The Perfect Run

“You don’t believe me?” Ryan asked Len, his feet dangling from the edge of the orphanage’s roof. The stars shone brightly in New Rome’s polluted skies, their light piercing through the darkness.

“How can I?” Len asked, holding her head with her hands. Her water rifle remained within reach of her hand. “Time-travel? Downloadable memories? This is… this is insane, Riri. Insane. And my father… you’re saying my father is alive, and that Dynamis… that Dynamis turned him into...”

Well, as alive as a virus could be. Wait, could Pluto kill Bloodstream for good if her power registered him? Food for thought.

Ryan raised a hand to comfort Len, but his old friend recoiled. Without her memories, all the trust he managed to build up between them had vanished; it would have hurt once, but not this time. With Livia’s help, forgetfulness would no longer be a curse, but a temporary obstacle.

If he could convince Len to accept the memory transfer procedure. Which considering her trust issues might prove difficult.

Perhaps Ryan should save a few seconds after he began a new loop? If he could only bring back a person at once, this would at least make the memory transfer permanent. They would only remember one loop, so it was an imperfect solution, but it was better than nothing.

“This… this is too much. Too much. I… I need time to process this.” Len joined her hands, hyperventilating. It took her a few minutes to recover, and Ryan waited patiently. “I need to see the tech in question, Riri. If it’s really mine… if it’s really mine, I will recognize it. All the other stuff, you could have invented or learned through other means, but...”

“Sure,” Ryan replied with a warm tone, trying to reassure her. “Anything you need.”

Len took a long deep breath. “Riri. What happened to me?” she asked with a soft, weak voice. “When we reached that lab, assuming I believe your tale… you said I died. But not how. How did I perish?”

“You really want to know?” Ryan asked with a sigh. “It will hurt, Shortie.”

“More than everything else you told me?” She struggled to hold back tears. “He killed me.”

“Yes,” Ryan admitted. She deserved to know the truth, no matter how horrifying. “There’s a piece of him in your blood. Some kind of sleeper agent or tracking device. When you approached your father—”

“I became him.” Warm tears rained down Len’s cheeks, while she pinched her nose not to sob.

Perhaps a part of her always knew it was a possibility, even if she refused to believe it.

She did believe Ryan. Even if the tale sounded outlandish, Shortie still thought her oldest friend wouldn’t lie to her. No matter how horrifying the tale.

“Len, there’s…” Ryan struggled to find the right words, so she wouldn’t panic. “If the blood sample inside you could transform you into a monster, maybe it can do something subtler?”

Len glared at him, her sadness transforming into anger. “You’re saying… you’re saying that my father influenced my thoughts. My feelings… that my feelings for him aren’t my own.”

“Maybe they are, or maybe not. But the doubt remains as long as you carry that infection.” The courier crossed his arms. “Len, we have to remove it. Not only for everyone else’s sake, but yours too.”

“How? It’s inside me, Riri. It’s in my blood like a cancer, and your vaccine won’t work on it.”

“I know a few Geniuses who could help.” He had already sent an email to Dr. Tyrano through the scalie’s secure channel, offering him to cooperate on Knockoff research… and asking for information about his secret ‘Monster Girl’ project, much to the courier’s shame. “One can even help you with your…”

“My depression?” Len frowned. “I’m… I’m not a problem to be solved.”

“No, no.” That was exactly why he had been opposed to interacting with her across many loops. If her experience didn’t carry through, then the courier would treat her less like a person and more like an equation. “It’s… if you want. After recovering your memories.”

“And if I don’t want your transfer?” Len wiped away the tears with her hand. “Will you repeat this conversation until I say yes?”

Ryan paused to consider the question, realizing that his entire plan hinged on Len accepting the memory transfer. If his amnesiac friend wouldn’t, then what could he do? Kidnap her and transfer the memories by force? Find a way to transfer the stored knowledge across time without the current Len’s consent?

“You would rather stay amnesiac?” the courier asked. “It’s not brainwashing. You will remember memories that you forgot, but it won’t erase yours.”

