Chapter 718: Gray

"...Who the fuck is that?"

"Diana."

"Then... who is that?"

"Diana."

"I know, but why did you bring another Diana here!? I thought we shouldn't make ourselves known to the other universes as much as fucking possible!?"

"She has information for us."

"...About Riley?"

"No."

Back in Riley's universe, the RRS Group, Riley Ross Search Group, were once again gathered in the dome of Ahor Zai. Their faces, still completely exhausted from jumping from universe to universe and finding nothing.

It wasn't particularly physically taxing, as surprisingly, moving to another universe just feels like moving to another room with a drastically different temperature—like if one were to enter and exit a sauna, but not quite.

This time, however, a change happened. Aerith entered the portal with Diana-1, only to come out with another variant of Diana. This variant of Diana, however, had already had strands of white hair on her head, even though she still looked quite as youthful as her other variants.

"Greetings to you, Diana," Diana quickly but carefully approached her new variant; her eyes, scanning her from head to toe as she stretched her hand toward her.

"Hello," the third Diana nodded her head as she shook Diana's hand, "Please, just call me Caitlain, I haven't used my Earth name ever since..."

Caitlain abruptly stopped talking as she subtly glanced at Hannah. But after a single breath, she just shook her head and let out a gentle smile,

"I haven't used my Earth name ever since my Bernard and Hannah were mercilessly murdered while... I was trying to save my species from the brink of extinction."

"...And were you able to save the themarians of your world?" Aerith-1 also approached Caitlain. And although the tone of her voice is as proud as ever, her slightly trembling eyes failed to mask the sorrow and hopelessness she was truly feeling.

"No," the smile on Caitlain's face did not disappear as she closed her eyes, "No one listened to me and they all went down with Theran."

"..." Aerith-1 could really only take in a deep breath as she backed away. She and the others have already been to more than 50 other universes and in all of them...

...the themarians die. Leaving only Diana, and sometimes her, as the sole survivor of their species.

"Is... it our fate to die?" If Riley Ross did not arrive in her universe, would something else destroy them? "Is the universe so afraid of us that it has to make sure of our extinction? Then why make us in the first place?"

"..." Aerith-1's whispers quickly garnered the attention of all the themarians in the dome; their breaths, releasing an orchestra of dismay with their breaths.

"..."

"..."

"Wait," Hannah was the first to break the wallowing silence as she approached Caitlain; this time, with a certain gentleness in her voice, "You said your daughter and husband were murdered?"

"Yes," Caitlain quickly nodded, "They were killed by someone who had access to multiversal transportation, just like all of you...

...I actually came here to try and kill all of you," Caitlain then softly chuckled, causing everyone to slightly flinch from her words. But after a few seconds, she shook her head and waved her hand.

"Because I thought you were with the one who killed my family. But it's obvious now that your group is completely uninvolved with him."

"...Him?" Diana squinted her eyes as she looked Caitlain in the eyes, "You don't mean..."

"Yes," Caitlain nodded and did not let Diana finish her words, "Just like your universe, my Earth had also started to dabble with multiversal travel. But just months after discovering it, someone from another universe visited us and started indiscriminately killing everyone that knows about the portals."

"..." Diana did not stray her eyes away from Caitlain, before finally... a whisper escaped her lips,

"...Bernard Ross."

***

"Hm."

A concrete wasteland.

The skies were clear, as well as the horizon. The buildings that one would expect in a major city were nowhere to be seen—it was just an empty, desolate, and dark place. The sun should still be blanketing the lands with its light, and yet not even a single spot of light could be seen crawling across the cement.

Once again, this other world showed a similarity to Riley's universe that the previous one did not have—

—a ruined Toronto.

Riley's eyes were once again looking down on a sea of ruin; this time, however, his silhouette that was descending from the sky was as if a ghost, almost glowing from how white he was—a reminder that Darkday was not the one responsible for destroying this city.

"Oh...?" And as Riley continued to descend from the skies, he noticed a hint of light below and a group of people. And as he flew near it, he saw another monument of Megawoman. And just like the one in the Central Park, her statue had numerous graffiti on it; words filled with resentment, anger, and disappointment.

