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

you jump into another universe every time you die, and leave

die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull

struggling to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you

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

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 anything

“Len, they have guns.”

shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri, won’t help anyone. It’s just

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

bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her reluctance to give the

didn’t trust him, she

your hands on a weapon like that?” she asked, as the

really want to know?” Len nodded, and Ryan sighed. She wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to have a nuke

with your time-stop?

I said an early restart, I meant an early

on. "That's

burnt a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get back

looked at him with a mix of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do you think your

living." If he had wanted to die for good, he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist, there’s always a chance things

abruptly

he

“Monaco? Why?”

and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in their proper place. “Should I expect a mounted water turret? Please tell

was just checking the Chronoradio and its associated parts.” Only then did Ryan notice that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len kept the gun

Baby steps.

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

closed the hood once her work done. “Riri,

was such a long story. Ryan worked many loops

a crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet Genomes summon creatures like that monster

them from these

these universes radically differ from our own, but some are alternate histories Earth

“I don’t follow you.”

set in stone, but in truth, it’s like the water you love so much, ever changing.” Ryan’s experience had taught him as

trailed off with a

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 reality, and then

timeline where things went well

reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I can

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

follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to

answered with a deeper frown

so I investigated,” Ryan admitted. “What happened

use the citizens of Rust Town as underpaid labor in their factories,” Len said with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed themselves, but provide neither healthcare nor safety guidelines. One out of five people

practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the

turn their eyes away from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties. Since nobody would stand up for this place,

you attacked one

face turning grimmer. “But… they caught me. Somebody ratted me

you tried to fight for?” Ryan guessed, his friend nodding.

“Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for

I don’t intend to go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock

didn’t like the idea. Even if she collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she

a thermo-nuclear device. Besides making the world a better place, taking down Psyshock would also prevent him from piloting that Mechron mech later on. “And while I don’t believe it, Vulcan says she can enhance my power. Unless you have another suggestion, they seem

have any alternative. “I’ve… I need more time, Riri. Time

out my power,

replied while looking away. “I want to help you, Riri. I really

fact that you

if we succeed in helping you, I… I’m not

We.

had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm

could never

Riri,” she admitted.

don’t feel safe around me,” Ryan stated the

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