"Stop it!" Saitama growled when King KO'd him again on the massive projector screen. Mitsumi was in tears of laughter now. Fumio was even in the room to join them, and he was laughing as hard as the others.
"But we just got started! It hasn't even been ten minutes!" King snickered lightly. Kianna was laughing as hard as Mitsumi was now. Garou was leaning back on a reclining couch with Lily snuggled into him contentedly.
"I see why he likes doing this with Lady Mitsumi," Garou mused. He grinned when Saitama got owned again and coughed back his laughter. "Wow. He really does suck at video games. At least against King…"
"Shut. Up. Asshole," Saitama grunted out while pressing furiously on the buttons. Mitsumi knew he was getting stressed and she gently caressed his back.
"Don't break the controller, love," Mitsumi giggled and pressed into him from how he held her in his lap. When he lost again, he started to swear.
"Don't worry, Dad. I still love you," Fumio said.
"Son…don't start," Saitama warned him. Mitsumi knew he'd never snap out at his son. But everyone else was fair game!
"It's not that bad!" Garou said.
"Then you do this!" Saitama snapped at him and tossed over the wireless controller. "Let's see how well you do!"
"Darling…" Mitsumi sighed and ran a loving hand up his feathered chest. He sighed and rested his forehead against her shoulder.
"It's not fair!" he pouted and accepted the loving kiss she gave him to calm him down gently. "Fine. I guess I'm done for now."
"Good. Just snuggle me, okay?" Mitsumi smile and got the affectionate squeeze she wanted him to do. Another kiss was pressed to his mouth to calm him down even further before it turned into a passionate kiss to show he felt better.
"At least you're not glowing red," Zenchu said from where he was sitting now. Saitama muttered softly, but he squeezed Mitsumi before shifting the belts that held her fans around off his lap for her to get more comfortable on him. Kamikaze and Tacki were eating some popcorn shrimp with a form of delight and snickering at Garou when he suddenly found himself defeated.
"How…in the hell…?!" Garou's eye twitched.
"This is why I prefer to have Saitama play co-op games. It's easier on his mental state," Mitsumi said with a soft laugh. Saitama rolled his eyes, but he continued to let her snuggle into him happily.
"I swear, I'm gonna get this right!" Garou growled and found himself KO'd within ten seconds. "The fuck?!"
"King can take out a whole team of players on his own," Kianna beamed.
"Prove it!" Garou hissed now and tossed the controller back to Saitama to set down. He calmed down when Lily snuggled into him, and he sighed hard. "Fuck. Now I feel like Saitama…"
"Okay…" King said and reset the game to be in single-player mode for online gaming. He joined a group lobby chat and gave the microphone to Kianna.
"Oh! Nice!" Kianna snickered and started trash-talking all the guys in the lobby. When someone whistled at her in the live chat, she sighed with pity. "Sorry, I'm in the middle of having actual sex with my fiancée. He likes it when I game. It turns him on when I get rough with guys that don't know how to play. Oh, I'm sorry! I guess your hands aren't enough? Too busy with a controller, eh? At least I have a controller and my fiancée's 'joystick'…"
"Ouch…" Zenchu grinned wickedly.
"Stop flirting with them and get on with it," King gave a small, playful growl at her when she mock-moaned in the microphone. Over half the room quit out from complete over-stimulation. "Aww. You made the virgins quit."
"A shame," Kianna grinned wickedly.
"Wow," Mitsumi said with complete shock. Zenchu and Garou were dying with laughter over the whole thing. Fumio hid his face in his hands, but he was laughing at the whole thing, too. After King neatly defeated the rest of the players that joined the game, he started to look for another lobby to join.
"Hmm…" Saitama thought and looked at Mitsumi.
"What?" she asked.
"Just wondering how many others would leave if we joined the live chat and pulled that stunt, too," Saitama said.
"What?!" Mitsumi gaped at him. Now Kianna glanced over with King.
"No," King said quickly and muted the microphone for now.
"Dad! Really?!" Fumio grimaced.
"Why not?" Saitama asked. "It's just talking."
