With it being late in the night most of the staff at the Hero Association HQ was relieved of their duties for the day. This included security personnel as Metal Knight’s automated security system as well as the S-Class heroes gathered in the building made their presence more or less obsolete. Because of this the rather large hallways of the HQ patterned with high tech machinery was devoid of people save for one of the aforementioned S-Class heroes.

After pushing himself on all cylinders for the better part of a day Child Emperor ended up burning through his snack stash in record time and low blood sugar was beginning to hit him. The reason for why this is had to do with two things. First was Tatsumaki's insistence on focusing on City Z’s Ghost Town and then an e-mail he received from an unidentified supposed informant who was apparently working with Solaria Nova their newly appointed director of operations. This was the most baffling part of all this because it implied the director knew about the Monster Association and didn’t see the need to inform the rest of the association or even the heroes of her suspicion.

‘Dr. Bofoi knows more about this but he’s no help.’

After reading the information in the e-mail Child Emperor tried to get into contact with Metal Knight again only to be ignored. He absolutely hated that since his attempts at tracking the source of the e-mail lead him on a wild goose chase of dummy signals and encrypted data. As for the information itself, it was a seeming veritable treasure trove of intel detailing among others: the location of the Monster Association base, it’s various secret points of entry, a rough map of the interior, patrol routes and an estimation of enemy combatants including disaster levels, special abilities, etc.

Child Emperor could admit to himself that the files marked under ‘Cadres’ made him very nervous about sending the S-Class into that place. There was always a level of concern to be had when going into a dangerous situation but it was always a bit moot when it came to his fellow S-Class. He has witnessed them face seemingly insurmountable odds many times before and come out none the worse for wear but this was different.

The enemy this time around cannot be underestimated.

He thought the hardest part of this entire ordeal would have been to rescue the director and afterwards they would simply crush the Monster Association as Tatsumaki wanted. Never did he think his fellow S-Class would be in actual serious danger but after reading the files on the Monster Association Cadres he now realized that this wasn’t just monsters using underhanded tactics to get the upper hand. This was something much more, he could feel it in his bones that this monster, Gyoro-Gyoro had something else in mind.

In order to combat the S-Class heroes of the Hero Association the Monster Association gathered a group of disaster level Dragon monsters. As if that wasn’t bad enough just reading their alleged abilities he could piece together exactly what kind of ambush they would be walking into. It was like what happened with the sudden global assault where certain heroes were ambushed by monsters with abilities or constitutions that naturally countered them.

Child Emperor would even go so far as to hypothesize that what happened with those heroes could be considered a test run for the confrontation with the S-Class. This thought process seemed to go in line with what was written about the Monster Association’s tactician Gyoro Gyoro who was collecting information about the heroes and monitoring them via psychic drones. He already knew that much about their abilities from what Sitch told him when the Hero Association HQ was infiltrated.

Of course he didn’t simply take the information provided at face value and did his due diligence with researching these Cadres as well as the monsters of interest with disaster level Demon and what he found shocked him. The Hero Association kept an extensive library of monsters on their system and while there were some whose description and abilities matched the ones described in the e-mail there were a staggering number of others who were complete unknowns.

The fact that those unknowns included most of the Dragon level ‘Cadres’ was even more worrying as now Child Emperor could only take the information about them from the e-mail.

‘Am I being too paranoid?’ the young hero thought to himself as he bit off a chunk of his lollipop in aggravation.

“I will caution you not to over rely on others in the future Child Emperor.”

The words from his former mentor had him finish off the rest of the lollipop in seconds ‘this stress is going to make me develop an eating disorder! I’ll end up like Pig God at this rate!’

Not possible given his metabolism as well as more than a few safe guards that would render him fit and healthy for the rest of his life but the distracting thoughts helped him ease his mind a bit. As he stuck another lollipop in his mouth his watch suddenly sounded with frantic beeps.

“Hm?”

With a tap to the face a hologram popped up from the watch showing a red dot suddenly vanish. Said red dot happened to be the signal from one of his many tracking robots he had sent to the alleged entry points of the Monster Association that was described in the e-mail.

‘Maybe not so alleged after all.’

Once can be a fluke, twice can be happenstance but thrice is a pattern and this marked the fourth time one of his tracking robots was destroyed whilst investigating certain points of the Ghost Town.

‘Gotcha’ Child Emperor couldn’t help but smile in triumph.

“Child Emperor” an authoritative voice spoke up from behind him.

The S-Class hero was unfazed by the man’s sudden appearance looking over his shoulder to acknowledge him “oh Mr. Sekingar, have all the S-Class heroes gathered?”

“Not all” the man shook his head “both Tank Top Master and Metal Bat are still recovering in the hospital. Despite their insistence I spoke with the doctors and unfortunately they won’t be able to recover in time to accompany us.”

Child Emperor frowned “and the others?”

“Drive Knight’s whereabouts are still unknown. Meanwhile Metal Knight and Watchdog Man have refused to participate in the mission.”

He had no idea what was up with Watchdog Man and his fixation on guarding City Q but he can only assume that the man was taking his ‘guardian dog’ gimmick too seriously. As for Metal Knight Child Emperor could only express his irritation with an exasperated huff.

‘Even with this much you still refuse to aid us’ considering the doctor got past his encryptions and hacked his e-mail he must have seen the same information yet he was still being obstinate in his decision ‘stubborn old man’ he thought bitterly.

Child Emperor almost gritted his teeth “with so many heroes not attending this will only hurt us.”

‘Especially if the information holds true about what to expect.’

Sekingar paused at the grave intensity with which the boy displayed on his expression “is something the matter?”

