"If you find more, can we add it to the Aquarium?"
"..."
The military, a select number of people from the media that were allowed to jot notes, and some of Empress's escorts were also inside the tent — and all of them could really only look at each other with every word that came out of Riley's mouth.
They all knew Riley, they all knew he was supposed to be dead. And they are also aware of his ruthlessness and indifference to murder. Hearing him talk in person, however, was a completely different feeling. It was almost as if all of the things that have been happening now were all just a game to him.
…And it was sort of scary. Add to the fact that… there were rumors going around that Riley Ross truly is Darkday.
"..."
"If you find more, can we add it to the Aquarium?" Riley repeated his words as Empress didn't answer him.
"We can," Empress then finally breathed out as she nodded her head; her eyes, not looking away from the tablet she was holding, "That is if there are any left— I am stripping any people suspected of being a member of the HoS of their human rights. They are to only be warned and asked to surrender once, if they refuse, they are to be shot on sight…
…relay that to any fucking chain of command that's still out there," Empress ordered as she looked at her men.
"At once!" Empress's men and the people from the military all stepped out of the tent— dragging away the unwilling reporters that still wanted to observe Empress and Riley.
"Permission to also return to my station, ma'am."
Angela, who was standing quietly behind Riley, once again stepped forward.
"If you're talking about the Pope, then he'll be here in an hour," Empress still did not stray her eyes away from her tablet, "We have him on a jet."
"Is… that so. Then it would be best for me to prepare for his arrival."
"Go."
"Thank you, ma'am," Angela saluted as she made her way out of the tent. Before she could fully step out, however, she glanced at Riley,
"I… believe we will be seeing each other quite frequently from now on, Riley Ross."
"You'll be seeing me a lot, but I won't be seeing you," Riley said as he gestured to his eyes, "...I suppose that makes you somewhat of a pervert, doesn't—"
"Fuck you," Angela did not really let Riley finish his words as she stepped out.
"I see you're still not making any friends," Empress finally removed her eyes from her tablet, before sitting on one of the chairs in the tent.
"I have one," Riley just shrugged as he too took a seat.
"Paige Pearson, huh? That makes sense, both of you are victims of… a very unusual childhood."
"You still think that my time as an infant made me the way I am?"
"I do. That's not going to change," Empress let out a very long and deep sigh; her arms almost dropping to the floor as she did so,
"The world just has to turn shit on my watch. You should be the one fixing all of this, you know?"
"The world is the same as I left it, Empress," Riley shook his head, "It is the people that have changed."
"...Master started rubbing off on you," Empress closed her eyes and forced a chuckle, "You spent all that time in space, not a surprise. Where is she, anyway?"
"I don't know."
"We could really use her help," Empress once again sighed as she opened her eyes.
"..."
The two then just remained sitting inside the tent in silence, which was only broken when a loud chime rang in the air. Empress quickly checked on her tablet, answering the call as soon as she saw who it was from.
[We have the names and locations of all the members of the House of Super. The validity of the information is a hundred percent.]
"That's good. Send their last known location to everyone."
[Copy that. And what do you want me to do with Whiteking?]
"..." Riley quickly turned towards Empress.
"Just… keep him with you. We still need him," Empress whispered before hanging up the call.
"You kept father alive?" Riley let out a small breath, "Interesting choice, Empress. I would have killed him."
"You will kill everyone given the chance."
"That is not true, Empress. All of you are still alive and I had all the chance to kill you in the past."
"...I forgot who I was talking to again," Empress sighed, "Why are you even back here, Riley Ross? You could have just lived your life, you could have even stayed on another planet where no one knows you. In fact, since you said you're a law-abiding citizen, I am asking you to go to another planet and be their problem instead."
"Oh, I will," Riley nodded, "I'm just waiting for Aerith to finish what she came here to do and we will go."
"Why aren't you helping her with that, anyway?"
"It's her problem."
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"...She's hunting your mot— your adoptive mother."
"Yes."
"...Don't you even care a little? Everything about you revolves around her. Your birth, Alice's death… she's involved in everything."
"I thought I wasn't your priority right now, Empress. But you seem to be too invested in my life."
"Because the threat of the HoS is ending. You practically ended it. All that's left is to clean up the mess…" Empress's sighs were already filling the entire threat, "...And now once again you're the biggest visible threat on this planet. The fucked up part is I don't even know what that makes you anymore."
"What do you mean, Empress?"
"If you reveal yourself as Darkday now. How many do you think wouldn't care?"
"..."
"The total number of people that died from the attack of the House of Super is now at 1.2 billion, and it's rising," Empress said as she showed the data on her tablet,
"Darkday has killed a quarter of that— as far as they're concerned, you're the hero of the fucking century. You just served the heads of these terrorists on a silver platter, basically imprisoning them in a cage for everyone to see; for everyone to have a target for their rage…
…one might even think you staged it to be this way. That is Riley Ross's MO, after all."
"You have a very vivid imagination, Empress."
"Really?" Empress raised an eyebrow, "Want me to announce to the world that you're Darkday and order for your arrest to prove it?"
"Well…" A small but subtle smile crawled on Riley's face, "...that might turn you into a villain, Empress."
"Hm. That's what I thought."
"But you really are looking too much into it, Empress," Riley stood up as he shook his head, "I've watched all the new episodes of Italian Mafia Reborn and there wouldn't be any more for a very long time. I am truly just doing this to have fun— any circumstance that turns things into my favor just happens to be… an added bonus."
"And you've become talkative too. Aerith truly is rubbing off on you."
"I've always been talkative, Empress. You should know, my longest conversations have always been with you."
"And this conversation is about to end," Empress let out a small chuckle, "A crowd is starting to form outside, families and friends of those that are inside your… aquarium. How do you want to handle them?"
"Please wait here. I'm just going to kill all of them, then we can continue our conversa—"
"Nope, no," Empress quickly blocked Riley from going outside the tent,
"You stay here, I'll handle it."
And with those words, Riley was suddenly left alone inside the tent, with nothing to do but just sit on a chair as he looked at his new aquarium through the window; his eyes, seemingly somber and almost melancholic.
This aquarium… it somewhat reminded him of the Guesthouse, but at the same time, it was completely different. The Guests had everything provided for them— entertainment, food, luxurious amenities.
The Aquarium has none of those things. It would be interesting to see how long they would last… but seeing as some of them were already losing their minds and fighting each other even though it hasn't even been a full day, their stay might be shorter than Riley surmised.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Riley's eyes then very slowly turned towards the table at the center of the tent, only for his eyes to catch the tablet that Empress was holding sitting there.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Riley's eyes then very slowly checked if the tent was clear. And as soon as he was sure no one was going to come inside, the tablet accidentally got into his hand. Empress left in a hurry, leaving her tablet and leaving it completely unlocked.
"Did you leave this intentionally, Empress?" Riley thought as he started scanning the tablet.
"..."
It didn't really matter, the only thing he wanted to know was where he could find more tenants to put in the Aquarium. And so, that's what he did.
He was about to click on the latest mail that should have the names of all the members of the HoS…
"...Oh?" His head, however, slightly tilted to the side as another message caught his eye, 'Situation at Arlington Hero Cemetery'.
Riley looked at the date, and it should have been sent a few days after the explosions happened, as soon as the comms were restored. Empress... hasn't read it yet.
"Interesting," Riley breathed out before returning the tablet to the table… and quickly flying away through the window.
Arlington Hero Cemetery— if Riley remembers correctly. That...
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…is where Alice Lane is buried.