I’d never spent enough time talking to Ray to notice how irritating he could be. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I preferred it when he was trying to kill me, but still.

“Okay.” I paused for a few seconds and then continued, “It’s not as if I have a big pile of options here. I don’t think you’re going to like my next one either, but if you want garuanteed results, it’s the best one…”

Ray shrugged and then smirked, “It’s like I always say to my team. There aren’t any bad ideas, but there are ideas I won’t bet my life on. Go for it.”

I took a breath, letting the action center me. “Sure. How about this? Magnus locked up two of the aliens that created this device in here somewhere. You can release them. They know what it can do much better than I do and they can communicate with previous versions of themselves. They’d be able to figure out a way to keep you alive more easily than I would.”

Ray shook his head. “Nah. You know about them and the only reason you’d be willing to take a shot on them is if you knew they’d be friendly to you. If they’re as powerful as you say they are, and they know this weapon well, they’ll go straight for the easiest option—take me out.”

I thought about it. Lee would absolutely do that.

“How about this,” I asked. “Maybe I could I talk to them? I can’t possibly believe this device doesn’t include features that would make figuring out how to extract you without damaging the timestream easier.”

It was Ray’s turn to frown and think about it. At the end, he shook his head. “I know you won’t like it, but if that exists, it’ll let you plan my future, including my death. Plus, who are we kidding? I don’t really understand this stuff. I might let them out by accident and I’m not willing to take that chance. So, no.”

I threw up my hands. “I don’t know what else we can try. I’m not willing to change my past so much that it throws everything into a new direction. In order to avoid that, I need information. We’ve got people with prescience available. We’ve got aliens with unfathomable power who can change time, but mostly don’t bother because they know it’s hard. Despite that, I’ve seen them do it and I think this is doable—for them, but not so much me. I need help for something like this.”

Ray’s lip curled, “How about this? How about you tell me exactly what happened and I then I’ll work out my own exit?”

I didn’t even need to think about that one. “No. The only reason I survived that experience is because you didn’t know what was coming. Even if you actually hand me to Syndicate L, I don’t want to take the chance that Syndicate L will hire the Dominators and mess with my head.”

“Yeah,” Ray said, “exactly. That’s my problem, too. There are too fucking many people out there who can wrap your brain around their fingers.”

“I don’t love that image,” I said.

Ray nodded.

We lapsed into silence, during which I chose not to say what I was thinking because it wouldn’t help. We were at an impasse because neither of us could quite trust each other. That, and because it was a hard problem made harder by rejecting all of the most obvious solutions.

We needed something that didn’t require us to trust each other much, didn’t mess up our mutual histories, and ideally didn’t let him continue his chosen career of killing people for money.

The silence stretched. Ray said, “Even though it looks that way, we don’t have forever. If you can’t come up with an idea, I’ll have to try different options.”

I bit back the suggestion that he might want to start on those different options now, but then I had an idea.

“Hey,” I said, watching him look up and meet my eyes. “I’ve got another option, but if you don’t go for this one, I don’t know what else we can do.”

He nodded, “I’m listening. Spit it out.”

“I’ll start by saying what it doesn’t include. You won’t have to trust the aliens that built this place. You won’t have to trust my team to uh… keep your thoughts yours.”

Continuing to nod, he said, “Sounds good so far. Keep on talking because the way you’re going, I’m expecting a catch.”

I shrugged, “Sure, but some catches bother some people more than others. You might be okay with this one.”

He didn’t say anything, but the tilt of his head and expressionless face said, “Get on with it,” clearly enough.

“I don’t if you’re aware of the Xiniti—“

“The alien police who’ll blow us up if we get too powerful? Yeah. I try to keep informed.” He smirked. “Heroes aren’t the only ones in the know.”

Watching his face for a reaction, I asked, “Did you know they have a kind of French Foreign Legion for people with combat skills?”

He blinked, “No, but I think I know where you’re going with this one. I’m interested. Keep it coming.”

“That’s kind of where the catch is. If you want to do it, you’re going to have to trust them. They have implants that are basically computers, but they allow you to use alien tech. They can even modify you, make you stronger, more enduring, heal you… It all depends on how much you’re willing to let them modify you.”

I checked him for any hints of his reaction, but his face showed as little emotion as it had before. 

“It’s all your choice,” I said, “but if I told the implant what it needed to prepare for, it could allow you to survive, fake your death, and then arrange for the Xiniti to take your body. No one would argue with them. What do you say?”

I could think of a few points of failure in that plan, but it checked a lot of boxes for me—not the least of which would be getting him off the planet after he died, possibly forever.