Villain Retirement

"Where… is this place?"

"Everyone, please calm down."

"So, this is the main universe."

"No. This is a dead universe, and I don't think there's a main universe. Ah, please don't move anything!"

"Wait, so you mean we're still stuck here!?"

"Everyone, please. My friends are already trying to find a way to get us out."

If Hera was not gifted the ability to adapt to any situation, then she would have probably already lost her mind. She knew that there were a lot of Heras back in the HH, but now that they were all gathered in the same place, she found herself almost drowning from… herselves.

As for Riley, he was currently exploring the Council of Ross space station with Caitlain. There was just one problem, however. With the onslaught of Hera gathered in the council room, the space station automatically expanded to accommodate all of them, thus changing the corridors altogether.

He and Caitlain were trying to find any device that could help them open up a portal to another universe. After all, this is the Council of Ross… well, was. There should be something here that could grant them access to the multiverse.

"This is… amazing."

And as they walked through the corridors of the Council of Ross, Caitlain could not help but brush her palm along the silver walls,

"It is amazing what the universe could build if it isn't broken. The technology in Theran was already the most advanced that I know of, but this… it is as if this entire space station is alive, biological. You said a variant of Bernard Ross built this?"

"Yes, Dr. Caitlain," Riley nodded, "He prefers to be called Bard, and he created the Council of Ross."

"Is he the most intelligent variant of Bernard Ross?" A small but dubious smile crawled on Caitlain's face; her voice, slightly turning higher.

"I am unsure, Dr. Caitlain. But I believe he is one of the most intelligent ones."

"Is it King?"

"No," Riley shook his head, "King is just a Bernard Ross without morals, but I am afraid his reliance on the powers he had gained has caused him to think differently, Dr. Caitlain."

"What about your adoptive father?"

"Perhaps it is a battle between him and Bard," Riley nodded, "Father had something that the others did not, and he needed to be better to adapt to it."

"And what is that?"

"Me," Riley glanced at Caitlain, "He had to face the existence of Riley Ross and Darkday. Unfortunately, we will never know who is truly the most intelligent among them as Father is dead."

"...I would have very much liked to have seen your father, Riley. I bet he and my other version would have been a pleasure to talk—"

"Oh, this is him."

"!!!" Caitlain immediately halted her steps as Riley suddenly showed her the decapitated head of Bernard, "W… where did you even get that?"

"Back in the Council Room. I took it before the Hera variants stepped on it," Riley let out a small sigh as he moved the head closer to Caitlain, "What do you think? Are you also falling in love with him, Dr. Caitlain?"

"I don't think I can answer that," Caitlain looked at Bernard's head, "Please store that back to where you were hiding it, it's… disrespectful."

"Hm," Riley nodded before shrinking Bernard's head and hiding it in one of his many pockets, "Since the rest of his body is already lost in another universe, I thought it best to keep this head so that Sister and Mother would at least have something to bury, Dr. Caitlain. Of course, it needs a little makeup to work as it is already decaying."

"Right…" Caitlain squinted her eyes, "I don't know if you're sweet, or just outright insane."

"Why can I not be both, Dr. Caitl—Hm?"

Riley was not able to finish his words as a scorching surge of light suddenly beamed straight toward his head. It wasn't able to penetrate or even a micrometer of his skin, however, as Caitlain blocked that laser with her palm.

"Woah there, you can kill someone with this," Caitlain calmly said as she stood in front of Riley, just letting the beam hit her on the forehead.

"..." Riley tilted his head to the side to see who shot the laser, only to see a rainbow silhouette standing at the end of the corridor.

"...Riley Ross!?" The laser instantly faded away as an almost euphonious voice echoed across the walls, "You're back!?"

Caitlain was about to rush toward the man as he started running toward them, but Riley grabbed her by the shoulder.

"He is part of the Council of Ross, Dr. Caitlain," Riley watched as the man wearing rainbow armor ran toward them with his arms stretched to the side, "The only homosexual Bernard Ross that I know of so far, Rainbowking Barney."

