In a building, a little girl in a business suit was typing away at the computer about funding for an upcoming Christmas party. The girl was Lily, and she may be running on Coffee as there are 3 empty cups of coffee beside her, and her eye bags are conspicuous. She took a step back from her computer as she needed to rest her eyes. She then hears the door beside her creak, which wasn't unusual, it was most likely another member clocking in for the day.
"Hello welcome, don't forget to sign in…" She instinctively yawned.
However, from the corner of her eye she saw a tall, short haired woman with pronounced green eyes, with a very worn expression. Lily took a second to process who she was staring at, but the realization hit her like a freight train.
"M- Miss Blizzard?" Lily said, louder than she intended.
Lily got up and bowed, but when she looked up, she noticed Fubuki wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, which was in fact, not her normal attire. Usually, Fubuki wears her green dress with pearls and a fuzzy, snow white coat to top it. Lily rarely to never saw Fubuki wear such casual clothing, so this made the gears in her head turn faster.
"Miss Blizzard, where have you been? You've been locked in your room for days! And uh…" Lily scratched the back of her head. "Why are you not wearing your dress?"
"I've been sick of staying in my room all day, and I need to step out. Can yo-" Fubuki was interrupted by the sleep deprived Lily standing up to reach for the phone.
"I'll call Eyelashes and Mountain Ape immediately Miss Blizzard!" the little girl shouted.
"No! Lily, don't! I just need to borrow your baseball hat! I want to walk around and clear my head… privately."
Lily stopped and shot her eyes wide open. Why is Miss Blizzard acting so strange? She never wears baseball hats… And why doesn't she want me to call Eyelashes and Mountain Ape? Lily then looked under her desk and pulled out a dusty blue baseball cap with a "R" on it.
"Sorry, this is a little dusty," she said, wiping all the white dust from off the cap, and handing it to her boss. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Mountain Ape and Eyelashes?"
"NO- I mean… No. No thank you." Fubuki yelped. "Also, Lily, take a break. You look horrible…" Fubuki said quietly before walking out inconspicuously.
Lily stood there dumbfounded, not completely understanding the events that have just unfolded in front of her. She scratches the bottom of her chin while looking at the floor. Then the emotional thoughts came in. Wait… Is this about the attack on the restaurant she was in? She's been locked in her room for days! Does she have emotional trauma? PTSD maybe? Lily kept a straight face on the outside, but on the inside, she was writhing in confusion and pain. She sighed to herself, and picked up the phone, and dialed everyone in the Blizzard Group, and told them to meet at the headquarters.
Lily seemed like and ant in the sea of humanity around her, almost everyone came. Class B Rank 2, Eyelashes; Class B Rank 3, Mountain Ape; Class B Rank 65, Piko, who was playing on his gaming device. Lily looked around her, everyone has either curiosity, or interest on their face, wondering why they were all called in at such short notice. Lily sighed; her exhaustion might get the better of her if she doesn't start the conversation. She decided to stand up and walk to the middle of the circle.
"Alright everyone, thank you for coming to this emergency meeting, as I need to address something."
The whole room quiets down. Lily sighs again, trying to maintain her stamina.
"We need to address our boss's, Miss Fubuki's, odd behavior recently. Recently she has locked herself in her room for days at a time, only coming out for food and water…" Lily heard sounds of snapping and stopped.
She turned to her right to see Eyelashes trying to light the cigarette in his mouth. The snapping of the lighter was breaking the concentration of the drained Lily. Angerly she jumps up and snatches the cigarette from out of her cohort's mouth, much to his displeasure.
"What the hell?" He said, with venom in his words.
Lily stomps on the cigarette, ruining it, but continues her speech.
"As I was saying. These behaviors may have to do with Post Traumatic Stress."
The entire room was silent, so silent in fact that you could hear a pin dropping on the carpet surface. Was it out of shock at the possibility of their boss having PTSD? Lily read the room and new she needed to continue, or back up her statement.
"Not too long ago I drove Miss Blizzard to have dinner with someone, when the Demon Level Monster, Hindenburgio bombed the block where the restaurant sat in…" Lily closed her eyes to remember the rest. "When she came to my car, she appeared relatively unscathed, apart from her cut up forearms."
Lily lifted up her forearms to show where Fubuki was injured, but in doing so caused her to flash back to the shirtless guy with the gun.
"What about the person who she was having dinner with?" someone in the back asked.
Lily looked up.