"They would think a foursome was going on," Zenchu said bluntly.
"A what?" Saitama asked. Mitsumi's jaw dropped.
"Zenchu. I will make you play against me if you don't shut up," King warned. Zenchu's jaw dropped at this. "And I will own your ass for a solid hour."
"That's like Saitama threatening to slap me. No thanks," Zenchu said and got Garou in tears of laughter with Lily. Fumio snickered and laughed when Zenchu's tail poked his side. When King moved into a new chat room with over fifty players, Saitama looked at Mitsumi.
"What?" she asked warily.
"Give us the headset," Saitama grinned.
"No," King said to see Saitama pout.
"Wait. Kianna, do you remember what we did before when those hikers were following us? How I had just bathed in that stream and we had to get rid of them?" Mitsumi asked. Now Kianna burst into tears of laughter. Zenchu's slanted black eyes went wide before he cringed and laughed hard.
"I have no idea! This was before me!" Fumio blinked.
"Oh! Yes! Do it!" Tacki said quickly. Then she looked at Kamikaze and said, "Honey! You are gonna die!"
"What?" Kamikaze rose a brow at her. Another headset was found for Mitsumi to get on it with Kianna on hers, and both headsets were unmuted.
"Oh, hey!" Mitsumi said in a cute tone. "This is a busy room!"
"Ohhh! Look at all the guys in here!" Kianna chimed in after her with her dulcet tone. When the chatter suddenly quieted down from the teenagers and players trying to brag and trash-talk each other, the girls winked at each other.
"I wonder what they would say if they knew we were naked!" Mitsumi beamed. Saitama looked at her with his jaw dropped. King looked at Kianna with shock to see her giggling in a shameless way.
"Just got out of the shower, too. All dripping wet…" Kianna went on.
"Can I rat-tail you with my towel?" Mitsumi asked. "Oh! Your chest touched me! So soft! And soapy! You need to get rinsed off. I told you your shower was too short!"
"You can rinse me off. Ah! I still like your butt! It's so cute!" Kianna said. The entire room cleared out, the girls died laughing and Mitsumi leaned over to slap a high-five to Kianna.
"Next chat room, please!" Mitsumi grinned.
"That's...just…what the hell?!" Saitama asked and Mitsumi laughed hard again with Kianna in absolute tears. King was completely speechless. Garou's jaw was dropped at the whole thing. Lily even had her hands at her mouth from cringing with laughter. Zenchu couldn't breathe from laughing so hard. Tacki was in her own fits of laughter now.
"Tacki…please tell me you didn't do that…?" Kamikaze asked her.
"Oh, I totally did!" Tacki beamed. "Hiker guys are pathetic. They deserved every bit of it. The things we talked about! We sent them running away with complete embarrassment. It was epic!"
"Mom! No!" Fumio groaned out and shook his head. "That's just…no!"
"Oh, it's fine, Fumio. Just a bit of fun for me when people think that they're on top of the world. Then utterly defeated because a cute girl got on and made them squirm!" Mitsumi grinned a touch wickedly. "Even two cute girls!"
"Is there another headset?!" Tacki asked.
"No!" Kamikaze said and held her to him.
"But we can do so much damage with the three of us! Omigosh! Do you remember what we did to that group of C class heroes that tried to chase us out of the small shack we found before the cave?!" Tacki gasped with excitement.
"Oh! Yes!" Mitsumi said with a form of wicked delight.
"Mitsumi. You are scaring me," Saitama said to see her laugh softly now. "I don't want anyone else to think they can enjoy the sound of your voice."
"Um…they can't see me," Mitsumi smiled.
"It doesn't matter. But…damn. What did you all do?" Saitama asked.
"Headset!" Tacki grinned and claimed one.
"Fullest room, please," Kianna winked at King.
"Mom…Dad…why?" Fumio asked.
"You don't have to be here," Mitsumi smiled.
"It's fine," Zenchu chuckled at Fumio.
"Well…eh…I guess…" Fumio winced. He moved to sit by Garou and Lily now to see what all his family would pull.
