arms. “I expected an ancient


    civilization buried beneath the snow, or maybe a mad scientist''s base.”


    “What about the armor’s readings?”


    “It actually picked up a spatial anomaly, but the signals are faint.” Truth be told, the entire region reeked of them. Whatever


    happened here had permanently damaged the space-time continuum in the area. “Sunshine and | are trying to narrow down the


    source.”


    “|... finally.” It had been three days since they reached the continent, and quite a few members of the expedition had grown


    irritated with theck of progress. “Don’t do anything rash.”


    “Shortie, Rash is my middle name,” Ryan replied happily, “between Dashing and Immortal!”


    Sunshine must have heard him, because the living sun looked over his shoulder. “Wittyes to mind too," he said.


    “Witty is my son, Amusing my daughter,” Ryan replied, as he turned left after his armor picked up a stronger signal. Leo


    Hargraves quickly followed. “By the way, Sunshine, how is it you’re not melting the whole ce with your mere presence?”


    “| can control my own gravity and heat.” The superhero observed Ryan closely, his shining gaze both warm and intimidating.


    “Do you want to shed light on some unresolved issues, my stargazing friend?” Though they had traveled together for a few days,


    the Carnival leader had remained surprisingly quiet so far. The courier had seen him gazing at Len while she didn’t notice, and


    his best friend had done her best to avoid the Living Sun. “Bloody issues?”


    The Living Sun looked away, ncing at frozen mountains in the distance. “Is Len Sabino listening?”


    Ryan had guessed right. “Shortie, the sun wants to dial you.”


    “I''m listening,” she replied after a brief and tense silence, with Ryan putting on the loudspeaker.


    “| wish to apologize on my team’s behalf,” Sunshine said. “To the both of you. What happened four years ago...”


    “Wasn''t your brightest day?” Ryan sighed. “Believe me, it could have gone a lot worse, and you apologized already. At least to


    me.


    “In a previous loop?” Hargraves asked.


    “So you believe us?” Ryan asked. The Living Sun hadn’t broached the subject since they set off from Monaco.


    “| admit | find Shroud’s story difficult to believe, but | have seen many things in my life that | once thought impossible.” Leo


    Hargraves’ light seemed to dim for a brief instant. “You are within your right to hate us, and | would perfectly understand. | want


    to say that my teammates only followed my directions, and that | made the call that day. If you wish to me someone, it is I.”


    Len let the words sink in for a moment before answering. “Did you know who he used to be? That we were with him?”


    “Yes,” Sunshine admitted. “I know Freddie Sabino was a good man, and that he traveled with his children.”


    “Then why?” she asked, though her voice didn’t break. Ryan could tell that the subject remained painful for her, but not as much


    as it used to be. “Why did youe after him? Why didn’t you try to heal him? Your Genius... your Genius could have helped.


    Or at least tried.”


    “We didn’t think curing him was even possible,” Sunshine admitted. “And time was not in our favor.”


    “You predicted that he would cause a disaster,” Ryan said, remembering his conversation with Shroud at the loop’s beginning.


    “Yes.” Sunshine seemed to hesitate about saying something, but eventually mustered the courage to. “And we had reason to


    think that he would kill you both, if we didn’t take action quickly.”


    Ryan could almost see Len meditating on these words, reading between the lines. If let loose, Bloodstream would have killed his


    own daughter no matter what, and the Carnival saved her life.


    On some level, she probably knew all along.


    “|... | don’t know.” Len took a long deep breath. “I... | understand why you... why you tried to kill Dad. | do not support it, but... |


    understand. I’m... I’m not sure my father is even there anymore.”


    “If we can cure him, we will,” Sunshine swore. “We made a decision based on the information we had avable, but now... now |


    doubt we made the right one.”


    “Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Ryan replied. If anything, after seeing Bloodstream destroy New Rome in the previous loop, the


    courier thought that the Carnival hadn’t been thorough enough in stamping him out.


    His armor suddenly picked up an electromaic reading near an icy rift below them. Bingo.


    |...” Len cleared her throat on the other end of the line. “Whatever happens, it will be my decision. Let me make it.”


    “| understand,” Leo Hargraves said, as he and Ryannded near the rift. Snow melted beneath the Living Sun’s heels, forcing


    him to float above the ground not to fall. “However, you must understand that if there is a risk that Bloodstream might escape and


    threaten millions, | will have to make a call.”


    Len didn’t say anything.


    “But if there is a way to cure your father, then we will find it,” Leo Hargraves swore, ever the shining knight. “What Dynamis did


    as... inhuman. If we had known, we would have stopped it. You have my word on that.”


    “It''s okay,” Len replied. “I... | don’t want to talk about it. Not right now.”


    “| understand. | am sorry to have opened old wounds.”


