Inichi was quick to transport Sanda and Tajima to the separate locations they needed to go to. A board member with staff was ready to greet Sanda. Tajima was transported to one of Sweet Mask's private retreats for now. Once that was done, he went to see to transporting the slumbering Secret Skins to City Z.
"We need to keep him sleeping," Inichi said.
"Here," Genos said and showed a gas mask with a sleeping gas tank hooked up to it. "Metal Knight was able to assure that such a thing would be ready."
"Very good," Inichi chuckled. While they continued to prep the others for travel, Siren found herself walking away silently. On finding a guest room, she let herself in and jumped onto the bed to lightly kick her feet.
"Bofoi," Siren said when she pressed a button on her ring to talk.
"My dear? Is something wrong?" he asked from her ring. "Where are you?"
"In a guest room. I wanted to talk privately to you. I want to…see you now," she frowned and shivered. "I don't want to wait anymore."
"I see…" he sighed.
"I know you want to see the Secret Skins stuff, but…" she frowned.
"You know what? I can watch through the cameras, anyways. And I can have a robot there to speak for me. For us. The others will be there, too, to ensure things go well. Come to me, my dear," he soothed. "You're right. It's time for us stand with each other and not from afar."
"Good!" she said with relief and jumped up to quickly run to the elevator. Once she got out, she flew over to where Saitama and Mitsumi were standing outside the mansion. "Lady Mitsumi! I'm going to go and meet with Metal Knight. We agreed it was time, and he can watch things through cameras."
"Okay. Let Inichi know if you need anything," Mitsumi smiled and hugged her. "Come home whenever you want. Ah. I'll also have Inichi collect your dress. Tacki can hold onto it for you."
"I will. And, yeah, my dress! Tacki can hold onto it for me until I get back. Um…if it's okay, I may want to have a special underground chamber done to move from his place to our home. To keep things discreet," Siren chuckled. Saitama thought about it and nodded.
"Sounds good. We can use that for emergencies, too. We can arrange something," Saitama agreed. Siren was quick to jump into the air and fly off swiftly to Neutral Grounds. She made herself invisible and didn't take long at all to get into the back room of the restaurant. The elevator was already waiting for her, and she was quick to enter it with a form of excitement.
Much like a bullet train, it shot through the tunnel at break-neck speed. Within a minute, she found herself let out onto a steel platform with various guardian robots all around. It was definitely underground, but there was no way she'd know where her location was. There was only one there that wasn't made of metal, and he was wearing a white laboratory coat over his usual clothes.
She removed the invisibility when she cautiously stepped out and blinked her glowing green eyes at him. She didn't become her other body yet, but she was trembling with an uncertain joy now on seeing him standing in front of her. He was a foot and a half taller than her four foot height, and they could only just stare at each other with a sense of excited elation. He was even shaking slightly, despite the usually calm stance he gave to others. He knew he had to say something.
"Siren…!" Bofoi breathed on seeing her. He was actually a bit speechless from his own form of rare nervousness and tried to think of what else to say to break the odd silence. "You look…I mean…well…"
"Bofoi!" she gasped and leapt over to jump into his arms. He hugged her tight now and sighed with intense relief that she was finally in his arms. He felt her tears form when she whimpered softly with her own form of intense relief. He whispered softly that everything was fine while drying her eyes tenderly. For several minutes, all he did was hold her there and gently rock her. She opened her eyes when she realized they were finally moving. But he's not walking…?
"All of the tiles in my home can do this. Just in case," he chuckled softly and gazed at her fondly. She blinked that the tile he was standing on was hovering and transporting them silently away from the receiving platform. On studying him, she was now able to see a lot more than she did from the back room she initially saw him in. She realized that at Neutral Grounds he was using the shadows more than anything to obscure himself.
"White hair?" she chuckled.
"It's receding slightly, but yes," he shrugged and smiled with his upper overbite chuckle. She didn't mind his large nose, either, and she simply pressed herself into him with a heavy sigh. He felt her shiver with complete relief on finally being in his arms. He ran a comforting hand over her now. "It's all right now. No need to fret anymore."
