The Perfect Run

Enrique Manada had been true to his word.
Sitting around a garish pink table at the Dostoievski restaurant, Ryan, Len, and
the Panda examined the plans of Dynamis’ Gravity Gun; though the Gravity Rifle
would have been a better name for it. The device was long and impractical,
though the courier was certain they could miniaturize it.
As Livia had promised, the Dostoievski was a Russian all-you-can-eat buffet
located at New Rome's periphery and catering almost exclusively to families. The
restaurant could have easily accommodated hundreds of patrons, though Ryan's
girlfriend had rented the entire restaurant for a private gathering. The floor was
carpeted with industrial, blue flooring, with the food steam trays decorated with
fish imagery; staff members were dressed in sailor's attire, and the tables
smelled of ice cream. Somehow, the comforting atmosphere put even the usually
shy Len at ease.
Everyone had come dressed casually for the occasion, even Ryan. The other
guests hadn't arrived yet, though the courier didn’t doubt they would. Nobody in
their right mind would miss the garish neon lights advertising the restaurant on
the roof.
“A few seconds after being fired, the projectile creates a gravitational anomaly,”
Timmy explained, after reviewing the schematics. It was so odd to see him
without his costume on in human form. He looked so scrawny and ordinary, with
a shy, gentle smile. “Everything in its vicinity is pulled towards the sphere, while it
counteracts the Earth's pull.”
“So, if I understand correctly, and I almost always do,” Ryan said, “the sphere will
pull Lightning Butt towards itself, and then fly up?”
His pandawan nodded. “According to Dynamis’ calculations, the Gravity Gun will
expel him from the upper atmosphere. After that, the sphere will wander through
the solar system without ever returning home.”
Ryan immediately saw where Dynamis found the inspiration for that plan. “They
wanted to Kars Augustus.”
“Kars?” Len asked with a frown. Ryan silently vowed to remedy her complete
absence of pop culture knowledge.
“I understood that reference!” The Panda said happily.
“Every time you open your mouth, my young pandawan, my faith in humanity is
renewed,” his mentor congratulated him.
“But will it work?” Len asked with skepticism. “Augustus can fly.”
“By manipulating electric charges to ionize air,” Ryan pointed out. “He shouldn't
be able to fly outside the atmosphere. However, if he breaks the sphere before
reaching space...”
Len frowned. “Do you think it could work, Riri?"
“Livia doesn't believe so.” At least not without support. “Well, it's not like I'm going
to rely on only one secret weapon.” His main plan was to lure Lightning Butt to
Monaco and trap him there permanently, while beating him up into submission
with his Black Flux power remained a secondary option.
“We could make copies and distribute them to our group,” Len suggested. “I
could replace my water rifle with it.”
“No, too dangerous,” Ryan said. “For it to work, I will need to fire it in close
combat. Better to use our limited time on miniaturizing this Gravity Gun and
install it in my armor.”
“Only your armor?” Shortie’s eyes widened. “Riri, you can’t mean...”
“Dynamis’ gardener in chief had a point. When people dare the lightning to strike
them, they die.” Ryan had seen Augustus tear apart Big Adam's jaw with a
backhand, shatter Sunshine’s core, and survive the following supernova. New
Rome’s tyrant was, by far, the most powerful foe the courier had ever faced.
There was no room for error with him. “I'll take Mob Zeus on alone.”
“Sifu, no!” The Panda protested in panic. “That's suicide!”
“He's right, Riri,” Len added while folding the schematics. “I'm coming with you.”
“I'm the only one who can even harm him,” Ryan replied. “And his immunity to
my time-stop means I'll have a hard time saving anyone caught in the crossfire. If
he kills me, I can come back from it.”
Hopefully.
Len looked ready to protest, when the restaurant's door slammed open and a
green-haired spitfire walked into the place. “Hola!” the young woman said in
mangled Spanish, before switching back to Italian. She dressed so trashily that
Ryan almost missed the hazmat suit. “What's up, boys and girls?”
“Hey, Bianca!” Ryan welcomed her with a raised hand. “What will you start with?
Caviar? Blinis? Borscht?”
