Villain Retirement

"I thought we had an understanding!? You weren't supposed to be killing anyone until we reached Theran!"

"They tried to kill me first, Miss Hera. I only reciprocated."

"Of course, they would try to kill you. You're one of the most wanted men in the universe!"

"...Hm."

"What do you mean 'hm'!? You killed millions of them and a lot of them are still dying!"

"It was only supposed to be 252, Miss Hera. It is not my fault that the others could not survive."

"You vaporized a part of the planet!"

Riley Ross spent less than an hour on Blusi, and yet the havoc he caused would probably last for months and could be felt for years. And as a matter of course, Hera was once again scolding him as soon as they met back on the ship.

As for Nana, the only thing she could really do was watch the recorded news of what Riley had done. She and Hera were on the other side of the water planet, merrily buying supplies and even trying to relax despite the horrendous situation she finds herself in.

And lo and behold, while the two of them were sampling the planet's delicacy in her pod, they noticed the people around them started to move frantically—all seeking shelter in the coral buildings, while the foreigners rushed back to their pods.

Nana wondered what was happening, Hera, on the other hand, quickly turned on the pod's radio and monitor—and without even needing to change any frequencies, Riley Ross's name popped up.

The two rushed to return to the ship, only to see Riley already just relaxing there and drinking milk at the ship's small canteen.

Suffice it to say, Nana was completely terrified; not only because of what Riley had done so casually, but of how numb she seemed from the news.

"I was testing what would happen if I use sister's ability underwater, Miss Hera."

"What are you, a 5th-grader!? How do you not know what would happen!? Hannah's body has been recorded to almost reach the heat of the sun's core! Don't you know how powerful that is!?"

"Hm, as expected of sister."

Even hearing the conversation between the two, Nana still could not believe how casually they just mention such feats of power—a creature capable of emitting almost 15 million degree celsius? Just… what kind of people were there on their planet?

They have always been told of the stories of the Unknown—how there might be monsters lurking through its vast darkness. How there might be other monsters of destruction similar to the Cherbi just waiting to be found or find their way to the Known Universe.

Nana had always thought that was all bullshit…and now the monster was riding inside her ship.

"Nana, do we really need to stop by another planet!?"

Nana quickly swiped the window away that showed the news of Riley's attack from her monitor. Hera seemed to have gotten enough of Riley's nonsense as she approached Nana in her station.

"I… Unfortunately so," Nana sighed and shook her head, "Perhaps… we shouldn't leave the ship. I've been getting so comfortable with you that I am literally forgetting what kind of situation we're in and what cargo we're carrying."

"...Right," Hera also sighed as she looked back at Riley, only to see him just sitting on the floor with his legs crossed and eyes closed, like he did not just cause another civilization to almost be wiped out from the face of the universe,

"How long have we been traveling together anyway? I feel like after I left Earth and started this whole space escapade, my sense of time has been completely wack."

"I don't know myself," Nana once again sighed; the two of them, now filling the control deck with nothing but their exhausted breaths.

"This… isn't like that one movie where there are time dilations and all that sci-fi crap, right? Because I don't want to return back to Earth to find my boyfriend like super old because 1 second here is 1 hour there."

"...What are you talking about?" Nana started to chuckle at Hera's words, before checking the status of the ship on her monitor, "As far as I know, there's nothing like that. But if there is, then please, sign me up so my children could finally grow up."

"Pft," Hera also let out a hearty chuckle as she sat on the floor.

"You know, you don't need to do that," Nana said as her eyes were now at the same level as Hera's, "My kind are used to looking up while having a conversation with other species."

"...I'm just tired of standing," Hera smiled and slightly closed her eyes, "I should be in front of the beach right now and drinking ice cold cucumber water with lemon while watching my boyfriend run across the entire Philippine sea in less than a second."

"I am going to pretend I know what you just said," Nana breathed as she watched their hyperdrive path, "You keep mentioning a boyfriend, that's your life partner?"

