Chapter 101
Lightning Butt’s burns ached on Ryan’s chest, as he parked the Plymouth Fury west of New Rome.
Triton’s Resort was argeplex on a small hill, built between the infamous Colosseum Maximus and Little Lilith, the city’s
red-light district. ss domes and tall white spires coexisted with elevated pleasure gardens, tennis courts, and thermal pools,
while the wealthiest clients could enjoy an unbeatable view of New Rome’s coast. Like almost all properties owned by the
Augusti, it embraced a Roman architectural style. Statues of Venus and Mars— the gods, not the Genomes—made love on a
fountain, right next to the parking lot. Clients walked in through different entrances, based on their status; most of the clientele
walked through arge yet elegant stone archway, while VIPs used a ss elevator to skip straight to the higher floors.
Ryan had traded his bathrobe for his usual clothes, though he wore no mask or hat for once. Livia sat at his side, wearing a blue
skirt dress that left her legs and back exposed. A silver ne glittered around her neck, and a white rose ribbon kept her hair
bound. She looked great, but Ryan thought she could wear anything and still dazzle him.
“| shoulde over to your ce from now on,” she said out of the blue.
No kidding. “I could get used to the shock treatment,” Ryan mused, but it didn’t make her smile. “Or how about we rent
something and move in?”
“We should wait a few months to go down that step, yes?” She giggled. “Ryan, if you think you have seen my father angry, then
imagine him with empty nest syndrome. It’s better | go home after our dates from now on.”
“What was your dad even doing standing motionless in the kitchen? Asserting his dominance over the pastries?”
Her gaze turned distant. “Dad is... not well. Sometimes he doesn’t move for hours.”
“Because of his tumor?” She nodded sadly. “That’s why he rarely leaves his house anymore, am | right?”
“|... | would rather not talk about this right now. | would rather talk about us.” Livia sheepishly joined her fingers, hesitating a few
seconds before asking a question. “What will we be, Ryan?”
“Someone asked me that before,” he replied, thinking of Jasmine with nostalgia. “Back then, | answered a summer fling.”
Livia frowned at him. “I don’t want us to be a summer fling.”
“Me neither.”
Once, Ryan had been afraid of intimate romantic rtionships, and themitment that came with them. The pain that followed
their destruction each time he reset cut deep. But for the first time since he had gained his power, he had a partner that would
remember him. Someone with whom he could build a rtionshipsting through several loops. It was... exhrating in its
newness. Frightening, even.
He carefully took her hand into his own, and lost himself in her beautiful blue eyes. “Livia, do you want to be my girlfriend, until
time tears us apart?”
Apinkish blush spread below her eyes. “You should have asked me that before we slept together, no? You skipped a lot of
steps.”
“And now I’m doing things by the book.”
It pleased the princess, he could tell, but her response wasn’t what he had expected. “My answer is no, Ryan.”
The courier opened his mouth in shock. “Come again?”
“| want to be your girlfriend until we decide to break up, if we ever choose to,” Livia dered, her face turning stubborn even
though her words were music to Ryan’s ears. “Not until your power resets everything. | want a serious rtionship.”
“Livia, you know | will have to reset again? What if | die early, or we can’t transfer your mind back easily?” Ryan cleared his
throat. “I want something thatsts too, but... well, there’s always the possibility an unforeseen death ruins it all.”
“People risk dying all the time, and yet they still make ns for the future, Ryan. Our rtionship might need more work,
logistics-wise, but we will find a way to strengthen it. | am sure of it.”
Ryan could tell that she wouldn’t budge on the matter, so he did it right this time. “Livia Augusti, do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“There, you have it,” she said with a beautiful, heartwarming smile. “Yes | do, Ryan.”
And so, Quicksave was no longer single.
“This changes everything,” Ryan said, breaking the hand contact to search for a notebook and a pen he hid in his coat.
“What is this?” Livia asked, as he opened the notebook.
“My to-do list of objectives before | achieve my Perfect Run. After myst presidential mandate, | thought | should write down all
my campaign promises to keep track of them.” Ryan scratched the ‘Fuck the Sun’ line, right between the ‘Kill Psypsy’ and ‘Marry
Yuki’ ones. “I’m updating the list to ount for my newfound monogamy.”
Curious like a cat, Livia tried to look at the content, but her boyfriend kept the notebook out of reach. “Give it to me, | want to
know!”
