Villain Retirement

"I believe our house is in that direction."

"Oh, that's the South East district."

The housing of the Heras was quite simple, but mesmerizing at the same time. They all lived in houses with the same down, stacked on top of each other like stairs — perhaps it would be better to define it as a sort of coliseum stand, as the floating island itself was cylindrical in nature.

"This is my house, the North district. You can tell by the towers surrounding the island."

"..." Riley looked up at the tower in the far distance, each of the towers was of different colors, perhaps a way to differentiate them easily, "It is amazing what has been done to this place considering most of you have only arrived here less than a decade ago, Clothier Hera."

"Please, just call me Hera."

"I can not," Riley shook his head, "That is a name reserved for the Hera of my world, Miss Hera 2."

"Well, that will do," Hera 2 giggled as she entered her house, "Please, Mr. Ross."

"Thank you for inviting me to your home, Hera," Riley nodded as he followed Hera 2 inside, "In truth, I find myself a little lacking in confidence with my social skills since I was trapped and forced to watch the beginning and the end of a universe. I needed the—"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ross."

And as Riley entered the house, he found himself being stared at by probably more than a dozen Heras, all wearing different uniforms of the working class. They all had varying expressions on their faces, all with one thing in common — shock.

"Hm," Riley could really let out a small breath as he looked at the same faces one by one, "As I said, a little lacking in social skills. It would seem my ability to read people has also been affected. But then again, I never have been able to read you, Miss Hera 2."

"Holy crap."

"That's… a man."

"Is he… real? Where did he even come from?"

"Can you really get us out of this place!?"

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Ross!" Hera 2 suddenly grabbed Riley's hand and placed it on her chest, "But please, you have to understand. We can't be stuck in this place, there are so many things that I still wish to do."

"..." Riley only glanced at her hand before letting out a sigh, "Why not do it here then, Miss Hera 2?"

"Because it's meaningless!" Hera 2 glanced at the other Heras behind her, only for all of them to nod their heads several times at the same time, "Whatever I do here, the only one that's going to see it… is me! The only audience is me!"

"That is somewhat narcissistic, no?" Riley pulled his hand away. Hera 2 and the others thought he was leaving and were about to stop him. But instead, he walked toward the small table and sat down, "The other Heras are technically not you at all, all of them have different memories, different lives, even different achievements."

"That's… one more thing that's fucked up in this place, Mr. Ross," Hera 2 forced out a chuckle as she sat in front of Riley, looking at him in the eyes, "Achievements. Those who have achieved more when they were still 'alive' are treated better. While… while we who are at the bottom barrel are treated as employees and hands."

"And what is wrong with being a laborer, Miss Hera 2?" Riley tilted his head to the side, "Laborers are the backbones of society, without any of you, this place will fall and—Hm…

…this place will fall."

And as Riley suddenly turned quiet and placed his hand on his chin, Hera 2 turned to look at her variants; seemingly confused as to what they were going to do now.

"Wait…" One of the Heras let out a long and deep breath as she faintly pointed at Riley while very slowly approaching him, "Ross? You're not related to Bernard Ross, by any chance?"

"Hm?" Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at the curious Hera, "I am his adoptive son."

"What…?"

The Heras all started to look at each other, almost as if having telepathic conversion among themselves and even understanding one another.

"We've never encountered that serial womanizer having an adopted son before."

"Wait, does that freak have something to do with you being here?"

"Not at all," Riley raised his palm, "And I am a unique existence, everyone. Alone in the entire multiverse."

"Woah. So, you're like the protagonist?"

"Wait, wait…" The one that originally pointed at Riley hushed everyone else as she once again pointed at him. This time, her eyes were as squinted as they could be, "...That face, it reminds me of Ms. Phoenix."

"Now that you mention it…"

"Wait, wait…" And once again, the serial pointer pointed at Riley, "...You're Ms. Phoenix and Whiteking's love child!"

"What!?"

