Riley Ross-Chapter 73: Is This Why You Chose This Place?

"This is... very impressive."

The dark crystal egg that Victoria made was the size of an RV, and since her normal translucent crystals weighed similar to steel, this dark variant of her powers should only be a little lighter. But add to that the cage and the persons inside the crystal egg, then its total weight was nothing to scoff at.

And yet Riley was flying it silently, steadily, through thick clouds—without even a flicker of effort or pain on his face. Back when he fought Silvie during the mock battles, not even twenty-four hours ago, Tomoe saw him wince when he lifted the car and threw it back to Silvie.

But now? Now he carried something far heavier with all the ease of breathing.

Beneath them, the city slept—blissfully unaware of what soared above their rooftops, of what it was carrying.

A corpse, two future corpses, an unfeeling monster, and... something else entirely.

Tomoe turned her gaze toward Riley, who stood beside the cage. It was impossible to tell where he was looking, thanks to the black helmet now covering his face. She didn’t say anything when he returned to her house wearing the new suit, but now that she saw it in motion, in the eerie dim of the clouds on the other side of the dark crystal, it made him look like he was vanishing into the darkness around him.

It was already hard to tell what he was thinking without the helmet covering his face, but now it was just downright impossible. And someone like that... was granted this kind of power?

From her observations, Riley should have only awakened his powers not too long ago... and yet he seemed to be growing stronger daily—no.

He was growing stronger and stronger by the second. Just...

"What sort of monster are you, Riley?" Tomoe finally muttered, turning her eyes away from the distant glimmer of the city lights. She stood beside him, barely looking at her caged mother and Erik anymore, because she didn’t feel anything when she did... there was no longer anything inside her.

Riley didn’t answer right away. Instead, he walked to the front of the crystal egg, his voice muffled but clear through the helmet.

"I do not really know how to answer that, Tomoe," he said, facing the dark clouds ahead.

"But if I had to guess... then the cute sort. What sort of monster do you think I am?"

"I don’t know yet," Tomoe replied as she followed him, stopping a few steps behind.

"But if I had to guess, you’re the dangerous kind."

"Are not all monsters considered dangerous, Tomoe?"

"Not like you."

"Oh?" Riley tilted his head slightly.

"Have you met many monsters, Tomoe? Aside from your mother, her boyfriend, and me?"

"No," she shook her head, "But I know you’ll be one of the worst. And I’m thinking of opening the floor beneath my feet right now—just to avoid being swallowed by you."

"And why do you not do that?"

"Because I know you’ll catch me."

"I will not, Tomoe," he glanced at her before looking down at the clouded view of the city, "You are extremely useful, but all of this has always been your choice, has it not? From the moment you decided to look at the paper I left for Stephanie and follow the trail yourself, it has always been your choice."

"Becoming like this wasn’t my choice." There was weight in her words, but the emotions were no longer there. She was... completely broken now, "My mother made this choice for me—I am what I am because of her. Life... isn’t fair."

"Perhaps," Riley shrugged, "You are from a broken family, born to a mother who does not care for you, abused and molested by your stepfather. No one deserves that, yet it happened to you—someone who still wanted to be a hero even after everything that had happened to you."

"I don’t want to become a hero."

"That is why I said ’wanted’, Tomoe," Riley sighed, "And then there is me. I was adopted by incredibly loving parents. They have been incredibly good to me. Father is considered the third wealthiest individual on the planet. I can snap my fingers, and he would buy me an entire island without asking any questions—and yet..."

Riley then glanced at Erik and Tomoe’s mother, who once again had scornful expressions on their faces and were banging on the crystal cage in desperation.

"...I turned into this dangerous monster you speak of. I do not deserve what I have, and yet I do. Unfortunate, is it not?"

"Hmn," Tomoe nodded, "It is."

The two became silent after that. But it didn’t last long as Tomoe started to look around, squinting her already small eyes at the horizon around her.