“No, that’s private!”
“Give it to me, Ryan,” she insisted.
“No!” He felt a chill going down his spine. “No, no don’t you dar—”
Livia skipped time forward, and when Ryan regained consciousness, she had stolen the list and his pen. “So that’s how it feels
when | mess with people in frozen time, uh,” heined. “Are you happy now?”
“A good boyfriend doesn’t keep anything from his partner,” she replied, before frowning at what she read. “Marry Jamie and Ki-
jung’?”
“l only nned to marry Jamie at first, but since he’s going to propose to Ki-jung soon, | thought bigamy was the only sensible
solution.”
It seemed to make sense to her, but then the next item on the list made Livia re at him. “Fuck the Vamp and live through it’?
Seriously?”
“| have a revenge to take.”
“She isn’t that good.” Livia was at her cutest when she was jealous.
“How do you know that?” Ryan asked while squinting.
“Because | do,” his girlfriend replied before removing that n from the list, the way a dictator signed an execution order. In fact,
she barred all the ‘Fuck’ and ‘Marry’ goals of the list, except those involving her. A couple’s life was made of sacrifices.
“You truly made a n for your final loop,” Livia said, as she kept reading. “Though I’m a bit worried by the ‘Kill’ list.”
“Well, at first | only wanted to find Len, but | kept adding new objectives,” Ryan admitted. “It’s not my fault if this city crawls with
assholes who need to be put down.”
“Mmm... ‘Bully Luigi,’ ‘Save New Rome,’ ‘Take over the Meta-gang,’ ‘Cure the Psycho condition,’ ‘Blow up the Bliss Factory’...”
She frowned. “Prevent the Leporimachia?’ Is that even a real word?”
“I''m working on that one.”
Livia waited for him to borate, but skipped to the next objective when he didn’t. She grinned ear to ear. “Reconcile Wyvern
and Vulcan?’ Now, you’re asking for the impossible.”
“It happened once, though it took the city’s destruction for it.” Ryan thought that though he couldn’t date Vulcan due to his
promise to Jasmine, he could at least help the Genius turn her life around.
“We can’t let things progress that far,” Livia replied. “I’m kidding, they can reconcile.”
“You''ve seen it happen?”
“All it takes is Wyvern approaching Vulcan and ‘apologizing’ to her former partner. She does so after rethinking her choices,
usually after Dynamis copses.”
“So, we can steal two cashmere suits with one gun?”
She frowned at him, suddenly interested. “Does Dynamis have a red suit in storage?”
“You will look great in it.”
“| think so too.” Livia skimmed through the list, from the ‘Free Len from her father’s shadow’ to ‘Bury my daddy issues,’ before
frowning. “Find the Alchemist’s base in Antarctica’?”
“| saw it in the Purple World, but | don’t know where exactly,” Ryan said. Truth be told, he had wondered if this vision had been a
coincidence. The Violet Ultimate One had left hints to help the courier, so perhaps it wanted the time-traveler to visit this base for
some unknown purpose. “Some kind of fortress buried in snow and ice.”
Livia considered the matter thoughifully. “Now that I think of it...” she whispered to herself. “Could it be Station Orpheon?”
“Station Orpheon?”
“A story Bhus told me about the Alchemist,” Livia replied, before dropping a bomb. “He was investigating her before Last
Easter, and she twisted him.”
“Her?” The Alchemist was a girl? And here Ryan thought she might have been a lizardman, or a grey martian! “You know a guy
who met the Alchemist, and you never told me?”
“| didn’t think it was important?” she replied, a little embarrassed. “Thing is, Ryan, my power cannot look into the Alchemist. I’ve
tried before, but | can’t find a world where | have interacted with her... if she’s even a human woman at all.”
“She could have a power simr to mine.”
“Maybe. I’m sorry, I’m blind here. Dad wanted to track her down too, but eventually abandoned that n after years of fruitless
investigation. Bhus himself wasn’t much help either. All he cares about is Bliss and contacting his ‘God’... whose nature | now
understand better, thanks to you.”
“An Ultimate One?” Ryan had reached the same conclusion after his talk with Darkling. Bhus had called God ‘it’ and thought
psychotropics capable of affecting even Genomes could help make contact with it. It didn’t take a Genius to figure it out. “What
do you mean by ‘she twisted him’?”
“He wasn’t always...” Livia struggled to find the word.
