The Perfect Run

They crashed into Dynamis’ HQ, like Fat Man into Nagasaki.
Vulcan had been kind enough to equip the Saturn Armor with a small jetpack, but
Len’s aquatic suit had no such boon. The beefed-up Mosquito instead carried her
in his arms, as they crashed through Dynamis’ windows too fast for the security
drones outside to react.
The President would have loved to enter through the cashmere production facility
on the twentieth floor, but that would have meant fighting his way through forty
more. Instead, they entered through floor sixty, the last one without any
reinforced windows.
“Don’t worry, guys,” Ryan said, as he, Len, and Mosquito faced an army of office
workers behind cubic desks. Guards in power armor protected two elevators.
“We've got a search warrant.”
Automated cameras immediately focused on the trio, while acid rain clouds
formed outside the building. Alarms resonated in the room, Dynamis workers
hiding below their desks while the guards opened fire. Ryan almost dodged on
reflex, before reminding himself that his armor should resist lasers.
So instead, the president smugly walked forward like a terminator, shrugging off
the guards’ attacks. Mosquito, less dramatic, grabbed the closest desk and threw
it at the security staff. The building shook, as the Land caused a miniature quake
and the other Meta-Gang members assaulted the building from the reception
hall.
However, Ryan caught a glimpse of a flyer rushing towards the building from the
neighboring Optimates Tower. The red-skinned Devilry unleashed streams of
flame from her feet like a rocket's reactor, a furious look on her face. Acid
raindrops turned to steam upon touching her warm skin.
“Take cover!” Len shouted, using her Genius-made rifle to close the windows with
a wall of water. Devilry vaporized it with a fireball, and prepared to incinerate the
entire floor.
“Security!” Ryan shouted, as he disarmed the remaining guards with a
combination of time-stops and armored fists to the face.
“On it!” Mosquito flew out of the window right as metal panels closed them off,
pulverizing most of the ceiling as he did. His attempt to tackle Devilry failed
miserably, the pyrokinetic moving out of his path and preparing to blast him off
with a fireball.
However, Acid Rain suddenly teleported behind the flyer and quickly shot her feet
before disappearing to safety. Devilry lost control of her flight for a second,
allowing Mosquito to slam her against the building.
Ryan left his men to handle the superhero, while he quickly disarmed the
remaining guards and let Len trap them inside water bubbles. By the time metal
panels covered every window, the president tossed a desk over to reveal an
office manager hiding beneath. A golden keycard dangled from his neck.
“I will be borrowing that.” Instead of taking it off the man, the courier simply
grabbed the card and dragged the terrified wearer along towards the elevator.
“Incognito, Doll?"
“On it!" His gynoid friend answered, data showing up on the courier’s lenses as
he examined the keycard.
Earlier during the loop, Ryan sent the Psycho Incognito to infiltrate Dynamis’ HQ.
His Blue ability forced others to perceive him as anyone else of his choice,
though he couldn't fool all their security systems. Still, combined with the
president's own hacking, Incognito had managed to slip inside the HQ and
gained access to the building's main servers.
Combined with Tea and Alchemo’s long-distance assistance from the submarine,
the group quickly reprogrammed the building's access authorizations.
“Alright, guys, all keycards should grant access to any floor now,” Ryan informed
his team through his helmet'’s intercom. “Sarin, my dear, how are things going on
your end?”
“We'll catch up in a minute,” she answered, shockwaves and explosions echoing
from her side of the line. “Shouldn't take long.”
“Wonderful,” Ryan replied, before applying the keycard against the elevator’s
security system. The doors opened, and this time the president seized the
keycard for himself and left the manager alone.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” Ryan thanked the manager, as the elevator's
doors closed behind him and Len. His Genius friend clicked on floor sixty-six,
their lift moving up.
“You think they expected us?” Len asked, readying her water rifle.
“Yes, but all the heavy hitters moved to Rust Town,” Ryan said, putting the card in
one of his armor’s hidden compartments. “Besides Devilry, they should only have
the juniors on standby.”
Though he did wonder how many heroes Dynamis had left to throw at the
invaders. Wyvern's shocking departure had caused a wave of resignations
among Il-Migliore, and even in the Private Security.
