Hiiiii. So I last time I said I was gonna upload over winter break. That didn't happen. My B guys. To be fair, I did finally get enough done on the other fanfic I was working on to start posting, so I got still got something done. And then when I started writing this chapter, I realized I haven't done with Garou yet and that was a tragedy so I had to get my lad in here. Anyways, it's up now, hope you enjoy.
Chapter Twenty: Stormclouds Gathering
Things were quiet in Saitama's apartment after Tatsumaki's grand exit. Fubuki seemed to still be processing everything, King was too frightened to speak, at least his heart wasn't making any funky sounds. Genos was too focused on repairing himself to strike up any kind of conversation, and Bang and his brother, Boomy(?) were still doing acupuncture. What were they all doing here again? Oh yeah, he let them come to his house after the whole centipede thing. And Fubuki just kind of showed up on her own. His house was not big enough for these kinds of gathering. Why couldn't they meet up elsewhere? Some of them mine as well get their own apartments next door.
It was cramped in here, and lowkey Genos' whirring and the occasional grunts from Bang were kind of getting on his nerves. He hadn't eaten dinner yet today, or lunch for that matter, but he wasn't feeling very hungry. Another sensation he didn't really know, hunger. He couldn't remember the last time he felt actual hunger. Mostly he ate when it was routine, or because something smelled really damn good.
Speaking of food, Saitama wondered if he was going to have enough to feed everyone. There were quite a few people here. He checked his fridge, then frowned when he saw what was in there.
"I imagine that this was our last chance to fight Garou alone," Boomy mused to Bang. "If he has joined the monster association, this battle will be much more difficult than we originally anticipated."
Bang hummed softly. "You are right. Garou will be a formidable opponent. Hopefully he will still be injured from today's battle. I know I won't be at full strength."
"Me neither. Old age is the worst. What I wouldn't give for the vigor of the youth," Boomy sighed.
"Hear that Saitama? Sounds like you just missed the Hero Hunter, he was at the site of the battle," King said.
"Yeah, they told me," Saitama grumbled. "That bastard, I'm in A Class, shouldn't he want to come after me?"
Saitama sighed, putting on his hero gloves and boots. "I'm going out for a bit."
"Huh-Sensei! Where are you going?" Genos exclaimed.
"Yeah! We need to do something, prepare, strategize, something, anything!" Fubuki pleaded.
"I'm going to pick up some cabbage for a hotpot. And maybe look for the hero hunter for a bit. And if I find him, I'm gonna beat the crap out of him," Saitama said, closing the door behind him. He sighed. When had life gotten so damn complicated?
Saitama wandered through City Z for a while, finally deciding to stop at a restaurant to think. He obviously wasn't going to find the hero hunter like this, it was just a waste of time. Plus, he kinda wanted to eat something, he figured he'd have a quick snack here before getting the cabbage and going back home. He sat in a booth and decided to order some fries. Genos had called Dr. Kuseno earlier, but it might be a while before he would be able to pick Genos up. Bang and Bomb were planning on sleeping at the Z-City branch tonight, but he wasn't sure what King was doing. Hopefully he'd decide to leave before Saitama got home. One night of peaceful rest would be good. Why did everyone insist on barging into his house and making themselves comfortable anyways? He was kind of glad he lived in an abandoned zone, if he lived in City C, everyone would probably show up to his place. He did not have that kind of space.
The door dinged open, and Saitama saw Fubuki walk in. She slid into the seat. "Hello Saitama. What are you doing here? I thought you were off hunting the Hero Hunter?"
"I was, but then I decided to stop for a snack. Anyways, what are you doing here?" Saitama asked.
"I was looking for you. Genos was picked up by a man in a high tech flight suit, King said he was planning on going home and Bang and Bomb went to the Z-City branch. I decided that it would be rude to stay at your house unaccompanied," Fubuki said. "I assume you need help searching for the Hero Hunter. Knowing you, you do not even know what your target looks like. Silly men, didn't you think it'd be a good idea to research your enemies. I'd be willing to help you out, IF you're willing to give me 50% of the credit. Don't give me that look. 50% is perfectly fair. Besides, it's not like you'll need it."
"Nah, I'm good. I've decided I'm probably just going home after this. Well, after I pick up some groceries," Saitama said.
