The Perfect Run

Ryan loved Genome parties. They always involved a lot of property damage.

He had attended a few elsewhere in Italy, usually when he joined a group. However, this one looked like it would be the biggest yet; and since tomorrow would mark Quicksave’s first week in New Rome, the courier intended to cap it off with a bang.

Well, he had probably spent two months or so in the city across various loops, but still! This party might be something entirely new and surprising.

“How many people will come?” Ryan asked, having traded his usual trench coat, hat, and mask for a classy, dark purple suit. While Ki-jung had insisted he could dress casually, the Genome would settle for nothing less than the best outfit in the room.

You couldn’t half-ass elegance.

“Oh, no more than one-hundred,” Ki-jung replied, her fingers fidgeting in anxiety. She had traded her glasses for contact lenses, and her modest clothes for a sleeveless black dress. Her boyfriend meanwhile wore a simple blue shirt and black pants.

“Do you want more tuna pizzas?” Lanka asked while on the sofa while typing on a phone. That tasteless black sheep alone hadn’t made any effort to dress well. “We still got enough party funds for four more.”

“Add a few vegan ones for Fortuna,” Ki-jung said, before checking the kitchen for the fifth time in the past hour. Jamie had gathered an impressive array of alcohol bottles on the counter. “Will that be enough?”

“They’re the strongest liquors I could find,” Jamie replied, intending to work as the barman and already busy making cocktails. Since Genomes had a more efficient metabolism than normal humans, they needed ten times the usual dose to even feel the effects of alcohol.

“I’ve got Genome-only stuff in my car,” Ryan said. “But you will start shining in the dark and see invisible things.”

“Don’t worry,” Jamie said quickly. “Fortuna is bringing strong stuff, and, I quote, ‘party pills.’”

“No Bliss?” Ki-jung asked, her face tensing up.

“No Bliss,” her boyfriend reassured her, while someone hit the doorbell. “Come in!”

The first guests opened the door, Ki-jung anxiously standing straight next to Ryan while they walked inside. Night had fallen outside, and while the party was scheduled to start at eight, most guests would be fashionably late.

“Hello everyone!” Fortuna entered the house, followed by her boyfriend and a younger girl around fifteen. Lucky Lady wore a golden dress even more scandalously lavish than usual; whereas the teenage girl dressed so tastelessly, that Ryan couldn’t look at her without fighting the urge to drag her to a tailor’s shop.

Fortuna’s date was around Ryan’s physical age, with short well-groomed brown hair, blue eyes, and an elegant all black formal suit. He looked rather plain when compared to his girlfriend, but the courier felt an intense vibe coming from him.

In fact, he seemed vaguely familiar.

The mystery boy immediately singled out the courier, who waved a hand at him. “Hi, I’m Ryan. I would say I’m immortal, but you probably know that already.”

“Mathias,” the man replied, shaking Ryan’s hand with a small smile. “Mathias Martel.”

The way he moved, his aura, the slight inflection in the voice… “I know, we’ve met,” Ryan replied cheerfully, testing the waters.

“You did?” Fortuna asked while Mathias’ smile strained a bit. Since he hadn’t cut that lucky woman’s hair this time around, she seemed a lot more well-disposed towards Ryan. “Matt, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Yeah, you’re usually a very transparent kind of guy, Matt.” Ryan winked at him. “I hope you don’t hide anything else.”

Matt’s poker face remained ironclad while he answered his date’s question. “It didn’t seem important at the time.”

“Fortuna, you brought your sister?” Ki-jung asked the blonde bombshell, although her eyes remained focused on the teenage girl. “Isn’t she too young for this kind of party?”

“I’m almost fifteen!” The younger girl pouted. While she was no top model like her sister, she would probably grow into an attractive woman in time. She had short, light brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and a heart-shaped face.

“Fourteen and a half,” Fortuna teased her, her younger sister pinching her in the arm.

“Hi, I’m Narcinia, Narcinia Veran.” The teen smiled brightly at everyone. “Alias Ceres.”

“I still can’t believe Augustus gave you an Olympian name before me,” Fortuna complained, her boyfriend glancing away. “If only Felix hadn’t gone crazy, we could have become Diana and Apollo.”

“Has he answered your messages?” Ki-jung asked, a look of concern on her face.

“I wish!” Fortuna complained, crossing her arms angrily. “I swear when he comes back—”

“If he comes back,” Narcinia replied with a depressed face.

“Maybe he got hit by a car,” Ryan said, the others glaring at him. “Well, he is a cat. Or was that too soon?”

“He will come back,” Fortuna insisted, though she looked at Jamie and Ki-jung. “Can’t you help? Give him a call?”

The couple exchanged an embarrassed glance, one heavy with regrets. “He didn’t leave the house on the best terms,” Jamie said stoically. “Felix… Felix needs time to figure himself out.”

“But—”

Mathias put a hand on his girlfriend’s arm before she could insist. He seemed more insightful than her, though that wasn’t hard.

Having talked with Atom Cat on the Dynamis path, Ryan quickly put two and two together. He had a pretty good idea of what caused his feline friend to leave the Augusti, namely, Ki-jung's situation.

