Villain Retirement

"I… I think that's enough."

The interrogation was over, but it would seem Paragon still wanted to ask the already exhausted and barely conscious members of the House of Super even more questions, but Katrina stopped him from doing so, 

"We… we're not going to get anything from them anymore."

"..." Paragon didn't really say anything as he just looked at Katrina's hand.

"S… sorry."

"It's fine," Paragon sighed as Katrina removed her hand, "Humans always crave skinship, you did it before."

"...Human? What are you, an alien?" Katrina giggled, causing her gigantic brea– her hair to bounce, "Just kidding, of course."

And with everything settled, the Baby Crew once again huddled up.

"So, what's the plan now?" Silvie was the first to talk.

"I already contacted the queen bitch."

"How did she take it?"

"She's mad."

"Pft. Hasn't changed, has she?"

"You have no idea," Hannah chuckled,

"For now, let's make sure everyone's safe," she then said as she looked at the Baby Crew, as well as Golden Fox and Paragon.

"These House of Super fucks aren't so simple. And don't misunderstand, they are not good people — they were probably going to abduct or kill everyone in this shelter if Golden Fox didn't happen to be here."

"Well… you can kinda understand their goals, though," Gary shrugged. But as soon as he noticed Golden Fox looking at him, he quickly forced out a chuckle, "I… I'm not saying I want to join them. Fuck them."

"Then let's—"

"Heh."

And while the group was discussing what to do, the man they first interrogated woke up — his eyes, glaring at the group with an almost burning intensity.

"None…" He then talked; his voice, completely hoarse and dried up, "None of you understand the greatness of our goal. Supers…

…supers are meant to be supreme."

"Yeah, yeah. You already said that," Hannah only rolled her eyes at the man's words.

"No!"

"..."

The man then screamed, his voice… completely different than before — it was almost as if there were two voices coming out of him.

"Our grand plan… we…. Pft," the man then suddenly burst out in manic laughter, "We… we will make the humans our slaves!"

"You sounding like a broken record," Bella was about to approach and knock the man out, but Hannah stopped her.

"It's… not him," Hannah whispered.

"We're not even beginning," the man then stopped laughing as he once again looked at the group one by one, "We are everywhere already. While you and the Empress were busy looking at the stars…

…we flourished on the ground."

"..." The Baby Crew then watched as the man; even with the nails on his toes ripped off, stood up without any problem.

"Why do you think the eye above the sky couldn't find us? Because we are everywhere!" The man once again burst out in laughter,

"Boom!" The man roared; the blood from his face being sprayed from his mouth.

"...What?"

"Boom!" The man repeated.

"What are you—"

"N… No." And before Hannah could even ask what he was doing, Silvie slightly took a step back as she covered her ears,

"What… what have you done?" Silvie then said as her trembling eyes looked at the man.

"Look where you are," The man smiled as he returned Silvie's glare, "Right in the center of the flock. You think we went to this shelter just to terrorize some lowly humans? Oh no, no, no, no…

…Boom."

And finally, it dawned on them.

"Silv, find it!" Hannah quickly screamed. As for Silvie, she closed her eyes as her head started to tilt from side to side.

"We will bring the humans to their knees!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Hannah kicked the man in the face... but he just continued laughing.

"No..." The man whispered,

"No more humans… above us!"

"Silv!"

And finally, Silvie opened her eyes as her head quickly turned to the side. She didn't even say anything — she just flew. But before she could even go far…

…the man smiled,

"...Boom."

And then… everything just turned white.

"No!" Silvie screamed… and just like that, it was almost as if time stopped for her. She very slowly turned around as everything around her started to… disintegrate into ashes. Almost as if existence itself was being torn apart and erased.

Her clothes… the floor beneath her, the walls to her side, the roof… everything was disappearing. She looked at her friends, only to see one of them looking back.

It was Paragon, who despite everything around him turning into nothing but ash, remained standing — a curious expression drowning his eyes. He then turned around to look at the others, causing Silvie to do the same.

Hannah… was completely unaffected by the blast; remaining still as the light ate everything around her.

Gary… was already embracing Golden Fox, completely shielding him from the light.

As for Bella, a thick layer of metal was already covering her and Katrina. The metal was being eaten by the light… but it was almost as if they were repairing themselves as the shield became thicker and thicker.

…But the civilians?

Silvie could only watch in horror as the light ripped off their flesh.

"No…" She could try to reach them, but it was already too late. And as time once again returned to Silvie — a deafening whistle entered her ears.

And then… there was nothing. Almost instantly, everything was gone.

All that remained was the onslaught of dust, debris, and smoke. The sky above them, slowly being blanketed by shadows.

And once again… a dark day.

"...." Silvie could not even hear her own breath from the whistle that lingered in her ears; her eyes, not even knowing where to look as everything just looked the same; desolate… dead.

"!!!"

She only woke up when a loud scream pierced her ears. She looked at the noise, only to see Gary listlessly hanging on Golden Fox's shoulders; his back, completely exposing his skin that was as charred as everything else.

"Gary!"

Silvie was about to rush to check on Gary's condition, but before she could do so, he raised both his thumbs.

"I… I'm fine," Gary forced a chuckle, "It… 'tis but a flesh wound."

"..." Silvie didn't really know where to look again — everything just looked the same. The shelter was completely gone.

"Paragon!? Are you alright!?"

Paige then suddenly descended from the sky, slightly blowing away the dust as she landed on the ground with a suit similar to Whiteking's — but it soon disappeared as she ran to where Paragon was standing.

"What… the fuck?" Hannah also woke up from her stupor as she looked around.

"Bella!"

Hannah then quickly turned around as soon as she heard Katrina screaming; but it wasn't her that was hurt, it was Bella… who was lying on the ground with mouth, eyes, nose, and ears bleeding.

"She… she shielded me with… no… no…"

"...What… what the fuck just happened?" Bella was still alive, it seems… as she was still able to let out a whisper.

"Radiation…" Hannah whispered as she once again looked everywhere, "It's familiar… it… it's radiation. What… what did they do?"

"Gone, everything's gone."

She didn't expect to get an answer, but she did as Paige raised her voice.

"I… I saw the explosions while… while I was up there."

"...Explosions?"

"Everywhere…" Paige's voice trembled, "It… it's everywhere. It's not just here."

"They…" Hannah's eyebrows also began to tremble, "They…

…fucking nuked everyone?"