What came in my mind while I was typing my comment was Gradius V-tier timeloop. You know, stage 2 is when you meet a future version of your own Vic Viper appears and asked for help to destroy Venom, and in stage 8 is when the Vic Viper travels back in time and asked the past Vic Viper for help and destroy Venom.
The first chapter felt like Stage 2 to me. In future chapters, it'll be Stage 8, if you catch my drift