The Perfect Run

It wasn’t the first time Ryan had woken up naked and strapped to a chair. At least his captors wisely let him keep his boxers; if naked, he would have gone on a rampage.

The courier coughed out leftover water, and it took him a while to see clearly. The room was dimly lit, cubic-shaped, and as unwelcoming as it could get. Steel walls covered in brown stains surrounded him from all sides, with a single reinforced door as the only way out and cameras in every corner. Ryan’s chair was positioned at the end of a tin table, where sat enormous plates shielded by steel lids.

The courier recognized the place.

Mechron’s bunker.

“Cesare.” Psyshock was sitting at Ryan’s right, carefully opening a robot head with his tentacles and tinkering with the processors. “Did you sleep well?”

Ryan instantly froze time and attempted to lunge at the brainjacker. Unfortunately, he couldn’t move an inch. The courier’s eyes wandered to his hands and feet, noticing steel restraints almost everywhere it counted. The chair itself looked anchored to the ground, with syringe arms raised at the sides. He couldn’t even move his head!

Ryan attempted to bite his tongue and choke in his own blood, but his teeth hit a metal plate near the molars; when the courier focused, he realized a metal device attached to the chair restrained his jaw’s movements. Damnit, his captors weren’t usually this thorough!

“Can’t move, sleeping beauty?” Ryan recognized Sarin’s voice as time resumed. Hazmat girl waited in a corner on his left, back against a wall. “Gotta admit, I thought you were a goner for a second.”

“Where’s Len?” Ryan asked while glaring at Psyshock, the metal bits in his mouth making it difficult to speak.

“Working on your car upstairs, alongside my other thralls.” Other thralls. The very word made Ryan’s blood boil. “She is happier this way, Cesare. Little Len only feels at peace when she uses her power, and now, she will do so nonstop. It was an act of mercy. Kindness, even.”

How? How could it be? Did Psyshock infect Len during the bunker assault? No, Ryan would have noticed. Something in the tech?

The metal door opened, Big Fat Adam stepping through alongside Ghoul. “What’s wrong, Mr. Time Traveler?” the Meta-Gang’s leader taunted Ryan while sitting on the other side of the table. “Can’t kill yourself today?”

“I suppose the safe word is ‘weight loss’?” Ryan taunted him back, unimpressed.

“How witty, I guess we have a new Bill Murray in our custody.” Adam pointed a finger at the chair holding Ryan, while Ghoul took position right behind his boss. “You won’t restart this time, mate. Mechron used these devices for human experimentation. The chair will keep you alive, whether you like it or not.”

Ryan would have clenched his fists, if he could.

This was bad. This was really, really bad. He was restrained, and at the Meta-Gang’s nonexistent mercy. If Psyshock used his power on the time-traveler...

“How?” Ryan asked, as Hannifat Lecter put a napkin around his neck and prepared for his meal. The psychopath opened his mouth and brought out cutlery, alongside salt and pepper shakers. “How did you do it?”

“I told you before, Little Cesare,” Psyshock said, interrupting his work on the robot head. “Dynamis’ technology is compatible with my power.”

“I had Psyshock booby trap the tech the second Manada gave it to us,” Adam said, smirking to himself. “Anyone who gets their mind overwritten by it? They become Psyshock’s newest host. It was a back-up plan, in case Dynamis pulled a fast one on us.”

Ryan’s eyes widened, as he read between the lines. “It only happens during the overwriting? Not the memory map creation process?”

“Well, no.” Adam chuckled. “The sabotage would have been too obvious otherwise.”

Thus Livia still had an uncorrupted copy of Len’s mind, stored in the Blue World.

Ryan just had to kill himself, abort this loop, and then he could figure something out. Psyshock wouldn’t follow him back in time without Len’s machine, and the courier could find another way to transfer his friend’s memories back. Ghoul’s presence meant he had killed everyone at Renesco’s bar anyway, so this run was already ruined beyond repairs.

Adam guessed his intentions. “I’m sorry mate… you won’t get a happy ending.”

“Your real target was Hector Manada,” Ryan said, stalling for time as he furiously tried to figure a way out. “You wanted to take over Dynamis if he ended up using that technology.”

“What can I say, mate? People think I look like a fool, but you don’t reach my age by being one. Taking over your girlfriend as she went back in time was a fluke, but my insurance policy paid off.”

Adam lifted the lid off one of his plates, revealing some fried chicken alongside apples, and meat that wasn’t chicken meat. “You want some?” Hannifat Lecter offered the terrible dish to Ryan. “It’s Lebanese.”

