The sound of the door opening was a relief for Bang, and even more the sight of a human being entering into the room.

He would be the first to admit that him being happy to see a corporate suit was strange, but a lot of strange things happened from the time he had breakfast and that, he was sure of it, wouldn't be the last before the day was done.

He eyed the two robots flanking the man. Heavy armors, heavy weapons and yellow, unblinking eyes, just like all the others he had seen from the moment he had put foot into the gargantuan Headquarters of the Hero Association. Patrolling, working, doing jobs that humans used to do. And regarding humans, walking, breathing flesh and blood and bone, he saw only glimpses of those, there and then, always accompanied by robots. It was actually the first time he met with one face to face.

"Second General Overseer Mizu. It's a pleasure to meet you, mister Bang."

Bang took in the formal greeting, just like he would with a very bad cold, then took in the man. Tall, slim, his immaculate suit was so spotless, tight and wrinkle-free that it seemed like someone had wrapped him with it, building it like an armor on a building. Two eyes looked at him from a handsome face, one the color of the sea and full of cordiality, the other a mechanical contraption alight with unliving red. The man's shaving was absolutely perfect. Bang could almost smell the crisp aftershave.

The man extended a hand toward him, smiling gently. A perfect gesture for a perfect expression for a perfect greeting. Just what a perfect hot would give to an esteemed guest.

Yep. Bang was sure of it. He wasn't welcome there. More, this Mizu man, he couldn't stand him, not one bit.

How did he reach that conclusion? Call it instinct. He was old, and had had to do with many, many, people that couldn't stand him for a reason or the other. He had learned to feel animosity, displeasure, disdain and so on by smell. Maybe it was the perfect politeness, maybe the just long enough wait, not too short not too long, maybe it was the threatening vibe sent off from the two machines. Whatever the reason, right now his nose was going crazy with warnings.

He smiled, and reciprocated the greeting.

"The pleasure is mine." The man's grip was firm and slick like a snake's grasp. "How's the Minister?"

Retreating his hand, Mizu used it to straighten a runaway lock of hair. "Minister Sitch enjoys good health, but his schedule for today is already full. He charged me with conveying his displeasure at not being able to welcome you personally."

Bang felt the strictly business-like tone of those words like a cloying perfume. The translation was easily done: i get that you ask because you'd rather talk to him, and be sure that i take full offence at it.

He didn't care what that suit thought, but a busy Sitch meant trouble. The man was the go-to when issues were brewing, especially when there were corporate interests colliding. Of course, it could always be a lie, but from what he had been seeing until now, he thought it was not.

"I'd like to pass to your business straight away, if you don't mind." Mizu gave him a small nod, smile unflinching. "What brought you here?"

Mh, straight to business. Well, it suited him.

Coming there, Bang had thought of ways with which to tell his story. They all mainly involved a great deal of honesty, since the situation wasn't one that allowed for nothing less. But they were thought for Sitch's ear, not for this one's.

Or whoever kept the strings of those two robots. Something told him that he knew the answer.

He scrapped them all right away.

"I met a monster." He said, looking straight in the eyes of the man, dropping all pretenses of cordiality in favor of seriousness. "It was tremendously strong and a comrade of mine has been greviously wounded by it. It's my intention to face it, but i need help."

He wanted to convey his seriousness, and, judging by how Mizu shifted his left foot of a hairbreath, it seemed to work. That man had the marks of someone that could take pressure like a mountain a fly.

The suit took a moment to answer and when he did, he did slowly, seeming to weight his words. "This monster… have you fought it?"

"No. It was beyond my strenght."

"But then, have you seen it?"

"Yes."

The business-like mask of Mizu shifted. A crack, appeared and hidden so fast that anybody else could have swore that it was never there. Bang registered, but kept the thought there. He had heard enough talk of "heroes not doing their jobs" to last him a lifetime. Another one didn't faze him.

Still, this one was a bit different by simple criticism for lack of effort. He couldn't put his finger where exactly, though.

"It has done damage? Where is it?" Mizu's hand was already running to the auricular in his ear as he gave that question, and it stopped when Bang shook his head.

"I don't know his actual position, and it hasn't done no damage. At least, not to any inhabited building." He raised a finger. "Still, that big hole in the center of Z-City. It is its doing."

Bang was serious, completely. He had no love for suits like Mizu, but no true hatred also, and was more than ready to put his all, efforts and informations both, to help what he felt was a truly dangerous situation.

So, seeing the man relax visibly, and a small smirk appear on his face confused him greatly. Of all reactions he was ready to see, that he didn't expect.

