Here we are again, back with another chapter. Surprise! Anyways, I enitrely forgot that Amai Mask had met Blast in canon and neglected to make a significant backstory for the two of them, but unfortunately I've already written quite a fair bit of the story and Amai Mask's role doesn't include any kind of backstory. That one's on me guys. Oh well, back to the action

Chapter Three: Meteors and Big Impacts

Bofoi was reviewing the footage again. No matter how many times he watched it, he still could not believe his eyes. An A Class hero who broke every physical record in the hero exams records, defeated an S Class hero and obliterated a mountainside with a single attack.

But there was no denying hard evidence. He had sent multiple drones to the site and conducted dozens of tests. The hole was perfectly smooth to the touch, even down to the molecular level. Nothing out of the ordinary could be found in either the air or soil either.

Bofoi had even visited the area, just to see it with his own eyes. It was one thing to see a video and to collect data from the site. It was another thing entirely to stand before the hole.

He had stood there for several minutes, just staring in awe at the thing. Never in his entire life had he felt so insignificant. So helpless. For the first time in his long life, Bofoi felt something he never expected to feel.

Fear.

Nothing had prepared him for the astronomical amount of power that man displayed. Only Tatsumaki or King had the most remote chance of replicating what this man had done. Or Blast, but something interesting had come up with that.

The man's background had took some digging, but eventually he found it. The man's name was Saitama. He was forty six years old, and went bald when he was twenty two. Strangely, in any picture he appeared in between those two ages, he looked exactly the same. Down to the same expression, in most cases. In fact, it hadn't seemed like he had aged at all.

Up until three years ago, he had worked a fairly normal job. Then he was fired out of the blue, and seemingly disappeared. He sold his apartment the next day and no traces of him existed until he registered for the hero exam a few days ago. No address or phone number was attached to it, just a name.

Another oddity had appeared, this time from within the Hero Association. And not from the places he expected either. Using his access within the Hero Association, Bofoi discovered a covert division of the association called "Division B". It was top secret, so well hidden Bofoi hadn't even heard of it until now. It took level ten access to get into, so not even the Hero Association executives or heroes could access it. The only two people outside the program that knew about it were Sitch and Tatsumaki.

The program was dedicated towards locating a single person, called "Subject B". It reviewed thousands of unreported monster killings and placed them into two categories, either "Blasted" or "Unblasted". The "Blasted" section held thousands of photos and notes on monsters who were entirely blown apart. And the time frame? From twenty four years ago until now.

The most interesting part of the division was the description of the man they were looking for. Only three accounts were made of the man, one by the grandson of Agoni, the founder of the Hero Association, one by Tatsumaki, and one by a young girl, only about two weeks ago. They all said the exact same thing. "A bald man in a yellow suit, with red gloves and boots and a white cape who is a hero for fun."

Cross referencing the Saitama's firing with Agoni's grandson's rescue revealed they happened on the exact same day.

There was no way this was a coincidence. It seems the mysterious S Class Rank One Hero, known as Blast, was also the last ranked A Class Hero named Saitama.

Suddenly his phone began to ring. "What is it?" Bofoi asked.

"Sir! There's a giant meteor headed towards Z City!"

Bofoi hung up the phone. This was the perfect time to test out some of the missiles he had been developing. And a nice distraction from the glaring issues this man proposed.

Bofoi activated one of the robots within his facility near City Z. With a few more clicks, he loaded his experimental missiles into the cannons on the back of the robot. With a few more clicks, Bofoi activated his robot. The mechanical hulk whirred to life and Bofoi grabbed the controls. Normally he would let his programming take control and deal with the situation, but he liked to test his new missiles personally, and he needed a break from this new player. It was too much for even his superior brain to handle.

Bofoi piloted his robot through the skies, looking for an optimal position to fire his missiles. Most of the buildings would either be unable to support the thrust of the missiles or fail to provide an adequate view of the results.

His robot detected movement below him, immediately highlighting the figure and identifying the figure below. It was the new S Class hero, Genos.

Bofoi landed his robot in front of him, getting the hero's attention. "You are Bofoi, correct?"

Bofoi responded, "Yes. Come to stop the meteor, Genos?"

His words were calm, but his mind was erratic. The bald man had become a hero on the same day as Genos, and sparred with him afterward. In that case, Saitama wouldn't be too far behind him, and he could get another chance to gage the man's power.

Bofoi saw the cyborg analyze him before asking, "Bofoi, I need your help."

