Chapter 19

She was up at three in the morning.

Alley wasn't going to wait much longer as she began to go over the notes she wrote the night before. The blade used was serrated. So the damage done inside of Jason was server, however, it was this substance on the blade she wanted to know more of. "Perhaps and anti clotting formula…" she muttered as she flew to the hospital.

She got special permission from the doctors to return early in the morning. After all, most of their equipment comes from her lab through donations. She just walked through the doors when he heard. "Alley Brawler…"

Looking up, it was the doctor from yesterday, yet his face was grim. "Miss Brawler… I'm sorry, he didn't make it through the night…"

She froze. "How… I saw his vitals, they were strong!" she protested.

He shook his head, unable to answer. "I did a check of him at 8, a half hour after you left. He was fine, but by ten at night… he was gone."

Her heart broke. Her sister truly cared for Jason, he was one of the few friends the triplets had! "I better call his father…"

The doctor however appeared confused. "We already informed him… in fact, he picked up the body just an hour ago."

Alley paused to the news. "Wait, he did? But he never called me!"

No sooner did she express her confusion did Genus enter the hospital. "Alley, I may have something, but we need to administer it fast…"

But he paused as he noticed her stunned look. "Genus… Jason died last night… and his body was picked up half an hour ago."

Genus froze as he turned to the doctor who was just as confused as they were now. "You were still here, I told you in person… you just picked up the body… didn't you?"

Genus began to tremble. "Oh God…" he whispered.

"106…" muttered Alley.

"What's going on you two?" the doctor demanded.

"You just gave a very dangerous man, my son's remains…" whispered Genus.

"I need to check the room. Has it been cleaned yet?" she asked.

"No, we're about to…" Alley didn't let him finish as she rushed down the hall. She got to the room just as they were about to sanitize it.

"WAIT!" she shouted.

They pulled back as Alley went into the room. Despite the startled stares she got, she revealed her serpent like creatures on her body. With them, she is able to take in the room. Every scent, search every nook and find anything out of place. One of them gave out an odd hiss, which meant it found something.

She searched the other side of the bed and found a needle. She took one smell of it. "What the hell…" she whispered.

"Miss Brawler?" the doctor called.

"Who else entered this room?" she demanded.

"Just the nurses and myself. Why?" he asked.

She revealed the needle. "This is a known as sleeping death. It's able to bring down someone's heart rate to nearly zero yet keeping them alive. Someone put this in his IV. I know they did…" she then growled. "That son of a bitch…"

"Alley…" came the voice of a concerned Dr. Genus. "It's him isn't it?"

She sighed and nodded. "I never knew he would go after him… Genus…"

"No isn't the time to mourn, we have to find him!"

She nodded in agreement. Alley got Genus to the Association. They rushed to the lab and began to search. "This is a hard to make substance, the substance are not simple nor easy to come by…" she said aloud.

"106 won't be stupid enough to be that close to the hospital," Genus said.

They began to their search, at the same time. Alley set an emergency message.

Within ten minutes they came in the lab. Uncle Street and Knuckle.

"Whoa, what happened kid?"

"Jason got stabbed last night by that crazy church cult. He was weak but alive when we left him. We went to the hospital this morning, they said he died over night and Genus already claimed the body…" she then paused. "Genus came to the hospital five minutes after me… when they said he was already there…" she wept. "How could we let our guard down!"

"Whoa, hey…" Uncle Knuckle pulled her into his arms. "This ain't your fault. Now, let's see what we got to work with here…"

Uncle Street was examining the needle she brought back, he kept staring at it until he gave a nod. "With me, now!" he called to Uncle Knuckle. He let go of Alley and smiled.

"We'll be back a lot sooner than you think!" and rushed out.

Genus froze. "They are amazing, you do know that…"

She nodded. "But I don't think 106 was stupid enough to leave something like that behind… he maybe sending them on a wild goose chase."

"If he is, then lets continue to work! Let's break down the chemical properties, we can find the rarest ones we can find a location! After all, one shouldn't stray from a supply correct?"

Alley nodded. "Let's get to work"

#

They went over the vial's contents in an hour's time. However something bothered Alley greatly about it all. "Why did he leave this behind?" she asked aloud.

"We have confirmed the contents, but I have to agree, this is not like him to say the least…"

Her uncles returned. Yet they were empty handed. "Son of a bitch set us up!" protested uncle Knuckle.

"Sorry Alley… We check, and we also did a scan of the vial's contents too. All areas of the contents are cleared. Not a sign of him…"

"We can't give up now." Alley announced. "Jason could very much still be alive, but he won't be the longer he's with 106. Let's keep going."

They spent the whole day researching. However couldn't find a led. Even Yuki helped get involved as best he could. "Whatever he's done, he's learning from his mistakes isn't he?" Yuki asked aloud.

"No shit…" muttered Alley. "Damn it!"

She was frustrated with this, she should have better known 106 would never give up, but she also should have known, her family isn't his only target. Jason was unique, Zombieman's own clone, and yet in 106's hands. He could make him just like his older brother, and use him for countless tests that would bring other subjects to the point of death. She couldn't bare with the thought of her sister's friend being tormented in such a way.

Alley went 24 hours without sleep… then 48…. Then the days just blurred. She kept going, so did Genus. However their results weren't what they wanted. "The son of a bitch is good…" she muttered.

"Alley, get some rest." Genus said gently. He sounded so defeated at the same time. Despite their best efforts, they couldn't figure out where 106 had gone, let alone if he has had help.

She sighed aloud and nodded. "I'll take a nap here… Genus, go home." She insisted.

He nodded to her as well. "Very well… thank you for your effort."

"I won't stop until we find him!" she vowed.

He smiled as best as he could before taking his leave. Alley went to the sleeping quarters and hit the hay. She drifted off to sleep, but kept dreaming about her heartbroken sister. She had nightmares as to what became of Jason, but then, she heard an odd ringing in her sleep. So odd in fact that it woke her up. "Huh?" she left her phone on the side of the table and it had been going off for the past hour. She finally answered. "Hello?"

"Alley! He's home!"

She was too dazed from the lack of sleep to figure out the voice. But then she saw the number. Genus's number! "Wait… JASON!? He's home!?" she demanded.

There was silence at first but Genus wept. "He's home… but… I… I don't know what to say…"

She froze, it means 106 got his way with him. "I'm coming Genus, wait for me!" she called. "Do I bring Eclipsa?"

"I… I will leave that to you… But Alley… he's home" he said tearfully.

He never stutters his words, why would he? That man has seen it all in a sense. However, something must be up if he refused to speak the details over the phone.

Alley called to her sister, and told her to meet up at Dr. Genus's shop. With that, she took off.