Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or One Punch Man. They belong to their respective creators.
[-]
Weak sunlight pierced through the dark clouds above, barely illuminating the cobblestone path below.
The air was muted and cold, with the only noise being brought to the street from the occasional passerby. But whatever noise they made was also quiet and hushed. After all, nobody wanted to stick around one of the most ghetto areas in the prefecture.
Gangs roamed freely around this town, and if the occasional tourist somehow unluckily made his way here, there was bound to be trouble.
The sky darkened further as the clouds started to roll in, warning the people below to seek shelter lest they got caught in the coming rains.
A hooded figure cursed quietly as the faint pattering started to make its way down the street.
The rain was annoying, yes, but the final destination was only a few blocks away. Even closer if one were to take the shortcut through the labyrinth of alleyways. But the maze-like structures mattered little. This was not the first trip to meet the Boss, after all.
The figure slid into a nearby alleyway. Almost immediately a problem arose.
Three men immediately surrounded the lone figure, two emerging from behind and the other coming out from the darkness.
The one directly in front was clearly the boss, if excessive tattoos and red skin was anything to go by. He loomed over everyone in the alley as he grinned down at the hooded figure, who had stopped with the arrival of the new party. "Hey, sorry to bother you, but I don't suppose you have any spare change for a taxi, do you? My buddies and I just wanna get home before the weather gets worse."
His cronies snickered behind the figure, clearly relishing the situation. One of them twirled a rusty knife between his fingers, caring not if the blade got too close to them, as his hands were hardened and sharpened to a point.
The other started to drool, much to the disgust of the hooded figure. When the spittle reached the cobble floor below, it started to sizzle, as if it was acid.
"C'mon, have a heart and spare us some money, eh?"
The hooded figure looked back at the supposed leader of the group. He had inched slightly closer, his meaty fist reaching for something behind his back. The fake smile he sported never left his face. "Let's have a look through your wallet, just to make sure you're not one of those stingy folks."
In one fluid motion, the hooded figure pulled back the hood of the cloak and shook out luscious locks of crimson hair. Tired honey eyes gazed back at the figure, but that was all the gang leader was able to see, as the rest of the face was obscured by a plain black face mask that covered her mouth.
The red-skinned man looked startled for a moment before breaking out another huge grin. "Well, check this here, fellas. This little lady's a looker, isn't she?"
The woman could almost hear the increase in drool the man behind her was producing, much to her disgust. "How much money do you need? I'll just give you whatever amount you want, I'm on a schedule."
Splashes were made by the hulking man's feet as he stepped ever so closer to the red-haired woman. "Oh, don't worry about the money! I got a better idea; how about you follow us out of this cold to one of my buddy's places? Take a break, ya know?"
The woman felt a sharpened hand firmly grasp her shoulder. The pointed tips started to dig into the fabric. "Yeah, join us for a drink or something, your schedule can wait."
Honey eyes glared at the offending hand as the woman threw it to the side, sending it skittering over to the feet of the gang boss. "I'm afraid that's not gonna happen."
It took a solid second for the situation to fully settle in. The gang leader's eyes grew to the size of saucers as the now dismembered hand twitched gently on the ground in front of him.
A pale knife glimmered in the dying light as the woman flicked the man's blood off of the blade and onto the pavement.
The gang member screamed as he realized his right hand was no longer attached to his arm. He flailed about in agony as he clutched the stump, trying in vain to stop the river of blood flowing out of it.
"What are you gaping at, idiot," the red-skinned man screamed, pulling a large knife out from behind his back, "Get her!"
The other gangster retched as he shot a stream of putrid yellow spittle at the woman. The gunk just barely missed her and hit the opposite wall, slowly starting to melt a hole in it.
Before the man could fire off another shot, the woman dashed over and slammed a fist against his throat. His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he crumpled to the ground, struggling to breathe through a crushed windpipe.
She barely dodged a huge swipe from an enraged gang boss, sending the knife clanging against the wall. Her knife, while extremely sharp, would not be useful against the gorilla of a man and his apparent love for oversized kitchen tools.
No, she would have to resort to using that.
If the gangster noticed the woman's cloak starting to billow around her like a kite in the wind, he didn't show it. It seemed he was too wrapped up in rage to care.
The gang boss roared as he tried to hit the woman to no avail. With the cloak billowing around her, it was impossible to tell whether he hit flesh or cloth.
