Disconnection; Chapter 1: Taken
It seemed like a regular night in the megalopolis city of Sternbild, as people seemed to be going about their daily schedules, when…
'Crash' people screamed in shock as something seemed to fall from the sky crashing into the freeways making the cars screech to a halt and sending dust and bits of concrete flying. As eyes turned to the giant dust cloud, a large silhouette began to emerge through the dust, once dispersed the figure appeared.
'Calling All Hero's! Calling all Hero's!' an alarm went out to all available heroes of an emergency in the downtown area, a high alert priority.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong Dad?" Keade asked, she and her father had been out for what he called a 'father daughter outing', to make up for not being available as much. She told him at first it wasn't necessary, she knew that he was busy as a hero, but Kotetsu had insisted that they spend the afternoon together. Even finishing up his work early so he had more time for his daughter.
"I thought I heard something?" he said scratching his head under his hat,
"Don't tell me your hearing is starting to be affected" she sighed
"Hey now, why does everyone always bring up my age, I'm not that…" he didn't even finish his sentence as the sound of a loud crash followed by screams of panic filled the air. Kotetsu turned as people screamed trying to run to safety, loud thumping could be heard and felt,
"What in the world?" suddenly something rounded the corner, it was large and metallic looking, with six long legs and a large tail that moved slowly behind it. With a an extending neck and an oval like head that moved back and forth quickly from side to side, the creature let out a loud screeching scream that sharded the glass from buildings and cars, even cracking the brick and cement.
"Dad what is that thing?" Keade asked as her father pushed her further behind him
The creature looked around the street, its visor like eyes scanning the crowed, going over face after face, person after person, as it continued to scan until
'Bang!' a large ball of fire struck the creatures head followed by a lightning strike, gust of high wind, and finished with strike of ice. The people looked in ah and cheered as the heroes arrived.
"Hey guys nice timing!" Kotetsu said
"Old man can't you go a minute without causing trouble" Barnaby said
"Eh, how could I be blamed for that thing" he said rather offended by the others comment
"Um guys could you two have your conversation later" Rock Bison called out, the heroes looked over to see the creature beginning to rise, unaffected by the onslaught of attacks from the other heroes.
"Persistent" Barnaby inquired as he watch the creature
"Tough guy huh?" Rock Bison smirked reeving his drills up, "Let's see how you do against brute force, here I come!" he roared and charged toward the creature. The creature scanned the incoming attack,
'Scanning….Scan complete, launching counter measure' with a flash of its eyes, a light encased around it
"What's it doing?"
"Take this!" Rock Bison roared but as he got close, in a flash of light Rock Bison was halted
"What the hell!?"
"A force field?"
As the hero tried to moved forward the forced became too great he was sent flying back skidding across the pavement before landing with a bang.
"Ah dammit…" he groaned
"Rock Bison!?"
"Alright is my turn!" Blue Rose declared activating her powers, "Time for you to chill out!" with a burst a blue energy was sent toward the creature, releasing a roar as it made contact and began freezing around it…
'Scanning….Scan Complete, initiating counter measure' soon the creature was incased in a large block of solid eyes. Blue Rose gave a short sigh rather exhausted from using so much of her NEXT powers,
"Good job sweetie!" Fire Emblem said
"Heh, no problem I…huh?" a sizzling his escaped the ice block, a red energy seemed to leak from the creature, melting the ice. The heroes watched as the ice cracked sending ice shards flaying down.
"Everyone take cover!" Barney yelled, in an instant people were ducking for cover from the failing ice shards, Kotetsu scoped up his daughter before quickly taking cover behind an over turned car. The ice shards were sticking out of the ground and various objects,
Blue Rose looked to make sure everyone was okay, when suddenly she was struck from the side by one of the cratures arms sending her flying backwards crashing into the ground.
"Blue Rose!"
"I'm fine…" she groaned clutching her arm, staggering to stand, "Just caught me by surprise…" she said
"Attacking a lady in such a manner, prepare to feel the justice of Sky High!" the wind hero declared before rocketing toward the creature. With a series of acrobatic maneuvers, Sky High was able to land a serious of attacks on the creature.
"Good work Sky High, keep it distracted!" Barnaby said, the Hero gave a salute understanding before continuing his assault.
"Listen, Fire Emblem, Dragon Kid get Blue Rose and Rock Bison to a safe place"
"On it!"
"Sure Handsome~"
"Origami Cyclone get as many as you can to a safe place"
"I'll go assist Sky High!" as the hero's went about their duties, Dragon Kid and Fire Emblem went to go help their other teammates as Barnaby and Edward prepared to help Sky High.
"Hey Bunny!" a voice called as Kotetsu came running up to the other
"Old man what are you doing?"
"Hey what's with all that? I'm still a hero you know"
"Don't be foolish, your powers only work for one minute" Barnaby reminded the other, "Besides this creature is nothing to play at, I don't need you risking your life" he said, suddenly there was a 'whoosh' of air as something crashed behind them, as they looked back they saw Sky High dented into a car head hung low possibly from unconsciousness.
