The Perfect Run

© 2020 Maxime Julien Durand / Void Herald

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. For permissions contact, send a mail at: [email protected]

Any perceived slight to specific people or organizations are unintentional.

This loop would end like the previous one, in Sorrentos.

At least a horde of bloody mutants didn’t pursue Ryan this time around, but the realization left him bitter. He knew that causality had a tendency to reassert itself, and though the courier would break that chain of destruction, he had spent weeks, if not months in New Rome. He had befriended dozens of locals, heroes, and villains. Watching the city on fire again filled him with anger.

The courier hadn’t felt so determined to save these people since his first Perfect Run in Monaco.

Only Shroud, Felix, and Sunshine had been allowed to follow him to the meeting point: the exact same building where Ryan reloaded after the last loop’s disastrous end. The group bypassed a defensive perimeter of hundreds of Vulcan-made turrets without any problem.

Only Atom Kitten and See-Through came in full costume; Leo Hargraves panted as he walked in human form, while Ryan came with a dashing suit granted by Mr. Wave.

“Have you forgotten how to walk?” Ryan asked Sunshine, who lacked endurance. “I’m sorry, but I only carry damsels in distress in my arms, or lost kittens.”

“How about Atomic Hound?” Felix asked. “How does that sound, as a new name?”

“It sounds like Atom Puppy to me,” Ryan replied. Felix let out a sigh, realizing that there would be no escape from mockery.

Hargraves smiled, though there was little joy in it. “The longer I use my power, the less I want to become a man again,” he confessed. “Sometimes I spend weeks without returning to normal, and often forget that I can.”

“Your power impacts your mental health?” Felix asked, as they reached grey, reinforced doors. A camera observed them.

“In a way,” Sunshine admitted. “A part of me wants to shed my humanity, and become a radiant sun full-time. I didn’t understand why, but meeting the Alchemist quelled my doubts.”

“It’s not a bug,” Ryan said. “It’s a feature.”

Sunshine shared an extremely strong connection with his Elixir, perhaps as much as the courier himself. Both were closer to this ‘ascension’ than most. Ryan still didn’t fully understand what the process would imply, but transforming into a denizen of the colored realms was a part of the package.

Hargraves might end up becoming a true sun one day, leaving Earth to illuminate some dark corner of the universe. Ryan considered it a better alternative than him burning their planet’s atmosphere, or worse.

“Yes. That’s why I try to stay a human when my power isn’t needed. If you spend all your time in the air, you stop relating to the people on the ground.” Sunshine narrowed his eyebrows, as a thought crossed his mind. “I wonder if Augustus is in the same situation. Unlike me, he cannot revert back to his human state.”

“If half the tales we learned about him are true, he was a nasty piece of work from the start,” Shroud replied.

“I know,” Hargraves said with a sigh. “But a part of me hoped that human nature wouldn’t be capable of such cruelty without outside factors.”

Ryan remembered his first date with Livia, and how he had found Discount Zeus posing as a statue in his own kitchen. The courier had blamed senility back then, but in hindsight Lightning Butt probably suffered from a similar syndrome as his nemesis. The power slumbering inside him wanted to become a statue of indestructible, inviolable metal, and it became harder to resist the urge with age.

The building’s doors swiftly opened, a golden retriever in human form immediately latched onto Felix. The poor kitten let out a gasp as the vile creature squeezed him like a fruit, while Ryan’s judgmental gaze appraised her white ensemble. Six out of ten, maybe seven.

“You fool, you idiot, you moron!” Fortuna said so many flowery insults in such a short amount of time, that Ryan’s mind automatically censored half of them. “You heartless little...”

“Hi, sis—” Felix didn’t finish his sentence, as Fortuna slapped him on the cheek with enough strength to crack his mask. “Hey!”

“You deserve worse!” she replied, before hugging him again with tears in her eyes. “You idiot… you almost died… if you had died, I...”

Atom Cat said nothing for a moment, before hugging his crying sister back. “I’m sorry I worried you,” he said, and he meant it.