Child Emperor shook his head “just a lot on my mind. You were saying?”

Sekingar regarded him for a brief moment before continuing “Zombieman is on his way and should be arriving shortly from dealing with his own investigation into the Monster Association.”

That caught Child Emperor off guard a bit “investigation?”

Sekingar nodded “he did not specify the details however he was adamant that he received pertinent information on the Monster Association and its leadership.”

Unlike the other S-Class and most heroes in general Zombieman takes a proactive approach with his duties rather than dealing with attacks as they are happening. Using his skills as an investigator he goes after the more elusive monsters and criminals. He is very good at his work and a number of monsters and criminal elements have been brought low by his persistence.

‘Zombieman might be able to confirm some of the information in the e-mail’ Child Emperor realized with some relief.

Oblivious to young hero’s thoughts Sekingar continued “Demon Cyborg has informed me that he may arrive to the battlefield late due to receiving maintenance and upgrades following his battle with Elder Centipede. Silver Fang is also recovering however he as well as his brother and One-Punch Man will be joining us tomorrow morning.”

“Understood…” Child Emperor spoke absentmindedly as his frown became more pronounced at the mention of One-Punch Man, Demon Cyborg and Silver Fang.

As if it wasn’t already coincidental that all three of them were based in City Z but they all had circumstances that made them suspect in his opinion. Garou was not only Silver Fang’s former student but was recently confirmed to be in league with the Monster Association and while he hated to admit it Child Emperor suspected there to be some conflict of interest with the old hero when it came to his former student.

Child Emperor respected Silver Fang both as a hero and an elder but this whole business with Garou has muddied his reputation somewhat. After asking to handle Garou himself Silver Fang cut all communication and abandoned his dojo. The only time he came on record was when he was briefly spotted by onlookers who reported his presence on forums as well as several stints fighting monsters.

Then there was the battle in City R where, according to his briefing, he intercepted Garou right after his battle with a group of heroes led by Death Gatling with his brother as backup. Yet even with the two of them and Demon Cyborg’s arrival responding to a distress signal Garou managed to survive long enough for the Monster Association to launch a rescue. How three S-Class heroes could allow a single man to slip through their grasp was just a bit too suspicious to him.

Then there was One-Punch Man whose records listed his address as being within the abandoned section of City Z. Despite this he was the least guilty of the three especially when taking the man’s personality into account. Child Emperor could actually believe that it was a coincidence One-Punch Man’s apartment happened to be sitting on top of the Monster Association headquarters as hard as it was to believe.

A key evidence to support this was that if One-Punch Man was indeed a traitor it wouldn’t make sense for him to put that place down as his address. Also if he’s being honest Child Emperor just could not see One-Punch Man as a traitor, the man was practically infallible in his eyes even with certain suspicious coincidences.

The same however cannot be said for Demon Cyborg who seemed the most suspicious out of the three and just in general. There hasn’t been a hero yet able to ascend to S-Class right out the gate through the examination alone. And while he could make the excuse of outside interference playing a factor the fact still remains that Genos is actually quite impressive.

According to his records Genos’ body had an impossibly high modification rate which is incredibly rare especially for someone so young. He has also gone on record stating that he has travelled the world fighting against monsters, criminals and even organizations the latest of which was the infamous House of Evolution. Investigations into these claims revealed a few of them to be true and yet somehow Genos was never on the Hero Associations radar until he did the exams.

How was he able to stay under the radar despite being involved in some pretty high profile altercations?

Then there was the fact that his alleged home village was so remote that the only evidence of its existence came from outdated maps. The reason for this being that it was wiped out leaving Genos with no records to speak of prior to joining the Hero Association. Finally Genos was also on record stating that he had a benefactor supplying his augments but refused to reveal their identity. What was an understandable measure to protect a civilian’s privacy became grounds for further suspicion.

Child Emperor did not share his suspicions with Sekingar however for two reasons:

First, Demon Cyborg was One-Punch Man’s apprentice and say what you want about the bald hero’s attitude and personality but the world’s strongest man can be very perceptive when he cares to be. Also Child Emperor didn’t believe there was any monster or criminal alive who would be so brazen as to stick as close to One-Punch Man as Demon Cyborg did. Even going so far as to become his disciple and share an apartment with the man.

Second, among the files he received from the informant was a note explaining how they were in contact with several S-Class heroes most of whom are the aforementioned ones based in City Z. The informant urged Child Emperor to exclude them from the raid as they have made plans to infiltrate the Monster Association from a more covert angle. Child Emperor did not appreciate this kind of development especially when this informant could have very well coordinated with them.

“I would like to speak with Miss Tatsumaki. Where is she?” the child hero spoke.

This request caught the man off guard somewhat however he complied with the request and answered “Tatsumaki is currently visiting her sister in City T.”

“Well can you tell her to meet me in analytics? There’s something I need to speak to her about.”

“Alright” and he sent the message out to alert him when Tatsumaki arrived.

After giving his thanks Child Emperor left Sekingar. His thoughts immediately turned to the older yet diminutive psychic who as it turned out was one of the heroes listed in the informant’s e-mail as one of their co-conspirators.

He shook his head ‘that’s not fair, there’s no way Miss Tatsumaki is a traitor.’

Like with One-Punch Man Child Emperor could not imagine Tatsumaki of all people willingly working against the Hero Association though for different reasons. The fact of the matter is that despite her attitude and personality at the end of the day Tatsumaki was basically the Hero Association’s closer. At least that’s the vibe he got from the executives (current and former) who treated her like their secret weapon. When there was a particularly difficult problem that required an S-Class hero to solve more often than not they would call on the Tornado of Terror to deal with it.

