Deep Sea Prince was in awe of the abandoned city he was standing in now. He watched the others separate to their apartments, and he moved to sit along a newly planted willow tree by the nearby lake to think to himself for now. Saitama had carried Mitsumi and Overgrown Rover into their fourth floor apartment. Inichi had set Blue Ripple's tub on their bedroom balcony to figure out how the sleeping arrangements were going to be.

"Ahh…" Saitama sighed and stretched out on his treasure bed completely undressed. He pulled a golden sheet up over him and Mitsumi before flicking on the television.

"This is a very interesting place," Blue Ripple chuckled.

"Yep. It's home. I like it," Saitama nodded. Overgrown Rover jumped onto the bed and snuggled down next to Saitama's side. "Hey. Give me ten minutes with Mitsumi. Go to your other bed."

It huffed and whined a bit before doing that. Blue Ripple mused on something and waited patiently until Overgrown Rover was able to jump back onto the bed safely. That was his queue to try his idea. He looked at his fins and let them form into stubby legs with silvery blue clawed toes. Now he silently crawled out of the tub, but Saitama's intense hearing made him look over and point with shock at what he saw.

"Blue Ripple?!" Mitsumi said with amazement.

"Let this be our secret," Blue Ripple muttered and moved around the treasure bed to climb up onto it. He moved to Mitsumi's side and curled up contentedly with a heavy purr.

"You're all wet, though," she said. At this, he focused to pull all the water off of his body, the floor and on the sheets to form into a sphere. Now it was moved back to the tub to show it was all dry. "Don't you need water?"

"I actually don't," he said and stretched his neck out to recline his head on her form to accept her gentle scratching behind his wedges. "I only say that I do to avoid situations. I can be in or out of the water, but I do prefer to be in the water when I'm able. I'm fine. This is nice!"

"This is ridiculous," Saitama said from the two strong monsters now in the bed snuggling them. "But…at the same time…I'm kinda cool with it."

"They can help us if your power comes back into control," Mitsumi chuckled and got an affectionate nuzzle from Blue Ripple. "Blue Ripple can easily stop anyone we don't need to barge in, too. Such a good scaled kitty! Good puppy, too!"

"At least there isn't a lot of dirt here," Blue Ripple chuckled.

"Thank Tacki for that. She scrubbed this place out," Mitsumi giggled.

"I don't need sleep. I shall watch the glowing box," Blue Ripple snorted. Saitama showed him how to change the channels, and Overgrown Rover pawed at the buttons until a nature show was on. That got them all laughing softly, and Mitsumi snuggled into Saitama's arms to sigh happily.

"You deserve to be happy," Saitama said and kissed her forehead.

"So do you," she blushed and closed her eyes. With the sleeping and guarding arrangements made in the main bedroom, Kamikaze and Tacki were finally coming down from their own pleasuring romp of need.

"So…you're not mad that the Moon Blade picked me?" Tacki asked and traced up his long, lean chest. He had his arms crossed behind his head to show he was quite relaxed right now.

"Eh…concerned, really," Kamikaze grunted and chewed the stick in his mouth. "If you weren't having my kids, I'd be better about it. I just don't want them hurt. Ya know?"

"I do," she nodded. "So does the Moon Blade. It almost feels…that we made heirs for it. For them. The swords."

"Huh. I guess we kinda did, eh?" Kamikaze mused.

"Yeah. Neither of them want our kids harmed. But they will not allow themselves to be touched by our kids unless properly trained."

"That's a given. That won't be until they're fully grown."

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm good for now. Orotsu made me a craving dish. It's in the fridge. We just need to heat it up. I'm okay, though," she smiled. "Maybe I can work on that coloring book for Iaian…"

"Tacki…" Kamikaze grunted in warning to get her snickering. "No."

"But you'd loooove it!" she teased and squeaked when he grabbed her to tickle her lightly. With them neatly engrossed in each other, there was a different conversation about to take place in the apartment of Genos and Kamiko.