Fubuki groaned, her fingers clenching. Saitama absently wondered what she was so annoyed about. It's not like he was actively avoiding her as to slip through her attempts to recruit him into her group, which is exactly what she was thinking at the moment.
"Fine. Then we should talk about the Monster Association raid happening tomorrow. It would be wise to be prepared for the upcoming battle," Fubuki said.
Saitama shrugged. "I'm not really worried about it."
Fubuki blinked. "Not really worried about it? Saitama, this is the biggest calamity we've ever seen, probably more dangerous than the alien attack on City A. My sister could be walking to her death. I understand you're strong, but this is serious!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Saitama said. "Honestly, I would've already gone and done it if there hadn't been a hostage involved."
"You can't possibly believe you can defeat every monster down there!" Fubuki cried.
"Yeah, I can," Saitama replied, sticking his finger in his ear.
"The stubbornness of men. You're not listening! There are thousands of monsters down there, and at least a dozen dragon level threats! How can you possibly even imagine defeating all of those on your own?" Fubuki snapped.
"The same way I beat every other monster. With a punch," Saitama replied.
"You're impossible! You can't! Not even my big sis could destroy all of them without any kind of damage," Fubuki said.
Saitama just shrugged. Fubuki growled. "Well do you even have an idea where this place is?"
"Yeah, Child Emperor gave me a map, along with a list of known monsters in there," Saitama said, dragging a fry through his ketchup.
"Oh. Well, did you study them for strengths and weaknesses?" Fubuki asked.
"No," Saitama said.
"Exactly! Show me so I can help you prepare for your battles with them," Fubuki said.
"Won't be much of a battle," Saitama stated. "They looked pretty weak to me."
"Don't be overconfident. Some monsters hide their strength. Looks can be deceiving," Fubuki chastised.
"Yeah, I know. You say that like I haven't been a hero as long as you've been alive," Saitama grumbled.
"Tch, but you've never had to worried about leading a team into battle. You'll have to delegate some fights to others so you can focus on your opponent. A good leader knows her teams capabilities," Fubuki said.
"I'm not leading this expedition. Child Emperor and Suckingguy are," Saitama said.
Fubuki spit her water at him in shock. "Who!?"
"Hey! You didn't pay! Get back here!" Someone yelled behind him.
"A dine and dasher! Unforgivable! Fubuki, take this and pay the waiter for me! This crime shall not stand!" Saitama yelled, throwing some coins on the table. Fubuki looked shocked but didn't have time to protest as Saitama sped off after the dude.
Saitama caught up to him at a park of some kind. Just as he was about to give this guy the earful of a lifetime, the kid shouted, "HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!"
Saitama blinked, looking down at the park, where a couple of kids were running away from another kid who was crying on the ground. The dine and dasher slid down to the crying kid and started talking to him. Saitama couldn't hear what they were saying, but they seemed genuinely happy to see each other. Man, now he didn't even want to yell at him.
"Gaaarouuuu," a singsong voice came from the woods. The sound of metal scraping against concrete rang through the park. "Silly boy. Have you forgotten your assignment from Gyoro Gyoro? The Hero Hunter hunts heroes, not little boys. I'm the one who carves their faces off. Or do you not have the stomach to kill heroes?"
A monster wrapped in bandages, with two long blades where hands should be, stalked out of the woods. Another monster, green and insect looking followed, arms crossed. So this guy was the Hero Hunter, huh? What a letdown. He expected the guy to have some kind of code. Stealing from restaurants? That was low. The dine and dasher snarled at them. "What are you doing here? I didn't know monsters acted like lap dogs for that overgrown tumor."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. We've been following you Garou. Gyoro Gyoro asked us to watch you take a hero's head, and so far you've been a disappointment. One even followed you here, and you still haven't killed him yet," the bandaged monster said, pointing one of its swords at Saitama.
Garou looked up at him surprise, then back to the monster. "I'll deal with him after I'm done with you. This doesn't concern you. Get out of here."
"Oh-ho, I don't think so. We're going to kill you, the hero and that kid," the monster said, pointing his sword at each of them. "I am going to relish in your screams."
"Kid! Get out of here! You! You're a hero, right? Get him out of here!" The Hero Hunter barked.
Saitama slid down to the kid. He looked at Garou, who growled "Well? What are you waiting for, a kiss? Get a move on!"