Two other girls emerged from the building, a teenage spitfire and an elegant lady. “Felix!” Little Narcinia immediately joined the group hug, overjoyed to see her adoptive sibling again. “Thank God you’re alive!”

“I’m here, Narci,” Felix whispered. “I’m here.”

Though Leo observed Narcinia with a sad frown, Ryan didn’t pay much attention to her. He only had eyes for his own lady.

Livia walked out of the doors’ threshold, wearing the black coat and dark ensemble that she loved so much. The dress highlighted her pale skin and hair, and the red around her eyes.

She cried, Ryan realized. She cried for New Rome.

Neither said a word. They didn’t need to. The couple simply hugged her tightly, and let their hands do the talking.

Meanwhile, the Veran siblings had separated, and Fortuna finally noticed her boyfriend’s presence. “Mathias.”

“Fortuna,” he replied, removing his glass helmet with his power. “I’m glad you’re—”

She kissed him on the mouth before he could finish. At first surprised, Shroud put his arms around his girlfriend and shyly embraced her back.

While Leo, Livia, and Ryan smiled at the sight, Fortuna’s siblings reacted with distress. “Ew,” Narcinia complained, while Felix looked weirded out.

“Don’t ‘ew’ my future husband!” Fortuna said upon breaking the kiss.

“Husband?” Mathias asked, horrified.

“You’re marrying me,” his girlfriend answered, as if it were obvious. “I had some doubts left about our relationship, but watching you help save my brother dispelled them. We are meant to be together, and this time, I’m not letting you leave. Ever.”

“Wow, you’re skipping a lot of steps,” Mathias replied, though he didn’t protest as much as Ryan had expected.

“But you already have the ring!” Fortuna protested. “You only have to make your proposal!”

“I don’t have a…” The squeegee man magnet froze in place, examined his glass armor, and noticed a golden ring accidentally stuck in it around his waist. He let out a loud sigh. “So that’s how it is.”

“No way out, Invisiboy,” Ryan warned him.

Mathias rolled his eyes, before pushing his girlfriend back kindly. “Let’s do it properly, alright?” he asked her. “Take it slow, see if we can make it last a few years?”

“Oh, sure,” she replied with confidence. “I know it will work out.”

Ryan chuckled, before glancing at his own girlfriend. “You’re under house arrest, milady?”

“They are,” Livia said upon breaking the embrace. “But I am not friendless. Uncle Silvio sent the guards away for today.”

“Neptune?” Shroud asked, his girlfriend putting her arms around his left one. “Why would he let us have this meeting?”

“Because I told him this was the only path to peace that I could see,” she replied with a sigh. “He is the only sensible head among my father’s close collaborators.”

absence?” the glass

down on the ground, her hands reaching for Ryan’s. Her boyfriend held her fingers into his own,

and Dynamis were allied, and so…” The Augusti princess looked in New Rome’s direction. Even kilometers away from the metropolis, one could still see smoke in the skies. “And so he decided to

mother’s prophecy stated that Lightning Butt would go

the Bliss Factory fell and Felix attempted to take Narcinia away, the conflict became inevitable. Hector recalled Fallout before granting him command over

Since she had helped her boyfriend destroy the Bliss Factory, she blamed herself for the

drastic measures to prevent this disaster. I thought… I thought that if outside circumstances changed, my father wouldn’t unleash such destruction. Because he treated me with kindness, I excused his cruelty towards others.I

“I’m Leo Hargraves,” the shiny paladin introduced himself,

Narcinia said, a bit intimidated.

Shroud winced, Leo shook his head. “No, they didn’t,” he said, his

searched into his clothes and brought out an old picture, showing it to Narcinia. Ryan glanced at the photo, which represented a couple and their baby child. The man,

father’s eyes, the resemblance between Narcinia

father Bruno Costa, and his wife Julie. Some of the nicest people I ever met. And this baby…” Leo put a finger on the

without a word, while her siblings looked on. Felix could barely suppress

“Your parents… your parents were heroes. Your father was a Yellow who could cut through anything, and your mother was a Green with the power to alter life. Together, they were trying to make this scorched planet green

to accept it. “No. It can’t be. My parents, my true parents, were raiders.

