The Perfect Run

Sitting on a sofa right next to the inactive plushie, Ryan stared into the abyss of the Tyrrhenian Sea. He found it relaxing to wake up to the sight of silent darkness and mutated fish, especially after he had grown used to New Rome’s noisy environment.

Each ‘apartment’ was a carbon copy of the other, each tenant free to decorate their own as they saw fit. Ryan had of course brought his entire wardrobe, and thrown euro bills everywhere to protect himself from the specter of Vladimir Lenin. It certainly haunted this underwater kremlin.

As it turned out, Len meant that she had borrowed the Meta’s own submarine during the raid. Now the vehicle waited right outside the underwater habitats, and Ryan had an excellent view of it from his underwater apartment.

However, while the submarine had allowed Len to smuggle the Plymouth Fury to her base, it also meant that the Meta-Gang could reach the area if they wanted. The courier would keep it in mind for future loops.

“Don’t do anything rash,” Ryan jokingly told the plushie while rising up from his sofa. He then moved through the corridors linking the underwater habitats together. Shortie’s own lair was next door to his own, probably because she worried the courier might influence the kids without surveillance.

Besides her own habitat, Len had established a workshop close to the living spaces. Unlike the comfortable apartments, this part of the underwater base reminded Ryan of a steampunk factory, all metal walls, and steam pipes. It wasn’t as well-equipped as Vulcan’s, and far less organized; Len had hooked the servers administering the underwater base to Dynamis’ brainscan machine, while half-finished machines covered various workbenches. Len had hung designs of submarines, underwater cocoons, and even artificial fish on the walls to save space.

Most important, Ryan’s Plymouth Fury waited in a corner. Len had removed the Chronoradio’s components, the engine, and pretty much every piece of Genius tech inside. He knew it was a sacrifice for the cause, but the sight of his beloved car turned into a husk filled the courier’s heart with sorrow.

And of course, Len listened to Alexandrov Ensemble’s March of the Artillerymen while working. Even Ryan had to admit that it was a good song, but his Genius friend couldn’t look more Marxist even if she tried.

Thankfully, somebody else was already annoying her today. “But Mama, you said I would get a suit too!” Little Sarah complained to Len, carrying a cat in her arms. The Genius was sitting behind a workbench, working on the Dynamis tech. “That I would be the Little Diver!”

“Sweetie, I know… but I have to work on something else first…” For once, Len had traded her jumpsuit for simple blue clothes. She looked a lot more lively when she turned to face Ryan, perhaps because she felt more confident inside her lair. “Hi, Riri.”

“Hi Shortie, Little Hellion,” Ryan greeted them, before recognizing the cat in Sarah’s arms. “Eugène-Henry!”

“He showed up in my room this morning,” Little Sarah said, the animal meowing in her arms. “Did you bring him from the surface to the magical place?”

“No, he brought himself,” Ryan replied, immediately petting the placid cat behind the ears. The feline’s teleportation ability had an enormous range. “Also, it’s called the Commie-Cave.”

“The Ark,” Len said with a frown.

“The Commie-Cave,” Ryan insisted. “Corpos are a cowardly and superstitious lot. To instill fear in their heart, we must abolish private property.”

Len rolled her eyes. “If this is… a Batcave, what do we call ourselves?”

“The Hammer and the Sickle,” Ryan immediately answered. “The perfect union of peasant and working-class superheroes. The children can become our minions, the Proletariat.”

Len let out a small sound that the courier hadn’t heard in centuries.

“Ma?” Sarah asked, having never heard it either.

“Shortie, you chuckled?” Ryan asked. Len tried to look away to hide her facial expression, but he was persistent. “Even you must admit my jokes are funny.”

“No, they aren’t,” his old friend replied while trying not to smirk. “You’re bad, Riri. You’re so bad, it loops back to good. Like a… like a boomerang.”

“What can I say, all my jokes are state-approved by our soviet supreme.”

Len now wore a warm smile on her face, which in Ryan’s mind was worth all the runs so far. “I’m not like that, Riri.”

“What’s a soviet supreme?” Little Sarah asked while petting Eugène-Henry.

“Wait, you didn’t send her to the Party Congress?” Ryan frowned at Len. “These children will be lost without a good revolutionary education!”

Len shook her head, the smile still on her face. “I… I haven’t thought much about education,” she admitted. “I was… too focused on building the place first.”

“What’s a soviet supreme?” Little Sarah asked, before glaring at Ryan. “Talk, motherfucker.”

“It’s a bad idea,” Ryan answered truthfully before patting Sarah on the head. “And that’s all you will ever know.”

