The bizarre nature of the elevator shaft seemed absent on the way back up, perhaps it was the speed of which Saitama had fallen that had made it seem so odd in the first place, and now that he was climbing back up things seemed perfectly normal. Aside from the smell of copper and electricity the world had seemed to change, this was a return to normalcy, however abnormal the world above was. Saitama made great strides toward the surface, his progress not at all hindered by the still unconscious Tanaka, who had begun to sweat and babble things whilst hung over his shoulder. The incorrectly numbered plaques remained on the inside of the shaft and Saitama once again wondered what purpose they could possibly serve.

It wasn't long after Saitama had been climbing that he came to a realization: if all of the elevator doors were incorrectly numbered, how would he know when he came across the door to the lobby. As usual, he became angry, he had places to be and he didn't think he had time (despite the fact that he did actually have plenty of time and nowhere to be) to check every door. Instead he frantically began climbing faster, instead of looking for the next object to grab onto, he simply plunged his hands into the wall and leaped forward again and again. Eventually he stopped, distracted by a screeching sound. Hesitantly, Saitama looked up, to see a rapidly approaching elevator. His eyes widened suddenly as he threw himself down.

As he fell, a split second passed where he thought he recognized a familiar face prying open elevator doors. In a moment of nothing but hope, Saitama was forced to stop his rapid descent and thow himself back up and through the now wide open doors, barely missing the falling elevator and tumbling forward onto the lobby floor. Saitama sprung to his feet with a casual expression, looked back to the elevator door, and became spectacularly confused. The elevator doorway was empty.

"Sensei, I apologize for being in your way."

Saitama looked back to see Genos embedded in the far wall of the association's lobby, he must of hit him when he launched through the elevator. Tatsumaki dislodged the cyborg from the wall before calmly moving over to Tanaka, who had been thrown even further than Saitama, though she showed no sign of significant injury. She remained unconscious but was now covered in sweat and shaking violently. Tatsumaki turned her attention to Saitama.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Don't know, she got into a room down there that was apparently really dangerous. When I opened the doors I found her like this." Saitama responded.

Saitama took a moment to look around the room. Genos was performing maintenance on his left arm which looked like it had taken some damage when he and Saitama connected. Sometimes Saitama thought that built his arms so frail just so Genos would have to visit more often. Tatsumaki seemed mildly annoyed as per usual, though he knew she was happy he was back. Near the entrance Sonic sat with an absolutely terrified and humiliated expression, beneath him laid Metal Bat who seemed to have fallen asleep and was now having a terrible nightmare.

"Genos… what the heck happened?" Saitama asked in a state of confusion.

"The S class hero Metal Bat arrived approximately 10 minutes after you chased after Sonic's female accomplice. He seemed deranged, believing that the female accomplice was plotting the assassination of several heroes family members, including and especially his." Genos responded in calculated tone. "He seemed destructive and disruptive, so we-"

"I knocked him out with deadly toxins." Sonic interjected. "But really, he doesn't seem bothered by them at all, I must not have made them very potent…"

"Huh, you know, for an assassin, you don't seem to kill many of your targets." Saitama remarked.

"...I'm going to kill you." Sonic said angrily.

"Sure you are, anyway, Genos how's your arm?"

"I have already repaired it, master." Genos said in a relieved tone.

"Good, I want you to carry this girl back to my place. I wanna ask her some questions when she wakes up."

"Wait, what!?" Tatsumaki but in. "Do you even know who she is? She could be a high class thief, or a murderer or, or-"

"An assassin, Her name is Tanaka Torimia and she's-" Saitama was in the process of explaining when Metal Bat awoke and disrupted the entire room.

"TOOOORIMIAAAAAAAAAAA!" He sprung up, his pupils seemed tiny and his stance resembled that of a loosely strung puppet.

"FIRST, TATAKI-" Metal bat continued to scream at the top of his lungs.

"How do you know-" Saitama began to ask, the situation was just too weird for him to comprehend.

"NEXT, SHE GOES AFTER TORIMIA, AND NOW THAT HE'S HID HIMSELF AWAY, SHE'S GONNA COME AFTER ZENKO, WELL I WON'T LET HER, I WON'T LET HER, I WON'T LE-" The final cut off occurred as Saitama sent a punch directly into Metal Bat's stomach, sending him flying across the room and landing flat on his back.

"So loud, honestly, just stay sleeping if you're going to shout so much. Tats, can you go home ahead of Genos, I want to get an aerial assurance no one's going to get in the way. We should get answers soon."

Tatsumaki seemed especially upset with the trivial task. "And just what are you going to do in the meantime?"

"I sort of Promised Sonic a fight, and since no one's here I guess this is a decent location for it, and after that five minutes is over I guess I can look after that weirdo." Saitama pointed behind him to the still out of comission Metal Bat.

"Pfft, fine, Genos, let's head out." Tatsumaki said before flying off.

Genos walked forward and scooped Tanaka off the ground, She was beginning to shift in her sleep now. Genos seemed uncomfortable with the notion, and he turned again to Saitama.

"Master, are you sure about this?"

"Not really, but my gut tells me that this is what we should be doing."

"Very well, I will see you at your home."

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" A metal bat struck the back of Saitama's head, causing the weapon to dent terribly but not bend.

Saitama turned slowly to see Metal Bat, still looking utterly exhausted, but more prepared to fight than before. Saitama cracked a stupid grin.

