The dreaded day dodging failed to work arrived in the form of a schedule created by the Association to answer the requests of the fan clubs that had followed procedure and managed to jump through bureaucratic loops galore. Clubs only. Interested individuals were outright refused and kept asking for meetings for cakes and chitchat over cards, e-mail and weird notes. The nice ones. There were a couple of guys who had had a visit form an angry Genos. Saitama was more likely to laugh it off with her.

It came, tucked in amidst the rest of the mail for the three inhabitants of the place, found by Saitama who was on sorting duty and read by Genos as it was marked as urgent correspondence and she was sitting on the other side with cookies and research, before Mayu had a chance to dispose of it and feign innocent in saying she had never received the piece of paper, after the book signing.

As she had been present it must have given them some idea on how to proceed and how able and available she was.

It was unfortunate that Genos did support the opinion that she was capable of doing it, of dealing with her powers readily. With S-Class endorsement it made it even harder to think up excuses, to keep being afraid. Saitama was of no help. He too thought she could handle the spark. Although he did offer to go along if it made her feel better until Mayu pointed out that the schedule was cutting through some sales they really wanted to jump on. The trust of both did make her concern lessen even as she complained about doing it. All the facts were pointing for success, were they not…

That event had gone as expected. The group already had had a few to compare to. It rarely changed in the way of preparation. Fans of the book series and some that had made the hero-connection of one of the authoresses swarmed and wanted smiles, handshakes and signings. So they did. Run-of-the-mill.

To be paraded as yet another symbol of success on the Association's part in front of fans, media and prying eyes was the next week's purpose.

The first place to stop was personal.

And Mayu had not noticed they had asked.

Thinking back she hadn't returned there at all had she…

The people she had left behind in the bakery in J-City when the sea-folk had attacked. The staff and the kindergarten class.

It was both awkward and grateful as meetings went. For the adults there seemed to have a bit of guilt left. After all her powers had occurred after she had ran out, risking herself to draw the creatures away.

The kids had drawings.

And there were cakes.

Both of those elements lightened the mood as the meeting progressed.

Showing wisps and making hairs stand on end made the kids happy enough.

Then she zapped herself to M-City, falling off the perch the downward strike had charred. The stone had shattered where she stood, under the weight and spark. It resulted in nothing but a slight hindrance and a bit of amusement as she straightened the skirt and tapped her flats to shake off any pebble, making sure no onlookers had seen her fall on her bottom. Unlikely. She had gained some care on where to land and keeping it to deserted areas. The discharge tended to be wider when she slammed into the earth instead of zapping to the side.

The meeting was arranged at a bakery as well, although one that catered to fancier tastes.

It felt like stepping into a battlefield even if it would be a place Mayu would usually enjoy.

Rumours of Mayu's relationship had reached had reached the fangirls of the cyborg prince. Either they would try to skin her alive or be very curious and glad to hop right into snooping questions. Some would like to murder her on sight for making Genos unavailable. Others would see it as Mayu proving that the cyborg prince was attainable and bided their time until they broke up and the distraught man needed comfort.

Despite the daydreaming in whatever direction they preferred they were actually kind of a sweet group.

Even if more than half was plotting ways to steal her boyfriend.

The highlight was when she got her revenge forcing Genos on the phone to say hi to the delight of the girls.

The T-City meeting with the female hero fan-club, an all-girl group as well, felt a bit more formal perhaps because they were a group as old as the organization itself and had their own quarters. They seemed to function as much as a fan-club as a helpful place for the women that had gone or wanted to go into the hero profession. Part of it also seemed to advocate that the genders splintered into two different Associations to ensure equal treatment but that was likely just a complaint because of the low ratio. Still they held Tatsumaki's rank as proof that a woman was better suited to be heroic and powerful.

Mayu was unsure if she should agree or not because it was tiny tits but she smiled and listened. And answered when asked. She did feel the break but she was not exactly a hero through regular admission. The way they treated Tempest was different from how they treated Tank Top Girl for example.

