Villain Retirement

218 Chapter 218: Signal Not Found

Alistair Reuben– the person that practically jump-started technology as we know it today. He was a father to a single son and a grandfather. The life of his son and his family, however, were snuffed out as Darkday started wreaking havoc as he fought Megawoman.

Alistair Reuben was a dying man. But because of this event, his vigor once again exploded– bringing along with it a certain obsessive madness. An obsession in trying to find and kill Darkday.

And so, with his almost unlimited supply of money, he conjured up a plan– a plan that was only possible for one that had his wealth. And his plan started when Darkday returned Megawoman's body to the government.

Using his connections, he harvested a sample of Megawoman's DNA– using it to gain her powers and become younger. And as if that wasn't enough, he killed everyone that worked on the serum as he did not want it to be used by anyone else.

And then, in his fit of insanity, his attention came upon a young man. A young man who looked different than anyone else, who was different than everyone else.

An albino with high-functioning autism.

He created this idea in his mind that someone that unique could only be Darkday. But this was not the only reason, however.

Jealousy.

He was jealous of Bernard Ross, aka Whiteking. He was jealous of his youth, jealous of his intellect that far surpassed him; jealous of the limelight he was receiving as one of the most famous superheroes in the entire world.

And so, using his resources, he tasked his people to forge a video that would make his sick fantasies a reality. This was easy for him. After all, he was considered the Father of Technology.

Making it look as if Riley Ross was Darkday– and even using a state-of-the-art voice alteration software to make it look as if Bernard himself confessed to his son being Darkday.

This, however, was not even the icing on the cake.

As if it was not enough to frame an innocent child– he tried to prey on a woman not even a quarter of his age. The woman being none other than Bernard's other child, Hannah Ross.

Alistair approached Hannah with the intention of trying to sleep with her. Hannah tried to stay away from his advances, but he continued until he found a moment of weakness. This was easy for someone like Alistair; after all, he contained all of Hannah's data– down to her phone conversations.

Thankfully, he was unsuccessful in doing so as his strange demeanor and weirdness caused Hannah to push him away.

And then, for the finale.

Alistair Reuben was responsible for the monsters that have suddenly emerged from all over the globe… desecrating Megawoman's legacy even further as the monsters themselves came from the reserved DNA he bought from the Government.

And when it was time for the final act of his revenge– he hacked V's mecha suit, causing it to haywire in order for it to kill Riley… the result of this, however, was the tragic loss of London; the tragic loss of millions of lives.

And if it was not for Riley Ross himself containing and stopping V's raging powers, then perhaps the damage would have been throughout the entire country. But seeing that Riley survived, Alistair attacked him in a blind rage– with Riley coming out as the victor.

Where Riley's power came from was no longer a secret as well.

Riley Ross was the biological child of Ms. Phoenix– the strongest recorded telekinetic super recorded. As for why Riley was under the care of the Ross family, however, was still unclear.

What is clear, however, was that Alistair Reuben was a sick man. A man that lost his mind when his family died because of Darkday– perhaps one would feel a sort of pity for him because of this fact…

…but with the rumors of Alistair also being responsible for the existence of the Dark Millenium, all of that went away. It was not clear or implied, but Prophet's death may have also been forged by Alistair because he discovered his connection with the Dark Millenium.

And thus, ends the story that Whiteking had shown to the world. There were videos, secret documents, and even witnesses that came forward.

All of these were, of course, fake. The videos were all edited, the secret documents were forged, and the witnesses don't exist. They were all made by Whiteking in the span of hours as soon as he woke up from the deep ocean of dismay he found himself in.

Whiteking did not have any superpowers– but even with this fact, Bulwark, who had lived for a couple of millennia, considered him the most dangerous man on the planet. He was, as his name implied a King.

A King that erased existences– leaving only a white canvas where he controlled everything. Painting the life of a man that does not even exist; or covering a man's entire legacy and filling it with nothing but shit.

Whiteking was capable of that.

And so, weeks passed after the incident. And in the minds of the people, the possibility of Riley Ross being Darkday was almost completely gone. But of course… there were still a few people that were not convinced of Riley's innocence…

…but right now, as of this very moment– Riley was only being tried for multiple homicides. His sentence could have been reduced if the individuals that died were only the prisoners since most were already a lifer– but some guards and prison staff were also killed during Riley's blind rampage.

The masses that were sure that Riley was not Darkday, however, were once again split. Some are saying that he should only be charged with manslaughter– a few even taking the angle of self-defense. Some, however, are saying that murder is murder no matter what and that he should be tried like any other person.

And so, once again– everyone's eyes were on Riley Ross. His trial once again turned into an event that the whole world watched.

"Upon consideration of the relevant evidence, the testimony exhibits in mitigation– it is the judgment of this court that the aggravated circumstances…"

The whole world watched as Riley once again stood in defence– this time, truly in front of the law. Silvie and the others were there, serving as a witness to the unruly and almost inhumane way that the people of the prison treated them.

There was also Katherine– who was physically tortured by the interrogator and guards. There was, of course, evidence of this as what happened was all caught in the prison's surveillance systems; and surprisingly, none were destroyed even though the prison was almost lost to ruin.

Once again, the people were outraged– with some now even saying that what happened to the prison was justified and that Riley Ross should be set free; putting the judge in a somewhat difficult position as the juries seemed to have a sway in emotions.

But even taking everything into consideration, Riley still killed innocent people.

"The jury finds the defendant…

…guilty."

And the sentence for murder in the United Kingdom was…

"This court is going to impose… a life sentence–"

"Fuck you! Fuck–"

The entire courtroom erupted as soon as the verdict was called– almost literally as Hannah's entire body started to trickle with flames. Before any fire could combust, however, Bernard pulled Hannah down back to her seat, restraining her with the help of Bulwark, who was also there as a witness.

"L… let go of me, you useless fu–"

"Order in the court! Order in the court!"

It was not only in the courtroom that the people started to let out their gasps. Even on the internet, people were voicing out their opinions to the point that one could almost hear them actually arguing from their screens.

How could they not, when someone of Riley's strength only had one destination– the most secure facility in the entire world, Russia's Super Maximum Prison. There would have also been a chance that he would be sent to another softer prison… but he just destroyed that one in half.

Some were arguing that Riley should be put in a mental institution instead– but an insane Super who committed a crime is treated the same as any other Super criminals.

And so, with a process that took almost an entire month, not even letting anyone celebrate the New Year's…

…Riley was sent to prison.

Hannah tried to fight, of course– even wanting to cause mayhem so that she would also be put in prison. But alas, she was confined by Whiteking inside the Hope Guild's base; not even getting the chance to say goodbye to her brother.

It was not only her, however, that did not get this chance. The same day the verdict was placed upon him was the last time that any of the Ross saw him– even his parents; this was to prevent any thoughts of escape, especially considering the position of Whiteking in society.

"..."

"...Who the fuck is that white cunt?"

"Look at that, they brought someone tied up again."

"What do you think he did?"

"Who the fuck cares– he's probably a serial rapist like the last guy."

And soon, the opinions of the masses outside were replaced by the opinions of those that were inside– inside the prison that would be Riley's home…

…until he dies.

***

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[.....No longer detecting Alistair A. Reuben's Vital Signs: Activating MEGAN's Contingency Phase.]

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