It's been nine days.

Nine days since Kotetsu last saw his partner.

Nine days since that phone call.

No matter the outcome of this search, Kotetsu will never forget that phone call.

Bunny's ragged breathing, his whispered, "Kotetsu," laced with just enough fear and pain to get his heart racing…

And then, six days afterwards, came the anonymous message, forwarded directly to HeroTV

I'm done playing. Come and get him.

Three days later came the instructions.

Wild Tiger.

Alone.

Cameras.

It was the last one that had thrown them all for a loop.

Wouldn't a kidnapper demand the exclusion of cameras?

It doesn't sit right with him.

A trap.

The idea is tossed out there and met with an uneasy silence.

It makes too much sense.

The trap has been laid, set out with bait Kotetsu won't- can't- ignore.

Cameras present to capture whatever lies in store for him, live on HeroTV.

None of them like it.

But what else is there for him to do?

He can't leave Bunny to rot.

An address is given to them and Kotetsu goes in spite of his misgivings.

/

His partner is chained up against the wall, hands behind his back. A blindfold is fastened tightly around his eyes.

He's gagged, a thick cloth wedged between his teeth and knotted at the base of his skull.

Bunny doesn't react at all to his arrival beyond a tightening of the shoulders.

It's his first instinct to rush to his partner's side, but for once, he crushes the impulse. He needs to proceed with caution.

Too much is at stake here.

Setting off a trap could result in Bunny caught in the crossfire.

Kotetsu can't allow that to happen.

His stomach clenches at the thought of the cameras catching Bunny so vulnerable. At the thought of anyone else seeing him like this.

He'd hate this. He'd hate this so much.

There are no tripwires as far as he can see. No one lying in wait.

He can't hold himself back from his partner any longer.

"Bunny!"

In hindsight, it really wasn't the best idea to go bounding over in his frantic haste, but Kotetsu would be among the first to admit that he wasn't exactly thinking clearly in the moment.

Bunny flinches, twisting as much as he can to get away.

"Shit!" Kotetsu drops to his knees beside him, gut churning.

The camera hovers persistently over his shoulder.

He just wishes Agnes would turn the damn thing off. He doesn't give a shit about ratings.

This is Bunny's lowest moment and every second of it is being caught in high definition.

(He deserves better than to have his suffering broadcast live to the world.)

"Sorry, sorry." He fights to keep his tone even.

Bunny is grimy and he's clearly lost weight, but there are no visible injuries as far as he can tell. No blood or limbs twisted at unnatural angles.

It's more than he'd been able to hope for after nine days of captivity.

Still, Kotetsu doubts being chained in the dark is what left him this terrified.

(He's going to find whoever hurt his partner and he's going to make them pay.)

He grasps Bunny by the shoulders, desperate to keep him from hurting himself accidentally.

"It's me," he whispers again. "Bunny, it's me. You're okay. I'm not gonna hurt you."

He hooks his thumbs over the gag and slips it down, till it hangs around his neck.

Barnaby immediately sucks in a ragged breath.

"Kotetsu?" His voice is hardly audible. The tentative waver, like he's been here so long he's afraid to let himself start hoping, makes something twist in his stomach.

"Yeah, it's me, Bunny." The blindfold follows the gag. Kotetsu takes care in sliding it over his head, slowly untangling the strands of hair that have become knotted with the fabric, before tossing it aside. "I've got you."

When he reaches the chains, he hesitates.

Activating his power would certainly allow him to break them easily enough, but what if he hurts Bunny?

What if he has to fight his way out and he can't because he's already used his power to get Bunny out?

What if that's the whole idea behind this setup?

Kotetsu grits his teeth.

He'll have to figure it out because he can't just leave Bunny chained like this.

"I'm gonna get you out," he murmurs.

"M'kay." It's barely a response, but he can hardly be faulted for that. After everything that's happened, this all must come as something of a shock. "My neck," he whispers, after a couple moments of silence.

