Well, if nothing else, Lunatic certainly lived up to his name, and Kotetsu wasn't very happy with him.
Being stuck in the office with only a grumpy Bunny and paperwork for company was never fun, really. And if Lunatic killing over thirteen people since his "debut" the other night was to blame, then Tiger was happy to have a scapegoat. Blaming someone else for your misfortunes always seemed to be so much more satisfying, anyway.
Paperwork was so boring, honestly. It automatically made any day extremely shitty.
He sighed and rolled back in his chair, brushing dark hair from his eyes. He hadn't seen this much death in this short of a time period since back then, when he was the one doing the actual killing. It was bad for his blood pressure.
A quiet grunt of frustration from his left diverted his attention to his partner, who wasn't doing so great. He looked like he hadn't had a decent sleep for at least a week, if not more. Koetesu sighed, and then dramatically changed his expression to a grin as he thought of an absolutely brilliant idea: "Bunny, do you want coffee? I'm too tired to focus on this," he gestured at his computer screen half-heartedly, "and I'm going to go and get one anyway."
His partner looked at him, catching on to his wonderful plan instantly. "You are not bailing on me and leaving me to do all of this paperwork, old man."
"Hey, hey, hey. I'm offering to buy you a coffee, now." Bunny looked like he wanted to protest more, but Kotetsu was already on his feet and halfway out the door. "Double double, right? I'll be back in five."
Quickly shutting the door, Koetesu grinned as he heard the raged yell that accomanied the dull thunk of something Bunny threw at him hitting the door. He didn't miss the small smile sent his way just before the door shut, though, and grinned harder at the thought.
Looking at a double of yourself was just outright strange.
Kotetsu blinked, somewhat awed by Ivan's actual power. He'd always thought it was like, invisibility, or something. How did that kid manage to get into the background so easily? It all made sense now.
The other Kotetsu was looking pretty sheepish, and scuffed his foot against the ground. This was so cool. "I can turn into objects and other stuff too." Nix what he said earlier—looking at a living trash can was much, much weider. Thankfully, Ivan turned back into Ivan before Kotetsu could have a stroke at the mind-boggling possiblities, adn shuffled about again, tucking his hands into his pockets. "It's pretty useless, really, since I can't copy anyone's powers, just their appearance."
"Are you kidding me?" Koetetsu balked. "That's amazing! I had no idea you could do something that cool, Origami." He put one hand on the shocked teen's shoulder, causing him to jolt slightly and Kotetsu smiled happily.
"I-I don't really think so, but thank you anyway." Ivan looked away and played with his sash a bit, and though he played it off like a typical teenager, Kotetsu could tell that he was happy to have been praised. Really, kids these days.
...Now he actually was starting to sound like an old man. Damnit, Bunny. He coughed half-awkwardly. "Well, anyway. We should probably get going. There's gotta be more for us to do around here, huh?"
Ivan gave him a shaky smile, and allowed himself to be lead away by Kotetsu's gentle hand.
So, Ivan's best friend had killed someone because of him when he was a kid, huh? That was pretty strange, actually, but it did explain a lot of things, like why he was so hesitant and shy, and why his self-esteem was so low. He had had no idea that Ivan had been involved in something so major, but really it didn't actually change much about his perception of the boy. Yanking the coughing younger hero out of the sinkhole, Kotetsu had to pound him on the back as the kid choked on another mouthful of sand. "You okay?"
"Yeah, or I will be soon, anyway." the blonde mumbled into the arms that were holding him partially out of the ground and giving a few more weak coughs.
Koetesu shook his head, and cradled the blonde a bit, lifitng him all the way out and setting him on solid ground. "No, no trouble." Ivan looked at him like he'd grown another head. "We're friends, aren't we?" He asked with a small smile, which Ivan returned, if a bit shakilly.
"That aside...Why did you interfere?" Kotetsu blinked at him stupidly. "His life is ruined because of me...Edward is in prison because of me." Ivan wasn't meeting his eyes, and Kotetsu just kneeled beside the sandy ground, not really having anything to say. "I would die if it meant that he could be happy."
