Villain Retirement



Reuben Group of Companies. The 2nd largest conglomerate in the entire world, owning 50% of the tech, automobile, hospitality, and entertainment companies on the planet. Sitting on top of it is Alistair Reuben, who was born almost a hundred years ago now, and still living to date.

Alistair Reuben was busy with building his empire to the point that he built his family last. He is already at the end of his years, and has already named the heir to his legacy—one of his grandsons.

He skipped an entire generation to choose Jonas Reuben as his successor. One would be curious as to why he made this kind of decision, but it was simple, really.

Jonas Reuben did not really excel in the family, as his cousins and siblings were also as smart and vicious as he was. He wasn't also more qualified than his father, who everyone thought would be the next chairman.

What Jonas Reuben has, however, is age and beauty.

Jonas Reuben was at the right age to be partnered with the sole daughter of one of the wealthiest persons in the entire universe--not Earth, but the entire Known Universe. 

He was just the right age for Hannah Ross.

And as is the course, Jonas did not want to disappoint his grandfather—to the point that he had even hired gurus and professional romanticists in order to learn how to perfectly court Hannah.

He started trying to court her when they were just 15 years old, but Hannah was completely oblivious to him—no, she was completely oblivious to everyone around her. And whenever Jonas was successful in gaining a response, Hannah would either flick her middle finger at him, or berate him out right in front of a lot of people.

But still, Jonas persevered, as it only wasn't only his duty at the line, but also his pride. And there was also the undeniable fact that he does indeed have developed feelings for the feisty princess.

He followed her anywhere. And when she decided to live in one of her hotels in New York City, Jonas also decided to book the room below indefinitely.

He had done nothing but wait for her to fully acknowledge his presence, but to no avail. But then, he learned from one of his spies from the staff of the hotel that Hannah invited someone over—a man named Riley.

And so, Jonas had to see for himself. And he did, and now he couldn't see at all.

He couldn't see as two fingers were currently digging their way through his eyes; his feet, swinging loosely in the air as he was being lifted like a baby.

"S…Sir Riley!"

"Let… Let go of me!"

Jonas gripped Riley's arm as hard as he could, but all he really did was almost dislocate the joints of his own fingers. He tried flailing his legs and kicking him also as hard as he could to the point the air around them cracked, but not even a single strand of Riley's hair moved.

"Lord Reuben!"

"Let go of the Lord now!"

And very soon, Riley found himself surrounded by almost a dozen people, all wearing suits and ties; no doubt that they were Jonas's personal security guards. Riley really only glanced at them one by one, before turning his attention back to Jonas. As for the steward that was unfortunately and literally caught up in the middle of this hazardous situation, the only path he could really take was into the elevator. And so, he just subtly moved his feet and sneakily slid inside without anyone noticing.

"I will let you go once you answer my question, Lord Jonas," Riley breathed out as he tightened his grip on Jonas's face, "Where did you acquire your abilities?"

"W… what do you mean!?" Jonas's breaths turned into gasps as he started to panic.

"I—"

"Let him go, now! This is your final warning!"

"..." Riley could really only look at the guards again as they started screaming and shouting, not allowing him to focus. He looked at them one by one again, fighting the urge to just turn them into nothing there and then. But as soon as he remembered that he was inside Hannah's hotel, any thought of taking a life disappeared from Riley's mind as he sighed.

"Let him—"

"No." 

And before any of the guards could say anything else, Riley just casually stepped inside the elevator, bringing the poor Jonas with him. The guards rushed to box them in, or at least try to shut the powers off of the elevator, but they all found themselves tripping to the ground, with their faces falling first to the floor.

"..."

"..."

"...Which floor, butler?"

And sadly for the steward who thought that he would be able to escape the dangerous situation, the last hint of his freedom very slowly reflected in his eyes… until it was no more as the elevator doors closed and he was trapped with the very cause of the trouble.

