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.”

she knew about the plushie.

her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe every time you die, and leave a nuclear

alternate universe whenever I die. I checked. I wouldn’t do like, half the stuff I pull

said, still struggling to understand his power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct,

Man,”

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

“Len, they have guns.”

they need weapons to defend themselves in this shithole,” the Genius replied. “But that nuke, Riri, won’t help anyone. It’s

rid of it.” He would hand it over to Vulcan, as a sign of friendship. “Can you give it back then? I swear you will never see that bomb

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

trust him, she wanted

that?” she asked, as the courier

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

your time-stop? You said it caused you

an early restart.

on.

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

at him with a mix of pity, sadness, and

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

abruptly changed the subject. “You slept

before shuddering as he remembered one

“Monaco? Why?”

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

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

Baby steps.

a hand on the hood. “You’re the last Genius in a long line

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

long story. Ryan worked many loops and decades on

space but between various dimensions,”

pulling them from

of these universes radically differ from our own, but some are alternate histories Earth could have taken. Usually, these histories aren’t stable

“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

Len trailed off with a worried frown, unable to say it

of depression, questionable ethics,

went well for us,” Len

reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I

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

will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I need to have my windshield cleaned, and

Len answered with a deeper frown

so I investigated,” Ryan admitted. “What happened

anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed themselves, but provide neither

think Il Migliore supports these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed

from the real problems.” Len shook her head. “Not all criminals wear

you attacked one

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

people you tried to fight for?” Ryan guessed, his

head. “Wyvern didn’t bust me out, Vulcan did. And even then, it wasn’t for free. I had to

time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to

she clearly had no love for her organization. “We could

would also prevent him from piloting that Mechron mech later on. “And

have any alternative. “I’ve… I need more time,

out my

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

you want to help at

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

We.

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

could never

she admitted. “My father, that stuff with the

feel safe around me,” Ryan stated the obvious. Like

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