Found Tony

The third day.

Saitama stood atop a sand dune, looking at a depression in the distance. How could he put it? It felt like he'd stumbled upon a terrorist hideout.

The place was pretty well hidden. If Saitama hadn't happened to come this way, he really wouldn't have found it.

He pressed the communicator to contact Skye.

"What is it, Saitama? Did you find anything?" Skye's voice came through the communicator.

"I found a fairly well-hidden place. It might be some terrorists' hideout. Maybe the One-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man is inside, so I'm going to take a look." Saitama's expression was still as blank as ever, as if the place ahead were an ordinary amusement park and not a terrorist hideout.

"Hmm, then be careful. It's a terrorist hideout, after all, so it must be dangerous. If it's too dangerous, we can give up on Tony Stark for now." Skye's voice carried a hint of hesitation. She had a lot of faith in Saitama, but she was still a little worried.

"Oh, oh, oh. Got it," Saitama replied casually, then switched off the communicator. He shifted his foot slightly, and as a cloud of yellow sand billowed up, he vanished.

"Hm?" A terrorist on patrol frowned slightly, sensing that something was off.

"What is it?"

"Nothing." He looked around, but saw nothing. Besides, this was their hideout. Nobody should be coming here, so the terrorist shook his head.

"If it's nothing, get back to patrolling. It's so hot, and there isn't even a breeze. I'll head into the cave as soon as we finish."

"Yeah, it's much cooler in the cave. But speaking of which, there's been a lot of commotion around here lately. A lot of people have been killed without a sound. Do you think the Americans sent special forces to find Tony Stark?"

"Come on. If the Americans had made a move that big, we'd have heard about it already. Sure, we captured Tony Stark, but the U.S. government hasn't reacted much. At most, they've had people from the military bases around here look for him. They haven't put much effort into it. The only ones who've really done anything are the mercenaries Stark Industries hired. And the guns and weapons Stark Industries supplied them with have been tampered with. They're no match for us."

"Tsk, tsk. It's great working with people like that. We don't have to worry about a thing, and information just comes straight to us."

"Yeah!"

Saitama walked around the place and found that, though it didn't look like much from the outside, there were actually a lot of people here—several hundred.

More importantly, there were a great many weapons here: all kinds of guns and ammunition, even rocket launchers and missiles. Hmm, the weapons seemed to bear the Stark Industries logo.

But Saitama didn't really care. Weapons made no difference to him.

He was so fast that nobody noticed him. Even those who sensed something was off only felt a faint breeze pass by.

So Saitama made a full circuit of the base without anyone noticing him.

Soon, Saitama spotted a cave that seemed a little suspicious.

How could he put it? There seemed to be far too many guards at the entrance, as if something or someone important were inside.

"Maybe the One-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man is in there." The thought flashed through Saitama's mind, and then he shot inside.

Saitama rushed into the cave, and the guards at the entrance didn't notice him at all. He stopped in front of an iron door.

He listened for a moment and heard a steady pounding, like someone hammering metal. He reached for the door, only to find it jammed from the inside. He applied a little force. Bang! The iron door flew open.

"We're doing our best. We're working hard to build the Jericho Missile, but it takes time. We really are doing everything we can."

The moment Saitama pushed the door open and stepped inside, he heard a string of rapid, incomprehensible words.

Yinsen and Tony were both on edge. They couldn't understand why the terrorists had come back now. Had they not even considered that their visit might interrupt Tony's work on the Jericho Missile?

Still, hoping to avoid a beating, Yinsen hurriedly called out an explanation the instant the door opened.

But when he finished explaining, he was startled to see that the person who had walked in this time seemed different.

Tony and Yinsen both squinted. They felt as if a bright light had flashed in their eyes, and their first thought was, What's wrong with these terrorists? They can come and go as they please, but why shine a spotlight in our eyes?

But once their eyes adjusted and they opened them again, they saw a bald young man.

The young man's expression was a little vacant. He seemed dazed, silly, and somehow endearingly clueless.

Looking at the bald young man—especially his tight yellow suit, white cape, and red gloves, along with his gleaming bald head—Tony felt as if he'd seen him somewhere before.

"We're really working hard. We haven't been slacking off at all. Really." Yinsen was still trying to explain.

"Huh?" Saitama picked at his ear. "It's another one of those things I can't understand at all. But I finally found him. That's great." He spoke to himself, then turned his gaze to Tony. In Saitama's eyes, Tony looked extraordinarily impressive, radiating the glow of one hundred million dollars. It was a little too dazzling.

Hearing Saitama's words, Tony froze, his face full of disbelief. "Y-you're not a terrorist?"

"No. I'm here to find someone. I'm so glad I found you, Mr. One-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man." Saitama grinned.

"Hm? Mr. One-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man? Who? Me?" Tony was baffled by the name.

"Yeah, Mr. One-Hundred-Million-Dollar Man. I came here to find you." Saitama nodded, took out his communicator, and switched it on, trying to contact Skye.

But the signal seemed poor in the cave. There was a lot of interference, and the voices were hard to make out.

"Skye? Skye, can you hear me?"

"Huh? I can't hear you. I can't understand a thing. Skye, speak up!"

"It's cutting in and out. I can't understand you at all."

Saitama frowned and kept shouting into the communicator.