The fact that they call on Tatsumaki to deal with these problems over the other S-Class spoke volumes on how much they trust her. It also showed how loyal Tatsumaki is since no matter how caustic her personality she always got the job done.

‘Why would she keep this a secret though?’

Aside from telling him to check his e-mails and ‘advising’ him to focus his search on a specific area the psychic did not even hint at knowing more than she should. Tatsumaki’s silence on the matter more than anything spoke of something larger going on because Child Emperor just could not imagine Tatsumaki would keep such information a secret without a very good reason.

Once again Dr. Bofoi’s warnings came to mind and Child Emperor felt a headache coming on.

‘I really hope Tatsumaki can give me the answers.’

~O~

Sekingar was someone used to keeping his cool in high stress situations as it came with the territory of working closely with powerful individuals of considerable strength, wealth and fame. Said individuals tend to be arrogant, entitled and demanding among other less than savory descriptors and it takes a cool head to deal with them. Pairing that with his impressive work ethic and the rapport he built with certain executives and Sekingar held no misconceptions on why he was chosen to be the commander of the rescue operations.

With that said Sekingar would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn’t feeling the pressure of his new station. As if having their director of operations kidnapped by the enemy wasn’t bad enough. When said director happens to be the wealthiest woman in the world as well as a world class celebrity (retired as she is) with a global cult-like fanbase the pressure ramps up considerably.

Despite Child Emperor and the analytics department running themselves ragged trying to find the Monster Association the public relations department made their work seem like child’s play. The media was on a witch hunt against the Hero Association, everyone was taking shots at them and fires were being started all around. Not helping matters was the fact that Amai Mask was completely absent during all this media turmoil having seemingly disappeared following his successful defense of his concert and the people in it against a horde of monsters.

Of course with the Hero Association becoming persona non grata in the public eye the onus naturally fell to him as commander of the rescue operation to make things right and restore public faith in them. Sekingar was fully aware that they were in a desperate situation in more ways than one but he wished they didn’t just foist all the responsibility on him. Still he took the responsibility in stride as he was genuinely committed to the cause so much so that he even promised himself that he would go on the field with the heroes as opposed to leading through a command center a safe distance away.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his communicator going off.

“What’s the status?”

“Sir, Miss Tatsumaki has returned.”

“Where is she?”

“S-she’s in the medical facilities sir.”

“Why is she there?”

Sekingar could not imagine she had somehow gotten injured.

“She brought in Blizzard of Hell and demanded she be sedated sir.”

The brought Sekingar up short however he maintained his calm façade as he asked “what happened to Blizzard of Hell?”

At this point he was already making his way to the medical wing of the building at a fast walking pace.

“As far as the doctors are concerned there is nothing wrong with her. They informed Miss Tatsumaki of this but she ignored them and later sent them away with orders not to disturb her. She has been in the room ever since.”

Sekingar furrowed his brows but otherwise didn’t comment on it “I’m on my way.”

Once he got the information and ended the call Sekingar took a moment to ponder this latest development even as he continued his brisk pace. Tatsumaki was by far the Hero Association’s greatest asset a fact that came as a surprise to him given the esper’s personality. It was explained to him by Sitch that Tatsumaki held a balance of overwhelming power, mastery of her abilities and proficiency in applying them to various situations combined with her accessibility and loyalty to the Hero Association essentially made her the perfect secret weapon.

This is despite the fact that her personality makes working with her particularly difficult and a preference for causing large scale collateral damage despite being more than capable of toning it down. In any case it was because of her status as a ‘secret weapon’ amongst the S-Class that Sekingar was ordered by the executives to keep in her good graces. Even Sitch agreed though he cautioned that relying on such an approach would not gain him Tatsumaki’s respect.

She despises yes men and cowards.

Tatsumaki’s most successful ‘handler’ was Busho who was able to build a positive rapport with the psychic through a careful balance of placation, deference and firm direction. No one has ever been able to replicate his feat. Every other handler before and after him had to be replaced and none lasted more than a month working with Tatsumaki. Not even Sitch himself could pull off what Busho did but only because he didn’t need to since Tatsumaki already has a modicum of respect for the man due to his connection with Blast whom the psychic held in high regard.

Sekingar has only had a few direct encounters with Tatsumaki and each of them was either in the presence of Sitch or the executives whose presence essentially urged Tatsumaki to behave herself. This would be his first encounter with the psychic without a safety net so to speak and the urge to alert Sitch was very tempting however…

‘What kind of a commander would I be if I can’t even confront a single member of the team I will be overseeing?’

…he really hoped she’s not in a foul mood, the last thing he needed was to have her throw one of her infamous tantrums before

~O~

The steady rhythm of the heart monitor was the only sound being made in the room. Currently Tatsumaki was in a private room in the VIP section of the medical wing reserved for executives. She stood or rather floated over her younger sister whom she had ‘convinced’ the doctors to put in a medically induced coma. It was a decision she did not come to lightly but felt she had no choice. Tatsumaki more than anyone knew about stubbornness and it was something she and Fubuki shared and was nurtured by their adoptive mother. Tatsumaki may not have shown it and most likely never will but in most cases she actually approved of her sister’s stubbornness.

Tatsumaki told her that she had no business being a hero because she was too weak?

Fubuki became the 2nd ranked A-Class hero.

Tatsumaki argued that having a ‘fan club’ was a waste of time?

Fubuki turned it into one of the Hero Association’s major factions without an S-Class hero backing them.

Tatsumaki warned Fubuki that she was surrounding herself with weaklings who would only weigh her down?

Fubuki spent her free time whipping them into shape to the point where the majority of them were in B-class with some even making it into A-Class.

