Villain Retirement

Warden could feel his hands slowly going numb, waving it towards the reluctant greetings of the numerous Supers he had been passing by for almost a minute now.

A minute-- it has only been a minute since he had been waving his hand and it already felt numb. How could it not, when all he wanted to do was drop his hand and look away from the faces that seemed to have not seen sunlight for years.

None of them looked emaciated; with their flesh still seemingly filled with life. Their eyes, however, showed utter despair as it felt like even the bright hall they were in did not reflect on them.

And with Diley's every tap on their glass cage, they all scurried to greet him as if they were some kind of… submissive pet.

This continued on for another dozen or so cage… until finally--

"Get me out of here! I see you, you lunatic!"

A loud scream could be heard through the endless sorrowful breaths, "I see-- Wait, you… are you from the Dark Millenium!?"

"Ms… Friday!?"

Warden could not help but halt in his steps as he saw a woman struggling to smash the glass cage she was in.

"You… did you get captured as well!?" Ms. Friday's breaths quickly became fettered as soon as she saw Warden's jet-black helmet.

"Oh right," Diley then clapped his fist as he looked back and forth between the two, "You two know each other."

"Know… each other-- You, wait… Aren't you No. 7!?" Ms. Friday once again slammed her fists on the glass cage.

"He's not No. 7 anymore," Diley let out a disappointed sigh as he placed his hand on Warden's shoulder, "He's your new caretaker, you may call him Warden. He will be the one responsible for all of you for now."

"...Warden?" Ms. Friday raised an eyebrow as she heard Diley's words, but after a few more moments, her eyebrows started to knot, "You… sold us out!? How could you!?"

Ms. Friday then once again slammed her fists-- this time not stopping until her hands almost bled.

"..." Diley only glanced at her before shaking his head, "You two seemed to have some catching up to do."

"W… wait. You're leaving me here already!?" Warden bellowed, "What… what do I even do here!?"

"You'll figure it out on your own eventually," Diley glanced at Warden as he continued to walk away, "Also… the next time we meet, don't let me catch you wearing that helmet again."

"..."

"..."

Warden could only hold his breath as he watched as Diley left, casually waving his hand as he did so.

"How dare you!?" And as soon as any trace of Diley was gone, Ms. Friday's voice once again echoed throughout the bright hall.

"How dare I!?"

And this time, Warden responded, "You were the one who tied me in shackles and tortured me!"

"Because you're a traitor! You killed all those… all those children!" Ms. Friday screamed, "But… but you can still redeem yourself, get me out of here! Get us all out of here!"

"Redeem?" Warden let out a loud scoff, before proceeding to remove his helmet; The sides of his hair were shaved, with the top pulled back in a decent length-- and with the small scars scattered on his face and his tired middle-aged face, one would probably mistake him to have served in the military… and perhaps he did.

"There is nothing to redeem, Ms. Frid-- No. There is nothing to redeem, Ellie."

"H… how do you know my name!? Did you--"

"Dark Millenium is done for," Warden breathed out, "Hope Guild and other Grade-S and A Supers are hunting them down one by one… there is nothing to redeem."

"That's im… impossible! How could they do that when our leader is Darkda--"

"Are you still in denial after being locked up in here for months?" Warden did not let Ellie finish her words as he gestured to the rest of the glass cages, "Our leader isn't Darkday-- we flew so close to the fire…

...and now the real one swatted us down like insects."

"That's--"

"I already had an idea on who Riley could be… I have just been denying it. But after seeing all of this-- that young man really is Darkday."

"..." Hearing Warden's words, Ellie shook her head numerous times. Of course, she knew who he was-- how could she not when she was surrounded by Supers abducted by Darkday?

She… She was just trying to go through the eye of a needle, trying to convince herself that the truth is not what it seemed. After all…

...What's worse than being caged by the evilest villain the world has ever known?

"All that talk about saving humanity…" Warden then whispered, "I knew it was too good to be true. Whoever was pretending to be our leader, he-- she couldn't be more different than Darkday. Darkday… is a monster."

"He… he is!" Ellie let out a crazed chuckle, "Now get us out here! We… we will expose him to the world!"

"Do you know what he did last week?"

Warden, however, completely ignored Ellie's ramblings as he turned around, "7 planes… 7 planes filled to the brim with passengers. All those innocent people… he made them crash straight to USMA."

"W… what?"

"Almost a thousand innocent people… dead."

"That's… then even more, we should stop--"

"And then he blew up the rest of the other Mega Academies, more than 25,000 people dead in one day…

...and he pinned all the blame to the Dark Millenium."

"...What?"

"Even if you go out there, they will kill you on sight, Ellie," Warden breathed out, "All our identities have been exposed to the government. They know our family, our friends… our favorite food."

