Villain Retirement

"Is… is it really cool for us to see this?"

"No, we will need to kill you now."

"W… what!?"

Bella initially thought that they would just be talking about Prophet when Hannah and the others arrived from the sky with their fancy jet-truck. Their entrance was pretty cool, she thought. She had always wanted to be in some kind of group since she was sick of seeing her brother's face 24/7.

And so, seeing the jet-truck slowly landing from the sky; with its propellers and rockets, Bella could not help but be excited. Of course, solving Prophet's murder was still the main reason why she wanted to temporarily team up with the Baby Crew… but being a part of something this cool was certainly a plus.

But then, as soon as the jet-truck landed, they were quickly taken by Riley deep into the dark forest. And just like their notorious fame…

…shit suddenly hit the fan, she thought.

"...Clones," Bella breathed out as she stared at the gathering of… unique-looking individuals. Unique individuals that shared one thing in common– they all looked like Silvie in a way. They were clones and not just any clones; They were clones of the greatest superhero to have ever existed, Megawoman.

"Does that mean… that Silvie is also a clone of Megawoman?" Bella then muttered as she took a small glance at Silvie.

"..."

None of the members of the Baby Crew responded, however. Silvie just looked to the side, and although she looked a little uncomfortable, her still eyes showed the resolve she had been trying to build up the past few days.

As for Daniel, he was completely silent; only staring at Aerith and looking at her from head to toe. Aerith also looked at him and could not avoid making eye contact. An awkward smile quickly crawled on Daniel's face; Aerith, however, quickly covered half of her face and started fixing the bandages covering it.

"..." Daniel could still not believe that all of this was actually happening– but he was already here, so the scenario was basically being spoon-fed to him.

The Baby Crew… is this the usual crazy shit they were involved in? He thought as he looked at Riley and the others. He already wanted to go home since earlier, since whoever murdered Prophet might come snooping and he certainly didn't want that…

…but now he was involved in something even crazier. He knew nothing good would come from sticking with Riley.

"We are not kidding, though," Hannah then raised her voice, "Don't tell any of this to anyone."

"Of course, we won't tell anyone," Daniel quickly clicked his tongue as he crossed his arms, "With all of the shit that's going on, I am sure there's a big bad out there manipulating everything."

"I will kill the two of you if you tell anyone, Daniel and Bella," Riley then suddenly joined in on the conversation; gathering a small laugh from the others as they thought he was joking.

"Come on, I thought we were tight already, my white brother?" Bella said as she tried to put her arm around Riley's shoulder. Tried.

And with just that simple moment, the dark atmosphere surrounding the already dark forest slightly got lighter… except for the clones.

Just minutes ago before this weird group suddenly arrived, they received the same threat for Little Riley. Aerith tried to escape and had a little scuffle with the small human; she was, however, surprisingly completely beaten. If it wasn't for her regenerative powers, then this weird group would have certainly seen her swelling cheeks.

Little Riley also told them not to tell anything about him… or else the original would surely kill them.

Their mother asked her and the others to scare some people, but she already failed that task as the people from the school had already left. Does that mean… their mother wasn't going to fetch them? Were they stuck here forever?

"You… said your name is Aerith?"

And as she was busy with her thoughts, a voice almost identical to hers whispered into her ears. She slowly turned her head, only to see Silvie right in front of her, "My… my name is Silvie. You and I…

…we're the same."

"My name is also Silvie!"

"Me too! Me too!"

"Is… is that so?" With the smaller clones suddenly bombarding Silvie with stares, the only thing she could do was let out a small and slightly awkward smile. Some of the younger clones were even trying to poke her skin, but she didn't seem to mind. One could even say that her eyes contained a tiny bit of warmth as they looked at the younger clones' disfigured, malnourished, and malformed bodies.

"Just… what exactly was the Government thinking?" Silvie muttered; her head immediately hurting with the statement. She had already figured this out before, but any thoughts of rebelling from the government caused her head to ache– perhaps from years of being brainwashed by her fath– by the scientist that took care of her.

"Just what is your father actually involved in, Hannah?" Silvie then muttered as she turned her head towards Hannah.

"I… have absolutely no idea," Hannah could only shake her head and sigh in shame.

"Wait… how is Whiteking involved in this?" Bella muttered.

"That…" Hannah quickly looked at Riley, who just shrugged his shoulders in response. She was a little hesitant at first, but in the end, she told the two all about the clones, and their father's part in it. Of course, they skipped the part where Gary is Megawoman's son as he didn't want other people to know, at least not yet.

