The Perfect Run

Weeds had overtaken the ship like an abandoned garden.

As Ryan’s group advanced into the metal bowels of the Alchemist’s base, they ran into more and more alien plant life. Greenish slime leaked from the walls, while snakelike red roots and fanged purple flowers dug holes into the floor. Eventually, the corridors became so overwhelmed by vegetation that Sunshine moved at the front to torch a path ahead.

Often, they would find the broken remains of armored aliens, their helmets melted by lasers, their shielding pierced by powerful rounded projectiles. Yet they never found any trace of what killed them.

Their slayers didn’t leave corpses behind when they died.

“So if I follow correctly,” Shroud said, after Ryan had finished briefing his team. “This is an alien spaceship from a long-lost imperialistic civilization, and the creature we fought was one of its soldiers. The Alchemist pillaged their technology, but accidentally woke up the remaining troops left in stasis and now they’re fighting her for control of the facility. And an alien deity gave you a divine mandate to destroy this place before the prisoners can escape.”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Ryan replied, while Len checked out the data the had harvested from the Alchemist’s computers. The manbear himself advanced on all fours, an ear against the walls.

Mr. See-Through snickered, unconvinced. “Should I call you Joan of Arc? You did hear voices.”

“God loves the reptilians too,” Ryan preached, “so long as they stay in reptiland.”

“Why?” Unlike Shroudy Matty, who remained in denial, Sarin had listened to the explanations with solemn silence. “Why?”

Why did Eva Fabre make Genomes and Psychos possible? “I guess… I guess she wanted to protect us?” the suggested, trying to be charitable. “To give us powers, so we could defend ourselves?”

“What good could have come from empowering people like Mechron and Augustus?” Leo Hargraves asked at the front, skeptical. “The former alone killed more people than both world wars combined.”

“Though Mr. Wave is thankful that she graced the universe with the brilliance of… Mr. Wave.” The boastful Genome paused briefly. “Mr. Wave didn’t find a way to avoid the repetition. Still, he agrees with the rising sun. The walk doesn’t match the talk.”

“The aliens aren’t coming either.” Ryan shrugged, as his armor picked up vibrations. “Well, except those inside this place.”

“And how do you figure we destroy this ship in the first place?” Shroud kept nagging him.

“I thought we might have a last minute desperate escape, with a digital countdown. Maybe a round number.”

“I would rather avoid that,” Shroud replied dryly, arms crossed. “Besides our own lives, if Elixirs are truly sapient, helpful beings, then blowing up the ship would kill them too.”

“Human life isn’t the only kind with value,” Sunshine agreed, having now destroyed the plant growth with his shining light. “I agree we cannot let the horrors of this ship escape into the wider world, Quicksave, but blowing it up should be a last resort.”

Truth be told, Ryan kinda hoped that reaching the ship’s control center would provide an alternative solution too. Nice Guy might have been grating, but Shroud was correct that it deserved to live.

However, the courier suspected his mere presence might cause the ship to collapse anyway.

Ryan’s Black power was a paradox, destabilizing reality with its very existence. The courier guessed that Earth’s dimension was ‘solid’ enough to absorb the damage, but the spaceship’s thin place was a small, artificial construct. Ryan degraded it a little further with each time-stop. Eventually, it might even collapse on itself.

Had the Violet Ultimate One foreseen this possibility? That Illuminati creature could control all of space and time, if Darkling was to be believed. It might very well be omniscient.

The raised a paw. “Sifu, I’m hearing something through the metal!”

“My armor is picking up vibrations too,” Ryan said, analyzing the readings. “Where do they come from, my young pandawan?”

“The left,” his sidekick replied, using his sensitive bear ears to pick up sound. “Explosions.”

“They must be pretty powerful for their noise to go through the ship’s shielding,” Leo Hargraves said. “Considering the increasing number of corpses, we must be approaching the site of a battle. Can you offer more details?”

“I-I, I will try!” The took a deep breath, intimidated by Sunshine. “I hear… I hear something big and heavy moving, and impacts.”

“From the form of the ship, and the way we moved inside so far, the left should lead us to the front,” Shroud pointed out. “If the architecture is anything like Earth’s aircrafts—”

“Then it should be where the command center is located,” Leo Hargraves guessed with a nod. “Timmy, can you bring us as close to the sound’s source as possible?”

“Yes, sir!” the raised a paw to his forehead in a military salute. “Of course, sir!”

“The rest of you, stay on guard,” Sunshine said. “Neither side of this war is an ally.”

And so the took the lead, an ear against the ground. As they took twists and turns, Ryan’s armor picked up more and more vibrations and other Flux energy activities. The very fabric of reality seemed to weaken the further they progressed.

“Riri, I finished analyzing the data,” Len said, as the group left the cramped corridor for the remains of a large hangar the size of an airport. The metal walls had been melted away, and Ryan could see the scrapped remains of robots and vehicles everywhere he looked. Clearly, a battle had taken place here. “It’s… it’s all we need.”

