Chapter 836: Vivid Imagination

"Am I correct, King?"

The beeping noises that kept whistling in the air instantly stopped. Replaced by Barney's breaths as his finger stopped midway from pressing another number. He then very slowly glanced at Riley, before raising an eyebrow and looking at him from head to toe.

"Excuse me...?" Barney then said, obviously offended, "Did you just call me King, without the Rainbow?"

"Yes," Riley nodded.

"I will have you know I don't appreciate being doubted," Barney rolled his eyes before just once trying to type in his password, "And even more, I will have you know that I hate that you just compared me to someone that obviously has no style, euck."

"Hm," Riley looked at the large silver door, before turning around to look at the long corridor. Caitlain, whose eyes were now slightly squinted as she just observed what Riley was doing. She was, however, now completely on guard.

"I do not know what your plan is by bringing us here. But do you know why I did not just immediately try to kill you once I realized you were King, King?"

"What are you even talking about...?" Barney once again waved his hand, "Look, we've already been told about you and how crazy you are — but we do not have time for this. Just let me concentrate."

"You seem to not be used to spending time with people that know how horrifyingly intelligent you truly are, Bernard Ross," Riley then let out a small sigh as he shook his head, "Bernard Ross would never forget anything that has anything to do with numbers."

"Well, that's where you're deadly wrong, boy..." Barney let out a small giggle as he continued to enter his password, "...Don't you see me struggling now?"

"You smell like fresh blood and sweat, King," Riley's nose slightly fluttered as he leaned closer to Barney,

"Perhaps I could offer a scenario of what happened. You received some sort of alert or notification when we appeared back in the Council of Ross, and so you instantly went here to check. But when you realized it was me, you immediately hid somewhere in the space station, where you accidentally saw Rainbowking, who was probably trying to do something to get us all back. You probably found him right here."

"You watch too many cartoons, boy."

"The two of you probably fought, but of course, he was no match for you. But right when you were about to finish him off, you probably noticed us getting near and decided not to do anything as Caitlain will obviously hear it. Barney used this chance to enter his passcode and escape to the other side of the door — you probably saw a glimpse of his passcode, and now you are guessing the other numbers."

"Probably learned that from your dad, huh?" Barney once again let out a small giggle, "I like your imagination, but no. If he was escaping, he would have used the biometrics instead of hastily typing his passcode. Now, just stay quiet and let me work."

"Because the biometric lock is broken, as you said. I believe that is real because Father takes a while to fix the sink if Mother orders him to."

"..."

"Now, do you know why I did not just immediately try to kill you once I realized who you were?" Riley repeated his question,

"Because I know that you know that I already know who you are, and you probably brought us here specifically. But why?"

"Riley..." Barney once again let out a small sigh as he finally turned around and looked Riley in the eyes, "...You're wrong."

"T—"

"I tortured Rainbowking for the passcode and killed him after," a small but ominously sinister smile quickly crawled on Barney's face as its skin started to melt down, revealing a more youthful-looking Bernard, "But I was too hasty since you were here that I did not even take into account that he might have still lied despite the torture."

"King."

"I keep making mistakes," King then brushed his hair back, revealing its silver luster. He then carefully removed his contact lenses, removing all the color from his eyes, "How did you even manage to return from a place that should have been impossible to return from? You truly are an enigma, Riley Ross."

"I have someone with the power of a literal plot armor by my side, King," Riley shrugged.

"Huh, that woman?" King pulled off whatever remained of the mask from his face, "Another variable I did not count. Well, congratulations, Riley Ross — you have discovered who I am. Bravo."

King let out a small chuckle as he gave Riley an applause, "And now to answer your question as to why I brought you here. I did underestimate how much you know about my temperament and personality, but what I did not underestimate is you, Riley Ross."

Riley only looked at King's hand as he pointed at him.

"I am not foolish enough to think I can defeat you, even more so with a variant of this alien on your side," King smiled at Caitlain before returning his focus back to Riley, "And especially without that girl here, Hannah was it?"

"..."

"Hm," the smile on King's face grew wider as he saw Riley's eyes slightly squint, "Anyway, I was truly hoping you would attack me here. On the other side of this door is the AI of the entire ship, if it detects anything that would result in it being destroyed, the entire ship itself will transfer to another dead universe, leaving behind the one it deems to be a threat. In this case, it would be the three of us."

"Hm," Riley nodded in approval.

"I could have left during the window of time when you were confused since I already have access to the multiverse in the first place, leaving only you two here in this dead universe without any possible way to go anywhere. It is a good plan, no?" King chuckled, "That would have solved my Riley Ross problem, at least until you become a fully-fledged god or something. But perhaps by then, I would have already accomplished what I set out to do, and if you still wish to destroy the entire multiverse, then at the very least I would have the satisfaction of knowing that you will be cleaning after my scraps."

"..." Caitlain, who had been quietly observing the situation, could not help but blink a couple of times, slightly leaning her head back as she glanced at Riley, "...You going to let him talk to you like that?"

"I will," Riley shrugged, "That is the only thing he could do besides escaping, after all."

"Touche," King bowed his head at Riley, "Now, if you won't attack me, then I will just leave peacefully and we can both continue on with both of our plans still in action."

"Let's just kill this bastard, Riley," Caitlain's eyes turned red, "We'll be trapped in this dead universe, but at least he's also dead."

"This could be a clone," King raised both his palms.

"It is not a clone," Riley shook his head, "But I will allow you to leave, King. I wish to at least say goodbye to Sister, being trapped in this universe will lower the chances of achieving that."

"Good." A portal then suddenly appeared behind King as he took a step back, "And by the way, the girl, Paige Pearson—I have her. Just letting you know."

"Okay. Thank you for letting me know, King."

And with those words, King took another step back and disappeared into the portal.

"Well, that went well," Caitlain sucked in her teeth as she glanced at Riley, "We could have just killed him, I am supposed to be dead already anyway."

"I thought you wanted to meet Bard, Dr. Caitlain?" Riley then flicked his finger. And as he did so, a clone emerged from the floor. The clone wasted no time as it immediately walked to the control panel and started entering a code.

"Oh, you sneaky bastard," Caitlain smiled and nodded, "You know what the password is this entire time?"

"No," Riley immediately shook his head, "I saw the numbers King entered, I am only trying to continue where he left off."

"Oh..." Caitlain could only watch as Riley started walking away, "...So, we just wait until your clone enters the correct password?"

"Yes," Riley shrugged.

"Huh, lame," Caitlain placed her hands behind her head as she followed Riley. She took one final glance at the clone... only to see the large silver door actually opening, "W—It's opening!"

"Hm?" Even Riley seemed slightly shocked as he blinked a couple of times before turning to look at the door, and it was indeed sliding open. Riley then looked at his clone, who seemed to be the most perplexed out of all of them.

"I think I got it, Boss?" The clone smiled as he pointed back and forth between Riley and the door.

[No, you didn't.]

Sadly for the clone, a familiar silhouette stepped out from the other side of the sliding door and immediately rebuked his words,

[You were not even able to finish your last attempt. I opened the door.]

"...Someone you know?" Caitlain looked at the woman that was very slowly approaching them, "Friendly or no?"

[Very friendly, Dr. Caitlain. I am Ahor Zai.]

"...As in the Codex?"

[Yes.]

"Wow," once again, Caitlain couldn't help but be amazed, "You were just... a screen in my universe."

[I was lucky to have been created in the same universe as Riley Ross,] Ahor Zai smiled and nodded, [Everything that I am now was only possible because of the Boss. Now...

...would you like help in pulling our friends from dying universes?]