“I'll try everything, El Presidente,” the former Sarin snickered, as a blonde, shy
woman and a scrawny man followed her. A giant more than two meters tall
closed the march, though he struggled to fit through the restaurant's doors. “I've
got years of sensory deprivation to make up for.”
“Hello...” The former Acid Rain smiled shyly at Ryan's group. The contrast with
her deranged former self couldn't be starker.
“Oh, hi Helen!” The Panda waved a hand at them. “Hi, Mongrel!”
“Not Mongrel,” the latter replied. With his Knockoff Elixirs out of his system, the
former Psycho looked healthy and most importantly, sane again. “It's Jerome
now. I don’t wanna have a supervillain nickname ever again.”
“You should still pick one,” Ryan said. “We'll need you to improve our cure, and
maybe even help us with weapons in hand.”
The former Mongrel shrugged. “Look, I owe you guys a life debt, and I'll pay it
back. But once it's done, I never want to have anything to do with Elixirs or fight
for the rest of my life. Years as a savage animal make you appreciate a normal
nine-to-five existence like nothing else.”
“You... you freed me from a long nightmare. Cured me, and gave me my life
back.” Helen bowed to Ryan deeply. “If I can do anything to help... I will do it.
Even if it means picking up arms again.”
“Yeah, none of us are finks here,” Bianca said. “Even Frank feels he owes you
one... that, and he’s eager to burn down the establishment.”
Ryan glanced at the last member of the group as he walked inside the
restaurant. Though he was no longer the colossus he had once been, the man
was still over two meters tall, and slightly balding. His middle-aged face reminded
Ryan of Marshal Zhukov, tough and blunt, but also someone you could have a
good time fishing with. His grey parka and heavy boots made him look for a
soldier ready to go to war.
“My name is not Frank,” the giant replied with a heavy Russian accent. “My name
is Vladimir. Or Vlad, like the impaler.”
“Whatever you say,” Bianca replied, before moving on to the buffet. Helen
hurriedly followed after her, while Jerome asked the waiters about the nearest
toilets. “I never knew I would say that, but I liked you more as an American.”
Ryan agreed. Frank had been a true patriot, enthusiastic, loyal, amusing... while
his real self...
“It was capitalist brainwashing,” Vlad the Mad replied. “They know they cannot
stop the revolution, so they infect the workers’ minds with microchips and
polluted ideas.”
His real self was a total killjoy.
Worse, Len immediately recognized a kindred spirit. “Are you a Marxist-Leninist?”
she asked hopefully.
Vlad the Mad's eyes lit up in enthusiasm, and he immediately sat right next to
Shortie. Thankfully, the tables were meant for six and could accommodate the
giant just fine. “l am a Trotskyist,” he said with pride. “Only through permanent
revolution can the workers of the world achieve equality for all!”
“I thought the communists were almost extinct?” Timmy asked naively.
“No, you would fit right in,” Ryan said. “But only in Panda form.”
“You think equality is something to joke about?” Vlad squinted at Ryan. “You think
neoliberal oppression is funny?”
Ryan sighed. That one took everything seriously, and didn’t have a humorous
bone in his body. “No, no, I'm all for protecting endangered species, even
Marxists.”
“Comrade Lenin may be dead, but his ideas live on,” Vlad the Mad replied with
passion.
Ryan would rather like it the other way around, but Len was so overjoyed to meet
another commie that she started grilling him about political theory. “Do you think
universal equality can still be achieved in a neo-capitalist world like this one?”
“Of course!” Vlad replied, while Helen teleported his empty plate and replaced it
with one full of beef. With the Psycho treatment having separated her two
powers, the former Acid Rain could switch the position of items of near-
equivalent mass, including herself. “The workers of the world have never been
more oppressed! The only thing they lack to take back the means of production,
is awareness of their own strength!”
As he watched Len grin, Ryan had the feeling that these two would become
BFFs in no time. He wondered if he had created a monster. “I prefer social
democracy,” the Panda tried to meekly participate in the debate.
Vlad the Mad's answer was the acme of subtlety. “And that is why this country is
BLEEPed!"
The next batch of newcomers arrived. “This is a waste of my valuable time!"
Alchemo complained crankily as he stepped into the restaurant, his daughter and
a toaster on wheels following. “I do not need solid food!”
