Villain Retirement

[Megawoman… Megawoman has killed Doomside! The Hope Society has finally won!]

[Don't you think it was too easy? Megawoman should return to her planet, she doesn't belong here. Phoenix should have been the one to win us this battle.]

[But Phoenix does whatever she wants. In the last interview, she didn't even know there was a battle with the forces of Doomside.]

[I understand that, but when Megawoman joined, the battle was already…]

"..."

[...Is it, the birth of the strongest super in the world!]

"..."

[...Our first contact with extraterrestrial life since Megawoman.]

[The aliens took the first strike, we are only retaliating! We are…]

"Hm…"

[Aliens have rights too! Why do we treat Megawoman different…]

[Redking has waged war against…]

"...Interesting."

[Redking unlocked the mystery of Warp speed…]

[Redking has made the technology exclusive to humans…]

[Redking has conquered the planet Nemak.]

[Redking—]

"It would seem you are more interesting in this universe than in ours, Father."

The sound of static whispered in the air as Riley abruptly turned off the screen in front of him. He wanted to know the latest history of this Earth to have a better understanding of the things around him and suffice it to say, he did not get bored with what he learned.

Like his Earth, the Earth of this universe centered heavily on supervillains and superheroes, and supers in general—no. Perhaps it was better to just call them as humans, as the last recorded person without any abilities was from several centuries ago.

The battle between good and evil on this Earth is even more pronounced and prevalent compared to his… as Megawoman had existed in this place for more than a thousand years in Diana.

There is one change, however, that has truly piqued Riley's interest—Bernard Ross.

He wasn't a hero, but a soldier. A soldier who quickly rose to the highest position, becoming an exception as the youngest leader of the most powerful country, and ultimately the entire planet when the time came for it.

But he didn't just lead, no.

The aliens first visited this Earth 10 years ago, unannounced and filled with ridiculous demands. Suffice it to say, Bernard did not even wait an entire day to respond to the provocation—he answered with violence without mercy.

To conquer or be conquered, that was the speech he gave that day. He gave the people of Earth a choice—should they cower in fear of these occupiers, or should they show them the power of Earth?

And as is the obvious, the people chose the latter.

And almost as if a plague, Bernard Ross grew an army of his own creation and let loose across the Known Universe… conquering everything in just the span of 10 years.

Earth has conquered all the civilizations in the Known Universe, all except for one—the themarians.

The themarians, which were being led by none other than Aerith.

In short, the humans of this world are the apex—the master race.

Riley was excited at first since this Earth seemed fun, but it did not last long when he found out that…

"Italian Mafia Reborn doesn't exist in this world."

Even more so than the history of this Earth, Riley has searched high and low for Italian Mafia Reborn—he was even excited since he thought there would be a different version for it, allowing him to watch it from the start.

But there was nothing, there wasn't even a show similar to it.

"But why?" Riley once again turned on the TV in front of him to try and search, "Italian Mafia Reborn should transcend through different universes, why isn't there—"

"Holy, you're still watching TV!?"

And before Riley could begin his fruitless search, the TV was turned off by Alice as she stepped inside the living room—yes, Riley was currently staying in Alice's house.

"This is what happens when you don't have a mother, you just grow up lazing around all day watching TV," Alice let out a small groan as she sat beside Riley on the sofa, "Just stay here, I'll ask Dee to stop searching for a way to bring you back home. I mean, you're also clearly not welcome there, no?"

"I have a mother, Alice Lane," Riley subtly moved away as he shook his head, "But I do agree with you—I am certainly no longer welcome in my universe."

"Then that's a win-win for both universes. They got rid of you, and I get you as my son."

"Why do you want me as a son, Alice Lane?" Riley asked, "You barely know me, and the part of me that you do know is nothing but evil. I truly see no reason why you would want me as—"

"I don't want you as my son. What are you talking about?" Alice blinked a couple of times; the look on her face filled with nothing but confusion, "You are my son, nothing is gonna change that fact even if you're from a different universe. Like, you're basically 99% of me. Do you know how weird it is that all of you came from me? You're like my clone, but not really."

"You have a different way of thinking about things, Alice Lane."

"Pft. You're the one that is crazy—I, I don't mean anything by that!"

"I was under the belief that you are too, Alice Lane? After all, I inherited all of your mental illness."

"I… I am not the Alice of your world."

"Then you're not my biological mother."

"This and that are totally different things. Stop arguing with me, I'm your mother."

"..."

Riley had noticed it before, but Alice truly was similar to Hannah; minus all the cursing, of course. Perhaps that is why he has so much attachment to his sister?

"So…"

"..."

"..."

"What do you do for fun in your world?"

"I kill and torture people, Alice Lane."

"No, I meant—"

"Alice! What did you order!?" And before the two could continue their somewhat awkward conversation, the sound of the door being banged open and being slammed closed cracked throughout the entire house,

"I saw lots of transactions being sent to my e-mail. Just what—the fuck?"

It was Diana, whose steps quickly halted as soon as she saw a creature from another universe casually sitting on their couch, "What… is he doing here? Why is he not back in his cage!?"

"Sshh!" Alice quickly rushed toward Diana to cover her mouth, in which of course, she failed to do so as Diana grabbed her wrist.

"What do you mean 'sshh'!?" Diana raised her voice, "There is a strange man sitting on our couch!"

"What do you mean 'strange'!? He's your son too!" Alice clicked her tongue as she swatted Diana's hand away, "What—you want to put him in a cage? What kind of mother are you!?"

"He's not our son!"

"Thank you, Diana," Riley quickly commented.

"See!? Even he knows it!"

"We're keeping him here and that's final."

"He's not a dog!"

"Duh. But if he was he'd probably be a Samoyed. Extremely white and doesn't care about anything else."

"You—You and I need to talk, now. In the room," Diana's tone completely changed as she walked away. As for Alice, she just let out a small sigh before looking at Riley.

"Mother and I are just going to have a little chat, okay? There's some milk on the fridge if you want."

"..." And so with that, Riley was left alone in the living room again. He was going to get a glass of milk,

"I suppose this is what it feels like to have a normal life with Alice--"

But alas, before he could stand—the TV turned on by itself, showing a face that was very familiar to Riley.

[You are called Riley Ross, correct?]

"That is right…

…Bernard Ross."