"Whoa, this is your lab?" Saitama asked as he stared up at an impressively tall building.
Even with a decent head start Doctor Genus and his creations weren't able to out pace him even when going full speed, so he had to slowdown and just follow them directly from below. Still their speed was impressive when compared to anyone else, hence why it only took them about ten minutes to reach the base. Once it came into view however there was one detail both he and Genos took note of, which was for some reason the doctor had decided to build it into the side of a mountain.
"Yes, besides the location providing all the privacy I needed for my research, it also granted me access to a plentiful amount of natural resources such as ores, fauna, and flora that I could use to aid in both its construction and the research that would be conducted inside." Dr. Genus answered.
"Huh, cool." He simply replied as he stuck his hands into his pockets.
"What are all of the floors used for?" Genos questioned as he was unable to scan the facility, at least in terms of what was specifically inside it.
"A great deal of them are actually used as storage, while some are for the housing of my equipment, my clones, and my creations." Dr. Genus explained before pointing to the ground, "However there is an entirely different facility below the surface, there my creations exercise, train, fight each other, and many other things to further their powers and capabilities." He added.
"Interesting, was that part of your initial plans doctor?" Genos inquired.
"No actually, I thought we could just perform the tests out here in the open, but after a while they became too powerful to do such things in an uncontrolled environment, plus we didn't want to draw any unwanted attention to us." He responded.
Continuing to talk between themselves both men became lost in a back and forth question and answer conversation, almost as if Genos was interviewing the doctor for a magazine or something. This left Saitama to continue staring at the building in front of him, while nearby all of the doctor's creations stood together and talked among themselves.
"Do you think he's impressed?" The slug asked.
"Of course he is! Even One Punch Man can't deny how amazing our base is." The mole answered while crossing his arms and closing his eyes, a proud confident expression adorning his face.
"I dunno, the guy's taken down things bigger than our base, hell one surrendered to him a couple of days ago." The beetle pointed out.
"True, plus he's only seeing the outside right now, and even though the mountain part is neat it basically just looks like an office building." The frog added.
"Then maybe we should hurry up and get him inside? After all seems like the doctor and that cyborg are gonna be a while..." The ion suggested while pointing to the two men.
"Allow me." Mosquito Girl volunteered as she began to walk away.
"Hey! Why do you get to be the one to talk to him?" The mantis questioned which brought her to a stop.
"Because Kamakyuri, I'm the only one here with feminine charm~" She mused while looking over her shoulder at them, before then continuing on her way.
Watching her in a somewhat sexy strut go over to the world's strongest hero, she wasted no time in getting a conversation started by tapping him on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, One Punch Man?" She spoke first as he looked at her.
"Hm? Oh it's you, something wrong?" He asked.
"No no nothing's wrong, I just wanted to know what you think about our base is all." She answered while gesturing to the building.
"It's cool." He told her.
"Really?" She inquired with a sudden injection of excitement and joy.
"Yeah, makes me think of something I saw in this movie one night on tv, though I don't remember much cause I fell asleep when it got started." He admitted.
"Well, if you think it's cool then why don't we go in? I could give you a personal tour and get you familiar with everything." She suggested.
"What about him?" He asked while pointing to the doctor, who was still talking to Genos.
"Oh he won't mind if we go ahead, and besides if I show you around then he won't have to do it, meaning we can run the tests sooner and you can go home much quicker!" She answered.
"Huh, that does sound good, alright let's go." He decided causing her to squeal.
"Great! Just follow me!" She instructed as she headed towards the base.
Following beside her everything seemed to be going just as she hoped, however just to be sure she looked over her shoulder at the others who had been watching. Yet the look she gave them was one they had not expected, instead of it being a smile or some kind of expression telling them to join her, it was more of a "If you ruin this I'll rip your heart out" kind of look. Even the biggest among them which were the beetle, lion, and cyborg were unsettled, as they had never seen her look so murderous in their entire lives.
"Whoa...that was terrifying..." The frog said as she and Saitama went through the entrance.
"Yeah...though to be honest we should've seen that coming...after all she is undoubtedly his biggest fan..." The robot admitted.
"True, I honestly don't think there's anyone who's as big of a fan as her." The lion told them, earning a nod in a agreement from everyone.
"Alright, whose ass we gotta kick?" The S class hero Metal Bat asked while propping his feet up on the table, his very namesake being held in his lap all the while.
Normally it would take a pretty decent incentive to get the S class heroes to do anything, but it wasn't because they were lazy except for maybe Blast who never showed period. The reason they rarely responded when called upon is because One Punch Man could handle literally anything, and in his well known desire to find someone who could withstand one of his punches, which was impossible, he took practically every call that came his way in the hopes he'd find such an opponent. So unless the issue was right next to them or did require their specific talent, such as Child Emperor's super intelligence or Atomic Samurai's mastery of the blade, they let S class's best handle it. But now things were different, all of them had been called and given the exact same message, which was that a group of yet to be identified monsters had apparently left City Z with him, and he had done so entirely of his free will.
This immediately got every single member's attention with again Blast being the only one who didn't respond, and in less than thirty minutes all of them had arrived at association HQ to talk about it. Yet when they all sat down and waited for the meeting to get started, one by one they all began to notice that King seemed rather nervous for some reason.
"Settle down Metal Bat, we've still got to figure out the best way to respond to this." A man by the name of Sitch responded, as he was always the employee who gave them information during these meetings.
"For once I actually agree with him." Flashy Flash admitted as he gave the man a stern glare, "You can't expect us to just sit here and do nothing while something of this magnitude happens." He told him
"Of course not, but we can't rush into this with reckless abandon, for all we know nothing is actually happening here." Sitch replied.