"Life— well, in a way. He hasn't proposed to me yet, but with both our status and jobs, it's just kind of complicated."

"I'm assuming your boyfriend has… a different ability than you?"

"He… can move pretty fast. Like… those silver-haired folks."

"Your species are… terrifying," Nana slightly shivered.

"Don't you also have an ability? You used it when you scold your crew when we first met."

"You mean this?" Nana lightly clapped, causing both her hair and Hera's hair to flutter from the rippling shockwave, "It's… just a form of minor telekinesis."

"I… see," Hera slightly squinted her eyes and nodded. But after a few breaths, a small smile appeared on her face, "What about you, Nana? You have anyone?"

"My kind doesn't have anything like that," Nana shook her head, "Romantic relationships are completely foreign to us."

"Oh."

"..."

"..."

"...Because you produce asexually?"

"Science says that is one of the reasons," Nana shrugged.

"Huh…" Hera didn't really want to pry any further. Earth already had problems with the diversity of its people; be it with a normal or a super, the color of their skin, their beliefs, Earth was divided.

And yet here is the rest of the Universe—every inch was different and yet no one seems to care.

"Something's weird."

"What? What is it?" Hera quickly perked up as soon as she heard the sudden change in the tone of Nana's voice. She looked at the table monitor, only to see nothing amiss in it,

"Please don't tell me there's another one of those pink fluff of death blocking our way."

"No… something's weird."

"Hm?" Hera watched as Nana started backing away from the table monitor. Nana's eyes were blinking repeatedly and at a fast rate, "Are you… alright?"

"I… I feel weird," Nana stuttered as she fell buttocks first on the floor. She didn't seem to care, however, as she just started staring at her hands.

"...Nana?" Hera crawled toward Nana, not knowing whether to offer her a hand or not, "Do you want me to bring you to the med bay?"

"I… I don't know," Nana looked Hera straight in the eyes, before just standing again and walking back to her station, "Taladier, check my vitals."

[Checking the Captain's vitals…]

"..." Nana and Hera looked at each other, both confused as to what exactly was happening to her as they waited for the ship's AI to respond.

[Irregularity detected: 1.]

"What… what is it!?" Nana started to panic as she looked at her profile on the screen.

[Unable to determine the irregularity. Virus, not in any of the databases.]

"V… Virus!?"

"Are… you in pain anywhere?" Hera's eyebrows were slightly furrowed as she sat next to Nana, trying to see if there was anything visually wrong with her. But after checking for a few moments, everything just seemed normal.

"No. I just… feel weird," Nana once again backed away from the monitor she started checking herself, "Like there's something stuck on my—oh my scrambled dwarves what happened to my hand!?"

"What do—what is that!?" Hera could not help but stand up and slightly back away as soon as she saw Nana's hand, or more specifically, the thing wrapped around it.

"What is it!? Is it some sort of giant clam!? Did… did it come from Blusi!? Can you take it off!? Take it off!"

"I… I don't think that's a clam," Hera gulped, "...That looks more like the nozzle of a cannon."

"What? What are you—"

And before Nana could finish the words, she found herself violently being flung away as a loud thunder cracked in the air. Nana was able to react, however, as she stretched her other hand to the side, snapping her finger and creating a small shockwave that stabilized her fall.

As soon as she landed, however, her eyes once again looked at her cannon hand.

"What… what just happened?"

"You… something came out of it."

"Huh?" Nana looked at Hera, only to see her pointing in a certain direction. And of course, Nana turned to see where she was pointing to, only to see some sort of red fiery orb… hovering right in front of Riley's face.

"I… did… Did I do that!?" Nana's eyes started to widen as Riley tilted his head to the side to look at her, "I… I didn't mean to do that! I… what's happening!?"

And while Nana was on the verge of losing her mind, Riley just casually stepped to the side to avoid the red orb.

"Interesting," he then said as he stared at the ball of energy. And after completely circling around it once, he very slowly made his way to Nana,

"You're infected, Captain Nana."

"...What?"

"Congratulations…

…you're a Super now."