See Tatsumaki may act dismissive towards her sister’s accomplishments but she does pay attention and regardless of what anyone thought Tatsumaki has only ever wanted what was best for Fubuki. Plus with how much Tatsumaki values and respects strength the absolute last thing she wanted was to prevent her sibling from reaching her full potential.

This time was different they weren’t dealing with mere monsters. There was very little in the world that can give Tatsumaki pause let alone make her have second thoughts or god forbid reconsider but confronting Dr. Psycho may be one of them. It wasn’t just the fact that this man was single handedly responsible for traumatizing her as a child but that the man was a legitimate danger to her and every single esper in existence.

Admittedly after all these years her fear of him had lessened considerably. After all he and his organization had been defeated by the combined efforts of Blast and Solaria herself before. Plus spending time with Solaria, gaining knowledge and coming into her own vast powers had given her perspective. She knew that despite their efforts Tsukyomi was still active and the doctor was still alive but Tatsumaki was confident that should they ever crawl out of their hidey holes she would finish what her mother started.

Then Solaria got herself captured and it brought into question just how prepared she truly was to face her childhood tormentor. She can still feel the phantom sensation of spikes being driven into her brain. Why would Solaria send her daughters that through their shared psychic link if it wasn’t meant as a warning? Now for the first time in over a decade uncertainty and fear plague Tatsumaki’s mind.

No, not fear. Never fear.

She absolutely refused to let herself fear that man. She wasn’t some helpless child anymore, she was Tatsumaki the Tornado of Terror, the second most powerful psychic in the world and she will be the one to end him. In the meantime she needed to keep the last of her family safe at all cost.

“Why did you make me do this Fubuki?”

Stubbornness ran in the family and while Tatsumaki acted like the most obstinate woman in the world the truth is that Fubuki can be just as such when it came down to it. Even before their mother’s life was truly threatened Fubuki was going behind her back to get herself involved with the rescue operation. The moment Solaria’s life became in danger there was nothing she could say that would dissuade her and Tatsumaki tried, she really tried to convince Fubuki with words.

So when that didn’t work she decided to use force which was a last resort believe it or not. Given her usual mode of operations one would think force to be her first choice but really it was just easier and what kind of sister would Tatsumaki be if the first thing she thought to use to get Fubuki’s compliance was a show of force? No she wasn’t a monster and she did care which was why she chose to put Fubuki in a coma rather than just put her in one of the prison facilities. That way when she woke up Solaria would be safe, the Monster Association would be destroyed and Dr. Psycho will be taken care of.

There is no doubt Fubuki will hate her for this but then again…

“What else is new?” Tatsumaki muttered reaching out to brush her sister’s bang with a wry smile.

The moment was ruined by knocking at the door causing Tatsumaki to scowl.

“Tatsumaki?”

The psychic huffed and floated over to the door before using her powers to slide it open to the side revealing Sekingar.

“What do you want?”

“Child Emperor asked me to relay a message to you.”

“Oh?” her expression became marginally less grumpy.

Sekingar’s eyes went from the diminutive psychic to the floating to the comatose one “is something wrong with Blizzard of Hell?”

Tatsumaki shut door behind her immediately “Fubuki insists on interfering with the rescue mission despite not being chosen for it. This is the only…peaceful way I can ensure that she doesn’t interfere.”

“…I see.”

“Is there a problem?”

“I would have liked to be notified about such developments beforehand.”

Tatsumaki rolled her eyes “well now you know. So what did Child Emperor want?”

“He wants to meet with you in Analytics.”

“Hmph” she scoffed beginning to float away but paused to look at him over her shoulder “no one but the doctor checking my sister’s condition is allowed to go inside am I clear?”

“Understood.”

Tatsumaki held his gaze for a moment before leaving the area and making her way towards Child Emperor. She arrived at analytics in a matter of minutes and entered the room where Child Emperor was tapping on a keyboard with a lollipop hanging from his teeth. Her eyes went to the screen out of mild curiosity however gave up trying to decipher the ‘techno-glyphs’ a few seconds into seeing them.

Child Emperor on the other hand after noting her entrance paused his task to look over his shoulder “miss-”

“Ahem” she folded her arms with a raised eyebrow.

“…Tatsumaki” he finished/amended with only the slightest bit of exasperation.

“You wanted to talk?”

“Yes, a few hours ago I got an e-mail with some sensitive information.”

“About time” she harrumphed though her ire wasn’t directed to her fellow S-Class.

“You know about this?”

“Solaria was working with an informant who was investigating the Monster Association.”

“The director knew about them before? Why didn’t she or you warn the Hero Association?”

That is the exact same thing she asked Solaria when she revealed this to her via their telepathic conference the day before the invasion.

“There wasn’t any time for that and the Hero Association was compromised.”

“What?”

“There’s a reason why her first action after coming on board was to get rid of almost half of the total staff and management.”

Tatsumaki actually looked into that and a good chunk of the staff population that got axed had at one point or another been involved in something illegal or were complicit. Even now many are still under investigation and multiple trials for various crimes are still pending.

“And for all we know that could have been the reason why the Monster Association launched their attack in the first place” Child Emperor mused.

That does sound plausible.

“In any case I can vouch for the e-mail’s credibility” Tatsumaki informed.

“How?”

“I was there when the informant sent it.”

“Then how were they able to get such detailed information?”

“He has one of the monsters working for him.”

“Wait what!?”

“And don’t worry I personally ensured that the information is valid.”

Because if it wasn’t then she explained to that monster in no uncertain terms how she would dedicate her time to hunting her down and ending her in the most excruciating way possible should that turn out to not be the case.

