"Haha! Caspian you have arrived."
Boros' booming voice echoed through the Combat Experimentation Room as Caspian emerged from a gate, Mosquito Girl draped against him.
"What happened to your armor?"
"I no longer needed it."
"Okay."
The crowd turned toward them. Several faces tightened in confusion, though no one spoke. A strange quiet hung in the room.
Raptora and Reptera stood at Boros' sides like adoring sentinels. Nearby stood Gunner, Kombu Infinity, Black Sperm, Suppon, Manako, and Charanko. As usual, Armored Gorilla didn't show. And finally—
"Ah, Caspian. Impeccable timing." Dr. Genus stepped out from the secure room's doorway.
From where Caspian stood, he saw the space inside had tripled in size. His eyes trailed upward. The walls of the Combat Experimentation Room now wore a foam-like coating — pale and porous, as if coated in a cocoon's inner shell.
"What is this…?"
Dr. Genus gave a satisfied nod. "'Adaptive Metamaterial.' One of my latest creations. It reacts to combat stress, adjusting structure and resistance based on threat level."
Does this man know limits? The limiter on the doctor's mind had surely vanished long ago. He built whatever he dreamed, untouched by logic or restraint. A venerable mind.
Mosquito Girl sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose. "It smells like overripe fruit."
"An unfortunate byproduct," Dr. Genus admitted. "But the results will speak for themselves."
Boros stepped forward. "No more delays. You told me the treatment for my 'Meteoric Burst' was ready."
Dr. Genus reached into his lab coat and pulled out a glass bottle. Inside, a single spherical pill glowed gold and violet.
"I am to eat this strange item?"
"Yes. That pill continuously strengthens you and extends your lifespan for as long as you remain in 'Meteoric Burst.'" He motioned to the secure room. "Please wait until we're all inside before you transform."
A venerable mind indeed.
Mosquito Girl pulled Caspian to the secure room, cutting off everyone else.
As he passed Charanko, he wondered why the martial artist still lingered here. Maybe he had nowhere to go after Bang kicked him out.
Should I help him out?
¤ ¤ ¤
As Genus expected, the pill worked flawlessly. Boros entered his 'Meteoric Burst' and roared with joy, then named him an honored member of the New Dark Matter Thieves. Before Caspian opened a 'Hyperspace Gate' and sent Boros, Reptera, Raptora, Black Sperm, Manako, Gunner, Suppon, and Kombu Infinity to Z-City Ghost Town.
Observing someone casually create wormholes to anywhere stirred endless possibilities in Genus' mind. More importantly, it assured him of his safety. He planned to raise said topic in a short while.
Boros' transformation offered another benefit, besides gaining a powerful ally: a field test for the 'Adaptive Metamaterial.' Though his latent energy melted the wall in passing, the surface regenerated seconds later. Unequivocally, a success.
No doubt existed within Genus as to if he would ever succeed or not. For doubt bred questions, questions led to answers, and answers created limitations. His former 'peers' once argued that the universe imposed limitations. The 'speed of light' stood among their sacred tenets. Genus had disproved that one on a rainy day many decades ago. Their rigid thinking doomed them to stagnation. No wonder they all died off. In the end, they had only their ignorance to blame.
He unwrapped a disinfectant wipe, prepping the syringe filled with Gouketsu's refitted blood. Before him, once again, lay Mosquito Girl. She wore a pale-blue dress, reclined on one of his upgraded padded surgical tables; a sturdier model installed on the first basement floor, recommended by his newfound friend. A strange thought. Friend. Doctor Kuseno. He had needed tougher equipment after the last surgical table's destruction during Mosquito Girl's 'acclimation…'
Back to the friend. Still strange.
Since contacting Kuseno about Wavygyaza, they had video-called daily for an hour. Genus found the conversations invigorating. It pleased him to speak with someone at the peak of another scientific frontier. Learning remained his incurable addiction.
"How long will she be out this time?" Caspian asked from across the surgical table.
"I adjusted her metallic chip and altered the synthesis process of Gouketsu's blood versus Carnage Kabuto's. This time, no acclimation required. No induced metamorphic sleep either."
Caspian frowned. "Then why's she under?"
"I did not sedate her."
"What...? She just fell asleep?"
"Indeed." Genus glanced at his resting creation, bathed in the icy-blue gleam from the overhead lights.
"I have two questions. First: Carnage Kabuto. You've made another mutant that looks just like him, haven't you?"
"Your unsettling foresight never ceases to amaze." Genus guided the syringe down and inserted it into a tiny port in the metallic patch before emptying the contents. "Yes. Unlike the original, this version lacks a will; just a mindless husk. A bodyguard."
"Could that husk help break Zombieman's limiter?"
Genus paused, syringe in hand, studying Caspian's lackadaisical expression. He had researched clairvoyance in depth, combed through every account in recorded history. Yet the more he learned, the less the label seemed to fit. Caspian's knowledge felt too exact. Too rooted. As though he flipped through the future like pages in a picture book.
"Yes."
"I lied. Three questions. Has Zombieman shown up yet?"
"No…"
"No?" Caspian muttered. "Another shift then." He shook his head. "Nevermind. Last question. She can't remember… but I wish to know her life before she became Mosquito Girl."
Memories of a day, one damp and gray, surfaced.
Genus sighed, walked over to a stainless steel mayo stand, and placed the empty syringe down with care.
"She had little to call a life when I found her.
No family. No friends. Just a frail young woman in a hospital bed, dying of a terminal blood disorder.
I offered her a chance to survive, and she grasped it without hesitation
By any measure, I believe you will agree… she now thrives."
Caspian replied, "Turning her weakness into her—"
"Oh! I think I'm starting to remember!"
Mosquito Girl's sudden outburst made Genus flinch. He turned to find her sitting up, clutching one of Caspian's hands.
"How do you feel?" Caspian asked.
To Genus' eyes, she had not moved a muscle. Yet now she spun the emptied syringe, once behind him, between her free hand's fingers.
Remarkable. So fast, even the air doesn't realize it has been disturbed. Mosquito Girl. Boros. The two of you will…
"Full-blooded," she said, eyes drifting shut. "And... I've also become a master martial artist."
"You're amazing."
"I know." Mosquito Girl smirked up at Caspian and hopped off the inclined table. "Thanks, Dr. Genus."
He offered her a silent nod.
She tugged Caspian's arm. "Okay, send me to Suiko's dojo."
"Is she expecting you?"
"Of course, silly. I'm spending the day with her and Yuta."
Genus watched closely as she vanished through the 'Hyperspace Gate.' Saving her on that foggy day… was perhaps his finest decision ever.
With the two of them alone, Genus turned at last to the matter that weighed most on his mind.
"Caspian, I require your aid."