Villain Retirement

"We… are members of the Innovia."

"...Innovia?"

It took a second for Hera to remember where she heard that before, and to think they only became aware of it just minutes ago and now they're presenting themselves in front of them right now.

Innovia… Hera could really care less about the alien goons in front of her right now as they didn't really look that threatening. Their leader, however, is a different matter entirely—the universe considered her a threat above a genocidal Themarian.

"That's right."

And it would seem her slight change in expression was quickly noticed by the alien thugs, as one of them squinted all of his six eyes and smirked; he wasn't really smirking since he didn't have a visible mouth, but his expression might as well be. Even then, however, a voice escaped somewhere from him.

"Now, if you know what is good for you— you will hand us the Teera X120," the 6-eyed humanoid continued, "A local like you have no use for something like that anyway. And judging by how you're just flailing that thing around with your waist, you're just using it as a status symbol."

"...You're very eloquent for a thug," Hera blinked a couple of times, "Look, my… companion and I are just passing through this planet, we don't want any trouble and—fuck. I already know this scenario."

"Passing through?" One of the other Innovia members stepped forward, slightly bobbing his enlarged head as he did so, "You're a local. Why would you be passing through your own planet?"

"That's…" Hera looked at her ebony-like skin before sighing and shaking her head. She was about to say something… but the thing she feared the most finally happened—Riley spoke.

"This also happened to Aerith and me when we were in Hotis 4J, Miss Hera," Riley spoke; the cloak covering his face, fortunately still there, "It would seem there is a certain sense of lawlessness in the Known Universe."

"...It's the same on Earth," Hera sighed, "Although I already expected it to be worse here—bounty hunting wouldn't be a celebrated profession if it wasn't."

"I suppose you could say we can draw a parallel between Heroes and Villains, and Bounty hunters and Outlaws, Miss Hera," Riley shrugged as he stepped forward, "Am I allowed to kill people now?"

"No," Hera quickly blocked Riley from the Innovia members, "Look, we really don't want any trouble. I'm not going to give this… Teera X120, so why don't you guys just go before the police come or something."

"The police?" The large-headed humanoid scoffed, "You! The one in the uniform!"

"..." Hera looked to where the large-headed humanoid was pointing, only to see someone who she could only assume to be part of the city's police force. She then watched as the local policeman just glanced at them, before shaking his head and looking away, completely ignoring them.

"See?" The large-headed humanoid scoffed, "We are the authority here."

"..." What was she even going to do about this situation? She was sure she could fight her way through without any problems—but then again, they would not only be on the Innovia's radar, there was also a chance that Riley would be exposed. Should… she really just give the device? After all, there's a chance that Nana could just find a way for them even without it.

"Miss Hera. If you give the device to them, I would no longer have any reason not to kill everyone here."

Of course—this wasn't even a choice.

"Sorry, boys," Hera then sighed as she widened her shoulders and puffed her chest, "But I'm afraid you're going to have to fight me for this one."

"We warned you," the large-headed humanoid then placed two of his fingers on his temples, and as he did so, the four blades hanging around his waist unstrapped themselves and started to float and light up around him.

"Go get them, Larcus!"

"No toy is worth your life! You should have just given it to us!" The large-headed humanoid, Larcus, let out a small roar as he stretched his hand toward Hera; and as he did so, the blades circling around him shot straight at her. The bystanders could really only either look away or close their eyes; but for those who watched what happened, they saw the blades…

"!!!"

…bounce from her body and drop to the floor.

"...Telekinesis, seriously?" Hera could really only raise an eyebrow as she heard the blades drop to the floor.

"Balak!" Larcus then shouted. And as he did so, the 6-eyed humanoid rushed towards her; his arms which were previously as slim as a twig, suddenly swelling to triple their size. But like the blades, they found themselves just bouncing off—no. Balak's arms were worse off than the blades since they were clearly shattered judging by the whisper that cracked in the air.

"Grah!" And his scream reflected that.

"You!" Larcus then stretched his hands to the side; as he did so, the rest of their companions completely circled Riley and Hera, "You really think we're going to let you off this planet now!?"

"Seriously, who approved of your scripts?" Hera could really only sigh as she scanned the 5 that surrounded them, "If you were in my agency, I would have fired your—"

"We should just kill them, Miss Hera."

"Would Megawoman approve of that?"

"...No."

"Exactly," Hera nodded before raising both her arms, "Let's stop this here. You're clearly outmatched, and I don't want to fight any of you. So—"

"Shut up! You harmed Balak!"

"...Right," Hera furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at the 6-eyed humanoid groveling in front of her, obviously exaggerating the pain he was feeling. Wait… exaggerating? Why would someone from the most notorious band of pirates in the entire universe be acting?

"You guys…" Hera's brows started to furrow as he looked at the group, "...are you really members of Innovia?"

"O… of course, we—"

"You're lying," Hera didn't even let Larcus finish his words. From someone with a trained eye like her, their lies might as well be naked, "Should… you guys really be impersonating members of Innovia?"

"What are you saying!? We're from Innovia!" One of the other lackeys stepped forward, before showing a tattoo on one of his tentacles—the insignia of Innovia. Which, for Hera, just solidifies the fact that they truly were not members of the most notorious group in the entire Universe.

In the first place, would someone that belonged to Innovia even be making threats? Riley never made any threats, and he was, on Earth, what Xra is in the universe—the No. 1 threat.

"...I'm going to count to three," the tone of Hera's voice then changed as she looked Larcus straight in the eyes, "If your group is still within my view by then, I will start to retaliate."

"We are the Innovia!" Larcus did not falter as he returned Hera's glare.

"One," Hera said as she stomped her foot on the ground, shattering one of the blades beneath her feet, "T—"

"You're going to hear of us!"

And before Hera could even finish counting to two, Larcus ran away.

"Boss, wait for me!" Balak, who was groveling on the ground, quickly crawled away to follow Larcus. It wasn't only him, the rest of the people surrounding Riley and Hera also disappeared into the crowd like cockroaches.

"Wow." And as soon as they were gone, Hera could hear Riley clapping from behind her, "As expected of one of the voice actors of Italian Mafia Reborn. You're really good, Miss Hera."

"Yes, it's not because I also served as a Hero for many years," Hera rolled her eyes as she started walking, "Let's go. We've wasted enough time with those goons."

"If you would have just let me kill them, it would have been over in less than a second, Miss Hera," Riley sighed as he followed behind her, "I could have even made it look like they were still alive and just walked away."

"Wait… did you?" Hera's eyes widened.

"No, should I?"

"...Please don't. We're so close to leaving the planet."

***

"Quick, tell the others we need to leave the planet as soon as possible! Our gig is done!"

"Why did we even target those two!? Of course, someone that's just waving a Teera X120 around isn't going to be a normal person!"

"This is all your fault, Balak!"

"Enough! There's no use pointing tentacles here!"

Somewhere in a bright alleyway in the crystal city, the group that was pretending to be from Innovia was walking around in panic; stomping their feet, hooves, and tentacles randomly on the ground.

"It's a shame, but that's just business. We've gotten more than we can in this dreary planet anyw—"

"Hello, aliens."

And before Larcus could finish his words, he was interrupted by a small voice that whispered through the alleyway.

"...Who?" They all looked to where the voice suddenly came from…

…only to see a tiny, white-haired humanoid floating in the air—just casually smiling at them.