Villain Retirement

"It has been a very long time since I have last seen a face not of my own… It's a very welcoming sight."

"...Right."

Hera did not really know what to feel. On one hand, this little girl was probably the most mature Hera she had seen so far in HH, and she was truly thankful for that. But at the same time, Hera could not really help but lament and overthink the fact that this little girl… died.

She looks 5 at most.

"Oh?" The little girl noticed Hera's trembling eyes, "I… suppose you're also shocked."

"Yes…?" Hera once again took a step back as the little version of her started dancing around; her cute little dress and hair that reached her shoulders waved around as she spun elegantly like a ballet dancer, "You're…"

"Just call me Talia," The little Hera, Talia, let out a small giggle before gracefully leaping onto the V-shaped table, continuing her pirouette as she moved on top of it, "I did not really live long enough to become Hera. And you, you're Whiteking's adoptive son?"

Talia expertly sat in front of Riley, imitating his tilted head as she smiled at him, "It's the first time I am hearing he has an adoptive son, I suppose your existence truly holds a special mystery in the universe."

"As much as you have, Miss Talia," Riley nodded.

"Pft," Talia covered her mouth and giggled. She then started running across the table and looked at Caitlain, "And you're Diana! You don't really look like how they described you!"

"Yes," Caitlain batted her eyes as she curiously approached the little girl, "It would seem I am quite different from the rest of my variants, like you."

"Stop it, I'm not that special, guys," Talia once again giggled before leaping out of the table and running toward the large windows before stretching her arms to the side as wide as she could, "There are like more than thousands of us here."

"Wait." And almost in full contrast to Talia's jolly, almost jubilant voice, Hera seemed completely worried and at a loss as she hurriedly approached Talia, "You said you were from King's universe?"

"Oh, yes…" Talia puffed her cheeks and pointed a finger at her temple, "...Papoosh."

Talia mouthed a small explosion, before creating a buzzing noise as she started brushing her finger toward the back of her neck.

"Whiteking sliced my head like that, and then I was suddenly here, alone for quite a lot of years."

"No…" Hera looked Talia in the eyes.

"It is what it is," Talia sighed.

"And how were you able to get so eloquent?" Caitlain was truly intrigued at Talia's existence, "In human years, you look like you are just a year past a toddler."

"I don't know," Talia just shrugged as she once again looked at herself, "I just learned things, I suppose. I think my superpowers thought I would die of boredom if I did not learn anything the 20 or so years I was alone…

…I like dancing the most"

"..." Hera could really only watch as Talia once again started leaping and spinning in the air as she circled around her, "Can you… tell us how to get out of this place?"

"Oh, I have no idea," Talia shrugged, "The only thing I know is that we are alive, and this is not really heaven. Why would you want to leave this place in the first place? It has everything! They even built a large candy bar on Hera Bazaar Island!"

"...Because we're not supposed to be here?" Hera slowly muttered, "You said it yourself, we're not dead. We need to be out there."

"Where? We might be alive, but our universes are dead. Our moms and dads are dead. Their friends are dead," Talia crossed her arms as she pouted, "You are only saying that because your universe might still be alive."

"That's not what I—"

"Anyways…"

Talia then started yawning as her jolly steps finally slowed down, "I'm getting a little sleepy. So, let's talk again once my nap time is over?"

"Wa—Huh?"

Hera was going to approach Talia, but she, Riley, and Caitlain suddenly found themselves inside a room. No, inside a humble-sized house. The walls were bricks and stones, the floors were just unfinished asphalt, and there were square carpets of the same design just lying on the floor everywhere.

"This…" Hera blinked a couple of times as she started looking around, "...This is my parent's house."

"I did not know you were poor, Miss Hera," Riley also started looking around, focusing on the small bedroom that you could see from the living room since it did not really have a door and was just covered with some sort of curtain.

"We weren't!" Hera almost snarled at Riley as she looked at him, "My parents were both biracial, but my grandparents from my dad's side did not really… appreciate my mother since she came from a… different belief. Dad was disowned by his own family and—why am I even telling this to you!?"