"Did you truly meet Megawoman?" She asked, her words a little hushed in fear that she might hear her, "I... thought she was supposed to be retired? She hasn’t shown herself for almost a decade."

"I also asked her that, Tomoe," Riley sighed, "But she told me that she was only out to get some fresh air. But she was in her full outfit—but then, seeing as she is an alien, maybe that outfit is her normal everyday outfit?"

"Hmn. But what if she—Hm?"

And before she could finish her words, she saw Riley handing her something. He wasn’t holding that before, and she could really only wonder where it came from since his outfit didn’t seem to have any pockets in them. freewёbnoνel-com

"What... is this?" She asked as she carefully grabbed the thing that Riley was handing to her.

"It is a mask, Tomoe."

Indeed, it was. And it was incredibly light in her hand—it almost seemed like she was only holding a piece of paper, even the thinness was like paper, but it didn’t fold or sway at all.

"This is... for me?"

It was a black, wing-shaped mask—almost like a raven’s.

"How do I wear it?" Tomoe checked both sides of the mask, and it did not have a strap or even some sort of adhesive for it to stick onto her face. But out of curiosity, she tried placing it on her face, and she felt a little static, and the mask just jumped onto her face.

"Oh...?" Tomoe blinked a couple of times before retrieving a phone from her pocket and opening the camera to see herself. She initially thought the mask wouldn’t really hide her face that well, but she was wrong.

The mask clung to her face like a shadow, and it traced the sharp lines around her eyes, narrowing at the edges... until it almost looked like tears dripping down her cheeks.

But perhaps the most surprising thing was her eyes themselves—it was completely clear and transparent when she was just holding the mask, but now there was a white film covering her eyes... but she doesn’t even notice them in her vision.

"Where did you get this?" Tomoe asked.

"Did I forget to tell you? My father, Bernard Ross, is Whiteking," Riley revealed casually.

"That..." Tomoe blinked, and surprisingly, the white film covering her eyes also responded, blinking with her, "I know it’s been theorized and talked about that they’re the same person, but it’s always been refuted and debunked because Whiteking and Bernard are always seen in different places. There’s also talk that Bernard knew Whiteking, but he revealed all of his records and even the records of his company, and even the FBI could see no relation between them."

"The FBI knows who he is, Tomoe."

"That... makes absolute sense."

Tomoe let out a long, and very deep sigh as she once again checked herself on the camera. She patted her face, tucked her hair, and then lifted up the back of her hair to check different hairstyles that would fit her.

"I think I am going to go with bangs, and then long on the cheeks."

"It suits you, Crystal Baby," Riley nodded. Tomoe, however, just sighed again as she shook her head.

"That name is just something I used for the class," she said, "I... would prefer a different name if I’m going to continue following under you."

"You are going to follow me?" Riley tilted his head, "Why?"

"Because I’m already like this..." Tomoe looked at her hands, "...I don’t think I’ll ever return to normal. I might as well follow you until the end, Riley."

"Then what name do you have in mind, Tomoe?"

"I... haven’t thought of that yet. I’ll let the public decide."

"The public...?"

"Yes. One day, sooner or later, your crimes and my crimes would be exposed to the public. And...

...they will give us a name."

The two became quiet after that, and it wasn’t until Riley stopped the egg and started lowering it did Tomoe made a sound again. She carefully looked in all directions, looking through the egg to see if anyone was within the vicinity below... but it was as Riley said.

"This place is... completely empty," she whispered as she saw nothing but a wide empty field for almost a mile.

"Yes, it is completely gated. There might be illegal settlers, but we can ask them to leave," Riley shrugged, "I specifically chose this place since it also has an underground facility, which would be perfect for our hideout, Tomoe."

"How... many squatters are you expecting?"

"I do not know, Tomoe. But if they do not cooperate, then... I suppose we just have to kill them, no?"

"Did... you choose this location because of that?"

"Well... perhaps."

Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m