The Perfect Run

Ryan’s vision blurred. It was hard to focus; darkness lurked at the edge of his vision, and his strength left him. He couldn’t even feel his legs, and his whole body felt cold.

Maybe it was the loss of blood, or the leftover damage he suffered from the battle with Pluto. Or perhaps it was Eugène-Henry’s doing, as the cat teleported right in front of Ryan. The feline looked down on the trapped Genome without a sound, like a guide to the underworld.

“Fortuna!”

Above the waterfall, a horrified Atom Cat held his sister in his arms, blood flowing from her chest. Pluto’s corpse fell down the waterfall, a hole in her forehead. The river pulled the Underboss downstream to her last abode; her curse had been canceled and the woods returned to normal, though it came with a cost.

Fortuna had made a lucky shot… but even luck couldn’t cheat death from her due.

“Fortuna!” Felix shouted, trying to cover his sister’s wound with his hand and prevent her from bleeding out. Ryan knew enough about medicine to know it was useless. If he had the tools and the energy, he might have saved her.

He would save her still. He would save them all the next time around.

In the end, only Ryan was cursed with immortality. Only he could carry that burden.

As he started to lose consciousness, Ryan noticed a metal shadow moving upstream. A mermaid in power armor crossing the river to rescue him.

“Riri!” Len shouted in horror while rushing at his side, immediately pushing away the debris keeping him down. “I’m here! I’m here!”

Len…

Always there to save him when all was lost.

“I must go now.”

For a moment, the courier thought he had spoken out loud, until he realized where the disembodied voice came from.

Something spoke through Eugène-Henry, using Ryan’s own voice.

“The rest,” the cat looked into the courier’s eyes, his feline gaze shining purple with the wisdom of the stars, “is up to you.”

A flash of violet light overwhelmed Ryan, and he lost consciousness.

When Ryan opened his eyes, it was to the tune of The International.

The ceiling was crimson red, and he faced a portrait of Marx and Engel. An intravenous device pumped his right arm with anesthesia, right next to a steampunk wheelchair of leather and tin.

Damn it, had he woken in a hidden Soviet lab again? Once had been enough!

Ryan’s eyes wandered around himself, his body feeling heavy; he had trouble breathing correctly, and his chest itched. Most importantly, he couldn’t feel anything below his waist, including his most dangerous weapon. Even Vamp died in an attempt to claim it for herself.

He was in a hospital bed, with a TV and a window leading into a dark undersea abyss. Sitting on a chair right in front of him, Little Sarah read Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. She hadn’t noticed him waking up.

Ryan turned his head, glancing at another bed near his own. Atom Cat laid half-hidden beneath the bed sheet, watching the ceiling with empty eyes. Bandages covered his torso, and he had an intravenous system of his own.

“Felix?” Ryan’s voice startled Sarah, who hastily closed her book. “Kitten?”

Nothing.

Atom Cat didn’t even respond. His gaze was a blank, empty abyss of nothingness, a thousand-yard stare.

“He has been like that since Ma brought you in,” Little Sarah said with a frown. “He doesn’t respond when people call him. I’ve seen that gaze before in Rust Town. He’s broken inside, and he’s not coming back.”

“He will.” Ryan knew that from experience. “Eventually, when it’s done chewing on you, the abyss spits you back.”

Of course, the courier would probably turn back time before Atom Cat finished that healing process. Even if she annoyed him, he couldn’t let Fortuna stay dead. Not after she gave her life to save her brother.

“Now you’re awake, get your ass out of bed,” Little Sarah said, before realizing the obvious. “Figuratively, I mean. How do you feel?”

“Without my legs, like Christopher Reeves.”

“I don’t know who that is.”

“And that’s why I can’t stand you.”

“At least I still have le—” Little Sarah suddenly stopped, as she put the two and two together. “Oh wait, I get the joke! Can’t stand!”

“Now, if you can bring me the wheelchair,” Ryan said, glancing at his new Plymouth Fury. “I will let you push me around a bit, but please don’t talk behind my back.”

“Do you want me to find you a parking lot?” Little Sarah replied, as she put her book aside and helped Ryan get into the wheelchair. As he expected, the rest of the courier’s body hadn’t been spared either. He had almost as many bandages as an Egyptian mummy.

“It’s a start, but you need training in pun-fu,” Ryan said. “How long was I out?”

“Ma brought you in yesterday night,” she replied, grabbing the pole holding the intravenous system and attaching it to the wheelchair. “The other orphans made bets about your death. Most said you wouldn’t make it.”