"I refuse."

"Why?

"I only came here to field test my new weapon," Bofoi informed him. "The meteor is a perfect target."

"A test?" Genos growled. "If that meteor hits, you too will die."

"I will not."

"What?"

Bofoi smiled. This boy was embarrassingly naive. "What you are talking to right now is a remotely-controlled drone. Sorry to disappoint you, but my life's not at stake here. Also, I am not Bofoi. I am 'Metal Knight'. Heroes call each other by their hero names, not real names. Everyone knows that."

Bofoi turned his robot towards the meteor once more. "Looks like it is time to end our little chat."

Suddenly, Genos leaped from the building they were on and landed on one much taller. Bofoi smirked and fired his missiles, which spiralled up, surrounding the meteor. They collided with the meteor, creating a massive explosion. When the light died, a massive black cloud remained, darkening a large portion of City Z.

If the meteor hadn't attracted the bald man's attention, that certainly had.

A moment later, the meteor burst through the layer of ash, dispersing it in an instant. Bofoi frowned. It seems his missiles could still be improved.

Bofoi turned his drone towards the cyborg. Sparks had begun to fly from the cyborg's body, signalling his preparation for his attack. Bang approached the boy, whispering his famously wise words into the youth's ear. The cyborg doubled down, reaching into his chest and pulling out his core. A desperate move.

The cyborg attached his core to his arm, sparks flying even more intensely. After a few moments, the cyborg raised his arms and blasted an enormous beam of fire at the meteor. Bofoi was impressed. The kid certainly packed some firepower, even if it was his finishing move. But, the meteor kept falling. The cyborg's massive output was no match for the meteor's weight. After a few moments the cyborg's flame sputtered out, leaving him to kneel on the roof.

Just then, another man appeared on the roof. A bald man, in a yellow suit. Finally. With no hesitation, he knelt, and launched himself at the meteor.

To say the man flew would be an understatement. The man rocketed towards the meteor, going so fast he was nearly a blur of yellow. He reached the meteor and punched it, disappearing for a moment. Cracks spiderwebbed through the meteor until the man re-emerged from the other side, and the meteor shattered with a dazzling blue explosion.

Fragments of the meteor began to rain down on the city. Quickly, Bofoi powered up the last of his missiles and blasted them at the shards. Most of them connected, destroying the remaining pieces of the meteor, but a few still fell, smashing into the city. Bofoi calculated where the remaining seven would land and sent specialized firefighting drones to minimize the damage.

Bofoi watched as Saitama exited the atmosphere and landed in the street. This man was a mystery, someone who obtained immense power yet managed to remain hidden from the world for so long. But now, he had become part of something bigger, something Bofoi wasn't sure the world was ready for. But the question wasn't whether they were ready for it or not. It was whether they would survive.


Tatsumaki hovered above City C, glaring at the remains of a demon level monster. Pathetic. It hadn't even survived a single attack from Tatsumaki. It was absurd how monsters so weak could crawl their way up to a Demon Level threat.

Suddenly her phone began to ring. "What?"

"Miss Tatsumaki, there's a Dragon Level meteor headed straight for City Z! It will touch down in less than an hour! Please report to the City Z branch if you are able," a woman told her.

"I'm in City C right now. Do you know how long it will take me to get from here all the way to City Z! I'm on my way over, but don't expect me to do much more than search and rescue," Tatsumaki chided, ending the call.

Ugh, what a waste of time, Tatsumaki thought. With a boom signalling she had reached super-sonic speeds, Tatsumaki sped off towards City Z, which would soon be nothing more than a smoldering crater.

By the time Tatsumaki had reached City Z, she had already been preparing to scan for lifeforms beneath smoking debris, and put out any fires and funnel smoke higher into the atmosphere. However, when she arrived, there was considerably less damage than she'd been expecting, and far too many people still alive.

It didn't look like there had been a meteor that crashed down. In fact, it barely seemed like anything had crashed. She only saw a few small craters, and most already had their fires put out by Metal Knight. Only two fires remained, and several robots were there, spraying fire retardant onto the flames. Within a few minutes, the fires were gone.

Tatsumaki floated up to one of Metal Knight's robots. "What happened here?"

"There was a meteor, and it was destroyed. I am simply cleaning up the debris," Metal Knight responded.

"I was told it was a Dragon Level meteor. This doesn't look Dragon worthy to me," Tatsumaki remarked.