"You're an interesting guy Garou. I'll be back for you," Saitama said.
"Tch, whatever. Take Tareo and get out of here," Garou said to him, turning to face the monsters.
"I know you. You're that A-Class hero, Amber Annihilator!" the kid, Tareo cried.
"Oh goody, an A-Class! Gyoro Gyoro will be pleased," the blade monster said. "I will take your face as a trophy."
"You better come back so I can kick your ass," Garou muttered. "Nobody follows me and gets away with it."
"Come on kid, can you stand?" Saitama asked. The kid shook his head. Saitama sighed, scooping him up. "Alright, where do you live?"
"C-c-city R," The kid replied. "What about uncle?"
"You're related?" Saitama said, confused. They looked nothing alike.
"Well, no. But he saved me a couple times!" the kid sputtered. "Please, you have to help him!"
"Don't worry, he'll be fine. I'll come back," Saitama said. "Alright, hold on."
Saitama took off, the city blurring past as he ran to City R. Tareo squeezed his eyes shut to keep the wind out of his eyes. Saitama found Tareo's home pretty quickly, and dropped him off. He seemed too stunned to say anything, so Saitama just left him, running back to where Garou and the monsters fought.
"Come on now Bug God, can't I just kill him a little bit more?" the sword monster asked.
The green monster shook his head. "I told you, Gyoro Gyoro wants him almost dead, not fully dead."
"Fu fu, this guy is so annoying. Are you sure we can't kill him?" some brown, watery monster asked. "Tripping him up with sewage isn't nearly enough revenge for what he did to me!"
"No. Gyoro Gyoro wants him alive," the bug monster replied.
The sword monster huffed. "Come on, I didn't even get to kill that kid! I need to kill something!"
"Oi!" Saitama yelled, sliding back into the park towards the monsters. "Leave him alone!"
"Oh ho ho, a hero saving the Hero Hunter?" The bladed monster chuckled. "How poetic. Unfortunately, you caught me in a bloodlust. I'm going to rip you to pieces."
The monster lunged at him, sword thrust to spear him through the eye. Saitama simply caught the blade. "You're from the Monster Association, aren't you?"
The bug monster hit him in the side of the face. Saitama didn't react.
"Bwah?! You survived a full powered attack?!" Bug monster cried. "I almost knocked Garou out with that!"
"Are you? Tell Orakei that Garou's under my protection," Saitama said, dropping the sword.
"Who?" the bandaged monster asked.
"Your boss. The Monster King, Orakei," Saitama said.
"You mean Orochi?" the bug monster asked. Saitama punched him, splattering his guts all over the park.
"It only takes one to send a message. Which one of you wants to face Orochi?" Saitama said, raising his steaming fist. Both monsters' eyes were wide with shock. As one, they both turned and fled back into the forest. Saitama just huffed at their cowardice and grabbed Garou, slinging the Hero Hunter over his back and headed towards home.
When Saitama returned to his apartment with Garou slung over his shoulder, he did not expect to find King still there playing on his device.
"Hey King. What are you still doing here?" Saitama asked, setting Garou down on the floor.
"I'm just finishing up this level, I'm gonna go in a second," King mumbled, not looking up at him.
"Ok, cool. I'm gonna make some dinner. You gonna want some?" Saitama asked.
"Uh, nah, I'll eat when I get home. It's not that late," King said.
"You do realize it's almost 8:00, right?" Saitama asked.
"What?" King said, finally looking up. "Wha– who the hell is that?"
"Hm? Oh, that's just Garou," Saitama replied.
"Garou!? The Hero Hunter!?" King shrieked.
"Yeah, I found him," Saitama said.
"What happened to him? And why did you bring him here?" King asked.
"He ran into some monsters. He looks like he needs to heal," Saitama said.
"Um, ok. Well, uh, shouldn't we bandage him, or something, then?" King stuttered.
"Nah. He's healing already," Saitama said.
"Oh," King blinked. "Do you need any help in the kitchen?"
"Sure. Start cutting up some onions," Saitama replied.
Half an hour later Garou erupted from his sitting position screaming "Tareo!"
"Woah, dude, chill out," Saitama said, holding out the pot. Garou whirled around and punched him in the face. "That's not chilling out. Here, hungry?"
Garou turned white as a ghost, and Saitama looked at him strangely. Just what was going on inside his head?
