I'm back! And it's only been one month so I consider that a win! The next chapter should be ready soon-ish... I hope.

"Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist!"

The movements performed by the martial arts master flowed smoothly through the air, looking almost effortless in their display.

Even at an old age, Bang was a master of his craft. The years he'd spent developing and honing his fighting style had left him with permanent reminders in the form of scars that had taken a permanent place all over his body, but he'd never regretted having taken the harshest path in life as it allowed him to find pride in what he'd accomplished and in teaching his art to others who sought him out.

At first glance there didn't seem to be much to the fighting style but, to the trained eye, there was concealed strength hiding just behind the fluidness of the movements, a force to be reckoned with if its wielder dared to be provoked by an enemy.

"Well, it goes something like this." Bang dropped his stance and returned to his normal slightly hunched-over one, hands clasped behind his back along with relaxed smile. He turned to the family of three plus their live-in extra sitting on the wooden floor to gauge at their reactions to his demonstration of the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.

Lola clapped enthusiastically while offering a beaming smile. "Amazing! I bet in your younger days you drove the ladies wild with those moves."

The older man smiled with embarrassment and raised a hand to scratch at his head. "I'm afraid I was too busy developing the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist while learning with my older brother Bomb to really notice that. But thank you for the compliment." He then looked at the two heroes next to the woman, hoping that he'd aroused their curiosity with his demonstration. "Do you want to try? You two look like enthusiastic learners. I bet you'll get the hang of it in no time."

"…This is the cool thing you wanted to show us? A sales pitch?" Saitama questioned with a deadpan look. The bald was thoroughly disappointed on his invitation to visit once again the S-Class hero's dojo. He'd been hoping for some more high-quality meat… or at least some other type of food. "I'll pass. You do it Genos."

"No, I will pass too." The cyborg declined almost immediately. "What is seek is not the art of self-defense, but absolute destructive power."

"You punks! You dare mock our fighting style?!" The martial arts student blew up, having taken great offense over the two heroes declining to learn from his sensei, and began readying put into practice what he'd learned in the dojo. "I, Charanko, the top disciple, challenge you-!"

Kaiyo didn't let him finish his tirade, having gotten behind the young adult and tripped him while pulling up his left arm, causing the wild-haired student to faceplant rather painfully into the ground while in a wristlock. It was a move he'd used many times in the playground and, as a consequence, gotten in trouble for the large majority of those times if a teacher spotted him. It honestly wasn't his fault if some idiot bully felt the need to try and take him on… mostly.

"It hurts! I give up! I give up!"

The eleven-year-old let out a snort, followed by a laugh. "Woo, I beat the top disciple of Silver Fang's dojo!" He then paused, evaluating his words and looked down at the disciple. How exactly had he been able to take down the guy so easily with a move learned from a movie? And without using his monster-given strength? "Wait, how are you this crappy at martial arts?"

"Just let me go already!" Charanko complained, biting down on his lip at having been humiliated with such ease by someone so much younger than him. And in front of Bang just to make things even worse for his rapidly bruising ego!

"Only if you say the magic word."

Lola facepalmed and groaned, shaking her head at the scene. "Kaiyo, listen to the kid and let him go." She didn't want to even think about the trouble her son could cause if he ever got the idea to join a dojo. Especially Silver Fang's dojo.

"Fine..."

The orange-haired loudmouth picked himself off the ground while shooting a loathing stare at Kaiyo. "I'm not a kid, lady, I'm twenty." He complained while adjusting his white gi.

Charanko had joined Bang's dojo in his pursuit of popularity and dreams of saving pretty women but ended up lowest in rank, at white-belt, and tasked with cleaning the floors while fearing every one of his peers. Every day those goals he'd set his eyes on only seemed to get further and further away from his grasp. Every opponent he'd encountered so far was always leagues away from him when it came to strength but having been taken down by a literal child and saved by their mother's warning really was the cherry on top of the metaphorical cake of shame he'd never asked for.

