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.

doing a guest appearance in the movie,” she

his head around. “Why abort? He’s

Cat is... was, one of

a spy?” Ryan

trying to 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,

you, blabbermouth,” Lanka said, “or

into a bomb, but only with direct skin contact,” Ki-jung

before asking the really important question to

“They use CGI.”

courier put his head on the steering wheel, mourning

we do?” Lanka asked Jamie. “We go in gun blazing, make a ruckus, and then bolt

replied, turning to his girlfriend. “Here’s what we’ll do. You flood the studios with rats from

immediately understood the obvious flaw in this plan. “Wait,

“No.”

a finger at Jamie. “You can’t do this to

Quicksave,” Jamie

much!” the courier said, his fellow Genome sighing in defeat. “You’re killing me, Jamie!

it.” The swordsman shrugged, before turning to Ki-jung.

looked out of the window, finishing her cigarette. He couldn’t blame them since they weren’t immortal,

passed, Ryan noticed agitation near the studio. People

Then they came crawling.

their sheer weight. There were so many

hope for a paycheck. Obviously, panic spread all around the area, the staff fleeing in all directions, coffee

whistled. “This city

should satisfy Vulcan,” Jamie chuckled. “Now, let’s go home

more, especially since he

studio for the city’s broad lanes. As he drove all the way to the group’s shared house, he almost hoped for Wyvern to come from the skies, or Atom Cat to track them down on a motorcycle for an epic car

home

disappointed the courier. Perhaps Leo Hargraves' Carnival had given Ryan a false image of what superheroes should be, since they were brutally competent, but Dynamis' corporate champions didn't impress him

sulking, blabbermouth?” Lanka asked him, finishing her smoke and throwing it out of the window. Ryan stopped time, caught

of some kind,” Ryan replied when time resumed. His gut may have been mistaken. “This

will finally see your girlfriend

she like?”

he started to like this group. He wouldn’t get too attached nor make

down but didn’t follow yet. “I’ll just listen to the radio for a bit,” he replied.

movie

already. He was busy trying to find the Jazz Sixties channel on his chronoradio when Ki-jung reached the

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

left at home,” the

off?”

head. “I explicitly told them to stay and watch

first with a frown on her face. Ki-jung took a step back, while her female friend put a hand on the door handle, the other ready to

Click.

heard that oh-so-familiar sound,

his power freezing everything in place, the house had already transformed into a giant burst of flames and debris; the inferno swallowed both Lanka and Ki-jung whole and incinerated them instantly. The blast had somehow caused all his car’s reinforced windows to explode into sharp

skin, Ryan emerged from his car and

and stones for his trouble, the entire

Emotionally though...

“KI-JUNG!”

had killed the young woman instantly.

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. He then turned to Ryan, panic overtaking

to know they lacked either the tools or the time to make a difference, “They’re

first time since he met him, Jamie looked at Ryan with a new emotion: pure, undiluted fury. “That’s all you have to