Chapter 3

"STREET! WE GOT TO GO!"

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"We're all she has left now…"

then darkness, it was always darkness.

But this time, there was light.

His eyes shot open as he sat up in bed, gasping for air as if he had been smothered. His eyes blurred, the room spun around him as someone placed their hands on his shoulder. "Whoa… take it ease, you got up much too fast. Deep breaths calm yourself." The voice said.

Closing his eyes once more, he took deep, cleansing breaths of air and tried to regain his focus. The fog from his eyes cleared out, he began to see the room more vividly. But, the man before him was someone he had never seen before. "Who… where…" he asked.

He was confused.

Everything around him was all too new, too different… too much out of place. The man before him kept staring oddly, as the smile grew bigger and bigger. "Hey, do you know where you are? Do you remember your name?" he asked.

"What the hell kind of question is that! Of course I know who I am. I'm Street Brawler!" he protested. "Question is, who the hell are you?"

He pulled up a chair and smiled. Yet before he could utter a word, his brother suddenly sat up in bed, in the same daze and confusion. He couldn't see until the stranger went over and gave him the same sound advice, calming him down. His eyes blinked oddly a few times until he took in the room. Yet, he froze to the sight of his brother. "STREET!" he said. He was about to get out of bed, yet appeared sick doing so. "Oh God, my head!"

The stranger smiled as he eased him back down. " Do not rush this, you will do far more harm than good. Gentlemen, my name is Dr. Evo. I just got to the both of you in the nick of time, however, you have been in a coma for a few years if you can believe that."

"Coma?" Street turned his head and peered at his brother. "What coma? I don't remember anything… GAH!" he paused as his head pulsed with pain.

"Ow… It hurts!" growled Knuckle.

Street paid close attention as the doctor was taking notes, there was something off and strange about this whole ordeal. His memory being gone for one thing, another is what is a doctor like him doing here? He isn't dressed as the kind seen in hospitals, in fact the hospital room was wrong too. Normally they wouldn't be able to fit two Brawlers in a single room! "Say… doc… this is weird and all for me to be asking but… we're not in a hospital… are we?"

He froze from his note taking. Dr. Evo stared at him oddly. "What makes you say that?" he asked.

"Well, the fact is that my brother and I are in beds that fit us. Last time we were taken in for injuries, it took three beds for them to have us lie in, second of all… there are things here, technology I haven't seen before. That's not common for a hospital. Third, my brother and I are sharing a room. They don't normally fit two of us in a single space at any given time."

Evo paused, however he nodded to him. "Excellent perception as always. I wouldn't expect anything less from a Brawler. To answer your question, you are correct. This isn't a hospital, this is a secure facility meant to keep a close eye on the two of you. Due to your needs, we are able to provide proper care for you here more so than anywhere else. With the extent of your injuries, and it appears hints of amnesia have also come into play."

"Amnesia?" muttered Knuckle. "Look, Doc, no offense but something still ain't right about this. I mean, I don't know why, but someone like you shouldn't be here!" he stated. He shook his head to it all. "I feel like something is missing…"

"What can you recall?" Evo asked.

Knuckle struggled to try and remember something, same with Street. Yet the more he tried the more his head pulsed with pain! "Gah! I… can't!" he protested.

"Don't force it" Evo said gently. He looked to the two and gave a confident nod. "It won't be long until we can let you both up and out of bed. For now, rest up. I will bring in a good meal for the both of you to regain your strength."

With that, Evo left. As soon as the door closed, Street turned to his twin. "Brother, what's missing?" he asked. "Someone should be here… at least… two people… I can feel it. I mean… I see a shadow of a man, a massive one at that sitting in a chair with his arms crossed…"

"Me too… could it be our father? Did dad do something like that?"

"I think he did… OW!" he more the thought about it, the more pain he got. "Let's just try and focus on recovering…" he flopped back in his bed, Street sighed to it all. "This is strange isn't it?"

Knuckle nodded as he looked over his hands. "How long did that doc say we were in a coma for?"

"A few years… But you don't look any different to me."

"Yeah… what's going on man, I really don't get this."

The door to the room opened once more. Evo returned with two large carts with silver platters on them. "Sorry for the sudden return, I brought you something to eat. Here, help yourselves, if you need more, just call for me." A cart was rolled up to each side of their beds, when he revealed the contents a smile came over the brothers. Every kind of meat one could think of or ask for lay before them. Their lips smacked as Knuckle even stopped a small line of drool from cascading down his chin.

They ate like animals!

There was no need for forks or knives, the brothers dove in with their bare hands shoving anything and everything they could into their mouths. Evo had to step back and allow them to feast, he didn't anticipate their hunger being so great! They cleared the carts but required seconds. "This is some good grub! I don't I've eaten this well since Melee got a job!" announced Knuckle

Then, he froze.

"Melee…" Street whispered. "Whose Melee?"

Evo once more reached for his notepad, as Knuckle tried to understand the name he just spoke. Street froze to it too, it was familiar to him somehow, and yet, he couldn't put a name to the face…

#

Evo left the room to acquire more food for the brothers. Yet as he went to prepare the meals, he found himself being follow. "Doc, what's the news?" he turned to Accel who kept a close eye on the developments. With a wave of his hand, Evo led him to the two way mirror.

Accel's smile grew wider and wider as he saw the Brawlers had finally woken up! "About time!" he stated. "Man, they look bigger sitting up than they did lying unconscious!"

Evo reached into his pocket for his notes. "They have no recall at this moment to the events that put them in the 'hospital' let alone their own family. Memories are slowly being stimulated as we speak, in fact, one of the brothers spoke his sister's name without really knowing who she is. Third, they are very astute to their surroundings and know something isn't quite right about the world around them." He paused as he tucked the notes away. "Despite their names and being Brawlers, they are not meatheads to say the least. They are very cleaver and know when something is amiss. Remarkably, the information already taken in would be enough to set off a fragile mind. Yet these two are processing everything extremely well."

Accel nodded. He was having seconds thoughts on this whole idea of cloning the brothers when he learned that the pints of blood in that old fridge belonged to them. He also had doubts that Evo could clone them. Yet, despite the age of it, he was able to repair and revive the DNA structure of the brothers to clone them back to life. But now, the question. "What happens if they see their sister?"

Evo didn't know. "We have many variables going on right now, they could recall her if they see her. However given her transformation as well, they may not take the word of a monster claiming to be their sister. For now, I think we should keep quite on the subject matter. Let them rest and see how much they are going and willing to learn. I will keep them under very close observation."

"You do that." Accel announced, yet, before he left, he turned to Evo once more. "I do have a favor, when we bring them out into the world, remind me to keep them away from Garou and his family. We can't have them interfering with this. I want the brothers on our side, no one else!"

"I will do what I can." Vowed Evo. "If you will excuse me though, I must prepare a second course for them."

As Evo left, he too wondered about the brothers. Their minds are nothing like he has seen before. Especially after the cloning process, normally confusion and even state of brief madness occurred, however the two men were able to digest and sort things out for themselves. Question is, how much have they figured out already? What will drive them to learn more about the world around them?