"Thank you. For letting me get to you now," she sighed. "I couldn't wait anymore. I didn't want to."
"I know," he nodded and let the small platform take them to his lab where all of his main screens were. "Just sit in my lap for now. We'll monitor together. As long as I can type when I need to, it will be fine. Hmm. My dear, would you mind if I made your ring into a bit of a locator to find you? If something goes wrong? I know others could find you, but…"
"You can do that. If I'm going to leave and come back, maybe it's good for you to be able to find me when you need to. Oh. Are my wings in the way?" she frowned when he settled her in his lap. The armchair he had was as massive as the main one in the mansion dining room and had plenty of space for him to hold her.
"No. It's fine. If you feel a need to make them smaller, should you be able to do so, you can. I'm sure things will be fine. Just relax now. You're safe with me. I'll work on your ring later. Don't worry about your horns, either. They're curved and are not impeding me at all. Even your teeth are fine. You don't have a tail, right? Anyways, you don't need to change a thing if you don't want to," he assured her and gently stroked her back between her wings. She snuggled into him and sighed again with complete comfort now to get rewarded with a soft chuckle.
"Okay," she smiled. "Ah. Saitama agreed to having an underground chamber at home for an elevator for us. To come and go as we please."
"Oh? Hmm. That could be done. It would be needed if Child Emperor builds his laboratory," he mused. "We can work on that."
"How do you know Child Emperor?" she asked.
"I mentor him now and then. He used to assist me. On occasion, as you know, we still work together to figure things out," he said with a small nod. "I'm sure he would gladly assist with any building projects we have."
"Good," she said and pressed her forehead into his neck while he moved his fingers fluidly over the keys. Once the commands were set, he sat back with her, cradled her and ran a gentle hand over her arm to reassure her. She's right. She had to be with me at last. I doubt I'll be able to let her go for long periods of time. I'll have to establish a way for her to come to me whenever she wants to. I'm glad that Inichi advised me how to break through to her. I'll never crush her heart like that other did. She belongs to me. And I to her. A small robot was soon heading over to the City X mansion to hover in front of Mitsumi and Saitama.
"Siren has made it to me safely," he said through the robot. "She's in my lap and watching with me."
"Yes. He's right," Siren chuckled through the robot.
"Good!" Mitsumi chuckled back.
"Okay. We're heading home now. You can have that flying thing follow us back," Saitama nodded and let Mitsumi's fans swirl around them. Wind Crane was already letting her family board up on her. Inichi and Tatsumaki ensured groups were ready for transport, and that included the slumbering Sleeping Skins man. Saitama and Mitsumi jumped into the air now and hovered in the air while the crane wings were formed from her fans. Once they began to soar back home, she sighed with a bit of relief. He looked at her and pressed a kiss to her cheek.
"I'm relieved," she admitted. "I really…don't like being there any longer than I have to be. I still feel like I'm trapped there. I know, though. You're making better memories for me. But until all of the wrong is removed…"
"I know," he nodded and rested a hand on her belly. "Just stay with me at my side. That's all you have to do."
"Yeah," she smiled and let him kiss her softly. "What should we do first when we get home?"
"Change," he said to get her giggling at him. "We'll dress in our regular clothes and see what happens with that guy and two fleas."
"Should we make a special room for that? I don't want anyone to get hurt if one of those things look for someone else," she frowned.
"True. Okay. Inichi and Rendor's girl will work on that," Saitama nodded. "Genos will also help with Child Emperor."
"Okay," she nodded and refocused on flight.
"I wanna try something," he said with a small grin and moved to carefully have her hands in his. Then he began to learn how she controlled the fans for flight by mimicking her movements.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I want to fly us home," he said and focused a bit. "You show me how you control the fans. Um…you all don't mind?"