“Obsessive?” Ryan suggested.
“Deranged, though he hides it well. ording to Dad, he used to be well-adjusted before the Alchemist got to him. Afterward,
hallucinogens andter Bliss became his life.” His girlfriend shook her head. “Even the tales he says are quite confusing.”
“Will he tell them to me too, if | confess my sins? For my heart is full of wicked deeds.”
“No, | don’t think so, but you couldpare notes and find out.” Livia smiled. “I have never been to Antarctica. It must be a
beautiful ce.”
“Wanna make it our next stop for our winter vacations?”
“Now you think like a true boyfriend.” She flipped the notebook’s page, before blushing upon finding thest objective on the to-
do list.
‘Make Livia happy.’
Livia looked at Ryan with a pleased face, adjusting her hair. “What, are you surprised?” the courier asked his girlfriend, his
fingers brushing against her red cheek. “You''re part of my Perfect Run too.”
“It''s a good list, Ryan,” she said, before hastily scribbling a new line. “But you forgot one task.”
Ryan frowned, as she gave him back the notebook and the pen with a new objective.
Be happy too.
“| thought it woulde naturally,” he said while putting his items back inside his trench coat.
“Ryan, almost all the objectives in the list are about helping other people, but never yourself,” Livia said. “That’s very noble of
you, but you have to take your happiness into ount too. No more suicides will be a start.”
“What? But a glorious death is half the fun of a loop!” Ryan protested. “Do you realize how many people fail their lives, but make
a sess of their death?”
“If you reload by dying, then it makes you value your life less. We''ll find a better, painless way for you to turn back time. Also, no
more drugs. I’ve seen the stuff you keep in your car, and it has to go.”
“But”
“No more drugs,” his girlfriend insisted. “I’m going to clean up your life, whether you want it or not. You will embrace a healthier
lifestyle.”
“If you try to make me a vegetarian, I’m dumping you.”
She raised an eyebrow in a way that Ryan found positively obscene. “You are wee to taste my flesh anytime.”
“| don’t taste,” he answered, breathing on her neck. “I bite.”
She turned scarlet at his insolence. “You have gone too far, Ryan,” Livia said, unable to hide her embarrassment. “I have to
punish you.”
“Mistress is wee to whip me anytime.”
“| had something else in mind.”
Her lips shyly brushed against his own, the contact so brief it might have been a dream. It tasted of strawberry, of her perfume
and summer. She quickly pulled back, red as if she had never kissed a boy before.
“You stole my first kiss!” Ryan responded with false shock. “I was saving myself for Felix!”
She exploded intoughter, and Ryan had never heard a more wonderful sound. He put his hand in her hair, and the other on
her waist as he pulled her closer.
He let Livia steal his second kiss, and then his third and fourth. Afterward, the burn on his chest ached, and she put a finger on
his lips. “We will take a bath together after patching you up,” she said, her forehead against his own. “I have a private spot in the
resort. You will love it.”
“Braindead should arrive today,” Ryan pointed out. The n was to torch the Junkyard and bury the bunker’s open entrance after
the Genius arrived, to make it look as if the Meta-Gang had fled the city.
“He will, but in the evening,” Livia said, her voice soft and soothing. “Until then, you are mine.”
He couldn''t tell hisdy no.
Ryan offered Livia his arm as they exited the car, his girlfriend squeezed it tight. The mafia princess liked it very much when he
yed the gentleman. They bypassed the bouncers and took the elevator, Livia resting her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder as
they moved up the floors.
After passing by marble corridors, the couple made their way into a mix between a parlor and a doctor’s waiting room.
Overstuffed,fy leather chairs allowed one to rest while watching colorful tapestries and portraits of celebrities new and old.
In fact, the staff included copies of Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio, but though they had the actors’ faces,
they had none of the natural, easy charm.
Atall man greeted them, an Italian George Clooney with familiar blue eyes and a white beard. “Livia,” he said, wearing a ck
suit more expensive than most houses. Ryan immediately identified his voice as Mars’, Atom Kitty and Fortuna’s father. “Who is
this young, gant man with you?”
“Luca, this is my boyfriend, Ryan,” Livia paraded the courier. “Ryan, this is Luca Veran, Fortuna’s father.”
“My condolences,” the courier said. “I admire your bravery, to have raised her without going mad.”
