Pieces For the Wrong Puzzle

by Hallidae

Summary:

A new criminal on the scene, a new employee at Apollon, and finding out how the two are connected is going to put Kotetsu in the middle of a much bigger mess than he ever could have anticipated.

Kotetsu woke with a weak groan and a feeling like his head was full of shattered glass and cotton. And a weird sensation around his mouth. Cracking an eye open, he stared blurrily at his own hands for a second before realizing they were bound.

What the-

Wait.

He remembered noticing the pale figure with a gun at the courthouse and lunging at him. Then there'd been a weird, uncomfortable rush of cold before everything had gone black.

Had he been knocked out? His head didn't hurt...

"Good morning, Sunshine."

He jolted, rolling over a little to find the very man he'd gone after leaning over him, looking amused as he rested his chin on one hand. The gun glinted faintly as it dangled from the blond's other, and Kotetsu couldn't help his gaze flicking towards it.

"Oh, don't make that face. I have no intention of killing you." The gun raised and the stranger casually clicked the safety on, the motion drawing Kotetsu's eyes to the mark tattooed -no, branded- into the back of his hand. It looked weirdly familiar, but he couldn't think of why. The gun was laid aside somewhere out of his line of sight, then the branded hand came back and almost delicately lifted his chin.

"Not bad up close. Cameras don't really favor you."

Kotetsu made a muffled noise of protest as he felt his face heat. What the fuck was up with this guy? Seeming to find his embarrassment funny, the stranger merely chuckled, fingertips grazing lower along his neck in a way that sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.

"You made a mistake in coming after me, Tiger," he said, that strange, unnerving smile never wavering. "I was just the distraction. Though this works out better than we'd intended. The others get to play their game, and I get to play mine."

The tape was carefully peeled away from his mouth, and Kotetsu coughed. "Who the hell are you?"

"So straightforward," the younger man teased. "What fun would it be to give everything away in the beginning?"

The pendant around the younger man's neck brushed his skin when he leaned down closer, and Kotetsu hissed when it was followed by a light, warm kiss. "L- look, kid," he managed to squeak when another kiss made his skin tingle in a very nice, and very unwanted way. "I'm flattered and all, but if you're just keeping me out of the way, this really isn't nece-"

He cut off with a yelp when sharp teeth found that particularly sensitive spot just behind his right ear, but then his would-be assailant pulled away with a disappointed sigh at the reaction.

"You're really dull for a superhero," the younger man said, expression clearly sulking. "No sense of play at all."

"Yep," Kotetsu said with a quick nod, desperately hoping that the kid didn't notice that he might have actually enjoyed that last bite just a little too much. "Painfully boring. Vanilla as they come, really. You wouldn't get any fun at all out of this."

Caught up in the babbled excuses, he realized too late that he'd oversold it when those creepily vibrant red eyes narrowed. "Hm," the blond muttered, scrutinizing him, and Kotetsu held his breath.

He stiffened when a hand brushed up along his thigh, but luckily, the kid suddenly jerked away with a sharp curse before it could get too high. More swearing could be heard out of his field of view, and when he twisted around a bit, he could see the blond holding his head as if in terrible pain.

"Hey," he said hesitantly, a little concerned despite himself, and only got a brief glance -had his eyes gone green?- back in response before the kid simply... disappeared.

Even though the logical part of his mind said he should be using this time to escape now, for a moment, Kotetsu couldn't stop staring at the space where his captor had been.

What the hell had just happened?

 

The incident remained in the back of his mind, but other emergencies had taken precedence, so he wasn't really thinking about it when he and the other heroes were called up for a meeting concerning their suits.

He nearly had a heart attack when he found the pale young man quietly typing away at the desk that had been occupied by Maverick's formidable assistant during the entire time Kotetsu had worked with the show.

"U- um-"

The blond looked up and smiled pleasantly without a single trace of recognition. "Oh, good afternoon. Are you here for the conference?"

"Er- yes," Kotetsu mumbled, trying to shake off the shock. "Where is-?"

"Mrs. Hague? She decided she was ready to start spending more time with her grandchildren. You missed her retirement party yesterday, but there's probably still some cake in the twenty-ninth floor break room if you'd like any."

"No, I'm good." As he passed the desk to go inside, Kotetsu couldn't help himself and leaned in for a closer look. Surprisingly, the kid actually seemed flustered by the action, blushing brightly as he scooted back a little.

"A-ah, is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" he asked, reaching up to adjust his glasses with a gloved hand. That was interesting, but more important was the fact that the blond's eyes were bright green, not the red he'd seen from his captor... except at that last second that he really wasn't even sure had happened. He couldn't even see a faint off-ring that would hint at colored contacts.

Weird.

Recognizing the kid's nervousness as mere personal bubble embarrassment rather than any sort of fear of being 'caught', Kotetsu forced a smile and backed off. "No, sorry. You just look a lot like someone I ran into recently."

"Oh. I'm afraid that's quite impossible. I've only been in the city since yesterday."

Before Kotetsu could ask for any further explanation, Agnes poked her head out of the office and rather impatiently motioned him in. Resisting the urge to hunker down into his shirt, he politely removed his hat and headed in, leaving his questions behind for the moment.

The meeting itself was rather dull. The Justice Department had issued some new safety guidelines concerning what materials and programming the hero costumes were permitted to have, which wasn't surprising in the least considering that more violent crimes seemed to be popping up lately.

"I have the new code standards, sir."

What was a surprise was the way the kid had seemed to suddenly materialize behind him and Keith, startling them both. Jesus, he hadn't even heard the door open or close.

"Excellent. Thank you, Barnaby," Maverick said, and 'Barnaby' quietly handed out copies to all in attendance before going to stand silently by his boss' side. Huh. Hague had never had to do that, unless she was taking notes. And as Kotetsu surreptitiously kept an eye on the kid, he noticed strange little tremors going through the younger man's body. But no one else seemed to see it, and the Barnaby obviously didn't want to call attention to it, so he kept his mouth shut.

Everyone filed out once the conference was over; the tech crews to get to work and the heroes to get back to training. Kotetsu hung back a little, though. He wasn't exactly sure what he was waiting for, but he got his answer when there was an explosion of pained coughing from behind the door. Carefully, so as not to get caught, he edged the door open a tiny bit, just enough to see Barnaby hunched over, trying to catch his breath. Then Maverick came into view, holding a little orange prescription bottle, and handed over some pills. He couldn't hear what was being said, but the way the older man petted blond hair was a little too familiar for his taste.

Kotetsu bit his lip and eased the door closed. Maybe it was time to see about a little office gossip from Nathan.

 

"Legal ward?"

"Mm-hmm. His parents and Maverick were part of the HeroTV Old Guard. When they got killed in a house fire, he took their son in. That was... about twenty years ago?"

Damn, the kid would have been tiny then, since he barely looked twenty-five. The coughing, if it was common, could be permanent damage from smoke inhalation. And the situation explained the familiarity he'd observed, but opened up a whole new host of questions as he remembered the brand on the back of his captor's hand and the gloves Barnaby wore. If... somehow... they were one and the same, then surely Maverick had to know what was under the leather.

"Mr. Kaburagi?"

He jumped a little, jolted out of his musings, and even Nathan looked surprised as they both turned to find Barnaby waiting. When the hell had he gotten there?

If he'd heard the prior conversation at all, Barnaby gave no indication, merely holding out a few papers. Kotetsu couldn't help but notice that he still looked a little ashen from the fit earlier. "I'm sorry for the intrusion, but you forgot to sign sections four and six in the acknowledgement for the new guidelines."

"Oh. Oops," Kotetsu said with a weak little laugh, accepting the offered papers and a pen. He'd just finished signing when both his and Nathan's call bracelets lit up with Agnes' familiar greeting. Alerted to a major robbery in progress, they jumped to their feet to get moving, and he barely looked back to return the wave Barnaby gave them as they left.

 

They'd been warned that there were NEXTs among the robbers, but for the first five minutes, rounding them up hadn't been too much of a headache. He was sure he'd spotted that weird tattoo on the neck of one, and another had surprised them with some kind of plant power, but aside from that, it was almost routine.

So, naturally, he should have expected it when he suddenly found himself on his face and a weight on his back.

"Hey, Sunshine. Miss me?"

How- He twisted, lashing out to knock his assailant's legs out from under him, but merely got a laugh in response as the other man jumped away. The kid wasn't as recognizable this time, now masked like the other robbers, but there was no missing those red eyes or that voice.

It didn't make sense, Kotetsu thought as he tried and failed repeatedly to land a single hit, the blond simply evading even Hundred Power-fueled speed. The eye colors, the change in personality... Either Barnaby was one hell of an actor, he somehow had a twin no one seemed to know about, or-

The kid ducked him again and retaliated with a kick that probably would have broken his arm if he'd been unarmored and unpowered. And yet, that grin never wavered, and he never once had to stop to cough. Maybe he really was a separate one? But then-

Kotetsu was thrown off balance when the kid dodged him again before once more seeming to just vanish from the scene. Realizing that once again he'd fallen for a distraction, he returned downstairs to find the others had had similar luck, with only two of the robbers actually staying captured.

As he walked back to the van, something else was bugging him. The kid's power. Though the blurring effect of his disappearances was similar, it couldn't just be super-speed like Cyclone had suggested when he mentioned it. The blond was too precise in his landings for that, never even skidding once, and there was the fact that sometimes he seemed to drop out of thin air. And Kotetsu had never seen his eyes change from that disturbing red color at all.

During the ride back, he remembered a lecture he'd sat in on while visiting the Academy. About how some NEXTs were able to hide their powers simply because the power in question worked too fast for their eyes to change or their auras to become visible. If that had been happening here... if the kid had been working in rapidfire blips of NEXT energy instead of a prolonged usage...

It suddenly hit him when he thought of how Barnaby would suddenly just be there instead of anyone hearing the sound of a door, or how his captor had pulled a disappearing act just like this on their first meeting.

"The kid's a goddamned teleporter."

 

As the days ticked past and another encounter with the strange, red-eyed NEXT wasn't forthcoming, Kotetsu found himself watching Barnaby a bit more. His opinion that the kid had a displacement power had only gotten stronger after a few more incidents of Maverick's assistant appearing in places he shouldn't have had the time to get to, but Kotetsu had also started paying attention to something else.

Like the tattoo and the eye color change, he thought at first that maybe he'd just been imagining things. After all, interactions between guardian and ward were perfectly polite no matter the company they were in. But there were just little things that were... off, somehow. Even after he should have settled into his new job, Barnaby was as skittish as a bunny; constantly apologizing and afraid of even a friendly hair ruffle. And, if anything, Maverick seemed to actually encourage that behavior, keeping his assistant as a silent, unnoticed shadow by his side at meetings and parties.

The one and only time he'd ever actually seen Barnaby speak out of turn was when he'd been down in the tech labs for Saito to give a demonstration of some new additions for the suit. Everything had been going boringly like always, until Barnaby had peeked over the scientist's shoulder at a schematic.

"A- actually, you could probably make the input-to-output ratio work in better favor if you-"

All it had taken was a single arched eyebrow from Maverick, and Barnaby had immediately shut up and backed off, shaking his head when Saito had attempted to prompt him to finish the thought.

It was creepy as hell. And again, no one but Kotetsu had seen the exchange, attributing it to a sudden, simple case of stage fright.

The next incident came when they'd all been called to a media soiree to celebrate the half-mark of the season, and Kotetsu once again found himself sneakily keeping an eye on things; easy enough since most of the cameras weren't really paying attention to him. Barnaby remained with his boss as always, and as Kotetsu watched, he was sure that his observations weren't just his mind playing tricks on him. He'd still had some doubts after the armor exchange, but now, there was really no missing the enforced isolation. Every time that anyone realized the kid was there at all and would ask him something, Maverick would smoothly intercept the question. Barnaby seemed to not even expect to be allowed to answer, never opening his mouth at all.

And those tremors had come back.

When they became serious enough that Barnaby had to start putting a hand to his mouth to restrain himself, Maverick finally made a dismissive motion, and Kotetsu slipped out to follow the kid. Barnaby barely made it out of earshot of the party before he collapsed, harsh coughs rasping out of his throat as he struggled to get air. Concern overrode curiosity, and Kotetsu quickly moved to crouch down beside him.

"Hey, easy," he said, reaching out to steady the blond. "The harder you fight it, the more it's gonna hurt."

Gradually, the fit eased up into labored breathing, and Kotetsu gently rubbed the younger man's back. Barnaby slumped against him weakly, which came as a surprise given the kid's aversion to physical contact, but Kotetsu quickly figured out why once he got a good look at his face. Damn, those circles under his eyes were dark up close. "When's the last time you slept?" he asked.

Before he could get an answer, someone cleared their throat nearby, and Barnaby jerked away as if he'd been shot.

Maverick stood a few feet away. He didn't even acknowledge that Kotetsu was there, disapproving stare focused entirely on his assistant. Barnaby quickly got up, looking somewhere between guilty, embarrassed, and afraid, and the older man silently held out the prescription bottle.

He didn't miss the way Maverick's hand subtly tightened on the orange plastic before he would allow Barnaby to have it, nor the way Barnaby flinched at the gesture. Then they both walked away as if nothing had happened.

Kotetsu bit his lip, then got to his feet as well. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this that refused to go away.

 

It was another week before he crossed paths with Barnaby at all, and when he did, it was a collision in a hallway that was really his own fault for taking that last corner way too fast. "Ah, shit, sorry. Let me-"

"N- no!" Barnaby hastily evaded his attempt at helping the younger man up, before blushing faintly at his own outburst. "It's fine. Nothing to worry about," he said quickly, leaning down to grab the scattered papers. For a second, it looked like he was going to straight up flee, then Barnaby straightened, holding the files to his chest like some kind of protective shield as he kept his eyes on the floor between them. "A- actually... Um... I owe you an apology."

Kotetsu blinked at him. "Apology? For what?"

"My behavior at the media social was entirely unprofessional. I shouldn't have made you uncomfortable. I don't... I don't always understand boundaries correctly, but that's really no excuse."

Kotetsu was really lost. "Er- I'm not sure what you're talking about. On what planet does needing someone to help you through a coughing fit mean overstepping personal boundaries?"

Now Barnaby was the one who looked extremely confused, tilting his head slightly as he finally looked up. "That's not what-" They were interrupted by a soft beep, and Barnaby looked at his watch before making a small hiss. "I'm late again. Please excuse me."

Kotetsu was left staring as the younger man quickly made his exit, then awkwardly scratched the back of his head as he tried to piece together that conversation in a way that made sense. He knew the kid was socially stunted, but the way he'd talked, one would have expected an outright case of harassment or something. There had been that look on Maverick's face... maybe he had been the one to misinterpret the situation? The way Barnaby seemed to defer to his every word, it was possible that he could have been made to believe that it was worse than it had actually been.

In any case, he made a mental note to be sure to talk to the kid about it later.

 

 

It had been three days since he'd last seen Barnaby when they were called out to the scene of a melee was supposedly some kind of gang battle that had gotten way out of hand. He'd rounded up six of the combatants, when he saw the red-eyed NEXT suddenly appear, dropping an unconscious body on a pile of others before grabbing a man who swung at him and vanishing, only to do the same thing again.

