The second time he has to face her tears, she's been way more courageous than any twelve-year-old should have to be.


The day, and wasn't that already uncanny, had begun quite normally.

Barnaby definitely hadn't been nervous. Why would he be? It was already the sixth or seventh time they saw each other. As in, face to face.

Granted, it's not very much, considering they officially met nearly three years ago.

Oh, they did develop an habit to chat a bit when Kotetsu calls her every two or three days, Kaede's even got his personal and suit number saved on her phone since the disaster of the Justice Day four months ago, but their actual meetings in person are still scarce. And Barnaby has to admit he would not be adverse to them multiplying.

Kaede is a great kid, and Kotetsu's unconditional love for her is infectious.

Still, he may have felt quite a bit anxious, for their next encounter was going to be the first since her father told her about their relationship. And there is a world, it would seem, between trying to get along with your partner's daughter and wanting to get along with your partner's daughter. The difference is on the stress. In all senses of the word.

Because Barnaby may have been nervous.

Even if he knows that she is okay with them being an item, he has yet to see her since Kotetsu's Big Announcement, which consisted in a series of phone calls to his family and friends.

(By the way, the phone calls went fine. More than fine. To Kotetsu's endless dismay, his mother had only smiled, as if she was only waiting for her son to step up and tell her something she already knew or, more likely, guessed the first time she hosted Barnaby in Oriental Town. Muramasa had only hmphed, but, as his younger brother explained afterwards, coming from him it was as good as a heartfelt congratulation.

As for Kaede… She had frowned, looked straight into her father's eyes on the video call, and said: "well, okay then". Only once Barnaby had been out of frame, and, she thought, out of earshot, had she dared ask, in a strange and fearful voice; "But you're not going to forget Mom for all that, are you, Dad?"

Kotetsu had sworn he never could.

But still. It had stung a bit, and the fear not to be accepted had taken residence in Barnaby's heart ever since).

So what if he really had been anxious? Nobody ever has to know that Barnaby Brooks Jr. spent every free evening of the previous week trying to dig up advice on how not to fester jealousy and resentment from a stepchild. Not that it was very helpful. Or that Kaede actually was his step-anything. Anyway, neither the internet nor the books he borrowed from the public library had a clear answer on "how to get along with the daughter of your work-partner turned life-partner when her mother's passed away and she used to be your fan". Too specific of a situation, it would seem.

So, if accused of panicking, Barnaby thinks he would have quite a few reasons to state in his defence.

But had he known how the day would end, he would not have been anxious at all.

He would have completely freaked out, scared himself out of his skin, died of fright on the spot and ascended heaven. No pass Go, no collect $200 Stern dollars.

So, in the grand scheme of things, nothing would have been a problem.


The day, as explained, had begun normally.

They had decided to keep things simple; a bit of sight-seeing in Stern Bild's most amazing spots on Gold Stage on the morning, a stop at her favourite fast-food for lunch, and an afternoon in the biggest mall of the city, shopping for new pair of sneakers as an excuse to wander around the shops.

So far, it's going swimmingly. Apart from a minor disagreement at midday between father and daughter on how much mayonnaise it was actually acceptable to pour on fries and a strange comment about how he looks taller in the magazines, it had been going fine. Kaede had seemed to enjoy herself, and, to Barnaby's endless relief, she had not seemed embarrassed or different around him, now that she knew that Kotetsu and him had been a couple for some months.

She had even turned to Barnaby for advice in fashion, which he was half proud of and half amused at Kotetsu's expense, because the older man had not even been looked at by his daughter when she debated about trying on a discounted skirt.

Barnaby can't really blame her. Kotetsu finds everything she puts on "cute" and he doesn't have a very trustworthy opinion in terms of matching colours. After all, between the two of them, Barnaby's the one who actually listens to their managers when it comes to clothing and style advice.

In truth, though, Barnaby's not that picky with his looks. He learnt quickly that it was the backbone of his public image and his professionalism led to him actually taking care of his appearance. But he doesn't really mind a bit of slip up now and then… especially if it's Kotetsu. Especially if it means borrowing one of his partner's old shirts, one of those that smell like his laundry detergent and a bit like him, too.

"Barnaby! What about those?"

He shakes himself out of his thoughts and goes back to Kaede, who's seated on a bench in the third shoes store they entered this afternoon, a new pair of sneakers on her feet. This one is mostly black, with big patches of bright pink and green. It's not the best designed shoe Barnaby's ever seen, to put it gently.

But Kaede's been attracted to those colours a lot lately, he noticed. He's sure Kotetsu noted it as well. They haven't said anything, neither to each other, and least of all to her.

Maybe it's not even conscious on her part. In a way, it's very flattering. But Barnaby's unsure if he should encourage her too much in this; wouldn't it be better if she were to explore other things, build up her identity out of her fascination for heroes?

But Barnaby's not strong enough to tell her to stop. Not when he remembers Kotetsu's whispered admission, on OBC's freezing roof, the way it had lightened up his eyes when he'd whispered to the stars: "my dream… is that my kid thinks I'm cool".

Oh, if he had known at the time that his daughter would one day chase his signature neon-green up to her clothes.

"Mh", is all he answers, pretending to consider her choice for a full minute, and actually thinking on how to best phrase his thoughts. "I'm not sure they'd go well with most of your wardrobe. Take your brown pants, you know the ones with the embroidery on the pockets? It'd clash. Why not try to find something easier to match?"

