Villain Retirement

A quiet whisper.

But still, the voice that was whispering in the air was still enough to pierce the ears of those who could hear it. It was hoarse; hoarse enough to cause the air to vibrate as it seeped from the colossal flower iceberg.

Hannah, Gary, and Silvie, who were the nearest to the iceberg, could not help but slightly squint their eyes as they slowly turned their heads towards the prison of ice.

"Is… it still alive?"

But how? They all thought. Not only was Cephalos completely frozen and covered in ice, but its body was also mangled; bits and pieces could even be seen through Tomoe's dark frost.

"Mega Woman…" A whisper once again seeped from the cracks that were growing on the surface of the ice, "I… can smell you."

"It's… trying to find Mega Woman again," Gary took in a small gulp. He seemed to want to say something more, but before he could do so, a bout of shriek screamed from behind them. The three of them turned their heads, only to see the reporters that were trying to interview Riley floating in the air.

Riley then slightly flicked his finger, gently throwing the crowd back to the streets before he floated towards Hannah and the others.

"M… Master Riley."

Tomoe, who was still being tended by the medics due to her exhaustion, wanted to get up to follow Riley; the medics, however, did not allow her to do so. The temperature around the ambulance quickly rose; the red and blue lights, slowly flickering as fractals slowly crawled through them.

"You can't use your powers anymore!" One of the medics said as she quickly grabbed a syringe, "You're going to rebound if you–"

"It's fine."

But before the medic could inject Tomoe with a sedative, Sandra, who was also being tended by the medics, quickly grabbed her hand.

"I'll go check on them in your stead," Sandra then turned to look at Tomoe; gesturing for her to calm down. Tomoe stared at her eyes for a few seconds, before the temperature around them once again became tropic.

It wasn't only Sandra who walked back to the shore, but also the members of the Clean Up department– a department of the Government that deals with the aftermaths of Super-related incidents.

It was also the same department who helped clean and rebuild the fight between Sophie and Riley back in the nightclub in Miami… and also the ones that spent the most time in Toronto and other affected areas when Riley duked it out with Mega Woman.

In a way… they might as well be Riley's helpers.

"...What's happening?"

"The ice is cracking… don't tell me it's still alive?"

"F… fuck, tell the Shelter not to release any of the citizens yet!"

And as the whispers soon traveled the air, the reporters that were previously so eager to ask questions were once again buried by the sound of their helicopters as they all returned to the air.

Near the flower iceberg, Gary, Silvie, and Hannah were all slowly backing away; in harmony with the crackles that were continuously crawling through the surface of the ice. Their steps, only stopping as Riley arrived at their location.

"I… can hear it squirming inside," Silvie breathed out as she tilted her head to the side to try and hear the whispers clearer.

"You mean it's still regenerating at that state!?"

"Fucking hentai monster! We need Tomoe to–"

"No," Hannah cut off Gary's words before he could finish them, "We can't burden Tomoe with this anymore, we deal with this now…"

Hannah then let out a long and deep breath; closing her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again to look at her brother and Silvie, "You think you can fly this thing to space, Silvie?"

"That's…" Silvie almost choked there and there, but as soon as her eyes found their way towards Riley, she nodded, "With Riley's help… then maybe?"

"I'll also help!" Gary slapped his knuckle, "...With whatever I can while on the ground."

"Sorry for not being able to help here," Hannah breathed out, "But let's do this while the thing is still recovering!"

Gary and Silvie then looked at each other, before each running on both ends of the flower iceberg, pushing away the sands as they did so.

"Are you ready, Gary!?" Silvie slightly raised her voice.

"Aye, aye, Captain!"

"Lift in 3… 2… 1…

…Lift!"

Gary and Silvie's roars mixed in the air; far from harmonious… but seeing as they were trying to lift the weight of two buildings, no one could complain about the song they were uttering. And soon, the ice started to budge.

"N… now… Throw it towards me!"

"Are… are you sure!?"

"Yes!" Silvie gritted her teeth, "Riley, please support me."

"...Sure," Riley only blinked a couple of times as he looked at Silvie.

