The Perfect Run

Chapter 107

Ryan wondered how many lives Felix ‘Atom Cat’ Veran had left.

He had died at the Meta-Gang’s hands at least twice, once to Fallout’s bombardment of Len’s underwater base, and probably alongside everyone in New Rome when Bloodstream escaped confinement. Which should leave him with five lives out of nine?

“Felix!” Narcinia almost rose from her seat, only for Mars to put a hand on her shoulder and force her back to her seat. The young teen looked at her adoptive brother and father in confusion.

Fortuna’s response was far less subdued. “Felix, you ass!” she complained so loudly that Mathias winced at her shrilling voice. “How dare you come to a family dinner dressed like that! You look like a plumber!”

“Glad to see you too, sis,” Felix replied as he rose up, swiping ashes and dust off his clothes. His eyes wandered to the table, meeting confused looks from the guests. “Jamie, Ki-jung… Dad.”

“You could have used the door,” Mars said, his eyes tense. To Ryan’s surprise, he didn’t immediately go for his son’s throat, perhaps because of his daughters’ presence. “We invited you.”

“And I’m sure the guards outside are for show. You would never have let me close to Narcinia if I went through the entrance.” Felix turned away from his father, before noticing Mathias and Ryan. “Who are you?”

“Your sister’s boyfriend,” Mathias replied with mixed feelings. His tense eyes met Ryan’s, silently waiting for a signal. He too understood that the situation would soon degenerate.

“Which one?” Felix asked, curious.

“The right one,” Fortuna replied.

Her brother rolled his eyes, before looking at Ryan. “And… who are you, a new member of the Killer Seven?”

Ryan considered a dozen ways to introduce himself; as Quicksave, as President of the Free World, conqueror of Monaco, immortal and all. All more dignified and flowery than the last.

But only one sentence came to mind.

“I’m BLEEPING your ex.”

The awkward silence that welcomed his declaration delighted the courier.

“Don’t give me that look,” Ryan said to Felix, as the younger hero looked at him with astonished eyes. “It was your ex or your sister, and she’s almost as pretty as you are!”

“Almost?” Fortuna asked angrily. “He doesn’t even groom his hair!”

“Whatever,” Felix said, though the revelation had clearly shaken him. “Narcinia, come with me.”

“What,” the younger Veran asked, “where?”

“Away. My current bosses are a huge disappointment, but working with them will still be way better than making drugs.” Atom Kitty extended a hand to his sister. “Now that that death factory has been burnt to the ground, you can put an end to this tragedy here and now.”

Narcinia didn’t answer, instead anxiously looking at her father. This frustrated her brother. “Narci…”

“Did you do it?” Mars asked his son, his tone dangerous. “Destroy our production center?”

Felix shrugged. “I had nothing to do with that, though I wish I did. Whoever blew up that toxic dump deserves an award.”

His father frowned, and Ryan felt a chill going down his spine. A mobile phone materialized in a purple flash within Mars’ hand, the Olympian immediately making a call.

Livia’s vision was turning into reality.

much to his annoyance. “And you, Jamie? I heard about your promotion.

into his own. “Why are you here, Felix?” Jamie asked, uneasy. Ryan could

to close them. Bacchus needs chemicals from your division to make his drug. Just by taking that job, you’re enabling the death and ruin of

breath. “I don’t think now is the

sister. Jamie rose from

scowl on his face. “He’s here, Janus, but he doesn’t know… he swears he’s not

face strained, and though Ryan couldn’t hear what was said on the other end of the line, he could guess. Mars was

the Carnival with the intel that made the devastating Ischia raid possible, and

traitor shall survive, not even

with too much power.

time-traveler looked at the fireplace behind Atom Kitten, noticing the tip of

hand. When faced with a choice between disobeying his invincible boss and

a revolver’s trigger

leapt from his seat, and pushed Felix out of the bullet’s

the wall, Fortuna screaming in

back,” Ryan said, as he glanced at the fireplace. Mortimer had phased halfway through the stone,

pull of the trigger, and the room

her and dived down below the table. Mortimer missed and retreated back into the wall, while the shards avoided a horrified Fortuna

materialize over his skin. The Olympian moved his hand over the only part of his body exposed, the eyes, and rose from his

Felix

room was on the first floor, and so while the

back to his feet. A storm of glass kept Mars busy on the first

headlamps emerged from the night’s darkness on their left, just as lightning struck

a man of ivory descended from the night sky, shrouded in a cloud of crimson lightning. Lightning Butt looked down on the

seemed to give up on the spot, Ryan wisely activated his time-stop. Instead of moving within the frozen time, Augustus vanished from his

Night

meshing with the darkness. The time-traveler grabbed two knives hidden in his pocket,

to his back, screaming. His illusion collapsed into nothingness, as if it had never been there. Felix

to his surprise, it wasn’t his Plymouth

Livia said, inviting them inside. “Quickly! Before

and voice, even the clothes… before realizing Cancel wasn’t with his girlfriend. Felix, too confused to think straight, took a step forward; the courier stopped him

when

hidden beneath her clothes. Ryan froze time and nailed her hand to

her weapon and

what was

the Augusti regained her true form. Great, she could also alter vocal cords. She attempted to remove the knife with her free hand, her teeth grinding in

trying to kill me?” Felix stood in place, too

Ryan said, and to his relief, his self-driven car was making its way to their location. “Now, apologies, but we’ll miss the

moment I saw you,” Venus hissed. “There’s

stood at the window’s edge with a cold expression, purple rifts in space opening all around him. The tips of swords, arrows, spears,

launched them at the duo below and skewered them, but he didn’t. Though it was nighttime, Ryan

wounded wife, Mars quickly

the dozen. From what the courier understood, Mars could pull and summon items from a pocket dimension armory, but he had never imagined the speed at which he could throw them. The spears and

the initial volley, reaching his car. “Come in!” he ordered Felix as he swiftly took over the driving wheel, the superhero

Fortuna grabbing her father by the arm, trying to keep

rest of us,” Mars replied, before summoning thick chains and binding his daughter’s hands and legs. They quickly started to fall off her, probably due to her power causing

opening fire at the car with his gun, but his bullets only grazed the bodywork. While the Plymouth Fury escaped the property, Mars leaped

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