Chapter 17: The Dark Matter Thieves (Part 2)

"Incinerate."

Groribas raised an arm and acid mist spewed out to meet against the cyborg's attack. Both flame and acid cloud met in a bizarre concoction that cancelled each other out, distinguishing the flames and dissipating the acid fumes.

Before the flame and acid were completely gone, Groribas appeared in front of the cyborg and swiped an arm at him, intending to bite him in half. However, debris went in between the two and Groribas bit onto it instead of the young blonde.

"Don't you forget about me!" Tatsumaki yelled as she continued to hurl debris at the alien.

The alien dodged the debris and was caught off guard when the cyborg quickly appeared in front of him and placed a palm on his chest. Bright flame blazed right out of the cyborg's palm, tearing the Groribas' acid armor and blasting him out in the process.

"You fool!" Groribas taunted getting his bearings. "Getting close to me like that is asking for death!" The black smoke subsided and it showed the cyborg looked unfazed from acid to Groribas' surprise.

"Doctor Kuseno's new type of metal has a certain resistance to acid. This new upgrade has been timely." The cyborg stated.

Groribas grunted. "Even so, I still have few moves to –"

Two boulders smashed at his sides.

"I SAID don't you forget about me!" Tatsumaki exclaimed. The cyborg added into it by firing a concentrated fiery beam that annihilated both boulders and scorching the ground below.

The ground underneath the cyborg burst forth a fanged appendage and swallowed him whole. The appendage spewed out black smoke between its fangs and then exploded violently. Smoke might have blurred Tatsumaki's sight but she couldn't mistake a glint of a marble like object when the arm exploded. The alien's arm was simply cooked to charcoal whereas that marble still glistened.

"That's why I don't like doing a move twice in a battle." Groribas said, digging himself out of the ground, his missing right arm evident. His arm regenerated when the marble that Tatsumaki was eyeing went back to him.

The cyborg went back on the ground and, without warning, boosters from his back opened and electricity sparked all around him.

He can fight in close range if he's immune to acid, Tatsumaki thought.

The cyborg dashed towards Groribas. In turn, Groribas enveloped himself with toxic mists to reduce visibility on himself to hide but they were blown off by a wind current. He knew who generated it but unable to hide, Groribas began to run away when he noticed debris were arranged in a way to block his escape and the only way to get out was jumping up. He had no time digging out.

He did just that and was met by the cyborg in midair with both fists cocked.

"Machine Gun Blows." The blonde unleashed a flurry of explosive punches. Desperate, Groribas raised a hand and opened it wide to absorb the punishment. He could always heal from it but regenerating the whole body instead of an arm would cost more energy and time.

Either way, Groribas' arm was shredded and when the attack finally subsided quickly dashed away to recuperate. Now having distance between his foes, he began to plan a succession of moves to finally bring those two down.

But first, he needed to recover his arm.

Few seconds passed and his arm didn't regenerate.

"What the?" Groribas said in surprise. "Where –"

"Looking for this?" Groribas turned his head and saw the green haired creature showing him something that made him grew pale green.

"So, this is how you regenerate." Tatsumaki remarked, eyeing the red marble in her hand.

"HEY! Give that back!" Groribas demanded.

"All the more reason to smash it open." Tatsumaki flung the marble to the air and two rocks smashed on its side, breaking it to pieces. Groribas took a step backwards as if struck.

"Not only that, this seems to be your energy source." Tatsumaki added. "I can feel your energy fluctuate. Hmph. Getting tired now?" The cyborg didn't say anything but his golden eye scanning the creature's biology was starting to report that a sudden change was on its way.

"You… FOOLISH CREATURES! PREPARE TO DIE THIS TIME!" Groribas exclaimed. His fangs and remaining hand grew more pronounced. His body began to divide in two, the mouth on each part. He continued to grow bigger and bigger that he doesn't look humanoid anymore but a bizarre wormlike creature. Arms grew out of the sides while green tendrils appeared all around his body.

"Secret Move Number 1: ACID DRAGONS!" The two creatures roared loudly and they began to chase their way towards the two.

"Oh boy." Tatsumaki flew away. She raised debris behind her and threw them towards the alien. It was no use, however, as the alien simply devoured them whole. She knew the cyborg has his hands full also. Fire blazed away in her peripheral vision and it was more that he was running away too.