“But it will change me, and I don’t know how. You know, but...”

“You’re afraid of what you will learn,” Ryan guessed. Ignorance was bliss.

“Answer me, Riri.”

“I will respect your choice. Even if it hurts.” In the end, Ryan couldn’t force his decisions upon those he loved. “I can offer my hand, but you have to reach back too.”

Len raised her knees, holding them with her arms in a fetal position. Her expression was thoughtful, undecipherable.

“Psyshock will attack this place in two days,” Ryan reminded her, changing the subject. “We need to prepare for it.”

“This place is rotten,” Len said, glancing at New Rome’s bright neon lights. “The deeper I go, the stronger the stench. The flashy colors only hide the ugliness underneath.”

“I agree with you that most of the locals don’t have fashion sense, but there are quite a few locals overflowing with glamour.” Ryan should introduce Len to Wardrobe at one point. “Where did you go after we split up?”

“The Canary Islands,” Len admitted. “The sub’s autopilot tried to bring me to the USA, but an engine problem halfway redirected it to the closest island. I stayed a few months there before moving on.”

So the Laïka had honored its namesake. “Pretty nice place,” Ryan said. “I’m surprised they managed to establish an independent republic from Dynamis, considering how half of Spain has fallen under their control.”

Len’s head perked up in surprise. “You went there?”

“Yeah, I think it was…” Two hundred years ago? Ryan’s memory was a bit foggy, as his adventures in North Africa hadn’t been memorable. “A while ago. We must have missed each other.”

“It was… it was nice. The islanders are nice.”

“Will you return there?” Ryan asked, his old friend shaking her head.

“They still fight each other sometimes,” she said. “Wherever I went… there were always Genomes who wanted more. I couldn’t make a difference there, and I couldn’t make a difference in New Rome either.”

“You still can.”

“Even if we reveal how the Knockoffs are truly made of, Dynamis will continue to oppress people. If they could do something like that for a few more euros… then they’re capable of anything.” She shook her head. “And the Augusti destroy lives through drugs and blood money. I’ve seen the ruins of Malta below the sea, Riri. Augustus made an underwater tomb for thousands.”

She wasn’t wrong, but again she only saw the darkness and missed the stars. “I think these groups can change,” Ryan said, remembering his Il Migliore loop and his discussions with Livia. “If the right people are in charge.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“But you don’t believe me.” Ryan shrugged, rising up and walking on the roof. “It’s fine, I’ll change your mind.”

“You’re going?” Len bit her lower lip. “You can… you can stay, you know.”

“Thanks,” Ryan said from the bottom of his heart. “I still have another date though.”

I never dared to ask you before, in any of our conversations.” Ryan peeked over his shoulder, Len still sitting on the roof’s edge. “That day, when I returned to

his gaze. “I waited for you and Dad until the last second, and when you didn’t return, I… I

lost all hope for a

had waited for Ryan until the very

he wouldn’t abandon

must have tried to eavesdrop, only to find the door firmly closed. “Hey, pintsize,” the courier waved a hand at

arms while pouting. “Your doggie is

…

moved to his trenchcoat, searching his

A-Bomb? Check.

Guns? Check.

Knives? Check.

Buzzer? Check.

Plushie?

Not check.

“Uh oh.”

rushed outside much to Sarah’s surprise,

his pets to each other, and the aristocratic cat dealt with the lowborn dog the same way a noble did with a peasant; by trying to

button on its back switched on. The vile, long-eared demon glanced south of New Rome, perhaps dreaming of setting

near the orphans! Who could have stolen it from him and

Unless...

had assumed a Meta-Gang member accidentally switched it on during the last loop, mistaking it for something harmless. But now

Ryan guessed

All this time.

demon inside a pentagram, but it could always step over. Ryan’s illusion of control shattered, his fingers trembling with dread. For centuries… for centuries, he had lived at the mercy of

and then behind him; Ryan froze, as he heard Little Sarah had followed him outside. The courier’s heart skipped a beat, as he watched all his hopes for this loop go down

then the

make a sound. No pre-recorded message answered

plushie didn’t

Ryan asked his dreaded creation. “Not even disembowel a Psycho or

No answer.

