Riley Ross

"The fuck… there's nothing to watch."

Hannah was on her bed, aimlessly scrolling through reels and streaming platforms, trying to find something to watch. But she had been doing this for an entire hour now, and the chips she brought for the movie were already long gone.

And after a few more swipes of her finger, she finally decided to call it a night and threw the phone away somewhere on the bed. But right when her shoulders completely relaxed and her head felt like it was sinking into her pillow, the chime of her ringtone blasted across the quiet room.

"What in the—?!" Hannah quickly leaped to find her phone, quickly planting it in front of her face to see who was calling her—and when she saw who it was, her eyes narrowed.

"The fuck…" she answered, groaning as she crossed her legs, "Do you know what time it is, Gracey? It—"

[Hannah! The news! Search up the news!]

Gracey's voice screamed at her before she could finish her words, causing her to lean away from the phone and glare at it like Gracey was actually in front of her.

"Bro. It's literally like two in the morning," Hannah muttered, the tone of her voice not friendly at all. "Why would I want to watch the news?"

[It's that Replica Ricky guy! He's tearing through—wait, don't you fucking live in New York? It's chaos out there! How are you sleeping?]

"What are you even going on about?"

[Shit… I forgot you live in the sky. Just look out the window and look down, and watch the news! Replica Ricky's going on and on about Riley!]

"What?!" Hannah quickly got up from her bed and rushed to the window, "What the fuck do you—oh fuck! What's going on outside?!"

Her eyes widened as she saw the chaotic scene below. There were rising pillars of smoke everywhere, and there were cars either toppled over or completely squashed.

"Shit. Fuck! I need to help!" Hannah raised her voice, gasping as she rushed into her closet. "What the fuck's going on?!"

[I told you! It's that Replica Ricky guy.]

"Who…? The clone guy?"

[Yes! He was screaming Riley's name over and over again when, like… thousands of fucking clones of him started marching through New York. I swear, bro. The guy's giving Naruto a run for his money, and—]

"Wait. Wait! Hold…" Hannah stopped dressing, staring at herself in the mirror, squinting, "...What do you mean he was screaming Riley's name?"

[Yeah. It's all over the news. Are you… are you with him?] Gracey's voice started to sound concerned, [I think the guy's targeting your brother for some reason.]

"What? Why? And no. My brother's in my room. He…" Hannah blinked a couple of times. And then, without even completely buttoning up her shirt, she quickly rushed out of her room.

[Hello? Hannah? You still there?]

"Yeah!" She bellowed while running. "It's just… my brother locked his room. He… never does that."

[There's something else. My mom's colleague was reporting the situation live. Like, a few minutes ago. As in, she has Replica Ricky on camera. But he's with someone…

…and he's saying it's Riley?]

"Huh…?"

***

"O-Oh no…"

Kitty's loud gasp was hampered by her palms. Her words, eyes, head, hands, legs—there wasn't a part of her body that wasn't trembling as she watched Riley's knees hit the ground. She stared at the blade protruding from his chest, and she soon followed Riley on the ground as her legs lost all of their strength.

Truly, how could she not?

Of course, she knew the risks of coming this close to supers fighting.

She also knew of the laws preventing people from the media approaching an ongoing superhuman criminal incident unless expressly authorized by the Department of Superhuman Affairs or the commanding law enforcement authority on-site.

But… none of those matters for her right now.

What mattered to her was that… this was her fault. She wasn't stupid, and she definitely wasn't in denial.

This unknown superhero was distracted because of her. And he was stabbed in the back because of her hiding in the shadows like a fucking rat… and all because she wanted a career-changing exclusive.

And now her career-changing exclusive literally got someone killed.

"I'm… I'm so sorry…" She muttered, her eyes reflecting the barely visible silhouette in front of her. The silhouette that was kneeling on the ground, completely still.

He was… dead—no. Dying.

Huh… I suppose this is it. The world should thank you, Replica Ricky—but unfortunately, you will never be any other than a supervillain who killed a twelve-year-old by stabbing him in the back.