"Really?" The white-haired woman tilted her head in confusion before putting on an apologetic look with a sheepish smile. "My bad, then, I thought you were sixteen…"

Genos got up and took a good look at Charanko, detecting no more than average readings from him, something the cyborg found rather odd. For someone who claimed to be the best in a dojo taught in by such a powerful S-Class hero there wasn't much to show in terms of skill or power. Even his sensei's wife and son ranked above him when examined and both had not shown proof of any sort of formal training in any fighting art.

The blond then turned to the elder martial arts master in confusion. "Is he really your best?" He asked.

Bang looked to the side and cleared his throat, pausing for a couple of seconds before answering. "Yes…"

"I find it rather odd. I'd heard your dojo was full of skilled fighters."

"Well, one of my disciples went wild. He beat my most skilled students so badly they're all out of commission. The rest got scared and quit."

It had been such a sad moment for the old master to have returned and find all of his students either battered and bleeding or too scared to even move under that terrifying stare. What had started as a child's dream to become strong for himself had slowly turned over the apprenticeship years into pure selfish desire for power… And Bang had been so taken with how his pupil had devoted himself to his training that he hadn't even taken notice of the change. Even at the present moment he regretted his choice in the end, wondering even if it had been the right one.

"Now that explains why this, erm… young man, is your best." Lola gestured towards the only remaining student before realizing she might have bruised his ego some more. "No offense."

"Some taken." He replied with a deadpan expression.

"The guy is that strong? What's his name?" Saitama asked the elder S-Class hero, his curiosity finally having been roused upon hearing about the rogue disciple. He was never one to pass up the opportunity to learn about possible strong opponents.

"… Garou." Bang finally said after a few seconds of mulling over what had happened the day he'd finally had to kick out his most promising student. "He was my top disciple at the time, but I gave him a good beating and expelled him."

The bald man got up in his excitement, wondering if martial arts weren't so boring after all. "You must pack a punch, old man!" He exclaimed.

"Hey! This is the famed hero, Silver Fang!" The young man came into defense of his sensei, getting up in Saitama's face with a glare. "S-Class, rank 3! He flows like water, toying with his opponents, before delivering a blow like a raging river smashing huge rocks! A master of martial arts! You only became a hero recently, right? You'll regret talking to sensei Bang lightly!"

"Enough, Charanko." Bang put a hand in his disciple's shoulder and shook his head. Truly, hotheadedness was the downfall of his remaining student. "Do not disgrace us. Saitama is many times stronger than me."

"Sensei, you can't be serious…"

Kaiyo made a whipping noise only to receive a glare from his mother.

"Mr. Silver Fang!" The door was suddenly opened to reveal a ragged, panting man in a rumpled business suit with his tie askew. He collapsed onto his knees, relieved he'd at last managed to climb up the hundreds of stairs up to the famed hero's dojo, and took in a few deep breaths to regain some of his composure. "The Hero Association sent me. An emergency summon has been issued to all S-Class heroes! Please come to the Association Headquarters. Oh! Is that you, Mr. Genos? Since all S-Class Heroes have been summoned please come too!"

"Is it a Dragon-level threat?" The blond cyborg wondered out loud. There were very few reasons to gather all the S-Class in such short notice and none of them was good to begin with. At the best of chances, the threat level could be Dragon and from there on out the scenarios became worse and worse, ending with a God level threat that posed a danger to the whole planet.

"Here we go…" Shaking his head and letting out a breath, Bang began walking toward the entrance before pausing and turning to his student. "Charanko, look after the dojo."

"If the S-Class is all being summoned you should come too, sensei." Genos asked Saitama. "They may need your help."

"I will go! Because I have nothing else to do." The bald hero declared with a straight posture and a smirk.

Kaiyo ran over to his father, barely able to contain his excitement. "Can I go too?" Giving his best attempt at a puppy-dog look he latched onto the outfit's white cloak. "Please? Pretty please?"

"Sure. Lola, you coming too?"

"Why not?" The woman got up and walked over to her husband before lacing up her elbow with his. "Let's go!"

Bang eyed the family before clearing his throat. "Saitama, are you sure you family should come?" If they would be dealing with a possible threat there could be a chance the woman and child could be caught in the crossfire. For all he knew Elder Centipede could have come back, at the worst of chances!