Kotetsu remembered his own time waking up on the floor of a warehouse. Side effect? Maybe normal people and other NEXTs just couldn't handle that weird rush that came with teleporting the way someone who actually had that as a power could. He had to admit, somewhat grudgingly, that it was a pretty nifty way to end a fight.

Especially when the kid did it to an idiot with an iron bar who'd tried to sneak up on him. "You on our side now, or something?"

Red eyes looked him over, strangely somber and distant, before that almost familiar grin slowly came back.

"Don't get used to it, Sunshine," the blond all but purred, leaning in close. "This only lasts as long as it suits me."

Kotetsu was suddenly very glad for the armor and helmet covering him. God, it was embarrassing, the way these fights were starting to get to him, even if it was probably just banter and nothing more. As if sensing the blush he was hiding, the blond chuckled and teasingly kissed the faceplate of his suit before disappearing to grab another gang member.

He really hoped the cameras hadn't caught that.

A thrown piece of concrete quickly snapped him out of the daze, and he threw himself back into the fight. As the heroes finished hauling in the last of their targets, he thought he noticed the kid off to the sidelines, holding his head like he'd done the first time they'd met.

Then he was gone again, leaving behind more questions as always.

 

Kotetsu yawned as he finished the last of his reports, then looked over at the clock and rubbed his eyes. Christ, he hadn't expected to run so late. But with three emergency calls in one day, it didn't come as a surprise that things had gotten away from him. "Okay," he muttered to himself. "Just gotta hand over this last file, and I'm outta here."

Barnaby was probably long gone for the evening, and he felt a little bad about just leaving it in the inbox for the morning, but the kid would understand, right?

He quickly amended that thought when he stepped out of the elevator and turned a corner to find the kid in question hunched over on one of the guest couches, looking pained. On reflex, he started to go check on the blond, only to quickly back out of view when Maverick appeared with a glass of water. Last thing Barnaby needed was a repeat of the last incident, considering how far that had apparently spiraled.

A small part of Kotetsu's mind told him this wasn't his affair, that he should just turn around and bring the file back when he came back to work in the morning, but the opportunity to finally get some answers was too much to pass up. He quietly stayed put, cautiously peeking around the corner in case either looked up.

"Breathing a little easier now?"

"Yes, sir. I apologize for making you late."

"Nonsense, my boy. They can afford to be kept waiting once in awhile. Now, tell me, has anything new happened today?"

The man's tone was placid and friendly enough, but Kotetsu still felt his skin prickle, an uncomfortable feeling like he was witnessing the beginning of some kind of... interrogation creeping in. Barnaby seemed too used to it to notice.

"Not really... Oh. The receptionists from the tech department invited me to lunch tomorrow."

Maverick made a sigh that had a strange sort of resigned disappointment in it, then rested a broad hand on blond curls, making Barnaby look up. "My boy, you really need to stop giving in to these delusions of yours."

Kotetsu felt his heart freeze in his throat as the old man's eyes suddenly went electric blue. 'Fuck, he's a-'

"Now tell me how it really happened," Maverick said, calm expression and kind tone never wavering, even as Barnaby shuddered, visibly pained by whatever unknown power had a hold on him. Despite the hand in his hair, Barnaby lowered his head like a scolded child.

"They were talking about a department luncheon, and I asked if I could go too," he said, hesitant and uncertain, as if following some unheard cue. "They said yes."

"But do they want you there?"

"No, sir."

"Do you have any right to ask such a thing of them?" Barnaby shook his head miserably with a faint noise of distress. "Why not?"

"Because it's not my business, sir. We only interact when work requires. Nothing more."

Maverick finally eased his grip a little. "I understand how unfortunate your situation is. How lonely it is. But this is the second time this week alone that you have allowed these hallucinated scenes of yours to dictate your behavior and guide you to intrude where you weren't welcome. Do you want to end up facing another harassment reprimand?"

Barnaby hung his head even lower, and even though his expression was now hidden, Kotetsu felt his heart clench at the hitch in the kid's voice. "No, sir. I'll try harder to stay out of everyone's way."

"Glad to hear it. Now get some rest," Maverick said, releasing his hold, and allowing his charge to slump against the armrest in a senseless heap.

After half a minute or so, Barnaby sat up again, and Kotetsu involuntarily sucked in a breath at the sight of blood red eyes. Some kind of alternate personality had been on his list of considered explanations, but, given some of the circumstances, it hadn't been very high on the list. And an induced alternate hadn't even crossed his mind at all.

"What do you want?" the red-eyed variant asked as he stripped off Barnaby's leather gloves, revealing the brand underneath. He sounded almost more tired than annoyed.

"Don't take that tone with me," Maverick replied, all traces of the kindly uncle figure vanishing entirely. "It's been a week since you were last awake. They're getting restless."

"If they can't handle a job without needing me on hand to bail them out, isn't that their problem?" the blond asked, but Kotetsu could see it was only a token resistance. Maverick didn't even acknowledge the question.

"Go change and meet in the usual spot. You'll receive your orders there." The blond obediently got up, but was dragged back down when a hand shot out and fisted viciously in his hair as the bright blue in Maverick's eyes flared once more. "And since that pretty, empty head of yours can never seem to remember this out in the field," the old man said, either unaware of or not giving a damn about the hypocrisy of his insult, "Let's make sure the lesson sticks this time. No more of your games, boy. Stay the hell away from Tiger from now on. Understand?"

Barnaby struggled briefly before the hypnosis or whatever the fuck Maverick's power was clawed its way into his mind. Then he looked away, cowed. "Yes, sir."

The hand in his hair released. "Much better," Maverick said, managing to almost sound gentle again. "Now go."

As soon as the kid disappeared, Kotetsu backed away from his hiding spot and fled to the elevators. Afraid of the chance that he might accidentally cross paths with Maverick on the way out if he tried to leave immediately, he decided not to take the risk and instead went back to his own office floor. The file he'd forgotten he was still carrying slipped from his fingers to land on the desk as he sank down into his chair, still numb from shock.

He thought of all the possible ideas he had imagined, having dismissed a good third as being too dark or creepy. But the reality was so much worse.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting and staring at nothing when an insistent beeping broke through his swirling thoughts. He looked down to find his call bracelet flashing an emergency alert, and, for a moment, thought that he was going to be violently ill. Then he took a deep breath to collect himself and sent back that he was on his way before getting up to go down and retrieve his armor.

He was going to have to figure out some way to deal with this. Before anyone, especially Barnaby, was damaged any further.

 

As he debated his options over breakfast in the cafeteria the next morning, Kotetsu came to the decision that any course of action he took was going to have to start with the assistant, rather than the criminal. Barnaby had shown up the night previously to rescue his enforced cohorts from the heroes, as he'd predicted he would have to. Even as he'd used that teleportation knockout trick of his to temporarily drop Blue Rose and leave Sky High a disoriented mess, he hadn't so much as given a backward glance in Tiger's direction.

Kotetsu swallowed a sip of coffee, mind momentarily stuck on the blank, stoic expression the kid had worn during the entire fight. It was such a weird thing to think, given that they were on opposing sides, but in the midst of all the chaotic revelations, a tiny part of him had actually been glad to learn that the warped sort of rapport they'd built against each other had been in spite of Maverick's programming, rather than because of it. For all it had mostly been at his expense, it had been the one thing he'd actually seen either side of Barnaby enjoy. And now it was just yet another thing the old man had ripped away from him.

"So you've got the table reserved for this afternoon, right?"

"Management promised. Twenty-seven seats, ready to go."

"Only twenty-seven? I thought you said you'd invited the Brooks kid too."

At the mention of Barnaby's name, Kotetsu glanced up from his coffee, turning an ear to the women at the next table as they packed away their things.

"I did. I swear, he said he was coming, but when I reminded him about it while we were clocking in, he just gave me this really strange look and said he'd be busy all day."

"Weird. Probably a good thing, though. I heard just a little while ago-"

Kotetsu cut off his eavesdropping there, deciding he really didn't want to hear all about the assorted rumors that had collected around the kid as a result of Maverick's interference. Given what Barnaby apparently now believed had happened between them, he had a good idea which directions they ran.

And now that he thought about it, that gave him an idea.

 

He'd stayed late, remaining at his desk after quitting time under the pretext of there having been some backlog to clear. Once the secretary had left for the night, he pulled up the company's online records department, using the neutral identity that every employee had access to. He wasn't sure it would let him dig far enough to find out the information he needed, but the thought of someone getting suspicious and catching him before he'd even managed to do anything was hardly appealing.

Barnaby's personnel file was easy enough to find due to his position, but as Kotetsu scanned down the pages, he started noticing odd things. It was suspiciously clean, for one. For all Maverick had talked about harassment reprimands as though they were practically a common occurrence, not a single complaint had actually been filed.

Well... actually, that made sense, in a twisted sort of way. He knew for damn sure he'd never filed one, though the kid believed otherwise...

Maybe that was it. All Maverick had to do was threaten and use his NEXT power, and Barnaby believed it, lack of hard evidence be damned. He doubted Barnaby would ever read his own file without permission from his boss -permission that Maverick would probably never give- so he'd never know anything other than what he was told. But that also meant Maverick was running the risk that if someone did contradict Barnaby's altered memories or whatever, there was nothing to back up his version other than his power.

Kotetsu mentally filed that information away in case he'd need it later. For now, though, he wanted to start off with something simple. A peace offering, of sorts.

He wondered what kind of meal a nervous bunny would like.

 

He couldn't do anything immediately, not with Maverick constantly looking over the kid's shoulder and into his head. When he overheard a mention two days later that their boss would be in Paris until the end of the month on business, however, he'd taken some interest. This could be the opening he needed, provided the old man hadn't dragged Barnaby across the ocean with him, of course. Just to be sure, he took the elevator most of the way up, then quietly stole up the last two floors via stairwell to peek into the receptionist area. Barnaby was there as always, busily typing away.

Perfect.

The plan wasn't foolproof, and he knew it. There was still the concern that Barnaby wouldn't like the choice of food, or that Maverick was enough of a possessive, controlling bastard that he'd check the security feeds on return to make sure his charge his charge had behaved. But Kotetsu decided he was just going to have to chance it. He couldn't just keep waiting and doing nothing, especially not with such a rare opportunity to act as this one. Heading back downstairs, he clocked out to go get lunch.

Barnaby looked up from his work when Kotetsu approached, and froze, looking like... well, a bunny in headlights. "Um- I'm sorry, but Mr. Maverick is out of town for the time being."

"That's fine," Kotetsu said with his most non-threatening smile, careful to keep his hands in sight just in case the kid got too jittery. "I was actually coming to talk to you, anyway."

If he hadn't known about all the brutal manipulation that had created their situation, the variety of flustered emotions that crossed the younger man's face before he settled on 'nervous' might have been hilariously adorable. "Me?" he squeaked quietly. "I don't want to cause you any more trouble-"

"About that... Look, I think we got off entirely on the wrong foot, and most of it was my fault," Kotetsu said, then plowed on before Barnaby could try to argue the point. "Records stripped the complaint, so... maybe... I was thinking we could try starting over? Say, with an apology lunch?"

Okay, awkward situation or no, the blush was cute. "That's really very nice of you, but I'm not supposed to leave the premises during work hours."

He'd suspected as much, but he'd been hoping he would prove to be wrong on that count. "I gotcha covered," he said with a cheer that he suddenly wasn't quite feeling at the moment, and set the bag he was carrying down on the blond's desk.

"O- oh. I- um-" a pitiful little growl interrupted whatever protest Barnaby was about to make, and Kotetsu had to bite his tongue to keep from asking the kid if he'd eaten at all since his boss had left. He didn't want to know the answer. "Okay," Barnaby finally mumbled, embarrassed.

Kotetsu honestly wouldn't have minded standing to eat, just relieved that the offer had been accepted at all, but Barnaby got up and retrieved a chair for him before he could even say anything. He instead busied himself with unwrapping the food he'd bought, separating out a container of soup for each of them, and keeping a sandwich for himself as he pushed the salad bowl to his lunch partner. He'd just finished dividing the tea into two cups when he noticed Barnaby looking at his food dubiously.

"This is a lot."

"You don't have to eat all of it if you don't want to. Trio just tends to give out really huge portions. I won't even be offended if you don't like it at all."

Barnaby nodded, but still seemed hesitant, as if waiting for something. Hoping it would get some kind of response, Kotetsu bit into his sandwich. That seemed to be the proper cue -he wasn't going to think about the possible implications; he wasn't- and Barnaby finally picked up one of the plastic forks to try a bite of the salad.

Kotetsu was fairly sure there were fashion or food photographers in the city who would have killed for a pretty shot like the way Barnaby's eyes brightened at first taste. "Okay?"

"It's- It's really good," the blond said when he'd swallowed.

"Heh. I'll have to tell Storch you like it. I've never had the salad, but they have a pasta dish with the shrimp and tomatoes cooked the same way, and it's really tasty. Maybe you could try that next time?"

The fact that Barnaby only nodded before taking another bite was actually pretty heartening. He'd almost expected the kid to balk at the possibility of a 'next time'.

But now, unfortunately, he was going to have to press his luck. "Hey, can I ask you a tiny favor?"

"Like what?" the blond asked, a hint of that nervousness creeping back in.

"Could you not tell anyone about this? I finished my work and all, but I still technically skipped for lunch early, and Agnes gets on my case enough as it is." It wasn't a total fabrication, really. He was currently running on his allotted lunch time, but he had left early to make sure he got everything ready. And he had actually put in the effort to get done with his paperwork early too.

Still, he felt a bit guilty asking the kid to lie by omission. Even if he was sure that this plan was for the sake of Barnaby's emotional health, this part wasn't going to be easy at all. He bit into his sandwich again, trying not to be too obvious about watching as he waited for an answer. No sense in making Barnaby even more nervous about such a heavy question.

"I- I guess it wouldn't hurt anything," Barnaby finally said quietly, and with that agreement hanging in the air between them, they continued their lunch in relative peace.

 

The red-eyed Barnaby was proving to be a difficult nut to crack. Besides the fact that the kid's power made keeping up with him, or even figuring out where he'd be, a giant pain in the ass, besides the fact that every time they crossed paths now was being filmed, leaving him somewhat hobbled in the talking department... There was the fact that the kid was outright avoiding him, plain and simple.

There was never any anger or fear about it. Nothing that would give him an indication that their previous encounters had been rewritten the way that one encounter with the green-eyed one had. Always that same empty stare right past or through him, like the kid wasn't even aware that Wild Tiger was among the heroes trying to take him down.

Wait a minute.

It suddenly occurred to him that maybe Barnaby really didn't know he was there during the fights. Considering how the old man could screw around with Barnaby's memory and emotions in other ways, maybe he could put in blocks as well, similar to how people locked down sources of emotional trauma. If Barnaby was seeing the space where Tiger should be, but not the person occupying it, it would explain some of the weirdness of the kid's fight pattern. But it also made his position in trying to connect to both halves a little more complicated. He was going to have to find a way to make himself heard.

As for the assistant, however... Lunch date by lunch date, Barnaby was slowly starting to open up a little. He never seemed to notice that Kotetsu tended to schedule his visits for whenever Maverick wasn't around, which was a perk. And once he was a little less jumpy, the blond could actually manage to be rather charming.