Child Emperor looked doubtful “why didn’t you bring the monster back here? I’m sure we would have been able to extract the necessary information.”

Tatsumaki scowled, that was her very first thing she wanted to do but “there were…extenuating circumstances preventing me from doing that.”

“What kind of-” Child Emperor cut himself off when she gave him a look and he reluctantly backed down “I’ll just take your word for it.”

Tatsumaki gave a small huff not feeling comfortable giving Child Emperor the third degree but she’d rather do that than explain how she of all people was made to back off by some random guy.

‘No not random…’

Clearly Tomoro, if that is his real name, was someone of note. He was not only working with Solaria but friends with the caped baldie and was brazen enough to stand up to her. And from what she’s witnessed as well as infer from her instincts he was far from a pushover.

“Is there anything else?”

“The E-mail also said to exclude Silver Fang, One-Punch Man and Demon Cyborg from the raid.”

Tatsumaki’s brows furrowed “Bang wants to find his old disciple.”

“Garou.”

“Yeah” she nodded “as for the others they want to go in as backup” Tatsumaki shrugged “who cares? We don’t need them.”

“We’re already short with Tank Top Master and Metal Bat still recovering. Drive Knight is missing and both Watchdog Man and Metal Knight refusing to participate.”

She already knew about the former three ‘Watchdog Man I expect not to come along, the weirdo, but Metal Knight?’

“What do you mean Metal Knight isn’t participating?”

“During the battle with Elder Centipede he managed to follow it back to the Monster Association hideout, I think. Whatever he saw in there has him spooked enough to write off the entire rescue operation, he wouldn’t even tell me where the Monster Association base is” he ended with a look of frustration.

“I didn’t figure him for a coward” she spat derisively.

It was unacceptable to Tatsumaki especially considering he wouldn’t even be risking his life either way.

Surprisingly Child Emperor shook his head “he implied that he wants to commit his forces in preparation for if we fail.”

“Excuses” Tatsumaki dismissed “as if we’d ever fail.”

Child Emperor couldn’t appreciate her confidence something she noted.

“The Monster Association has gathered Dragon level monsters with abilities that directly counter the S-Class.”

Tatsumaki’s eyes narrowed her eyes ‘I really wish I could just level the place and be done with it.’

“Then I guess we’ll just have to make counters for their counters won’t we?”

“It’s not so simple.”

“You’re a genius aren’t you?”

“I…”

“Then it’ll be fine.”

Child Emperor rubbed his face as he went to get another piece of candy only for it to be yanked out of his grasp.

“Hey!”

“You need to get some sleep and sugar won’t help with that.”

“I can’t, there’s still much I have to-”

“That wasn’t a suggestion” she interrupted with a scolding look “you’re no good stressed out and high on sugar.”

“Those aren’t normal candy they’re supplements that…um…” he trailed off at the look she gave him before his shoulders sag “w-well what about Silver fang, Demon Cyborg and One-Punch Man? I can make an excuse for Silver Fang and Demon Cyborg but there’s no way Sekingar and Sitch would not let One-Punch Man participate on the front lines.”

Tatsumaki thought on this for a moment “I’ll talk to them.”

“You will?” the young hero looked at her dubiously “how will you convince them?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

‘Now I’m really worried about it.’

“Um, I think I should be the one tell them.”

“Why? You don’t think I can do it?”

Child Emperor swallowed a bit in nervousness “no I think they’ll listen to you.”

‘Or face your wrath.’

“But I just thought of a way to make this all work out.”

Later…

“You don’t want Demon Cyborg, Silver Fang and One-Punch as part of the vanguard?” Sitch exclaimed.

At the moment Child Emperor was in a private room with the executive with Sekingar, Sitch and Tatsumaki who insisted on tagging along to keep an eye on him. He’d just posed his plan of action and naturally it caught the two executives off guard.

“May I ask why?” Sekingar questioned.

“I’ve finally pinpointed the Monster Association’s base” and as he said this his watch displayed a holographic top down map of the area “and through careful analyses I’ve managed to find several possible points of entry.”

Clarity entered the both men’s eyes at this discovery with Sitch rubbing his chin “I see so you want to attack them on multiple fronts.”

“That’s the idea, while the bulk of our numbers will attack the most obvious point of entry we’ll have a small team take another and sneak through. Hopefully they’ll be too distracted to notice.”

Sekingar who had been giving the hologram a critical eye posed an important question “won’t they be suspicious of the missing S-Class though?”

Tatsumaki chose to answer that “they’ll already be suspicious of that with Watchdog Man and Metal Knight being a no show. Also I think it would be better to drop the baldie somewhere and make him wreak havoc as another distraction” she paused with a deadpan look “unless you all think he’s capable of following a plan of attack that depends on tight coordination, relaying information, following orders and reducing collateral damage?”

At that the three males cringed.

One-Punch Man was a lot of things: the strongest man in the world, a hero of unshakable integrity, charismatic (in the instances where he tries to be) and a paragon of strength everyone aspires to. At the same time if there was one flaw the man has that everyone in this room was very aware of it’s the fact that One-Punch Man is not one for complex thinking. Not to say that he was dumb he just preferred not to think too much or too deeply.

It’s not something that is brought up much (by anyone who is not Tatsumaki) but after years of working with him closely the writing was clearly on the wall. This very fact was the reason why he couldn’t be considered the same kind of asset as Tatsumaki because while she chose to be difficult to handle Saitama genuinely is. He’s forgetful, easily annoyed at dealing with complex situations and unlike Tatsumaki who can actually be covert with her abilities One-Punch Man is a bull in a china shop.