"Fuck!" Daniel quickly cursed as soon as Hannah's story was over, "To think the entire family was crazy!"

Hannah was about to say something, but the only thing she could really do was let out a scoff– he had a point, after all.

They were initially just supposed to be here for Prophet… but now the situation suddenly became like this.

"What the fuck kind of shit show is happening here," Gary finally joined the conversation as he let out a loud and very deep breath. He had also been watching and observing the clones. He was aware of Project Forest– but that was only to the extent of Silvie and Dark Millenium.

If he knew that the Government would actually have created a broken replica of her mother and let them suffer… he would have probably fought to shut down the project.

"It almost feels like something big is coming…" Gary then continued, "...and it's not my dick."

"...What the fuck, man?"

"Nice one," Bella quickly stretched her hand towards Gary; the two bumping fists as they shared a laugh. Their bursts of laughter were short, however, as Bella's eyebrows began to furrow a few moments later.

"Prophet mentioned something like that in the video," she then muttered.

"Like what?"

"That something is coming… and that we should run," Daniel added to the conversation.

"This video…" And finally, Tomoe, who had been quietly observing the situation on the side, approached Riley, "...Can we see it, master Riley?"

"Okay."

"W… what? Man, Prophet told us to keep it secret," Daniel could only let out a sigh as he saw Riley handing the phone without any hesitation. He couldn't really complain any further, as he heard an even deeper secret with this cloning business.

And so, the others started to watch Prophet's farewell. As for Silvie, she was still talking with the clones; telling them about her and who she was… who they were.

"Something like that…" Aerith then whispered as soon as Silvie's story was over, "...It's not true… I… I don't accept it."

"The one that you call mother, whoever she is…" In contrast, Silvie's tone was completely gentle, "...she's not your mother."

"But she helped us escape from the bad men!"

"Y… yes! That's right!" The other clones chimed in.

"...How did you escape the bad men?" Silvie then asked as her eyes started to squint.

"We scared them! Mother told us to scare them!"

"Scare… them? How?"

"We took off their heads like this!" One of the clones said as she put both her palms close together, before pulling them away in opposite directions.

"You… killed them?"

"...Kill?" The clones all tilted their heads to the side.

"D… don't tell her that–"

"No."

A loud explosion suddenly erupted in the air; the entire forest shaking as Silvie stomped her foot on the ground,

"Megawoman would never ask you to do something like that," Silvie then said, "Megawoman is the best of us– she will never tell you to kill anyone. Whoever it is that's been calling you… she's not Megawoman."

"She… she doesn't need to be Megawoman! She's our mother and–"

"Very well said, Silvie."

And before Aerith could finish her words, she could not help but flinch as Riley started to approach them ever so slowly.

"I have already told them the same earlier," Riley let out a small sigh, "That woman you call mother is not Megawoman, clone Aerith."

"Where's the phone?" Silvie then asked as she opened her hand.

"W… why?"

"You need to throw it away. The one that's been calling you… is a bad woman."

"Mother… is bad?"

"Mother is bad woman?"

"That's not true, don't listen to her!" Aerith said as she tried to shut the other clones, "I'm not throwing away the– Hey!"

And once again, her words were interrupted as the phone in her pocket suddenly flew out, going straight towards Silvie's stretched hand.

"..." Silvie was slightly surprised at first, but as soon as she realized it was Riley who did that, she crushed the phone with her hand without any hesitation.

"N… no!" Aerith quickly rushed and crawled towards the phone, but her path was blocked by Silvie.

"Please… do not try to pick up the pieces," Silvie then said as she kneeled on the ground to be on the same eye level as Aerith, "I know how much it hurts to know that the one you've been calling your mother is not actually your family…

…But family would never ask you to do bad things," Silvie looked glanced at Riley and the others who were still busy watching Prophet's video, "A family should be there for you whenever you're in trouble… and never ask anything in return."

"F… family?"

"Please," Silvie then let out a small smile, "Let me be your family, all of you… You can consider me as your older sister."

"I–" Aerith was about to look away, but as she saw the warm smile radiating from Silvie; it was almost as if there was some sort of string attached to the both of them that was no longer allowing her to look away.

No one has ever looked at them like that– she didn't know it was even possible for someone to look at them like that. And so, with a feeling that she hasn't felt once in her life slowly filling up her entire body… the only thing she could do was reach out her hand.

Her trembling showed that she was still hesitant, but the reflection she saw in Silvie's eyes was so clear that the shattered mirror between the two of them was swept away…

…allowing their hands to finally meet.