"The hole. Yes." Mizu picked an unexistant hair from his already spotless suit. His wicked satisfaction broke through even his mask, like misty light through a cracked white wall. "We've already deceived reports about it, and, you may remain assured, already located the culprit and took measures about it."

Bang arched a bushy eyebrow at that. Now, that was unexpected. "Is that so? Do you mind if i ask you some precisations?"

Mizu didn't answer, at least not with words. With that barely lopsided grin plastered on his face, he gestured for Bang to follow him, and left the room.

Bang eyed both the robots, lifeless gazes staring straight back, then followed, the two machines coming right after him.

Mizu led him through the corridors of the Association. They were a lot more silent than what Bang remembered, and a lot more desert.

He almost didn't recognize the place.

They had barely crossed ways with a couple of people against ten robots when Mizu turned to enter into another room, the heavy door sliding smoothly to let him pass.

To Bang's relief, there were people inside. Operatives, dozens of them, leaning on rows of computers and trafficking with other technological mambo-jambo that he couldn't even name. He stopped by the door, took in the hushed atmosphere of people at work. He hadn't noticed how much he had missed seeing human faces. That place sure played a number on him.

Mizu waited for him by a large black table that filled almost half of the room. A sparse groups of operatives were dispersing to make them space. The suit was already fiddling with a control panel when Bang reached him, the two robotic guards in tow.

"We have started investigations as soon as the first reports arrived." He began. The dribbling satisfaction of earlier was gone, replaced by the coldly business-like tone. Bang decided that the boy had to work on his poker face a little bit yet. He surely showed potential though.

"Our surveillance network picked them up a couple of hours after." Mizu pushed a last button, and the table lit up with digital light. It quickly formed into tri-dimensional shapes. A landscape appeared before Bang, so perfectly rendered that it might well be a little reproduction of the real world.

He saw a rocky desert. Tall formations of red stone pockmarked its surface, seeming almost to flare under the blistering sun.

Bang recognized the place. It was a small wasteland between Z-City and the much distant A-City. What he didn't recognize was the… thing… walking at the center of the picture.

It looked like a toy put together by a toddler. All its body was formed by rough polihedra of what looked like black metal, clumped together in a discordant order, like whoever built it did so only half-heartedly, or with something of an abstract sense in mind. The central torso was slim and elongated, bulging there and then with ragged edges and discordant angles. Eight legs, long and thin, emerged from it, ending on sharp points. They were all of different lenghts, so the thing had to advance with an uncoordinated gait that was almost painful to watch. The head was a large triangle that opened into a slumping maw, from which drippled black fluid, of which the thing left behind a trail. A large, single eye bulged from the center, yellow like pus, with a pin-prick black pupil that shifted costantly.

Bang frowned, weather-beaten forehead furrowing.

That thing brushed his instinct with a sense of wrongness that he had never felt before. It felt like a black spot on his perceptions. Comparing it to the desert around, he judged it to be at least forty meters tall.

As he watched, the thing smashed one of the rocky pillars out of the way like it was a tower of toothpicks, sending debris and stones the size of buildings flying. It wasn't only big, it was strong also, of that he was sure.

He turned to Mizu, watching him quizzically. As big and powerful as that thing was, it wasn't enough to make that hole in such a small span of time.

The suit was ready for the question. Other keys flashed and other three images appeared alongside the first. A forest, a verdant valley, a rocky bluff, they all showed a different landscape, but each had its version of the first monster. They had wildly different forms, one was grotesquely big and dragged itself forward with enormous arms while four stunded legs dangled behind; another was incredibly thin and floated instead of walking, but all shared the same jumbled, uncoordinated appearance.

"We've appraised the levels of these four monsters to be Dragon at least." Mizu explained. "Their traces all start from that hole. We believe them to be some kind of subterrean lifeforms that have pushed their way up to the surface. We've already have counter-measures working to neutralize them."

Bang watched the four things advance in their small projected world, thoughtfully stroking his mustaches. Four Dragons like that? That was… unexpected, and concerning.

Mizu seemed to read his thoughts. "You don't have to worry." He said confidently. "The Association has more than enough forces to neutralize much more than this. Four of these beings are nothing special."

Bang sneaked a glance at the suit, receiving a coldly cordial nod. Whatever word that man said it could very well be read as a small insult. He had to admit, he was surprised by the amount of poison this Mizu seemed to harbor toward him… or maybe toward what he represented?

He turned to look back at the projection of the monsters. The second, a serpent made of irregular shapes, seemed to show some kind of distress. It jerked and wailed, the moltitude of tiny legs on its sides scratching at the air. It gave a sudden lurch, fell down and then reared back once again, like it was fighting against some force pressing down on it. Bang recognized the handywork of Tatsumaki. Welp, that particular issue could be said to be well and done then. The first also seemed to be under attack. Missiles, or some other kind of projectiles, were raining down on it. As Bang watched, an explosion enveloped its head, sending it rearing back in a rain of black fluids.

