"Nice to finally meet you."

"..."

"..."

Silence. There have been many instances in Hera's life in which only silence prevailed in the airshe had shot many scenes like it too. It helped build up the suspense in films to let the audience feel how intense the situation was.

And now, definitely, Hera's entire body was vibrating internally; it does so whenever it tries to adapt to the situation at hand. Her feet, slightly digging to the floor as her flesh and muscles became exponentially denser with each passing millisecond. There have only been certain instances of this happening;

One was when she hugged the nuclear bomb that the House of Super set off.

And the other was whenever Darkday makes an appearance.

But right now, it was as clear as day to her who her body was reacting to.

The Pirate Queen Xra.

As she had seen in the hologram, everything about her screamed 'vampire'. Her skin was pale, paler than even Riley's to the point it seemed somewhat grey. It wasn't shown in the hologram, but her jet-black hair was long enough that it draped on the metal floors. Even her clothes seemed like what one would expect an old-school vampire would wearshe wore a white frilly shirt that covered her obviously endowed bosom, which was made even more obvious by the black corset she was wearing. All of this was topped with a long wine-colored coat with frills on its ends, then a leather skirt that just went above her knees, revealing just a slight snippet of her pale thighs before being covered by a pair of black, somewhat metallic-plated boots.

The 6 people behind her also all looked equally uniquelike a real pirate crew that you would find in one of those anime about pirates trying to search for a single piece of treasure. Still, Hera couldn't focus on anyone else but Xra. How could she not stare at her filled with vigilance after she just bit off the head of a tiny version of Riley?

"..." Hera then turned her eyes to Riley, who was still hovering inches from the floor, even more eerily silent than he usually was as he looked at his headless miniature clone.

After a few more moments of this, Riley finally returned Xra's glare; the two, just staring into each other's eyes like they have known each other for a very long time.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hok!"

This silence, however, was suddenly broken as Xra started coughing vehemently. And the little clone's blood that almost everyone expected to spew out from her lips did not shower out; instead, a cloud of orange dust and some crystal shavings of the same color fumed from her mouth.

And almost at the same time, Little Riley's body also crumbled into ashes, dripping away from Xra's hand forever.

"Curses!" Xra then screamed as she wiped her lips. Her crew, slightly chuckling as they watched their captain trying her best to stay in composure,

"I knew the little rat tasted weird in my mouth as soon as I smelled him."

"I already told you it wasn't an organic being when we ran him through the scan, Captain." The one that spoke was a one-eyed woman with golden skin, a race that Hera and Riley have seen several times back in Febuvanir. And judging by how close she was standing behind Xra and how similar the color of their clothes was, she seemed to be her second-in-command,

"Perhaps if you listen to our council for once, things will work out for the bestfor all of us, Captain."

"You have a lot to say for someone that's just supposed to be standing behind me menacingly, Alindor" Xra slightly raised the corner of her lip as she looked behind her, revealing one of her fangs as she scoffed,

"My grand entrance is already sabotaged. Stop adding to my disappointment further, you imbecile."

"Of course, Captain." Even with Xra's harsh words, Alindor didn't seem to mind as she just bowed her head and calmly took a step back. The other 6 that were with her, just shaking their heads and sighing.

"Now, where were we?" And almost as if acting like nothing happened, Xra's eyes once again became that of a hawk that has already set on its prey,

"Riley Ross. You seem to be having fun with all the attention you have been receiving. And I usually do not mind, nor do I care about the trivialities of other"

"You betrayed him, Miss Moira."

"..." And before Xra could finish her words, she was cut off by Riley. And what's worse is that he wasn't even looking at her, but at the blue-skinned woman wearing a large cowboy hat that was at the outermost left of the crew behind her.

"I" Moira didn't really know whether she should respond or not, as all the eyes of her comrades and even her captain was on her. Luckily for her, she didn't need to say anything as Riley continued to talk.