"You are Riley Ross, right?" Barney's breaths may as well be gasps as he stood in front of Riley, "Is… is it only you? Where are the others?"

"I am afraid it is only me, Dr. Caitlain, and a lot of Hera variants, Barney," Riley nodded, "Were you not teleported away with the rest of us?"

"...No," Barney let out a long whistling sigh as he shook his head, "I did not even know what was happening until all of you were gone. I was unconscious and couldn't help… and when I realized that I was alone, I watched the feed from the monitors to see what happened and… I saw King."

"It is fine, Barney," Riley shook his head, "You could not have helped in any way whatsoever. But you can now, we need to pull Sister and the others from wherever universe they were sent to."

"I have actually been trying to search for the frequency King sent all of you to, but the portals left no trace, and they usually do," Barney slammed his fist on the wall.

"Look, I don't know anything about the multiverse yet," Caitlain interrupted the two and raised her hand, "But could it be the fact that the universe this guy was sent to, my universe, was a dying universe has something to do with the fluctuating frequency?"

"Dying universe?" Barney looked Caitlain in the eyes, before suddenly turning around and waving his finger violently in the air, "Of course… Of course! the energy signature of a dying universe would drastically change by the second, not allowing us to actually latch onto it. You two, follow me!"

And as Barney just abruptly left the two of them standing in the corridor, Riley and Caitlain could really only look at each other; shrugging their shoulders at the same time before following Barney.

It was weird, however, as Barney was leading them to a part of the space station they had actually passed by already earlier. But as they reached a certain spot that was completely inconspicuous and empty, Barney placed his palm on the wall — opening up a way to another corridor.

"Oh," Riley let out a small hum as he looked at Caitlain, "Is that why you were touching the walls earlier, Dr. Caitlain?"

"...Yes," Caitlain lied without even batting an eye, "Yes, that is what I was doing."

"As expected of the themarian scientist that has caused several genocides," Riley nodded several times.

"...What?" And as Caitlain heard those words, she could not help but hastened her steps to follow Riley—no. She even flew in front of him, flying backward as she looked Riley in the eyes, "What do you mean caused several genocides?"

"Most of your variants experimented on dying civilizations, Dr. Caitlain," Riley did not stop walking, "My mother did it in order to try to find a way to save Theran, but she failed like most of the others."

"That… wow," Caitlain breathed out, "Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Wait… tell me more."

The two continued to follow Barney as they talked. It was a short talk, however, as they reached the end of the corridor; a large silver door, welcoming them in full. Barney then accessed the door's lock system.

"Hm…?" Barney entered his passcode, but the only response he was getting was a long and sharp beep, "Weird, my password was working earlier."

"Why not use the retina scanner?" Caitlain said as she pointed at the scanner on top of the control panel.

"Pft, that's not working," Barney stuck out his tongue in disgust, "We've already told Bard several times to have it fixed, but he doesn't seem to care."

"Huh…" Caitlain shrugged as she looked at the door from top to bottom, "...Want me to just pry it open?"

"The entire thing is going to collapse if you do that," Barney groaned as he waved his hand, "Just wait for a few more minutes, I'll remember my password."

"Alright," Caitlain turned to look at Riley, "Tell me more about Bard, though. He's single now, right?"

"Yes, Dr. Caitlain," Riley nodded, "The Diana of their universe experimented on her on daughter and let the other themarians invade Earth, I do not really know the full story."

"That is… weird. Are there more evil versions of me out there?"

"I have even met a homosexual variant of you, Dr. Caitlain."

"...What?"

"Yes, the very first variant I met when I was accidentally sent to another universe. And she is in a relationship with a variant of my biological mother."

"...What!? Just how crazy is the multiverse?"

"It is very crazy, Dr. Caitlain," a small smile crawled on Riley's face as he very slowly turned to look at Barney, "Crazy enough that some variants impersonate other variants…

…am I correct, King?"