wake, but they had gone silent. The toy’s eldritch shadow, once so fearsome, had shrunk in size

talking to a toy,” Little Sarah said. “I knew

or the presence of preteens elicited a reaction. Instead, the plushie kept glaring at Mount Augustus with its big blue eyes; the menacing aura within them replaced with sourness. Ryan reached

so thoroughly, Lightning Butt had done

He gave it depression.

knocked on Shroud’s door next. His visit was a bit earlier than usual, but he sweetened the deal with a free stuffed Ghoul. The Psycho had gone torpid, to the point

hideout, the vigilante silent as a tomb. By the time his guest

Martel only said one

“Fuck.”

pretty sure the Knockoffs also contain carcinogens, though

joined his hands, meditating on what he had learned. “Do you have a hard proof that Bloodstream makes up the Knockoffs? We destroyed all our samples to prevent

a drop of blood for study, which he offered to the vigilante. “Put this in contact with a

Shroud said, as he carefully examined the blood in a syringe. Even now, Ryan half-expected it to burst out of its container. “If our Genius confirms what you said, then we will have to

avoid that,” Ryan said. “Trust me, you will get a lot more than pigeon shit on your windshield if you do

threatening to grow spikes. After a short moment of hesitation, he removed his helmet, revealing his

his hands on an orbital superweapon, and Dynamis infected thousands of people with the seeds of a global pandemic,” Mathias Martel

on New Rome if Sunshine makes his way here.

you say,” the vigilante

squinted at the hero. “How many times

fists. “Too many

that madman striking Sunshine down as the world collapsed around them flashed vividly in the courier’s mind. “He’s a bitter old man dying of cancer. He has

“I know that.”

near this city’s powder kegs. Do you think he will put aside his grievances against a

was an answer in

de grace. “You had a plan for New Rome, but it didn’t account for either Adam or Bloodstream. It didn’t survive

after pondering his words. “Which side are you

put a hand on his

looked at him with a frown. “So you’re just trying to save your

shoulders. “I don’t want this city to burn or the world to end, is that too much to ask? I have friends on both sides, and

past, only for Dynamis to lie to us so they

examined him closely. “You knew something like this would happen with Bloodstream.” That was what he gathered from their

nodded. “My mother, Alice

Ryan never met her, though she was part of the Carnival’s original line-up. She had left the group by the time they tracked

lives.” Shroud looked away in sadness. “She almost died fighting Mechron,

as in rising from

against Mechron, my mother provided a detailed report of future threats to the world. Though Augustus was ranked high, Bloodstream topped the list. He was expected to cause an

delay the

had

seers didn’t decide

Ryan did.

still happen, unless we act,” the courier said. “But we can still change the future. We can end

to destroy the bunker without Leo, Mr. Wave, and others at our back. Dynamis is corrupt, so we can’t rely on Il Migliore’s help

said. “Let me recruit a crack team of rogues and misfits! Who knows, maybe you

manage to prevail on our own, saving lives isn’t enough, Quicksave. Justice must be served. Augustus can’t keep poisoning people, and especially not continue to exploit the Costa’s daughter. He can’t get away with his crimes, and neither can

watching Lightning Butt ravage New Rome in one loop and worsen its destruction in another, Ryan had sworn to bring the immortal emperor down. And maybe he was the only one capable of doing so. “But you can leave the Augusti to me. If you take care of the Bloodstream vaccine, my transparent friend, I swear I will destroy the Bliss Factory and return

and the others

alarm. “The bunker below the Junkyard is one of many, but I recorded their locations. Sunshine can hunt them down while we deal with the situation here in New

could also cause the Bahamut to self-detonate, preventing anyone

asked. “Hector is mad, Fallout is madder, and

fashion sense would tell otherwise, I believe our dear gardener

that the manager was supposed to manage Knockoff Elixirs’ production until he visited Lab Sixty-Six and left

though… Ryan had mistaken the gardener for a closet

inside, but too bound by familial love to take a hard