Years and years of PR and eloquence training, and he uses it with his partner's teenage daughter. Worst thing? He doesn't actually feel bad about it.

Kaede frowns and follows his gaze on the side of the shoes. She doesn't seem very convinced by his argument.

Barnaby risks a glance around him; Kotetsu, who was supposed to help by scouting the store for pairs her size, has been AWOL for nearly ten minutes. Barnaby strongly suspects the old man found either a child to coerce into taking some of his Wild Tiger cards, a cotton-candy stand, or, God help him, both.

Likely, both.

It's also entirely possible that his scheming partner left them to give Barnaby some time alone with his daughter. Because Barnaby had the marvellous idea of talking to him. About, you know. The stress.

"You own a lot of very nice blue clothes, or pastel patterns. Why not try and find a pair that would bring those out?" he offers.

"Yeah… Maybe you're right", she concedes, and begins undoing the laces. Barnaby drops on one knee and helps her with her other foot. "But aren't these very cool?"

"That they are. The flashy colours specially", he smiles.

I also associate this particular mix with happiness, you know, he doesn't add. Every time he suits up, every time he puts the TV on a rerun of one of their programs, every time he sees the lights of their chasers behind them, painting the city with bright stripes, he falls a bit more in love with neon lights.

Especially if they're green and pink.

So, yeah. He does think those colours are very cool.

He gently takes off the shoe and tries not to think too much about how tiny her foot is in his hand. It's entirely normal. He's feeling entirely normal about all this. After all, she's twelve. Even if she's adamant about being considered grown up and responsible, she's still a child. Kotetsu's child.

"You've got quite the eye for the style", he adds, because his throat suddenly feels tight. "Those are very neat high-top leather sneakers."

"There's also very comfortable. I feel like I could run miles in them!"

Her enthusiasm is endearing, in a sense. But Barnaby has to force his smile a bit; her old sneakers are so worn down she can probably count the gravels with her toes. He remembers them yellow. They now are a faded beige, stained and browned up in some places.

No wonder she finds this new pair extraordinary.

Still, Barnaby holds his tongue. He knows money had been a problem for Kotetsu for a long time, and before Barnaby's meddling with their contracts that forced Lloyds to insure them when he discovered the man ran the streets without even the shadow of a health coverage, he had struggled to make ends meet when the job got him to the ER. He wasn't paid that well before the whole business with Jake, even after his transfer to Apollon Media, marketed as he was as Barnaby's sidekick – oh, how the word still stings, years later – and his savings often burnt in damage fines. His pay never lasted long, between the rent of his two bedrooms flat, everyday groceries, and heroes-related needs for medicine.

All he had left at the end of each month? Straight to his mother's account, for Kaede.

From the start, money had been one of their biggest differences and Barnaby knew it. To this day, he's still trying to get Kotetsu to accept some material things from him. After all, his parents left him quite the inheritance, that Maverick used smartly, invested in all the right places, and, in short, magnified tenfold. His mother, he learnt, came from Britain's middle wealth and his father from France's late bourgeoisie. Both decided to try their luck in Stern Bild to get closer to the research field in robotics.

Everyone knows how that ended up.

So here Barnaby stands now, alone, without any living relatives that he knows about that could have a claim at his money, with his bank account quite furnished, absolutely no desire to invest it for profits, a part of it already going directly to the SB Children Centre every month, and, for the first time in his life, the strange desire to use his resources to give back even a tiny part of the happiness he found with Kotetsu.

He knows damn well that he cannot buy back the life his partner saved in more ways than one. But, still. He wants to help.

So, Barnaby compromises.

It took him nearly two weeks of strained negotiations, but he managed to convince Kotetsu to let him get Kaede a new pair of sneakers. It's off the book, though. Kotetsu will be the one to pay today, because he doesn't want Kaede to see them wheel and deal, but Barnaby intends on repaying him the very evening.

"Say, Barnaby…" Kaede says suddenly.

She sounds a bit uncertain. Barnaby realises he's still staring at her foot. Probably has been for a full minute.

"Yes?" he asks, putting the sneakers back in their box, as if it were nothing, as if he didn't just zone out while holding her ankle.

"Do you really like me?"

The question is so abrupt and blunt and unexpected that Barnaby can only open his mouth and close it, once, twice. He gapes at her a third time, feeling like a waterless-fish, and tries to find something that isn't just consonants to say to her, because what?

Some of his confusion must show on his face, though, because Kaede continues: "Or are you just being nice to me for Dad's sake?"

He closes his mouth. He has no idea how to begin to answer this. But Kaede's silent, she's watching him intensely, as if looking for any sign of lie on his face, and he doesn't remember ever seeing her so dead serious.

This, he understands, is her summoning the courage to say something she must have thought about for a long time.

Barnaby rises up from his knees and sits next to her, on the bench. Both of them look down on the green and pink sneakers displayed between papers in the box. The card lid drops. Green and pink disappear underneath the pompous brand.

Barnaby tries very hard not to read a very ironic metaphor in their half obscured meddled colours.

"I am not being nice to you because of your Dad", he finally manages to say, trying and failing to capture her eyes in his. "You're an amazing young girl, Kaede."

"But you have to be nice to me, even more now that you and Dad are dating."

There is a finality in her voice, something he can't quite place that bothers him.

"I don't have to", he stresses. "I choose to, because I do like you. I always have, even before your Dad and I decided to get together."