"Fuck, if you get turned into a pancake, it's not my fault!" Gary roared; using as much force he could muster to try and safely push the ice on top of Silvie.

Almost all the people watching them held their breaths as the flower iceberg tilted. Silvie could not hear anything, however, as everything was drowned by her own scream.

"Don't scream, Silvie! You're wasting energy!"

But alas, Silvie could not help it as her feet sunk through the sand; the veins on her neck were already starting to pop out as her trembling hands did their best to balance and lift the ice.

"You… you're doing it, Silv!"

"Really!?"

"...No."

"Fuck you, Gary!" And with those words, Silvie's whole body straightened up. She started to let out a whimper, little bits of saliva escaping from her mouth as she forced herself to remain standing.

"R… Riley, are you helping!?"

"Hm."

And soon, Silvie's feet left the sand.

"You're really doing it this time, Silv!"

This time, however, Silvie completely ignored Gary's words as she once again let out a scream– her ascent to the skies getting faster by the minute.

"I… I want to curse!" Silvie said before gritting her teeth. The clouds then once again opened up as the ice returned to the place where it was born… and now going even further up.

"You already did!" Gary let out an excited scream, "You can do it… you're doing it!"

The people that were watching from below all clapped their hands– Silvie could not hear it even from the comms in her ear, however, as her lungs still had enough energy to fill the entire air with her screams.

But soon, the ice that she was carrying turned lighter, and as soon as it did so, Silvie once again roared even louder… throwing the ice away as it escaped the confines of the earth.

"We… we did it!" A fettered chuckle then escaped from Silvie's mouth, "We did it, Riley!"

Silvie then quickly turned to look at Riley… only to find that she was all alone.

"..." Her eyes then moved everywhere, only to see the earth beneath her.

"O… Oh," Silvie muttered, "This… this is space. I'm in space, guys!"

"Not yet, we can still hear you."

"Let her celebrate, you moron."

"..." A laughter was about to escape from Silvie's mouth, but as soon as she heard the others, the only thing she could do was fly down back to the beach. And as soon as her feet met with sand, her eyes quickly landed on Riley.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" Silvie said with a small pout on her lips.

"I never came with you, Silvie."

"...What? Weren't you lifting the ice?"

"No," a small smile then slowly crept on Riley's face as he looked Silvie straight in the eyes, "I never did."

"What… do you mean?" A small skip drummed in Silvie's heart as Riley's lips once again almost reached from ear to ear.

"You lifted the ice all on your own, Silvie. You're slowly on your way to becoming like Mega Woman."

The ice was the size of two buildings merged together and should approximately probably weigh around 300,000 tonnes. For her to be able to fly with that kind of weight would mean she could potentially be rated as a Grade-S Super.

"W… what?" Silvie took in a small gulp.

"Heh… Show off," a wide smile also appeared on Hannah's face.

As for Gary, for some reason, tears were trailing on his face as he muttered about something like how everyone was growing up so fast.

"..."

As for Sandra… she was once again left with her mouth wide open. After this…

…should she also enroll in the Academy?

***

"Hm…"

In a room only lit up by the large screen plastered on the wall, a group of old people was sitting at a long table– all watching the feed that was being shown on the screen; Silvie lifting up the colossal ice.

"When will the first batch be graduating again?"

"In about 7 months, sir."

"Tch, we would have had a lot more graduates if Dark Millennium didn't destroy the other Mega Academies."

"After graduation, I am sure the demand would rise exponentially. For now, we should focus on building what we planned while we have the chance."

"Are… we sure about going ahead with it? What if she wakes up and finds that we did all of these behind her back? We should at least ask for her permission to–"

"!!!"

And just like that, the fluid conversation that was traversing the dim room abruptly stopped; drowned by the thunderous sound that snapped in the air. A small fume then sizzled in the air as the nozzle of a gun slowly cooled down.

"..."

The one that last spoke, now swimming in his own blood.

"We can't have anyone hesitating here, no matter who you are," the one that pulled the trigger let out a small but very deep sigh, "We've already started commercializing the supers– it's too late to turn back now. It's time to move on to the next step…

…Building the Superhero Association."