Chapter 1
"I think that we all do heroic things, but hero is not noun, it`s a verb."
Robert Downey, Jr.
In the morning, we found our heroine heading for work….
"A-Choo…!" Koharu sneezed. "What the…? Is someone talking about me?"
She sniffed as she heads towards a building where her boss called for her in office. She sighed, "I hope this is done by then, I wouldn't like to keep my shop closed the whole time."
When she met with her boss, she heard the news that shocked her internally….
"What do you mean the company is being bought?!" she couldn't believe what she`s hearing. The company where she worked in has been bought by Apollo Media.
Her boss, Ben sweat-dropped nervously, "I`m sorry Koharu, but it`s the only way for this company to survive from being ruins. We were fortunate to find a buyer who could handle debts. I couldn't let his company down, so this is the only solution…"from his pocket, he pulled out a business card and handed to her. "Here…"
She read it, "Who is this person?"
"Your new boss…"then he exit his room and out of the room while Koharu follow him.
"What! But Ben you`re my boss, how can you just replace yourself with this person!?" she grabbed him by the shoulders, but he pried them off gently.
"I`m sorry, Koharu …"he smiled weakly. "I`m really sorry, but business is business…"
Koharu looked at him with soft eyes. "Then what will happen to you?"
Ben sighed sadly, although he smiles. "I`ll be working for another job in a few months."
When they walked all the way to the front of the building, Koharu started to sorrow, "Ben, I`m so sorry if I was the one who caused all this, but please don't do this to me…"
Her now ex-boss grabbed her hands and rubbed them in comfort, "Koharu, I know this is tough for you, even for me…but no matter what, I`ll always be your number one fan," he laughed lightly before giving her a sorrowful look. "I`m really sorry again, Koharu…time is changing and we`re way behind it…"
He let go of her to leave somewhere God knows where, while Koharu grieved over this sorrowful pressure. "Why—just why does time have to go by so fast?"
Meanwhile Barnaby entered a room, where he meets his fellow scientist ….
"Saitou-san, nice to meet you again," he greeted. "Thank you very much for the other day."
The scientist, Saitou is a brilliant tech engineer who created the armored suit for Barnaby from before. But there is one flaw he holds that people find difficult, and when Saitou replies, Barnaby barely even hear a single word he said. (A. N .This is what I`m talking about)
"Eh?"
Saitou responded but still Barnaby couldn't hear him, "I`m sorry, can you say that once more?"
He lifted his ear to him to hear him better but nothing, before the scientist pointed to the armored suit gesturing him of what he`s trying to say.
"Ah…" Barnaby sweat-dropped as he thought, "The other day, his voice was so loud…."
He then looked at his suit as he admired it. "I can`t believe you would create something like this. It`s amazing."
"It`s my greatest masterpiece," Saitou praised whispering, but Barnaby ignored him when he saw another prototype suit just like his, but different by the colors and form. He asked, "What`s this one over here? Is it my partner`s?"
"Yes," Saitou nodded.
On the next day, Koharu is heading towards where she will be working in….
"God, this is a hell of a mess I`m in…." she said, remembering from yesterday about the shocking news from her ex-boss. "I can`t believe he would do something like this, it`s just so wrong!"
She was dressed in her signature outfit (from the prologue), but she wore a white medium floppy hat with multiple camellias sewn, and a light green ribbon tied into a bow around the head.
She sighed in frustration, until her phone rang. She answered it, "Hello? Koharu, here speaking—"
"Mommy..?" a familiar voice called out.
"Sweetie!" it's her 5 year old daughter, Kaede talking on the phone. "Hi Kaede, how`s my little angel doing?"
She felt a little happy when she hears her daughter`s sweet voice. She loves her with all her heart ever since she was born. She feels little regretful for not spending time with her daughter more than she does before, but at least she can stay in contact with her.
"Mommy, come to my skating recital next week!" her daughter sounded excited. "I want to show you what I learned from my teacher!"
"I will, and I promise I`ll bring lots of pretty flowers for you, Kaede!" she smiled over the phone.
"Yay—!" she cheered.
Koharu grinned at the sound of her child cheering in joy; it makes her feel happy to see her baby in bliss.