Because of the chaos, the two separated ways. Tatsumaki didn't know what the cyborg was capable off except for blazing out fire and being resistant to acid. It turned out it was very useful against the alien while she was not that a good match against it. It didn't help that Groribas split himself to two against them.

Tatsumaki flew away while the alien dragon chased her. The dragon roared and unleashed spikes from its frills. The esper zigzagged through the topple skyscrapers for cover and would try to deflect the projectiles back. The projectiles would simply be melted by the acid fumes emitting around the alien. To counter, the dragon began to spit acid globes in quick succession. Returning it back would be futile since the alien itself was immune to acid unlike the Sea King. Tatsumaki used debris to shield herself but then saw when an acid globe explodes, it would release yellow spores. And the way he shot them, it was to spread all across. It was like an acid bubble. Just like last time, Tatsumaki created a dome that repelled the poisonous fog away. Vines suddenly erupted from the ground to grab her. Generating twin blades from her hands, Tatsumaki began to hack away at the vines.

He can use all his moves while in this form. Tatsumaki thought.

The ground gave way and the dragon appeared to swallow her whole. The dragon gave a semblance of a smirk but then saw the esper flying away.

It's getting old you know, Tatsumaki thought. She was still aware she was going nowhere here. It's more efficient to bring the two dragons down together in one fell swoop. It was better to bring the alien down together instead of them finishing one each. That cyborg's abilities would be very useful if they can somehow trap the two in an enclosed space.

Tatsumaki caught sight of fire blazing out in a street. It was bee lining towards a certain building. When she put it together, the cyborg was luring it to an enclosed stadium with a clear field. It wasn't massive but big enough to contain the two aliens inside. Of course, it was damaged by the ship's attack but its roof was miraculously intact. Perhaps a bullet didn't hit it directly and the tremors didn't manage to bring it down. The Association had alerted her earlier that there were no more remaining pockets of survivors in the city so this building was empty.

Funny to think that perhaps it was more durable than the Association's shelter. Cutting corners, maybe.

The dragon began its chase once more. Tatsumaki now knew where to go. The dragon didn't relent from its attacks, spitting acid globes and spikes at her. Tatsumaki dodged or used debris as a shield while still going towards the stadium.

Finally, she arrived and opened the topside of the stadium with her telekinesis and entered. As expected, the alien went inside too.

"You think…" the dragon said telepathically. "You think you can hide from me again!?"

Groribas looked around the stadium and saw the entrance smashed open by his other self, tumbling forward inside. The two dragons got on their bearings and began looking for their prey. They saw one when they looked up.

The esper was floating above them, her arms crossed. A glint of light shining brighter by each passing second shone in the entrance. It was the cyborg with his hands clenched together, pointing at them with multiple cannons ready to burst fire.

"INCINERATE!" The cyborg exclaimed and a big wave of fire engulfed the whole stadium. The two dragons screamed and tried to get away but debris continued to pour forth from above, putting fuel to the fire.

Above, Tatsumaki erected a barrier around the stadium so that the heat won't escape. The monster may nullify her psychic powers but she can amplify the fire inside.

"ASTRAL TORNADO!" the blaze turned into a raging inferno inside while the monster screamed in agony, turning the stadium into an oven. She may not admit this but it was better to work together to bring the alien down. Irony would have been the word of the day given she flat out refused cooperation with the heroes earlier.

Well, she was irritated for their lack of quick action so she couldn't blame herself.

The combined attack took a while before they let up. Inside was now a smoldering charcoal with the ground turning into bright crimson brimstone.

Tatsumaki went down and saw the cyborg crushing a red marble in his metallic hand.

Groribas burst out of the burnt carcass. He seemed sluggish and weak. He reverted back to his humanoid form but now without his arms and green goo bleeding out.

"You… pathetic creatures." He spat out.

"You're the only one left." Tatsumaki said. "This won't take too long. Any more moves you care to show?"

Groribas chuckled. "I don't need to. It's over." The cyborg was startled as his readings picked up that the ship's energy was rapidly raising. The ground began to rumble and purple light shone from the underside of the ship gathering energy.

The spaceship was about to fire again.

Tatsumaki felt the ground rumbling. "What -?"

"I'm afraid I'm simply buying it time to fire again." Groribas said. "Too bad you can't regenerate like me. I'll enjoy your bodies being obliterated to bits!"

Despite the impending doom, Tatsumaki was thinking what to do. If it comes to it, she needed to stop every single projectile coming down at them. It was a citywide attack and it would undoubtedly be not easy. She couldn't repel a single massive meteor from space but this? A volley fired at point blank range?

