"The one that defeated me… I followed her to your planet."
"...Is it Diana Ross?"
"..."
Megawoman's eyes, which were almost longing for Earth, quickly turned towards Riley.
"Well, that was anticlimactic... I was looking forward to revealing that," Megawoman could only let out a small but very deep sigh as she looked Riley in the eyes, "I wasn't sure if it was really her, but when you brought me to your home while I was in a coma– that was when I confirmed my suspicions. How… did you even get the idea that it was her?"
"Some people have made it seem that mother is not who she seems she was," Riley shrugged, "And no one in the Ross family is normal, so it made sense."
"...Just that?"
"Yes," Riley once again shrugged.
"...And how do you feel about that?" The tone of Megawoman's voice suddenly turned serious, "The fact that you fell into her custody could not be a coincidence."
"It's probably not, she created me."
"...What?"
"It would seem you do not remember. While you were sleeping back in the Hope Guild, I told you that my biological mother, Alice, injected herself with an unknown specimen– which resulted in her becoming pregnant with me."
"..." Megawoman squinted her eyes, almost as if gesturing to Riley to continue.
"She said a friend injected her. Previously before that, I found out that Diana and Alice could have possibly been very good friends while Alice was in prison. And now that you have confirmed that Diana truly is a suspicious person… it stands to reason that the friend Alice mentioned could be none other than her."
"That…" Megawoman squinted even further; her eyes, almost closing, "That… all of that happened?"
"Yes," Riley nodded, "But it doesn't really matter anymore."
"Are you kidding? That is all that should matter for you right now," Megawoman then once again looked at the Earth, "If Cait– If Diana truly injected something to make Alice pregnant then you–"
"It doesn't matter, Aerith," Riley shook his head as the asteroid floating behind him started to separate into almost a million tiny pieces, "I am already here. My interest in my birth has probably stopped as soon as I was given birth."
"...What? What does that even–"
And before Megawoman could finish her words, the fractals of the asteroid behind Riley started flying towards her; like a storm.
"We're not done talking, Riley Ross."
Megawoman, however, did not even try to dodge as she just calmly walked towards Riley; the ice platform beneath her, cracking as she did so.
The asteroids that were hitting her body, just bouncing off of her; surprisingly not even damaging her clothes.
"We can talk while destroying each other," Riley breathed out as a smile slowly crawled on his face.
"Oh, and here I thought you want all of my attention when we talk. You have a little obsession with me, don't you?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I… I was only trying to make you let your guard down," Megawoman repeated Riley's words to him… stutteringly. Even for a creature like her who had lived many a human's lifetimes, what she said was… a little cringe, as her son might have worded it.
"Well, you're correct, Megawoman," the smile on Riley's face reached from ear-to-ear as the barrage of space rocks continued to storm Megawoman, "I am obsessed with you. Do you want to know why?"
Novel "Because we're both strong?" Megawoman's eyes then finally lit up; and without even a second after, the little bits of asteroid storming her turned into dust– which she quickly blew away towards Riley.
"Incorrect,"
And as soon as the cloud of dust disappeared, another asteroid instantly welcomed Megawoman's eyes– this time, the size of an entire small island.
"It is because the first time I learned about you… you reminded me of my sister," Riley casually said before throwing an entire asteroid towards Megawoman.
"Oh?" Megawoman, as well, just casually caught the colossal asteroid with her hand.
"Yes."
However, as soon as it made contact with her hands, the asteroid suddenly split in two… before suddenly exploding and plunging itself straight towards Earth.
"Tch," and immediately, Megawoman blasted the other half with her heat vision, while once again catching the remaining one.
"Both of you are willing to sacrifice yourself to protect the people important to you without even thinking about it."
"..." Megawoman slowly looked to the side, only to see Riley's face right in beside her.
"But you…" Riley then touched the asteroid… and as soon as he did so, it started to tremble,
"...You, I can kill."
And as soon as he said that, the asteroid opened up; almost like jaws that wanted to swallow Megawoman whole.
…And it did.
"..." Riley then floated away, once again returning to his platform of blue ice; standing still as he stared at the asteroid.
He then stretched his arm, covering his view of the asteroid… and with a breath, he made a fist– causing the asteroid to compress at the same time.