Two fan sets swirled around him playfully to show it was fine. After five minutes of flight, Mitsumi removed her hands to let him fully control them. He was surprised at how simple it was. "Don't worry, love. If something goes wrong, they will hover us. I don't even need to hold the fans."
"Good," Saitama said.
"Why did you want to do this?" she asked.
"In case something goes wrong with you," he said. "If you're pregnant and not able to hold anything, I have to know what to do."
"Ah! Okay. I see now," she nodded.
"Yeah. So, I'm gonna have to start learning a few things. I don't have to, but I think it's needed. So…home is…?" he thought aloud and Mitsumi pointed southwest for him. He nodded and was able to control the fans carefully. Now he saw how the two fan sets swirling around them seemed to direct the way home for him. "Nice! This works!"
"They are a bit of a compass," she chuckled and turned to cling to him now.
"You won't fall?"
"No. The fans will catch us."
"Good. This is kinda neat."
"Yeah. And we can do this whenever we want."
"That's true!"
"So, you can't fly?"
"Nope. I can jump high and stuff. But flying? Only with you like this."
"Ahh. Okay. Will you call your parents after we change?"
"After the fleas. I won't have them in danger."
"Oh! Okay."
"Then we'll see what we have for fishing. I'm sure there's a good place we can go to that no one knows about. You think?"
"Inichi could find out for us. Even Genos can check with online searching with others. As much as I know that many know my family is good, I don't want to risk it around those that think we can just get challenged," Mitsumi frowned.
"Yeah. That would suck. For them," he agreed to get her giggling. As they got closer to their apartment home in City Z, she frowned and pointed out at a small crowd in front of their home entry point gate. He narrowed his eyes and started to lower them to let the crane wings come into view.
"What's going on?!" Mitsumi said when they landed.
"Ah…!" a young girl gasped at the amazing sight.
"Eh…yeah. We leave for a day and come home to this?" Saitama frowned. "This is my wife, Fan Dancer. I'm…eh…Caped Baldy. We were doing family business. It's why we aren't in our usual costumes. Why are all of you here?"
"The monsters! Why are they here?!" a man asked.
"Um…they're my family?" Mitsumi said with a small frown. "They live here and stay out of everyone's way. They also work at Neutral Grounds. They are well-known by the Hero Association. If you don't like it, then please leave. I own this entire walled section. You can see this in the city board readouts. All of this area was abandoned. A ghost town. It's now mine."
"Lady Mitsumi?" Grigos asked from where he was stationed in the main entrance. "I'm glad you're here. Welcome home."
"Of course, Grigos. And thank you," she smiled. Now the small crowd paused at the calm and polite demeanor of the large monster. When Wind Crane landed to deposit other heroes, the crowd was in even further shock.
"Everything is fine," Bane said when he jumped off Wind Crane's back.
"Yeah," Kamikaze snorted and had Tacki sit on his shoulders.
"I'm glad I came along," Sweet Mask said with a small frown at the crowd.
"Hmm…" Flashy Flash let his eyes sweep over the crowd while keeping Iwasaki close to his side.
"Please disperse and go about your way," Tsuruga snorted and let Tanktop Girl ride on his shoulders.
"Inichi? What's going on?" Zenchu asked and watched Garou jump down from Wind Crane's back with Lily. Fubuki was frowning at the whole thing.
"Tatsi, let's take this guy over the wall," Rendor muttered while holding the sleeping Secret Skins over his shoulder. Tatsumaki nodded and did just that to find a place to secure the false man.
"Terrible Tornado is also working with you all?!" a man gaped.
"Yes. She is. So, I need to know why all of you are here," Mitsumi said. Her fans formed into their sets of ten to hover over her now. Inichi sent a calming sensation over the crowd and silently assessed the various thoughts.
"Lady Mitsumi, it's mainly curiosity and a safety standpoint. As to who rallied this group…ah…you…" Inichi said and bubbled the man they had let go earlier in the day. "I guess you found out who Lady Mitsumi was?"