“Dad, it's not the food that matters, but the company,” the Doll insisted, before
greeting everyone. “Hi!”
Meanwhile, Toasty wasted no time bothering Helen and Bianca. The toaster on
wheels rolled all the way to the buffet, to Acid Rain's confusion. “Hey, beauties,
do you want your blinis toasted...” it asked. “Or raw?”
“Is... is that toaster talking?” Helen asked Bianca, who shrugged before buttering
a blini with low-quality caviar.
The last group arrived afterward, keeping the best for last. Mathias walked into
the restaurant with his dazzlingly golden girlfriend holding his arm, while Livia
and Felix exchanged words behind them. Ryan observed his girlfriend from head
to toe, recognizing her clothes as the black coat she loved so much. Discreet, yet
elegant.
“Lovely,” he said when Livia returned his gaze.
“You're not so unfortunate yourself,” she replied with a wink, before glancing at
Fortuna. “Do you mind if I take my knight aside for a moment?”
“It's fine, Livy,” her best friend replied, before putting one arm around her
boyfriend's, and another around her brother’s. “These gentlemen will keep me
company.”
“The things I do for family,” Felix grumbled, though his heart wasn't in it.
“You're anticipating a bit too much on that front,” Mathias said.
“No, he isn't,” Fortuna insisted with a blissful gaze, before dragging them aside to
their own table.
Ryan abandoned his own group to settle with Livia near a window. Their table
was meant for two and isolated from the rest, and provided a cozy kind of
intimacy. Livia nodded at a waiter, and a familiar tune started playing in the
restaurant.
“Why are they playing the Rains of Castamere?” Ryan asked, upon recognizing
the music.
“Because Mathias still half suspects me of treachery, and will recognize the
reference,” Livia said, glancing at the vigilante. Though Mathias sat with his
girlfriend and Felix, he often glanced at Ryan's table. Jerome's return from the
toilets quickly distracted him though, as an unusually kind Fortuna invited him to
join their group. “I like to make him squirm.”
“You are a cruel, wicked woman,” the courier accused his girlfriend.
“Would you rather that I disguise myself as a hockey killer and ambush him?”
She asked, as a waiter gave them a glass of vodka each. “I'm surprised you
didn't assault Luigi yet.”
“I made him pay for his slight against me tenfold already,” Ryan replied while
sipping his glass. “I'm not that vengeful, especially on a potential Perfect Run.”
“Good.” Livia glanced through the window, and at the parked cars outside.
Ryan's was the most dashing of the lot, though his girlfriend's Ferrari gave the
Plymouth Fury a run for its money. “Is everyone else here?”
“Only Dr. Stitch, and he chose to work on the Bloodstream vaccine plague rather
than join us,” Ryan said. “Sunshine and co are destroying Mechron’s remaining
bases as we speak. They'll sit this one out, at least for now.”
“Good. If my father catches wind of their presence in the city, it will mean war.”
Ryan frowned. “How are things going on that front?"
“Geist's demise woke my father up from his inaction.” Livia played with her glass,
her expression darkening. “He suspects the Meta-Gang. From his point of view,
he hasn't heard of their activities in a few days, right as Geist mysteriously
vanishes. Obviously, he suspects a connection. He has heavily reinforced
security around Ischia Island, and authorized Vulcan's plans to take back Rust
Town... at least so far.”
“So far?”
“Wyvern made a surprise visit to Vulcan early tonight, and she left the foundry
both alive and unharmed. My father hasn't been informed yet, but once he is, he
will grow suspicious of Vulcan's allegiances.” Livia glanced at her boyfriend with
a quizzical eyebrow. “What did you say to Wyvern?”
“How to patch up with an old friend,” Ryan replied with a sigh. “I owed that to
Jasmine.”
Livia smiled, and for once the courier didn’t detect any hint of jealousy in his
girlfriend’s expression. “I understand.”
“Do you think it will work?” the courier asked. He was glad that Dragon Mom
listened to his advice, but it took New Rome's destruction by an orbital satellite
for Jasmine and her to reconcile.
“I give Vulcan a fifty-fifty percent chance to take Wyvern on her olive branch, and
1 will make sure to warn her if my father issues a kill order. She will make it out
alive, whatever the case.”
