The Perfect Run

Chapter 32

Ryan woke up on a terrible mattress, with a cat on his chest.

The animal looked at the courier with its big blue eyes, as he emerged from his deep sleep. The Persian cat had a coat of fur of the purest shade of white, and the lazy expression of a creature sleeping eighteen hours a day without shame.

It was...

It was the perfect Bond Villain cat!

Ryan immediately let out a cry of joy, while the cat looked at him with noble curiosity.

“I’m gonna call you…” Ryan briefly raised the feline above ground to check if it was a male or female, and then let his imagination do the rest. “Eugène-Henry von Schrodinger!”

Eugène-Henry meowed in response.

“The name sucks,” someone complained from the ‘room’ right next to his—another animal cage repurposed into a prison cell. Ryan recognized the voice as Sarah’s. “It sucks hard.”

“Much like many geniuses, I’m way ahead of my time,” Ryan replied, scratching Eugène-Henry behind his ears. “You like that name, don’t you? You like it, don’t you?”

“Is that the white cat?” Sarah peeked into Ryan’s private space, finding the courier sitting on his bed sheet, the cat on his lap. The courier promised himself to work on his diabolical mastermind pose, though he needed to get a cashmere suit first. “It has a sixth sense to find suckers willing to feed it. That’s why it’s so fat.”

“Hey, he’s not judging you on your appearance!”

“Once, I showed him a rat, like one meter away from his face, and that lazy furball didn’t even react.”

“Slander!” Ryan defended his new sidekick. “Is there a shower though? I think I caught fleas sleeping on that bed.”

“Yes, but the water is muddy. Ma says she will fix it today after she checks your car.”

Check his—

“Goddammit, I hope she doesn’t find the bodies,” Ryan said, rising up from the bed. Eugène-Henry instantly took over his place and moved below the bed sheet, to better protect the mattress from intruders.

“There’s a spot for that,” Little Sarah said casually. “The druggies call it the Happy Hole.”

As it turned out, Rust Town did have tourist spots.

Ryan started dressing, but immediately noticed something wrong. Namely, his A-bomb was missing, and some of his weapons weren’t at their place. Someone had clearly checked on his belongings while he was asleep.

Shortie may be willing to help, but she didn’t fully trust him yet.

The courier emerged from the orphanage to find Len tinkering with his car, having opened the car hood to look inside. She had put the water gun aside, to her right.

“Comrade Shortie, just because it’s an all-American car doesn’t give you the right to wreck it,” Ryan said. “Find yourself a Lada.”

Len turned her head away from the engine, and Ryan's playful demeanor disappeared instantly when she grabbed the water gun. “Riri, what have you done?”

What did he do?

What didn’t he do?

Ryan glanced inside the car hood, his old friend keeping her weapon aimed at his head. Unfortunately, Len had found the brain and jumped to the wrong conclusions.

“Riri, have you…” Len clearly didn’t want to finish her sentence but forced herself to. “Did you put someone in there?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many tries it took before I found the right person.” He immediately raised his hands while Len made a mortified face. “Relax, I’m kidding, I’m kidding! It’s not even sentient!”

“Riri, don’t, don’t joke about this,” she sputtered, keeping her weapon raised.

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized. “I default to humor when I’m stressed, and I didn’t have my morning coffee.”

Len remained as stiff and grim as ever. “Riri, where did it come from?”

“It’s vat-grown, a gift from another Genius.” No answer. “Shortie, I’m not a serial killer, and I don’t abduct hobos off the road to experiment on them.”

“Riri, I… I want to believe you’re not crazy. I really want to.” She shook her head. “But you keep a thermo-nuclear device with children nearby.”

if only she knew about the plushie.

if you’re wrong?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you

half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew I left a mess behind. My power only affects our universe, and all

is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time

water guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on the tip of her gun.

but eventually lowered the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said.

“Len, they have guns.”

themselves in this shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri,

sign of friendship. “Can you

searching in her jumpsuit and handing him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her reluctance to give the weapon away, but

Len didn’t trust him, she wanted to. He wouldn’t disappoint

she asked, as the courier put the bomb inside one

answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be

time-stop?

meant an early restart. Have you never wondered why

on. "That's

a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get back in time, I figured I should make

of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do you think your life is

If he had wanted to die for good, he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long

uncomfortable silence, Len abruptly changed

replied, before shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever

“Monaco? Why?”

car, and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back

Ryan notice that while

Baby steps.

Ryan boasted about his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long

I could work with, actually.” Len closed the hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you hook up a miniature

that was such a long story. Ryan worked

only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet Genomes summon creatures like that

pulling them

own, but some are alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable

“I don’t follow you.”

love so

you never considered...” Len trailed off with a worried frown, unable to say it

the horrors involved. It was a rabbit hole of depression, questionable ethics, and self-misery. He preferred to think of it as a universal memory-wipe. “Anyway, I thought the Chronoradio could help me locate a specific

went well for

Ryan replied with a sigh, opening his car’s door. “But I never found a way to reach an alternate Earth, even

Did she think he would get himself killed? Then

offer from Wyvern and then Vulcan, but I’m not sure if she will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to have my windshield cleaned,

a deeper frown than

heard Dynamis jailed you, so I investigated,” Ryan admitted. “What happened

them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed

the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more self-obsessed than

the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear

attacked one of

“But… they caught me. Somebody

tried to fight for?”

shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for free. I had to help the Augusti transport

to go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s an

love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From what you told me, he has to

down Psyshock would also prevent him from piloting that Mechron mech later on. “And while I don’t believe it, Vulcan says she

any alternative. “I’ve… I need more

my power,

looking away. “I want to help you, Riri. I

you want to help at all means a lot to

blushed a little. “But the thing is Riri, even if we succeed in helping

We.

Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But every time he looked at his old partner, the

what could

are things I can’t forget, Riri,” she

me,” Ryan stated the

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255