Now taking this into consideration Child Emperor highlighted a section amongst the discovered points of entry that was noticeably farther away from the others and spoke.

“We can just send him here.”

“Agreed” spoke both executives.

Tatsumaki nodded “good” then using her abilities she lifted Child Emperor up.

“Hey what the-put me down!”

Ignoring his complaints Tatsumaki left “you’re going straight to sleep Isamu and I better not catch you staying up after this.”

Sitch and Sekingar could only watch the two S-Class heroes leave the room with expressions of mild surprise and confusion.

~O~

“I feel I owe you two an apology” Tomoro expressed with some genuine remorse.

He was of course speaking to Suiryu and Suiko with the former asking “why’s that?”

“I can’t help but feel like in all the commotion tonight you two got swept up and nearly forgotten.”

At his admittance the two shared a look with Suiko commenting “I mean, it definitely felt like we witnessed something we probably shouldn’t have.”

“I don’t think I have to worry about this getting out do I?”

“No sir-” Suiryu began only to be interrupted by his sister.

“Can we come with you?”

“Wha-Suiko!?”

Ignoring her brother the young woman continued to stare at Tomoro.

‘I can’t say I’m surprised.’

Admittedly Tomoro didn’t know much about Suiko the character but he need not even know of the character to make a few correct assumptions about the woman standing before him. It was clear to Tomoro that Suiko had the makings of a typical young martial artist being eager to test her skills, hungry for battle and wanting to become stronger through fighting strong opponents. Suiryu may still be cautious and leery at the prospect of facing monsters at a similar caliber to Gouketsu but Suiko had no such compunctions.

With that said Tomoro folded his arms “I see the eagerness to test yourself against strong opponents but you plan to join the Hero association yes?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re not part of the Hero Association yet and even then this is supposed to be their operation where they pick the Heroes they want to participate” he pointed at himself “I’m not part of the Hero Association just to be clear and I don’t think crashing their operation will endear you to them.”

“I don’t care” she spoke without missing a beat “these Monster Association guys want to wipe out all of humanity. What kind of person would I be if I just stay away when I have power to do something about it?”

“It will be dangerous.”

“I know the risks.”

“I don’t think you do” his gaze went to Suiryu who kept a pensive expression “I’m interested to hear what you think Suiryu.”

Suiko also turned to look at him but Suiryu kept silent “well, aren’t you going to say something?”

“I’m weighing our options.”

“What’s there to contemplate?”

“Our lives” he replied sharply.

“I didn’t figure you for a coward brother.”

“There’s a difference between cowardice and caution Suiko” Tomoro stated with a serious expression “just as there is a difference between confidence and recklessness.”

The young martial artist looked down “I understand sir.”

“I’ll take you along but only if your brother agrees to come as well.”

Once again Suiko turned to her brother this time with a silent pleading expression.

Suiryu only spared her glance before turning to Tomoro “say I agree to go with you. What would we be doing exactly?”

“Killing monsters and rescuing any hostages that the monsters might have gotten their hands on.”

“…there will be monsters just as strong as Gouketsu?”

“The Cadres yes and I guarantee there will be monsters stronger than Gouketsu but I won’t go out of my way to confront them. I’ll let the heroes handle them and if things work out the way they should both parties will be too preoccupied with each other to know about us.”

Suiryu swallowed with a nod though his expression remained troubled “right.”

The indecision warring in Suiryu’s mind was plain to see not only to Tomoro but to Suiko as well who opted to do something about it.

“Can you excuse us for a minute?” Suiko spoke as she dragged her brother away.

They walked out to the other side of the street and immediately they launched into heated argument. Despite the distance Tomoro could hear them as clear as day and was not at all bothered with eavesdropping on their argument.

“What are you doing!?” Suiko hissed.

“What am I doing? What are you doing!? You want to run head first into that death trap!?”

“This is what Grandpa trained us for! He would have wanted us to help.”

“They don’t need our help especially with people like Bang, Bomb, that psychic, One-Punch Man, Tomoro and whatever other powerful heroes they have on their side!”

“That’s not the point!” Suiko paused to take a breath and eyed her brother “you’re afraid.”

“Yes!” he admitted, shouted really, without preamble and it came as such a shock that Suiko flinched “I know it must look like some karmic retribution that I lost twice in a single day after rubbing my victories in your face for so long but Suiko” he got up in her face “I didn’t just lose a fight. I…” he trailed off shaking his head before slamming his fist into a nearby wall which exploded into brick and mortar.

There was silence for a moment as Suiryu sorted his emotions before Suiko reached out to touch his shoulder “brother…”

Whatever words of comfort she was about to speak never came as she saw his expression. It was not one of fear or anxiety but one of solid determination something she had never seen before.

“Suiko” he began “are you sure you want to do this?”

Retracting her hand she curled it into a fist and returned his determined glare “I am. What about you?”

Rather than answering the question he strode back towards Tomoro with Suiko following along.

“Have you made your decision?”

Suiryu rested a fist into his palm “we would be honored to go with you, sir.”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

With that said the two departed after another light bow and Tomoro went back upstairs. He had already seen Bang and Bomb off and Genos went back with Dr. Kuseno to restore his body leaving Saitama and Tomoro alone in the apartment complex. Or so he would have thought until he entered his almost bare apartment to find an unexpected sight. Do-S stood before him in the balcony hall wearing her original mouth mask and glaring at him with her red eyes.

“You’re leaving” he noted.

“You thought a stupid speech would make me stay?”

“Eh” he shrugged “more that you wouldn’t have to worry about the monsters or heroes if you stuck around.”

“If anything it would be more dangerous staying with you people” she rebutted.

