Villain Retirement

"All of you are now at the mercy of Princess Aerith of Hel!"

"What… is he doing?"

"Is… that true, Princess Aerith!?"

"No! None of you are in my mercy! We are all equals!"

Aerith was currently somewhere on Theran—a lush glade that was surrounded by an even more lush forest as its perimeter; the noise that the trees make as they were blown by the wind, enough to camouflage whatever noise happens to sing within its domain.

And camouflage is exactly what Aerith needed right now, as she was currently being surrounded by more than a hundred themarians, and more seemed to be stepping out from the trees around them.

A handful were even carrying babies, with one of them approaching Aerith as she continued to reassure the people.

"Princess Aerith, please…" The mother's voice was slightly pleading as she showed Aerith her baby, "...Even if it's just my child, I… I want him to experience what it is like living without chains."

"Your… name is Cara, right?" Aerith could really only sigh as she looked at the mother.

"Yes, princess," the woman lowered her head.

"All of you that are here are welcomed in New Theran. And please, just call me Aerith."

"But, the announcement earlier is—"

"Don't listen to that," Aerith tried her best to stop the urge of raising her voice, "Ignore that voice from now on. He's just… trying to divert attention."

"Is… that the case?" A smile quickly crawled on the woman's face as she started cradling her baby with joy in her breath.

As for Aerith, the sighs that wanted to escape her lips were about to burst out, "Riley…

…why are you making trouble now of all times?"

"You really think my brother would just sit around and do nothing? The guy's a menace."

"...Hannah? I thought you were already on the ship preparing to leave!?" Aerith blinked a couple of times as she saw Hannah making her way toward her, "And… what are you wearing?"

"It's my superhero outfit, Nuclear Baby 2.0. And fuck that, I wanna help," Hannah flicked her hair, which was now tied up in pigtails; her clothes, a fiery pink suit that completely showed the curves in her body,

"Dad's been taken by the vampire's crew to try and wake him up anyway, so I have no reason to be in the ship."

"...Help?" Aerith was slightly in awe that Hannah could just confidently wear something like that in front of people that had no idea about her,

"I… thought you disagreed with what I was doing?"

"I did," Hannah sighed as she turned to look at the people around them, "But seeing this, I sort of don't know."

"...What?"

"Truthfully, I initially thought what you were doing is fucked up, Megawoman," Hannah stood beside Aerith,

"Because in all senses of the word, your people are free. They could walk around with smiles on their faces, they have access to entertainment, food, homes. You can even move kingdoms if you have the means to. I mean, fuck, what is that if not a normal life? So I keep asking myself… why is Megawoman doing this? I fried my brain trying to think to convince myself that you're doing something for these people, but I keep thinking that you're just messing up a good thing," Hannah then let out a long and deep sigh,

"But then I saw these people, and they just looked like the rest of us. And when I mean 'us', I mean humans. But that's just it—you guys aren't humans."

"..." Aerith also looked at her people, and Hannah was right—right now, they reminded her of humans that seek refuge back on Earth.

"It's good to have restrictions when you're a race of gods. But I realized that was sort of fucked up too," Hannah then turned to look at the sky, "I saw a lot of 'No Flying' zones everywhere and I thought it was kinda cool everyone was respecting that—but no. You and the others…

…you guys belong in the sky."

"..."

"I was reminded of that when I remember being in awe of seeing you fly around Earth. So, I want to help, Megawoman. It's—fuck. I also remembered that each of these people can punch a hole through my stomach."

"That's not going to—"

"I also want to help!"

And before Aerith could say something, Paige suddenly descended from the sky… wearing a cap with giant propellers on it.

"..." Aerith and Hannah then watched as Paige started running toward them; the giant propellers on her head that were waving around everywhere, causing the themarians to slightly move away.

"S… Sorry, that's not going to hit any of you! It's just… just a hologram!" Paige then started bowing her head while making her way to Aerith and Hannah. And finally, after a few more seconds,

"I can help too!" She said while trying to gasp for air, "I can cloak all of them up while hiding them, just make sure to not make any noise."

"That… will be very helpful," Aerith already had a plan to hide the people while they were flying to Theran, but Paige's illusions will allow them to expedite everything.

"I'm not here to help."

"What the fuck!?"

And then, all of a sudden, Tomoe popped out behind Hannah; her small eyes which were hidden by the pair of sunglasses she was wearing, squinted to the point they were closed as she looked at the crowd of themarians,

"I'm… just here to make sure no one hurts Hannah."

"These… people are not going to hurt any of you," Aerith immediately sighed.

"No. They are racist psychopaths, you said so yourself, Megawoman," Tomoe adjusted her sunglasses as she circled Hannah.

"That's… these people are not the same," Aerith shook her head, "And if some of them are, that's going to change now that we're breaking away from the older generation."

"One's nature never changes, Megawoman," Tomoe also shook her head before covering her ears with her palms—an obvious sign that she was no longer going to listen to Aerith.

"People, line up! Those with children below 18 years old, go to the front!"

"..." Aerith then turned to look at the loud voice that reverberated through the glade, only to see Hera organizing the crowd.

"You guys…" Aerith could really only take in a deep breath as she looked at Hannah and Paige,

"...Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Hannah scoffed, "You've helped the people of Earth for 300 years, this is the least we can do. And also… I want to atone for my sins. My brother, he…"

"...Right," Aerith did not really let Hannah finish her words as she placed her hand on her shoulder, "Nothing your brother did is your—"

And almost as if in cue to their conversation, a themarian that seemed to be fighting outside the planet violently fell near them; causing a small crater to erupt from the ground. The people that were around the impact site… were all able to move to the side.

| сom "Kh…" And with the dust clearing up, everyone could finally see the man that fell from the sky. It was a man with a slightly graying beard—half of his torso, perfectly carved in an arc. The old man was about to fly away…

…but his eyes suddenly moved to the crowd.

"...Son? What… are you doing here with these people?"

Aerith's sanctuary—no longer secured.

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