The Perfect Run

Mars and Venus’ home embodied everything wrong about their organization: rot festering beneath a nice veneer.

Oh, at first glance their manor looked like the height of casual opulence. Venus had tastefully decorated her home with luxuries such as English furniture, hardwood cabinets from Spain, Turkish carpets and Tunisian tapestries. The manor also housed billiard tables, private poker rooms, and even a Roman-themed art gallery. Ryan guessed they couldn’t help but pucker up to Lightning Butt’s obsessions.

But everything came from the pre-war era. The chairs were old, the rugs were worn flat, the stone foyers wrinkled. Even the main room’s TV was outdated. And while the staff had numerous employees, they were nowhere near enough to take good care of the estate. Most rooms felt empty and lifeless.

This place reeked of past obsessions and lost glory.

“Ugh, I can smell the dust,” Ryan said as he visited an empty ballroom, Livia holding his arm. “Wait, is that asbestos?”

“All the non-Genomes in the staff will get illnesses,” Livia confirmed with a sigh. “I warned Fortuna’s parents, but they wouldn’t listen.”

Huh, not only did the Verans deal in drugs and prostitutes, but they also knowingly gave their staff lung disease. They were truly irredeemable. Most worryingly, Ryan noticed Cancel and Mortimer shadowing him and Livia. While it was ostensibly to ‘protect’ the couple, when the courier tested his time-stop, it didn’t activate.

This immediately put him on high alert. Something was up.

“Can I shout, ‘it’s a trap?’” Ryan candidly asked his girlfriend, whispering in her ear.

“Maybe later,” she replied in the same hushed tone, resting her head against his shoulders while he put his arm around her shoulders. To outsiders, they looked like they were about to kiss. “Do you have weapons on yourself?”

“Yes, but not my best ones.” Though he came dressed casually, he always kept hidden knives beneath his clothes. “I can always drop my pants, that should blind them.”

Livia gave him a dirty look. “It didn’t blind me when I looked closely.”

“Because I put the safety on.”

“Keep your pants up, and your other weapons closer,” she replied, careful that Cancel and Mortimer couldn’t hear them. Thankfully, while they remained at close distance, the two hitmen gave the couple enough space for privacy. “And have Len be ready to evacuate you. You might need to go to Antarctica quicker than expected.”

“So this is a trap?”

“Yes,” Livia admitted with a dark look. “But not for us.”

“You could have warned me beforehand.” Then again, Ryan did interfere with her power. She probably had a hard time adjusting to his actions. “I like surprises, but not when our favorite power-canceler is nearby.”

The threat of dying permanently or worse still frightened the courier.

“I wasn’t sure until we entered the building,” Livia admitted, as they left the ballroom for a mirrored hallway. It reminded Ryan of the ruins of Versailles, which he had visited in a previous loop. There wasn’t a Genome assassin hidden in his reflection this time around though, much to his disappointment. “I foresaw some worrying possibilities, and Greta’s presence only confirms my worries.”

“Doesn’t our cheery sociopath prevent you from seeing anything in her vicinity?” Ryan asked, taking his cellphone and sending a text message to Len, the Panda, Shroud, and everyone else who would listen.

“She does, which is why Father sent her,” Livia replied darkly as her boyfriend put his phone back in his pocket, “but I saw all the ways this dinner could end before coming here. Except those where you interfere, of course.”

“Do some end with explosions?” Ryan asked hopefully, “because I can help with those.”

“I know you can,” Livia replied mirthfully, as they reached the dining room’s entrance. “But please don’t burn the carpets. I like some of those.”

A single guard stood watch over the doors, a man in an all-black bodysuit covering his entire body. Ryan wondered how he could see without holes in his mask. The guard flinched upon seeing the couple, while the time-traveler gave him a sadistic smile worthy of Jack Nicholson.

“Ryan, this is Night Terror of the Killer Seven,” Livia introduced them to each other. “Night Terror, this is Ryan Romano, my boyfriend.”

“We met,” the mansaid, spitting each word. “With all due respect, Lady Livia, your companion is a home-breaking asshole.”

“Wait, this is the guy who punched you in the face for no reason?” Mortimer asked from behind the group, suddenly interested. “Oh, that’s awkward.”

“For no reason at all!” Night Terror complained while raising an accusing finger at Ryan’s face. “I don’t even know him!”

“I’m sure my companion had his reasons,” Livia said, before glancing at her boyfriend. “Right, Ryan?”

The courier didn’t answer. Instead, he kept staring at Night Terror, the way a mongoose glared at a snake. He didn’t say a word. He just waited.

“Maybe he punches everyone?” Mortimer asked, trying to fill the silence while Livia raised an eyebrow.

“He didn’t punch me,” Cancel said. “I would have killed him if he had tried, sure, but he didn’t.” She sounded a little disappointed about that.

