The Perfect Run

Chapter 69

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.”

and Ma… it would have hurt Ma, if you didn’t wake up.” Sarah glared at the courier. “She was in tears when she brought

didn’t plan on it,” Ryan said with a sigh. “Can you bring

wheelchair towards the ‘hospital’s’ door, while Ryan sent one last glance to Atom Cat. Felix had

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

Kitten said

wasn’t the

Dynamis’ brain-tech with cables. Some of the suit’s parts had been replaced with

Eugène-Henry stood atop a

Len’s face was almost palpable. “You’ve woken

ever doubt?”

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

told Ryan with a glare. “I

still pinch me in the arm if you want,” Ryan replied, and she did.

“Ma, you should rest.

okay. Thanks, sweetie.” Len forced herself to smile at Sarah. “Can you… leave us for

but did so anyway.

Ryan said

save her. The girl. She was already drowning in her own blood

moved the wheelchair forward, putting a hand on Len’s arm. To his surprise, she didn’t immediately back

his hand away. “If

died,” Ryan said. “Who told you

embarrassed. “I hacked your phone. After you turned it

then at Eugène-Henry. The cat seemed

think so,“ Len declared with

gone?” Ryan asked with a

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

entity had possessed Eugène-Henry like the plushie, and

What was the point? Ryan couldn’t figure it out, but he would in time.

worse. “Riri,

“Yes, I want to.”

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

the quality was enough for the courier to see the

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

rooftops. Spatial tears opened around the centurion wannabe, raining swords and spears upon the vegetal abomination. Yet the creature retaliated with vines

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 itself back together and continued its deadly march towards

had transformed into a fuming crater, over which two lights dueled to the death; a raging sun, and a crimson lightning bolt. Their fight was by far the most fearsome, both moving so fast even

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 darkness. The abomination let out a

“CTHULHU FHTAGN!”

the apocalypse suit.

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

all over again. Destroying the Meta had only delayed the inevitable. So long as events

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

replied with a frown. “It was like this?

just provided

frowning as she

heart skipped a beat. Was this a ray of hope, in

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

But it wasn’t Jasmine.

on the screen. “Thank

while Ryan took it in stride. “If I were dead, princess, this

told me the entire truth,” Livia replied with a joyless smile, before it

expression to deaden into deep grief. “Felix

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

blunt, Ryan thought she needed to hear the grim truth right now. “Your

fingers. “I never… I never thought it

if she clearly disliked Livia;

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

her tone breaking. “Nobody will remember. Nobody but

with the idea. Livia was sharp enough to catch on to their unease. “You have a plan to

tell you,” Len said before Ryan could

as she focused on Shortie, putting on her

“And… I was

fidgeted, the young woman unable to hide her shame. “But

much. “But

he usually listens to me. But not on this. No argument, in any possibility I’ve seen, could cause him to reconsider. His hatred

a frown.

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 call

Ryan was here?” Len continued.

looked for a possibility where I could talk to Felix, and it always involved using this line. I don’t

throat. “Shortie, I think that’s enough. We’re

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