Outside of Ben's simple one-story modern house, a couple were sitting in their car going over some ground rules.

"Tim, repeat back to me what I told you," coached Sue while she applied her cherry lipstick in the visor mirror.

"Don't bring up anything related to the past, even if he mentions it first," her husband recited. "Make sure to show weakness at all times. Give him as much time as he needs to monologue. Keep in mind that all possible exits could be fake. If he ever gets mad, give up and let him do anything he wants to us."

"... AND?" she asked expectantly.

The husband sighed sorrowfully, "Don't be a hero."

"I know you've always wanted to beat the bad guy and save the girl," said his wife with a mushy tone, "but this guy is death incarnate, not a dragon worth fighting."

She gave him a peck on the cheek light enough that her lipstick didn't rub off.

Finally ready, the couple got out of their minivan and faced Ben's standard single story doll house. Sue took the lead all the way to the door, where she pressed the doorbell with the caution of an experienced hunter laying a trap at a tiger's den.

The married couple flinched when the door opened to be greeted by a very well-washed Benjamin wearing a sweater vest and khakis with a warm smile. He was carrying a plate of nachos and wearing a cooking apron as he jovially invited the pair inside and offered to take their coats.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've actually been introduced," Ben said as he shook hands with Sue's husband, his grip evenly tight but not too rough. "I'm Ben; Benjamin Hersh."

"Tim," the husband greeted as though the man in front of them hadn't bugged his families phones, "Thomas Maxswroth. Nice to see you again."

"I was just about to lay out the nachos, come join us," he ushered them in.

Tim looked at his wife for some clue as to what this might be leading towards, and when he saw her, she looked more terrified than he had ever seen. She was digging her nails into her hands from how hard she clenched her fists.

Tim had to pull her along as they entered the homely little space Ben lived in. There were two large couches in a 'U' shape that circled a hardwood coffee table and TV hung above a lit fireplace. Sitting on the couch were a group of old, degenerating people playing a heated game of Munchkins.

"Damn your plus two boots of floating!" shouted Mayor Wilkinson as he lost the round.

"Who are all these people?" Sue asked, trying and failing to hide her nerves.

"Oh, this is the village municipal game night," Ben beamed proudly. "We get together every two months and play a board game at one of our houses. This is the first time that I've hosted and I'm kinda nervous. Nachos, anyone?"

A couple of hands went up as Ben sat the nachos platter down next to the Munchkins board as the village leadership started arguing over the card order-of-operations. In the kitchen was a busy assistant mixing some mashed potatoes while the oven roasted a turkey and some mac and cheese. The smells wafting through the house were making everyone hungry, hence Ben mixed up a batch of nachos.

"Honey, use this card," Mrs. Holt suggested to her husband. "That way, if Peter tries to bring out his dragon costume, we can counter him!"

"Have a seat," Ben offered, "the food's almost ready."

Tim went to sit down at the very edge of the couch, but Sue followed Ben into the kitchen and whispered in his ear, "What's your angle?"

"Oh, well, I tried making a turkey last Thanksgiving, and it was charcoal by the end of it," Ben laughed, "so I've been perfecting-"

"No, I mean why all of this?" Sue growled in a low whisper.

Ben winked as he said, "Down the hall on the right. If the TP's out, get another from under the sink."

Sue looked down the short hallway as her husband started conversing with Mr. Holt about their relation to Ben. The former supervillain followed Ben's instructions and went down the hall where she opened the door farthest on the right. Inside was a half-bathroom with the standard trimmings of a guest room, except that the toilet paper was empty. The sink was sitting on a little cupboard with a single door.

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When Sue opened the door, there was a small folded up piece of paper sitting on top of a replacement roll of toilet paper.

"It was a clue," Sue hissed, feeling the slight thrill of being a villain working behind everyone's backs.

'You want me to trust that you can keep my secret? We'll see. Every person in my house is replaceable, including yourselves. I'm going to push the conversation to both of our pasts to test you on your lies. If you fail, everyone dies. Even the babysitter.'

'P.S. Replace the toilet paper and flush the note. That's the only freebie you get.'

Sue followed the note, her heart beating in her ears every second. The danger was in the air as she stepped out and put on the mask of an imperfect mother doing her best. She engaged the old people and made mental notes of their complex history. Her husband got a lot of attention for being a homely man from the next town over, and friendly rivalries flared as the villagers started bashing the township.

When the food came out, it was a family meal for the ages. Turkey pulled apart by a chef's hands, macaroni with bacon bits, mashed potatoes with thick gravy. The entire meal had biscuits throughout with butter and cranberry sauce.

