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.”

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

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

checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew I

to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost

Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on the tip of her gun.

the water gun. “You will behave while you stay here,” Len said. “I…

“Len, they have guns.”

replied. “But that nuke,

to Vulcan, as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it back then? I swear you will never see

agonizing 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

trust him, she wanted to. He

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

really want to know?” Len nodded, and Ryan sighed. She wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and I thought it would be fun to

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

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

on.

already burnt a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get back in time,

at him with a mix of pity,

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 will

abruptly changed the subject.

before shuddering as he remembered one of his worst deaths. “Whatever you do, Len,

“Monaco? Why?”

and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back

that while she had stopped pointing it at his face, Len

Baby steps.

about his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the

with, actually.” Len closed the hood once her work done. “Riri, why did you hook up a miniature particle

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

between various dimensions,”

pulling them from these

alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories

“I don’t follow you.”

humans think time is stable, that the past is set in stone, but in truth, it’s like the water you love so much, ever changing.”

never considered...” Len trailed off with a worried frown, unable to

rabbit hole of depression, questionable ethics, and self-misery. He preferred to think of it as a

things went well for us,” Len

alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I can do with

she asked with a worried frown. Did she think he would get himself killed? Then again, they were close to the Junkyard. “What about

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

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

think Il Migliore supports these practices.” Even the junior heroes he

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

you attacked one

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

to fight for?” Ryan

out, Vulcan did. And even then,

I don’t intend to go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to

no love for her organization. “We could capture him,”

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. Unless you have another suggestion, they seem like our

alternative. “I’ve… I need more time, Riri.

out my power,

while looking away. “I want to help you, Riri. I really do. No

warmth. “The fact that you want to help at all

if we succeed in helping you, I… I’m not

We.

changed after so many restarts, moved past the

could never

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

don’t feel safe around me,” Ryan stated

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