Garou was dumbstruck. The last thing he remembered was being blindsided, literally, by the sludge monster, then a huge slash down his spine, then darkness. Then all of a sudden he wakes up in someone's house, and they're totally unaffected by his strike, and he's offered food? What was going on?
"So you're the infamous Hero Hunter, eh?" Garou's host asked, putting the pot on his table, then heading back towards the kitchen. Garou never left his fighting stance, eyes scanning his surroundings. "How'd you ever beat Metal Bat like that?"
"Who the hell are you?" Garou demanded. "Where am I?"
"I'm Saitama. I'm a hero for fun. You're in my house," Saitama called. "Thanks King."
Saitama came back to the room, followed by King…King!? Garou leaped back, landing on the TV stand.
"Hey Saitama, the Hero Hunter's awake," King said, eyeing Garou nervously. That gave Garou a bit of pride. To think King of all people was nervous of him showed how strong he'd become.
"Yeah I know," Saitama replied. The other man, the bald 'hero for fun' was an enigma though. Who the hell was he? And why the hell was he so damn calm?
"Oi. You want dinner or not?" Saitama asked.
"Like hell. Where is Tareo?" Garou demanded.
"I took him home. He's fine," Saitama said. "Sit. Eat."
"That's probably poisoned–" Garou started as Saitama and King started eating with their chopsticks. Nevermind. Garou growled. "I don't know what your game is, but I'm not gonna go quietly, ya hear me? I don't care if I've got a thousand bleeding wounds, I'll take you all on! King! Fight me!"
"No," the larger man rumbled, the King Engine flaring to life. "You are injured. Besides, it would be rude to deny the hospitality of your host."
Garou blanched. King's message was crystal clear, he was damaged, and would never defeat him in his current state. King was more concerned with messing up Saitama's apartment than he was with Garou. A sneer tore across his face. How dare King look down on him? He was the goddamn Hero Hunter, he wasn't afraid of any hero.
But King did have some truth to his words. His wounds were still fresh, and although they were slowly healing, he was far from full strength. Grudgingly, he sat next to the two heroes and picked up the chopsticks they left for him.
"So who was that kid you saved earlier?" Saitama asked.
"Tareo? That brat's just some kid I keep running into," Garou answered.
Saitama hummed, slurping a noodle. "He said you saved him before."
"Tch, yeah Death Gatling tried to shoot me and Tareo would've been caught in the crossfire. I protected myself, and technically helped him," Garou said. "Don't make a big deal out of it."
"Death who?" Saitama asked.
"Death Gatling. A-Class hero with a big gun for a hand. You're a hero, how can you be this ignorant of your fellow heroes?" Garou sneered.
"I'm kinda new to this whole organized hero-thing. Didn't realize you could make money off of being a hero. Would've come in handy a couple years ago," Saitama grumbled.
"Tch, says the hero for fun," Garou muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Saitama wondered.
"You heroes, you're all the same. You don't care about the people you "save". You don't care about the monsters you slaughter. You just go out dishing your twisted sense of justice to anyone you think deserves it," Garou sneered.
"And what about the monsters that are monsters that kill humans?" Saitama asked.
"Have you ever thought that monsters aren't just mindless killing machines? Do you know why the Seafolk attacked City J? How do you know they weren't forcefully removed from their homes due to pollution humans make? What about the monster that attacked City A a few months back? He was literally created due to pollution and wanted to put an end to it. But I bet you never stopped to think about that, did you, hero for fun. No, you run amok, crying about your warped sense of heroism, all while people cheer your name and throw money at your feet. You're like celebrities, putting on a show as you step on the neck of monsters everywhere, leaving the root cause undiagnosed so you can continue your charade of justice, parading about in fancy clothes and expensive toys," Garou sneered.
"And what are you going to do about it?" Saitama asked.
"I'm going to be a monster no hero can defeat. I'm going to tear down the Hero Association, and become a symbol of fear for the whole world to see. The world doesn't need your biased justice. It needs unbiased evil. I will unite everyone under a banner of fear, with no more stupid heroes and their flawed sense of morality, no more will kids be picked on and called a monster, no one will be judged based on their appearance or qualifications, no more prejudices will exist because they will be too busy fearing me," Garou snarled, nails digging into the wood of the table.
