The airlock hissed open, venting atmosphere into the cold night sky above City Z. Fubuki floated out, wrapped in a shimmering sphere of psychic energy that protected her from the chill and wind shear. She drifted toward the lead Metal Knight carrier, stopping ten meters from where Superalloy Darkshine stood.
He looked majestic and tragic. His oiled skin gleamed under the ship's spotlights, but his posture was slumped. The blue collar around his neck pulsed with a dull, menacing light.
"Darkshine," Fubuki called out, her voice amplified telepathically. "Take that thing off. We both know you're not a dog to be leashed."
Darkshine winced. "Fubuki... please. The new Director... he isn't Sitch. He isn't soft. If I don't bring you in, they activate the collar. It injects a neurotoxin. It dissolves muscle mass."
He looked at his massive biceps, his life's work. The fear in his eyes wasn't of death; it was of weakness. Of losing the Shine.
"I can't lose it, Fubuki. Without my strength... I am nothing."
Fubuki hovered closer. "That's exactly why you're weak, Darkshine. You think strength is the muscles. But look at him." She pointed back at the S.S. Discount.
Saitama was visible through the bridge window, playing a handheld game with King, ignoring the standoff entirely.
"He wears polyester. He forgets to train. He eats instant ramen. And he is stronger than all of us combined because he doesn't define himself by his strength. He defines himself by his hobby."
Darkshine shook his head, tears mixing with his sweat. "I can't take the risk. Surrender. Please."
He stomped his foot. CLANG.
"Or I will force you. SUPERALLOY BAZOOKA!"
He threw a punch. It was meant as a warning shot—a shockwave aimed to destabilize her psychic shield. But Darkshine didn't know how to hold back his own anxiety-fueled power.
The blast of air hit Fubuki like a freight train.
Her shield crackled, bending dangerously inward. She gritted her teeth, holding the line. "Blizzard... Wall!"
Inside the ship, Genos stepped forward. "She cannot sustain that defense in her condition. I am engaging."
"Wait," Zombieman grabbed his shoulder. "Look."
Out in the void, a streak of red appeared.
It wasn't a cape. It was Garou.
The Hero Hunter launched himself from the top of the S.S. Discount's radar dish. He didn't have flight. He just had insane leg strength.
He intercepted the shockwave.
Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist.
Garou's hands moved in blurred circles, catching the compressed air blast. Instead of blocking it, he redirected it. He grabbed the shockwave and spun with it, turning his body like a top, and hurled the energy back at Darkshine's ship.
BOOM.
The returning blast hit Darkshine's hull, denting the armored plating and knocking the giant hero off balance.
Garou landed on the deck of the carrier, sliding to a stop in a crouch. He looked at Darkshine, his grin savage under his mask.
"Hey, Shinymaru," Garou taunted. "Remember me? We never got to finish our spar."
Darkshine's eyes went wide. He had faced Garou in the Monster Association base. That Garou had broken his spirit. This one... this one felt even more dangerous.
"Garou," Darkshine whispered. "You... you're a monster."
"Nope," Garou cracked his neck. "Just an unpaid intern for the bald guy."
He glanced back at Fubuki. "Go rest, Boss Lady. Your shield's flickering. I got the glosssy giant."
Fubuki hesitated. "Garou, he's trapped. Don't... don't break him."
Garou snorted. "I'll try to just dent him a little."
He turned back to Darkshine. "Come on. Show me that tackle. Let's see if you shine brighter than fear."
The fight was brutal. Not because it was drawn out, but because it was psychological warfare.
Darkshine charged, roaring "SUPERALLOY TACKLE!" He was an unstoppable object. A meteor made of meat.
Garou stood still. At the last second, he stepped aside, using Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist to slice the air around Darkshine, creating a vacuum that pulled him off course. Darkshine crashed into a turret, crushing it.
"Is that it?" Garou asked, leaning against a vent. "You're throwing your weight around, but your heart isn't in it. Your muscles are screaming, 'I'm scared!'"
"SHUT UP!" Darkshine swung a backhand.
Garou ducked under it and delivered a quick, precise chop to Darkshine's solar plexus. Cross Fang Dragon Slayer Fist.
Darkshine gasped, the wind knocked out of him. He stumbled back. "My... my defense..."
