Chapter 14

Garou woke to the sound. It was a whimpering in his chest, as he felt Melee's arms coil a little tighter around him. "Melee?" he whispered.

The tears flowed freely out of her, she finally woke up, but now, she contends with the grief of her loss. "Street… Knuckle…" she whispered. "Garou…"

"Yeah…" was all he could say as he braced her closer to him. "They wanted to tell you… how happy they were that you had a family… and they were so proud of you."

She continued to weep softly. "I want him to pay…" she whispered. "I want that clone to suffer… I want him to feel everything I have felt by ten folds."

"He will… I promise you, he will and any who is involved with his work!" Garou vowed. "Are you strong enough to move? Want something to eat?"

She nodded. Slowly he eased himself up. Melee's arms and legs were still quaking, yet she appeared to do a lot better than he did when he first woke up. Then again, he knows Melee's strength isn't metabolically related. Slowly she eased herself to the side of the bed, yet couldn't bring herself to stand.

"Mom!"

Garou turned and saw Goliath rush in. He was quick to get to her side and ease her up on to her feet. "Take it slow mom, not too fast." Goliath helped her up and out of the room, Garou followed close behind. Yet, the moment they walked out. There appeared to be a mad rush in the halls.

"I need someone to help me!" called Dr. Genus. "I got a concussion here!"

"Where do you want him?" came the voice of Amai Mask.

Garou just peered over the crowd, Genus had an unconscious Drax in his arms. Amai held Snek over his shoulder and was dragging him along. "What the hell…" Garou whispered.

"Give me room people!" Genus ordered.

The heroes parted as he was quick to take Drax into the room opposite of Garou and Melee. Snek was taken down the hall when Alley appeared. "Amai! With me please!" she said.

After the hall settled, yet there were whispers. "What happened?"

"How did Snek get knocked out?"

"What about Drax?"

"Where are Max and Suiryu?"

"That's what I want to know…" muttered Garou.

"Dad… let's get mom looked after first. I am certain Max and Suiryu will be around here somewhere."

Garou was reluctant to agree, but nodded to his son. They made their way to the cafeteria of the Association. There, Max and Suiryu happened to be taking their fill of food. Heroes had gathered, bombarding them with questions as to what just occurred. Suiryu however insisted on a meal first. "We've been out all day and are starving, do you mind giving us a moment?!" he demanded.

The heroes backed off, yet when they saw Garou and Melee they were waved over. Goliath assisted his mother to a seat. Garou eased himself into a chair, as the droids were quick to take food orders. "What the hell happened when we were passed out?" Garou whispered.

Max sneered. "They tried to breed us."

"What…" Melee whispered.

"106 was kidnapping people from all over the city. They used these mysterious beings they cloned and must have infused monster energy into them. They took one person a night from each city for a week. We managed to kill a few of them, but we soon realized it was to draw us out and get our attention." Explained Suiryu.

"The asshole got the three of us, and had cloned supposedly perfect mates for us. I don't know about Snek though, I could only imagine what he's been through." Said Max.

"Are you two okay?" Melee questioned.

"I'm fine, whatever 106 had in store for me didn't work. I smelt pheromone in the place he held me captive, perhaps that was his test!"

Max nodded in agreement. "I began to feel the same way I did before with Alley… it's not pleasant to say the least when it's against your will. Damn monster instinct!"

"Nothing happened, right?" Garou asked.

"Not for me, Max?"

"I was on the brink until you tore in and killed that thing. Thanks by the way."

Suiryu smiled and gave but a nod.

"Shit… he's really pushing us to the brink isn't he?" Garou muttered. "We have to end him sooner than later. This is the longest any of these goddamn clones have survived…"

"It's learned from the others…" said Melee. "He has taken everything the others has done and learned the countermeasures for it. Which means, we have to adapt to his methods and over come them ourselves. This isn't an easy fix, as well… I want him to suffer."

The table fell scary quiet in a sense. Garou has never heard a tone come out of Melee like this before, not since Metal Knight and what he did to the children. But he couldn't blame her the least bit.

The droids returned with food, Melee ate rather slowly to the feast, but he could tell she was starving. Garou then began to think things through. The clone is going to continue to banter them, test and toy with their mental states and limits to what trauma he could but them through. Yet, as he tried to think things over, Garou felt a presence linger behind him. Slowly, he turned to see Amai standing there. "We need to talk."

He merely nodded in agreement and excused himself from the table. The two went out into the hallways, yet found one of the spare rooms Alley made in case an impromptu meeting was needed. Garou was first to enter, followed by Amai. The door securely locked behind them as Amai said. "I don't want Drax going back to the Neo Heroes." He stated.

"I am certain you have your reasons…"

"They left him to face a mysterious being on his own. It was easily a high demon, dare I say dragon level threat."

This took him by surprised. Why would the Neo Heroes do such a thing? Not to mention, as of late, they had been pairing Drax with Bad. That never would have happened on his watch. "In that case, I agree with that. I'll talk to him and Snek about it."

"Also, the creatures that were kidnapping the people in the cities are no more." He said. "They were a line of defense for the latest base. They will be of no concern to you or the Association any longer."

He nodded again. "I heard there were people missing… what happened to them?"

"We were too late…" Amai said grimly.

Garou didn't push the notion any farther, however despite the conversation, he couldn't help but feel Amai was holding back on something. "Sweet, what did you really want to tell me?" Garou asked. "You couldn't have been wanting to speak to me privately just for this."

He sighed as he began to pace the room a little. It was a slow pace as he gathered his thoughts. "I know why this clone is stronger than all the others… it's been injecting itself with Monster DNA to obtain the power of it. However it has still rendered him human, this new adaptation of his is cause for alarm. Just as you can absorb the power of a monster you consume. He has been able to figure out how to sift the DNA of it and implant the strength into himself without altercation."

Garou froze. "How do you know that?"

"It's what he used the people he kidnapped for. Testing to see which monster power was worth obtaining for himself. That and he also confronted me. He moved with such speed. I haven't seen anything like it since I battled you as Awakened Garou"

It was making sense now, why he wanted Melee and the family. Now he is narrowing down what he truly wants in the way of power but adding it on to himself. "Son of a bitch…"

"Garou…" He looked to Amai. "Listen to me well. You and I still do not see eye to eye on many aspects. However, you and I can both agree this monster pays for what he did to Melee. I will apologize in advance if I get to him before you two do, and I take him out. But you and I can both agree, he must die. We cannot wait for Melee to finish him off, it must occur that moment, with or without her!"

He wanted to argue the notion, however, he sighed and nodded in agreement. "Yeah… you're right." He said. "We cannot risk him living, if you get the opportunity…"

Amai smirked. "It's as if you don't even know me at all…" Yet, as the smile vanished he turned towards the door. "I do suggest you get yourself well soon, and tend to Melee. To be truthful, I don't want to be the one who ends this creature's life. I believe Melee would be more… capable of causing such hard to an evil being like that…" he unlocked the door, Amai left without another word.

Garou ventured back to the cafeteria where people were suddenly gathered once more. "Melee…" pushing his way through the crowd Garou got to the front of it and found Melee folded over on the floor, yet, she appeared to have been sick recently. Just as he was when he first ate solid food! The droid were already cleaning up the mess, however Melee didn't look any better after being sick.

"She couldn't keep anything down dad…" Goliath explained. He reached down and gently picked his mother up off the ground. "I'm taking her back to bed."

"Yeah, please do that…" With the crowd disburse Garou began to clench his hands in anger. "Max… Suiryu… Help me," he said. The two turned to him, he stared at them with great determination. "Make… me… strong again"