"Hey! Are your batteries full?" Tacki now asked Kianna in the live chat. The moment a girl started talking, all chatter went down from the brash boys and men in the chat.
"I think so. Headset's good, too," Kianna said.
"You think this game is good? Oh! I hope the vibrating feature works on my controller! I wonder how strong it is…" Mitsumi asked with a sense of pure curiosity. Saitama now looked at her with a twitch of his eye.
"We could get some of the guys in here to attack us and find out!" Tacki said. "I'm all for experimenting!"
"We might want to wrap these controllers in plastic. Less mess to clean. Oh! Move closer so we can get the handles in better! This way one of us can keep playing," Kianna suggested. Right after all but ten players quit out, the girls had King leave the chat room and died laughing.
"That's…just…holy shit…" Kamikaze said and stared at Tacki.
"I will never see a hand-held controller the same way ever again," Garou admitted. Lily slapped his chest for him to look at her with a shrug. That got Kamikaze and Zenchu dying with laughter now. Fumio ran his hands over his face and gave Zenchu a dirty look.
"Mitsumi, promise me you will not ditch me for a vibrating controller," Saitama said to get her gasping with shock at his serious, neutral gaze. Now everyone died laughing that wasn't laughing before. While everyone was laughing on the upper second floor, down below in the lower fourth floor laboratory was a rather tense moment for Iwasaki.
"I'm glad I have the day off of school today. I'd go home, but this is Hero Association stuff now and I had to stay for this," Child Emperor said and examined the slides. "My parents understand."
"I'm glad they had guest rooms on the floor here," Flashy Flash smiled at Iwasaki. "Are you sure you want to do this? You can wait longer to ensure things will be well."
"No. I just…if Child Emperor has a cure…I mean…well…" she winced.
"We could always catch another Secret Skins and guinea pig on that," Child Emperor said. "The venoms I extracted are all the same match. Only that pureblood flea is different. But the rest are the same. We'd need to see how it would affect a flea if it's still in the skin, too. If yours wants to be cured, I don't know if we have to cure you first and then remove the flea. It's touchy and I don't want to hurt you or what you have."
"We would need to test on another Secret Skins to see if the flea and subject can both be cured separately," Genos said. "If we have Master Saitama punch out with Wind Crane again, we should be able to locate another Secret Skins. Or we see if one can be found with the Hero Association recruiting."
"Let's wait for the recruiting. Every time those cranes come forth they cause mass panic," Sweet Mask said from where he was sitting down. "Hmm. I wonder if we can give out shots as a form of 'antibodies' for them…"
"That would be something! But…we're heroes. Lying like that would seem a bit dirty to me," Child Emperor frowned. "I mean, I know that they're mainly all evil monsters. Aside from Iwasaki. But…"
"I know who wants to be cured. Some are so desperate that they may willingly volunteer. They have nothing to lose," Iwasaki said softly. "Um…oh! I have an idea! We have a way to reach out to various ones that can be contacted. That want to be contacted. It's like…a network within our own network. The ones that I know…they told me to contact them if I found out a way to help! I can have them join the recruitment! But…Inichi has me blocked."
"I'm getting him here," Sweet Mask said and thought out to his old friend. Fubuki was arriving with Inichi to let him hover over her. He looked at Iwasaki and studied her thoughts intently.
"I see. Very well. As Wind Crane trusts you, I, too, shall take the chance. Use your abilities for just cause," Inichi nodded.
"I promise. I know I only have one chance. And…I know that both Saitama and Wind Crane could take me out fast. I saw what happened to the others at the mine. I don't want to be a part of them. I really don't. I want to be human again," Iwasaki swallowed. Flashy Flash rested a protective hand on her shoulder to help her feel more at ease. Inichi nodded at this and lifted the mental block.
"It's done. Reach out to those you need to contact," Inichi said. "I will keep a monitor on you, though. This is so I can also evaluate who you reach out to in order to ensure they were speaking the truth to you. If they start to turn on you, I will stop the connection. I will also help reveal to you who is truly honest on getting a cure and who is lying. Agreed?"
