Villain Retirement

Prologue 1: Darkday

“We… We have received tragic news. Mega Woman… Mega Woman is…”

The tears of the people filled the streets, their cries echoing throughout the world, their despair rippling through the skies. Every corner of the planet mourned as they watched the death of their savior, Earth’s mightiest defender, through their screens and televisions.

Every media, every news outlet all repeated the same words over and over again– “Mega Woman is dead.”

“Mega Woman, who has protected our world and our universe for hundreds of years, has died!”

“This just in! We have received confirmation that Mega Woman has been killed by the supervillain, Darkday…”

“This truly is a dark day– As you can see from our replay, Mega Woman’s neck was snapped in… even with the Hope Guild’s help, she fell into the hands of…”

“We advise every man, woman, elderly, and children to hide in their bunkers in the coming dark days…”

“…Be warned, there will truly be dark days ahead. Expect the other supervillains to wreak havoc…”

“With her death, everyone seems to be carrying the same question…

…Who will protect us now?”

But even with the tears of people almost drowning the entire planet, there was one who neither mourned nor cheered for the hero’s death. Instead, he only let out a sigh as he folded his laptop, cancelling all the noise it once produced and completely drowning himself in the darkness of his abode.

The boy then stood up as he grabbed his phone from his pocket, and as he unlocked it, a photo of the one they called Mega Woman quickly flashed on its screen. But instead of flattering or glamorous photos of the hero, which most boys his age had, the photo that was on his screen was anything but.

Instead, it was a photo of her all bloodied up; with the whites of her eyes filling up her sockets, with her mouth completely caved in… and her head twisted in a way that it shouldn’t.

Her face reflected on the boy’s eyes, which neither trembled nor blinked; his lips, however, quivered as it produced a silent giggle, shouting in the cold and dark room as he zoomed in on the mighty hero’s disfigured face.

The boy also had the photos of the other heroes that were with Mega Woman– the Hope Guild. They were also beaten and bruised, but not as worse as Earth’s mightiest hero; unlike Mega Woman, there was still life on their faces.

After looking at their photos for what seemed like a second, he returned to Mega Woman’s disfigured face, and another chuckle emerged from the mouth of the boy… his eyes, however, remained constant.

At the start of the 18th century, when crimes and terrors from super-powered individuals spread like an epidemic; when the world was almost in complete chaos and its life slowly withering, when all hope seemed lost… Mega Woman showed herself to the world.

The gold and white radiance that came from her suit brought light back to the world. She became the cure to the widespread evil that was tarnishing the lands, once again allowing the world to heal.

But even with her existence, the planet was too big and too much for her to handle alone. But then, another miracle happened. Just a few months after her appearance, more and more heroes came to the light…

…Ushering the Age of Heroes. And until now, 300 years later, that age still blooms. But with the death of the very symbol of superheroes– humanity would have to once again take a leap back and wait.

Wait for another Mega Woman to appear.

“Y… y… you… why?” The boy continued to scan the photos on his phone, only stopping as he reached a video clip of Mega Woman, seemingly kneeling on the ground. Her face, however, seemed to still be beautifully intact compared to the earlier photos the boy was viewing.

“Why… are you doing this?”

Mega Woman’s sedated voice cracked; trying her best to stand up. But as soon as she gained the strength to move, the ground beneath her would turn into a crater, pulling her down along with it.

A long and deep breath could also be heard coming from the boy’s phone as a shoe could be seen stepping on Mega Woman’s head, but before the owner of the sigh could be heard, a series of knocks drummed through the air.

And as soon as it reached the boy’s ears, he quickly shut off his phone. But instead of the room being completely filled with nothing but darkness, light showered it completely.

“Riley, how many times do I have to say to turn on the lights when you’re already awake!? We even installed special lights so they won’t affect your skin! Stop being so gloomy and creepy all the time. And why are you so dirty!? Haven’t you heard the news? Mega Woman is dead, we should go to the bunker before Darkday finds his way to this city!”

And before the boy called Riley could even react, he was bombarded by a series of words by the woman that suddenly barged inside his room, his unusually empty but ordinary bedroom.

And with the ordinary bedroom, the figure of the boy stood out almost in exaggeration.