Orange filled his vision as he swung once more, only for the woman to leap over it.
He hunched over to catch his breath as he assessed the situation. His Quirk wouldn't do particularly well in this situation. After all, it was a simple strength-boosting one. Handy in a tight spot, but useless against a target that was faster than he was.
He glanced down at his goons. One of them weakly clung to life as blood dribbled down his pale form. He would die within minutes. The other had already succumbed to his injuries, if his blue face and panic-stricken eyes were anything to go by.
The gang leader felt his rage start to boil again, sending flashes of orange light across his sight. The fatigue must have really started to get to him. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he breathed harder and harder. His muscles shook with exertion as he struggled to stay up.
Something is wrong.
"You're starting to feel it, aren't you?"
Blood slowly leaked over his lips as the man coughed. "Y-You bitch, what'd you do to me?"
The woman looked almost bored as she put her hood back on. Soon, the only thing he could see was her honey-colored eyes, piercing straight into his soul. "It takes a little bit to get going, but with a big guy like you, it took no time at all. It works better on larger targets, after all. Bigger lungs and all that."
He crumpled to his knees as violent and wet coughs wracked his body. The knife clattered to the floor as his muscles gave out. He weakly lifted his head up to look at the impassive woman. "What did you do?"
The woman said nothing as she walked past him, leaving him to cough out more and more blood. Soon, the coughs would subside and the pain would set in. Then his lungs would collapse as her Quirk made quick work of tearing apart muscles and tissue.
By the time the authorities found his body, it would probably be almost completely gone, as the spores in his blood would have created a giant fungus that ate away at his body.
She shook her head in annoyance as she made her way through the alleyways once more. They should have just taken the money.
[-]
Kurogiri looked up from his work as soft knocking echoed throughout the facility. He put down a pen and clipboard, navigating his way through the dingy laboratory, being extra careful not to bump against the comatose bodies on the nearby operating tables.
It wasn't as if they were gonna wake up from their drug-induced coma, but they were rather delicate.
He slid open the eye-level gate on the door to peek out at whoever was knocking before unlocking it and allowing the person in question to come in. "Miasma, welcome. It has been a while."
The red-haired woman smoothly slid into the room. Her eyes crinkled as she gently embraced the foggy body of the villain. "Kurogiri, it's been a while. How have you been?"
She muttered out a thanks as Kurogiri, ever the gentleman, took off her cloak and hung it on a nearby rack. She heard him hum as his fingers (or whatever counted as fingers on that body of his) grazed over the shallow cuts on the fabric. "Ran into trouble, I see."
Miasma rolled her eyes as she stretched slightly, feeling the black and red suit she was sporting extend across her body. "If you could call three bottom feeders 'trouble'."
"And are these 'bottom feeders' with us today?"
The gleam in her honeyed eyes was the only answer he needed.
He nodded and gestured over to a separate corridor. "Shall we?"
Miasma smiled and hooked an arm around Kurogiri's own, ignoring the way the cold fog wrapped around her pale skin. "We shall."
The two made their way through the dark building as they passed by the numerous operating tables and tanks in the room. Miasma crinkled her nose in disgust at the Noumu's floating about in the clear tanks, but said nothing otherwise. She had seen far more weird and disturbing things in her last twenty years of living. Whatever the boss was up to nowadays was none of her business.
She glanced up at the tall villain. "So, I saw the news earlier today. You guys made quite a splash in headlines."
Her voice dripped with sarcasm and mirth, something that did not go unnoticed by the Warp villain. He sheepishly fidgeted. "Yes, that entire situation could have been better. It was unfortunate that we have lost a powerful tool, but we did get some interesting information."
"Speaking of which, I still have no clue what this new information is. Is the Boss going to brief me anytime soon?"
Kurogiri nodded slightly as he opened up a door that led to a smaller room, this time brightly lit up with harsh fluorescent lighting. Miasma blinked as dark spots danced across her vision. "He will tell you in due time. He has been busy as of late."
"Yes, I saw."
The smoky villain didn't fail to notice the obvious disgust in her voice when she spoke. "I know that our methods may seem barbaric, but we are careful to choose those who will not be missed by society. Otherwise things would get suspicious."
"I get that, but I'm pretty sure I saw a couple children in there, Kurogiri. Mind telling me what's going to happen to them?"
He couldn't say anything.
Miasma scoffed. "Thought so."