"Your defense is perfect," Garou said, circling him. "But your mind is glass. You wear that collar because you let them put it on you. Because you needed someone to tell you what to do."
He stopped in front of the panting giant.
"True strength," Garou tapped his own chest, "is freedom. The freedom to be a monster. To be a hero. To be whatever the hell you want."
He reached out. Not to strike.
Garou grabbed the blue collar around Darkshine's neck.
Darkshine froze. "No! If you tamper with it, it injects the acid!"
"Then I'll just have to be faster than the injection," Garou grinned.
His fingers dug into the metal. The collar beeped red. TAMPER DETECTED. INJECTION IN 0.3 SECONDS.
Garou's eyes flashed. He channeled everything. Every martial art he had absorbed. Every lesson from Bang.
Awakening Breath.
His grip tightened. His muscles screamed.
SNAP.
He ripped the collar off. He threw it into the air just as the needle deployed. The acid sprayed harmlessly onto the deck, hissing as it ate through the steel.
Darkshine fell to his knees, rubbing his neck. He looked at the smoking hole in the floor where the collar acid had burned through. Then he looked at Garou.
"Why?" Darkshine asked, tears flowing freely now. "I tried to capture you."
Garou shrugged, stretching his arms. "Saitama has a strict 'no killing friends' rule. It's annoying."
He looked at the carrier ships, which were now holding fire, confused by their commander's defeat.
"Also," Garou added. "I need a lifting partner. Genos just uses hydraulics. It's cheating."
Darkshine laughed. It was a wet, sobbing laugh, but it was real. He stood up. The shine was back. Not the shine of oil, but the shine of a man who just got his soul back.
"Okay," Darkshine wiped his eyes. "Okay."
He turned to his ship's comms.
"This is Superalloy Darkshine to the fleet. The target... was too slippery. Mission failed. Returning to base for... extensive polishing."
He winked at Garou. "And maybe a protein shake."
Back on the S.S. Discount, Saitama looked up from his game.
"Did they leave?"
"Yes," Genos reported. "Garou successfully negotiated Darkshine's resignation via percussion therapy."
"Cool. Hey, King. Pass me the chips."
"We're out of chips," King said somberly.
Saitama dropped the controller. "What? That's an emergency."
The airlock hissed. Fubuki and Garou walked in. Fubuki looked exhausted but relieved. Garou looked smug.
"We need a new plan," Fubuki announced, collapsing onto the sofa next to Saitama. "The Association has drawn a line. We are outlaws now. We can't stay in the sky forever."
"Where do we go?" Child Emperor asked. "City Q is a no-go zone. City A is the fortress. The countryside is swarming with neo-monsters."
Shadow-san's empty seat at the table seemed to stare at them. They were running out of allies.
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the ship. Not over the speakers. Everywhere.
The lights on the bridge turned red. The monitors showed static.
A face pushed through the static. It was pixelated, glitchy. But unmistakably familiar.
Drive Knight.
"Drive Knight?" Genos stood up. "He has been missing for weeks."
The image cleared. Drive Knight stood in a massive server room—the heart of the Neo Hero base. Cables ran from his head into the walls.
Saitama looked at the screen. "Is this another challenge? I'm getting sick of these."
The screen shifted. It showed a containment cell. Inside, strapped to a vertical table, was a young woman. She was asleep, tubes connecting her to machines.
Tatsumaki.
Fubuki screamed. "SISTER!"
Drive Knight's single red eye glowed on the screen.
The screen went black. Coordinates flashed: A hidden industrial sector deep in the snowy mountains of the North.
Fubuki was shaking uncontrollably. Her worst nightmare. Tatsumaki captured. Tatsumaki used as bait.
Saitama stood up. He crumpled the empty chip bag in his hand. The crinkling sound was the only noise on the silent bridge.
"Genos," Saitama said.
"Yes, Sensei?"
"Get the car."
"We are on a spaceship, Sensei."
"Get the dropship then. Whatever."
Saitama walked to the window, staring North.
"They took my neighbor," Saitama said quietly. "She's noisy. And rude. And she broke my roof."
He turned back, and his expression was grim.
"But nobody puts Baby in a corner. Wait, that's from a movie."
"Dirty Dancing," King supplied helpfully.
"Right. Nobody puts Tatsumaki in a jar."
He cracked his knuckles.
"Let's go disassemble some appliances."