There's a non-committal "mh" at his left. Barnaby, suddenly feeling like the biggest douchebag of the universe, goes back mentally over every single one of their interactions, and adds before he can stop himself: "Do you feel… that I don't like you? That I pretend to like you? What gave you… What made you doubt?"

Kaede sighs. She looks both defeated and exasperated, if such a thing even is possible.

"Nothing in particular. It's just something that Am… That I heard. Read. Online. In a book. I read it in an online book", she mumbles, but not quickly enough: Barnaby finally understands that someone told this to her.

Damn. How is he supposed to deal with this?

"Is it… I don't want to force you to tell me who said that to you. But…" he hesitates. "Is it someone who knows me? Or someone who knows Kotetsu? Someone who might be scared for you, in their own way?"

She levels a determined gaze at him. For a few seconds, he feels he's overstepped badly, but after an instant, she seems to deflate, and admits: "It's Amar. Saroja's big brother", she adds, in front of Barnaby's lost look. "He's not mean, okay? And, so far, I was sure it was because his mom got remarried, and her new husband is very hypocritical with him and Saroja, he's treating them well on the outside, but there are remarks, and last week, he insisted that maybe you… Well."

"I think I see what you mean", Barnaby tries to temper, because he does not know this kid or his family and he's not going to judge a child on another child's perceptions. Still, he's a bit relieved; whoever this young boy is, Barnaby doesn't know him, and if he's her best friend's brother, he may know Kotetsu, but not as well as to be able to actually be aware of some real problems. "But it's not my case. I really do like you, Kaede. I like spending time with you."

She's slowly turning a bit pink. Maybe she's realising what she dropped on Barnaby and where, but he doesn't care. Now that she broached the subject, he feels as if he hasn't exactly been honest, either.

"You know, actually… I was quite scared before seeing you today."

She turns towards him, eyes as big as saucers.

"You were scared? Of what?"

He smiles, gently, but he cannot help but note that a part of her still idolises him. How do you tell a twelve-year-old that you're not what the TV made you to be? How do you break the bad news to her, that you're flawed, filled to the brim with doubts and fears, and that all she ever admired on screen has been a lie?

How do you tell a child, you don't know me, but I'd like you to?

"Of you not liking me", he admits, and it's so true the words hurt when they pass his lips. "Of you disapproving of me in your father's life."

The store keeps blasting some sort of new pop songs in the aisle. It's comically discordant with the tone of their conversation, but Barnaby's suddenly glad that it drowns out their words from any passing customer.

"I don't disapprove of you in Dad's life".

She worries at her lips, and Barnaby doesn't know what to say, because he can feel she wants to add something else.

"I'm scared Dad's going to forget Mom."

For a moment, Barnaby thinks he might have dreamt her hushed words. But his earing is good, even over the music, even without his power activated, and Kaede's cheeks are turning slightly pink.

"I cannot talk for him, you know", he says with some prudence, as always unsure on how to tread when Tomoe's brought up, both terrified to disappoint and mesmerized by the aura the woman managed to leave in her wake, "but I am not trying to make him forget her. He talks of her sometimes, and I don't intend on telling him to stop."

That seems to strike something in Kaede.

"He does? What does he say?"

Oh, how he prefers when there's curiosity painted on her face. This, this is the Kaede he's familiar with, this is the passionate and amazing young girl he'd like to learn to know better.

"Half of the time, he's sharing memories of their time together", Barnaby reveals, "and the other half, he's saying that you look and sound just like her, sometimes".

It's actually one of the things Barnaby hears the most when Tomoe's concerned; how Kaede definitely is her mother's daughter.

What Kotetsu often overlooks is how similar his daughter is to him.

Kaede smiles, but it's a sad one, one Barnaby doesn't really know.

"I wish I had more memories of her", she admits, still whispering over the music who failed to catch the mood and is still blasting some catchy pop song in their ears. "I only have one or two things I remember, mostly flashes and feelings, and if it weren't for the pictures…"

I would have forgotten her face, Barnaby completes internally when she doesn't.

He knows. He understands.

Both of them were four when they lost their family. It's already a miracle they remember anything, especially in Barnaby's case.

"It's the same with my parents".

It's not something he told a lot of people, even after all the work he did with his therapist in the wake of Maverick's destruction of his mind.

"I don't remember much." And I don't know if I can trust what I do remember. "So I talk about them instead, to try and maintain their memory this way".

Kaede is looking at him. Her eyes are bright, serious, focused and a bit damp, but she's not crying.

"I would never ask you to give up any part of your mother you can have left", he swears, because it's true, and he had not realised how important that might have been for her before this point, "nor would I encourage your father to do the same".

He knows better than anyone what losing a parent does to you. And he can imagine quite accurately, from those dark, infinite and dreadful minutes inside the Justice Tower, what losing a partner might feel like.

Kaede only nods. Barnaby shuts up and looks back at the shoes in their box. If he tries to utter another word, anyway, his voice might break. And it's definitely neither the time nor place for such emotional outbursts. Not in public, in a shoe store. Not alone with a young girl. Someone might see him, the press might get a hold of it, and from there? Nothing but trouble.

He can already see the titles; "Barnaby Brooks Jr. devastated by hideous sneakers; what ill plagues our ancient MVP?"; "BBJ broken by a metaphor! Superpowered sneakers now on auction!"

Yeah, no, thanks. Lloyds' already busy enough with Kotetsu's latest stunt on East Gold's lane.

"I'm sorry", she says after a while. "That was a bit stupid".

