Riley Ross
Chapter 48: The *** Crew

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: The *** Crew

"I truly think I am going to turn into a supervillain, Sister."

There were seven of them in the circle now, but it only took that single sentence from Riley to silence them all.

If those words had come from a regular twelve-year-old, maybe it would’ve been easy to brush off as a joke. Something quirky. A phase. But with Riley... no one was really sure. And the worst part?

He went completely quiet afterward—just stared at the floor, his expression as hollow as his tone.

Even Tomoe had a faint trace of worry on her face. A bead of sweat formed on her temple as she glanced subtly at Riley. She thought she had at least gotten a read on what kind of person he was, but apparently, she was wrong. So wrong.

Why would he say something like that right after murdering someone just last night?

She assumed Riley was some kind of genius, maybe even a savant. But this? This was just... stupidity. Dangerous, reckless stupidity. And the worst part?

She was now technically his accomplice.

Her mind started to run through every possible way out of this mess—but fortunately for her, she didn’t need to come up with anything.

Because it was as he said last night. He has a halo on his head due to the way he looks, his age, and his condition.

"Are you still watching that new anime crap? That Italian Mafia Reborn something?!" Hannah snapped, pulling her hand back just an inch before flicking Riley in the forehead. "Mom told you to stop watching that! It’s not for kids!"

"Italian... Mafia Reborn?" Bella raised an eyebrow. "Hold up—ain’t Hera voicin’ one of the characters in that?"

"Ms. Hera?" Riley’s eyes lit up instantly as he turned to Bella. "Which character, Ms. Bella?"

"She—"

"Ack! We’re getting sidetracked!" Hannah flailed her hands, seemingly trying to keep the topic together before gesturing for everyone to tighten their circle. "Let’s just assume all of us are going to be superheroes, alright? So we need a team name. Suggestions?!"

Gary quickly raised his hand, and then he raised another before he began doing exaggerated ninja hand signs like he was casting a jutsu.

"The Dragon Monarch Sect," he declared, eyes closed, hands clasped together as if in prayer. "Fear not. With me as Patriarch, our sect will rise and surpass the heavens."

"You’re actually serious right now, aren’t you?" Hannah stared at him, already exhausted. "We’ll... consider it."

"You... you will?"

"Yes. Anyone else?"

"White Choco Diversity," Bella stepped forward confidently. "We got it all—Black, White, Super White, Asian—"

"Lesbian," Gary continued Bella’s words, and was immediately met by her glare. Gary, however, didn’t seem to care at all as he looked at everyone, "Crap, I just realized our team composition. Are we... woke?"

"Are you twelve?" Hannah scoffed. "Stop using that damn word."

"This is literally the first time I’ve said it," Gary shrugged. "Stop being annoying."

"You’re annoying."

"No, you."

"Umm..." Pauline, who was literally stuck in the middle of their argument, slowly raised her hands to shield herself. "Umm!"

She raised her voice again just enough to get their attention.

"Shouldn’t we, um, focus on picking our superhero names first?" She said, pointing at Spectacular Mustache Man’s notice on the board. "We... only have an hour left."

"Ack. Right," Hannah sighed. "But I still want a group name since—"

"How about the Trust Fund Baby Crew?"

And all of a sudden, Victoria casually raised her hand.

"I... heard your old classmates used to call you that," Victoria said, glancing at Hannah. "And... I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the other students are already calling us that too. I think the fact that your dad is Bernard Ross has... spread."

"What?!" Hannah’s eyes widened. "Ugh, Steph’s probably spreading all kinds of rumors!"

Oh. You do not have to worry about that anymore, Sister. She might be well spread now, but not in a way that would inconvenience you.

"And seriously, why would we want to be called that?"

"I mean," Bella shrugged, "It’s badass, lowkey. We own it."

"That..." Hannah blinked a few times, then turned to Riley. "What do you think?"

"It is true, Sister," Riley nodded. "We are billionaires, and the children of the third richest man in the world. First, if Father declared all of his wea—"

"Shh!" Hannah immediately lunged forward and clamped her hand over Riley’s mouth. "No one needs to hear that!"