"I feel better about that. Yes. Let's do that," she nodded. Siren watched from where she sat in her chair with rapt attention. She knew Metal Knight was also watching how things progressed.
"Just let them know of a possible way to revert to human. If they still want it. Do not tell them where to go. Let them know it is still experimental. I want them to show genuine interest and to give a sensation of hope. If they don't have that hope, then I will know. They will need to get killed, but it will show who was lying to you before," Inichi said gently. She nodded and let him trace where her thoughts went to.
"While they do this, what should we do?" Sweet Mask asked.
"Is your possible script writer down here?" Fubuki smiled.
"Ah. I believe so…" he nodded.
"Cool! Can we see if she can write you an awesome script with some ideas from us?" Siren grinned. Flashy Flash sat down to show he wasn't planning to leave Iwasaki's side. Fubuki, Sweet Mask and Siren went to find Tajima now.
For the next hour, Child Emperor and Genos went over the possible cures. Kamiko ensured all of the equipment was clean and samples were set in culturing phases for future study. In that hour, over thirty people that were confirmed to be Secret Skins were contacted by Iwasaki. Inichi sensed only three were not truly interested in getting cured and were only baiting her. Those three would be recognized and marked. Only after he judged who was good and bad did he give Iwasaki the signal to chat about the recruitment.
"Very good," Inichi praised her.
"I can't believe those three! They honestly gave the vibe that…well…" Iwasaki sighed bitterly. "But the others I know of. They were true."
"Indeed. And those three that fooled you will tell others now. Ones that we can kill off or use for testing," Inichi said with a small nod. "You did very well."
"Um…I want you to block my thoughts now. Until we know it's safe again. I'll know they might track me to my location here. I'm a bit like a cellular phone this way with location detection. All Secret Skins are like this from the transmitters if they try to look for us. Even more with me from my ESP capabilities," Iwasaki said. Inichi was quick to cut off any mental ties to have her sigh with relief. "I know Saitama will easily kill whoever shows up, but I'm done trying to be a lure for others."
"Hmm. You should become a lure. We do need more test subjects…" Flashy Flash mused. "It may make it faster to gather them in."
"We can do that at City Z. Not here," Inichi said. "Too many innocents are here. I'd rather do so on our home grounds where monsters and heroes can reside and help detain. I would not wish to stress Lady Mitsumi out any further."
"Ah. Right. Yes, I can agree with that," Flashy Flash nodded.
"I'm back! Um, Metal Knight wants to talk to that girl now. She's in that conference room here? The interrogation one?" Siren asked.
"Not on this particular floor, but she is on the first subterranean floor," Genos nodded from where he was. "Did you need assistance?"
"I think we'll be okay. Tsuruga was still in there with the Tanktop team, if I recall. I shall accompany you," Inichi said. He floated alongside Siren to the elevators. Once on the lower first floor, they went up to the interrogation room and were let inside by Tsuruga when he gave a mental message. The camera over the door was focused in on the trembling blond.
Inichi gave a small poke to Sweet Mask for him to pay attention. He didn't want Sweet Mask in the room to avoid an unneeded confrontation. Sweet Mask was fully agreeing with this method. He soon found himself sitting down outside the interrogation room door to listen in with Inichi's help.
"Greetings," Metal Knight said from Siren's ring. "I'm not in the room, but I'm speaking from my darling's ring. Yes, she and I are very well-acquainted. No, I'm not going to state why I am…attracted to her. That's not for you to know. However, I'm not here for basic chatter. I have questions that need to be answered. If you do not answer them, then it's fine."
"I'll get the answers, anyways," Inichi shrugged. Then he saw her resume on the table in front of her. "Ah. Miss Sanda Shizuko."
"First of all, I want to know why you did what you did," Metal Knight said.
"Why? Because I was ordered to," Sanda said with a frown and blinked her light brown eyes. "Mr. Daiki told me to specifically. He said the moment his youngest sister appeared to give her what hell I could. I was just…acting under orders. He even told me to go to the security room and ask to be trained."
