Chapter 21

No one had ever done this to him before.

Yet, he found himself trapped, unable to move as his arm was pinned awkwardly to the side, his head held to the wall as fingers were digging into his scalp. "You… will keep your hands to yourself… you understand me? You thought I hit you hard before… I'll do it so you will lose more than your lunch!"

Amai Mask, held at the mercy of a very angry Melee Brawler! She just saw him coming down the hall, next thing he knew she vanished and he became trapped in this vice like grip! "You keep forgetting you are raising monsters!" he protested, only to feel her fingers dig deeper into the scalp.

She began drawing blood!

"I've had practice with that… remember?" she whispered in his ear.

She finally let him go, the message was sent as he quickly healed from her brazen attack. Amai dusted himself off but still. It bothered him. "You care too much for things that shouldn't be." He muttered. "You know those children were to be used by that blasted clone. They were his test subjects and I had no choice in the matter! I couldn't even control my own actions, and yet you judge me for wanting them destroyed!"

Melee didn't show any sign of sympathy. "Be that as it may, when they are born… they are born… you have no right to end their lives because you saw fit! You keep forgetting these children are part of me too! They are the very things you wanted had you won my heart instead of Garou. Granted, yes they are serpent, so what! It doesn't matter what they are, human or not, they are loving children who care for those around them!" she protested. "It's a damn shame you will never know such love."

He blew off the comment. "I don't need the love of unwanted creatures like those… For that matter, why are you allowing them to pursue these strange and very… unflattering ventures. A sumo wrestler, really?" he demanded.

"Tempest wants to become Yokozuna, Garou is going to help him get there. He's talented, he was even scouted by Onimaru, who trained Raiden of the Neo Heroes."

Amai paused, but shook off the development. "He is doing this to embarrass me."

"He's doing this because he wants to, you don't matter, remember?" she snapped back. "Just stay the hell away from my children, Amai. If they approach you then fine, engage them in conversation, but nothing more. I doubt they would even want to speak with the likes of you anyway…"

"You are making a terrible choice on this, Melee. Mark my words, these children will turn on you!"

She smirked off his threat. "Oh, I am certain they will," she said sarcastically. Amai stormed off as Melee took a deep breath to calm herself down. She had to, her arms were starting to surge… in fact, she swore she saw stands of electricity of some sort coming off her arms oddly. 'Boros's power…' she thought.

She continued down the opposite side of the hall. She ran into Zombieman who appeared to be in a bit of a rush to get out of the Association. Yet once he vanished, Melee found Garou, Hunter and Jag coming out of Alley's personal lab room. "Hey guys, what were you doing in there?" she asked.

"Nothing really, but making training arrangement." Hunter explained. "Hey mom… Jag hasn't been to the house yet… can he come for dinner?" he asked.

Melee was surprised to the question. "Of course he can, you are welcome any time to the house!"

"Call first" said Garou.

She rolled her eyes to that, Garou prefers to have time to prepare for company… well… more like get his endurance ready for unwanted company. He prefers it to be just the family in the house, no one else! "How does tonight sound? You a big eater?"

Jag smirked. "Miss Brawler, if you met my brothers and my father, you would be surprised that I could keep up with them!"

Melee was curious, however, she began to notice a smitten look on Hunter. He really liked him! She smiled and nodded to Jag. "Very well then, I better go get stuff ready for dinner then. Excuse me boys." She was quick to leave but wondered what to make…

#

"LOOK!"

In the lobby of the Association, Tank Top Tiger was proudly displaying his claws. They appeared like nothing more than mere rings on his fingers, but then, he set off a trigger, the metal wrapped and covered his digits until he proudly displayed his metal claws to the heroes near by. "What do you think? This Tiger has claws!"

"Nice! Who made those?" asked Stinger.

"Yuki!" he said proudly.

"Yuki?..." Stinger appeared to think over the name. "Oh, you mean that kid with the weird hair cut that looks like Street Brawler's?"

"That's the one, the kid is really smart, made these on the spot. He hasn't stop creating stuff. He's a lot like Alley just more driven to build and make things like this."

"That kid is something… isn't he…" Stinger suddenly fell silent as Amai walked by. Yet, before he could leave, Stinger called out. "Hey Sweet Mask, what's with these guys that look like you?!"

Amai froze for a moment, he became oddly still. He turned rather abruptly on his heels and glared at Stinger, his veins were in full force around his eyes. "What… did you say?" he demanded.

"Look man, no point in playing stupid, we know these kids are yours. Question is how did they get here?" Stinger asked. "Did something happen?"

The glare only intensified. "Ask Snek why don't you. Demand where his children came from. The ones you speak of… are no children of mine."

The tone alone gave everyone a chill, he walked off shortly after but still, the vibe they got, it was as if they stared death in the face. Stinger shrugged it off. "What the hell is his problem?"

Tank Top Tiger shrugged. "If those really are his kids, he's making the biggest mistake of his life. They're great! I mean, Yuki made these without plans or anything, just off the top of his head!"

"You saw the fight he had with Tempest from the day before?" asked Black Hole. "Shit I thought he would have shattered the kid's arm. But that guy is built! Wants to be a sumo wrestler I heard."

"Really? He's got the power for it no doubt…" said Stinger. But he then kept peering over to Tiger's claws. "I wonder what Yuki could make for me…" he thought aloud.

In fact, all the other heroes were thinking the same thing…