Riley Ross-Chapter 183: Law Abiding Citizen

"Are you comfortable? Do you need anything?"

"I am comfortable, Policewoman. I do not need anything at the moment."

"Okay, I got you."

Riley was inside a small room, with Bernard and Diana seated beside him. Since Riley was a minor, a guardian was required. Unfortunately for the police officers, this made their lives harder than they should have been.

"I, and every one of you, know how ridiculous this is," Diana complained to the detective, standing up from her chair and walking around the interrogation room. "I thought we had laws for this. Villains lose their rights. They—"

"Let them do their jobs, honey." Bernard followed behind him, trying to stop her from walking around but failing to do so.

"They wouldn’t’ve had to do their jobs if you’d done yours."

And as soon as Diana said that and jabbed her finger at Bernard’s chest, the police officer took it as a cue to leave the room, lest she wanted to incur the wrath along with him.

"I told you, this is just protocol. Why don’t you have a seat? You’re making Riley more nervous."

"I am not nervous at all, Father."

Bernard quickly glared at Riley, almost as if quietly telling him to work with him there. But alas, Riley misunderstood his gaze and even raised his thumb to confirm that he was truly fine.

Fortunately for Bernard, that seemed to work somehow, and Diana managed to calm herself down, dragging her chair closer to Riley and sitting right next to him. She looked at Riley’s hand to hold, but Riley shook his head to tell her he didn’t want to be touched.

And so, Diana only smiled at him... but then she gasped when Riley placed his hand on hers instead.

She didn’t want to show any emotion, deciding to just look ahead. Because if she were to glance at Riley now, she was sure she would start crying.

Bernard saw that, and he couldn’t help but raise a thumb at Riley. In just one move, he was able to pacify Diana.

And soon, two people entered the room.

"Hello. I hope all of you are having a good day. Parents. Mr. Riley Ross." The first to step forward was a woman, who placed a folder on the table before reaching her hand out to Bernard and Diana, shaking their hands firmly as she introduced herself. She didn’t bother shaking her hand to Riley, and only smiled at her as she had already reviewed his profile.

Instead, she just waved at him as she introduced herself.

"My name’s Clarissa, and I’m from the office of the District Attorney," she placed her hand on her chest, not removing her smile at all. She then turned to the man beside him.

"And I’m sure you’ve already met Mr. Rogers, Director of MSP’s Superhuman Crimes Division."

"We’ve met." Diana only glanced at Rogers, and he quickly averted his eyes as far away as possible.

"Before we start, will you be introducing a family legal counsel?" Clarissa asked.

"No," Bernard answered. "We would like to keep this as direct and personal as possible."

"We’ll be watching closely," and Diana followed.

Clarissa didn’t seem to mind this tension at all, however, and just casually sat down in front of the family without her smile fading. In fact, she didn’t even heed Diana and Bernard and just focused on Riley.

"I’m sure you want to go home now, right?" she asked while removing papers from her folder.

"No, Ms. Clarissa."

Her hands stopped, however, as soon as she saw how fast and blunt Riley answered her. Still, the smile on her face didn’t fade.

"Well, then let’s get you somewhere else other than this boring place." She chuckled. "I’m going to ask you some questions, okay? And you just need to answer them as honestly as you can. Can you do that, Mr. Riley?"

"Yes, Ms. Clarissa."

"Okay. And don’t mind the big man here," she said while patting Rogers’s arm several times. "He’s just here to observe for now. But he’ll also be asking you questions later. Is that alright with you?"

"Do what you have to do. I am a law-abiding citizen, Ms. Clarissa."

"I’m very glad to hear that, Mr. Riley." Clarissa nodded, chuckling as she grabbed her pen. "The man you fought, he’s not a good citizen, right?"

"He is not a citizen at all, Ms. Clarissa. He is dead."

"Riley, that’s not what—"

"Mommy." Clarissa calmly extended her palm at Diana before she could say what she wanted. "Please let Riley answer by himself."

Diana’s eyes narrowed for a moment, but she leaned back and relaxed, choosing to trust Riley instead.

"Yes. He is now deceased," Clarissa said, turning her focus back to Riley while writing something on her paper. "And how did he die?"

"I killed him, Ms. Clarissa."

Clarissa’s pen completely stopped, and the ink started to accumulate on the paper as she glanced at Riley. She then looked at Bernard and Diana, only to see them with their eyes closed.