'Of course', he thought. Of course, the only person that Hannah has ever invited to her home would be a troublemaker just like her—and not just any troublemaker, a fearless one just like her.

"Y…yes?"

"That's not a floor, butler."

"..."

"..."

The steward did not really know where to look, as it was either the wall or Riley as he moved his eyes from left to right. But finally, after a few more seconds, he let out a short but very deep sigh as he swiped his card and pressed the top floor of the hotel.

"This elevator is actually solely for Ms. Hannah's use," the steward then instinctively started to explain as the elevator moved, completely ignoring the fact that he could hear Jonas's whimpering struggles, "It can only be accessed by us, and the keycard you are currently in possession of. She lives in the penthouse on the topmost floor."

"Thank you for the information, Butler," Riley nodded.

"..." And after that, the ride was relatively quiet, with only Jonas making a sound until the elevator rang and its doors opened.

"This is Ms. Hannah's floor," the steward then said as he held the elevator doors open, 

"We… are not really allowed to step inside unless she tells us to."---this is a lie, but the steward did not really want to involve himself in the situation any further.

"Understandable, Hannah prefers her privacy," Riley did not really think much about it as he just stepped into Hannah's penthouse. And finally, for the first time since he jumped into this universe…

…Riley experienced shock.

Hannah's penthouse… it was clean.

"..." Riley almost let go of Jonas as he looked at the penthouse with his wide mouth slightly opened. There were lots of hints of pink; even the neon lights that were seeping out from each step of the stairs breathed out its color.

Riley's shock did not last long, however, as he remembered they were in a hotel and Hannah most likely asks the staff to clean her house every day. And so, with his initial shock subsiding, Riley raised his free arm.

And soon, several sheets of plastic bags started flying out of every cabinet in the large kitchen of the penthouse. As expected, even in another universe, Hannah had the habit of collecting plastic bags to reuse them in the future, only for her to completely forget about them.

Riley then set the plastic bags on the floor, laying all of them flat like carpet. And as soon as he was sure that he had covered enough, he threw Jonas on top of it.

Jonas quickly tried to crawl away even with his vision still not completely healed, but found himself blocked by a wall, an invisible wall. But of course, Jonas doesn't know that just yet.

"Where… where did you take me!?"

"I only blinded you, Lord Jonas. You should have heard my conversation with the butler," Riley walked on the plastic carpet, causing quiet crackles to whisper in the air,

"I am going to ask you again, Lord Jonas. How did you acquire your abilities?"

"What kind of question is that!? Don't you know who I am!?" Jonas's panic reached its peak as he just sat on the floor with his arms stretched and waving, "I didn't acquire my ability, I was born with it!"

"No."

"No!?" Jonas's eyes started batting as he started recovering his vision. And even though Riley's silhouette was still completely a blur to him, he still tried to look him in the eyes, "How else would I—"

"You have the same abilities as Megawoman, correct? Albeit a more inferior and weaker version."

"What? And so what!? It's a very common ability for a super!" Jonas showed his teeth as his vision finally cleared, "And who even are y—"

"Call your grandfather."

"...What?"

"Call your grandfather and ask him how you acquired your abilities."

"No! Why would I even do that!? Do you think I am afraid of you!?" Jonas's eyes once again turned red, causing Riley's eye to twitch,

"And why does it matter to you anyway? Who even are you!?"

"I am—" Riley was about to answer, but he realized something.

He realized that it didn't really actually matter to him. The Aerith of this world had nothing to do with him, and he didn't know whether or not she was even similar to the Aerith he knew.

"...Hm." And so, with a small hum, Riley shrugged his shoulders.

"You can go, Lord Jonas."

"...What?"

***

"...Huh?"

Somewhere in Japan, a small lady wearing a golden fox mask was looking at the sky—no, she was looking at the words floating in front of her.

[Defeat the Villain that came from another world. The Villain has already killed you before, don't let it happen again!]

"...Huh?"