"Interesting, please continue, Miss Hera."

"No," Hera rolled her eyes as she started walking to the door, "Anyway, I remember the houses sharing walls with the neighbors, and… Yup, that's what I fucking thought."

Hera opened the door, only to be welcomed by layers and layers of houses all sticking to one another—houses with the same design.

"Ah! Ye' a newcomer eh?" And immediately, she was greeted by another Hera who seemed to be on her way somewhere, "Looking forward smellin' you from now on. Me and my friends were about to do some little hiking on Hera's Mountain, would you like to come wit'?"

"Why the fuck do you have a difference accent!?" Hera wanted to pull her face in frustration as she once again heard another Hera with a crazy accent.

"Wee. 'Coz I'm acting, sweetie," the other Hera shrugged, "You should try it sometimes, will help you fit in well 'ere. A waste of yer acting skills if ye don't. I'm not feelin' your energy right now, gettin' a tad bit aggress—"

"Stop, stop it! It's not even that good of an accent."

"Excuse me?" And all of a sudden, the other Hera lost her accent. Her left eyebrow, raised as high as it could as she looked Hera in the eyes, "I will have you know that I won several Emmys and Grammys—much more than the other Heras. My accent is fine…

…bitch."

"What did you—"

And before Hera could get a final word in, the other Hera jumped high into the air and onto a helicopter that was already waiting for her in the skies. The other Hera seemed to be saying something to Hera since she was waving her hand, but Hera couldn't really hear it.

"She said you're not even that beautiful, Miss Hera," Riley, on the other hand, seemed to take it upon himself to let Hera know.

"Excuse me…? I'm—No, that doesn't matter," Hera stepped back inside the house, "We need to find a way to get out of here. If I was going to be stuck here forever with other people exactly like me, then I would have rather be stuck with this whitey instead. Dr. Caitlain, since you're the smartest among us three, what do you think so far?"

"Oh, I think everything's fantastic," Caitlain let out a small chuckle as she sat down on the sofa that was covered with a towel, "It hasn't even been long since I learned that the multiverse is real, and I am already being plunged into all of this."

"I mean, do you have any idea on how we could escape this place?"

"It seems to me our friend here might have more," Caitlain pointed to Riley, "My adoptive son here is a Primordial, right? Maybe do something… supreme?"

"I do have an idea, Miss Hera," Riley placed his hand on his chin and nodded.

"...Do we want to hear this idea?" Hera covered her forehead and sighed, "Fine."

"I attempt to kill everyone here," Riley casually said as he smiled.

"No," Hera pointed her palm at Riley, "I know what you're thinking, and the thought… might have brushed my brain a little bit earlier, but no. The realistic scenario is that we'll just get sent to a domain similar to this one."

"And I will destroy that too, Miss Hera."

"And what if I am the only one that gets teleported?" Hera raised an eyebrow, "Then you and Dr. Caitlain here would be stuck in this place forever."

"That doesn't seem bad, honestly," Caitlain shrugged, "I get to spend some time with my supposed adoptive son, and this domain seems to have everything we need."

Riley pointed at Caitlain and nodded his head, "You will also be saving the rest of the multiverse from me, Miss Hera."

"As much as I hate to say this, but I think we actually need you out there," Hera forced out a chuckle, "You and King are monsters without a doubt. But at least with you, people just get tortured, die, and that's it. That fucker seems to be lobotomizing humans and then enslaving other people. He is mad at the world, you… you're just doing your purpose."

"Very well, I have another idea," Riley sighed, "Kill me, Dr. Caitlain."

"...Why would I do that?" Caitlain stared at Riley for a few seconds before her eyes started to widen, "Oh! Are you going to that… Nothing?"

"Yes, Dr. Caitlain," Riley nodded, "He was not really there the last time I died, but perhaps I could call him this time."

"Hm, okay. Turn off your telekinetic barrier."

"Ack, this is crazy," Hera shook her head and turned around,

"...Please don't do it on the carpet."

***

[Oh my…

…things have been very interesting for you the last time we've met. A new Primordial. But are you, really?]