Riley Ross
Chapter 87: Above You

Chapter 87: Chapter 87: Above You

"I told you! It was him! He was even smiling at me!"

"How convenient that we can’t see that."

"Because he knew where the cameras are! And look, look how we’re right at the center of the room! He... he did that on purpose!"

Ms. Thursday was now inside the security control room. She was pressing violently on the monitors, pointing at Riley as she pleaded her case. But it was as Mr. Friday said, they couldn’t see Riley’s face at all. Even when they switched the feed, the most they could see were his eyes, as the rest were being blocked by the back of Ms. Thursday’s head.

And from the parts of his face they could see—

"He doesn’t even look like he’s smiling!" Mr. Friday sighed loudly, shaking his head as he stared at the monitors, "What’s clear is that student’s head was ripped apart as soon as you lifted him up!"

"I told you, I would never kill a child! And didn’t you see?! I went to confront that white kid, I’m sure he stole my card then!"

"We didn’t see anything like that at all! What I did see is that if we hadn’t pulled you off that kid, you would have also killed him!"

"I told you I don’t kill kids!" Ms. Thursday screamed as she jabbed her palms toward the monitors, "Let alone someone with a father who could put a multi-billion dollar bounty on our heads! I told you, he’s—"

"That’s enough."

Ms. Thursday quickly shut her mouth, making way for October as she approached the monitors. She still wanted to plead her case, but the hard tone in October’s voice told her that wouldn’t be wise at all.

"This is the live feed of where the children are?"

"Yes, October."

"Hmn... where is Riley Ross now?"

Mr. Friday quickly switched the feed several times to look for Riley, but it was hard to do so as everyone was wearing the same uniform. Ms. Thursday also narrowed her eyes to search for him, but to no avail.

What they did see, however, was a wall of crystal sticking close to a wall—no.

"That’s... blocking one of the doors!" Ms. Thursday gasped, "I-I told you! That albino kid is up to something!"

Mr. Friday also narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Ms. Thursday. He stared at the crystal wall for a few seconds before switching to the other cameras.

"Wait a minute..." Mr. Friday whispered, "...This cam is pointing the wrong way. This one too!"

"I told you!" Ms. Thursday took several steps back, "What... and why is he even here?! He’s not in the list, right?!"

"Lead me to where you’re keeping the children." October quickly turned around and made her way out of the control room, and both Mr. Friday and Ms. Thursday hurriedly followed her, but before Ms. Thursday could step out of the door, October pressed her palm on her chest.

Ms. Thursday wasn’t even able to let out a word before she felt her chest compress on its own, causing her to fall to her knees.

"Not you," October whispered, "We don’t want you anywhere near the children. Someone lock her up again."

Ms. Thursday wanted to plead her case again, but she couldn’t speak at all as she felt her ribs closing in on her. It wasn’t until October disappeared into the hall that she was able to gasp for air.

October didn’t even spare her a glance; she just continued to follow Mr. Friday to the hall.

"She has a point, Friday," she muttered,

"Why is Riley Ross in this ship?"

***

A little while ago, Mr. Monday, the man who brought Riley to the ship, was lounging around one of the storage rooms of the Dark Millennium ship. He puffed out a column of smoke from his mouth, adding it to the cloud that had already fogged the entire storage.

He rested his head back on one of the boxes, watching the smoke with a bored look on his face. He then let out a small chuckle, shaking his head before puffing on his vape again—but considering he was laughing on his own... it probably wasn’t vape at all.

Mr. Monday stayed like this for an entire minute, trailing his hands across the smoke before suddenly flinching as he heard a noise coming from his left.

He quickly waved his palm, and the cloud of smoke that filled the room instantly dispersed.

"Who’s there?!" He raised his voice, narrowing his eyes at the darkness, "Is that you, Wednesday? I knew you were the one who snitched on me last time!"

Mr. Monday quickly rushed to the source of the noise, but as he approached the corner of one of the giant boxes, the only thing he saw there was an open crate with nothing in it.

"What the..." Mr. Monday crouched to check on the box, but then... he heard a breath whisper from behind him.

"Hello," it said.

He quickly turned around and instinctively swung his hand, but the only thing he hit was the traces of vapor still left in the air, swirling into nothing.

He quickly stood up, narrowing his eyes at the darkness once more. He was sure of it—he heard someone.

He quickly scattered his telekinetic aura to check if anyone else was there, but aside from him, there wasn’t a single soul in the storage room. Mr. Monday stood there for a few more seconds before his entire body shivered.

"Nope. No. I’m out." He muttered to himself as he quickly decided to make his way out of the storage room. But as he was about to reach the door, his eyes caught a glimpse of something at the corner of the room, hiding behind one of the shelves.

Mr. Monday’s body flinched and froze for a moment, his entire body trembling as he thought of a million things that it could be. A ghost...?

There was a pair of eyes clearly staring at him. He was about to run out of the room when the eyes stepped out of the shadow, but then he instantly recognized who the pair of eyes belonged to.

"Riley... Ross?" His eyes went wide. "What... how are you even here?"

"I followed you here, Mr. Monday."

Riley slowly revealed himself from the shadows, his white skin almost a canvas in the dim lights of the storage room—but perhaps even whiter were his teeth, fully exposed as he smiled at Mr. Monday from ear to ear.

"You did not hear me? I was right behind you."

"What...?" Mr. Monday narrowed his eyes even further as he stared at Riley. He... was right behind him? How was that even possible? He would have heard and felt him if he were.

"I was right behind you, Mr. Monday," Riley repeated his words as he took another step forward, "I was waiting for the right time to reveal myself, but I got distracted with this when I saw it."

Mr. Monday took a step back as Riley raised his hand, which was carrying some sort of tube.

"What... is that?"

"This is an old variant of a sodium-ion battery, Mr. Monday," Riley shrugged as he carefully placed the large battery on the box next to him. "I have a use for it later, but do you know what happens if you mix the metal in it with water? It—"

Before Riley could finish his words, his lips and his entire body froze, and the only thing he could move were his eyes, which were now staring at Mr. Monday.

"I don’t know how you got here, but it’s time you return to where you belong." Mr. Monday raised his palm, and Riley found both his feet sliding toward Mr. Monday, "Some weird shit is going on here and I’m not about to take—what?"

Mr. Monday’s eyes narrowed once more as he saw the veins of his hand etched from his skin, right at the same time as Riley stopped sliding toward him.

He gritted his teeth, closing his fist to once again pull Riley closer to him, and he did.

Or so he thought. It wasn’t Riley who was moving closer to him, but the other way around.

He was the one being pulled.

"This should be very fun, Mr. Monday," Riley tilted his head to the side as the smile on his face turned even wider, almost to the point that folds appeared on his youthful face, "For me, that is. You threatened Sister, and your organization made a mess and scattered garbage on a spot I just cleaned—I truly do not appreciate that."

"You!" Mr. Monday opened his arms, releasing himself from Riley’s telekinetic hold before rushing toward him. He swung his fist, but it was so slow to the point that Riley had all the time in the world to dodge—but Riley moved slowly too, both of them hampering each other’s movements with their telekinetic aura.

Mr. Monday was about to say something, but he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He quickly looked down, only to see Riley’s knee deep into his gut.

He then flew back, violently rolling across the floor before his back slammed onto one of the boxes.

"This should also be very interesting, Mr. Monday."

Riley slowly walked toward Mr. Monday, each of his steps causing a small ripple to whisper across the storage room.

"This is the first time I am fighting someone with the same powers as me. Although clearly, Mr. Spectacular Mustache Man was right—there are levels to this...

...and it would seem I am above you."