Chapter II – Lurking Danger

"And on today's news we move on to Z-City which was the center of the Hero Association's fight with the Monster Association over three months ago in March. While monster sightings and appearances has been down ever since the eradication and disbandment of the so called 'Monster Association', a new fear has risen among the people of Z-City due to a sudden outbreak of rats. People are worried that the sudden appearance of the rodents in such large numbers will cause an increase in the spread of disease..."

Zenko swung her legs up and down as she sat in a small fold able chair next to her brother's bed still dressed in her school uniform. Her brother, Badd, laid there with a bored expression, lethargic from the little movement he was capable of doing for the past couple days.

He shifts, trying to find a more comfortable position on the bed. "Ugh..."

Zenko turns her head to him. "Is it hurting?"

"Y-yeah..." His body ached all over, every slight movement sending a shock of pain through his system. His muscles felt tender to the touch and the constant laying in bed just made his body feel worse, especially with his newly fractured foot which was wrapped up in a bulky, black cast. Something he earned in a recent fight with a monster.

Zenko pinches his cheek earning a whine from her brother.

"Z-Zenko!"

"This wouldn't have happened if you had listened to the nurse! She said no fighting until your fully healed!"

"It was right outside and minor tiger threat! It was nothing-ow!"

Zenko pulls his cheek even harder. "You always were a metal head!" She let's go of his face and scoots out of her chair, scurrying down the hall to the bathroom as her brother watches, rubbing his face. He hated being tied to the bed. Fighting and beating up monsters was his specialty not sleeping all day. A choice he didn't really have due to the side effects of the medication he was on. In consequence, Zenko took over the chores such as cleaning, making her own lunch, and even grocery shopping whenever Charlotte was available to take her.

"In other major news, the Hero Association has been reeling to find the self-proclaimed 'Hero Hunter' Garou as news surfaces that he was once a former disciple of S-Class hero Bang also known as 'Silver Fang' who is a martial arts master. The Association has sent out multiple warrants for his arrest and even put a bounty upon his head. This comes after the young alpha male's so-called hero hunt where he sought to fight heroes from all rank classes , A and S specifically. Over time, he took out a total of a hundred heroes, giving them all from broken noses to multiple fractured bones and severe blood loss. Despite this, all of his victims survived and it is because of this along with wanting to obtain more knowledge of the Monster Association, that he has been kept to wanted alive instead of dead also."

Badd clenches his fist. Garou...His name echoed in his head like a bad ringing of the ears. His cocky attitude, profane mouth, and that wicked, shitty smirk of his and the fact that he was his soulmate above all things, made the hero grind his teeth to sand. The man was dangerous, indiscriminately attacking and injuring heroes minding their own business and even cutting off half of Blue Fire's arm. He even left him, his soulmate, with multiple broken bones, bruises, and internal injuries. While he had mostly recovered, his body was still a bit far from being fully repaired if the lingering pain was anything to judge from.

Not a single one died huh? The words were puzzling. Why didn't they perish? They all lost and he was in perfect position to kill them so why didn't he? Was he even trying to be the monster he claimed to be? Badd shook his head. I'm gonna give myself a migraine...

Zenko comes back with empty hands and a frown on her face. "There's no more pain killers. You told me that you still had plenty left!"

"I...thought I did. Sorry about that sis."

"Hmpf." She smiles. "You took your last prescription ones so theres none left either and it's too late to pick those up since the pharmacy is closed but I can get you some of the counter ones."

Badd shakes his head. Knowing where this was going. "It's practically dark and raining outside Zenko. It's too dangerous."

"But your hurting and in pain. The convenience store is only down the street."

"Anything can happen 'down the street'."

"You let me walk around outside the house and neighborhood all the time! Why can't I go by myself! There's still a little light left-"

"I said 'no' Zenko. 'll be fine for one night."

"You said that last time and you were groaning all night to the point you even cried a bit."

"I wasn't cryin'!"

"Well you had tears coming out your eyes."

He sucks his teeth. "Tsk."

"Please Big Bro. I promise I'll run there and back. I'll have my phone with me too like always!"