“I hope you bet on me.”

would have hurt Ma, if you

said with a

Atom Cat. Felix had stopped looking at the ceiling, and now glanced at the undersea abyss

had signed his death warrant, and a sister he left

Kitten said suddenly, his voice

the time. Maybe

Dynamis’ brain-tech with cables. Some of the suit’s parts had been replaced with copies of Jasmine’s design, including the helmet. It seemed Len had decided to repurpose her existing equipment rather than make something

stood atop a server, like

The sheer relief on Len’s face was almost palpable. “You’ve

ever

his mouth shut. “Yes, I did,” she said with a frown. For the first time, he noticed the red shade around Len’s eyes, as if she had repeatedly wiped away tears.

Ryan with a glare. “I would kick you

me in the arm if you want,”

worse,” Sarah said, before looking at Len with concern. “Ma, you should rest. I can bring you a

to smile

didn’t want to obey, but did so anyway.

Ryan said

save her. The girl. She was already

moved the wheelchair forward, putting a hand on Len’s arm. To his surprise, she didn’t immediately back away from the physical contact. “Shortie,

his hand away.

died,” Ryan said. “Who

to embarrassed. “I hacked your phone. After

be mad at her for this, but the NSA did it first. Ryan glanced at the device, and then at Eugène-Henry. The cat seemed delighted to see his master again, but his gaze had returned to its natural

declared with a frown. “But it’s

asked with

Len shook her head, while Eugène-Henry showed them his royal ass. “Whatever caused his teleportation jumps

like the plushie, and

point? Ryan couldn’t figure it out, but he would in time. “How are things on the

the worse. “Riri, you really want to

“Yes, I want to.”

the servers, typed on the keyboard, and showed

it came from a sea-based probe. But the

buildings, including

sharp weapons, while Mars dueled a colossal plant monster over the rooftops. Spatial tears opened around the centurion wannabe, raining swords and spears upon the vegetal abomination. Yet the creature retaliated with vines as thick as trucks, and pollen capable of melting steel. As Wyvern freed herself, Mars jumped from one rooftop to the other by materializing

on an artificial shore, only to rise up again to attack Dynamis facilities. Neptune himself rampaged across Rust Town, having shaped an astronomical quantity of water into the shape of a colossal squid.

lightning bolt. Their fight was by far the most fearsome, both moving so fast even the camera had troubles following them. Mighty thunderbolts and plasma blasts rained down from the heavens,

reaching the harbor. Mortimer, Lanka, and other Genomes fired at will against an unseen form, which almost gave Ryan a headache simply showing up on screen. A horrifying eldritch mascot with swirling tentacles for a beard, great dark wings, and webbed hands; a terrifying mix between a squid and a human, worn by a foolish Genome unable to control its public domain-powered

“CTHULHU FHTAGN!”

the apocalypse suit.

over the coast,” Len admitted, as she sank in a chair of her own. “Not just

end of the last loop, all over again. Destroying the Meta had only delayed the inevitable. So long as events remained on their current track, Dynamis, the Carnival, and

so far away still. “I’m sorry Shortie, but Lab Sixty-Six will

frown. “It

as terrible, but the result is the same. Adam just provided a bigger

call,” Len said, frowning as

beat. Was this a ray of hope, in the middle of another bad ending? “Open

on the screen changed from New Rome’s apocalyptic landscape, to a young woman

But it wasn’t Jasmine.

as her visage appeared on the screen. “Thank goodness, since I couldn’t see you, I… I

in stride. “If I were dead,

the entire truth,” Livia replied with

into deep grief. “Felix is alive, but deeply

silent, her expression dead, her eyes looking down. “I… I foresaw it,” she muttered to

her way, your late aunt would have killed Felix too.” Though it was blunt, Ryan thought she needed to hear the grim truth right now. “Your father gave the order, and Pluto didn’t think twice about

“I never… I never

Len’s expression changed to sympathy, even if she clearly disliked Livia;

“I will make it alright,” he said, his tone softening. “I

truly no other way?” she asked, her tone breaking. “Nobody will remember. Nobody but

shook her head. She had guessed his thoughts, and disagreed with the idea. Livia was sharp enough

could open his mouth. “We…

Sabino.” Livia regained her composure as she focused on Shortie, putting on her poker face. Perhaps she had started using

Len admitted. “And… I was against

young woman unable to hide her shame. “But I swear, I never wanted this to happen. I did everything

much.

Ryan of Len, so very much. “My father… he usually listens to me. But

are you even?” Len asked with a frown. “How can we be

am in a safe place outside New Rome alongside Narcinia. It’s a private line, I assure you. Vulcan’s private line, and she is too busy to listen.” Livia cleared her throat. “It’s… it’s precisely because she is too busy that I

know Ryan was here?” Len continued. “You said

still see the results of his actions afterward. I looked for a possibility where I could talk to Felix, and it always

“Shortie, I think that’s enough.