Sarin’s head snapped in her direction. “For me? You could make a cure?”

“Yes,” Len replied, before hesitating and avoiding Miss Chernobyl’s gaze.

She wouldn’t like what came next.

The Psycho in the group clenched her fists. “Go on, Nemo. Don’t sugarcoat it.”

“The Alchemist…” Len took a long deep breath. “The Alchemist already has a cure. Had it from the start.”

abruptly froze in place, causing Shroud to bump

said. But now her armored gauntlets had clenched so tightly, that Ryan worried she

come from the White World, but

they use this ‘Flux’ to communicate?” Shroud

confirmed with a nod. “The Alchemist decoded the Elixirs’ language with the aliens’ technology, and with it, she can... how to say that… ‘educate’ them? Tell them how to

teach the Elixirs to patch out the bugs,” Ryan

you,” Len explained to Sarin. “Or Frank. It’s all about the

all, she had spent a decade and a half as a cloud trapped in a suit. The possibility of becoming human again was a dream come true, and her previous self had been willing to

on a

said, her voice low and furious. “That bitch had a cure-all

bug,

“Why would she do that? Why would anyone

their unstable genetic code, so… so they can’t replace mankind

only know a few who were born after

earned their power from

do children of Genomes

Genome children in my life, and all of them turned out fine,” Ryan said. “Also, in cases of one parent having powers and the other not, the child inherited a variant of the parent’s abilities. I couldn’t really figure out why

because Elixirs use asexual reproduction, Riri,” Len said. “Like jellyfish. But they can also

as the truth dawned on him. “Wait, so if I had a child with a normie, my Elixir would duplicate and

a nod. “If one parent is a Genome and the other is not... the Elixir duplicates, fuses with the fetus, and slightly adapts the power

power chilled him to the bone, and made him thankful that he had taken precautions against having

would make for nightmarish

conception to avoid the pitfalls of the Psycho condition. Instead of competing for a host, only one of the Elixirs duplicates, but takes some information from the other.

Leo Hargraves asked, “she was born a Green Genome, but

mother could alter life, and her father could cut through anything,” Shroud said. “She can create life by cutting herself. Definitively Green, but

stable Genomes, no matter the parents’ nature, their numbers would only increase with

would phase out Homo Sapiens, the way they did with

meant to kill as many normal people as possible? If the Alchemist’s plan is to make

by nature target other Genomes first, Matty,” Ryan reminded him. And the random nature of powers meant

the had reached the northwestern corner of the hangar. “Sifu, we’re close!” He raised a paw at the wall.

take a detour,” Leo Hargraves said, not finding any door. “Mr. Wave, could

wall, and

and dark dust as the attack

Ryan glared at Sarin, hands on his waist. “Avoid making too much

late, nerd,” the furious Psycho replied before stepping through the hole, her hands shaking in anger. Now she didn’t want

to deny her wish, the rest of the group cautiously following her. The courier closed the march with Len.

genetic code… the damage becomes so extensive that not even Elixirs can correct it. She…” She breathed long and

had become an entirely different form of life. The more he learned about this place, the more Ryan was convinced it had to go

noise of battles all the way to a spotless, well-lit chamber deeper into the complex. All blast doors on the way had been torn apart, and Ryan had to leap over

was a fortified security checkpoint, with more than two dozen troopers in futuristic, sleek blue bodysuits firing at a giant monster over improvised barricades of

they all shared the same facial features. Short black hair, blue eyes, plain features, and a determined expression. Their

a colossal creature step halfway through. The entity reminded Ryan of a concrete cube more than eight meters in diameter, except with six tiny

the soldiers collapsing into blue particles when they hit the gate behind them. The survivors

they hit the concrete creature though, the projectiles tore through its body as if it were made of clay. The barrage pushed the creature through the portal and it vanished into the Orange

newcomers. Ryan’s group

asked. “You have a lot

clones,”

trooper said. Since the doubles collapsed into Blue Flux, Ryan guessed that the Alchemist’s power

Fabre said, recognizing Ryan. “Living

stayed at the back, the Sunshine,

the portal as if

for a while, ever since you defeated Case-BiH-006 in Sarajevo,” a

BiH. Bosnia-Herzegovina.

talking

to us,” another said, looking at Ryan. “Your time anomaly’s ability to affect our entire reality was deemed a milestone

to safeguard your genetic data for future storekeeping, but other projects demanded our

security cameras, but

happy to discuss that, after reasserting direct control,” a clone finished.

Sarin took a heavy step

should you help us?” one of them asked. “This facility is under attack by hostile extraterrestrial entities, that

fuck?!” Sarin snarled, hands raised at the doubles. “Why the fuck did you turn

is she again?” one Eva Fabre

mutants working with Case-USA-3682,” another trooper answered. “Codename ‘Adam the

yes, I remember. But I don’t think we gave

“Don’t think so either.”

them all where

need to,” an Eva

didn’t force you to take two Elixirs, if that is your question,” another