They made their way through the facility in relative silence until they reached hospital style double doors. She couldn't make out anything inside the room, as it was darkened and the glass was fogged, but she didn't have to be a genius to figure out what was behind the door.
Kurogiri gently extracted his arm from hers as he bowed slightly. "I shall take my leave then. Shigaraki needs to have his bandages replaced."
Miasma clicked her tongue in annoyance. "What did that idiot do now?"
"Nothing too life-threatening. Just a mishap with some heroes."
The red-haired woman sighed and waved slightly at the villain. "Alright then. Tell Shigaraki big sis Mia will see him soon."
Kurogiri's glowing eyes crinkled with brief mirth as he quickly collapsed in on himself and disappeared, leaving behind a few wisps of smoke that dissipated in the sterile lab.
She breathed in deeply through her nose and almost gagged on reflex. The stench of cleansing alcohol was almost overpowering, threatening to detox her very insides. And this was coming from a woman who worked with poisonous spores for most of her life.
Miasma took in a deep breath as she gathered her wits. Nervous hands stroked through tangled clumps of hair and wrinkled clothes. It wasn't that she was scared of her boss. After all, he gave her a fresh new start at life and emboldened her with a new purpose. No, it was more the fact that she was anxious to see him again after all these months. Would he be crueler? Less forgiving? Who knew?
She grasped the cool metal handle of the double doors and steeled herself. No, he wouldn't have changed. She owed him her life, and she had never let him down yet.
The hospital doors creaked open and stepped into the dark room, making sure to reveal herself fully in the light behind her before closing them. "Excuse me."
The air felt cold and biting, even if the temperature remained the same. A sort of pressure pulled down on her person, giving her shortness of breath. Yes, her boss was definitely in here. This was the aura he exuded all the time. She was never sure if that the atmosphere he carried with him was a byproduct of one of his many Quirks or just the enormous power of his persona. But she felt herself calm down nonetheless. This pressure was almost welcoming. It wrapped her like a cool blanket on a hot day like he held her broken body to safety all those years ago.
A set of TV screens and medical instruments glowed lightly in the dark, barely illuminating the hunched figure of a man wearing a lab coat. He turned to Miasma as she entered and cracked open a wide smile that peaked out from under his rather impressive mustache. The weak light shone slightly on a singular gold tooth on his lower jaw. "Miss Mia! It is so good to see my favorite lab partner once more!"
The crimson-haired woman grimaced as she made her way across the inky room. "It is good to see you as well, Doctor."
She never figured out much about this man. She knew that he was a doctor working at some hospital close by, and when he wasn't working there, he came here to check up on the boss's condition and apply medications.
The stocky man never ever took off those gigantic goggles of his, and his real name was a mystery. Of course, with a little bit of digging around, she could probably easily find any information government databanks had on this man, but it wasn't worth the effort. Besides, the boss told her she could trust him, so she did, even if she didn't agree with his "experiments" from time to time.
But her focus wasn't on the doctor. No, her near full attention was placed onto the prone figure laying on a large hospital bed next to him, weighed down by the huge amount of wires and tubes that both pumped chemicals in and out of his system.
The light didn't quite reach the figure's face, but she didn't need to see much else other than the warm smile present on the man's lips. "Miasma, I trust you have been well?"
Miasma beamed brightly as she knelt by All For One, making sure to give a respectful bow to the closest father-figure she ever had. "Yes, Master. I hope your health has been good over the last couple months."
"Yes, the doctor has been ever so helpful."
All For One chuckled to himself, and Miasma felt herself frown from how weak it sounded. His voice carried the same baritone and power as normal, but the laugh was strained and tired.
She turned her worry and ire onto the Doctor, who was busy scribbling something down onto notepad.
A large, warm hand enveloped hers, and she felt her attention being dragged to her boss once more. "Now, now, the doctor has been nothing but resourceful and attentive thus far. I am like this only because of a new treatment he had developed. There is no harm to my person, trust me."
Begrudgingly she released her anger and forced a small smile as she sat down on a chair close to the edge of the bed. "How have things been with Shigaraki?"
All For One's warm smile never left his face. "Impatient as of late, but he is still learning. He will mature in due time. He has an extraordinary mind. I am sure he will become a fine individual capable of creating change in the near future. How was your return to America?"
Miasma felt herself pull a face. She shrugged. "Nothing too eventful. I didn't like it too much, to be honest. The food there is so greasy you could probably set the entire country alight with one spark."