"So you want to sacrifice your humanity to achieve world peace?" Saitama asked. "Sounds pretty heroic to me."
"Gah–What are you talking about? Didn't you hear a word I said? I'm going to destroy the Hero Association and every hero in it," Garou snapped.
"Yeah I heard you," Saitama replied, leaning back and sticking a finger in his ear. "You think heroism as a profession is corrupt so you want to fix society by making everyone afraid of you. Not the way I would go about it, but an admirable goal."
"Shut up! I'm going to become a monster! How is that admirable? I'll hunt you too!" Garou roared.
"But you won't kill me, even if you could," Saitama said. "You've killed plenty of monsters, but haven't killed any heroes yet. Talk about twisted, eh King?"
"Hm. I'm going to head home. Thank you for the meal, Saitama," King said.
"Hm? Oh, bye King," Saitama said as he left.
Garou frowned. That was odd. Why would King leave? Now there was nothing stopping him from attacking this hero. Tch, calling him a hero, how dare he? Garou was a monster, through and through. And no one, not Gyoro Gyoro, not Royal Ripper and certainly not this no-name loser from the Hero Association was going to tell him any different.
"Help me with the dishes?" Saitama asked, grabbing the pot. Tch, like he, the strongest monster would ever do something as menial as cleaning dishes.
Garou scrubbed his plate, accepting the sponge from Saitama. He ran the soapy dish under the stream of water and placed it on the towel to dry. The pot the hotpot was in was harder to clean. The oil from the broth resisted the soap, but eventually was cleaned. Garou dried the pot off with a towel, then handed it to Saitama to put away.
"So what's your plan now, Garou?" Saitama asked.
"The Monster Association attacked me and Tareo. Gyoro Gyoro lied to me. I'm going to rip that bastard's fucking eye out," Garou growled.
"The S-Class and I are raiding the monster association tomorrow. You could just leave. We'll take care of all the monsters down there," Saitama said nonchalantly.
"No," Garou snarled. "This is a matter of pride. They attacked me, I won't let some lame ass heroes get in the way of my vengeance. Just be ready to have a clean up crew for the mess I'm about to make."
Saitama shrugged. "Whatever man. Your call. Just don't fight any heroes if you see some tomorrow."
Garou nodded as he walked towards the balcony. "I'll think about it. All bets are off if they hit me first though. One way or another, I'll see you tomorrow, Saitama the Hero."
Garou launched off into the night without a sound.
Saitama stood in front of his TV with a frown on his face. Said TV was duct taped at the bottom to the stand with almost half the roll. The other half was used to tape the TV to the wall. But Saitama still didn't think that was enough tape. Hey, TV's were expensive! Not like back in his day. He could get one for like 15,000 yen 15 years ago. Now they are closer to 70,000 yen! What was up with that? And they had so many odd little buttons he couldn't figure out what to do with. He didn't need a voice control or a retina scanner or some weird little doo-hickey. He just wanted to watch the news.
Saitama stared at his reflection on the TV. "I'm getting old, aren't I?"
Man, he had been griping about the new era of technology and how things were 'back in his day'. It's over for him. It's done, he's old. He's already bald for goodness sake! Saitama was not going to get hearing aids. No matter how bad his hearing gets, he's not putting those things in his ears. Same with contacts. If he starts needing glasses, he will never put contacts in his eyes. He didn't get why anyone would. The thought of plastic on your eyelids…Saitama shuddered. It was gross.
Saitama looked around his apartment. His clothes were packed into neat boxes resting in his closet, his cabinets in his kitchen and bathroom had been taped shut, his manga and videogames were put into boxes. His futon was rolled up and put in the corner, and his refrigerator was also taped shut.
Apparently, the big monster association thingie-majig was right in his backyard. When Child Emperor told him that, and then sent him a bunch of info on some of the monsters, Saitama got worried about his stuff. If there were gonna be a bunch of dudes duking it out right behind his house, he didn't want his house shaking and knocking everything around. It happened a couple times before. At least this time he got a heads up. That was nice.
Taking one last survey around his apartment, Saitama decided it was time to go. All his guests last night had already left to meet up at the Z-City branch. From there they were going to launch their assault. They were leaving at 11:00, which was in like, half an hour. He should have plenty of time to run there. As Saitama started getting his hero costume on, there was a knock on his door. Saitama frowned. Who could that be? Everyone should be at the Z-City branch, right?