"It's just a meeting, old man, what could be the harm?"

It didn't take long for them to reach A-City, maybe having beaten some form of speed record in the process and most definitely having spooked a lot of the wildlife through the improvised path they'd taken.

Locating the Hero Association HQ hadn't been a problem, mainly because it took the form of the highest building located right in the middle of it. The skyscraper was notorious for having been built by Metal Knight in record time, its dark and windowless appearance contrasting more than obviously with the normalcy of the main city and with twice of both the size and the area there was no denying it imposed a certain degree of respect. The Association's founder, Agoni, certainly hadn't cut corners when it came to demonstrating the power of his vision.

Lola and Kaiyo agreed to remain in the entrance hall, mainly because civilians would likely not be welcomed at an S-Class meeting, especially not one called with such emergency, while the three heroes took the elevator to one of the top floors.

"Oh ho, Silver Fang!" A man wearing a traditional swordsman outfit under a red cloak greeted as soon as the elevator's door opened.

"It's been a while, Atomic Samurai." Bang smiled at his friend. "I see you also came as fast as possible."

"I knew you'd come." He nodded while chewing on a blade of grass and stroking his small goatee. "You must be the cyborg Genos and… Who's this?"

"This is the B-Class hero Saitama. His exceptional talent will one day put him at the top of S-Class, I'm sure, so we asked him to come."

"Yo, middle-aged hero dude." The bald man acknowledged the hero in regular fashion and extended his red-gloved hand. "Put 'em here."

Kamikaze wasted no time in casually slapping away the hand. The youngsters those days seemed to be getting more and more careless in their manners… but he'd never seen one go bald so soon, much to his curiosity. Even more intriguing was Silver Fang's introduction. The elder's claim that unassuming man's power could put him on top of the ranks, while brief, was rather surprising, especially when it came from a master with a lifetime of experience and training.

"No handshakes. I acknowledge only the strong. Once you've climbed up to S-Class I'll greet you properly. Besides, I'm not middle-aged yet, I'm only thirty-seven."

"Really?" A child's voice came from behind the newly-arrived trio. Kaiyo popped his head from behind his father's cloak with a smirk before fully coming out from his hiding spot. "You look more like fifty."

"Eh? Who's the kid? Another Child Emperor?" Atomic Samurai bent down to take a good look at the child.

"Kaiyo, I thought you stayed behind with your mom." Saitama admonished, but, looking back, he really should have seen it coming. Kaiyo, like other kids, had a tendency to let his curiosity lead him around.

"So did she."

"He's your kid? The Association HQ is no place for little kids trying to play hero." The young one must have taken after his mother when it came to his looks, because he looked nothing like the bald hero. But in manners there was definitely a connection. "Come to think of it, you're the one that looks middle-aged, with that bad thing you've got going on."

Genos quickly came to the defense of his sensei. "Saitama-sensei is only twenty-five, as a matter of fact. His badness is merely a side-effect of the training he underwent in order to become stronger."

"Oh my, I also thought you were older than that, Saitama. That baldness really does age you quite a bit." Bang commented.

"Could everyone stop talking about me being bald…?"

"You two brought a B-Class nobody alongside with his spawn?" Another rather childish voice, this one female, spoke out. "And even if the bald one was invited; a polite person would decline. The nerve! I bet you're only here for some creepy reason, like kissing up to us S-Class heroes! You disgust me! Get lost already and take the runt along with you!"

The Tornado of Terror was not having a good day.

First she'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed and put on her slippers on the wrong feet with some of her characteristic curls looking horribly deformed, her toothpaste exploded when she squeezed too hard, her toast landed jam-side on the floor and there were no paper towels left and, when she stepped outside, a trio of black cats were outside her door. Out of the blue she got a call to go and solve the problem of some weirdo giant ancient lizard waking up, which was right between some mountains in the middle of nowhere, and the airplane ride gave her a headache that was worsened by another call that told her to come back and attend an emergency meeting.

Sitch had some nerve! Ordering the great Tatsumaki around like a personal servant! She was rank 2 in the S-Class for a reason and it wasn't to go around like she was playing fetch!