Until she heard her mother`s voice, "Kaede, let me talk to your mother, okay?"
"Okay, bye mommy!" she said her farewell to her before she talked to her mother. "Hi mom, how are you doing?"
"I`m fine, but did you make sure the damages were paid?" her mother asked, reminding her from before.
She sighed, "Yes mom …"
"I mean it, because when I watched you from TV, I almost had a heart attack when that criminal shot you in the head twice, it could have killed!" her mother breathed wearily.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry you like that, but I`m here right? Alive in flesh and bones," she reassured her. "And besides, I can handle myself very well, I`m only 25 years old, mom!"
"In the few months, you`ll be 25," she corrected. "And I know dear, but it would break this old wrinkled heart if your daughter cries at your funeral—she would be so hurt if her own mother kept her secret from her, if I told her…"
"I`m really sorry, but I can`t promise that I won`t get hurt," Koharu said, apologetic.
Her mother then asked, "I know but by the way, how`s the flower shop going? I hope you`re doing fine…."
"It`s going fine, business was a little slow but everything is fine," she explained before she`s almost at her destination. "Mom, I have to go now, I`ll call you later."
"Alright dear, be safe," then she hanged up.
"That I can`t promise you as well," she thought before she heard a child-voiced cry, "Darn it, my balloon is stuck on that tree!"
She walked passed trees and statues, and then she saw a boy trying to reach his balloon from a tree. She approached him, offering him her help. "Need some help?"
"Uh sure, thanks!" the boy grinned. She stretched out her arm as high as she can to grab it, but it was little too high for her. "Huh guess I can`t reach it."
"Aw nuts," the boy was disappointed, but Koharu wasn't giving up just yet.
"Don't worry, I`ll get it but I need your help."
A minute later when we find the little boy and Koharu forming a human ladder trying to reach the balloon from the tree…
"Did you get it?" she grunted when she trying to hold him steady when he`s standing on her shoulders.
The boy replied with a struggling voice. "I almost got it!" he reaches for it as hard as he can until he got it.
"Got it—!" he beamed.
"Great," she tries to lower him down by the waist gently, but then she tripped losing her balance and they both fall down until Barnaby caught one of them—which is Koharu.
Koharu realized she was caught by her new rival Barnaby Brooks Jr., and now she`s blushing like a tomato when he did.
The boy hissed from the pain from his behind when he landed on it, but stand up quickly when he saw the new hero. "Whoa, you`re Barnaby Brooks Jr….!"
"Mm-hmm, that`s right," he nodded simply, putting down Koharu down on her feet.
"Cool, I saw at Hero TV, and you were awesome!" he smiled, holding out his balloon. "Can I have your autograph, sir!?"
"Sure," Barnaby signed his signature on his balloon with a pen, causing the boy to giggle in joy.
"Thanks, and thanks for your help, Miss! Bye!" then he ran away.
Koharu replied, "You`re welcome!" then she started to walk away to see where she`ll be working at, until she accidentally tripped as she lose her balance, but he caught her in time, holding her by the waist.
She looked to see green emerald eyes staring at her amber`s, and then blushed deeply when it was Barnaby Brooks Jr. holding her again.
Barnaby asked, releasing her. "Are you alright?"
"I-I`m fine," she stammered before rushing away from him.
"Wild Tigress…" he`d recognized her, since then semblance was uncanny, while seeing her away. "What a strange woman,"
In the new company she`s in...
Koharu looked around the advanced office she`s in, feeling nervous about talking her new boss, since her old position at Top-Mag has been discontinued. She looked at her boss, Alexander Lloyds in desk dressed in a suit, grey hair styled, eyes looking at a clipboard. She instantly took off her hat before he looked up.
"So you`re Wild Tigress, good title…" he observed her. "I can see that you`re not originally from here in this city, are you?"
"No I`m not from here!" she flinched, but luckily her boss didn't notice.
"What`s your name…?" he asked.
"It`s Koharu, sir!" she answered. "My name is Koharu Kaburagi …"
"Hmm…very well, starting right now—you`ll be briefing in your new costume at the design room, you can say good bye to that old one you have."