But the more they talked, the less Kotetsu found he could take anything Barnaby said about his home life or upbringing at face value.

During their third lunch date, Kotetsu had asked about the coughing fits. Barnaby confirmed his earlier suspicions that it was lung damage related to the fire that claimed his parents, but that Maverick had to keep his medication for him because he was constantly losing it. Kotetsu had watched the blond work before and, if anything, Barnaby seemed to be almost ridiculously efficient and precise at his job, even when about to collapse due to exhaustion or his lungs burning. But he genuinely believed he was too incompetent to keep track of a little orange pill bottle.

On the rare occasion he was able to bring up the subject of tech or hero suits without the kid getting self-conscious, Barnaby was clearly brilliant. He'd even snuck Saito a few napkin-drawn designs the blond had come up with, though keeping the source secret had made for some awkward conversations. And yet the one time he'd asked Barnaby why he hadn't gone into robotics like his parents, the younger man had said without a single trace of irony awareness that he'd failed hopelessly out of most of his science-related courses and had ended up being discouraged by his teachers from trying to get into any university.

It made Kotetsu rather sick to his stomach to hear those sorts of things. He was getting close to the point of no longer being surprised by the lengths Maverick had gone to in order to undermine any self-sufficiency his charge had; how tight the leash had been tied. But the sheer level to which this kid who could have been at the top of any hero or laboratory ladder had been made to think he was stupid and unworthy and useless was painful to see. But that was what these dates were for, he kept reminding himself. More than anything, this Barnaby seemed to just need someone to spend some time with him without constantly making him feel two inches tall, and Kotetsu was more than happy to be that someone as long it continued to help.

The progress was slow, but steady. After almost three months, he was sure that it wouldn't be much longer before Barnaby could even chance to talk to one or two of the other heroes.

In hindsight, that should have been his warning sign.

 

The set up had been entirely routine and harmless. He'd forgotten to finish signing all the clauses of a new contract, as he'd done a few times before. And as he'd done even more times than that, Barnaby had followed him out of the conference room to have him correct his mistake.

"Here, Kotetsu."

He'd gotten a little chill up his spine, then, as the hall's temperature seemed to suddenly drop, and when he happened to glance behind him, their boss' eyes were flat and cold. But once again, the glare wasn't directed at him. What the hell could the kid have possibly-

It hit him with the force of a six story drop.

His name.

Barnaby had called him by name.

In front of Maverick.

It was an innocent mistake, one no one else would have even noticed, but Kotetsu could already see in Maverick's expression that it might as well have been fatal.

"Kaburagi, out," the old man said entirely too calmly as he stalked forward, a heavy hand grabbing his charge by the back of the neck. Barnaby had gone very quiet and pale at his guardian's tone of voice, and made no attempt to struggle as he was dragged back to the conference room. Recovering from his own shock, Kotetsu quickly followed, catching the door before it could shut all the way.

"I would have expected idiocy like this from your mindless other half," Maverick said icily as he practically flung the blond into a chair. Barnaby huddled, trying to make himself a smaller target. "Explain."

"We made amends. I- I thought-"

Maverick's eyes narrowed. "Oh, you made amends, did you? And what else have you been hiding recently?" he asked so very softly, and Kotetsu's breath hissed out when he saw the blue flare up.

Like hell.

He didn't care about losing all the work he'd done. All that mattered was the fact that Barnaby had finally started to look less miserable and hunted during their meetings, and now he looked outright terrified, trying to shrink away from a power he'd suffered so many times and yet didn't know even existed.

Shoving the door open, Kotetsu lunged.

He didn't feel Maverick's hand come in contact with his head in the process of his trying to get the kid out of arm's reach.

What he felt was pure, agonizing, blinding pain.

If he ever had to experience having a hot poker driven into his skull, he had an idea that it would probably feel a lot like this. He heard screaming, and it sounded a little bit like his voice, but so very far away. Was that him?

Something grabbed him tight from behind, ripping him away from the spike in his head. There was a sharp rush of cold - 'I've felt that before, haven't I?'

Then everything went black.

 

He floated in a fog, slowly coming around to the sound of quiet pleading broken by the occasional pained cough. "Please wake up. I'm sorry, just... just please wake up."

The next thing he was aware of was the feeling of something grinding into his back. Groaning softly, he shifted to try and ease the discomfort, and opened his eyes to find a fuzzy figure he identified as Barnaby leaning over him. Shit, his head still hurt like hell. Rubbing his eyes, he slowly made himself sit up, and discovered the thing under him had been a catwalk railing he'd probably broken when landing on it. That was going to be a hell of a bruise later. "Where are we?"

"I don't know."

Barnaby's was small and brittle, and when his vision cleared enough to get a closer look, the blond was visibly shaking and chalk white.

"I'm sorry... Y- you were screaming, and he wouldn't let go, and I couldn't think of any other way to-"

"It's okay."

"You're hurt."

"I'll deal." The tension and tremors weren't easing, and Kotetsu could guess one of the reasons why. If Barnaby didn't know where they were, the only possibility was a blind teleport, and from what research Kotetsu had managed to find over the months, those were reserved for only the most extreme flight responses. Recognizing the warning signs of a nervous breakdown that probably wasn't going to stay contained for more than a few minutes longer, Kotetsu gingerly put his arms around the younger man.

Barnaby stiffened, then clutched at his shirt and buried his face against his neck. "I- I have to go back."

"No."

"But if I don't-"

"He won't go any easier on you if you do." Kotetsu tightened his hold when he felt a strange, subtle shift of air that might indicate a jump getting ready to start, and Barnaby made a pained noise. "Barnaby. Bunny. Look at me." He'd never used the nickname outside of his own mind before, and it surprised the kid enough that he raised his head. "He was going to hurt you. I know you don't remember it, but he's been hurting you. And this is all really confusing and scary for you, and I understand that, but going back to him isn't going to make anything better."

Barnaby didn't say anything, expression going oddly blank. Then, before Kotetsu could ask what was wrong, the blond slumped forward. Kotetsu made a noise of surprise that would have been embarrassing if anyone had actually heard it and carefully shifted Barnaby in his arms to get a better look, and found he'd completely lost consciousness.

"Damn," he murmured softly. He'd been expecting the stress shock to hit, but not this quickly.

He carefully laid the kid down, checking to make sure his breathing was still even, then got up to check their surroundings. The warehouse itself wasn't familiar, but the district they'd landed in was; they were close to where he'd crossed paths with the red-eyed Barnaby for the first time. He didn't really have time to ponder that, though. "Okay," he said half to himself as he crouched down to gently pick Barnaby up. "First thing we gotta do is find someplace safe." His apartment was out of the question, since Maverick had probably already sent people to look there, but maybe he could-

A fist connecting solidly with his jaw sent him tumbling backwards, and when his head had stopped ringing, he found Barnaby kneeling over him.

A very red-eyed Barnaby.

Shit.

He'd still planned ways to try and eventually get the criminal's attention, but definitely not like this, and definitely not in this situation, with a hand curled just so around his throat and a heated glare locking him down.

"Who the hell are you?"

Kotetsu swallowed and slowly moved his hands where the kid could see he wasn't armed. "I'm not looking for a fight."

"That's not what I asked."

There was really no way this wasn't going to be the very definition of awkward, so he just hoped that the truth wasn't going to get him killed. "Uh, I'm a friend of your other half. He's currently undergoing a hell of an emotional breakdown thanks to your mutual boss, so, uh, you kinda just got woken up at a really bad time."

That earned him an extremely incredulous blink, which was a lot better than getting punched, or the hand at his throat tightening, so he plowed on. "And I realize just how really messed up that sounds, but, Maverick's been keeping you as his attack dog and the other you as his lap dog for... shit, I don't even know how long. And I was trying to help the other you, because he's seriously a mess, but Maverick found out and was going to do something to his brain, and I tried to get in the way, and that was when the kid freaked out and brought us here, so..."

The torrent of information trailed off to nothing as Barnaby continued to stare at him. Then those vivid eyes narrowed. "What do you mean, 'do something to his brain'?"

"Maverick's got a NEXT ability that lets him screw around with people's heads. Change memories and read minds and stuff like that. I've seen him use it on both of you... and kinda came across it myself a few hours ago. It really, really hurts."

The kid finally looked away, apparently processing that along with other things. Then he started to cough a bit, and seemed confused by the action. Kotetsu continued to press the issue. "He's used it to screw up encounters with other people, or remove them entirely, or to hide things he's said or done." 'You used to know me,' he itched to say, but held his tongue. Later.

Barnaby looked at him again, then the hand at his neck released and he pulled away. Kotetsu made a noise of relief at being allowed up. "You believe me?" he asked hopefully, and Barnaby adjusted his glasses.

"That bullshit about another self? Not really. But the rest of it... I have to admit that even though I've never seen him use any power-" of course not, "-that sounds like something the old bastard would do."

Hell, he'd take what he could get. "Okay. What would he do if you ever tried to run?"

"Put out a call net. I wouldn't have anywhere to go, because everyone I know would be willing to rat me out to him if it got them a little notice or money, and he has eyes and ears at all the train stations as well."

He'd figured as much, but hearing it laid out so matter-of-factly, like the kid was talking about making plans for tomorrow's breakfast, that still gave him a pang in his heart. "Well, that's because I wouldn't have been involved then," he said, trying to hide his expression by keeping his eyes down as he fiddled with the call bracelet. He was a little loath to turn it off, in case there was an emergency call, but the possibility of being tracked was too high. His phone and PDA were next, then he checked his pockets and found some change. "Come on. I need to make some calls of my own."

The cough persisted as they hunted for a working payphone, and Barnaby seemed more and more perplexed by this change in his condition. "It's his," Kotetsu finally ventured.

"Excuse me?"

"The coughing. Your other self has these spells all the time. Said it was permanent scarring from the fire."

Barnaby's eyes darkened, and he looked away. It seemed at least some memories seemed to be shared between the two. It made him wonder, but he swallowed the question when the younger man looked at him again. "Then why am I only having this problem now?"

"The few times I saw anything, Maverick gave him some kind of medication before waking you, and he said that it was a normal scrip for him. He was pretty bad off before he passed out and you woke up, so he probably hasn't had any for awhile." He gave that a minute to sink in. "Uh, the gloves are his, too, in case you were wondering."

Except for the occasional cough, Barnaby was quiet for the rest of their search, and Kotetsu occasionally caught him looking at said gloves with that contemplative expression from earlier. They finally found a payphone that had an actual dial tone, and the kid hung back, keeping a suspicious eye on their surroundings.

Couldn't really blame him there.

He called Antonio first to tell him that he had a really dire and important situation on his hands and no, he couldn't go into detail right now, so would it be possible to get hold of Nathan so they could arrange a safe place to meet? The need for secrecy turned the conversation into a rather complicated game of phone tag, but he'd they'd locked down a rendezvous place at one of Nathan's lesser-frequented restaurants before he could run out of change. "Are you sure about this?" Barnaby finally asked when he hung up the last time.

"Well, no plan's perfect, but they've never let me down before."

He didn't hear the muttered response well enough to know what was said, but the younger man pushed away from a retaining wall and followed him anyway as he headed out of the maze of warehouses and into the city.

 

"You sure that's him?" Antonio muttered quietly, and Kotetsu nodded. Even though the dim light of the restaurant mostly hid Barnaby's eye color, it was amazing the difference a change of mannerisms could make. If he hadn't known the truth himself, he might have been confused as well by the scowling young man by the bar eying everyone who came near him like he was debating whether stabbing would be a good way to get left alone or not.

"I know it sounds really weird, and it's gonna sound a whole lot weirder when I'm done, but I swear I'm not making this up," he said, and Nathan leaned forward, resting his chin on an elegantly manicured hand.

"Oh, do tell."

Kotetsu took a deep breath then, as clearly as he could manage, spilled everything, from the weird tics he'd noticed in Barnaby's relationship to Maverick, to the behavior of the criminal half, to actually witnessing the shift between the two. He'd just finished telling about blacking out after almost having his head ripped apart when he ran out of steam, the other two staring at him as though he'd just told him there were flying purple pigs coming out of the bar.

"Maverick's a NEXT?" Antonio finally asked very quietly.

"And aiding some of the criminals we fight against, it seems," Nathan said, a faint scowl crossing his face as he considered all the information given.

"A good question would be why," Antonio added.

"When I realized he was behind the rescues, I thought maybe it had something to do with keeping the ratings up, but that doesn't explain... everything else about Barnaby," Kotetsu said as he stared into his coffee mug.

"True. Staging flashy crimes is one thing, but going on what you've described, we're looking at years, possibly decades of NEXT-powered psychological abuse. Clearly he's being groomed for something in particular."

Kotetsu looked over in the kid's direction. Being in any kind of crowded place right now was bad for him, judging by how much sharper the glares were getting. It was almost as disturbing as his other half's nervous agitation. "Right now, I'm just worried about keeping him safe. I don't know if the pain I felt was just from Maverick connecting with me when I wasn't the target, or if that's what it's been like all along, but I can't let him get hold of the kid again."

"Well, you came to the right people. We'll find a nest for him to hole up in until we can find out something more. For now, just get him to one of the upstairs rooms. Handsome's not looking so good."

Kotetsu managed a smile at that and got up from his seat. "Thanks, guys."

Barnaby was indeed a little paler and more drawn when he approached. "You okay?" he asked, keeping his hands in the open like he'd done before. A spooked teleporter in a place like this could only end in tears. Or blood. Or something worse, though he couldn't think of one at the moment.

"No," Barnaby replied bluntly. "I'm not used to being in public this long. Unless it was for a hero fight, I was always recon, or the one to get in, do the job, and get out."

He almost brought up their first encounter at the courthouse, since the kid had seemed pretty at ease there, then it occurred to him that Barnaby probably didn't remember it. "We'll get out of here, then. There are some short stay rooms upstairs, and Nathan's getting one ready for you."

The blond gave him a slightly suspicious look, then nodded. "Show me."

 

"If this were any other situation, I'd probably be offended," Nathan said as they watched Barnaby go over every single inch of his temporary lodging for any traps or cameras. "But considering the circumstances, I have to give him credit for being so thorough."

Kotetsu snorted lightly, leaning against the door frame as Barnaby approached. "Up to standards?"

"It'll do," Barnaby agreed, and accepted the key that Nathan held out.

Kotetsu blinked when he was offered one as well. "Eh?"

"You might want to stay put until my people can make sure that your apartment's been untouched," Nathan pointed out. "And stick close to keep an eye on Handsome," he added low enough that Barnaby, who'd gone to check the bed one more time, wouldn't hear. "Your room's the next one over."

Much as Kotetsu really wanted to go home and look the place over for himself, he couldn't fault the man's logic. "I don't suppose you have a way for me to turn my communication toys back on without bringing Maverick down on this place, do you?"

"Oh, don't insult me, honey. I've had cell relay scramblers in all my places for years now. You don't get the network I have by being stupid enough to be followed."

"Of course not," Kotetsu said with a grin. "Thanks for all the help."

The other man gave his hair a ruffle and headed down the hall, and he went over to where Barnaby had sat down on the bed. "You hungry? I can get us something from downstairs."

"It... would be appreciated," Barnaby said hesitantly, and Kotetsu sat down beside him.

"Still all tensed up from the bar?"

