The Perfect Run

Ryan had to give it to Dynamis. The company spoiled its heroes rotten.

Enrique had granted the courier a full penthouse suite, located on the Optimates Tower’s twenty-fifth floor. Ryan slept in an apartment-sized bedroom, with a plasma screen TV and an unbeatable picturesque window view of the city. The suite was fully stocked with amenities and tastefully decorated, with no inch of ground left without a carpet; each piece of furniture had been carefully selected to create an atmosphere of opulent relaxation. The bathroom included a private pool with a Jacuzzi included, and even a bar.

The suite itself was only part of the package though. Ryan had a dedicated staff available at all times to fulfill all his whims, from the mundane to the truly bizarre. The courier had tested the waters and learned almost nothing was off-the-table for him, from drugs to prostitutes; so long as none of his excesses made their way to the media anyway. And the cherry on top of the cake, the walls and windows were soundproof.

Of course, the suite was filled with cameras spying on him, but Ryan hacked them five minutes after taking over.

On the morning of May 11th, the courier finished dressing in his new costume, when he heard someone ring the bell. “Somebody call security, the poor are at the gates!” he declared through the intercom, though a camera system showed him Wardrobe and Atom Cat waiting on the other side. “I can’t stand the stench of the middle-class!”

“Does Your Majesty want cake for his morning breakfast?” For once Felix didn’t wear his face-mask, revealing his true face to the world… and quite the handsome one too! He looked like a masculine version of his gorgeous sister.

“Hi, Ryan!” Wardrobe said, much more politely. “Can we get in? We have a tight schedule today!”

Ryan lowered himself to let these guests inside his lair, even if Atom Cat looked too much like a nouveau riche for his refined patrician tastes. The splendor of his suite immediately floored his teammates.

“How is it that your place is bigger than mine?” Wardrobe asked, green with envy, as they made their way into the main room. Ryan’s sofa was larger than most king-sized beds, and faced a state of the art home cinema. “I thought only Pro Leaguers could get a penthouse suite?”

“I have special needs,” Ryan replied, trying to sound as foppish and pompous as possible. “I fall ill without three hundred square meters to live in.”

“I have a big one too,” Felix said, his dirty, plebeian mind unimpressed by the luxurious penthouse. “I suppose Enrique wanted to make us feel welcome.”

That, and to bribe them. Ryan hadn’t gotten anything like this suite in his previous Dynamis Run, probably because Enrique didn’t feel the need to placate him. “What did Greenhand say when you gave him the recording?”

“He said ‘thank you’, and sent us on our way,” Felix replied with a scoff.

Disappointing, but not surprising. Blackthorn probably needed more time to make a move against his patriarch.

Unfortunately, Ryan wasn’t certain they had it with Psyshock still at large. On one hand, his demise had caused Adam to throw away all caution in his attempt to unlock the satellite, but Psyshock also provided near-limitless cannon fodder to throw at the bunker’s defenses. Though Ryan and Len warned residents like Paulie to escape the district, the courier had no idea if it would slow down the Meta-Gang’s progress.

Ryan remembered that Vulcan’s disastrous assault on Rust Town happened on May 12th, with Psyshock blasting everyone to kingdom come with Mechron’s mech. It meant that even with Psypsy, the Meta shouldn’t unlock the bunker’s full power before that date, or else they would have used the Bahamut on the invaders. After May 12th though, this loop would enter uncharted territories.

And that was without taking Livia into account.

“Though I saw Wyvern go into his office right after us,” Atom Cat added. “She looked rather pleased too. I wonder why.”

“If you want to hear all the hero gossip, you have found your gal,” Wardrobe said with a wide smile. “Do you know Blackthorn and Wyvern are an on-and-off item?”

“No way!” Ryan said with shocked surprise. “But what about Vulcan?!”

“I thought they had a passionate love-hate relationship going on too, but no! Devilry is into girls though, but Wyvern politely let her down when she made a pass at her.” The stylist looked at the two boys with her big, beautiful eyes. “Are you both…?”

“I’m straight,” Felix said quickly, “and not looking for romance.”

“I’m flexible,” Ryan said with a seductive voice, “and available.”

“I thought you were dating the Underdiver?” Wardrobe looked both curious and slightly disappointed. “The romantic tension is palpable between you.”

“It’s…” The courier looked away. “It’s complicated. I’m looking for something new.”

Truth was, when Ryan woke up this morning, his drowsy mind had wondered why Jasmine wasn’t in the bed.

And then he remembered, and he felt the pain of losing her all over again.

Ryan knew he shouldn’t have grown attached to a woman or lowered his guard, but the damage was done. He didn’t want to forget Jasmine, not after she made him promise not to, but the courier only knew one way to numb the emotional pain. Filling the gaping void with distractions; better to keep running forward than sit alone with his regrets.