"Oh. The thief of my childhood jewelry," Mitsumi sighed and shook her head. Now various people in the crowd stared with shock on this. Inichi let the visions filter to them all to see what happened. On flashing the little pinky ring she wore, the man paled even more at the recognition. He never saw her wearing it at the meeting before.
"We let you go with what dignity you should have had. Now it is revoked. My dear friend, can you please move him to the prison and inform of our…guest?" Sweet Mask asked. Inichi chuckled and was quick to deliver the panicking man away. Sweet Mask addressed the crowd again, "As you can see, he was a troublemaker. We had rehired him for a time to do a job. He was a thief. He never came clean and tried to take back what wasn't his."
"He told us a bunch of monsters lived here. That hurt people," a man said from the crowd. "I mean…when he pointed them out, I knew the ones here from the restaurant! It made no sense."
"I mainly showed up because I was curious," a young girl shrugged.
"Okay, well, if it's obvious that no one else has problems, can we get home?" Garou sighed. Lily frowned and blinked when Inichi started to bubble his family and friends up to transport them all in. "Why didn't you do this earlier?!"
"To show our support for Lady Mitsumi," Inichi said. That got Garou to blink and nod with a small smile of understanding.
"Right. Sorry," Garou muttered.
"Garou. Inichi, bring him to me," Mitsumi smiled. Garou was dropped down gently by her to get a tight hug given to him. "Easy, big brother. Everything will be fine. We plan to go fishing soon. Right after we see to that thing, okay? Thank you so much for helping me at the mansion. Your support was greatly appreciated. Thank you, Garou."
"Lady Mitsumi," he swallowed and hugged her back. "You're welcome, little sister. I did all I could."
"You did good," Saitama nodded. "Keep it up."
"Thanks," Garou managed to chuckle.
"Still should be a hero," Saitama muttered.
"Nope!" Garou smirked and was lifted again by Inichi to rejoin with Lily. After that, the small crowd of civilians finally dispersed. Saitama scooped up Mitsumi to carry her directly to their fourth floor apartment and straight to their bedroom. Setting her down, he undressed himself first before her. Then he lifted her up to carry her to the treasure bed and recline in it.
"Finally!" Saitama said before stretching and yawning.
"I thought we were getting dressed?" she mused and tickled up his chest.
"We will. Right after…this!" he grinned and pounced her to get her laughing hard at him. It was twenty minutes later when they emerged from the bedroom in civilian clothing. She was in a shirt and shorts. He was in shorts and a zipper shirt. She had set her childhood ring with her other jewelry, and the bag with the rest of her stolen jewelry was given to her directly by Inichi's blue bubble.
"We'll look at it later," she said and squeaked when he lifted her up to carry her to their place on the couch to recline.
"Let us know when we're ready to look at that guy," Saitama said and stretched out to let Mitsumi snuggle into him with comfort. He yawned and rested a hand on her side.
"We still have what's left of our breakfast," she smiled.
"True. I'm still a bit full. We'll save it," he said. He found the remote and flicked on the television to browse a few shows.
"Saitama?" Kamikaze asked when he walked in with Tacki.
"Hey," Saitama waved lightly.
"What's the plan?" he asked and sat down.
"Just waiting on when to check out what happens with that guy. Then, eh, fishing. Oh. And I gotta call my folks. I guess…" Saitama rolled his eyes.
"Love, you know they like to see you," Mitsumi said lightly tugged on the zipper. Saitama glanced at her with a small grin.
"I like to see you, too. Mainly naked…" he growled and kissed her.
"Really?!" Kamikaze grimaced. He looked over when Zenchu came in to start setting things up for light snacks.
"Oh! Here!" Tacki said and trotted over to hand them the zipper necklace. Saitama took it and put it on.
"Two zippers!" Mitsumi gasped with delight. Saitama gave her his usual blank stare before lightly tickling her sides. They both looked over at Metal Knight's hovering robot landing near them to regard them.
"The one in question for experimenting is nearly ready. I was wondering where we can set up an elevator for me to get here with Siren when needed," Metal Knight said from the robotic speaker.
