Villain Retirement

emy.

"That's what you get for being ugly af!"

A roar then thundered in the air, completely interrupting Sandra's thoughts. Gary, who was still on top of the flower iceberg, started howling as he pounded his chest several times. And after doing this for a couple more beats, he started to slide down across the ice, rolling on the sand as he landed before doing some sort of complicated pose.

"The Dragon Monarch has dealt with the Patriarch of the 8-Legged Sea Pavilion."

"...What?" Sandra could only blink her eyes a couple of times as Gary landed right in front of her.

"Do not worry, the Dragon Monarch has saved the day," Gary then swung his arms randomly as he changed his pose, "Fear is onl–"

"Why are you talking like you did all of this on your own?" A sizzle then whispered in the air as Hannah also landed near Sandra; the lines of her body, still letting out fumes, "This is a team effort, a team effort."

"We did well, right?" Silvie then also landed, slightly blowing the sands beneath her feet, "Even though the Academy didn't really train us to fight together… we're successful because of your plan."

"As I said, it's a team effort," Hannah just waved her hand as Silvie approached her, "If anything… you could have probably defeated this monster on your own," she then muttered as she tapped the flower iceberg.

"...Could I?"

"With the right tactics."

"I probably could have also defeated this on my own," Gary breathed out.

"...Right," Hannah, however, only squinted her eyes away from him,

"Anyway, if anyone should be getting merit, it should be Tomoe," she then said as she pointed at Tomoe, who was slowly descending from the skies with Riley, "I knew you could probably do it, but I didn't think it would be this huge."

"H… hm," Tomoe only let out a small hum as her feet touched the sand. However, not even a second after the soles of her feet became flat, her legs instantly gave in.

"Tomoe!" Silvie, however, quickly caught her.

"I… I can't even move anymore, sorry," Tomoe muttered; her breaths, almost completely sedated. Her already pale face, even paler.

"But… if credit needs to be given, then it should be towards Master Riley. He… held the ice in the air so I could just focus on growing the icicle and not worry about the burden of controlling it."

"Hm," the members of the Baby Crew all let out a small hum as they turned their heads towards Riley

"Yes," Riley then immediately said, "All of you would have probably died without me."

"..."

"..."

"...Let's just say that everyone did their part equally," Hannah muttered.

"...Yeah."

And so, just like that, Riley single-handedly ended the almost endless bouts of flattery the Baby Crew were passing to each other. And soon, a whistle and a whirring echoed through the skies.

"The cavalry arrives," Hannah then said as they all looked up, only to see several helicopters making their way to the street in front of the beach. And after a few seconds, she suddenly held her hair.

"F… Fuck," she whispered, "My hair is still black, someone might recognize us from earlier and took photos."

And as soon as she said that, her hair started to move on its own, squirming and slightly trembling as a sort of black chalk floated from it– turning her hair back to its natural color.

Riley's hair also once again turned back to its original white color without them noticing.

"Did you just separate… you know what, never mind," Gary could let out a small but deep breath as the black chalk floating in the air went straight to the nearest trash bin.

"They're landing… should we leave?" Silvie muttered as she looked at the descending helicopters.

"Nah."

Surprisingly, though, Hannah shook her head, "This is the first time we've truly fought a supervillain– we might as well experience what the full package of being a superhero is."

"...Hm."

"I wonder if I'll also be as mature as you once I turn 20."

"I'm not 20 yet!"

And with the members of the Baby Crew starting to bicker with one another, Sandra could not help but once again blink her eyes in disbelief.

The entire battle did not last long, not even 5 minutes. Of course, it needed to be that fast since the colossal octopus was heading towards the city… But it almost feels like the students of the Academy that were right in front of her did not seem to realize the gravity of what they just did.

"Here they come, look lively!" Hannah said as she quickly fixed her hair… only for the reporters to brush them off and rush towards Sandra.

"..."

"..."

But after a few seconds of Sandra seemingly explaining the situation, the reporters all turned their heads towards the Baby Crew.

"Wait… aren't they students from the Academy!?"

And as soon as Hannah and the others saw the reporters rushing towards them, their bodies all stood straight; ready to answer any questions that were going to be thrown at them.

"Isn't that Riley Ross!?"

They were, however, once again ignored as the reporters all ran towards Riley. Riley, however, only shook his head as he pointed towards the rest of the Baby Crew,

"I did nothing," he breathed out, "The members of the Baby Crew did most of the work."

And as soon as he said that, the heads of the reporters once again turned towards Hannah and the others; rushing towards them as they asked all sorts of questions.

More and more reporters came; Gary had a wide smile on his face almost the whole time, but as the 6th reporter approached him asking the same questions he had already answered repeatedly, his face became blank.

"I'll… I'll go check on my friend," Gary then lightly pushed away all the reporters as he rushed towards Tomoe, who refused to be interviewed as her wounds were getting tended by the medics that arrived late.

"This is a fucking mess."

In front of the flower iceberg, Hannah and Tomoe were already done talking with the press and were just admiring the aftermath of the battle. The beach they were just having fun on just earlier was now completely unrecognizable.

The putrid smell that they already got used to, all the bits and pieces of flesh scattered everywhere, the sand that was already red from all the blood; it was chaos.

"But I thought octopi have blue blood or something."

"...That's what you're thinking of right now?" Silvie could not help but chuckle, "But… with Cephalos frozen like this in dark ice… it almost looked beautiful in a way, don't you think?"

"...Really?" Hannah squinted her eyes, trying her best to see what was so beautiful with it.

"I feel bad for Tomoe," Silvie then let out a small but deep sigh as she glanced behind her, "She looks extremely exhausted… but to create something like this, who wouldn't be?" Silvie muttered as she touched the flower iceberg.

"Come to think of it… we don't really know how strong we really are," Hannah then muttered, "We've never really pushed our limits inside the Academy. You lifted one of Cephalos's tentacles like it was nothing and you even managed to hold it back…

…have you ever tried the limit of what you can actually lift?"

"I…" Silvie tilted her head to the side for a few seconds, before letting out a small breath and dropping her shoulders, "...I don't know. I haven't really tried before since it didn't seem safe."

"Hm… same," Hannah nodded.

"But speaking of limits…" Silvie then turned her head towards Riley, who was being bombarded by the reporters but had been refusing to even open his mouth for almost an hour now, "...I have never seen your brother get tired– he lifted this iceberg, right? Just how strong is he?"

"...I actually have no idea as well," Hannah shook her head with a sigh of her own, "It's actually quite scary that he had been hiding something like that without me and our parents know–"

"Ack, who knew being popular could be so tiring,"

And as the conversation of the two were about to get serious, Gary suddenly popped up between them,

"...Why are you guys even here? Don't tell me…" Gary then let out a small gasp as he looked back and forth between the flower iceberg and the two, "...you guys are thinking of rule 34!?"

"Fuck, ew. Get that weird shit out of here!"

"...Rule 34?"

"You don't need to know what that is!" Hannah quickly pushed Gary away, "Do not–"

But before she could finish her words, a whisper of a crack entered her ears.

"..." The three then all slowly turned their heads towards the quiet noise, only to see a small web of crack slowly crawling on the surface of the ice. And soon, words whispered into their ears.

"M… Mega Woman… I… I smell you…"

"What the…

…It's still alive!?"