"And was the mission successful?"
There was a dangerous glint in her eyes as she reached into one of her many pockets. She dug out three USB sticks and handed them over to her boss. "Of course. I was able to make contact with our associate and he was able to pull up some information on Genesis Tech. They shouldn't be a problem much longer once I upload their private endeavors on the web."
She felt no small amount of pride from her achievement. It was no easy task to get shady information on one of America's largest manufacturers of Quirk technology. Months of her life was focused solely on her work, but it was time well spent. With them starting to push out their new tech onto the Japanese markets, they were infringing on the black-market deals in the criminal underground. Something that the boss wanted complete control over. So, it was a pleasure knowing that Genesis Tech would soon burn under allegations of fraud, bribery, and some interesting interactions between a married CEO and his mistress.
One For All's gentle hand moved up to cup Miasma's cheek. "You did well. I knew that you would not let me down."
She grinned almost uncontrollably, feeling a euphoria overcome her. That was all she needed to hear to make that god-awful trip to America worth it. Now she couldn't wait to take it easy in her apartment nearby and just take a long-awaited break.
"However, I'm afraid I must ask you another favor."
The euphoria died as quickly as her dreams of taking a vacation.
One For All's smile looked almost apologetic. "I know, but I would not ask this of you if I had no other choice." He glanced over to the doctor. "If you please."
The doctor nodded and pointed a small remote at one of the TV screens. The myriad of codes and medical jargon disappeared and was replaced with what looked like footage from a police team. How they had managed to get a hold of the camera footage was unknown to her, but that wasn't the sole focus. No, the footage played to show a feed of what looked like two heroes, being escorted outside of the USJ by that damn animal in charge of the school.
Of the two heroes, the first one that caught her attention was the bright yellow jumpsuit of the first man. It was annoyingly loud, and the red boots and gloves along with a pristinely clean cape didn't help. But even if the suit was extremely corny and childish, the man's face was anything but. He had to have the most boring appearance of anyone she had ever seen. It kind of reminded her of her childhood when she watched those old shows on television. He looked like a background character that the animating team didn't even bother to give defining facial features for lack of time and budget.
The second one was much more interesting, and looked to be just a little younger than she was. His blonde hair and pale skin stood out on camera, and golden eyes similar to her own burned with intense energy. Even from camera footage, she could tell that he was nervous. If she looked hard enough, she could just make out dark sclera in his eyes, maybe the byproduct of his Quirk. His setup was entirely made up of black or grey colors, with the only outlier being the dark blue jeans he was wearing and a black sweater with yellow patterns on it. The sleeves were nonexistent on article of clothing, but that allowed her a better view of something very interesting.
Metal that was so black that it was almost blue, gleamed under the lights, showing off impressively armored biceps and forearms. The armor stuck close to his skin, and it glowed orange with a hidden energy source that she couldn't pinpoint. Other than armor, she couldn't tell what its exact functions were, other than that it was probably to bolster his Quirk.
These heroes were flashy. The first one for all the wrong reasons, and the other one for all the right ones. But they didn't look like any heroes she recognized in Japan. They were either foreign or were new heroes. "Who are they?"
"We do not know." She looked up in confusion. "At least, nobody we know in Japan. I have reached out to my contacts around the globe, and none of them have seen either of these men before."
Miasma leaned into her chair. "Maybe they're just new heroes," she suggested, gesturing to the screen, "It's impossible for anybody to keep records of everyone nowadays, and it does take a while for a new hero to get registered into the Hero Registry. And they don't seem too strong either, which makes them harder to find."
She blinked questioningly at her boss. "Why are we interested in them?"
"The man in yellow is wholly responsible for the death of our Noumu."
The crimson-haired villain almost choked on her tongue. He killed a Noumu? A bioengineered hybrid humanoid specifically built by the boss and the doctor to be able to go toe to toe with All Might?
She turned to the doctor. "You have to be joking. That's impossible."
The portly man was almost vibrating with excitement, nearly causing those telescopes for glasses to fall off his face. "I assure you I am not. Based on what Shigaraki and Kurogiri has been telling me, this man completely destroyed the Noumu with a few punches. Punches stronger than what All Might himself is able to do."