"Good, good…" He mumbled. Still, something wasn't right here.

Bang turned to Mizu. There was part of the same kind of wicked satisfaction of earlier in the man's eyes.

He almost regretted the words he had to say. It felt like kicking a hornet's nest.

"These aren't the monster i saw."

Mizu stopped, fingers hovering just above the keyboard. He took a breath, closed his mouth, then turned back at him. His lips were tight, and the single good eye just narrowed. It was subtle, but the hostility giving off him hit Bang's instinct like a wave of heat. Still, he didn't divert his gaze. He nodded, confirmating what he had just said.

The man straightened up, picking at his suit for a moment.

"Mister Bang." He began, tensely. Silver Fang noticed the immediate tension into the room. All the operatives seemed to listen intently, while making sure to show that they were still working. "Do you know the Association's actual position?"

Bang tilted his head, and said nothing.

Mizu took the invitation to continue. He straightened his jacket, expression cold. "Right now, half of the S-Class is recuperating from the battle with the Monster Association, and in no condition to engage in battle. Number 1 Blast is currently unavailable, and so Drive Knight and Pig God. Our main assets, Tornado of Terror and Mister Bofoi, are currently engaged with dealing with the Dragon threats. I don't need to give you further precisation about the Association's current fighting strenght." He left those words hang into the air, watching him coldly.

Bang frowned, unfazed. "I thought that you said that the Association could easily take more than four Dragon threats." He calmly pointed out.

"It is so." Mizu narrowed his eye, the other blinking dangerously. He gestured to the third of the projection. Bang saw that the monster in it was fighting with something, but it wasn't under psychich or missile assault. There was a small figure, a fly compared to the colossus, that twirled and buzzed around it at incredible speed, deftly avoiding the many flailing appendages while seeming to torment the monster in a way that he couldn't see well.

"The power of the Association is greater, much greater than this." Mizu said, both hands on the table, voice just a little too louder. "But right we are in the middle of… adjustements. They will end soon, don't be afraid." He planted his gaze on him.

Bang gave a last look at the strange, unusual thing fighting the monster, then turned at him, and did just the same.

For a long, tense moment, the two faced each other, neither of them lowering their gaze.

"Your concern in keeping the Association's efforts focused is admirable, Overseer." Bang said eventually. A smile softened his expression. "But i assure you, this is no false alarm. I wouldn't come here if it was."

"Exactly." Mizu replied, his face a stone mask. "I have only the best interests of the Association, and of society at large, in mind."

"Good. Then i am sure you'll act accordingly." He gave himself a small pat on the back. "I am getting old, you see. For some reason that i can't fathom a couple of people listen to me but i'd really have the help of professional heroes for this. That's their job, isn't? To hunt monsters and make sure they don't hurt people." He chuckled. "And help poor old men like me."

Mizu said nothing, his gaze growing somehow more heated and colder at the same time.

Bang wasn't fazed. He looked right back, smiling, his own gaze calm and soft.

He was just starting to wonder if some more determinated prodding was needed when the tense silence was broken by the sliding of a object on the table.

Bang looked down at the small notebook-like thing that had been pushed toward him.

"You can find the list of the available heroes on that pad." Mizu said, adjusting the wrists of his suit with barely restrained disdain.

The room seemed to take a breath of relief, the tension lessening.

Bang cautiously took the pad. At the touch of a key, the small monitor lit up with an orderly list of names, each corresponding to a rank, a title, combat parameters and more.

"Well, this is just what i needed." He said with a smile. "Thank you, Overseer."

Mizu trew a withering glance his way. "Those two guards will show you the way to the heroes you can pick." He leaned to pick on the keyboard, giving him the metaphorical and literal cold shoulder. "I hope you have a good day."

Bang took that as his cue to leave.

He nodded, smiling, turned and walked away, pad in hand. The two robots followed him without a word, as well as the subtle attention of the operatives and the burning mark of Mizu's eyes on his back.

Only when he was outside the room, and the door had slided close behin him, he allowed himself a sigh.

Well, that had been… interesting. He had never been much loved in there from all the mess with Garou, but that frontal assault was new. It looked like things had really changed in the Association.

Glancing at the unmoving robots, he opened the pad, scanning the list. What he saw only deepened his concerns. The Association had always been somewhat permissive with its Heroes, allowing them to do their things until they didn't disgrace the name too much. They had their figures of renown, sure, like Sweet Mask, but that was the exception, not the rule. From what he saw in there, instead, the heroes were monitored much more tightly. Even their activities were held under record.

