Chapter 14

He waited for him.

Just on the outskirts of town, Bad paced back and forth, waiting for Pac to arrive. Zenko sent the message on to him, she replied and said Pac promised to Bad all would be explained the moment he arrived. When Pac appeared, Bat turned to him with a sneer. "What the hell is with Garou!?" he demanded.

Pac was silent at first, "Let's get something to eat." Was all he could say.

Bad growled at the notion as he continued on into the city. They stopped by an ice cream place and got a quick snack. Pac took his time with his sundae, Bad however was getting impatient. That was, until he saw Pac's chest open. The serpents revealed a space as he reached in and took something out. From there he placed it on to the table and slid it towards Metal Bat. "What the hell is this?" he demanded.

"The answer to my father's rage. Why he went on a rampage."

Bad was quick to snap the paper up and turn it over. He froze, and stared at it with great confusion. "What… dude, it's a photo!" he stated. "Yeah, the new guys and some young girl. What the hell has him upset over this?" he demanded and tossed the photo back.

Pac sighed. "Street and Knuckle… that young girl there… is my mother. This was the last photo taken before her brothers died in a monster attack three weeks later." He explained.

Bad suddenly went very pale, his ice cream dropped to the floor as he took the photo back and stared at it. The more he looked, the more he realized the young girl in the photo was Melee. "Whoa… wait… what!?" he demanded. "They DIED!"

Pac nodded. "Mom was at work, she was about to quit her job with Amai Mask. After all, she wanted to be home since her father and brothers held off on joining a pilot project that would be ground work for the Heroes Association. It was in a testing stage within the government to see if it was plausible, they were going to sign the contract when the monster attacked. Granddad died first, Street and Knuckle died trying to get out before the monster took them down. They were crushed under two buildings."

Bad began to understand now, he remembered Garou yelling, demanding Child Emperor where they found them; then, mentioning something if they were a part of this, he would kill them. "Shit, that explains everything. I would be pissed off too! But, Garou came and attacked? I would expect Melee to do that!"

Pac shook his head. "Mom… mom I glad to have them back, they are alive, but she fears they won't remember her. Not to mention, she also fears that if she were to get close to them, they could be targeted and taken from her once more. She's at a loss right now, she was too upset to leave her room the moment she found out. Dad… dad gets furious, especially when mom is crying like that. He doesn't like to see her in such a state. Neither do I or my siblings."

"He did a number, that's for sure…" Bad muttered. "So… what do we do?"

"Nothing," Pac whispered. "Mom was warned earlier that too much bombardment of information could cause madness to her brothers. They have been cloned no doubt, but if too much comes at them at once. It can drive them insane. That's why she avoids them right now. She doesn't want to hurt them. Until they are ready for that information, mom is going to steer clear to say the least."

"Shit…" Bad muttered as he ran his finger through his hair, his leg began jolting up and down as he tried to think of something to do to help. "I don't want your mom hurt. She's an awesome friend, and she has a good heart. I want to help her but I can't push this either…"

"Just keep an eye on them, if they ask question, yeah, answer them. It means they can handle it, but don't bring something up that may cause them pain." Pac suggested. He stared down at the photo and sighed. "I would like to meet them too, I mean… I got Uncles!" he said with a small smile to his lip. But it quickly faded. "But I am not going to meet them before mom has a chance to speak with them first."

"Yeah… sorry about today." Bad muttered.

"I should be the one apologizing, dad went off the stick to say the least, that was overkill on his part."

"No shit!" Bad stated. "I got to head back… mine if I…"

"Go ahead, Alley already scanned the photos into a computer."

Bad took the small photo, he stared at it a moment longer before tucking it into his jacket. He grabbed his bat and left the shop. He had a good long time to think about it on the way back to HQ. He got a good look at the devastation, but now understood why.

Child Emperor was up still, surveying the damage and thinking about repairs already to the building.

He noticed Bad walking in, a nervous smile came over him. "I take it we're not getting help for the damage done here huh?" he asked.

"Now not CE," Bad muttered.

He instantly picked up on the tone. "Bad… what's wrong?"

Bad paused. "I ain't sure if you're ready to know this yet either. I am still digesting it all, something's happened, and I completely understand why this occurred today"

"Wait, what?!" Child Emperor demanded. "If you know, tell me right now!"

"Dude, I am still trying to figure this shit out myself! Here!" Bad reached into his jacket and showed him the photo. Child Emperor paused. "A photo of Street and Knuckle with a young girl, what of it?" he asked.

Bad leaned in. "That's Melee,"

Suddenly, his face dropped. The photo slipped out of his fingers. "WHAT!"

"SHHH!" Bad snapped. "Not so loud, don't speak of this! You need to understand the brothers are very sensitive to information, they don't remember her, we bring it up it could drive them mad trying to recall her. NOT ONE WORD!" he warned. Bad then picked the photo off the ground and tucked it back into his pocket.

"But... how could that be her in the photo? We just met them, Melee is their age now, hell she's older… oh…" Child Emperor fell eerily quiet. "Okay," he said with a nod.

"I'm going to help them how I can, but I ain't forcing this on them either. If they ask questions, answer them. If not, don't bring it up unless they do!"

CE nodded in agreement. With that, Bad went inside. He clocked out for the day and decided to go home to Zenko. First thing he wanted to do is give his sister the biggest hug ever…

#

Pac returned home.

Just as he walked through the door, a family meeting was held. His father confessed to how much he has messed up and was apologizing for his lack of judgment. "I didn't mean for this to happen… I was just so angry…" he explained. "When your mother gets upset, I get furious."

The table nodded in agreement. "I would be to," said Max. "I don't blame you the least bit, if it comes down to this, then it comes down to this. We're still with you."

"Given the circumstance, I get it too dad. I mean, if that did that to any of us!" said Alley. Her hand reached for her mother's, she braced it tightly. "I'm sorry it happened to you."

Pac walked. "Well, I hope I could sooth things over for now. Bad has been informed, and he's going to try and do what he can to patch things up, not holding my breath on that. He is also going to keep an eye on them mom, he knows not to press them with anything, but he is going to help them however he can if they ask for it."

She gave a gracious nod as her eyes watered up again. She turned to Garou and wept in his arms. There was little comfort he could offer her, the only thing he could do was envelop her into himself and give her a moment of peace and quiet. When he did, he turned to the family. "I want to be sure the house of evolution isn't in on this. This… is beyond cruel to say the least. I want to know who did this and how!"

"Perhaps I should go see Genus tomorrow." Alley announced. "He had this insight, he may know who is being it and why."

"Do that"

"I'll keep a close eye on the brothers," said Max.

Garou nodded.

"We will stay out of the way until we know what's going on." Said Hunter. "Perhaps we will turn our energy towards the new association Alley is making. We'll start seeing if there are potential heroes in our midst."

"Do that, and avoid the Neo Heroes. If I put us on the hit list again, I want them coming after me, not you!"

Snek laughed. "Please if anything they come at me. I'm the 'easy target' as it where." He said with air quotation marks. "Like they can do much anyways, but I'll run into them, I got to eat tomorrow."

"Be on alert, and again… I'm sorry about this."

"Dad, we will be fine!" insisted Goliath. "Besides, this could be fun!"