"He does make a good point." Child Emperor chimed in, "I mean think about it, there's NO way that One Punch Man could be kidnapped or forced to do something against his will, the only way he left with them is if he did so because he wanted to." He reasoned.
"But if that's true then why did he do it? He's got a never ending horde of lunatics outside his door everyday yet he never goes out unless he has to, so what did these monsters say or offer that convinced him to follow?" Metal Bat questioned.
"Why don't we ask King?" Child Emperor suggested causing all eyes to fall on the poor man, "He is the one who called this is after all." He added.
Feeling a lump form in his throat King had no idea what to say, because while he hadn't lied he still didn't know what he could offer that would satisfy them. That's when he felt something else, something powerful and hot coming from his left that threatened to burn him alive. And as he slowly looked to the side to see what it was, even though he had a pretty good idea, he was met with a sight that left him pale as a specter. Tatsumaki who was sitting next to him stared at him with eyes filled with emotion, and the emotion that filled every last bit of space in them was the desire to murder.
"Yeah King, why don't you share with the rest of us?" She asked in a very unsettlingly calm way.
Now this kind of reaction from her of all people might seem a bit surprising, as it was no secret that for the most part the Tornado Of Terror had a very standoffish personality. However she just like the rest of S class respected One Punch Man in some way, which made sense as he was the only person who couldn't be torn apart by her ESP. This is what all of them believed was the explanation behind her reaction, as well as why she so often seemed to hang around him whenever he was present. But King knew the truth behind this reaction and he seemed to be the only one, though he never dared tell them or her that he knew as he feared it would literally be the death of him.
"Look guys...I'd love to help I really would...b-but I really don't know all that much I swear..." He answered acting as if he was being interrogated.
"Are you SURE about that?" The small woman questioned as she leaned in closer.
"Y-Yes! I wouldn't lie to you!" He exclaimed.
"Come now King, there must be something that you saw that stood out in particular?" Bang suggested, honestly preferring his real name over the one the association had given him.
"The only thing I noticed was the monsters." He replied.
"What kind of monsters were they? Any details at all could help us in figuring this out." Watchdog Man said.
"I mean they were all something different, though I guess the one thing they shared was that they were all animals, or at the very least were like hybrids of animals." He told them.
"What KIND of animals?" Zombieman inquired while leaning in, as this particular detail seemed to fascinate him.
"A bunch really." He said before taking a moment to think about it, "From what I remember...one was a mosquito, another a beetle, from there a mantis, a frog, a mole, a lion, a slug, and a robot, but I don't think it was actually a robot." He explained.
"If what you're saying is true, which I don't doubt that it is, then I know who's responsible for this." Zombieman revealed causing everyone's eyes to widen.
"Well don't just sit there with your mouth shut tell us!" Metal Bat exclaimed as he now sat properly with his feet on the floor.
"A man by the name of doctor Genus, he's the one responsible for creating me and I know he's behind these monsters, as the association and I have been keeping tabs on him for some time now, right?" He asked while looking to Sitch.
"That's correct." The other answered before a holographic projection came from the center of the table, the image it displayed being that of a very large building in the side of a mountain, "Doctor Genus was a renowned expert in the field of genetic science, however he disappeared a few years ago as he apparently achieved his life long mission, which to both our intel and that of Zombieman's is a supposed better version of the human design." He explained.
"That involves turning people into half animal hybrids?" Watchdog Man questioned.
"It isn't as ridiculous as it sounds." Zombieman assured, "The doctor is easily one of the smartest men alive, combine this with his relentless determination to be unrivaled in his field and to achieve genetic supremacy through his work, it makes sense as to why he'd go after One Punch Man." He told them.
"There's something else that supports this theory." Stitch spoke up as two more images appeared in the projection, "The monster who attacked One Punch Man's city yesterday is one of his creations, to our knowledge she is simply referred to as Mosquito Girl, and while this certainly does lead to the assumption that the attack had everything to do with him, it's this that really adds credibility to it." He informed as he pointed to one of the images.
The one he directed their attentions to was map that showed the location of City Z and the house of evolution, both of which were scarily close to each other.
"What the hell?! He's THAT close to him?!" Metal Bat asked.
"Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?!" Tatsumaki questioned as she stood up from her seat, slamming her hands down on the table out of anger.
"We didn't think there was any reason to, up until now the doctor and his organization have bene very dormant, and even in the event they tried something we believed due to how close they are to One Punch Man he'd deal with it before it could become a problem!" Sitch responded defensively.
"Good thinking, especially since we all wouldn't be here if you hadn't thought that." Child Emperor said.
"Look, this is not time to be getting caught up in such details, what's important is that now that we've got a face to put to all of this we can begin to form a plan and-"
Cutoff by the sound of a chair being roughly pushed against the floor, Sitch and the others were surprised to see Tatsumaki be the first to get up.
"You all can waste your time sitting here blabbing away like idiots, I'm going to go deal with this problem immediately." She told them as she headed for the exit.
"Yo wait up!" Metal Bat exclaimed as he pushed his chair out too, "I want to beat some skulls as much as you do you know!" He exclaimed while following her.
After that all of S class would proceed to do the same, even King who knew he shouldn't be the only one left behind.
"Wait please!" Sitch called out as one by one they went through the door.
"Sorry Sitch, but we're not good at sitting around thinking up plans, we're the act before we think kind of people." Atomic Samurai replied before his went into the hallway.
"I'm so sorry." King apologized with a bow before he too went into the hall, feeling bad because if he had just kept his big mouth shut none of this would be happening.
Left to stand there in silence with only his thoughts to keep him company, Sitch really had no way to describe what just happened over a period of thirty seconds.