"Whoa…" the creature let out another roared as it began to advance upwards.
"Dammit" Barnaby growled, "Kotetsu get out of here now!"
"But what about you?" it was true he was worried about his former partner after seeing so many of his friends and comrades taken down so easily. The monster lifted one of its hands and prepared to attack, falling at a high rate, Barnaby quickly activated his Plus One Hundred Power increasing his strength as the attack made contact. With his advanced strength he was able to catch and hold up the large appendage. As he continued to hold it back, the creature continued to add pressure to the other, the force cracking the ground and ultimately the armor.
'Bunny can't hold it for much longer' Kotetsu thought fearfully as he watched the other struggle to hold the attack.
"AHHHH!" he groaned beginning to lose his holding, suddenly there was a shift in the weight, Barnaby looked to the side to see none other than, "Kotetsu!?"
"Hey there Bunny, though you could us a hand" he smirked holding up the attack, his next powers activating,
"What the hell are you doing? I told you to get to a safe place" he said as the other male just smirk loosely, "Heh, you know me, always gotta be the hero" he said, "Damn this is starting to get heavy" he groaned feeling his power loosen.
"You need to get out of here, your minute is almost up" he groaned, in truth his five minutes were almost gone as well and the pressure was becoming too much.
"What kind of partner would I be if I left…my friend in this kind of situation?" he groaned, "Besides that's not the…thing…Wild Tiger does…."
Suddenly the pressure stopped and the arm moved back to the creature's side, the heroes gave a sigh of relief, but then looked at the creature…
"Um…what just happened?"
'Scanning….Facial Recognition Verified, Wild Tiger-Kotetsu T. Kaburagi….proceeding to capture' with a sudden jolt the creature let out another roar.
'It's going to attack!' Barnaby pushed Kotetsu out of the way just in time as it rounded, its tail hitting Barneby who was sent flying into the wall of the building.
"Ahh Bunny!?" Kotetsu called out after seeing his partner sent flying by the creature, "Are you okay?" he called out seeing his partner lying under a bunch of rubble.
"Hold on here I…" suddenly he was stopped when one of the creatures arms cut him off, with a sudden halt Kotetsu looked up at the creature, it's head beginning to descend towards him until he was face level with it.
"Now then big guy let's be civil here" he said almost jokingly, but with no NEXT power and being boxed in he had little option…as the creature stared at him, its eyes began to glow an eerie light of mixed colors and hues.
"What the…" Kotetsu blinked staring into the colored lights unable to look away, drawn into it by a strange force…
Barnaby rose from the rubble, sliding his helmet plat up he gave a quick cough, blood dripping from his mouth, "Kotetsu…?" did he move in time
It was then he saw his partner, gazing at the creature,
"Kotetsu!" he called out to his partner, why was he just standing there, he should be running away
'You are….father' with a sudden flash Kotetsu's eyes flashed the colored hues before becoming a lax hazy amber…
"Yes…take me to…my daughter" with a sudden gasp the male fainted falling onto one of the creatures large hands.
"No!" Barnaby yelled, ignoring the pain, he quickly stood and quickly moving to go save his partner, his suit sparked and crackled from the battle damage only allowing him to stagger forward. Suddenly fire began to emit from the bottom of the creatures legs, creating a rocket like take off, Barnaby shielded himself from the emission as the creature lifted off and flew away with Kotetsu in hand.
"Kotetsu! Kotetsu!" Barnaby yelled, unable to do anything, but watched the creature fly away with his partner and friend, he felt so helpless, "KOTETSU!" he cried out as he stood in the middle of the wreckage of the battle. With a slump, he sat on a large piece of debris from the wall he crashed into, removing his helmet he ran his hands over his hair trying vainly to remain calm. How could this have happen, the realization was beginning to take his toll on his nerves, Kotetsu had been taken by some giant robotic monstrosity.
"Barnaby!" a voice called, looking to the side he called to see the rest of the Hero's running towards him along with Kaede right at the front.
"Where'd did the creature go?" Rock Bison question looking around the creature and obviously ready to fight.
"It's gone" Barnaby said with a low breath, "It escaped" the heroes rather depressed at the news, though there was nothing they could do about it they still felt rather bad after being defeated so easily.
"Where's my dad?" Kaede asked not seeing her father anywhere
"Hey where is Wild Tiger?" Bison asked not seeing his partner anywhere, all eyes soon turned to Barnaby who seemed stone faced at the moment.
"Barnaby….where's Kotetsu?" again the blond ran his hand through his hair trying to figure out how to tell them, especially Kaede about the old man.
"Kotetsu….that creature…"
"Hey don't leave us in the dark, what happened to Wild Tiger!" Bison demanded not liking the others look or silence.
"The creature took Kotetsu" he deadpanned sadly, "He was kidnapped", as the he spoke everyone gave looks of shook
"No….No" Blue Rose crumbled to the ground unable to accept the news
"Dammit it!" Bison yelled anger present in his voice, "I should I been here" he growled as the hero's began to dwell, thinking the worst of their friends state.
'Kotetsu'
…To Be Continued…..
Next time; Father