Chapter Text
The setting sun cast its orange glow across the ghost town of City Z. A few birds fluttered away as something rustled around in a nearby bush. A few moments later, a small rabbit emerged, wiggling its nose slightly. Everything was peaceful and quiet, much unlike cities A and B.
Since the wee hours of the morning, when it was still dark, a battle raged. Monsters had emerged from the darkness into people's homes and grabbing them, disappearing as quickly as they had come. The screams of those being kidnapped gradually woke up nearby people who began to panic as they saw their neighbors being snatched up.
Both cities were soon in a state of emergency and within an hour, the Hero Association broadcasted the warning and threat level, which was Demon.
Saitama and Genos made their way to City B with a few other Class B heroes while several Class A heroes dispersed throughout City A. The heroes were quick to catch and defeat many of the monsters, thankfully with ease. As quick as they were killed, though, more filled their place. They also discovered that the assailants were not monsters as they had originally though, but ninja-like androids with moves and speeds not unlike those of the villain Speed-o'-Sound Sonic.
As the day wore on, however, the heroes began to tire. it seemed that each android was stronger than the last, and their source had not yet been found. Mumen Rider had closely avoided disaster several times, thanks to his sheer determination not to be the first hero to go down. Lightning Max's moves were especially effective since he was able to short circuit an android with one swift kick. Saitama punched them away, almost lazily. Genos, however, was struggling.
The androids were made out of a metal that was exceptionally difficult to melt, and on top of that, they were dealing extensive damage.
Instead of dealing quick, sharp blows like they did to the other heroes, the androids would aim arcs of blue electricity at his core, his exposed wires, his head. They knew his body was synthetic - they knew they could destroy him the same was Lightning Max was destroying them. And Genos knew it too. He was heavily malfunctioning; one of his eyes had been cracked beyond use, the other profusely leaking oil. His proximity sensors were giving him false signals and his joints would freeze in place randomly and even move on their own, often jerking him into unfavorable positions. Worst of all, his core had been directly hit with a particularly nasty shock, and his power levels were fluctuating, sharply dropping when he used his blasters and slowly climbing back up as he pulled back and dodged attacks. Yet, he fought on, willing his blasters hotter and hotter.
With so many androids deployed to fight the heroes, those that were kidnapped were being payed less attention and were starting to be saved. Most of them had been stowed away in large buildings, usually empty, probably put there as a temporary holding cell while the androids abducted more people.
Despite the threat level and the sheer number of enemies, there was relatively little damage, other than the areas where androids had been exploded or been thrown into a building.
When the sun started to set and the end was no where in sight, Saitama knew there had to be a change in strategy. He starting watching the androids more closely, observing how they appeared and from what direction. After a while, he noticed that they all seemed to be coming from the east side of City B. He began running at a steady pace in that direction, fighting off the increasing flow of androids.
The closer he came, the more aggressive they were. They acted like angry worker bees, buzzing around and attempting to keep the intruder from getting to the center of the hive, to the queen.
Soon it went from a flow of androids to a mob. Each of Saitama's punches took out three or four, but more and more kept appearing. Finally, he stumbled upon an empty warehouse. It was dirty and decrepit, yet it was also whirring with life.
Every few seconds, there would be a flash of silver and blue, and a brand-new android would appear just outside the wide-open double doors of the front of the ware house. Each one was shiny and steaming like it had just come off an assembly line. Several marched towards him, feet clanking in harmony on the concrete.
'So that's where they're coming from,' Saitama thought, peering past the dozens of metallic humanoids, 'well, at least I've found the source. Now I can take it out once and for all.'
Unfortunately, the androids realized that too. Those that had been heading away from the warehouse and towards the center o the city suddenly changed course and began bearing down on Saitama.
"Uh oh..."
Without warning, the androids stopped. Their sudden halt caused the heroes to stop too, confused.
A high-pitched staticky beep filled the air, resonating through the cities. The blue eyes of the androids turned red like fresh blood, and they all whirled on their feet to face one direction - east.
And without warning, they began running. They ran past the heroes and citizens without a second thought, entirely focused on their sudden retreat.
A few people and heroes cheered, figuring that they must have finally won, just in time to see the stars come out. Others remained silent. It was odd of an enemy to just give up so suddenly when it seemed that they had the upper hand. They remained wary, but began treating things as if the situation was over.
Genos did not.
The androids were heading east, the direction he had watched Saitama run off to a little while ago.
'He must have found something,' he mused, 'perhaps he found their source. If so, I must follow. The androids are many, and they are strong. If they are headed towards Master like I believe, he will need back-up.'
And so , as badly damaged as he was, Genos set off after the androids and after his Master.
