Villain Retirement

"I… might have something you want to see."

"..."

"..."

Agent Miller and Hera exchanged stares for a few seconds, seemingly waiting for the other to speak. Before the awkwardness of silence could take over between them, however, Hera shrugged a shoulder and slightly shook her head.

"And…?" Hera raised an eyebrow, "What did you want to show us?"

"N… not here," Miller leaned back away from the door as he looked at both sides of the hallway, trying to confirm if anyone was there. And as soon as he confirmed that no one was there to see him, he quickly entered the room… only to immediately halt in his steps as he saw Riley just casually sitting on a sofa wearing only a bathrobe,

"I… I didn't know the two of you were tog—"

"We are, Special Agent Miller," Riley took a sip from his glass, which was supposed to be already empty, "Hera and I are together."

"No, we're not," Hera rolled her eyes as she closed the door and joined the two. Riley, on the other hand, was slightly confused as he started to look around.

"But we are in the same room, Miss Hera," Riley said.

"You will get used to him. Sit," Hera just once again groaned as she gestured to Miller to sit, before sitting beside Riley herself. And as Miller took a seat on the chair in front of them, she did not fail to notice that Miller was slightly fidgety; his eyes, scanning the window with slight nervousness,

"I take it no one else knows you are here?"

"No. Not even my partner," Miller let out a small chuckle as he wiped the sweat on his forehead before it could materialize, "I… am here because of what you said."

"Intriguing," Hera squinted her eyes as she leaned back and relaxed, "You're the most fidgety person we've had the pleasure of meeting here, and yet you seem to be the one that knows more than he lets on. So…

…Bernard Ross, Supers, Themarians, King, Whiteking. Which one are you hiding?"

"None…" Miller took in a small gulp as he carefully lifted up his coat while looking back and forth between Hera and Riley. He did not need to be careful, however, as neither of the two reacted even the slightest as he reached for something from his pocket,

"...But I want to show you something," Miller then quickly showed his phone, even pointing at it so that Hera and Riley wouldn't mistake it for a weapon, "It's in the gallery. You can check it yourself so you won't have to worry whether or not I am call—"

And before Miller could even stand up to hand the phone over to Hera, he could not help but hold his breath as the phone suddenly flew away from his hand, almost taking him with it as it shot toward Hera.

"..." Hera swiftly caught it, but turned to Riley as she did so, "Careful. What if I accidentally destroyed this thing?"

"You would not have, Miss Hera. I trust you completely," Riley just shrugged, before turning his attention back to Miller. Quietly looking at him without even saying a single word.

"..." Miller nervously glanced at Riley, waiting to see if he was going to say something to him, but no. Riley just stared at him… menacingly, "The pin is 3469."

"Hm…" Hera entered the password, and what welcomed her was a phone devoid of any apps, not even a network.

"It's just a burner. I transferred the images to that phone from a previous one just in case," Miller slightly stuttered as his breaths turned heavy, "I don't know if I am doing the right thing by showing that to you. But the thing I discovered and saw there… it wasn't right."

"..." Hera only glanced at Miller for a bit, before starting to explore the images and videos that were saved on the phone.

"I snapped those a few years ago," Miller's voice started to lower as he clasped his hands together and rested his elbows on his knees; his feet, fidgeting up and down as his eyes seemed to relive a memory he did not want to remember, "I was still new to the job, so I don't think they cared much about me. I was on my 2nd mission and I was tasked to assist this senior oper—anyway. His mission was to investigate a mysterious shipment of interest that was supposed to be coming from the Philippines, it's a 3rd world country in the—"

"I know where that is, my ex-husband's from there," Hera waved her hand as she continued to examine the images. And all she was seeing were pictures of a boat unloading a container.

"...So, you're not aliens?" Miller blinked a couple of times as he looked back and forth between Riley and Hera. But after a few seconds, he shook his head and continued with his story, "At first, I didn't really see anything unusual going on, just the heavy security. But considering the shipment got on the agency's radar, that's already to be expected. I thought it was some sort of weapon at first, or maybe they were smuggling people from the Philippines since I heard that's the kind of stuff we have to deal with…

…and it is."