"From everything. If all of what you said is true, my other self is going to be a nervous wreck when he wakes up and I'm... not doing much better. The crowds, the new room, not having someone snap orders at me... I'm not sure how to take this."

Kotetsu couldn't help himself, reaching up to brush a hand over soft gold hair. Barnaby flinched, but didn't pull away or glare. It could have just been all the overwhelming factors sinking in, or it could have been the younger man beginning to trust him a bit. He didn't point it out either way. "Just take it as slowly as you can. It's probably going to be too much to deal with for a long time, but a little food and sleep will help."

"Right... Food and sleep. I can handle that much for now," the blond mumbled, and Kotetsu got up. He couldn't help a worried glance over his shoulder, though, and decided that when he went to bed himself, he was going to leave the door cracked.

 

Kotetsu knew immediately that his gut instinct had been correct when he was roused by a soft thump from next door. Blessing one of the rare times his body had allowed him to be a light sleeper, he got to his feet and headed out into the hall to find Barnaby looking lost and harried. "Hey," he said, trying to get close enough to calm him down. This time, the punch was expected and easily dodged, and he caught the blond's hand, pulling him close enough to see wide green eyes in the dim light. "It's just me."

Barnaby stared at him, still rattled, and Kotetsu released his hold on the kid's hand. "Where are we?" Barnaby asked after a minute or two of tense silence, and his voice was thin and fragile like it had been in the warehouse.

"Someplace safe," Kotetsu promised, make sure to keep from making any sudden movements. "Come on. It's late, but I don't think Nathan will mind us raiding the restaurant."

Barnaby obediently followed him. "Nathan... Fire Emblem? Why would he care?"

"This is one of his places. He's going to be helping us out with all this mess."

The blond stopped, and when Kotetsu turned to look, the bewildered expression on the younger man's face was kind of painful to look at. "Why?"

He reached out, taking hold of Barnaby's hand. It felt a little like trying to calm a small child or handle a glass statue, but considering that Barnaby had just gone through the most traumatizing day of his life that he could actually remember correctly, Kotetsu wasn't about to be anything less than absolutely careful with him right now. "Because he's worried about you, too. And this whole situation is turning out to be bigger than just you or me or Maverick. We're going to need people who can back us up, and he's a very good friend of mine."

The explanation seemed to work, at least a little, and Barnaby went downstairs with him. There wasn't really anything useful in the bar, but in the kitchen, he found some orange oolong tea and some leftover soup someone had forgotten to take home. He left a little money in its place and went to heat it up as Barnaby waited quietly by a nearby counter, apparently still trying to make some kind of sense out of this.

Even though he knew it was impossible, Kotetsu kind of wished that the kid's other half could talk him through this. With Maverick having not been nearly as careful about editing out his abuses, the criminal had been able to take a lot more of this weirdness in stride. But the assistant had more or less been chucked in the deep end by surprise, and it was going to be even harder to make him understand the full extent to which he'd been treated horribly.

Okay, he told himself. Just go slow about it. That was what he'd told the criminal, right? No rushing to tell him everything at once.

Damn, Kotetsu hoped he really didn't bomb this.

He took the pot off the stove and divvied up the soup between two bowls, and washed the pot out and put it away before setting out the food and tea. "Doing any better?"

"A little. I think. I'm not really sure." The 'about anything' went unsaid, but not unheard, and he brushed a hand gently over the kid's hair like he'd done with the other half before.

"Just eat your soup for now. We can talk once you've had a chance for your brain to settle a bit more."

Barnaby nodded and picked up a spoon without having to be cued this time, and Kotetsu privately considered it a victory that at least the kid hadn't been scared entirely back into his old behavior. He still watched for a few seconds, just in case something else were twig oddly, then began to eat as well.

By the time they'd finished, the blond was looking less ashen and a little more alert, and Kotetsu took a deep breath, trying to think of how he was going to start this. "Do you remember when you told me that sometimes you'd wake up at home or in your boss' office and not remember how you got there?"

"Yes?"

"And how Maverick told you the blackouts were a holdover condition like your coughing?"

"Yes..." Barnaby said hesitantly. "Where are you going with- oh. Was... was he doing that somehow? Like when he knocked you out?"

Kotetsu really didn't have the heart to mention that while it had likely been a big contributing factor, the mind probe hadn't been the thing to put him down. "Sort of. Only it's a bit more complicated than that. See, uh, there are... certain jobs that he hands out that... you wouldn't be able to do. So he has someone else for that. But that other person, he's... well, he's kinda you, too."

Barnaby tilted his head a little. "So... he's me, but he's not me? That doesn't seem to make any-"

"Yeah, he wasn't exactly sold on the concept either when I told him," Kotetsu muttered, then realized he'd said it a little too grouchily when bright green eyes went wide.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"What? Not a bit," he lied cheerfully, even though the considerable ache still occasionally cropping up in his face and head said otherwise. "But to bring a roundabout explanation to its end, he's how you got here."

"Okay," Barnaby said, and though he still looked dubious, at least he wasn't outright rejecting the concept. There was a way to prove it, of course, but Kotetsu had a feeling that exposing the assistant to the symbol branded on him wouldn't go nearly as smoothly as telling the criminal about the cough or the gloves. And really, they'd touched on enough for one night. This was good enough, at least until he had more information or a better way to explain it.

 

Going back to work was... interesting. If not downright paranoia-inducing. Thankfully, Maverick wasn't stupid enough to just call him up to the office for a mind wipe, but Kotetsu still found himself looking over his shoulder every other second.

"Would you quit that?" Karina snapped after he'd glanced over at the door for the fifth time in less than a minute. "If you're expecting someone, just go wait for them instead of twitching like that."

"Sorry," he apologized, putting on his dorkiest smile. "Rougher night than usual." He was going to have to watch that, though. Nathan had reassured him that no work he had today required being in the office, so he was keeping an eye on Barnaby. The kid would be fine, and as long as he didn't let himself get cornered, he could handle this too. 'Be less obvious,' he mentally coached himself, forcing himself to calm down before Karina could get fed up enough to smack him with the magazine she was trying to read.

He managed to get through the day without incident, and even went back to his apartment to check things over and get some clothes before making his way back to the safe house. He was mildly surprised, however, to find Barnaby busily sorting through paperwork when he poked his head in to check on the kid. "What's going on?"

"Therapy, if you can believe that," Nathan said as he watched the blond bustle about, organizing things with lightning speed. "He's so trained that I had to have Gina dig up some old inventory records for him to update, just to keep him from going completely stir crazy and trying to leave. Tea?"

"No, thanks," Kotetsu said as he took a seat. On one hand, it was pretty impressive to watch. He'd only ever seen the results of what Barnaby did on the job, never really the process itself. On the other hand, the reasons behind it were pretty sad.

Caught up in his thoughts, he started in surprise when Nathan waved a paper in front of his face. "What's this?"

"While Handsome's handling my files, I went peeking through a few of his. Did you know he's independently wealthy?"

Kotetsu blinked. "No. The way he talked, Maverick handled everything after he lost his parents."

"I figured as much. Turns out the Doctors Brooks had quite the network of provisions in place should anything happen to them on the job or otherwise. Everything made on patent royalties was to be divvied up among grants and scholarships, but as for everything else squirreled away? Their salaries, commission fees, the profit shares from the laboratories they worked with? That was all intended to go to their son."

Kotetsu looked at the numbers, and couldn't help a tiny whistle. Even with the percentages of how the money was divided, that was a pretty goddamn impressive chunk of change. "Is it still his?"

"Haven't found that out yet. It should have all been funneled into a trust over the years, but with their relationship, Maverick could have gotten him to sign over inheritor's rights once he turned eighteen."

"But if he didn't bother, then Barnaby wouldn't be hurting for money if he had to cut ties," Kotetsu murmured, and Nathan grinned.

"Ah, now the lights are going upstairs," the other man teased. "I'll have to do some more digging to see what we've got to work with, but I have a few people I can call in favors for. And they know to keep quiet," he added when Kotetsu opened his mouth. "Once we've got a few more ducks in a row, we'll start planning."

"Works for me," Kotetsu said, then went to see if he could corral the kid in favor of dinner.

 

It soon came became clear that once they had access to money and Nathan could cover their financial tracks, the first thing they were going to need was to give Barnaby a more stable home. The lack of permanency, and having to deal with going in and out of the restaurant, was rattling both halves, but it wasn't like they could come live with him. And really, they needed a space to themselves for the first time in their lives.

Especially a kitchen.

The assistant half was a competent cook, but afraid of using the restaurant's kitchen even after Nathan had given written, express permission, and the criminal half...

Kotetsu shuddered at the memory. Once the fire had been put out, Nathan had offered lessons, and that was all he cared to remember about it.

So, yes. An apartment was the first thing on the list.

"It'd probably be best to go with something pre-furnished," Antonio said as they looked over reality ads.

"Why?"

Antonio just gave him a look, and after a second, Kotetsu realized what he meant as he tried to envision either half handling the picking of furniture and decor. Efficient at their jobs they were, but the assistant was so incredibly indecisive over anything personal that Kotetsu had a feeling all he'd ever been allowed to choose for himself had been his clothes for the day. The wardrobe itself probably hadn't even been his idea, or at least the one he had now wasn't, since Nathan had gotten the tailoring done based on what they'd seen both sides wearing before. And the criminal half just really didn't give a good goddamn about that sort of thing. "Yeah... pre-furnished it is."

They'd eventually found a couple of lofts in the Silver Stage that looked like they'd suit, and Nathan had agreed when they'd run them past him for approval. And besides, of the three, Silver likely had the least agents on the lookout for the kid, since it had the least number of flashy or violent crimes.

The realtor was the biggest pain in the ass Kotetsu had been forced to deal with outside the damage fines court. The man had been none too pleased to know that he wouldn't be meeting the person the loft was being bought for, and had made every step of the purchase a dragging hell out of that annoyance. Until Nathan got fed up with the delays and dropped in.

"You're going to have to teach me that trick," Kotetsu said as they left the office building, nice and legal file and keys in their hands.

"You'd have to learn how to sprout flames first, darling," the other man replied, annoyed look still in place as they got into the car.

Barnaby had been nervous and a little antsy the entire trip, and after weeks of having to be confined to the safe house, Kotetsu couldn't really fault him.

Especially when the look on his face at seeing the place for the first time made all the weeks of hassle in getting it worth every minute. "This... this is mine?"

"Unconditionally yours. Every last square inch of it and everything in it, honey," Nathan said as he laid the keys on the coffee table.

"But how? I could never afford something like this."

"We'll go over the details later," Kotetsu said, managing to restrain himself from just blurting that the kid could afford anything he damn well pleased from now on. "Why don't you take a look around?"

He wasn't prepared for Barnaby to practically beam at the suggestion, or for the way the first raw, hand-to-god happy expression he'd ever seen on the kid made his breath catch in his throat. Swallowing thickly, he took a seat on the couch with Nathan as the loft's new owner explored it.

"You okay, there?"

"It's just... kind of weird seeing him smile like that," Kotetsu lied weakly. If Nathan knew he was understating -and probably did, the canny bastard- he thankfully had the tact not to mention it. "Think he'll be able to handle this place on his own?"

"Might be best to stick around a night or two. Ease him into it a little more slowly. He's had enough nasty surprises for a lifetime."

Damn, that was true enough. "Point. I have my phone and everything, and you've already done your magic with this place, so we should be able to work something out-" He cut off with a noise of surprise at the sudden, fierce hug from behind, and twisted to find Barnaby leaning over the couch.

"This is the best. Thank you both so much."

And now he was outright blushing. "Ah- you're welcome," he managed, desperately trying to ignore that he felt awkwardly warm and Nathan was now smirking at him. "It was nothing, really."

Except he wasn't so sure of that. This could be a problem.

 

More and more often, it seemed, Kotetsu was seeing that weird symbol pop up on one or more members of criminal groups that they were being called out to deal with. For awhile, he wondered if it were making too much of it. Maybe it had just been a common gang sign, and he'd only really started noticing it because of the connection to Barnaby. It wasn't a likely explanation, but hey, neither was anything else in this case, right?

But after a foiled kidnapping, he overheard Cain asking Agnes if it didn't seem like Wild Tiger was being targeted by a weirdly high number of fighters, lately. And that made him worry. Cain was a good cameraman, but not the most observant. If he'd noticed...

"Hadn't had the chance to keep track, but it's a definite possibility," Antonio said when he brought it up the next time they went out. "After all, whatever shady connection's Maverick's got, they have to know by now that you're Suspect Number One for keeping you-know-who hidden from them. Maybe this is stage one of putting on the pressure."

"Stupid way of going about it, if that's the case," Kotetsu said as he stared into his drink. "They should know a few bruises aren't gonna make me do jack."

"Maybe not, but I'd still be careful. Remember, Maverick does have identity access."

The implication had actually been lurking in his mind since the very beginning, but having it brought into the open still made him shiver. He still had the protection that his personal files said nothing about his family except that he had one at all, but the fear was still there. The last thing he wanted was for them to get dragged into this whole mess.

"Noted," was all he could make himself say, mentally debating whether or not he'd have to ask Nathan for another favor in covering his tracks. Antonio seemed to get the message, though, and gave him a reassuring thump on the back.

They'd made a two-drink headway when his phone tweedled "Another Brick in the Wall" at him. "Whoops," he muttered, getting it out to read the text. "Nathan must have another lesson ready."

Antonio raised an eyebrow. "Weird alert choice for schooling."

"Not really," Kotetsu said with a grin. "We've mostly been gathering records to try and help un-teach some of the brainwashing the kid's been through. No thought control, get it?"

That got him a snort that was a little amusement and mostly derision. "Okay, not weird. Just terrible."

Not caring how childish it looked, he stuck his tongue out at his friend. "You love my sense of humor," he said, grabbing his coat and hat. "Mind if I take a rain check until next week?"

"Go on, get out of here," Antonio said, waving him off, and Kotetsu ducked out of the bar.

He'd been flippant, but it was mostly gallows humor. The 'lessons' so far had been painful for all involved, no matter how much he and Nathan tried to temper them and go slowly. He didn't know what Nathan had found this time, but eventually, they were going to have to go over Barnaby's work record. Kotetsu wasn't looking forward to that at all.

Nathan was waiting for him by the elevator in the apartment building. "What've we got?" he asked, and the other man brandished a flash drive.

"School records."

Kotetsu felt his stomach sink a little. There were a lot of different ways this could go, and he had a bad feeling about every single one of them. "Have you looked at them already?" he asked, voice much weaker.

"Of course. They're good ammunition for our side... but I admittedly don't know to what extent they'll be different from his memories."

"He was held back for science courses and barely graduated with no university hopes," Kotetsu replied as the elevator door opened and they got on.

"Ah. This may be a long night, then."

"Why?" Kotetsu asked, though he had a pretty good inclination.

"Our boy was top of his class in every year."

 

Barnaby was dead silent and very still as he stared at the screen of Nathan's laptop, and Kotetsu couldn't help biting the inside of his cheek in worry as he fought back the urge to try and get a response. They'd grown used to more visible reactions of denial, and this state of shell-shock was more than a little unnerving.

Then again, this was probably the biggest cover-up so far that they'd attempted to poke at. So much for their hopes of 'no more really nasty surprises.' Maybe they should start getting used to this reaction as well...

