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.”

trust her smile, she did. “Yeah, you’re too mean to die, and Ma… it would have hurt Ma, if you didn’t wake

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

glance to Atom Cat. Felix had stopped looking at the ceiling, and now glanced at the undersea abyss outside the habitat with

His own parents had signed his death warrant, and a sister he left behind

want to talk,” Kitten said

the

Ryan found his best friend tinkering on her diving armor, which she had linked to the Chronoradio and Dynamis’ brain-tech with cables. Some of the suit’s parts had been replaced with copies of Jasmine’s design, including the helmet. It

atop a server, like

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

ever doubt?”

Genius winced, Ryan realized he should have kept 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. “I thought… I thought I was

Ryan with a glare. “I would kick you

me in the arm if you

Len with concern. “Ma, you should rest. I can bring you a warm hot

it’s okay. Thanks, sweetie.” Len forced herself to smile at Sarah.

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

sorry,” Ryan said

her. The girl. She was already drowning in

hand on Len’s arm. To his surprise, she didn’t immediately back away from the physical contact. “Shortie, it’s not

pushed his hand away. “If I had

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

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

NSA did it first. Ryan glanced at the device, and then at Eugène-Henry. The cat seemed delighted to see his master again,

Len declared with a frown. “But it’s

Ryan asked with

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

Eugène-Henry like the plushie, and then

the point? Ryan couldn’t figure it

winced. Clearly, things had only changed for the worse. “Riri, you really want to know? You just

“Yes, I want to.”

to the servers, typed on the keyboard,

the

retaliated with fireballs. Flames consumed buildings, including the Il Migliore HQ, which Vulcan

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

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

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

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

“CTHULHU FHTAGN!”

out the apocalypse suit.

coast,” Len admitted, as she sank in a chair

only delayed the inevitable. So long as events remained on their current track, Dynamis, the Carnival, and the Augusti were bound to collide with

sorry

she replied with a frown. “It

the result is the same. Adam just provided a bigger matc—” The

frowning as she

a ray of hope, in the middle of another

changed from New Rome’s apocalyptic

But it wasn’t Jasmine.

relief, as her visage appeared on the screen. “Thank goodness, since

face turned into a scowl, while Ryan took it in stride. “If I were dead, princess, this horrible present

perhaps, you hadn’t told me the entire truth,” Livia replied with a joyless smile, before it broke off completely.

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

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

Pluto, and if she had 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

said, joining her fingers. “I never… I never thought

she clearly disliked Livia; perhaps because she empathized with the mafia

alright,” he said,

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

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

said before Ryan could open his mouth. “We… I’m

on Shortie, putting on her poker face. Perhaps she had started using her power to observe and predict the Genius. “You

Len admitted. “And… I

understand why you distrust me, 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

impressed much. “But

very much. “My father… he usually listens to me. But not on this. No argument, in any possibility I’ve seen, could cause him to reconsider.

with a frown.

private line, I assure you. Vulcan’s private line, and she is too busy

here?” Len continued. “You said your power didn’t work

his actions afterward. I looked for a possibility where I could talk to Felix, and it always involved using this line. I don’t even know where you

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