    “Trust me, you haven''t even scratched the surface.” Ryan nced into the rift, dark and foreboding. The crack spread on for


    miles, an ice canyon so deep that he needed to put on the armor’s lights to see the bottom. But most importantly, his systems


    picked up traces of Violet Flux in the area. “Well well well, what have we here...”


    “Have you found something, Riri?”


    “A Thin ce, but not a natural one,” Ryan replied, as he analyzed the energy readings. “And not the weing kind either.”


    “What do you mean?” Sunshine asked, arms crossed.


    “This kind of pocket dimension doesn’t just prevent intruders from moving in,” Ryan exined. Natural Thin ces, like the one


    where he had his fateful date with Livia, often opened during rare cosmic or electromaic conjunctions. But not this one. “It


    also prevents what''s already inside from escaping.”


    In short, it was a second Monaco.


    The Living Sun quickly caught on to the implications. “She is keeping prisoners,” he guessed. “I can’t see any other reason to


    complicate evacuation otherwise.”


    Neither did Ryan. Bhus had told him that the Alchemist often set up illegalbs to test Elixirs. The courier guessed she


    probably did the same in her center of power.


    “Can you get us inside?” Len asked, worried.


    “| can open the way with my armor, and then keep it open with the Resonators.” Ryan always brought these devices with him on


    a trip, in case he ever found a way tomit Clown genocide. “This will create a pathway in and out of the pocket dimension,


    and allow us tomunicate with the outside world while we''re inside.”


    “In that case, Stitch and Atom Cat will remain behind on the other side of the portal, just in case,” Leo Hargraves said,


    immediately making ns. “The rest of us can look at what''s inside. If the Alchemist is smart, she will have defenses in ce to


    repel intruders.”


    “You don’t want to try talking it out first?” Len asked.


    “| would,” the superhero asked. “But | have the feeling it won’t be an option.”


    Asentiment that Ryan shared. “That woman has killed or driven mad everyone who tried to track her,” the courier said. “And she


    didn’t mind ending the world as an experiment. | doubt she’s going to cooperate with us.”


    “| will tell everyone to prepare,” Len said.


    “We''lle back to pick you up,” Ryan said, taking flight again alongside Sunshine. “Perhaps we should have brought a robot


    army. They make everything easy.”


    “And that’s the problem,” Sunshine replied. “When you make battles costless for those who order them, the results are always


    terrible. War should not be aputer game.”


    Indeed. But Ryan still regretted condemning the bunker on their way out. Lightning Butt entered his full paranoia mode and sent


    soldiers to investigate the Junkyard soon after ordering the hit on Felix, trying to figure out what happened to the Meta-Gang.


    The risk of the Augusti finding out about Mechron’s armory had been too great, especially since they had the resources to take it


    over.


    As for the other bases, Leo Hargraves had cleared out two of them by the time Shroudy Matty called him for reinforcements.


    With half of the Carnival deployed in Antarctica, the other members of the group remained in warmer ces to destroy the


    remaining armories.


    From what Ryan had understood, only the bunker in New Rome had been focusing on R&D. The others were standard armed


    robot production facilities, and capable of churning out armies in weeks. Sunshine was right, nothing good coulde out of


    such instations.


    With them gone, then Mechron’s legacy would be buried for good.


    “Gotta admit, I’m a bit surprised you agreed to join this side-quest,” Ryan told hispanion.


    “A quest? Like a medieval one?” Leo asked, before shrugging. “A cure for Psychos would make the world a better ce, and to


    be honest, if the Alchemist truly lives here... | want to ask her a question.”


    “The Pink Elixir’s release date?”


    “No,” Sunshine replied. “I want to ask her why.”


    Ryan suspected that Sarin intended to ask the same question, but with far more violence involved.


    The short flight ended half an hour south of the rift’s location, where a steel facility waited half-buried amidst a desert of ice and


    snow. The modr base consisted of two dozen cubes of metal joined together in an ‘L’ fashion, some of them breached.


    Thanks to Bhus and Simon’s information, it hadn’t taken long for Ryan’s group to find the lost Station Orpheon. The French


    government had stripped the research station clean after abandoning it, but left enough stuff for the team’s Geniuses to restore it


    to half capacity. Ryan guessed the military intended to reactivate the site at one point, but never got around to doing so before


    the world ended. For safety, the group had left Alchemo and the Doll with the submarine a few hours away in the south, moving


    in only with the group’s fighters.


    Mr. Wave and the the only members of the team capable of surviving the terribly low temperature without special equipment, had


    made a campfire outside. And even then, Mr. Wave had to trade his fabulous cashmere suit for a trendy seal-fur garment. Ryan’s


    pandawan hadn''t changed outfit, though he remained constantly in beast form.


