Agnes thought she might have an aneurysm if this kept up. The new season started a week ago and the Second League were given extra air time to make a splashy entrance for Tiger and Barnaby. What she got, however, was a giant pile of shit.
On their first mission out Tiger had tried to take the lead on apprehending the thief they were chasing, using his cables he planned to simply wrap them around the culprit and call it a day. But he hadn't communicated with his partner who had a different plan and ended up running forward getting smacked in the back with the cable, which attached and caused Barnaby to get sent flying backwards when Kotetsu hit the button to retract it.
The thief nearly got away but thankfully (and crazy enough) Sumo Thunder had been on a bridge up ahead and accidentally caught the criminal on a series of events that Agnes still wasn't sure we're possible. Sumo had been using his salt attack to try and stop someone else, who wasn't the thief, missed and ended up shooting salt directly into the eyes of the thief, who fell off the bridge, into the water where Bombeman was doing nothing as usual. Bombeman not only ended up rescuing the thief from drowning but got credit for capturing him as well (though at the time he had no idea it was the criminal and had nearly let him go).
Overall it had been a bungled success. The other Second Leaguers had done well (for them) but Tiger and Barnaby had looked like idiots! They were acting like that had when they first started as a team!
She recalled the conversation she had with them after that mission.
She slapped her hand down on her intercom. "Are those idiots here yet?"
She heard a bit of a yelp through the door before the intercom crackled through "yes, they just arrived," her office door swung open as Barnaby and Tiger walked in. Tiger had his hat in his hands and head bowed. Barnaby walked in looking calm and not at all the image of humble she was hoping for.
"So, once again you are in my office because you can't do your jobs. What was the one thing I wanted from you for your first mission out there?" Her eye was twitching, she needed a holiday.
"We're sorry Agnes, we both just got… too excited to be back in the field and forgot to take it seriously," Kotetsu said, trying to be humble. Barnaby however was sitting up with his shoulders back, the image of arrogance.
"We had a miscommunication, it won't happen again," Barnaby said with a shrug.
"You two must think the Second League is a joke the way you are acting. If you can't take this job seriously… retire for real. I can't keep Heroes around who don't care about this city," Agnes sat back down in her chair; she had gotten up to yell at them but now she just felt spent.
"We do take this seriously - or we will from now on anyway, it won't be a problem," Kotetsu said waving his hands in front of his face, "right Bunny?" He turned to look at Barnaby.
"Yes, we have every intention of working hard for the people of Sternbild, today was a one-time mistake," he adjusted his glasses not looking at Kotetsu.
There was something going on between these two again, did they fight? "Whatever issues you have going on, keep it outside of work. I don't care if you two had a fight, I don't care if you hate each other's guts. Whatever! This is your job now do it right," she pointed to her door "get out of here and go figure out your issues."
Since then things had not really improved. Their second mission out Barnaby had simply gone ahead and captured the criminal, no fanfare, no partner work, the other Second League members hadn't even shown up yet. Tiger had barely gotten off his bike.
The third mission they went on was to help at a charity auction. Barnaby and Tiger were supposed to work together to help sell off the Hero merchandise that had been donated. The two had squabbles in front of guests and then avoided one another for the rest of the day.
What was she going to do? Barnaby might not be recovered enough to be working, was their odd behavior because he wasn't fit for work? Should she call them in again, maybe just Barnaby? What was she supposed to do in a situation like this? She had planned this all out, they were supposed to be her golden goose, but instead they had actually cost the network money.
She rubbed her temples. She would give them another week and if things didn't improve she would bring them in again, for now she would give them space to work it out, they had in the past.