A/N: Ok here we go, round two. Old chapter with a new beginning.

One Punch Man belongs to One, anything else belongs to me. The story takes place after the Dark Matter Thieves Arc, or when Season 1 of the anime ended.


A lone person walked down the rainy sidewalk of City H. Not much other people were out because of the torrents of water falling from the heavens as well as the time of day it was. It was late at night and the person was trying to get back home to get some well deserved rest.

The said person was a man around his late twenties, his jet black messy hair and unkept mustache was soaked with water. He wore a blue, hoodless windbreaker over a white collared shirt with black pants and shoes. The man had a slight athletic build to him, but looked quite stocky.

"Goddamn security company and their stupid hours," he muttered. "Why can't I have a normal schedule like anyone else?"

At least they pay... "Beats working at some dumb fast food joint."

After walking a few minutes down the street, he realized something.

"Aw crap, I'm supposed to take a left five blocks ago! Gosh darn it!" he facepalmed and started to turn around...

...only to be grabbed from behind, bagged, and thrown into the trunk of a car.

This day couldn't be any worse for this man...or could it be looking up...?

Eventually...

The man squinted as the bag was pulled off his head, his eyes adjusting to the sudden change in light. As his eyes refocused, he was able to make out a figure that was in front of him.

"Carlos?" the man asked. "What-what is going on?"

Carlos chuckled. The man was a giant, towering over the other men in the room. He was balding and had a large red beard. He wore a green shirt with a white apron and khaki pants and brown shoes. "Ignorance will only make it worse, Vern. You know why I had my men bring you here." he rumbled.

"Carlos, I just came off a fifteen hours shift from work. I'm slightly delusional, and I just want to sleep. How the hell am I supposed to know-oh. Oh, you gotta be kidding me. Really?"

"Yes, your TAB. It is long overdue."

"How much are there? It can't be that much for you to-"

One of Carlos' men dropped a bag full of IOUs next to Vern. "-kidnap me..."

"I warned you MANY times Vern, but this...this is the last straw."

"So what? Are you going to kill me like any cliché guy will do in any type of situation?"

"Kill you?" he put his hand on one of his thugs before letting out a hearty laugh. "He thinks I am going to kill! Isn't that hilarious?!"

"So can I go then? If you're not going to kill me?"

"No, you are still going to die. Just not by me." he motioned to his men. "They will take care of you."

"Oh, very clever..." I should've seen that coming

"Anyways, I have two daughters that I need to take to school tomorrow. So farewell, and pleasure doing business with you." he turned and left the warehouse leaving Vern with his men.

"Uh, hi. I guess we start with introductions..." Vern hesitantly said as the thugs started to advance to him. "...and we're skipping the introductions and going straight in. Fine by me."

Luckily, whoever tied the knots to his binds were badly done and was able to free himself with little to no problem. He picked up the chair he was sitting on and quickly swung it at the first thug who charged him. The chair took out the brute before shattering.

Another came at him with a fist, but Vern simply sidestepped and grabbed the man by the arm. Using his leverage, he threw the guy into another thug taking both of them out.

"Are you guys even try-" he was caught off guard by a sucker punch and was sent flying into a pile of crates. "...ok, I'm done playing."

He placed his left hand in his pocket and lunged for the closest thug with his right. He grabbed the man by his neck and slammed him to the ground, causing cracks to form under him. He latched his hand onto another's face and started to drag the man on the ground before sending him flying with a kick.

As more and more thugs ran towards him, Vernn started to look a bit...different. The calm, stoic expression he had was slowly turning into one of a crazed psychopath, and his attacks became more and more violent and wild.

This was all done with one hand, mind you.

"You boys are sure giving me a run for my money! Kinda rusty, but I still got it!" he was smacked in the head with a pipe by a goon that snuck on him. The goon expected him to be knocked out, but instead was grabbed by the head and lifted in the air.

"My, my, trying to kill me? Now that is not very nice," he said with a very sadistic smile. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson...or everyone in this room in fact!"

He lined up in front of the remaining thugs and tossed the man in the air. As the man came down, he clenched his hand into a fist, which started seeping with maroon colored smoke, and slammed it into the man's chest.

"DRILLLLLLL!"

The man was sent helicoptering into the rest of the thugs and the entire group of men were left unconscious and badly hurt.

Vern expression slowly returned to his usual stoicalness and he ran a hand through his hair. "Well, guess I hafta find a new bar then." he said with a shrug as he walked out of the warehouse.


"Seriously? Too qualified, is that even a thing?"

A woman slumped onto a nearby park bench. She wore a black suit jacket and matching skirt, along with black leggings and heels. Her brown hair was done in a bun with two hairsticks to hold it up. She had a slim, yet curvy build.

Adjusting her purple, sharp-rimmed glasses, she sighed. She'd been turned down from yet another job just because she "was too qualified and would have made everyone look bad". She'd heard of people being not under qualified, but over?

Really?

"I really need to find a proper job soon. How am I supposed to pay rent?" she said with a moan. "Or any other basic necessity?"

She worked at the local supermarket as a cashier, but the pay wasn't up there enough. She barely had enough for rent, much less anything else.

"Lynn? Is that you?"

Lynn removed her hand from her face to see the face of someone she didn't see for quite some time.

The woman standing in front of her was wearing a short white shirt the ended above her stomach, blue jeans and black sneakers. Her long orange hair was put up in a high ponytail. However the most defining feature this woman had was that she was quite muscular to say the least, but kept her womanly curves.

"Roxy! Fancy seeing you here."

Roxy smiled. "I kinda had to look twice, since you look...bigger... than the last time we met."

"Yeah...very late bloomer." Lynn said with a blush.