“Is that a Batman-Catwoman thing where you fight on two different sides of the law, and you want to be together, but the world conspires to keep you apart? We can work with that, you know!”

“Hey, Kitty!” Ryan abruptly changed the subject and asked his second-favorite cat. “Something has been bothering me for a while. Did anybody ask you how Lightning Butt’s invulnerability works?”

“You can’t evade me forever, Ryan,” Wardrobe said, determined to learn everything about his romantic life.

Felix snorted at Mob Zeus’ nickname, though it put him in a bad mood. “Enrique already beat you to it. No idea, and he murdered everybody who could possibly harm him.”

“Do you have a list of them?” Ryan asked. With the information he had gathered from his previous loops, he could perhaps find the true nature of Mob Zeus’ invulnerability. He wanted peace with Livia, but he had the feeling he might have to confront Lightning Butt at one point in order to achieve his Perfect Run.

“I know a few, but the only person with the full list is Mercury, the organization’s spymaster,” Felix replied.

“I thought that talking skull controlled gambling dens and money laundering?” Ryan asked. “Come to think of it, I wonder why they still launder money when there are no taxes to pay.”

“It’s because Mercury’s division is a submarine,” Atom Cat replied.

“He can breathe underwater better than bugs?”

“That’s not funny Ryan,” Wardrobe said as she sat on the sofa, though she forced herself not to smile at his pitch-black joke.

As it turned out, Shortie’s bubbles were an experimental technology, and not that reliable. Mosquito’s water prison ended up malfunctioning, perhaps due to his peculiar biology, and caused him brain damage from a lack of oxygen.

Then again, what did Ryan expect? Communists could never make good products.

“Don’t know, I never tried to drown him,” Felix mused. “Augustus uses the laundered money to infiltrate European communities that oppose him. Mercury funnels dirty money into ‘legitimate’ businesses that then take over companies, institutions, farms, etc… he even managed to infiltrate some of Dynamis’ contractors from what I heard. Don’t kid yourself, every branch of that organization supports a criminal takeover. Every last one.”

Atom Cat then crossed his arms while Wardrobe put on the TV and checked the news. “And… as I told Enrique, I think there’s something wrong with Augustus.”

“You mean besides the sociopathic narcissism?” Ryan asked, though he shared the same intuition.

“He has been strangely lethargic in the last few years. Beforehand, he used to track down some foes himself, to remind the masses that he’s a tough psychopath you don’t want to mess with, but now he lets Pluto do it for him and hasn’t left his villa in years. Dad told me he seems to forget the world exists for minutes at a time, and he keeps an electrical halo around himself whenever he’s in public. When I asked Livia why, she wouldn’t answer.”

“He’s sick?” Wardrobe asked with a frown.

“I dunno, he’s supposed to be invulnerable.” Felix shrugged. “Maybe it’s just age or depression.”

Ryan didn’t think so. The courier must have annoyed Lightning Butt for four years with his time-stops, but it literally took an orbital laser for the mob boss to get out of his house. The courier had seen the signs on the wall; the sick, sullen face Mob Zeus hid beneath his bright halo, the way his family members were uneasy around him...

wrong with

finger

a recap of yesterday’s events. The main video showed the Panda proudly bringing the Psychos into custody, Wardrobe answering journalist questions while Atom Cat ignored them, and Enrique congratulating everyone for making New Rome a safer place. Someone had also managed to

children!” “New hero team deals

a heavy sigh. “I should have called myself Atom

with a smirk. “I heard rumors they want to pitch us as a team, young and hip. I will be the leader, as the senior Pro Hero,

protested, horrified. “You know what happens to mentor figures in hero stories? Don’t become my Obi-Wan,

retirement with a Merlin costume, as you are inspired by my demise to become true heroes! And then, I can make

it made perfect sense. “Anyway,” Atom Cat said. “Time to go. We have to go to the Dynamis HQ next

Elixir expert?” Ryan asked,

powers.” Felix shrugged again. “The Panda is already there

Studios,” Wardrobe said with a bright smile. “We’re going to appear in the stinger

looked at Wardrobe. “Yuki, I have something for

him. “I love gifts! I never have enough of them! What

tell you of its backstory first. I was about to go to bed, wearing only my boxers, when I was struck by a surge of inspiration.

