The Perfect Run

Ryan dived towards the servers, dodging flailing wires while the glass windows shattered around him. Outside, someone had opened fire on the garage, bullets piercing through the walls and damaging the computers inside.

“If it’s the paparazzi,” the courier complained, raising his coil gun at the ceiling, “here’s my autograph!”

He opened fire, projectiles going through the roof while glass shards formed flying walls to cover the holes in the ceiling. However, the acid rain quickly corroded them, the liquid falling on a server and starting an electrical fire.

A monstrous mass of wires stood on the roof, its malevolent eyes glaring at the courier through one of the remaining openings.

Ryan blinked. “Aren’t you braindead, Psypsy?”

“I told you,” Psyshock replied, an undercurrent of anger in his robotic voice as he raised his wire tentacles. From above, he looked like an alien metal squid. “I heal.”

“Oh good, that means I get to kill you twice.”

Ryan always saw the bright side of everything.

The courier wondered who helped the Psycho with his plastic surgery though. The skull’s shape had changed slightly, turning slimmer. Either the telepath had improper regeneration, or he had a different powerset than the courier thought.

Also, his body had been recovered by Dynamis for study. How did he escape quickly enough to launch this ambush? Something didn’t add up at all.

Psyshock moved his head out of sight before Ryan froze time, making it difficult for the courier to aim at the mutant’s only vital area. It didn’t help that the Psycho’s backup kept firing bullets from outside, providing suppressing fire. The invisible jackass created glass walls the best he could to keep the rain and the Psycho out, but the silica didn’t last long.

Deciding he would rather risk the acid rain than Psyshock brain-jacking him, the courier shot a few projectiles at the ceiling, dodged the frozen bullets, then rushed outside.

Toxic clouds had overtaken the skies as far as he could see, unleashing an acid downpour on the ship graveyard and corroding the metal husks. A large part of the area had gone up in smoke, probably Atom Cat’s doing; Ryan hoped that the kitty could hold his own against whatever allies Psyshock had brought with him.

Two mechanical hounds were the source of the gunfire, one standing atop an airbus husk, the other on the ground. They had the shape of dogs, except with a glass visor for eyes, a machine gun mounted on their back, and ammo compartments on the belly. Dynamis probably used these drones to support the Private Security, and Ryan wondered if the Meta had somehow hacked into them.

When time resumed, the courier sensed the acid rain drip on his clothes, eating at his hat and mask. Ryan’s clothes provided him little protection from the acid and had already started to dissolve; since he didn't know of any natural acid with these properties, the courier guessed it was a unique chemical composition, probably from an Orange Genome. A few minutes without cover, and he would look like a hunk of cheese.

Psyshock, standing atop the garage, attempted to pursue him, only to be forced back to dodge a glass spear aimed at his brain. A flying figure emerged from the workshop, attacking the Psycho with floating shards.

The Shroud occupied Psyshock, although the acid rain prevented him from using his invisibility. The poison corroded the vigilante’s glass armor, making him visible to everyone. Yet, he could still control the glass and silica from his machines, summoning an entire storm of sharp projectiles to keep the Psycho busy. Psyshock seemed immune to the acid rain, and moved at high speeds to dodge glass spears and blades.

Meanwhile, the drones’ machine guns opened fire on Ryan, who retaliated by targeting the one on the ship’s husk and pressing his coil gun’s trigger. The projectile, faster and more powerful than normal bullets, went through the robo-hound’s face and came out of its ass, blowing a hole in its circuitry.

The other leaped around, firing at will. Ryan whistled, his car rushing out of the smoke, and towards his location; the acid rain had consumed its windows and damaged the paint, much to the courier’s horror.

Still, the machine hound couldn’t dodge both Ryan’s shots and the vehicle. The Plymouth hit it like a deer on the road, smashing the drone into pieces.

“Cat!” Ryan shouted, rushing towards his car to take cover from the rain. “Cat!”

A chill went down his spine, as one of the raindrops suddenly transformed into a grenade right above his car.

Ryan barely had the time to backtrack before his wonderful Plymouth exploded in a burst of flames and iron parts. “My car!” the courier shouted in horror. “Not again!”

“Caught you, thief!”

eyes a bloodshot shade of crimson. She wore a sleeveless white shirt and tight shorts; Ryan might have called her

carried a bloody butcher knife in her right hand. Let’s not

before activating his time stop. As he did so, the same

was tainted by a Violet hue, but the woman had

furious about his car’s destruction, the courier decided to retreat into

again, a wave

out a cough of pain, as a butcher’s knife found its way to his hand, cutting his fingers and causing him to drop his coil gun

blocking his path towards the husk.

…

Uh oh.

head with both hands as if overtaken by rapturous desire. “It’s so

trench coat for the atom bomb. He barely had the time to bring it out of storage when the nimble killer teleported right in front of the courier, kicking the bomb away with

she reappeared and fled, Ryan sensed… he could not quite describe it, a gut feeling.

with raindrops, giving her an impressive teleportation range. A Violet Genome coupled with an Orange. One who drew her

another, enough

it took a fraction of a second to take effect. If she could sense its activation, Acid Rain had a very short window to react

but her power also took action faster than his own. Ryan guessed it made sense. His time-stop affected the entire

had found

under a husk’s shadow. He should have expected the Meta to send a heavy hitter after

Even the battle between Shroud and Psyshock had turned into a distant

Acid Rain laughed, reappearing atop an airbus’ remains with a machine gun. She had a clear line of sight towards Ryan. “Gutted him like

target her with a well-placed thrown knife to the face, but she teleported away before the weapon could

lost in feverish madness, “Send me there, you thief! You think

stopped time for a second, the woman vanishing before the effect halted the clock. He immediately stopped the effect within

but this time he anticipated her. While she managed to put a dagger in his stomach, Ryan grazed her left shoulder with his own knife, barely missing the neck. Showing extreme nimbleness rivaling his own, she backflipped to safety, standing beneath the rain while the courier remained safely below

wasn’t good; he only had one hand left, and he took more damage than she did. To add insult to injury, the acid droplets seemed to avoid hitting her body, leaving her impeccably dressed even in the middle of

one of blissful happiness. “Aw, it’s so

She…

She enjoyed getting hurt.

chef,” Ryan deadpanned dryly. “May I suggest some fava beans with

laugh. “I’ll hurt you for this!” she snarled, her expression a mix of anger and pleasure. “Oh yes,

house to grab weapons. The courier didn’t mind dying now,

brought out the plushie. It felt so tiny in his hand, and yet so

flip the hidden switch on the plushie’s back. “You forced me to do this. You forced me to do

and a grenade

words came

“Meep meep—”

his back hit the ground. He felt the plushie slip through his fingers, far away from

and his ears started to make sense of words again, he laid helpless on his back, half his body burned, the rest bleeding out. Acid Rain towered over him, like

to get inside your bowels. I’m sure you keep the map to the purple world there. Yes,

had

away from him and towards the shore. “Who are you?”

targeted the Psycho, who teleported away long before it could