“Thanks,” Ryan said. His fingers brushed softly against Livia’s, to her joy. “Is it
alright to come here though? Your daddy is in a paranoid phase.”
“He is, but I mollified him somewhat when I brought Psyshock to Cancel.
Officially, I'm meeting with Genome mercenaries to help us take down the Meta-
Gang.” She winked at him. “Dad is too happy that I am taking my future role of
leader seriously to look too much into my activities.”
“Damn it, I should have asked to be paid in advance,” Ryan said. “That was a
missed opportunity.”
“Whatever happens to Vulcan, my family will occupy Rust Town again soon, and
this time they will examine the area thoroughly.” Livia sighed. “There's a strong
possibility they might discover the bunker, even if we condemn the entrances.”
“So we'll have to destroy it.” Ryan had expected as much. “Take what we can,
and blow up the rest.”
“It's better that way,” his girlfriend replied. “Things like the Bahamut orbital laser
and robot armies will only lead to disaster.”
“Truth be told, I'm not sure what to do about Mechron’s Knockoff production
process,” Ryan confessed. “I considered offering Dynamis the necessary
technology, but not until after Greenhand is fully in charge. Unless..."
“Unless?”
“Unless you're putting your veto?"
“I might.” She joined her hands and looked at the night sky beyond the window.
“If all goes well for us, my father will be ousted from power, as will Hector and
Alphonse Manada. At which point, both my family’s empire and Dynamis will be
weakened. After reforming both, I intend to propose a merger to Enrique
Manada.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You want to form a new government?”
“The New European Republic,” Livia said with a foxy grin. “How does that
sound?”
“The fearsome NER?" The time-traveler chuckled. “I think it's already taken.”
“In the old world, not the new,” Livia defended her choice. “And you're going to be
part of it.”
“Moi?”
“What?” She laughed at his confusion. “You always joked about becoming a
president. Don't you want to become the Albert to my Victoria?”
Ryan chuckled while finishing his Vodka. “When did you upgrade from princess
to queen?”
“When you called me Queen Crimson,” she said before giving him a dirty gaze.
“You'll look good with a tie on.”
“Only if you wear a matching suit.”
“Red and black,” she replied, before finishing her own vodka. “Mechron’s
Knockoff technology could help this newborn nation, or it might create more
tensions in Europe. I'll need to examine the future in-depth after we prevail, to
see how it will go.”
Ryan's expression deflated. “If we prevail.”
“Even if we don't, now that you have saved, we will remember everything. We
can try again.” She expected to say something, but grew suspicious when he
remained silent. “Ryan, what are you hiding from me?”
The courier sighed. “I'm having performance issues.”
“With your power?” Livia's eyes widened. “You couldn't save.”
“No. My Elixir, or maybe the Violet Ultimate One itself, won't let me. I don't know
why.”
“Is it about your other power? The one you used to kill Geist across multiple
timelines?” Livia took his hands into her own, her steely gaze demanding
answers. “Ryan, don’t you think it's about time you tell me?”
Ryan sighed, and told her everything. He gave her the details of his expedition in
the Black World, about how his power’s inner workings, and how it interfered with
the space-time continuum. The more he spoke, the more she scowled...
Although to his surprise, Livia didn't appear worried.
“The Elixirs and Ultimate Ones grant us our wishes,” she said with a sad frown.
“What did you ask for to get a power like this?”
Ryan answered bluntly, “I wanted to die.”
His girlfriend bristled, but her sorrow quickly turned into hope. “You wanted to die,
past tense,” she said. “Now you want to live.”
Sharp.
“I had lost too much, with little to fight for anymore.” Ryan glanced at the people
around him. By now, Len was smiling while the Panda and Vlad the Mad
exchanged pleasantries, all red on vodka. The Doll managed to make Alchemo
relax a bit, while Helen grew more at ease as Toasty's terrible flirting attempts
alleviated her mood. Bianca soon joined their table with a plate full of food, while
Jerome toasted glasses with Mathias, Fortuna, and Felix. “That's not the case
anymore.”