Miasma almost scoffed at that. There was nobody other than her boss who was stronger than All Might. It was just impossible. If there was a man who was stronger than All Might, he would be hounded by reporters and scientists all around the world. There was no way that a man like that would be unknown. Therefore, it was impossible for her to not know of this man's existence.
But as she switched eyes with both the doctor and her boss (respectfully, of course), the more she became convinced they were telling the truth. Her boss wouldn't lie to her, and if he wanted to test her, he would never test her like this.
She kept her panic down and slipped on a professional façade. "And what of the other one?"
The doctor zoomed in the screen on the man's eyes. He pointed excitedly at his irises. "I have been analyzing this footage nonstop for the past few hours. I thought there was something strange with his eyes, as the feed sometimes glitched as he looked over them. Take a look."
The villain did so by moving a little closer to the TV. At first, she had no idea what this man wanted to show her, but as she focused a bit more, she swallowed her surprise once more.
Cybernetics. This man had visual prosthesis. It was hard to see on the camera feed, but one could just make out the telltale signs of an entire system of wires and projections within.
This was revolutionary technology. Prosthetic arms were well within the realms of science, but to create prosthetic eyes required an immense amount of work and money. They were not easily accessible by any means. And even if one did succeed in making it, it would never be as good as the wearer's original eyes.
She knew because she tried to create eyes of her own for her blind master.
Her racing mind was interrupted by the deep baritone of her boss. "That is why I have brought you here. It is imperative that we find as much information on these two men as quickly as possible if we are to dispose of them. Our future depends on it."
A newfound pressure alighted on her chest, making it a little hard to breathe. These men were dangerous. She could tell. In the state her boss was now, it was impossible for him to beat them. And she voiced her worries. "But Master, in your body, I don't even know if we can beat them! If what you told me is true, then we cannot hope to win!"
A familiar weight settled on her hand, grounding her to reality before she could enter more hysterics. One For All smiled placatingly, wiping away her anxiety as easily as wiping blood off of a window. "I know, my dear. But you must remember, it is not always about overpowering our enemies. Sometimes, to win, it is about taking what power they have.
"And that is where your job lies. Your mission is to find any weaknesses, backgrounds, and identifications these men have so we can have an edge. I trust you to do anything you can to help."
Miasma was silent, and her hair hid her racing eyes from the doctor and One For All. She was so quiet that One For All was starting to worry that she wasn't going to pull through.
But she gripped the sheets with all the force she could muster and gazed back at her boss with intensity in her eyes. Not that One For All could see it anyways, but he could see the confidence that was present in her body language. "I won't let you down, Master. I'll do everything I can."
The villain smiled and patted her cheek warmly. "I can always count on you."
He turned towards a small bed stand and pulled out a small file from within the cupboard. He handed it off to the crimson-haired woman. "That contains everything we have on the two, which isn't much. Hopefully it is enough to get you started."
He then gestured towards the door leading out. "Kurogiri will take you back to headquarters. Talk to Tomura if you can. I will contact you again if any new information comes up."
Miasma nodded once and arose from her seat. She bowed slightly towards her boss. "I'll take my leave then. Please save your energy."
The villain chuckled. "I will. Now go, Kurogiri awaits."
The woman bowed again and turned to walk out of the room, giving a brisk nod to the doctor, who smiled back in response.
Miasma felt her hands grip the files harder with every step she took. This was bound to be no easy task. If nobody knew about these two heroes, then it was inevitable that she would not find much on them either.
But she wasn't one for giving up. She had a job to do, and she was determined to see it through.
She never let All for One down, and she would be damned if she started now.
[-]
Five hours.
Five hours of absolute and infuriating agony.
Power Loader was just about ready to tear apart his mech out of frustration alone.
The fifty-seventh punching bag flew out the window once more, landing in a neat little pile that had long since collected on the grass below. All of them landed on the exact same spot, not a single foot forward or backwards.
The cool night air did nothing to relieve the boiling emotions raging in Power Loader's head. Sweat dripped off his brow, and the smug smirk he wore a few hours prior had not resurfaced for a long time.
Saitama held up another smoking fist, his demeanor as bored as can be. "Okay, are we done yet? It's really late."
"No!"
The bald hero almost flinched as spittle erupted from Power Loader's mouth. The hero furiously tinkered with the brace. The amount of power this thing exerted on blocking a hero's power was incredible. He doubted even All Might could wear this and still punch the same.
He briefly considered stacking more and more braces on Saitama's arms, but more than one was bound to cause some issues. Each brace had a specific frequency, and stacking more and more on each other wouldn't help.
