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

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

stuff I pull on a weekly basis if I knew I left a mess behind. My power only affects

full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time continuum almost at will. It’s

guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger on the tip of her

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 the

“Len, they have guns.”

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

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

on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her reluctance to give the weapon away, but she

didn’t trust him, she wanted to.

that?” she asked, as the courier put the bomb inside

wouldn’t like his answer. “Because I was bored, and

restart with your time-stop? You said it

early restart. Have you never wondered why I

caught on. "That's how you

a lot of bridges. "And since I need

a mix of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do you

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

uncomfortable silence, Len abruptly changed

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

“Monaco? Why?”

started putting the engine pieces back in their proper place. “Should I expect a mounted water turret? Please tell me that you added

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

Baby steps.

tech, huh?” Ryan boasted about his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long line to work on this

I could work 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

a crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier explained. “You know some

them from these

histories Earth could have

“I don’t follow you.”

the past is set in stone, but in truth, it’s like the water you love so much, ever changing.” Ryan’s experience had taught him as much. “I mean,

with a worried

die? I try not to think about it.” If only because of the horrors involved. It was a rabbit hole of depression,

timeline where things went

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 the Chronoradio is listen

get himself killed? Then again, they were close

Vulcan, but I’m not 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

a deeper frown

so I investigated,” Ryan admitted. “What happened

for dangerous work with just enough

don’t think Il Migliore supports these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more self-obsessed

their eyes away from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and

attacked one of

caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led the Private Security to my old

the people you tried to fight for?” Ryan

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,

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,” she said. “From what you

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

she didn’t have any alternative. “I’ve… I need more time, Riri. Time to

my power,

replied while looking away. “I want to help you, Riri. I really

fact that you want to help at all means a

is Riri, even if we succeed in helping you, I… I’m not sure

We.

after so many restarts, moved past the realm of teenage romance. But every

could

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

me,” Ryan

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255