Livia beamed with happiness. “You gathered all these people, Ryan,” she said,
her gaze lingering on the former Psychos among them. “In some cases, you
saved their lives, in more ways than one. They're here for you... with you.”
“You most of all,” Ryan said.
She blushed and beamed with joy like a sunflower, warming the time traveler's
heart. “This is why I'm not so worried about the Ultimate One’s plans for you,”
Livia declared. “If it weren't for its influence, we wouldn't have met each other. If it
encourages you to see this loop through to the end, even without saving, then it
means it has something in store for you.”
Unfortunately, a doubt quickly gnawed at her heart. “But if everything you destroy
with that power stays destroyed...” she trailed off. “If you kill Father...”
“I won't,” Ryan said. “I swear. I might imprison him, but I won't slay him.”
Livia examined him carefully, before nodding to herself. “Alright.”
“That's all?”
“I trust you, my prince. It's as simple as that. You always fulfilled your promises,
and I know you will follow through with that one.” Her expression twisted into a
frown. “Could your power cut out the tumor?”
“Maybe,” Ryan said, though he had no intention of saving Lightning Butt from
himself. “Or I might accidentally give him a wound he will never recover from. I'm
sorry.”
Livia nodded to herself, but didn't insist. She had already made peace with the
fact her father's days were numbered, largely by his own fault.
“I'm already asking a lot from everyone to spare my father, especially after all he
has done,” she admitted. “Ordering his victims to help cure him would be greedy.
Bruno Costa could have saved him, and he blew that chance anyway. Now, he
won't even let his daughter Narcinia out of that cursed island.”
“What additional defenders can we expect?”
“Mars and Vulcan, for a start,” Livia answered. “Aunt Pluto and the Killer Seven
have orders to reinforce the factory at the first sound of an alarm.”
Ryan crossed his arms. Almost all of these people needed to go for the Augusti
to reform, Bacchus included. “This could actually work in our favor.”
“I thought the same,” his girlfriend replied. “I could pull strings to have Mercury
added to the security detail while sending Uncle Neptune away. With so many
Olympians gathered in one area, we could cut the rot from the family. Venus, we
can capture easily.”
“The old Mercury?” Ryan asked in confusion. “Isn't he retiring?”
“He will only do so if he feels the organization's power is secure,” Livia explained.
“That man was in the Camorra even before my father took it over and
transformed it into the Augusti. He dedicated his life to this organization, and he
won't let it fall without a fight.”
In that case, the purge would leave only people like Neptune, who wanted to go
legit, and Augustus himself. Still, Ryan could tell that his girlfriend worried that the
raid might go wrong. Ending the battle with little to no casualties would be a trial.
“I have a surprise for you,” the courier said. “Something that will cheer you up.”
“Truly?” She squinted at him. “I haven't been able to guess what.”
“Because I built it in a thin place, so you wouldn't notice.”
“Built it?”
Ryan magically pulled blueprints from under his shirt, and showed them to his
girlfriend.
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The plan detailed a power armor,
based on the Saturn model. That suit
was leaner though, and adapted fo a
female wielder. Jt Diafed were red as
bledd, or black as night, and a
white spider symbol was painted on
the chest. Most important of all, this
model had traded the ear-like
antennae for eight telescopic
tentacles of reinforced steel. The
content is on Novelxo.org! Read
the latest chapter there!
“Queen Crimson, I present to you the Opis armor.” Ryan smiled as Livia gasped
in shock. “Tailor-made for you.”
“Ryan, I can't wear this,” she said, while covering her mouth with her hands. “If
the others identify my powers on the Bliss Raid—"
“I wasn't thinking about Bliss Island,” Ryan said softly. “How about we fight
nuclear-proliferation together?”
Livia's eyes widened, as her fingers moved to seize the schematics and examine
them closely. She gawked at the smooth helmet, at the elegant metal tentacles
that would make any Japanese schoolgirl squeal, at the dashing spider symbol
on the chest...
“I love it,” Livia said, blushing. “Why a spider theme though?”
“It uses an extra-arm and drone system too difficult for most pilots to master...
unless they can see the future. Besides, you're scheming and sensible like a
spider.”
His lovely princess pouted. “You make me sound like an evil mastermind.”
“Evil...” He approached his head closer to her own to whisper in her ear. “Or
misunderstood?”