Saitama grimaced as he glanced down at the thick braces on his forearms. Each of them looked pretty heavy, especially since it resembled those arm floaties parents would put on their children's arms in the pool. Then again, what did he know about heavy? Nothing had been heavy to lift for him in a long time.
Nonetheless, he couldn't help but feel disappointed all the same. His expectations were not that high to begin with, but he was still hoping for at least a little bit of resistance to his strength.
He glanced over at the pro hero, who was busy cursing under his breath and tinkering with calculations on his computer. Saitama actually almost felt bad for the guy.
The excavator hero felt sweat drip down his face as he ground his teeth together. Never before had he faced such a dilemma in his life. What he was seeing didn't make any sense. How could this plain looking man in a banana suit have the power to equal All Might? And he did it with little exertion too!
He snapped out of his fevered thoughts when a cool paw lightly gripped his arm. "Let's just leave it at this for now. Once Eraserhead gets back we can employ his help."
Principal Nezu wasn't one to outwardly show his emotions, but even he looked tired, with bags under his eyes and a few tufts of fur standing up on end. The tone in the Principal's voice made it clear that he was at his wits end too.
Power Loader sagged, all the pent-up energy and frustration leaving his body in an instant. He had long since learned to let go of anything that vexed him in the past decade of working. It wouldn't help and it wouldn't improve his work either.
He gave a wry smile to Saitama, who was in the middle of trying to take the brace off his forearms. "You really are something else. How are you so strong?"
The rusty-haired hero almost screamed when the bald hero, apparently tired and bored as well, gave up on trying to take off the brace and instead flexed his arms slightly, causing the dense metal to snap under the pressure.
Over $600 worth of metal and high-tech equipment fell to pieces on the floor.
Saitama brushed stray shards of titanium off of his clothing and shrugged. "I just trained a lot."
He glanced over to his self-proclaimed disciple. "C'mon, Genos. Let's get out of here."
The blonde-haired hero blinked and moved away from the shattered wall and window where the punching bags have been flung out of. "Right away, Master."
Genos hadn't been simply looking out the window. No, he was busy scanning the area. Anything that could help him get a better grip of the place was extremely important to him and his Master's stay here, seeing how they had no way of getting back home at the moment.
His mind strayed to the alignment of the stars and moon on this world. He recognized none of the constellations, and the moon was not the right distance from the planet. On their world, the moon was much closer, making it easier to see the gigantic crater his Master had left behind.
But this moon was whole, and the stars shone less brightly.
It was entirely possible they had just teleported to a different planet. With the arrival of aliens just a week prior, it was not strange to think that there were other planets out there with life on them.
But his Master did say that the leader of the alien ship, Boros, traveled to every planet to fight. And there was no evidence around here that proved that Boros had come here before.
Either way, he would not be able to find out if they were on another planet until he hooked his system up to a satellite or deep-space scanning probe. Until then, he would have to find an alternative method back home, through dimensions.
Genos soon fell into step with his master, who was being led out of the gym room by Principal Nezu. He turned and bowed slightly to the exhausted Power Loader, who didn't even acknowledge their leave, as he was too busy staring in horror at the destroyed braces at his feet.
The trio walked through the hallways once more. The school was no longer occupied, so only a few rooms were lit, probably from janitors cleaning or from teachers staying over late.
Nezu didn't speak. He didn't have to. A tense atmosphere permeated the air, and it did not help that the creature was stealing glances at the two every once in a while. Surely, he was wary of them, especially of Master, whose strength could not be tamed.
Genos decided to break the silence. "Where are we being escorted to now?"
The principal simply smiled. "To your living quarters for the night. It is quite late, and everyone has had a long day."
"And I assume the room will have surveillance?"
"Precisely so!" Nezu declared, a little too cheerfully for his taste.
[-]
Saitama sighed blissfully as he collapsed onto a soft bed. The fluffy sheets were cool and refreshing, and the bedframe itself was top quality.
It had been a while since he had slept on a real bed. Back when he was a child, his parents had bought him a child's size one, but everything after that he used a futon. So an actual bed with an actual mattress was a nice surprise.
Everything else in the room was pretty neat too. It was a two-bed room with a small bed stand between them. Opposite to the room was a table with a few chairs, and a tiny fridge tucked away in the corner.
