Chapter 16

Knuckle was up at the crack of dawn.

He couldn't sleep anymore, his brother though, tossed and turned in his bed. 'He'll be up soon, he ain't sleeping' Knuckle thought.

He ventured out of the room wearing only his sleeping pants and went towards the cafeteria of the place. No one, not even the cooks were up just yet, so he went into the prep area and made his own breakfast; a full carton of eggs, a steak and nearly a pound of hash browns. He made more for his brother, knowing he would be up sooner than later. With the meal made, he ventured into the seating area and started to eat. Knuckle kept thinking about the conversation from last night, if his sister was still alive, wouldn't she know they were? If she is alive, why isn't she looking for them? Why hasn't she come to visit, he would have told her everything, Street too. Why wasn't she at the Neo Heroes with them?

Question after question came over his mind, but no answers. He was halfway done his plate when Street ventured in. Knuckle slid him his meal as they ate in silence. He finished yet was deep in thought. "I want to find Amai Mask."

Street merely nodded his head. "Same, he may know something about our sister…" he paused and shook his head. "Why is this so hard?!"

"I don't know man, but we got to be careful, what if someone doesn't want us to know? What if something is being held back from us? I got a feeling this Garou guy is a part of all of this for a strange reason."

"Same, your gut telling you that too?"

"And how," with the meal finished, the brothers wondered outside to stretch their legs. There were strange flying robots that begun to repair the barrier wall, there were more repairing the metal door. They strolled around the building, but saw Ran and Shaw at a distance doing some morning Thai Chi. They took notice of them.

"Morning boys, care to join us?" Ran asked.

"I don't think this is really my sort of thing." Knuckle muttered.

"It looks… weird…" said Street.

"Weird or not, this is a form of martial arts. It can help with breathing, circulation and gathering one's thoughts. For us at least, it's a meditative practice that allows one's problems to flow out." Said Shaw. "That or you are too embarrassed to even try it."

Knuckle sneered at the notion. Street smirked. "Partly, what the hell, tell us what to do."

For a good hour, they learned Thai Chi from Ran and Shaw. Despite how it looked, it did make him feel better. But Knuckle wasn't going to say that out loud anyways. "You two are naturals!" Ran stated. "But hell, what do I know. So, what the plan for today? Going on patrols?"

"Yeah, I am at least, Street wants to do more research on Garou."

"Garou? You are not planning on hunting him are you?" demanded Shaw.

"No, at least, I don't think so. I am trying to get a better understanding of him. There's a reason for this. I mean, you saw him when he faced off with Knuckle, I mean what kind of so called monster holds himself back? Why retract his greatest asset in battle to appear more human? If anything, he would have been able to tear my brother apart with whatever the hell those things were on his body. Why take them out of the fight?" Street questioned. "Also look at the damage he did. If this was for pure destructive purposes, this place would be rubble to say the least and everyone here would be dead." He announced. "I want to know more about him… but I can't keep depending on a computer and files."

There was an odd look between the two, Shaw sighed aloud. "Fine!" he announced begrudgingly. "You owe me a drink at least, Street, get dressed and lets have a drink!" he announced.

"It's six in the morning!"

"Yeah? You mean to tell me you don't drink tea?"

"Oh… that kind of a drink, okay… yeah, I'll be right back!" Street rushed back into HQ. Knuckle smirked.

"Holding out on us huh old man?"

"Excuse me!" Shaw demanded.

"You're what? 34? To me, that's old,"

The look of shock quickly vanished from Shaw's face, he laughed it off yet gave Knuckle a strong punch to the arm. "OW! Damn it, that hurt!"

"Don't call me old," he warned. Street returned, dressed for the day. "Okay, let's go. Knuckle, if you are going on patrol, at least take someone with you."

"Yeah… I'll do that."

#

Knuckle was quick to dress for the day, he was about to head out solo, when he heard. "YO! WAIT UP!"

He turned and saw Metal Bat, running to catch up with him. "Hey… can I tag?" he asked.

"Free country, sure."

Bad smirked as he walked along side him, Knuckle though kept catching this weird look on his face. One of confusion, shock and in a sense, lost. "You're distracted." Knuckle muttered. "What does a guy like you have to be concerned about?"

Metal Bat laughed. "Oh, right, well. I was just thinking of my little sis back home."

Knuckle froze. So did Bad as he appeared to go pale. "Oh, sorry I didn't mean…"

"You have a sister?" he asked gently. "What's she like?"

Bad took a deep breath and explained to him Zenko. She's a sweet young girl, who is amazing at piano. Her smile could light up a room, as she gives him a reason to fight every single day. "It hasn't been easy. Our parents died when we were young. I don't even remember how it happened, but, I've been raising her alone ever since."

"I… think I had one… no… I did have one." Knuckle announced. Bad's eyes widened in shock. "But, I can't remember much about her. My brother realized it to be true as well, but, we don't know if she's alive."

Bad appeared to be biting his tongue. Knuckle picked up on it right away. "Okay, spill it. What's with you?"

"It's just… uh…." Bad stammered. Yet he fell short on saying anything coherent.

Knuckle sighed aloud. "You know… I think I am going to go home for a bit…"

"Home?" Bad asked.

"Yeah… home… I'm going to go to City B for a while… see if something jogs my memory. You don't have to follow me, I won't be doing anything drastic to say the least. I just… I just want to clear my head."

Bad nodded and requested he remember his cell phone. With that, Knuckle began the long walk to City B. The fresh air may do him some good…