Riley Ross

The Danger Zones.

Perhaps the most ignored and forgotten places in the world—not without reason, of course. One, they're the most dangerous places on the planet. Two, no one goes there. Three, there was nothing there but monsters.

The World Government had outlawed buying and selling any materials that could be harvested from the lands and extracted from the monsters. This was to prevent anyone from ever thinking of going there.

But of course, there were always going to be people. People who deal in the black market, people who want free housing, and then there are those people who seek the thrill of the Danger Zones—Kitty belonged in this category.

She didn't even care if she was just a normal person, and not even a super. She joined the groups whenever she could, and the risks made it even more thrilling for her.

She loved the danger, and she was absolutely obsessed with the monsters.

Mutated monsters, homunculi, alien monsters, even monsters originally humans. She had dozens of photo albums in her room filled with them, and she even collected trading cards.

She was an expert in them.

Now… why exactly was Kitty reminiscing about all of this, right at a very crucial moment in her life—perhaps the most crucial one, as she could die at any moment now?

Why now, when the replicas of Replica Ricky were seconds away from killing him or doing god knows what else?

Well, that was because she knows a monster when she sees one.

And no, not Replica Ricky.

But the… thing behind him.

She had seen a lot of monsters, but none she could say were naturally… evil. They were only following what nature intended for them, and the thing behind Replica Ricky was the same.

But Kitty was sure that whatever it was, it was evil, so much so that she didn't even realize that she had been holding her breath for half a minute now.

Was she… mistaken? Wasn't the dark-clad super, fighting against Replica Ricky, a superhero?

If so… why does she feel more threatened by this unknown superhero?

This unknown superhero… who was now covering the entire sky in the darkness—no. He was covering everything in darkness.

There wasn't a space in front of her, or around her, where his… tendrils didn't reach. She wasn't even sure if she was actually seeing tendrils, nor if she was seeing anything at all.

It was just… confusing. His presence… even colossal wasn't enough to describe it.

Cosmic, perhaps?

A cosmic… evil?

"Why are you so afraid?"

And finally, her racing thoughts were stopped as Replica Ricky grabbed the gun away from her. He pushed her, sighing and shaking his head as he threw the gun away.

"I'm… not a villain," he and his replicas said at the same time. "I… I only did what I did because of Riley Ross. But now that he's dead. You… you don't need to be afraid of me. I'm—"

"Monster."

"I'm not a monster!" Replica Ricky grabbed Kitty by the neck, lifting her up and looking her in the eyes. "I'm not a monster. You're… you're a reporter, right? Wait a minute… I know you. It's you! You… you're the one who told everyone that I'm a villain. You—"

"This is weird."

"...Huh?"

Replica Ricky heard someone whisper behind him. But he couldn't quite process where he had heard the synthetic voice before—not because he doesn't remember who it belonged to, but because it should have been impossible for him to hear it again.

He quickly let go of Kitty, but he didn't immediately look back, nor did any of his clones. Kitty stared at him first, and then toward the black mass behind him, before sprinting away to the side of the road.

She did not, however, leave. Like an adrenaline junkie, she hid behind the bushes on the side of the road and watched what was about to happen next.

Replica Ricky still refused to turn around. It wasn't until he heard a step behind him that he finally did.

And when he saw Riley standing there like nothing had happened, the replicas that were standing beside him all took several steps back before crumbling on their own. He wasn't seeing what Kitty saw, however. There was no black mass surrounding him. There wasn't anything—just him. Standing there… menacingly.

"H-how…?" He whispered, his eyes locked onto Riley's suit. He squinted, trying to see if there was a hole in it—and there was, but only in the suit.

There wasn't anything beneath it, only his pearl white skin. If anything, he truly did confirm that it was Riley underneath the suit. Who else would have that kind of skin?

But while he looked confused, it was clear even with his helmet on that Riley was even more confused than him. He was checking his hands, and then at the hole in his suit.

"This is weird…" He repeated, his fingers twitching as both holes in his suit were pinched closed.

"...I suppose Earth truly is hell."

"How are you alive?!" Replica Ricky screamed, violently pointing at Riley as he backed away.

"Oh…" Riley tilted his head. "...So, I'm not dead?"

How am I alive? And… what was that dream? Was it also a memory? But how could it be a memory, if I was seeing myself outside of my body? I was… older. Much… older.

He was saying something, but I could not hear it. What was it? What was the word he kept repeating?

…Irredeemable?

"How are you alive?!" Replica Ricky screamed, rushing toward the knife on the floor and pointing it at Riley again as dozens of his clones appeared beside him. His clones all rushed at him recklessly, but even dazed, Riley was able to dodge all of their attacks—even grabbing one and taking it down before stomping on its neck.

"I…" Riley took several steps back, raising both his index fingers as he motioned for the clones to stop, "...I don't know the answer to that myself. I should be dead, right? I should be—"

"Look out!"

Kitty jumped out from the bushes, pointing at Replica Ricky as he suddenly appeared behind Riley.

"Die!" Riley glanced back, but it was already too late. Replica Ricky once again drove a hole through his chest—through the front, this time.

"I… I don't know how you did it…" Replica Ricky whispered, his words seething as he pulled the knife out, taking several steps back to watch him bleed out again, "But I am going to—Huh?"

But then, he saw something that made him completely drop the knife. The sound of it clanging and then scratching as he accidentally stepped on it when he took another step back, quietly screeched in the air.

He opened his mouth, but only a gasp escaped.

How could he not, when he saw Riley lean to the side behind… himself?

"Huh…?"

"Huh?"

"...Huh?"

"Huh."

The same sound all escaped from them, just in different variations. Replica Ricky, Riley, Kitty, and Riley all expressed their disbelief at the same time.

Yes. There was another Riley behind the Riley that Replica Ricky just stabbed.

This Riley, with another hole in his chest, looked back at the other Riley, and the two of them looked at each other before he started to crumble like grains of sand.

The remaining Riley tilted his head to the side as he practically watched himself crumble into dust. He then turned to look at Replica Ricky, and then at Kitty… and then once again to himself.

Not himself, but to the other one like himself who appeared right beside him.

"Interesting." "Interesting."

Both of the Rileys muttered at the same time. And then, also at the same time, they turned their heads very slowly toward Replica Ricky.

"Look at this, Replica Ricky. I'm now also Replica R—" Riley quickly stopped himself from speaking as he realized that they weren't alone. He then glanced at Kitty, who flinched at him. Her eyes, not knowing where or who to look at.

"You're Kitty, the reporter from ABC-ZBN." Riley casually said, as if Replica Ricky wasn't there right next to him, threatening to kill him.

Well, right now, there wasn't much threat as Replica Ricky was only staring at him with his mouth wide open.

"What did you see?" Riley asked Kitty.

"I…" Kitty's eyes widened, not knowing whether she should answer it or not. Was he… threatening her? Was he going to kill her if she said she saw something?

No. Obviously, she saw something, and the person in front of her should know that—so… was he just asking genuinely?

"I saw… another one of you appear? Like… like him?"

"Huh…" The two Rileys looked at each other's helmets again, both tilting their heads to the side at the same time. The two then looked to the side, only for another pair of Rileys to emerge from both of them.

The four Rileys then slowly turned to look at Replica Ricky.

"Well…" They said.

"...I guess I have your abilities now."