It was funny being offered a hero makeover but Mayu wasn't sure she wanted to try a "trademarked superhero costume" just yet. She did take the gym membership. It had spa access included.

Something pulled her down.

Winded and startled Mayu stood up, looking around, frowning. How… She was just zapping towards the next meeting in the schedule and… she had felt a pull, startled she breathed in and the lighting became her and she was suddenly down on the ground and not on the air.

In the middle of an empty field there was a robot amidst a cluster of lightning rods.

It seemed inactive still, tucked into a boxy form. There were no lights on or in it. No movement.

Been a while… She considered stepping back slowly. The fastest way to leave was… cautiously but wanting nothing more than to leave Mayu zapped herself away, grunting when the same pull brought her back to the ground.

This time the thing whirred to life, unfolding, turning towards her.

[Tempest. Target Confirmed.]

The rods…

Trap. It had to be a trap. A lightning trap.

[Engage. Objective: Capture.]

Mayu glanced at robot. If the rods had pulled her down they would be able to pull her attacks away from the main threat. It was obviously not a common lightning rod. Those simply were struck because they were tall. That was built with the purpose of pulling lightning to it.

Which meant…

Gritting her teeth she risked it, sparking for herself, building up charge as she ran away from the hub of rods, listening to the robot crush the underbrush as it gave chase. The wisps started to turn blue, growing, thickening.

Glancing over her shoulder she made sure her speed was enough.

It was not.

The robot was coming closer. She barely had time to dodge a net-like thing thrown her way.

A different thought came into her mind

Risking a zap brought her back to the hub, slammed down amidst the pillars.

[Target Lost.]

Freeing the lightning in a halo around her Mayu fed her energy into the wide-reaching blow, overloading the rods around her, capturing the errant energy back into her with tendrils of plasma whipping about, recharged, the thunder roaring, bluer than ever.

[Target Found.]

[Engage]

It was coming straight at her.

Mayu pulled the electricity to her, eyes narrowing.

Everything was bright.

The lightning was forced between her palms, compressed, aggressive in its concentration, barely staying contained, controlled. Struggling a bit she stared at the robot, breathing out slowly, widening her stance.

[Energy Overload.]

[Outcome?]

[Disengage]

The robot had stopped.

[Send Data]

The polarity was shifting, negative and positive, turning and reverting without her active control.

Tempest released her strike head on, hoping that all she had gathered was enough to overcome the defences she found on those things.

The lighting shattered the metal, melt the insulator and stopped it on its movements. The thrown netting fell short of her.

It was enough to receive a phone call asking if she was fighting.

Storm Lady was the first fan club she was visiting that was dedicated to her just because of the fuss over her powers. Mayu had researched, trying to find out more after Akina had named it and she did notice that in the request the Association had sent before they appeared frequently.

There didn't seem to be that much to it than just another group that had seen a hero on TV being talked up while displaying some flashy powers and decided to grab on the figure and proclaim themselves in awe. Genos had that too. Tatsumaki was known for the chaos of her monster hunting. Amai Mask cashed in on that side of the business.

If it weren't for the continuous appearance of people listed as Strom Lady members coming to her with electrical burns severe enough to leave lightning flowers. She remembered her own pain well enough to know how hard electricity had to hit. With the numbers, voltages and whatever else explained by two scientists and a cyborg she had enough to know that survival and getting powers were two of the greatest long shots in the scale of randomness.

But at the moment she was scheduled for a visit and there was no longer any point in attempting to avoid that fate even if something felt wrong.

The inconveniences of narcolepsy were quite obvious. For one falling asleep as her feelings grew more and more clear on how she should just turn away when faced with an empty, fog-filled pavilion was certainly a downside. The part of falling, seeing that the hard floor was the only thing there to break the fall, was no fun either.