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.”

knew about the plushie. “Len, there are

wrong?” she asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe

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 I do is give

correct, then you can rewrite the entire space-time

Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a

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

“Len, they have guns.”

the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri, won’t help anyone. It’s just death in

sign of

him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed

him, she wanted

a weapon like that?” she

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

restart with your time-stop? You said it caused

meant an early restart. Have you never wondered why I

finally caught on. "That's how

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

mix of pity, sadness, and compassion. “Do you think your life is

wanted to die for good, he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist,

Len abruptly changed the subject.

replied, before shuddering as he remembered

“Monaco? Why?”

future. Don’t go to Monaco.” He glanced at the car, and a flustered Len started putting the engine pieces back in their proper place. “Should I expect a mounted

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

Baby steps.

Ryan boasted about his car, putting a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long

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

story. Ryan worked

space but between various dimensions,” the courier

them from these

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

“I don’t follow you.”

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

a worried frown, unable to say it out

of depression, questionable ethics, and self-misery. He preferred to think of it as a universal memory-wipe. “Anyway, I

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

she think he would get himself killed? Then again, they

will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to

a deeper frown

I investigated,” Ryan admitted.

with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed

these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar

criminals wear

attacked one

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

you tried to fight for?” Ryan guessed, his

guess… I guess people always try to take the easy way out.” Len shook her head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even

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

didn’t like the idea. Even if she collaborated with Vulcan, she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From what you told me, he has to

he will have a suicide button.” 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. Unless

“I’ve… I need more time,

out my power, or

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

genuine warmth. “The fact that you want to

succeed in helping you, I… I’m not sure if there will be a we after

We.

brought back memories of the time 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

what could never

Riri,” she admitted. “My father, that stuff

around me,” Ryan stated

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