“No, I’m a vegan,” Ryan lied. “My compliments to the chef.”

Adam chuckled, raising a finger at Ryan with a jovial smile. “You’re funny. I admire your wit and self-control. It’s like you went through something similar already.”

Ryan said nothing, causing Adam to raise an eyebrow. “You did?”

“You know what’s tragic about you, fatass?” Ryan taunted him. “You aren’t original. I killed dozens of you. It wouldn’t even be the first time I got cooked alive.”

Sarin said. “That’s

in wounding his ego. “Well, guess I’ll be the one to do you in,” said the Psycho, as he started eating. “Keep the best for last. Frankly, the only reason Psyshock didn’t scramble your brain

said, his voice

continued his meal, and

his body trembling

twisting the knife. “I know her greatest secrets. I even know what she thought when you deflowered her; you didn’t leave a good impression, I’m afraid. But then again, you were

“Shut up,” Ryan said.

is just too scared to let

Sarin remained

taunt infuriated Ryan beyond words. But now his fury had cooled down into a cold, quiet

Psyshock mused. “Perhaps I will pair you and Little Len, once I have dominated your mind. It will

cheeks with his napkin. He had only left the apples untouched.

brainwash Ryan. The brainjacker found a sick, twisted pleasure in forcefully invading minds. “It worked with Little

the optimistic outcome, but what happens if there’s a

but knew better than to argue. “The

in an endless loop as he immediately dies and reloads? Or will it stop eventually? Could your brainwashing count

Meta daring to say a word. Finally, Psypsy was forced to admit his own ignorance. “I do not know,

for

silence was an answer in

know its limits until we test them, and if we mess up once, you win. You’re as bad as Augustus in your own way; if we

to contact him on his

to

to say is that the longer we wait, the greater the risk,” Psyshock argued, looking at Ryan with what could pass for desire. “I can enthrall and

to align, right? That’s what he told his girlfriend. We know his power activates when he dies, but what counts as death? Would stopping his

but remained silent

mist surrounding his hands. “Freeze his

replied, unimpressed. He doubted the Meta had anything that could surprise him. “Just chill out,

step forward, but Adam

who thinks they can use you, Dynamis, the Augusti, they’re kidding themselves. You’re a goddamn hurricane. You

who tried to capture Ryan, Adam was

space, he would eventually die and find a way out. He had come back from Monaco, and faced overwhelming odds. They just had to slip up once, and Ryan would win the next time around.

did have a credible chance of brainwashing him across time. He needed to make Adam

Wait. Something was wrong.

own conclusions. That manipulative bastard only gave his men the illusion of listening, to gaslight them into following his agenda. He had already made up his mind

was he really

useful in another way.” Everyone looked at Sarin. “If he’s really a time-traveler, maybe he knows the cure? Psyshock

Ryan frowned. “The

Girl replied, as if

gas cloud trapped in a suit, or Mongrel, an animal unable to use the abilities he collected. “Is that what Whalie pitched to get you all in line? He isn’t working for a cure. He’s not even trying to

looked at Hannifat Lecter, sensing an opening

base’s plan at the entrance. And I noticed something interesting. You tried to conquer the place, room by room. But the path you took wasn’t the shortest to the lab, or the mainframe… but it is the shortest to

smirk didn’t falter, but his hateful gaze

made up

Ghoul asked his boss, as Hannifat Lecter grabbed a big apple from his plate. “Freeze his lying mouth

Ryan shouted. “He just wants to kill

pig, preventing him from speaking. The courier tried to swallow it and suffocate, but the metal plate in

The bastard was too smart not to guess his boss’ plan, but too sociopathic to care. Ghoul was too dim or too

to digest the news. In the end, her

Adam said with a falsely warm tone, before

blood froze, as he gazed at the

and gagged like a pig on the plate, surrounded by salad and tomatoes. Tears of terror rained down the little

shakers. None of the other Psychos flinched at the horrendous spectacle. “You think you can turn this around, mate,” the sadistic monster said, “but from what I gather, the only way we can lose the game is if you play. If you’re taken off

furiously tried to figure out a way to save her. Even after all these loops, there were still things that terrified him. Things

work, Psyshock.” Adam looked at his second-in-command, once he had finished salting the little girl. “What else could deal with

didn’t share everything either. “Cancel,

tried and true method then.” Adam opened his mouth wide like a pelican, and shoved his

came out with a bottle marked