This time, however, there were people helping each other to clean it. There were also traces of the military, seemingly watching the people as they secured the perimeter. The soldiers all watched Riley as he landed on the ground; their hands, all seemingly ready to do something. But as they realized that Riley wasn't really going to do anything, they just shrugged their shoulders and continue to patrol the area.

As for Riley, he just casually walked toward the people cleaning Aerith's monument.

"Hello," Riley waved as one of the people noticed him approaching them. His somewhat friendly gesture, however, was welcomed with suspicion as everyone all stopped what they were doing. Even the people cleaning Aerith's face jumped down as they all seemingly served as a barricade between Riley and Aerith's statue.

"What do you want?" The oldest one of the group stepped forward; the tone of her voice, anything but welcoming.

"I want to ask a question, Aerith supporter."

"Aerith supporter?" The woman raised an eyebrow, "Who are you?"

"My name is Riley Ross," Riley nodded his head, before turning to look at Aerith's statue, "I was wondering if you know anyone by the name of Gary Gray?"

"Gary who?" The woman's eyebrows began to lower as she crossed her arms, "You guys know a Gary Gay?"

"First I heard of it."

"Let's stop wasting our time here, Claire. We only have a few minutes left to clean Megawoman's statue."

"This is none of my concern, I'm just going to light up more candles."

"You heard that, Mr. Ross? Now off you go, we're busy here."

And one by one, the people all started dispersing as they returned to cleaning Aerith's statue. But as they turned around, their eyes could not help but widen in shock. Soon, however, they had to squint their eyes due to the light reflecting on them.

"What... C... Claire!"

"What?" Claire still had her arms crossed and her eyes planted on Riley.

"Look, look!"

"What is it?" Claire rolled her eyes, sighing as she turned to look at what the commotion was about. And soon, she too squinted her eyes from the sudden brightness that showered them.

Megawoman's statue which was filled with paint and filth... it was now shining from how immaculate it was.

"Now that you are not busy, perhaps you could entertain my questions again, Ms. Claire?"

"...Huh?" Claire, and the rest of the group all turned around to look at Riley, only to see a ball of dirt, oil, and paint floating above his palm, "You... you did this?"

"Hm," Riley shrugged as he let the ball fly toward the sky, causing a blast of wind to thunder in the air as the dark clouds above them rippled... letting sunlight to finally shower the ruined land of Toronto, or more specifically, Megawoman's statue.

The soldiers that were securing the perimeter, now all talking to their radios; their eyes, once again planted on Riley. As for the cleaners, they all looked at each other, before Claire just suddenly rushed toward Riley and grabbed him by the wrist.

"..." Riley's eyes slightly twitched as Claire grabbed him. But after thinking about it for a millisecond, he just sighed and let himself be dragged by her as all of the cleaners just started running away.

As for the soldiers, they chased the cleaners for a bit, before stopping and just watching them disappear deep into the ruined city.

Riley was dragged for almost an entire hour before they reached some sort of settlement—a stadium.

This stadium, however, was filled with all sorts of fluorescent light and people walking around; perhaps even more busy than the city that never sleeps. There were traders, stalls, houses, and even a large area where people seemingly gather around and children play.

"I take it it's your first time here?" Claire finally let go of Riley's hand.

"This is the Rogers Centre."

"It was," Claire shrugged, before bidding farewell to the other cleaners who just quickly disappeared into the crowd, "Sorry about how we treated you before. We just... everyone's just against Megawoman nowadays.

"Hm."

"And about your question, Gary Gray, was it?"

"Yes," Riley nodded as he continued to scan the lively settlement.

"Sorry, I don't really know someone that goes by that name," Claire let out a long and deep sigh, "But I do know a Gray, he owns a bar down on Aisle C. Tall guy, a bit grumpy, he's been here from the start. He usually doesn't talk to anyone, but he should talk to you if I'm there."

"...Is his name Edward Gray, Ms. Claire?"

"Oh... You know him?"

"Not personally, no."

After all, Edward Gray died in his world during the Battle of Toronto.