Chapter 2

In the year Kotetsu had run of the place, Barnaby's apartment only looked slightly more lived-in than when he'd first seen it. The place just looked entirely too sterile, even with the boxes of Kaede's things sitting in a corner of the main room. Kotetsu looked apologetic as he let them in; Barnaby was not, apparently, home yet.

"Bunny cleared out his office for you, at least." Kotetsu grinned and jammed his thumb over to a couple bookcases full of old volumes. "That's all that was in there, but I doubt you'd like looking at those old things." Kotetsu sighed. "You should feel honored. He still makes me sleep on the couch."

"You're probably not even helping with rent." The first box Kaede dug into was full of manga, various titles from Kadokawa Shoten she was expected to be seen carrying around, since she had a secret identity in name only. That was due to her father's attempts to clear his name three years previously, of course.

Kotetsu frowned and took a title out of the box, flipping through it. "I do more cooking than him."

"Fried rice doesn't count, Daddy," Kaede said, and she plucked the manga from his hands. The cover was colorful, certainly something that would catch her eye if she saw it in a store.

Kotetsu frowned again, but instead of saying anything, he activated his Hundred Power and picked up Kaede's piled boxes.

"Daddy, I can do it myself," Kaede protested as she followed her father down the hall to the second bedroom in the apartment. It was true that it only had two bedrooms, and as Kaede went to look in the one that would be hers, she couldn't help but wonder why Barnaby had made her father sleep on the couch for so long. Even if he wasn't paying any rent, they'd been partners for years, after all.

Her eyes lit up when she saw the giant bed before her, though, already covered in Hello Kitty sheets (probably courtesy of Sanrio). She rushed forward, almost making her father drop her things, and laid down on it. Then she rolled over and said, "Um, Daddy, if this big bed was here, why are you sleeping on the couch?"

"I just bought that, actually." Kotetsu grinned sheepishly. "Saved up all year since you announced you were going to work for Hero TV. The only options I had when I started living here were couch or sleeping with Bunny, and there was no way he'd agree to that."

Kaede considered this as she rolled back along the sheets, savoring their softness. She had to say that her father sleeping in the same bed as Barnaby Brooks Jr. would've made her uncomfortable, but that was mostly due to her increased interest in the Hero fandom since she started her training. She'd read the fanfics. She was broken out of her thoughts with another roll and a look at her father, though. "Daddy? Hasn't it been over a minute by now?"

Kotetsu blinked at that and then looked at his hands. He was still glowing blue even though it had to have been almost two minutes since he'd activated his power. He was, of course, understandably confused. The front door opened, and he looked down the hall to see Barnaby coming in. "Hey Bunny! I gotta ask you something!"

Kaede shook her head. She didn't understand why her father was losing his powers in the first place, so she didn't understand why he'd suddenly get them back. Therefore, she didn't put too much thought into it.

xxx

"It's a really rare power, isn't it?"

Pao-Lin and Karina were standing near the doorway of the Hero's workout gym when Kaede got there after her first day at school. She'd been hounded by classmates, who called her Tiger-chan rather than Kaede even when she told them not to. She was just glad to be around people that wouldn't treat her any differently just because she was a Hero.

"What's a really rare power?"

Karina and Pao-Lin turned to Kaede, smiling in greeting. "Well," Karina said, tossing a water bottle between her hands. "That NEXT we caught last night. They brought him in and Agnes was just here to tell us about his powers. It turns out he has Power Augmentation."

"What does that mean?" Kaede asked as they all headed through. It seemed they were the only ones there right then, but at least that meant Kaede had pretty much free pick of the exercise equipment.

"Well, you saw the effects," Karina said. "When Rock Bison caught him, he just had to activate his powers and he suddenly became very weak. I suppose you could say someone with Power Augmentation can make a NEXT's powers weaker or stronger."

Kaede didn't think much of it as she headed for one of the treadmills, at least until her cell phone went off. She kept running even as she brought it out and read the text. It was her father, saying he'd pick her up later unless she got sent out. Just as she put her phone away, she suddenly had a thought, and she turned to Pao-Lin, who was using the leg press nearby.