It was bordering to impossible.

Tatsumaki tried to control the whole ship by ripping it apart to stop it from firing, but some… thing was resisting her powers. She can't take hold any of it. There must be an energy core inside it capable of resisting psychic powers on its own. The massive energy it built up might also be the culprit.

In short, she has to do the impossible.

"I have no choice but to use this prototype." The cyborg blonde said. "Forgive me Doctor Kuseno. I know it is for a specific cyborg but the situation calls for it."

This one talks a lot.

The cyborg attached a glowing blue sphere next to his arm and adjusted aim towards the ship.

And fired.

"You can't possibly bring down this ship with your puny weapons." Groribas boasted. Tatsumaki was perfectly aware of that but the beam fired wasn't fiery orange. It was an electrical beam that poured forth towards the ship. The purple light was growing dimmer and the ship's compartments weren't fully opening to accommodate the large bullets. It wasn't damaging it but rather disabling its energy source as it spreads out.

An EMP blast.

Effective or not, the ship was as big as a city so this won't cover everything. There would still be parts of the ship capable to shoot down.

"What the? What the hell's happening?! Why won't you fire!" Groribas complained. He didn't get any response from the ship's crew. It may be his telepathy weakening that he lost contact. As a last burst transmission, he said, "Just use the remaining functional cannons and aimed it here! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

One by one, few purple lights shone again and bullets did drop from the ship. Suddenly, all of them halted at the same time and hung suspended in the air.

"What?!" Groribas cried out. "That's impossible!" The projectiles were covered in green glow and he knew where that glow came from.

Tatsumaki was strained in the effort in stopping the bullets this quick but the training she did was paying off. The inane endurance training she did with that baldy made sense now.

The large projectiles faced upwards and went back to the ship with added rotation. The ship's underside exploded all around, threatening to bring it down with its own bullets.

Groribas turned away from the ship's destruction to the esper. She's busy and that metal creature looks exhausted from his attack. This was his chance to strike back.

Turning himself to a worm and not trying to say out loud it was Move Number 4: Body Morph for stealth purposes, he slithered towards the esper to bite her little head off. A large bullet suddenly dropped on him before he was even half-way.

"Oh, I haven't forgotten about you." Tatsumaki said. "Here's a taste of your own medicine." Large bullets dropped on the alien. Tatsumaki flew away and the cyborg jumped out of the stadium. The stadium was repeatedly bombarded and was completely destroyed.

Tatsumaki looked over the crater, searching for the red marble that would finally end the persistent alien. A red glint of light went upwards and stayed still.

"It still isn't over, earthlings." A voice said in Tatsumaki's head. "I may have been defeated but I might as well bring you two down with me!" the red marble shone brighter, showing signs it would explode catastrophically.

"Last move Number 0: PLANETARY DESTRUCTION, CORROSIVE EXPLOSION!"

Tatsumaki, using what psychic energy remained in her, telekinetically flung the red marble upwards towards the ship. The alien's resistance to her psychic power had weakened now that he only has one energy source left. The red marble went straight to the ship and, in a flash of green light, exploded violently that it managed to tilt the massive ship. The explosion quickly corroded a fifth of the massive ship and it threatened to reach ground. As a last-ditch effort, Tatsumaki created a barrier around the explosion within a specific radius thus damaging only the ship. The effort alone nearly made her pass out instantly and if weren't for those training, she would have died earlier.

Exhausted, Tatsumaki knelt down. It was over, she was sure. Not only that annoying alien was dead once and for all, the ship sustained damage too. For something called "Planetary Destruction", it didn't felt it would have destroyed the planet. If that was the case, it would be utterly out of her league to even deflect or fight that. Good thing it was just bluff or else they would be wiped out of the surface at least.

Nevertheless, she took a few seconds to breathe and rest. The cyborg may be recovering as well. Introduction wasn't her forte but she needed to acknowledge the blonde's involvement in the fight. He simply sprung out of nowhere and without his intervention, she might have not beaten the enemy.

Tatsumaki stood up now that she has recovered a little of her energy.

Dammit. I'm bad in introductions and giving thanks.

Before Tatsumaki even said a word, a massive deafening explosion happened on the topside of the ship. She wasn't prepared for this and she found herself kneeling again on the ground.

What the hell?! There's a delayed explosion?!