The entire time, Ben and his assistant, Hannah, were making Sue answer questions about a past that never happened, and the unwitting participants of the dinner would ask for details. Sue kept careful track of her lies and stories, making sure they matched chronologically and accounted for travel time. Her husband even asked a few questions and added commentary of "OH, that explains it", just to lend credibility to her stories.

By the end of the night, people were trickling out of Ben's little house until only Sue and Tim remained. They had drunk heavily as an excuse to stay behind a few more minutes to sober up before driving home, being carefully clever about their excuse.

While Hannah was doing the dishes, Sue carefully asked in code, "So, how were we tonight? Did we behave to your liking?"

"You guys were perfect," Ben offered, "better than I've done. You guys won't have any trouble from me."

"That's great to hear," Tim breathed a sigh of relief. "Sue kept freaking out about the whole debacle."

"What are you guys talking about?" Hannah asked, walking back to the dining area while drying off a plate.

"Oh, hell," Ben griped.

The city councilman reached underneath the table, pulling out a revolver handgun and aimed it between his assistant's eyes.

The gunshot made everyone jump as a red spray of blood and loud thump followed shortly after. Tim almost screamed, but a sudden strong grip from his wife's acrylic nails caught him before his mouth opened. He looked at his wife, who was visibly shaking and had her eyes closed, prepared for the worst, then down at his arm to make sure he wasn't bleeding.

When he looked down, he saw the leg of the poor girl with a new hole in her head twitching sporadically as her labored breathing coughed and sputtered into lifelessness. Ben was silently checking the gun after it was fired, waiting for the dying groans of his side-neighbor to stop before continuing their conversation.

"A-a-a-are you g-g-g-going t-t-to k-k-kill us n-n-n-now?"

"Well, I would," Ben reasoned, waving the gun in the couple's direction, "but honestly, I've made a few mistakes before. And I'd like to think I'm a changed man, so I'll forgive you. But this can be cleaned up and she can be replaced. Clean up your own messes from now on. I really don't feel like putting in vacation time for work like this."

"We'll be sure to do that," Tim said, breathing carefully in and out as a foul odor started lingering behind him. "Can we go?"

"Sure," Ben said, "would you like me to show you to the door?"

"We've got it," Sue said, then tried not to rush while hurrying out of the house.

The door slammed behind them and Ben smiled when he heard the tires screeching to get away.

"Idet, did you get that?" Ben asked.

"Their conscious tethers have been registered and their DNA was collected," said a floating ball of light.

"How are you doing? Did you collect info on human interaction?"

"I'm aware of a sadness I have watching you shoot Hannah."

"I'm kinda freaking out about it, too," Hannah said, emerging from the basement door hauling a duffel bag. "Like, I know it's a clone, but I'm still uncomfortable with it."

"It's not a clone," Ben said, getting up from his seat and walking around to the dead body. He reached down and pulled at the double's face, peeling off a skin mask revealing scaly orange skin of an alien being with a bullet hole in its head.

"What the fuck?!" Hannah screeched, jumping at the visage of another worlder. "What the fuck is this?!"

"It's a Yuchah," Ben said, "a desert planet species that know their death six months before it occurs thanks to a blackening of the scales."

Ben pointed to a few scales across the head that had a black discoloration, "They've capitalized on this genetic quirk to offer their death in exchange for services. You can pay to kill them for your own reasons, and the money goes to their families after they die."

"You honestly just paid to kill someone," Hannah accused in disbelief.

"I paid to end their life a few weeks early; yes, for my own selfish benefit. And I always tip heavily, on top of the extravagant expense the service already is. In fact, I'm particularly known among the Yuchah as the 'Divine Angel of Death' for guaranteed employee satisfaction."

Immediately after Ben said this, the body twitched with the last remnant of life, so Ben reached under the coffee table and pulled out a glowing, swirling metal contraption that he tossed on the body. A soft glow spread across the alien creature and dissolved it into a gentle mist.

"Idet, could you please guide T'L'ui to a gentle part of the afterlife," Ben requested of his glowing companion. "I need to send the video of his final moments to his family."

"What did you just do?!" Hannah screamed. "Where did he go?!"

"I alchemized his atoms into water," Ben stated. "The Yuchah are desert planet people, so water is a religious item for them. It's considered a royal way to go. Actually, forget all that, did you assume that I, a former supervillain, had some problem with killing people?"

"I thought you weren't so okay with it! It shouldn't be this easy!"

"Oh, it wasn't easy the first time," Ben said, "but it gets easier once you've got an idea of what you're doing. I actually celebrated my hundredth kill."

"Couldn't you just clone me, or something?!"

"Hells no! That would be unethical!"