"I didn't exactly see who she was eating dinner with, but I did see who she was escorted by. A little taller than Miss Blizzard herself. He had black hair, and had blue electricity around him…"
"Wait, I know who that is! Class S Rank 18, Warmonger." Mountain Ape quipped. "He was the one who put me and Eyelashes in the hospital…"
Murmurs were springing up, and Lily seemed to be at her limit. She continues thinking, Warmonger didn't seem injured at all, although, he had smoke emitting from his body. She was about to open her mouth once more but was stopped by Eyelashes, trying to light his cigarette again, this made Lily irate, so she grabbed the much taller Eyelashes's collar and pulled him down to her level to look into his eyes.
"If you don't stop lighting that goddamn cigarette, so help me god, I will rip your face off bitch, this is important…" Lily hissed.
Although she was young, weak, and small, she is extremely intimidating when she needs to be. The intimidated Eyelashes raised his hands and took a step back when she let him go.
"Alright I need a few of you to go find Miss Blizzard, so we can take her to therapy. Because if she truly is traumatized, her head won't be in the right place, meaning there is a chance that she might listen to her sister's advice and disband our group."
This caught their attention. Now they NEED to do something, they can't afford to lose their group, they are like family to each other.
"What about you Lily?" someone asked.
"Me? Miss Blizzard told me to take a break, and that's exactly what I am going to do." She said, before comedically falling backwards, unconscious, with her arms sprawled out.
Meanwhile: Outside
Fubuki was walking down the sidewalk, wandering around God Knows Where. She had her hand on her forehead, as if she were having a headache. She constantly flashes back to the Restaurant so much so that she was on the verge of a panic attack. Seeing someone take a that level of shear brutality, and still have the strength to get her to safety. She looked at her arm, covered in some scars because of how deep the wounds were. She sees a crowd of people near a building with a big window. She decided to see what all the fuss was about, so she sheepishly walked through the crowd. She looks through the window to see a TV with a news outlet playing a Live Feed of Q City.
Watch Dog Man, Child Emperor and… Warmonger, fighting a series of Demon to Lower Dragon Level Monsters. The focus was on the "Up and Comer" as the Orange and White suited hero was either shooting the monster with his vast array of guns or using his powers and skills at hand-to-hand combat to dispatch the monsters. At one point he jumped off an 8-story building and in midair, went Alpha, a lighting bolt striking him in such incredible fashion, it acted as a flashbang for a large monster that looked like a Pink Dinosaur. Midori drill kicked the Monster's skull into oblivion. He shoots through the monster like a bullet, making an impact with the Monster's Green Brain in his hand. He raises his trophy for the camara, and the onlookers cheered, as Midori's suit began to smoke because of the corrosive monster blood.
The crowd erupted in cheering and applause as the "New Guy" seemed to be the perfect contender for the top 3 of S Class. He was becoming more and more popular. Fubuki stood there, somewhere in La La Land; she completely forgot why she was there, just for that moment. That is, until she caught her reflection in the window. She caught herself smiling with a tear running down her face. She panics and awkwardly walks away, wiping away her tear and shielding her face from the crowd. Although no one was even paying attention to her, she felt like the entire world was staring at her, cutting holes through her out of sheer disgust for unconsciously shedding a tear.
"Jeez, why can't I escape him? It's like he is now part of my life... Like I care about him…" Fubuki whispered herself as she approached closer to an alley.
A hooded man who was in front of her pulled out his hands, to look at them. Fubuki noticed that the man's hands were glowing yellow, and it seemed to be radiating small flames here in there. The Hooded Man spots Fubuki in the corner of his eye and decided to run into the alley. Fubuki, mistaking the man as a Lower-Class Hero, decided to follow him to make a "meeting arrangement." Although she is traumatized, nothing will stop her from trying to expand her influence in the hero world.
"Hello there, what is your class and ranking?" She asked bluntly.
The Man stopped. He took his glowing hands from out of his pockets to take off his hood. When he does a bright light flashes Fubuki's eyes. She shields her eyes and sees that his head is also glowing, as if he were as bright as the sun. The Man looks at her with a creepy smile and bright yellow eyes.
"Name: Solaris… Rank: A… Classification… Monster…" He said before heating up exponentially.
He blasts her with a blinding and scorching beam of energy, which she blocks with a psychic field, but the force of the energy beam knocks her back, causing her to crash into a parked car. She staggers upwards, trying to maintain balance. She looks up to see another beam rocketing towards her, which she dodges. She looks at where the beam impacted, and the car she hit earlier was now just a melted husk. She gasped at the sheer power of Solaris who was now on top of a building. He builds up another solar charge but was met with a flurry of rocks. He dodges and blasts where Fubuki was laying earlier, but she wasn't there. She used her telekinesis to fly herself up to the top of the building to face Solaris. Fubuki lifted hundreds of small rocks from the ground and raised them around her. She was glowing in a blue hue; her hair began to wave as her baseball hat flies off.
"My first hero… I will display your head on my wall… If I had one…" The Monster joked.
