Down The Rabbit Hole

"What the hell were you thinking? " yelled a certain blond that was known to not really care for Kotetsu foolishness. "How could you just let them get away like that?" The two had been out on Hero TV, working together on catching a group of NEXT Kidnappers. The two had almost captured them when Kotetsu had decided to pull his normal stunt of pretending to suddenly lose his powers and run into a beam. A beam that just happened to take down an already unstable building which just so happened to come crumbling down on them and allow the criminals to escape. Luckily, they had escaped with minor bumps and bruises. Kotetsu flinched at the words and gave a nervous smile, "Na, Bunny-chan I couldn't help it cause well…." Kotetsu drawled out as he looked else where, trying to decide how best to continue

"Cause what?" Barnaby crossed his arms over his chest, looking less then pleased with his partner. This was becoming a common occurrence. At first he thought it was sweet of Kotetsu to be giving Barnaby all the points and to the other Hero's that needed them as well to stay in the game. But now, it was becoming a hindrance and one that needed to be put to a stop. Right now. Kotetsu lifted his infamous hat from his dark head and scratched at it in thought. He was going to have to tell Barnaby the truth, but would his partner listen to him? He wasn't sure he would, especially when his partner was rather irritated. "I um, well, you see. Bunny, I um…I think I reached my limit." There, he said it.

"What do you mean, you've reached your limit?" Came the calm voice of a disgruntled bunny who was getting to the point of picking his skinny ass up and walking right out the door. It sure as hell wouldn't be the first time he got up and left, he was certain it wouldn't be the last either. "I think…um, I just started to day dream!." The damn tiger was just messing with him like always. Barnaby adjusted his glasses as he stared at the older hero who sat across from him at the small table in the training room.

"Day dream? Old man, you are fucking with me and I don't appreciate it. Why don't you tell me the truth or have you just lost all sense?" Barnaby raised his right hand and tapped his temple, making his point very clearly of what he thought of the situation. Kotetsu stared at him long and hard with a shake of his head. As much as he hated to be series and sucked at dealing with conflicts, he was trying his best to get to the heart of the matter. "You don't understand, Bunny."

Barnaby rolled his eyes at his partner. The man always made some kind of wild excuse to get out of mischief. Now, he trusted his partner but this was just too much, why couldn't the Old man tell him anything? Growling in irritation, Bunny slammed his hands on the table and started out of the room. "B-Bunny!" Kotetsu stood up with a look of desperation, his heart was pulling him in two different directions. He could tell Bunny everything or pretend as if nothing was wrong no matter if his partner deserved to know the truth. It was too hard to say and Kotetsu wasn't sure if he even believed it…he was losing his powers and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

He opened his mouth to speak, however Barnaby lifted a hand to silence the older male. "You know what, no. Don't even bother saying a word until you think you can tell me what is really going on here." with that said, Barnaby left and went into the locker room fuming. As he changed his clothing he cursed under his breath, slamming the locker. Tossing his jacket over his shoulder, he stomped out of the building. What in the hell was wrong with Kotetsu? Why couldn't he trust him enough to tell him what was really going on? Granted, Bunny had a few ideas on what could be wrong with his partner but he wasn't going to believe any until Kotetsu spilled the beans.

If he ever would, at this rate Barnaby was going to become an old man. Barnaby let out a sigh, he just needed to go home and take a hot shower and recover from todays life of hell. The blond stopped a few feet from the building and looked towards the parking garage. A sudden thought hit him as he put his hand into a pocket. Shit, he forgot his keys! He must of left them in the building. Green eyes went towards the building he had came from. He could either go in there and drive home or not go in there and deal with Kotetsu and merely walk home.

Walking it was then! Shaking his blond curls he started down the road at an easy pace. He lived a good five miles from here so it would take him sometime to get home. Well, at least he could walk off his frustrations, the only bad thing was it was getting dark and fast. He wouldn't get home until…well, he looked down at his watch, it was around nine forty-five, so that means he wouldn't get until about ten thirty, give or take a few minutes.

Ten minutes into his walk and not a living soul past by him, hell not even a car went by and that was a bit unusual. Yet, it made no differences to Barnaby Brooks Jr. nor did the silent walk, in fact he found it rather refreshing. Well, until he felt a sudden drop hit his nose. "What the…" Confused, he looked up into the sky and frowned deeply. Dark clouds had rolled into the already darken sky and hid the moon away from sight.

Another drop of water hit him on the cheek followed by two more drops and then it just came down. "Ah, shit. Really?" He exhaled, so much for a relaxing walk! Groaning, he took his red and white coat and placed it over his head and quickened his pace until a van pulled up beside him. He didn't hear it nor did he see it until a window rolled down. "Excuse me." said a voice with a cheerful face barely seen from the poor lighting of the street lamp. "Sir, do you know where Maple Street is?"

Barnaby, being a good citizen that he was stopped and looked at the man with a raised brow, though didn't move a muscle. "Maple Street?" He couldn't recall ever seeing a street named that in this area before at all. "Yeah, Maple Street. I got a delivery to make and I am already a few hours behind." Said the man as he held up a laminated map and pointed to it, "Think you could help me out buddy? I would sure appreciate it."

The blond looked from the map, the sky, then to the man a few times before sighing. He placed a small smile on his face and approached the van. "I suppose so." Not like getting wetter would make much of a difference at this point. Barnaby came up to the window and peered at the map. "Well," He said as his eyes scanned the road ways on the map. "Hmm…"

Slowly, a figure slipped out from behind the van and rounded the van carefully. The figure peered out from around the automobile and looked at the blond giving directions. A wicked smile touched the persons face as Barnaby had his back to the person. "I think if you go back to 2nd Street, you might be able to find Maple. But, I don't see it on the map. Are you sure it-wait a minute." Barnaby looked up into the face of the man with narrowed eyes. Wasn't he the same man he and Kotetsu had been trying to capture earlier today?

A hand suddenly clamped over Barnaby's face, Startled suddenly the blond jerked his elbow up to nail the man in the ribs. But for some reason, he couldn't focus very well, it was then he noticed the man had a rag in his hand with an liquid on it. "Chloroform?" Oh shit, summoning his own Hundred Power did nothing for him, as soon as he activated it his eyes rolled back in his head. The figure caught Barnaby as he became unconscious and laughed a little. "Well now, seems we got ourselves a pretty little thing."

"Throw him in the back before someone sees us but take care with that one, seems he's a NEXT." The figure smiled, "No worries Boss, we got just the thing for NEXT's."

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Kotetsu frowned as he lowered the his ringing phone from his ear, odd, Bunny wasn't picking up his phone. Was Bunny still mad at him for today's events? Surely not! Normally, Barnaby would answer his phone no matter what. "Bunny-chan…" Kotetsu said softly, staring into his phone as if his partner would suddenly appear out of it.

Wow, this is my first fanfic in years XD I hope it didn't stink too bad...so trying to get back into writing. Plus, I got tired of seeing Kotetsu getting all the crap and getting hurt. I think its about time Kotetsu is a hero and Bunny is the one getting into trouble! Call me insane, but its true!