The Perfect Run

Sometimes, Ryan wondered if fate existed.

He had seen it across many loops. While they didn’t exactly repeat, events often echoed one another even after he interfered. Though the circumstances were wildly different, this loop would end similarly to the previous one; with New Rome burning, Ryan trapped in a suit of mechanical armor, and a Genius trying to transfer her consciousness through time.

It made sense. Ryan was only one person at the end of the day, a stone thrown into a river; until he mastered a loop enough to maximize his impact and send it off-the-rails, the sequence of events was tempted to reassert itself. The courier literally fought against the whole universe, and the rule of causality.

But even if it cost him a great many things, Ryan always prevailed in the end. He never gave up on his hope that things would be different, because each loop was a little better than the previous one. His life was a process, each iteration optimizing the final run.

And if the courier succeeded in ferrying more people across time, he could do more than just throw pebbles in the river. He could throw it off-course with a landslide.

“I will need you to activate your power when I ask,” Len said, as she put the modified armor’s helmet on Ryan’s face and hooked the courier to her machinery. “From what I gathered, the Violet Flux should build up, reach critical mass before… before you approach the ten seconds mark.”

“Good, I would rather avoid making a new save point.” Ryan looked through the helmet’s lens, though no data showed up on them. Unlike Jasmine’s armor, Len’s design was cruder, experimental. It would serve as a fulcrum for his power, but her computer would run the actual computations. “So, how should it go?”

“I will send the memory map to my… my previous self.” Len sat behind her computer. “My current memories should overwrite the old ones. Hopefully. Maybe.”

“It will work,” Ryan said, both for her sake and his own. “It has to. Everything is in place for it to work.”

“We can’t be sure…” Len shook her head. “I… I hope it will work, Riri. But I can’t promise anything.”

The workshop’s door opened, interrupting the discussion. A bandaged Felix walked inside the room, his gaze switching from Len to Ryan. The courier could see the disbelief in his eyes, and then the quiet acceptance.

He had been standing behind the door for a while.

“How long… how long have you been listening?” Len asked with a worried frown.

“Long enough,” Felix replied as he sat on a workbench in front of Ryan. “Nice armor, but I prefer the cashmere suit.”

“One day, I’ll make a cashmere power armor,” Ryan joked.

“I guess you’ve got all the time in the world needed, when you can turn it back?” Felix marked a short pause, his eyes focusing on his former teammate. “Time-travel. It’s crazy, but it explains a great many things. How long have you been at it? How far can you go?”

“Honestly, I don’t know how old I am,” Ryan admitted, before remembering one of his early encounters with Pluto. “Between five hundred and one thousand, give it or take. As for how far I can turn the clock, right before my arrival in New Rome.”

“You’ve been at this for almost a millennia.” Felix shook his head in disbelief. “That’s crazy.”

“Did… did Livia tell you?” Len asked with a frown.

“No, but I was starting to wonder. When you’ve eliminated the impossible, what remains must be the truth, no matter how improbable.” Felix shook his head. “I stayed around Wardrobe for too long.”

“You’ve made peace with Livia?” Ryan asked. It was one of the hopes he set for himself during his loop, and it would probably carry over to his perfect run.

“I wouldn’t go so far, but… I think she understands why I left now. It took a war, but her faith in her father is finally shaken. Still too little, too late.” Felix clenched his fists. “You can save my sister?”

“Yes,” Ryan said. “I will.”

“Thanks.” The hero let out a sigh of relief, but his face remained full of concern. “Can’t you bring me in for the ride too? You’ll need help.”

“No, sorry,” Ryan said. The machine could only host one brainmap. “Believe me, I would if I could.”

“We’re…” Len cleared her throat. “We’re not even sure I can make it at all.”

Felix took it well, all things considered. Or more likely, all that he went through lately had numbed his emotional reaction. “I see. And once you go back, we all die?”

“You will forget,” Ryan reassured him. “Like amnesia.”