“My wife bears the lion’s share of the me, as far as her education goes.” If Mars was bothered to see his son’s ex-girlfriend
with another man, he didn’t show it. In fact, he warmly shook Ryan’s hand as if he were an old friend. “Does Janus know?”
Instead of answering, Ryan lifted his shirt to show the burns beneath, causing Mars to explode intoughter. “That’s what |
expected,” he said. “I assume you came to see my wife to remove the scars?”
“Her, and Fortuna, if she’s here,” Livia said.
“No, she said she’s spending time with that mystery boyfriend of hers.” Mars frowned at the couple. “Do you know if he has
powers?”
He didn’t sound so friendly anymore. “He can disappear at will,” Ryan said. “Though pigeons are his kryptonite.”
“Oh, good,” Mars said, sounding greatly relieved. “Fortuna seems to be taking this rtionship seriously, and | was worried that
she might frequent the wrong kind of person.”
Livia answered with a forced smile. “I am not sure if he is the right person for her, but you know Fortuna, she does as she wills.”
“Like her brother,” Mars said with a chuckle. “I wonder how Narcinia managed to turn out so dutiful with such unruly siblings.”
Because you murdered her parents and abducted her as a babe, Ryan thought, Livia’s arm tightening around his own. She had
sensed his unease. “When is Narcinia returning from Ischia ind?” the princess asked Mars with courtesy. She probably
already knew the answer with her power, but pretended not to for the sake of conversation. “It has been a long time since | met
her.
“She will return on the fourteenth, to attend the meeting scheduled on the fifteenth.” Mars nced at Ryan, frowning upon
realizing he knew what they were talking about. “Are you... you know, one of us?”
“| cut horse heads for a living,” the courier said, and to his joy Mars seemed to understand the reference. “They never run fast
enough.”
“Will you make me an offer | cannot refuse?” Mars replied with a warm smile. “Perhaps we could invite you two for dinner, when
Narcinia returns? She needs new friends closer to her age, and | think she will be fond of you, Ryan.”
“With pleasure,” Livia replied with a smile, though her grip on Ryan’s arm tightened.
Mars took his leave afterward, pretending that he needed to attend to other business. Ryan on thefy chair, and Livia on his
lap. “Is this ce bugged?” he whispered into his girlfriend’s ear.
“Yes, but not my suite,” she replied with the same low tone. “Wait a little.”
Andrea Jni-Veran, alias Venus, received them afterward in an immacte surgery room. She was a beautiful woman in her
early forties, and a grown-up version of her daughter Fortuna. d in a regal white dress and keeping her golden hair braided,
she wouldn’t have looked out of ce on a yboy Magazine’s cover.
Ryan noticed that she didn’t have an operation table, simply a warm bed where the courierid while the fashion model raised
his shirt. Venus touched his chest with her thumb, and the burns vanished as if they had never existed in a green sh of light.
“Done,” Venus said with a professional smile.
“| have a scar on my left butt cheek, can you remove it too?” Ryan asked.
“No, | like it,” Livia said coyly, “I like the noise you make when | pinch it.”
Venus looked between the two of them, and unlike her husband, didn’t hide her displeasure. “Do you have news of Felix?” she
asked Livia, emphasizing the name.
“No,” Livia replied dryly, as Ryan put his shirt back on and returned to her side. “He will note back.”
“Maybe he will,” Venus said, eyeing Ryan warily. He could tell she would have preferred to have her own blood date Augustus’
heir, but she had no second son to offer. “Or if not, we will take him back. When will your father give the order to destroy the
Manada n once and for all?”
“| do not know,” Livia replied evasively, though Ryan knew she meant: never, if | have my way. “But we can discuss that on the
fifteenth.”
“Certainly,” Venus replied with a smile Ryan found rather disturbing. “Will you take the lovers’ suite, as usual?”
“Yes, of course,” Livia said, to the older woman’s displeasure. Venus gave them a keycard, and watched them leave the parlor in
silence. Ryan could feel her re on his back, and no doubt she already plotted to have him removed for ‘usurping’ her son’s
position. Clearly, she was deadlier than her husband, but the courier had survived far worse.
Livia led him to a VIP suite on the fifth floor of the resort, a tastefully decorated apartment with its own private Jacuzzi bath. The
floor and walls were made of wood, but sleek, modern appliances were cleverly hidden in slidingpartments. Stained ss
picture windows provided a marvelous view of New Rome''s beaches and the sea beyond, while some of Livia’s paintings
adored the walls.
