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.”

she knew about the plushie. “Len,

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

“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 universe, and all I do

correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost at will. It’s

while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said,

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

“Len, they have guns.”

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

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

on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her reluctance to give the weapon away, but she

trust him, she wanted to. He wouldn’t disappoint

like that?” she asked, as the courier put the bomb

I was bored, and I thought it would

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

I meant an early restart. Have you never

caught on. "That's how you

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

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

had wanted to die for good, he would have picked a

abruptly changed

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

“Monaco? Why?”

He glanced at the car, and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in their proper

notice that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len kept the

Baby steps.

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

hood once her work done.

worked

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

pulling them

alternate histories Earth could

“I don’t follow you.”

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

considered...” Len trailed off with a worried frown, unable to say

and everyone 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. He preferred to think of it as a universal memory-wipe. “Anyway, I thought the Chronoradio could

things went well for

I never found a way to reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I can do with the Chronoradio is listen to what could

himself killed? Then again, they were close to the Junkyard. “What about that

supposed to receive a 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

Len answered with a deeper frown

I investigated,” Ryan

for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed themselves, but provide neither healthcare nor safety guidelines. One out of five

Even the junior heroes he had

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

you attacked one

“But… they caught me. Somebody

of the people you tried to fight for?”

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

time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s an Augusti-exclusive option as far as I can

Even if she collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From what you told me, he has

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,

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

out my power, or

looking away. “I want to help you, Riri. I

“The fact that you want to help at all means a lot to

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

We.

so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But every time he looked at his old partner, the

could

things I can’t forget, Riri,” she admitted.

feel safe around me,” Ryan stated the

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