Villain Retirement - Chapter 1100: The Middle Finger

“…So, this is what it feels like to be normal.”

“Are you seriously thinking about that right now!?”

“This is only the second time I am ever in a hospital, Miss Pepondosovich.”

Riley truly just let the nurses and doctors do whatever they wanted with his body – well, there wasn’t much to do in the first place as none of their procedures actually worked for him. They couldn’t pierce his skin at all.

“We’re… we’re not getting any readings!” And any of their scanners did not work at all on him as he had a telekinetic suit protecting his entire body, “This man… this man should be dead!”

“I agree,” Riley nodded as he looked at the doctor assigned to him, “I should have been dead years ago.”

“This is not good, the patient’s going into delirium!”

“Riri…”

“The other patient’s trying to stand!”

The chaos within the clinic completely turned for the worse as Miss Pepondosovich sat up and removed all the things they attached to her before just leaping straight onto Riley’s bed, causing all the medical staff to take several steps back.

“That patient is trying to eat the male patient!”

“I am not!” Miss Pepondosovich could not help but just scream at the medical staff as soon as she heard that, “We are not hurt, okay? We’re completely, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with us. Well… there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me, but this guy right here has a lot of problems.”

“It is true, everyone,” Riley nodded while still remaining on the bed.

“Riri, get up!” Miss Pepondosovich just let out a loud sigh as she pulled Riley up; having no problem doing so since they were still almost the same size, “Stop causing a scene.”

“You are the only one here causing a scene, Miss Pepondosovich.” And fortunately for her, Riley finally sat up – before his shrunken body finally grew and returned to normal, shocking all the medical staff, “I believe you scared all of these people.”

“Don’t you dare gaslight me, Riri.”

“I do not know what that means,” Riley shook his head and stood up.

“…Maybe I should have just stayed with the others and tried the Black Tower,” Miss Pepondosovich pinched the bridge of her nose, “Why didn’t you even try to clear it before leaving, Riri!? This is why people are complaining that you’re skipping your story arcs!”

“Where did you hear that, Miss Pepondosovich?”

“From Enel, where else!?” Miss Pepondosovich pointed at Riley – and very soon, they found themselves surrounded by what seemed to be Everywhere’s police force; all of them, pointing their large rifles at them that emitted some sort of humming noise,

“And look what you did, we were supposed to be here peacefully. Bathing in the sun in a nice vacation.”

“You sound like Hera, Miss Pepondosovich.”

“Sh-”

[Do not move! This is your final warning!]

“Wait, wait! Please… stop, everyone, stop!”

And before anything even more drastic could happen, the Tondions who salvaged Riley and Miss Pepondosovich scooted their way into the clinic; all of them raising their hands in the air to try and stop the officers from shooting,

“There’s… there’s been some misunderstanding here! They are refugees, refugees! We rescued them from the rubbles of the destruction caused by the Order of Nothing!”

“They also haven’t hurt any of us!” One of the doctors also joined in on the tondions, “Please, lower your weapons, this is a house of healing!”

[But the clinic is the one who called for us,] the officers seemed visibly confused as they very slowly lowered their weapons.

“Yes, to assist us and not point guns at our patients!”

The commotion did not really last long after that, with the officers just letting out their sighs and shaking their heads as they left. As for the medical staff, well, all of them were still staring at Miss Pepondosovich and Riley.

“What… are you?” One of the nurses approached Riley, seemingly wanting to touch his face. And if it wasn’t for the fact that her colleagues slapped her hand away, she probably truly would have.

“…Have you guys never seen at least a single super-powered individual before…?” Miss Pepondosovich squinted her eyes as she looked at each of the people’s faces, and judging by the confusion escaping their breaths – they truly had not. In fact, even the tondions were quite confused as to how the two were even able to survive,

“…Seriously?”

“We… I think we need to report this to someone,” one of the medical staff breathed out, “Can… can the two of you remain here while we sort this out?”