When she looked up, two massive beams of yellow and blue erupted from the ship in an angle. At the opposite end, a gust of wind tore through the sky in an insanely large scale that it parted the clouds above. She knew who was capable of doing that but the resulting clash threatened to destroy the ship or even below it.

Things died down eventually and Tatsumaki was able to stand up.

What the hell was that?

The cyborg was already on his feet staring up towards the ship. Miraculously, the ship was still floating despite the damage it had received from below and on it. That was some durability if Tatsumaki was concerned.

The ship in question began to fall out of the sky as if to prove otherwise. Tatsumaki wasted no time flying away and so does the cyborg. He jumped all the way out without much hassle with the added boost from his thrusters.

Well, at least she won't have to burden herself in carrying him around.

The ship crashed on the ground and shockwave rippled everywhere. Tatsumaki nearly lost her balance when the shockwave caught her. During the crash, Tatsumaki had lost sight of the cyborg. Perhaps he was blown off by the resulting shockwave. He surely wouldn't die from that.

When everything was clear and not shaking anymore, Tatsumaki went close to the alien ship. It was surprisingly much bigger up close than she thought it would be. It easily covered a city and it was taller than any skyscraper in City A. With enough time and rest, she could lift it off ground but it wasn't time for that.

Tatsumaki saw a door blasted open. She went near it and saw many alien of different types and colors scampering outside. Using her powers, she quickly bundled them together to foil their escape.

"We surrender!" a termite like alien begged. "We won't fight!"

"Yeah, yeah! Just what he said!" a slug alien followed. "Just don't kill us!"

"We won't escape even if we wanted to! We can't fight like the others!"

These aliens are way different from before, Tatsumaki thought. She stood on a toppled building and tied the aliens together with iron chains using her powers. Restraining them with just her powers was tiring after all she went through.

"Miss Tatsumaki!" Tatsumaki turned around and saw a black muscular man not that far away. Darkshine, she recalled. He was hollering to the other Class S heroes too. They were fine after all. One man particularly stood out given his blue hair.

Sweet Mask decided to visit, huh?

"You're an esper, am I correct?" Tatsumaki was startled by the voice.

Tsk. Flashy Flash. He got here quick.

"Do you have a habit in spooking people?" Tatsumaki complained. "For your question, yes. I already said that earlier if you forgot about it already."

"I wasn't aware we have an esper in our ranks until today." Flash said. "This is unrelated to the present crisis but I've been meaning to talk to you once I've learned you are one. I've been trailing a lot of monsters recently and got some vague intel from them. They are still rumors but I believe they point to something credible."

For someone so fast, he talks a lot.

"What are you getting at?" Tatsumaki asked already impatient.

"Some monsters have been conducting some sort of activity from some unknown place. They are gathering to form a group, it seems. For some reason, they have been targeting espers just like you." The word 'esper' piqued Tatsumaki's interest.

"I don't know anything else except for a name so listen well." Flashy Flash suddenly appeared beside Tatsumaki. "Your enemy is Psykos,", he continued. "Be careful."

Psykos? What -?

Before Tatsumaki spoke, Flashy Flash was gone.

He just gonna leave like that? Anyway, Psykos? Who's that? And why espers? Are they the ones who took Fubuki?

"You captured the aliens, Miss Tatsumaki." Child Emperor said, robotic spider legs on his back as support. The other Class S heroes has arrived as well. They don't look like they've been through hell, except for Bang who was shirtless, exposing his well-toned muscles that didn't match his age.

"Professor Bofoi's robot is over there inspecting the ship." The boy genius continued, staring at a figure walking towards the ship. "From the looks of it, he might salvage what he can from it. I guess he won't go here in person just as Blast. Of all the adults, they're the one who's gone."

A humanoid robot was walking towards the wrecked ship.

Metal Knight had no interest whatsoever in the Association meetings, but this ship's sudden appearance from out of nowhere intrigued him. No blimp from any radar nor warning signs that he could have picked up. Its ballistics technology might be a little crude for a spacefaring civilization.

But that teleportation. It simply teleported out of nowhere. The mothership might be damaged beyond repair but if he could reverse engineer its technology, it would serve very useful indeed. It wouldn't be in any large scale to transport a ship since it needed a ton of energy. In small scale, perhaps his own body, he could manage that.

A body that could teleport out of nowhere.

