Chapter 33 - Lady Quake's Retirement Party

Art by YinYangMyriad 

The next day, when my dad picked up his copy of the San Urbano Times, he immediately saw my name. At first, he looked shocked, but he took a sip of coffee to calm himself down and read the rest of the article. Meanwhile, I ate my breakfast and waited patiently for his reaction.

Dad had already told me that he didn't want me around Vanessa, Percy, and Terry - what would he think if he knew that we had blown up the Academy together? I braced myself for a disapproving look and a lecture about why I should never get involved with true supervillains.

Instead, his reaction surprised me. "I'm proud of you, Jay," Dad said.

"What?" I said, not believing my own ears.

"I'm glad that you and your friends finally destroyed the Academy," Dad said. "I'm not sure if you know this, but the Academy sent the superhero team that killed your mother."

"I know that, Dad," I said. Now I knew that something had to be wrong. I had never heard Dad talking about Mom. "Why did you send me to the Academy if you knew that they killed Mom?"

"I thought that it would be better for you if we cooperated with the Academy instead of fighting against it," Dad said. "Clearly, I was wrong."

Dad passed me the newspaper, and I skimmed the article. I already knew most of the information in there from firsthand experience, but I discovered that there was only one casualty - Edward Doyle - and that the Academy planned to continue teaching and researching, despite the destruction of their main building and the arrest of their primary sponsor. "It says here that the Academy plans to keep going," I said.

"The Academy won't last for much longer," Dad said. "They can't rebuild with only government funds."

"I'm still worried," I said.

"You don't need to worry," Dad said. He did something else unexpected - he gave me a hug and said, "I'm sorry for sending you to the Academy, Jay. It was my mistake, and I've been paying for it ever since."

"I forgive you, Dad," I said. "It doesn't matter anyways, now that the Academy is gone." I paused for a few seconds and then said, "Can I ask you something else?"

"Of course," Dad said as he took another sip of his coffee.

"Ellen is having a retirement party at her castle next Thursday," I said. "Can I please go?"

"Isn't that the night before school starts?" Dad said.

"Yes," I replied.

Dad thought it over and then said, "Yes, you may go."

"Thanks Dad," I said.

"Are you ready to go to work?" he asked.

"I think so," I replied as I finished the last few bites of my toast. Dad then drove me to the San Urbano Times building. When I got there, I quickly found Vanessa and Declan cleaning out Declan's desk. "What are you two doing?" I asked.

"What does it look like we're doing?" Vanessa asked.

"I talked to Gwen, and now that Mr. Russell knows that I betrayed the Academy, he wants me fired," Declan explained.

"He was arrested though," I said.

"I know that, and the woman who's supposed to replace him if he is convicted sympathizes with us," Declan said. "Gwen said that she would happily hire me again if that were to happen, but for now, I'm unemployed."

"What are you going to do now?" I asked.

"Search for a new job, I guess," Declan said. "I have an impressive resume at this point: I've been an intern at the Academy, a superhero, a reporter for the San Urbano Times, and I helped blow up the Academy."

"I'm not sure that the last one will help you find a job," I said.

All of a sudden, Gwen walked up to me. "Jay, I hate to tell you this, but I'm going to have to let you go," she said. "Thomas Russell, our CEO, thinks that you may have been involved in destroying the Academy, and that makes you unfit to work for us."

I didn't even bother to protest. Instead, I glanced towards Vanessa, who merely shrugged. "I don't think they've figured out about me yet," she whispered.

I knew that Dad was already on his way to work, so once Declan was done cleaning out his desk, I asked him if he could give me a ride home. "I suppose that I could do that," he said. "Where do you live?" I told him, and the two of us walked out of the building. "Take my hand," Declan said, and I gave him a confused look. "Just do it," he said, and I held his hand.

All of a sudden, Declan sprinted away at super speed, and I was dragged along with him. The city blurred and spun before my eyes, but it was only a split second before we arrived home.

"I'll see you around, Jay," Declan said before he ran off again at super speed. I headed inside, hoping that Dad would understand when I inevitably had to tell him that I had gotten fired.

Over the next week, I went to the castle as much as I could, now that I didn't have a job to keep me occupied. Dad didn't seem to care that I had lost my job at the San Urbano Times - as it turned out, he didn't like Mr. Russell all that much either. Percy, Terry, and Harper were almost always at the castle to keep me company, and occasionally, I saw Declan and Vanessa as well.

The following Thursday, I arrived at Ellen's castle for her retirement party. The road leading up to the castle was lined with flashy cars and other vehicles, a few of which I recognized as belonging to other supervillains. Until that point, I didn't realize just how many connections Ellen had. I had thought that Ellen's retirement party was going to be small affair, but clearly, I was mistaken.

I knocked on the door, and when Ellen opened the door and greeted me, I saw all of the other people that she had invited. I had never seen so many supervillains in a single place before. I spotted The Chessmaster, The Bash Brothers, and Commander Fox, and there were two older women talking to Ellen that I assumed to be her sisters. I wandered through the lobby and into the castle hallways in search of my friends, but at first, I couldn't find them. Most of the other guests seemed to be adults.

I found Terry, Vanessa, Harper, Percy, and Declan in the break room, hanging out and eating appetizers. The TV was on, but none of them seeming to be watching it as they talked endlessly about the attack on the Academy. It was the first time that all six of us had been in the same room since them, and there was plenty to talk about.

