The Perfect Run

“This is stupid!”

“Lanka…” Jamie trailed off at the back of the car. “Calm down.”

Ryan listened to their bickering while peeking through his car’s window. Dynamis’ Star Studios—which won a prize for name originality—spanned roughly two and a half square kilometers of surface, located east of New Rome. They had an entire open park dedicated to them and roughly seven warehouses. From afar, Ryan noticed the staff moving cardboard cutouts, interns carrying coffee to their superiors, and stuntmen prepping themselves. The studios only had one checkpoint entrance, and few guards; they clearly didn’t expect an attack.

Still, the group had parked outside the studio’s confines, unable to find a path inside without security cameras in the way. Ki-jung napped with her head against her boyfriend’s shoulder, her eyes closed. While the group remained at safe distance from the studios, she had sent her rats to do scouting work.

From what Ryan understood, Chitter’s enhanced rat family acted as relays, allowing her to control a swarm of vermin over a large area. Ryan suspected that instead of true telepathy, which was a Blue power, Chitter physically modified her rats into an extension of her own nervous system. On one hand, it meant destroying her main rats would cancel her power for a time, but on the other hand, her vermin familiars could act independently without her direct input.

“I mean, why would we risk ourselves fighting Wyvern, aka the dragon shapeshifter who can take on the Boss, so he,” Lanka pointed an accusing finger at Ryan, who made an offended pose, “can earn himself a personal favor?”

“Because Vulcan wants it, and she’s one of the Capos,” Jamie replied, “and with luck, we won’t have to face her. I doubt she has time for actor work.”

“What happens if you’re wrong? None of us can take her on!”

Thing was, Ryan had a bad feeling too.

He couldn’t explain it, but the courier had developed a strong intuition over his various loops. And right now, his sixth sense warned him of danger, of someone watching him. Yet their current location should be a blind spot for the security cameras.

He should install a radar in his car.

A bit distraught, Ryan put on the radio and activated the special feature, hoping to find good old-school music to drown out the noise. “—in other news, the Roman Republic is still under curfew, after Gaius Julius Caesar’s assassination—”

Again with Caesar? It had been two thousand years! “What news channel is that?” Jamie asked, curious. “I don’t recognize the speaker.”

“It’s my Chronoradio,” Ryan explained, changing the channel. “It listens to channels across space and time. But for some reason, it usually defaults to the Roman Republic era.”

“You should work on your stories, blabbermouth,” Lanka taunted him. “They didn’t have radios two thousand years ago.”

“In one version of the past, they did.”

“You can’t have multiple versions of the past.”

Ryan looked at her with a deadpan look. It was wasted effort with his mask on, but still. “That’s not how time works,” he said, with the same tone as an adult talking to a petulant child.

“Fuck you, Einstein.”

“Whenever you want,” Ryan replied, before finally finding the Post-Apocalyptic Blues channel. Ki-jung chose this moment to wake up.

“So?” Jamie asked her.

“Wyvern isn’t present,” she said, scratching her neck. “Someone’s filling in for her.”

“See, I knew she didn’t do her own stunts,” Jamie told Lanka, vindicated. “She’s probably too busy with fieldwork.”

“There’s no guarantee she won’t fly in after somebody calls the alarm,” she replied, opening the window and lighting a cigarette.

“The bad news, however, is that Wardrobe replaces her for the stunts,” Ki-jung continued, “and Atom Cat is there too.”

Jamie didn’t sound concerned about Wardrobe, but instantly bristled when she mentioned the other Genome. “Wardrobe gains power based on her costume, right?” Ryan asked, trying to stir up his memory.

“If she dresses as a vampire she drinks blood and burns in the sun, if she dresses as Wyvern, then she can fly.” Ki-jung nodded. “It’s a very weak version of the real thing, so even if she dresses like Augustus you can still hurt her, and the effect lasts only as long as her clothes are relatively intact.”

“Yellow Genomes are bullshit,” Lanka complained.

“I can understand Wardrobe's presence, but Atom Cat?” Jamie asked his girlfriend.

a guest appearance in the movie,” she replied, showing

turned his head around. “Why abort? He’s that

Cat is... was, one of

a spy?” Ryan asked. “Like

find the right words. “He’s having a teenage rebellion phase, but he’ll come back into the fold, eventually. His parents are part ofAugustus’ inner circle, and we’ve been explicitly forbidden

him touch you, blabbermouth,”

transform anything into a bomb, but only with direct skin contact,”

before asking the really important question to

“They use CGI.”

his head on the steering wheel, mourning the loss

asked Jamie. “We go in gun blazing, make a ruckus,

Jamie replied, turning to his girlfriend. “Here’s what we’ll do. You flood the studios with rats from afar, make a ruckus, then

understood the obvious flaw in this plan. “Wait,

“No.”

courier pointed a finger at Jamie.

won’t let you get in a firefight with Atom Cat, Quicksave,” Jamie replied. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want any

courier said, his fellow Genome

through it.” The swordsman shrugged, before turning to

Ryan turned to Lanka for support, but she simply looked out of the window, finishing her cigarette. He couldn’t blame them since they weren’t immortal, but damn, it sucked all the fun

minutes passed, Ryan noticed agitation near the studio. People getting out of the warehouses,

Then they came crawling.

of black and brown rats. They escaped from the warehouses, breaking windows under their sheer weight. There were so many of them, that the rodents had to

pity for the poor Dynamis trainees, confronted with this terror while they toiled without any hope for a paycheck. Obviously, panic spread all around the area, the staff fleeing in all directions, coffee cups being spilled, guards desperately trying to

whistled. “This city has a rat

Jamie chuckled. “Now, let’s go home before

especially since he still felt

the city’s broad lanes. As he drove all the way to the group’s shared house, he almost hoped for Wyvern

home without a

a false image of what superheroes should be, since they were brutally competent, but

of the window. Ryan stopped time,

kind,” Ryan replied when

you will finally see your girlfriend

like?” Ki-jung

to her delight. He had to admit, he started to like this group. He wouldn’t get too attached nor make the effort to know them better since

the others climb down but didn’t follow yet.

“Also, it’s movie night. Robocop or Robocop

He was busy trying to find the Jazz Sixties channel on his chronoradio when Ki-jung reached the house’s door, exchanging

stopped, as she was within an inch of the door handle. Ryan lowered his car window. “What’s

the rats I left at home,” the rodent

scampered off?” Jamie

her head. “I explicitly told them to stay

moving first with a frown on her face. Ki-jung took a step back, while her female friend put a hand

Click.

that oh-so-familiar

transformed into a giant burst of flames and debris; the inferno swallowed both Lanka and Ki-jung whole and incinerated them instantly. The

his car and rushed at Jamie’s side, making a futile attempt

mouthful of dust, ashes, and stones for his trouble, the entire house having been vaporized. Jamie, thanks

Emotionally though...

“KI-JUNG!”

girlfriend’s side, but even with her Genome durability, the blast had killed the young woman instantly. Her flesh had been seared so much,

upon observing the corpses, before glancing around to look for the responsible. No one in sight, although he couldn’t distinguish things clearly through

while holding his girlfriend in his arms, his horrified eyes then wandering to Lanka’s body.

medicine enough to know they lacked either the tools or the time to make a difference,

Jamie looked at Ryan with a new emotion: pure, undiluted fury.