"Hmm…" Inichi thought. "You're half-lying to me. Mr. Daiki gave no such orders. It was that false mother. Why are you covering up for her?"
She grimaced and shook her head. Then Metal Knight noticed something and zoomed in with the camera. "What is that mark on your arm?"
"No!" she gasped and Inichi bubbled her. On a closer inspection, he saw it was part of a long scar.
"She…beat you?" Inichi frowned at this.
"That…thing…almost killed me…!" Sanda whispered in a terrified way. "I was threatened…I wanted to leave, but…"
"Hmm…" Inichi studied her thoughts and sighed hard. "Stop the charade. Please. It's getting unbearably pathetic. I know the full story now. That scar is from a house fire burn when you were younger. You came here as a way to have a roof over your head and gain some pay. When you showed interest in technology, one of the security staff took pity on you and taught you things. After they were fired, you went ahead and did what you did to become a 'superior servant' in the eyes of the others. You were then ordered to do more by the false woman for enhanced pay. Of course, you did this after two of your colleagues were murdered to gain favor."
"And you had none to stop you, much less know what you were doing," Metal Knight growled out when he caught on. "You deliberately took over a system for your own jealous uses. A power play motive, surely, but something that was done in an unfair way. You had no player on the board to oppose you. What you did should land you behind bars for security breach. Just the fact that you continued to use your corrupted system after getting rehired should be proof enough that you did not come forward to commit your crimes. Such a waste…"
"If you knew everything, then why didn't you just call me out on it?!" the girl snapped at them both.
"Because I was giving you a chance to come clean. To be honest," Inichi said calmly to get her jaw to drop. "Instead, you came to us with lies. A sob story. You tried to please us and pity you with emotional distress. And just now you attack us thinking we were provoking you. Have we raised a hand to you at all? We simply figured you out. You dislike that. You lost your control. You do not deserve to work here any longer. However, because of the knowledge you have, we cannot just let you go, either. You may try to hack your little way into our mansion network. Such a thing will not do."
"That won't happen," Metal Knight said. "The camera security system is now linked to my personal network. If she even tries to tap on it, it will auto-trace to her location and snuff her out. I was able to completely dismantle what she did with a few buttons. She knew enough to get in. But not enough to cover her tracks. No one was looking for her, anyways. She let herself get sloppy because of this fact. I'm sure she used the system to not only cause grief to Miss Mitsumi, but to also know where to avoid confrontation with the other family. Much less get out of doing her chores and get a free paycheck."
"You're right," Inichi muttered at how her face went pale.
"I've seen a lot of bad things happen when I spied on people. This almost makes my top ten. Almost," Siren frowned and blinked her glowing green eyes.
"You'll tell me what those were, my dear?" Metal Knight asked.
"If we meet again," Siren chuckled and winked at the camera.
"This is so wrong," Tanktop Girl winced from where she was cradled in Tsuruga's lap. "It makes the monsters here look like normal people!"
"I wouldn't want her around any of our security systems," Tanktop Master said. "Lightning Max would even say the same thing."
"And she was getting away with this? Wow," Tanktop Black Hole said. "I don't think she should have access to any security systems with what she can pull! This is just insane!"
"It appears that she loves to cause chaos. I wouldn't trust her," Tsuruga grunted out and glared with his glowing red eyes. "I'm sure Saitama would ask for a mass vote to slap her and toss her out. Everyone would agree unanimously."
"We all would agree to it. Therefore, there is only one possible solution," Inichi said with a small grin and had the door open to reveal Sweet Mask.
"Inichi let me mentally listen in on the whole thing," Sweet Mask said with a frown. "And, unfortunately, his conclusion is the correct one. You do have skills. I'll admit that. A bit more than most. So, I will have you work with the Hero Association. This way you'll be under close watch and continue to use those skills for good. You will live there, too, so no need for you to have separate lodgings. Your contract here will be absorbed in with various things adjusted. If you don't want to do that, then you will go straight to jail and await trial. What choice do you wish to have?"
"What…?!" Sandra gaped at this.