"Little Riley would surely be sad the next time I make him," Riley let out a small breath as he shook his head, "It was also the first time that he was moving beyond and without my orders, I felt his disappointment even before Pirate Queen Shakira's ship swallowed ours

you were his first friend."

"I didn't betray him!" Moira stepped forward; the light that was veiling Xra, now spotting toward her, "Although I've only known him for an hour, it felt like"

"Shakira?"

And all of a sudden, Moira found her face touching the cold metal floor. And it wasn't only her, the rest of her comrades were now all groveling on the floor; including Hera and Nana.

The only ones that were left standing were Xra, and Riley, who was no longer hovering inches in the air.

"..." Riley's eyes slowly started to squint as he felt himself being forcefully dragged down; his eyes, staring at his feet that were now touching the floor. It wasn't just simple telekinesis, no.

Riley was feeling his insides turning and movinglike how one feels the first time one rides a rollercoaster, the feeling of your organs being left behind as the g-force slaps your entire being.

"I assume you control blood, Captain Shaki"

"It's Xra!"

"..." Riley blinked a couple of times as a minute, quiet patter whispered in the air. He once again turned his head toward the floor, only to see droplets of blood dripping to the floor; the blood, profusely trailing from his nose almost endlessly.

"That is what I said, Captain Shakira," Riley, however, just casually returned Xra's glare; not even bothering to wipe or clean his face, "If I am mispronouncing it, then you have my apologies. My name has been mispronounced a couple of times lately as well. I know the feeling."

"You dare spout your lies to me, Rayla Rox?" Xra smirked as she slightly turned her head upward, "See? How does that feel!?"

"I do not mind, Captain Shakira. It is normal for others to mispronounce someone else's name."

"So, you're saying I'm the abnormal one?"

"...No," Riley could not help but tilt his head, pondering how Xra suddenly came to that conclusion, "You are a very weird individual, as expected of the most wanted being in the univer"

And before Riley could finish his words, his vision suddenly shiftedthe scenery in front of him, now the outside of the Bloodcruiser in full view.

"..." He turned to look at his chest, only to see his outfit slightly wriggling as his torso was recovering from it caving in almost instantly. He had his telekinetic barrier on.

'You are a very sick, sick man; even for my standards.'

"Hm" Riley then looked at Xra, who was just casually floating in front of him; the smirk on her face, still very much alive. Her mouth even as she spoke, however, did not move one bit.

Instead, there was a whisper in his mind. Riley was used to hearing such things, but this was the first time that he was hearing a different voicePirate Queen Xra's voice.

'Curious?'

Xra's voice once again whispered in Riley's mind, 'Are you wondering how I can invade your mind even though you are supposed to be immune to such?'

'A little,' Riley hummed as he responded with his mind, 'I will kill everyone. Stop. I will kill you. Behave. I will end everything. Stop. I want to watch people bleed to death. Stop.'

'I can barely hear your thoughts from the rest of the carnage in your mind. Just where did they make someone like you?' Xra thought as she looked at Riley from head to toe; the two of them, their hair that was aimlessly shaping in space, almost an inverted reflection of one another.

'Earth, fertilized by the help of both my mothers. I will kill all the other Themarians once I arrive on Theran. Can Pirate Queen Shakira bleed out? What will happen if I insert and inject all of her crew's blood inside her, will she get stronger or explode? Am I going to die here? Am I finally going to die? Is she going to die? Die. Die. Die.'

'You you weren't doing it on purpose,' Xra's eyes started to twitch; as even in Riley's mind, her name was mispronounced,

'...You really should learn how to control your thoughts.'

'Break her neck.'

And as soon as that thought escaped Riley's mind, Xra's head violently swung to the side; even with the dead silence of space, it seemed like one could hear her neck snapping.

'Over? Is it over? Is she dead just like that? I will torture the rest of her crew now, then.'

'...'

'...'

'No.' And even with her neck clearly broken, another smirk crawled on Xra's face as her eyes never once broke contact with Riley, 'And yes

I am dead. I have been for a very long time.'