Villain Retirement

"Could it be… you don't remember anything?"

"Re… member? The last thing I remember was– Kh!"

The sound of Hera suddenly groaning in pain whispered in the air; her hand, grasping her head as it felt like something was cracking it. Hera then once again turned to look at the corpses of the homunculi scattered and sprawled everywhere, and then towards the flash of green that V was endlessly letting out.

A… flash of light?

"...The last thing I remember was…" Hera then turned to look at Riley, who was stepping closer to her and the others, "Riley…

…Riley and I were reading a script."

"...A script?"

Tempo, Butcher, and Empress looked at each other as they heard Hera's words. V seemed to want to join in on whatever they were talking about, but since she was busy trying to completely eradicate the strongest clone, Aerith, there really was nothing she could fully hear.

"What… do you mean a script?"

Hera looked up at Tempo first, before turning her attention towards Riley, who was also staring at her for some odd reason– something he had never done before. But after a few seconds of exchanging glances at each other, Hera let out a small smirk as she finally stood up from the ground.

"It's a secret between whitey and I," Hera let out a small chuckle as she patted away the dirt on her tights, "Anyway…

…what really happened here?"

"Do you really not remember what happened, Miss Hera?" And finally, Riley spoke.

"Nah," Hera sighed as she continued to pat herself.

"The chance of your death would have been a hundred percent if Riley was not present, Hera," Butcher joined the conversation; his bald head, almost green as it reflected V's electricity, "It seems you were knocked out before more of the homunculi arrived."

"...Really?" Hera widened her eyes, 

"Damn, I guess I owe you my life now, huh whitey?" She then said, forcing a small chuckle as she once again looked at Riley.

"No, Miss Hera," Riley shook his head, "You do not owe me your life, I own it."

"...What's with that?" Hera scoffed as she once again grasped her head, "But shit… I guess I took a big one, I don't fucking remember anything about this happening at all."

"You are quite lucky, Miss Hera," Riley breathed out, "As expected of someone voicing a character from Italian Mafia Reborn."

"...Thanks? But what are we going to do with that?" Hera then pointed at V, who was still trying to eradicate Aerith, "It doesn't seem to be working."

Aerith's body was still wriggling, not from the electricity that was surging and eating away at its body, but from struggling to move– and even though everything was drowned and washed out from the bright lights that V was emitting, they could still clearly see the homunculus…

…staring at Riley.

"It will die soon," Empress, who has been keeping quiet the whole time, finally joined in on the conversation, "I think what we need to focus on is the monsters' behavior. Although we have discussed this in our previous meetings, it would seem that the monsters truly are attracted to and are hunting Riley Ross."

"I have reached the same conclusion, Miss Empress," Riley muttered as he looked at Aerith; whose eyes were still pretty much alive even as the rest of its body was being roasted, "They were made to hunt Darkday, and in the eyes of their creator, I was Darkday."

"Hm," Empress only slightly furrowed her eyebrows as she nodded, "Maybe it's possible to round them all up once and for all?"

"...You mean use the kid as bait?" Tempo let out a small breath, "Don't you think that's dangerous?"

"It is," Empress said before looking at the corpses of the homunculi scattered everywhere, "But Riley has more than proven that he is capable of dealing with a lot of them even alone."

"Yeah, but we don't know how many of them are still out there," Tempo shook his head,

"What if there is more than one of those things?" He then pointed at Aerith, "What if there were a dozen of that kind of variant out there and they all rush at Riley at the same time? What if there were a hundred? We still don't have a number on how many that crazy old guy actually made. We can't put Riley's life at risk again, boss."

Again.

The last time was with Alice, Tempo thought as the memories came rushing into his mind.

"..." Empress only looked at Butcher, before letting out a small but very deep sigh, "We can discuss the plan sometime else. First, we need to clean this up... Whiteking."

[I'm here.]

"Do you have it ready?"

[It will be there in 3 seconds.]

"Okay," Empress nodded before looking at V, "V, get ready to release it in 2… 1!"

And as soon as Empress reached the end of the countdown, the onslaught of electricity that was bombarding Aerith instantly disappeared. Tempo also disappeared from his spot, momentarily appearing beside V as both of them too, disappeared– only to once again appear near Empress and the others.

And seemingly as a testament to how stronger Aerith was than the rest of Megawoman's monster clones, her scorched body was already shedding as she slowly gathered the strength to stand up. But before even a single limb of her could fully stretch, several pillars rained down around her in a circle.

"..." Riley has seen this before– it was when they neutralized Dark Millenium. Judging from the green electricity trickling around them, they seemed to be running on a power source that was charged by V's power.

But… just what exactly are they?

Aerith… also seemed to be scared of it? Because for once, its eyes were not centered on Riley and instead looked across the pillars that surrounded it– not even moving a single step from its position.

"It's Themarian technology."

"Hm?" Riley quickly turned to look at Empress as she whispered, "It's from Theran, Miss Empress?"

"Yes," Empress stepped forward and stood beside Riley, "Megawoman gave it to the Hope Guild when it was established."

"That's from Megawoman?" Riley then quickly turned his gaze back to the pillars; his eyes, reflecting the trickles of light that they released in almost a child-like way, "Why did she give it to the Hope Guild, Miss Empress? Can I have it?"

"Hope Guild was not a superhero team when it was created, Riley," Empress then let out a small sigh as she looked at Riley,

"It's a team made by the government to stop Megawoman if ever she becomes… an enemy," Tempo chimed in, "We are the Hope of Humanity– Empress told me when I joined."

"...What?" Riley blinked his eyes a couple of times, "Then why would Megawoman give something like that?" He then pointed at the pillars as he tilted his head.

And as he did so, Empress let out a small scoff and a chuckle,

"Then you don't know Megawoman as much as you think," Empress then said, "Megawoman loves the Earth and humanity probably more than us. But if you truly spend time with her, then you'd know...

...that her smugness was also unmatched."

"Oh boy…" Tempo grunted as he stepped back,

"...Here she is with her story again."