Villain Retirement
chapter-173

"...A falling star?"

Silvie's eyes reflected the yellow streak that suddenly disrupted the peaceful sky. The meteor was bright enough to trounce even the massive light pollution that drowned the city– changing the colors of the city's walls and even distracting the drivers that were moving through the night.

"A meteor?" Hannah then quickly joined Silvie as she too, stared at the bright streak, "It's… quite close… too close."

While everyone else was amazed at the sudden celestial appearance, Tomoe, on the other hand, was inching closer to Riley by the second. She remembered clearly that Riley threatened Julius; that if he ever hurts his sister, he would kill every last person in his country.

"M… master," she then whispered as she got close enough, "Did you–"

"Not yet, Tomoe," Riley did not let Tomoe finish her words as he walked away, "My sister said she would deal with it."

"..." Tomoe could only take in a deep breath as she heard Riley's words. Does that mean if Hannah actually said that she was hurt… then Riley would have called upon a meteor on them? And how was he even able to summon one from space? Even if his telekinetic powers had no limits, how was it possible for him to move something that far away?

And soon, Tomoe's breaths began to flutter; her face slowly turning red. Magnificent, she thought… Riley Ross truly is a god. A god that she would forever serve until the last of her life melts away.

"So… so beautiful."

"What is that? Is that mother?"

"T… that's a meteor, a space rock that entered the planet's atmosphere."

"S… shouldn't we hide?"

"No, it just looks close– but judging by its trajectory it might hit somewhere in the Atlantic ocean… government might call for tsunami and earthquake warnings," Hannah breathed out.

"...You know that how?"

"I… could feel it," Hannah said as she stared at the meteor; her eyes, almost imitating the meteor's color, "It's also slowing down for some reason– it might just be a small piece."

"You… could feel it?" Silvie blinked a couple of times as she looked at Hannah.

"Ah, it's disappearing!"

"Bye-bye, mister meteor!"

The children, who were previously sleeping on the floor, were now all awake as they all stuck their faces on the window– their eyes almost shimmering with excitement as they waved the meteor goodbye.

If they were normal children, then this scene would have been cute. But with most of them having extra limbs and wrapped in bandages… It almost looked like something from a horror film. If it wasn't for the well-lit suite, then this would have probably been the creepiest thing he has ever seen– of course, Gary was sensible enough to not voice out his thoughts.

"So… what exactly are we going to do with them?" Hannah then let out a small sigh as she gestured towards the clones. A part of her feels guilty; after all, her father was involved in creating them… or was he?

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Bernard told them that he helped create Silvie-1 and Silvie-2, which were Dark Millenium and Silvie– both almost perfect clones. But these children and Aerith… they all had deformations one way or another. Was it actually possible that he wasn't involved in this, hence the clones' current states?

"I… can take care of them," Aerith then approached Hannah and Silvie, "But… I want answers too. Please let me join and help you with whatever it is you're doing. I want to know why they did this to us… If… if mother truly isn't real."

"That's…" Hannah was initially going to refuse, but when she saw the look of helplessness slowly building in Aerith's eyes, the only thing she could do was look to the other members of the Baby Crew. And seeing their nods of approval, Hannah as well, nodded to Aerith's request.

"...But what else can you actually do?"

"Hm?"

"Your powers, do you also have Megawoman's powers to some extent?" Hannah said.

"I… I don't know? I'm super strong?" Aerith muttered.

"We're also super strong!"

"...This won't do," Hannah let out a sigh. Thankfully, before her breaths could grow even heavier, Silvie stepped forward.

"I'll… teach you how to use your power," Silvie then said, "But first… I'd like to show you where you came from… who you came from– Megawoman."

"..."

"..."

Almost everyone waited for Silvie to do something due to the dramatic way she said her words, but even after a few seconds had passed; the only thing she did was stand in place. But finally, after a few more seconds, she opened her mouth.

"Does… your TV have YouView installed?" She then chuckled awkwardly as she looked at Tomoe, "I… forgot we destroyed our phones."

"...Yes," Tomoe nodded as she tried to find the remote with Silvie. And as soon as they turned it on, all the clones started to run in front of it.

"TV!? What are we watching!?"

"Aren't you listening!? We're going to watch mother!"

"C… calm down, everyone!" Aerith could only move in panic as the younger clones started filling the sofa or sitting on the carpet; almost destroying them as they did so.

But alas, the only thing she could do was also sit down in silence… as Riley suddenly joined them to watch Megawoman's videos.

"Should we discuss about Prophet's killer now?"

And after the clones plus Riley have settled down to watch Megawoman's videos, Bella approached Hannah, "We need to avenge him!"

"I think what we need to talk about is that god damn meteor!" Daniel's screams also joined in, "Why are you guys acting like you just didn't see a meteor fall from the sky!?"

"Hannah said it would be fine," Bella shrugged.

"Wha–"

"We need to attend Prophet's funeral," Hannah disrupted Daniel's words as she spoke to Bella, "Right now, we have absolutely no leads; our best option is to give the phone to Prophet's husband…

…but something about what Prophet said in the video bothers me."

"...What is it?"

"He said the one who killed him is the most dangerous man on the entire planet," Hannah muttered as she took a seat at the dining table, "So that eliminates a lot of suspects."

"...You think it might be a Grade-S Super?" Silvie joined in on the conversation as she too took a seat.

"Might be."

And soon, Tomoe followed, Gary, Bella, and then Daniel also all took a seat at the table– leaving only Riley as he was still busy watching videos of Megawoman.

"Wait, wait," Daniel then breathed out, "Are you telling me this would lead us to a Grade-S Super? Are you guys insane? We should just leave this to Whiteking and the Hope Guild! Or maybe to Nightwalker and Spectacular Mustache Man since they already know"

"...Speaking of Whiteking, maybe he already knows? That dude is creepy as heck, no offense," Bella said.

"That's possible," Hannah said, "But Prophet's death was made to look like a suicide at all angles– even father would have a hard time. The only reason we know that he was killed was because he left a message."

"Shouldn't we at least tell this to your father?"

"No," Hannah shook her head, "We are handling this– but we need SMM and Nightwalker. But not dad, Prophet is his best friend, even someone like him…

…wouldn't be able to think clearly."

***

Somewhere, in a dimly lit room– whispers echoed throughout the darkness. Bernard's eyes, reflecting an almost endless barrage of numbers and letters.

One of his phones that was scattered on a table was ringing, showing Diana's number calling him. Bernard, however, did not stop whatever it was he was doing. And finally, after a few more seconds, the call died down…

…showing that Diana had been calling her more than 100 times now.