You will never be other than an evil man—something I would have grown up into. This is… for the best. I thought I would have a million thoughts when I die, but there is really only you…

…Sister.

I can feel myself fading now. Huh… Oh well.

And so, Riley Ross, at the young age of just twelve years old, died from being stabbed by a knife through the back. His head bounced inside his helmet as he finally fell forward.

The knife lodged in his chest was also pushed out upon hitting the ground, the sound of his flesh tearing and his bones being pushed whispered right into Kitty's ears.

She gasped, and everything around him suddenly turned silent. There was only a whistle moving from one ear and coming out into the next, and there were no thoughts circling in her mind at all other than the view in front of her.

Seconds. She stared at his dead body, and she waited for her own death, which she knew was coming soon.

Stupid. So… so fucking stupid. All because—huh?

She blinked, and her thoughts once again came back to her as her entire upper body perked up. She squinted, tilting her head to the side as she stared at Riley's hand. Or more specifically, his finger.

…And it was twitching.

He's alive?!

Kitty once again clapped her hands over her mouth, doing her best to stifle the loud gasp threatening to burst out straight from her lungs. She slightly leaned in closer, waiting for his hand to move again.

?!

And true enough, she wasn't seeing things at all. Even though Riley's suit made it hard to see what was actually going on with him, Kitty prided herself on having 20/20 vision.

This random, unknown superhero was alive—was the number one thought racing inside her mind right now.

Or he could also be in his last death throes. But… do death throes last that long?

Kitty subtly glanced at Replica Ricky, and he was completely oblivious to it—no. He was pretty much completely oblivious of everything.

He seemed out of it and was talking to himself—no. He was cheering and hyping himself on. Kitty thought that she was going to die next, but he didn't care about her at all… he might not even realize she was still there.

And before long, the sound of his clones crumbling into sand started to whisper into her ears.

It started softly at first, like a shower hitting the dry tile. But soon, the sound filled the entire air—and even the clones from the horizon started to fade away and be blown by the wind.

"Huk… finally. Finally…"

"H-huh…?" Kitty blinked a couple of times as Replica Ricky groveled on the ground and started weeping.

And when she realized that his back was completely turned on her, she didn't even think twice anymore and carefully and quietly crawled toward Riley.

"Huk…"

Kitty flinched and paused like a cat, her eyes completely locked onto Replica Ricky before she continued crawling toward Riley's body. She then grabbed him by the chin of his helmet and slowly started dragging him away to the side of the road—fortunately for her, the blood made it easier.

Unfortunately for her…

"What do you think you're doing?!"

…Replica Ricky suddenly turned around and grabbed Riley's foot.

"Wh—"

A replica grabbed her from behind before she could say anything, covering her mouth and violently yanking her away from Riley.

She screamed, but then raised her hand and shot the clone with the gun she grabbed from Riley's body right on the head.

Of course, that also meant she fired the gun right next to her head.

"Grah!" She screamed, her vision blurring from how loud the gun exploded in her ear. Still, she aimed the gun at Replica Ricky, and for her to see ten of him now, and it wasn't because she was discombobulated.

The Replica Rickys started approaching her, one of them even stepping on Riley's body.

"Brave…" He whispered, scoffing as he looked at her from head to toe. "...What's with you women trying to stick with this brat?! Even that other woman I tried to abduct had fight in her."

"Step back!" Kitty screamed as she pulled the trigger, only for it to click and the slide to lock.

"Oops." Replica Ricky shook his head. "But did you really think that would do something?"

"I said step away from—Huh?"

Kitty's eyes widened, her throat suddenly locking as she saw something moving—no, wiggling behind Replica Ricky. Tendrils? No… limbs? A shadow? She couldn't quite understand what exactly it was, nor could she actually explain it.

But she could explain something else.

"That…" Kitty almost pointed at what she was seeing, but stopped herself from doing so as she didn't want Replica Ricky to turn around and see…

…and see the ominous shadow building behind him, and dancing around a silhouette, who was now standing on his feet with a hole in his chest.