Riley Ross

"This is weird. Why is this locked?"

Never once in his life did Riley lock his room. In his unfortunate words, what if he died inside the room and no one could get in? He would decay and stain the sheets.

He said that when he was five.

Hannah tried turning the knob again just to make sure, but she truly couldn't open the door. And even though it was now one in the morning, she turned her head back and shouted.

"Mom! Riley has his door locked! He—"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Eek!"

Diana's head suddenly leaned down from the corner of the stairs before she could finish, her long brown hair creepily mixing in with the dark, which caused Hannah to almost hug the door.

"Why are you here so fast?!" Hannah tried her best to contain her heavy breaths as she watched her mother slowly make her way down the steps.

"Why wouldn't I be here when you're so fucking noisy, hm?" Diana smiled, her eye twitching as she looked Hnanah in the eyes, "Do you have any idea what time it is, huh? And why do you care if your brother has his door locked? Don't you know how old he is? Haven't I taught you proper sex education?"

"Wh…" Hannah slightly gasped, her mouth opened as she returned her mother's glare.

"But… he's Riley?"

"Doesn't matter. He's a twelve-year-old boy, at the great part of the midnight, and he has his needs."

"Ew."

"Remember when I barged into your room last year and you—"

"AH!"

Hannah quickly jumped on her mother, covering her mouth before she could say something that could potentially incriminate her and whoever was writing this story.

"See?" Diana pulled away from her daughter, rolling her eyes before turning around, "Leave your poor brother alone and go to sleep."

"It's Sunday tomorrow."

"It's Sunday now, one AM. Go to sleep," Diana said, motioning for Hannah to walk before her, "Go."

"But mom…" Hannah could really only sigh, her shoulders lowering in frustration as she walked away. Not before, of course, kicking Riley's door and then running while giggling away.

"This girl, I swear…" Diana once again sighed and shook her head,

"...Who the fuck did she even get that attitude from?"

***

Back in the abandoned warehouse, Riley found himself covered by a curtain of people. Hundreds upon hundreds of them with their hands curled into fists. Their bodies smashed into the floor, and the concrete beneath them cracked from the sheer mass of them.

Riley was expecting bones to grind and flesh to go everywhere—but no. Not at all.

Replica Ricky was more durable than he thought.

Just the sound of them breathing was enough to cause Riley to shake his head from the uncomfortable noise.

Riley snapped his fingers, blasting away all the dust so that he could finally see what he was hearing. He already had an idea, but once the dust was all cleared away, he smiled at the scenery that surrounded him.

Hundreds of replicas all stared at him, their eyes almost seemed red, and even Riley could feel just how seething he was.

Riley was confused. He truly was. He had no idea who this person was, but it didn't really matter.

Right now, the first line of duplicates rushed him at the same time. Dozens of bodies, slamming into him—or rather the invisible armor he had on.

They rebounded instantly, their bones cracking from the sheer force of their own strikes. Still, they didn't seem to care at all and continued to punch through his armor.

"You have super strength," Riley calmly whispered as he raised his hand and caught one of the fists, "So, that's why you were completely unhurt by the fall. Interesting. This—"

The replica he was holding disappeared, not because it was cancelled away, but the others climbed over him, swarming against Riley.

"...Like a horde of zombies."

The replicas continued to climb on each other, their limbs trying to do everything to hurt him. Punch, kick, pull, headbutt, anything to break through. None of them cared even as their own limbs became tangled into a mess.

Still, they continued. Creating a mound—no. A hill that filled half of the empty warehouse.

Riley could hear them groaning in pain, to the point that it felt like the air around them distorted.

Riley, who was underneath all of this, just sighed.

And then, the hill erupted.

Bodies flew everywhere, limbs tearing apart in the air as they smashed into the steel beams, punched through walls, and squashed by each other as they cratered the walls.

The entire warehouse trembled at the repeating and simultaneous impact. Some of the catwalks above were even dislodged, but not for long.

Riley flicked his head, and the catwalks above all separated and twisted into spears, flying toward all the replicas and tearing them apart. He impaled five, then ten, and then twenty, and then fifty, all at the same time.

This continued on until hundreds of the replicas were pinned on the walls, the floors, and some even on what remained of the roof.

And as if that wasn't enough for Riley, he raised his open palm in the air, and he balled it into a fist with force.

At the same time, all the replicas that were skewered and pinned were violently pulled from the metal spears that pinned them down, ripping bones, flesh, and skin as they all flew right above Riley.

Even the replicas that weren't skewered were flung away up into the air, their bodies being slammed and smashed together, compressed into a ball of men that grew larger and larger.

Riley raised his other hand, and then metal spears that were all lanced through the concrete trembled—and then, with a breath, all of the metal spears flew toward the Replica Ricky ball.

And it didn't just spear through them, no. The metal spears spun and rotated, grinding through them like a drill.

But there wasn't even a single bit of blood.

Only dirt seeped out from the bodies of the replicas. And slowly, the ball of flesh and blood turned brown.

Riley snapped his fingers, letting the ball of mud burst above him and scatter everywhere.

And once again, the warehouse was completely empty except for him.

"Interesting," he whispered… and then finally stood up from his chair as he sent out a telekinetic net outside the warehouse. There were still hundreds of Replica Rickys waiting outside, but Riley did not care much for them as he continued to spread out his net.

He was trying to find something.

Replica Ricky's heartbeat—something the replicas didn't have at all.

It was… difficult, however.

He had to go through all sorts of noises and all sorts of movements.

Should he just… raze everything to the ground and hope to hit the original?

Was… the original even here?

He should be. Based on the emotions Replica Ricky has shown, he was livid. Completely deranged and delusional.

Even if he was smart, there was no way he wouldn't be here.

But where would someone like—

The sound of footsteps surrounded Riley once more before he could collect his thoughts. This time, however, the replicas didn't attack him.

"Oh?" Riley tilted his head. "Are you tired already? I have to say, I think you have a very good chance of winning this if you're able to tire me out. My… ability has clear limits, I can't use it for long periods of time without me starting to feel a little light-headed."

"I know what you're capable of, Riley Ross."

"I'm not Riley Ross."

"The fuck you're not! You… you're too busy and too self-absorbed that you don't even know about the things happening around you," one of the Replica Rickys stepped forward. Riley immediately spread out his next toward him, but it was only a replica.

"You're too busy with me…" The replica laughed, and soon, the others also laughed with him. The peals of laughter were soft at first, but soon turned into a full-on cackle. It was loud, loud enough to completely drown out the entire warehouse before abruptly stopping.

"You're too busy with me…" He repeated, "...That you didn't even notice that I have your friend."

Riley quickly turned around, spreading his telekinetic net deeper into the back of the warehouse… but he could only sense a single heartbeat there.

And from how weak it was… it definitely belonged to Tomoe's mother.

Tomoe was… gone.

"Huh."

Riley didn't even wait for the replica to speak again before he shot up into the air. He spun, immediately scanning all the horizons until he spotted a light moving from far away.

A small truck.

He squinted… and saw Tomoe being held down in the bed of the truck by four replicas.

"Oh…" He muttered. "Sister isn't going to like it if I don't do anything about this."

And with that, he pointed his palm at the replicas below… and then crushed all of them down into a pulp.

He didn't even look back before flying and giving chase to the truck.

This… was going to be a very long night.