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

Her boyfriend held her fingers into his own, and she

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 launch an offensive. I did

long ago,” Shroud guessed. His mother’s prophecy stated that Lightning Butt would go ballistic at one point, and causality would

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

destroy the Bliss Factory, she blamed herself for the war that resulted. “It’s not your fault, Livia,” the courier reassured.

measures to prevent this disaster. I thought… I thought that if outside circumstances changed, my father wouldn’t

noticed Sunshine gazing at her, making her anxious. “I’m Leo Hargraves,” the shiny paladin introduced himself,

said, a bit intimidated. “My parents hate

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

which represented a couple and their baby child. The man, built like a woodsman, had black hair and familiar blue eyes, but the woman… the brown in

her father’s eyes, the

ever met.

on. Felix could barely suppress

father was a Yellow who could cut

can’t be. My parents,

if she had done the grim deed herself. “These are your

at her elder sister for

tried to murder Felix, because Godfather Janus asked them to.” Lucky Girl tightened her

tone. “He… he killed them while I was away, and took you with him. Afterward, he had Bacchus shatter your mind, so you would forget

disgust. “He burnt the crops she had made with her power, plants that could have helped erase famine and clean up radioactive

her mouth with one hand

your father is not an emperor, but a deranged warlord. He offers no future, believes in nothing but strength. This.” Shroud pointed a finger at the smoke

her tone icy. “I

Hargraves locked eyes with the Augusti princess, and the empathetic sun understood what made

will not apologize for it, because nothing will ever excuse an

have the strength in me to forgive you for killing my mother, Mr. Hargraves, even accidentally,” Livia said with a long and heavy sigh. “But my father has to be stopped. What he has done today is 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 slaying the innocents, and my father killed countless more than you

will help us take him down?” Shroud asked,

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

him,” Shroud replied, before glancing

this to me,” the courier replied. “Jupiter won the first round, but Saturn is

to look up at Hargraves. “Tell me

Sunshine promised. He had

Mathias took Fortuna aside, holding her hands. Ryan guessed that his translucent friend needed to come clean about how

an awkward glance with his ex.

Livia replied, half-icy,

you,” he declared bluntly, before thinking it over. “Well, no, not quite. Let me reword

made Len look like

knew you were under a lot of

her voice breaking. “You were right to leave this rotten 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

blame Jamie and Ki-jung for looking the other way, but I see that you were trying to stop your father from the inside.” Felix awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “All of this to say

replied with a small smile. “But now is not the time to discuss rebuilding burnt

of course not.” Felix glanced at Ryan with embarrassment. “Sorry, Quicksave, I realize this discussion must feel awkward, considering the

for those who don’t trust their partners,”

looked away, before

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

“when we met, I never

leading him inside the building.

recognized his own torso, holding Livia in his arms bridal-style. His girlfriend must have

Ryan,” Livia said as she closed the

told you,” he replied warmly. “I will always

were your winter

you receive

did, but I want to hear it from your sweet,

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

government's secret masters without taking me with you?”

moved his forehead against her own, until he could smell

before averting his gaze. “It’s

such a thing as a bad cliché, just a bad execution. It’s all

locked eyes with her boyfriend. Ryan held by the waist, and studied her expression. Her cheeks turned bright pink and she bit her lower lip, trying to muster the courage to speak. Eventually, the Augusti princess took a long deep breath, and

“I love you, Ryan.”

boyfriend didn’t know how

Livia said

very long time. “I expected the worst, like ‘I don’t like your car,’ or ‘I’m pregnant.’ We didn’t

have been on the pill since

you knew we would end up playing Bill and Monica

didn’t know, but I… I kinda hoped that we

‘I love you’ to

love you, Ryan.’” Livia’s cheeks somehow reddened

kissed her on the mouth before she could finish. Ryan embraced her ferociously, making up for the weeks they spent apart, and she matched his own desire. When at long last

love you

loved the sight of her hair, so blonde-platinum that they might as well be silver; he loved the taste of her lips, her sweet voice, her

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

to be sure. Then he lifted her on the bed, to film the

we met, but…” Livia’s hands trailed against his shoulders. “I haven't felt that

replied, holding her gently. “But this is the first time I get the

“I want us to go through the next loop and prevent that horrible tragedy. I want us to share an apartment, and make breakfast together. I want to go skiing with you, and

blissful moment, Ryan completely forgot

only

all good things, it was

go,” Livia said, as she finished putting her black

it was a private projection,” Ryan said with a shrug, before charmingly helping her comb her hair. “I think we’re ready

you now?” Livia chuckled. “One for each color? Should we call ourselves the Rainbow

Colorful Eight?” Ryan

pretty bad at

cunning strategy. That way our foes will always wonder who is the missing member. It will inspire fear.

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

suggestions. Maybe Narcinia? We’re