?
"Where are we going, Alice Lane?"
"You can call me Mom if you want to."
"No."
"Your loss."
Alice and Riley have been flying in the air for more than an hour—traversing through the skies as one of them seems to truly be enjoying the moment; her laugh, almost like the drumming of thunder if heard from below.
It was obvious that Alice could fly faster if she wanted to, because Riley could fly faster if he wanted to. His telekinetic abilities were back, they have been ever since they were eating back at Rickdonald's. As to how his telekinesis was being suppressed, Alice seemed adamant about keeping her mouth shut.
But whatever it was, he was sure it had to do something with the device that Diana created for Alice.
"I find it truly amusing that even in this world, you and Diana are friends, Alice Lane."
"Probably because I am the only person that could tolerate her," Alice slowed down the speed of her flight even more as she flew beside Riley, circling vertically around him as she giggled, "And vice versa. Let me guess, she has no other friends besides me in your world?"
"Come to think of it, I suppose you are right, Alice Lane."
"Of course, I'm right," Alice scoffed, "And seriously—she is married to Bernie? That freaking womanizer?"
"Yes, and she cheated on Mother with Empress."
"Dude… he dare do that?" Alice's eye began to twitch, "I'll f.u.c.k Bernie up once I see him."
"But the Bernard of this world is completely unrelated to the one in mine, Alice Lane."
"Doesn't matter. Anyway, enough about that nerd. Tell me more about…"
Alice asked Riley a barrage of questions, all of which Riley answered without any hesitation. Alice was a bit aloof with the questions at first since she said it might change what was going to happen… but then she realized she wasn't dealing with time travel.
Another hour pa.s.sed by like this, until Riley finally saw a change of scenery from the sky and clouds—an island.
An island not surrounded by the sea, but hidden by the clouds.
"We're here…" Alice sped up, flying backward as she stretched her arms to the side and looked Riley in the eyes, "...Welcome to the Hope Society, Riley Lane."
"Hope… Society," Riley breathed out as he followed Alice as she landed on the edge of the island. He didn't really get to take a good look at the island, but it seemed like an entire city.
"Don't be too surprised, my boy. This is just one of the things that are better compared to your world," Alice nodded to herself as she gestured to Riley to follow her as she walked away, "You said you have a Hope Guild, right? Pft… basic. We have an entire island for our base."
"..." Riley did not really say anything as he just once again followed Alice. Alice had already explained it before, but the battle between Superheroes and Supervillains in this world seemed to be more intense… to the point that they would even have wars against each other.
A war made possible because unlike his world, everyone on this Earth was already infected with the Supervirus—another courtesy of the Megawoman of this Earth, Diana.
And their heroes here, they kill.
"Are you sure you should be showing me your secret base, Alice Lane?" Riley looked around, only to see people in their superhero attires walking around the wide streets of the Hope Society, which truly seemed like an entire city—there was even a building that seemed like an apartment for them to live in.
"...Because you were a villain in your world?"
"Yes."
"Meh, no biggie. Come on, let's head inside."
"..."
Alice then led Riley to a large, perfectly rectangular building the size of a football field. And as soon as he stepped inside, the sound of cheers and screams quickly bombarded his ears; almost as if he truly just entered a football stadium, and from the number of superheroes there, he might as well have.
This noise, however, very slowly died down as soon as the people took a whiff of Alice's presence; their eyes, just staring at her as they opened a path for her to walk through.
"This is…" Riley tilted his head to the side as he looked at the very center of the large infrastructure, only to see several superheroes fighting against each other on a wide field. Well, they seemed to stop whatever it is they were doing, however, as they also quickly took notice of Alice even from afar.
"An arena where we can let loose," Alice started stretching as she made her way to the field. And as she did so, those that were inside all quickly scattered and joined the crowd watching on the sides,
"You can… call it a public underground arena in the sky."
"Would it not be better for us to fight in the expanse of s.p.a.ce, Alice Lane?" Riley still followed Alice.
"What's the point in that?" Alice scoffed, "Here…
…we have an audience!"
"!!!"
And as soon as Alice raised her arms to the side and started floating toward the very center of the arena, the once quiet audience once again recovered their violent vigor as they screamed for her name—Phoenix.
"Hm," Riley could really only let out a sigh. So, even in this world, Alice Lane was extremely flashy, "Do we fight with our telekinetic abilities, then?"
Riley completely ignored the crowd as he just casually stepped on the field, but as soon as he did so, the crowd once again became quiet—no, silent. He looked at the so-called audience, only to see them still raising their arms in cheer.
"What is—"
"Let's just start!"
And before Riley could finish his words, he felt himself being violently thrown through the air. He didn't roll for long, however, as he slammed toward an invisible shield that seemed to be protecting the audience around them.
"...Hm," Riley then turned to look at Alice, who was already shooting toward him with her feet threatening to squash his head. He quickly tilted his head to the side to avoid it, and he did.
And as Alice's feet made contact with the shield, it created a ripple that shook the entire barrier and caused it to move like jelly.
"You do not have to worry, Riley Lane," Alice crouched horizontally on the invisible shield like a spider; whispering into Riley's ear as she giggled, "This shield can withstand attacks that could instantly destroy normal planets—it's made with themarian materials and technology…
…you can let loose."
"Okay," Riley nodded, before tilting his head to the side and throwing Alice straight down into the ground.
And although the ground seemed unscathed, the sound that cracked in the air was enough to cause the entire arena to tremble. The audience that was cheering outside, now very slowly dropping their arms as they just looked at each other.
"Good, good…" Alice also seemed unscathed, except for the fact that she spat out blood. She then turned to look up at Riley as the smile on both their faces started to grow wider,
"...This is more like it!"