“Did you use your powers on my boyfriend?” Livia asked Night Terror with a falsely innocent smile.

The Darkling impersonator crossed his arms. He was trying to look strong, but Ryan could tell that the silent glare was slowly startling to unsettle him. “Maybe? I don’t keep track.”

“That’s why poor ol’ Mortimer kills his victims,” the wall-phasing hitman said. “When they come back to haunt him, at least he knows why.”

losing his nerve.

kept staring at the man’s mask, until Night Terrorized started looking away. But he couldn’t escape Ryan’s stare inside a mirror gallery. “Stop doing that,” the hitman asked, unsettled. “You think you can make me

on,

exchanged glances behind Ryan, and Livia clearly struggled not to laugh, but he only had eyes for the gaping darkness in

stop, please?” Night Terrorized tried to look down, but

prey’s chin, and forced

There was no escape.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he said, walking

won’t like it,” Cancel said, while Mortimer chuckled like a

before realizing that Ryan’s gaze followed him. His pace accelerated greatly afterward, until he

Livia couldn’t hold her laughter anymore. “You’re

his girlfriend... but she was better

large banquet hall on the first floor, with a sprawling table capable of housing two dozen persons. An unused fireplace faced three windows giving an impeccable view of the gardens outside, with Cancel positioning herself to look through the central one while

each side. Jamie and Ki-jung had taken the seats closest to Narcinia, while Mathias ‘Shroudy’ Martel stayed at his

grinned ear to ear upon seeing her best friend, while Mathias gave Ryan a sharp nod. He looked secretly relieved to see a friendly face, especially when he noticed Cancel and Mortimer. “Come,

the very picture of courtesy. “Mercury, Chitter, I

to that name,” Jamie replied. Ryan hadn’t seen this caring bear of a man much lately, but he had made some effort to dress well for this dinner, wearing a suit and a tie. His Korean girlfriend Ki-jung fidgeted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable with either the situation or her sleeveless black dress. She had given up her glasses for contact lenses, but would rather stare at the

the courier examined them both, he noticed a predatory glint in Mars’ gaze

drug’s mention made Ki-jung raise her head, like a dreamer waking up from a long nap. “Oh?” her boyfriend said, holding her hand to comfort her. “Oh,

look pleased, but he was a terrible liar and Ryan could see his true feelings in

Geist,” Narcinia complained, arms crossed. “I

found the courage

once,” Ryan said from experience. “Hopefully, eventually it

further. “It won’t feel the same without him, even if we rebuild the place. He was funny and kind, and

between Fortuna and Ryan himself. The courier’s chair let out a worrying sound, if it threatened to crumble beneath him. “But this should be a joyful reunion,

more!” Fortuna said with a bright smile. “We should savor the

exchanged a sheepish glance.

Ki-jung said,

said with genuine joy, though he already learned the

Jamie laugh. “We’ll wait

have married couples around this table,”

innocent, but the man’s eyes didn’t smile when his mouth did. Unlike Jamie’s,

“That’s not

for tomorrow,”

designer?” Mars continued to fish

still looking for

GoatVPN?” Ryan

co-conspirator raised an eyebrow, skeptical.

from Dynamis and other heartless Dynanet providers,” Ryan said with a telemarketer’s voice. Which was to say, like someone who sold his soul for money. “With more than ten billion users, GoatVPN creates a wall of goats to shield your

this one on the Dynanet,” Ki-jung said with amusement. “Alongside one for Wyvern League Legend, I

most third-world countries,” Ryan said. “Which, to be fair,

with that sponsor issue,” Mars

the Carnival infiltrator’s soul wasn’t for sale. “I

something better than money,”

should have dumped him,” Narcinia said, pouting. Clearly, she didn’t like Mathias any more than in the previous loops; she probably sensed he wasn’t

my future,” her sister admitted with an uneasy smile, while Mathias’ eyes wandered from Narcinia to her adoptive father. “Then I decided

you could make a killing from palm-reading,”

balls,” Livia replied with a giggle,

gasped. “You’re kidding

the young teen. “It

case, keep your sheep safely penned in at night,” Ryan

while Jamie started asking Mathias and Fortuna about how they met. With the guests distracted and the Killer Seven focused on the windows and doors, Ryan started whispering into his girlfriend’s

her happy in most futures

raised an eyebrow. “There are futures where things

Dynamis, I get to reform my organization peacefully. No more drugs, forced prostitution, intimidation, or money laundering. My family goes legit.

to see that one

I

Livia glanced at the fireplace anxiously. The

“Livia?”

you trusted me,” she whispered back, so low he could hardly

something was definitely wrong here.

“But, I have seen how this dinner could go, and… it seems like this possibility might come to pass. If it does… if it does, someone will fall down the chimney’s shaft. Mars will make a call to my father, and when the call

guards, climb over the roof,