"...What?" Ellie repeated her distress as she took a few steps back; the stands of her already disheveled blonde hair, splitting as she scrunched it with her hands,

"N… no. All of this happened… because you… you betrayed us!" She then bellowed as she pointed at Warden, "All those deaths… they are on you!"

"I did what I had to survive, Ellie," Warden then said as he once again faced Ellie, "Maybe if you lived the life I did, you would-- What's happening!?"

Warden's words were cut short as a loud beeping sound started to echo through the entire hall; and soon, a small rumbling could be heard.

"I… I will kill you," Ellie's furrowed eyebrows soon relaxed as the tears hanging on her eyes could no longer hold themselves anymore.

"W… what?" Warden then took a few steps back as Ellie's glass cage slowly opened up. However, he wouldn't be too nervous if it was just that-- not only Ellie's, but all of the cages opened up at the same time.

"It's lunchtime, Warden," Ellie said as she let out a smile.

"L… Lunch…" Warden took in a small gulp, "Wait… am I here to be eaten!? Are you people so starved that you would eat me!?"

"Everyone!" Ellie then screamed as she waved her hand, "Let's kill this fool and get out of here. He has access to the outside! Even if we don't use our powers, we can gang up on him!"

Ellie started to burst out in laughter as she slowly walked towards Warden.

"Wait… Don't force me to kill any of you, please!" Warden stuttered as blue chains of light emerged from his arms.

Ellie continued to laugh as the other Supers started to approach. Her laugh, however, quickly faded away as they just passed by them.

"W-- guys!?"

Ellie grabbed one of the Supers' arms, only for his hand to be swatted away. The super, only glancing at her before looking away without any expression on his face.

Ellie, even after more than a month of being held captive, did not lose hope. As long as the Dark Millenium existed, there was a chance that she would be rescued. But hearing what she heard from Warden… the last light that was still flickering in her eyes was slowly being swooshed away.

"What's… going on?"

As for Warden, he could not help but let out a sigh of relief as the… Super Prisoners ignored him. He took a look at the frenzied Ellie one last time, before deciding to follow where the others were heading to.

Warden's eyes, however, could not help but take in a small but deep breath as they passed through another glass door-- the new hall, filled with foliage and trees. If it wasn't for the white bright wall surrounding their perimeter, then he would have thought they were outside.

One of the prisoners then stepped outside the line, before kneeling to the ground and placing both her hands on the ground. Warden was confused if he needed to do something, but before he could even make a decision, the ground started to tremble.

"F… fuck," Warden was about to stop the woman, but as soon as he saw some of the trees that have already withered away come back to life, he quickly retracted the blue chains of light crawling through the ground.

The woman then glanced at him, before returning to her line like what she did was just part of their daily routine.

As for the other super prisoners, they only took a short glance at the nature that suddenly befell their eyes, before once again moving like robots as they reached another glass door.

"...What?"

And as they entered the glass door, the bright light that has been drowning Warden's eyes since earlier faded-- instead replaced by the dim light provided by candles, as well as the somber but elegant music that hummed in the air.

"This… a restaurant?" He whispered as he watched the super prisoners one by one take a seat at the tables seemingly molded with the most expensive of wood. There was also a band playing in the center of the hall.

Just... how is one man capable of doing and building something like this?

And no matter how much he looked at it… the entire hall just seemed like some sort of fancy restaurant. And he would be right; as soon, a dozen or more people appeared-- carrying what seemed to be a menu.

And the ones carrying them?

Riley. A whole bunch of Riley Ross wearing a waiter's uniform. Warden then turned his attention towards the band, only to realize that the one's playing also looked like Riley Ross.

"Warden."

"Y… yes?"

His thoughts were then disrupted as one of the Waiter Rileys approached him. "We have already prepared a table for you. Please, follow me."

"O… of course," Warden could only nod as he followed Waiter Riley to what seemed to be the grandest table in the hall.

"Also, for the bath later-- Some of the guests are requesting to have access to the pool, would you like to allow them that leisure?"

"What…

...the fuck?"

***Volume 1 End***

Hi, that puts an end to Volume 1. Hope you like it so far since I really am enjoying writing this story, and I hope you continue to support my work even further as we go alone and the story turns even crazier!

Although the story is not as famous as 'My Hermes System' when it started, I will still make sure that I put as much, or even more effort to this and try to avoid the mistakes I did there. So from the bottom of my stomach...

...Seriously, thank you very much for supporting me!

Riley Ross/Darkday's story is just getting started. With the other Mega Academies now destroyed, the foreign students that are in the Academy has no choice but to assimilate themselves in a foreign school.

As for who the leader of Dark Millennium is, maybe we will find out in the next volume?

Will Riley stay in retirement? Will Mega Woman's location finally be found?

What other secrets is the government hiding? And for that, what other secrets does Riley have in his arsenal?

Find out in the next volume of... Riley Ross Z!