Though Livia insisted the ce was safe, Ryan still took a moment to check the room for traps and bugs, but didn’t find any. The
Jacuzzi''s waters were warm when he slid naked inside them, his partner joining afterward.
“| have the feeling we will end up glued together,” Ryan said, when she sat between his legs, her back against his chest. She
had kept the silver ne on, which glittered with the sunlight outside. “Is it safe though? Venus might have infected me with a
gue or something.”
“That’s not how her power works,” Livia replied while bubbles rose to the water surface. Ryan had to admit it worked wonders to
ease his sore muscles, after the beating he took from Augustus. “She is limited to superficial, aesthetic surgery modifications.
She can reshape the skin, the eye colors, the hair, but not scramble your organs.”
“But she could transform my lips and nose into a patch of skin, and asphyxiate me.”
“She could,” she admitted, grinning at him. “But only if she maintains physical contact.”
“Good to know.”
“| don’t want to go to that dinner,” Livia admitted, her head resting on Ryan’s shoulder. “I adore Fortuna and Narcinia, don’t get
me wrong, but Venus will try to break us up and Mars will make racist remarks towards normies. You''ll see.”
“Why ept the offer then? You don’t need the parents.” Fortuna couldn’t stand her mother in particr, and Narcinia would
probably follow suit upon learning the truth of her parentage. “I mean, we could organize a party at Jamie’s ce and invite the
Veran sisters there.”
“| have to keep up appearances, if | am to inherit the organization and reform it,” Livia replied. “Mars and Venus are my father’s
followers, but | fear | pushed him hard enough as it is. A few smiles will buy us peace of mind.”
Ryan looked at her closely, and put his arms around her waist. He could tell she was thankful for thefort.
“Is this ce a brothel, besides a luxury resort?” he asked her.
Ryan had noticed copycats of actors chatting with clients in a way that seemed... dubious.
“This is the epicenter of New Rome’s prostitution business, yes,” Livia said with a saddened frown. “Venus uses her powers to
reshape faces and bodies, to cater to all tastes. Some people are willing to pay fortunes to sleep with their favorite actors... or
heroes. | heard the Wyvern double is very popr.”
“Does Vulcan visit her often?” Livia chuckled in response, but didn’t answer. “Do you want me to destroy this ce, like the Bliss
Factory?”
Her fingers brushed against her silver ne, her face thoughtful. “Would you do it, if | asked?”Content held by N?velDrama.Org.
“Yes.” He nuzzled her cheek gently. “Livia, | don’t want you to wear a mask, not even at dinner. If this ce and the people that
run it make you unhappy, | can tear it down and free you from them.”
“Could you do that bloodlessly?” she asked, her gaze distant.
“I can do anything, given time.”
“But not without sacrifices from your part, and as | told you before... | won’t have you martyr yourself for my sake.” Livia yed
with her hair. “Truth be told, I’m not sure what to do about this ce. Evil things happen here, but most of the resort’s activities
are legitimate. What am | to do with the employees that work in the resort for an honest living? | don’t want innocent people to
lose their livelihood, Ryan.”
“And what blood sacrifices take ce behind closed doors?”
“| know Venus and her husband use the ce to get clients addicted to Bliss, for a start,” Livia said grimly. “Or produce dirt and
ckmail material.”
“| have a cure for Bliss addiction.” Ryan had been considering introducing it to Ki-jung, since she seemed to still struggle with the
temptation.
“You do?” Livia asked, her eyes widening.
“Endorphin blockers,” Ryan said with a shrug. It was the solution he had found back when he ended up addicted to the stuff,
back in an old loop. “It’s pretty easy to manufacture with the right equipment. You could create a rehab clinic.”
“That’s an interesting idea, but one that my father won''t like one bit,” Livia said with a frown. “But | will keep it in mind. For now,
we can focus on Narcinia’s future.”
In the end, much like with Len, it all came down to her father.
No matter the good Livia wanted to do, as long as Augustus lived, her family’s honest activities would only be a smokescreen for
Lightning Butt’s insidious, insane goals. Much like how Bloodstream’s embers of humanity had only served to hide the monster
he had transformed into.
There woulde a time where Ryan would drag Mob Zeus and his so-called Olympians down from their mountain, to make
sure they could no longer threaten anyone.
For her sake.