"Work for heroes or go to jail to be punished for your crimes. What path will you choose?" Inichi asked. "There are no other options for you."
"Not even slapped by Saitama and tossed out?" Tsuruga asked.
"Well, if she wants that and then goes to jail…" Inichi mused.
"No!" she gasped and winced. "I'll…I'll work for the Hero Association."
"A very wise choice," Sweet Mask said. "You will leave with Tajima and I within the next few minutes. Oh. I did want to see about the Secret Skins experiment. When do you plan to go back to City Z?"
"Right after this. I have just let Lady Mitsumi and Mr. Saitama know of a contract change from this one. As well as the rest of the family. Rendor will give it to you directly when we meet in the main lobby. Child Emperor and Genos are busy getting slides and such ready for transport. I can easily transport Miss Tajima and this one to where they need to be. Just ensure they are expected."
"Have her things ready to go," Sweet Mask nodded. Then he looked right at Sanda with a small frown. "Be very glad you have this opportunity. And I'm saying that because Caped Baldy would have slapped you and had you land several miles out. You breached his contract on being here. He does show mercy, but only when he knows it's due. I've…witnessed it first-hand."
"The only slap you've gotten so far was from me," Inichi smirked and sighed. "Come. It's time to go."
"I'll ensure she goes nowhere," Tsuruga growled and rose up to toss his horns lightly. Tanktop Girl climbed back up onto his shoulders, and it was almost as though she always did it. She pat the top of his head between the horns to hear him chuckle at her. Then he glared at Sanda. "Let's go. Your things will be collected and brought to you."
"Fine…" Sanda muttered and stood up to follow him out.
"Not even an apology for her actions. Disgusting," Metal Knight sighed.
"Ones like her will never apologize. Her pride was stung," Sweet Mask said with a knowing tone in his voice. He did move to the laboratory to see if any equipment had to be moved. While they finished up there, Sanda paused at the sight of Saitama glaring at her when she walked into the main floor lobby from the elevators. Mitsumi gave her a sad frown and shook her head. Even her fans were out to show they were upset. Zenchu and Garou were pissed. So was the rest of her family after Inichi informed them all.
"We trusted you. We took you back in. And you pull this crap?!" Saitama glared and let the fiery flicker of his pupils come back. His body glowed a dull red aura again, but Mitsumi traced a gentle finger over his cheek to have him look at her. She pressed a soft kiss to his mouth to calm him back down.
"Hopefully she has learned her lesson. I gave her a second chance. She slapped us in the face with it. There is one clause in the original contract that will be kept after it transitions to the Hero Association," Mitsumi said and looked at Sanda with stern breath escaping her. "If you go back against your word again, my husband will be right there waiting to slap you. As he is not allowed to do so here, it will be held for a later time if it comes to it. Don't try it. Never push your luck. You'll always be watched now no matter where you go. Once you betrayed me, you set the stone in place. You should have come clean to us. You should never have remained hidden.
"While it was true that you had remorse for being mean and cruel to me, you wanted to keep what power you had instead of giving it back. It was never yours to begin with. If you truly had any good intentions, you would have told us everything. You didn't. You hoped to shirk your duties again. You spied on your own colleagues. And I mean Anno. You tried to bully Takeda with others under your rule with promise of less work. You are the one that set your own path now. You have no further chances with me. Let's hope you don't lose your chance with the Hero Association. Take what you did here to heart. If you don't, you will go to jail. And I will testify against you."
"I…" Sanda grimaced and shook her head. She ended up moving to pick up her suitcase and follow Tsuruga out the door.
"Not even a fucking word of apology. Pathetic," Zenchu snorted.
"Metal Knight said the same thing. But…she wanted to. Yet, she knew it would fall on deaf ears. She would not have fully meant it. Just something that was 'right to say' to gain a form of pity," Inichi said from where he hovered over Fubuki. "She should be lucky, though. She at least has a place to go unlike the thief. He's holed up in his prior apartments and planning what to do now."
"Just don't let him come back here," Saitama muttered.
"Oh, don't worry. He won't," Inichi nodded with a small smile. As if I would let him, anyways.