Something else also bothered Ryan. Felix the Cat said his sister Narcinia was adopted, and she matched a certain description… Could it be?

This party already promised a lot of surprises.

she scanned the

his bodyguard took a bathroom break,”

the same time

maniac who attacked Luigi before,” Jamie replied with a sigh. “And yes, a salami. Don’t ask me why. They say the city is

Ryan said. “Some handsome fellow possessing a strange sense of justice, fighting crime with a hockey stick in one hand

only attacked Luigi then?” Lanka pointed out from the sofa, too lazy to leave her spot. “Nah, blabbermouth, it’s just petty revenge. If you ask me, the jackass deserved it, always asking

get what he deserves,” Jamie said firmly, glancing at Fortuna. “Now that the Meta-Gang has left New Rome,

yet,” Fortuna complained. “Though we cleaned up Rust Town and

They had prevented a large fire, but the Junkyard had transformed into a pile of molten trash conveniently hiding the bunker’s entrance. Vulcan had tasked the group

bunker, and Len hadn’t contacted him again either. He hoped the party would

we discuss this while…” Ki-jung cleared her throat while looking at

has seen right through us,” Ryan said with a smirk, delighting at making

I’m sure one of you is the Hockey Killer,” the man replied with

joke and laughed, none louder than Ryan himself. Touché. “It’s okay, Chitter, I vouch for my Mathias,” Fortuna said, putting her head on her man’s

agreed to a second date,” Mathias replied with a stoic

going to happen whether you like it

the two of you meet?” Ki-jung

know that time when my third apartment had a gas leak last week?” Fortuna asked. “I narrowly avoided death by falling off the window, and

power rescued you,” Mathias corrected her with a deadpan face. “I didn’t expect you to fall on me from the third floor. That was

at first sight,”

if you were alright, and when I tried to leave because

chuckled. “The world’s most beautiful woman falls on your

he was immune to Fortuna’s charm and she couldn’t

said it without any hint of sarcasm whatsoever. “When

Narcinia finally spoke up. She seemed a bit shy in the presence of

at Ryan, who showed them the DJ: a brain in a jar

cyber-brain as a DJ?” Narcinia asked, though unlike the others she seemed more excited than bothered.

shouldn’t have asked you to take care of the playlist,” Ki-jung told Ryan with a

they want!” Ryan replied, activating DJ Brain.

its tank. As the liquid protecting the grey

nodding to herself to the

Ki-jung said, while her rats started breakdancing around the

Theft Auto remix,” Mathias said, much to Ryan’s surprise. “A

he was clearly

I make indie games on the side,” her date replied with a sheepish grin,

understood the jargon, except Ryan, who had stars in his eyes. However, he decided to test that man’s knowledge first, before getting his hopes up. “Have you

I prefer Super Metroid,” Mathias replied. “More

“Best Square RPG?”

VI holds a special place in my

planet!” Ryan was almost brought to tears at finding a soulmate. “I

Lanka asked Mathias, raising her head above the sofa with a beer can in hand. “Name’s Lanka by the

painted brown, with thirty beer cans in a corner

Lanka shrugged before he could finish. “If you tell anyone what’s below

putting an arm around his. He seemed much more uncomfortable about open displays of affection than his girlfriend. Ryan got the feeling she had more or

the kitchen and then raised it at her thumb.

react, a drop of blood falling on the parquet. The liquid quickly expanded into a bubble while taking

group looked

in

cry. “Nothing

make any kind of goat?”

“Of course! Why?”

pure-hearted girl deep in her big eyes, and then whispered two words that would

“Goat fights.”

made a second goat. A black-furred born-fighter, with golden eyes. “Which one do you take, Ryan?” she asked, as the two goats glared at each

“The black one.”

could already see the untapped

making eight goats, as new guests decided to participate. She granted each of them a different color and held a tournament while the house

up his champion half in French, half in English. She locked horns with her rival, ready to claim her rightful place as the competition’s winner.

Lanka asked, having bet on a golden goat, and grown strangely

couldn’t stand long against Shub-Niggurath’s implacable ferocity. The black goat managed to toss her rival to the side, who joined the other defeated contestants in

yes!” Ryan instantly petted his black goat, who raised her head with smug confidence. The spectators applauded, though none as loudly as Narcinia.

her current smoke. With the spectacle finished, most guests dispersed to talk in a corner or

were white?” Ryan accused her, stroking Shub-Niggurath’s ear. Actually, he did cheat once, but only against Fortuna. Considering her insane luck, he

to everyone who would listen. Jamie, ever the peoples’ person, engaged Mathias in a friendly conversation while mixing cocktails, though the programmer remained guarded. Ki-jung welcomed every new guest as they arrived, growing

most of them advertised. A telekinetic whom Ryan recognized as one of Renesco’s customers helped Jamie with the bar by moving drinks

Ryan would be disappointed if the party

me of goat racism?” Lanka brought him back

rats, the rodents climbing on top of

eat them,” Ryan suggested, his goat champion looking up at him. “Only the losers, Shub-Niggurath.

how do we get rid of the wolf afterward?” Lanka asked the hard question, expecting