The Perfect Run

Snow. Snow, everywhere.

Antarctica was a land of ice without end, a white expanse of glaciers, frozen mountains, and plains so white that sunlight made them almost blinding to look at. It was utterly silent too. The few penguins and wildlife living on the continent nested along the coasts, and left the continent’s interior utterly lifeless.

Clad in the Saturn Armor, Ryan flew above the frozen wasteland with only Leo Hargraves for company. The courier remembered making a stop in Scandinavia and later Greenland during one of his lengthiest fetch quests, but the south pole remained a mystery to him.

“Have you found anything?” Len asked him through the telecom.

“Winter is coming,” Ryan replied ominously, as he and Sunshine flew over a tall glacier.

“Riri, you have been repeating that each time I call you.”

“Because people must know!” Ryan replied playfully. “I mostly see snow, but on the plus side, I haven’t seen any mosquitoes. Well, except the one we keep in storage.”

No wonder he never visited this place, there was nothing to do!

“I am highly disappointed.” The courier shrugged off a layer of frost forming on his armored arms. “I expected an ancient civilization buried beneath the snow, or maybe a mad scientist’s base.”

“What about the armor’s readings?”

“It actually picked up a spatial anomaly, but the signals are faint.” Truth be told, the entire region reeked of them. Whatever happened here had permanently damaged the space-time continuum in the area. “Sunshine and I are trying to narrow down the source.”

“I… finally.” It had been three days since they reached the continent, and quite a few members of the expedition had grown irritated with the lack of progress. “Don’t do anything rash.”

“Shortie, Rash is my middle name,” Ryan replied happily, “between Dashing and Immortal!”

Sunshine must have heard him, because the living sun looked over his shoulder. “Witty comes to mind too,“ he said.

“Witty is my son, Amusing my daughter,” Ryan replied, as he turned left after his armor picked up a stronger signal. Leo Hargraves quickly followed. “By the way, Sunshine, how is it you’re not melting the whole place with your mere presence?”

“I can control my own gravity and heat.” The superhero observed Ryan closely, his shining gaze both warm and intimidating.

“Do you want to shed light on some unresolved issues, my stargazing friend?” Though they had traveled together for a few days, the Carnival leader had remained surprisingly quiet so far. The courier had seen him gazing at Len while she didn’t notice, and his best friend had done her best to avoid the Living Sun. “Bloody issues?”

The Living Sun looked away, glancing at frozen mountains in the distance. “Is Len Sabino listening?”

Ryan had guessed right. “Shortie, the sun wants to dial you.”

“I’m listening,” she replied after a brief and tense silence, with Ryan putting on the loudspeaker.

“I wish to apologize on my team’s behalf,” Sunshine said. “To the both of you. What happened four years ago…”

“Wasn’t your brightest day?” Ryan sighed. “Believe me, it could have gone a lot worse, and you apologized already. At least to me.”

“In a previous loop?” Hargraves asked.

“So you believe us?” Ryan asked. The Living Sun hadn’t broached the subject since they set off from Monaco.

“I admit I find Shroud’s story difficult to believe, but I have seen many things in my life that I once thought impossible.” Leo Hargraves’ light seemed to dim for a brief instant. “You are within your right to hate us, and I would perfectly understand. I want to say that my teammates only followed my directions, and that I made the call that day. If you wish to blame someone, it is I.”

Len let the words sink in for a moment before answering. “Did you know who he used to be? That we were with him?”

“Yes,” Sunshine admitted. “I know Freddie Sabino was a good man, and that he traveled with his children.”

“Then why?” she asked, though her voice didn’t break. Ryan could tell that the subject remained painful for her, but not as much as it used to be. “Why did you come after him? Why didn’t you try to heal him? Your Genius… your Genius could have helped. Or at least tried.”

“We didn’t think curing him was even possible,” Sunshine admitted. “And time was not in our favor.”

“You predicted that he would cause a disaster,” Ryan said, remembering his conversation with Shroud at the loop’s beginning.

“Yes.” Sunshine seemed to hesitate about saying something, but eventually mustered the courage to. “And we had reason to think that he would kill you both, if we didn’t take action quickly.”

Ryan could almost see Len meditating on these words, reading between the lines. If let loose, Bloodstream would have killed his own daughter no matter what, and the Carnival saved her life.

On some level, she probably knew all along.

“I… I don’t know.” Len took a long deep breath. “I… I understand why you... why you tried to kill Dad. I do not support it, but… I understand. I’m… I’m not sure my father is even there anymore.”

