CHAPTER 168: CHAPTER 168: TIMING

"Are we still in the same dimension?"

The members of the Baby Crew couldn’t believe their eyes at all. Just a few moments ago, they were sneaking out of the Ross penthouse, making sure to keep quiet as they got into the elevator. When Hannah told them that Bernard had a workshop where he stocks up all of his trinkets and inventions, they thought it would just be some sort of... storage area.

But no. It didn’t even look like they were outside at all. And since they were already in the Ber months, Albert had already changed the lush, green nature theme into a white, snowy, and endless plain. The vapor fuming out of everyone’s mouth made it all seem so real. Well, the chill slicing through their skin was already enough to make it real.

"A-ayo..." Bella hugged her arms, wildly brushing them as she tried her best to stay warm. "Y-you ain’t tell me it’s Christmas here. I’m literally in my undies."

"Who told you to just stay in your panties?! Riley’s literally fucking here!" Hannah screamed at her, gesturing toward Riley, who didn’t seem to care at all.

"Huh? He one of the homies." Bella completely brushed Hannah off and just continued to step into the workshop. "Wh---Fuck!"

Before Bella could even start exploring the vast underground, however, a figure suddenly blocked her path. She jumped back, quickly covering her legs and then running to hide behind Gracey.

"You ain’t tell me there’s an old man here!" she bellowed. Hannah, however, only laughed at her. Hannah approached the old man, placing her hand on his shoulder before shaking her head.

"This here’s Albert," she said in a weird Southern accent for some random reason. "He’s an android. You don’t need to hide—no, wait. Fucking hide your junk, girl!"

"A robot?!" Gracey stepped forward, causing Bella to almost trip behind her. "You have a synthetic butler?! You guys literally live inside a novel! And you named him Albert, too?!"

"I see you have brought some friends with you, Lady Hannah." Albert, despite Gracey being right at his face, only took a step back and bowed his head at her. "How are you, young masters?"

"Y-young master?!" Gracey echoed, her voice extremely high-pitched and almost trembling. "He... he called us young masters! O-oh... oh my god. Can I keep him?!"

"He’s not a pet, Gracey." Hannah pulled Gracey away from Albert before facing him. "And yes, Riley and I did bring some friends over."

"At three o’clock in the morning," Albert whispered. "I am assuming you want this out of the record?"

"You know me too well, kind sir." Hannah curtsied, and Albert bowed in response.

"Very well," he said. He then looked at the members of the Baby Crew one by one, smiling at them before turning his focus on Riley. "Master Riley."

"Mr. Albert."

"What can I do for all of you this morning?" Albert asked, and Riley only looked at Hannah in response.

"Sister will take all the responsibilities today, Mr. Albert," Riley said without hesitation. "Ask her."

"Of course. I see that Lady Hannah will be taking the blame this time around. How times have truly changed." Albert smiled at Hannah. "I remember her always pointing the blame at you."

"Wait... what?" Gracey glanced back at Hannah, her lips and eyebrows curling in disgust. "You... push the blame on your autistic little brother?"

"W-what?!" Hannah awkwardly chuckled, subtly motioning for Albert to go away. "I... I never did that!"

"That is false," Albert quickly said. "Your reasoning was that because of Master Riley’s disability, your parents would be more lenient with him, or even shrug it off. Of course, you were proven right the entire—"

"H-ha! Haha! We don’t really need help at the moment!" Hannah flew toward Albert, covering his mouth before he could tattle further. She then gently dragged him away, but her eyes were not at all. "What’s up? Why are you snitching on me?" she whispered.

"Oh, that was not my intention, Lady Hannah," Albert chuckled, his voice resounding in the air clearly even with his mouth covered. "I was merely trying to lighten up the mood, as requested by Master Riley. Very well, I will leave you and your friends alone."

And with that, Albert walked away to the side of the workshop.

Hannah returned to the Baby Crew, and all of them were looking at her suspiciously. Of course, she just laughed at this and then glared at Riley like everything was his fault.