When the elevators doors to Lab Sixty-Six opened, the President expected to
face an entire battalion's worth of corporate stormtroopers. Victims against whom
he could test the full power of his armor, in preparation for whatever horrors
awaited inside Dr. Tyrano’s lair.
Instead, Ryan found himself standing in a colossal beasts dread shadow. An
ancient titan from the west and east, from the lost magical land of Zhongguo; a
guardian protecting a reinforced blast door so heavy that even a giant couldn't lift
it. The monster's head reached the metal ceiling, while his fur was as white as
his victims’ bones, and as pitch black as his soul.
“So,” the giant bear said, his voice echoing with the power of the world's
ancestors. “We meet at last, villain!"
The fools at Dynamis had summoned the Panda.
“I love your new armor!” And Wardrobe too, to Ryan's delight. “The ears are
cute!”
Ryan and Len calmly stepped out of the elevator and into a hall of concrete
separating the floor’s entry points from a thick blast door. Cameras and two
automated turrets dangled from the ceiling, watching the intruders. Three
fearsome guardians stood between the forces of the United States, and their
objective: the Panda, Ryan's most powerful rogue; Wardrobe, wearing a black
and white Brioni tuxedo; and Reload, wielding a laser blade and eager for
payback.
Ryan recognized Wardrobe's outfit, gasping in shock and delight. “I thought
James Bond was copyrighted worldwide?”
“Me too,” she said. “But not in Canada!”
Those hockey-loving traitors! “Well, now I know which country we're invading
next week.”
“Step aside,” Len said with her weapon raised, not in the mood for jokes. “You're
fighting on the wrong side.”
“The wrong side?” Reload snarled angrily. “You brought New Rome to its knees
and threatened it with a nuclear bomb!”
“And your boss mass-marketed a Psycho in a bottle, who is waiting right beyond
that blast door by the way,” Ryan pointed out. While Reload didn’t believe him,
both Wardrobe and the Panda clearly winced. “It's the pot calling the kettle
black!”
“As if I would believe that!” Reload snarled, weapon raised. “I don't know what
evidence you fabricated to mislead Wyvern, but no way I'm trusting a deranged
Psycho warlord!”
“The Panda is the only one who can stop you,” the Panda said grimly. “Even if he
must ally with a lesser evil to do so.”
Wait, did he believe Ryan's words on TV? Did Dynamis believe him? Either that
or they had to recruit anyone they could find. Still, the president didn’t have the
heart to correct the manbear.
“I'm sorry, but they arrested my girlfriend when they realized she took money
from you, and I have to play nice to get her out,” Wardrobe said, raising a Walther
PPK at Ryan's armored head. “Nora is pissed you used her by the way. That was
mean of you!”
Oh? Argh, Ryan didn’t think of that. He had no intention of endangering the
Architect in his schemes. “I shall buy her forgiveness... with AUSTRALIA!"
Wardrobe carefully considered the proposition. “I think she would prefer France,
is France on the table?”
“For Nora, everything is on the table,” Ryan reassured her.
“Sweet, you can tell her that when I bring you in!”
Reload let out a shout of rage, blade raised, as he charged at the President
without any regard for diplomatic protocol. Ryan lazily glanced at him with utter
disdain, while Len pressed her water rifle’s trigger. A second later, the hero
floated inside a bubble of pressurized water, his laser blade on the ground.
Wardrobe opened fire without skipping a beat, aiming for the Saturn Armor’s
lenses. Ryan quickly dodged, while Reload was trapped in a cycle of death by
drowning, followed by rebirth.
“Mr. President...” The Panda tried to look brave and confident, but the poor
manbear couldn't hide his fear. He raised his paws and adopted a kung fu
stance. “I... I'll fight you, in Justice’s name!”
“I am Saturn now.” Ryan flexed his unlimited power, by raising an authoritarian
fist raised to the heavens. “You expected to face a president, but instead, you've
found a god!”
“God or not, you won't get past me!” The Panda leaped at Ryan with all his
might, while Wardrobe kept providing cover fire. “You won't get past the Panda!”
Ryan raised his hands, roaring as he prepared to meet his destiny.
Pop, pop.
Ryan froze in place, as he faced two bubbles of pressurized water. Len had shot
both heroes with her weapon.