"It wasn't", he immediately answers. "It's important, actually. You're right about one thing; my relationship with your dad will make me see you more. Which, and I will say it again, is very good news on my part. But it also means that we can try and know each other better, without any intermediary. Without your father's goofy stories on my part, and without the magazines' meddling on yours."

She scoffs.

"Are you aware they're still saying you can cook?"

There's genuine teasing in her voice, so Barnaby narrows his eyes at her and accepts the olive branch for what it is.

"I can cook."

"You can boil stuff and put salt on it. Doesn't count."

"Alright, I can bake."

"I still need a proof for that, you know."

She smiles. He smiles back, feeling stupidly relieved, almost ready to tell her I'd bake you any cake you want, we could go home right now, and just do it. Except they're still on a mission. And he doesn't want to risk this new complicity he feels blooming between them.

What was he nervous about, again? She's the greatest child there is.

He must have stared a bit at her, because she snorts, and playfully adds: "Be careful, though, you're starting to borrow some of Dad's looks. And not his bests.".

Barnaby scoffs, but accepts to turn his eyes back to the sneakers. Privately, he hopes it's Kotetsu's look of absolute wonder with his daughter.

"Thank you for talking to me, though", he recognizes, after a time. "I really want to know you better."

There is a strange mix of vulnerability, hope and joy in her eyes when she answers: "Me too."

Barnaby's heart feels so full he's not sure it's not going to explode. He turns back to the sneakers, left abandoned in their box.

It's going to be fine. They will be fine.

After all, he did survive the metaphor, didn't he?

"Come on, let's see if they've got these in white, at least."

She goes up, and follows him around the shelves.


When Kotetsu comes back to them, he's got two paper bags of gummy bears in his hands and, of course, a dozen Wild Tiger cards poke out of his shirt's pocket.

"Can you believe kids these days? They didn't want my free Tiger cards, and they even tried to sell me their T&Bs!"

Kaede and Barnaby exchange a look. Why would Kotetsu keep on trying to lumber kids with his own merch, when it clearly doesn't work (and never did), and when the whole city already knows his face and name is a mystery. Will Barnaby try and stop him, though? Definitely not. Kotetsu shines when he interacts with children, and it never fails to put a light in his eyes that is on its good way to become Barnaby's weakest spot. What a mess it'd be if the criminal populace of Stern Bild were to be made aware of that fact.

"Maybe you met very good future sales rep, there", he jokes.

"Yeah, more like mini Agnes and Lloyds, lemme tell you, they were fearless."

He's got this look on his face that means he's feeling a bit guilty about something, and Barnaby pauses. Gives him a quick break, then sighs: "Alright, how much did they extract from you?"

Kotetsu side-glances at his daughter, and deflects attention from himself by asking her about their progress with the shoes, most likely trying to escape his partner's interrogation. But Kaede's on his side, and she crosses her arms: "Dad. How much?"

Kotetsu, biggest man-child of Stern Bild that he is, fishes a handful of gummy bears in answer. Barnaby steals a good half from his palm before his partner manages to put everything in his mouth, and shares it with Kaede.

"So?" he insists, strangely distracted by the sweet flavour of the candy. He's not going to admit that he hasn't eaten those things in nearly twenty years. Still not the time and place to have a mental breakdown. Not over sneakers, and not over lost childhood tastes.

"Fifteen bucks", Kotetsu mumbles sheepishly.

Barnaby's laugh drowns out Kaede's cry of indignation.

"Fifteen!" she repeats, sounding bewildered. Barnaby will definitely not tell her that for Kotetsu, this isn't much.

"Can we see the card you bought us, at least?"

"You haven't even told me if you've found something", he grumbles while rummaging in his pockets.

"We haven't, yet. We're looking for a pair that could fit with my wardrobe", Kaede explains, stealing another gummy bear straight from Barnaby's outstretched hand.

"Oh, that's good, that's g-"

He's rudely interrupted by a chorus of striking, metallic beeping. Barnaby stops chewing; the noise, and it's probably a Pavlovian response at this point in his career, has made his heart pump up and his attention strike up. He looks down at his PDA.

The three of them stop talking, and all their gazes converge on both their transmitters, all idea of foolery suddenly forgotten.

They press the button at the same time.

"Bonjour, heroes!"


As it turns out, the shoppers of Kronos mall had not been having as great a time as them.

"How many casualties so far?" Barnaby asks without stopping his run, straight into his PDA to Agnes' shaking face.

"At least a dozen wounded", she answers, all business, "The statue toppled over and took off a big part of the roof in its fall. Bison and Cyclone are already on scene, they're evacuating the rest of the civilians. I called everyone, but Dragon Kid, Fire Emblem and Blue Rose are on the other side of the city for a meet-up, they might get delayed", she sighs. Barnaby is going to give her the benefit of the doubt and interpret it as a genuine dread for innocent lives in danger, and not a regret for lost screen-time with the very popular trio, or the FiRoLights, as the fans now call them.

"What about Sky High?" Kaede shouts beside him. She's been jogging with them from the moment they received the call. And she's amazingly not getting distanced, even though Kotetsu and him have been running at a good pace for nearly four minutes now, jumping over stairs and barriers. Barnaby has to admit he's impressed. Not only she's in top shape, but she didn't even sound breathless.

"Who's that?" Agnes enquires, sounding distrustful. From the angle, Barnaby guesses she cannot see Kaede's face neither on his nor Kotetsu's transmitter.

