Having called Genos and outlined the situation, I fairly quickly arranged a meeting with him — and then with his creator.
As I already knew from canon, Genos was obsessed with the idea of finding the cyborg who had once destroyed his hometown and caused the deaths of his parents, as well as his own rebirth as a mostly metallic organism. That was largely why anything involving cyborgs, robots, and the like was of interest to him. Arriving at the scene of our recent "battle" with G4, Genos analyzed its remains as best he could, then contacted his mentor, Doctor Kuseno.
This old man — with a large nose and a funny haircut resembling a mushroom cap — arrived at our meeting in genuine combat armor, complete with energy cannons, turrets, and other delights.
First, he apologized to me for not inviting me to his laboratory — which I simply brushed off. Until today we hadn't even been acquainted, and given all the possible dangers of this world, dragging every random passerby into your home would simply be foolish.
Then, after Kuseno himself had examined the remains of G4, he shared some details about the "Organization" that had sent it. According to the scientist, the "Organization" was a group of robots whose global objectives no one had yet managed to determine. One thing, however, was clear — they had recently become more active and were appearing in public far more frequently than before. What's more, their robots were growing stronger with every encounter. Kuseno suspected that the deranged cyborg Genos was hunting might be connected to the "Organization," and thanked me for reaching out to him after the robot attack. We fairly quickly agreed to cooperate on this matter and share any new information that turned up. Having laid the groundwork for a promising alliance and shaken hands on it, we went our separate ways.
The next few days passed without any serious incidents. Returning to my usual training regimen, I only broke away for meetings with Mizuki and hero work... speaking of which. On one otherwise unremarkable day, all S-Class heroes in City Z were summoned to Association headquarters to be informed that a meteor would soon strike the city and something needed to be done about it. Fortunately, having arrived first, I already knew exactly what. Calling Saitama and letting him know that his home city was about to be reduced to rubble, I also advised him to strike in a way that wouldn't send shockwaves down below. After which, from the top of the city's tallest skyscraper, I simply watched as a frighteningly approaching dot appeared in the sky above the city — and then vanished just as quickly, leaving behind not even a trace, save for barely perceptible echoes of air vibrations that rippled across many kilometers.
Well... one meteor problem down...
The following week was considerably more eventful. First, I had to deal with a gang of A-Class criminals who, for some reason, wore cow costumes... I'd rather not think about it. Second, City J was attacked by a group of monsters that emerged from the sea, calling themselves the Sea Folk. By the time I arrived, most of the monsters had already been dealt with by lower-ranked heroes — all that remained was to defeat the Sea King, a Demon-class creature... and then chase after that damned Sonic, who had managed to escape from prison in the ensuing chaos... right alongside an S-Class hero known by the name of Puri-Puri Prisoner... yes, that kind of individual was to be found among high-ranking heroes as well. This type was simultaneously both a hero and a prison inmate — from which he invariably escaped whenever danger appeared nearby. A deeply contradictory personality, with an equally contradictory appearance and a fondness for cute criminal boys... in short, I tried to minimize contact with him to what was strictly necessary, and parted ways the moment I delivered him and Sonic back to prison.
Recalling the canon and understanding that the arrival of visitors from space was not far off, I visited the Hero Association's main office and talked my way into being present at an event that took place in secret every six months — a prophecy session with Madame Shibabawa.
Shibabawa was one of the oldest superhumans who worked with the Hero Association. Her abilities belonged to a fairly rare class, as they were not combat-oriented. But thanks to them, the old woman could peer into the future and warn of coming events with one hundred percent certainty. Since such "magic" consumed an enormous amount of her strength, Shibabawa delivered her prophecies exactly twice a year. Her warnings about what was to come usually pertained to the most important and dangerous events for human life in the coming six months — tsunamis, earthquakes, Dragon-level monster appearances in particularly vulnerable locations, and the like.
Of course, heroes largely operated without any prophecies — but it was foolish to deny that countless crises had been averted precisely thanks to the kind old woman, who helped the Association practically free of charge.
The prophecy session itself was fairly modest. Shibabawa, at her own home and in the presence of several Association staff members, would begin gazing into a crystal ball and deliver her prophecies. The task of her attendants was to carefully record the dates, names, locations, and events the seer described. The whole process usually took anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour. But... this time the strangeness began far sooner.