“If we can cure him, we will,” Sunshine swore. “We made a decision based on the information we had available, but now… now I doubt we made the right one.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Ryan replied. If anything, after seeing Bloodstream destroy New Rome in the previous loop, the courier thought that the Carnival hadn’t been thorough enough in stamping him out.

electromagnetic reading near an icy rift below

of the line.

said, as he and Ryan landed near the rift. Snow melted beneath the Living Sun’s heels, forcing him to float above the ground not to fall. “However,

Len didn’t say anything.

ever the shining knight. “What Dynamis did was… inhuman. If we had known, we would have stopped it. You

want to talk about

am sorry to

so deep that he needed to put

you found something,

Thin Place, but not a natural one,” Ryan replied, as he analyzed the energy readings. “And not the

you mean?”

just prevent intruders from moving in,” Ryan explained. Natural Thin Places, like the one where he had his fateful date with Livia, often opened during rare cosmic or electromagnetic conjunctions. But not

short, it was

quickly caught on to the implications. “She is keeping prisoners,” he guessed. “I can’t see any other reason

up illegal labs to test Elixirs. The courier guessed she probably did

you get us inside?” Len

my armor, and then keep it open with the Resonators.” Ryan always brought these devices with him on a trip, in case he ever found a way to commit Clown genocide. “This

Leo Hargraves said, immediately making plans. “The rest of us can look at what’s inside. If the Alchemist is smart, she

don’t want to try talking

“But I have the feeling it won’t be an

“That woman has killed or driven mad everyone who tried to track her,” the courier said. “And she didn’t mind ending the world as an experiment. I doubt she’s going

everyone

come back to pick you up,” Ryan said, taking flight again alongside Sunshine. “Perhaps we should have brought a

you make battles costless for those who order them, the results are always terrible. War should not be a

soldiers to investigate the Junkyard soon after ordering the hit on Felix, trying to figure out what happened to the Meta-Gang. The risk of the Augusti finding

for the other bases, Leo Hargraves had cleared out two of them by the time Shroudy Matty called him for reinforcements. With half of the Carnival deployed in Antarctica, the other members of the

Rome had been focusing on R&D. The others were standard armed robot production facilities, and capable of churning out armies in weeks. Sunshine was right, nothing good could come out

legacy would

you agreed to join this side-quest,” Ryan told

a medieval one?” Leo asked, before shrugging. “A cure for Psychos would make the world a better place, and

Pink Elixir’s release

want to ask

that Sarin intended to ask the same question, but

half-buried amidst a desert of ice and snow. The modular base consisted of two dozen cubes of metal joined

for the team’s Geniuses to restore it to half capacity. Ryan guessed the military intended to reactivate the site at one point, but never got around to doing so before the world ended. For safety, the group had left Alchemo and the Doll with the submarine a few hours

outside. And even then, Mr. Wave had to trade

out, superpowered pandas were powerful enough to survive in Antarctica without power armor. Their indestructible fur and fat shielded them from the

Ryan had checked.

manbear gorged himself on warm seal milk. “That was the start

is it true?” The asked naively. Though his power had given him a great deal of insight, he still had the adorable tendency of

he enlightens,” the superhero replied, as Ryan and his sunny

the way,”

the dark,” Mr.

Hargraves chuckled, before glancing at

putting his nose in his milk. Unfortunately, the frost was such that

Hargraves looked a bit

sun too long,” Ryan said. “My pandawan is only taking care

asked, too afraid to raise his

worry, his vision is based on movement,”

is uncalled for,” Leo argued,

he took a deep, chilly breath. “I have a poster of you in

when you fought the Meta-Gang, Timmy. Mathias spoke highly of you. In fact, I would like to invite

dropped his cup in shock, the milk turning to ice within seconds. The poor manbear began to hyperventilate, falling to his back and rolling in the snow. Then he let out a squeal so powerful, that Ryan

Wave believes you just committed pandacide,” Mr. Wave told

which covered his entire body, even the eyes; somehow it allowed him to see anyway. From what Ryan understood, the protection was made of trillions of bacteria adapted to the cold. Shroud, meanwhile, had thickened his suit with additional layers of reinforced glass to keep the heat inside, turning his costume into a heavy and nigh-impenetrable armor. Stitch closed the march, carrying

you sure you wish to come with us, Atom Cat?” Sunshine asked upon seeing Felix. “We are about to face great danger. If the

the young man replied while glancing at Ryan and Mathias.

there’s stuff you’re keeping for

orange is in the

Sarin stared at him. “I didn’t get

Ryan whistled, even as the Psycho

it,” Felix said, crossing his arms. “Livia would never cooperate with the Carnival.

replied with

Felix added. “Somehow, I find that