Villain Retirement

The Multiverse.

It is a concept that almost everyone in the sci-fi cult community is aware of. It is a simple idea, but the content is different every time in every iteration. There are really no laws to be followed — or perhaps there are, there were just too many that there might as well be none.

It could be confusing, completely nonsense, even. But how do you really debunk something that is outside the scope of your own universe?

What could be true for you, could be wrong for the other universe… or they might not exist at all.

"Riley… Riley!"

Hera quickly wore a pair of sunglasses, blocking the clear and colorful sky that was calmly painting the space above them — this would have been just a normal thing, of course. But when was the last time Hera has actually seen the sky above her without any interruptions? Without something blocking it? Without it…

…being just a big blank and black empty space, literally.

But Hera did not cover her eyes because of the bright sky, no — her eyes never really become sore as they just quickly adjust to everything. She wore the sunglasses to cover her face from the crowd that was slowly building around her and Riley.

Hera quickly but carefully walked toward Riley, standing beside him as she lightly tugged his sleeves,

"What do you think this is…? Did that waxy Whiteking send us to another universe? Maybe an illusion or something?"

"Judging by the way Bard acted when he saw the machine that King brought…" Riley also started looking around the place; his eyes, looking at each of the people that were circling them with utmost curiosity, 

"...We were most probably thrown and scattered to another universe, Miss Hera."

"...And I had to be stuck with you, again?" Hera loudly whispered as she scanned the people, trying to read their emotions, "This seems like a normal school, though."

"We should kill everyone here to test it out, Miss Hera," Riley's feet were about to leave the blades of grass beneath them, but Hera quickly put all of her weight in trying to stop him from doing anything by… suddenly hugging him.

"We should be extremely cautious. What are you doing?" Hera once again whispered, this time right in Riley's ear, "If there's a chance that waxy boy doesn't know we are here, then I want it to stay that way by lying low."

"Is that what your instinct is telling you, Miss Hera?" Riley slightly turned his head toward Hera, almost hitting her cheek with his nose from how close they were. Hera did not seem to mind, however, as she just let out a tiny scoff.

"It's common sense, whitey. I thought by now you would learn some."

"Who… are you two?"

And of course, Riley and Hera were still currently being surrounded by a group of people — the students that were just previously doing their own physical activities, before Riley and Hera suddenly appeared in the middle of their field out of nowhere.

Of course, most of them did not really see Riley and Hera materialize from thin air, no. They just thought they didn't notice them until now.

"Which class do you belong to?"

One of the people from the crowd, most probably their instructor, stepped forward and approached Riley and Hera, carrying some sort of booklet and glancing at it several times as he looked at the two.

"Let me handle this," Hera finally let go of Riley as she greeted the instructor,

"Hi, sorry…" An almost pursing smile and an exasperated breath escaped Hera's lips as she looked at the instructor, "...We're actually just checking the facilities of the school, we were being toured by someone earlier but I think we lost her, or she lost us. If you know what I mean."

"Oh," the instructor let out a breath of realization as he finally tucked in the booklet in between his armpits, "You're a new teacher? Is that a special transfer student you're with?"

"A… teacher?" Hera's eye slightly twitched as the smile on her face became forced. But after a few breaths, she let out a friendly giggle and said, "Yes. He's family so we just toured the school at the same time since we'll also be sharing an address."

"Well, I'd ask you how you like it so far, but class is actually in session, so…" The instructor lightly clicked his tongue as he gestured to his students, "...But if you're not busy later, maybe we can—"

"No, that's fine," Hera quickly wrapped her arm around Riley as she started dragging him away, "We were just about to leave anyway, we still have another school to check out."

"Oh, but—"

And before the instructor could say anything else, Hera and Riley disappeared into the crowd, not stopping until they were completely out of school grounds, ignoring all the eyes that were actively and blatantly staring at them.

"Riley…" And as soon as they were in the clear — well, not really. There were still people staring at them in the busy street, but most were really just passing by and really only glanced at them filled — taking away their curiosity with them as they hurriedly leave to wherever they were going in the first place. As for Hera, she just pulled Riley to the side, keeping her head down as she whispered in his ear again,

"...Did you notice?"