"That... can't be correct," Barnaby said, barely audible as he continued to sit stone still, eyes locked on the screen. "I don't remember-"

Nathan pressed a key and the series of files and grades closed, replaced by an array of schematics and designs. "I'm thinking about doing an image overhall," he said nonchalantly. "I'd like your opinion, if you don't mind."

Barnaby blinked, looking very confused, and Kotetsu was wondering as well what Nathan was up to. Then the blond obligingly leaned in for a closer look, and after a few seconds, his nose scrunched in disapproval. "This is... it's all wrong. It would never work at all," Barnaby said, then glanced at Nathan nervously. "I- I mean-"

"Go ahead," Nathan prompted. "Tell me why."

"W- Well... for starters, the alloy on this inner armor is trash. There's no heat resistance at all. E- even with the natural protection you get from your power, you'd cook in this. And... and the mass calculations on this part of the outer armor are a complete mess. This two here, see? That should be a four. And this decimal- it's not even in the right spot. And over here-"

The kid continued to rattle off design flaws and fixes with the eye of a trained scientist. As if he'd been doing this all his life, whether he knew it or not. And as Nathan only nodded or occasionally gave him a gentle prod to continue, Kotetsu thought he was beginning to get an inkling of what was going on. It was the same as when Barnaby had been drawing on napkins during their lunch dates. Only now he'd actually seen hard evidence to back up Kotetsu's attempts at convincing him he'd never been as stupid as he'd been lead for years to believe.

And when Barnaby suddenly went silent again, that stunned expression from a few minutes ago coming back, it was clear that the separate information streams had clicked, and clicked hard. "Bunny?"

"Oh."

After several more seconds, another noise finally escaped. It started out as a nervous, uncomfortable giggle. Then quickly built on itself into full-blown hysterical laughter that made him feel a little sick to his stomach. At the first sign of tears, however, Kotetsu reached over and pulled the kid close, enveloping him in a tight protective hug. Only when the sobbing had subsided into coughing and the stray choked hiccup did he ease the embrace.

"Why?" came the muffled voice at his neck when they'd given Barnaby a few more minutes to catch his breath and piece himself back together a little bit. "Why would he do this? What did I-"

"Remember how old those records are, honey" Nathan said as he reached over to run long nails through pale hair. "You were a child when this started."

"You didn't do anything," Kotetsu insisted softly, squeezing him again. "And even if you'd been bad at all, there's nothing you could have done to deserve this."

It took awhile longer, but Barnaby finally pulled away and took off his glasses to wipe his eyes, and Kotetsu handed him a tissue. "We're trying to find out what's behind all this. What he's got planned for you. But we're probably going to find a lot more big hidden things like this in the process. I don't want to put you through any kind of shock, so from now on, if you want to stop-"

"No." Barnaby sat up a little straighter, and just for a moment, his eyes were sharper and more clear than Kotetsu had ever seen from this half. "It hurts... it really does... and it's probably never going to stop. But I- I need to know," he said quietly as that brief flash of confidence melted away. "Knowing that this sort of thing is out there at all... I don't think I can handle just always wondering and never getting answers."

 

The clock had just passed three when he went into the kitchen to find Nathan sitting at the bar with a mug of tea and his laptop. "So, are you really changing your costume, or was that just a teaching aid?" Kotetsu asked as he got a soda from the fridge.

"It's on the table for consideration, but I haven't yet decided whether to go through with it or not. After what you told me about Handsome improving a little of your suit design, though, I might have gone back and flubbed a few of my employees' elements for demonstrative purposes."

Nathan's tone was much colder and more clipped than it had been before, but Kotetsu knew why and chose not to call attention to it. "Figures," he said as he sank into a chair at the table.

"How is he?" the other man asked, tone gentling a bit.

"Sleeping. He had to take something for it, though, which is a first this week. I'm going to stick around in case anything happens, and, anyway, someone's gotta explain tonight to the other half if he wakes up."

"We'll give him a couple of days to let it all soak in and, after that, see if he really does still want to continue his path down the rabbit hole, so to speak. In the meantime, Antonio and I will keep our noses to the ground. Perhaps we can track down a little more information on what this all-important secret plan is." The hard edge had come back, but again, Kotetsu kept his mouth shut. When Nathan had gone home, he went back to the main bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed.

After the time spent in the safe house and the new apartment, neither half much minded his inclination to stick close anymore. But he still tended to telegraph his movements around them, just in case. And Barnaby had been on sleep medication the last time a mistaken gesture had caused a fight, too. But the kid didn't stir even a fraction of an inch this time, so he shed his shoes and vest and tie, and laid down.

"Hell of a night," he murmured softly to his sleeping companion. On impulse, he reached out, gently rubbing fingertips against the furrowed, anxious spot between the younger man's brows. Surprisingly, the gesture worked, and Barnaby relaxed a little in his sleep, unconsciously snuggling closer. Kotetsu managed not to blush this time, concern overriding physical embarrassment, and put his arms around the kid.

He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep himself, but couldn't shake off the feeling that this was all going to get a whole lot worse before it got any better.

 

And maybe he should start thinking about it less, he decided as he ducked a very good attempt at swiping his head off his shoulders. It seemed whenever he started seriously dwelling on problems, they tended to get worse. Like right now.

He touched down at the base of a fire escape and barely had time to pull his faceplate back down before having to jump again to evade his pursuer. Besides the now-familiar sword and snake tattoo, the bastard also had one of the creepiest powers Kotetsu had ever seen, having ripped off his own skin to reveal living steel underneath moments before attacking.

They'd left the cameras behind several blocks ago, but this guy clearly wasn't just playing diversion the way Barnaby had in their opponent encounters. At least the metal man was considerably slower, though that didn't help much. A solid right hook sent him skidding across the pavement. He attempted to lunge back to his feet, but was halted by a crushing grip on his neck as he was pinned to the wall.

"Where's the brat, Tiger?" his huge opponent snarled in a low drawl.

Some absurd little part of his mind was oh so very happy that he'd been called by code name and not his real one. Maybe that meant Maverick hadn't stooped low enough to give his cronies that yet. Meanwhile, the rest of him was a little more occupied with trying to pry away the hand locked around his neck. He would have liked to respond with a witty insult at this point, or told the ass where he could shove his demand, but currently, it was extremely hard to even breathe, let alone talk. Apparently his assailant wasn't all that bright, either.

He'd just lit up his Hundred Power out of desperation to free himself when a sudden explosion of electricity from above made his attacker drop him and reel back with a roar of pain. He coughed painfully for air for a brief second before joining Dragon Kid back in the fray, not bothering to ask how or why she found them. They'd nearly managed to beat the metal NEXT down when the criminal finally grew a brain and smashed a steam pipe next to him. Kotetsu automatically lunged to cover Dragon Kid's body with his own, shielding her from the skin-scorching blast.

When the cloud cleared, the NEXT had disappeared. Not as neat as one of Barnaby's moves, but annoyingly effective nonetheless. "You okay, Kid?"

"I'm fine. Thanks for the cover," she said, but there was a faintly petulant tone in her voice at not being able to make the catch. He understood the feeling, though not currently for the same reasons.

Looked like he had a few things to talk about with Barnaby's darker half.

 

"Stetson? Yeah, I know him. He's been in Sternbild for six years now, but you'd never know it by the way he acts."

He'd been in luck that the red-eyed blond was awake when he came to the apartment, and made a grateful noise when an ice wrap was pressed to his bruised neck. He sank back onto the soft couch when the other man motioned, allowing Barnaby to look over any other injuries. "Yeah, he did kinda strike me as the turnip truck type, what little he said. The hell was up with that skin thing? That was..."

"Nasty?" Barnaby asked dryly, and Kotetsu nodded. It was about as polite a word as he could come up with for the situation. "That's what he does. Whenever he needs to be something else, like metal, or rock, or whatever, he just rips his skin off and bam, there it is. Then when he's done, the new form shatters off like clay and he's got new skin underneath."

Kotetsu shuddered, the descriptions forming very unpleasant images in his mind. When prompted, he raised his hips a little, and a heat pack slid under his back. "Ngh, thank you." He watched as the other man sank into a chair, and tried not to focus on how graceful the motion looked. Instead, he veered towards the topic he'd been meaning to discuss. "Hey. Um, can I ask you something?"

"You want to know what other powers you should be bracing for," Barnaby said, leaning his cheek on his hand, and Kotetsu blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, actually. How'd you know?"

"Logical conclusion. One NEXT connected to me shows up to try and take you apart, of course more are going to follow. Do you want to write all this down, or should I?"

Kotetsu tested his arm and winced. "Probably best you do it. At least then I'll be able to still read it once the pills wear off."

Barnaby made a noise he hoped was amusement and got up, returning with a pad and pen. For several minutes, the only sound in the room was their breathing and the scratching of the pen tip on paper. Even though he hurt like hell, it was weirdly... comfortable.

The fact that Barnaby was so willing to feed him information, as cagey as the younger man had been before, left him with some new questions, though. "Can I ask you something else?" When red eyes glanced up from the paper -Geez, that looked kind of hot, in a disapproving librarian sort of way... Don't think about it- he quickly pushed on before the other man could say no. "Why did you ever work with these people at all? I mean, they obviously don't inspire any kind of loyalty or anything."

Barnaby looked away, absently rubbing at the glove that hid his mark, and Kotetsu instantly felt rather guilty and stupid for asking a question that had such an obvious answer. He opened his mouth to take it back-

"I was ten when Maverick introduced me to the new bosses," Barnaby said quietly. "There'd been some kind of big upheaval. I don't know what. But they needed more NEXTs with combat-valuable abilities, and my displacement power had just manifested. He told me then that their primary purpose was training NEXTs whose powers were too dangerous for the Academy, and I was stupid enough to believe him."

Ten... That would have been... Roughly fifteen years ago? Kotetsu considered it for a moment, then realized he had seen the sword-and-snake just once before he'd met Barnaby. Fifteen years ago had been when Mr. Legend brought down Martinez and his gang. No wonder whoever this group was, they'd needed bodies. Even just by himself, Martinez had been ridiculously over-powered. Kotestsu chewed his lip a little. "They marked you then?" he asked, a creeping horror sinking in.

"No. That was at thirteen when I finished the training. Fastest time of any teleporter they'd ever met." He didn't look remotely proud, though, just a little more haunted. Ignoring the pain that shot through his shoulder as a result, Kotetsu reached over and took hold of the marked hand, passing his thumb gently over the hidden brand. The action seemed to confuse Barnaby a bit, but he didn't pull away. "You have another question."

Kotetsu shook his head. He did, but he didn't want to ask it with that look on the kid's face. It was going to hurt too much. Then the hand he was holding squeezed in a clear demand, and he took a deep breath. "The others I've seen with the mark... theirs all look like tattoos. Why is yours different?"

"So that I can't have it removed." The haunted expression was gone, replaced by a quiet, banked anger. "Even the hardcore sorts, when given their options, pick the ink and just put it in a really obvious place to show off. No one ever chooses branding. That's saved for the ones they can't allow to get away. The ones they want to keep for life."

Kotetsu felt ill. Ten, thirteen, now... nobody deserved that kind of treatment. And to think that Maverick had not only allowed it, but had probably approved of this happening to a kid who'd been entrusted to him by supposed friends of his made Kotetsu's stomach clench in anger and disgust. He gently tugged on the hand he held, urging the younger man closer. Somewhat to his surprise, Barnaby obliged the silent request, though he had to sit on the floor to keep from them both ending up in an extremely awkward position. The kid rested his head against the couch cushion, and Kotetsu began running the fingers of his other hand through his hair in what had become one of 'their' comfort gestures of sorts. "I'm sorry," he murmured softly.

"Why?"

"That it happened at all," Kotetsu said. One side cursed with forgetting, the other with remembering, both broken in entirely different ways, and goddammit, none of this was fair.

They sat in silence until the sun had nearly finished going down, then Barnaby pulled away. "I need to change your packs," he said quietly, his face blank. "And I didn't finish the notes."

"Okay," Kotetsu said, then made a soft, startled noise when gloved fingers gave his hair a surprisingly fond ruffle as Barnaby took the ice pack and left the living room. He returned a few minutes later with fresh ice and bindings, and crouched down to get to work.

"You'll have to start training more," Barnaby said as he reached over and switched on a lamp to see better.

"Ah?"

"Your power and suit can't protect you from everything they're going to throw at you. We'll start sparring tomorrow." The kid gave him a rueful smile that was out of place with everything else he'd seen in this half. "Since I can't cook like my other self does, I figure I better find another way to pull my weight."

Kotetsu found himself oddly touched by the offer. "Thank you."

 

He hit the ground shoulder-first and rolled. He successfully managed not to get any serious breaks or bruises, but still twisted to glare at Barnaby. The brat had the gall to give him a cheeky grin and wave from his new perch on an exhaust vent a good fifteen feet away from where Kotetsu had lunged at him. "Oh, you're totally cheating now."

"Ground rules said you couldn't use powers. I made no such promise," Barnaby replied flippantly, then executed a neat little backwards roll vault to evade when Kotetsu jumped after him again.

For all it annoyed him that he couldn't make a single grab or land a single hit, Kotetsu was actually enjoying himself a little. The criminal half had yet to regain any memories of their previous encounters, but it had only taken half an hour or so of this dangerous little game of rooftop tag to restore their old banter like it had never been wiped away in the first place. Even though they were flirting with the risk of being spotted by the wrong eyes, it was good to have that bright, fierce smile back.

Of course, this wasn't just for fun, or even just training. Landing next to Antonio's unobtrusive little observation spot from a maintenance corridor, he signaled for a time-out. Across the alley, Barnaby nodded, then vanished from the window ledge he was on to a safe hiding spot. "What do you think?" he asked, now that the blond wasn't around to hear.

"That it's easy to see how he made us look like chumps." Kotetsu elbowed his friend in the ribs. "Okay, okay," Antonio said, feigning injury. "He mostly works by redirection and evasion, keeping his opponent too off balance to keep up through applications of his NEXT and his agility. We've seen him use his NEXT to end serious fights as well, rather than direct force. However, on the rare times you got close enough for him to actually throw an attack, his aim was practically perfect."

"He's definitely pulling his blows with me, though," Kotetsu said. "At least right now. In one of the fights he doesn't remember, he could have snapped my arm if I hadn't been armored. And he still wasn't being all that serious at the time."

"So armed or in the wrong situation, he could definitely be lethal. His NEXT lets him hit from any direction without warning, and be gone before anyone could catch it."

Kotetsu rested his chin on his hand, thinking. Hit from any direction without being caught... But the only time he'd ever seen Barnaby armed at all had been at the courthouse, and he'd pulled the gun in plain sight. Why?

"What's up?"

"Trying to figure something out."

"Don't hurt yourself."

"Shut it," he growled without any real malice. "Something's... bugging me. The first time I crossed paths with this half, he drew a gun outside the court house, and poofed when I grabbed him. He said he'd been sent as a distraction for any heroes in the area, but then why wasn't there any crime committed while he had me trapped?"

"Maybe he was lied to about the reason he was there?"

Both jumped nearly a foot at the sudden voice behind them, and were even more surprised when they turned to find- "Pao-lin? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I got worried when that NEXT targeted you. There's been a lot of that lately. And you're not the only ones who know how to sneak around."