"Genos," Kamiko sighed and moved to lay back in the bed next to him. She had changed into a sleek, deep purple sleeping gown that just barely supported her curvaceous figure.

"Yes, Kamiko?" he asked. He was only wearing a set of shorts to expose his black, sleekly built upper body. His black, mechanical legs were crossed over each other to show he was relaxed for the moment. His shoes were built into his feet, so he had no need to do anything further.

"I was thinking rather intensely about something," she admitted.

"Oh?" he asked and studied her features. When she started to falter, he noticed her breathing patterns had become elevated to show nervousness.

"I…well…never mind," she smiled.

"No. There is clearly a burden in your thoughts. Please tell me. It will only get worse," he said and sat up to let her lean into him. "Talk to me."

"It's a foolish notion…"

"Never! Tell me."

"Forget it."

"Kamiko, you know I cannot. You know my nature."

"Ah…well…" she sighed hard. "I've been…thinking about children…"

"Oh?!"

"Yes. With everyone starting to have them…and…"

"You believe we would be left out if we waited?"

"I think so. I mean…I think it would be…something if we could try. I'm not getting any younger, either. I know I wanted to wait until marriage, but…well…we don't even know if it's possible. And we can always get married if it happens, too. Like with Lady Mitsumi. The moment she knows she is…"

"I see…" Genos said and moved to get his phone from a nearby table. He dialed a number and waited. "Dr. Kuseno! I apologize for the time of this call. But I have a serious matter to discuss. It involves biological children. Yes. Kamiko and I are discussing it. Oh! You plan to be here within two days? I can see about an excavation to a hidden section for your laboratory. Yes. We can definitely see if it will succeed when you are stable here. I shall see you then."

"Genos!" Kamiko said with surprise.

"If you are thinking about biological offspring now, then I will not lose this opportunity to try for it," Genos said and set the phone down.

"Wait. You…wanted children…this whole time…?"

"I did."

"But…you should have told me!"

"And you would have felt obligated to honor my wish. I chose to wait until you were ready. As your mind is starting to verge on that, I am showing full approval by acting on it. Now I want you to rest. I shall go over a list of things we will need for a future nursery and present it to Miss Mitsumi and Tacki," Genos said. Then he found himself chuckling when Kamiko pulled him down into the bed to cuddle into him.

"I love you, Genos," she said with a soft sigh.

"I love you, too, Kamiko. Worry not. If we cannot have true biological children, then we can readily adopt. There are many places that have children in need of good homes. I have been weighing our options silently," he said with confidence. She nodded and moved to press a loving kiss on his mouth.

"I still need to try and reach out to my sister," she said.

"We shall work on that tomorrow," he vowed and let her rest against him with complete comfort now. As other lights flicked off for the night, Garou and King had their lights still on. They were playing a co-op fighting game against other players.

"Yeah, I'd rather fight with you at this," Garou said and tagged King in.

"Really?" King chuckled over the voice chat before ending the match with a K.O. move easily.

"At least he's letting you try and do your part first," Kianna snickered.

"That's not fair!" Garou growled despite Lily laughing at him. "The girls should go to sleep!"

"Hey! We don't need to have a bedtime," Lily said to him.

"That's right," Kianna agreed. "I never needed sleep as a monster, anyways. Bedtimes were for humans. I only slept if I felt a need to heal. When I'm tired, I'll go to bed. Right now, though? I'm just fine."

"I just heal now. I rarely sleep anymore," Garou said and was able to barely take out a player.

"Good job! Maybe one day you'll be as good as me," King chuckled.

"Not funny," Garou snorted.

"Would you really think of playing against fans of yours? Or even with them to interact?" Lily asked King.

"If it brought some good out of it, I can," King said. "I just won't reveal anything else about myself in that way. I may give some tips and tricks, but none of my intense secrets."

"You'd need to make a separate profile. Maybe you should do that now?" Kianna asked. "Start building it up?"

