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.”

the plushie.

lower lip. “What if you jump

power works,” Ryan reassured her. “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 basis if I knew I left a mess behind. My power only affects our

to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost at will. It’s

water guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a

the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I… even if there are

“Len, they have guns.”

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

Vulcan, as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it

hand on it, their

didn’t trust him, she wanted

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

nodded, and Ryan sighed. She wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to have a

you automatically restart with your time-stop? You

early restart, I meant an early restart. Have

on.

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

at him with a mix of pity,

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

silence, Len abruptly changed the

I’ve slept in way worse places,” the courier replied, before shuddering as he remembered one of his

“Monaco? Why?”

started putting the

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

Baby steps.

his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long line to work on

hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you hook

long story. Ryan worked many loops and decades on that particular

is something of a crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the

pulling them from these

histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable and constantly fluctuate, only becoming ‘real’ when

“I don’t follow you.”

like the water you love so much, ever

considered...” Len trailed off with a worried

in it 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.

things went well for

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

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

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

a

you, so I investigated,”

underpaid labor in their factories,” Len said with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work

these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more self-obsessed than

problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties.

one of

caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led

people you tried to fight for?”

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

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

love for her organization. “We could

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 believe it, Vulcan says she can enhance

I need more time, Riri. Time to figure

my power, or

I really do. No one else

you want to help at all means a lot to

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

We.

the time when Ryan believed they had a future together. He thought his feelings for Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm of

what could never

she

me,”

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