"Zenko please..."

"Please!?"

Badd looks at her and those wanton eyes for a bit before giving a sigh of defeat. "Fine."

Zenko let's out a hiss that seems all to recognizable as a 'yes' and quickly darts down the hall to the stairs only for Badd to call out to her.

"Hold up, if I'm too weak to walk with you what about if something happens? What if a monster attacks?"

"Then 'fighting spirit' right?"

Badd can only blink at her. "Wha-"

She dashes down the stairs and rushes to put on her pink rain boots, matching coat and frog printed umbrella before opening up the door.

Badd hears the door open. "Oi!" He shouts from upstairs. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Zenko pauses to check her pockets, patting her coat. She had her phone...oh. She closes the door and rushes back upstairs where Badd points to the hakama pants thrown on the floor by his bed. She digs through them hurriedly and pulls out his wallet, sticking it into her own before racing down the stairs again.

"Hurry up back and no talking to strangers!"

"Alright!"

"You have less than an hour before I come after ya!"

"Okay, okay!"

He hears the door shut and breathes out. Slumping in his bed, he picks up his phone to play some games as the television soon becomes background noise as he tries to calm the anxious spirit threatening to make him jump up and chase after as well pull him into a deep slumber.

Zenko splashes through the water puddles as she dashes down the street, dodging pedestrians with a smile upon her face. She was a little happy, able to finally break the confines of the neighborhood her brother had tied her so much too. It felt nice not having him hover over her for once. Most children her age or even younger had already begun to at least travel to school by themselves and seeing them independent, made her feel a bit left out.

Zenko opens the door to the convenience store and walks in, folding her umbrella. "Hello!"

The young woman behind the register looks up, pausing her organizing of the money. "Ah, Zenko, back for your normal snacks?"

Zenko walks past her and through the aisle's, scanning the products. Leaving wet footprints in the store. "Yep! And some things for my brother!"

"Oh, your brother..." She blinks. "Where is your brother? You didn't come alone did you? He usually doesn't let you out this late nonetheless walk around alone."

"Big Bro is sick so I'm here to get some things so he can feel better."

"Ah, I see."

"Where's your pain killers please?"

"Their in the last aisle by hygiene and care."

Zenko turns around and heads there, scanning over the items quickly. She pinches her lips, frowning at the overwhelming amount of options. There was pain killers for arthritis, hip and joint pain, migraines, and periods. She tilts her head, hand underneath her chin. "Hm..."

The clerk notices her confusion and makes her way over to her. "What's the matter Zenko?"

"There's so many..."

The clerk chuckles. "Well, what does he need? It's for your brother right?"

"Pain pills."
"Alright. What's hurting him?"

"His foot and well, everything else."

"Let's see then..." The clerk's fingers graze over the labels before pulling out a small bottle of gel pills. "Try this. It should help with whatever pain he has and it works quickly."

Zenko takes it and smiles at her. "Thank you!"

"No problem."

Zenko grabs a few bottles of the pain pills as well as a couple of Japanese and western snacks before laying the goods on the counter, the clerk not following far behind.

"I hope your brother gets better. I remember him being on the news after he went up against the Hero Hunter." She states, ringing up the items.

"Big Bro's been better since then but he still has to take it easy. He also fractured his foot recently against a monster. He's not very smart, the nurse told him he can't fight until he's completely healed."

The woman rings up the last few items. "He's always been like that hasn't he?"

Zenko nods in agreement.

"Alright, that will be twenty-thousand seventy-five yen."

Zenko pulls out her brother's wallet and pays for the goods, handing over the silver debit card. The clerk hands over the card and the bags, throwing the reciept in one of them. "Here you go princess. Make sure to get back safe alright and I hope your brother gets well. Tell him I said Hi."

"I will! Bye Bye!"

"See you Zenko." The woman waves her goodbye and watches as she leaves the perimeter of the store.