He and Antonio glanced at each other. "Uh... look, this really isn't something you should-"

Drawing herself to full height, the girl planted her hands on her hips and gave them both a flat look. "I'm a Hero too, you know. And I know more about application of fighting style tactics than both of you put together."

"She's got us there," Antonio admitted very grudgingly after a few seconds of tense silence, and Kotetsu sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Okay... okay. We'll compromise. The fewer people in the thick of this, the safer. So we can't tell you all of it. But any time we have a question like this, you'll be the first asked. Deal?"

She scowled, and he held his breath. Then she thrust out a hand. "Deal. But you better tell me all of it when this is over, whatever it is."

He made a small noise of relief and accepted the handshake, then left Antonio to call Nathan and went to find where Barnaby had hidden himself.

 

The Barnaby he found was green-eyed and sleepy and didn't mind making a very good pot of tea for the small entourage that came to his home. "Hey, Bunny," Kotetsu asked quietly when they were in the kitchen and away from the others. Green eyes glanced over in a slightly put-out look, but the blond made no protest at the nickname, choosing merely to muffle a cough instead. "I know this is your place and all, but... would you mind keeping to your room? Just for half an hour or so?"

"I do have a lot to study from the last time," Barnaby said, carefully arranging the tray with its cups and spoons and selection of sweeteners. "Is it okay if I ask why, though?"

"You know it's okay to ask anything," Kotetsu replied, automatically reaching out to gently knead the back of the younger man's neck. While the red-eyed half had become more open after telling his tales, the recent revelations had made the assistant shut down a little more. He was going to have to find a way to balance the lessons a little better.

For now, the simple gesture seemed to work well enough, tension slowly easing out of Barnaby's shoulders as the kid closed those bright eyes. It only lasted a little bit, though, before he had to cover another cough. "I just need to talk to the others about your other half for a little while." Kotetsu caught the strange glance, the subtle shift of Barnaby's body. "Would you rather listen in instead?"

Barnaby shook his head as whatever shadow had crossed him passed. "No, I don't think that would be a good idea," he murmured, resting his head against Kotetsu's shoulder for a moment before pulling away to hand him the tea tray. "We can talk later, though, right?"

"Of course." He wasn't sure he wanted Barnaby doing any more past-deciphering without someone there to hold him if he found something unfortunate, though. Then he remembered that he'd warned Barnaby beforehand that he and the criminal half would be going out training, and found his opening. "Try and get some rest until then instead, okay? You've gotta be aching after the run we went on."

"A little," Barnaby admitted, blushing. "It's... strange."

"How so?"

"Even though I know now why I have these strange twinges and feel tired when I haven't done anything, it's still kind of mysterious to me."

Kotetsu freed up an arm by shifting his balance of the tray, and gave the younger man a light squeeze. "Well, that can be one of the things we talk about later, okay?"

"Okay."

He carried the tray out to the living room and, judging by the very serious expression on Pao-lin's face as she watched Barnaby cross the hall to his room, it looked like the others had already given her what backstory on the subject that they'd planned to. Well, that would make things easier, he decided as he laid the tray on the coffee table and nudged a cup in her direction. The motion seemed to snap the girl out of her staring, and she murmured her thanks, picking up cup and teapot.

"So, catch us up on your combat assessments," Nathan said, leaning back in his chair.

When he and Antonio had finished laying it all out, an awkward quiet descended over the room. Nathan was stirring honey into his tea, looking frustrated about something, but what worried Kotetsu more was Pao-lin's reaction. She was holding her cup so tightly it was a wonder the porcelain didn't crack and staring down at the floor with a troubled expression as she processed all the information.

"I think," she finally said quietly. "That it's a very good thing you got to him before they could have him kill anyone."

Kotetsu paused in the motion of raising his cup to his mouth. "Come again?" he asked. Part of his mind had been dreading that it might be something like this, but the fact that Pao-lin was the one confirming it seemed to just make it worse.

"What you're describing... it sounds like he might have finished the training for his powers, but they hadn't finished testing him on the field yet. I've done a version of that courthouse incident, only without a lethal weapon. It was to see if I could still make an escape after being caught in the open with something I shouldn't have. And that knockout trick... it would have been just as easy for him to drop someone unconscious in a river, or in a freezer, or who knows where else."

"So, what you're saying is, we've been acting as training dummies for a future hitman," Kotetsu said, still a little in denial.

"I'm not a hundred per cent positive. But that's what I think. I don't know why they'd have him training against future targets, though."

"Maybe because we're not the targets," Nathan cut in, and they all looked at him. His expression had turned dark as he stared into his mug. "You first caught him outside the courthouse, correct? And we know Maverick is involved. So perhaps the real future victims they were intending to set Handsome on were going to be political figures who wouldn't play ball with them the way Maverick does."

Antonio shifted in his chair "If that's the case, this could be even bigger than what we've uncovered so far. For all we know, Sternbild isn't their only base."

Kotetsu swallowed back a sick feeling that threatened to rise. He still didn't want to believe it, but more and more, it was becoming the most likely explanation. "When I met the assistant, he told me he'd only been in the city a day. That could have just been an altering of his memories, or maybe Maverick really did have him raised somewhere else connected to wherever the criminal half was trained."

"You said they'd had other teleporters, too?"

"That was what the criminal half implied. He said he'd finished their lessons in 'the fastest time'. But apparently they didn't get branded."

"It could have been because it took them longer," Antonio pointed out. "They might not have had both the physical skills and the combat analytical skills the organization was looking for."

Nathan set his cup down. "As much as I am loath to give them credit for anything, there's a disgustingly twisted sort of beauty to the plan."

"What do you mean?" Pao-lin asked.

"A skilled, agile teleporter already bound to someone who can alter memories and use hypnosis of a sort? Maverick can implant orders and suggestions without Barnaby even realizing it, and wipe the crime from his mind when he's done. Even if he were to somehow get caught and not be able to escape, there'd be no motive, no accomplices, no way to implicate a boss. You couldn't ask for the better makings of an assassin."

"And by using the memory altering to keep him completely isolated and dependent, he always has Barnaby within reach to do so," Kotetsu said quietly. "And if Barnaby did somehow become a liability, there'd be no one to miss him if he disappeared permanently."

"Good thing you're an incurable meddler, or no one would have ever been the wiser," Antonio said, but even the big man wasn't really feeling any humor in the statement.

Kotetsu made himself swallow a sip of tea. "Yeah. But if they're as widespread as we're speculating, how are we ever going to keep Barnaby safe?"

"I don't like the idea, but maybe we need to stop thinking in terms of permanent safety," Nathan replied. "Perhaps we should focus instead in helping him keep one step ahead of them."

"It's a lot to think about," Kotetsu said. "And I'll have to talk about it with both halves. For now... I think it's best to just kind of let it sink in." The others got up to leave, and Kotetsu followed them to see them out. "Hey," he said softly to Pao-lin. "Sorry for dragging you into all this scary stuff."

"I dragged myself in, remember?" she said, then softened a little. "Be careful, okay?"

"Will do," he said, and Nathan put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Come on, honey. I'll give you a lift home."

When they'd all gone, Kotetsu closed the door and sank against it, just resting his head on his knees as his mind tried to catch up to the revelations of their brainstorming session. "Worse and worse," he muttered to himself for what had to be the hundredth time since this whole mess had started. Then he pushed himself to his feet and headed to the bedroom, his heart and head heavy.

Barnaby was sleeping, slightly curled up on his side, and looking more peaceful than Kotetsu had seen in months. He reached down and brushed fingers over a pale cheek, and the younger man subtly shifted into the touch. It was such a small thing, and yet Kotetsu found his resolve a little renewed just from that.

He still felt drained from the new information, though, and quietly laid down. Talking about it could wait until morning.

 

The bed was empty when he woke up the next morning. That in and of itself wasn't strange; both halves were ridiculously early risers. But he still had a sort of niggling discomfort left over from dreams conjured up by the discoveries made the day before, and he got up to go look for them.

He found Barnaby at the kitchen bar, examining something on the laptop both shared. Red eyes glanced up in his direction, then the blond made a quiet noise of surprise when Kotetsu rounded the bar and hugged him tightly. "What's with you?"

"We need to talk," Kotetsu mumbled against his shoulder. Barnaby indicated the pot of coffee -one of the few things this half could make that didn't end in flames- and Kotetsu went to get a mug before sitting down. The criminal handled dithering with much less confusion and politeness than the assistant did, so he didn't bother trying to find the correct words. Just took a deep breath and started to spill what he and the others had discussed the evening before.

"Huh," Barnaby said when he'd finished.

"You sound unsurprised."

"Though it's something I didn't know, I can't say I am. The thieves they've been sending against your lot aren't the only felony-related ventures they have running. I could name six off the bat that would result in international scandal and/or a few war crimes charges."

"So they do operate on that wide of a scale." Score one for Antonio. "Is that why you haven't left Sternbild?"

"No. I haven't left because I can't," Barnaby replied, then rubbed his head when Kotetsu gave him a confused look. "Besides what I told you about not being able to use the normal routes, my range... varies. If I know the territory I'm dealing with, I can jump farther than if I don't. If I tried to use a jump to get out of the city, I could very well end up in traffic or drown myself."

"You don't remember being outside the city either, do you?"

"I remember the training facility I lived in. But I have no idea where it is, or the route we traveled to get here. Any time I left the grounds before I came to Sternbild, I was drugged."

To make it easier to remove the memories of anything he'd seen later, Kotetsu supposed. "But if they're planning on using you in multiple places, that doesn't seem like a very sound tactic."

Barnaby shrugged. "Well, if the girl's right, then I'm not 'complete' yet, am I? Maybe once they thought it was safe to do so, they would have started making me study. In any case," Barnaby concluded, getting up and putting his cup in the sink. "We'll have to step up your training."

Kotetsu blinked, caught off guard by the change in topics. "Why?"

The look Barnaby gave him was flat, calculating, and dead serious, and it sent a little chill down his spine. "Because if you're right about the plans for me, then they're not going to let up on you. Especially not once the old man starts getting impatient. Knowing what powers your opponents have is a good start, but you need to work on your maneuverability and using your ground to your advantage. Get cleaned up and we'll head out."

 

'Okay, reassessment time,' Kotetsu thought as he winced and rubbed his shoulder. Pao-lin had been right to be worried; Barnaby could be really goddamn scary when he was taking a fight seriously, and they weren't even playing for keeps like what would be happening on an assassination mission. He involuntarily jumped when the kid poofed in right next to him, but relaxed a little when he saw the blond's expression was softer than the blank stare he'd been treated with during the entire session.

"Not bad. You're actually doing a lot better than I expected."

"This is better than what you expected?" Kotetsu asked incredulously, feeling every bruise and pull in his body as he tried to find a more comfortable position.

"You've kept up with me for thirty-seven blocks without getting anything broken or using your powers. That's better than anyone I know who doesn't have super-speed."

"Oh." Despite how clinical it had been, Kotetsu could still feel his face heating at the compliment and tried to will it away. "...I'm not going to be fighting anyone with super-speed, am I?"

"No one stationed in the city has it. We'll just have to hope that they don't see a reason to bring in outside help. Hold still a second."

"Eh?" Barnaby moved around behind him and a hand settled on his shoulder. There was a brief, painful crack, and then suddenly the throbbing ache he'd had since getting thrown against a window ledge was gone. "Shit," he gasped as his whole arm relaxed.

"Better?"

"Much." The hand at his shoulder lingered just a little too long for an injury examination... or maybe he only imagined it did. Either way, he had to quickly swallow back the words that first came to mind before he could embarrass himself. They may have been mostly back on friendly terms, but that hint of flirting on Barnaby's part had never really come back... yet. Maybe. And in any case, now was very much not the time. "They train you to be a chiropractor, too?" he weakly joked instead after a little floundering.

"Just basic field medicine." The blond settled down beside him again. "Anything else I just taught myself out of necessity. My first few months of being a NEXT before Maverick took me to the training facility involved a lot of accidentally getting stuck in high or uncomfortable places."

Kotetsu snorted. "I can imagine." He wondered if the other Barnaby would have similar stories, or if those had been cleaned out as well. Had they even been separate people, then? Both of them remembered the fire, so when had- No. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer to that. Testing his shoulder a bit, he found it moved a lot easier.

"Ready to try again?"

"Let's roll."

 

Though the need to keep their involvement in this secret meant that they couldn't get involved to the same degree he was, the others took the option to join in on the training runs as well. After all, how often did one get the chance to be schooled in the combat tricks of specially-trained criminals by one of them?

Pao-lin seemed to especially enjoy the sparring. Probably because she'd been the only one to succeed in getting close enough to catch Barnaby a couple of times. But Kotetsu had noticed that she was also keeping a hawk's eye watch on the green-eyed version whenever they were in the same vicinity, even though he had no such tricks. He'd asked her once what she was watching for when he'd caught her at it again, but she'd only waved him off.

They'd been group training for two days when it was decided to meet at another one of Nathan's little hiding spots. While Nathan was sure that Kotetsu's activity wasn't being monitored enough to give away the location of Barnaby's apartment, they could never be too careful. Just like he'd done half a dozen times before, the assistant had handled the food and prepared tea for everyone. But when he went to hand Pao-lin her cup, she abruptly leveled a punch at his head when he looked away from her to answer a question from Antonio.

Everyone stared when he caught it effortlessly, not even spilling the cup in his other hand.

Barnaby himself seemed to be the most stunned by the action, blinking in confusion at the girl, but Pao-lin only looked smug. "I knew it."

"Knew what?" Barnaby and Kotetsu asked at the same time.

Recovering from his own shock, Nathan narrowed his eyes, a calculating look crossing his face. Then a small, but pinpoint accurate, flame streaked towards the blond's eyes. In a fluid, quick motion, Barnaby threw the cup full of tea to intercept it with the same perfect aim, then poofed to a spot out of the direct line of fire. The kid looked really scared now, and Kotetsu quickly moved in front of him protectively just in case Antonio started getting any funny ideas as well. "What the hell is wrong with you two?" he demanded.

Pao-lin ignored him. "You haven't had any of your counterpart's training, have you?" she asked, and Barnaby shook his head.

"N- Not unless phys ed counts."

"Does this happen often? Reacting to surprises in ways unfamiliar to you?" she asked, and Kotetsu suddenly remembered something. That blind teleport when the confrontation with Maverick had happened. They'd ended up-

"I don't remember," Barnaby said quietly, still stressed. He nervously twitched when Nathan approached, but calmed down a little when all the man did was put a hand on his back.

"From the looks of it, you two might still share some subconscious memory," Nathan said, and Pao-lin nodded agreement. "When you've been sufficiently provoked to defend yourself without thinking about it, your reaction is the same because that's what your body has been trained to do, whether you were 'there' for it or not."

"You did it once before, teleporting," Kotetsu said.

"I did?"

"When you dropped us in Warehouse District Five after Maverick got in my head. From what your other self said, that should have been too big a distance for you to handle on a blind jump, but you ended up within two buildings of where he left me after we crossed paths at the courthouse that first time."

"We can work with this," Pao-lin said, grinning. "If we can just get either half to tap into consciously what they do instinctively, it'll improve your range and defense a lot!"

