Chapter 229: U Before V (2)
"It"s fine, let her go."
"But…"
It wasn"t hard to find images of London– or at least what remained of it in the news and social media outlets. It also wasn"t hard to find images and footage of the huge ocean of green electricity that decimated London.
As soon as Butcher turned on the TV, the aftermath of what happened quickly bombarded everyone"s eyes– but even then, the time it took for V to run towards one of her mecha suits that were parked at the corner of her chambers was still faster. She had been wondering why Tempo was adamant that she should not be left alone… and now she knew the reason.
And the only thing she could really do was run away.
As for why? She had no idea.
She just got inside her mecha suit, letting it fly up through the vent that was tailor-made for her mecha suit to eject itself straight outside of their base. It took exactly 5 seconds before V"s vision shifted to the scenery of the sky– around her, nothing but the darkness that the night held; the moon, reflecting on the horizon of the sea.
The soles of the mecha suit quickly combusted, instantly propelling her away as a quiet thunder roared through the skies; she did not even bother to look back at the large tower behind her; continuing to fly for a few more seconds until she reached an empty sh.o.r.e.
She quickly landed towards the beach, causing all the sand to ripple away; her mecha suit, completely stagnant as the lights crawling through it like veins faded away. And if one were to listen closely behind the rain of sands and the roaring of the seas… there was a quiet whisper.
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A quiet whisper that was seeping from the crevices of V"s mecha suit– a whimper, a cry.
More than 5 million people– dead because of her. No matter how many times it was repeated, the guilt that was crawling… No. The guilt that was chewing her from the inside remained hungry, leaving nothing of her to feel anything else.
She has saved thousands of people during her stint as a superhero– but 5 million people? How would she even hope to actually make amends with that? Even if she happened to rescue millions more, those 5 million would never live again.
She"s a murderer. She became the very thing she hated the most in the world– Darkday.
All those lives… all those lives… all those lives.
Dead… dead… dead…
The words kept repeating inside of V"s mind– the insides of the mecha suit, completely green from the electricity her body was emitting. Her entire body was in a curl, her fingers almost threatening to pull out her hair; which has now turned white seemingly as a side effect from her releasing of all her powers in London.
"What… what do I do? What do I do?"
V whispered and whispered, wanting someone to answer her– but at the same time, no. If she really wanted an answer, then she wouldn"t have run away from the rest of her comrades. She knew… she knew in herself that she could never atone for what she had done.
Even if the others have said that it wasn"t her fault almost a hundred times; that it was the work of a madman that targeted Whiteking"s family– those people still died by her hands. Their blood was on hers.
"..."
"..."
A whirling whistle then hummed in the air as V"s mecha suit once again lit up; its once stagnant legs… leaving trails on the beach as they dragged themselves back to where they came from– the sea.
"This… this is better," V then whispered as the mecha suit continued to walk towards the endless darkness, "If… if I disappear… then none… something… something like this will never happen again."
V"s trembling hand then pressed something inside the mecha suit, causing several vents to open up… letting some of the water that was already crashing through the mecha"s legs.
"It"s cold…" V then whispered; the tone of her voice, completely sedated as she rested her head back, "...I am… so sorry."
V could feel the water inside her mecha suit rising; now reaching her waist and causing her to slightly flinch from the piercing cold it carried. But still, the only thing she did was tighten her fists and bite her lip.
Her head then began to tremble violently as the water reached her neck; her body seemed to want to get away from the threat it was currently being wrapped in– but V remained resolute, even gripping parts of the mecha to prevent herself floating up from the salt water.
Slow.
Why was it so slow? She thought. Just a little more, then her entire head would be submerged with the water. So why… why was it so slow? She could feel the cold just under her ears, she should have already lost the ability to breathe by now– but still, her lungs seem to still be gasping for air.
"Just… just let me die," V then let out a whimper, her voice cracking as she did so. She then took several deep breaths as she raised her hands– wanting to push herself down to get all of this over with.
But before her hands could acc.u.mulate any strength, the water within the mecha suit started to disperse; the water that was supposed to already cover her head, now suddenly below her waist.
"W… what?" V blinked a couple of times when she felt a weird force dragging her away from the ocean; she then quickly turned on all the monitors inside her suit, allowing her to have a 360-degree view of her surroundings.
Her eyes did not have to search for long, however, as she saw a face in front of one of her monitors, almost causing her to eject herself from the shock as the face was completely white, even the hair that–
"Riley Ross!?"
The mecha suit opened up without even a second later, with V almost jumping from the robot as she leaned her head to try and find Riley Ross; but no matter how much she concentrated through the darkness, there was no sign of Riley anywhere.
She then returned back inside the suit, trying to look back at the monitor where she thought she saw Riley… but no one was there anymore.
"This…"
She then leaned back; her hand accidentally turning on the mecha suit"s radio as she did so.
[V!? Are you okay!? Your vitals were spiking earlier!]
And immediately, Tempo"s voice could be heard echoing through the insides of her suit.
"Y… yes," V could only stutter as she replied; trying her best not to cry from all the emotions rushing inside of her, "Is… Is Whiteking there? I think this suit is malfunctioning."
[Malfunctioning? Whiteking just left. His son is currently in jail.]
"...What!?" V raised her voice as she once again leaned forward, "Why!? I"m alive because of him!"
[It"s… a long story. He is sus–]
"Wait! I"m returning back to base!"
And with that, V"s mecha suit quickly closed; the sand once again rippling away as thunder erupted from its feet, propelling it towards the surface of the ocean and almost splitting it apart as she rushed back towards the base.
"..."
"..."
"I am done here."
In the shadows beyond the sh.o.r.es; hidden within the bushes that separated it from the rest of the island… were several people– their moving heads, all sporting white hair; their skin, almost reflecting the moonlight if not for the leaves covering them– Riley"s clones.
"Everyone, good work."
"You are returning, Diley?"
"Yes, I still have to infiltrate a prison," Diley, who was already wearing the uniform of HM Prison Leeds for the Super, slowly floated in the air, "Tell the others from the other islands that they also did good work."
"Can we take a break? We have been here for a year now," one of the clones stood up and complained.
"...You"ve only been here for a day," Diley blinked a couple of times as he looked at the clone, "You were literally just made today."
"...Really?" The clone widened his eyes in surprise, "But I already have memories of being here for a year."
"We all have memories of being here for a year," one of the other clones joined in on the conversation,
"You will get used to it. The only one that has really been here for a year is him," the clone then pointed at the clone that… was already sleeping.
"All of our memories of this place are from him."
"This is weird."
"It is."
"Alright, that is enough," Diley, who was still listening in on the other clones" conversations, could not help but shake his head, "I will leave now, continue observing the Hope Guild"s base."
"Right. Farewell, Diley," the clones then waved at the same time as they watched Diley fly away. Their eyes, also blinking at the same time.
"Weird… I also have a memory of leaving just now."
"I told you, you will get used to it. If you become as old as Diley, then it wouldn"t even bother you anymore."
"Anyway, the one we just rescued– it would seem we are quite fond of her?"
"Of course, she reminds us of Hannah."
"She reminds us of Megawoman."
*** *** ***
Back in the present time, Fred"s screams still echoed throughout the entire prison; his waist, still attached to the two gigantic legs of V"s mecha suit.
"Riley Ross. He… he will die at this rate!"
"It is fine, Miss V. I have cut off all the–"
"You"re not Darkday!"
"Hm?"
"You are not Darkday, okay!?" V let out a roar; loud enough to drown Fred"s screams of pain,
"You… you don"t have to be what the world wants you to be! Find yourself…
…Please find yourself in all of this chaos, Riley Ross!"