"Ah! Get with Shenjou. He is our main form of excavation right now. He can help create the room, too," Mitsumi nodded.
"He's a what?" Saitama looked at her.
"Shenjou is the one that makes our tunnels," she said.
"Oh! Yeah. That guy," Saitama nodded.
"Lady Mitsumi, I think I'm going to stay the night with him," Siren said through the robot. "I should be back tomorrow to help with the recruiting."
"That's fine," Mitsumi chuckled. "Just play nice!"
"Play nice? What do you…? Oh…" Metal Knight suddenly went quiet. Back in his base, Siren had rose up in his lap to lightly stretch.
"Now, my question is this," Siren grinned lightly when he quickly muted the speaker. "Do we…play nice now? Or…later?"
"Ah…hmm. That would be the correct question, wouldn't it?" Bofoi mused.
"Do we wait until after the experiment with that monster? Or do something now?" she asked and gave him a sultry smile despite her small tusks.
"I have not forgotten what you did in the camera earlier today," he muttered. "Your performance at chess was…exemplary."
"Should I do a repeat performance?" she asked.
"And…should it become something more?" he countered.
"I don't know. I never got that far. Come to think of it…hmm. Some parts of my memories are hazy. But…I never got that far. I think…I remember something, though. How I got to be this way. In my present form."
"Oh? Do tell," he said and regarded her in full.
"I want the others to know, too," she said. He nodded and activated the robotic speaker. "Lady Mitsumi!"
"Siren? Is something wrong?" Mitsumi asked.
"I remember something. How I became this way. My monster form," Siren said. She saw Mitsumi and Saitama look right into the robotic camera to nod. "I always liked intricate statues from graves and old places. I liked to just…visit them and sit around them. I found a really old one. I forget where. But…I think it was around City T? The graveyard was like…really old. Older than most. And the statue on that grave was massive.
"It was a complete work of art! And I noticed there was a small chair in it. So…I sat in it. Then I fell asleep. When I woke up…well…you have me. I just remember I had this…intense hunger. It drove me away from it to find something. Anything. After I ate…that was pretty much it."
"An intricate statue?" Bofoi frowned at her. "And it was in City T?"
"I think so," she nodded.
"I can look for it. It should be easy to find if the statue still exists. If I find any engravings or writings, I'll get them recorded. Maybe even translated if it's needed. I'll keep everyone informed," Bofoi nodded. He muted the robotic speaker and looked at Siren now. "You slept on a tomb?"
"I don't know what it was. Or why I did it," she admitted. "But…if it helped lead me to you…then I guess it was worth it."
"Lead you to…" Bofoi paused and found himself chuckling softly. "I can definitely agree with that. And, as much as I want a continuation of your camera crusade with me, let's see what happens with the experiment. After that, well…we can possibly conduct our own experiment?"
"And what would that be?" she asked and giggled when he pulled her close.
"Let me build up a good hypothesis to present to you when that time comes," he mused and went back to the camera screen to study what the others were doing now. She just giggled at him and nestled fully in his arms to look into the camera again and watch her family.
"Okay. Where are we going?" Saitama asked and glanced over at Child Emperor walking in.
"Terrible Tornado was able to find an abandoned warehouse. Genos and I were able to turn it into some sort of indoor arena for stuff like this. I can also make an upper floor of my lab while I'm here. A lot on the second floor of it can be used for various forms of research. You wanna check it out?" Child Emperor asked. Saitama glanced at Mitsumi before getting up to stretch and pull her into his arms to carry her.
"Sure. Let's go," Saitama nodded and carried her out the door. He saw the others were also making their way over and was now highly curious on the whole thing. Inichi was still busy setting things up with Tatsumaki, but Saitama wasn't worried at all. He already knew he'd kill whatever tried to come out of the skin. I'll just have to have them move the thing that comes out to be outside. I don't want to damage new buildings. Especially ones that can be used for research and…maybe a bit of fun?
