Villain Retirement

"...Please don't do what I think you're about to do."

[...Too late.]

Tempo could only crouch down as the clouds that once littered beside his feet were no longer to be seen. And soon, his fingers started to lift from the ground as he felt himself getting lighter and lighter.

Several warning signs also appeared on his helmet as he could feel a permeating breeze crawling through his skin; but soon, with the disappearance of the warning signs, the temperature within his suit started to stabilize.

"You… you did this on purpose, didn't you, Whiteking!?" Tempo then screamed as his surroundings started to turn slightly darker; the light that beautifully surrounded mother earth, slowly fading.

[I apologize belatedly.]

Tempo could hear Whiteking slightly chuckling from behind the earbuds, [I wanted to test if the new suit is capable of withstanding the harsh environments and conditions of space. It is very good to see that it actually is.]

"You used me as a guinea pig!? What if it didn't work!?"

[You'll survive. And also, Empress is there to save you in case you start choking or something.]

And as soon as Whiteking finished his words, everything within Tempo's view became slow as he quickly took a few steps back; leaving some sort of skirt of wind with every step as he did so.

He then turned his eyes towards where he was just standing a few moments ago, only for him to see the roof splitting open; the debris shooting out at a very slow pace as it ruptured into varying sizes of cracks.

However, even with everything else moving slowly; the fist that suddenly emerged from the ruptured floor moved at an almost normal rate, the numerous golden bangles wrapped around its arm dangling freely; and soon, the owner of that fist revealed itself to be a woman.

Her eyes were completely blue; her skin was dark and almost silky, a complete contrast with her long white hair that flowed freely in the air-- only restricted by the gold crown she was wearing, which was shaped like a thorny feather on the sides.

Like the rest of the members of the Hope Guild, the suit she was wearing had traces of being developed by Whiteking; hers was sort of a soft, gold and black armor that covered her torso, leaving her arms completely free with only the golden bangles to adorn them.

The long skirt that was split in the middle she was wearing also snapped in the air, waking Tempo from his stupor.

Tempo did not look for long, however, as he remembered that he was currently in space.

"This… is quite brutal," Tempo then muttered as he could see people floating inside the hole that Empress created.

"This is better," Empress then let out a small sigh as she stepped back on the roof of the ship, "At least this way, their deaths will be quick and almost painless."

Empress raised her hand, and as soon as she did so, Tempo quickly disappeared from his spot-- not before cursing Whiteking, of course.

"F… fuck you, Whiteking!" Tempo screamed as he clumsily leaped away from the ship; and even though they were in space, each of his steps still made an echoing sound.

And with him gone, Empress slammed her palm on the colossal airship. There was no sound whatsoever, only a deathly silence as the entirety of the ship rippled, its body crumpling ever so slowly… and soon erupted into tiny million pieces.

"..." Tempo, who was watching the view as earth's gravity once again slowly greeted him, could not help but let out a sigh of relief as he escaped the Empress's wrath. His relieved sighs, however, quickly became that of guilt as he saw the hundreds of people writhing in space-- but soon quickly stopping as the merciless expanse of space crushed the last embers of their life.

However, once again, his sigh was interrupted as he realized one crucial thing.

"...Wait, can this survive entering back to the atmosphere!?"

[...We'll see.]

"W… Whiteking!"

***

"God... damn it."

Tempo's heavy breaths whispered loudly in the air as he allowed himself to fall on a metallic, but seemingly soft chair.

"Why do you look so tired, Tempo?"

Tempo's sighs were then quickly overpowered by whirring noise that whistled in the air-- the sound that V's mecha suit was making whenever she stepped out of it. Her green eyes, emitting statics of electricity as she sat on the chair in front of her, leaving her mecha suit standing behind her.

"Maybe it's also time to kick you out of the guild and replace you with someone younger?" V then said as she smiled at Tempo.

"What do you mean tired!?" Tempo quickly raised his voice as he slammed the table in the center of them, "I am always the one cleaning all of your mess… And why are you always talking about having someone kicked out!?"

"I'm just saying," V shrugged her shoulders before rolling her glowing eyes.

"Y--"

"That's enough."

And before Tempo could even rebuke, words filled with authority echoed throughout the white and bright hall they were in, "Why are the two of you always acting like children?"

V and Tempo then quickly leaned back to their seats, before looking to the side to avoid each other's gazes; and beside them, were the other members of the Hope Guild, already seated and just watching the two of them with an amused expression on their faces.

The hall they were in emitted a white light on all corners, with multiple giant monitors attached to the wall, showing different cities in the view of a satellite.

"Is everyone here?" The voice filled with authority once again echoed throughout the hall as Empress approached the others; confidently walking before flicking her long skirt to the side as she took a seat at the center of the v-shaped table.

"Present!" V was the first to raise her hand.

"Here, here," Tempo said with a small sigh.

"I am here as you required," Butcher whispered, his arms crossed and his knives on the table.

"Always at your service, ma'am," Bulwark saluted, his golden eyes flickering as he did so.

"Let's just get this over with, I still have a modeling gig later," Hera lazily whispered as she rested her arms on the table.

"..."

"..."

"..."

A few seconds passed with no one speaking; until finally, Empress let out a small sigh as she turned her eyes towards V's mecha suit. And as soon as she did so, Whiteking stepped out from behind it.

"Sorry, I was repairing something," Whiteking then said as he waved his hand, before proceeding to sit next to Empress.

"We've destroyed all of the bases, correct?" Empress quickly breathed out as soon as everyone was accounted for.

"According to my informant, that is all of them," Whiteking nodded.

"And are we truly sure this informant could be trusted?" Empress slightly leaned closer to Whiteking's seat.

"Everything he or she said has been true so far," Whiteking once again nodded, "I thoroughly analyzed everything with the database, everything checked out."

"But there's no data on their leader?" Empress squinted her eyes.

"Only that my informant referred to her as...

....she."