The Perfect Run

The world turned purple, as time slowed down to a crawl.

Raindrops froze in midair, never reaching the ground. A lightning bolt coursed through the skies, a scar of light in the heavens. Ryan didn’t even hear the sound of his footsteps as he moved.

He had wished for more time, and the Elixir obliged. The boy knew it deep within his bones, an instinct as natural as breathing. Ryan Romano halted time itself with a thought, much like a player could pause a video game.

But not forever.

A flash of light overcame his vision, followed by the noise of explosions and cold rainwater falling on him. Time began again, and Ryan nearly tripped on a puddle of water. Damn, did he need to focus on his power to keep time frozen?

Whatever the case, Ryan kept following the noise. He caught sight of Leo the Living Sun floating above the sea, unleashing streams of fire at Porto Venere’s Marina. The place used to be a touristic walkway, with multi-story colored houses facing piers meant for yachts. Years afterward, the paint had turned grey and lifeless, and the boats into scrapped husks. Ryan could hardly see the battle with the downpour.

He activated his power, and the world turned purple. This time, Ryan started to count in his head.

One.

Five.

Nine.

Te—

And time resumed.

Ryan could halt time for ten seconds or so. Afterward, his power failed him again. The boy attempted to stop the clock again each second, finally succeeding on the tenth try. He could pause the universe for ten seconds, but had a cooldown period of the same length.

A pretty straightforward power, all things considered. But would it make any difference? Bloodstream packed a mean punch, but he was fighting Leo the Living Sun. Ryan heard rumors that the guy fought Augustus and lived.

Ryan searched inside his pockets and brought out a small revolver he always carried on his person. He took a deep breath, cursed his luck, and approached the battlefield.

He was fast.

Leonard couldn’t believe his luck, when he glimpsed at a boy matching the description of Bloodstream’s son Cesare scavenging supplies while on a routine patrol. The Carnival had lost track of the Psycho days ago, even wondering if he managed to flee Italy. Leonard had called his allies, and immediately tracked down the boy to his father’s hideout.

Leo went into battle with only the Cossack and Mr. Wave for backup. The former’s white power armor would protect him from blood infection, while the latter had no circulatory system of any kind. Ace stayed on standby in a safe location, ready to teleport the wounded to Stitch’s infirmary if needed. The Cossack had suggested burning the entire town to ensure Bloodstream perished, kids be damned, but his teammates put their veto to that course of action.

They would do this by the book.

Unfortunately, Bloodstream must have sensed the trio's approach and ambushed them near the town’s ruined Marina. Leo bombarded the walkway with flames, while the Cossack did the same with a laser rifle. They only managed to set a deserted restaurant on fire, as Bloodstream dodged all their attacks. The bloody slime leaped from one spot to another like a flea.

“Meddlers, annoyers! Why does everyone insist on harassing me?!” Bloodstream shrieked. His voice struck Leonard as shrilling and high-pitched, like a young child throwing a tantrum. “Has every man on this God-forsaken planet gone mad?”

The pressurized blood making up Bloodstream’s skin crystallized into spikes, which he launched in all directions. Leonard didn’t bother to dodge, his solar body incinerating the projectiles before they could even reach him. Even the raindrops formed a cloud of steam around him, the skies darkening above their heads.

The Cossack flew away with his jetpack, but one spike hit his chest; the blood spear turned into a drill and attempted to dig a path to the human below the armor.

While Leo immediately stopped harassing Bloodstream to burn away his projectile before it could infect his teammate, the Psycho moved towards a half-rusted car near the walkway. His fingers turned into tentacles as they seized the vehicle.

“Ever since I took these potions, this world has been tormenting me!” Bloodstream lifted the car above his head and prepared to toss it at the Carnival’s flying members. “Trying to take my children away from me!”

“And all your troubles didn’t prepare you for…” A new, costumed challenger appeared on the ground, a crimson blur. “Mr. Wave!”

The living wavelength ran towards Bloodstream, his body turning into a laser. Mr. Wave transformed into a mass of crimson light moving in a straight line that cut through anything in its path. The superhero’s laser form tore Bloodstream in half, the car falling on the bisected Psycho.