“Amnesia... I suppose that’s one way to see it. Did…” Atom Kitten’s eyes squinted at Ryan. “Did you fuck me before?”

things, that was the bit he worried about? “I have a whole ‘Fuck, Marry, Kill’ list to fulfill before my perfect run. Marry Jamie, marry Yuki,

while Atom Cat crossed his arms. “I don’t know why I’m not even surprised,” he said, before falling silent. Clearly,

“Kitten?”

and about Livia too. There’s still hope for them. I… I never appreciated my sister, Ryan. I see that now. My own parents signed off my death warrant, but Fortuna… she chose me over them. When her back was against the wall, she did

anything. Both understood that the hero spoke with his heart, and needed to get a truth off

when you turn back time, Ryan, I’ll forget that. I’ll be angry and bitter at her, all

Ryan reassured Felix. His opinion of Lucky Girl hadn’t been the best, but after seeing her sacrifice, it had greatly improved. She would make it through his perfect run, one way or

I…” Atom Cat gathered his breath. “Make sure I understand that by the time you’re

a way.” Most likely, he would kidnap them both and bring them to family therapy. Even if he had to turn one of them

“I had fun working with you, Ryan. You’re a

you should start the process before I die of diabetes.” Ryan looked away from Felix, as his Genius friend typed on her

carry that regret to my grave,” Felix mused. “Would have been

echoed through the underwater base, interrupting the happy

turned his head at Len, his heavy helmet slowly moving with his skull. A picture of the abyss outside appeared on her computer’s screen, alongside the shape of an enormous submarine. Projectors from Len’s base cast light on its hull, and the logo painted on its

Dynamis.

to establish contact. Len cautiously answered with a frown, a new video feed forming on the screen. A ghoulish, shining skull

lived, Atom Cat.” There was no relief in Alphonse Manada’s voice, only

the workbench and approached Len’s

city. Augustus destroyed our previous installations.” The Dynamis CEO glanced at Len. “And we will pick up Miss

frustration. “Et tu, Nagasaki?”

inside that armor, Quicksave?” Fallout replied with a scoff. “Good, you’re coming too. I will give you ten minutes to get out of this underwater hole and join us

protested,

Ryan said. “Don’t

understand.” Alphonse focused on Len, his shining gaze without emotion. “We need her, dead or alive. If you don’t surrender now, we’ll flood this entire complex

color. “There

pointed out, deciding to add this

grunted, ignoring Len’s comment. “It doesn’t matter. If you

disappointment. “I thought you were one

be the face of Europe, so long as I live. All I do is to make sure

angrily. “You heard Hargraves. Augustus murdered an entire peaceful community to get his hands on my sister Narcinia. And now,

that I do it to save human lives, not destroy them. Can you even fathom how many people Augustus slew? How many more he will kill, now that he has let go of whatever brakes he had?” Alphonse

What did I do to you? Is this about the

telling you now?” Alphonse replied gruffly, but did shed some light on his motives. “You are the key to refining our Elixir processing, Sabino. To mass-produce these potions, so they’re no longer a tool of oppression by the

make everyone a

Genomes into their organizations. But if everyone is powerful, then no one is. Don’t you get it? The only way to break these superpowered dictatorships, is to democratize Elixirs.

a Red in more than one way. A shame; if he didn’t

Bloodstream in your labs?” Ryan asked, Len bristling

them even information for the next loop. “I tire of

and

the Genius said, as she

a bombardment, the entire undersea complex shaking as projectiles hit the habitat.

took a moment to observe the scene around him one last time. Water breaking through the ceiling thanks to Dynamis’ torpedoes; Len, looking at her screen with dread and hope; and Felix, who waited for the end with quiet

wasn’t the ending Ryan had hoped for, and he swore it would not happen

particles swallowed the world around him, and this loop came to an

Not for the first time, and not

could feel his legs

nearby and waited. Music came out of the Chronoradio, instead of a message from an erased timeline. Much like Eugène-Henry, whatever force had influenced the device

up to

for a sign from Len. Any sign that she had made it through. Any sign

but right now, he was sorely

stopped abruptly, and her voice came

“Riri.”