Villain Retirement

Chapter 349: House of Super

“Man… it’s been a few days, and they’re still showing that on the news.”

“Dragons, G. Even with all them aliens trying to ransack the shit out of Earth, dragons is where we draw the line.”

“Anyway, Paige and Paragon really know how to market their shit.”

A week has passed since Paige’s manic episode, and the Paige and Paragon agency has once again recruited staff to resurrect their building — it didn’t even take long, however, as the agency was practically being funded by the World Government; most of the staff were from the big office.

They thought their work would be lighter compared to before. After all, working for the office that practically ran the world vs. some little agency? The reduction in their workload was obvious…

…or so they thought.

They completely underestimated how popular the agency became.

The Baby Crew.

Megagirl.

They didn’t think much about it at first, but just these two brought the eyes of the entire world towards Paige and Paragon.

Who wouldn’t want to be in an agency with the superhero group that is practically replacing the Hope Guild, and with Megagirl, who was practically the next coming of Megawoman?

And as if that wasn’t enough — the founders of the Agency were also… freaks of nature.

It wasn’t really clear what happened, but Paragon was all over the news; fighting multiple dragons and an army of angels above New Jersey. Of course, in the eyes of most people, it was just a publicity stunt by the agency to showcase what the founders could do.

After all, most founders of superhero agencies were actually human — it was weird, but it is what it is.

Paige’s powers were illusions, but during the battle, everyone could see that Paragon truly was fighting with the monsters. And so, some of the people have cooked up this weird theory that it was the way Paragon trained daily, by fighting unimaginable monsters.

There are all sorts of other theories moving around, but one thing was sure.

Almost overnight, Paige and Paragon overtook the entire world.

“…” And that was evident with the line of people wanting to join the agency.

“Look at all these cute little fuckers, though,” Hannah, who was loitering in the corner of the lobby with the rest of the Baby Crew, could not help but roll her eyes as she saw this long and almost endless line,

“I swear, being a superhero is becoming like a clown now. No one’s in it for the sake of actually being a hero.”

“H… Hannah, they could hear you.”

“She… has a point, though,” Silvie shook her head as she stopped fiddling with her phone, “People are saving people not for the sake of saving people anymore — they’re doing it for the views.”

“Y… yeah, right?” Gary slightly stuttered as he looked to the side. He was about to press record on his phone, but decided to hide it… for now.

“Well, at least they be saving people, you know?” Bella let out a small sigh, “Doing it in front of a camera or not ain’t gonna matter.”

“Y… yeah,” Gary then once again grabbed his phone, “And if you guys are forgetting, we’re in an agency now. We… are kinda required to stream?”

“No, we’re not,” Silvie blinked a couple of times.

“What? What are you saying? Of course we are. That’s what superhero agencies are for,” Gary insisted.

“Well, yes. But we’re not required to stream or record,” Silvie shrugged her shoulders, “We will record only if we want to…

…didn’t you read the contract?”

“…What contract?” Gary looked at Hannah and the others, only for them to shake their heads and sigh in frustration,

“Wait, you guys signed a contract?”

“Pft.” Hearing Gary’s words, Silvie and Hannah could not help but let out a small chuckle.

“The world has gone to shit, and you never changed,” Hannah breathed out.

“You said the same thing our first day in the Academy,” Silvie sighed,

“Never change, Gary Gray.”

“No, I changed,” Gary then looked at the members of the Baby Crew in the eyes one by one,

“I now have more than a million subscribers!”

He then said as he raised his phone in the air; placing him and the others in frame, “What is up!? Baby Crew is back together and we are live in Paige— Hey… wait, where are you guys going!?”

And so, the onslaught of people wanting to get inside the agency continued — with not even one actually even passing it through the screening. There were even normal humans trying to get in, and saying that they were the next Whiteking; but alas, most of them didn’t even know a single programming language.

And so, Paige and Riley were completely alone in their office for the entire day.

“W… wait, I… I don’t think I’m ready.”

“It’s alright, Paige.”

“I… I don’t think it will fit.”

