CHAPTER 94: CHAPTER 94: WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT?

Mistakes. This wasn’t the first time Riley had made a mistake—or so his adoptive mother liked to call, an ’Uh Oh’ moment.

Of course, unlike most kids, Riley had far fewer Uh Ohs in his young life. He was... completely different from other children, after all. There were the occasional and typical Boo Boos, as one would expect from a child, but for the most part, he behaved.

He was what you would call an independent child.

But once in a blue moon, he makes an Uh Oh—and it would be huge.

One time, when he was seven or perhaps eight years old, he went outside their penthouse completely naked. He told Diana he did this because he suddenly felt uncomfortable inside the house, and wanted to get rid of the feeling by dipping into the public pool of the building.

And he did. He jumped into the pool without a care in the world at all, and he kept himself under the water until he drowned and had to be resuscitated.

There was also one that happened when he was only three years old, and had only been in the Ross family for less than a year. But that was enough time for them to know just how different Riley truly was.

He was already able to walk even before they adopted him, and at three years old, he was able to recite the ABCs and even have proper, albeit slurred and sometimes nonsensical, conversation with them.

He wasn’t able to do math or think at a level higher than his age, but he could communicate extremely well... and sometimes, it was to the point of absurdity as he tried to talk to even inanimate objects.

But lately, he had the habit of talking with even the smallest type of animal he could—ants.

And so, the family had the bright idea of taking him and Hannah to a zoo.

And somehow, Riley freed himself from his stroller and managed to jump into a gorilla enclosure.

That was... a day they would never really forget. May 2016.

No gorillas were shot that day, however. For some reason, when Riley tried to approach them, all the gorillas ran away and quickly hid back inside their sleeping caves. That was when they realized that animals stay away from Riley.

So, yes.

Whenever Riley committed an Uh Oh, it tended to be very big.

Lately, with Tomoe’s parents.

And now, perhaps what he himself would consider his biggest Uh Oh moment—letting Mr. Saturday escape right after he told him that he killed people.

"Uh..." Riley slowly landed back on the floor, blinking several times as he looked to nowhere in particular. He stayed like that for a few moments before finally flying out of the hangar to chase and find Mr. Saturday.

***

Meanwhile, the rest of the students of Mega Academy were trying to find their way through the colossal ship of the Dark Millennium. They all stuck together, and Tomoe was the one leading them. Gracey, well, Gracey was still completely unconscious and was being carried by one of the students.

"D-do you really know where you’re going?!"

"No."

"Then why are we following you?!"

"I didn’t ask any of you to follow me, but it wouldn’t make a difference if you weren’t. We have no map of this place." Tomoe did not even bother glancing back at the girl who yelled at her,

"If I were you, I would use that energy to find a directory—a big this ship should have one on one of its hallways."

"W-what about the explosion?! And why did the ship shake?!"

"We were both kidnapped and are stuck here. Do I look like I know the answer to that?"

"Y-yes?"

Tomoe didn’t bother to answer anymore, just letting out a deep breath as she focused on running. But if she did bother to answer, there was really only one it could fall onto—the heroes have arrived.

The group turned to a corner, and right as they did so, they saw someone who was wearing the same uniform as them.

But considering he was coming from the other side, he was part of the Dark Millennium. Of course, Tomoe realized that in an instant because it was Mr. Tuesday, who already had spears of bone sticking out of his wrists.

"I am only going to say this once..." Mr. Tuesday walked toward them, scraping his sharp bone across the wall, causing a screech that screamed through everyone’s ears in spite of the already loud siren echoing through the hallways. "...Return to your room and—"

"Shut the fuck up!"

And before Mr. Tuesday could finish his words, one of the larger students behind Tomoe rushed toward him, the very same student who punched Mr. Saturday on the face.

"Lex of 1-C," Mr. Tuesday didn’t seem to care at all, however, and even sighed as he saw the muscular boy, Lex, rushing toward him with his enlarging fist. Mr. Tuesday only stabbed his bone through the wall, and let the giant fist that covered his entire body hit him.

And then, a scream followed.

Not from Mr. Tuesday, but from Lex.

He raised his giant fist in the air, grasping it as it became smaller. Everyone was confused as to why he was screaming, but it became evident to them when they saw the blood trickling from the bones that were protruding from his fist.

Mr. Saturday did not let him scream for long, however, as he approached him and punched him right in the liver. Everyone screamed and gasped when they saw that, some even looking away as they didn’t want to see one of them die brutally again.

But contrary to their expectations, however, Lex only dropped to the ground without any more blood coming out of him—Mr. Tuesday retracted his spear bone at the last second.

"I didn’t want to hurt any of you." Mr. Tuesday once again sighed, "But I suppose that’s too late for that. If I were all of you, I would start ru—"

A loud rumble once again erupted throughout the entire ship as it violently trembled, and everything around them blurred. And when things started to calm down, all the students blinked and looked at each other in confusion...

...because Mr. Tuesday was gone, and all that was left was a hole from where he was previously standing.

But very soon, from that hole, someone emerged.

And even at the slightest shadow of a single strand of hair, some of the students already started crying and weeping as they recognized who came to help them. None of them had really even seen her in person before, not even from afar.

They have only seen videos, photos, and statues of her.

Even still, they recognized her.

Most of them were toddlers when she disappeared.

But still, they recognized her even from just a single strand of her golden brown hair.

And then, when they saw her face, and soon her long cape that flowed like wings on her back, almost all of them dropped to the ground and lost strength in their legs, not because they were tired or exhausted... but because they knew—

"You don’t have to worry. You are safe now."

—Megawoman has arrived.

***

At the same time, on the other side of the ship, Mr. Saturday was running as fast as he could. He was now smaller, but still bigger than his normal size, so that each of his steps would cover more distance.

"Anyone?! Is anyone there?! We have a problem!"

He screamed, but it was completely drowned by the siren that still endlessly filled the hallways.

"Where the fuck is everyone?! Hello?! Fuck, where’s the bridge?! Why is it so hard to find?!"

Mr. Saturday was running to the bridge in hopes of telling someone about Riley, but with the red lights flickering around him and the ship shaking, it was hard to tell where he was going.

But finally, after taking a corner, he saw the way.

"Hello!" He screamed again as he ran to the doorway, but then he stopped as he heard a tiny footstep behind him despite the noise bombarding his ears. His steps halted for a moment, and he slowly turned his head back toward the whisper.

And there, standing at the corner where he had just come from, was Riley; his bunny mask, glowing through the red lights.

"S-shit!" Mr. Saturday’s entire body shivered as he yelped, and he quickly rushed inside the bridge. He looked around, and finally, he saw someone there who made him let out the biggest sigh of relief he could.

"Ms. October!" He rushed toward October, who was standing next to the window with a view of the clouds and the dark sky behind her. And even though Mr. Saturday stood in front of her with his breaths almost gone and his face twisted with panic, October only looked down at him as he gasped for his words.

"Bernard’s son is—"

And right when he was about to say something, he realized that October was no longer looking at him but instead behind him.

Mr. Saturday also followed her gaze, and of course, the thing she was looking at could really be none other than Riley Ross.

"Hello," he said as he waved at Mr. Saturday and October before removing his sunglasses and the holographic mask covering his face.

"I came here to plead to all of you to please let them go. You can kill me instead, or take me alone. I am worth more than all of them combined."

"What?" Mr. Saturday widened his eyes as he stared at Riley,

"What... are you playing at?"