The prospect was so irresistible that his fingers was slightly shaking from anticipation. He might need to calm himself or else his control of robots from across the world would slip. People in G-City might notice that robots were twitching all of a sudden.

Metal Knight controlled himself in a split second. He couldn't care less that a city was just wiped out. No one would miss them. Such filthy bureaucrats, fat businessmen and spotty politicians that placed their faith and expensive houses near the Headquarters in thinking that they would be safe. It was added burden in the Association's needs and it was better for them to be wiped out. Their coffers would have lessened without their "donations" but the destruction of a city would gain worldwide sympathy so their losses weren't that felt. They might even gain more support now that an attack could happen anywhere, and other cities would stake their security in the Association even more.

As for the Hero Association, they would probably go to him to improve or build their headquarters to strengthen security. It was such a coincidence that City B was already destroyed beforehand by a mutant giant that coincidentally also popped out of nowhere. He could annex the two and build the headquarters in the middle of it using the materials from the wrecked cities and the invading ship without those leeches beside his creation.

Everything was falling in his lap.

Tatsumaki eyed the spaceship. In the hands of a person like him, I don't think it would be any different.

"I thought Lord Boros never lost." An alien said.

"Are you sure? No one really saw him." Another alien replied. "But if so, then we're good as dead."

"Are we going to be killed? We just followed orders, right?"

"We're just the ship's crew. Maybe we can talk our way out of this."

"Quiet, fools! Now's not the time to talk – wait, someone's approaching –"

"Incinerate." A burst of flame burned the tied aliens to ashes, to the heroes' surprise.

"What the!" Darkshine exclaimed. "Who are you and why did you do that!" Tatsumaki too looked surprised how the cyborg casually went to the aliens and burned them without batting an eye.

"I simply ended their lives for the atrocities they have committed. They do not deserve to live." The cyborg said in a monotone. "There are no more alien survivors according to my readings. I am no longer needed here. I must be off." He turned around and briskly walked away.

"At least someone here is not a disappointment." Sweet Mask finally said.

Tatsumaki narrowed her eyes.

"I've been terribly disappointed with the performances of these so-called heroes." Sweet Mask continued. "It makes me want to vomit. But that man. This disaster today may not be all that bad. Perhaps he would be more promising unlike some amateur hero."

Sweet Mask walked away to the direction where the cyborg was going.

"Best leave it, Miss Tatsumaki." Bang said.

"Don't worry, gramps." Tatsumaki answered. "I don't give a damn what he says."

But that cyborg. Despite fighting with him, he fights with unrelenting rage and unfeeling coldness. Doing things just because it must be done. Makes me remember how I was before that baldy –

That baldy…

Saitama!

x-x-x

After the fight that made him literally going to the moon and back, Saitama found himself in the belly of the beast. A thought lingered in his mind more than he wanted to and before he knew what was up, the ship crashed down, embedding himself in the process. The ship was practically destroyed so he didn't need to find a formal way out anymore.

If there's a will, there's a way out, or so the saying goes if he remembered it correctly.

And so, he punched his way out. This wasn't the first time he used his fists to get out of situations.

While literally punching his way out, there was this thought that stayed in his mind. It made him feel rather… sad.

Sad? That wasn't the right word. More like disappointed. No, that was not it either. If he was to use a complicated word, it would be melancholic. Or blue.

He was… blue.

Why was he associating himself to a color? He wasn't wearing anything blue at the moment.

It doesn't make sense.

After a few impromptu tunneling, he was finally able to see daylight once again. It actually surprised him that he didn't unleash a strong punch that would blow half the ship. He certainly has strength to spare after the battle.

Liar.

It wasn't even a battle.

Blue. Ironic to think that was the color he fought earlier.

And now he was referring to himself as blue.

"Oh, I'm out." Saitama said with his usual nonchalance. He walked a few steps out of the dark and felt something tackle him. It nearly bowled him over.

"Why would you leave me alone like that!"

It was color green.

"Oh, Tatsumaki." Saitama answered calmly. "Well, we're done here. Let's go."

Tatsumaki let go of him realizing she was hugging him again out of instinct. "You haven't answered my question!"

"I got too excited, you know." Saitama replied and shrugged. "I got in a fight with this ship's boss and I got to say, maybe he's the strongest I've faced so far." Tatsumaki was surprised that he said that given how insanely powerful he was.

"The strongest you've faced so far? So, the prophecy was about this alien invasion?" Now that she thought about it, Saitama's glaring costume has been damaged and his cape was torn in half.

