The Perfect Run

Ryan drove his Plymouth Fury through dilapidated streets, while his partner-in-crime explained the plan in the back. He had put on the bowler hat, like a crown of pain and destruction.

“When Psyshock dies, the bunker will go in high alert,” Livia explained, checking on her phone. Cancel waited on the other side of the line to execute the metal squid. “According to Ryan, Adam the Ogre explicitly ordered the Land to close the bunker’s entrance if intruders get too close to it. This means we have only a short time window to either take down the Land, or reach the base’s entrance before she can close it.”

“How long?” Shroud asked, trying to disguise his voice by making it rougher.

“Minutes,” Livia replied.

“How do we prevent her from noticing our approach?” The vigilante was always such a downer. “Her range extends for miles. I checked.”

“The good thing about Ghoul, is that like with Lego toys,” Ryan said while opening the glovebox, “he comes in many parts.”

A skeletal foot wriggled within it.

“Oh, I wondered where the rest of him had gone,” Shroud noted from the backseat.

“W-what is this, Sifu?” The Panda asked, disturbed.

“It’s like a rabbit foot, it brings luck.” Ryan glanced at Fortuna in the rearview mirror. “Though less than the living charm over here.”

“Thank you for recognizing my superiority, though it is obvious,” Fortuna said with smug pride. “And this is disgusting.”

Ryan froze time and tossed the severed foot at her lap, causing Lucky Girl to scream when the clock resumed. She made a cute sound and grabbed Shroud on instinct, much to the vigilante’s confusion. He seemed torn between reassuring her and annoyance.

“I have a hand in the trunk, if you prefer it,” the courier mocked the blonde.

“I will show you a hand!” Fortuna complained before throwing the foot at the driver. She would have aimed true too, if Ryan didn’t freeze time to catch the projectile. “I will slap you in the face!”

“Anyway, as long as we have her tenant’s body parts in the car, the landowner won’t pay attention to us.” Ryan put the foot back in the glovebox. “She will think Psypsy picked Ghoul up and they’re now returning home. At least, until we crash through their front door.”

Livia answered with a nod. “The Reptilian, Acid Rain, Gemini, and the thralls should protect the Junkyard’s surface, while the rest of the gang is in standby inside their base. Psyshock’s execution will free his victims, the Reptilian shouldn’t be a problem, and I can handle Acid Rain.”

Ryan blinked. “You can?”

Though he couldn’t see her face with her helmet on, the courier was pretty sure Livia grinned in response. “I can see where she teleports before she does.”

In the end, the life of a Genome was a giant game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. One power trumped another, forming a delicate, complex web.

And then you had people like Lightning Butt, who just plain cheated at life.

“Gemini and the Land don’t have any hard counters though,” Livia said, as the group came within sight of the Junkyard’s walls of car piles and trash. “Fortuna, Shroud, can you take care of them?”

“Leave it to us, Livy,” Fortuna replied before frowning. “Now that I think of it, I should get a pseudonym too. I would have taken Diana if Felix hadn’t run off, but…”

“You should choose a name that fits yourself, not others’ desires,” Shroud said.

“You’re right, but I should get something that my boyfriend will like, since we’ll spend our lives together,” Fortuna said while checking her phone. “I’ll harass him with suggestions until he likes one!”

Ryan could tell that the boyfriend in question was strongly resisting the urge to facepalm, doubly so as the Panda started offering suggestions of his own. “How about Lady Luck?” the manbear proposed. “The Legend?”

“I would have said Almost-Invincible, but the last half is already taken,” the courier joked at the front.

“Excuse you? Almost Invincible?” Fortuna sneered arrogantly. “Nobody can hurt me. I’m the world’s luckiest woman.”

the chest flashed through Ryan’s mind. “Only if another Yellow isn’t involved, Goldie,” Ryan said. “The Land is one, and you should

“That can’t happen.”