"Um, when Karina said you could make a NEXT's powers stronger… do you think that would count for my dad? Like, be able to restore his powers."

"Huh? I guess. Actual potential has nothing to do with it, according to Agnes." When Kaede glanced at the setting for the leg press, she winced when she saw it was over four-hundred pounds. There was a reason Pao-Lin had been recruited at such a young age, she supposed. "Why? Has something happened to Tiger?"

"Ah, just wondering." Kaede smiled and went back to her workout.

xxx

Kotetsu, Kaede decided as she got out of the taxi, was still unreliable. He'd called her up directly to apologize and say he wouldn't be able to pick her up. He'd offered to send Barnaby, but Kaede had refused, saying she didn't want to trouble him. Kotetsu hadn't explained why he couldn't pick her up, but it probably had something to do with the B Team Heroes. Kaede was honestly surprised herself that she hadn't yet been called out.

Of course, she spoke too soon. Just as she went through the front doors of the apartment building, her bracelet went off. She didn't even need to look at it to know she had to get back to Apollon Media and suit up.

She saw the results of the criminal as soon as she skated toward the rendezvous point with the other heroes. Explosions were being set off in skyscraper after skyscraper. It didn't appear to be a NEXT, though, so if they could find the person, it would be easy enough to catch him. Since no one could seem to find him, though, the other heroes were mostly evacuating citizens.

There was a scream that Kaede thought sounded like a little girl, and she whirled around to see she was right. A child maybe half her age was cowering as debris fell all around her. A particularly large piece fell through the air after the most recent explosion, and Kaede sped up. Adrenaline rushed through her and she felt almost like she was skating on air. Rather than save the child, however, she reared up and punched the debris, her body glowing blue from the Hundred Power. It shattered, and the debris scattered harmlessly to the ground.

When she went to console the child, however, something caught her eye. "Come on!" she said, and she picked the child up and put her onto her back as she went. The child clung for dear life as Kaede skated towards the suspicious person she'd spotted.

Sure enough, the man pressed a button, and another explosion was set off. "Found you!" Kaede exclaimed, and the man screamed and dropped the remote. As if on cue, Kaede was surrounded by her fellow Heroes. Kaede gave the hysterical child on her back to Sky High before chasing after the man. It didn't last long, though, because they soon came to the back wall of an alley. He tried to scramble up it, but it was solid, with nothing to hold onto or prop his feet up on.

"Geeze, this was too easy," Kaede said, ignoring the commentary from the Hero TV helicopters, raving about her very first arrest. Her copied Hundred Power was still active, so she was able to hold the man completely off the ground with no effort.

That did not, however, stop him from moving his arms. He reached into the pocket of his trench coat and got yet another controller. It all happened so fast that Kaede had no chance to stop it; he pressed the button, and both buildings forming the alley they stood in exploded somewhere in the middle and started crumbling.

"Tiger-chan!" The heroes started rushing forward, and Kaede screamed and scrunched her eyes closed, waiting for the weight of the buildings to crush her. She even loosened her grip on the criminal, and he managed to scramble over the crumbled wall in front of them, not nearly as panicked as Kaede.

Of course, the debris never came. Or at least, it was taking a very long time. Kaede opened her eyes after a bit to see she had been pulled out of the way, and when she looked up, she was in her father's arms, Kotetsu in full armor and glowing with power.

"Daddy!" she said, relief washing over her tense form. Kotetsu had his face plate down so she couldn't see, but she was sure he was grinning. The alley was completely blocked off by debris from the twin explosions, but if she really squinted through the dust, she could see Barnaby as he held the criminal by the collar of his coat.

Barnaby sounded irritated as he said, "And I thought Wild Tiger caused too much collateral damage."

"Hey, I've gotten better about that!" Kotetsu called as Barnaby stepped over the debris, keeping a firm grip on his capture.

Fire Emblem was the first of the other Heroes to pipe up as the police came in and took the criminal into custody, though he voiced what everyone was probably thinking, "Well, darlings, it's fabulous to see you both, but what are you doing here?"

Kotetsu raised his face plate up and, just as Kaede had expected, he was grinning. "We'll explain later."