"I don't know about that but it turns out you can't trust prophecies to begin with. You can't even trust the weather forecast so why turn to prophecies?"

I don't think those two are related, Tatsumaki thought, her incredulity of the man going back full force.

"How about you? Did you do anything?"

"Of course, I did!" Tatsumaki answered. "I got to save some survivors and got into a fight with this weird alien thing. I even damaged the ship by bringing its bullets back so I did a plenty."

"That's good then." Saitama patted her head a few times. It took a few seconds before Tatsumaki registered what was happening.

"Hey! What are you doing!" she protested. Saitama retracted his hand back.

"Huh? Well, I felt like doing it. Something's wrong?"

"You don't pat someone's head all of a sudden!"

"Oh, I didn't know. Sorry. My bad." There was this smile from him again. Tatsumaki couldn't tell if it was his natural carefree smile or the one with genuine amusement. She instantly looked away before she got any ideas.

"Well, I – I didn't say it was… a bad thing. It actually felt… a little –"

"HEY! You two love birds!" Tatsumaki nearly exploded in embarrassment. She turned towards the voice and saw Metal Bat looking so smug with his bat slung over his shoulder. Some S Class heroes were there staring at them as if they were actors in a play.

Oh… god…

"Why don't you two go back there where it's dark, if you get my drift," Metal Bat said, heavily implying something.

"YOU CAN SHUT UP, POMPADOUR DELINQUENT!" Tatsumaki spat back.

"What did ya jus' call me!? How 'bout I bust your head with this bat here?!" his bat floated out of his reach.

"How did this man boarded the ship? He's just a Class B, right?" Child Emperor asked but was completely ignored.

"Oh, you mean this bat?" Tatsumaki telekinetically threw the bat as far as she can. "Now fetch, you dog faced good-for-nothing!"

Aghast for his weapon to be thrown away from him, Metal Bat cracked his knuckles. "That does it! I will show you I can smash someone up without using my bat!" Puri Puri Prisoner had once again taken the words for something totally out of context.

"Then go ahead and try, pillbug head!"

"Cut it out, you two." Bang intervened. "You two are both heroes of the Association. Can we just call it a day after all that happened? There are still so much to do other than to fight with each other."

Metal Bat spat on the ground. "Tsk. I still have unfinished business with that Smug Face. You got lucky this time." Tatsumaki glared at him.

"Hmph!" Tatsumaki grabbed Saitama's hand and dragged him away. "Let's get out from these weirdos! I'm hungry. I want some takoyaki."

"Are there still takoyaki stands in this city?" Saitama asked like a boy being dragged by a parent.

"I don't care! Besides, I know someone who will give us for free."

"Really?! For free? What are we waiting for! Let's go!" Saitama quickened his pace and Tatsumaki never did notice how her hand was still holding Saitama's hand as they both left.

Silver Fang sighed in relief after averting another disaster. He couldn't help but smile at the two.

Troublemakers and their youth.

"That was… weird." Metal Bat finally said. "Oh! I need to find my bat first!" He was about to go search for it when Watchdog Man appeared, the bat in his mouth.

"Here you go, Metal Bat." The costumed hero said after putting it down.

"Uhm, thanks?"

"You're welcome." Watchdog Man ran away as if nothing had happened.

"…What just happened?"

Bang walked away after all the mess he had been through for today. His back hurts, Charanko might be panicking in the dojo for his master's welfare, and having Saitama once again saving the day. He may be an old man but even a monkey could figure out that the only person who could unleash such an attack earlier was none other than Saitama. He had seen how Saitama destroyed the meteor. It was no coincidence how he was in the ship when all of this was happening. If this was what Saitama wanted, he has no right to intrude just what he had done when people began to dislike him during the meteor incident.

Still, Bang got the feeling there was more to this. It seemed too convenient and he had lived a long life to expect that the worse was still yet to come. There were still loose ends in his part and far be it for the whole world to end before he corrected it himself. He just hoped that the prophecy doesn't concern that one particular prodigal student. He was his burden to carry, not anyone else's. If it comes to it, perhaps that would be the day to call it quits for his age.

Looking back, there were also two different individuals who piqued his interest. One was a very fierce and hard-headed stubborn girl while the other was way too passive and too strong for his own good bald man. A change was looming in the horizon and maybe those two may have a part in it as well. The strongest esper and the strongest hero.