truth, Narcinia,” Livia said, looking at the photo with regrets and remorse, as if she had done the grim deed herself. “These are your true parents. Mars and

be!” Narcinia protested, looking at her elder

Janus asked them to.” Lucky Girl tightened her hold on her boyfriend’s

I was away, and took you with him. Afterward, he had Bacchus shatter your mind, so you would forget your family, and give you to Mars and Venus when they

lived at your mother’s farm,” Shroud added with disgust. “He burnt the crops she had made with her power, plants

her mouth with one hand

emperor, but a deranged warlord. He offers no future, believes in nothing but strength. This.” Shroud pointed a finger at the

her

the Augusti princess, and

will ever excuse an innocent dying. The ends

monstrous, and cannot be justified… however a part of me wants to. I will not make excuses for him. Not anymore. You are right, nothing can excuse

take him down?” Shroud asked, causing

father has been stopped and his organization dismantled, I will submit to whatever trial you see fit for your mother’s death,” Hargraves

Shroud replied, before

the courier replied. “Jupiter won the first round,

up at Hargraves. “Tell me more. About my…”

He had waited years for

took Fortuna aside, holding her hands. Ryan guessed that his translucent friend needed

exchanged an awkward glance with

Livia replied, half-icy,

you,” he declared bluntly, before thinking

he made Len look

harshly. I knew you were under a lot of pressure to smooth things out with the organization, and when I saw New Rome burning… I realized that you were

empire. I know how you felt about me. It’s… I understand why it could never work between us. Our parents pushed us into something we weren’t ready

I see that you were

small smile. “But now is not the

not.” Felix glanced at Ryan with embarrassment. “Sorry, Quicksave, I

those who don’t trust their partners,” Ryan replied, making Livia blush briefly. “It’s

sheepishly looked away, before straightening up.

reconnect with the people he left behind; the courier still thought that the kitten had a right to leave a toxic family environment behind, but he had thrown the

girlfriend, “when we met, I never thought you and Sunshine

while leading him inside the building. “But I trust

bedroom with painful yellow walls, and a painting facing the bed. Though unfinished, Ryan recognized his own torso, holding Livia in his arms bridal-style. His girlfriend must

she closed the

you,” he replied warmly.

your

you receive my

hear it from your sweet,

pretty good,” he answered while stroking her hair. “I destroyed the

destroyed our government's secret masters without taking me with you?” She pouted. “Though

own, until he could smell her warm breath. “You wanted to tell me something

his gaze.

kidding. There’s no such a thing as a bad cliché, just

studied her expression. Her cheeks turned bright pink and

“I love you, Ryan.”

didn’t know how

actually speechless,” Livia said with

Ryan admitted, his heart having skipped a beat. He… he hadn’t heard those words in a very long time. “I expected the worst, like ‘I don’t like your car,’ or

I have been on the

up playing Bill and Monica

looked so cute when she was embarrassed. “I didn’t know, but I… I

said ‘I

Ryan.’” Livia’s cheeks somehow reddened further, and her expression turned into a sheepish smile. “I’m so sorry, it sounded a lot better

she could finish. Ryan embraced her ferociously, making up for the weeks they spent apart, and she matched his

you too,

the taste of her lips, her sweet voice, her kindness, and the

said, her fingers moving to his hair. “Maybe we

a third take just to be sure. Then he lifted her on the

know it hasn’t been long since we met, but…” Livia’s hands trailed against his shoulders. “I haven't felt that way for a

replied, holding her gently. “But this is the

prevent that horrible tragedy. I want us to share an apartment, and make breakfast together. I want to go skiing with you, and to the beach too.

answered. For a blissful moment, Ryan completely forgot about the Carnival, Bloodstream,

only think

things, it was

finished putting her black coat back on. “They

with a shrug, before charmingly helping her comb her hair. “I

you could bring six people with you now?” Livia chuckled. “One

Colorful Eight?” Ryan

at math, aren’t

cunning strategy. That way our foes will always wonder who is the missing member. It will inspire fear. For all they know, our

up, Livia sat on his lap while he rested on the bed. “So?” His

Narcinia? We’re missing