have kept your scarf,” Wardrobe replied, worried for his mental stability. “I warned you. I warned

with his gift. “The media call us the Menagerie because we have an animal theme going on. Timmy is a panda, Felix is a cat, I have a rabbit plushie. I figured that, even if you can turn into an animal mascot, I had to make something

newest creation:

red necklace with a yellow ribbon, and a black velvet leotard. Pairs of black tights, high heels,

short, it was a Playboy

blinked repeatedly, and then looked at Yukiko with apprehension. This foolish plebeian probably thought the stylish hero would take offense, for this scandalous,

costume!” Wardrobe squealed in joy. “How did

woman of culture above

Wardrobe, astonished, as she examined the costume with a

"I

you don't,

it’s made of velvet!” Yuki’s fingers touched the bunny ears, her eyes widening in rapturous surprise. “And

fur in my car trunk,” Ryan replied proudly. “You never know when you might have

“There are still wild

whistled ominously, before focusing on his new BFF. “I wanted to make the

function if the country where it

before grabbing the costume. “I’ll put it in my room and try it

like that in public

a leotard just fine,” the

it isn’t a playboy bunny costume, and didn’t you complain that Dynamis

deflated. “Oh, yes, that’s right, I forgot about it… it will clash

a way to market it,” Ryan said, struck by inspiration. He couldn’t let his new BFF down. “Yuki, you are transitioning from the Little League to the Pro Circuit. You are leaving the innocence of childhood behind, for the grim and gritty reality

become too grim and controversial, I emerge from the darkness with

strategy in one sentence. “A seamless

yet, but I will totally wear it in private!” Wardrobe kissed Ryan

beautiful things in this world… and you’re one of them,” Ryan admitted, struggling to hold back tears. “I felt so alone before meeting you. The

with tears in her eyes. “When I joined… When I joined, they asked me to wear synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers! No

hugging Wardrobe, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Cry on my cashmere suit. Do you feel the softness? Do you feel

face blank and his eyes squinting. Ryan felt attacked.

deadpanned. “New Rome won’t survive

the previous loop, Ryan had long talked with Vulcan about Lab Sixty-Six, the birthplace of knockoff Elixirs. She particularly disliked the Genius behind the operation, the so-called Dr. Tyrano; so when the courier learned they were supposed to

their head science honcho two floors for his experiments, and the group had an appointment in Lab

from the entrance lobby to the parking lot. One needed keycards to access each floor individually, so no thief could access everything even if they had stolen the necessary key. Guards in power armor waited before all elevator doors while drones patrolled

and it would certainly take more than one loop. An open assault or

passed through the blast doors leading to Lab Sixty-Five, the time-traveler expected to enter some kind of dimly-lit mad scientist’s lair. He was slightly disappointed. While the lab included mainstay features like liquid-filled tanks containing what appeared to be dinosaur embryos and operation tables, it was well-lit and

them made

The naked Panda had retreated to a corner of the lab, putting an operation table between himself and some kind of humanoid dinosaur. A monstrous, horned

with human-sized arms, black scales, and crimson eyes. The strange mutant wore a white lab coat and tiny glasses optimized for his head shape, but most importantly, he carried a scalpel and a syringe in each hand. “Stop struggling, or I will

instantly froze time and disarmed the dinosaur, tossing

doc!” Felix warned, hands raised as if

waved a hand at

Yuki!” the scientist replied with a deep reptilian voice, stopping his Panda harassment to look at Ryan.

his playful mood replaced with frostiness. “How do

asked with a frown. “Isn’t that the Underdiver’s

shock. “No way, you

quickly said, raising a finger at his BFF. “Don’t you

“Such a shame, I would have loved

Ryan asked, squinting suspiciously at the

takes DNA scans of everyone in their custody,” Felix

shrugged it off. “Doesn’t matter,

man. The courier loved attention, except when it involved being carved open on an operation table. It happened to him enough times

was a mammal-only feature. “Then, I will need blood or hair, though sperm can work too.

DNA test when you

against

reptilian dog leaping into his arms.

no longer interested the scientist. The courier patted his sidekick on the

answered, petting the abomination against nature behind

like the platypus of dinosaurs?” Ryan asked, his mood softening as he scratched the beast’s belly. The animal made a saurian sound, but wagged its tail

“But I, Dr. Tyrano, swear that each household shall have its own dinosaur one day! And I would have

want to create a reserve where rich

right?” said the man who tried to cut

in

forgave the doctor for his terrible first impression. Someone wanting to make dinosaur pets

misunderstood genius,” Wardrobe declared, with her hands

symbiote capable of mimicking the shape of pre-recorded costumes,” Dr. Tyrano explained almost absent-mindedly, while his Tricerador escaped his grip to wander around the lab. “Anyway, since you are new I want to test

dissecting one of our teammates?” Felix mused, while the

“Even Wyvern needs time to heal naturally, but not this werebear! With his ability, we could have an infinite, renewable source of

poor animal seemed to relive a particularly nasty PTSD-induced episode. “They thought they could make aphrodisiac from his blood. The Panda… the

to figure out where the extra organic material comes from by studying the transformation,”

isn’t much to check,” he lied

can stop time and there is nothing