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.”

the plushie. “Len, there are no

asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe

her. “I guarantee you I’m not jumping into an alternate universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew I left a mess behind. My power only affects our universe, and all

correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost at

Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger

“You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I… even

“Len, they have guns.”

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

over to Vulcan, as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it back then? I swear you

a long, agonizing minute, before searching in her jumpsuit and handing him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the

she wanted to.

she asked, as the

Ryan sighed. She wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to have a

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

When I said an early restart, I meant an early restart. Have you never wondered why I

caught on. "That's how

had caught on to this mechanism, he had already burnt a lot of bridges. "And since I

mix of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do

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

abruptly changed the subject. “You slept

way worse places,” the courier replied, before shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever you do, Len, don’t sleep

“Monaco? Why?”

flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in their proper place.

the Chronoradio and its associated parts.” Only then did Ryan notice that

Baby steps.

the hood. “You’re the

work with, actually.” Len closed the hood once her work

worked many loops and

but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet Genomes summon creatures like that monster from Alien? Or

them from

histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable and constantly fluctuate, only becoming ‘real’ when

“I don’t follow you.”

is set in stone, but in truth, it’s like the water you love so much,

you never considered...” Len trailed off with a

universe and everyone in it when I die? I try not to think about it.” If only because of the horrors involved. It was a rabbit hole of depression, questionable ethics, and self-misery. He preferred to think of it as a

timeline where things went well for us,”

I never found a way to reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I can do with the Chronoradio is listen

going?” she asked with a worried frown. Did she think he would get himself killed?

and then Vulcan, but I’m not sure if she will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I

with a deeper

jailed you, so I investigated,” Ryan admitted.

in their factories,” Len said with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed themselves, but provide neither healthcare nor safety guidelines. One out

Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more

head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most

attacked one

they caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led the Private Security

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

easy way out.” Len shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out,

to go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s an Augusti-exclusive option as far as I

love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From what

Hopefully, it wouldn’t be a thermo-nuclear device. Besides making the world a better place, taking down Psyshock would also prevent him from piloting that Mechron mech later on. “And while I don’t believe it, Vulcan says she can enhance my power.

I need more time, Riri.

my power, or

Riri. I really do. No one else

fact that you want to help at all means a lot to

little. “But the thing is Riri, even if we succeed in helping you, I… I’m not sure

We.

for Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But every time he looked

what could

can’t forget, Riri,” she admitted.

around me,” Ryan stated the

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