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. “Len, there are no permanent consequences around

what if you’re wrong?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe every time you die, and leave a nuclear

“I guarantee you I’m not jumping into an alternate universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly

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

got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on the tip of her

hesitated, clearly torn between trusting him and her own fears about him, but eventually lowered the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I… even if there are no consequences from your point of view, I don’t want

“Len, they have guns.”

Genius replied. “But

as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it back then? I swear

in her jumpsuit and handing him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The

she

did you even put your hands on a weapon like that?” she

nodded, and Ryan sighed. She wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and

restart with your time-stop? You said it caused

an early restart. Have you

caught on. "That's how you

had already burnt a lot of bridges. "And since

Genius looked at him with a mix of pity, sadness, and compassion.

course not, I love living." 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 the subject. “You slept

slept in way worse places,” the courier replied, before shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever you do, Len, don’t sleep in

“Monaco? Why?”

started putting the engine

then did Ryan notice that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len kept the gun in

Baby steps.

putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last

There’s a lot 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 many loops and decades on that particular

various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet Genomes summon creatures like that

them from these

radically differ from our own, but some are alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable and constantly fluctuate, only

“I don’t follow you.”

past is set in stone, but in truth, it’s like the water you love so much,

never considered...” Len trailed off with a

die? I try not to think about it.” If only because of 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

where things went

found a way to reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle

she asked with a worried frown. Did she think he would get himself killed? Then again, they were close to the Junkyard. “What about

recruitment 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, and Bone Daddy will become someone else’s

a deeper

Dynamis jailed you, so I

for dangerous work

the junior heroes he had met

eyes away from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties. Since nobody would stand

one

details, her face turning grimmer. “But… they caught me. Somebody ratted me out and

fight for?” Ryan guessed,

take the easy way out.” Len shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for free.

Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently,

collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From

prevent him from piloting that Mechron

didn’t have any alternative. “I’ve… I need more time,

my power,

I really do. No one else should have to

with genuine warmth. “The fact that you want to help

a little. “But the thing is Riri, even if we succeed in helping you, I… I’m not sure if

We.

Ryan believed they had a future together. He thought his feelings for 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 never

I can’t forget, Riri,” she admitted. “My

around me,” Ryan stated the obvious. Like

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