"That's my daughter", Kotetsu immediately reveals, "we were shopping!"

"Hi, Miss Joubert!" Kaede joyously chimes in.

"Oh! Bonjour, Kaede", Agnes answers with an appreciative smile that even Barnaby does not get. He suspects it's because Kaede managed to offer her the show of her career the day she turned up on the roof of Apollon Media and singled-handedly broke out all six heroes from Maverick's hallucination. Top ratings and all that. Appears it grants you privileges even BBJ does not get. "Sky High's on his way, too."

"And Ryan?" Barnaby asks. He's only been back for a couple of days, but he's technically on duty, too.

"Not fully reinstated, and not judicially approved yet", Agnes dismisses quickly. "Take the alleyway on your left! Saito's coming to pick you up at the next intersection", she says instead, looking up to her monitors, "you have two minutes and a half before you're on screen. Good luck."

She hangs up.

They all leap over a turned-over bin on the pavement, and hurtle into the next street.

"She's so cool!" Kaede squeals.

Kotetsu and Barnaby share a doubtful look. As far as they're concerned, Agnes oscillates between ratings-leech and terrifying boss. But hey, maybe, from a twelve year-old perspective, she's cool.

Finally, they reach the end of the alley and burst off the street straight into Saito's blinding headlights.

"This is all so freaking cool" he hears Kaede mutter to herself before jumping in the transporter.

They've been running across two blocks. She still isn't breathless.


In the one minute and a half it takes them to suit up in the van, Kaede somehow manages to win Saito over by calling absolutely everything she sees in his portative lab the coolest thing there ever is and asking nonstop questions to their engineer. She doesn't even seem particularly surprised to hear him shout his answers through a megaphone and for a moment, Barnaby wonders what kind of life she lives in Oriental Town. Maybe he gravely underestimated her, there.

When she discovers the changing room and the automated process that puts their armours on, literal stars appear in her eyes.

In a way, her way to look at things is refreshing. Barnaby, so used to it that he is now after a few years, has forgotten how impressive the machineries actually are, and how lucky there are to have Saito as their mechanic and designer.

She's so over the moon she even switched to Japanese a few exclamations ago.

Barnaby can now surely add kakkoii to the list of words he learnt with the Kaburagis.

"Saito, buddy, can you look after my daughter for a while?" Kotetsu asks, when the machine drops the last piece on his shoulders.

Their engineer holds up a thumb in agreement but Kaede shouts, louder than his whispered no problem, Tiger: "What? No, I want to come with you!"

Kotetsu's eyes grow huge. Barnaby's surprised he didn't see this one coming; from the moment she began jogging up with them, he'd been sure she would insist on tagging along.

"This is a joke, right? It's too dangerous, sweetie, you have to stay here!"

"I can help!" she protests. "I can copy your powers, or Barnaby's! Or even Tonio's!"

"Kaede, no", Barnaby intervenes, knowing she's more likely to listen to him than her father in this situation. "You're vulnerable on the field without any armour or training. Please stay here and help us from within the van. Saito's got our location and he will need you to help guide us to the civilians."

She opens her mouth, but before she can say anything, Kotetsu puts his helmet on, and bends down, trying to put a hand on her shoulder. She dodges it.

"Kaede, please", he adds, with what Barnaby would call his father voice, which is laden with authority but manages to stay soft at the same time. "If you really want to help us, help Saito, alright?"

The last thing Barnaby sees of her before jumping of the transporter is her frowning, displeased face.


For the first ten minutes, it's all business as usual. Barnaby manages to save a good dozen of civilians from the fuming building, and with Kotetsu's help, they are able to secure the area in a record time.

But, and isn't that just customary as well, when Saito's readings finally come from their integrated scanners, they learn that they still face three tiny, teeny problems.

The first is that the Minotaur's statue, Kronos Foods' prised possession and the mall's biggest symbol, which tumbled over like a big bag of rocks, landed straight into a machine room. Since it's not enough bad luck in Barnaby's life, apparently, one of its horn perforated a very big carboy of what, from the symbols he managed to catch sight of, is sure to be very flammable and very explosive material. So, if anyone, hero of panicked civilian, were to move it by an inch, everything might just blow up. And the integrity of the whole mall might be shattered, because, of course, the damned machine room stands just underneath a supporting pillar. So well-conceived. So well-thought on the architects and investors' part.

Their second problem is that the machine room wasn't empty when the Minotaur's head crashed into it. It was occupied by four mechanics, all on maintenance duty, and who are now trapped in a giant time bomb.

Their third problem is the gravity. The statue, big, heavy heap of lead and bronze that it is, is still sinking into the building, taken down by its own weight. So the danger of it triggering the biggest explosion of the year is not only a possibility but, at this rate, a terrifying certainty. The police, Agnes warned them in their earpieces during their second briefing, is now evacuating the whole neighbourhood.

Saito estimated their time of action at seven minutes before the blast.

In the four years Barnaby's worked with him, he's never once been wrong with his calculations.

Their mission, on the paper, is simple enough: they need to find a way to get into the machine room, save those four poor people who had the unfortunate idea to make a career in mechanics, remove the statue's horn from the carboy without letting it catch fire, and then lift up the entirety of its forty-thousand tons from the façade it smashed in. And even doing so, they're not entirely sure to be able to prevent the massive blast.

"Easy-peasy", Kotetsu had said when Agnes hung up.

Yeah, easy-peasy, Barnaby thinks, a little bit uneasy, sweat already trickling down his neck, watching his forearm-piece slowly fade back to a dull pink.

