"A rat that doesn't belong here."
"I do believe this is the first time someone is comparing me to a rat."
"I don't mean a rat, it has another meaning."
"Hm, your naming sense is the same no matter what universe, Bernard Ross."
"...I see. So, Anna was right."
Whiteking, not currently known as Bernard Ross in this universe. In truth, more than 24 hours ago, Bernard Ross received a notification from their AI, Anna, that a potential threat has passed through a portal and entered their universe.
At first, Bernard was a little dismissive of this, as occurrences like this should have been a top priority for the AI—but no. The AI only told Bernard in passing, almost as if the AI itself was dismissive of the threat.
And so, Bernard did not really think much of it in the first few hours, as the thing that might have passed through was just some sort of ant. If it was a mosquito, then the AI would have also notified him at once.
This had happened thousands of times before, and Bernard did not think much of it. He went on with his day just shrugging his shoulders—but soon, Bernard got this weird urge and checked with the AI to see what it could possibly be…
…only to see a few minutes of the surveillance completely deleted.
***
"Anna! Call everyone back and close all the gates once everyone has been gathered!"
[At once, Whiteking.]
A day ago, right after the moment that Bernard discovered that a few minutes of surveillance footage was missing, he immediately scrambled to take action—rushing through the long gray hallways of his base of operations.
"What's going on…?"
"Why were we called back? I was… having dinner with my family."
"You did what!? Do you want to get terminated!?"
"Ah, Whiteking. What's going—there he goes, always busy."
And as a countless number of people started emerging from the walls, Bernard just continued running through the hallway. His helmet, reflecting the pink suit that all of the people were wearing, a suit similar to what Hannah was wearing underneath her armor when she just got back from Riley's universe. That is because that is also where they just came from—another universe.
All of them greeted Bernard as they saw him, but Bernard completely ignored all of them until finally, he reached the end of the hallway. And just like most of the design in this secret base… it was just an empty gray wall.
"Anna, let me inside the main server."
[Of course, Whiteking.]
And just like the rest of the hallway, the wall in front of Bernard opened up—this time, however, the other side wasn't just an empty gray room. Instead, there were strips of light everywhere; pulsing as if the entire room was actually alive.
Bernard immediately entered the large room, making his way to the center and standing in front of a small screen with just a single… keyboard in front of it.
[What are you trying to look for, Whiteking?]
The entire room pulsed in rhythm with the voice of the AI, the light coming from the strips, crawling toward Bernard almost as if something was actually approaching him. Bernard, however, completely ignored the AI as he just started typing something.
The sound of Bernard's taps and the clacking of the keyboard quietly drummed in the room for almost an entire hour. His breaths, slowly changing into groans of frustration as he couldn't seem to find whatever it was he was looking for.
[It is time for you to consume your caffeine, Whiteking. Do you want me to send someone over to give it to you? Or do you just want me to leave it outside the data center?]
"Stop talking, Anna," Bernard could not help but click his tongue, waving his hand as he gestured to the AI to leave, as if she was actually there, "Don't bother me."
[Perhaps if you asked me what you are looking for, you would have been done by now,] the lights in the room started to become erratic as the volume of the AI's voice increased.
"You won't know anything," Bernard once again waved his hand, "Someone hacked your system and deleted some files, we could potentially have a threat in our hands right now."
[No one hacked me, Whiteking.]
"As I said, you wouldn't know," Bernard sighed; his eyes reflecting random strings of letters and numbers, "Like I wouldn't know someone tampered with my mind if they erased my memory of them doing it. You are compromised."
[...But I do remember my files being deleted, Whiteking.]
"How would you—"
[I was the one who deleted them, after all.]
"...You what?" And finally, the endless tapping that have been plaguing the room instantly stopped; Bernard's fingers, completely frozen as he just looked to where the light in the room was brightest,
"You… did what?" He then said; the tone of his voice, filled with a certain calmness of disbelief.
[I deleted them, Whiteking.]
"...Why?" Bernard took a step back away from the console, "Why would you even do something like that?"