"You are overconfident in your own abilities monster!" Fubuki yelled before forming a tornado around the sun monster. "HELL STORM."
Solaris looked around, before getting pummeled with hundreds of sharpened rocks and debris. He charges another burst and blasts the sides of the tornado, which causes it to split and dissipate. When the tornado opens up, Solaris can't help but watch as an incensed Fubuki stare at him as she lunges at him with a box cutter. Solaris went from fake fear to smiling rage, as he quickly grips Fubuki's wrist that held the box cutter. Almost immediately Fubuki's wrist begins to burn from the heat, she drops the boxcutter in an attempt to break out of his hold. The burning becomes unbearable, so agonizing in fact that she began to well up in tears. Her final attempt at freeing herself was trying to control the monster's aura, to get him to let go. The Monster quickly begins to vibrate, but other than that… nothing.
"Is that all you can do?" Solaris questioned. "Pathetic."
Solaris lets go, causing Fubuki to sigh and grip her hand in relief, but this mere insignificant second of relief was the perfect distraction for Solaris to strike her in the gut with a knee. Solaris didn't stop there as he continued to brutalize Fubuki with a series of kicks and punches, on top of burns from his body heat. Solaris ended his fury with another solar beam. Fubuki did put up her shield in time, but this still knocks her backwards, hitting the roof edge full force and plummeting backwards to the ground. Again, she used her telekinesis to slow her fall, but she was too slow in doing so. She lands and feels a terribly sharp pain in her right arm. She grips at her arm in pain, squealing as she does.
"Shit! Did I break my arm?" She thought.
Solaris jumps off the roof and lands in front of her. He begins to charge up another solar beam, until a massive man in a suit punches the monster in the face, causing it to stumble away.
"Mountain Ape!" Fubuki yelled, utterly surprised. "What the hell are you doing here."
"Lily told us everything, now we are here to help you out…" Eyelashes said from behind her.
Fubuki almost felt relieved that her subordinates were here to help her, but then she was filled with sudden dread, she knew the power of Solaris, and if she was no match for him, neither were… Oh no… Suddenly the massive Mountain Ape was sent hurling through the sky, landing on top of a car, unconscious. Fubuki wiped the blood away from her eyes using her unbroken arm. All of a sudden, another solar beam was surging toward both Fubuki and Eyelashes. Knowing that this solar beam will kill Eyelashes if she doesn't do anything, she jumps in front of him with a psychic barrier. However, the aforementioned force of the beam knocked her into Eyelashes, causing them both to fly into a wall. Eyelashes hit his head quite hard on the wall, knocking him out in the process. Fubuki, also hit her head on the wall, but instead of getting knocked out, she got a concussion. Her vision was hazy, her head felt like a bomb was detonated in her brain, and she felt like vomiting.
Still, she gets up, in extreme pain, winded and concussed. She was planning to protect her subordinates by any means necessary, and she will put her body on the line to do so. Appropriately she was scared, knowing that these might be your final moments alive will cause anyone to tremble. Solaris began charging up for his biggest solar beam yet, it will be so big that the entire city will get vaporized, Fubuki, Eyelashes, and Mountain Ape included.
"Hey, you…" Someone out of Fubuki's field of vision said.
Solaris looks to his right, and suddenly explodes into bits and pieces, leaving Fubuki stunned. Suddenly a dark figure walks into her field of view, he was wearing a yellow suit, red gloves and a white cape, also he was bald. Ah… It was everyone's (read: no one's) favorite Bald Superhero, Saitama. Saitama looked at Fubuki with his cold, expressionless eyes.
"Oh? Hey Fubuki! Are you okay?" He asked.
"Saitama…" Fubuki said before collapsing to the floor and passing out.
Time Skip: The Next Night.
Fubuki was sitting in a hospital bed, with a cast on her right arm and bandages covering her forehead. She was chewing on some ice to strengthen her damaged jaw. She sighed to herself before perking up at an odd sound. She heard a window shatter and the sound of someone screaming and a loud "Thud," almost like a melon hit the floor at high speeds. She decided to ignore it as she thought it was just her concussion playing games with her. Then she heard her door open.
"Hey Lil Sis…" a high-pitched voice said.
Fubuki's eyes shot wide open, as she slowly turned her head in pure, unimaginable horror. She turned to see a short, bright green haired girl in a black dress, with a neutral facial expression standing by the door.
"T- t- t- Tatsumaki… what are you doing here?" Fubuki asked with her voice trembling.
"Well of course I came to visit my little sister who is in the hospital…" Tatsumaki scoffed.
She floated over to Fubuki and sat in a chair that was placed next to the bed. She snapped her head to her injured little sister with a sneer, and as sweetly as she could muster, she asked.