Sarah immediately stuck out her tongue at him, causing Eugène-Henry to meow loudly and leap out of her hands. He immediately took over a server as his throne, looking down at the humans like a noble sphinx.

“Sweetie, can you leave us for a moment?” Len asked Sarah. “I… I need to discuss something with Riri. Privately.”

Little Sarah looked at Ryan and Len in turn, her gaze turning very, very suspicious. “Yes, Ma…”

The little girl left while squinting at them, and Ryan sat on the workbench once she was gone. “Are you happy now? They will think we do adult things behind closed doors… though we did, long ago.”

“That was…” Len’s face turned embarrassed. “Awkward.”

“Well, it was both our first time.” And they had to do it in a hurry, so her father wouldn’t notice. “I remember it fondly.”

answer, probably because they discussed an era long gone. Ryan still longed for the emotional intimacy they once shared however. Maybe that

felt whenever she thought of

the subject upon sensing Len’s lack

replied, joining her fingers. “Have…

idea crossed my mind,” he

he had, I wouldn’t be here. I would have become

something more subtle.

asking me this?” Len

She nodded slowly in response. “Your father instantly knew you had done so. At first, I thought it was because he could sense blood and manipulate it from

“Like a... blood beacon?”

live,” Ryan said with a frown. “He always managed to find

considered it a strong possibility. “You think… you think that’s what Dynamis is after? Something he left

blood sample to check, and the tools in the back of my

Len asked suddenly. “You, you studied Elixirs, right? Didn’t you… didn’t

sure to erase any trace of your father specifically to prevent

Len frowned. “Riri, if there is

might take me more than one run to get into Dynamis’ labs, and I don’t want you to

I can.” Len cleared her throat. “But there’s…

new roadblock to overcome,

a computer simulation. I can then send it… send it to a host, to overwrite the previous cognitive system. The closer the host’s nervous system to the simulation, the better. Otherwise… the host brain will degrade. Conflicting memories, confused

we send your memories to your past self, then there shouldn’t be any problem, right?”

maybe nothing.” Len crossed her arms. “Should work even

“Then where’s the catch?”

memories to a host through time, you need…” Len struggled to find

quickly caught on. “Like Violet

let alone the brainmap, back in time if we

Chronoradio was destroyed, and Jasmine and

I sent the Chronoradio messages, Riri. Or

scratching his hair. Only two time-periods could exist through his save point. “It has to be something else. All the messages

sent

previous run, and his trip to the Purple World. The visions he had seen, and the colossal entity he briefly made contact with near

Ones are

message happened right when Ryan seriously

who,” the time-traveler

place. The cat had somehow gained powers across time, deliberately led Livia to the courier, and then appeared in the Commie-Cave right when Len considered studying Violet Flux for her experiment. Far too many coincidences

at all,” the courier accused Eugène-Henry. “You’re being teleported by something else. Something showing us the

meowed in

you… you’re talking to

in the context,” Ryan defended himself, while Eugène-Henry licked his own shoulder. “You remember what I told you, Shortie? About what I

think the pyramid thing is…

wonder if these visions,

if it’s as powerful as you think

dunno,” Ryan admitted. “It’s just a theory. But I find all these strange coincidences oddly convenient, and

base in Antarctica, right?” Len asked. “Could you identify

sky, not enough to

that base,” she suggested. “With the submarine. Check, after… after we’re done with the rest

rest. Such an

better work on that

Len kept the car—and they weren’t even married—Ryan had to use a bathysphere to reach the surface, and then called a taxi to

A taxi.

stepped out of the taxi and right in front of a Dynamis-owned hospital; the same one where Psyshock’s victims had been brought to during the courier’s first Il Migliore loop. Private Security members protected the building from intruders, but much to Ryan’s surprise,

the entrance, Ryan quickly noticed a familiar face leaving the hospital and climbing at

Narcinia.

recognized him as Mortimer out of costume and with sunglasses. Though the courier only caught

courier found Wardrobe and the Panda waiting for him in the entrance hall. The former was talking with an unknown woman, and the latter texted

Ryan!” Wardrobe greeted the courier, though the Panda was too focused

fashion designer, before glancing at the other woman in the room. She was in her early twenties, with shoulder-long brown hair and striking amber eyes; probably British

a warm smile, offering him her hand to shake. Definitely British. “I’m Nora, Nora

girlfriend,” Wardrobe said with

woman blushed a little at the surprise attention, though the courier frowned at Wardrobe next in displeasure. “But she doesn’t

know,” Wardrobe

before glancing at Ryan. “I’m not a superhero, but an independent contractor and urban planner. I have a

said with a bright