"Something is changing." He mumbled. "And really not at the right moment."

Tighter control over heroes, reliance over machines, disdain for individuals, like him, that didn't give complete affidability. A name came to his mind for such a change, and it wasn't reassuring, at all.

"Mister Bofoi, mh?"

He had his share of meetings with the men, never in person, and they had been all unpleasant. He didn't need his well-oiled instinct to see the mind full of gears of Metal Knight beyond all of that.

He sighed again, closing the pad and turning to one of the robots.

"Let's go."

The machine dutifully obeyed, starting to stomp down the corridor. Bang followed with resignation, trying to not give much attention to the other robot hounding him closely.

While he walked, he realized why Mizu's reaction seemed different to him. It wasn't the classic reaction of a suit to perceived incompetence. It was the irritation for seeing a tool fail to do its job for the upteenth time, but hopefully for the last.

A subtle difference, but the implications were enough to make him shiver.

He really hoped that he was reading too much into it.

When the old fart finally decided to scram, Mizu left the sneer he was struggling to contain appear on his face.

He swept the room with his gaze. Sure enough, all the dependants knew better that to meet it with their own. They just scurried to their work. Pleasant to see that at least they knew their proper place.

With a scoff, he turned away from the table. He fiddled with the trasmitter in his ear for a moment, unwilling to face what it was going to come, but then he just activated it. It wasn't like he could escape it.

"Mizu here." He said. "I couldn't dissuade him. I am sorry, sir."

A voice, cold and deep and slow, replied from the other side of the trasmission.

"You've been a fool to oppose him in this."

Mizu stiffened, but bit back his words. To talk back would only lead him to worst.

"Silver Fang may have lost the board's trust." The voice continued. "But he's still an authority in the world of the martial arts. We'd have to take his word even if only to avoid for him to go ask help from his associates."

"Yes." Mizu agreed tensely. "He made present that to me." The implied threat of that old man was a bad sting, and it still prickled.

"Quite. You should have pressed him for informations about this monster of his. With a more welcoming attitude, we could have chosen what heroes send and how to deal with the matter ourselves."

Mizu felt a knot form into his stomach. "I… i see. You're right, sir. I am sorry."

"You're right to be. But you're right also in your intollerance for that man. I share it myself. You may have handled the situation wrongly, but it's ultimately unconsequential. We have the monsters under control, and we'll take care of this other one also… if it exists." There was a pause, during which Mizu uncosciounsly held his breath. "It may not be such a bad result. The age of unruly wolves like Silver Fang is over. It's good that they start to understand it."

Mizu couldn't repress the relief flooding through him "Yes, sir."

"Mh, get back to work. We'll speak again of this later."

The connection cut, and Mizu felt part of the tension he accumulated leave him. He got scolded, but all in all it went much better that he hoped for. Relief quickly turned to a mixture of vindication and irritation. That lousy old man and his unreasonable requests! Had he not been clear enough when he talked about the Association's actual status? Like they needed to start hunting ghosts, when they had the monsters right before their noses. Well, he could go and run around like he wanted. They would do the actual work, and this time they'd do it properly.

Feeling better, Mizu straightened his jacket one last time, making sure that there were no wrinkles, and returned to work.

Very far away, in a room of which the only lights came from great monitors, Doctor Bofoi stood thinking.

Mizu was a fool, like all the others he had the displeasure to work with. Letting his emotions push him to such obvious mistakes. What a child.

Still, what Silver Fang said gave him food for thought. His scanners had shown no other energetic trace coming out of that hole, if not those four beasts. There could be a fifth? If that was the case, it was much smaller, much more intelligent and still with enough power to push the Number 3 to come asking for help. Silver Fang might be a relic of the past, but he still wielded power and experience that couldn't simply be passed over.

He looked at one of the monitor. It displayed one of his pets fight against the third beast. There was no need for his direct involvement. The reinforced AI was more than enough for the job. Still, it was a beast of interesting properties. A more advanced stage of it…

He went to tap over the keyboard, moving between video feeds, until the screen stopped over the vision of a particular robot. The back of Silver Fang, immersed into the reading of the pad, stood right at the center.

Bofoi watched it for a moment, fingers hovering over the key, then tapped some others more.

He would keep a few of his many eyes over this matter. It might turn unconsequential, but also might not. Still, it was an unknown and as such deserved to be addressed. Everything not under his control had. He had waited for this moment for too long to allow for anything less.

High on orbit, jerked into action by invisible threads, satellites started to shift.