Villain Retirement

"Where are they right now?"

"Huh…? But I am just following your lead, Megawoman."

Several minutes earlier, while Chihiro and Hannah were being chased by Chihiro who was being chased by Hannah, Silvie also followed Aerith as she followed to chase the four. It was obvious to Silvie that Aerith was waiting for her—as she was someone who could go around the entire planet in a single second.

And more importantly, she was asking her where Hannah and the others could be.

"Yes, and where are they now?" Aerith repeated her question as she glanced at Silvie; her golden brown hair that reflected the sun above them, shining so brightly that it reminded Silvie of how much she actually used to idolize Aerith before.

She wasn't only a beacon of hope, but a path to the light everyone sought. Her hero, everyone's hero… and now she was flying side by side with her.

"You… don't know where they are?" Silvie took in a small gulp as she looked at Aerith; not even bothering to look where she is going as there were nothing but clouds and the sky in the first place, "Can't you hear everything within the planet?"

"I can, I could even hear all the way to the other planets," Aerith let out a small smirk as she focused on their path, "And you should be able to do that too. So, where are they?"

"Uhm…"

A test. It was obvious what Aerith was doing—and if it was any other test, Silvie would be glad to challenge it with more than maximum effort. But alas, it just had to be the one ability that she truly disliked to use—no, she loathed it.

Hearing everything around her is a curse. It confused her a lot when the ability first manifested, and the only reason she mastered it in the first place was because she did not want it.

She looked at Aerith again, only to see her looking at her with her eyes filled with expectations. And so, the only thing Silvie could really do was let out a sigh and closed her eyes; trying to prepare her mind and body for the information she was about to receive.

"Tss," Silvie sucked in a deep but very short breath as her head shook on its own. The sounds she hear were not gentle at all; they did not have any emotion, and yet it was almost as if Silvie could feel a spectrum of color—a music that was not meant to caress, but to violate her.

She could hear the water in the clouds forming, the footsteps of the people walking below, the sound of the traffic lights changing, the rubber of the tires ever so slightly leaving its print on the scalding road… everything was rushing through her all at once. But soon, as she focused on her breaths, the only sound that remained was a certain silence that whistled across her skin.

And then, there were voices. Unfamiliar at first, foreign… until—

"Chihiro, stop this!"

"There!" Silvie did not wait for Aerith as she quickly changed the direction of her fight, increasing her speed; but not enough that it would cause the people below to notice them.

"Hm," Aerith only smiled as she once again flew beside Silvie.

"I'm… going in the right direction, right?" Silvie asked.

"Why go if you're not sure?"

"..." Silvie stared at Aerith for a couple of seconds, before nodding her head and increasing her speed even further. The situation right now was more than serious, but Silvie was trying her best not to let out child-like giggles from having Aerith suddenly mentor her out of nowhere.

Ever since they have met again after all these years, and even before they separated back in Theran—Silvie had only seen Aerith either depressed or sad. And so, seeing her right now shining so brightly, truly made Silvie more than excited.

'Finally', she thought. Megawoman is finally back, truly back.

But for some reason, however, Silvie finds herself slightly worrying about something—she just couldn't quite fathom what it is yet.

"Please, help me!"

And before Silvie could fully increase her speed to reach Hannah and the others in no time, she instantly halted her flight as soon as she heard a voice calling for help; she looked down at the city below her, squinting her eyes to focus her sight toward the distress. And there, she saw a bus filled with people being lifted up by some sort of… man.

A man whose body resembled that of a kangaroo.

"I saw all of you laughing! You think I want to look like this!?" The kangaroo man roared as she threatened to throw the bus toward the soldiers surrounding him, "Do you even realize why most supervillains are supervillains!? Because we also got the super ugly abilities! So, come on! Laugh while you still can!"

"Kangaroo Man, please stop this!" A superhero that was within the vicinity stepped out of the crowd of soldiers, "I don't think you're ugly!"

"My name is Hopper!" Kangaroo Man threw the bus toward the superhero; using his legs almost like a spring to triple the force of the throw.

"You go, I'll handle this."

"But—"

And without even waiting for Silvie to respond, Aerith dived down.

"..." Silvie could really only watch as Aerith very gently rescued the people—not by just catching the bus, but individually pulling all the people out of the bus while it was still moving in the air; everything was happening in the blink of an eye, and yet no people were harmed.

Truly, a mega woman.

And so, with a nod and a smile on her face, Silvie turned around to chase for Hannah and the others once more.

"!!!"

But before the clouds beneath her feet could be blown away by her, it was blown away by another bus filled with even more people—including the very same one that Aerith already rescued.

"Wh—"

Silvie could not even process what was happening before she saw the cheeks and stomachs of the people inside the bus explode; their guts, completely sealing the windows and painting them red.

"No…" And finally, Silvie realized what the uncomfortable feeling she had been feeling since earlier was. The return of Megawoman also meant one thing…

…and it just bloomed right in front of her.

Darkday.

Coming out of his cocoon. Just this time, the cocoon happened to be the bus. The burst open, blasting all of its content; drowning Silvie with blood and guts. The only thing visible to her, her eyes.

And there, like a butterfly thriving in all this brutality, a familiar dark figure was stretching his hands to the side; his silhouette, blocking the light that Silvie was following.

"Ri—"

"Shh."

And before Silvie could even say anything, another Darkday appeared in front of her, covering her mouth with his finger and shushing her.

"It's not your turn yet, baby girl," the clone then suddenly grabbed her by the face.

"!!!" Silvie quickly gripped the clone's wrist, snapping it in half before wrapping her legs around his arm and locking it. But before she could actually do anything else, another clone grabbed her by the neck and started pulling Silvie away from the other clone.

"Didn't you hear what he just said? It's not your turn yet, baby—"

"Riley!"

And all of a sudden, the clone's head burst as Aerith suddenly appeared out of nowhere and slapped its head right off.

"Wow," the remaining clone hummed, "Someone has a temp—"

And like its colleague, it wasn't even allowed to finish its words before Aerith clapped and squashed its head.

"Silvie, go and warn—tell Hannah that Darkday is back!"

"W—"

No one seemed to be allowed to finish their words. As before Silvie could say that she wanted to help, Aerith grabbed her by the leg and forcefully threw her away at several Mach speeds.

"Tut. Tut. Tut."

And as Silvie's voice faded away into the distance, it was followed by several clicking of Darkday's tongue,

"That was very very rude of you, oh Megawoman. I was in the middle of my speech."

"Fuck you and your speech!"

Several violent blasts of wind rippled from Megawoman; around her fists, her waist, and her ankle as she plunged straight toward Darkday. Even with all the thunder turning everything around her asunder, however, her voice was still the loudest,

"This is what you are, and what you will always be! Mad man!"

"Mad, yes…" Darkday did not dodge at all and just let Megawoman's arm go through his stomach, holding and stretching her other hand to the side, then wrapping his free arm around her waist,

"...Madly in love with you."

And like having a dance in the middle of the sky, the two started spinning around; turning the clouds around them into a bloody spiral. And perhaps in a weird way, the bloody spiral turned into the shape of a heart—the real one.

Soon, however, this blood solidified into spears and started raining down toward the city below. Nothing happened at first… but soon, a scream resounded throughout the already chaotic city.

More and more, screams filled the air, screams that will be immortalized by time.

A permanent stamp in this new world that would forever remind them of the arrival of their darkest day.

And as their dance reached its conclusion, Darkday whispered in Megawoman's ears,

"I hope you're ready for what's to come, Aerith," Riley's helmet disappeared as he planted his lips near Aerith's cheek, "Because this time…

…will be much worse."