The bald and the esper.

Has a nice ring to it?

The old man chuckled to himself.

I'm too old for this.

Author's Corner: Here's the long-awaited ending of season 1 of this story! I'm terribly sorry if I posted this very, very, very late! Things got rough on my side that made me unable to focus on this one. Given the chapter's length, it should have been posted a long time ago so I'm very sorry for that.

This is my first story that I actually finished with multiple chapters! It's been fun tinkering with canon and how things would have gone with Tatsumaki entering the picture instead of Genos. She's more fleshed out here than Genos in the actual series. Her knowing Saitama little by little contrast to Genos who practically worship Saitama at first sight. I think that Tatsumaki has changed in the course of the story so there would be some OOC moments.

Anyway, I do thank everyone who left a review and followed/favorited this story. I NEVER thought this story would balloon all of a sudden. It still gives me the vibes knowing that people are reading this. It was just a pet project of a what-if and I believe it started as a what-if but then I changed it as a rehash/retelling since it's more close to that.

If I listed everyone who have followed/favorited, I would require a credit reel that would be a wall of text. You know who you are and I'm really thankful that you have enjoyed this story despite its wrong grammar and misspellings. That said, I'm looking for a proofreader since I have finished the whole thing. No matter what I do, there are still many errors that falls through the cracks. I would be most grateful if this story is somewhat cleaned. I'm not familiar about this beta reader and such so just PM me if you'll be up to the task.

Again, thank you that you have reached this far! Season 1 is over so better wait when season 2 will ever come. I know that feeling too. Season 2 of the anime can't get here soon enough and perhaps this story here would continue like in season 1.

This has been a long ass author's note so any reviews or feedback are greatly appreciated! See you when I see you! Ciao!

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"It has been ten days after the alien invasion of City A."

"…"

"As for our reports, Metal Knight had used the mothership and the remaining rubble to build the Association's new HQ. He made it more impenetrable than before and his design made it more accessible for heroes to take action all around the globe. It only took him 7 days to build a fully operational base - as expected of the Association's trump card."

"…"

"They already have plans building a new one before but they don't know where. It seemed they let the meteor go unchecked so they can build in City Z instead. If that was the case, it would have been interesting to say the least."

"…Interesting indeed."

"In other news, the Hero Hunter has begun his move. Should we intercept him first before he gets to a lot of trouble? He is a self-proclaimed monster after all so maybe we should –"

"Not yet. He hasn't proven anything other than be a thorn in the heroes' side. The Association has many heroes in their disposal so he's a good distraction. Let him have some fun for the meantime."

"Of course. Speaking of heroes, there was a mysterious cyborg that showed in the invasion. He was responsible in not only helping out in fending off the aliens, he killed all the remaining alien survivors. It's likely the Association would seek him out to acquire his services."

"It wouldn't matter who they recruit. It makes no difference."

"For our part, we did retrieve an alien corpse atop the ship before Metal Knight had salvaged it all. No one saw us. It seemed he was the cause of the explosion that brought the ship down. He may have been a powerful being once before he sustained this much damage."

"…"

"He is doing well I see. The others are still skeptical if we should take him in. From the looks of it, he might have been defeated by Blast or King."

"It isn't Blast. If so, there wouldn't even be a corpse left. The strongest man. He may pose a problem but we will deal with him eventually."

"Although this is quite stating the obvious, the other members are waiting. They are quite an impatient lot and not used to –"

She waved a hand as if to dismiss. "I'll be there in a minute. It's not that they can escape when I called them here."

"Of course," the girl nodded and left, the dead flower on her head swaying stiffly.

The procedure took some time before she could finally regain some control. She clenched and unclenched her hands to make sure there were no complications. Her research had never failed her.

She slowly stood up, making sure the white fur coat draped over her won't fall off. Amusing that she still kept it after all this. Old habits really die hard, she supposed. She took careful steps towards a tank that housed a desiccated limbless man hooked up by a lot of wires to monitor his status. The only change so far was his long pale white hair has a tint of pink in it. Overall, it would take some time before he could be useful. She could still sense some power from him even at his poor condition.

A thought of vengeance, and a bit of… dismay.

"A war is coming…"

A heartbeat.

"It is time for a new order to rise…"

The woman took out her glasses, the glass tank reflecting her heterochromatic eyes. The colors of her eyes were quite peculiar: her left eye was emerald green while the other was sky blue.

She smiled.