"Hmm…" King thought aloud. "I could do that. Players would see that it's new, but I can always explain that the account is for Hero Association needs. I won't let them know my main gaming profiles. Garou, give me five minutes. You can help me out, too. I'll have to go into the current gaming server we played on with Saitama and change my profile name there…or I can make a separate gaming server. I think I can do that…"

"Okay," Garou agreed and logged out of the game.

"We're gonna help King! This is awesome!" Lily said with delight.

"Huh?" he asked.

"It was always a dream of mine to help an S class hero! This will be amazing!" she chuckled. At his small smile, she frowned. "What is it?"

"I always hated heroes," he admitted. "I told you everything."

"I know," she said softly. "I'm surprised you decided to hook up with me."

"Well…" he said and found himself pulling her close. "I know you're a hero. But…you 'get' me. You understand me."

"I do. And I'm glad Fan Dancer woke you up to let me 'get' you," she chuckled. He found himself nodding at that. "But…"

"But?"

"Would you let me 'eat' you?" she grinned.

"That's my job to you," he snickered. She squealed when he tackled her and gave her a lusty kiss. "I don't need to be a hero. I'll let you do that."

"Fine by me," she chuckled and let him kiss her again.

"You two are hilarious!" Kianna snickered over the voice chat.

"Shit! We weren't muted!" Garou blinked to get them all laughing. Outside the complex, Wind Crane and Zenchu were watching a television that was installed for them in the protective shed. She was sitting on the four eggs and checking them over gently.

"Still can't believe it," Zenchu muttered and chuckled at the small poke with her beak. "Can you tell what they are?"

She ruffled her feathers a bit and tilted her head at him. "Ah. Okay. So, we'll be surprised. How fast did you grow?"

She blinked at the thought and warbled softly to herself. "A week?! And you got like this? Huh! Okay. We'll need to be prepared. I'm really curious if the shells can make crystals, too. After hatching, of course."

She clapped her beak with agreement and rested her head in his lap from where he was seated. Now he looked at her with a small grin. "Would you…want to do this again at some point?"

Wind Crane looked right up at him with a bright blue eye and seemed to give a rather intense thought at that. At the mental comment, he blinked. "You would?! Seriously? Well…if we make offspring that want to stamp out evil…I can see that. Yeah, we'll see how this group is first. Hopefully easy to control."

She pecked his tail now to get him wince and chuckle at her. She rose up again to reveal the eggs with various shades of bluish coloring when she turned them again. Settling back on them, she sighed with a bit of contentment. Zenchu noticed her eyeing the bucket full of fresh fish. "You hungry, babe?"

She nodded lightly and got tended to. Just outside at the lake on the property, Deep Sea Prince was contemplating on going home. He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear Akiyama walk over and sit on a nearby bench. At her soft humming, he glanced over and blinked at the sight of her. She looked over and waved with a small smile.

"Oh! You live here?" Deep Sea Prince asked and walked over.

"I do. Now, that is. I used to live…everywhere I was told to go. I'm relieved to have a real place to call home again," she chuckled softly. "I'm Akiyama. Nice to meet you. Iwasaki told me to come over and say hi."

"You're…oh! The one that can become a fish?" he asked.

"That's me!" she chuckled. Then she rolled up a sleeve and pointed to the lump under her skin. "This is why. I'm what they call a Secret Skins. I almost got cured, but Blue Ripple gifted my monster form with healing. I feel so…useful now! I always wanted to help others. I was actually training to be a medical field nurse. But…"

"A nurse?" he asked and sat down on the bench with her.

"Someone that helps heal the sick and wounded," she said.

"Why did you not pursue it?"

"My peers. That's why," she swallowed. "I was always the one with the lowest grades. Most of it was not being able to focus on my studies. I was always slighted and ridiculed. I brought it up to my teachers, but…they just said to ignore it and focus more. I was belittled everywhere."

"Such disgust!" he growled.