“Nope,” Miss Pepondosovich quickly formed her arms into an X, “Riri and I will be exploring this colossal severed arm. I particularly want to visit that other city there.”

Right now, Miss Pepondosovich and Riley were at the base of the thumb, and she was pointing at the city sitting on the end of the middle finger, which had a large glass tower visible even from where they were.

“It looks very interesting.”

“That’s… the Nothing Nothing association,” one of the tondions said.

“The what now?”

“It’s where people register to fight against the Order of Nothing – hence the name, Nothing Nothing, turning Nothing into Nothing.”

“Very astute naming sense,” Riley nodded several times.

“Yes, it is very prestigious,” the tondions, as well as the medical staff and even one of the other patients dying on one of the beds nodded in agreement, “We wanted to register as fighters, but we weren’t cut out to be – and so we just do our part and try and rescue anyone that might have survived the cruel attacks of the Order of Nothing. If…

…if only we were as strong as you, Miss Pepondosovich.”

“That’s right! Why don’t you register as a fighter!?”

“Yeah, no. That’s not gonna happen,” Miss Pepondosovich once again formed her arms into an X, “The sole reason why Riri and I are here was to get away from all of the shubalaka

nonsense.”

“But… it’s everyone’s dream to fight against the Order of Nothing.”

“Apparently not everyone since there’s literally an Order of Nothing,” Miss Pepondosovich

pointed.

“She got you there.”

“But-”

“Ah, Riri! Wait for me!” And before any of the tondions could follow up what they wanted to say, Riley already started leaving the clinic, “We might be in this place for a few weeks or so, Doctors so if you need something from us…

…just find us.”

***

“How can we even be lost!?”

A few hours after just walking through the world of Everywhere, Riley and Miss Pepondosovich found themselves lost in some sort of lush forest; which if their memory serves them correctly, was somewhere on the forearm of Everywhere their destination was

the middle finger.

“We can literally see where the middle finger was, how are we even here!?” Miss

Pepondosovich clasped her head.

“I was only following you, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley shrugged.

“I know! And… and you, why didn’t you say anything!?” Miss Pepondosovich then pointed at

the person they were with – the tondion captain.

“I’m—I’m only tasked to follow you around?” The tondion captain squinted his eyes, “I’m

required to do so since my crew is the one who found you, at least until they secure you your

identifications.”

“So, why didn’t you say anything!?”

“… You never asked me?”

“That is true, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley nodded, “You said you knew the way.”

“Agh!” Miss Pepondosovich clasped her chest for a few seconds before just sighing and

shaking her head, “Fine, fine. You lead the way, boy.”

“…Boy?” The tondion captain could really only force out a smile before ultimately leading the

way. And after an hour, they were back where the clinic was.

“Why are we back here!?”

“…We need to ride on the train here.”

“There was a train!?” Miss Pepondosovich covered her face.

“You truly should have asked, Miss Pepondosovich,” Riley once again shook his head in

disappointment.

“Ack, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just go.”

And so, finally, they were on the right track toward the middle finger city. Unfortunately, before they could actually board the train, the officers who surrounded them earlier now

blocked their path.

“What now…?”

“We need the two of you to come with us,” one of the officers stepped forward. This time,

however, none of them were pointing their weapons at them – and were even slightly courteous, if not a little strict.

“Can… I ask what this is about?” The tondion captain stood between the officers and Miss Pepondosovich, “We… we haven’t broken any violations. I made sure of that!”

“You haven’t,” the officer shook his head before looking at Riley and Miss Pepondosovich,

“The Overseer wants to see them.”

“That’s-”

“You are coming along too as their ward.”

“M…Me?” The tondion captain gulped before a small smile crawled on his face, “…I get to

meet the Overseer?”

“Great…” Miss Pepondosovich sighed as she looked at Riley,

“…It would seem you really are fated to be in the center of things, Riley. Can’t you be like… in

the shadows for once?”

“I have tried…

…but the darkness inside me was so much that even the shadows surrendered.”

“Agh, stop being so edgy.”