She looked in surprise, "What, but I thought we were going to start tomorrow—"
"We`ll start today and that`s final, or do you rather be jobless, Mrs. Kaburagi?" he looked at her with cold eyes.
"Maybe today`s fine," she quickly agreed with his sudden decision. She has a second job back at her florist shop, but this kind she doesn't want to lose as well.
Until then a siren suddenly screeched in the office, signaling her boss to quickly pull out a big screen, and turned it on to show the Industrial District of Sternbild, a giant metal statue triggering disorder in the city.
"The giant hammer statue…? How is it moving?" she narrowed her eyes.
"It`s possible that this could be a work of a NEXT," he stated. "So this will be your first mission in the Apollo Media, to stop that statue from causing more trouble, and oh I forgot to mention you`ll be assigned to a first ever hero partnership as well, which our company debuted."
"What, but I have never been in one before…" she pointed out. "And besides nobody asked about that…."
"Don't worry, you`ll get used to it."
"But then, my suit—"
"Like I said before, you`ll be briefing in your new costume at the design room, you can say good bye to that old one you have," he repeated.
Koharu was shocked at the thought of her old suit being replaced. "But sir, I wore that suit for my entire, I can`t just—"
"You can, and you will…" He looked at her like a predator with those cold eyes, but Koharu refuses to back down.
She argued. "I`m sorry but I`ve wore that suit in my entire career, making me who I am as a hero for it makes me, me!"
Alexander glanced at her unaffected by her outburst. "Just wear the damned suit, or you`re fired."
"Geez, touchy aren't we?" she thought as she went out the door to get her suit.
Outside before an incident starting to show up, there was an earthquake but not similar to one. The citizens looked around where it was coming from and saw the giant hammer statue walking over them. Once they saw this, they ran like flies getting away to a safe place before they`ll get hurt...
The statue continued to walk without attentions to the people below until it saw a billboard with a certain boy imprinted. It swings its hammers to knock it down once till it falls down to crash the grounds before it proceeds.
Meanwhile when its appearance and actions has been on live by Hero TV….
"Bonjour Heroes, an artifact from the industrial zone has apparently come alive, "Agnes said from the Hero TV station through their communication wristbands. "This is a call to actions for you NEXT."
And then we went back to our heroine who is in her new suit, and now riding her new green and white motorcycle as she passes cop cars through a highway to head where the commotions are….
Her new suit is the one Barnaby saw with Saitou, and similar to his; it`s more advanced than her old one, which is a mechanical body suit that covers every inch of her body in green and white armor with her newest sponsors shown to be Softbank and S.H. Figurants imprinted on the chest and the shoulder blades. She also wore a helmet with a glowing green top that covers her whole face, looking like a robotic tiger with glowing yellow eyes, and fangs showing where the mouth is. Since her hair might get burned if exposed, she tied it into a bun tightly so it wouldn't get in the way.
She said to herself about her new suit, "Even though it`s not the same without my old suit, it`s actually pretty cool!" but when the bridge started to be sway, she quickly stopped to look up to see the giant stoned statue staring down at her. She smirked, "Well hello, you troublemaker," she put herself in a battle stance ready to fight, until she leaped out of the way of a giant metal object that came flinging at her. "Ah-h-h-h….!"
"Damn, that hurts like a bitch…" she heard the voice of Rock Bison groaning in pain, and looked over to see him lying on a cracked small crater.
"Rock Bison…! Are you alright?!" she rushed to him.
Rock Bison recognized his friend`s familiar voice as he looked up to become bewildered by her new form. "What, Tigress…? What in the hell happened to you!?"
"Long story short, this is my new suit from then on, since I`m working in a new company after my old one got bought," she explained. "And now I was forced to work in an unexpected partnership…"
"Who is…?"
"Me…" they turned around to see Barnaby dressed fully in his suit, standing before them. He frowned at her, "Are you just going to lay there, old lady? Or are we going to work?"
"OH, COME ON! HASN'T IT BEEN ENOUGH ALREADY!?" She angrily cursed fate for putting her into too many situations. "Damn it, I never catch a break, don't I….?"