And without even waiting for the AI to say something, Bernard's armor started to morph and change form—his eyes that could be seen from his helmet, now glowing orange.
[Because the one that entered our universe told me so, Whiteking.]
"Why would you even follow a command from someone other than me and Hannah!?"
[Because he was very charismatic, Whiteking.]
"...What?"
[He reminded me of both you and Master Hannah. He also knew a lot of things about you, as well as Master Diana.]
"Don't… say that name," the light in Bernard's eyes literally faded away as his voice calmed down, "I don't get it, Anna. You let him have access to you just because he was charismatic?"
[Well, he also threatened to destroy me and the entire planet.]
"Why did you not start with that!?"
[Because he told me to tell you he was charismatic once you discovered the—]
"Wait, wait…" Bernard sat on the floor as his helmet… retracted into his face. And although it was just a glimpse, the Bernard of this world is actually quite slim; but as soon as the helmet entered his pores, he slightly became chubbier,
"...You mean a World Ender was able to pass through the portal without the alarms going off?"
[Yes, Whiteking.]
"...How?" Bernard's eyes started swaying left and right as his breaths became gasps, "Who is it?"
[I don't know, Whiteking.]
"What do you mean you don't know!?" Bernard roared, causing the lights in the server room to flicker several times,
"Xra, Caitlain'Ur, Bernard Ross, Hera, Cherbi, Ahor Zai, Vivati, Nyx, Jeff, Ha—Just who is it!? We have a list of hundreds of entities capable of destroying their universes and you are telling me you don't know whose variant it is!?" Bernard stood up from the floor,
"...Don't tell me it's an old god?"
[I do not know because he is not registered in my database, Whiteking.]
"Not registered…?" Bernard raised an eyebrow, "We should know almost everyone there is, and everyone there ever was!"
[Correction, I should know. You just access the data from me.]
"The semantics don't matter, wow could you—"
And all of a sudden, Bernard's eyes slightly turned wide as his breaths momentarily stopped.
"...Don't tell me it's a RAT?"
[He is a Random Anomalous Type, Whiteking. That is also why I did not notice his existence—he is even the one to greet me first, so polite, that one.]
"Wait, wait… A world-ending RAT is on our Earth right now?" Each of Bernard's breaths became heavier than the last.
[Please stop calling it RAT.]
"This is serious, Anna! Restrict all dimensional travel until I turn it on again!"
[Very well.]
"And don't let our agents leave until this matter is resolved!"
[But tomorrow is a holiday, Whiteking.]
"I don't care! And also…
…find me Hannah!"
And with that, Bernard left the room—meeting Hannah a few minutes later, who seemed to be having a date with some—Wait.
His rebellious and loud-mouthed daughter…
…on a date?
***
"Wait… It's you!"
Back in the present, Bernard just came to realize the identity of the masked man floating in front of him.
"Of course…" Even with his helmet on, it was obvious that Bernard has a look of disbelief on his face right now, "...My mind was a little busy then, but it makes sense that only someone weird from another universe would actually date my daughter."
"So, you also share Bernard Ross's stupidity when it comes to his family."
"...Who are you?" Bernard very carefully started circling around Riley, "And why did you come to my universe?"
"An open door is a sign of welcoming people…" Riley shrugged as he followed Bernard with his eyes, "...is what I read somewhere. Your portal was open, so I entered it before the Hannah of your universe could close it."
"Damn it… of course, it would be her," Bernard groaned in frustration, "Who are you?"
"Darkday."
"..." Bernard immediately scanned Anna's database to search for a similar name and occurrence, but nothing came up, "That sounds like a supervillain's name. Are you human?"
"Correct on both, Bernard Ross," Riley nodded.
"Since you know a lot of things about me and my daughter, then you must be close to our variants in your universe."
"I was adopted to the family, Bernard Ross," Riley revealed casually, "Please don't tell the Hannah of this world, she seems to like me. It would hurt her feelings."
"...Shit," Bernard Ross did not really even doubt Riley's words. After all, the only way Riley could get that much information from them is that he is family—if so…
"...You need to die."
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om