The Perfect Run

He found Livia standing on the piers, facing the sea with a terrible look on her face.

Ryan parked his not-so-suspicious black minivan near the old harbor, and quickly looked around for any Killer Seven member. If Livia had brought bodyguards, they hid well; the courier suspected Mortimer lingered nearby, buried below ground. “Don’t tell me you came on foot?” the courier told the mafia princess, as he joined her in his full presidential costume. “We’re a long way from Mount Augustus.”

“But we’re close to Optimates Tower,” Livia replied with a sad smile. Not only did she look grim with the black circles around her eyes, but she also dressed the part. Her dark coat and austere clothes reminded Ryan of a young widow. “And I could only lose Mathias this way.”

So Mr. See-Through stalked her too? The glass-manipulator had made increasingly frequent forays into Rust Town lately, though he never stayed long due to the Land’s interferences.

Livia examined Ryan’s new costume from head to toe. “I love the suit,” she said, though she frowned at the hole in his bowler hat. “Did someone attack you?”

“I had to put down a robot rebellion.” Ryan shrugged. “I have a back-up bowler hat in my car, but I’ll wait for tomorrow before putting it on. I only wear that one for war.”

She chuckled, though her heart wasn’t in it.

The courier glanced at Augustus’ daughter, noticing the red marks near her eyelids. She had wiped off tears not so long ago. “He told you, didn’t he?” Ryan guessed. “Kitten. He told you the truth, about how he felt.”

Her face strained, telling him he had hit the mark. “Can we sit for a while, Ryan?”

“Sure.” They sat along the pier’s edge, their feet dangling above the sea. Ryan said nothing, knowing Augustus’ heir wanted an ear to listen to. One that wasn’t part of the ‘Family’. Not even Fortuna.

Livia put her hands on her lap, facing the distant sun. A faint breeze flowed from the west onto her face. She didn’t say a word for a while, as she tried to express her feelings into words. “I went straight to Dynamis. Something I never dared to do, because it increases tensions between my family and the Manadas in my predictions. If I didn’t know this wouldn’t matter in the long-term, I would never have dared.”

“Story of my life,” Ryan replied.

“I refused to leave until Felix would talk to me,” Livia continued her tale. “My bodyguards and the security were within minutes of starting a firefight when he finally came down. He wasn’t happy that I forced his hand, but he agreed to sit down and have a real talk.”

Ryan listened in respectful silence.

“I… I can see up to six futures at once, and I can switch them. My ability is always on, and sometimes it reacts to my emotional state. It shows me options based on what I want.” Livia looked away, her eyes wandering to Dynamis and Il Migliore’s twin towers. “I couldn’t convince Felix to get back together with me willingly in any alternate world I saw. There were many where I could force him, yes. But none where he would return out of his own free-will.”

She glanced back at the calm, peaceful sea, and the shadow of Ischia Island in the distance. “It’s… it’s not that we’re over, Ryan. There was nothing between us in the first place. It was… it was just decorum, and my own feelings blinding me to the truth. Whatever bond we shared, it’s gone, and I can’t get it back.”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan said with a sigh. “I know it sounds cliché, but I understand.”

“You’ve been there too.” She looked at the courier sorrowfully. “I can feel it in your voice.”

“Yeah.” Ryan slowly removed his mask and hat, putting them at his side. The warm breeze on his face felt good. “I’ve spent centuries looking for Len, because… because I loved her. And now that she remembers… while we still share a close bond… the intimacy we had is gone.”

“What happened?”

“Her father happened,” Ryan replied. Just like Livia’s ruined every chance she might have had with Felix. “Nostalgia led me to New Rome. I longed for a simpler past, and...”

He took a deep breath. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to have a friend back. But it’s not the ending I’d hoped for.”

Livia gave him a glance full of compassion. “Love is a sweet poison, isn’t it?”

“I don’t regret tasting it though,” Ryan replied with a genuine smile. “All I wished for was someone to remember me. Someone with whom I could share my joys and burdens. Shortie agreed to help me carry some of the load, and… I’m fine with that. Better than fine.”

“Why are you still in New Rome, Ryan?” she asked him. “You came to this city to reconnect with your friend, and you did. Adam perished, and you could bury the bunker for good. Leave all of this mess behind.”

“It wouldn’t be the best ending, princess.”

“It would be a good one. For you, at least.”

“Would it be good for Felix? For Jamie, for Jasmine, for Yuki?” Ryan marked a short pause. “For you?”

The heiress looked somewhat embarrassed. “Don’t worry about me Ryan,” she said, “I will make things right.”

A blatant lie. He could see it in her eyes. Livia expected to face more trouble down the line, and to carry the burden alone.

“Well, you’re part of my Christmas list whether you like it or not,” Ryan joked. “And I’ll ask you the same question. Why are you still in New Rome?”

“Same reason as you,” Livia replied, her eyes focusing on Ischia Island. “Too many lives depend on it. If I leave, the throne will probably go to Bacchus or Mars, and nothing will change. It will just be more of the same.”

“How far can you see into a simulation?”

Livia joined her hands, as if hesitating to reveal that secret. Eventually, she did though. “A month or so if I truly focus. The predictions get increasingly unreliable the farther into the future I look.” Her expression transformed into a grim scowl. “Not far enough that I could learn about my father’s cancer before it was too late.”

So she had seen how the world would turn out in the future. While the butterfly effect probably whisked possibilities away, seeing a world with Bacchus in charge of the Augusti must have scared her straight.

“Can I confess something, Ryan?”

“You don’t have to ask. I won’t judge you.”

Livia’s fingers fidgeted, as she mustered her courage. He could tell that she was about to admit something she never dared to confess to anyone else before. “I… I don’t really feel comfortable around others. Even Fortuna, or my family. I love them but… how to explain…”

“You know them, but they don’t know you,” Ryan guessed her problem.

