A/N: This Genos has many differences from canon Genos.

1. Can still feel pain
2. Still at least half human.
3. Much more reserved and less reckless - used to evaluating situations thoroughly and being well aware of his own limits and weaknesses.
4. Dr. Kuseno does not help Genos repair. Every damage Genos takes, he has to fix on his own. Therefore Genos does not fight, if he can help it. He sticks to rescue and disaster prevention.
5. Still has the same core as Genos, but otherwise he is not built for fighting. No built in flamethrowers/guns/etc. Still has advancements to brain and optics that allow him to calculate, track, sense life signs, etc.
6. Probably other things.
-

There would always be at least a small part of Genos that would never become numb to the devastating destruction he beheld as he dutifully followed in the wake of the God Level Threat villain. Yes, it wasn't uncommon for the man to leave only one or two buildings damaged - not even he was always out to cause mayhem - but even if it were only once every ten years, the disaster Genos found himself staring at now…

..it was too much.

97% of his modified brain was documenting life signs, hazard levels of teetering buildings, and toxin levels and other such things. The remaining 3% was paralyzed in horror. There was barely any city left - the smell of blood and burnt human flesh was in the air. Genos felt sick.

Yet, as always, he kept an emotionless face as he started to chase life sign after life sign, rescuing the survivors from certain death.

'I know I hope to one day understand how one human is physically capable of this much destruction...but I will never know how one human is willing to take even one innocent life..much less an entire city.. '

Hardly a day went by when Genos didn't wish he could do more. But he knew very well that there was no one in the universe that could ever match the power of the villain Saitama. He was too strong to take any damage, and could effortlessly kill with a flick of his wrist. And his speed, his stamina, endurance...no one could outpace him in any of these fields.

Genos knew this. And so he was devoted instead to doing what he could to prevent as much loss of life as possible.

For five years, now, Genos had been following Saitama at a distance, studying him from the shadows. His mind had helped him calculate patterns and routines, from everything from his fighting style to when he was most likely to go out and kill. He was able to predict with reasonable accuracy where Saitama would go and when, and did his best to be there in advance to hack into the city's siren system and broadcast the evacuation alarm.

Not everyone could get out in time of course. So Genos stayed and waited until the villain had come and gone, before venturing back out as he was doing now, and collecting the surviving victims. It was never a pleasant sight. So many gruesome injuries, broken minds and hearts.

In spite of Genos's own heart having been replaced, he still felt a pain there when he had to drag childless mothers and motherless children away from their dead family and to the waiting rescue teams.

Senseless violence. That's all it was. There was no excuse. No reason justified this sort of merciless mass execution.

Still Genos forced his anger down. Anger wouldn't help anyone here.

The only thing for him to do was to keep rescuing as many as he could before needing to recharge. It was the most valuable use of himself that he could give. One on one confrontations would be inevitably lethal. Genos had seen far too many heroes crushed or blown apart or…

He felt nauseous recalling any of those deaths. If other heroes would do as he did, and help from the shadows, there would be less lives lost. But other heroes didn't seem to have Genos's sense of self-preservation. They would fight petty criminals and small villains in one city until their egos outweighed their common sense, and they would boldly rush to the scene to confront Saitama.

The villain only ever seemed bored as he smeared them over the ground and buildings with one simple, disinterested motion.

A shudder went down Genos's spine, and he rubbed the back of his neck to get rid of the ghost sensation it had left behind. He was lucky to never have had Saitama's attention on him, and yet so many fools yelled at him demanding his fatal gaze. Genos didn't understand why anyone would willingly so much as step into his line of sight.

Until he turned the corner following a group of life signs, and saw a figure of black and red standing in front of a terrified huddle.

Saitama didn't know what hit him until after he'd been body slammed to two blocks away, not the slightest bit harmed. He blinked, and then stared as someone scrambled off of him and backed up a few paces.

Slowly Saitama stood up, brushing off his suit in small motions, starting at his shoulders and working his way down.

Genos couldn't sense himself breathing as he held a defensive pose, posture relaxed only because he knew he'd start shaking if he tensed any muscles.

What had just happened?

One moment it had been a standard search and rescue and then…

Genos's cyborg eye scanned over the villain, taking readings and confirming that it was real while his mind screamed for it to be a nightmarish hallucination. Just briefly he looked over his shoulder, long enough see the rescued group fleeing into the distance as fast as they could.

Saitama gave an annoyed sigh, and Genos's gaze snapped back forward, his optic and pupil contracting.

"You couldn't even have the decency to give your stupid speech while I had something interesting to do?" Saitama complained, shaking out his belt. Brushing off dust had become less predictable than the monologues prepared by the idiot heroes he faced.