"It's up to you, though, honey," Nathan said. "We know both sides are already under a lot of mental stress, so no one's gonna blame either of you if you decide to hold off for awhile."

"It's okay." Barnaby's voice was very quiet, but for a quick flash, Kotetsu thought he saw that calm confidence from awhile ago come back. "If you think it'll help, I'm willing to try, and he probably will be, too."

Pao-lin clapped her hands. "Excellent! Let's get started."

 

Barnaby landed neatly beside him, then Kotetsu had to reach out and grab the blond's shirt before he could pitch forward over the edge of the roof. "You okay there?" he asked as he tried to steady the younger man.

"Dizzy," Barnaby mumbled, slurring a little. "Izzis what being drunk is like? Don' think I like it." Kotetsu got him upright, but only for a few seconds before Barnaby slumped against his chest and blinked up at him with clouded over green eyes. "Oh. Hi. You're'cute up close."

Kotetsu most certainly did not make an extremely undignified squeak at the adorable, unsteady echo of what the other Barnaby had said during their first meeting. No, sir, he did not. "Ah- I think that's enough practice for one day. You're definitely a little loopy right now."

"'Kay."

Looking around, they were actually pretty close to his neighborhood. He was still wary of being caught, but there was no way the kid was going to make it all the way back to his own apartment in this state. Deciding they'd just have to be careful, he got an arm around Barnaby's waist to help him down from the roof.

They managed to reach the ground with little incident save a small rip in is shirt, and he was much less concerned about that than he was the disoriented look on Barnaby's face as they headed towards his apartment. "Hang in there. Just a little further."

He fumbled his keys out of his pocket and into the lock and gently guided the younger man inside, closing the door with his foot. "Okay," he said once he'd cleared the couch and got Barnaby lying down. "Feeling any better?"

"Not really... head really hurts."

Much as he didn't like to admit it, there were times when his usual issues of being accident-prone on the job and a bit of a packrat at home did come in handy. Like the fact that his bathroom medicine cabinet looked more like the drug storage area of a hospital after the past few months. Grabbing the lowest-grade pain prescription he could find and a glass of water, he returned to the living room and handed the lot over.

He'd just sat down with a drink of his own when his cell phone rang.

"How did the run go?" Pao-lin asked.

"Well, we made it a pretty good distance, but we had to cut it short." He turned the phone so she could see Barnaby's condition for herself.

"Hn. Y'know, the other half ended up kind of a mess, too."

"Hear that, Bunny? At least you're not the only one who had trouble."

"Yay," Barnaby muttered woozily. He appeared to have gone to sleep by the time Kotetsu hung up, but when he approached, one bleary green eye cracked open. He sat on the armrest of the couch and reached down to stroke the kid's hair, and Barnaby leaned into it a little.

"Apparently, your other half wasn't exactly forthcoming with the problems you two are having with this," Kotetsu hinted gently, and the eye closed.

"It's... I'm not... really sure if I can explain it in a way that makes sense... It's like we're in a room that has two stories. Only instead of a floor and ceiling between us, there's just... this deep barrier of water. And when I need to consciously get something that's on his side of it, I have to swim down through the water. And sometimes... sometimes I can make it far enough that I can get my hand through to his side... But I always run out of air."

Kotetsu leaned back against the wall, trying to envision the picture described. "And that's why it's making you so sick? That feeling of losing the air to your brain?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

He wondered if it had been a side effect of the split... or if maybe Maverick had created it somehow, like he'd blocked Wild Tiger's existence. It was a puzzle, just like everything else about this case. But they'd worked through a bunch of the other ones, right? So maybe they'd find the answer to this one staring them in the face.

Not tonight, though, he amended when he looked down again and found Barnaby actually had gone to sleep this time. Digging a blanket and a pillow out of the hall linen closet, he gently bundled the younger man up comfortably and went to bed himself.

 

The insistent beeping of his call bracelet alert roused him, and he glanced blearily at the clock by his bed.

Four thirty-two.

Ugh. Still, he tapped the band to get the criminal information and rolled out of bed.

"'s goin' on?" Barnaby asked sleepily when he bustled into the living room.

"Hero alert," Kotetsu said as he breezed past. "Don't worry about it, okay? Just stay here and try and get some rest."

 

The gang of NEXTs had hit a mall, but no one seemed to be able to say for sure yet what they were there for, other than to scare the hell out of what few security guards were on duty at this hour and cause property damage. He recognized three immediately from Barnaby's notes; the huge metal bastard, a reedy older man who could create concussion shockwaves, and a darker-skinned woman who could control water.

The fight was going much better than he'd expected. Even though they were very close to being outpowered, and what few of them had been studying with Barnaby had only been at it for days, they were keeping pace and match with their opponents well. He'd even managed to knock the metal creep on his ass once he'd powered up. He doubted they'd stay there long, considering who they were connected to, but the thought of being able to arrest some of the sorts who were after Barnaby made him feel a lot better about being called out at such an ungodly hour.

That brief moment of satisfaction ended when he heard a scream. Sky High had managed to blow a NEXT who grew wings through a window and out onto the street, and the asshole had retaliated by grabbing a passing girl. A bull-shaped NEXT hit Keith from behind before he could follow. Kotetsu checked his time.

Minute and a half left.

Good enough.

He took off after the guy and his shrieking hostage as they streaked towards a high tower, and successfully caught up on his third leap. Damn, chasing down a teleporter unpowered had improved his leg strength. 'Thanks, kid,' he thought briefly as he tackled the winged NEXT, knocking him off balance enough that he could grab the hostage. He curled his armored self protectively around the girl as they landed. "You okay, miss?" he asked, ready to check for injuries.

To his surprise, she giggled. "I'm just fine."

She leaned back and -shit, glowing- blew a cloud of some kind of gold powder at him. The air filters in his helmet did little to protect him from whatever the hell it was, and he let her go as he stumbled back, coughing and sneezing.

Goddamn. Everything was going blurry.

His legs buckled and he slumped to the ground in a heap. The last thing he heard before losing consciousness was that creepy giggle again.

 

He woke to visions of some kind mutant cat thing leaning over him. It swayed back and forth, keeping a hungry eye on him. Parts of it blurred and shifted into bits of other creatures as it did so. It leaned down and sniffed him, and a wave of some sickeningly sweet smell hit him when its nose and whiskers brushed his face. He recoiled from it, only to find himself chained to something heavy.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead!" the creature suddenly chirped, and he stared in a mix of confusion and disbelief as the 'world' of colors around him melted away to reveal some sort of factory. He was currently chained to a massive transfer pipe, and the creature collapsed in on itself to reveal the very girl he'd attempted to save.

In the light now streaming through the high windows, he could see that her hair was green with a blue streak. Weird-ass hair, annoyingly peppy... hallucinogenic powers. Shit. She'd been in Barnaby's notes too. Which meant this whole attack had been-

A heavy stone hand picked him up by the back of his neck, making him realize he'd lost his helmet in getting brought here as well. Not good.

"I still say we should just dump his ass in the river and be done with it," the stone statue holding him rumbled. Oh. Right. The big guy could do more forms other than metal.

"Well, that's why you're not in charge, duh," Green hair said cheerily. "Bait doesn't work very well if you get rid of it before you catch anything."

Bait...?

Oh, fuck no.

The realization must've shown on his face, because Green Hair gave him a grin to rival the Cheshire Cat. "You know, this would have been so much easier on you if you'd just handed dollface over when you were asked nicely."

"And when was that?" he asked sarcastically, and got shaken hard by the hand holding him in retaliation.

"But nooooo," the girl continued as if he'd never said anything. "You had to go and be annoying about it, and now we have to go through all this. It's such a hassle."

And yet he couldn't manage much sympathy, he thought bitterly. Glancing around, it didn't look like he had much chance at escaping. He could feel that it hadn't been long enough for him to be able to access his powers again yet, and besides the two powers guarding him, there were a few armed suits lurking about. Probably more outside. Something big must have been coming up if they were this desperate to get Barnaby back all of a sudden.

"You think the brat's gotten the message yet?"

"He'll show up soon enough. Even if he didn't see the broadcast, he'll run into the messengers when he goes looking for his missing kitty cat."

Huh. So they didn't know Barnaby was already at his apartment. If Nathan or one of the others could have beaten them there, then he could just stall this out long enough for his powers to recover and then get out of this without putting the kid in danger. Though his captors getting bored probably wouldn't end well for him.

It almost fell in his favor. He didn't know how long had passed, but he was certain he was close to getting his power back, when the sound of scuffling and the occasional thump outside made his heart leap into his throat. 'Please be the capes,' he willed silently.

His hopes were dashed when Barnaby was dragged -why wasn't he using his power?- through the door. The kid caught sight of him and tried to fling himself away from the suits, landing a good punch in one's face in the process of struggling.

"That's enough."

Barnaby froze at the sound of the voice, giving his restrainers a chance to force him to his knees. Kotetsu swore under his breath -and was shaken again for it; goddamn, didn't the bastard ever get tired in these other forms?- as Maverick strolled in from another bay door. The NEXTs had never left, but one of the others must have called him as soon as they had Barnaby moving in this direction.

Even with the wide distance between them, Kotetsu could see the blond shaking as his guardian approached him, and felt his insides go a little cold. He couldn't see what color the eyes were, but those tremors told him all he needed to know about which one was awake, and that alone was cutting their chances lower. They'd made a hell of a lot of progress, but he had no idea if a few months of uncovering secrets was going to be able to combat several years of conditioning.

"You've caused a lot of trouble, boy," Maverick said coldly, putting a hand under his ward's chin and forcing his head up.

Kotetsu bristled at the possessive touch. "Don't liste-" His vision suddenly filled with stars as the hand on his neck cut him off by roughly jerking him backwards, causing his head to hit the pipe he was chained to with a sharp clang. He didn't remember being dropped, but when his vision cleared, he was lying on the floor and Barnaby was looking in his direction with a horrified expression.

"See what you've done? If you hadn't gone and dragged one of the heroes into this childish little rebellion of yours, he'd be safe at home right now."

"That's not what happened," Kotetsu protested, and received a sharp kick in the ribs by a stone foot for his trouble. He curled around the injury, eyes watering, but refused to back down. "Bunny, you know he's lying. It's not-"

He wasn't sure what hit him then, but he was sure everyone in the room heard the crunch of his leg. He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming, and the broken leg was swiftly followed by a blow to the face. He choked as he hit the floor again, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.

"He's here because of you, Barnaby. This is your fault."

Barnaby finally spoke for the first time since he'd arrived, so quietly that Kotetsu had to strain to hear it over the ringing in his head. "Is... is that how I'll remember it?"

Despite the agony radiating through his body, Kotetsu nearly laughed at the expression that twisted across Maverick's face. They hadn't lost yet. Barnaby was clearly terrified, but not so much that he'd blanked. 'Please,' he willed. 'Get the hell out of here. Save yourself.'

But Barnaby still didn't move, and the old man composed himself. "Aware of that now, hm? I suppose that will be another thing that has to be fixed." His eyes flared blue, and Kotetsu's heart sank. 'No!'

 

Barnaby disappeared.

 

The next few minutes blurred by so fast that Kotetsu couldn't be sure of what was going on. Green Hair suddenly squealed and it looked like she'd been tossed across the room; the suits started shooting at shadows. The big stone jerk grunted in surprise as a heavy chain hoist dropped from one of the machines above, knocking him off balance.

Then Kotetsu felt slim hands press against an uninjured part of his neck. "Activate," Barnaby hissed softly close to his ear, and he obediently reached for his power, to find it had finished replenishing.

He'd only been conscious once before during a jump when they'd tested while training whether his powers would protect him from full unconsciousness the way Sky High's armor had. It was like suddenly being completely enveloped by a cold black fog, and the chill ached through his wounds.

When it cleared, he was staring up at white and lights and there was a cloud of noise all around him. Only when a face came into view and he recognized a nurse who regularly patched him up did he realize that he'd been brought to the hospital.

'Damn, Barnaby should be proud of himself. I think that's the farthest jump he's made yet,' he thought numbly, and part of him realized how inane it sounded amidst all the chaos going on around him.

A penlight was shone in his eyes, and he winced, prompting a noise of relief from one of the medics. "Where is he?" he rasped when he could get his voice to work past the blood he'd swallowed.

"Where is who, sir?"

"Barnaby. Where is he?" The man only looked confused. "Blond hair, green eyes... sometimes... glasses. He- he brought me here. Where is he?"

There was still no response, and Kotetsu could feel panic welling up. "Where is he?!"

"Tiger." The nurse he knew was the one leaning over him again as they checked to make sure he was clear to be fitted with the oxygen mask. "You were the only one who showed up in the ambulance bay."

 

Even with all the painkillers in his system, Kotetsu knew immediately that he wasn't alone as soon as he woke up. "Who's there?" The question went unanswered for a long minute, and he was just about to ask again when Barnaby's voice drifted over from somewhere in the shadows of his darkened room.

"We just came to warn you. Tell the other heroes not to interfere tomorrow."

Tomorrow... what was tomorrow? He remembered his usual nurse telling him at lunch that he was on day two of his hospital stay, so going by the date... Oh, crap. Tomorrow was the half-season event.

A cold feeling crept through him and he reached out in a fumbling attempt to find the younger man. Eventually, a hand met his, and he closed his fingers around it, making a concerned noise at the tremors he felt. "Come here."

Barnaby stayed still.

He gave a gentle squeeze and tug, and then a second one, and that finally prompted movement.

Kotetsu couldn't help the alarmed hiss that rose up when the moonlight revealed his friend's condition. Though it washed out all color in the room, leaving him unable to tell which one he was dealing with, there was no hiding the deep, dark circles under his eyes or the occasional exhausted sway in his stance. Had the kid even slept at all since dropping him off at the hospital?

But the most unnerving thing was when their eyes met.

Early in his career, Kotetsu had participated in a raid on a gang that had been illegally smuggling animals internationally to rich collectors. He especially had vivid memories of the big cats they'd found; caged and broken beasts who'd been abused and neglected until the only thing they had left was the desire to either be put out of their misery or bite and shred any human who dared get too close.

Seeing that same despairing, hollow desperation to wound the one who'd mistreated him for so long radiating out of his friend's eyes made Kotetsu's breath catch painfully in his chest.

And it also made him realize just what 'tomorrow' would entail. "Don't do it."

"Spare us the lectures," Barnaby said, but there was no derision or malice in his tone. Just that same empty pain that had kept him awake so long he could barely stand. "He deserves it."

Kotetsu was well aware that he was no genius of diplomacy. He was also well aware that, right now, the one who still stood to lose the most was Barnaby, even after everything that had already been taken away from him. And that this would be the absolute worst time to start making this a question of moral absolutes. Hoping he could keep his mouth from getting ahead of his brain and royally screwing this up, he ignored the pain in his ribs and gingerly sat up.

"You're right," he said softly, drawing Barnaby even closer. "The things he's done to you are unforgivable. But I'm not asking you to spare him. I'm asking you to protect yourself."

"Why? Because if we kill him, We'll be like him?"

Barnaby was only being sarcastic out of hurt, he reminded himself, and reached up to press a hand against a pale cheek. The rest of it, that creepy 'we', he didn't want to think about. "That's not it at all. Do you really think that if they've put this much effort into you, the people who made you will give up after you show that you can kill just like they want?"

