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.”

God, if only she knew about the plushie.

if you

universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew I left a mess behind. My power only affects our universe, and

full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time

Fat Man,”

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 dangerous near the

“Len, they have guns.”

need weapons to defend themselves in this shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri,

as a sign of friendship. “Can you

hand on it, their gloves

trust him, she wanted to.

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

his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to have a nuke as a restart

you automatically restart with your time-stop? You said it caused you early

early restart, I meant an early restart. Have you never wondered why I

finally caught on. "That's how you

bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get

Genius looked at him with a mix of pity,

picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist, there’s always a chance

an uncomfortable silence, Len abruptly changed

shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever you do, Len, don’t sleep

“Monaco? Why?”

Len started putting the engine pieces

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.

about his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the

saw that. There’s a lot I could work with, actually.” Len closed the hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you hook

that was such a long story. Ryan worked many loops

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

them from these

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

“I don’t follow you.”

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

trailed off with a worried frown, unable

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 specific reality, and then cross

things went

a way to reach an alternate Earth, even

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

follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to have my windshield cleaned, and Bone Daddy will become someone

Len answered with a

jailed you, so I

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

don’t think Il Migliore supports these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more

turn their eyes away from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties.

you attacked one

caught me. Somebody ratted me out and

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

I guess people always try to 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. I had to help the Augusti transport their

“I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s an Augusti-exclusive option as far as I can

organization. “We could capture him,”

a better place, taking down Psyshock would also prevent him from piloting that Mechron mech later on. “And while I don’t believe it,

need more

my power, or

I really do. No one else

you want to help at all means

Riri, even if we succeed in helping you, I…

We.

future together. He thought his feelings for Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past

what could

she admitted. “My father, that stuff with

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

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