"So! What have you've been up to egghead?" Roxy asked. "Assume you got some high end job or something, right?"

"Actually, no."

"Wait what?"

"I tried applying to several businesses but they turned me down."

"Why? You are more than capable to be-"

"That's the problem! I'm TOO good at what I do."

Roxy blinked. "Is that a thing?"

"Apparently so. Sounds bullshit to me though," Lynn said with a sigh. "I work at a supermarket to make due, it's very little, but it's enough to pay the rent. What about you?"

"I work at that smoothie store over there." she pointed to the small establishment off in the distance. "Share a space with my GF. She pays half and I pay the other."

"GF?" Lynn asked, a bit confused.

"Girlfriend, egghead. You know men ain't my thing."

Men not here thi-oh...OH OH! "You sound like you have it good..."

"Say...why don't you come crash with us?"

"No! T-that's not necessary-"

"Lynn, I may be reckless, but I am far from stupid. I know that you're in the shitter, and you, egghead, should know that too." she pulled out a receipt and a pen and started writing something on it. "This is where I live and my number, I ain't forcing you, but it's your choice."

She gave the paper to Lynn, who accepted it.

"My shift starts in a few minutes so I gotta run. See yah."

Lynn watched as Roxy walked off. She sighed as she looked at the paper that was given to her. Well, at least the rent wouldn't be so high.

Later...

"You know I don't drink a lot Roxy," Lynn said.

"Oh lighten up will you?" Roxy said. "Obviously things haven't been going your way, and you kinda need to loosen up."

It was late at night and Roxy had invited Lynn to have a couple of drinks at a bar she favored. Lynn had changed into a more casual blue shirt, khaki pants, and some sneakers.

"Fine, I just don't take alcohol well."

"Ha, ha! It's just gonna be like old times!" Roxy said a she pulled the shorter woman closer to her. "If only the psycho was here..."

"Urg, gah, meh...ROXI! C-c-can't breath!"

"Oh! Sorry!" Roxi let go of Lynn, who spent the next few minutes trying to catch her breath.

"Still got your strength huh?" she managed to wheeze out.

"Yeah...still kinda hard for me to control it. My bad."

"At least you don't burn things as easily anyone as far as I can see."

"True, got that down."

Roxi suddenly sneezed and a blast of fire incinerated a trashcan. Luckily, no one else was around to witness that.

"Well, except for that. That I can't really control, sometimes," Roxi said as she sniffed. "Don't worry, we have a fire extinguisher just in case."

"If I remember your drinking patterns from yore, I'm surprised you never burnt anything down yet."

"Whatever, at least I can hold my alcohol, egghead."

The bar was located a couple of blocks from Roxi's apartment. A small watering hole with a decent amount of foot traffic. However, tonight was pretty slow, and only one or two patrons were in the bar.

The two women took up seats at the counter.

"The usual Roxi?" the bartender asked.

"Yes, Maurice."

The bartender nodded and went off to prepare the drinks.

"So, how's life been?" Roxi asked.

"Well, you kinda got the jist of it this afternoon," Lynn said with a sigh. "Honestly, I just think they're afraid of having a woman outperform them."

"Male superiority, shall I...?"

"No, you are not beating them up. That's illegal and possibly a quick way to get on the Heroes Association's bad side."

"Even if I don't use-"

"Yes, most likely they're going to send a C or B-Class hero after you if anything."

"...hey, what would we be if we tried out for the Heroes Association, hypothetic speaking?"

"Us? I dunno, I'm not really into that hero stuff, too much goddamn work."

"Work? I thought you like work."

"I only do work since no one else is willing to do it."

Roxi shrugged and was about to say something when someone's voice started to rise.

"Oh you gotta be SCREWING with me!"

The two turned and found a guy getting frustrated with the claw game the bar had in the corner.

"You piece of shit! I had that pink unicorn in my grasp and you had to drop it!" the man slammed the side of the machine. "You're lucky I can't break you..."

"Hold on. Is that...?"

The two looked at each other and decided to go over to the man, who was still ranting about the "rigged" machine. Roxi tapped the man on the shoulder...

"WHAT?!" he spun around only to look up. His expression turned to slight shock. "Oh hiiiiiiiiiii Roxi. Fancy seeing you here."

His attention turned to Lynn. "Holy shit, Lynn. You actually look like a woman now-"

"What was that Vern?" Vern suddenly found his health to be in dire danger.

"T-that was a compliment! And I wasn't finished! I meant to add on: the "sexy librarian" is a good look for you."

"Better...now what are you doing here?"

"Well, uh, I'm trying to get the pink unicorn. I have the other colors but that one-"

"More general."

"Uh, I'm waiting for my shift to start. I work for a security firm, like a few blocks from here," he said. "What about you two, never thought I would see either of you again."

"Lynn is broke dead, I work at Smooth's Smoothies."

"Wait, seriously? Is that even possible?"

"Apparently being too good is a thing," Lynn said with a sigh.

"On the plus, she's going to be roomies with me! It will be like old times!" Roxi said as she hugged Lynn.

"Hold on, how long have you guys been living here?"

"I'd say a couple of years." Lynn said. Roxi nodded her head as well.

"I'm surprised we've never bumped into each other, strange...yet we meet in a bar."

"..."

"Well, hey our drinks are here," Roxi said as she looked back at the counter. "Want anything Vern?"

"Uh, something...strong. I'll catch up to you gals in a moment."

As the two walked back, Vern got out a knife and picked the lock on the claw machine. He grabbed the unicorn and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"Fuck you." he said to the machine as he closed it back up.

A/N: The next chapter will be similar to what it was in the previous story, but amended to fit it.

Till next time,

-D.W