Zenko looks at her phone, a device decorated in stickers and a Metal Bat charm. Good, I have half an hour left. Having calmed a bit she walks instead of rushing, but keeps a quickened pace to ensure that her brother doesn't come storming down the street to look for her. She comes to an abrupt stop when she's about to pass a dark alley that was narrow and short. It was a shortcut that led straight to her neighborhood and was regularly took by people during the day. Not so much at night due to being a hang out spot for rude teens and wannabe gangsters. Thankfully, no one was there oddly enough. She could go around but that would take longer and her brother never played with her safety. She was fine taking it to the convenience store, why not take it again?

She turns on her heel and makes her way down the alley. Walls laced with graffiti and dumpsters filled to the brim with trash.

She covers her nose, bags hanging from the crease of her arm. "It stinks."

She yelps and nearly drops her umbrella as a group of rats scurry pass her feet squeaking. She takes a deep breath and continues down the path only to stop when she feels a sudden thick liquid drip from down her umbrella unto her face, irritating her skin. She rubs her face only to become disgusted when she sees the thick mucus. She drops her umbrella completely, now aggressively wiping her face with her uniform shirt.

"Disgusting!" She covers her nose again. Face scrunching up in displeasure. Did the smell get worse? She picks up her umbrella and notices a hole in it whose edges were scorched, as though it had been touched by a fire. She hesitates but continue to move forward, now more cautious and aware of her surroundings. She nulls the option of turning around and fleeing knowing she was half way through the path anyway.

That is until another glob of mucus drops right in front of her.

She stumbles back and watches as the ground seethes beneath it. Steam vaporizing the droplets of the rain that comes down around and on it.

Zenko looks around frantically, desperate to find the source of where the vile liquid is coming from. As her eyes move back to back, she hears a low guttural growl from the corners her ears, the sound leading her eyes to look up the side of the graffiti filled wall. When she does however, she tries her best to swallow a scream.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, no, no, no..." She steps back quietly, doing everything in her power to not startle the large, foreboding creature on the wall. Claws gripping and digging into the bricks for support, the monster stares at her, hairless tail whipping in the back as it snarls. A rancid and foul odor seeping through it's razor sharp teeth.

Zenko pulls out her phone, fingers shaking as she dials for her brother. She listens as the phone rings only for it to go to his voice mail.

"Come on Big Bro...pick up!" She panicky whispers but her pleas are hardly heard as the phone repeats the same message after message.

The monster slowly climbs down from the wall and onto the pavement, easing closer to the young beta.

"What do I do? What do I do?" She feels her heart nearly beat out of her chest as the monster wobbles over to her. The only source of light, a dim flickering street light that threatens to give out any moment, does little to give any comfort to the girl.

She chooses her only option: run.

Zenko makes a beeline in the opposite direction, breath heavy as adrenaline rushes through her veins only to slip and fall on a puddle, items from her bag scattering as she tries to recuperate. When she hears the loud thrashing of the monster behind her, she shuts her eyes and covers her head in a pathetic attempt at defense. The monster lunges after her, teeth drawn like a battle sword.

The monster howls as a large hit to it's face makes it recoil back, shaking it's head in pain. Zenko uncovers herself and looks back, seeing a hooded figure standing before her.

"Where's that shitty brother of yours brat?"

That sly, rash voice was all too recognizable. "Y-your-!"

A tail whips itself in their direction, missing them as it nearly crumbles the brick wall of the alley. Leaving a large, crack indentation upon impact. Garou grabs hold of Zenko and flips back, dodging the sudden attack by the breadth hair.

It's fast. "No time for questions. Go, I'll handle this myself."

Zenko hesitates for a moment but listens to his advice and flees the scene, quickly picking up the items. Garou listens out for her steps until they fade out completely. He turns to the monster and narrows his eyes. "Good, now I can go all out."

The monster charges mouth agape at him, it's breath dizzying to the Hero Hunter. Garou dodges out of the way of it's snapping jaws, ones too abnormal for a monster that was a giant rodent. He lands on the nearby wall only for the monster to quickly snap it's neck to slam it's head into it, bricks falling off. Garou jumps off and hovers above it, ready to deliver a hammered punch to its head.

"Wh-what the-!?"