Both their powers are dried up, all their combined six minutes used to save the shoppers from an impending doom. They now operate without any help from the Hundred Power, only protected by Saito's little wonders of technology.

Inside his helmet, Barnaby sighs.

Business as usual.


When Blue Rose, Fire Emblem and Dragon Kid finally arrive on scene, things are not looking good and Barnaby is getting slightly concerned about their survival chances.

They've managed to get in contact with one of the mechanics trapped inside the plant room, and with the link open, they're working towards directing all four workers to the southern door, which has been badly twisted by the Minotaur's elbow but might still be reachable. Sky High, who's been levitating non-stop for fifteen minutes, is still trying to find a way to lever the statue off from the air. All the other heroes are working towards alleviating some of the weight it puts on the building.

The main problem? They're all way too slow.

Inside his armour, Barnaby's countdown indicates that he has fifty-seven minutes left before his power comes back. On his left, another countdown states, in terrifying blue numbers, that they've arrived at the mall sixteen minutes ago. They've all cut down Mario's voice, narrating everything live, who's way too enthusiastic about all this, but asked Agnes to keep all lines open between them.

By all means, it's not looking very good.

"Barnaby!"

His real name is rare enough on Kotetsu's lips, even in costume, that he immediately turns and rushes to his partner.

He arrives just in time to deflect a heavy block of concrete from hitting Kotetsu's skull. The man, who's been holding the statue up in hope of preventing it from sinking in deeper inside the building, couldn't have dodged. His arms, held up, have begun to shake.

Shit. If even Kotetsu's infamous resilience is getting thin…

"The door's down!" Bison suddenly shouts in their communicators. "I need help to evacuate the four civilians!"

Karina, Pao-Lin, Nathan and Ivan's strained answers confirm his worries: they all have their plates full already, and Barnaby has to move.

He turns to Kotetsu.

"Can you hold on by yourself?" he asks.

Kotetsu strains, groans, changes his grasp on the statue, and nods.

"Not much longer", he admits.

They've been a team for long enough by now that Barnaby can recognize his tone and what it implies: Kotetsu needs help.

"Saito", Barnaby asks instead. "How long we got?"

"Two minutes", their engineer immediately shouts back. "But, Tiger, Barnaby, we have another probl…"

He doesn't have time to finish his sentence. The building suddenly shakes, Kotetsu's grip loosens, and Barnaby's heart nearly stops. Kotetsu tumbles, his hand slips and for a second, he almost drops the whole statue. When the ground stops trembling, he's breathless.

Except he's not alone anymore.

For the second time in the span of a minute, Barnaby's heart skips a beat.

Right in from of him, Kaede stands, glowing blue, hands outstretched, strongly supporting a good part of the statue's weight alongside her father. Teeth firmly clasped, jaw set, eyes focused and determined, half crouched to bear most of the weight on her higher back and shoulders, she doesn't look twelve. She looks fearless, strong, and unsinkable.

She looks like a hero.

Barnaby, stupidly, thinks of Atlas.

"Kaede!" Kotetsu shrieks, frantically looking at his left, where his daughter now is. It cannot be called anything else but a shriek, with how much terror he puts in the cry. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

Barnaby assesses the situation. Thinks back to the gummy bears, their sweetness and Kaede's hand against his. Her power, he knows, is his.

She is offering him something very precious; time. She's holding on the heavy load of the statue alongside her father… and Barnaby now has the five minutes her strength is going to last to try and save the mechanics.

He cannot let them go to waste. Not when there are lives on the line.

"Be careful, both of you", he asks, almost pleas, before starting his boosters and disappearing inside the narrow corridor at his left.

Praying he is not making the biggest mistake of his life, Barnaby leaves them, taking with him the life-changing image of this young girl, crouched down with the weight of the world on her shoulders… and lifting it.


When Barnaby finally reaches Bison, there's only one man left in the machine room.

"Can you take care of him?" Antonio asks, helping the third mechanic to get out of the atrium. He sounds strained and wounded.

"I can", he swears. "Go help Kotetsu, please, we have a problem."

"Oh carajo, what now?"

"His daughter is here. She might need to copy your strength, her Hundred Power only has four minutes left, now."

There's a blast of expletives in his ear, coming from all the other heroes, that verges from "Kaede's here?", to "what a courageous girl!" and some "she's gonna get herself in trouble! What is she thinking!". He's almost sure he hears Agnes order the cameras to stay away from Kotetsu and Kaede, otherwise Hero TV is going to have so many lawsuits.

Yeah, like that's the urging matter, here, he thinks, bitterly.

No the fact that they have put a child in danger, right in the middle of an impending explosion.

Antonio curses in Spanish again, something about a family and a heart condition from what Barnaby gathers up, and then he flees.

Barnaby turns towards the door. There's an outstretched hand coming from it.

"Sir, this is Barnaby", he warns. "I'm going to take your hand and lift you up, okay?"

The hand makes a thumbs up, and were it not for the absurdity and grimness of the situation, Barnaby might have laughed. Instead, he kneels down, seizes the shaking fingers and manages to see the man the arm belongs to. His face is deformed by terror, but his eyes are clear. Not ideal, but Barnaby can work with that.

Suddenly, another tremor comes and surprises him. He nearly loses his grip on the mechanic's hand. Inside the machine room, which Barnaby can glimpse through the broken door, a big part of concrete falls… and lands on the leaking carboy.