“I won’t dispute that, after all we are going to save the world.”

The monster woman scoffed at his words but as the silence lingered her eyes widened in incredulity “you’re being serious?” she shook her head “of course you are Lo-Orochi is planning on wiping out all humans.”

“Who said anything about Orochi?”

“What?”

“It may not seem like it now Do-S but Orochi is nothing. He’s a science experiment with delusions of grandeur. Granted he’s a successful experiment but in the end he’s not going to amount to anything more than a stepping stone” as he continued to speak he bypassed her to go back into his apartment “if I were you I would be less worried about Orochi or the Monster Association and more worried about what comes after.”

Do-S watched him enter his apartment and close the door behind him leaving her to once again to stew in her thoughts.

~O~

After the meeting with the big Cyclops monster Tareo was ushered along by Royal Ripper through the Monster Association base. Along the way they came across several monsters most of whom gave him curious or interested looks but stayed clear at the sight of Royal Ripper. The only one to approach them outright let alone even speak with Royal Ripper was a monster that resembled a giant pogona who wanted to eat him. Before he could a robot arrived out of nowhere and ended up feeding another monster to the giant pogona.

Yet despite the horror of facing a monster wanting to eat him and seeing said monster consume another sentient being whole the most horrifying aspect of that entire encounter was seeing that the Cyclops robot was holding the severed head of Metal Knight in its hand. After that Royal Ripper escorted him to a prison cell.

“I’m feeling a little tired after playing with Garou so I’m going to leave you here for a bit while I go take a nap. I’ve already warned everyone not to bother you so you won’t have to worry about any monsters coming after you. After all you’re mine~”

His thoughts went to the heroes and the fact that a great many of them were taken out of commission during the initial attacks including Lightning Genji, Heavy Kong, Metal Bat and now Metal Knight. There were plenty more but those were the ones that immediately came to mind. That wasn’t even including the heroes who got taken down by Garou which were in the literal dozens.

Then to make matters worse no one knew he was even kidnapped in the first place. The only person who knew about him was…

An unmoving corpse covered in slashes and lying in a pool of ever growing red.

A deep shudder wracked Tareo’s body at the memory of the gruesome scene.

For an instant the thought of escaping crossed his mind before remembering just what exactly he would have to go through after leaving the cell as unlikely as that would be in the first place. But then what exactly would be awaiting him when Royal Ripper comes back?

If he stays he dies.

If he leaves he dies.

He couldn’t escape.

No one on the outside even knew he was here in the first place.

“T-the heroes will come” he said to himself.

The heroes were always going to attack the Monster Association.

“A-And when they see that I’m here they’ll rescue me” his words were filled with desperate self assurance that he struggled to believe even as they left his mouth.

“Heh, ain’t no one coming for you kid” a familiar voice gurgled causing him to flinch and whirl around to the front of the cell.

Standing just beyond the bars of the cell was the sludge monster that captured and used him as a hostage. At the sight of it Tareo backed away against the wall in fright.

His reaction seemed to greatly amuse the monster who continued “I saw Royal Ripper leaving without fresh blood on his blades so I thought I’d pay you a visit, maybe taunt you a bit” he gave the equivalent of a shrug as his voice laced with disappointment “but seeing you like this I don’t see the point anymore” and he began to walk away he gave one last parting shot “enjoy the next few hours of your life brat.”

As the monster squelched away his chuckles at Tareo’s expense echoing across the empty walls. Tareo said nothing, did nothing because there was nothing left to do but to wait for the inevitable and as tears trailed down his face Tareo curled into a fetal position. Not knowing what to do and caught in the dawning horror of what his faith would be in the near future he wished the shadows would just swallow him whole. At least it would be a better faith than whatever awaited him in this place.

As Tareo continued to stew in his thoughts sinking further and further into despair his brooding thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

“Aw, you poor boy” in the next moment Tareo found himself enveloped in a hug.

“AAH-humph!!”

A hand covered his mouth “keep your voice down, don’t want to alert whatever monster might be nearby” the mysterious woman spoke lowly.

She eventually let him go and Tareo scrambled away to the other side of the cell. With safety in distance Tareo got a better look at the older woman.

‘Was she always there!? Where did she come from?’

The more he looked at her the more Tareo couldn’t help but think he’d seen her before.

“I don’t mean you any harm” she spoke from her place sitting on her knees.

“W-who…?” he trailed off a bit before his eyes widened in recognition “I-I know you! You’re Solaria Nova!”

“Indeed” her gaze turned to the side.

“What’s someone like you doing here?”

At that she quirked an amused brow “I was kidnapped. I’m sure the news stations are making a big hubbub of the affair or am I overestimating my importance?”

Tareo felt himself flush in embarrassment because her being kidnapped was literally the only thing everyone was talking about. Even with the looming clash of the Hero Association against the Monster Association with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance most were more concerned with her safety.

“The better question is” she interrupted his thoughts “what are you doing here?”

For a moment Tareo could only do an impression of a fish as he was lost for words. Ironically Tareo had too much to say and no idea how to properly articulate everything in an appropriate manner.

At this Solaria spoke “calm down.”

He followed her light order swallowing as he did.

She patted the space next to where she sat which was where the light was obscured casting that small section and the woman herself in a shadow.

“Sit” once again he did what he was told “now from the beginning use your words and tell me everything.”

And so he did.

Maybe it was because she was an authority figure, maybe it was because he wasn’t alone in this place but Tareo felt oddly safe in Solaria’s presence. It caused him to spill everything in as much detail as he could. Solaria remained mostly silent as she listened to his tale though gave a comment here and there as well as ask questions and engaged him even in the instances when he went off on tangents.

