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.”

only she knew about the plushie. “Len,

asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump

universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew

even scarier,” Len said, still struggling to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct,

some people get water guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on

her own fears about him, but eventually lowered the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I…

“Len, they have guns.”

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

would hand it over to Vulcan, as a sign of friendship.

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

trust him, she wanted to. He

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

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 as a

automatically restart with your time-stop? You said

early restart. Have

caught on. "That's how

this mechanism, he had already burnt a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get back in

a mix of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do you think your

for good, he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I

abruptly changed the subject. “You

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

“Monaco? Why?”

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

its associated parts.” Only then did Ryan notice that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len

Baby steps.

hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long line to work on this

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

worked many loops and

crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet

them from

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

“I don’t follow you.”

that the past is 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 worried frown, unable

when I 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

things went well for

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

with a worried frown. Did she think he would get himself killed? Then again,

recruitment offer from Wyvern and then Vulcan, but I’m not sure if she will follow through if I’m

with a

so I investigated,”

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

these practices.” Even the junior heroes he

shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties. Since nobody would

one of Dynamis'

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

of the people you tried to fight for?”

out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for free. I had to help

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

like the idea. Even if she collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We

it wouldn’t be 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

need more time, Riri.

out my power, or

“I want to help you, Riri. I really do. No one else

said with genuine warmth. “The fact that you want

thing is Riri, even if we succeed in

We.

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

what could

things I can’t forget, Riri,” she admitted. “My father, that stuff

me,”

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