The Perfect Run

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.”

about the plushie. “Len, there are no permanent consequences

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

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

scarier,” Len said, still struggling to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost at will. It’s not

guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,”

hesitated, clearly torn between trusting him and her own fears about him, but eventually lowered the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I… even if there are no consequences from your point of view, I don’t want anything dangerous near

“Len, they have guns.”

this shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri, won’t help anyone. It’s

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

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 to. He

even put your hands on a weapon like that?” she asked, as the courier put the

like his answer. “Because I was bored, and I

your time-stop? You said it

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

caught on. "That's

bridges. "And since

mix of pity,

course not, I love living." If he had wanted to die for good, he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist, there’s always a chance things

Len abruptly

as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever you do, Len, don’t sleep in

“Monaco? Why?”

go to Monaco.” He glanced at the car, and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in

checking the Chronoradio and its associated parts.” Only then did Ryan notice that while she had stopped

Baby steps.

putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius

actually.” Len closed the hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you

was such a long story. Ryan worked many loops and decades on that particular

time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some Violet

them from these

these universes radically differ from our own, but some are alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable and constantly fluctuate, only becoming ‘real’ when

“I don’t follow you.”

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

off with a worried frown, unable to say it out

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 universal memory-wipe. “Anyway, I thought the

where things went well

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

would get himself killed? Then again, they were close

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

Len answered with a deeper frown than

you, so I investigated,” Ryan

the citizens of Rust Town as underpaid labor 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

junior heroes he had met during the seminar

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

you attacked one of

details, her face turning grimmer. “But… they caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led the Private Security to my old

tried to fight

try to take the easy way out.” Len shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t

I don’t intend 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 can

her organization. “We could

place, taking down Psyshock would also prevent him from

need more time, Riri. Time to

my

away. “I want to help you, Riri. I really do. No one else should have to go

fact that you want to help at all means a lot

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

We.

when Ryan believed they had a future together. He thought his feelings for Len had changed after so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But every time he looked at his old partner, the courier always wondered what

could

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

me,” Ryan stated the