Villain Retirement

"Are… we really moving?"

Gary's eyes reflected the image of the Earth in front of him; he left the seat beside Paragon as there really was nothing to see there without windows. It's been 10 minutes since they supposedly left the building, and he could clearly see on the hologram that their position was far from its initial pin — but never once did he feel a shake or turbulence.

None of them even noticed they lifted off the roof. Even now, as they seemed to have reached their constant speed, it just felt like they were still on the roof.

"Just… how fast is this thing going?" Gary muttered as he leaned closer to the hologram.

"850 meters per second, constantly," Paragon slightly glanced at his passengers even while wearing the large headset that covered his eyes.

"Damn. That's like double the speed of sound, right?"

"Almost triple, I suppose."

"Where did this jet even come from?" Gary finally leaned back as she looked at Paige, who seemed to be talking about something with Katrina; the two talking nonstop ever since they got onto the jet.

"It… was provided by Paragon's mother," Paige was trying her best not to look away and stutter, "She is friends with Empress, remember?"

"Hm… how long until we reach Albuquerque?"

"24 minutes, Mr. Gray," Paragon muttered. They could go faster, but the Baby Crew were already asking too many questions as it is.

"...Fuck," Gary whispered as his foot started patting the floor repeatedly, "If… only I could fly."

"..." Silvie almost said something as soon as she heard Gary's words, but instead just took a breath as she hesitated. She was a clone of his mother, so Silvie didn't really know how Gary would take it if she tried to comfort him about his abilities — so, instead..,

"Don't worry," she whispered, "She'll be fine. She's strong."

"...Yeah. Everyone's stronger than me," Gary muttered, before wincing and shaking his head as he rested his back on the sofa. This was the very reason he and Chihiro broke up — Golden Fox kept climbing the rankings. While he, even though he was known as Megawoman's son, was not even in the top 10. It just… it broke him and he lashed out at Chihiro.

"..."

"..."

"Uuh…" Paige, who noticed the mood suddenly turning sour, could not help but break the silence,

"Can… I ask you something?" She then turned her eyes towards Silvie.

"Hm?"

"It's alright if you guys don't want to answer, but… why did you leave the Baby Crew?"

"..." Silvie quickly looked at Katrina as soon as she heard Paige's question,

"W… well…"

"Oh no, it's… it's fine if you don't want to answer," Paige said as a somewhat awkward chuckle escaped her lips, "I'm sorry I asked."

"No, it's… just a stupid reason," Silvie sighed before once again looking at Katrina, who gestured to her that it was alright,

"Well, it wasn't so stupid then, but now… blegh," Silvie's entire body began to shiver, "Katrina was… in a relationship about a year ago…

…and I kind of kissed her boyfriend?" Silvie then winced as her entire body was blanketed in cringe.

"..." And very slowly, the excited look on Paige's face faded, "You left the Baby Crew… because of a man?"

"W… well, it wasn't that simple," Silvie tried to force a chuckle, "I think I needed to go away as well. You know, search… and try to find me in all of this chaos that's been happening."

"Pft," Bella snorted as soon as Silvie's mellow words entered her ears, "I'm sorry… it's just… it's funny thinking about it now."

"..."

"I mean, hell. The man ain't even all that, he a 5 at best. Now, if it was someone that looked like Riley? Now that, I would understand. The dude was looker even though he was evil as—"

Bella did not dare to continue her words as she slowly turned her eyes towards Hannah, fully expecting her to already be looking at her with a pair of eyes that could kill. Contrary to her expectations, however, Hannah did not even budge even with the mention of her brother.

Instead… she was just staring at Paragon.

"..." Seeing this, Bella could really only let out a sigh. It was weird, she was probably the most inexperienced one here regarding romance since she had been single since birth… why did it feel like she was surrounded by little children with raging hormones?

And so, as officially the probably sanest member of the Baby Crew, she probably needs to step up and step in.

"Now I have a question for you, Paige," Bella quickly switched the attention to Paige.

"Oh? Go ahead."

"I know we've already asked this before, but are you and Paragon really not together?"

"Hm," Paige quickly nodded, "I've actually only known Paragon for a very short time. In fact, I've only met him, I guess… 2, 3 days before you guys?"

"...For real?" Bella's eyes widened, "But why do the two of you seem so close, almost disgustingly inseparable."

"Don't know," Paige chuckled as she glanced at Paragon, "I've only met him for a short time, but it's like I can't live without him anymore, you guys know what I mean?"

"...No?" Bella could only mumble as she was slightly perturbed that Paige could say something like that without stuttering.

"Hmm… But I guess to answer your question," Paige slightly hummed as she placed a finger on her chin, "No. We're really not together. But for me, we… we're more than that, you know?"

"Y—"

"I love him."

This time, not only Bella, but the rest of the Baby Crew could not help but take in a small gulp as they heard Paige's words that did not contain even the slightest hesitation.

"Adam… He's like the family I never had. It might sound cliche, and it is cliche, but it's true…" Paige then slowly looked at Hannah, "I love him, and at the same time, he's… my brother."

"..." Hannah could really only return Paige's gaze, somewhat feeling that her words had more meaning than they contained.

"So…" Bella then leaned closer to Paige as she lowered her voice, "If Hannah and Paragon get together, you wouldn't get jealous?"

"What the fuck, Bell!?" Hannah almost snarled as she very lightly kicked Bella's foot.

"Hey, sis. I'm just saying…" Bella raised both her hands in surrender, "Everyone here could see you been thirsting on some Paragon ass. We just don't want a sequel to Katrina, Silvie, and that guy. Rest in peace for him."

As for the others, they didn't really know whether to laugh or not; only looking at each other with half a smile on their faces.

"So, you still haven't answered. Will you be jealous?" Bella seemed to not be done as she once again leaned closer to Paige.

"Well… I will get jealous," Paige said as she giggled, "After all, we're not really brothers and sisters, or even a family at that. I would lie if I said I wasn't interested in him romantically, I am… but as I said, we're more than that. I want us to be more than that. I… know who he is, who he really is — and from all his faults, his flaws…

…I accept him. And I'd really like to think he accepts me too."