Bunny has slumped back, letting his eyes slide shut.

"Your… neck?" Kotetsu wonders if he heard him right.

There's no collar, no strap, no bruising…

Bunny sucks in another breath, like he doesn't have the energy to clarify what he meant.

Kotetsu leans in closer and that's when he sees it.

The bit of string hanging around his neck that disappears into his shirt.

Confused, he pinches it between his fingers and draws it out.

A key dangles at the end.

"Is this…?" He needs to take a minute to collect his thoughts as it dawns on him.

Something curls inside his gut and he feels the overwhelming urge to either laugh or cry.

Or maybe punch something.

That sick bastard.

Did he do this for Kotetsu? To make things easier for him?

The idea almost has him scoffing.

Or did he do this for Bunny as another form of torture?

It must have been agonizing, knowing the instrument for his release was so close and to be unable to reach it.

Kotetsu wants nothing more than to punch the bastard's teeth down his throat, but that's going to have to wait.

He takes the key, gently slipping it over Bunny's head, and wastes no time in setting to work on the chains.

"I've got you." The chains fall away and he pulls Bunny into a hug, rubbing his back gently. "It's okay. I've got you now."

"Kotetsu…" Bunny murmurs, voice choked. He latches onto Kotetsu and his entire frame is trembling.

He feels as delicate as a child.

/

Dinner is takeout on his first night out of the hospital.

Kotetsu apologizes for not having something nice for him, but anything would taste good after what he's been through.

(Really, though, it's just a relief to be out of the hospital.)

The other heroes had been kind enough to come visit him during his stay. He should be grateful. He is grateful. He just… he doesn't feel comfortable being around anyone other than Kotetsu.

Not right now.

"It's good," he murmurs around a bite. Normally, he'd be mortified to be caught talking with his mouth full, but he's so, so hungry.

"You might want to slow down there, Bunny," Kotetsu needles him. "I'm not sure such a big meal is a good idea so soon after…"

"Mmm." Barnaby ignores him, shoving the last bite of hamburger into his mouth and reaching for his fries.

He doesn't want to think about anything that's just happened.

(He wants to pretend that even the merest suggestion doesn't get his heart racing in fright.

Just like a rabbit's.)

He just wants to eat.

(His stomach twists itself into knots. His heart is racing terribly.)

That's not happening.

Kotetsu is staring at him, midway through lifting his second cheeseburger

"What?" he snaps, though his usual irritation is considerably lacking. He can't quite muster up the energy to feel properly annoyed.

He's just… numb.

(Better that than the constant terror of the past week.)

"It's just… whenever I call you Bunny, you don't protest the way you used to."

"...Oh." Is that really all it is?

His throat feels thick for reasons he can't quite explain and he finds he no longer has an appetite.

He leaves the rest of his food untouched. Instead, he sits back, staring at his clasped hands.

"There's no 'my name's Barnaby!'" Kotetsu's voice rises an octave or two in what is supposed to be an imitation of Barnaby's tone.

He bristles. "I do not sound like that."

Kotetsu looks elated, sinking back into the couch. "There it is!"

Defeated, Barnaby turns away, shoulders slumped.

"Hey." Much to his annoyance, Kotetsu scooches closer until suddenly he's there and Barnaby recoils before he can help himself, throwing his hands up and ducking his head, eyes squeezed shut.

Kotetsu freezes, looking stricken.

"Bunny…" he whispers, horrified.

"I'm sorry." He feels… appalled. At himself. His behavior. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

Kotetsu, with all his obnoxious good intentions, has never- would never- lay a hand on him to hurt him.

So why is he so frightened?

"I think…" He gets up quickly, shakily, but manages to keep himself steady.

"Bunny!"

/

Barnaby regards himself in the mirror.

Blood dribbles down his chin, his throat. He's choking on it.

Suffocating.

