Villain Retirement

She chose you, she chose the rest of you over her own daughter. Over her own family…

…do you think someone like that is really capable of betraying mankind?"

"I believe all of us are capable of everything if the right parameters are set and triggered, Gracy."

"What?"

It wasn't just their conversation setting the mood, the empty park in the otherwise noisy and busy city caused their breaths to literally be trapped in the dim expanse they find themselves in. It made their already serious conversation turn even more… desolate.

It was only her, him, and the statue of someone that has abandoned them. One is a promise of blood. The other, a covenant that was broken. Aerith has promised Riley that she will never let him leave her side—that she would stop her no matter what.

She did stop him in their universe, and she stayed there.

She lied.

Or perhaps if Riley still truly does know her, she is out there right now trying to get him back—he did leave a fine gift in the previous universe, after all. Right now, Aerith is probably blaming herself that Riley had just killed hundreds of billions of people—and once again, one of her own.

"I have seen mothers abandon their own child in panic, I have also seen mothers exhaust the lives of others to save their children. But of course, most save their children without fear for their own lives."

Riley's eyes did not leave the face of Aerith's statue. He does not really know when, but his infatuation with Aerith became much more… and he also doesn't know when he became aware of this. At first, Riley thought it was just a weird obsession—like what we have for Italian Mafia Reborn and spoons, but no.

He feels something for Aerith. Love? Perhaps. But whatever it is, he knows he doesn't deserve it.

"Aerith is none of those. She will try to save everyone, at the cost of neglecting her own child."

"What are you getting—"

"The Aerith I know treasures people as much as she could, perhaps too much. She doesn't do it because of duty, but because she can. But I also do know that she wasn't there for you, like she wasn't there for Gary. But I suppose this version of hers could be different."

"...Gary? You keep saying that name. Wait…" Gracy's feet once again left the ground as she looked right at her mother's face, and then down to Riley. She did this a couple of times, before landing back right in front of Riley,

"...Don't tell me you have a son with my mother!?"

"No."

"...Oh," Gracy quickly let out a sigh of relief, fanning herself with her hand and causing her hair to dance with the wind. And after a few seconds of this, she let out another sigh and looked Riley in the eyes,

"You know, you probably know my mother more than I do. Even now, I am knowing more about her than when she was still here with us."

"No," Riley shook his head,

"I do know more than you. But I suppose I too, barely know anything about her—She has lived for a thousand years, I have lived not even a percent of that. And in your mother's case, I absolutely know nothing about her because she has lived a completely different life than what I know of."

"...You say some weird stuff sometimes."

"I am known for being weird and dark."

"...Like the opposite of your perfectly smooth and white skin. You're like one of those beautiful snow queens in s, except you're a man," Gracy widened her eyes as she realized what she just said; her feet, subconsciously taking a step back as she looked away,

"And… and I am definitely not attracted to you! You attacked my dad and even tried to kill me!"

"Hm," Riley shrugged as he slightly approached Gracy, "I did not attack your dad, but I did try to kill you."

"Wait… what?" Gracy blinked a couple of times as she once again took a step back. She then finally turned to look at their surroundings, only to realize that they were completely alone. And since the streets outside the park were extremely busy—no one would even hear her even if she let out the strongest scream she could,

"Secluded, dark, and in front of my mother's statue. Wait, wait…"

Gracy continued to back away as she pointed both her palms at Riley, "This… This is the perfect place to kill me! You… it's like you want to show my mother that you killed me in front of her! You…

…you brought me here to kill me, didn't you!?"

"..." Riley also blinked a couple of times, before just casually nodding his head, "I did."

"Wha—"

"But I am not in the mood for that anymore," Riley then let out a sigh as he faced Aerith's statue again.

"Wait… So, you were going to kill me!?" Gracy immediately looked for an escape but quickly realized that she wouldn't even be able to go anywhere just from the fact that Riley was probably a hundred times faster than her.

"As I said…

…I am not in the mood anymore.]

[So, you were in the mood earlier!?]

Unbeknownst to the two, there were actually multiple people listening in on them and watching them ever since they entered back into the United States. Bernard was only a few kilometers away from them, standing on top of a building as he watched the feed being uploaded to his helmet by one of his satellites.

There was also the World Government, which had been watching Riley ever since he first made the news. After all, an unknown individual linked with both The Reuben and the Ross family? Suffice it to say, he was currently the highest priority.

The Reubens were also watching them, but for completely different reasons entirely. Twice now… Twice did Riley Ross humiliate them. They were planning to know more about him so they could plan an attack… but they were given so much more.

Megawoman has a daughter. The three continued to watch—soon, however, their feed became blurry and turned completely dark all of a sudden. The Government and the Reubens immediately scattered to turn back their feed, Bernard, on the other hand, already switched to another satellite.

And there, he saw another silhouette join the two.

"Golden Fox…" Bernard's eyebrows lowered as he stared at Chihiro's silhouette very slowly emerging from the ground,

"...The Avatar of Machina. This is getting… interesting."

[Riley, we should continue our talk about—Who is this?]

[G… Golden Fox!?]

Gracy almost jumped in shock as Chihiro suddenly appeared from nowhere. She then quickly looked back at Riley, before letting out a short but very deep gasp,

"Wait… could the two of you be… Are you two a part of some sort of secret shadow organization!? If so, I am in! I am so in!"

"...Excuse me?" Chihiro, who was still a little confused as to who Gracy was, could not help but slightly adjust her mask.

"That was a test, right!?" Gracy almost shrieked as she looked at Riley, "You weren't really trying to kill me, you were testing me if you could recruit me into your secret organization!?"

"N—"

"Count me in!" Gracy stood straight up as she covered her face with her ski mask again, "I already have my own mask!"

"Riley… who is this?" Chihiro squinted her already small eyes as she looked at Riley, "She looks… sort of familiar."

"She—"

"The name's Gracy Gray!" Gracy quickly rushed toward Chihiro, grabbing and violently shaking her hand. And since Gracy was an entire foot taller than Chihiro, she almost flung her away with how excitedly she was shaking her hand.

"H… Hello?"

"Hi, hi!" Gracy giggled. But after a few seconds, she let out another gasp and suddenly backed away, "You two were going to talk about something, right? I'll… I'll just be behind the statue while you guys discuss me joining your group."

"What?"

"What?" Gracy feigned ignorance as she walked away, "I didn't say anything."

"That is an odd woman," Chihiro muttered as she watched Gracy go behind Aerith's statue, only for her to lean her head out from time to time, "Were the two of you talking about something important? Should I return?"

"No, it is fine, Golden Fox."

"That… is good," Chihiro placed her hand on her tiny chest as she breathed out deeply, "My System is actually telling me to approach you again. I think it's giving me a clue on how to defeat this… villain."

"Your System can't tell you who you are supposed to defeat, Golden Fox?" Riley tilted his head to the side fully knowing that he was the villain her System was talking about.

"It can be vague sometimes," Chihiro sighed, "But it keeps on telling me that the villain is in this country, and it's telling me to approach you."

"Hm," Riley placed his hand on his chin, "That is odd."

"Right?" Chihiro once again sighed, "I can't find the violent man in the memory. And I can't seem to contact Whiteking to ask for his help. I need to find this villain… or else everyone will die."

"Everyone?" Riley squinted, "It told you that?"

"Yes."

"...Interesting. This System of yours seems like it knows a lot of things about this Villain."

"Hm," Chihiro nodded several times, "It feels like it wants to give me more information, but it can't. It's saying something about a multiverse? It's weird."

"..."

"It's also the first time it is acting this way. It's almost like…

…it's actually afraid."