The Perfect Run

What a bright day. As Ryan drove towards the ship graveyard and Shroud’s warehouse, he felt utterly happy with himself. The courier had the intuition that everything would turn out well for him this time around.

“I feel like you’re my lucky charm, my friend,” Ryan told Ghoul. “Like a rabbit’s foot, or a four-leaf clover. I should have kept you ages ago.”

The Psycho’s bodiless skull glared at him, hung on the rear mirror by a rope.

Surprisingly, it had cost Ryan less money to convince the Private Security to keep the Psycho for himself than imprisoning it. He guessed it cost more to feed a prisoner than to just ignore a vigilante.

Like all loops so far, Wyvern visited him, although she sounded a bit less enthusiastic this time, for some ghoulish reason. She had also insisted he deliver Ghoul for safekeeping, as a sign of trust—and for his own ‘safety.’ Vulcan followed with her own recruitment pitch, putting him firmly on the Augusti Path.

So far so good.

Ryan stopped in front of the warehouse, grabbed Ghoul with Fisty, and then stepped out of the car. “I will kill you,” Ghoul snarled. “I will kill you, I swea—”

He never finished his sentence, as Ryan started juggling the skull while whistling. He looked through the warehouse’s window, seeing neither the servers nor the friendly neighborhood assassin. If he didn’t have absolute trust in his power, the courier might have mistook the events of the previous loop for a feverish dream.

Instead of breaking in this time, Ryan knocked on the door, Ghoul’s nauseous skull under his arm.

“Hey, can you let me in, I have a car window problem?!” Ryan shouted. “Shroudy repair, Shroudy replace?”

He waited a full minute before the door finally opened, revealing a glass man and servers on the other side. “How did you know?” the Carnival member asked, glancing around as if expecting a hidden camera.

“Oh, I’m alone, my Carnival friend!” Ryan said, before showing him the skull. “Except Ghoul Wonder here, but it’s a package deal. Like Dresden and Bob, or Laurel and Hardy.”

“Get in.” Ryan walked inside, the Shroud closing the door behind them.

The Genome remained fully visible this time, perhaps believing the courier didn’t know about that trick. He sat in his chair, the screens of his many computers showing a map of New Rome with multiple locations marked. Most seemed to be Augusti fronts, like the Bakuto and Renesco’s place. A cup of camomile tea waited near the keyboard.

“Quicksave, how did you know?” Shroud asked him again, skipping the pleasantries and being all business.

“You don’t ask a magician to reveal his tricks,” Ryan replied, glancing at the cup. “Like this one: tea.”

He shook Ghoul’s head in front of the teacup until the skull let out a puff of white mist. The liquid turned cold, ice cubes appearing on the surface.

“Iced tea.”

“True genius,” Shroud replied with heavy sarcasm, although he didn’t touch the beverage.

“He also works with fridges, and it’s eco-friendly.”

“I will rape you, you maniac!” Ghoul snarled. “I will kill you, and then I will rape your corpse while it’s still warm!”

“You deserve the pain, asshole,” the glass manipulator replied, completely unsympathetic to the Psycho’s plight. “You killed at least seventeen people, according to my files.”

“Only seventeen?” The Psycho laughed, before bragging. “I killed hundreds! Hundreds!”

He sounded really proud of it too. You would think Ghoul would know better than brag about his body count while in his current position, but nope. Shroud observed the Psycho with cold disdain, before turning to Ryan. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“Why, interrogate him of course!” Ryan said, caressing the back of Ghoul’s skull. “Isn’t that right, Skellington? You’ll tell us everything about this big bunker your big bad boss wants so much?”

“A bunker?” Shroud asked, instantly interested.

“BLEEP you, Quicksave! BLEEP you!”

“Shut up slave,” Ryan replied, before slapping Ghoul.

“Y-you slapped me!” the talking skull complained. “You slapped—”

And Ryan slapped him again, the Psycho glaring at him with fury and humiliation. “Everything you can do to me, Adam can do worse.”