"As I said, the meteor was destroyed. A few fragments landed and caused some damage, which I am taking care of. That is all," Metal Knight informed her.

"Hmph! Looks like I wasted my time coming here. Why did the Hero Association bother calling me if you were just going to deal with it anyway? My time is precious, I'll have you know!" Tatsumaki shouted.

"Don't worry Tatsumaki," Metal Knight said in an eerie voice. "I have a feeling the deck will be reshuffled very soon. A wildcard has been dealt, and the game will be turned upside down."

Tatsumaki frowned as Metal Knight's robots turned to leave. What the fuck was that about? Metal Knight was always one of those creepy basement dweller people, but now he was a delusional psycho too? Tatsumaki shook her head. Maybe being alone in his hole for so many years rotted away at his brain.

Tatsumaki waited until Metal Knight's drone had disappeared before turning and speeding away. What had he meant? Metal Knight was a very practical person, willing to bomb civilians in order to remove a threat. He didn't care much for the Hero Association, other than the fact he was paid handsomely and was given nearly free reign to blow up whatever he wanted. He wasn't the kind of person to offer cryptic warnings out of the blue.

Tatsumaki flipped her hair back in midair. Whatever. The threat had been dealt with and was no longer a concern. No one died and the heroes saved the day again. Hurrah.

Tatsumaki glided down to her apartment in City F. She deserved some time to herself. Tatsumaki changed out of her normal dress into something more comfortable. With a quick call, she ordered some udon. While it was on its way here, Tatsumaki floated in the middle of her living room.

If someone was asked what the S Class Rank Two Hero, The Tornado of Terror, did in her free time, most would not guess meditating. Normally, Tatsumaki wouldn't be meditating either. But Tatsumaki wasn't normal. With powers as strong as hers, there tended to be some constraints. When she was younger, she tended to lose control of her powers a lot. Her fragile body couldn't contain or control the amount of psychic energy trapped within her, and it would frequently lash out, seeking release. Sometimes it was little things, like making the block levitate for a couple seconds. But other times it was more severe. One time she caused an earthquake-on the other side of the continent. Another time she had accidentally dragged a satellite back to earth.

Of course, her parents freaked out. After her first year of kindergarten-which did not go well-they decided they had enough of their freakish daughter.

Unsure of what else to do, they jumped at the chance to be rid of her. An organization of scientists researching psychic abilities offered them large sums of money to take her off their hands. And of course, they agreed.

The following three years were a nightmare for the young Tatsumaki. They had tested her, poked her brains and forced her to use her powers in ways she never dreamed of before. They trained her, pushing her past her limits and punishing her severely when she failed. She rarely used any of the techniques they taught her. She preferred telekinesis, it was the first power she developed and the easiest to control. Most of the time. Beams of pure energy weren't really her style, and freezing an entire city didn't really seem practical. She had mastered gravity pretty quickly, she could create flames from nothing too. Telepathy was a bit more difficult, but now it is effortless. Storms, rain, lightning, even summoning hurricanes was child's play to her. Manipulating the auras of others was a tad trickier, she had never entirely mastered that, but she was passable. There were a few techniques they had been trying to teach her before Saitama saved her, like teleporting, atomic manipulation, future sight and spatial distortion. After he rescued her, Tatsumaki never looked into developing those abilities. To be honest, she was already too powerful. Half the time she was trying to hold back, the other half her opponents were obliterated before she even had the chance to use any of her real power. If she grew any stronger, what guarantee was there that she wouldn't tear the world in half? Or cause the sun to go supernova? Or create a black hole that devoured the planet. Saitama would stop it of course, but then she'd be the bad guy. She would be the villain they sent Saitama to stop. With good reason. She was a threat, and if she couldn't contain her power, they had to stop her. He'd have to stop her.

Tatsumaki looked up. She sensed someone enter the elevator on the bottom floor. The door dinged a moment later, and she paid the man and sent him on his way. Tatsumaki dug into the meal, slurping the noodles down.

Naturally, her mind wandered back to Saitama, as it did when there was nothing else to do. What was he doing right now? Probably something heroic. Killing monsters and changing lives, as casually as he went to the supermarket to buy orange juice. Tatsumaki gulped down another noodle, remembering one of the monsters she watched Saitama kill.