Genos didn't respond. He didn't desire to have so much as a word of conversation with this monster. He adjusted his stance, doing his best to ignore the human part of his mind that was screaming in fear and instead focusing on a simple goal - distract the villain long enough for the citizens to reach safety. Secondary objective - escape with life if possible.

"Huh." Saitama squinted at the silent cyborg. "Nothing to say?" That was unusual. He shrugged. "Well, I won't complain." And he darted forward.

That was usually finished with a single blow and his opponent scattered to bits over whatever remained of the landscape. However Saitama noted a distinct lack of metal or flesh carpeting, and turned to see that the cyborg had...dodged.

Not flawlessly - there were noticeable scrapes in one of his metal arms - but nevertheless. The nobody was now crouched, yellow eyes wide and bright as his scanners read the villain's body language and tried to anticipate his next move. Genos hadn't been faster than Saitama. He'd only known to move even before Saitama did, and thus had barely avoided the deadly strike.

"...huh." Saitama slowly turned, looking the hero over again. "That's a first." He congratulated. "Maybe it was just luck on your part."

Still the cyborg offered no reply, and instead readied himself again, darting left when Saitama lunged again. This time his feet were knocked out from under him and he was sent rolling several yards, crashing through the remains of a cement wall before reaching a stop. Thankfully the body the doctor had made him was durable, and Genos was able to once again get back onto his feet.

He did so to the unnerving sound of Saitama laughing.

"Oh man! You really are quick!" He approached Genos almost eagerly, and the cyborg scrambled to back up in response. Saitama didn't seem to notice or care. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you'll smear same as everyone else when I get my hands on you, but at least you're not making that first step easy!"

Genos observed the wide, genuine grin on the villain's face and felt uncomfortable. For if the expression hadn't been framed in the devastation he'd caused, Saitama's smile may have actually been warm. As it were, however, it only chilled what little of Genos's flesh remained.

Saitama rubbed his hands together, grin widening further. "I wonder how long you can keep it up?"

Nineteen minutes and seventeen seconds is what Genos calculated the survivors to need, taking their current physical states into account. He needed to hold out for just that long. He had to.

The ruins of buildings that had framed the arena between the cyborg and the villain were now dust beneath Saitama's feet and Genos's shaking limbs. Twenty-one minutes and forty seconds. Genos could barely hold his upper body off of the ground now, but he could cling to the relief of knowing he'd bought enough time.

He winced one eye as he watched a mix of blood and oil drip onto the ground beneath him. He'd never been meant for fighting. But perhaps that was the best - if he'd learned to trust in his own strength in combat, he might have become arrogant and reckless over time. Even if he was little more than a slight hassle in combat, at least he'd avoided it for as long as he did. And when he'd been forced into it, he'd put all of his efforts into dodging and letting Saitama come upon his own damage, rather than foolishly thinking he could inflict so much as a papercut on the villain.

And that meant that he'd bought as much time as possible. Genos repeated this to himself over and over in his head, trying to only think of the lives he'd saved as he hazily registered Saitama's approaching footsteps.

'I don't want to die.' In spite of his best efforts, the thought came clearly to the forefront of Genos's mind. He swallowed, finding it uncomfortable how poorly his metal body was able to help him cope with feelings. Physical ones weren't a problem. Pain was something he was sensing plenty of. But emotions no longer could be fully expressed. His fear couldn't manifest into a knot in his stomach or a rush in his heart or goosebumps...it was trapped in his brain, knocking around like a bug in a jar. It made him feel claustrophobic in his own body.

A scream or even a whimper would help release some of it, but he refused. If he was going to die he at least wanted a death that seemed brave.

Genos grunted as a red boot stepped on his head and forced his temple into the dirt, the fingers of his one attached arm bunching up.

"Hang on." Saitama said, as though he was taking an extra few seconds to adjust his nonexistent hair before an outing rather than delaying a gruesome and lonely execution.

The cyborg squinted up as best he could to see what the villain was doing. 'Is he..on his phone?'

Saitama was indeed scrolling through a website, finger flicking up every few moments. "Hero Association..cyborg...Metal Knight? No, his picture looks nothing like you...you're probably not class S anyway. Yeah you're fast but not really much of a fighter. Class B maybe?"

'What is he doing? Trying to find me in the Hero Registry? Why?'

"There's only like ten guys in B class. Guess I've really reduced the numbers. You're not any of them." Saitama looked down at the sparking cyborg under his foot. "..oh. Yeah I guess I could just ask you. Do you talk?"

