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.”

smile, she did. “Yeah, you’re too mean to die, and Ma… it would have hurt Ma, if

plan on it,” Ryan said with a sigh. “Can you

Sarah pushed the wheelchair towards the ‘hospital’s’ door, while Ryan sent one last glance to Atom Cat. Felix had stopped looking at the ceiling,

signed his death warrant, and a sister he left behind died for him.

Kitten said suddenly, his voice

the

best friend tinkering on her diving armor, which she had linked to the Chronoradio and Dynamis’ brain-tech with cables. Some

Eugène-Henry stood atop a

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

ever

first time, he noticed the red shade around Len’s

ass,” Sarah told Ryan with a glare. “I would kick you in the

if you want,”

deserve worse,” Sarah said, before looking at Len with concern. “Ma, you should rest.

Len forced herself to smile at Sarah. “Can you… leave us for

so anyway. The workshop’s door closed

Ryan

The girl. She was already drowning in her own blood when…

hand on Len’s arm. To

hand away.

have died,” Ryan said. “Who told you where

your phone. After you turned it off, I had to

The cat seemed delighted to

Len declared with

asked with a

readings. They’re gone. He’s a normal cat now.” Len shook her head, while Eugène-Henry

Eugène-Henry like the plushie, and

act this way? What was the point? Ryan couldn’t figure it out, but he would in time. “How

for the worse. “Riri, you really want to know? You just

“Yes, I want to.”

moved towards a computer hooked to the servers, typed on the keyboard, and

the image, so Ryan assumed it came from a sea-based probe. But the quality was

bullets on superpowered gangsters, who retaliated with fireballs. Flames consumed buildings, including the Il Migliore HQ, which Vulcan and an armored squadron bombarded with missiles. A horde of cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs soon emerged

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

up 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. A living laser cut one of its tentacles, and was soon joined by Devilry. But in spite of their best efforts, the liquid elemental quickly pulled

lightning bolt. Their fight was by far the most fearsome, both moving so fast even the camera had

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 darkness.

“CTHULHU FHTAGN!”

out the apocalypse suit. Things were

she sank in a chair of her own. “Not just New Rome. Sicily and

delayed the inevitable. So long as events remained on their current track, Dynamis,

still. “I’m sorry Shortie, but

a frown. “It

terrible, but the result is the same. Adam just provided a bigger matc—” The computer let out a bleep. “What

call,” Len said, frowning as she typed

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

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

But it wasn’t Jasmine.

the screen. “Thank

took it in stride. “If I were

told me the entire truth,” Livia replied with a

Ryan admitted, causing Livia’s expression to deaden into deep grief. “Felix is alive, but

silent, her expression dead, her eyes looking down. “I… I foresaw it,” she muttered to herself, holding back tears, “but

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

wanted this,” she said, joining her fingers. “I never… I never thought it would come to

disliked Livia; perhaps because she empathized with the mafia

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

looked up. “Is there truly no other way?” she asked, her tone breaking. “Nobody will remember. Nobody but you.

Livia was sharp enough to catch on to their unease. “You have

can’t tell you,” Len said before Ryan could open his mouth. “We… I’m

on Shortie, putting on her

admitted. “And… I was against him

especially after… after what my aunt did.” Livia’s fingers fidgeted, the young woman unable to hide her shame. “But I swear, I never wanted this to happen. I did everything I could to stop

impressed much. “But

No, I couldn’t.” Livia closed her eyes and bit her lips. The little gesture reminded Ryan of Len, so very much. “My father… he usually

frown. “How can we be sure that

place outside New Rome alongside Narcinia. It’s a private line, I assure you. Vulcan’s private line, and she is too

did you know Ryan was here?” Len continued.

where I could talk to Felix, and it always involved using

throat. “Shortie, I think that’s