The Perfect Run

Next loop would be the one.

Ryan could feel it deep within his bones. Even though the Saturn Armor and its additional harness weighed down on him, a sentiment of profound liberation spread through his muscles.

Alchemo had fashioned the courier a throne of metal and cables within the depths of Mechron’s submarine, linked to six helmets and special chairs for the would-be time-travelers. Everyone was busy preparing for the procedure. Felix bade goodbye to his sisters, all of them crying; Livia memorized everyone’s freshly recorded brain-maps, from Sunshine’s to Narcinia’s; Mr. Wave and his sidekick the Living Sun prepped Shroud for the trip; Len and the other Geniuses oversaw the computations on complex computers, while Bianca complained as her own preparations took longer than usual; Stitch watched everything from afar; and a lone felt post-heroic blues.

“This is my first time-travel,” the said, anxiously biting his fingernails in his human form. He had strapped his helmet first among all the would-be travelers, and as usual, immediately believed all of Ryan’s tales. “What if it goes wrong?”

“It won’t,” the courier replied calmly. “Besides, you’re a nothing can harm you.”

“But Sifu, when I come back, I won’t…” the poor manbear narrowed his head in shame. “I won’t learn...“

“You have learned enough, and since you’ve won the cosmic lottery once, you can drink the Elixir again. Only you can make Elixir bigamy work!” Well, technically, anyone could with their cure. Early tests on the captive Meta-Gang had proved the method’s effectiveness.

Though in Secret Agent Frank’s case, Ryan kinda preferred him as a Psycho.

“But what if the gets a crappy superpower this time around?” his pandawan asked. “The Panda… the doesn’t want to be useless.”

“You were never useless,” Ryan replied firmly, causing the poor manbear to look up at him with hope. “Never.”

“N-never?”

“Never,” Ryan confirmed. “And Elixirs grant wishes, though not always well. If you want to learn, there’s no reason why the Blue Elixir won’t listen.”

The courier suddenly wondered what kind of wish Mosquito had made though. It must have been poorly worded.

“I… the wanted to be loved when he drank his Elixir,” the manbear admitted sheepishly. “To have everyone look up to him.”

“And it worked, but not thanks to your power.” Ryan managed to raise an armored hand, putting his index finger on the Panda’s chest. “Thanks to this.”

“The… the heart?”

“You know, what I admire the most about you is that in spite of all the difficulties, you remain as optimistic and determined as the first day.” In a way, Ryan saw himself in his young pandawan. “I mean, your tragic backstory was one of the darkest things I have ever heard. Very few people would have stayed innocent after that, and it takes strength.”

His words seemed to have reached his disciple’s heart, for he stopped biting his nails and nodded to himself. “Thanks, Sifu,” he said with deference.

Ryan raised a thumbs up, while Len and Bianca each took their place around the machine throne.

“It better be fucking worth it,” the latter complained, as Alchemo put a helmet on her face. “I didn’t work years as a living cloud to get a few days of vacation as a human. This ain’t an eight-to-five job.”

“Your case is the most uncertain,” Alchemo warned. “Your unique chemistry makes the transfer a coin toss.”

“It will work,” Len said, closing her eyes while the helmet hung heavily on her head. With two reloads under her belt, she had grown almost comfortable with the procedure. “It must.”

Felix and Shroud followed suit, though the latter’s girlfriend hugged him one last time before he could put on his own helmet. “How do the priests say it?” Ryan mused, as the vigilante’s teammates helped him put on his harness. “Until time does us part?”

“I promised that, whatever happens next time around…” Shroudy Matty cleared his throat. “That I would do it right.”

“Do what right?”

“Date her. No more vigilante work behind her back, no more lies. I will be honest from the start.” Shroud sighed, though Ryan noticed a thin smile at his lips’ edge. “Wherever it leads us.”

“We will come to New Rome as swiftly as possible, if Shroud asks,” Leo informed Ryan after helping his teammate get comfortable with his seat. “But not before a few days.”

“Mr. Wave was busy killing Nazis on May 8th,” Mr. Wave explained rationally. “Undead Nazis. Exorcising the Third Reich takes time, even at lightspeed.”