    As it turned out, superpowered pandas were powerful enough to survive in Antarctica without power armor. Their indestructible


    fur and fat shielded them from the cold, alongside radiation, rainwater, and cupcakes.


    Ryan had checked.


    “Once, Mr. Wave turned up the heat,” the superhero told the as the manbear gorged himself on warm seal milk. “That was the


    start of global warming.”


    “Is, is it true?” The asked naively. Though his power had given him a great deal of insight, he still had the adorable tendency of


    believing everything his heroes said.


    “Mr. Wave never lies, he enlightens,” the superhero replied, as Ryan and his sunny friendnded near them.


    “While Sunshine lights the way,” Ryan joked.


    “Only in the dark,” Mr. Wave added.


    Leo Hargraves chuckled, before ncing at the “How is the milk?”


    “H-he’s noticing me!” The lowered his head to avoid meeting Sunshine’s gaze, all but putting his nose in his milk. Unfortunately,


    the frost was such that the boiling liquid quickly started to freeze on his fur. “He’s talking to me!”


    “|...” Leo Hargraves looked a bit ufortable. “Yes, | do.”


    “You can go blind if you stare at the sun too long,” Ryan said. “My pandawan is only taking care of his health.”


    “Sifu, is he still looking?” The asked, too afraid to raise his head.


    “Don''t worry, his vision is based on movement,” Ryan added. “You should be safe.”


    “I''m... I''m ttered, but this reaction is uncalled for,” Leo argued, highly embarrassed.


    “But you are the Living Sun, Earth’s greatest hero!” said the as he took a deep, chilly breath. “I have a poster of you in my


    bedroom!”


    “Heroism is not a poprity contest,” Sunshine argued. “And you have proven your worth when you fought the Meta-Gang,


    Timmy. Mathias spoke highly of you. In fact, | would like to invite you to the Carnival. We need people like you, with their hearts


    in the right ce. Of course, this is a dangerous work, and | would perfectly understand if you refu-”


    The dropped his cup in shock, the milk turning to ice within seconds. The poor manbear began to hyperventte, falling to his


    back and rolling in the snow. Then he let out a squeal so powerful, that Ryan wondered if penguins could hear it from across the


    wastnd.This belongs to N?velDrama.Org.


    “Mr. Wave believes you justmitted pandacide,” Mr. Wave told his confused teammate.


    “This is the first time I’ve gotten such a reaction,” Sunshine replied as the station’s doors opened. Len walked out first alongside


    Sarin, both wearing their evolved power armors. Atom Cat and Shroud followed. The former wore a white second skin of Stitch’s


    conception which covered his entire body, even the eyes; somehow it allowed him to see anyway. From what Ryan understood,


    the protection was made of trillions of bacteria adapted to the cold. Shroud, meanwhile, had thickened his suit with additional


    layers of reinforced ss to keep the heat inside, turning his costume into a heavy and nigh-imprable armor. Stitch closed


    the march, carrying heavy instion clothing over his gue doctor outfit.


    “Are you sure you wish toe with us, Atom Cat?” Sunshine asked upon seeing Felix. “We are about to face great danger. If


    the Alchemist truly makes herir in this region, then she is certainly not defenseless.”


    “| owe you one,” the young man replied while ncing at Ryan and Mathias. “And | have questions | want answers for.”


    “Me too,” Sarin snickered. “I can tell there’s stuff you’re keeping for yourselves. Like a secret nerd conspiracy.”


    “The orange is in the henhouse,” Ryan replied ominously.


    The lovely Sarin stared at him. “I didn’t get it.”


    “Exactly.” Ryan whistled, even as the Psycho raised her gauntlet in his direction.


    “| still can’t believe it,” Felix said, crossing his arms. “Livia would never cooperate with the Carnival. Something isn’t right.”


    “Things change,” Shroud replied with a shrug.


    “And you''re dating my sister,” Felix added. “Somehow, | find that to be the strangest part.”


    Ryan decided to hold off on telling him about time travel.


    One shock at a time.


    When the team reached the rift on foot with the Resonator devices, Ryan froze time, purple and ck particles swirling around


    his body. Much like when he opened a path to the ck World in the previous loop, he quickly found the pocket dimension’s


    entrance, and forcefully opened it with his bare hands.


    After tossing a Resonator inside and keeping the other in the snow, a stream of particles formed between the two ends of the


    portals and slowly opened it. When time resumed, a purple portal ominously floated above the icy rift.


    “So?” Ryan asked. “Who goes in—”


    “First!” Mr. Wave said while immediately jumping through.


    “Damn it!” Not to be outdone, Ryan immediately followed his idol and the world around him brightened in a bright sh of purple


    particles. The transportsted an instant, but the contrast between the two sides couldn’t be starker.


