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.

she can track people down with her power?” After all, Pluto didn’t notice that she had marked Ryan until they

repeatedly glancing at 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 everything about her ability, but I learned that at

they couldn’t even see her, and if she could truly sense her

looked through his window, and gasped in surprise.

and looked

the road below the highway, between the woods. A few hundred meters away

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 of

followed led back to the highway, at a junction roughly a

put on your belt, we’re gonna rock,“ Ryan warned as time resumed. The courier smashed the accelerator, and the Pandamobile moved faster and faster. With luck, they would reach their

said before looking at the speedometer, as it climbed to one hundred twenty

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

don’t know what his

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

known they would send the one Genome I couldn’t

now reached its maximum speed. However, when Ryan looked into his rear-view mirror, he noticed the black

had engaged Ryan in a highway

had no idea who she was dealing with. “Go get’em,

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

stunts across his loops

reincarnations today!” Ryan mocked the truck, though he immediately had to avoid a pickup next. From

quickly realized their car hadn’t been spared either. “Oh great, the

worse, the closer she gets,” Felix warned, as Pluto’s Lamborghini emerged from the dust cloud unharmed. The Vamp, meanwhile, raised her submachine gun at

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

The sun was starting

another dart at Night Terror’s motorcycle. The assassin

power at Atom Cat. Which would have been a great asset to

stronger,” Atom Cat said, grabbing a new dart from his bandoleer, “so if we get far enough, it will lose potency. Maybe the brakes

if she gets within say,

Felix scowled. “Heart attack.”

take

transforming an imaginary concept or narrative into a physical law of the universe. They changed the very logic

Ryan muttered

but the Purple World belonged to the Violet Genome. Like how he ignored Fortuna’s luck, the courier could break Pluto’s hold on causality by stopping time selectively. Neither did Ryan think Pluto

was Fortuna’s

She was…

final destination,”

gap between their

could hit the Pandamobile. A deer. On a highway! “Spoiler alert, the heroes

sequel. He'd better

avoid getting blown up, Ryan could already see the consequences. The highway seemed to tremble, the structural damage from the explosions extrapolated by

was bound

collapsed, causing cars to fall to their doom. A

side of the road was located slightly higher than the other side, so they had a chance to make it. “I got

Cat panicked, as he quickly put on

couldn’t slow down even if I wanted

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

it took inspiration from, the Pandamobile soared through the air with grace and dignity. The vehicle crossed the hole at full speed, Ryan adjusting its movements slightly to make the perfect landing. He

then came the moment of

landed with a loud thump, Felix almost jumping from his seat as the vehicle continued its course. Ryan heard the sound of the wheels straining from the impact, realizing they might flatten

chickened out and abruptly stopped his motorcycle within a

car soared through the air like the Pandamobile