"So, what happened?"
Fubuki gulped. Tatsumaki's fake sweet voice was a clear indication that she is in for a world of hurt.
"I was ambushed by a monst-"
Tatsumaki interrupted her sister by furiously slamming both of her fists onto the hospital bed, her face changed from an innocent looking smile, to the face of what could only be described as "Holy shit, you are about to die."
"Don't bullshit me Fubuki! The only thing I hate more than your group of Super Nobodies is you lying…" The Short Lady quietly ridiculed. "You followed the monster in that alley to convince him to join your stupid follower group and then you got ambushed!"
"Wait… How- how do you kno-"
"Because we are psychically connected jackass!" Tatsumaki started to glow a green hue and began to float lifting other objects that were laying around the room.
"Tatsumaki… please don't!" Fubuki began to cry.
"First, I'm going to teach you a 'lesson,' then I am going to go two rooms down where Bitchlashes and Mountain Ass are, AND IM GOING TO SQUEEZE THEM LIK FUCKING GRAPES!" roared the Green Haired Girl. "THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED FUBUKI! BECAUSE YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME!"
Fubuki began to sob, she didn't know what to do. She felt so powerless to her sister, so weak, so useless. She looked up to try to convince her sister to calm down and not hurt her, when she saw a man behind Tatsumaki, spinning around with one arm extended, with the look of rage behind his aviators. Midori? He slammed his arm, karate chop style, onto the side of Tatsumaki's neck. Her expression softened and she was losing her green glow; she floated to the floor, gently lowering all the things she was lifting with her ESP. She rolled her eyes to the back of her head and faceplanted on the cold marble floor. Midori stood over the now unconscious Tatsumaki's body, he was bleeding from his face, and there was a rip in his shirt. He looked up to see a still teared up Fubuki staring at him, amazed.
"Hey Fubuki! You alright?" The Man said with a little, open-toothed, smile.
"Um… Midori? Are you bleeding?" Fubuki asked.
"Huh? Oh… that…" He covered one nostril and blew, releasing a clot of blood that was lodged in his nose. "Yeah… I accidently bumped in her when I was coming to visit you, and she promptly threw me out of a window… The eighth story window…"
"Well, that explains the noises I heard earlier…" Fubuki whispered.
Midori picked up Tatsumaki from off the cold floor and placed her on the chair with one hand, as he was holding a bouquet of flowers on the other hand.
"Are those flowers?" Fubuki stared in awe at all the colorful flowers that Midori had.
"Oh, yeah! They're for you!" He said nonchalantly.
Fubuki's face went from her normal skin color to flush red. She never expected anyone to bring her flowers as she constantly seemed above flowers, but now we have Midori. He placed the flowers on the nightstand next to Fubuki and stood there looking at Fubuki, who was admiring them. Her left arm was in a cast, covering the scars from the Restaurant Bombing. Fubuki looked up to see Midori go from a grin to a solemn face, sighing before putting his fist under his chin. He studied Fubuki, she still had an unwiped tear after being confronted by Tatsumaki.
"You're going through it too huh…" He whispered.
His words were so vague, but instantly she knew what he was talking about. Again, a flashback of the bombing of the restaurant, the sight of Midori's body burned beyond recognition, and healing even after excruciating pain. Carrying her back to her car before walking back, like any S-Class hero would. She was about to cry again, so she turned away from Midori. Midori understood, nodding before hesitantly sitting on Fubuki's hospital bed. Still looking away, she scooted to give him more space.
"I've stayed up all night trying not to sleep, knowing if I do, I'll have a nightmare of that day. I usually get to pair ups, exhausted, and I actively scout for fights, to give e adrenaline and keep myself awake…" He sighed before looking at Fubuki.
She tried her best not to look at him, to not show her weakness, but she ended up looking at Midori, his face was covered in shadows. She could see the fear he was displaying behind his aviators, his teeth is clenched, stress electricity coming off of his body. Fubuki thought fast so both she and her sister wouldn't hurt by the electricity, so she placed her hand on Midori's arm.
"Midori…" she said in a hushed tone.
The electricity dissipates, and Midori calms down. He gets up, keeping his face away from her's. He walks to the, still sleeping girl, and picks her up into the bridal carry, he walks towards the door.
"I'll take her to her house… See you…" Midori said, with his voice shaking.
He stepped out leaving Fubuki alone, she sighed and grabbed the flowers, to admire them. Suddenly Midori pokes his head through the door again, with a smug look on his face.
"Hey Fubuki! How about we try that dinner again soon."
Fubuki's face turned bright red again, she was never asked to dinner, but now… She didn't know what to do. She sighed.
"Fine…" She said meekly and looking away.
End of Episode 8.