The monster grabs him, using it's tail to slam him down against the ground hard. Garou stands up, clutching his abdomen gently as he regains his breath which had all but been expelled from him.

"That...hurt." He hisses.

The monster returns the sound, growling intermixed between its own. He charges towards it and the monster does the same only to once again get a mouth full of air. He bounces off the walls and lamp post, dodging the whipping of it's tail as he does. He slams his feet onto the skull of the rodent's head and postures himself, smirking. "Flowing Water Rock Smashing Fist!" The monster's head spins as it takes a plethora of blows towards it's face and head from above, body paralyzed under the rapid succession of needle like punches. The monster howls in pain and jerks underneath Garou, attempting to throw him off. It slams itself into the nearly collapsing wall and shakes it's head violently before letting out a howling scream as if calling something.

"Hm?" Garou pauses as he feels something wet and cold touch against his skin. The beasts shakes, throwing him off and onto the ground. He looks at his arm and sees blood spilling from a rather large bite mark but too small to be from the monster in front of him. The cloth of his hoodie torn. He hears a small squeak only to see a small rat staring back at him.

"Did that-" He's cut off as a certain rumbling noise reverberates through the ground, shaking him and the dumpsters. "An earthquake?"

The alleyway is soon overrun by a swarm of rats, flowing past the monster and climbing the walls, their loud squeaks deafening to Garou's ears. They charge after him and attack, hitting Garou individually like miniature bullets, biting bits and pieces of his flesh off before completely swarming him. Shredding his hoodie and clothes to rags.

"Dammit! How the hell am I'm suppose to fight like this?"

The giant rodent before him seizes the opportunity and charges once more. Mouth wide open, it couldn't miss this chance with him distracted. Garou catches the attempted attack just in time to flip out of the way, flinging the rats off of him but not without suffering injury. Hissing through his teeth, he grasps at his leg which burned, feeling as though boiling oil had been shot at it. The monster had managed to nip him and the evidence showed. The saliva from the beast made the skin on his leg red and irritable, causing small red bumps to rise and the skin to peel like a banana. It was painful, the worse pain he had felt in months and that was saying a lot from someone use to being stabbed and bones shattered.

The monster sticks out it's tongue and snarls, shaking it's head in disgust. The taste of monster intermixed with human flesh was revolting.

Garou however, was getting fed up. He takes a step forward and rotates his hands, creating a hooked image with his fingers before thrusting them forward. Creating a razor sharp torrent of air that repels the charging wave of rats coming at him. Slicing them up and splattering their insides across the the ground. He looks to the large monster before him and raises an eyebrow seeing it covered in the deceased bodies of it's lackeys. It didn't even bother to move out of the way, perhaps it couldn't considering the space.

He smirks a bit, impressed slightly by the tactic. "Using the bodies of your own subordinates as a shield? That's pretty low, even for a monster."

The monster shook itself like a wet dog, as though it was boasting an ego. Nonchalant and uncaring about the damage it took, the rats around it await it's next command as they squeak and swarm the walls. The monster slaps it's tail against the pavement a few times and growls at Garou, hunches raise as it sizes him up.

Garou pulls back his foot and centers his hands in front of him in offense. "Give me your best shot."

The monster turns and swings it's powerful naked tail at him, sweeping up some of the pavement. Garou dodges it, the tail coming full swing back around and above him like a hammer to whack-a-mole. Garou catches it grinning, muscles straining as he holds up the appendage. He clutches it, pulls it back, flicks it and when it comes back around in a second attempt of a hit, he hits it, causing it to swing back around and smack the poor monster in the face.

The monster growls in annoyance through it's teeth and goes for an all out frenzied attack, swinging it's tail and using it like a spear. It's quick, thick and heavy, able to meet Garou's blows with equal intensity as he deflects them. It was clear that the organ was useful for more than just keeping it balanced. It swipes at him with long, sharp claws having closed the distance between them. The rats attack him all at once as well, nipping at him with little effort. He manages to fend off the whips of the tail and the swiping of the large creature's claws but the attacks from both the appendages of the creature combined with the annoying strikes of the rats is proving to be more struggle than it's worth.