She giggled. “You're an angel, Ryan,” his girlfriend said before kissing him on the
cheek. “Which is why I brought a surprise for you too.”
“You did?” Ryan asked, suddenly excited. “It's not even my eighth-hundred and
eighty-sixth birthday yet.”
“It's on the roof. You'll love it.”
He did.
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His girlfriend dragged him to the
)
restaurant's roof, where she had had
a fascinating device installed bekind
the neon lights: thyeb-neters tall
rqeket; be like an apple and
rugged like a tank. A skeletal Psycho
could be seen screaming behind the
porthole, his voice muffled by the
steel, his powers suppressed by a
powerful heater. The content is on
Novelxo.org! Read the latest
chapter there!
Visit Novelxo.org to read full content.
Ghoul had been a sociopathic killer
before becoming a Psycho according
, Se
to Ryan's research, and Livia
predicted that he would keep
murdering people eve if clréd.
es
Thopghhseveral other captive
members of the Meta-Gang were
monsters even with a cure and would
need to be imprisoned for the good
of everyone else, the bag of bones
was by far the worst of them. The
others might be cured, tried, and
maybe even rehabilitated after a
lengthy period of imprisonment; but
Ghoul would never change. The
content is on Novelxo.org! Read
the latest chapter there!
The courier had jokingly suggested exiling his undead chew toy to space as an
alternative to destroying him with his Black Power, but he would never have
imagined that Livia would take him seriously.
“According to Vulcan, this rocket can go all the way to Pluto,” Livia explained.
“The planet, or the Genome?" Ryan asked innocently, marveling at this gift like a
child before a new Playstation.
“Whichever you want. Also, Pluto is a dwarf planet now.”
“You don't diss Pluto in my presence, princess.” Ryan's fingers brushed against
the rocket, basking in the rough feeling of steel and the smell of oil. Vulcan even
added a string fuse to the reactor, like a petard! “How did she build something so
beautiful in a few days?”
“She didn't,” Livia gave him a sheepish smile. “I cheated a bit. She actually built it
a year ago as a prison for Wyvern, but gave up on the idea when she realized
that Wyvern would break out of it. I just asked her to add a few modifications, and
gave her the data needed to improve the prototype.”
Ryan squinted in disbelief. “She wanted to send Wyvern to Pluto?”
Livia closed her eyes and nodded.
Strange minds thought alike.
“Still good,” Ryan said, deeply moved. “You shouldn't have. You really shouldn't
have.”
“But I did.” Livia offered him a lighter. “Wanna do it together?”
“Sure,” he replied before taking her hands into his own. “I'll let you pick the
destination. Pluto? Venus? The Sun?”
Livia gave it some thought. “In orbit around the Earth, in case we ever need him
to bring him back.”
“What, really?
“Ryan, he’s also immortal,” Livia giggled. “Sending him to Pluto would be really
cruel. Maybe gazing at the Earth for a few decades will reform him.”
Ryan had his doubts, but indulged his girlfriend all the same.
And so, they romantically lit the fuse together. Ghoul screamed and panicked as
the flames progressed closer to the reactor. “Is it safe from this distance?” Ryan
asked, suddenly realizing standing on the same roof might prove dangerous.
“And the others are right below—"
“Shush,” his girlfriend said gently. “It's okay.”
Oh, alright, if she said so...
“What did you call it?” Ryan asked, as the fuse reached the reactor.
“SpaceZ,” Livia replied.
The reactor activated, but to Ryan's surprise, no flame came out. Instead, the
rocket suddenly jerked upward without a sound, not even shaking the roof below
it. The device flew into the air silently, a faint Red Flux glow shining below the
reactor.
An anti-gravity effect?
The courier would have preferred a big fiery explosion, but he waved his favorite
undead astronaut goodbye all the same.
And so, Ryan and Livia hugged while Ghoul vanished in the skies to restart
space exploration.
Both knew it might be their last moment of peace before a series of harsh trials to
come. They would have to destroy Lab Sixty-Six, follow up with the Bliss Factory
in quick succession before the Augusti could mobilize, and finally topping off the
spree with Mob Zeus himself.
From now on, they would have to run the gauntlet.