"That the PE instructor called you a teacher instead of a student?" Riley blinked as he looked at Hera, "There is no need to be sad about that, Miss Hera. You are old, it happens."

"What…? No, fuck you. I'm not… bothered about that," Hera's eye once again twitched as she looked at Riley with an eyebrow raised, "No, fuck you…

…I'm talking about how no one seems to recognize you."

"Hm?" Riley quickly turned to look at the people passing by them, only for those who were staring at him to look away; feigning to look at their phones as they sneak one final glance at him. He also looked at the people who were inside the shops, pretending that they weren't looking at him as they also quickly looked away.

"They notice you, sure," Hera squinted, "But who wouldn't notice an albino walking in broad daylight, blinding everyone? And not to mention you don't look like a normal albino too, you're… well… you're beautiful."

"Thank you, Miss Hera."

"I wasn't complimenting you, idiot," Hera grunted as she rolled her eyes, "I'm just confirming what we are both thinking."

"That I am beautiful?"

"No, what? No. I mean this is not our Earth," Hera could really only breathe out as she looked around, "And since they also don't recognize me, that means I also probably don't exist in this world. We better keep a low profile for now — but with how we look, that would be very difficult."

"We?" Riley blinked as he looked at Hera from head to toe.

"Wh—No, you did not just—I will have you know that I was voted the most beautiful woman on the planet in several top magazines," Hera drilled Riley's chest with her finger, 

"No. 1 in several top magazines. The face and the body of a goddess is what they wrote," Hera then placed her hand on her waist, slightly spinning in place as she showed herself to Riley. Her tanned skin that was almost golden, glittering even with the sky that was covered with buildings. Perfectly tanned skin, voluptuous but not too—what are you doing?"

"Hm…" Riley did not wait for Hera to finish what she was going to say as he leaned closer to her face, staring at it for a few seconds before backing away and nodding his head, 

"...I agree with their opinion, Miss Hera."

"Fuck you," Hera shook her head and once again rolled her eyes.

"Have I not told you that numerous times already, Miss Hera?" Riley tilted his head to the side, "That you are, perhaps subjectively, the most beautiful woman I have seen?"

"Stop it…" Hera breathed out as she, in fact, does remember Riley saying that before, "...I am too old for you."

"The mother of my child is the same age as you, Miss Hera."

"Stop, stop it," Hera quickly started waving her hands, "Priorities. Priorities!"

"..." Riley watched as Hera started covering her ears, "Are you also on the spectrum, Miss Hera?"

"Stop asking me that!" Hera grunted as she removed her sunglasses and looked at the sky, "Have you noticed? We haven't seen a single super flying in the sky. I… have a very bad feeling about this, Riley."

"Hm."

"Priorities," Hera once again let out a heavy breath as she looked at Riley, "Let's…

…try to find Whiteking or the Hope Guild, they would understand."

***

"..."

"..."

No signs of the Hope Guild, no signs of a person called Bernard Ross.

"Where the fuck are they…?"

If there was any consolation in Hera and Riley's current situation, it was that surprisingly, Hera's phone still works perfectly well in this universe. Or perhaps the most surprising thing about this is that it survived throughout the entire ordeal they went through.

"Did that waxy boy just… send us to a universe where none of us exist?" Hera and Riley continued to look through her phone, scouring all the social media sites she could find for any trace of anyone they could recognize.

But nothing.

Nothing and no one came up.

"The only thing that's returning from the searches are movies. What the fuck is Ravengers? Who's Thor?"

"We should kill him, Miss Hera," Riley placed his hand on his chin as he watched a video of a muscular man calling lightning and tanking solar beams.

"What, no!" Hera quickly pulled the phone away from Riley, "That's a movie, Riley. It's CGI—wait, shit… fuck…"

Hera then continued to search through the internet, this time even getting to the 3rd page of a search engine as her eyes started to tremble.

"Holy shit, Riley…" Hera took in a small gulp as she looked at Riley,

"...I don't think there are Supers in this world."