So they wouldn’t help with the bunker raid. Ryan had expected as much. Though Mr. Wave helped Alchemo attach Felix’s helmet, Sunshine quizzed the courier. “The ace in the hole that could give you an edge over Augustus, and allow you to defeat Geist…” he whispered. “It comes from this Black World, doesn't it?”

“I wield the majority’s power in one hand, and the minority in the other,” Ryan replied.

“I do not understand that joke,” Sunshine replied, his expression serious. “When we fought Mechron for the final time, he opened a portal to the Blue World in a failed attempt to enhance his power… or so he tried. Instead, he contacted a darker place.”

“The Black World?”

nearly did the same with all of Sarajevo. There had been no malice in that entity’s action, only careless curiosity.” Sunshine let out a sigh. “What I’m saying is, if these

everything else would fail. “And you’ve

may deserve it,” Leo warned, arms crossed. “But I suppose

it in mind, I promise,” the courier said, joining his hands. “You know, I’m glad you aren’t pushy about this. I thought you would try really hard to make me join your circus and use my power

don’t believe in forcing people to join us,” Sunshine replied with a kind

looking at him made

to begin, meatbags,” Alchemo

Her hand reached out for his own, and he swore he could sense her fingers’ warmth beneath

“Anxious?” Livia asked Ryan.

boyfriend replied, squeezing her fingers. “I waited

his power, and the procedure began. Violet particles appeared around him alongside many black ones, duplicating at an accelerated rate.

immediate return to the past, but to his surprise, the phenomenon carried on. More and more Violet Flux blinded him to the reality around him, overwhelming even the Black spots among

distinguished hints of a pure violet place, and a triangular shadow moving closer to him.

the courier with its alien gaze,

May 8th again,

Renesco’s bar. By now, he knew the way like the back of his

it, the courier kept control of the wheel with one hand and seized his cell phone with the other. He quickly received confirmation text messages

I’m back, Sifu,

my way to the Junkyard,

believe you were telling the

I’m

Mathias, Felix,

hijacking the Chronoradio the moment Ryan put

Ryan

but the courier had finally expanded his time-traveling postal

message, and considering her current location, she couldn’t do so even if she wanted to. Ryan hoped that the transfer

others, and hit the bunker through the front door,” the courier informed his best friend. “Wait near the backdoor,

pleasure,” she said with a hint of enthusiasm. She hadn’t forgotten the Meta-Gang’s repeated assaults

Shortie,” Ryan said before

theory. If Ryan saved now, he could safeguard his allies’ memories of the previous loops, even if this one ended prematurely. Though it was usually a big no-no in his book, the courier had

What was one more?

froze time, letting the universe turn purple. His car

another. Ryan held his breath as he counted them, waiting

sensed an opposing force pushing back against his power, and time resumed before the fateful

off the road in surprise, though skills honed through countless iterations allowed him to quickly regain control of his

courier attempted to save again, but events repeated themselves. His power refused to go past ten seconds, letting time resume before the past could be set in stone. A

He couldn’t save.

interfere with his Violet one? Did the Alchemist tamper

couldn’t save, would he be trapped in this city, always brought back to the past?

Chronoradio, but it didn’t belong

It was Livia’s.

could ten seconds make?" Ryan’s girlfriend

Geist’s voice answered, as

distant loop long

wheel. He had already been in a similar situation, when he tried to make first contact with the Violet Ultimate One. Echoes of the past had guided him and Shortie on the path to

as it did in Monaco. Back then, it had done so to prevent the courier

that would make saving now dangerous, causing his guardian angel to

“Some say I should persevere,” his

“I hate

back climbing the hill,” Simon’s voice

Alright.

to see this run through, and see

his destination, and parked his car near Renesco’s bar. As he waited for his favorite Bone Daddy’s arrival, the courier noticed his phone beeping. Ryan picked up the

where are

my way to the

answered with panic, to his astonishment.

worried. Did Psypsy hijack Len’s brain again? Or did one of the transfers go wrong?

can’t see

blinked behind his mask, while he noticed the hooded Ghoul approaching