"...Everyone already knows," Gary muttered with a shrug. "It’s all over Reddit. A-anyway, if we’re going with that team name... does that mean we get the jet? Because if so—yeah. Hell yeah, I’m in."

"M-me too," Pauline quickly raised her hand. Bella followed. Then Victoria. Hannah stared at them for a while before turning toward their newest addition, but Tomoe only gave a small nod.

"Kinda weird, but... okay," Hannah muttered, scratching her head. "Trust Fund Baby Crew, it is. But... it’s kinda long. What about just... the Baby Crew?"

"Makes sense," Bella nodded, gesturing between Victoria and Riley. We got the two youngest folks in Mega Academy right here. Wait..."

She turned and squinted at Tomoe. "How old even is you, Sis?"

"Fifteen."

"What?!"

Everyone’s eyes widened. Bella even took a step back to inspect Tomoe from head to toe. Aside from Riley, and maybe Victoria, she looked like the youngest one there. She opened her mouth to say something else, but paused as she noticed just how thin Tomoe’s fingers were. Malnourished.

And that wasn’t the only thing she noticed—from what little skin was exposed on her wrist, she saw what seemed like a bruise. And it wasn’t only her who noticed it, everyone else did too.

Tomoe quickly lowered her arms when she noticed this, pulling her sleeves down before looking away.

No one really knew what to say, and if it wasn’t for Gary clapping his hands, none of them would have probably moved.

"Superhero names, everyone! Let’s focus—this is important!" His voice was way too cheerful, but it worked. Everyone shifted their attention away from Tomoe’s bruises.

"We. Need. Names!"

Although the air was still a bit awkward, the group began tossing around name ideas. They did, however, use most of whatever time they had left laughing at each other’s name choices.

That is... until their instructor finally arrived.

"Alright, everyone!" Spectacular Mustache Man’s voice boomed through the hall. He didn’t even walk to the front—he just stood by the door, grinning.

"I hope you’ve all chosen your names, because we’re headed to one of the training areas."

"Training areas?" One of the students asked. "I thought we were supposed to present our names, Sir?"

"Oh, you are," Spectacular Mustache Man said, smirking beneath his glorious mustache. "But I spoke with a friend, and we both agreed—your generation doesn’t really get the importance of self-identity. So..."

He crossed his arms and scanned the students’ faces.

"We’re doing a little activity. A mock battle with the other class... and you’ll be debuting your superhero names in front of everyone. There may even be a few of your seniors who would drop by to watch."

"W-what?!" Someone yelped.

"Yes," Spectacular Mustache Man said, and even his mustache seemed to curl with amusement. "Imagine shouting your name all confidently—only to get stomped by your opponent in front of everyone. So here’s my advice... don’t lose."

"But we haven’t even had a combat class yet! We-we don’t know how to fight!"

"This is your first combat class," he said with a hearty laugh, already turning on his heel as he stepped out of the door,

"Follow me, kids...

...and welcome to Mega Academy."

***

[EMERGENCY NEWS ALERT]

This just in—police have cordoned off the ruined Renwick Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island following the discovery of a dead body earlier this morning.

Authorities have not yet released an official statement, but early reports from our sources on-site describe the scene as "gruesome" and "unlike anything responders have seen in years."

...

Huh? What’s that?Hold on—we’re receiving new information.

We can now confirm: two bodies have been found. There are two bodies.

One is said to belong to a police officer. The other, a super—a female student enrolled at Mega Academy.

Details surrounding the deaths are still under investigation, but officials are urging the public to stay clear of Roosevelt Island until further notice.

Was this a targeted killing? A message? Or something much worse? With the violent, and brutal nature of this killing, is it possible that this might, in any way, related to the murder that was done to Ryan "Butt Ender" Roman?

We promise you, we’ll continue to follow this story as it unfolds.

Once again, I’m Lorraine, and this is ABC-ZBN—What? We have photos?!

This just in—we are about to show you photos of the crime scene.

Please be advised: the following image contains graphic content that is not suitable for children.

...

As you can see, the body—wait. Are we... are we allowed to show this? Oh my god... wait, let’s cut. Let’s cut! We can’t show this! Oh... oh my god!

[We apologize for the inconvenience. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties.]