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.”

place, causing

the Psycho said. But now her armored gauntlets had clenched so tightly, that Ryan

troubled Len. “I should start at the beginning. If I understand the data collected… Elixirs come from the

to communicate?”

with the aliens’ technology, and with it, she can... how to say that… ‘educate’ them? Tell them how to

to patch out the

could even work for you,” Len explained to Sarin. “Or Frank. It’s all about the right

to be overjoyed. After 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

on a worrying

a cure,” she said, her voice low and furious. “That bitch

a bug, but

turned serious. “Why would

their unstable genetic code, so… so

Genomes?” Leo Hargraves asked at the front. “I only know a few who were born after one or both parents consumed

they could only have earned their power from an Elixir. Even Fortuna and

of Psychos was intentional, do children of Genomes risk mutating too?”

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

asexual reproduction, Riri,” Len said. “Like jellyfish. But they can also alter their double’s make

his helmet, as the truth dawned on him. “Wait, so if I had a child with a

his horror, Len confirmed the theory with a nod. “If one parent is a Genome and the other is not... the

to the bone, and made him thankful that he had taken precautions against having a descendance. His power in itself was

would make for nightmarish teenage

the parents are both Genomes…” Len cleared her throat. “If both parents are Genomes, the Elixirs communicate during 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

Narcinia’s example,” Leo Hargraves asked, “she was born a Green Genome, but with her

Shroud said. “She can create life by cutting herself. Definitively Green, but with some Yellow

children of Genomes were always stable Genomes, no matter the parents’ nature, their numbers would only increase

phase out Homo Sapiens, the way they did with the

to say it, but what if Psychos were meant to kill as many normal people as possible? If the Alchemist’s plan is to make Genomes

target other Genomes first, Matty,” Ryan reminded him. And the random nature of powers meant creatures with world-ending powers like Bloodstream could arise.

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

to take a detour,” Leo Hargraves said, not finding

fist at the wall, and unleashed a fearsome shockwave at

dark dust as the attack revealed a path into a new, gigantic corridor. The courier heard the sound of lasers, explosions, and

rule number four.” Ryan glared at Sarin, hands on

nerd,” the furious Psycho replied before stepping through the hole, her hands shaking in anger. Now she didn’t want answers, but revenge. “When I find

following her. The courier closed the march with Len. “Shortie, would

“Past a certain point, if a Psycho couldn’t stabilize their genetic code… the damage becomes so extensive that not even Elixirs can correct it. She…” She breathed long and

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

battles all the way to a spotless, well-lit chamber deeper into the complex.

monster over improvised barricades of scrapped metal. Behind them stood a damaged blue gate nine meters in height, which unlike

shared the same facial features. Short black hair, blue eyes, plain features, and a determined expression. Their weapons included rifles

an orange portal had opened in the very fabric of space, letting a colossal creature step halfway

when they hit the gate behind them. The survivors with rods used them to unleash violet projectiles tearing space apart. Ryan identified these weapons as focused Violet Flux, and unlike his Black particles, reality absorbed the damage they caused

body as if it were made of clay. The barrage pushed the creature through the

troops peeked over the improvised fortifications to observe the newcomers. Ryan’s group moved between the barricade and the portal, careful not to be close to

the courier asked. “You have a

clones,”

the Alchemist’s power followed the same rules as Livia’s. She created simulations indistinguishable from the

said, recognizing Ryan. “Living

fighting formation. Len and Ryan stayed at the back, the Sunshine, and Shroud in the middle,

us?” Leo Hargraves asked, while keeping an eye on the portal as if expecting

watching you for a while, ever since

BiH. Bosnia-Herzegovina.

were talking

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

data for future storekeeping, but other projects demanded

you on security cameras, but

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

no!” Sarin took a

you help us?” one of them asked. “This facility is under attack by hostile extraterrestrial entities, that must be eradicated for the sake

snarled, hands raised at the doubles. “Why the fuck did you turn me into

again?” one Eva Fabre asked her

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

think we gave that one

“Don’t think so either.”

herself from murdering them all where they stood. “You don’t even know my

to,” an

force you to take two Elixirs, if that is your question,” another had the gall