David Jackson
Stories
6
Chapters
2,231
Words
2.1 M
Comments
0
Reading
7 d, 3 h
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Ryan never thought he would bring a communist to Dynamis’ doorstep. Enrique Manada’s waiting room was nearly silent, with only the sound of a secretary typing on her computer to break the monotony. Felix looked through the window, impatient to be done with the meeting, while Len’s fingers fidgeted uncontrollably. She had been in a sour mood since they arrived. Ryan didn’t fare much better. His wounds still ached, and even his dazzling clothes couldn’t hide all the bandages beneath them. Even…-
106 •
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Two presidents had walked into a room, and only one would escape it alive. “How about we start this debate with gun politics?” Ryan said, as he clocked his Beretta. “Then we can move on to the War on Terror. Spoiler warning: you’re going to lose it hard.” “I was about to suggest dietary policies, Laddie,” the living Michelin ad replied with pitch-black humor, as he kept his left hand hidden behind his back. Having lived through this situation before, Ryan had a pretty good idea of what, or…
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106 •
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Ryan picked up two ladies in Rust Town, with a skeletal zombie chained to his car hood. “Seriously?” Ryan asked his girlfriend with skeptical eyes. While Fortuna came to the mission with her sensual, white-latex catsuit, Livia brought a pair of jeans and a “I’m sorry, it’s the only practical clothing I could grab in an hour,” Livia apologized. Ryan’s loops began while she was having a girl’s day out with Fortuna, and although it allowed the two to slip away from the Augusti undetected in…
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106 •
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Next loop would be the one. Ryan could feel it deep within his bones. Even though the Saturn Armor and its additional harness weighed down on him, a sentiment of profound liberation spread through his muscles. Alchemo had fashioned the courier a throne of metal and cables within the depths of Mechron’s submarine, linked to six helmets and special chairs for the would-be time-travelers. Everyone was busy preparing for the procedure. Felix bade goodbye to his sisters, all of them crying; Livia memorized…
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106 •
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This loop would end like the previous one, in Sorrentos. At least a horde of bloody mutants didn’t pursue Ryan this time around, but the realization left him bitter. He knew that causality had a tendency to reassert itself, and though the courier would break that chain of destruction, he had spent weeks, if not months in New Rome. He had befriended dozens of locals, heroes, and villains. Watching the city on fire again filled him with anger. The courier hadn’t felt so determined to save these people…
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106 •
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Bianca farted all the way back to the Mechron submarine. Proverbially of course, but Ryan couldn’t help but laugh at the sound she made each time she switched between gaseous and human form. Now, she was doing a live demonstration to the courier and the Carnival members deep in the submarine’s mess. Most of the group sat around white tables, while Mr. Wave prepared cocktails behind a short counter. Bianca’s body, clothes included, turned into an orange cloud with a snap of her fingers. Unlike her…
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106 •
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Psychos had been a fact of life for fifteen years. Ryan had visited hundreds, if not thousands of communities through his long existence, and almost all of them shared the same tales. Maddened monsters attacking them at night, mutants hiding in sewers, raiders attacking their Genome defenders, or fools trying to imitate Augustus only to come up short. Psychos had collectively killed the courier many times, coming in as a close second behind traffic accidents. His adoptive father Bloodstream had caused…
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106 •
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The room erupted into chaos the moment time resumed. Red lasers and space-piercing bullets faced shockwaves, solar flares, streams of pressurized water, and a storm of glass. Yet it was a kung-fu-powered bear that made the most spectacular contribution, smashing through the Alchemist clones’ barricades right after Mr. Wave. The pulverized two clones while leaking blood from half a dozen lasers, transforming back and forth to regenerate, always staying on the move to avoid a fatal blow. Ryan himself did…
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106 •
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Weeds had overtaken the ship like an abandoned garden. As Ryan’s group advanced into the metal bowels of the Alchemist’s base, they ran into more and more alien plant life. Greenish slime leaked from the walls, while snakelike red roots and fanged purple flowers dug holes into the floor. Eventually, the corridors became so overwhelmed by vegetation that Sunshine moved at the front to torch a path ahead. Often, they would find the broken remains of armored aliens, their helmets melted by lasers, their…
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106 •
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First contact started with a fight, but to mankind’s credit, the aliens shot first. Ryan barely had the time to activate his power and push Len and the down, as the mysterious intruder fired a crimson ray into the room. When time resumed, the laser had vaporized the computer’s chair and blown a molten hole in a metal wall. Mr. Wave, who could move at lightspeed, sidestepped to dodge the attack, while Sarin and Sunshine were immediately on high alert. Shroud turned invisible, as he usually did. The…
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