"Oh, I guess I'll have to put you on hold Sonic. Let's see how far we can push this little Talent of yours, Metal Bat."

Saitama launched another fist into Metal Bat, causing blood to erupt from the stricken area along with his mouth, but he did not fall down.

"Genos, go now, this could get really messy." The voice didn't come from Saitama this time, however, it was Sonic who had spoken. Sonic patted Genos' shoulder as he walked casually over to Saitama's side.

"I'm going to show this bastard what happens when you embarrass me infront of my…" He seemed to struggle for a moment to find the right word to use. "Rivals." He finally settled on the word, though he seemed less than content with it. Saitama glanced over to Sonic dismissively, everyone in the room knew that he was not needed in this fight, but Saitama didn't say anything. If sonic got knocked out during the fight that would make things much simpler for Saitama.

Metal Bat rushed forward again, he seemed to be fully blinded by his rage at this point. Genos turned around before giving one last glance back at his master and taking off towards Saitama's apartment. It was a bit of a trek to get between the HA and his master's apartment building, but Genos had no intention of taking much time getting there. He ran through the streets at high speeds, he didn't dare fly with his unconscious passenger, at the speed he flew she could easily fall or suffer whiplash when she woke up. The further he got from the association the more populated the streets became. He had made this trip many times before, so for all intents and purposes he was on autopilot. He must have taken a wrong turn however, as he eventually ended up again on an empty street, except this wasn't like the empty street near the association. Here he felt this overwhelming sense of dread and loneliness. He turned around the corner he had come from, expecting to see the street densely inhabited as he had remembered it. The street was, once again, empty. He began to backpedal, suddenly he didn't feel like he was in control of anything. Genos was alone and afraid.

A hand clasped Genos' shoulder and suddenly he felt safe and calm again. Something bothered him though, the hand hadn't only lifted an emotional weight from his shoulder, it had lifted a literal weight as well. Genos spun around to see a young man in a long trenchcoat and hat that overshadowed his eyes. Underneath the hat erupted orange hair that complemented his freckles, pale skin, and sly grin as he knelt down to the woman that Genos had previously been carrying. She was still squirming in her sleep, the young man reached out to touch her forehead.

"S-stop at once!" Genos yelled. "If you continu-"

The man put one finger on his lips as if to tell Genos to "shh." Genos placed his hand over his mouth, though he didn't know why. Something felt very, very wrong, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything about it. He didn't feel like himself. The man looked back to the woman and began to whisper to her.

"Too much, huh? Well, I had my suspicions. I thought Sonic would be of at least some use, but I'm always ready for him to disappoint me."

The girl began to shake even more violently, her face scrunched up as she writhed and gasped for air. The young man seemed to be reminded of something by her worried motions, and he went back to whispering to her.

"Was it really that bad? Now, now, calm down Tanaka, that's enough of that."

He touched her forehead and traced the outline of her face. Her panic was replaced by relaxed breathing and her face seemed totally at peace. The young man stood up and looked to Genos, his eyes still covered by the shadow of his hat, but his suspiciously bright and wide smile was all too clear. Still, inexplicably, Genos felt some sort of trust towards him.

"Who are you?" Genos asked.

"A lot of people call me a lot of things. I am the Prince." He responded with a little bow.

"The… of what?"

The Prince seemed surprised, like no one had ever asked him that question before. His smile was quickly regained however, even accompanied by a small chuckle that erupted into a hearty laugh. Eventually he calmed down down, gasping for air and wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

"Never you mind that, Genos. I have many subjects, isn't that what's important?"

"I…" Genos had a great many things to say, but he couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Words, ah, they get in the way. Just let me talk for now. I want you to take little Tanaka here, and run on down to City Z for me, alright?"

With that, the Prince began to walk away, as if business had subsided in a totally normal fashion. Genos on the other hand, was shaken out of his stupor by a thought.

"Master Saitama instructed me to take this woman to his place of residence. That is what I intend to do."

The Prince turned around, completely bewildered by Genos' resistance. His eyes, for the first time, became clear to see as his pupils shrunk intensely, and suddenly Genos felt great fear. The Prince must have seen Genos' reaction, because he grew a nervous smile before returning to a normal calm and sly stature.

"Oh, believe me, he'll be very grateful you went to City Z instead. You even have air support to tell him where you're going, remember?" The prince pointed up to Tatsumaki, who must've been lingering there the entire time. Though he couldn't see her face, Genos knew that she must have been agitated by the stop, and looking down at him condescendingly.

"I am not sure I would call it air 'support'." Genos said as he stared up at Tatsumaki. When he looked back down he found himself alone again. He gave the situation a moment of thought, everything in him told him to follow Saitama's orders. Yet, he found himself picking Tanaka up and heading for City Z.

A/N: SO, why is this a week late? Well, for a lot of reasons. For one, I had another health emergency and that took up a great bit of time, but it was taken care of quickly enough. A lot of other unforeseen events also occurred, which is a result of me being an adult now. Thirdly, I'm still job hunting and that has taken up most of my time. Finally, I wanted to make sure that things were properly set up for the next three chapters since they are the final stretch of this act and,well, shit goes down.

On the bright side, the next chapter is pretty much done and will be released on time next Thursday. Also, My family's cat gave birth a couple months ago, and now that their old enough to be separated, one has taken a liking to me and he has since moved in. His name is Thorin and he likes to sit in my lap while I write and play TF2. I'll see you guys next Thursday, on time, I promise!

Next chapter: Passes the Crown