By the end of it an indeterminate amount of time had passed and Tareo was lying on Solaria’s lap with drooping eyes. In the absence of stress the events of the past day finally caught up to him. Solaria ended up humming a tune as she watched him finally drift off into a calm sleep. Once Tareo had completely gone unconscious Solaria sighed looking from the boy to a certain direction.

~O~

Garou woke up in a daze…

‘Huh?’

Confused…

‘What the hell? Where? What am I doing sleeping in a place like this?’

And in pain…

*Crack*

*Snap*

*Squelch*

‘OW! Owowowowow!’

After dragging himself to his feet not really noticing the way his body was twitching and writhing in odd places as well as the sound of his bones grinding Garou looked to the ground. Despite the darkness he could see the large stain on the ground he happened to be standing right in the middle of.

‘Is that my blood?’

He struggled to believe such a thing since there was a lot of blood and he knew this was blood because he could smell it. Now the question is how could that be his blood when he wasn’t injured, yes he was still in pain but looking over his body he could not find or feel an open wound from where the blood might have come from.

‘What the hell?’

The black suit he wore, he couldn’t find a seam.

‘Is this thing stuck?’

It still felt like clothing but for some reason he couldn’t take it off, it was completely adhered to his body like a thin layer of skin. A brief study of this dark material revealed that the blood was soaked into it but rather than leave a stain it seemed to be settling into some unnatural thin markings.

‘No these are…wounds’

Suddenly flashes of a certain bandaged monster with sword for arms came to the fore of his mind as well as a giant muscular insect.

‘I lost’ Garou thought while looking to the night sky but it wasn’t that simple.

Specifically at the end where he was still conscious and remembered vividly how he got dismembered. The places where he felt the limbs detached were now whole and not bleeding.

How is this possible?

‘I feel…different.’

His changes were more than skin deep he could feel it and as calm came over his mind Garou found that he wasn’t at all bothered by this new development.

‘Now that I think about it, whatever happened to that kid?’

Tareo’s stupid face came to mind and how the last he saw of him was in the clutches of that one monster from when he was first approached by the Monster Association, the same monster that attempted to go after Metal Bat’s sister.

‘Oh he’s probably dead’ he thought with casual ease.

“…”

There was a long moment of silence in which Garou remained still in both body and thought letting that bit of information sink in. Then with no particular reaction beyond a grunt Garou cricked his neck and did some light stretches to limber up.

“One thing left to do now.”

Later…

In hindsight Garou could silently admit to himself that he was in a strange spot. Having walked the desolate streets of City Z to the abandoned section where he made his way to a shopping district before arriving at a condemned department store. Inside was a hole and down that hole was a path leading deeper underground. Throughout his entire walk and even now the calmness had not left him and he found that strange because by all accounts he should be pissed and actively thinking of the ways in which he would get revenge on the three monsters who almost caused his deaths.

Don’t get him wrong revenge was definitely the only reason why he even came back here but at the same time he couldn’t just ignore the changes he went through. At this point Garou was pretty sure he was undergoing some form of monsterization and perhaps that was the only thing tempering his unbridled rage. His ‘transformation’ was proving itself to be an asset as now he could see perfectly clear and farther than normal even in the little to no lighting the tunnel provided. Additionally his teeth were now serrated and his fingernails were longer, sharper and tougher.

*Rumble*

Unfortunately whether it was a side effect of his transformation or the result of his body expending so much energy to literally pull him together Garou once again found himself in need of sustenance.

‘And there ain’t no restaurants down here.’

Moments later he came upon a group of monsters one of who pointed at him “oy aren’t you the hero hunter-UAGH!?”

Garou moved swiftly eliminating the entire group of five in as much seconds with blows that utterly destroyed their bodies.

‘I’m stronger than before’

He certainly didn’t feel that way with his body running on low energy.

‘I need to eat something.’

Problem is he wouldn’t know where the monsters would keep their food if they even ate like humans.

‘Tch they probably eat each other.’

The thought gave him pause and after staring at his bloody hand for a moment gave it a lick.

‘Yep, that’s blood’ he smacked his lips.

It didn’t taste good by any metric but it wasn’t repulsive to his pallet either. The thought of eating a monster was more revolting but…

‘If the alternative is navigating this place on fumes then…’ he picked up the most appealing looking corpse and bit a chunk out of it ‘it’ll have to do.’

Garou deliberately didn’t think too deeply on what he was doing. His newly serrated teeth made biting into the thick flesh a simple affair. The sounds of flesh ripping, bone crunching, organ tearing and swallowing echoed in that section of the tunnel for several minutes until Garou gave a final swallow.

Wiping the blood from his mouth he could already feel the positive effects of his actions. Just like when he cleaned his plate at the restaurant his energy was returning, the aches and pains of his body were dulling and his strength was returning. Thing is he ate way more than he did at the restaurant. All together he just consumed twice his weight in meat yet he didn’t feel like he was one hundred percent.

‘I need more meat.’

~Garou…~ came a familiar distant voice that sounded directly from his mind.

Naturally Garou was not pleased with this “what do you want? If you think I’m here to rescue you think again” he began to walk ‘I’m only here to take care of some business then I’m leaving.”

-Tareo…-

Garou’s eyes widened before narrowing and with gritted teeth ground out “get out of my head! The kid’s dead anyway.”

-No…alive…-

‘What?’

“He’s alive?”

~For…now…~

Garou shook his head “doesn’t matter I’m not here for him.”

~Royal…Ripper…~

“Yeah, him.”

~Has…Tareo…~

For a moment Garou was silent.

“…tell me where he is.”

~To Be Continued~