"No." Sadly for these Heras that have not sucked in outside news for a long time, Riley quickly shut down their excitement, "I do not really have a biological father, even Alice Lane being my biological mother is currently in question. But it is intriguing that you think I look like Alice Lane, most do not see even a tinge of resemblance."

"I mean, it is quite obvious looking at you."

"Wait, guys! Guys!" Hera 2 blocked everyone's view of Riley as she stood in front of him, "We're losing track here. We all agreed to bring Mr. Ross here to find a way to get us out."

"...And can Mr. Ross get us out?"

"I have an idea," Riley stood up from his seat, "But we need to discuss it first with Hera."

"..." The Heras all looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders as they seemed slightly confused with his statement, "Which one?"

"My Hera."

***

"Absolutely fucking not, are you insane!?"

"Yes."

"No!"

Riley, Hera 2, and the other Heras were now inside Hera's house. And suffice it to say, most of them were staring at Caitlain and missing most parts of Riley and Hera's conversation.

"What do you mean start a war? Why?" Hera had one of her hands placed on the table, while the other was on her waist, "The only result that's going to have is that everyone's going to be awkward with each other after. How many times do I have to tell you that my abilities will always ensure that I survive, no matter what? And the fact that my body is not even reacting to your plan means it will do nothing."

"But your mind sure is reacting to it, Miss Hera."

"Of course. If you haven't noticed, I am pissed off, Riley."

"Oh, I am noticing it now, Miss Hera," Riley's mouth slightly turned wide as he pointed right at Hera's face, "I apologize. All I thought about when I was trapped was Sister, and being livid is her default setting so I seemed to have started associating it with everything else."

"What in the hell are you even saying?" Hera then gestured to the other Heras, "Look, you even involved these poor women with your antics."

"We're actually the ones who approached him!" Hera 2 immediately stepped out of the crowd of Heras, "And we're not poor!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Hera could really only pinch the bridge of her nose as she quietly apologized to everyone, "Look, you are only being swept by this whitey's antics because you don't know him. He's evil, right down to the core. And please, please don't be swept in by his charm."

"We don't care if he's the literal incarnation of the devil himself," Hera 2, as well as the other Heras all looked at Hera; their conviction almost beaming out from their eyes, "But we need to get out of this place. He already told us we're not really dead, and if we manage to leave this place, you guys can just put us in a place without a Hera…

…anywhere but here."

"This place messes our minds," one of the other Heras spoke up, "At first it seems like paradise. The beach, a lake, beautiful mountains — it is basically what most of us want to escape to. I know you feel that, Hera."

"She does," Riley was the one to answer, "Miss Hera is always so busy, and has expressed her desire to take a vacation numerous times when we had our little space adventure years ago. And perhaps even more so now that she owns Hera Entertainment. She—"

"Hera… Entertainment?"

All the Heras' eyes lit up as soon as they heard that word. Most of them even forgot what else they were talking about as they focused on those words and just stared at Hera, looking at her from head to toe.

"You… own your own entertainment company?" Hera 2 gasped.

"That—Riley, what the hell?" Hera glared at Riley and whispered with her teeth gritted.

"Is… is that true?" And all of a sudden, Hera found herself surrounded by different versions of herself, "You're the CEO of your own company?"

"Chairman, actually," Hera sighed, "Look, that doesn't matt—"

"We need to get out of this place," Hera 2 and the others' eyes lit up with fire as their voices turned resolute, "We will do it, we are going to shake the foundation of this place and destroy it from within."

"What… no," Hera pleaded, "This doesn't have to get violent, we just need to talk to Talia, she's the one who knows everything about this place."

"...Right," Hera 2 and the others sighed.

"Good. Now that we're seeing eye to e—"

"We are going to overtake Talia with you."

"Huh…?" Hera blinked a couple of times as Hera 2 pointed at her.

"You are the most successful Hera out of all of us…

…You are worthy of taking her place."