Chapter 14

Meanwhile…

Destro and Erimin were stunned.

"Who or what is this?" Destro muttered.

They have gone over the security footage from the cities, the video taken by every day people. But there have been no matches so far to the description. Neither one has seen a hero with blood red hair and crimson eyes. But the way he moves, they know without a doubt it is a cyborg!

"Could this be the work of Alley Brawler? Or the one who turned her uncles? The detail is without a doubt top notch to say the least. It's movements are similar to Metal Bad… could they have reprogramed and rebranded him?" Erimin asked.

"Possible, but still, this thing is rather intelligent to say the least, Bad wasn't. I am trying to understand the components here, but I don't think she would have erased his memory and given him a new purpose."

"Then why…"

"Hey, I got the information you were looking for!"

The two quickly turned off the monitors as they turned to see Emp waiting for their response. He held up data sheets on this Neo Hero hunter. "I do admit this thing has me rather confused. Also, it's curious to see the organic parts of it. I am registering familiar DNA… Metal Bat of all people!" he explained.

Destro took the data sheets and read over the information. "Metal Bat you say?"

"For that matter, I haven't seen him in ages, last I heard he was talking to you guys about something." Emp said offhandedly.

"We had a special assignment for him, so far we haven't heard back and are considering our options…" Erimin explained.

Emp merely nodded back without saying a word. "Keep me posted will you, he's a good friend of mine" he said with great sincerity.

The two nodded as he left the room. Destro sneered a little. "He suspects something no doubt. Emp doesn't wear our battle suits, so we cannot control him."

"We could turn him as well, but wouldn't have as good of a result to say the least…"

"Either way, if he gets in this too deep… we will have to do something about it."

"As long as he doesn't know the truth about Metal Bat, we can only hope he remains in the dark on the notion."

#

Emp walked out of the room, but his face darkened into a cold glare. "Even here…" he muttered lowly.

He left the Neo heroes and went to his own lab. From there, he discarded his clothing, backpack and everything that had been in the Neo Heroes HQ, did a full body cleanse before changing his clothing. Just as he finished, he tasted something sweet across his pallet. 'Alley?' he thought aloud.

'Oh good, it worked!' she cheered. 'Less invasive right?'

'Still creepy you can get in my head like this to say the least. I went to see for myself today, you're right. They are lying about Bad. But you got him right?'

'Well… Pac does, Zenko is expecting, and she wouldn't stop asking for Bad. We got him a new body and Pac took him into himself! I guess Zenko wouldn't settle without him.'

He shuttered at the thought of it all, it was creepy when he saw Garou do that all the time to Melee and the children, but now his kids are mimicking that now! 'Either way, I am glad to know he is safe.'

'We got Suiko a few days ago too, Suiryu wanted to make sure his sister was safe… Emp..'

'I can't now, not yet' he protested.

She fell silent to him, He could feel her worry from where he stood, but smiled. 'You trust me, right Alley?' he asked.

'Yes, of course I do! But Emp…'

'Then you trust me when I ask for help, I will need it right?'

She went quite once more, perhaps taken aback by what he said. 'Of course, day or night!' she stated.

He nodded his head. 'Just be at the ready for me okay? I got to make sure on everything, as well… I got some plans of my own'

'Okay then, but please, keep me posted and don't do this alone!'

With that, their communication came to an end. Emp went to his computer and began to type in data into it. He has kept track of every Neo hero that comes through the door. He has also kept track of injuries, fatalities and then, sudden reappearances of various Neo heroes, which he has seen, die in battle. Bad had said it out loud once before, but he just wished he had waited before making a move. "Whatever they did to you Bad, I will make sure they pay for it!" Emp vowed.

But for now, the teenage prodigy will bide his time, it was all he could do for the moment…