Chapter 2: Girl Meets Boy

"Why? Why do you always scare them away?"

"Don't you see it? They're taking advantage of you. Look at yourself. They're only entertaining themselves watching you fool around. Stop it."

"B-But…"

"They're laughing at me too. Be strong by yourself. Stand firm. Don't let them distract you. It's better that way. You don't need anyone else." The girl walked away.

"I… I… I don't need you too."

x-x-x

Tatsumaki woke up with a start. Her heart was racing and she was breathing heavily. She put up a hand to her forehead as her breathing evened out.

This has been occurring for weeks now. Nightmares. When will it end?

She slowed her breath and she curled into a ball… and then it hit her.

Wait. Where am I? WHERE AM I?!

She quickly swiped the bed sheets away and she sat up.

"Oh, you're awake."

The esper looked at the source of the voice and saw a bald man sitting down, eating from a cup of noodles. He was wearing a blue striped pajamas and he was watching the morning news about the disappearance of the mosquito swarm.

Everything seemed to rearrange itself in Tatsumaki's mind and she recalled everything what had happened.

Quickly grabbing the bed sheets and covering herself despite she was still dressed, she pointed an accusing finger at the man and exclaimed, "Hey! Don't you dare have any funny ideas, you hear me?!"

"Huh? I haven't done anything yet. All I did was I carried you back here in my apartment yesterday."

A blush formed on the esper's cheeks and smoke went out of her ears. "Y-You pervert!?"

"Is that how you thank a person? Relax, I didn't do anything. Believe me."

Tatsumaki hung her head low in embarrassment. He saved her life and this was what she said? She simply reacted out of instinct. Not really her fault.

This guy looked pretty suspicious. I really think I saw this man before.

"Won't you have malaria or something after yesterday?" the man asked tilting his head slightly.

"What? No, I don't feel any diseases in me."

"How did you know that?"

"I just know, okay."

The man made a face like it wasn't supposed to be that way.

"So, - Saitama, is it? Since you've saved my life, I think I owe you a favor."

"A favor? No, you don't need –"

"I OWE YOU A FAVOR!" the esper strongly repeated. "If a girl insisted she owe you then you must let her do it. I'll do everything to repay you except money. Just tell me."

Saitama made the same expression he did earlier.

"You… you are not one of those kind of girls, are you?" he asked.

Tatsumaki was greatly perplexed. "What? What do you mean?"

Few seconds ticked by.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Did he mean…

"Y-you pervert! I knew it!" Tatsumaki emitted a green aura and random objects began floating.

"HEY! Stop lifting my things! I just cleaned yesterday! Okay, it was last week, but that's not the point! You are dressed kinda weird to begin with!"

Tatsumaki looked down. "Huh? What's wrong with it?" she asked as she brought the things down.

"It's not exactly a dress you would see every day. I swear. I didn't mean to sound like that."

"I SAID what's wrong with it?! You find it ugly, is that it?"

Saitama facepalmed. "We're going nowhere here. And you haven't introduced yourself yet."

"Oh, I'm… I'm Tatsumaki." She said, lowering her head and feeling a little awkward. This is the time I should shake his hand or say something nice.

"So, Tatsumaki, don't you have school or anything to attend to?"

A vein throbbed in the esper's head. "No, I don't." She answered barely managing to hide her temper from her tone. "So what's the favor?"

"Well, if you can pay my rent –"

"I said no money!"

Suddenly, the apartment window was smashed open and a praying mantis monster entered.

"Kyukyukyukyu!" laughed the monster and he posed for battle. "My name is… huh?"

A green outline formed on the monster and he was quickly thrown away back towards the sky. There was a sparkle when it reached a certain distance.

"Do you mind?! We're having a conversation here!" the esper complained. "Now then," she looked back at the bald guy and noticed he was gone.

"Hey. Where d'you go?" She momentarily closed her eyes to scan the area.

Ground floor. There are more of them. They have some sort of telepathy too.

Tatsumaki jumped out of the wide open wrecked window and slowly landed on the ground. What greeted her were two monsters half buried in the ground from the waist up, upside down, while the bald guy was standing between them.

"Don't bust other people's ceilings!" Saitama said, irritated.

