Villain Retirement

"You're still playing with that?"

"For the last time, I am not playing with it."

"It looks like you are."

"Seriously, how old are you supposed to be?"

"Same as you, I'm just more fun — even our mother variant is more fun than you."

Back in the Council of Ross, the dead universe was still dead, but the activity going on inside it could not be even more alive, even compared to when the Council of Ross was still actually the Council of Ross and not just a hub for multiversal friends. Or in this case, Dr. Caitlain and Dee, Diana's variants.

Dee was previously in another dead universe, but opted to bring her work into the Council of Ross instead since she could use another eye to help her. Unfortunately for her, the only other one crazy enough to actually help her in experimenting with the Cosmic Compressor was Dr. Caitlain… and Dr. Caitlain never stops talking.

Hera's variants were there too, they could probably help if their ability deems it so that learning about the Cosmic Compressor would be helpful to them — but alas, their bodies do not seem that eager to even get near the Cosmic Compressor.

As for Hera herself, well… she was busy acting as a mother for Talia. The press had also been giving them a hard time; instead of focusing on the universe-ending events, they were focusing on her love life and trying to guess who Talia's father was — and it did not really take long for them to come to a conclusion because Riley and her actually legally registered Talia as their daughter.

Suffice it to say, that became the news of the century even above them literally saving several universes.

"If you are not going to help me, then can you just please stay quiet?"

"You hate it, don't you?"

Dee and Caitlain were currently inside a secured and reinforced part of the Council of Ross, with Ahor Zai recording their every move and warning them if she detected even just a single speck of fluctuation or change with the Cosmic Compressor.

The Cosmic Compressor was being kept inside a sealed box, with robotic arms inside that Dee was controlling from the outside. There was also a hologram projecting above the sealed box, allowing Dee to almost seamlessly interact with it, like it was actually in front of her and not sealed away.

The sealed box was made of compressed themarian steel, but suffice it to say, it won't actually do anything if the Cosmic Compressor decides to malfunction.

"You hate it that I am probably the only person in the entire multiverse that could actually help you," Caitlain repeated her words as she was just walking around the silver room, looking at all the holograms projecting everywhere, as well as the formulas written on the walls, "Oh, there's a mistake on this one."

"Yes, I hate it very much," Dee rolled her eyes, scoffing as she left the Cosmic Compressor and walked toward Caitlain, "Where's the mistake?"

"That one," Caitlain pointed at a small part in the otherwise long and jumbled formula, "You're short by 0.0034 seconds."

"Hm…" Dee squinted her eyes as she looked at where Caitlain was pointing. And after a few seconds, she let out a sigh and changed the number — and as she did so, all the holograms and formulas changed with it. Dee then started looking at all the changes before just nodding and returning to the sealed box.

"What…? No thank you?" Caitlain snorted as she watched Dee bury herself in research again, "What did Diana even say? I thought she was open to helping us with this."

"She says she's not interested," Dee once again leaned away from the sealed box as she sighed, "She says it's enough 'being a scientist' and time to start spending time with her family. I mean, what family? Her husband's dead, her daughter is already an adult… and her son is…"

"A god?" Caitlain forced out a chuckle.

"A god that's intent on ending all of us," Dee placed a finger on Caitlain's chest, "And I seem to be the only one that's interested in stopping it."

"The boy is gone, Dee."

"He'll return," Dee looked Caitlain in the eyes, "You don't seem to treat him as a threat since you know him as an ally and the two of you are buddies, but you should have seen when he just mercilessly killed all the themarians of my world without even any rhyme or reason. He also killed the Bernard of my world for no apparent reason, and he's the variant of his adoptive father."

"Last I checked, your girlfriend's also taken a liking to the boy," Caitlain shrugged as she seemed to completely disregard Dee's words, "And if you're truly interested in stopping him as you said, you would be working with Aerith's mother and the Aerith of your world… she calls herself Edith now, right? Ack…

…I am actually a little confused about who belongs to which universe now."

"..." Dee did not really respond; just glancing at Caitlain before focusing on the hologram in front of her.

"You hate that I am right, right?" Caitlain then moved behind the steel box, before just leaning her head through the hologram and causing Dee to frown, "You're not interested in stopping Riley at all, you just want to know how exactly this Cosmic Compressor works… and to see if it could stop a god, any god — it doesn't matter if it is Riley or some other folks."

"You don't know me, Caitlain."

"But I'm you," Caitlain smiled as she looked Dee in the eyes, "And right now, I am sure you're very, very interested in the Domain of the Gods. I saw the light that lit up in your eyes when Princess Aerith and that Hannah kid explained where Riley is…

…you're hoping that if you managed to reverse engineer the Cosmic Compressor, you could also trigger an event strong enough that would be noticed by a Primordial, aren't you?"

"No," Dee scoffed as she pushed Caitlain's face away. But after a few seconds, a hint of a smile could be seen forming on her face, "I am hoping to trigger an event that would directly open a gate to wherever that domain is… or just any other domain."

"Any other domain?" Caitlain slightly gasped as she looked at Dee from head to toe, "Look at you, little Miss Daring. Aren't you afraid of what you might find? Or…

…what might find you?"

***

"I can't summon the Cosmic Compressor, Riley Ross."

"Why not?"

"Because we have no idea how it works, we just know what it is capable of."

Back in the Domain of the Gods, Marleen had finally escaped the angry crowd that was mobbing her, and it did not really take long for her to find Riley and the others since they were just hanging out near Miss Pepondosovich's favorite restaurant… it also helped that their table was practically covered by a tower of food, specifically a feast of what seemed to be seafood.

"Come on, Marleen. Don't embarrass me in front of the kid," Miss Pepondosovich cracked open a claw of a crab larger than the size of Riley's arm, "I told him you can summon anything from your memory. Well, his memory to be more specific…

…I also told him you will summon something for him."

"...Why would you make a promise on my behalf?" Marleen could really only cover her forehead as she watched as Miss Pepondosovich sucked the juicy meat of the crab, almost as if what was happening had nothing to do with her. And so, the only thing she could really do was turn her focus back to Riley…

…only to see him looking at her; his eyes, filled with expectation.

"Look," Marleen groaned before violently snatching the crab leg that Miss Pepondosovich just cracked open, "Since a promise was made, even though I didn't even know about it, I'm not the kind of person that wouldn't honor it."

"...See what I told you?" Miss Pepondosovich did not seem to mind that her food was stolen as she just grabbed another thing from the tower of food in front of her, "She always keeps her promises."

"Shut up," Marleen almost snarled at Miss Pepondosovich. But after a few seconds, she started to calm down; sighing as she turned her focus back to RIley again, "So, just tell me what you want me to summon."

"The Cosmic Compressor."

"Except for that," Marleen sighed, "And even if I do manage to summon it, it probably won't work as intended — that is the very reason the vendors were after me, because I sold them things that don't… work as well as they remember it…

…Do you really want something like the Cosmic Compressor malfunctioning on us?"

"Yes."

"Right… Yup," Marleen closed her eyes and nodded, "I forgot who I was talking to. Just tell me what else you want to summ—"

"Ahor Zai," Riley then said without any hesitation, "Please summon Ahor Zai, Miss Marleen."