The time-traveler had heard pandas were wonderful, elegant swimmers, but...
not this one. His short legs wagged in the water bubble keeping him imprisoned,
the bear unable to fight the intense pressure; Len had improved the design after
Ryan informed her Psyshock could still move inside them. Wardrobe wasn’t
doing any better, though she changed to a mermaid outfit to avoid passing out.
Ryan sighed, glaring at his partner. “Shortie...”
“What?” she asked, confused.
“Shortie, I love you, you know that,” Ryan said, pointing a finger at the three
trapped heroes in the room, “but you can’t bubble all your problems away.”
“Riri, we are on a schedule,” she replied, unapologetic. “My father... my father is
beyond this door.”
“Yes, I know, but... look, Shortie, it's like strolling through a garden without
smelling the flowers. You're missing the important part.”
Even the defensive turrets opening fire on them didn’t improve Ryan's mood, the
weapons failed to pierce the duo's armors. The president raised his arms at them
to reveal Vulcan's hidden lasers, blasting the defenses to smithereens.
Splash!
Ryan turned around to see Wardrobe wearing a toga and a coral crown, a trident
of light in her hand. The water that kept her contained swirled around her weapon
like a liquid snake.
Poseidon’s costume.
Before Wardrobe could point her weapon at her trapped allies’ bubbles and free
them, the courier quickly moved to disarm her with a kick. Her trident vanished
into dust particles the second it left her hand, the water falling on the ground.
Yuki switched costumes to that of a ninja in order to leap away from the courier
and dodge another bubble from Len. Ryan raised a hand to prevent his sidekick
from interfering. “Open the door, Shortie,” he said, eager for a duel. “I shall take
good care of her.”
“You underestimate my power!” Wardrobe replied, picking up Reload's laser
blade and switching her costume for a fencer’s one.
“Look, I swear we will free your girlfriend on our way out,” Ryan said. “I'm a villain
with class, I don’t endanger my nemesis’ family. Just don’t hate me over that
blunder.”
“I don't!” Wardrobe replied while doing some footwork. “I believe you, and
Enrique confirmed it! If they didn’t have Nora, I would have walked out like Felix
did!”
Wardrobe was only making a token effort at defending the place, to keep up
appearances. No wonder she didn’t bring out the apocalypse suit, or the
Augustus costume.
In that case, he would make it a performance.
“So be it,” Ryan replied while revealing hidden switchblades hidden in his armor’s
arms. Wardrobes eyes widened at the sight, realizing she would get the duel of
her dreams. “I shall show you the true nature of the Oval Office!”
The two duelists appraised each other for a solid minute, before charging at each
other with roars. Len ignored them both, as she started cutting open the blast
door with a stream of pressurized water.
A solid laser clashed against Mechron-made steel, neither able to penetrate the
other. The duo danced to the tune of a song that only existed in their head,
though Ryan hummed Duel of the Fates to himself. Wardrobe leaped, and
sidestepped, and pierced forward. The president pushed, smashed, and forced
her back.
The blades drew lines in the concrete walls, sending sparkles everywhere as
they clashed. No word could describe the deadly duel they engaged in. Wardrobe
channeled all sword masters who had ever lived, moving with the grace of water.
Ryan fought with experience accumulated over centuries, a perfect style honed
through countless iterations. They were evenly matched.
But Sarin had been right about one thing.
Ryan cheated.
The president stopped time, and when it resumed, he pointed Wardrobe's own
blade at her throat. The defeated hero took a step back in surprise, hitting the
wall behind her.
“You are beaten, it is useless to resist me,” Ryan declared, taking deep, powerful
breaths. “Don’t make me cut off your hand.”
Wardrobe looked at him defiantly, rebel scum to the end. “Do you expect me to
die, Mr. President?"
“No, Miss Bond.”
He retracted his blades, threw away his sword, grabbed Wardrobe by the waist,
and pulled her closer.
“I expect you to marry me.”
Wardrobe covered her mouth with her hands in shock at his proposal, while Len
abruptly stopped her work to look over her shoulder. The president ignored his
childhood friend and focused on his archenemy.
“Marry me, Wardrobe,” Ryan said, losing himself in Yuki's beautiful eyes. “You're
the perfect partner. The only one who understands who I am. Together... together
we can rule the galaxy, as husband and wife!”