She confirmed with a slow nod. “You have the same problem?”

“I lived lifetimes with some people across loops, only for them to barely know my name in the last one.”

can’t turn my power off. I’ve seen all the ways my loved ones can react to a stimulus, what they plan to do. I know everything about them, but I feel like an outside observer in my own life. The events I see happened to other ‘mes’.

built walls with others. “Is that why you’re telling me this?” Ryan asked. “Because

chuckled. “It plays into it,

feel the same,” Ryan admitted. “Honestly, I kinda hated you at first. I’ve grown so used to controlling every aspect of a loop, that a foreign force like you messing up with my plans… It felt maddening. But, well, I

the loneliness Ryan had suffered through all these years. While their powers might have

with an amused smile. “If I piggyback on your power as you suggested in your messages, you will have even less mastery over

getting what we want without cooperating with the other.” The courier crossed his arms. “So, if we gave you a map

never accept having my thoughts overwritten voluntarily, especially not by Dynamis-made tech. From my old self’s point of

long warning

of interfering with my ability. I’m already very wary of people like Bacchus.” Livia considered the matter thoughtfully. “How much does the

see where this is going,” Ryan said. “We send your consciousness back in time, you keep a copy of Shortie’s memories, and then I convince her past self to have her own

she accept? You knew each other for years, while we met days ago. She’s more likely to go along with

send more than one consciousness back in time and they wouldn’t have to find out. “I’ll… I’ll ask her permission first. It would feel a bit

use your foreknowledge to get others to move the way you want to all the

case. “We’ll see with her. What

Psycho condition?” The oracle seemed a lot less enthusiastic about that part. “Ryan,

Ryan’s thoughts turned to Acid Rain, Mongrel, Frank, even Sarin. All these people were

besides the Meta, how many Psychos were people who made a costly mistake, or victims of circumstances? Bloodstream, Jean-Stéphanie, Adam, and their kind had colored his view of Psychos. But now that he had seen the other side of the fence, Ryan couldn’t call a world where Acid Rain would

Livia,” the courier

you turn back

final loop,” Ryan argued back. “I will perfect the process through multiple loops, and make sure they get a

to try to see the possible consequences, and it seemed to mollify her resistance somewhat. “Alright,” she said. “But in return, I ask for two things. First, you will involve me in every

“That’s fair.”

“Why do they

“You want me to declassify

“I’m sure there’s an interesting anecdote

of his coup d’etat, and her lips transformed into a grin.

surprisingly good singer, but Mosquito…” Ryan shuddered, the infernal buzzing noise echoing in his mind. “If you didn’t want

silly things like that,” Livia admitted. “Everyone

amuse you, jester-style?” Ryan asked. “What’s the point of having authority if you can’t abuse it now

me, but they dread my father’s attention even more,” Livia replied. “Although I admit

“Like what?”

Fortuna asked for the star itself,” Livia chuckled. “A small meteorite

power is busted,”

albeit somewhat nostalgic. “Things were so much

“Before your parents started

island on your way out of New Rome. Once the Bliss Factory goes down,

out the obvious. “And Bacchus is only part of the problem. Mars and Venus

“They’re… followers, so to say. Mars in particular chose to become my father’s subordinate early and never wavered in his loyalty. He will only take responsibility for the family’s empire if

“But not Bacchus?”

obsession with Bliss borders on religious zealotry. He believes he can contact God with

Not a god.

An Ultimate One.

want to spare your family from a deadly confrontation with

“I’m seeing Hargraves

Sunshine? Already? “Where?”

he intends to

the only reason Hargraves would appear so

he knew about the

why Safelite was so

among the Meta-Gang cause Shroud to pay more attention to Rust Town? Or did the glass manipulator manage to interrogate former thralls of Psyshock with the necessary knowledge

but would in the following days. “How long until

you can make my prophecies wrong.” Livia bit her lower lip. “Something else has been blurring my

containment and escaped the Junkyard. If it was anything like with Eugène-Henry, the creature would probably pollute

Rust Town too,” Livia continued. “Enrique leads them in most possibilities, but others, his elder brother takes the lead.

of abandoning the surface and bunkering down the way Hannifat Lecter did looked doomed to fail. He had to go on the offensive. “Well, I have a

a road so complicated? If

she would have ratted us out to Augustus out of petty revenge.” If anything, Jasmine’s irritability was one of the things Ryan found cute about her. “She will only help reliably if someone goes along with her wishes

implications. “The two of

avoided her gaze, staring at the sea. He felt still sore about losing Jasmine, his

where you formed a

like that, before deciding against it; that kind of thinking led down the rabbit hole. “Besides the fact she made me promise not to replace her, I cannot control your actions, so a perfect repeat is now beyond my reach. If I tried to recreate my Jasmine through various loops, I would probably obsess over every detail, and reboot if I find the result ‘lacking.’

obsessed over

choice, but appeared to respect it. “Why do you need

in the process of figuring out how Mechron could enhance his lieutenants’ powers. If I combine his tech with

people across time.” He could tell that the possibility greatly

I’ll go full supervillain, take over Dynamis’ Star Studios, and livestream Hector Manada’s crimes for the world to see,” Ryan explained his evil plan. “I’ll also chew the scenery, probably hold the city for ransom, and confront my archenemy Wardrobe in an epic battle. Or

reaction was unlike anything Ryan

him

and then joined her hands together on her lap. A flash of hesitation briefly crossed her face before

at Livia, reading her mind.

sheepish smile. She looked so adorable at that moment, that Ryan couldn’t

someone as proper and dignified as Livia participating in

no,” Livia said with a