Mr. Wave returned to his humanoid form a few meters away, doing some footwork as if slowing down. While he could move at lightspeed in laser form, the superhero could only move in a straight line and needed to transform back to turn around. He had once confessed to Leonard that his greatest fear was to be ejected into space, unable to turn back.

“Ugh, Mr. Wave has bloodstains on his cashmere!” Mr. Wave complained while looking at his suit. Bloodstream’s two halves quickly fused back together, and he crawled out of beneath the car. “You have made a powerful enemy today, tomato juice!”

“Just die!” Bloodstream turned both his hands into sharp axes, extended his arms into five-meters long tentacles, and attempted to behead Mr. Wave with a scissor blade motion. The superhero put his hands in his pockets and dodged the strike with a backstep.

“Lady Death once had a near-Mr. Wave experience,” the superhero replied, as Bloodstream frantically pursued him like an enraged bull after a matador. “Mr. Wave is too good for Heaven, and too scary for Hell!”

Leonard had to resist the urge to tell his teammate to stop with the boasts. Mr. Wave was good-natured and powerful, but also an unrepentant showoff.

Still, his taunts worked. Bloodstream focused entirely on Mr. Wave and ignored his allies, giving them some respite. Once the Psycho got too close for the superhero to dodge in his human form, Mr. Wave tore through his foe again in laser form. No damage lasted long, the maddened criminal pulling himself back together in seconds.

“You’re alright?” Leo asked the Cossack after burning the blood-drill to ashes.

“How much blood does he have?” the armored man grunted back, as he glanced at the walkway below them. Bloodstream’s spikes had turned back into liquid blood, slithering back to their owner.

“I can’t tell.” Bloodstream compressed the blood making up his body, so he might carry tons of organic mass in that slender frame of his. “I could incinerate him with one fireball, if we can immobilize him. I don’t want to go all out in case he keeps his children hidden nearby, I might wound them by accident.”

Easier said than done though. Leonard and the Cossack flew above the walkway, trying to keep up with their ally’s duel with Bloodstream. Upon realizing he couldn’t damage the Psycho for long, Mr. Wave switched to a defensive strategy. One moment he stood in one place, challenging Bloodstream with hand gestures and lazy footwork; and when his foe threatened to slice him, the superhero took a step forward, turned into a laser, and reappeared a few meters away.

But though Bloodstream lacked finesse, Leo had a hard time tracking his movements. He was a red blur, a cheetah, his body twisting at impossible angles.

“Stop dodging!” Bloodstream leaped from a building’s wall to the walkway in an attempt to catch Mr. Wave from an unexpected angle, but the living wavelength saw it coming and dodge with a mere sidestep. He didn’t even need to transform.

“Mr. Wave doesn’t move at lightspeed. Light moves at Mr. Wave’s pace.”

“Sure,” the Cossack said, the back of his power armor opening to reveal missile launchers. A rain of rockets fell upon the walkway, alongside the rain and lightning. Concrete and stone exploded into a cloud of dust, obscuring Leonard’s sight.

Leo guessed his ally’s plan: to force Bloodstream’s parts to reform after blasting him to smithereens. Mr. Wave reappeared close to a ruined restaurant, wiping blood off his suit, but the enemy remained out of sight. The dust cloud spread over the Marina, obscuring both the boats and the pavement.

from within the

before it could hit them, parts falling into the sea. However, the Psycho leaped at them while they were distracted, emerging from the dust

the chest before the armored warrior could retaliate, his empowered fist as powerful a cannonball. The blow cracked the Cossack’s chestplate, the

on the road, motionless. Worse, the hole in his armor

sweet blood!” Bloodstream cackled upon landing on the ground. He immediately moved on all fours

again, hitting the Psycho from behind before he could reach the Cossack. The impact shattered Bloodstream like glass, but no sooner had Mr. Wave regained his original form did the blood drops instantly

portal behind the Cossack. The teleporter grabbed the armored warrior and started pulling him to safety through the

in a laser to stop blood bullets in midair before they could hit Ace, and tore through Bloodstream like paper.

