“No, it can’t be...” Richard choked on his words. “Emily? You’re behind all of this?!”

“Bingo!” Emily winked at him with a grin.

“But...” Richard hesitated, trying to comprehend everything.

His guardian took him in, cared for him, and loved him like a parent, but ended up deceiving him? He found it hard to believe she, of all people, was the mastermind.

“Why are you doing this? Didn’t you hate those scientists?”

“More like I didn’t want you to get involved in our projects. I figured you weren’t ready to know and work alongside us just yet.” Emily squinted her eyes. “And I’m still mad at you for breaking your promise and leaving without even telling me.”

“I know, but...”

“Although, because my team and I tracked you down, I found the resources in this city to be quite useful. I didn’t have to worry about my plans being put on hold. So, I have to thank you for that at least.”

“But why? I thought you loved your job!”

“Oh please, I couldn’t stand working at that clinic!” Emily snapped. “Helping all of those people, getting to know them, only to watch them die from sickness or old age...” She lowered her head and calmed down. “More would arrive, and the whole aspect would repeat. You wouldn’t know what it’d be like at a young age, which is why I waited all this time until you got older.” She explained sinisterly, glancing back up at Richard.

“I don’t believe this...” Richard muttered, shaking his head again.

“With the scientist's help, I concocted the perfect formula to stay alive forever without having to worry about death,” Emily explained, pacing around him. “No one will have to feel sorrow from their loved ones passing or dying ever again. Think about it, we can have a world without having to worry about death, misery, and criminals. Even if someone were to disobey our beliefs, we can make them change for the better.”

“I don’t...”

“Join me, Richard. Together with you at my side, we can sell these vials and become rich and powerful, more than anyone in the world! Everyone will acknowledge and appreciate you, more than anyone had ever given you in the past. You can get back at your family for what they’ve done to you.” She extended her hand. “What do you say?”

Wait, how does she know about what my family’s done for me?

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He had no clue what happened to him before getting knocked out. He knew Emily found and took him in many years ago. Then again, the last thing Richard saw before falling into darkness was the mansion burning to the ground. Unless he tumbled down the hill. But why would...? No, she didn’t. She couldn’t.

“No, I don’t want to be a part of this nonsense. Everything about this is wrong.”

“Oh? Well then, are you going to try and kill me then?”

“Yes, this is it!” Fawn exclaimed, getting fired up. “This is our chance to get back at her for everything she’s done. Let’s do this and kill her!”

“...I’m not doing it,” Richard muttered.

“What?” Fawn questioned, letting her guard down.

“I can’t bring myself to kill her.”

“Aw, it seems like you’re troubled by something.” Emily cooed. “Why don’t I ease you of your pain?” Her tone grew sinister as she pulled out syringes from her case and charged towards him.

Emily threw the syringes in his direction, but Richard dodged every one of them. She used the needles as a sword, but he tried his hardest to steer clear of her weapon of arms.

“Please don’t do this!” Richard cried.

“How about you stand still?” Emily thundered.

“Come on Richard, fight back!” Fawn yelled out.

“No!”

Fawn groaned and, in her desperation, went into Richard’s body to control him and force him to fight back. However, Richard struggled with his body and fought back the urge to let her take over.

“Hey, stop it! I’m trying to get the job done!”

“I don’t— Get out of my body!”

“Stop struggling or—”

Something sharp hit him in the back as he fell to the ground, changing back to a human in no time at all. Using the struggle and distraction as a golden opportunity, Emily injected Richard with one of her potent concoctions.

“You don’t need to worry any longer about—”

A thrown smoke bomb appeared in the vicinity as Emily coughed and covered her mouth. As she tried swiping the smoke away, a sword came into view as she blocked the impact with her arms. Emily pushed the opposing figure away. Once the smoke cleared, Reginald stepped closer and glared at her.

“Huh? How’d you get here?” She asked.

“That doesn’t matter.” Reginald scoffed, brushing his hair to the side. “What matters is I’m going to get revenge on what you did to my family.”

“It’s just like you rich snobs to think only about yourselves,” Emily said with a sneer.

“I don’t want to hear it from you!”

Reginald leaped in the air to strike at Emily, but she blocked it off with her arm, causing the blade to shatter. He skidded across the floor and looked over, his mouth gaped open.

“I never told you what else I had done in the past.” Emily taunted. She ripped off the shirt sleeve to reveal her bionic arm. “I had to make a lot of sacrifices to get this far and make this possible!”

Emily extended her arm and gave Reginald an uppercut, knocking him back against the walls. Richard groaned and opened his eyes. He tried to get up and stand, but his body ached, handling the after-effects of the needle injection.

“No, Reginald!” He cried. “Emily, please, you don’t have to do this!”

Emily’s face softened upon glancing at him.

Oh no, the injection wasn’t supposed to...

A blunt force hit her in the back of the head as she tumbled onto the ground. When getting up, Emily turned to face Claudia, standing over her with a suitcase in her hands.