After he pulled his gloves on, he went over to the door. Two men in tuxes stood outside. "Hello Mr. Saitama. My name is Agent Yur, and this is my partner, Agent Tym. It has come to our attention that you have not been paying taxes. The IRS would like a word with you."
Zombieman rubbed his temples with a groan. He really wished they'd allow him to smoke in here. That would at least give him something to do besides listen to these idiots gripe about everything he could possibly think of. Seriously Darkshine, no one cared that the protein shakes he drinks every other Thursday afternoon and whether or not they had enough calcium, or iron, or whatever. Ok, maybe that B-Class woman, Capitan Muzuko or whoever was pretty invested, but really? Wasn't it kind of early for people to be talking about this kind of shit?
Zombieman sighed, fingering his pack of cigarettes. Soon. Soon they would be on their way to the outskirts of Z-City and smoke all he wanted.
In retrospect, he might have an addiction.
Oh well, not like these things could kill him anyway. If no monster could rip him apart to where he couldn't just regenerate, what chance did these drug tubes have? Besides, it gave him something to do in situations like these. When it was so damn boring.
Zombieman huffed, scanning the room. All of the S-Class had arrived, minus Saitama. The A—C Class heroes that Sekingar and Child Emperor had picked out to accompany them on the surface were also mostly here. There might be a couple that haven't arrived yet, but Zombieman wasn't really sure who was on the strike team. Though in his opinion, it would be better to have Metal Knight's robots guard the exits, rather than these lower class heroes. They were liable to get themselves injured or killed. Sure, Sekingar and Child Emperor had picked the best from the lower classes, but at the end of the day, they were still human.
Then Zombieman's red eyes fell upon Tatsumaki. She stood in the corner alone. That inherently wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that she wasn't glaring at anyone. Instead, her gaze was on the floor.
Zombieman sighed. If Tatsumaki wasn't angry at anyone else, there was only one person she could be mad at. With a groan, he stood up from his bench, cracking his spine before making his way over to the tiny ESPer.
"You think they'd just get on with it already," Zombieman grumbled. "We've only been waiting to go for an hour now."
Tatsumaki didn't reply, and Zombieman internally groaned even harder. She didn't even acknowledge him, not to tell him to fuck off or say anything about his comment. It was worse than he thought.
"It's a bit of a shame that we have to go in understaffed. Metal Bat and Tanktop Master are both in the hospital, Drive Knight's MIA, and obviously Watchdog Man isn't coming," Zombieman muttered. "It's going to be kind of annoying without them."
No snappy response about how useless they were? No snarky comment about how she'd kill the most monsters anyway? No angry growl that she wasn't allowed to go in all by herself and that she didn't need any help? Man, she was really upset about something.
"Well at least Saitama's coming with us," Zombieman said. "Thought he better hurry up or he'll miss the bus."
"He'll be here," Tatsumaki whispered. "Don't worry, he'll come."
Phew, she wasn't that far gone. One thing Zombieman had learned in the past few months, if he ever needed to get Tatsumaki out of a tantrum, just start talking about Saitama. That always seemed to brighten her spirits, and it was no wonder as to why.
"Kind of a shame he has to run all the way here just to drive back," Zombieman said. "We could've just met him at the rendezvous point."
"That's what I said!" Tatsumaki threw her hands in the air. "But no, the Hero Association has to show a unified front or whatever, it's bullshit! He could have taken the whole place out before lunch."
"Yeah, probably. It's crazy that one man could have so much power. And here I thought you were strong," Zombieman laughed.
That seemed to have struck a nerve because Tatsumaki scowled at him, her aura flaring dangerously. "What's that supposed to mean huh? You think I'm weak!? I'll show you that I'm stronger than all you weaklings combined!"
With a dramatic flip of her hair, Tatsumaki flew off to probably a different secluded corner of the massive room. Zombieman sighed and shrugged, fingers glossing over his packet of cigarettes. What he wouldn't give for a smoke right about now.
Zombieman spotted Child Emperor tapping away at his tablet and decided to go over. "Hey Child Emperor."
"Hello Zombieman," Child Emperor replied. "What was that about? With Tatsumaki?"
"No idea," Zombieman admitted. "Maybe some kind of inferiority complex caused by Saitama."
