You know, you'd think after becoming the world's strongest hero and reaching a point of power that allowed you to destroy all foes with but a single punch, that there could be nothing left in the world that could surprise you. Yet as the caped crusader who was so fortunate to have that title sat in his living room, across from an assortment of individuals who looked like they came straight from a saturday morning cartoon, he found himself at a complete loss for words.
"...How did it come to this?..." Saitama thought to himself as he looked down at his lap, "Everything was pretty normal till yesterday, but even that wasn't as weird as this..." He continued to dwell in his mind, soon falling into the trappings of his memory.
The sun shone brightly this morning in City Z, which was a stark contrast to the gloomy cloud filled gray skies that were present just a day ago. But that seemed to be how the world worked weirdly enough, literally every time there was some massive monster or calamity the world seemed to set the stage for it perfectly. Yet even with the sun's warm rays now shining down upon them the city was still pretty quiet, probably due to the fact that the monster who had sent them into hiding hadn't been killed. Though the only one who knew the why behind that was the one person everyone would be shocked to discover, as the person who sent the self proclaimed Mosquito Girl on her way was One Punch Man.
For despite the fact she did fall under the classification of monster, and besides sending the city on high alert she also thrashed that cyborg, as she followed him all the way back to his apartment begging him to hear her out he honestly felt bad for her. Not in the sense that he pitied her and felt she was pathetic, but more so that she actually seemed like a decent person, a little overzealous when it came to talking about him sure but at this point in his life who wasn't? What this meant was that he didn't feel she deserved to be punched, or killed in any other fashion, so long as she promised she wouldn't kill anyone nor would she terrorize anymore cities then what harm was she actually? This was precisely how she managed to get him to hear her out, in exchange for agreeing to not conduct herself in a way that would be seen as threatening, he would in turn agree to meet with this doctor she kept bringing up and hear what he had to say.
And thus with one final squeal of joy that had a slight tinge of pride to it she took to the skies and disappeared, allowing him to retreat back inside his apartment and spend the rest of the day sleeping. Come around to the next day in the early hours of the morning, before he even had a chance to brush his teeth or make himself some breakfast, he would be stirred from his slumber by the sound of someone knocking at his door. Dreading that perhaps it was the woman and her "creator" as she called him, who couldn't wait to get their meeting with him started, he rose from his bed still dressed in pajamas and willed himself to see who it was. To his surprise however, the face that greeted him wasn't that of Mosquito Girl nor of some doctor looking man, instead it was the cyborg who had managed to get repaired since he last saw him.
"Oh hey, it's you." He greeted, as he pulled his door open a slight bit more.
"Hello, I'm sorry to bother you so early, but I had to make sure this was your address." The cyborg explained immediately.
"It's no big deal, believe it or not I'm actually used to being woken up this early, though it's usually from a bunch of people chanting outside my apartment..." He admitted, looking off to the side as he did.
"Because you are One Punch Man correct?" He asked.
"Oh, so you do know who I am." Saitama replied, a noticeable amount of disappointment present in his voice.
"No, that's why I came to see you." The Cyborg admitted, causing the other's eyes to widen "You see, I've been away from the world for quite some time, kept in seclusion as my body was rebuilt, I was left in a severely injured state due to a-"
Being cutoff as without warning Saitama rushed forward and hugged him, the cyborg though surprised allowed it to happen.
"OH MY GOD! SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHO I AM!" He shouted out in joy, possibly the most happy he'd been in a long time, before releasing him from the embrace "Now you're serious right? you have NO idea who I am? this isn't some kind of sick joke?" He asked sounding as desperate as any man could.
"No, this isn't a joke, I really don't know who you are, and when I asked doctor Kuseno about you he said that I should find you so you could explain it to me." He answered.
Unable to keep himself from doing a fist bump from the sheer amount of excitement that was coursing through his veins, Saitama would take a moment to calm himself before continuing the conversation.
"Sorry it's just, it's been a REALLY long time since anyone hasn't known who I am, which I know may not sound like that big of a deal, but when you're me it truly is a blessing." He explained.
"It's fine, but can we refocus as to why I'm here?" The Cyborg asked.
"Yeah sure, come on in." He invited while stepping aside to make way for him, "Oh by the way what's your name? you haven't told me that yet." He asked.
"Genos." The Cyborg answered as he walked in.
Closing the door behind him once he was inside, both men then walked over to the small table that rested in the center of his living room and sat down.
"So Genos, what do you want to know about me?" Saitama asked getting things started.
"For starters I'm curious as to why that monster from before seemed so complacent with you, when I dealt with her she was ruthless and showed no other emotions than insatiable bloodlust." He answered.
"I don't think bloodlust is an emotion." Saitama said.
"Then I would like to know who you are, as I tried to tell you just a moment ago I have been kept from the world for some time, two years to be exact, and as such I do not know of how the world has changed at all." He explained.