Land is a Yellow/Orange Psycho who can gain conceptual dominion over an area, and this control

the Meta-Gang’s operations and abilities. In particular, he had learned that the Land could also telekinetically manipulate earth, but her precision was inversely proportional to her range. While she was near impossible to destroy while fused to the earth’s soil, she could only create quakes in that state. However, this power combination also made the

told Lucky Girl. “But like all Yellow powers, it follows esoteric rules. Which means it’s nonsensical,

get it,” Fortuna

you, under the guise of luck,” Shroud explained. “But the Land has supreme spiritual control over an area. By that

suddenly a lot

you during the battle. The Land will need to take back physical

Shroud said, though the main reason he ended up with Fortuna was due to her power foiling his assassination attempts. “Unlike

better!” Fortuna said, regaining her bravery. “If I die, I swear

and Geist’s abilities would interact, and folded the idea away into a corner of his mind. Maybe the former could exorcise the latter, especially since his

of bringing

of his former bodyguard, but he could only hope Fortuna and her long-suffering boyfriend could deal with the

Fury finally reached the Junkyard’s entrance fence. The Reptilian and Gemini stood watch over the entrance, with Lizard-boy’s

of them to shout ‘you shall not pass’, and was deeply disappointed when

driver’s wheel, and tossed Len’s water rifle at

friend, while Fortuna opened the windows

panicked, but Ryan answered by accelerating.

passed, not even bothering to aim. Her projectiles hit true nonetheless, trapping the Reptilian in a sphere of water. The water phased through Gemini however, the ethereal woman

still carried the reflexes from his first suicide run, and experienced an impression of déjà vu. Someone should sound the

said, typing on

bell raised the

they reached the bunker’s entrance without the Land

face twisted into an expression of frothing

seemed to have finally noticed the intrusion. The Junkyard trembled as an earthquake shook its foundations, tossing trash and collapsing car walls. A golden shroud became visible around Fortuna, like

it felt like being out in the woods, stalked by a wolf pack. The courier abruptly stopped the

transformed as soon as he could, while Livia stepped out more calmly. Shroud attempted to open his car’s door to fly into the fray, but the lock refused to move. He grumbled at Fortuna, as he carried her in his hands like a bride

near the Plymouth Fury. Ryan, Livia, and the Panda quickly moved out of the way, while

Plymouth Fury wasn’t

piles of trash entombed his beautiful companion. “You killed

have a

did the Augusti princess catch it that Acid Rain teleported behind her, knives raised. The Panda attempted to pounce on

So Ryan stopped it.

Helen,” the courier said, as he put on the Fisty Brothers and quickly activated his time-stop. Acid Rain’s eyes widened upon hearing her real name, but she teleported out of range before the clock could freeze. The courier quickly grabbed the paralyzed Livia and moved her out of the way, in case the teleporter flanked

for Ryan’s throat. “You piece of shit!” she snarled, as a

Time skipped forward.

his starting location, and Acid Rain’s knife stabbed the transformed Panda’s arm;

Helen, and when she attempted to teleport away atop a hill of junk, the prison followed her.

to save Ryan’s bowler hat though. Acid raindrops had wormed a hole in it, and slightly damaged Livia’s

allowed her to skip time forward, creating an anomaly

the erased time?” Ryan asked, glancing at a flying Shroud and Fortuna. The Land seemed to have singled them out as

with my Blue power, I simply had to wait for her to reappear.” Livia

his sidekick, while shouting one last observation to Lucky Girl and Looking Glass. “Windshield, the Land controls the land! I don’t think her power affects people

girlfriend like a bride before the altar. He would soon have to walk the talk too, as Ryan noticed Gemini’s shadow slither into

it one bit though. “I know how you feel,” she told her masked beau, her arms around his neck. “You fell for me at

Shroud replied with heavy sarcasm, gathering a cloud of glass shards from the trash

you, because you are poor and your life is meaningless. But though you have that

before the courier entered the tunnel with the transformed Panda rushing at

hoped they could manage the Land and Gemini, but Livia didn’t seem worried. She must have seen them prevail in her visions. In any case, the courier’s group quickly arrived in front