The night sky is such a beautiful sight to behold, with all of it's shimmering stars and planets that lie out on the ever expanding horizon of space, sometimes it's nice to just take a pause and embrace the limitless natural beauty that is just beyond our reach. Sadly if you live in a city the night sky RARELY has much to show you, due to the immense amount of lights obstructing the view, but where as you are denied the natural beauty of the stars the city lights themselves are not a bad substitute. From flashy neon signs to the comforting glow of the street lamps, even a city where not a single star can be seen can still provide it's people with a dazzling display of color and brightness to make their nights feel just a little bit cozier and somewhat magical. Yet even with all of these lights illuminating the streets and giving comfort to those who are wary of darkness, they can only do so much to reveal the monsters that lurk in the night, as sometimes true monsters are able to walk among us and we are none the wiser.
"You know girls, it takes a LOT of effort in order to keep the peace~" A short, not too attractive man dressed in fairly sleazy attire mused as he walked down the street, two very beautiful women far beyond his league following at his sides.
"Then how come you always spend so much time with us?" The one on his right asked as she looked down at him.
"Because girls! if I don't take the time to recuperate after my work then I'd be too exhausted to protect the innocent! it's hard work making sure the world is safe you know." He answered.
"But doesn't One Punch Man do that?" The one on his left asked as she put a finger to her lip in thought "It seems like any time there's a problem he's the one who fixes it." She noted.
"Well yeah of course, he may go around punching monsters and bad guys, but WHO do you think is the one signing his checks hm?" He asked.
"Isn't that Mister Agoni though?" The one on his right chimed in.
"Look, ladies, how bout this?" He suggested as he came to a stop "If you want I could setup a private meeting with One Punch Man for you, no charge at all." He told them, causing them to go wide eyed.
"Wait really?!" They both asked in unison, VERY eager to meet the world's strongest hero.
"Mhm, all you gotta do is give me a kiss on my cheek and I can have it all arranged like that!" He exclaimed with a snap of his fingers.
However, before the women could reply or show him their disgust at such an idea, a hand was placed on top of the man's head causing them all to stop and look at who it belonged to.
"Really? you can introduce me to One Punch Man?" Garou asked as he kissed his fist "And all I have to do is just kiss your cheek, right?"
Once again, before the man or even the women could say something in reply Garou punched him right across the face, sending him flying onto the sidewalk. Now normally if this were to happen to a normal person the women would be terrified, but considering that the man was nothing more than a walking wallet who bought them things and his assailant was already leaving, all they did was take out their phones and proceed to snap a few pictures, no doubt to use against him in some way.
"Tsk, what joke." Garou muttered to himself as he walked through the street, hunching himself over slightly as to avoid drawing too much attention "Keep the peace my ass, he couldn't even take a single punch." He sighed.
Planning to go hide out somewhere until morning came, as he moved through the sea of people that surrounded him out of the corner of his eye he saw someone who caught his immediate attention.
"Hey, how much is this?" Saitama asked as he stood in front of a small store that was open on the sidewalk.
"Three thousand yen." The store owner answered, not looking up from his magazine.
"Hmm, that's pretty pricey..." Saitama murmured as he looked at a red spiky haired wig.
"Dude, you're rich." Kaemon told him bluntly as they looked at the wig as well "And why are we even doing this? is this part of your plan?" They asked.
"Mhm, but still the wig is pretty expensive..." He replied, baffling them by how he could possibly think ANYTHING is expensive with his wealth.
Yet as he continued to stand there debating on whether or not he should buy the wig he felt a light tap on his neck, almost as if a bug had landed on him.
"Hm?" He sounded as he turned around to see what it was.
Much to his and Kaemon's surprise however there was a man dressed in weird clothes standing there with his hand resting on his neck in a sort of karate chop position. What was even weirder was how the man seemed to have a stunned look of horror frozen on his face.
"Hey man, what gives?" Kaemon asked as they pointed towards Saitama with their hair "Don't you know who this is?" They asked.
"Guess not, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to rob me just now." Saitama responded for him as he within an instant delivered a karate chop of his own to the man's neck.
Feeling like a hundred pound boulder had just been dropped on him the man went straight into the ground. And while of course Saitama did not intend on killing him at all he was still surprised to see that his "attacker" didn't seem to be injured.
"Huh, he's pretty tough." Saitama noted.
"Yeah, still went down like a bag of rocks though, so he's not that tough." Kaemon replied.
With that having been dealt with they returned their focus back onto the wig, and after a few more seconds of thinking it over Saitama caved in and decided to get it.
"Thank you." The store owner told him as still without looking up from his magazine for even a second he took Saitama's money, gave him his change, and continued to read.
"Alright, now onto phase two." Saitama said as he and Kaemon walked away.
"Where we off to next? a costume store?" They asked jokingly, though from the look on Saitama's face they might actually have been right.
Meanwhile, as the two of them went on their way, the man who had tried to attack Saitama was still laying on the ground, not moving at all which didn't concern anyone around him as they still just went about their business.