"Who's this… sassy lost child?" Saitama pointed with a deadpan expression at the green-haired petite woman.

"Say that again to my face!" Kaiyo exploded. "You can insult my bald dad all you want but do not call me a runt!"

"CAN'T PEOPLE STOP FOCUSING ON MY BALDNESS?!"

"That, sensei, is Tatsumaki, S-Class rank 2." Said Genos. "She defeats monster with her psychic powers. She's an ESPer."

"'That'? I am not an object!" Tatsumaki shouted while resisting the urge to use her powers to crush the cyborg like a tin can. She was the second best of the Hero Association and yet those two had the nerve to disrespect her!

"Really? She really does look like a kid, though."

"I am not a kid, I'm twenty-eight!"

"It appears everyone is here. We should join them."

The two heroes ran ahead, followed by Kaiyo, leaving the ESPer stunned at their treatment of her.

"Hey! Don't ignore me! Baldy! Tin Can!"

Lola looked around the entrance hall of the Hero Association's HQ, taking in the rather conventional reception area. Even if it was built in the futuristic and sleek style as the rest of the building the (mandatorily incomprehensible) sculpture by the desk and the paintings on the walls (that looked like either a psychedelic dream with the colors muted or splatter of paint thrown at random) were there, likely to give a sense of normalcy to the people who had to live with the surroundings often.

The monster-woman thought back to when her parents were still alive. They had raised her to be mostly indifferent towards heroes, advising her to assess each one individually based on their actions rather than to lump them all into a single category, especially since Nephila had done some morally dubious and outright evil in her past.

If there had been a confession of all those deeds it was gone from Lola's memory, along with many others that pertained to the monster-parent's personality, tastes, habits and so on… even her father's face was gone. She knew her childhood had been a happy one, even when drawing a blank on most of it. All that remained were some life lessons, meals the family had taken together, a couple of vacations to remote beaches or camping sites and, the one that always made her so sad, the last time they all saw each other.

"Don't worry about us, you'll be safe and that's all that matters."

"But I don't want you to leave! I don't want to be alone!"

"We're doing this so you can live a happy life, safe from what happened in the past."

"I don't want a happy life if I have to be alone! You can't go!"

"… One day you'll understand. I'm sorry."

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Lola hadn't understood what those words truly meant until she'd woken up in a bed she did not recognize, in a house that she'd never seen, in what she later learned was Z-City, with huge gaps in most of her memories. There were some papers on her bedside, including an ID card with a surname she couldn't tell it was hers, a bank card and the deed to the house.

But her parents weren't there.

They had left her all alone.

"Excuse me, are you lost?"

"Huh?" Jolted from her memories, the woman tore her gaze away from the grey splatter painting and turned to see a blond man in what looked like a modified knight's armor behind her. Gathering her thoughts (and making sure she wasn't inadvertently teary-eyed), she put on an inviting smile and willed her heart to calm down. "Oh, don't worry, I'm just waiting on my husband. He's at a hero meeting."

The man noticed the woman's quick change in posture, including the smile that would have fooled most people, but opted to not mention it. "Is it by any chance the S-class hero meeting that was called at the last minute?"

"Yeah. Are you here for it too?"

"No, I'm unfortunately only A-Class and I doubt I can rank up any time soon." Remembering why he and his fellow disciples had their way blocked made his blood boil. "Damn that Idiot Mask." He whispered.

He, Okamaitachi and Bushidrill were, respectively, ranks 2, 3 and 4, but no matter how much they were worthy to move on to S-Class as long as the number one spot was occupied by a certain idol there was no chance for them to progress forward. All three of them were disciples of Kamikaze, more known as Atomic Samurai, and trained in the art of swordsmanship after passing the apple-cutting test set by him in order to find the one who were cut to train as a swordsman. They had proved themselves time and time again against monsters, opponents and each other, but… somehow that pretty bastard was always ahead of them in fighting skills and popularity.

"Idiot Mask? Are you talking about Amai Mask?" Lola chuckled, thinking about using that name swap if she ever had to direct a word towards the blue-haired man. It would certainly be entertaining to see what kind of face he would make, even if it was just an eye twitch.

