"Bye Muramasa!" called Kotetsu as he stepped onto the bus headed back to Sternbuild.
"Tell Kaede to behave!" Muramasa gave a slight nod before returning to his ancient van, ready to make the restof his alcoholic deliveries. Kotetsu found a nice window seat and made himself comfortable, putting in his earbuds. As the bus pulled away from the stop, Kotetsu was already fast asleep, his cheek smushed comically against the glass.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the next stop is Silver Stage." Kotetsu gave a small grimace as he awoke from his cat nap, already feeling the crick that had developed in his neck from leaning on the window. As the bus hissed to a halt,
he grabbed his overnight bag off the luggage rack and made his way towards his apartment. Riding the elevator up, Kotetsu realized he was glad to be back inSternbuild. Despite being able to see Kaede and immerse himself in Oriental Town's secluded charm, he always missed the bustle of the city's people and its gleamingtowers. After hunting through his bag for the key, (which had found its way into a dirty sock somehow) he managed to enter his apartment without further difficulty. But just as he was about to flip on the TV and see what the heroes were up to, his communicator chimed, signaling a call. Pushing his finger to the glowing 'call', Kotetsu was greeted with the face of Mr. Saito. "Oh! Hello, Mr. Saito," Kotestu said with a twinge of guilt, having just remembered hepromised to call him as soon as he got back. "How long have you been back?" Saito asked, his voice puzzlingly louder through thecommunicator. "I'm waiting for you at the lab!" "I...I was just about to come," replied Kotetsu with a barely veiled lie. "I'm just dropping my bag off at my house." Giving a slightly dissatisfied nod, Saito ended the call. Kotetsu gave an inward sigh andheaded out of his apartment to the monorail station.
After awkwardly making his way past security (even after almost 2 years the security guard wasn't sure if he was a murderer or not) and taking a long elevator ride up to theHeroTV offices, Kotetsu was greeted by a borderline hostile Saito, already wearing his microphone hat contraption. "What took you so long?" he demanded, nearly pulling Kotetsu to the floor as hedragged him into the labs. They promptly arrived at the pods that Kotetsu and Barnaby had used to regain their strength after grueling fights, and that Barnaby had used toremember his killer. "I have altered one of the pods to administer the serum I developed for you!" said Saito,
a hint of pride in his voice. "As soon as you fall asleep, I'll administer the serum. You should only be out for an hour or so." "Sounds good," replied Kotetsu, giving his hands an eager rub. As he lay in the pod,
Saito prepping the serum and the machine, a thought crossed Kotetsu's mind. "Hey," he called to Saito, "where are all the Heroes? I didn't see them when I came up."
"They're out fighting a NEXT with electrical abilities near the power plant," he replied,
barely taking his eyes off of the computer screen. "They should be back by the time you're done. Now close your eyes. You will smell something like mouthwash, and thenyou should wake up in about an hour, got it?" Kotetsu nodded, the pod closing around him. He almost had enough time to startworrying about what might happen, but he was overpowered by a sharp, minty scentand soon lapsed into unconsciousness.
55 minutes later
Saito gave a small grin as he prepared to halt the serum injection and begin to wakeKotetsu. Everything had proceeded as expected, and Kotetsu's brain scans appearednormal. But just as he was about to engage the waking sequence, he noticed the lights began to flicker. Concern washed over his face, and as he pondered the possiblecause, the room plunged into inky darkness. "Shit!" swore Saito, stumbling his way toward the door between the control room andthe pods. As he pulled at the door, however, a chill creeped up his spine. The door was electrical, and since there was a power outage he was trapped. He could see a smallglimmer through the observation window overlooking the pods, and this sent acompletely new wave of fear over him. Light still shone from the viewing pane in thepod. He had rigged the pods on their own generator in case such a power outageshould occur.
But that was before he had rigged Kotetsu's with the serum injecting system, which stillcontinued to work. And Saito could do nothing to halt it until the power came back on.
End Chapter 2