"Two years huh? guess that is right about when I started my training..." Saitama admitted as he began thinking back to those days "Well, I guess the best place to start would be there, though to be honest it's gonna take a while to get through it all, would you like something to eat while we talk?" He offered as he got to his feet, "I just woke up and I'm pretty hungry, it'd be no trouble to make some extra." He added.
"Really? you'd be willing to make food for someone you just met?" Genos asked.
"Yeah, though to be honest it's kind of a bad habit of mine, I've got so much food in my fridge that if I don't cook as much of it as I can when I can, then it starts to overflow..." Saitama answered sheepishly as he walked to his kitchen, as he truly just couldn't stop himself from going to supermarket sales.
"Well, if it would be no trouble, then I would be grateful to have some." Genos told him.
With that confirmation Saitama would get to work quickly in making their meal, so much so that it caught the unsuspecting cyborg by surprise. Almost as if this were some rehearsed act he moved about his kitchen in a near blinding manner, the ingredients from both the fridge and the cabinets all swiftly obtained and already being combined to make their food. It took less than a minute for all the preparation to be complete, now all that was left to do was to wait for the food to be cooked to perfection. But just as it seemed that this was going to be a completely normal and pleasant breakfast, another knock would come from his door which neither he nor Genos expected.
Though despite it's suddenness, a feeling of dread washed over Saitama as he realized who it probably was.
"...oh...right..." He muttered in a sullen tone, before dragging his feet across the floor to his door.
Slowly turning the knob and pulling it open he peered through the slight opening that was made, and what he saw he would immediately compare to a circus freak show. The first person he saw was actually a normal looking man, finely dressed and carrying himself with a clear defined sense of superiority, if it had just been him who had shown up it wouldn't have been so surprising to Saitama. But behind him were a long line of creatures who one might see in some kind of cartoon, from the left to the right you had the one he was familiar with Mosquito Girl, but after her the others he only knew from the animals they were clearly based on which were a frog, a mole, a slug, and praying mantis. Altogether they truly gave off the vibe one might expect from a supervillain and his lackeys, the kind that existed solely to sell brand new toys each week.
"Hello One Punch Man, I see we have awoken you, my apologies." The man spoke before putting a hand to his chest, "My creation Mosquito Girl told me she had convinced you to hear me out, as a result I assumed you would have prepared for us, but in hindsight I made a far too great assumption of how early you would be expecting us." He explained.
"Uh, it's fine, no big deal." Saitama replied.
"Hey, I smell food!" The mole exclaimed as his nose twitched slightly.
"Oh? are you making breakfast?" The man asked.
"Um...yes..." Saitama replied slowly as he was unsure of where this might go.
"Well, if it wouldn't be an issue, could we perhaps join you? then we'd be able to have our discussion while you have your meal." He suggested.
If you have ever had the feeling you were so close to happiness only for it to be snatched away from you in an instant, then you know exactly how Saitama felt as those words were spoken. On one hand he could just tell them to buzz off and leave him alone, but even for him that would be insanely rude especially after he made that agreement with Mosquito Girl. On the other though he did just want to have a nice simple breakfast and chat with Genos, as he was the first person in literal years besides King who wasn't treating him like a celebrity. For a few silent seconds Saitama would debate over what he should do in his head, but ultimately even though he REALLY didn't want to let these people into his apartment, he still with a heavy sigh stepped back while pulling the door open to let them in.
"Sorry if you guys feel cramped my apartment's not too big, also that's Genos sitting at the table and he's gonna eat with us, Genos these guys these guys Genos." He explained while lazily introducing them to each other, before slowly trudging his way back to his kitchen to get more food ready.
Both Genos and the group of colorful individuals were surprised to discover they were not alone in wanting to speak with Saitama, nevertheless they all gathered around his table as best they could and made themselves comfortable. Waiting in silence as neither had anything to say to the other, especially Mosquito Girl and Genos, they wouldn't have to wait too long before the food was ready and Saitama set it out in front of them all, thus allowing them to eat.
"Oh right, that's how." Saitama thought as he brought himself back to the present, where everyone was still eating the food he made.
"MMMM! THIS IS SO GOOD!" Mosquito Girl exclaimed joyfully, her face beaming with delight as she ate her meal.
"Yet another remarkable feat from the world's strongest hero, though I am surprised it's one of culinary skill instead of sheer strength." The man complimented as he more reservedly ate his meal.
"Thank you for the food!" The rest of his creations all said together, as they much like their female counterpart chowed down on their food.
"It has been some time since I've eaten anything, thank you Saitama." Genos said respectfully.
"It's nothing Genos, glad you like it, same for the rest of you." Saitama replied as he began eating his own meal.