"That- That's not the point."

"It is to them. If you show up and kill Maverick, you'll be exactly what he was helping them make you into. And look at yourself. You can hardly even stand. Would you be in any condition to keep from being caught if you tried?" The question was met with silence, and Kotetsu pressed the advantage. "We'll find another way to nail Maverick. For fixing the missions, if nothing else. It won't be enough, I know that. Nothing would ever be enough. But at least we can keep you safely out of their crosshairs by taking it that route, and right now, that's my only concern."

Barnaby shuddered, and he felt the hot wetness of tears against his fingers. He tried to pull the younger man into a hug, but Barnaby had gone rigid. "Bunny-"

The blond shook his head and pulled away, the shadows again hiding his expression. "We have to go."

Kotetsu swallowed thickly, dread sneaking in. "Stay here," he pleaded softly. "The others will keep watch, and no one would be stupid enough to-"

"We have to go," Barnaby murmured a little more insistently, his voice cracking. Kotetsu reached out to grab his hand in one last attempt at convincing him otherwise-

-and his fingers met empty air.

 

It wasn't until after the ceremony went off without a hitch that he finally fell into a fitful, uncomfortable sleep, haunted by dreams of those shattered, staring eyes.

 

When he was discharged from the hospital, it was to a notice of medical leave. On one hand, it made sense. Even sneaking in a little accelerated healing with Hundred Power when he could, the fractures in his femur alone were still serious enough to keep him off active duty. Once he'd confided in his co-conspirators what had happened in the factory, however, they all agreed that this was more like his job being held over his head unless he produced Barnaby.

Which he couldn't have done now even if he'd wanted to -and like hell he'd ever want to- but since when did shadowy organizations of evil ever let a little thing like facts get in the way of a good threat?

And... to be honest... he didn't know if he wanted his job back. At least not as long as Maverick was still calling the shots.

Two weeks into his leave, Kotetsu was already bored and itching to get out and go do something, and then the memory of the speculation over just how many of their missions might have been fixed would stop that train of thought cold. He wanted to help people, but that was just it... he wanted to help people. Not have his work staged by criminals paid off by the very man who was sending him out to stop them. The duplicity made him sick.

Nathan had stepped in to stop his moping, more or less tossing a job at him. "Trust me, honey," he'd said when Kotetsu had protested it. "If this were really charity, I would have given you something besides paperwork."

The job itself was boring as hell, but it paid well enough that he'd managed to move after only being on it two months. He'd liked his neighborhood up until this all started, but now he just didn't feel safe there anymore. Too many eyes. Too many shadows to jump at. He worried every time Kaede came to visit, or when he had to work late and go home at odd hours. The others had helped him pick his new place, and it was only coincidence that they'd all decided on a small, comfortable loft just a few blocks away from the apartment Barnaby still owned.

Really.

Which was why he was currently standing in front of the door to said apartment holding the spare key Barnaby had given him the day he'd moved in.

Of course.

He didn't know why he was here. Maybe it was just some masochistic urge. But when a passing woman raised an eyebrow at him for just standing in the hallway like an idiot, pulled his hat down, ducked his head, and quickly unlocked the door.

The apartment was stark and empty and cold without anyone in it. It felt wrong. He was just about to chalk this up as a stupid mistake and turn around when he noticed something out of place. A little white envelope on the coffee table. Curiosity got the better of him, and he rounded the couch to pick it up.

There was a tiny 'K' printed on the front.

Kotetsu bit his lip at the sudden flutter in his stomach and carefully thumbed open the flap. He pulled out a bright, sunny photograph of Big Ben... a postcard?

There was no address or anything on the other side when he flipped it over. But what was there made his breath catch.

'I still owe you.' read the simple statement in the assistant's prim, precise hand. And underneath that was a date.

Yesterday's date.

"He's been here," Kotetsu whispered. After weeks of carefully keeping an ear on morgue gossip and police reports, the simple fact of knowing that Barnaby was still alive somewhere made a huge portion of the tension load he'd been carrying just wash away.

He hunted down a pen. There were a hundred thousand things that he wanted to say right then, but it all boiled down to one. 'I miss you,' he scribbled next to the message, then carefully laid the card out where Barnaby would easily be able to see it when he came back again.

 

It took two weeks before another card showed up. The picture of Buckingham Palace had nothing on it, but he thought the card itself was message enough. Barnaby had to be telling him where he was. That he was still okay. He was sure of it.

The third card was an aerial view of the Champs-Elysees. A trip?

The fourth was of the London Eye.

On that one, Kotetsu wrote his new address.

The arrival of the cards at his house was erratic, and they never came with return addresses, but Kotetsu found them comforting all the same.

And then, one week from the end of the season, Maverick died.

The old man had had a stroke in his sleep, the doctors ruled. The result of months, possibly years of health problems he'd kept secret from the public. Kotetsu had been drinking with Antonio in their usual bar when it came over the news, and he'd nearly choked on his beer.

"Goddamn," Antonio murmured as they stared at the screen over the bar.

After several minutes, Kotetsu finally recovered from the shock enough to get his voice back. "Is... is it wrong that I feel..."

"Kind of glad?"

"Cheated? I'm not sure that-"

"I dunno, man. We don't even know how many lives he ruined, and he gets to go out quietly on top of the world? That'd be a pretty good reason to feel bitter."

When Kotetsu arrived home, he pulled out all of the postcards Barnaby had sent him. He suddenly wished he had more of a communication link to the younger man than just these as his worries came back. Had Barnaby heard the news yet? Was he going to be okay when he did? Did he have anyone to help keep him in one piece?

Damn, this wasn't fair. Antonio had made a good point, but it was even more than that. They'd been so close. Nathan had been keeping tabs on all their research and information digging, and the man was sure that they were within months of blowing this whole issue wide open. He'd almost, almost been able to leave Barnaby a message that they'd succeeded.

And then this.

Kotetsu was aware of his jealousy issues, but he'd never considered himself particularly vindictive. Right now, though, he really hoped that the old man's abuse of his NEXT power had been a contributing factor in that stroke.

The next postcard arrived two days after Maverick's funeral: a picture of Moscow's Red Square. Kotetsu kept it in his pocket when he went to the end-of-season event to hear Agnes reinstate him as an active hero.

 

The new season had gotten off to a rocky start. Agnes had acted as an interim CEO for the between weeks, but now that the show was back on the air, she was reasserting her position that she was a producer, goddammit, and didn't have time to be doing two jobs at once. Apollon was scrambling to find a new head of operations, which, whether Agnes liked it or not, filtered down to the running of the show.

He might have slipped her a note that a former boss of his would be a very good candidate for the position. She might have gone a little easier on him for the rest of the week as a result of the suggestion.

As for the crimes themselves, it was hard to gauge. Without Maverick arranging things behind the scenes, there were fewer big, ratings-drawing attacks, but those that they did get were much tougher to deal with. The bad guys were holding back a lot less now that they weren't being paid to throw the fights.

But he and the others were holding their own pretty well despite that. Though they hadn't told where it had come from, Barnaby's information and training had been passed on to those who hadn't known him, and it gave them a little more edge.

Though he wasn't really feeling that edge right now, Kotetsu decided as he walked to the mail box wall of his building. Mostly, he was feeling the ache of the lamp post he'd hit when a detonation-power NEXT had attacked. He clicked open the box and began sorting through his mail. No postcard... but there was a photo.

He squinted at it, trying to figure out what the hell it was. It didn't look like any shot he recognized from a book... Then he saw the Justice Tower off in a small corner. Hold on a second. He did know this view.

Aches and pains suddenly forgotten, he bolted for the elevator, and when it took too long to arrive, he took the stairs three at a time. Stumbling through the maintenance doorway to the roof, he held up the photograph.

He was right, he thought with a little twinge of triumph as he caught his breath. But as he wandered around the roof, looking for any sign or hint, his heart began to sink again. Had he made the wrong assumption? Or was he too late? What if he had-

Kotetsu jumped with a startled yelp when something covered his eyes from behind.

Wait, hands, he figured out after a second. Gloved hands. Very carefully taking hold of them, he looked over his shoulder.

Barnaby drew back with that hesitant, shy smile he remembered so well. "Hi."

Kotetsu suddenly felt lightheaded. If he'd been thinking clearly, he would have stayed put, but his body moved almost of its own volition. An arm tight around the waist, fingers of his other hand tangled into blond curls, he kissed his friend with every ounce of the desperation and worry he'd felt in the last months.

When allowed to come up for air, Barnaby was a flustered, fidgety shade of pink. "Ah- Th- that was unexpected."

"Sorry," Kotetsu said, already beginning to feel regretful and more than a little mortified himself. Damn, what the hell had he been-

That line of thought skidded to a halt when the other man's mouth pressed to his again. Barnaby's kiss was much more gentle, just the barest brush of soft lips against his own, but the fact that it had been given at all warmed him down to his toes. He reveled in it for a moment before stepping back to get a good look.

The kid had let his hair grow out just a little, bangs falling almost into his eyes. The glasses were new, rimless silver with soft-grey tinted lenses that hid his eye color. His style of dress hadn't changed much, though Kotetsu could see that he'd blended up some of the elements of both sides now. And he was still too thin.

But here.

He was here.

Through examining, Kotetsu hugged his friend tightly, burying his face against his shoulder. "God, Bunny."

"I missed you."

He finally managed to regain his composure and raise his head, gently brushing a hand over a pale cheek. "I know you needed to keep a low profile, but couldn't you have called? Or visited sooner?"

"We had a lot of things we needed to work out," Barnaby murmured, then looked down at the ground. "And... also... I wasn't sure how to apologize."

Kotetsu blinked. "Apologize? For what?"

"Maverick may have lied about most things in our lives, but he was right about one. Your injuries... those were my fault." Kotetsu opened his mouth to protest, but the blond shook his head and continued. "I should have just teleported you out from the beginning. I don't know if it was just the circumstances or something else. But I still had this stupid hope that somehow there was something left in him I could appeal to. That it hadn't all been an act. But when he just stood there and let you take a beating every time you tried to talk, it finally sank in. I was so-"

Kotetsu cut him off with a kiss before he could finish the sentence. "It was not your fault. I knew there was a very good possibility I could be hurt from day one. Everything he said to you in the factory was more manipulation, and that's all."

They both just stood awkwardly for a moment, all the unresolved issues hanging in the air over them. There was one in particular that he didn't want to bring up. Ever. But that wound had already been reopened anyway, and he supposed it was better to just make a clean cut. "Bunny... About Maverick..."

"We heard." Barnaby didn't raise his head, something akin to pain flickering across his face. "We... Our feelings on the matter are still very complicated. And we would like to leave it at that for now, please."

"Sure," Kotetsu said, hand moving to knead the back of the younger man's neck in one of their familiar comforting gestures. Then he managed a smile. "Come on. You haven't seen the new place."

 

Kotetsu had skipped lunch, and he wasn't sure what, or if Barnaby had eaten at all, so while the blond explored his apartment, he put a call in to Trio for one of 'their' meals. There was one big thing that was still nagging at him, though, and when Barnaby came back to the living room, he took a deep breath and decided to bite the bullet. "Hey, Bunny, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I've noticed... why do you sometimes use 'I' and sometimes use 'We'?"

Barnaby hesitated, and for a second, Kotetsu worried he'd offended him. Then Barnaby bit his lip, closed his eyes, and slipped off his glasses.

When he opened his eyes again, Kotetsu was sure his heart stopped.

The ring of the irises was a deep, dark, almost wine red, and the inner area near the pupils was a bright green. Each color speared into the other, and when he got up to get a closer look, he was sure that shifts of light or movement made one or the other color dominant, like some kind of multifaceted gem.

It was, as far as he knew, a biological impossibility. It was also a little bit frightening. But it was mostly devastatingly pretty.

"Damn," he breathed when his heart started beating again. "No wonder you went for tinted lenses. You'd have to be beating admirers away with a stick otherwise."

Barnaby made an awkward, embarrassed little chuckle. "You're really okay with it?"

"Hell yes. But... How did-?"

The blond toyed with his glasses. "The only way we were able to get you out of the factory was to both hit the barrier between us. It gave us just enough leeway between abilities for the jump to work. But we got... stuck, for lack of a better word. You were right that we wouldn't have been able to kill Maverick, but it wasn't for the same reasons. With both of us trapped, it was like we were... fighting for air, sort of. Couldn't think, couldn't sleep, everything hurt."

Kotetsu gently tugged his friend to sit on the couch and held onto his hands, and that seemed to give Barnaby enough nerve to keep going. "We don't remember the bay. Maybe we tried to teleport out of the city. Maybe we just tried to drown for real. But either way, we washed up near the grounds of the airport."

"And that was when you left for real?"

He nodded. "Don't ask us how. It's all still kind of a blur. But we managed to get some money out of the account you and Nathan showed us, and bought a ticket. Didn't care where, just whatever was the next flight that still had available seats. We ended up in London, which was actually the best thing that could have happened."

"Why?" Kotetsu felt a little guilty for prodding, but Barnaby just leaned against the cushions on the back of the couch closing his eyes.

"It was hell for the first few days. Sleep deprivation hallucinations, half starved, dehydrated... Then on the third day, we quite literally tripped over a man in a wheelchair," he said with a faint chuckle. "He did... something to our head that made it quiet enough we could sleep, then fed us once we were awake. And then he introduced himself as a telepathic psychiatrist. He'd actually been looking for us. See, normal minds project a little... fractured minds project a lot... and then there was us. Finding us had probably been the equivalent of following an air raid siren."

That tension was coming back, so Kotetsu began gently petting him again. "Do you trust him?"

"As much as we can, at any rate, and he's accepted that. He was the one who suggested the post cards."

Huh. Maybe Kotetsu would have to arrange a fruit basket or something, then. "Are you... merging? Fusing? Whatever the right word for this would be?"

"No. This is as far as we go. There are just too many elements neither is willing to give up. It's like... roommates, sort of. One owns the couch, one owns the coffee pot, and both have their names on the lease."

He couldn't help a snort at the analogy. "As long as he's taking good care of you... I can live with it," he said, beginning to run his fingers through his partner's hair. "Just promise me one thing?"

"Of course."

"I don't want to have to wait another year to see you, okay?"

Barnaby laughed and nodded, wiping his eyes with the heel of a gloved hand before putting his glasses back on, and at that moment, the doorbell rang for their food.

 

Kotetsu snapped awake, a short groan lodged in his throat. Even though Barnaby had promised he wouldn't leave until breakfast, the sudden fear of an empty bed or, worse, that the entire evening had been a dream had overtaken his mind while he'd slept.

But Barnaby still lay snuggled against his side and sound asleep, an arm curled over his chest. Kotetsu took hold of his hand, and began tracing the lines of the brand scarred into his skin.

There were still so many things to be unsure about. Whether Barnaby would be safe hopping across the globe without him. If all this mess would ever truly be over.

Barnaby murmured something unintelligible in his sleep and shifted even closer, and Kotetsu let out a breath he hadn't been aware of holding. Barnaby had promised to visit. He had someone looking out for him when Kotetsu couldn't. That was good enough for now, he told himself.

He softly kissed slender fingers and rolled onto his side, folding his sleeping partner into his arms as he closed his eyes.

For the first time in months, his sleep was peaceful and content.