"Doubtful," Child Emperor rebuked. "She idolizes the man. Practically bases her entire perception of strength off him. Which is kind of counter intuitive because so far I haven't found the numbers to describe how strong he is."
"He's that strong?" Zombieman asked.
"He could probably break the world in half if he tried," Child Emperor said.
"Damn," Zombieman exhaled. He really wanted a smoke.
"Yeah…" Child Emperor frowned. "I am concerned about Silverfang. I don't know if we can rely on him to stay focused on this mission. He is too distracted by Garou. I fear that he will abandon the mission of rescuing the child and attempt to defeat Garou on his own. We can't afford these kinds of distractions."
"Bang will be fine," Zombieman assured him. "What's the worst that can happen, someone finds Garou down there and Bang goes on a killing spree to get to him?"
"I'm not sure Silverfang has the will to put Garou down," Child Emperor said. "He'll be soft on his former apprentice, and let him escape again. We can't allow that to happen."
"From what I heard, Bang wasn't holding back last time. Garou had to be saved by some bird monster and Elder Centipede," Zombieman said.
Child Emperor shook his head. "Genos said that Silverfang interrupted his own battle with the Hero Hunter, and later attempted to convince Genos not to fire at him and the bird monster."
Zombieman shrugged. "The chances of those two running into each other down there are exceedingly low. You put the map together, it's a big place. Besides, Garou doesn't seem like a team player. He might not stick around at all. He's killed monsters during his hunt."
"Perhaps," Child Emperor mused, not looking entirely convinced. "There are far too many variables. We can't risk anything going wrong."
"We'll rescue the kid, don't you worry Child Emperor," Zombieman said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We're professionals."
"It's not just the kid I'm worried about. I'm worried I'm leading us into danger," Child Emperor said.
"Of course you are, we're facing a ton of monsters. Danger comes with the job," Zombieman said.
"And yet we've never had an assignment like this before," Child Emperor argued. "This threat is of a scale we've never seen before. Not even the alien attack on City A called for the entirety of the Hero Association's reserves."
"Well, that was mostly due to Saitama," Zombieman said. "And the only reason all of us are here is because Narinki's kid got kidnapped. Tornado could probably wipe this place off the map without our help, and any of the S-Class could clear out a majority of the monsters in there. We've all gathered here for the sake of efficiency, and to prove a point. The Hero Association wants to show off what happens when someone fuck with them. Let's get this over with so I can get back to doing what I'm used to. Blood is annoying to get out of my clothes."
Child Emperor huffed. "You're wrong. The monsters in there are more dangerous than you know."
"We all know what we signed up for. Everyone here came willingly, knowing full well that there's a chance they won't make it back. It's our duty as heroes to see this through," Zombieman said.
Child Emperor sighed. "You're right, of course. I'm just worried."
"Don't beat yourself up about it. We'll be fine," Zombieman reassured him.
"And you're right again, it's just about time to leave. Let's round everyone up," Child Emperor said. The two S-Class Heroes made their way to the front of the room, where they were met by Sekingar and Sitch. "Is everything ready?"
"It appears so. We're just doubling checking the medical equipment in the med trucks," Sekingar said. "Then we should be ready to go."
"Is everyone here?" Child Emperor asked.
"Everyone except Saitama," Sitch answered.
Child Emperor frowned. "Where is he? Has anyone been in contact with him."
Sitch shook his head. "No, we've called him a couple times but no response."
"He's probably already there!" A shrill voice replied. How Tatsumaki had snuck up behind them Child Emperor couldn't guess. "Let's go so I actually get to kill something today!"
"Patience Tatsumaki, we don't know for sure that he's there. He could simply still be asleep for all we know. It would be rash to invade without one of our biggest guns," Sekingar said.
"Did you seriously suggest that Saitama overslept?" Tatsumaki guffawed. "If idiots like you drew up the battle plans then we're in trouble today. Saitama is the greatest hero this world's ever seen, he doesn't oversleep. Even if he's just late, there's no reason to wait up for him. He'll show up when we need him."
Sitch and Sekingar exchanged a look. "Very well. We'll begin the load up."
"Good," Tatsumaki huffed, flipping her hair. "Maybe some of you won't be a complete waste today."
She saw the looks Child Emperor and Zombieman were giving her. "What?"