Spectre drives the blade deeper and Barnaby gags, spewing more blood.

He sets his jaw, at war with himself as he fights to keep his breathing even.

He fingers the hem of his shirt.

Finally, he slides it over his shoulders and tosses it aside. His exposed skin is pale white.

Unblemished.

There's not a mark on him.

Barnaby places his hand below his sternum.

Blood spatters on Spectre's cheek.

For an instant, he freezes.

Then he backhands Barnaby across the face.

There's no scar, no raised flesh, only smooth skin, where only days before, Spectre had plunged a blade entirely through his gut, twisting it, watching with sick fascination as the blood had bubbled past Barnaby's lips.

Nothing to prove that it happened.

Just the memories in his head.

Except… he knows how unreliable those can be.

What really happened to him?

He still can't use his powers- whatever drug Spectre had been lacing his water with for the duration of his captivity still hasn't worn off.

Maybe it doesn't actually matter- he hasn't been cleared for a return to hero duties yet and he wouldn't be even if he had access to his powers or so he's been assured- but he doesn't like this… helplessness.

He doesn't like this uncertainty, wondering if his powers will ever come back to him.

(The doctors have assured him that they will. They've seen this drug before. It does little to reassure him.)

Kotetsu practically hasn't left his side this whole time.

He hates it. He hates needing it. He hates wanting it.

Because as much as he hates being this helpless, he doesn't want Kotetsu to leave him alone.

He staggers to the toilet, barely making it before his knees give out and he vomits.

"Stay out of my head," he chokes, even though there's no one there and the command, ultimately, goes unheeded.

Neither Spectre or Maverick are anywhere near him.

They'll never touch him again.

Yet at times, it's like they never left him in the first place.

They left their mark, not on his body, but on someplace far more sacred.

His mind.

"Stay out." He clutches at his head, hands over his ears, and retches again.

Someone raps on the door.

"Bunny-?"

Damn Kotetsu.

He really can't keep his nose out of things, can he?

…and yet, he finds he doesn't exactly want him to.

Barnaby pushes himself away from the toilet. He's too shaky to stand and so he lets himself slide back against the wall.

He doesn't move when Kotetsu forces the door open, scared into action by Barnaby's own lack of a response.

"Bunny…" He practically wilts when he sees Barnaby safe and sound on the bathroom floor. "You gotta answer me, man. You practically scared me to death!"
Barnaby snorts at that, but Kotetsu's theatrics don't spur much more of a reaction from him.

"You… okay?"

When Barnaby doesn't answer, he goes, "Stupid question, I know. Sorry." He slides to the floor beside him and rests a hand on his shoulder.

"He was in my head," Barnaby whispers. "Like Maverick."

Kotetsu rocks back. "Oh, Bunny…"

"He…" He almost chokes on his words, but he needs to get them out, he needs Kotetsu to understand and he doesn't even understand why, "he did things, made me think he was doing things."

"He hurt you." It's not a question. It's never been a question. Somehow, Kotetsu just knows.

"It was all in my head." His fingers have worked their way into his hair.

"Does that matter?" Kotetsu asks quietly.

"Yes!" Barnaby folds over, gripping his hair tighter than ever."Yes!"

"Hey, come on now, don't do that." Kotetsu's hand ghosts at his wrist, before he apparently realizes that there's no point and gives up, letting it fall back to his side.

"You don't understand, do you?" he chokes out. He doesn't understand why this is so important to him and if he himself doesn't understand then how can he expect Kotetsu to? Why should it matter as much as it does?

"He…" His mouth goes dry, throat closing up.

How does he explain the magnitude of it all?

How does he tell him that Spectre plunged a blade through his gut? That he burned the soles of his feet? That there were things that went down in that old warehouse he'll never be able to vocalize?

That none of it matters because it never happened?

When even that doesn't matter because the nightmares still keep him up at night.

He was tortured for days and he walked away unscathed because none of it was real to begin with.