"..." Hera's eyes started to squint as she got to the photos of the container being opened up.

"They were smuggling people—no. They were smuggling a person. One single person," Miller took in a deep breath, "And she didn't look foreign at all. Well, she could be European, but I know she's not someone that's supposed to be from Southeast Asia. She was bruised, bleeding… weak."

"This is…" Hera blinked a couple of times as she quickly zoomed in on the person's face. It was hard to see what she looked like since it was dark, and her face was covered in dirt and blood as Miller said. Hera then quickly explored the images more, trying to find a clearer image.

"We went back to the office and my superior reported his findings to the agency," Miller took in a long and very deep sigh as he leaned back on his seat, "He…

…died the next week of a heart attack."

"..."

"He was old," Miller forced out a chuckle, "But that motherfucker was healthy and could outrun me several laps. He couldn't have died of a fucking heart attack."

"..." Hera glanced at Miller for a few seconds, before turning her focus back on the phone, "Why approach us with this? I don't see why this involves us."

"You haven't checked the last image," Miller looked Hera straight in the eyes, "Go to the calculator app."

"..." Hera raised an eyebrow at Miller's words, but didn't really question him as she closed the gallery and opened the calculator… only to be welcomed by another gallery with only a single image.

Miller's legs once again started to shiver—no. This time, it was his entire body as he tried his best to speak, "It happened out of nowhere. At first, the woman was struggling to even stand as she was dragged away by those men. Then… all of a sudden, one of the men just went and flew away. And the woman's eyes, they were… they were…"

"Glowing," Hera's eyes turned wide as she saw the eyes of the weak and frail woman glowing, "A themarian."

"Yes," Miller once again looked Hera in the eyes, "That's… that's the word. I forgot about it but when I heard you say it, I instantly remembered about her. She said it, she said the same words… It was just a whisper, but I heard it all the way from where I was…

..'I couldn't save them… my people… themarians.' Those were the words she uttered. I remember it so clearly now, I mean… how could I ever forget something like that?"

"..." Hera quickly turned to look at Riley as she heard those words, only to see him holding the phone that was just in her hand literally moments ago, "Do you know who it is?"

"It is hard to tell with this image, Miss Hera," Riley shook his head as he stared at the photo, "But I might have an idea as to who it is."

"Do you have any information where this woman is now? Or where she is being held?" Hera stood up.

"I don't know…" Miller shook his head.

"Do you have any idea who might?"

"...The Director of National Intelligence?" Miller hesitatingly said as he shrugged, "Look. All I know is that some crazy alien shit is going on in that place — I only stayed because I want to confirm if there really are aliens because that's why I joined the agency in the first place."

"...Why not NASA?" Hera raised an eyebrow.

"I… only have a bachelor's degree," Miller awkwardly chuckled, obviously hiding the pain in his breaths, "Anyway, I was right. If aliens exist, the CIA is the one that's going to handle that shit. So, am I right…

…is that woman an alien?"

"Yes," Riley was the one to answer Miller.

"Yes!" Miller slapped his own lap before almost jumping from his seat, "Yes. I knew it! I fucking knew it. Are you… are you guys aliens?"

"No," Hera rolled her eyes.

"I'm god, Special Agent Miller."

"No, he's not," Hera once again rolled her eyes as she grabbed the phone from Riley's hand and gave it back to Miller, "This… Director of National Intelligence of yours, how do we get in touch with him?"

"I don't know. But you are persons of interest, he will talk to you if—"

"I have an idea, Miss Hera."

"We are not going to do that," Hera did not even want to listen to Riley's plan, "We can just do as Miller says and—"

And before Hera could even finish her words, Riley suddenly disappeared from the sofa…

…and appeared right behind Miller, holding a gun to his head.

"Is… is that my gun?" Miller quickly patted his coat, only to confirm his words, "What… are you going to do with that?"

"Putting you in a hostage situation, Special Agent Miller."