The Perfect Run

The Pandamobile was… well, everything Ryan had expected.

A Dynamis-made copy of a second-generation Fiat covered in white and black fur to mimic an actual It was comfy and cute, with a doll dangling from the rear-view mirror. A complete lack of imagination packaged by a corporation too lazy to make a custom car.

If the hadn’t given him the keys beforehand, Ryan wouldn’t have touched the thing with a nine-foot pole. And even then, just putting his hands on the driving wheel felt wrong.

“I feel like I'm cheating on my long-suffering wife with a dirty whore,” Ryan said, thinking fondly of his Plymouth Fury. “I’m filled with regrets! Regrets and anguish!”

“Shut up and keep driving,” Atom Cat said from the front seat, repeatedly looking in the rear-view mirror for any sign of Pluto. The duo had reached the city’s suburbs, and would soon approach an overpass.

Great pillars of concrete lifted the highway out of New Rome above the road like a bridge, and loomed over shacks inhabited by the city’s poorest residents. While Dynamis had put some effort into keeping the highway functional, they clearly didn’t look below it.

Still, the sun was starting to set, and no sign of the Augusti yet. If all went well, the duo should reach the rendezvous point with Len near the Amalfi Coast at nightfall.

“Hey, you’re the one who prevented us from taking a better car!” Upon seeing the abomination, Ryan had immediately tried to ‘borrow’ the nearest sports car, but no, Kitten was too nice to allow it. “It’s your life on the line. One of them anyway.”

“Yours too now. Augustus will target anyone who helps me.” Felix sighed. “Sorry to be snappy, Ryan. I appreciate the help.”

“Have you fallen for me yet?” the courier teased him, just as his phone started ringing. Lucky Girl. “Because your sister has, in spite of my best efforts.”

“You shouldn’t be calling while driving,” Atom Cat said gruffly, as Ryan picked up the phone while driving towards a traffic light.

“Fortuna, darling, how can I make you even happier today?”

“Ryan?” Much to his surprise, she seemed confused to have the handsome courier on the phone. “How can it be, I was trying to call Felix! My power is never wrong!”

“Well your wish has come true,” Ryan said, while Felix shook his head like a maniac, “he is right next to me, begging me for protection.”

“He is?” Fortuna asked while her brother glared at the courier. “Oh my Ryan, you truly are the perfect gentleman, anticipating my wishes before I even think of them! Now, hand him the phone!”

“I don’t want it,” Felix said, as Ryan dangled the cellphone right in front of his partner’s head.

“Come on, don’t be a bab—”

The traffic light above them separated from the pole holding it above the ground, and threatened to fall on the Pandamobile.

Ryan activated his power, looked out of the window, and then skillfully drove out of the object’s way when time resumed. The traffic light crashed on the ground and shattered into pieces. “Sheesh, what happened to public service?” the Violet Genome asked, before shoving the phone against Felix’s ear.

“Stop…” the hero complained, until he heard Fortuna berating him on the other end. “Yes, Fortuna, I’m alive. No, I can’t tell you where I am.”

Ryan tried to relax, but didn’t have the time to as he noticed a car coming from his right. The courier had to veer at the last second to dodge the incoming maniac. “Does everyone in this town drive like crazy?” Ryan complained. New Rome’s traffic killed him twice on his first day. “At least I can stop time!”

Atom Cat tensed up. “It wasn’t an accident,” he said, pushing the phone away. “Can you feel it? The cold?”

What cold?

“It’s her?” Ryan looked at the rearview mirror, but didn’t notice anything extraordinary. “How far does her range extend?”

“I don’t know, but if I can feel the effects, then she can track me.”

Damn it. “Milady,” the courier said, as he recovered the phone, “I’ll call you back.”

“Don’t you dare hang up on me again, Ryan—” The courier hung up on Fortuna, putting his phone back under his suit, and took a turn towards the highway.

Soon, the Pandamobile climbed on the giant highway and left New Rome entirely. The enormous road, lifted by pillars, oversaw the lush countryside around the city. The urban jungle was replaced with woods, country roads, and isolated houses. Besides a few diesel vehicles, Ryan had the road to himself.

her power?” After all, Pluto didn’t notice that she had marked Ryan until

the rear-view mirror. “Once she marks a target and activates her curse, it creates a sympathetic link between them. And the closer she is to her victim, the stronger her power is. I don’t know

far they couldn’t even see her, and if she

window, and gasped in

looked

moved on the road below the highway, between the woods.

The driver was a gaunt, masculine figure entirely dressed in a black bodysuit covering him from head to toe. The other was a woman in a red leather jacket, her crimson hair flowing out

the highway, at a junction roughly a

as time resumed. The courier smashed the accelerator, and the Pandamobile moved faster and faster. With luck, they would reach their

looking at the speedometer, as it climbed to one hundred twenty and kept rising. “Can this

the Pandamobile. That Dynamis abomination could reach a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour maximum. “Night Terror, you said? I think I heard

Blue Genome of the Killer Seven. I don’t know what his power does, except

during the night?” Ryan was glad some of the Killer Seven used appropriate names themed after their abilities. “And

known they would send the one Genome I couldn’t blow up through direct contact.” Atom Cat looked through the window

maximum speed. However, when Ryan looked into his rear-view mirror,

had engaged Ryan in

no idea who she

opened his window, and threw an explosive dart at their pursuers with insane dexterity. Though Night Terror’s motorcycle dodged the attack, the projectile exploded right in front of the Lamborghini

the Pandamobile suddenly veered off course, one of its wheels breaking down. Thanks to skills honed through countless stunts across his loops

today!” Ryan mocked the truck, though he immediately had to avoid a pickup next. From what he saw, it suffered from the same problem as

car hadn’t been spared either. “Oh great, the brakes don’t work anymore. Not that I ever needed them

become worse, the closer she gets,” Felix warned, as Pluto’s Lamborghini emerged from the dust

Felix lowered their heads, as a volley of bullets shattered the windows at the back of the Pandamobile and impacted the windshield. One of the glass shards deviated from its natural course and aimed straight at Atom Cat’s throat. The courier stopped time,

asked while looking at the road ahead. The sun was starting to

person at once,” Felix said, throwing another dart at Night Terror’s motorcycle. The assassin skillfully dodged

Ryan guessed Pluto directed her power at Atom Cat. Which would have been a great

from his bandoleer, “so if we get far enough, it

if she gets within

Felix scowled. “Heart attack.”

would take more than

to have a weakness. All Yellow Genomes had weird limits. They warped reality, transforming an imaginary concept or narrative into a

Ryan muttered out

Fortuna’s luck, the courier could break Pluto’s hold on causality by stopping time selectively. Neither did Ryan think Pluto actually controlled the calamities she generated, or she

was Fortuna’s

She was…

final destination,” said

attempted to bridge the gap between their

movie?” Ryan veered off to dodge a deer before it could hit the Pandamobile. A deer. On a highway! “Spoiler alert, the heroes live

in the sequel. He'd

forced Pluto’s car to slow down to avoid getting blown up,

bound to

collapsed, causing cars to fall to their doom. A large hole had formed

side of the road was located slightly higher than the other

sure?!” Atom Cat panicked, as

down even if I

time for a few seconds to calculate the right angle, and then made the jump when it

crossed the hole at full speed, Ryan adjusting its movements slightly to make the perfect landing. He

then came the

almost jumping from his seat as the vehicle continued its course.

out and abruptly stopped his motorcycle within a few inches of

like the Pandamobile and made the jump, while Night Terror turned his bike around to find another