"H...he didn't...even flinch..." Garou thought as he was quickly losing consciousness "T...To be honest though...was a pretty stupid idea..." He admitted as everything went black.
"So, how's she been treating you?" Fubuki asked as she took a sip of her tea.
As strange as it may sound Geryuganshoop and Fubuki had surprisingly become great friends as she continuously came over to visit with her sister. And while part of that was due to the fact that they genuinely enjoyed talking with each other, at the same time it was also because both of them knew EXACTLY what Tatsumaki was like especially behind closed doors, so it was nice to have someone to sort of vent about her with.
"Can't complain of course, without her I'd be dead already." He answered with a shrug.
"But?" She pressed, knowing that there had to be something he wanted to say.
"...Well, I don't know if you people have a term for it, but whenever the subject of Saitama comes up she always gets...scary." He said, not knowing any other way to put it than that.
"Oh yeah I can imagine." She said as she crossed her legs "Believe me, the MOMENT we both learned that we had a crush on him things got WAY more tense and awkward between us, not enough to the point where she stopped butting her nose into my business of course, but what can you do with someone so stubborn? speaking of where is she?" She asked, as in the twenty or so minutes she had been at the apartment Tatsumaki still hadn't returned.
"According to her the association's got her and the rest of S class pretty busy." He explained as he looked out the window "Apparently more and more monsters are attacking, combine this with a supposed "Hero Hunter" who's lurking around and it seems like the whole world's starting to get crazier."
"Right the hero hunter, I forgot about him." She admitted as she rested her head in her hand "To think there'd ACTUALLY be someone crazy enough to do something like that."
"You'd be surprised, people can do the most insane things sometimes, I'm pretty much living proof of that." He admitted.
"Speaking of..." She began, unsure if she should continue or not "...do you ever regret what happened? or just have any feelings about it at all?" She asked.
"...To be honest, it's complicated." He admitted as he looked down at the table "On one hand I do feel some regret for the lives that were lost, but at the same time up until then there was no one in the universe who could hold a candle to Lord Boros, let alone kill him." He explained.
"What was he like?" She asked "All I know about him is what I saw from his and Saitama's fight."
"He wasn't a terrible person to be honest, which I know may sound weird given what we did when we arrived, but he honestly wasn't too different from Saitama, before that fight I can safely say he was already dead in a sense, he barely spoke to the crew beyond when he had to, and he never left his chamber unless he was needed for something important, and while I still despise him for his recklessness and nearly getting me killed, there is a part of me that does kinda miss him." He answered.
"I see." She said, a bit surprised by his response.
"But that's all in the past now, he's dead and there's no reason to think about it more than I already have." He said as he looked up at her "Wanna go watch some TV till Tatsumaki get's back?" He asked.
With but a simple nod in response the psychic duo got up from their seats at the table and went over to Tatsumaki's couch, both wondering how much longer the green haired esper was going to be gone.
"Are you sure about this?" Dr. Genus asked, as both he and a robot belonging to Metal Knight stared towards a massive cylindrical chamber.
After their revived Sea King monster was unleashed on City J both scientists had kept themselves fairly isolated from the world, both for the sake of not drawing suspicion as well as to focus on their own personal researches and projects. However since that attack more and more monsters began to surface around the world, so much so that even with as many heroes present in the association their forces and resources were starting to be spread thin. Combine this with the sudden appearance of a "Hero Hunter" who managed to beat an S class hero, as well as most of his subordinates and a C class hero too, Metal Knight believed it was time for them to play their trump card.
"He has been in your care for the past several months Dr. Genus, and under your supervision both his recovery and his condition have been greatly improved." Metal Knight praised in reply.
"His physical well being is not the concern here." Dr. Genus argued as he looked at the other "Everyone is going to want to know how he's still alive, furthermore they're going to want to know why after having attempted to conquer the planet he's suddenly helping them, then there's also the possibility that his memory comes back to him." He explained.
"I thought you said there were no signs of brain activity?" Metal Knight questioned.
"Well yes, but you have to understand we are basically playing god now, we've brought back someone who was reduced to as much of nothing as any one creature ever has been, and during this time he has been kept under as to prevent him suddenly regaining consciousness, we do not know what will happen once we pull the plug and set him free." Dr. Genus said.
"So what do you suggest then?" Metal Knight asked.
"Simple, I can essentially start his brain again while keeping him under, give me just a bit more time to run some tests to see how much, if ANY of his previous memories are intact, once we've confirmed just how much of him is actually left in there then we'll be able to move forward without any issues or unknowns." Dr. Genus answered.
"Hm, that is reasonable." Metal Knight agreed as his robot turned around "Still, as more monsters continue to appear each stronger than the last, and with this supposed hunter on the loose, the sooner you're able to ready his release the better Dr. Genus." He told him as the robot took his leave.
"I understand, it shouldn't take more than a week, though if everything goes forward without issue it might even be sooner than that." Dr. Genus replied.
And with that their conversation came to it's end, both scientists took their leave of the room in order to continue their work, leaving a still slumbering form resting inside the chamber.