"Ah, yeah… Never mind that."

"Don't worry, I also think he's an idiot, not to say any other stronger words. I'm Lola, nice to mee you. And this… is…" Looking around for a sign of Kaiyo and coming up with none, she let out a sigh. "My son was supposed to be around here but I might have a clue that he's snuck into the meeting."

"Iaian, A-Class rank 2. I came to accompany my sensei, Atomic Samurai. You said you were married to someone attending the meeting? I didn't know any of the S-Class heroes were married."

"Actually, my husband isn't S-Class, but he was invited by Genos and Bang to sit in at the meeting."

"Your husband was invited by two S-Class heroes? He must be really strong."

Thinking back to the three years her husband spent training non-stop and the amount of effort he put into becoming a hero, Lola couldn't help but to give a real smile. He'd worked so hard and it had more than paid off. "The strongest, that I can bet you on."

"Might I have heard of him?"

"Maybe. His name's Saitama."

"Saitama…" When had he heard that name before? There had been something recently to do with it but Iaian couldn't pinpoint exactly what it had been. "The name does ring a bell but I have no idea where I might have heard it."

Suddenly a handful of explosions rocked the building, causing some furniture to shift around and a couple of paintings to fall off the walls. The alarms went off instantly, a robotic voice instructing people to take cover in the lower levels and allow heroes and other specialized personnel to deal with the situation.

"What the hell?!"

"We're under attack!" Iaian placed a hand on his sword and looked around. The explosions had come from the outside but there was a chance somehow the attackers could have someone on the inside already. "Please, stay put while I-" There wasn't a chance for him to finish his sentence.

It was almost as if a gigantic bomb had gone off at close range. The building shook more violently, power cutting off, leaving only emergency light on, as the rest of the paintings jumped off the walls, statues and plants knocked over and furniture cracked all over the place from the vibrations. The monster-woman steadied herself against the wall while the swordsman lost his balance and knelt down until the shaking of the tower stopped and everything stilled, both knocked out of breath by the impact.

"Emergency power activated." The lights came back at the signal of the robotic voice, leaving the two to stare at each other over what had just transpired.

"That definitely was not an earthquake."

"No. That was a large-scale attack and my bet is that the city didn't fare well against it." What Lola didn't mention were some rather noticeable living energy sources had appeared alongside the larger explosion. One, in particular, rather restrained but pulsating with power.

"I'm going to look for survivors!"

"But-!" The swordsman darted to the building entrance and disappeared into the outside, leaving the woman to stare at where he'd just been moments prior. "There are some powerful beings outside and I don't think you'll be able to handle them."

Why was it that lately wherever she went something bad happened?! First the meteor had destroyed her workplace, then the dreaded work session for that damned hero, the attack by the Seafolk in J-City and now the Hero Association HQ was under attack! Admittedly the second scenario had been somewhat her fault but the other ones?! Did she have some sort of evil eye cast upon her?!

"Mom!" A familiar voice shouted.

The elevator doors opened to reveal a worried monster-boy, who darted towards his mother and closed his arms around her waist with a strong grip. Thank everything that the building had withstood the attack and didn't collapse along with the rest of A-City! At least the bad luck hadn't taken its toll on the rest of family.

"Kaiyo!" Lola hugged a son back, an invisible weight lifting off her shoulders. "Where is everyone else?"

"They went up to the roof to fight the aliens!"

"Aliens?"

"Yeah! A huge spaceship turned up outside and destroyed all of A-City and knocked out all communications and the guy who called this meeting was telling us how an old woman predicted that the Earth would be in danger right before she died and how all of her predictions came true and this thing happening now could have something to do with it!" By the end of the sentence the boy was out of breath and had to deeply inhale a few times.

"So… aliens are outside to destroy the Earth?"

"…Yes, pretty much."

"Ok." Lola nodded and paused for a few seconds. "I have no idea what to do."

"Kick alien ass?"

"Maybe. Now let's go."

Remember to R&R, it makes me find motivation faster to finish new chapters :D

Also, kudos to anyone can tell where I got the inspiration for Tatsumaki's bad day!