"I know. It was why I agreed to become a Secret Skins after failing my grades. I felt so…defeated! I didn't know how I would succeed in life. Even as a Secret Skins I didn't do well. They said my monster form was only good for a distraction, if that. I would have gone against becoming this if I had another alternative. I mean…if I went back home, I would have just felt even worse from how my parents would have coddled me. Even then, if I tried to explain myself…it was already so much money that was spent. Wasted even…"

"No," he said and regarded her. "My matriarch told me this. That…sometimes bad things must happen for good things to happen. Just like with my sire. He came here to enslave the human race. He didn't care. He saw all of you as food. I told him it was a bad idea. That we were just fine where we were. He told me I was weak and foolish. But now he's dead. Killed by the very one that lives here with the female and her fans! Befriended by The Great One! Eh…Blue Ripple, to you, that is."

"But you cared about your people! You wanted to help them!" she frowned.

"Exactly that!" he said and scowled lightly. "So many were lost following him! My matriarch…she was the only one that kept my sire home. She begged him not to go when he felt like going. He didn't go to keep her happy. But…she ended up passing one day. She felt weak. Then she collapsed. We had no idea what caused it, but he was sure it was the humans after that. I tried to keep him home with the colony, but…you get the idea."

"I do," she nodded and grimaced. "No matter who you are…a human or a monster…it's the same thing everywhere."

"I am ashamed to say that is a truth."

"What do you plan to do now?"

"I don't know."

"Do you have anyone waiting for you? Like a wife? Children?"

"No," he said with a soft chuckle. "I am without mate or offspring."

"I see. I was told you wanted to meet me. Why?"

"I…" he frowned. "I was curious of your fish form."

"And my human form?"

"That, too, actually," he chuckled. "But…I know we have just met. So…"

"Yeah," she laughed softly, got up to stretch and walk off. He just grumbled and winced that he may have blown his chance now. Then he blinked at the sight of something glowing. He turned and gaped with shock at the glowing koi fish with beautiful, shimmering colors. Akiyama blinked her large eyes silently before swimming through the air on her carpet of large bubbles.

"Can you…talk?" he asked. She shook her head slowly. "I see. So you would need your human form to speak. You have the most beautiful form I have ever seen. Even your human side is…ah…cute?"

That got her swirling around with a bit of delight and let one of her tail fins gently land on the front of her head before gently slipping off like a veil. It left a shimmery trail while moving, and she floated over the lake now. He got up and said, "Wait! What are you doing?!"

She swirled over the lake and hovered as though gesturing to follow. The full moon was still shining down over the entire city, and she watched his features change when his skin dampened. She moved close to his piranha-like face and blinked her eyes curiously. He saw what he looked like in the reflection her eyes held, and he seemed to look away. She moved to look up into his face again to encourage him. "I know I look different now…?"

She swirled around him a bit playfully to show she didn't mind at all. A sense of relief filled him, and he continued, "I know we just met, but…may I court you? For a time? Or…?"

She swirled around him again and settled at his side to gaze up at the moon. He found himself doing the same and chuckling softly. Bad things did have to happen. Even bad thoughts. And something good has definitely sprung forth. With the two of them settling down to simply enjoy a newfound, possible relationship, another possible one was taking an interesting turn.

"We could have explored that cavern more," Hirata mused.

"It didn't have what we need, and Inichi found the place, anyways," Sonic muttered when they appeared on one of the abandoned rooftops.

"I suppose. Anyways, I'll be back in the morning," she said bluntly.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Not your concern," she said leapt and off the roof. He was quick to follow her and stood in her path when she landed. "You really know how to let a girl get some space. If you must know, I'm heading back to an old hideout to collect some things to bring back here. I always have very little, so it'll be quick. As I'm now employed, I'm sure room and board is included. It would be best."

"Okay," Sonic said and crossed his arms over his chest. "I do have a room, so I'm sure you could get one, too."

"Are you asking me to move in?" she grinned lightly.

"No!" he said quickly.

"A shame. Besides, I didn't think you'd care if I even left. You looked pretty bored with me, anyways," she shrugged. "I enjoyed myself, though."

