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.”

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

asked, biting her lower lip. “What if you jump into another universe every time you

I’m not jumping into an 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

power’s full scope. “If what you say is correct, then you

some people get water guns for Christmas, while I got a Fat Man,” Ryan said, putting a finger

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,

“Len, they have guns.”

shithole,” the Genius replied. “But

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

and handing him the bomb. Ryan put a hand on it, their gloves brushing against the other. The courier sensed her reluctance to give the weapon away, but she did

didn’t trust him, she wanted

on a weapon like that?” she asked, as the courier put the bomb inside one of

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

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

I meant an early restart.

on. "That's how

By the time the courier had caught on to this mechanism, he had already burnt a lot of bridges. "And since I need to commit suicide to get back in time,

a mix of pity, sadness, and compassion.

he would have picked a fight with someone like Cancel long ago. “As long as I exist, there’s

uncomfortable silence, Len abruptly changed

I’ve slept in way worse places,” the courier replied, before shuddering as he remembered

“Monaco? Why?”

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

its associated parts.” Only then did Ryan notice that while she had

Baby steps.

tech, huh?” Ryan boasted about his car, putting a hand on the hood.

I could work with, actually.” Len closed the hood once

long story. Ryan worked many

crossroad, not only between time and space but between various dimensions,” the courier

them from

Most of 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’

“I don’t follow you.”

is stable, that 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, I just have to

trailed off with a worried

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 Chronoradio could help me locate a specific reality, and then cross

went well for

way to reach an alternate Earth, even with a custom particle accelerator. All I can do with the

Did she think he would get himself killed? Then

a recruitment offer from Wyvern and then Vulcan, but I’m not sure if she will follow through if I’m in Rust Town. After that, I

with a deeper frown than

jailed you, so I investigated,”

as underpaid labor in their factories,” Len said with anger. “They pay them for dangerous work with just enough euros to feed

supports these practices.” Even the junior heroes he had met during the seminar seemed more self-obsessed than

shook her head. “Not all criminals wear masks. Most wear suits and ties. Since

one

“But… they caught me. Somebody ratted me out and led the Private

people you tried to fight

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 then, it wasn’t for free. I had to

to go to Dynamis this time,” Ryan reassured her. “I see only one way to kill Psyshock permanently, and it’s an

organization. “We could capture him,” she said. “From what you told me, he

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.

I need more time, Riri. Time to figure this

out my power, or

Riri. I really do.

that you want to help at all means

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

We.

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,

could

she admitted. “My father, that stuff with

me,” Ryan stated the obvious.