Saitama pushed the door with his free hand and entered his apartment.
It couldn't be called luxurious or even spacious but it was certainly cozy. Directly to the right was the bathroom, then a kitchen with a large opening in the wall that gave on the simple living room with a sofa, tv and small table currently crowded with coupons Saitama had started sorting earlier in the night. Mangas overflowed from a bookcase in a corner, their plastic covers reflecting the light of the full moon that passed through the window.
From there a door opened on a very rudimentary 'bedroom' consisting only of a space filled by a heavy mattress covered with a heavy quilt and a bedside table on which he'd placed a lamp. All in all it was more of a closet than a room, but he liked it.
Saitama dropped the pile of metallic remains on the couch before taking off his sweater to put it in the washing machine, pestering about those rude monsters and all their internal fluids.
"Seriously, why do they have to be filled with so much goop! I swear this is the last time I fight someone before changing..."
Having changed into a clean sweater, Saitama went to the kitchen to cook up something. He was no chef but early in his training he had learned that a good nutrition is essential to physical prowess and had taken up cooking. Whether he ate healthy didn't really matter anymore however and the nutritious meals had turned into homely recipes. Tonight was an udon night, he decided. To be honest, many nights were udon nights. As he put the water to boil, Saitama heard a voice coming from the living room.
"Critical power level detected. Analyzing surroundings for usable energy sources….Power outlet identified. Attempting connection."
The hero walked over to watch as a metallic cable came out of the cyborg's inanimate body and slowly slithered its way over to a power outlet on the wall to plug itself in. After a few seconds, a red light began pulsing from the core in the blond teen's chest.
"System boot."
With a flash of blue light, the cyborg jolted back into consciousness, immediately scanning his surroundings. As soon as his eyes met Saitama's, he seemed to understand the situation.
"You! You saved my life!" although he was still too damaged to move most of his body, the cyborg managed to pull himself off the couch to prostrate on the ground.
"I am Genos, I have dedicated my life to becoming more powerful in order to avenge my dead family, please let me train under you!"
Saitama looked him over. Three limbs were missing, a good chunk of the torso had been deeply lacerated by claws, and though his face was facing the ground he could see heavy damage on one side.
"You don't really look like you're in shape for training"
"I was foolish and let my righteousness blind me from the fact I was no match for this creature. But worry not, a drone is on its way to pick me up and take me somewhere I will be fixed. Once that is done, and with your blessing, I wish to come back and start my training with you."
Saitama thought about this. He had been doing this alone for so long now, maybe some company wouldn't be so bad. It'd also mean having someone to play video games with. He didn't really see himself as a teacher, but he certainly had gained experience over the years and did not doubt he could share a few tips, but did he really want to commit to such a-
"I will also pay the rent and do the chores"
"Done."
"Thank you so much, sensei! I will come back soon and prove you made the right decision, sensei!"
Genos spoke proudly, not noticing the hero's frown after the use of the overly respectful title.
"I'm no sensei. My name is Saitama, so you can just call me that."
The cyrbog seemed taken aback but he nodded and made an internal note.
"Of course, Saitama sensei!"
Oh no, what did I get myself into.
Before he could question his decision any further, Saitama heard a whirring outside the window where a large drone was stationed.
"Oh, seems like your ride's here!"
The hero opened the window to let the drone inside, which latched on Genos before rising again.
"I'll be back as soon as I am fixed. Thank you for everything, sensei!"
"Sure, I'll see you around Genos."
With a high pitched whirr the device was gone into the night.
Yep, I'm calling that a night.
The next morning, in the HA's meeting room
After his meeting with the boss, the worker quickly set up the appointment for all the S-class heroes and Sitch, and everyone concerned was now reunited around a long table. Everyone? Well not really. Blast, the famed number one hero of the association, was as always missing and Doctor Bofoi had sent a drone to attend the meeting rather than go himself as was quite often the case. Sitch and Tatsumaki were not there either.
"We have been waiting for at least half an hour now! What are they doing?" Everyone in the room looked at Child emperor as he broke the silence "I have classes I can't afford to miss!"
Bang, who was sitting next to him, gently placed his hand on his shoulder "I'm sure they have a good reason to keep us waiting, this meeting is probably important."
