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 everyone’s freshly recorded brain-maps, from Sunshine’s to Narcinia’s; Mr. Wave and his sidekick the Living Sun prepped Shroud for the trip; Len and the other Geniuses oversaw the computations on complex computers, while Bianca complained as her own preparations took longer than usual; Stitch watched everything from afar; and a lone panda felt post-heroic blues.

“This is my first time-travel,” the Panda said, anxiously biting his fingernails in his human form. He had strapped his helmet first among all the would-be travelers, and as usual, immediately believed all of Ryan’s tales. “What if it goes wrong?”

“It won’t,” the courier replied calmly. “Besides, you’re a panda, nothing can harm you.”

“But Sifu, when I come back, I won’t…” the poor manbear narrowed his head in shame. “I won’t learn...“

“You have learned enough, and since you’ve won the cosmic lottery once, you can drink the Elixir again. Only you can make Elixir bigamy work!” Well, technically, anyone could with their cure. Early tests on the captive Meta-Gang had proved the method’s effectiveness.

Though in Secret Agent Frank’s case, Ryan kinda preferred him as a Psycho.

“But what if the Panda gets a crappy superpower this time around?” his pandawan asked. “The Panda… the Panda doesn’t want to be useless.”

“You were never useless,” Ryan replied firmly, causing the poor manbear to look up at him with hope. “Never.”

“N-never?”

“Never,” Ryan confirmed. “And Elixirs grant wishes, though not always well. If you want to learn, there’s no reason why the Blue Elixir won’t listen.”

The courier suddenly wondered what kind of wish Mosquito had made though. It must have been poorly worded.

“I… the Panda wanted to be loved when he drank his Elixir,” the manbear admitted sheepishly. “To have everyone look up to him.”

“And it worked, but not thanks to your power.” Ryan managed to raise an armored hand, putting his index finger on the Panda’s chest. “Thanks to this.”

“The… the heart?”

“You know, what I admire the most about you is that in spite of all the difficulties, you remain as optimistic and determined as the first day.” In a way, Ryan saw himself in his young pandawan. “I mean, your tragic backstory was one of the darkest things I have ever heard. Very few people would have stayed innocent after that, and it takes strength.”

His words seemed to have reached his disciple’s heart, for he stopped biting his nails and nodded to himself. “Thanks, Sifu,” he said with deference.

Ryan raised a thumbs up, while Len and Bianca each took their place around the machine throne.

“It better be fucking worth it,” the latter complained, as Alchemo put a helmet on her face. “I didn’t work years as a living cloud to get a few days of vacation as a human. This ain’t an eight-to-five job.”

“Your case is the most uncertain,” Alchemo warned. “Your unique chemistry makes the transfer a coin toss.”

“It will work,” Len said, closing her eyes while the helmet hung heavily on her head. With two reloads under her belt, she had grown almost comfortable with the procedure. “It must.”

Felix and Shroud followed suit, though the latter’s girlfriend hugged him one last time before he could put on his own helmet. “How do the priests say it?” Ryan mused, as the vigilante’s teammates helped him put on his harness. “Until time does us part?”

“I promised that, whatever happens next time around…” Shroudy Matty cleared his throat. “That I would do it right.”

“Do what right?”

“Date her. No more vigilante work behind her back, no more lies. I will be honest from the start.” Shroud sighed, though Ryan noticed a thin smile at his lips’ edge. “Wherever it leads us.”

“We will come to New Rome as swiftly as possible, if Shroud asks,” Leo informed Ryan after helping his teammate get comfortable with his seat. “But not before a few days.”

“Mr. Wave was busy killing Nazis on May 8th,” Mr. Wave explained rationally. “Undead Nazis. Exorcising the Third Reich takes time, even at lightspeed.”

So they wouldn’t help with the bunker raid. Ryan had expected as much. Though Mr. Wave helped Alchemo attach Felix’s helmet, Sunshine quizzed the courier. “The ace in the hole that could give you an edge over Augustus, and allow you to defeat Geist…” he whispered. “It comes from this Black World, doesn't it?”

“I wield the majority’s power in one hand, and the minority in the other,” Ryan replied.

“I do not understand that joke,” Sunshine replied, his expression serious. “When we fought Mechron for the final time, he opened a portal to the Blue World in a failed attempt to enhance his power… or so he tried. Instead, he contacted a darker place.”

“The Black World?”

“The creature beyond his portal destroyed Mechron. Annihilated him, and nearly did the same with all of Sarajevo. There had been no malice in that entity’s action, only careless curiosity.” Sunshine let out a sigh. “What I’m saying is, if these entities can casually violate causality and destroy our reality by inattention, then your ability could have unforeseen side-effects or consequences. You should use it sparingly.”

“Everything else failed to harm Augustus,” Ryan replied. And if he could trust his girlfriend, everything else would fail. “And you’ve seen what happens if nobody catches the lightning in a bottle.”

“Augustus’ death is not worth destroying our world, however much he may deserve it,” Leo warned, arms crossed. “But I suppose the choice is up to you in that case.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, I promise,” the courier said, joining his hands. “You know, I’m glad you aren’t pushy about this. I thought you would try really hard to make me join your circus and use my power to assist you.”

“I don’t believe in forcing people to join us,” Sunshine replied with a kind gaze. “True dedication only comes when freely given.”

Damn knight in shining armor... looking at him made Ryan teary inside.

“We are ready to begin, meatbags,” Alchemo said, typing on his computer.

Last but not least, Livia took her place right next to her boyfriend’s left. Her hand reached out for his own, and he swore he could sense her fingers’ warmth beneath the Saturn Armor’s steel.

“Anxious?” Livia asked Ryan.

“No,” her boyfriend replied, squeezing her fingers. “I waited seventeen loops for this.”

Time froze as he activated his power, and the procedure began. Violet particles appeared around him alongside many black ones, duplicating at an accelerated rate. Ryan briefly noticed a white rabbit’s ears rise behind Alchemo’s shoulder, before the particles swallowed the cranky Genius too.

Ryan expected an immediate return to the past, but to his surprise, the phenomenon carried on. More and more Violet Flux blinded him to the reality around him, overwhelming even the Black spots among them.

Then the purple veil split in half, a window through time and space. Through this door, Ryan distinguished hints of a pure violet place, and a triangular shadow moving closer to him. The shape became clearer, revealing strange eyes filled with burning stars.

The Illuminati pyramid looked down at the courier with its alien gaze, and all wen—

It was May 8th again, hopefully for the final time.

Ryan immediately drove through the streets of New Rome, aiming straight for Renesco’s bar. By now, he knew the way like the back of his hand.

Though he wouldn’t advise anyone else to do it, the courier kept control of the wheel with one hand and seized his cell phone with the other. He quickly received confirmation text messages from multiple people before he was even halfway through his destination.

Unknown Caller: I’m back, Sifu, I’m back!

Unknown Caller: Already on my way to the Junkyard, Quicksave.

Unknown Caller: I can’t believe you were telling the truth. I’ll catch up to you ASAP.

Unknown Caller: I’m here, my knight.