“Oh, really?” Accepting the challenge, Shroud separated a glass shard from his armor, shaping it into a thin needle. The object floated right in front of the Psycho’s skull, lining itself with his left eye. “If you don’t tell me everything, that needle will work its way into your eye, and then the brain. Slowly, painfully. Then I will work on the other.”

at the weapon

putting his hand on Shroud’s shoulder. “What?” the glass manipulator asked, stopping his needle as it reached the cornea, “You believe he

Ryan replied, searching inside his trench coat while putting the undead’s skull on a corner of the

a green potion, put inside a perfume-like receptacle. Dynamis’ logo was plastered on it, alongside the

skull tried to take it with his teeth, but obviously, he couldn’t do it without legs. “You like it? I bought it this morning. It grants superhuman strength and stamina, and I heard it feels like

me!” Ghoul snarled, his junkie

for quadriplegics,” Ryan taunted him. “I guess I will have to

monster!” The Psycho sounded genuinely horrified. “You won’t dare, do you

The courier exploded into maniacal laughter, chilling Ghoul to the bone. It made him laugh even more, with Glass Man looking at the scene in disturbed silence. “Life isn’t

man! You have to stop him! He’s

Shroud replied, removing his needle and switching

the bottle, letting Ghoul smell its sweet perfume, before tilting it sideways. Some of the product fell on the

caved in. “There’s

asked, unimpressed, while Ryan kept slowly spilling

below the trash tower!” Ghoul said, his desperate eyes on the Elixir. “It’s full of robots and laser turrets, they

Ryan stopped spilling the knockoff on the ground, having kept half of the bottle. Ghoul let out a breath of deep relief, which

Shroud

sounding truthful. “He only told a

yourself at a fortified place without knowing what’s inside?” Shroud deadpanned, although he sounded more and

Ghoul replied. “He always does. And he’s obsessed with it. He says it’s, how does he say it… the future, yes! The future! The automated defenses sense Genomes and we lost a few people to them,

Ryan said. “How about the sweet supply of

snarled, Shroud listening like a hawk stalking a dove. “Psyshock handles it for Adam. They distribute knockoff Elixirs regularly, so long as we play by the rules. If we disobey or we look into it, we’re cut from the

considering their rarity,” Shroud mused,

give a BLEEP where that sweet nectar comes from, so

man,

will look into it. Can I keep Ghoul for further

him a death glare. “Though I would like it if you kept me updated on your progress. I promised someone I would

his head to the side but didn’t ask for details. Ghoul, meanwhile, grew even more agitated. “Give

this skull, and into his tiny, adorable eyes. “No arms, no

which warmed the courier’s heart with twisted schadenfreude. “Hopes are like breakfast eggs,” he told Shroud, as he put the knockoff on

glass armor, reshaping it into a jar

back and leaned towards Shroud, until their heads

question immediately. His brain seemed to have frozen in place, failing to compute Ryan’s words. “That makes no sense,” Shroud finally spoke up, shaking his head. “That question,

Saint Gobain? I believe it should be

is clear, but you shouldn’t…” He seemed to reach a eureka moment. “Is your power truly stopping

Ryan said nothing.

extraordinarily lucky as if you always know how things would turn out. As if the world itself would bend to your whims. You’re clearly insane, yet somehow, you always get away with all the messes you leave in your wake. You knew where I was without me leaving any hints, that the Psycho’s intel would interest

Shroud with curiosity. “Please, do go

peek into various alternate realities, then select one that favors you and overwrites the current one. Advanced reality manipulation. The transition

admit, it was a plausible theory, especially as far as Violet Genomes went. Though Shroud made the error of believing Ryan had only one visible power, instead of one power having multiple applications. The courier decided to be careful in his next loops, to make sure the glass manipulator never guessed his ability’s true

am I right?”

a shrug. “But if you’re right, certainly you should listen to my wise

is in the hen house?” Shroud asked,

you remember these

west

Ryan mused, his

part of the Tyrrhenian Basin,” the glass Genome confirmed. “The Underdiver, as she calls herself now, has an undersea base somewhere

connected the dots. “An undersea

new Kremlin?” Shroud turned his head,

Marxist-Leninist,” Ryan replied, completely giddy. Finally, he had

replied, disappointing the courier. “Even with diver equipment, the place is full of mutant fish and other hazards. I didn’t look

you actually

Shroud froze. “Yes, and?”

if Ryan had known it would be so easy, instead of having to attack a movie studio or follow a seminar, he would have done that ages ago! “I hope you aren’t planning anything harmful with that information,” the courier said, changing the subject, “Because if you

in the city, half of New Rome would be wiped out, and she finances an orphanage in Rust Town. She ships

place. “The Meta-Gang intends to attack

Shroud immediately tensed. “Why?”