Genos was too fried and confused to consider responding, and Saitama quickly decided to find out himself if Genos made noise by leaning down, gripping his gaping shoulder socket and twisting his fingers inside.

If Genos hadn't been so tired, and the attack hadn't been so unexpected, he could have grit his teeth and stayed silent. But he was weak and caught off guard, and thus a sharp cry of pain was elicited. His chin dropped back to his sternum when Saitama withdrew, gasping as quietly as possible and trembling when he was dropped to the ground. He laid on his back, staring up at the villain, who was grinning smugly.

"Aha. So you're not mute." Saitama crossed his arms, tilting up his chin. "It's nice to have a hero that shuts up for once, but ignoring me is kinda mean." Stepping back, he sat down cross-legged by Genos's head, resting his chin in his hands and leaning forward just enough that his face was in the cyborg's vision. "Normally I don't care, but since you're the only thing that's been anything but totally effortless to get rid of in the last...four years? I'm curious. Who are you?"

Genos swallowed subtly. "Nobody."

Looking unamused and then suddenly expressionless, Saitama chose to express his displeasure by digging three fingers into a gaping hole in Genos's side and twisting them around the various wires he felt there. Genos screamed, back arching and remaining limbs twitching violently. Unlike the first time, Saitama didn't remove his hand at the first sound Genos made. Instead he continued slowly twisting and tugging for several seconds, blank eyes fixed on the cyborg's face.

"Genos!" Genos finally choked out. "G-Genos m-my name is G-Genos.." He squeezed his eyes shut, yelping as Saitama withdrew in an abrupt motion and biting down on his lip.

"So dramatic." Saitama monotoned. "But still more interesting than vague answers. I'll resort to more cat's cradle with your insides if you bore me again. Okay?"

It wasn't a request for permission, even though it was framed like it. It was a warning. Genos nodded, forcing his rapid, shallow breaths to deepen to keep himself calm. "I-I understand.." He responded, struggling to keep his voice from sounding too small.

Lips twitching upwards in a friendly smile again, Saitama folded his fingers under his chin and put his elbows back on his knees. "Great. So, where are you from?"

Genos doubted saying the name of his town would help, considering how obliterated it was. "I was born outside City [insert whatever letter here is accurate to canon]."

"Huh. Okay. Where'd the cyborg parts come from?"

"A man named Dr. Kuseno gave them to me." Genos closed his eyes, feeling weary. He wasn't sure how much longer his core's power was going to last - he couldn't get clear readings, as the damage to his body made them fluctuate.

Saitama snapped his fingers a couple times. "Hey, you're not falling asleep on me, are you?"

"No. Not yet."

"Oh, okay. Good." Saitama shifted in place a little. "So why'd he modify you? Was it one of those mad scientist kinda things? Were you kidnapped?"

"No. He found me injured,"

Trapped under bloody rubble, my family crushed around me, dead eyes staring at me.

"after he heard me calling for help,"

Screaming. Crying. Begging for my family to be okay right to their lifeless faces. Pleading for it to be a bad dream. Yelling that it hurts, it hurts, someone please make it stop, I don't want to die.

"and took me to his lab, replacing everything that could not be healed with robotic parts."

Apologizing for not having any more pain killers on hand, having used the last of his supply on other survivors. Having to restrain me so tightly I could barely twitch so I wouldn't thrash at the agony. Being forced to gag me because the screaming was making it impossible for him to concentrate enough to save my life. Covering my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch him carving out my heart and replacing it.

"...well that was nice of him." Saitama said after a pause. "Must have been a pretty bad injury though, since like...ninety percent of you is robot. What happened?"

So much for being able to avoid the topic entirely. Genos took a quick, deep breath. "My town was destroyed, and I was nearly crushed to death under the rubble of my home."

"Oh." Saitama cleared his throat a little. "Yeah that would do it." Thankfully he didn't press further about particulars. "Still, I've fought cyborgs before - way better ones. Ones actually meant for fighting. And they only lasted a second. How did you survive so long? How are you so fast?"

Genos wanted to say silent, or to lie, but his entire body jolted again as another spark went through him, and he was reminded that he didn't have much time left alive anyway. "I've studied you."

Saitama blinked. "..huh?"

"I...I've been following you. For..for four years." Genos dug the fingers of his hand into the ground a little, partly to steady himself and partly in response to another glitch of pain. "Always in the shadows...trying to figure out a pattern to your...your movements. I..I know that no one can fight you and survive..much less even hurt you...so I didn't try. Instead I..I wanted to focus my efforts on preventing as much loss of life as I could."