Riley, however, didn’t acknowledge Hannah at all and was focusing on Albert instead. And then, with a small nod, he left the Baby Crew and approached the android instead.

The others weren’t really paying attention, however, as Hannah clapped her hands and started the tour of the workshop. Even V was completely distracted by everything around her, she wasn’t even looking at Riley like she always did.

"Mr. Albert," Riley greeted Albert again with a bow. "How are you?"

"I am fine, Master Riley."

"That is good, Mr. Albert," Riley whispered, nodding as he glanced at the Baby Crew before looking Albert in the eyes. Albert returned his gaze, squinting for a moment before opening his mouth and nodding.

"I suppose you also want to ask how our other friends are, Master Riley?" Albert also lowered his voice, even leaning closer to Riley and subtly glancing at Hannah and the others to make sure they weren’t looking at them.

"Please, follow me."

Albert adjusted his coat and then walked in the opposite direction from where the rest were heading. Riley quietly followed behind him, walking close to the elevator, but then turning to the left toward the wall where a holographic image of a large snowman was plastered on the wall.

And Albert, well, he didn’t stop walking at all, even as he was right in front of the wall... because there was no need to at all, as his feet just went through the wall, followed by his entire body.

Riley also didn’t flinch and walked through the wall and into a dark tunnel.

And surprisingly enough, even the tunnel was in line with the theme of the entire workshop. It looked like a cave, and even had stalactites and chunks of ice adorning the ceilings and the walls.

The two continued to walk deeper into the tunnel for exactly five minutes until they reached a steel door. Albert raised his hand, and his index finger started to collapse and morph into the shape of a key.

And a key it truly was, as he used his finger to unlock the door.

"Inside here, Master Riley," Albert said as he opened the door, stepping to the side and gesturing to Riley to enter. Riley only nodded in response, entering the room with a loud sigh escaping his wide lips.

There was only a single object in that room—a suit.

A sleek, white, and red armor, with large, oversized pauldrons that seemed to hover in the air.

"One of your father’s abandoned suits, and also the most powerful one," Albert explained as he stepped inside. "I believe he made this a year after he came back from his deployment. I do not know what he intended with it, as he married Lady Diana before he could even wear the armor once."

"Interesting," Riley whispered, tilting his head to the side as he stared at the armor. Unlike Whiteking’s current armor, which looked and felt more like a full armored suit with no seams at all, this armor was screaming technology.

From the floating pauldrons, the large over-extended belt that obviously had a ton of gadgets attached to it, and the pointed... legs.

Yes. The greaves were pointing down and would clearly make it hard to stand up—or perhaps that was the goal.

This armor was not intended to stand on the ground at all.

"It is, Master Riley." Albert nodded. "It is a shame that the master has not even visited this room even once after storing it away. I think his entire name even came from this armor. A shame. I believe he called it—"

"Boss!"

Before Albert could finish his mini tour guide, a dark figure suddenly stepped out from the shadows.

Darkday. Or rather, Darkday One.

And he wasn’t alone, no. There was a slightly chubby girl beside him, wearing a completely normal set of clothes, which made it look like Darkday One just picked her up from the street.

The girl had long orange hair, and her eyes were extremely green.

If it weren’t for her weight and chubby cheeks, Riley would not have recognized who she was—December.

"S-sorry, Boss..." Darkday One forced out a chuckle, scratching his helmet as he stepped forward. "There was a problem in our... network, and I couldn’t reach you."

"It was my fault, One." Riley shook his head. "I was being overstimulated by all the replicas and had to switch it off."

"Understandable," Darkday One whispered, nodding his head before pointing at December. "I brought Champion here to get a suit and a mask of her own."

"Champion?"

"Oh, that’s the name she chose for herself."

"Interesting. And has Champion already chosen an outfit for herself?" Riley glanced at Champion.

"Not yet. The timing was... not ideal."

"Very well," Riley nodded before turning around.

"Wait here, I shall be the one to choose for you."