A vein pops from Garou's temple, agitated at his inability to multitask and fight against animals effectively.

Garou does the one thing he can to get out of the situation, body bleeding all over he gears up for a final attack. He pushes back his foot and breathes out, letting go of any restrictive thoughts he had possibly placed on himself. Positioning his hands in front of him, he waves his left, fingers straight and symmetrical as the monster anticipates his next move. He ignores the nipping and biting of the rats and focuses his attention on his last and final attack. Bending the fingers of one hand into familiar hooks and the second into a straitened fist. The monster gears up on it's hind legs, pulling back it's tail and lands down hard shaking the ground and scattering the rats, signaling them to pull back. It growls as readies itself, charging forward.

Garou meets it, unleashing a plethora of punches and attacks right to it's face as he combines it with a razor sharp torrent of air that splits to kill the rats that surround him and the entire alley. The force of his punches at once sends a shock wave through the entire alley, completely stopping the onslaught of the rats as they are sent in a frenzy of confusion.

But soon enough the wind shifts and so does Garou's smell. The monster nearly dodges the attack, slipping past him, suffering only multiple scratches and loss fur.

Garou turns around confused only for his stomach to sink.

"STOP!"

Zenko looks up and yells as the monster nearly sinks it teeth into her before Garou kicks it in the face, spilling blood from it's mouth and knocking out a tooth.

"Didn't I tell you to get away from here!? Why are you still here?!"

"I did but...I came back! I was worried-!"

The monster stands up, casting a shadow over the two as saliva and stomach acid spills forth from its mouth, it's gums fully exposed as it snarls.

"Dammit! Your as stubborn as your brother!"

"I only came to help!"

"I don't need your help! You'll only cause more trouble for me!"

"In front of you!"

The monster charges at them both and Garou curses through his teeth as he prepares for a brutal hit.

"Warning. Warning. A monster has appeared in S-City near central street. A monster has appeared in S-City near central street. Please take safety in the nearest shelter."

The monster pauses and bends down, claws slamming onto the ground as it sniffs the air. It backs away quickly and hisses, calling its surviving subordinates as it suddenly disappears into the darkest part of the alley which was now completely cast in shadow. The lamp post now a relic, as it lied against the ground in bent and twisted parts.

Garou stands huffing, rain hitting against open and bleeding wounds. "Bastard...finish what you started."

Zenko stares into the distance for a moment. Brother would have been here by now. Why didn't he pick up his phone? She turns her worried eyes to Garou whose breathing hard, gasping for breath. "Your hurt..."

Garou steps forward, wobbling as he moves away from her.

"H-Hey! Your hurt! You can't walk like that! Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Garou leans up against the wall, breath erratic. "Listen kid, I don't need your damn help." Its cause of you why I ended up like this in the first place.

"Well you need some help! Your hurt all over!"

"And so what? What can you do for me? Put little pink band-aids all over me?"
Zenko stomps her foot. "I'll have you know I treat Big Bro's wounds all the time thank you very much!"

Garou rolls his eyes. "I bet you do-" he clutches his abdomen grimacing. The pain from his leg shooting up to his mid-section.

"I can call the ambulance-!"
"No! No, I'll be fine okay? I've experienced worse anyway."

"Your far from fine! You'll die! If your not gonna see a doctor, at least let me treat your wounds!"

"God, your as stubborn as your brother. Treat it how? By bringing me back to your house?"

Zenko nods. "Big Bro said to help people no matter who they are."

"I don't think your brother will be too happy to see me."

"Don't worry, I'll protect you. You can stay in my room."

Garou frowns at the thought with what little energy he has. He could drive her off and make his way back to the shack but in his state would be impossible to not gain attention and the warning system no doubt alerted heroes close to his location. Going to the hospital? He might as well just turn himself in, and following her meant a possible encounter with her brother and whatever pent up fury he had left. He grits his teeth at the painful gamble.

"Fine. Since your so damn persistent."

Zenko smiles a little at that and pulls at his arm, leading him to her home as he reluctantly follows her limping.

At least he got to see him again.