Cautiously Genos opened his eyes again, only letting his gaze linger on the villain's face for a moment before instead watching the sky. He was quiet for a moment, to see if Saitama would interject.

But he didn't. And so Genos continued. "Over time I have..been able to run calculations, and...estimate when and where you are next likely to strike. I followed you, and rescued whomever I could." Genos swallowed a bit, feeling an urge to take in a deep breath even though his artificial lungs were too badly damaged to allow him to do so. "I am not..faster than you. I merely..dodged before you moved...sometimes I would..witness you fighting a hero or villain that challenged you. I would study how you fought, and..so I was able to predict with 94% accuracy how you were most likely to strike.."

It was, perhaps, foolish to be telling all of this to the villain. But Genos felt so very tired, and also very sure of his impending death. And with how alone he has been for the past four years, avoiding any connections to keep away from gaining attention...it was selfish, but he wanted to tell someone... he wanted at least one person to know how hard he had tried in this world that was constantly trembling in fear of its own destruction, where no one lived in peace except for the one man who was capable of leveling the entire planet if he had a bad day.

Genos didn't know if he had even made much of a difference. Maybe everyone he'd saved from one city had just been killed at Saitama's next fit. Maybe there wasn't any difference to make in a world like this at all. But he'd tried. He'd had to.

The cyborg watched smoke curl up into the sky and disappear, brow furrowing as he slowly closed his eyes again, power flickering at 1%. If he'd kept just one family together, even only for an hour...it was enough.

"..huh." Saitama finally spoke, standing up straight and cracking his back. "So you're like...a stalker." He paced alongside the length of Genos's body. "..explains why you punted me through a wall, though..after four years of just spying on me like a creep. You were trying to protect those citizens I was looking at, right?" Saitama leaned over the almost entirely unresponsive cyborg's body, arms crossed behind his back. "...I can still kill them, you know."

Genos's eyes snapped back open.

"Right from here. Wouldn't even be hard. I'd just need to flick my wrist." He stretched out his arm in the direction the civilians had run, hand poised to do just that. "It'd send whatever buildings are left standing down onto them. I guess the lucky ones would get squished immediately. Unlucky ones would be trapped until they bled out or died of dehydration or thirst. Probably stuck with a bunch of dead bodies-"

"No !" Genos's voice glitched as he yelled, body jerking in protest at the harsh volume that his throat clearly wasn't prepared to support. "No! Please!"

Saitama's relaxed smile was gone. His eyes were back to being emotionless, sharp and focused in on the cyborg's face. "How will you stop me? Nobody can stop me. You can't even twitch your own toes right now. What could you do to me? What can anybody do to me? Nothing." He stood up straight again, turning to face the speck of a crowd in his line of vision. "No one is strong enough."

"I'll̶ ̸d̴o whate̸v̴e̴r̸ you w̷̢͔͕͇̽a̶̤͒͘nt !" Genos struggled to sit up, fingers briefly scraping at the fabric around Saitama's ankle as he tried to grab hold, only for his body to collapse and spasm a bit more. He barely had the energy to plead for innocent lives. "P-pl̵͚͙̣͊̃ͅe̸̜̜̲̯̓̋͝ase̴..S-Saitama, sir, ple̴ase̴ I'll ̸̸d̴o an̷y̷t̵hing.."

The villain paused. He glanced down at his ankle, still feeling the ghost sensation of those broken metal fingers where Genos had touched him (touched him, when was the last time anyone dared to touch him?), before turning to look at the glitching cyborg on the ground.

It was really pathetic. But that's what made it so amusing. "I can have anything I want, Genos. I'm the most powerful thing on this planet. What do you think you can give me that's so great I'll change my mind?" The words were unencouraging, but that faint smile was back in his eyes.

All Genos could do was shake his head. He had nothing material to give Saitama - Genos owned nothing. He got by on food by scavenging from destroyed restaurants and supermarkets, same as clothing.

That wasn't what appealed to the villain, though. He didn't care that Genos could only offer up the scrap metal he was made of - he was simply delighted that, if he asked for it, Genos would give it to him. He'd rip himself to pieces and pull out his own heart if Saitama said it would make him spare even one life.

It was the sort of sickeningly good boy scout kind of heroic attitude that Saitama just didn't see anymore.

He laughed at the desperation in Genos's eyes, letting his arm flop back against his side and turning back around again. "Cute." He grinned, watching Genos's one robotic eye flicker before they began slowly dimming, the other closing. "Don't worry about it, Genos." He gripped the cyborg by the hair and began dragging him away, walking with a bit more skip in his step than usual. "I'll think of something."