"You…
…you've been acting your whole life."
"..."
The sound of the elevator doors opening whispered into Riley's ears; his attention, however, was solely on Hera's words.
"What do you mean by that, Miss Hera?" Riley said as he was the first one to step onto the elevator.
"I meant it as I meant it," Hera scoffed as she too, entered the elevator; pressing the next floor up before turning to look at Riley in the eyes again,
"I've been working with actors long enough to know that this…" Hera's fingers pointed all over Riley's silhouette,
"...Fake."
"Did… Miss Empress tell you who I am?" Riley then let out a small whisper as he pressed the emergency stop button of the elevator, causing Hera to slightly lose her balance.
"What the… are you crazy?" Hera furrowed her eyebrows as she tried pressing the elevator buttons, but was unable to as something seemed to be covering them,
"Yes, I know who you are, happy?" Hera then rolled her eyes, crossing her arms as she leaned her back on the elevator wall, "And Empress doesn't need to tell me shit, it was obvious from the start."
"How do you know, Miss Hera?" Riley then blinked a couple of times as he finally returned Hera's gaze; looking her directly straight in the eyes, "How do you know…"
"That you're not really autist–"
"...that I'm Darkday?"
"..."
This time, it was Hera's turn to blink a couple of times as she focused her eyes on Riley; looking at him from head to toe. But after a few seconds, she burst out in a fit of laughter.
"Good one," Hera then breathed out as she leaned away from the wall and in front of the elevator doors, "You're not autistic, is what I wanted to say. Darkday, pft… what's with that?"
"..."
"..."
"Oh, it would seem we had a misundersta–"
And before Riley could finish his words, the elevator suddenly quaked; his view, the scenery in front of him, now grey. The sound of stone and metal grinding together then entered Riley's ears as he felt himself falling… along with Hera and the elevator.
Hera was grabbing onto the walls of the elevator as their eyes met; and with her size now probably exceeding 3 meters in length, she was already hunched inside the elevator. Her clothes, completely ripped apart. If not for the seemingly stretchable tights she was wearing, then she would have definitely bare everything to Riley.
Riley was about to say something to her, but once again, before he could do so, Hera kicked her with her grey foot that already seemed to be made of diamond.
Instead of Riley shooting out from the elevator, however, it was Hera that was blown away by the force of her own kick as her back pried and burst open the elevator doors. And now, with the view outside open to Riley, he found himself and the elevator actually already outside the building, gradually gaining speed towards the ground.
He then trailed his eyes towards Hera, whose hand and feet were grinding on the side of the building as her descent slowly halted. But before she could completely stop, her arm dug through the wall. She looked through the hole she made for a split second… before proceeding to pull out a huge chunk of the wall towards Riley.
"Everyone!" Hera then pressed something on her ear, "I need back up, Dark– huh?"
Her words stopped, however, as she noticed that the earpiece that was resting quietly in her ears forever was not there. She then quickly turned to look towards Riley, only to see the said earpiece floating over the palm of his hand.
"!!!"
The huge chunk of debris she threw away blocked Riley from her view, but before it could fully hit the elevator, however… the elevator folded and compressed. And almost instantly, finely wrapping around Riley's body and covering every inch of his skin completely.
"It's too bad, Miss Hera."
And even from afar and with all the noise of the city drowning the air, Hera could clearly hear Riley almost as if his words were traveling inside a vacuum and straight beside her ear,
"I suppose I won't be meeting the voice actors of Italian Mafia Reborn, after all."
"..."
And soon, the debris missed Riley entirely, finally revealing his full silhouette to Hera as he floated in the air.
"It… really is you?" Hera then said as she once again stared at Riley, who was now entirely encased in a metal armor that shaped itself to resemble Darkday's outfit. Of course, Hera was just trying to deny it… but as soon as Riley said he was Darkday, she knew that it could only be the truth.
Everything just… connected in her mind– that's why she attacked him as soon as the thought solidified in her mind. But of course, that was only out of instinct.
Now that she was truly facing him… the only thing that Hera could do was not move. The entire Hope Guild and Megawoman were not enough to stop Darkday, what could she even do in this situation?
"..." Hera then returned her gaze back to the windows of the building, only to see people gathering. She also looked below, and the situation was the same– the debris that she threw made it worse as it seemed to have landed on one of the cars parked below.
"...Shit."
There really is only one thing to do here… and that was to run.
Hera crumpled a part of the wall she was grabbing onto, grinding them into powder before creating a cloud of dust to hide herself. But with her large frame, there was only so much she could do as she burst forth from the cloud, destroying a part of the wall as she leaped towards a roof deck of another building.
"You don't want to kill the voice actors of Italian Mafia Reborn, don't you!?" Hera let out a roar as she continued to jump away, "If so, then let's take this someplace else!"
And with those words, a thunder erupted in the air; a skirt of wind, forming around Hera's towering silhouette as she once again jumped; this time, however, the force was enough to cause the entire roof deck to crumble.
"..." Riley watched as Hera's figure disappeared into the sky. He then turned to look at the floor that was supposed to have the voice actors of Italian Mafia Reborn, only to see his reflection– the reflection of Darkday on the shattered windows of the building.
"I suppose…
…I just don't deserve to meet any of you," and with Riley's somewhat sedated words whispering in the air, he followed Hera away.
***
"...Shit."
Hera's breaths almost mirrored the land she landed on– bare, quiet, and almost without any life. In truth, she wanted a chance to at least run away from Riley… but to think he wouldn't even give her a chance to get away from his sight.
Is… this it for her? Hera thought as she turned around, only to see Riley quietly standing there; a view of nothing but dried land behind him.
"I guess this will be a grave for either one of us, huh whitey?" Hera chuckled as her grey skin slowly started to revert back to its normal brown color; her size too, slowly shrinking.
"No, Miss Hera," Riley took a step forward as he shook his head– how he was able to do that smoothly even with a compressed metal helmet covering his head, well… Hera knows exactly how.
"This is not the place you will die. Only–"
And before Riley could finish his words, he was once again welcomed with Hera's large grey fist. This time, however, Riley did not even bother to move as he just allowed Hera's knuckles to slam straight at his face.
The metal helmet covering his head instantly shattered– blowing away in an arc that accompanied all the dust and dirt within the vicinity; even the ground behind Riley was swept away by the sheer force of Hera's strike… and yet Riley remained unmoved.
Hera only widened her eye for a split second due to this, but almost as if she forced herself to get over the shock, she once again punched Riley; raining down a barrage of fists on his face.
"Why… why the fuck won't you just die!?" Hera roared as the area they were standing on could no longer be seen clearly, drowning in the dust as much as it drowned in Hera's desperation.
"I asked myself that question before, Miss Hera."
And almost as if nothing was even being done to him, Riley spoke casually as he tilted his head to the side to look Hera directly in the eyes,
"But even today, I do not know the answer," Riley then grabbed both Hera's fists; holding them by the finger, "You do not have to worry, Miss Hera. I am not going to kill you. After all…
…you're also one of the voice actors in Italian Mafia Reborn."
"You–" Hera slammed her head on Riley's face, only for her to bounce back. But she could not tumble, however, as Riley tightened the grip on her fingers.
"But I do have one condition, Miss Hera…
…You're going to be my Third Subordinate."