How does he even begin to cope with that?

Shouldn't he be grateful that he doesn't have to live his life maimed after what was done to him?

Why isn't he?

Kotetsu, for his part, scoots closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

Barnaby tenses but he doesn't attempt to pull away from his partner when his head is slowly guided to rest on Kotetsu's shoulder.

"You're right," he says, voice heavy and choked with grief. "I don't understand and I can't even begin to imagine…"

Barnaby's chest tightens in response.

He's always known Kotetsu was someone who cared- to a ridiculous extent- but being the recipient… He feels warm, but also, he isn't quite sure how to deal with it.

"I don't understand, but listen… Whatever he did to you in that place, you still had to live through it, right? I mean…" He falls short of whatever point he'd been trying to make. There's a silence in which Kotetsu tries to gather his thoughts again. "I guess what I'm trying to say is so what if there's no bruise where he punched you? He still made you endure it. That pretty much counts as happening in my book."

Barnaby opens his mouth, then lets it fall shut.

He's far too exhausted to argue.

Kotetsu's likely to win, too. Just by means of sheer stubbornness.

/

"I'm not the first?" Bunny has gone considerably paler at the news.

"Apparently, Spectre is pretty well known. Outside of Sternbild." Kotetsu drags a fry through ketchup, but winds up just staring at it before dropping it back on the paper. "You're just the first hero…"

He's not sure what that means.

Nathan is the one who clued him in over the phone.

His M.O is impossible to make sense of. There's no motive that stands out. No reason for any of this.

It's just senseless violence.

He abducts a victim and holds them for over a week, at which point, someone is contacted with the victim's whereabouts.

Rinse and repeat.

Until now.

Bunny is the most high-profile victim. Bunny is the first time Spectre has demanded a publicized rescue.

(How had they never heard of him before? Maybe if they'd known, Bunny wouldn't have had to live through this.)

"So…" Bunny trails off. He looks sick.

"Yeah." Kotetsu feels pretty sick too. He'd wondered at the wisdom of telling Bunny all of this, but he understands he deserves to know. "Looks like… he just likes hurting people."

"You should be out there helping to catch him." Bunny doesn't look at him.

Kotetsu flinches. "B- Bunny?" Does he not want him here? What did he do?

"I meant," Bunny looks uncomfortable and Kotetsu immediately feels like an ass for flipping this around on himself, "isn't catching Spectre more important than… than you staying here with me?"

"Absolutely not!" At Bunny's incredulous look, he hastily amends, "I mean, yes, it is important, I wasn't implying that it wasn't, but I think the others have it covered, you know?" He pauses for breath. Since he recovered Bunny, the other heroes have been hunting for Spectre tirelessly. The only thing keeping Kotetsu from joining them has been the knowledge that Bunny needs him nearby. Not that he'll tell him that. The last thing he needs is an excuse to feel even worse. "And you're pretty important too."

He wonders if it's possible that Bunny simply hasn't thought of this, but then he realizes that he has thought of it and somehow it's even worse.

"You're worried he might try again."

"He hasn't before, but we're not about to take that risk."

Bunny's shoulders slump and he inhales shakily, eyes sliding shut.

"I would've never let that happen," Kotetsu says hurriedly. "He's never going to touch you again."

Bunny folds over, clapping a hand over his mouth. He looks like he might be physically ill.

"Whoa, hey!" Kotetsu grasps his partner's shoulders. Damnit, of course talking about Spectre would trigger this response. How could he have been so stupid? Even knowing Spectre has never attacked the same victim twice, it makes sense that he would still be afraid. "It's okay." It's not okay. Just go ahead and put your foot in it even more, why don't you? "I'm right here, okay?"

"I'm fine." Bunny tries to wave him off, but it's hampered by just how badly he's shaking.

"No, you're not." He grips Bunny's elbow in a comforting squeeze.

He might not know how to fix this, but damnit, if he won't try.