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.

Jamie? I heard about your promotion. It’s not enough to close your eyes anymore, now will you help Augustus peddle the

taking her hand into his own. “Why are you here, Felix?” Jamie asked, uneasy. Ryan could tell the young hero’s words had struck a nerve. “To open old

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

rose from his own seat, perhaps to stop him, while Mathias glanced at Ryan

on the phone with a scowl on his face. “He’s here, Janus, but he doesn’t know…

the other end of the line, he could guess. Mars was trying to

provided the Carnival with the intel that made the devastating Ischia

survive,

end, as Hector Manada once said, Lightning Butt was a gangster with too much power.

fireplace behind Atom Kitten, noticing the tip of a gun’s

in his hand. When faced with a choice between disobeying his invincible boss and paying the price, or offering a sacrificial lamb… the

a revolver’s

time, leapt from his seat, and pushed

it resumed, the projectile impacted on the wall, Fortuna screaming in surprise while Felix stumbled in

the fireplace. Mortimer had

with another pull of the trigger, and the

windows exploded into a rain of glass shrapnels, Narcinia screaming as Ki-jung and Jamie hastily grabbed her and dived down below the

armor and mask of steel to materialize over his skin. The Olympian moved his hand over

Felix said,

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

back to his feet. A storm

emerged from the night’s darkness on

from the night sky, shrouded in a cloud of crimson lightning. Lightning Butt looked down on the duo, his

time-stop. Instead of moving within the frozen time, Augustus

of Night Terror’s

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

Terrorized in the eye and made him fall to his back, screaming. His illusion collapsed into nothingness, as if it

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

them inside. “Quickly! Before the

perfect was her face and voice, even the clothes… before realizing Cancel wasn’t with his girlfriend. Felix, too confused

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

woman in front of him blinked in shock and surprise, before trying to grab a revolver hidden beneath her clothes. Ryan froze time and nailed her hand to the driving wheel by throwing his other

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

guessed what

turned into Venus’, as the Augusti regained her true form. Great, she could also alter vocal cords. She

Felix stood in place, too

but not me,” Ryan said, and to his relief, his self-driven car was making its

knew you were a traitor the moment I saw you,” Venus hissed. “There’s

been caught, killed, or something else. Mars stood at the window’s edge with a cold expression, purple rifts in space opening all around

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

his wounded wife, Mars quickly

a pocket dimension armory, but he had never imagined the speed at which he could throw them. The

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

trying to keep him away from the window and briefly halting the

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 structural damage, but it paralyzed her. “Mathias,

away from the 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 bullets only grazed the bodywork. While the Plymouth Fury escaped

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