Villain Retirement

"And do you really think that a mother who killed her own child…

…thinks she deserves to live?"

"No."

Riley answered without any hesitation, still talking to Alice even as he felt something heavy starting to surround the entire area. The Earth, once again flattening to the point that it was almost too smooth; the gravity, quickly increased exponentially.

But it did not matter for Riley, at this point in his life, he had already survived worse conditions. What did matter to him, however, was Alice's question. Riley now knew why this had to be his first trial…

…to understand Alice, someone who had killed his own child. But if that was truly the case, then wouldn't the better version of Alice be his original mother back in his universe? Why would it be an Alice who—

Riley's eyes then slightly widened as he realized something.

Alice Lane only gained the superhero name Ms. Phoenix when she joined the Hope Guild, and yet she mentioned it to Riley even though they were still in prison.

"You…" Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked Alice in the eyes, "...are my biological mother. Not a variant, but the one who gave birth to me."

"..." Alice did not really reply and just returned Riley's stare; her eyes, slightly trembling and reddening as she very slowly opened her mouth and closed it again. But after a few seconds, she took in a deep breath and shook her head,

"You are really smart, kid…"

"No, you are just slightly stupider, Biological Mother."

"Please don't roast me, I'm still your mommy, well…" The smile on Alice's face slightly faded away, "...not exactly."

Alice then looked at her hands and smiled before once again focusing on Riley, "It is me, but at the same time, it's not. I remember everything, I remember you dancing with me and giving me a memory I will never forget. I remember giving birth to you…

…but I know I am not her. I'm not a variant, I'm not an illusion — I'm her, but someone else entirely. Your little soul mate's abilities are quite frightening, Riley."

"You are real, Biological Mother," Riley quietly uttered.

"I know," Alice forced out a small chuckle, "But I also know that I am not the Alice currently buried in this New Theran place, that's not me. I'm… like a copy."

"You are not," Riley shook his head, "That is not how Paige's ability works — everything she creates is real."

"I'm not saying I'm not real, I'm just saying that I'm not really her," Alice smiled at Riley, "And I'm glad that I'm not her because I am about to teach you a very powerful lesson, Riley."

"What is it, Biological Mother?" "That even though I'm not her, that even though I know that you might one day destroy everything…" Alice looked at Riley in the eyes again,

"...I will still die for you."

And with those words, Alice placed both of her index fingers on her temples, "And I hope that when the time comes, Riley…

…you'll die for your children too. That is the only choice you need to make."

"How would I do that, Mother?" Riley quickly stood closer to Alice, "If I do not choose, both of my family will disappear."

"Well… that's not something I can teach you," Alice let out another chuckle before removing her fingers from her temples and then just embracing Riley, "And I am truly sorry for that… I'm so sorry that I'm your mother."

"You do not have to apologize for that, Mother. You—"

And before Riley could finish his words, he suddenly found himself in a familiar dark room, sitting on a bed.

"Hm…" Riley then just slightly turned his head to the side, only to feel nothing there anymore, "She killed herself."

Riley blinked a couple of times as he just sat there on the bed.

"Is that what I am supposed to do?" Riley whispered to himself, "Kill myself? But I do not have that choice, I can't die. And even if I do, the two Creations would still collide and both will disappear. What if—"

"Blankface!"

And before Riley could continue to monologue, light suddenly entered the dark room from behind him as an even more familiar, screeching voice entered his ears. He quickly looked back, but as soon as he did so, his face was met with a large pillow, causing him to slightly lean back from the force,

"I swear, did you fucking wear my jacket again!? Where are you hiding it!? Where!?"

"I… have never worn any of your jackets before, Sister," Riley could really only push the pillow away as he stood up from the bed; his eyes, staring at Hannah as she started ransacking his room, his room that he had lived on for 16 years since his birth, and just walking around as if she owned it.

"Shut the fuck up," Hannah just rolled her eyes before hastily walking toward the curtains and opening it, "What the fuck, it smells like shit in here. Why does your room look so clean and smell so bad at the same time, bro? What kind of albino rituals are you doing here?"

"There is a weird smell, perhaps it is from you?" Riley tilted his head to the side as his nose slightly fidgeted. There truly was a smell roaming around his room.

"Do you want to die, is that it…?" Hannah snarled as she pretended to lunge at Riley, "And go out for a sec, I'll clean your room for you and find that fucking atrocious smell. Go watch TV with Mom or something, I heard Dad's supposed to be on TV in a few hours."

"Dad is on TV?" Riley blinked a couple of times.

"Yeah," Hannah shrugged as she walked toward Riley's closet, "Dude, do you even fucking care about what's going on here? They're honoring Megawoman, it's her funeral."

"Don't open—"

Riley finally realized what scenario he was in, and he quickly shut the closet when he did…

…but it was too late.

"...What the fuck was that?" Hannah's head very slowly turned toward Riley; the bashfulness and brashness in the tone of her voice, completely gone. And as Riley was not answering her at all, she once again focused on the closet and very slowly opened it.

And there, inside the closet, was the mangled corpse of Megawoman.

"Y…"

"Sister,"

Riley could hear Hannah's breaths starting to stutter; getting heavier by the second as her legs and shoulders began to tremble. Riley could even hear silent whimpers escaping her lips as she seemed to try to hold her tears back,

"I…" Riley whispered, "...am Darkday. But I am not really the Riley you know, I am from—"

And before Riley could even finish his words, the temperature in the room began to rise up to an abnormal level; to the point that the room's fire alarm itself melted. And soon, fire began to erupt as Hannah burst into flames.

"Please, Sister…" Riley closed his eyes, "...Do not make me kill you, ple—"

And before Riley could once again even finish his words, Hannah's flames became stronger and burnt the entire room—but Hannah was not attacking Riley at all. Her flames…

…they were all crawling toward Megawoman's corpse.

"Fuck… fuck you," Hannah then whispered while shaking her head, "Fuck you, Riley. Fuck you. Why… why…? You… you're supposed to tell me everything, fuck… why are you Darkday? What the fuck…?"

"Sister…" And once again, the rare occasion of Riley completely not knowing what to do dawned on him again as he just very slowly stepped closer to Hannah, "...I'm sorry."

"No… fuck!" The temperature in the room then instantly lowered as Hannah retracted her flames. Megawoman's mangled corpse, however, was still completely intact. Hannah wanted to say something else, but she just vomited right there and then, "...God… fuck, fuck…

…You."

Riley then took a step back as Hannah glared at him with her eyes filled with tears.

"You… you were supposed to be the one normal thing I had in my life, Riley…" Hannah whimpered; her lips quivering as her head trembled on its own, "...I'm… I'm supposed to take care of you forever, man. When… when we grow old, it's just supposed to be me and you… why…?"

"Sister."

Riley then approached Hannah, but Hannah quickly raised a finger and started shaking her head vehemently,

"Don't… don't you fucking go near me. We… we need to hide the body, Riley. We need to… we need to go somewhere. Fuck… where are we even going to go…? Dad's gonna find us, the Hope Guild is—"

And as soon as she said that, someone suddenly broke through Riley's window; the shards went everywhere as another familiar face just suddenly barged into his room — Tempo.

"I was passing by when I saw fire!" Tempo then quickly scanned the room, "Did something—"

His words, however, completely came to a halt as his eyes saw Megawoman's corpse in the room. And without even saying a word, he ran off and disappeared.

"Shit…" Hannah quickly stood up as she looked at Riley,

"Shit… what…

…what do we do?"

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