“It will.”

“M… maybe my… my illusions can do it instead?”

“That is impossible.”

“…”

“…”

“F… fine, put… put– Hng!”

And since they weren’t really doing anything, Paige just decided that it was finally time… for her to try on her superhero suit.

“Perhaps you should remove your clothes first so—”

“No. Nope. That’s not going to happen,” Paige forced the tight costume; but alas, with her wearing clothes, it was almost impossible to fully fit around her. It was the same suit she created with her mind; a suit similar to Paragon’s except a lighter blue in color.

Riley had asked her why she just doesn’t continue using her abilities to create the suit, but Paige said that it wasn’t the same.

And so, here they were.

“M… maybe I got fat,” Paige then shook her head as she removed the suit.

“You’re just wearing clothes, Paige.”

“Y… you want to see me naked that much?”

“No.”

“…Rea–”

And before Paige could ask, a knock echoed through the door.

“Ms. Paige, Mr. Paragon. We have someone for you to interview.”

“F… finally!” Paige quickly threw her suit to the side, carefully fixing her hair as well as Riley’s… but there really was nothing to fix, “Why is your hair so perfect all the time?”

“Please, come—”

And before Paige could once again finish her words, Riley covered her mouth,

“The people below should have called us if someone passed the screening,” Riley then said as he let go of Paige’s mouth.

“What… then—”

And before Paige could finish her words; her entire vision was suddenly filled with light… followed by a thunderous explosion that shook the entire building.

“W… what now!?” Paige blinked a couple of times before she was able to recover her vision, but as soon as she did, she saw Paragon grabbing someone by the neck in the middle of their office,

“We… we just had this fixed,” she then whispered as she looked at the office… which now had a clear view of the horizon.

“What was that!?” And from the view, appeared Silvie, holding a huge debris that was probably previously their office’s wall; she then immediately threw the chunk of concrete towards the sea as soon as she saw Paragon strangling someone.

“And who is this now?” She then let out a short but very deep breath as she stepped into the office.

“I don’t know…” Paragon shook his head,

“…yet.”

“Agh!”

“A… Adam!?”

Paige took a step closer, while Silvie a step back as Paragon suddenly pulled a tooth from the man he was holding.

“Who are you?”

“F… for Thousandblade… and the House of Super!”

“He’s going to blow! Throw him out!” Silvie quickly hugged and secured Paige as the man suddenly started to light up.

Paragon, however, instead of throwing the man towards the horizon, grabbed him by the face and crotch… and folded him in half.

“…”

“…”

And before anyone could say anything, the body of the man, who was clearly already dead…

…still exploded.

This explosion, however, to Silvie’s surprise… was kept in a large ball– with Paragon holding it like some kind of bubble. With her vision, she could see how the man’s mangled body was all torn up inside like some sort of smoothie in a fire.

And very soon, this ball just became the size of a basketball.

“…House of Super, do you know what that is?” Paragon then casually dropped this lump of burnt flesh as he looked at Silvie.

“N… No? It–”

And then once again, an explosion. This time, however, far away— not even in the same street; but Silvie could still hear it.

And then, another… and another — almost all at the same time.

And soon, it was followed by a voice.

A voice that probably echoed throughout the entire planet.

[We are the House of Super. And what you have just witnessed is us killing those who have betrayed our kind.]

“Where… is that coming from?” Silvie closed her eyes to try and pinpoint the location of the voice, but nothing. It was almost as if… it was just flowing with the air itself.

[For thousands of years, we have listened to the demands of those inferior to us. For thousands of years, we have oppressed our inner selves to try and live with them. But what did they do?

They experimented on the woman that has become their symbol of hope and salvation! Us Supers should not follow the whims of men, we are gods! And on that day, on that fateful day when we discovered their transgressions…

…Riley Ross showed us the way! He sacrificed his life, not for these puny humans…

…but for us!]

“…” Paige could not help but blink a couple of times as she turned to look at Paragon, who now had his hand on his chin. And if he was saying something right now, he was probably asking—

—When did he do that?