Compressing it to the point that it started to emit light similar to the sun.
That sun, however, exploded in no time– with Megawoman cracking it open like an egg before blasting the fragments into oblivion with her heat vision.
"Kill me?" Megawoman smirked as she patted her outfit clean of the dust, "With these parlor tricks?"
"..." Riley only shrugged.
"If you truly wanted to kill me, then you wouldn't be playing like this," Megawoman sighed, "I know what you're capable of, Riley Ross– you could throw the moon at me if you wished."
"..." Riley immediately turned his head towards the moon as soon as he heard that… only to see Megawoman suddenly blocking his view of it.
"On second thought… please don't do that," Megawoman let out a small and awkward chuckle,
"You– I said don't!"
Riley's hand started to twitch, but before he could fully raise his hand, Megawoman suddenly hugged him– the colossal ice platform, once again seemingly turning into tentacles as she dragged Riley at an indiscernible Mach speed.
From Earth, they would have probably looked like a comet with Riley's makeshift oxygen tank flying behind them.
"...You suggested it, Aerith," Riley could only shake his head in disappointment as the moon got farther and farther away as they seemingly orbited the Earth.
"Shut up," Megawoman clicked her tongue as she flew far away to the other side of the planet; the Earth, also slowly becoming smaller and smaller.
"How does it feel, Aerith?" Riley then whispered, "Hugging the man who killed your husband?"
"..."
"I didn't know, of course," Riley chuckled, "But you probably did. Wait… was that why you stopped fighting? To prevent any more damage to the city? Well, that was a useless–"
"I said shut up!"
Riley then felt his vision blur as Megawoman suddenly let go of him, only for her to grab his feet and swing him like a yoyo over and over again… once again at an indiscernible speed. And with an almost screeching roar from Megawoman, Riley was thrown towards a random asteroid– only for his body to punch right through the asteroid and towards several more space rocks; creating ripples almost a hundred times.
"Stop. Mentioning. My. Husband!"
With each word, a corresponding punch followed that plunged Riley farther and farther away from Earth. His invisible barrier, breaking as soon as Megawoman's punch rippled through the space.
Riley was almost like a ragdoll; not even moving a single muscle as Megawoman continued to strike him again and again.
"...Do you plan to stray me away from Earth, Megawoman?" Riley then said; his voice, slightly hoarse as a part of his face regenerates, "That wouldn't work. I still have clones there– I can find their location no matter where they are."
Megawoman, however, did not answer as she continued to push Riley away. He could probably try to stand his… ground. But that would mean taking each of Megawoman's punch full force… and judging by the expression on Megawoman's face, she wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
"...I hate using this. But for you, Megawoman– I will."
And as soon as he said that, Riley… disappeared.
"..." Megawoman immediately stopped her flight; causing a sort of ripple and crack in the space as she did so– her eyes, immediately looking everywhere for Riley. But after a few seconds of doing so, she was not even able to see a strand of his white hair.
Megawoman then took a deep breath– and almost as if everything around her stopped, every minute movement of hers caused the space itself to tremble. And very soon, however, a sound entered her ears.
"!!!" And with everything once again moving in real-time, Megawoman quickly slammed her shoulder– causing the space debris floating around her to be blown away.
"You almost squashed me, Megawoman."
A tiny voice then whispered through Megawoman's ears as… a miniature Riley slowly floated in front of her face, "I thought killing me was something you were avoiding?"
"I just don't like the feeling of tiny bugs crawling on my skin," Megawoman slightly furrowed her eyebrows, "...I haven't seen you use this power before."
"Because I also don't like the feeling of it," and as he said that, his body slowly grew larger and larger, "It's weird… but at the very least it also changes the size of my clo–"
And before Riley could fully return back to his size, Megawoman swatted him away like a bird. And once again, Riley was thrown away at indiscernible speeds; only stopping as his back hit something… metal.
Riley then returned back to his normal size as he turned around to see what it was that he hit; and to Riley's surprise, it seemed to be a colossal spaceship. And beside this colossal ship… was the floating base of the Dark Millenium that the Baby Crew and Hope Guild left in.
"Oh…" Riley could only let out a breath as he slowly backed away,
"...So this was your plan."