Woah. He's fast. "We still have unfinished business to take care of!" Tatsumaki loudly reminded him.

"Can you just go through the door like everybody else?" He said more to the monsters than her.

He's… he's ignoring me!

Two sharp claws popped out from the ground. It grabbed Saitama's feet and pulled, quickly burying him up to neck level.

"Oh?" he muttered in surprise.

"Hey!" Tatsumaki raised a hand towards Saitama to pull him out. She channeled her energy to lift him up, but to her surprise, she can't lift him up, no – it was more that she couldn't control him at all. He wasn't covered by the familiar green outline.

What. What's going on?

"No, it's okay." He assured her. "I kinda feel like… a bamboo shoot."

What?

"Elevated energy levels detected."

A cyborg landed heavily behind Tatsumaki and the ground cracked.

"Who's this weirdo now?" she asked indignantly.

"You are not the target." The cyborg said in a robotic fashion.

"What going on? I can't see." Saitama craned his neck here and there but couldn't see the intruder in his situation.

"You are in the way!" The cyborg raised a fist and attacked the esper. Tatsumaki evaded it by hovering away. The cyborg quickly closed the distance and punched her again. A green barrier materialized between them, effectively blocking the attack

"You made a grave mistake by interrupting us." The green haired esper threatened. She blasted the cyborg away using telekinesis. The cyborg landed heavily on the road as she looked on, quite pissed.

The cyborg quickly jumped back at her. However, the esper nimbly hovered a few meters away, enough to evade it.

"I am the pinnacle of the House of Evolution's science." The cyborg stated, rising from the rubble. "I am Armored Gorilla. Your attacks mean nothing to me."

House of Evolution? "What do you want from us?"

"It's none of your business. And it is our rule to eliminate anyone who opposes us! I must destroy you!"

"Armored Gorilla. If I take out your armor you're only a simple gorilla. Hmph. Might as well do that."

The cyborg clenched both his fists and brought it down to her. The dust settled but he didn't see the little girl, except he noticed his arms were glowing green.

"Boom."

A catastrophic explosion occurred in the gorilla's arms and metal scraps flew everywhere.

"Now you don't have any arms." The esper said from a distance. "I have questions for you so I need you alive."

Armored Gorilla roared loudly. If he still has his arms, he would undoubtedly pound his fists to his chest. He ran towards the esper, planning to stomp on her. As he was to bring his foot down, it was enveloped by a green outline and his momentum stopped completely.

Some unseen force pulled his leg and he started circling violently like he was a lasso. Finally, the leg snapped at the root and he was launched towards the side of a building. He was about to get to his only one good leg when a green outline appeared on it. His remaining leg was compressed so severely that sparks and electricity went out of its joints.

Now, without any usable limbs left, the cyborg leaned on the brick wall, unable to do anything. His helmet suddenly popped upwards and it landed on his side. Looking ahead, he saw the green haired girl glowing green, her arm leveled at him.

"I have questions for you." The esper said rather grimly. "Answer or die. Your pick."

"It is you who would die." The limbless cyborg stubbornly answered. "I am the third most powerful being in the House of Evolution. As it is, you will never beat the Beast King, the second most powerful. You stand no chance."

"Is this what you mean?" Saitama suddenly appeared, holding a lion's tail.

Tatsumaki glanced at her side. He took care of it.

The gorilla stared adamant at them for a moment, but he finally gave in. "...I-I'm sorry! P-Please don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!" He pleaded.

"What happened to your robotic voice?" Saitama asked as he tossed the lion's tail away.

"Oh, I only changed my voice so I would sound cool."

"Enough of this!" Tatsumaki exclaimed. "You! What is this House of Evolution? Why are you here?"

The limbless gorilla started telling them a long winded story about a prodigy scientist named Dr. Genus who founded an organization: its goal, its location and its origin. Since it would take time for his research, he renewed his youth by altering his aging by stopping it completely when it is in his prime. It started long ago and only now that he's making significant progress when he created clones of himself to help him out since no one wanted to help him with this endeavor.