To the left was a single bathroom, most likely equipped with toiletries, and to the right was a door leading to the main hallway.
The only things that made him feel uncomfortable was the camera watching them from the corner of the room, the suspicious lack of windows, and the two heroes stationed outside the door.
His brow scrunched up in thought. What were their names again? It was a couple of the heroes that fought them at that giant building earlier. The guy with the red jumpsuit and the furry dog looking dude. Saitama swore he growled at them as they entered the room.
Eh, it didn't matter too much. What did matter was getting back home to their own planet. After all, if he didn't report to the Hero Association after a couple of days, he would immediately be out of a job.
Maybe not Genos, though, seeing how he was an S Class. He was sure the entirety of the hero population would be looking for him.
The bald man rolled over to drown out the sounds of Genos using the bathroom. Since he was a cyborg, Genos really had no reason to clean himself. Then again, maybe he was wiping down some grime or cleaning his clothes.
Saitama let his mind wander as drowsiness started to overtake him. It was still sort of strange to him how they managed to get on another planet. It was like those science fiction novels that he used to read as a kid.
And what were the chances they knew how to speak their language? It was strange enough to end up on a world with breathable air and stuff, but also knowing their language was something that was weird.
Then again, Boros knew how to speak their language even though he was an alien. Maybe their entire language was just universal.
Whatever. It didn't really matter what kind of situation they were in. As he always said, "leave tomorrow's problems for a tomorrow me".
Slight clanking of metal emanated from the bathroom as Genos walked through the door. His metallic frame glistened a bit from tiny droplets of water that he promptly evaporated with a quick power up from his core. "Master, I think we should talk about—"
A snore quickly answered him as the bald man rolled over, his head lolling on the down pillow.
The teen quickly shut up, seeing how his master was resting, and instead made his way over to the other bed. The conversation could wait. While it was imperative that they leave this world as soon as possible, nothing would be achieved now anyways.
They did have to lay low from now on, however. Their shows of power were clearly threatening to the populace here, and he did not wish to attract more attention. And since there were heroes on this world, there was also sure to be villains.
Genos let his core cool down as he entered sleep mode. Hopefully tomorrow he would be able to access a computer terminal in order to find out more about this strange planet.
[-]
Izuku was concerned.
Not because of his injuries or the fact that they were literally attacked by villains earlier in the day, and not even from the hysterics his mother went through as soon as he opened the door.
No, he was concerned because after hours of scouring hero registries and articles from all over the world, he was unable to find any information on the mystery heroes.
He had meticulously checked every district in Japan and every country in the world that had a public hero register in order to find information on the two heroes, but to no avail.
Saitama and Demon Cyborg were not catalogued anywhere in any hero registry, and no newspaper articles nor reports said anything about a man with the strength to rival All Might's, nor a teenager with firepower almost equal to Endeavor's. Which didn't make any sense at all. Surely people of this much skill would be known all around the world.
It was entirely possible that the duo was using fake names for the sake of being cautious, but there would still be records of them somewhere on the web. It also shouldn't have been this hard to find them since they spoke fluent Japanese.
The green-haired teen sighed as he begrudgingly closed his laptop. Maybe it was time to just give up and try to figure out more info from the two later tomorrow. But he doubted he would find anything new. From what he had seen, the only other reason why the two had no information about them whatsoever, is if they lived far from any civilization or if they were villains.
Izuku almost scoffed at the idea. Surely the two couldn't be villains. After all, why would villains be fighting other villains? And they cooperated with the other heroes quite well, even after the UA staff attacked them earlier.
But he could see why UA was cautious of them. Two extremely strong heroes suddenly popped up in the middle of the battle and defeated the other villains with ease. Of course the teachers would be suspicious of them.
Plus, it didn't really help that the blonde man's hero name was literally "Demon Cyborg". If anything, that sounded like a villain name.
But as scary as the man looked, Izuku could tell he wasn't a villain. It was something about him that just screamed heroics.
As for Saitama…well, he was a tough one. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking since he had one of the greatest poker faces Izuku had ever seen. He just looked bored all the time.
The UA student groaned and flopped onto his bed, making sure to flick the light switch off. It was late, and his mother had already turned in for the night. Maybe he should follow her example and sleep in. He kind of needed it after all of that excitement earlier.
Izuku felt drowsiness take over him, and fully succumbed to rest not a minute later.
And for the first time for the day, all was calm.
