The Perfect Run

“When is the sound coming?” Lanka asked Ryan for the third time, an elbow on the loudspeaker.

“When you find me another brain,” Ryan replied, tinkering with the device. A few people had already taken over the dance floor, but the house’s equipment couldn’t support a true rave party. Seriously, Ki-jung needed to stop buying Dynamis home products. They were barely a cut above pre-Wars Chinese imports.

Actually, did buying the enemy's products count as collaboration?

“Stop distracting him,” Narcinia told Lanka, defending Ryan with such zeal that he considered making her his sidekick. The Green Genome was busy cultivating strange, phosphorescent mushrooms on the ground. She had promised it would help with the rave, and the courier let her run wild with her imagination.

Quicksave glanced at Mathias, who was talking with Fortuna and other members of the Killer Seven. Half an hour had passed since their conversation, and the house was now filled to the brim with guests.

“So, you’re adopted?” Ryan bluntly asked Narcinia. “Did you ever learn who your birth parents were?”

“Ryan!” Lanka snapped at him.

“They were raiders,” Narcinia replied, almost casually. “Father Torque said they were killers and rapists, and that Augustus punished them because it was divine justice.”

Ryan could have sworn the TV’s screen threatened to crack for a brief second. He glanced up at Mathias, whose smile contrasted with the icy look in his eyes.

“Sorry,” Lanka said, glaring at the courier. Thankfully, the power outburst had been subtle enough for her to miss it. “Blabbermouth has no tact at all.”

“It’s okay!” Narcinia replied with a cute smile. “My real family is the one that raised me. My mom and dad are awesome, and my siblings even more so.”

“I was adopted too, but it sucked,” Ryan said with a shrug. “Well, half of it.”

“Really?” Narcinia’s head perked up in interest, while Lanka listened in silence.

“My parents died when bandits wiped out our community to steal our supplies,” Ryan said. It had been so long ago, it had lost almost all emotional effect. “I was… eleven I think? Maybe twelve. And I turned out great!”

“Ryan.” Lanka’s voice had lost all playfulness. “Did these bandits...”

Ryan glanced at the snake tattoo on her arm, that of her former gang. “You weren’t among them and they’re all dead,” the courier replied with a shrug. “I’m over it.”

Lanka fell silent with a thoughtful look on her face, while Narcinia looked between them in confusion. Thankfully, a newcomer interrupted them before the mood turned even more awkward.

Ryan almost didn’t recognize Vulcan at first sight, because the Genius had cleaned herself up; she had traded her usual clothes for a black halter-top and pants, and let her hair fall down on her shoulders. While she was no head-turning beauty, the Augusti Capo looked great.

He really had a thing for Geniuses shorter than him.

“Ceres, Sphere.” Vulcan smirked upon seeing the courier. “Ryan.”

“Hey, my favorite arms dealer,” Ryan rejoiced, raising a screwdriver. “Your arrival is just perfect.”

“Always,” she replied, a hand on her waist. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Do you have anything to boost the sound?” Ryan asked. “I’m trying to jury-rig the loudspeakers, but I need more juice.”

“Now you’re talking my language,” Vulcan said, searching inside her pocket and tossing him some kind of mouse-sized battery. “It’s a mini-generator.”

“Why do you carry that in your pocket?” Lanka asked, an eyebrow raised.

“‘Cause my phone has less autonomy than a sloth,” the Genius replied with a shrug, before grabbing a beer can from Lanka’s personal reserve. “It’s been an exhausting day.”

“Did you kill the Meta?” Narcinia asked before Ryan could.

“Almost, but Dynamis got to them first. Fucking kill stealers.”

“What, they tried to buy them off?” Lanka snickered.

“With bullets and lasers,” Vulcan replied. “They sent three armored squadrons, plus heavy hitters like Devilry and that bitch Wyvern. Those vultures fell on the Meta and opened fire on sight.”

Oh, was there gas in their alliance? “Well, I guess it was time to clean up loose ends,” Ryan said.

“Adam didn’t look surprised. He sacrificed a few men, but he managed to escape on a goddamn submarine.”

asked, unable to resist the lure of

a freaking submarine with Mechron’s emblem on

Lanka toyed with her smoke, a frown forming on her face.

sipped her beer while glancing

but he was wary of involving her now. She was probably busy with

Vulcan’s gadget, he completed his design and amplified the sound, turning the modest loudspeaker into a weapon of mass destruction. As if to answer his success, Narcinia’s mushrooms unleashed a faint colored mist

screwdriver for his drink, Ryan

shouted while raising his glass, his voice reverberating through the loudspeaker. “With

Lanka created multiple colored spheres above the dance floor, one for each Elixir type. They floated near the ceiling

more people started taking over

them,” Lanka said, before turning to Narcinia.

“I help

kind of heaven?” Ryan asked, immediately interested. “Are

a bit. “Sorry Ryan, I’m not supposed

been my dream.

know how to make drugs?” Lanka asked, finishing

the planet except Elixirs, and when he ran out,

childhood dream, Ryan.” Vulcan brazenly put an arm around his shoulder. “You’ve got

an open relationship?” Ryan replied while brazenly putting his hand around her waist. Lanka looked at him as if expecting the courier to

are,” Vulcan replied, without pushing his hand away. “So it’s

you talking about work or something

clearly eager to meet Ryan again. “Father Torque says the equipment needs an update. Especially

know jack shit about tech,” Vulcan replied, her amusement turning

at once, and that he may ascend

please?” Ryan asked Vulcan, doing his best impersonation of a kitten’s cute

before glancing at the dance floor. “You know how

I say I’m amazing, then

to the test, shall

Ryan had mastered every dance under the sun, so he

asked Ryan. He could

chuckled in response, and Ryan may have smiled, if not for the unpleasant sensation of someone watching him from afar. A

observed him from the bar, her gaze first one of surprise, then confusion. She started asking questions to Sparrow nearby, and while Ryan could

though.

“Fuck off!”

noise. The swordsman had grabbed a fire-manipulator whom Ryan had sighted earlier during the party by the shirt,

ignored Jamie’s rules and brought Bliss

paralyzed and unable to say anything;

was powerful enough to affect Genomes. It was also incredibly addictive, which Ryan could personally attest. He could never finish a

mention the hidden,

tried to protest, even while Jamie looked murderous. It was not a pretty sight, since the Made Man was a tall brawler built like a bear. While he hadn’t manifested any laser weapons from his hands, the scowl of black fury on his face made it clear he was barely restraining himself.

fact, Ryan had only ever seen him this angry

“But—”

off!” Jamie snarled before throwing the Genomes backward, his tone

a cowed face and his inhaler. “It’s okay?” Jamie immediately asked his girlfriend, his frightful face softening back into

she clearly didn’t

turned to Ryan when he and Vulcan approached the couple. “Sorry for the mess,” Zanbato

the house’s entrance. “I’ll discipline that idiot,

then back at Ryan. “I think we will retire

“Sure,” the courier said.

I trust you not to do anything stupid?”

I will not start any fires under this

specific,” he noted but had more pressing matters on his mind. “Don’t

upstairs, leaving the ground and main room to the guests. “I didn’t know Chitter was a recovering addict,” Vulcan noted, showing surprising insight. “I’m glad

get high on your own supply,” Ryan

at his surprised face. “I watch movies too.

floor. “Quicksave.” The bodyguard cleared her throat. “Ms.

tone shifting from flirtatious to

don’t know,” Sparrow replied. “But you can

while the Genius clearly wasn’t happy about it, she didn’t seem willing to deny the request either. That Livia clearly had sway