The damage was showing. Genos' run was reduced to a sporadic, accident-prone jog. His left blaster had been destroyed (along with the rest of his left arm). His one-eyed vision, already troubled with the leaking oil, was so severely clouded with glitches and danger warnings that wouldn't go away that he could hardly see. Still, he powered through. Leaving Saitama alone was not an option.
As he hobbled further east, Genos began seeing flashes of blue light, accompanied with loud buzzing noises. He spotted something flying through the air at high speeds, only for it to come crashing down at his feet. It was a lifeless android with a fist-sized hole in its chest, presumably where its core was. Saitama's doing.
Genos hurried.
The scene he arrived to was a mess. Broken android carcasses littered the ground, spare parts laying about like snow. A clean path was carved out amongst the carnage, leading to the open doors of a large warehouse.
As Genos approached the doors, an android appeared. It held up its hand, in which grew a ball of crackling electricity. Genos barely dodged it as it was hurled at his chest. The android screeched in something reminiscent of frustration and threw itself at him.
It was so fast that it seemed to materialize and dematerialize before his eyes. After sustaining as much damage as he already had, there was no way that Genos could keep up. He fired his working blaster repeatedly, each time missing only by a fraction. Every time he managed to come face to face with the android, it would buzz angrily, zap him, and escape from his field of vision. The game of 'you-can't-catch-me' continued until a yell came from the warehouse.
"Ah! This must be the core of this duplicator thingy! If I destroy this, I should be able to destroy the rest of you tin cans without having to worry about any more of you appearing!"
"Master!" Genos yelled, spurred on by Saitama's realization, "I'm here! I can help!" He could see Saitama through the doors, who had turned in surprise.
"Oh, Genos. There you are. Jeez, you look pretty messed up. Ah, no matter, we can get you fixed up. Don't worry about me. I can take care of the core," Saitama said, waving nonchalantly at something in front of him.
The android that Genos had been fighting suddenly left him and ran towards Saitama.
Just as Genos was about to follow, another android appeared behind him and grabbed him by the shoulders.
This one was different. It spoke, and did so in a measured, robotic voice, "Where are you going? He doesn't need you. He said he could take care of it. Besides, look at you. You really are messed up. You're broken beyond repair, I dare say. The others did a good job damaging your system."
Genos growled at the android and attempted to twist around and face it, but he was held firmly in place.
"Let go of me."
The android hummed, "Did you not just hear him? He doesn't need your help. You're useless."
"No, I'm not! You're just doing this to try and break me down. I won't let this affect me," Genos snarled, his voice crackling and glitching.
"Keep telling yourself that. It won't change anything. You're useless. You know why? Because you're a cyborg. You're impure. You've still got in human in you. What makes it worse is that it's your mind that's human. See, if you were an android, you would be better. No petty emotions, no need for feeling. No, you would be a perfect, cold, calculating computer. A perfect android, worthy to join the rest."
A jet of hot steam shot from Genos' chest plates before he spoke, "If you are the android you say is perfect: a cold, calculating computer, then why do you speak like a human, and have the arrogance of one?"
The android's hum crescendoed, "I am nothing like a human. I have merely adapted their crude way of speech in hopes of appealing to the filthy human inside of you."
Genos snapped at the android, who easily dodged his attempt at harming it.
"Yell and argue all you want, but humans are disgusting. Greed and lust and anger. A toxic, volatile species, whereas robots, androids, are the calm and controlled species, with no petty worries such as war or love. Life as an android is much better than the few short years of a human's. You belong to be an android, Genos," suddenly the android released hum, "think about what I've said. "And then it collapsed. The blue light went out in its eyes, and the humming stopped.
Saitama had smashed the core to the machine that was creating the androids. It shattered like fine china and let out enough light to blind anyone for miles around. When he finally blinked the dots out of his eyes, he turned to see Genos standing in the doorway.
"Oi, Genos! I did it! It looks like the androids powered down when I smashed the core," Genos said nothing, merely nodding. "Eh? Genos, something wrong?"
The cyborg shook his head, the damaged metal in his neck creaking and screeching. Saitama stared at him for a moment, brows furrowed and head to the side before shrugging.
"Let's go. We'll go to Dr. Kuseno's first, and when you're done getting repaired, we can go home and go to sleep. After some food, of course," he added, patting his stomach with both hands, "I haven't eaten all day."
Genos simply nodded again and waited for Saitama to get over to him before walking towards City A.
The two walked to Dr. Kuseno's in silence. Every once in a while Saitama would cast a sideways glance at Genos, who still hadn't said anything.
'Wonder what's wrong with him...' Saitama thought, worried. Nothing came to mind other than damage from the day-long battle.
He tried to shrug it off, but part of him worried about it the whole trip, concerned for the well-being of his disciple.
When they were nearly there, Genos finally spoke. His voice cracked and skipped, barely audible over the noises of the crickets and their slow footsteps, gravel crunching beneath them.
"What am I?"
END OF PART ONE