"I just wanted to know where you were going so I wouldn't attack you when you came back in," he said to get her laughing at the idea. "What?!"

"We are both employed by the same employer. If she found out we were attacking each other…well…I don't think it would go well for either of us. Unless we said we were sparring. Or practicing. Then she'd think we had a very nice date night," Hirata grinned a touch wickedly at his look of shock.

"I never said that it was a true date!" he scowled. Then his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped when she flitted past him to press a kiss to his cheek.

"I honestly did enjoy it. If you wanted to do it again, signal me. In the morning, though. You were the only one able to keep up with me when you paid attention. That is…impressive," she murmured in his ear. He was completely speechless at the sensation he got. She was already gone when he turned around.

"Now I have questions…" he muttered and moved to another rooftop to wait for her to come back. Even worse was that he couldn't stop thinking about her. "Damn it! I have to find her!"

"I didn't think you cared," she said to get his eyes going wide when she sat next to him. "I decided to stick around for a bit before actually leaving. Glad I did. Well, the night isn't over yet. Did you want to go somewhere else?"

"Well…I know buildings have to be excavated all the time here…" he seemed to mumble.

"So…you want to continue the date night?"

"Ah…I guess…"

"Or should you try and follow me to my hideout?"

"Why?"

"You don't want to see where I slept?"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Oh…" she blinked and coughed laughter that he totally missed her dropped hint. She decided to be more direct. "Are you a virgin?"

"What?!" he gaped at her sly grin.

"Have you ever had sex?" she now asked point-blank.

"Yes! I have. Sort of…" he muttered. Now she looked at him oddly.

"With a living person?" she prodded.

"Shut up!" he growled.

"Well, if you follow me to where I slept…I'm sure I could show you a few things you probably wouldn't know…" she hinted again.

"What are you getting at?" he finally had to ask.

"I am actually offering to help you get laid," she said to get his jaw dropping. "As in I do it. To you. Tonight. Even though we just met. We may as well have some fun to end the night. And, if it goes well…whoever said it would have to just end at tonight?"

"Why?!" he found himself asking.

"Because I find it cute when you're awkward and acting stupid," she snickered to get him fuming. "And I doubt you can keep up with me."

"I know I can!" he growled and rose up when she did.

"If you can…I'll let you have your reward," she said and gave him an air kiss before leaping away. Provoking him is the key! I will definitely remember this…

"That…damn…!" he hissed and found himself pursuing her. She led him out of City Z, through City Y, past City X and finally to City W. A good hour had passed from how fast they were traveling, and normal travelling would have taken far longer. She let him follow her to an abandoned sky rise, and she moved to the very top of the building. It was here that he saw her small living space.

"Oh. You caught up. Good," she mused.

"Hmm. This is a pretty nice building. I wonder if Mitsumi can buy it…" Sonic mused. Inichi was able to pick up on his locked thoughts.

:A mission for both of you. In each city, please look for an abandoned tower such as this one. Lady Mitsumi can purchase it. We can branch out as a Heroic Monster Association with the Hero Association residing on various floors.: Inichi chuckled to them both. Hirata blinked at the voice. Sonic was actually amused.

"Did a monster…just give us a mission…?" Hirata asked.

"Yeah. And I'm sure Mitsumi would agree with it, too," Sonic shrugged. "This place will likely be purchased shortly. As in the next few days."

"How can I not see that happening?" she chuckled. "Anyways…I guess I'll have to collect my things and find a place to stay in the main apartment building. Unless I stay with you…?"

"Eh…" Sonic rolled his eyes. "No. I like my privacy."

"Even after this?" she muttered and walked up to his stunned form to plant a lusty kiss on his mouth. He couldn't move much less think. "Do I really have to take the initiative here?"

"Ah…" he started before blinking and forcing himself to think. Now he looked at her with a small grin. "No. You don't."

"Good," she grinned softly and got kissed back. Back in City Z, Inichi began to formulate a plan and revealed it to Fubuki. She was quite impressed.