The moment the old lady peered into her "magical" ball, her eyes quite literally went wide.
"Ohhhhh!... ohhhh..."
"Madame Shibabawa, has something happened?" — alarmed by this reaction, one of the Association staff stepped closer. The old woman, however, didn't even turn her head — her entire attention was directed deep into the ball.
"I see... I see... it is coming!!!" — her voice filled with fear.
"Madame Shibabawa?..."
"The greatest catastrophe of all time!... it draws closer! Closer, closer, closer..."
"Madame Shibabawa, please..." — the staff member who had rushed over tried to do something, but the seer was no longer paying attention to anything.
"It is the EEEEEND!!!" — pushing away the table with the ball in fright, she threw her head back with a loud cry. "It is the end of everything! The Earth is in danger! Aghh... aghh..."
Clutching her throat, she began choking — apparently having swallowed her cough drop. Fortunately, we managed to save her, and having recovered somewhat, Shibabawa shared the details of exactly what she had seen... unfortunately, the details were scarce. The old woman had not used phrases like "in danger," "it is coming," and other extremely vague expressions for nothing. What she had seen in the ball was not a warning about something specific, as it always had been before. This time the seer saw only the aftermath — the destruction of the earth, and the image that "something" was approaching and moving toward us from a very distant place.
I didn't receive any new information beyond what I already knew from the canon — but at least I had saved the old woman from a shameful death, and perhaps her visions would come in handy in the future...
Naturally, Shibabawa's prophecy caused considerable upheaval at the top of the Association. An emergency meeting was convened at which the organization's leadership decided how exactly to act on the information received. I was asked to keep what I had heard secret for the time being — though I had no intention of chattering about it anyway. What would be the point?
I had exactly two candidates for the danger threatening the Earth. Either the alien Boros, who was already about to pay a visit in search of a worthy opponent. Or — more likely — that mysterious God who had once reached out to me. Against those two, the Monster Association — which was also promising to introduce itself to the world fairly soon — was far too small a player. Defeating it, even without accounting for Saitama's strength, was well within the heroes' capabilities, if not without inevitable losses. The same applied to all the other dangers I vaguely remembered from the original story. Their scale was impressive, but none of them had the real power to back it up.
Which meant my tasks included countering precisely the two threats mentioned above. The first — Boros — I was counting on leaving to my bald acquaintance. My strength was clearly nowhere near sufficient yet to put up any real opposition to the alien. As for what came after the Monster Association was crushed by the heroes' forces — I might have to face God, or at least his emissaries, head on... though it was probably better not to look that far ahead just yet. Surviving the approaching storm and powering up along the way — let's start with that for now...
Day X arrived two weeks after the meteor incident. I, along with all the other S-Class heroes — among whom my cyborg acquaintance had recently numbered — received orders to appear at the Association office located in City A. Since I already knew exactly what the heroes were about to be told — Shibabawa's terrifying prophecy — I ignored the meeting entirely, instead attending to matters of greater importance. And while all the heroes were gradually gathering inside, I called Saitama and together with him stationed myself on the roof of the black building that towered above the city.
"Hey, are you sure this is worth it?" — while I peered intently into the sky wondering whether everything would actually happen today, my obviously bored companion was shuffling along the edge of the roof, barely keeping his balance. Suspecting him of being the strongest creature on Earth was utterly impossible...
"I'm sure." — without turning my head, I gave a nod. "But if not... I don't know, I'll pay for your lunch?"
"Oh! Now we're talking!"
Inwardly sighing at just how unaware the guy was of his own importance to the world, I glanced away from the sky for literally one second. And when I looked back up, a shadow was already falling over me — and several city blocks below. A gigantic spaceship, shaped like a tooth ripped out by the roots, hadn't flown in from the distance or descended from above — it had simply materialized over the city and hung there motionless. Even from here I could sense the energy beginning to build up inside it... too quickly!
Understanding that even Saitama would be hard pressed to simply destroy this many-kilometer-long something right off the bat — and was, to put it mildly, not exactly gifted at minimizing collateral damage — I pressed the call button on my phone without taking my eyes off the sky.
"This is urgent! Tatsumaki is needed outside and right now!... otherwise the entire city is going to be wiped completely off the face of the earth!"