Bloodstream threatened to pull himself back, Mr. Wave returned to human form, rotated on himself, and gored through the Psycho

Mr. Wave couldn’t keep this up forever, Leonard gathered plasma in his hand, forming

now

again, as Ryan powered through

the eye to follow. Ryan barely caught a glimpse of the fighter responsible for one second as it turned around, a

on the other side. Leo the Living Sun floated above the area, shaping a miniature star in the palm of his hands.

dust, smoke, and heavy rain hiding him. And for a second, he was tempted to

Len wouldn’t leave without her father. She would never forgive Ryan if he left Bloodstream to die, and the Carnival… the teen couldn’t rule out the possibility that they would go

what should

the skies.

as

a phantasmal face. The Psycho regenerated, while ‘Mr. Wave’ raised a hand at Ryan. “Kid, get back, it’s

made a terrible mistake. The Carnival never intended to harm him or Len. They were true heroes, coming to save them from

distraction was all it took for evil to

projectiles hitting the woman’s throat while she finished dragging the armored figure through. She barely had the time to gasp before her skin ruptured, crimson blood covering her

voice turned into Bloodstream’s midway through

closed, the fireball in his hands dissipating. “Mr.

Genome stepped back in disbelief, sidestepping to dodge Bloodstream’s

Mr. Wave’s gaze moved from Bloodstream to Ryan, and he muttered something too low for the time-stopper to hear. The

Ryan asked Bloodstream, though it disgusted him to even

perfectly fine. Whatever damage he had suffered healed in an instant. “You must listen

in bitterness, as he realized that he would never be free of this monster. This was the perfect chance to get rid of Bloodstream for

he loved Len more than he hated

don’t have time,” Ryan replied, lowering his gun. “Len’s submarine will leave soon.

answering, Bloodstream froze in place. He looked at his adoptive son with disturbing intensity, sending a

asked with a shaken

boy’s blood

“Dad, I—”

could finish his sentence. The Psycho’s grip was strong

maddened words became a distant echo, as air failed to reach Ryan’s brain. The bones in his neck cracked under the strain. His hand failed to hold his gun, the weapon falling on the pavement. “Where is my son?! What have you done to my

A pain greater than anything Ryan ever felt coursed through his head, his vision blurring, brain matter flowing on the pavement. He couldn’t

“WHERE IS MY SON?!”

All went dark.

died. Events rolled back, from his death, to that messed up battle, to the

And then it stopped.

lungs once more. The rainwater fell on

was

future? A warning of what would happen if he made the wrong choice? That sounded like

checkpoint, like video games. It had granted him a

freckled woman with a blood volley. But this time, without the boy to distract him, Mr. Wave hit Bloodstream before he could even twitch. The woman closed the portal

Living Sun, the fireball in his hands so bright it hurt to look at it. Bloodstream attempted to leap away

at his adoptive father, the phantom sensation of his warm hands closing on his throat flashing through his mind. And as it did, the boy remembered all the times the bloodthirsty monster hit him and Len in the past. How helpless the children had felt, always cowering at his approach. How the Psycho had lapsed

claws squeezing the life out of his lungs. This is

owed this monster nothing but

around, and abandoned

it was for the best. Ryan had seen the

fireball at the walkway, the air shimmering with

his presence, just as the fireball fell upon a roaring Bloodstream like God’s judgment.

fireball hit the

he ever had before. The universe turned purple, freezing

consuming the walkway, with Bloodstream burning to cinders

in a suit, running after Ryan in a vain attempt to shield

all from above, surrounded by steamy

fast as they could, straining so much that the teen feared he would collapse midway. Seconds stretched on, but Len was so far away, and the fireball

as he counted seconds from eight to nine. “More than

Romano didn’t

on the tenth second, and the world exploded

face a white wall, he thought he had perished for good and ascended to Heaven. Though Shortie didn’t believe

nobody

you’re finally awake!” Ryan’s eyes wandered to his right, watching the shining holographic face of Mr. Wave look at him. The superhero anxiously waited on a

body, and it looked like he recovered

wavelength Genome paused, as if he had said something stupid. “Mr. Wave thought you might

so too.” Ryan glanced at his hands. “I’m…

medic does not inspire confidence at first glance, but he is good,” Mr. Wave said. “His life is a

he gone?” Ryan

hands. “Your father…” His voice broke. “Your father died, little

not

must have imagined what horrors Ryan went through. “Mr. Wave has to ask, is there