The Perfect Run

Well, Ryan had to admit it. No matter how savage the attack, it had been a perfect sneak headshot. Wardrobe probably didn’t feel any pain.

“Wardrobe!” Reload shouted in panic, dropping everything to try and treat his teammate’s wound. It was in vain though; the courier had seen the bullet go from one side of the head to the other, and unless she had regeneration, the shot had slain her instantly. The Yellow Genome’s blood was flowing out of her skull and onto the ground, while flowers burned around them.

“Mortimer thought she would never shut up,” the hitman said without any remorse, keeping his rifle pointed at Reload’s head without pressing the trigger. In all likelihood, he had grown wise to his rewinding power.

“You…” While Ryan wasn’t surprised, Len struggled to find her words. “You killed her. You killed her.”

“You could have shot her in the knee!” Ryan said, quite pissed himself. While he didn’t know the girl until a few hours earlier, she seemed quite the theatrical superhero; she was long-term rivalry material! “She was fun, goddammit! Fun!”

“She would have recovered from a knee shot,” Mortimer replied with a shrug. For a second, Ryan had forgotten he was a brutal mob hitman beneath all the silliness. “With one exception, Mortimer hasn’t seen anyone recover from deat—”

“Murderer!” Reload snarled suddenly, charging at Mortimer with his weapon raised. The hitman quickly took a step backward to dodge. “You’ll pay for this!”

Len raised her water weapon at the Dynamis hero, hitting him with a stream of liquid; he dropped his laser blade in surprise, perhaps having been blinded by anger. Instead of propelling Reload backward though or cutting him in half, the water shifted around the hero and formed a dense, three meters-wide bubble around his body. When Shortie closed her water pump, the bubble stabilized and kept Reload immobilized.

“Thanks,” Mortimer said, before grabbing Reload’s laser blade as a trophy. “How long will it last?”

Shortie didn’t answer. She didn’t want to.

“She can’t talk?” Mortimer asked Ryan, who deactivated the laser blade and put it in a belt pocket.

“Yes she can, but not to you,” the courier said. “Also, you’re a jackass.”

“Hey, she was a corpo, why do you care?”

“She was my new archenemy, Mortimer!” Ryan said, raising a finger at the man’s mask. “You don’t kill a man’s archenemy! It’s like stealing his wife!”

“Oh, really? Sorry, poor old Mortimer is quite the ladykiller.”

Mortimer liked his comedy pitch black, like his soul.

Unfortunately for him, Len didn’t find the joke funny, and instantly raised her weapon at his face. “Hey, calm down!” the hitman protested, pointing his rifle back at Shortie. “What’s up with you?”

“I should have let him kill you,” Len said, clearly struggling against her instinct not to bubble the hitman to death. “You’re just as bad as the Meta.”

“Len.” Ryan turned serious, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s not worth the hassle.”

If she attacked him, then they would have the entire Augusti family after them. Ryan could handle them, but Len… didn’t need that trouble right now.

The aquatic Genius remained still for a few seconds, before lowering her weapon.

“Anyway, you’re the Underdiver, right?” Mortimer asked while appraising Len warily; unlike her, he hadn’t lowered his rifle. “Miss Livia said you were in charge of the evacuation effort.”

“I called bathyspheres already,” Len finally spoke up, her tone icy. Vulcan must have paid her to keep a few in standby as escape pods.

“Good, I was in charge of clearing the way and then getting our VIPs out,” Mortimer said, slowly sinking back into the ground. “I will be back soon.”

“You want to evacuate?” Ryan asked, pointing at Neptune repelling Dynamis’ air forces. “We’re sort of winning.”

“Bite me, Miss Livia’s orders,” Mortimer said while disappearing, “and you don’t argue with the money.”

Once he was gone, Ryan glanced at Reload’s watery prison, the Violet Genome trapped in a bubble he couldn’t escape from. His power restored him to his physical prime whenever he ran out of breath but never granted him the strength to escape. “Does it pop out if I stick a nail in it?”

Wardrobe’s body, and though Ryan couldn’t see the face beneath her helmet, he didn’t have to be a precog to sense his friend’s sorrow. “He

closing the eyes. She deserved

Meta, Riri. She was... she didn’t even use lethal force on you. How can

told you,” Ryan replied with a sigh. “You get used

saddest thing I heard you say yet,” Len said. “Riri, you can’t… you can’t

you, it just gets

good answer to this. “I’m… I’m doing this for you, Riri. To pay you back. But that’s it. When this is over, I’m done with

that previous loop where he watched Jamie and co all perish before him. “I can make it

cost?” Len asked him, shaking her

“Don’t what, save people?”

of yours, it’s destroying you!” she protested, before looking at Wardrobe’s remains. “I tried to save everyone who deserved to, but… I couldn’t. I

the difference between them was, Ryan could save everyone who deserved

have telepathy because she seemed to have guessed his trail of thoughts. “When

“Away from what?”

city,” she said, all but pleading.

mean you want me back in your life

silent for a moment, with the courier wondering if he had been

easy, but… yes. I… I

oldest friend

if… it was truly over between us,” Len admitted, flinching as an explosion echoed nearby. Neptune had knocked

get comfortable in each other’s presence once again. If anything, this loop had been worth it just to reach this point. “It means the world to me, but you know I can’t

needed to use vaguer terms, in case

“I think they are

tell where this was going. He grabbed his phone and tried to call Vulcan, unable to see her in the skies. “Jas? Jasmine?” Nothing but static. “Shortie, do

five bathyspheres emerged from the seawater

cue, Mortimer emerged from the ground, holding both Livia and Narcinia with his naked hands. It

and looking at the ground the second Mortimer released her, Livia managed to keep her composure. At least, until she noticed Wardrobe’s remains. “You killed her,

have?” the

her head. “Hector cannot back down after this. Maybe… maybe

garden…” Narcinia lamented, looking at flames consuming her

told the younger girl, before barking orders at Len. “Underdiver, we start evacuating immediately. Mortimer, you will go back inside, bring

we evacuate at all?” Mortimer asked, glancing at the fortress behind them. Geist had managed to close the hole, and the

out in an instant, and I can barely see the cause. I assume Dynamis has a secret weapon, and they will

looked at Ryan. “Not me,” he protested, before adding a caveat,

Len assigned a bathysphere to everyone. “Riri, you

at Len. “Are

runs, optimized to hold multiple people inside. He sat on a crimson, semicircular bench, and immediately noticed seat belts. The bathysphere was equipped with multiple screens and buttons and even included what appeared to be an infirmary stock for emergencies. “I’m disappointed by the absence

the younger girl to move inside. The

foot inside the

the Augusti princess said.

back, a sharp, translucent

invisible force pulled her backward and out of the bathysphere.

by an invisible force; Ryan could see the hint of a hand covering her mouth, and

trying to locate the invisible Genome; glass shards emerged from the sea, surrounding the group and bathyspheres

but Ryan

she looked up at Narcinia. Clearly,

ground while keeping a hand on her mouth. If she couldn’t draw blood, the Green Genome couldn’t use her ability. “A power that could have helped the world, as her mother wished… and your father uses it to poison innocent

Augusti princess said as she regained her composure, her face harshening again. “Then we will talk about morality. Now, tell your master to

assassin and handsome courier worked on the same team, he seemed determined to pretend otherwise. “But he will settle

replied, her frown deepening. “If it’s not Hargraves,