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.”

I 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

with others. “Is that why you’re telling me this?” Ryan asked. “Because you can’t watch me,

“It plays into

every aspect of a loop, that a foreign force like you messing up with my plans… It felt maddening. But, well, I had forgotten that I

the loneliness Ryan had suffered through all these years. While their powers might have been wildly different, they did face similar

power as you suggested in your messages, you will

the other.” The courier crossed his arms. “So, if we gave you

will work, Ryan. I know myself. I will never accept having my thoughts overwritten voluntarily, especially not by Dynamis-made tech. From my old self’s point of view, I can only rely on notes rather

write a fifteen-page long warning you

tampered with my notes. I will find it more likely that you are a manipulative Blue capable of interfering with my ability. I’m already very wary of people like Bacchus.” Livia considered the matter thoughtfully. “How

where this is going,” Ryan said. “We send your consciousness back in time, you keep a copy of Shortie’s memories, and then

other for years, while we met days ago. She’s

than one consciousness back in time and they wouldn’t have to find out. “I’ll… I’ll ask her

foreknowledge to get others to move the way you

was a special case. “We’ll see with her. What about the

seemed a lot less enthusiastic about that part. “Ryan, these people tried

ones who wanted to are gone, and the rest…” Ryan’s thoughts turned to Acid Rain, Mongrel, Frank, even Sarin. All

mistake, or victims of circumstances? Bloodstream, Jean-Stéphanie, Adam, and their kind had colored his view of Psychos. But

hope, Livia,” the courier declared. “I don’t want to

it away when you turn back time

argued back. “I will perfect the process through multiple loops, and make sure they get a better ending. Maybe they won’t remember my

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.”

Her expression turned playful. “Why do they

chuckle. “You want me to declassify

curious,” she admitted. “I’m sure there’s an

details of his coup d’etat, and her lips transformed into a grin. “You force them to sing The Star-Spangled

the infernal buzzing noise echoing in his mind. “If you didn’t want to slap him before he sings, you will

silly things like that,” Livia admitted. “Everyone around me walks

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

attention even more,” Livia replied. “Although I admit Fortuna and I had some interesting adventures when

“Like what?”

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

power is busted,”

knowing smile, albeit somewhat nostalgic. “Things were so much easier when

the distance. “Before your parents

on your way out of New Rome. Once the Bliss Factory goes down, I can finally start changing things for the better.

the obvious. “And Bacchus is only part of the

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 it is thrust upon his shoulders. If I inherit, these two will do as I

“But not Bacchus?”

religious zealotry. He believes he can contact God with that substance, and it trumps all other

Not a god.

An Ultimate One.

spare your family from a deadly confrontation with Hargraves, we’ll have to find a

winced. “I’m seeing Hargraves in my vision

Sunshine? Already? “Where?”

believe he intends to attack you, and

Hargraves would appear so soon, would

knew about

Safelite was so active lately,”

Did Ryan’s presence among the Meta-Gang cause Shroud to pay more attention to Rust Town? Or did the glass manipulator manage to

so yet, but would in the following days. “How long until

make my prophecies wrong.” Livia bit her lower lip. “Something else

of the plushies had breached containment and escaped the Junkyard. If it was anything like with Eugène-Henry,

but others, his elder brother takes the lead. If he does come, the

and bunkering down the way Hannifat Lecter did looked doomed to fail. He had to go on the

road so complicated? If you needed her help, you

petty revenge.” If anything, Jasmine’s irritability was one of the things Ryan found cute about her. “She will only help reliably if someone

immediately picked on the implications. “The two of you were

staring at the sea. He felt still sore about losing Jasmine, his Jasmine. “Yeah. Yeah, we were. But now she’s

not repeat the loop where you formed a relationship?” Livia suggested. “Then you send

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

over Len, and what

Livia looked torn about Ryan’s choice, but appeared to respect it. “Why do you need

Mechron could enhance his lieutenants’ powers. If I combine his tech with

and perhaps bring more people across time.” He could tell

also chew the scenery, probably hold the city for ransom, and confront my archenemy Wardrobe in an epic

reaction was unlike anything Ryan

pat him on the back and leave

his explanations without a word, as she digested them. Livia opened her mouth to say something, hastily closed it, and then joined her hands together

squinted at Livia, reading her mind. “You want

with a sheepish smile. She looked

as proper and dignified as Livia participating in something so silly clashed with the idea he had of her.

said no,” Livia said