The Perfect Run

Chapter 32

Ryan woke up on a terrible mattress, with a cat on his chest.

The animal looked at the courier with its big blue eyes, as he emerged from his deep sleep. The Persian cat had a coat of fur of the purest shade of white, and the lazy expression of a creature sleeping eighteen hours a day without shame.

It was...

It was the perfect Bond Villain cat!

Ryan immediately let out a cry of joy, while the cat looked at him with noble curiosity.

“I’m gonna call you…” Ryan briefly raised the feline above ground to check if it was a male or female, and then let his imagination do the rest. “Eugène-Henry von Schrodinger!”

Eugène-Henry meowed in response.

“The name sucks,” someone complained from the ‘room’ right next to his—another animal cage repurposed into a prison cell. Ryan recognized the voice as Sarah’s. “It sucks hard.”

“Much like many geniuses, I’m way ahead of my time,” Ryan replied, scratching Eugène-Henry behind his ears. “You like that name, don’t you? You like it, don’t you?”

“Is that the white cat?” Sarah peeked into Ryan’s private space, finding the courier sitting on his bed sheet, the cat on his lap. The courier promised himself to work on his diabolical mastermind pose, though he needed to get a cashmere suit first. “It has a sixth sense to find suckers willing to feed it. That’s why it’s so fat.”

“Hey, he’s not judging you on your appearance!”

“Once, I showed him a rat, like one meter away from his face, and that lazy furball didn’t even react.”

“Slander!” Ryan defended his new sidekick. “Is there a shower though? I think I caught fleas sleeping on that bed.”

“Yes, but the water is muddy. Ma says she will fix it today after she checks your car.”

Check his—

“Goddammit, I hope she doesn’t find the bodies,” Ryan said, rising up from the bed. Eugène-Henry instantly took over his place and moved below the bed sheet, to better protect the mattress from intruders.

“There’s a spot for that,” Little Sarah said casually. “The druggies call it the Happy Hole.”

As it turned out, Rust Town did have tourist spots.

Ryan started dressing, but immediately noticed something wrong. Namely, his A-bomb was missing, and some of his weapons weren’t at their place. Someone had clearly checked on his belongings while he was asleep.

Shortie may be willing to help, but she didn’t fully trust him yet.

The courier emerged from the orphanage to find Len tinkering with his car, having opened the car hood to look inside. She had put the water gun aside, to her right.

“Comrade Shortie, just because it’s an all-American car doesn’t give you the right to wreck it,” Ryan said. “Find yourself a Lada.”

Len turned her head away from the engine, and Ryan's playful demeanor disappeared instantly when she grabbed the water gun. “Riri, what have you done?”

What did he do?

What didn’t he do?

Ryan glanced inside the car hood, his old friend keeping her weapon aimed at his head. Unfortunately, Len had found the brain and jumped to the wrong conclusions.

“Riri, have you…” Len clearly didn’t want to finish her sentence but forced herself to. “Did you put someone in there?”

“You wouldn’t believe how many tries it took before I found the right person.” He immediately raised his hands while Len made a mortified face. “Relax, I’m kidding, I’m kidding! It’s not even sentient!”

“Riri, don’t, don’t joke about this,” she sputtered, keeping her weapon raised.

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized. “I default to humor when I’m stressed, and I didn’t have my morning coffee.”

Len remained as stiff and grim as ever. “Riri, where did it come from?”

“It’s vat-grown, a gift from another Genius.” No answer. “Shortie, I’m not a serial killer, and I don’t abduct hobos off the road to experiment on them.”

“Riri, I… I want to believe you’re not crazy. I really want to.” She shook her head. “But you keep a thermo-nuclear device with children nearby.”

she knew about the plushie. “Len, there

if you’re wrong?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe every time you die, and leave

alternate universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis

“If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the

people get water guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on the tip of her gun. “So, can

the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I… even if there are no consequences from your point of

“Len, they have guns.”

to defend themselves in this shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke,

will get rid of it.” He would hand it over to Vulcan, as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it back

minute, before searching in her jumpsuit and handing him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her

didn’t trust him, she wanted

a weapon like that?” she asked, as the courier put the

his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to have a nuke as a

restart with your time-stop? You said it caused you

I meant an early restart. Have you never

caught on.

a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get

Genius looked at him with a mix of pity, sadness,

have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist, there’s always a chance

Len abruptly

courier replied, before shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever

“Monaco? Why?”

car, and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in their proper place. “Should I expect a mounted water turret? Please

Only then did Ryan notice that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len kept the

Baby steps.

on the hood. “You’re

the hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you hook up

story. Ryan worked many loops and decades on

is something of a crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,”

them

Most of these universes radically differ from our own, but some are alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these

“I don’t follow you.”

the water you love so much, ever changing.” Ryan’s experience had taught him as much. “I mean, I just have to

with a worried frown, unable

involved. It was a rabbit hole of depression, questionable ethics, and self-misery. He preferred

where things went well for

opening his car’s door. “But I never found a way to reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator.

worried frown. Did she think he would get himself killed? Then again, they

if she will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to have my windshield cleaned, and Bone Daddy will

with a

I investigated,” Ryan admitted.

as underpaid labor in their factories,” Len said with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with

these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more self-obsessed than

away from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties. Since nobody would stand

you attacked one

more details, her face turning grimmer. “But… they caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led

you tried to fight for?” Ryan guessed, his friend nodding. “I’m

to take the easy way out.” Len shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for free. I had to help the Augusti transport their drug,

go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s

idea. Even if she collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could capture him,”

also prevent him from

have any alternative. “I’ve… I need more time,

my

you, Riri. I really do. No

with genuine warmth. “The fact that you want to

a little. “But the thing is Riri, even if we succeed in

We.

feelings for Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But

what could

I can’t forget, Riri,” she admitted. “My father, that stuff

feel safe around me,” Ryan

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