They had just left the takoyaki place. All the people had been nice to her, and Saitama joked with her like they had known each other their whole lives. Slowly, he had drawn Tatsumaki out of the shell she had created around herself. It started with a smile when he tried to use his super speed to chomp down as many octopus balls as he could. She started to giggle when there was no more room in his mouth and he looked like a chipmunk, sitting there with his cheeks bulging as he tried to swallow them all at once. The giggle turned into a full belly laugh when sauce started dripping out of his nose, and he choked, spewing the balls all over the table. Even Hiro and the girls couldn't help themselves. Hiro had to kneel, slapping the table from laughter. Tatsumaki could barely see from the tears in her eyes.

Tatsumaki smiled, just thinking about the memory. It was nice. It was the first time she really felt like she belonged, like she was wanted. Even after all this time, it was one of her fondest memories.

The monster though, was one of the most terrifying. They were a few blocks from the takoyaki shop, and Saitama was telling her about his job. Tatsumaki had been listening intently, but now she couldn't remember what he told her. It was probably due to that, that she didn't notice the monster until it landed in front of them. It was huge and hairy, looking like a werewolf. It snarled, baring its teeth, saliva dripping from them. Its yellow, beady eyes looked down on them as it rose to its full height, towering over them.

The monster was easily over eight feet tall. It wore some tattered scraps of clothing. "I am the almighty wolf-man!" It declared. "I was a scientist who studied wolves so much I turned into one! Now I'm going to kill everyone and become the alpha of the world!"

It leapt at them, claws outstretched. Its eyes gleamed with murderous intent. Tatsumaki couldn't move, or breathe. She wasn't a fighter, or a hero. She was a child, weak and pathetic. She was only a ten year old, with dysfunctional esper powers and parents who didn't want her. And now, she was going to die.

Splat!

And just like that, the monster was nothing more than chunks of flesh and blood splattered across the pavement. Tatsumaki gaped, before looking at Saitama. He was standing there with a bored look on his face. Tatsumaki hadn't realized she was shaking until Saitama placed a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't realized she had been crying until much later.

Saitama steered her around the mutilated corpse. She clutched his leg like a lifeline, refusing to let him go. Saitama put up with it for a while, but finally he knelt down to her level and wiped the tears from her eyes. He stared at her as she sniffled. Tatsumaki looked away from him, embarrassed, but Saitama tilted her head back towards him and gave her a smile.

"Hey Tats," Saitama consoled. "It's ok to be scared. Everyone gets scared sometimes. It's only natural."

"Even you?" Tatsumaki asked, looking up at him.

"Even me," Saitama agreed. "I used to be scared all the time. There were monsters bigger and stronger than me. They laughed at me cause I trembled and shook when I stood in front of them. But no matter how outmatched I was, I stood against them anyways. I was scared shitless, but I stood against them no matter what. Cause if heroes run and hide, who will stay and fight?"

"B-but, I'm not as strong as you," Tatsumaki whimpered. "I'm scared and I'd run away. I'm not a hero like you, Saitama."

"Anyone can be a hero," Saitama said. "A hero is someone who stands up for what they believe in. They're people who put their lives on the line for the common good. And just cause you're scared doesn't mean you're not strong. Courage isn't the absence of fear. Courage is overcoming your fear to do something greater. If you have courage, you can do anything."

Tatsumaki sniffled again, throwing herself against Saitama. He stiffened, then relaxed and patted her on the back, comforting her.

Tatsumaki blinked mid-slurp, coming out of her reprieve. She didn't normally go so far down into her memories like that.

Then she noticed a green hue coating everything in the room. Tatsumaki scowled, releasing her grip on the room. It had been a while since she had lost control like that. It always seemed to be whenever she was thinking about Saitama. He was her blessing and her curse. Whenever she got into a tough spot, her mind would always remember those words he'd spoken all those years ago. "When the time comes, don't expect someone to come save you." That sentence had helped her through some of the toughest times of her life. When her powers rebelled against her, she had reigned them in all on her own. When she had been on the brink of death, which happened more than she'd care to admit, she had fought and struggled her way to victory all alone. When she'd been disowned and kicked to the curb like trash she'd fought like hell to survive. And through it all, Saitama's words had helped her stay strong through every peril. They reminded her to stay collected and in control at all times. She never let her powers, or emotions, get the best of her, regardless of what anyone else thought.

And yet, it was only the memories of those precious days with Saitama that would make her guard come down. Only he could get around her carefully built walls that she'd fortified her mind with. The only thing more incredible than Saitama's strength was his ability to smash through her carefully laid defenses with ease.