"I don't know if we'll have enough to cover everything. As in people to work in the buildings," she frowned.

"I was thinking of reaching out to the reformed Secret Skins and those that were cured to work in such buildings," Inichi said. "Not only would it keep them safe and ensure they could even live in the buildings, but monsters can safely get moved into such structures before deciding what to do after that."

"Metal Knight would be the one to talk to in order carve out the tunnels for safe traveling," she said. "Or we could have Saitama punch out in the directions that we need once he had the space to do it."

"That…might actually work better in our favor…" Inichi mused. "He carves out the paths. Metal Knight uses his robots to clean up and strengthen the tunnel structure. Yes. Ah! He agrees! Maybe the day after tomorrow we can start this. It would be a much faster and safer way of traveling, too, if we wish to be discreet on moving new family around. We would need the primary buildings first, though. To pinpoint where the tunnels would start and end."

"And it would be a better way for us to get to newly found monsters faster. I do wonder if we can build a bit of a command center of sorts in the middle of the tunneling. Much like a spider web. What do you think?" Fubuki chuckled.

"I do like that idea. It can be a bit further below, too," he said. "I shall present the ideas to Lady Mitsumi."

"I'm sure she'll go for it."

"I wouldn't doubt that she would not."

"So, what's the plan now? Sleep and Neutral Grounds in the morning?"

"Yes. Sleep for you, that is. I need to sort through what I brought back from my old apartments. Some of the paper files and notes are scripting ideas for Sweet Mask that I never got to him when he needed suggestions. I shall give them to Miss Tajima. If she needs advice, she can reach out to me. I can have Genos incinerate anything else that is unneeded," he said and paused at the light touch given to his underside.

"Think you can help me sleep?" Fubuki crooned lightly.

"How deep do you want to sleep?" he asked with a small, sharp-toothed grin. He watched her leisurely undress and slip under the covers of the canopy bed of green and gold lace.

"Depends on how much you can keep me from screaming," she winked. She gasped when he focused on her and brought her quickly to a soaring height.

"I'll make sure…you don't fall so fast…" he muttered with a small chuckle before focusing more to make her writhe with complete pleasure. Back in the main bedroom where Mitsumi and Saitama were resting, Blue Ripple was getting ready to try meditating to pass some time. Then he heard something that caused alarm.

"Hmm?!" he blinked his solid white eyes and turned to see Mitsumi shivering with a soft whimper in sleep. "What's this?!"

Overgrown Rover looked over and blinked all six eyes before getting up to lick at Saitama's face. Now it grumbled that the strong hero wasn't responding. It whined and pawed at him to no avail. Blue Ripple instantly realized that something was wrong. He looked at Overgrown Rover and said, "Watch the room. Let none intervene. I need to focus to help them."

It growled and stood up to show it was ready to launch at anything that moved out of place. Blue Ripple focused to let his eyes glow and tried to contact Saitama. When he couldn't do that, he reached out to Wind Crane.

:BLUE RIPPLE?:

:I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE. MITSUMI WILL NOT WAKE FROM HER SLUMBER AND APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING! I CANNOT REACH SAITAMA, EITHER!:

:I SEE. I HAVE REACHED HIM BEFORE. YOU RECALL WHAT WAS DONE WITH ONE OF MY CLAN LONG AGO?:

:YOU FEEL THIS IS SECRET SKINS?!:

:IT MUST BE. PREPARE THE WAY!:

"Babe?" Zenchu frowned at Wind Crane's sudden hiss of protection. At her mental explanation, he gaped. "Okay! Help them!"

:SAITAMA!:

:What? Hey…I can't move again?!: he said with shock.