Child Emperor quietly thought for a moment before speaking up again
"That's a good point actually, they usually arrive just after us, but not this time. Also never in the past has Tornado of Terror been absent to such a meeting… Maybe she's preparing with them? "
At this exact moment, a voice came from the far side of the room.
"I'm very sorry for wasting your precious time, everyone."
The heroes all turned around to see the one who just spoke. At the door was Agoni, accompanied by Sitch and Tatsumaki. Meeting the big boss didn't happen very often, even for s-classes, and his presence at the meeting was enough to confirm the heroes' suspicion that this was no ordinary meeting.
The three of them took a seat in their respective chairs, and after taking the time to take a long look at everyone present Agoni began.
"Everything that will happen from now on is strictly top secret until I personally take the decision to reveal it to the world. As such, you are not to tell anyone anything about it, not even the other Hero Association workers. You will only be in contact with the secret department which is already working on the case"
The S-classes were now more focused than ever. First the founder shows up, now top secret information and a secret department? For once a meeting was going to be interesting.
Agoni continued "The Hero Association has existed for three years to serve and protect the civilians. I'm sure you all know the story of its foundation, I created it after Tatsumaki valiantly defeated a monster who threatened my own son's life." a pause "Well, that is not what really happened."
The heroes collectively raised an eyebrow, this seemed a strange introduction to a meeting and an even stranger thing to lie about.
"The one who saved him is a man we will, for now, refer to by his code name: 'subject B'. We know very little about him besides the fact he his extremely powerful and bald.
Until now we have had only two reports of this man. The first was my son, the second was by Tornado of Terror.
She reported that twenty years ago, a man saved her and her sister from the laboratory that had lead experiences on them in their childhood."
At this moment and before anyone could even say a word, the heroes started glowing in a green hue and felt their bodies slowly becoming weightless. The esper sitting beside Agoni was looking at her feet, her green hairs hiding her face. The untold message was clear, they were not to make a comment on this information unless they wanted to be shredded to pieces.
"She accepted to join the Association at one condition. Despite being it's strongest hero, she would only be given the second place, and the first would be kept empty for the man who saved her."
For a second the silence was complete as the realisation hit the heroes. This was why the fake story was a big deal, why all this information had to be so secret. Subject B. Blast. The number one most powerful hero of the association, the being who citizens all over the planet saw as the ultimate barrier against monsters and a beacon of hope in times of adversity, this man wasn't part of the hero association! Worse, we weren't even sure who he was or what he was like! Should the population become aware of this, it would certainly mean the utter loss of trust in the association.
Child Emperor, being one of the quickest wit of the assembly, was the first to react, asking questions as much as he was thinking out loud
"So this 'subject B' is Blast, that's why none of us ever met him right? That explains the code name… actually no it doesn't! You said you did not know his true Identity, or even what exactly he looked like, so how come you know his name?
Also if you weren't able to get him into the association, why make everyone believe he was and was just gone somewhere?"
Silence followed his intervention, every gazes turned towards Agoni waiting for answers, not a sound made in fear to miss valuable information. After a few more seconds of quiet thinking, the answer came.
"Our goal is to make the world safer for the citizens. As such, we thought about a way to minimize criminal activity and created the legend of Blast, a powerful hero who could be anywhere, and so everywhere. That allowed us to keep the monsters afraid of him, so less active. It was also a good way to explain his reappearance should he eventually join us, as in the mind of the population he would not come out of nowhere, just come back after a long time hiding to fight crime."
If this hadn't satisfied the heroes, it had at least given them something to think about.
"But enough questions. I decided to reveal all of this information to you for a good reason.
We now have a new lead on his identity and how to find him."
The director typed on the screen's keyboard under the interrogative looks of the heroes before the video appeared.
"This video was taken by a security camera in a street of F-city, at 2357 last night."
With a click of a button the video started.
The expressions on the heroes' faces went from expectation, to surprise and finally amazement. At the end of the recording, Sitch spoke up
"Thanks to this, we were able to use facial recognition and identify the subject. This individual is in our databases under the name of Saitama but has no known last name, which might mean it is an alias.
There's also no place of residence linked to this guy, which is pretty shady. All in all we have our doubts about this being the right guy and there's a lot of loose threads. But this is worth giving a shot. Now listen, this is important."
He leaned over, his fists on the table, and began explaining the plan.
Damn the writing was bad in that one! Still not entirely happy but much better. Getting closer to actually getting back to work on chapter 5!
Have a good one.