Chapter 2

They did all they could to help him in a sense.

Garou even came by to spar with him, and allow him to release pent up anger and frustration. The two brawled for hours on end, and yet when he was done. Garou appeared rather disappointed. "You lack power, those assholes thought this would have been an improvement!?" he demanded.

Bad then turned away. "I don't want to talk about it…"

"Fair enough, but any time you wanna…"

"Thanks, I'll find you," Bad said.

He drifted his way back to his room, but ran into someone odd. He paused at this massive looking man, staring down at him, stroking his beard. "Who the hell are you?"

The man smirked. "You must be Bad, I heard a lot about ya from my granddaughter!"

He froze. Granddaughter? This guy ain't that old to begin with! He tried to walk pass him, but was stopped. "Hold it, I ain't done talkin to you!"

"I don't wanna talk," Bad replied. He tried to move the arm, but it wasn't going. He glared at this man, but then began to see something odd. His eyes were like Street and Knuckle's! "Wait, are you…"

"Took you long enough. Come on boy, let's talk"

There was no choice, his arm went around him and he began to led Bad around the Association until they were outside once more, but on the opposite side of the mountain. Bad glared at this odd man, who refused to take his arm off of him. "What do you want with me?" he demanded.

"Nothin'" he said oddly enough. "Look, I know you ain't happy about your situation, I wouldn't be either. But have faith in my granddaughter, she is gonna fix ya up real good"

"Who the hell is your granddaughter?!" Bad demanded. "I've only spoken with Alley on this."

His smile grew.

Bad stumbled out of his arm and away as he stared at him oddly. "Wait, you're…"

"Chuck, Chuck Brawler." He said proudly. "Melee's father,"

He couldn't move, he knows Melee lost her brothers and father in a monster attack, but how on earth could her father be here? "She never mentioned…"

"She didn't know, Boros did this, so I can make certain no one messes with my little girl's life by trying to alter a timeline!" he said defiantly. "Now, what I wanted to talk to you about. If my granddaughter can't fix you… I suggest you go our way. Let Boros work his magic, honestly, it's not that different from being human."

He shook his head on the notion. "You dragged me out here to convince me to go full cyborg if Alley can't fix me?" he demanded.

"Why not?" Chuck asked. "Look boy, life ain't fair. I'll be the first to tell ya. I never saw my boys became men, I never saw my little girl become a woman, let alone see ANY of my grandbabies be born. I missed out on EVERYTHING, and you think that I am going to let you do the same? Nah, I ain't. So, the question remains… What do you have worth living for?"

He was startled once more by the question, was he trying to cheer him up or bring him down?

"What's it to you anyways? You don't know me!" Bad protested.

Chuck went silent, but he swore the iris in his eye was moving about. "Bad, aka Metal Bat, former S rank hero, lost both parents in a monster attack, mother's parting words were 'protect your sister, don't expose her to such cruel things in this world' You took that to heart, and tried to shelter her from the dark side of the world. In return, you trained yourself, defeated your first monster at the age of 8 with a baseball bat."

Bad froze.

"Want me to continue?"

He shook his head on the notion. Chuck… knew all of that?

"So, let me ask you again, Bad, what do you have worth living for?"

He was silent once more, all he could think of was Zenko. But, there was also another, but he never said it aloud. "Not much…" he answered. "My sister, but she has Pac now. There was someone I started to like, but there is no point in perusing the relationship now, with the way I am…"

"That's quitter talk for ya,"

"What?"

There came a smirk on the broad Brawler. "If you think you ain't going to get a woman because of the way you are, then you may as well just pack up your shit and go! Look here boy, what has happened to you is a damn crime, you know it and so do I. But you let this get the better of ya, then why the hell are you even still standing here?"

He couldn't think of any response to that…

"Anyway, what I am trying to say is this. Don't give up so easily. You got a chance to turn things around and I know you do. Have faith in my granddaughter, and in yourself. Your sister cannot wait for you to come back to her, and I know she will be grateful to. So for now, hold out, and hold tight. You ain't done yet!"

The words were oddly profound, Bad merely nodded to him. "I'll try," he said.

"Good, see that ya do!"

Chuck left him alone shortly after, Bad paused until he turned towards some of the trees. "Listening in?" he asked.

She came down from the tallest one. Melee smirked a little before pointing to where her father just walked. "I wanted to be sure he wasn't going to be rough on you. Sometimes he gets carried away to say the least… you okay?" she asked.

Bad was silent. "I don't even know. Melee, I barely feel anything anymore…"

She merely nodded her head to him. "I know, it's not easy Bad, but we are going to make this right by you. I promise…"

"That's the thing, you and your family are always trying to do the right thing. You are constantly helping others and even attempting to fix mistakes that weren't even yours." he protested. "And yet, you guys are still called monsters for it?"

She smirked a little. "That little stigma isn't going to go away any time soon, let's be honest here." She said. "We don't mind though, we've gotten use to it over the past few years. But with the recent activities, I never knew how deep that hatred went."

The two fell silent to each other. "So, what now?" he asked.

Melee shrugged her shoulders. "We're going to keep doing what we are doing, it's what heroes do right?" she asked. "Besides, we are also going to be working on a backup plan for these Neo Heroes. Needless to say if we strike them first, we're going to be seen as the bad guys…"

"What if you showed the world what they did to me?"

She shook her head on the matter. "There's no proof that they did do that to you… there's also no proof that WE did that to you." She said in a warning tone. He understood oddly enough. If he came out to say the Neo heroes turned him into a cyborg, people would spin it and claim he was programed to say that. They would then shift the blame to Alley, stating she did it and yet blamed the neo heroes for her failure.

"I think I am going to go back inside now," Bad muttered.

"You do that, don't be so disheartened Bad, things are going to get better okay?" Melee said.

He knows she is trying to comfort him, but at the same time, he didn't really want it either.