Time, as it always does on those situations, seems to slow.

"Shit", Barnaby says, one second too late.

He pulls the man out, brutally tugging on his hand, and has the time to see the first spark.

"It's gonna blow up! Shield yourself!" he shouts in his transmitter.

He leaps on the ground, putting the mechanic under him, and hopes that the pillar they ended up under holds up.

The next second, everything explodes.


His ears are ringing. His head is pounding, and he's pretty sure he swallowed up blood. Slowly, his surroundings come back to him, and Barnaby lifts himself up on his elbows and knees, assessing the scene.

The entirety of the floor collapsed, but the building held up. Not so badly conceived, then. Around him, there are now more fragments of concrete than actual concrete. But, miraculously, he's alive, and he doesn't feel wounded. For now, at least.

"Are you okay?" he asks, shakingly, to the man he had pinned down to the floor.

No answer. A quick scan teach him that the poor mechanic passed out, his shoulder might be dislocated, Barnaby may have broken two of his ribs in shielding him with his armour, but he's breathing.

Barnaby calls the paramedics on his position, then stands up in search of the others.


He hasn't even walked three steps when a voice echoes through Kotetsu's transmitter.

"Dad! Dad, wake up!"

Barnaby freezes on the spot. Kaede's voice is unmistakable and her shrieks are chilling. Suddenly, he feels like he's back on the head of the Justice Statue, three years ago, the day they met.

With her voice, her tears, her yells. And the all-encompassing sense of grief, of losing everything.

Please, God, please, no.

Oh please, please, please, please, please, no.

"Please, Dad, wake up! Dad! You're hurting me!"

A quick look at Kotetsu's vitals, that he got displayed on his visor, tells him that his partner's unconscious, but not gravely injured.

Concussion, the label states when Barnaby activates the scanner remotely.

Relief nearly shakes him off his feet.

Kotetsu's alive.

Power recharging. Forty-two minutes remaining.

Barnaby's counter is at thirty-seven.

So he must have lost consciousness for no more than a few minutes.

Putting a trembling hand on his helmet, he activates Kotetsu's position to try and find him. Luckily, the system's not fried up and he quickly spots the green dot on his map of the building.

He runs, and discovers that his legs feel like jelly. He's pretty sure he will discover a sprain or two when the adrenaline will have run off.

But not now. Now, he doesn't have the time to care about sprained ankles or strained tights.

"Kaede! Where are you?" he shouts when he gets closer to Kotetsu's position but can only see rubbles.

"Barnaby?" it's a shaking cry, coming from his left, immediately followed by another: "Barnaby! Here! Please! Help! Barnaby!"

The scene in front of him has Barnaby stopping short for the second time in two minutes.

There's a heap of metal and limbs in front of him, underneath the heavy smoke and blocks of fallen concrete. He would recognise Kotetsu's armour anywhere, and it's currently buried under long shafts and heavy slabs. His partner is completely lifeless, laid out on his stomach, with only his shoulder pieces and their sizzling green light visible. But, peeking out from under him, there's a second silhouette, way lighter, way younger, way more fragile, trying to extricate herself from his dead weight.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what must have happened; when the blast came, Kotetsu rushed to his daughter and shielded her. He probably took a block of concrete on the head and passed out, crushing her underneath him.

The problem is that he didn't manage to fully protect her.

Barnaby gulps. One of her legs, sticking out from under Kotetsu's, has been run through by a sharp shaft. The metal is still poking out of her calf, likely sunk deep in her muscle.

There's blood streaming on the floor, staining Kotetsu's white armour, running to Barnaby's feet.

It isn't Kotetsu's.

And it's still flowing out.


When Barnaby finally comes back to his senses a second that feels like ten minutes later, his first reflex is to press the emergency button on his suit again and call for the team of paramedics.

His second is to rush to them and manage to capture the little girl's eyes.

"He's not waking up, and it hurts, Barnaby please, please, please, why isn't he waking up?" she begs.

"Kaede, listen to me. Kotetsu's unconscious, but he'll be fine, he probably took a heavy blow to the head and it knocked him down."

"How? Wh…"

"I can see it, I have his vitals in my suit, okay? He's gonna be alright."

He raises his faceplate up. It seems to calm Kaede a little, seeing his eyes.

"I will lift him up from you, okay? You're wounded too, so I will need you to try and stay perfectly still. Can you do it?"

She trembles, and tries to nod. It's good enough for Barnaby, who gathers Kotetsu's unmoving form in his arms, and lifts.

He groans.

Kaede shouts.

He knows it's pain, because he can see the state of her leg, but he cannot stop, not now that he's begun, and if he were to leave Kotetsu on her, the weight of his armour might crush her and she needs to breathe. So, Barnaby carries on, clenches his teeth and manages to put Kotetsu in a recovery position by his side. He opens up his faceplate, checks with the back of his gloved hand that his partner's still breathing, and trusts both the armour and their comrades to take care of him.

For now, Kaede's his priority.

"Mr Brooks? Paramedical team online, we're coming in. Tell us what you can", a voice shouts in his ear.

"I have a child wounded here, twelve years old, important blood loss, shaft ran through her leg. She's O positive, just like Wild Tiger. They're blood compatible", he states, as clinically as he can and knowing that they have a blood pouch for each hero ready for the taking in their van. Kaede's face slowly drains out colours while he speaks. "I am sending you my position, make it quick."