"Did you really steal Balestra's sword?" Harper asked Vanessa, wide eyed.

Vanessa nodded and said, "I think The Gladiator has it now though."

"Who cares who has Balestra's sword?" Percy said. "The Academy is dead. Those superheroes can't hurt us without the support of the Academy."

"Technically, the Academy's not dead yet," Declan said. "It all depends on whether Mr. Russell gets convicted or not. The trial is tonight."

"How could they not convict him?" I asked. "That folder had some undeniable proof that Mr. Russell killed my mother."

"That's not all that was in there," Percy said. "The folder practically chronicles the abuses that the Academy has committed against its students over the years. Mr. Russell's tax forms are also in the folder, so if they can't convict him for anything else, they can send him to jail for tax evasion."

"Where did you find all of this?" I asked.

"It was in a locked safe in one of the Academy offices," Percy said. "I used the Reality Pen to get into it."

"I'm impressed, Percy," I said.

"So am I," Vanessa said. "Anyways, what are you all going to do now that Ellen's retired?"

"I'm going to do what I've always done," Declan said. "Even without the Academy paying me for it, I can still fight crime, so that's what I'm going to do."

"That's what I'm planning too," Harper said. "I never got my chance to be a superheroine, but I can always do it now."

"I talked Ellen into letting me enroll at Carrie A. Nation High School," Terry said. "I want to go to college next year, and it might help if I had at least one year of a regular education under my belt."

"I still want to be a full time supervillain," Percy said. "I'm going to start by stealing Mr. Russell's fortune. Then, I'll steal all of the Red Vines in San Urbano and murder all of the corrupt politicians in the world..."

"Honestly, that doesn't sound so bad," Declan said. He paused for a few seconds and then said, "Wait, what am I thinking? You want to kill people?! Percy, I like you a lot, but I'm going to have to intervene."

"What about you, Vanessa?" Terry asked. "What are you going to do now that Ellen's retired?"

Vanessa thought about it and then said, "I want to fight crime. There are too many horrible things going on in San Urbano and elsewhere, and nobody's doing anything about it. Superhumans are in a unique position to be able to help all of humanity, and I'd like to use my powers to help people."

"I totally agree with you, Vanessa," Harper said. "Jay, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet," I said. Part of me wanted to fight crime alongside my friends, but I didn't want to commit to doing that forever. Another part of me wanted to just have a normal life, even though I knew that wasn't possible after the attack on the Academy. For now, I was fine with not knowing my own future. I could figure out what I was going to do with my life later.

It struck me that I probably wouldn't see Vanessa, Percy, Terry, Declan, or Harper again. We were all going in separate directions, and there would be no reason for me to visit them again after the summer was over. Maybe I would pass Terry in the hallways of Carrie A. Nation High School, or I would spot Declan shopping for groceries, but that wasn't the same as seeing them every single day at the castle. A wave of sadness passed over me as I looked at each one of my friends, but I was glad that we were able to spend one last night together.

"That's okay, Jay," Vanessa said. "I'm not totally sure that I want to be a superheroine forever, but for now, I think that's what I'm going to do."

"Hey, can we play some Super Smash Bros.?" Percy asked, already taking out the controller. "We haven't done that in a while."

"We did that two days ago," Terry said. "Besides, you always beat us."

"I beat Percy once," Declan said.

"I'm sure that he let you win," Terry replied.

"It's probably going to be the last time that we can all play a game together," I said.

"Jay has a good point," Vanessa said as she picked up a controller. "Let's do something fun together before we all go our separate ways."

For the next few hours, we switched between various video games, with Percy beating us at all of them. Even though I never even came close to winning, it was nice to spend some quality time with my friends on our last night together.

In the middle of one of our games, Ellen interrupted us. "We're getting ready to have cake," she told us.

Percy immediately paused the game and ran downstairs, and the rest of us followed him. In the dining room, dozens of supervillains and friends and relatives of Ellen crowded around the table, where Dina sliced up a chocolate cake that said, "Happy Retirement, Lady Quake!" I even spotted one of Ellen's Jersey Devils wandering around the kitchen. Dina gave the first slice to Ellen, and the rest of us got to eat shortly afterwards.

The cake was delicious, even though it wasn't quite how I would have made it. I still enjoyed the sweet flavor of the cake. When I was done, I approached Ellen and wished her a happy retirement. "Thank you, Jay," she said to me right before I headed back upstairs with the other teenagers.

After everyone finished their cake, the party began to die down. People slowly began to leave, and eventually, even my friends had to go home. I said goodbye to Vanessa and Declan, sad to see both of them leave.

As it approached midnight, I realized that there was one more thing that I still had to do. "Harper?" I said. "Can I please talk to you?"

"Of course," Harper said, and the two of us said goodbye to Percy and Terry as we headed into the hallway. Finally, I felt ready to let go of my superheroic lifestyle. 

A/N: Thank you so much for reading Villains For Hire! I will be out of town until the middle of next week, so please do not expect another chapter for at least another week and a half. After I return, I will post the final two chapters of this book. I will also post some information on my upcoming works as part of Chapter 34 - I am planning to write two short stories next, followed by a new novel. Again, thank you so much for reading Villains For Hire, and I hope that you enjoy the ending of the novel! :)