“I'm sorry,” Wardrobe apologized, tears in her eyes and hands on her nemesis’
cashmere poncho. “I know we have that raw sexual chemistry going on, but I'm
already taken!”
“I'm a Mormon,” Ryan reassured her softly, “I can make bigamy work.”
She gently touched his helmet's left side, shaking her own head in denial. “No
harems on my watch, silly.”
Ryan's heart broke in his chest, as his mad hopes of a hero-supervillain romance
were utterly dashed. She was too loyal, too pure, to embrace the dark side.
“But we can totally stay good archnemeses, even if I will probably get fired soon,”
Wardrobe reassured him with a low voice so the cameras wouldn't hear, before
shouting, “I will never join you! Never!”
“So be it, hero!” Ryan deftly hit her in the chest and neck to activate her pressure
points. Wardrobe collapsed in his arms like a sponge, the supervillain carefully
laying her against the nearest wall.
By now, Len had managed to carve a circle in the blast door, though the
enormous gate of metal refused to fall. “What was... what was I looking at?” she
asked her best friend.
Ryan sobbed. “A tragedy.”
Damn it, why was she already taken? There was no justice in this world!
Instead of answering, Shortie shook her head. Ryan had the feeling she was
sulking for some reason. “Help me kick down the door.”
Ryan did so, but neither armored warriors were strong enough to open the hole
through the thick metal. The president hesitated to use his chest blaster to get
around the problem, only to hear the elevators open behind him. He half-
expected a battalion of Dynamis men to try to ambush them.
Instead, Sarin and Mongrel moved into the hall. Hazmat Girl barely took a glance
at the room before figuring out the situation, raising her hands at the metal door.
“Move out.”
Ryan and Len hastily obeyed, right before Sarin blasted a hole into the next
room.
The group finally took their first step into Lab Sixty-Six, an immaculate, sterilized
white room fifty meters in length and twenty in width. The sound of metallic clinks
echoed around them, as automated medical drones took care of thrumming
machines and terminals.
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A claustrophobic, medical assembly
line stretched as far as they could
see, and continued into the nexien
room. Caled ih bokdff Elixir bottles
chnte out of a metal hole right next to
a door equipped with a bioscanner.
Robotic arms stamped the bottles
3 5; 1
with Dynamis’ logo and moved them
into various crates ready for delivery.
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Ryan glanced around looking for guards or defenders, but didn’t find any. It
appeared Dynamis only trusted machines inside this facility, perhaps due to the
danger of Elixir contamination or theft.
“Where are the others?” Len asked Sarin, as the group moved into the
laboratory.
“Frank is climbing up the other shaft,” Hazmat Girl replied with a scoff. “He was
too big to fit inside the elevator. The others are holding the line downstairs.”
“So this is the place, huh?” Mongrel asked, as he examined the next room.
“Where's the Genius in charge?”
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« . »
Probably beyond this door,” Ryan
said, as they walked along the
assembly line to reach its end.
: Sap
Unfortunately, his feyeard didn {Work
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op the dss bioscan ner. As Nora
warned him one loop ago, the
laboratory used its own secure
“ : :
computer system. “President calling
to VP, please blow that door open. I
can smell reptilian immigrants
5 — 5
behind it.” The content is on
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chapter there!
“Rya—Mr. President!” Acid Rain called through Ryan's intercom, though he could
barely hear her with the interference. “He's here, on the roof! He's fighting
Mosquito!”
Ryan tensed up in alarm. “Whom? Hargraves?"
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1 : )
He didn't have to wonder for long.
’ ns
The entrance hall's ceiling collapsed,
someone having smashed thejryway
throug the fiparslabod like a drill
irkto the ground. The impact had
blown dust into the laboratory, with
Sarin, Len, and Mongrel all forming a
defensive perimeter around their
president. The content is on
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chapter there!
The Saturn armor let out an alarm sound, as it detected an abnormal amount of
radiation flowing into the room.
“You're going all-in, huh?" A towering shadow emerged from the smoke, tossing
away Mosquito’s charbroiled corpse while acid raindrops slipped inside the
building. “Well, I'm calling your bet, muties.”
Alphonse “Fallout’ Manada stepped past the blast door and into the laboratory,
his hands shining with deadly radiation.
“Time to die.”