His hair was completely white, the color of his skin, as pale as his hair itself. The only colors that one could see in his face were his lips and the edges of his eyelids that seemed to blush from his also seemingly bright blue eyes.

“Why are you just sitting there!? Mother is already waiting for us in the bunker!” The woman that barged into his room could not help but scream in frustration as Riley just stared at her.

“This isn’t a joke, Riley! Stop being so lazy!”

The woman then quickly picked up something from the floor, throwing it towards Riley before running outside, “I’ll wait for you downstairs!”

“…” Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at his swinging door, which looked like its hinges were about to fall off as his sister once again slammed it open. But after a few seconds, he stood up, casually putting his phone back in his pocket as he wore the hoodie that was thrown to him by his sister.

He checked his room one last time, before heading out of his room, with each of his steps expressing his laziness.

“Hurry up!” His sister once again screamed as he saw Riley moving like a snail.

“It’s alright, Hannah.”

Riley finally uttered words, his voice, almost as sedated as his figure, “Darkday can’t come to this city.”

“How would you know!? Haven’t you seen the video!? The fucker just destroyed Toronto and killed Mega Woman!”

Hannah once again went amok as soon as she heard the mocking exhaustion in her brother’s voice, “Why do you sound so tired when you just spend hours in your room lazing around? Are you… you know what, never mind. I don’t want to know what you albinos get into in the dark.”

“…”

“Hurry the fuck up!” Hannah then hurriedly covered her brother’s head with his hoodie, before proceeding to grab his wrist tightly. Riley could only let himself be dragged as Hannah suddenly rushed outside the house. And as soon as the great outdoors welcomed him, chaos did too.

Riley was not able to see it clearly as his sister quickly wrapped her arms over his shoulders, pushing him away, but it was enough for him to see that their neighbors had the same thoughts as them, as they too, scurried their way towards their own bunkers.

“Hannah, what took you so long!? Is your brother with you!?”

And as soon as Riley and his sister got inside their bunker after only walking a few steps from their house, the sound of metal creaking immediately pierced their ears as their mother immediately closed the steel door.

“It’s not my fault, mom!” Hannah pushed Riley away as soon as she knew they were secured, “This albino was laughing by himself in the dark again!”

“Hannah! How many times do I have to say to not talk to your brother like that!?”

“Whatever, I don’t care.” Hannah only rolled her eyes as she cracked open a bottle of water that was sitting on a table, passing it to Riley before she went to the corner of the steel room. Their mother was going to say more, but before she could do so, Hannah was already on her phone, listening to music with her headset on.

“And you, young man! What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you listen to the news? Mega Woman is dead!”

“…I know, mother. I saw her bruised and beaten, I heard her last words as she died.”

“What? Where did you see that? The press hasn’t released any video! Every news I turn into refuses to show what truly happened to Mega Woman!”

Riley’s mother then quickly turned on the television, raising it to the highest volume as she switched the channels to try and find the video that Riley mentioned. But no matter how many channels she tuned in to, only a blurred image could be seen.

“Oh my god, what’s happening,” the voice of Riley’s mother trembled through the bunker, her hand almost dropped the remote she was holding as it shivered uncontrollably, “What about the Hope Guild? Are they also dead!? Why is all the news about Mega Woman? What about your father!?”

“Father and his team are alive, mother.”

“What? How do you know these things? Did you read it from the internet? Show me!” Riley’s mother quickly leaned towards him, and as soon as she did so, Riley quickly moved away.

“S… sorry,” Riley’s mother quickly muttered as she tried to look her son straight in the eyes, Riley, however, avoided her gaze and only looked to the side.

“But how do you know all of these? Did your father call you?”

“It’s okay, mother,” Riley shook his head in response, “I know it because I am the one who killed Mega Wo–“

“Ah! There it is! There’s your father!”

“…I know, mother. I left them alive.”

“Look, your father is fine! Your father is fine!”

“…”

Riley could only blink his eyes a couple of times as he watched his mother jump up and down in joy, even dragging his sister across the floor to force her to celebrate.

“…I am Darkday, mother.”

But alas, his words were completely drowned by cries of joy from their mother.