:GOOD. YOU STILL SLEEP DEEPLY. MITSUMI IS HAVING ANOTHER NIGHTMARE. BLUE RIPPLE IS GOING TO GET YOU INTO HER DREAM.:

:Yes! Do it! Now!:

:DO. NOT. WAKE. UP. GOT IT?! WE ARE DOING THIS NOW!:

Saitama entered a place that resembled an old laboratory in his hero suit to show he was ready to defend her. He heard Mitsumi screaming for something to stop. Narrowing his eyes, he darted down the long hallway and sucker-punched Ajito away from her. When he saw that she was naked and strapped down on a table without her fans to help her, it was all too clear what was about to happen.

"Get away from my wife!" Saitama snapped and stood in front of her.

"How did you get here?!" Ajito gaped with complete shocked surprise. He wasn't a monster, but that didn't matter. Saitama was finally able to protect her in her dreams. Something he secretly feared he'd never be able to do at all.

"I have friends now. Friends that are GOD monsters. They want me to beat the shit out of you. I'll gladly do it," Saitama grinned and launched at Ajito again.

"This is the dream world! You can't do shit to me!" he sneered and struck back out in retaliation. He failed miserably at the counter-attack and got slapped into the ground before getting kicked along the floor to slam into the wall.

"Good! Maybe I'll finally have a fight worthy enough to even call a fight."

"What?!"

"Yeah. I killed you physically with one hit. You sucked. Even as a monster. You did nothing against me. It was so boring! Maybe you can actually do something here!" Saitama said before punching Ajito right into his gut when the nasty man stood up. "You're a Secret Skins. A monster. I know all about you. And with Mitsumi as your cousin? Raping her and killing her every day?! Twice a day?! I killed you far too fast. Now I can finally take my time…and give you the beating you really deserve…"

"What?! No!"

"Every time she dreams of you…I'll be right here…to kick your ass!" Saitama snarled out slammed Ajito against the steel wall. "You piece of shit! You messed up one of her fans! You mentally killed her! You have NO IDEA how badly I waited for this EXACT moment! To tear you apart as you did to her!"

"You can't fucking touch me!" Ajito spat out at him.

"Says who?" Saitama grinned and dashed into him to slam his fist right into Ajito's face. The figure of Ajito dissipated at last to show he was done. "Damn. Too fast again. But I'll make sure to take my time if this happens again."

"Saitama…?" Mitsumi asked weakly. He turned and rushed over to the surgical table to pull the restraints off of her.

"I'm here. He's gone. Blue Ripple and Wind Crane got me here. You're safe with me," he said with a warm smile and hugged her trembling form tight. "It's okay now. I'll always be here when you dream of this. I'll always protect you. Hush…"

She was crying with complete relief now. The dream finally ended with him carrying her away from the chamber and down the hallway…

"Mitsumi," Saitama said when he finally woke up and hugged her tight. He knew she was in tears, but it wasn't with fear now. He sat up with her and gazed into her eyes. "I take you as my wife."

"I accept you as my husband," she said softly and let him kiss her in the protective, branding way he always did. After that, he turned to rest a hand on the top of Blue Ripple's muzzle.

"Thanks," Saitama said in a genuine way.

"If it happens again, expect the same thing. I enjoyed watching you kick him down," Blue Ripple chuckled.

"You watched it?" he grinned.

"I did! It was the only way to keep such a thing going. Hmm. Next time, I'll try and gift you with some intense power boosts," Blue Ripple snickered. Saitama's eyes widened with a bit of eager excitement. "Not that we want her to have such a nightmare. Just a precaution."

"Exactly," Saitama agreed in full.

"Such a good scaled kitty!" Mitsumi said and laughed at the purring nuzzle he gave her with relief that she was well. "What time is it?"

"You still have time to sleep," Blue Ripple nodded. Overgrown Rover jumped onto Saitama to lick his face and get him laughing.

"Good doggy!" Saitama grinned and let his monster dog curl up again next to him with contentment. Then he looked at Blue Ripple and said, "Get me back into any bad dream she has."

"I shall," Blue Ripple nodded and returned his gaze to the television after they lay back to rest again. I think I will forgo meditating. I have a reason to stand guard even more now. And I will enjoy watching her past tormentor reap what he sowed in full each time.