[-]
All was not calm, however, at the Hero Association.
It had been over four hours since the S Class, Genos, had disappeared through the alien portal, and everyone was in near hysterics.
Child Emperor felt sweat drip off his chin as he fumbled around with the intricate wiring and power supplies of the now destroyed portal.
Ever since Genos and that B Class hero had fallen through the purple void, the consequent backlash of energy, coupled with the compromised integrity of the portal's frame itself, had completely ripped the room apart. It was only with the quick reflexes of both Atomic Samurai and Bang that they were spared of any critical damage.
After they had reported the issue to the Hero Association, they were ordered to salvage what was left and bring it back to HQ, in hopes of rebuilding it and figuring out where the two heroes went.
However, transporting it was no easy task, forcing them to rely on Tatsumaki to carry the broken portal all the way back to Child Emperor's lab. It didn't help that she didn't even seem to care that the two disappeared, and haphazardly dumped the chassis onto his floor without a backwards glance.
And now, two hours later, the child prodigy was busy tinkering with the insides of the device, trying his best to make things work again. Thankfully, he didn't need to wear his radiation suit, as the power had run out of the alien portal long ago.
A large battery of some sorts suddenly fell from the top of the portal's arch, threatening to smash the boy's head in, if not for the wrinkled hand catching it midair. "Still hard at work, Child Emperor?"
The hero looked up from his work, looking up at the old Silverfang. The martial arts hero seemed to be physically fine, especially after his pummeling from the alien a couple days prior.
Child Emperor sighed as he wiped sweaty grime off his brow. He noted with some annoyance that his shirt had gotten dirty as well. "Yup. This entire machine barely makes any sense, and it works on some energy that I've never seen before. It's going to take a while to get this thing up and running again."
The grizzled hero nodded, setting the battery down before standing next to his fellow S Class hero's side. "Any idea on where those two might be?"
The boy shook his head slowly. "Not a clue. For all we know, they could be stranded on a planet hundreds of solar systems away. And I'm not even sure if this thing teleported them either. With how unstable that portal was, it's more likely that they got shredded into atomic particles. Maybe Genos could have withstood it a bit, but that B Class wouldn't stand a chance."
Bang almost corrected the boy about Saitama's true capabilities, but he refrained from saying anything. Child Emperor didn't need any distractions right now. The more he focused on his work, the faster they could locate the duo.
He almost felt bad about laying all of this responsibility onto a child. He was only 10 for goodness sake.
But Child Emperor seemed to read his thoughts. The hero tiredly smiled up at the elderly hero as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a fresh lollipop. "I'm fine, Silverfang. This sort of thing was in my job description from the beginning. I can handle it."
"Is Metal Knight unavailable? Surely he could assist you with this."
"I'm afraid that's not going to work out. Nobody could get in touch with him at the moment, especially with him creating new weapons out of the ship. Even if he did want to help, I doubt he could. His expertise is with weapons, after all."
Bang hummed as he turned to leave the room. He gently pat Child Emperor's shoulder. "I shall leave you to it then. I wish you luck, Child Emperor."
The boy simply grunted and dove back into the portal's chassis, quickly waving a goodbye to the hero.
As he ripped apart wires and soldered together metallic plates, his eyes burned with determination. He was going to get those two heroes back. Even if they were long dead, it was the least he could do.
He could only pray that the duo was miraculously alive, somewhere on a distant planet of some sort.
[-]
Howdy guys, welcome back!
I really apologize for the horrible delay on this chapter, college was busy kicking my ass and exams were tough. But at least I'm done now, so I can put a little more work into this story over the summer.
This chapter might not have been the most exciting (other than an OC, who will be relevant to the story, don't worry), but I plan on having things heat up in the next one, with Saitama and Genos finally interacting with Class 1A and the rest of the teachers.
I got a lot of PM's over the course of these last few months about the state of this story, and I want to make it clear that I am not going to drop this story. Especially after the release of OPM season 2. Sure, its animation isn't that good compared to season 1, but the story and comedy is still there, so that's good.
And if you guys are readers from my other stories, I apologize. It's just been hard finding motivation to continue those stories for a while. Especially since the newer seasons of RWBY were not that great, in my opinion. It's just been really draining on me. For now, those two stories are gonna be on hiatus, and I plan on updating you guys later on.
But yeah, thank you guys a whole bunch for dropping by, and I hope to see you guys again soon!