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.”

our absence?”

reaching for Ryan’s. Her boyfriend held her fingers into his own, and

the metropolis, one could still see smoke in the skies. “And so he decided

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

Felix attempted to take Narcinia away, the conflict became inevitable. Hector recalled Fallout before granting him command over his corporate army, and now the war

the Bliss Factory, she blamed herself for the

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 looked the other way, and I was wrong. It’s him,

making her anxious. “I’m Leo Hargraves,” the shiny paladin introduced himself, his voice kind and warm. “Some people call me Leo

a bit

they didn’t,” he said, his voice heavy. “Your parents

brought out an old picture, showing it to Narcinia. Ryan glanced at the photo, 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 hair, the freckles on her cheeks,

the resemblance between Narcinia and her mother

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

siblings looked on. Felix could barely suppress his anger,

years old,” Leo continued. “Your parents… your parents were heroes. Your father was a Yellow who could cut through anything, and your

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

remorse, as if she had done the grim deed herself. “These are your true parents. Mars and

be!” Narcinia protested, looking at her elder sister

our parents tried to murder Felix, because Godfather Janus asked them to.” Lucky Girl tightened her hold on her boyfriend’s arm, while her brother looked away in silent rage. “If they can do that, they’re

your parents,” Leo continued, the pain raw in his 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 your family, and give you to Mars and

at your mother’s farm,” Shroud added with disgust. “He burnt the crops she

covered her mouth with

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

her tone icy.

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

will ever excuse an innocent dying.

stopped. What he has done today is monstrous, and cannot be justified… however a part of me wants to. I will not make

take him down?” Shroud asked, causing Livia

your father has been stopped and his organization dismantled, I will

stop him,” Shroud replied,

the courier replied. “Jupiter won the first round,

Hargraves. “Tell me more. About my…” The young

Sunshine promised. He had waited years for

started regaling Narcinia with tales about how he met her true parents, while Mathias took Fortuna aside, holding her hands. Ryan guessed that his translucent friend needed to come clean about how

left only Felix, who exchanged an awkward glance with his ex.

Livia replied, half-icy,

bluntly, before thinking it over.

Len

the right decision, and I stand by it,” Atom Cat continued. “But I could have done it less harshly. I knew you were under a lot of pressure to smooth things out with the organization, and when I saw New

leave this rotten empire. I know how you felt about me. It’s… I understand why it could never work between us.

being in an impossible situation. If you had left, Augustus would have lost all fetters. I can blame Jamie and Ki-jung for looking the other way, but I see that you were trying to

smile. “But now is not the

I realize this discussion must feel awkward, considering the two of

partners,” Ryan replied, making Livia blush briefly. “It’s

before straightening up.

few feet away. Ryan was glad that Felix made an effort to reconnect with the people he left behind; the courier still thought that the kitten had a right to leave a toxic family environment

“when we met, I never thought

replied while leading him inside the building. “But I trust

bed. Though unfinished, Ryan recognized his own torso, holding Livia in his arms bridal-style. His girlfriend must have started it a few days before the courier returned

as she closed the

you,” he replied warmly. “I

were your winter

you receive my

to hear it from

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

government's secret masters without taking me with you?” She pouted. “Though I guess you left

against her own, until he could smell her warm breath. “You

gaze.

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

boyfriend. Ryan held by the waist, and studied her expression. Her cheeks turned bright pink and she bit her lower lip,

“I love you, Ryan.”

her boyfriend didn’t

speechless,” Livia said

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

been on the pill since our first

knew we would end up playing Bill and Monica in the

didn’t

said ‘I

love you, Mom,’ ‘I love you, Felix’... but never ‘I love you, Ryan.’” Livia’s cheeks somehow reddened further, and her expression turned into a sheepish smile. “I’m

the weeks they spent apart,

love you too,

he loved the taste of her lips, her sweet voice, her kindness, and the adorable faces she made; he loved that she laughed at

to his hair. “Maybe

a third take just to be sure. Then

trailed against his shoulders. “I haven't

have loved too,” Ryan replied, holding her gently. “But this is the first time

said, in-between kissing his neck. “I want us to go through the next loop and prevent that horrible tragedy. I want us to share an apartment,

you,” he answered. For a blissful moment, Ryan completely forgot about the Carnival, Bloodstream, Dynamis, Augustus, and

only think of

things, it was over too

she finished putting her black coat

them it was a private projection,” Ryan said with a shrug, before charmingly helping her comb her hair. “I

you could bring six people with you now?” Livia chuckled. “One for each color? Should

Eight?”

at math, aren’t

always wonder who is the missing member. It will inspire fear. For all

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

to suggestions. Maybe Narcinia? We’re missing