The organization's aim is to improve the overall performance of the human body through genetic manipulation and DNA trans-species hybrids. Every animal has their own special traits and the scientist gathered every possible positive mutation to uplift the human body to its maximum potential. The first fruits of their labor came in the form of the animals they have enhanced and the gorilla was one of them. The method was not only limited to organic mutations. The gorilla was enhanced mechanically to bolster endurance and power and given additional features like able to communicate telepathically and replace "lost" limbs. The other animals have their own special abilities and they have their roles. Beast King has an immeasurable speed and fighting prowess overall; Ground Dragon can tunnel in the ground for surprise attacks; Armored Gorilla is for crowd control and manual labor. The other 3 were for scouting and reconnaissance.

The gorilla's monologue continued on and on and it was so long that Saitama began twitching. The cyborg was about to explain how they managed to find his location when Saitama finally snapped.

"Shut up! What's this supposed to do with me? Summarize it in 20 words or less, would ya! I don't have all day!"

Tatsumaki was thinking the same thing.

"O-Okay then. In short: My boss has become very curious about your body."

"I'm not interested in guys." Saitama deadpanned.

Well, at least he's not gay. Tatsumaki inwardly thought. "You got it the wrong way. It means that he's curious how you got so strong." Wait. I'm curious too.

"Is that it? They should have asked nicely. Sure, I'll go."

"What?! You're serious?" the esper asked incredulously.

"They're doing horrifying things and I'll try to stop them. Besides, they damaged my apartment. They have to pay for that."

"Oh."

Saitama then started walking back towards the apartment.

"Wait, where're you going?" the esper asked again.

"I need to wear my costume."

"Your... costume?"

"Yeah. I'm a hero for fun. I need it before I set out."

What kind of a backstory is that? "I'll come along then."

"You have a costume too?"

"NO! I mean I'll go with you to this House of Evolution! I still owe you a favor!"

"You really don't need –"

"I insist! End of discussion!"

Saitama simply shrugged and went inside the apartment.

This is bad. I need to contact HQ. The gorilla's head opened halfway and it revealed a small satellite.

"Hey!"

The gorilla quickly shut his head transmitter close. "W-What?" he replied, afraid he might be caught.

"This House of Evolution: are they experimenting on live human subjects with psychic powers? Why do you have telepathy?" the esper asked.

"No, we only experiment on animals and human clones. We have telepathy but we use radio signals to communicate, not actual psychic powers."

"Good. I'll leave you alive for all you've said."

The gorilla sighed in relief.

The esper looked away from him and noticed a bald guy walking away. "Hey! Wait for me!"

She caught up with Saitama and looked at him up and down. The man was wearing a yellow jumpsuit with a short zipper line in the collar, red boots and red gloves. He has a belt with a circular golden buckle on his waist and a white cape over his back, clipped on the shoulders by two smooth buttons. However, due to its color scheme, it looked so nondescript and lacked fashion that it bordered to being horrendous.

That was a quick dress up. "You're going now?" the esper asked the... caped baldy.

"Yeah. I can't do it tomorrow. There's a bargain sale I can't miss. Also, this House of Revolution is quite far."

Some valid reason. And it's... never mind. "Ok then, let's make this quick." I'm also curious how you got this strong and why I can't control you with my power. This little adventure may enlighten me. I need to know.

The two then set out to the House of Evolution.

But before that, they stopped to eat breakfast as Saitama insisted he hasn't gotten his fill yet. Tatsumaki sweat-dropped but she were also hungry and couldn't deny it – if her rumbling stomach was any indication. They ate at some takoyaki stand and THEN set out to the House of Evolution.

Author's Corner: Tatsumaki here is nerfed but not that badly. She will have new abilities that aren't canon but she's still a force to be reckoned with. Her telekinesis won't be the only move she'll rely on.

As for the other character's fates: I can't tell it yet. They will have a role; some a crucial role for later plot. Just leave it at that.

As for the reviews/favorites/follows: I didn't expect this story to have this many follows and favorites this early. People really like OPM! I really do appreciate it, even if it's a lengthy review or not. Really. Thanks. It's a first for me. Those type of things makes my day as a writer.

As for this lengthy author's corner: Sorry! It can't be helped! Don't punch me! As it is, see you in the next chapter!