Chapter 25

Three hours later.

Accel froze.

Squad 45 just returned from their patrol, all seven of them covered in monster blood. The vests that were made barely withstood the attack by the looks of it, the boys were banged up pretty bad, especially Drax. "What happened? You weren't suppose to be confronting monsters yet! We went through this!" Accel scolded.

The boys hung their heads. "That was my fault," Drax said meekly. "Sometimes my dad comes out a little too much in me. It was a tiger level threat, we called it in and yet the closest Neo Heroes were two cities away at the time. The monster was attacking a lot of people, we weren't going to wait for help." He explained.

Accel sighed. "Where is the monster now? We'll send a more experienced…"

"Dead." Said Tenga.

He froze to the news. "Dead? You mean…"

"Yeah, we killed it." Said Ryohei. "Drax coordinated us well, he took the most risk, I mean, look at his vest!"

For a moment, Accel didn't really look at Drax that closely, yet when he saw the large slashes across the front and back of his vest, he froze. "My God, how are you even still alive! We got to get those wounds…"

"I'm not wounded." He said. "Besides, I wore my battle suit. My dad protects me in more ways than one you know." He discarded the neo Hero vest and revealed the serpent skin one under it. The claw strike he took should have sliced him to say the least. Accel knew that, and yet, the snakeskin suit he wore, even thought it was a mere vest and pants… it withstood the strike?

"Where…" Accel asked as he looked over the suit.

"His father, where else!"

Everyone turned as Child Emperor approached and looked over the material. He gave a nod to it. "Snek tends to shed when he has eat a rather large monster, granted from what I have observed he hasn't taken down anything too drastic that would force him to grow longer, but anyway. When he sheds his skin, the discards can be just as strong and durable as the one on his back. I got little doubt this was from his last molting."

"Good guess." Said Drax.

"Whoa, wait, you wear your dad's old snake skin?!" asked Hiroshi.

"I'm not complaining about how it protected me today, took a strike that would have torn me in half."

Child Emperor went over the damaged vest, he sighed and nodded to the statement. "I suppose it is back to the drawing board on this."

Accel then appeared curious. "How often does Snek shed?" he asked.

"I wouldn't even bother, I saw what some of the other Neo Heroes were doing to him, besides. You accept his help, you might as well invite him into the legion." Said Child Emperor.

He cringed at the notion, the thought was soon disregarded, unless he can somehow get Snek's skin without asking for it or no one noticing it missing.

"ACCEL! ACCEL!"

He paused as he turned to Dr. Evo, he was out of breath and yet was smiling. "Doc, you okay?"

It took him a moment to catch his breath, but the smile on his face was one that couldn't be ignored. "You need to come… with me… at once!" he said between his gasps for air.

He merely nodded as he excused himself from the group. "Good job today, but be more careful!" he announced before following Evo to the elevators. They were going to the subbasement of HQ, where Dr. Evo does his work…

#

"You don't mean…"

There was the biggest grin on Dr. Evo as he led Accel down into the subbasement of the Neo Heroes HQ. "I didn't think I would have had much luck, but everything was kept safe, locked and in good condition… Now, prepare yourself…"

They approached the massive iron door, Dr. Evo insisted upon it for security reasons. He easily opened it up and allowed Accel into his domain. The lab that was top of the line and state of the art by the looks of it… Accel would know better if the lights were on a little brighter. It was here Dr. Evo worked on various methods in helping the Neo Heroes, his main focus was on medical breakthroughs to prevent losing any more young prospects in battle. "I admit, I have never really seen your lab before Doctor…" Accel said offhandedly. He kept peering about to all these test tubes, charts and samples.

"I will give you a proper tour next time, but, come this way…" leading him deeper into the lab, the Neo Hero paused as he found a wall covered with a thick drape. "I do apologize for the lack of light down here, but it is for a good reason." Dr. Evo pulled back the blind, revealing a two-way mirror.

Accel froze.

Slowly, he approached and peered in. What the blind hid was nothing less than a miracle. Within there was a small room, very much like a regular hospital room in any of the cities. Yet, lying in two of the beds were men who were long since dead. He stared at them in disbelieve, and was nearly mesmerized by the two as they breathed… they were breathing! Slowly their chest raised up and down, there was even a twitch from a finger and a jolt of the leg.

"Evo… is that…" Accel asked but then froze, shaking his head to it all. "This… this is impossible! How can this be?"

"Nothing is impossible, Accel. Thanks to the technology available to me, I was able to do this. This is but a slow introductory stage. I have to be certain all vitals and senses are up and running before fully awaking them. Rest assure though, everything is running rather smoothly as we speak. It won't be long now until they wake."

"Still, am I really seeing this? Are those two…"

"They are." He said with great confidence. "Accel, please allow me to introduce you to Street and Knuckle Brawler."