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.

say?” Felix asked, but the woman in question avoided his gaze, much to his annoyance. “And you, Jamie? I heard about your promotion. It’s not enough to close

Jamie asked, uneasy. Ryan could tell the young hero’s words had struck a

close them. Bacchus needs chemicals from your division to make his drug. Just by taking that job,

breath. “I don’t think now

step towards his adoptive sister. Jamie rose from his own

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

could guess. Mars was trying to convince his boss

older man was wasting his breath. Lightning Butt was convinced Felix had provided the Carnival with the intel that made the devastating Ischia raid possible, and his organization’s myth of invincibility was in jeopardy.

traitor shall survive,

Lightning Butt was a gangster with too much power. When

fireplace behind Atom Kitten, noticing the

When faced with a choice between disobeying his invincible boss and paying the price, or

click of a revolver’s trigger echoed in the

time, leapt from his seat, and pushed Felix out of the

resumed, the projectile impacted on the wall,

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

with another pull of the trigger, and the room

and dived down below the table. Mortimer missed and retreated back into the

mask of steel to materialize over his skin. The Olympian moved his hand over the only part of his

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

up!” Ryan ordered Felix, helping him back to his feet. A storm of glass kept Mars

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

sky, shrouded in a cloud

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

of Night

to the courier’s right, his black bodysuit meshing with the darkness. The time-traveler

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

live,” Ryan said as the car approached. But to his surprise, it wasn’t his Plymouth Fury, but a Mercedes Benz stopping in front of the duo.

inviting them inside. “Quickly! Before the

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 with a hand on

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

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

impostor dropping her weapon and hissing at the pain. “But seeing

guessed what was

Venus’, as 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

place, too

his self-driven car was

you were a traitor the moment I saw

ended, either because Mathias had been caught, killed, or something else. Mars stood at the window’s edge with a cold expression,

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

noticed his wounded wife, Mars quickly made up his

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

reaching his car. “Come in!” he ordered Felix as he

Fortuna grabbing her father by the arm, trying to keep him away from the window and briefly halting

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. “Mathias, Mercury, move

mansion, moving out of the Olympian’s range. Mortimer phased through the building’s walls, opening fire at the car with his gun, but his

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