    While it had been daylight in Antarctica, the other side of the portal had a ck, starless sky overseeing it. Streaks of purple


    lightning thundered above the group’s heads, while Ryan almost mistook the howling wind for screams. A foreboding structure


    stood alone surrounded by a vast expanse of ice which seemed to go on without end.


    Yeah, such a warm, weing ce.


    Ryan had received a brief vision of the Alchemist’s base when he tried to open the path to the Purple World a few loops ago, and


    he immediately recognized the structure. A colossal dome of ck metal emerged from the snow, with reinforced st doors


    large enough to let a ne through serving as the entrance. All in all, the structure was among thergest Ryan had ever seen,


    and gave the Egyptian pyramids a run for their money.


    Here it was. The ce where it all began.


    Ryan might have felt a sense of wonder at the sight, but a few worrying details immediately caught his attention.


    First of all, the dome had been breached, with a hole more than fifty meters in diameter blown open on its left side. And from the


    way the metal bent, whatever explosion caused the structural damage came from the inside. Second, though Ryan noticed


    reinforced, stained portholes here and there, he couldn’t see any light within. Third, the building''s st doors leaned on the left,


    as if the whole dome was sinking into the snow.


    And fourth...


    “What is this?” Len said as she crossed the portal, immediately noticing it.


    The dead husk of a colossal monster more than eight meters tallid in the snow. Ice and frost had preserved the creature’s


    flesh, even though half its body was made of cybeic imnts. The left arm was a cannon, the right a technological de


    large enough to cleave a tank in half. The creature had scales red as blood, curved horns like a bull, three rows of fangs, and


    eight spidery eyes. Arge gash had split its ck armor from shoulder to the waist, letting brown alien organs spill out on the


    ice.


    When everyone except Stitch and Atom Kitten crossed the portal, the group carefully surrounded the husk, with Sarin pointing


    her gauntlets at its face in case it would wake up. It didn’t. By all measures, the monster had been dead for a while, though Ryan


    couldn''t tell how long due to the ice.


    “It looks like one of Mechron’s warbeasts,” Sunshine said.


    His teammate was less certain. “Mr. Wave never killed that model, and he ughtered them all.”


    “At least it’s dead,” Sarin said before wiping away snow covering the monster’s shoulder. “Look, on the shoulder.”


    Leo approached the husk to provide light. A mark simr to a cross between the ‘M’ letter and the omega symbol was engraved


    on the monster’s armor. Somehow, looking at it unsettled Ryan for a reason he couldn’t exin.


    “What''s that?” Mr. Wave asked. “A reversed ‘W''?”


    “| have mastered linguistics, Sifu,” the informed Ryan, trying to help. “If | have more information, | could figure it out.”


    “Perhaps we could hack into the imnts and find out more from them,” Shroud suggested. “They must have recorded what


    happened.”


    “That technology is...” Len shook her head. “I don’t even know where to begin. But it’s not...”


    “It’s not Mechron tech,” Ryan said. His own armor couldn''t connect to the monster’s cybeic imnts.


    “Mmm...” Sarin nced at the hole in the dome. “Do you think it blew its way out? Could be a failedb experiment. Don’t you


    Geniuses love them, eh?”


    “Too early to say,” Sunshine replied, before taking flight. “Shroud, with me. The rest of you, try to secure the perimeter. If the


    Alchemist still lives there, she probably noticed us. ”


    The group spread around the portal to secure it, finding the remains of old defensive turrets either broken or buried in the ice.


    Ryan himself had his armor’s systems run an analysis of the structure, the various sensors slowly providing arger view of the


    full thing. And the more the courier saw, the more he squinted. Sunshine and Mr. See-Through flew around the dome while


    maintaining a respectable distance.


    “First of all, the portholes aren’t made of ss,” Shroud said upon returning to the portal. “I cannot control them. And on a closer


    look, | do not think they are portholes at all. They look like lenses or cameras.”


    “They appear to be inactive,” Sunshine added. “As for the wastnd, it loops on itself past a certain point.”


    “The defenses haven''t been maintained in years,” Len dered while examining a broken turret.


    “Whole ce looks empty,” Sarin replied grimly. “And to be honest, it gives me the chills.”


    Ryan nced at the cyborg’s husk. The cuts weren’t clean enough for des orsers.


    ws.


    ws killed this thing.


    The base had been active when Ryan saw it in his visions, but not anymore. At one point, something went wrong.


    “Why are the doors leaning?” The asked with worry, the whole ce intimidating him.


    “Because it’s not a bunker,” Ryan said, as his armor’s readings came back with a simtion of the building.


    The dome was just the tip of the iceberg; a submarine’s tower, hiding arger structure buried beneath the ice. The full base was


    a colossal, kilometers long war machine with great metal wings and reactorsrger than most skyscrapers.


    “It''s a spaceship.”