As soon as they hang up, Kaede tries to lift her shoulders off the floor to assess her injuries. Barnaby puts a hand on her and forces her to lay back down.

"Don't move."

"Barnaby."

He gulps, again. There is so much terror and pain in her brown eyes.

"Barnaby, it hurts."

The admission is so tentative and shy it's even worse than if she had just shouted. Her brown eyes are getting glassy and her whole face is twisted in pain.

It's the worst thing Barnaby's ever seen.

"The medics will be here in a minute, okay? You'll be alright", he promises.

"Can you stay? Please? Please, don't go, Barnaby, please."

He sits down next to her and takes her hand in his. He cannot really say it, with how clogged up his throat feels, but Kaede seems to be reassured by the gesture, for now.

The coms are back online and the other heroes are all shouting in his ears. He cannot answer to any of them.

"It is bad?" she asks, trying again to gauge her injury.

The movement makes tears fall from her eyes. Once the first one is out, the rest cannot stop and she begins crying silently.

"You'll be alright", he repeats, dumbly.

"Mr Brooks?" a voice suddenly says from a few meters away.

"Over here!" he manages, half shouting, half stuttering around the words.

He's endlessly relieved to recognise the blue jackets of the paramedics in the middle of the rubble.


But Kaede isn't. The second one of the first-aider tries to approach her leg, she squirms and pulls on his hand so brutally that Barnaby nearly ends up face first on the ground.

"I'm scared, Barnaby, I'm scared, I don't want them to touch it, I'm scared, please, I'm scared."

He recovers quickly, and squeezes the hand he's still holding, moving his shoulders so that his metal epaulettes shield her from seeing too much of what the team is doing.

"Look at me, Kaede, okay? I want you to look only at me, don't mind them, they're doing their job, you're doing yours, and that's looking at me and not at them, right?"

She nods frantically. Tears fall so fast of her eyes they're beginning to pool in the shell of her ear. Barnaby raises his second hand, wipes them without even thinking, his glove probably rough on her cheek. He ends up smearing blood and dirt all over her skin.

"Can you please repeat it for me?"

"Looking at you and not at them. Looking at you and not at th- what are they doing? It hurts, Barnaby, it hurts, what are th-"

"Hey, I'm here, Kaede, look at me. They're doing their job, you're in good hands, I know it's scary but I promise you, you'll be fine."

She begins sobbing in earnest, and another broken "Barnaby" escapes her. Her whole face blurs, and Barnaby actually has to gulp twice before his voice accepts to croak: "Hold my hand, squeeze it as tight as you need".

Her face is soaked. Barnaby feels like he might drown.

"You'll be alright, little one, I promise", he whispers.

Barnaby, on the contrary, will be forever changed by the sight of her crumbling face, the smell of her blood and the world-shattering fear coursing through his veins.

He will never recover from this, and he knows it.

Because this goes way beyond the dread of failing at his task, of losing Kotetsu's daughter, he realises, dumbly. This, this fear, is pure dread of losing her. Not just what she represents. Not just a child. Not just Kotetsu's child.

But Kaede.

She's already someone he loves, he understands suddenly, stupidly, watching her sob. This is definitely not the time to dwell on it, but Barnaby can't stop his mind from wondering. What if he were to lose her, right here, right now, to a blood loss? What would he tell Kotetsu? What would he tell himself? How could he live, in a world where she's not? How could he ever hope to fill the immensity of the void she would leave behind?

"We've got the anaesthetic ready, Mr. Brooks. With the stress and the pain, it might knock her down."

"Kaede, they're gonna jab you. You might pass out, but it's normal, okay?"

"Will you be there? Will you stay?"

The sheer terror in her eyes makes him want to scream.

"I will, I swear I will."

A minute and a million tears later, she loses consciousness.

Barnaby sighs so heavily it's hard to convince himself the sound wasn't a sob. Around him, the other heroes are trying to evacuate. Someone tries to gauge his own wounds, but Barnaby cannot really move. Not yet. The paramedic at his left squeezes his shoulder. He barely feels it.

Kaede is rushed, along with her father, to the nearest hospital.

Barnaby does not let go of her hand.


A few hours later, Nathan wordlessly comes to hug him in the hospital waiting room. Barnaby lets himself sink in their embrace, and dumbly realizes that he's shaking. He's cold, somehow, and he's not really sure it's only because he's still in his sweat-reeking under-armour.

"They're both gonna be alright, Handsome, you know that? I've just talked to the doctor", they whisper, one of their hands vigorously rubbing his shoulder.

He nods. He knows. Kaede will even be able to walk and run again, after a few months of recovery.

But there's still blood on Barnaby's gloves, painting his fingers and palms in a brownish red.

It may be dry, but it's still blood. Still Kaede's.

Nathan's right hand stops trying to warm him and drifts to his back, drawing mindless patterns between his shoulder blades. Barnaby tries to reign himself in. His friend smells like expensive skin products, floral perfumes, but a bit like fire, too, and a part of their furred vest is tickling Barnaby's nose. It feels nice, but… not enough.

Four more hours before he can be allowed in Kotetsu's and Kaede's room.

"Saito asked me to give you this", Nathan says after a moment of wordless comforting, handing Barnaby a strange brown bag than makes a heavy noise of rubbed plastic when he seizes it.

"What's it?" Barnaby slurs.

"No idea."

Barnaby opens it. His fingers shake.

It's the second packet of gummy bears.

This time, it really is a sob that comes from his throat and that he muffles on Nathan's shoulder.