Villain Retirement

"Are you still playing with that thing?"

"I am not playing with it. This is not a toy."

"Looks like a toy to me."

"Shouldn't we be the same age? Why does it feel like your age of maturity stopped at 800 years old?"

"And why does it feel like you haven't stopped aging past 3000?"

"Tch. Just leave if you have nothing informative to share."

"Oh, I do have something to share."

Millions of miles away from the space station, Dee set up a small laboratory; her machinery, just floating still in the expanse of space — and right in the center of it all was a large capsule, and in it, the star compressor, which Dee now officially named as Cosmic Compressor.

After all, the device did not just store the energy of a star, but the energy of all the celestial bodies a universe holds.

It did not really matter how far Dee was. If the Cosmic Compressor somehow leaks, the space station and this dead universe would become even more… dead. She just wanted some peace and quiet while studying this engineering marvel. Or, at least she would have some peace and quiet.

"What?" The only thing Dee could really do was stop fidgeting with the cosmic compressor for now and entertain her sudden guest, Caitlain.

"That thing you're holding, it's from my universe."

"What?" Dee quickly turned to look at Caitlain as she heard her words, "What are you even saying? We literally got this from a different universe."

"No, I am pretty sure I have seen that before. And I am not just talking about a simple star compressor — I am talking about that," Caitlain's eyes did not even flutter an inch as she pointed at the cosmic compressor, "That's from my universe. I was actually quite shocked when I first saw Riley Ross just casually holding that, that I could not process it for a few hours. You know about my universe's situation, right?"

"It was… infested with more than a million Cherbi," Dee squinted her eyes, "Wait, are you actually saying that—"

"I know that thing is from my universe, because I was part of the team responsible for creating it," Caitlain very slowly floated near the cosmic compressor; letting it reflect through her eyes, "More than 4 millennia now."

"..." Dee did not really say anything anymore as she just floated beside Caitlain, waiting for her to continue her story.

"When… we discovered that the Cherbi was starting to mutate, reproducing by and on its own," Caitlain closed her eyes as she let out a long and deep sigh, "We gathered the best minds we could across the entire universe, and we were led by another themarian called… Seed."

"Seed…" Dee placed her hand on her chin, "...I don't think he exists in my universe."

"Seed was brilliant, more than you and me — perhaps even more than the human," Caitlain glanced in the direction where the space station should be, "There was always something different about Seed, he always kept alone. Perhaps it was a generational thing…

…he was the oldest themarian I know, possibly even before our species dug their way out of the Innerworld of Theran."

"...That's more than a million years ago," Dee raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

"Only through hearsay, but it was our grandfather who told me he was alive even before their time," Caitlain nodded, "Anyway, he is eccentric. And the only thing you can talk to him about was the cosmic compressor, anything else, he would outright ignore."

"..." Dee nodded as she gestured to Caitlain to continue; trying to remember if she knew anyone by that name in her universe.

"The cherbis' number was growing at an alarming rate, but we were able to finish the cosmic compressor before they could become uncontrollable… all thanks to Seed," Caitlain stared at the cosmic compressor again, "We let the cosmic compressor absorb the energy of several stars, more than enough that all the cherbis would instinctively be lured to it even if they were millions of light years away. We were supposed to put it in a ship, fill it with enough cores that it could reach the end of the universe."

"I take it the plan didn't work well?"

"Oh, it did. How do you think we lasted for another 4000 years?" Caitlain forced out a chuckle, "It worked perfectly well and our team and the entire universe all celebrated, except Seed."

"...He was in the ship," Dee's eyes widened as she looked at Caitlain.

"Yes. We did not realize until years later," Caitlain let out another sigh, "We thought he just went to seclude himself again like always. And when we found out he was on the ship, we tried to find ways to contact him — and we did. And do you know the only thing he said to us?"

"..."

"The universe should not be too small that it can be contained in a single orb that can fit in our hands," Caitlain opened her palm as if she was holding a ball, "Something else is out there, I know it — he said."

"You think… he discovered multiversal travel even before Bernard Ross?" Dee's eyes started to move everywhere as she realized the implications of what they were discussing,

"Are you saying that somewhere out there, there is a possibility that an ancient themarian… is traveling the multiverse?"

"Hm," Caitlain nodded, "But there is a possibility that he has already reached his eternal sleep. Why would he just leave the cosmic compressor?"

"..." Dee squinted her eyes as she looked at the cosmic compressor before her eyes wandered beyond it,

"...Because he found something else. A being like that doesn't just disappear, Dr. Caitlain. He has been alive for more than a million years, he won't just disappear."

"...You think we'll be seeing him again?"

"..." Dee looked at Caitlain for a few seconds, before her eyes once again started to wander across the dead universe,

"I have a feeling he's already watching us."

"..."

"..."

"...Stop being so dramatic. He's probably dead."

***

"Wait, are you sure you're going alone!?"

"I thought you no longer cared about me, Sister."

"That—fine, go by yourself!"

Back in the space station, Riley was standing in front of a portal; just a few steps before entering it. Princess Esme and Alice wanted to go with him since this would probably be the last time they would be exploring dead and unique universes anytime soon, but Riley told them he wanted to go alone.

"Your sister has a point, you know. That's Aerith on the other side," Alice approached Riley and placed her hand on his shoulder, "She should have no problem just going home with your clone, there might be something happening in the other universe."

"No," Riley shook his head, "I believe I have an idea why she won't go with the clone, Alice Prime. That is why I must go alone."

"Well… alright then," Alice just raised both her palms and stepped away, "Too bad, I wanted to go on tour with this unusually tall themarian princess who looks more emotionless than you."

"I am not emotionless," Princess Esme quickly shook her head, "I merely lack the capacity to express my feelings physically."

"Dee should learn that from you. Are you sure you're not related to—Oh, he's gone."

And without even saying another word to anyone, Riley just stepped inside the portal.

"What's with him and the themarian princess anyway?" Alice then approached Hannah, "I get that he's somewhat obsessed with her, but the relationship between the two seems… I don't know… weirdly complicated?"

"I… honestly don't really know what's going on between the two," Hannah could really only let out a sigh as Alice suddenly talked to her about something personal, when they hadn't really talked that much before,

"The last thing I know is that Megawoman kissed Riley, at first I thought she only did that to calm him down or something — like a celebrity hugging a fan… but I don't know. I mean… my brother and Megawoman? It all just seems like… Megawoman is forcing herself."

"...That's a bit morbid if you think of it like that," Alice blinked a couple of times as she looked at Hannah, "But Riley's extremely adorable, though. If you don't look at the fact that he's screwed in the head and kills people for fun. He's quite a looker too, extremely charming — probably got it from me."

"...Right," Hannah squinted her eyes as she very slowly took a step back, "I'm just gonna… talk to Nannah."

"Ah! Speaking of your other version, I actually talked to her about Riley first," Alice did not let Hannah go, "And it just proves my point that people actually take a liking to him before they know he's a mass-murdering psychopath. That must be weird for you, huh? Another version of you likes your brother… sexually—"

"Right, right!" Hannah wanted to cover her ears there and then, "Let's… not talk about this."

"I actually like the professor too," Princess Esme raised her hand, "He is very friendly."

"See?" Alice smirked as she subtly pointed at Esme, "But honestly, if you were going to ask me, aside from, obviously the sexy teacher that's the mother of his child, I'd actually like to see him ending up with you."

"...I'm his sister, Alice," Hannah could not help but raise an eyebrow as she heard Alice's words.

"Exactly!" Alice did not seem to see anything wrong with what she said as she even placed her hand on Hannah's face,

"Keep it in the family!"

"No, just…

…nope."