"When you killed him, did you think that you were still in danger from him?" Clarissa continued. "Did you think he could still hurt you?"

"No, Ms. Clarissa."

And with that answer, both Bernard and Diana held their breaths. Clarissa and Rogers were shocked, too, but they kept their composure and continued.

"No—as in, you knew he was no longer in the position to hurt you?"

"Yes, Ms. Clarissa."

"Hmm..." The smile on Clarissa’s face slightly twitched. She wrote something on her paper, and then once again fully smiled at him.

"It’s okay if you don’t answer this next question in detail, okay?" Clarissa continued. "How... did you kill him?"

"I was strangling him from behind, and due to unforeseen and inside interference, I lost control of my ability, Ms. Clarissa."

"Inside interference?" Clarissa’s eyebrows rose as she glanced at Rogers, who shook his head and subtly shrugged. "What do you mean by inside interference, Mr. Riley? Don’t you mean outside?"

"No, Ms. Clarissa," Riley quickly said, shaking his head as he pointed his finger in his left ear. "Someone was inside my head."

"Like... you heard a voice inside your head?"

"No. Ms. Anastasia was inside my head and moving around my brain, Ms. Clarissa."

"Wh—"

Before Clarissa could say anything else, the pen in her hand was dragged across the paper as the table suddenly shifted down to the side. Specifically, lowering at the side where Diana was seated.

Whatever that was, Clarissa chose to turn her focus back to Riley.

"Anastasia. I believe this is the size shifter you were fighting? You’re saying she was inside your brain?" Clarissa said, her eyebrows lowering. After all, looking at Riley right now, he was no bigger than her own son.

"Yes, Ms. Clarissa."

"Then I don’t think there’s anymore need for questioning." The smile on Clarissa’s face widened as she started packing up her things. She then finally turned her focus back to Bernard and Diana.

"Parents, I believe it would be best for you to make an appeal to the Academy to release the videos the students captured with their devices to the police," she said. "If one of the footage captured Anastasia climbing in or out of Mr. Riley’s ear, then there would be no need to drag this circus any further." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Oh," Diana sighed in relief. "Good. This is good."

"Honestly, just between us in this room, this entire thing’s just a show." Clarissa waved her hand. "No one in their right mind would actually convict a child for protecting himself inside his school. Just the politics of it all. I hope you don’t mind me saying that."

"I understand that," Diana gently said, and Bernard just gave her a confused look. But of course, he looked away soon enough.

Clarissa then turned to Rogers.

"Mr. Rogers, do you have any questions to ask Mr. Riley?"

Rogers, who had been quiet the entire time, clasping both his hands on the table and leaned forward.

"Only one," he said, staring Riley in the eyes, who didn’t return his gaze at all and just looked at his clasped hands instead.

"Did you think it was necessary to put the criminal in a headlock, even after the obvious fact that he could no longer fight back?"

"Yes, sir Rodgers."

"Why?"

"Because he seemed important to Ms. Anastasia. I believe Ms. Anastasia is well above me in terms of experience and overall combat ability, and therefore chose to target her weakness, which at the time was the deceased. Killing him was fully accidental, but the intent to subdue was not, Mr. Rogers."

"Hm..." Rogers nodded, and then just stood up and was the first to step out of the room without saying anything else. As for Clarissa, she just waved at Riley with a smile on her face as she said goodbye.

"I think you’ll be released soon," she said while heading to the door. "Just wait for them to—"

Before she could finish her words, however, several police officers entered the room, almost pushing him aside.

She looked at Roger,s who was outside, and he seemed as confused as she.

"We have an arrest order issued under Article 7A, Use of Excessive Force." One of the officers said, but not daring to meet anyone’s eyes at all. "Riley Q. Ross, you’re under arrest for involuntary manslaughter. You have the right to remain—"

"What?!" Clarisse quickly moved in front of Riley, tossing her papers as she looked at the officers of the station.

"What do you mean?!" Clarissa raised her voice for the first time. "You no longer have authority here—this is an active SCD investigation! And even if you do somehow have your hands on this, Riley falls under juvenile court and is entitled to protective detainment, not arrest! This is ridiculous! What even is your ground here?"

"I’m sorry, Ma’am. We’re just... following orders," the officer said hesitantly.

"We’re acting under direct order from the Mayor’s office."