Given the amount of people present he went a little overboard with the quantity of the food, yet given that all of them minus the man seemed to have insatiable appetites, it managed to work itself out.
"So, One Punch Man." The Man addressed as to gain his full attention, "If it would be alright with you I'd like to begin our discussion, as to avoid taking up any more of your time." He explained.
"Sounds good, go ahead." Saitama replied as he took in a mouthful of his food.
"Thank you, to begin allow me to formally introduce myself, I am doctor Genus of the house of evolution, an institution of my own making that is dedicated to improving the human form through gene altering science and research, I will admit however that the original reasons behind this desire of mine were not exactly pure, I loathed humanity and always felt as though I was vastly superior than those around me on an intellectual level, and while I do still see myself as being better than most, it is because of you One Punch Man that I have been humbled back into reality." He explained.
"Wait what? how did I do that?" Saitama asked.
"By being you, as said I always believed humanity at it's core was flawed, a mistake of evolution and nature that only I could correct through my work, it took my entire life to achieve this, the fruits of my labor so plentiful that I was able to restore myself back to my prime, in addition to cloning myself so that I could have all the help I would need, soon I began seeing myself as this world's god and as such I envisioned how I would reshape it so it could be perfect, but then one day I was awoken by one of my clones who showed me something that brought my heart to a perfect stop, a man clad in costume destroying a creature that should have been well beyond his capabilities in one single blow, admittedly after this we began looking into you but nothing invasive of your privacy I swear, and as you continued to grow more and more powerful I realized the arrogance of my ambition, as well as what would become of not only me but all that I have created should we continue down our current path, which has brought me here today to speak with you." He explained.
"...Okay." Saitama said plainly while placing his hands in front of his mouth, "I still don't get though why you're here talking to me, from how it sounds you could've just kept doing your research and just not do anything evil, so why go to the trouble of sending the city on lockdown just so you could meet with me?" He questioned.
"Simple, while I was honest in saying that I didn't invade your privacy when looking into who you were, and I still have no intentions of doing anything invasive to you whatsoever, I would like to request that you allow me to run some tests on you." Dr. Genus clarified.
"So...you want to make me your lab rat..." Saitama replied.
"Of course not!" The other quickly objected while slamming his hands down onto the table, "The only reason I want to run tests on you is to try and discern the cause of your evolution! the mystery behind how you went from being a normal person to the single most powerful being this world has ever seen! surely you must be curious yourself?" He asked.
Taking a moment to consider what he was saying, Saitama admittedly did find his argument compelling. Ever since his power began to manifest he wondered how it was possible, sure at first he just assumed his training was paying off better than he had hoped, but as things continued to escalate that seemed less likely by the day. But what else could possibly explain it, after all like the doctor said he was just a normal person his entire life before, so maybe there was something more to it than he thought. And seeing as how this guy was apparently some kind of genius, he'd have to be to clone himself and make these...things, he might actually be his best shot for figuring out the source of his power.
Then again there was also a very strong possibility that this was all crap, it wouldn't be the first time a fan of his went to absurd lengths just to try and spend time with him, that much like his power had also been growing by the day as of late unfortunately...
"Okay, so here's the deal." He spoke after a minute of silence, "On one hand you make a pretty good case, it would be nice to know exactly how I became so strong, on the other hand though I've had lunatics try to approach me with stuff like this before, some were random fans others were actual news crews who you'd think wouldn't be so insane, so if I do agree to let you run tests or whatever, I need both your word and in writing that NOTHING WEIRD will happen, the moment something strange or creepy goes down I am out understand?" He explained.
Instead of saying anything the doctor would immediately reach into his pocket to pull out a notepad and pen, then within a matter of seconds he wrote down his agreement.
"I doctor Genus, of the house of evolution, give my word as a man of science that I shall not conduct myself in a manner that is off putting, nor subject you to any tests that cross a line between sensible research and personal curiosity." He read aloud before looking back to him, "Does this sound suitable to you?" He asked.
"Uh...yeah." Saitama answered, admittedly surprised at how prepared he was in the event this specific outcome happened.
"Wonderful, then shall we finish our meal before we return to the house of evolution?" He suggested.
"Sounds good." Saitama agreed just as a thought occurred to him "Oh wait, can Genos come with us?" He asked as he looked towards the cyborg.
"You would want me to come along with you?" Genos asked in response.
"Well yeah, you wanna know more about me just like he does right? would only make sense if you tagged along." Saitama explained.
"I have no issue with him accompanying us, so long as he keeps what he sees to himself and doesn't cause any disruptions." Dr. Genus said.
"I see, if those are the conditions then I accept, thank you Saitama." Genos replied.
And so, with a rather unusual set of plans made for the day, this even more unusual assortment of individuals continued to consume their breakfast, the Mosquito Girl admittedly being a tad irritated that the "tin man" would be coming with them.