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.

to his annoyance. “And you, Jamie? I

her fiancé taking her hand into his own. “Why are you here, Felix?” Jamie asked,

from your division to make his drug. Just by taking that job, you’re enabling the death and

deep breath. “I don’t think now is the time to discuss

protested, taking a step towards his adoptive sister. Jamie rose from his own seat, perhaps to stop him, while Mathias glanced at Ryan and

here, Janus, but he doesn’t know… he swears he’s not involved… yes,

the line, he could guess. Mars was trying to convince his boss

that made the devastating Ischia raid possible, and

traitor shall survive, not even

Hector Manada once said, Lightning Butt was a gangster with too much power. When threatened, the answer was always more violence

looked at the fireplace behind Atom Kitten, noticing the tip of a gun’s barrel sticking

faced with a choice between disobeying his invincible

of a revolver’s trigger echoed in

and pushed Felix out

projectile impacted on the wall, Fortuna screaming in surprise

at the fireplace. Mortimer had phased halfway through the stone, a gun in hand. “It’s getting

the trigger, and the

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

for a Roman-styled centurion armor and mask of steel to materialize over his skin. The

Felix said,

him by the chest like a princess in distress, and jumping through the opened window. The dining room was on the first floor, and so while the time traveler gracefully landed on the grass below, his favorite cat rolled on the ground. The courier whistled, calling his

him back to his feet. A storm of glass kept Mars busy on the first floor, but not for

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

terror, as a man of ivory descended from the night sky, shrouded in a cloud

time-stop. Instead of moving

of Night Terror’s

found the responsible party standing near the mansion’s wall to the courier’s right, his black bodysuit meshing with the darkness. The time-traveler

the eye and made him fall to his back, screaming. His illusion collapsed into nothingness, as if it had never been

But to his surprise, it wasn’t his Plymouth Fury, but a Mercedes Benz stopping in front of the duo. The

said, inviting them inside. “Quickly! Before the others

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

always calls me ‘Master Ryan’ when things are heating up,”

grab a revolver hidden beneath her clothes. Ryan froze time and nailed her hand to the driving

resumed, the impostor dropping her weapon and hissing at the pain. “But seeing your expression

quickly guessed what

Venus’, as the Augusti regained her true form. Great, she could also alter vocal cords. She attempted to remove the knife with her

kill me?” Felix stood in place, too horrified by the realization to

Ryan said, and to his relief, his self-driven car was making its

knew you were a traitor the moment I saw

killed, or something else. Mars stood at the window’s edge with a cold expression, purple

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

his wounded wife, Mars quickly made up his

kitten out of the way, as weapons fell on them by the dozen. From what the courier understood, Mars could pull and summon items from a pocket dimension armory, but he

“Come in!” he ordered Felix

grabbing her father by the arm, trying to keep him away from the window

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 structural damage, but it paralyzed her.

car with his gun, but his bullets only grazed the bodywork. While the Plymouth Fury escaped the property, Mars leaped outside the window, a red Suzuki

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