Kotetsu looked at his partner, who was standing a ways away, and Bunny cut in with a click of his boots, kneeling on the opposite side from Kotetsu of Ivan. "From what I can gather, Edward is just looking for someone to blame." Ivan jerked, surprised at the voice of the other blonde. "Really, Origami, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it too much."
He could have happily facepalmed. That was...probably not the most intelligent thing to say, because now, Ivan seemed more upset, if the shakes were anything to go by. Damn it, Bunny, he`d been looking for some support, not more things to play damage control with. The young blonde in his arms put his face in his hands, "But I...I..." he was wetly mumbling, an Kotetsu shot his partner kind of an acrid look. "If would have done something...If I had moved...He would have been a much better Hero than me!" he practically yelled, his shoulders shaking in Kotetsu's hold. "I'm to blame...I'm..."
"If you're to blame, then you should be the one to go after him." Ivan looked up at him, eyes puffy and red, and Kotetsu offered a reassuring smile. "We've already seen exactly what he's like now, and he's commited a crime once before, already. Are you going to let him commit more crimes?"
Ivan's eyebrows bunched together, and he looked down again. "But I can't do anything-"
"Are you going to make the same mistake again?" The older man tucked Ivan's head under his chin, looking up at the sky while he gave him a reassuring hug. "Listen to me: If you really think that you're at fault here, then it's your job to make it right. You're a Hero, after all."
Standing slowly, Ivan looked at him for the first time in twenty minutes, and all he could do to not make things considerably worse than they already are was nod and smile as he watched the kid run off.
Though it was pretty short lived: his smile soon turned into a shocked, embarassed blush. Bunny had slid his hand across his shoulder in an effort to get his attention, and now his back wouldn't stop tingling. "Old man, we should go. That guy is still around somewhere, after all, and Origami isn't really thinking." He stuttered out an excuse and stood quickly, face still flaming. That had been the first time that Bunny had ever touched him casually like that, without the suit.
It was weird.
Really, this Lunatic guy seriously needed a hobby, or something. Kotetsu immediately regretting thinking that, as seeing the mental image of Lunatic in all of his wacky-coloured glory knitting equally wacky-coloured scarfes was just too much, and dispite the general chaos going on around him, had to let loose a wild grin.
But seriously, now. Edward had only just escaped from prison, and already Lunatic was after his ass. Didn't this guy have a day job, or something?
He wasn't really sure how he and Bunny had ended up facing off with the crazy on the roof, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tiger was just glad that Ivan was safe, and that, as it turned out, Lunatic didn't actually belong to Ouroboros. Thank God, he would have been chopped up and served for breakfast within the week if that little tidbit of information would have gotten out, and then where would Kaede be?
"I lost my lead to Ouroboros thanks to you!"
"That's a shame."
...Best not to think about that, especially since his partner was about to do something extremely reckless. "Bunny don't just-" and, of course, he didn't listen at all.
Lunatic nimbly dodged Bunny's enraged charge, and Bunny barely skidded to a stop in time to not meet his unfortunate end via dropping off a three story building; "I see. So hatred has consumed you." He could have sword he heard some trace of regret in Lunatic's voice, but it was fairly irrelavent.
He also said something about the voice of Thanatos, but Kotetsu wasn't listening. From that second that the blue bastard lifted that crossbow, Bunny was the only thing on his mind. Kotetsu didn't think, just acted. Bunny is going to die. I can't let him-He'd never moved this fast in his life, feet pounding against the metal roof, Not a change is he going to get hurt, I'll protect him-!
The flames slammed into him, rending half of his shirt completely to ash, and he didn't even want to think about his already injured shoulder. He stood, staggering a bit, and Lunatic had already raised another blast of blue flames. Grounding himself and jumping again, he squeezed his eyes shut as his fist slammed into Lunatic's mask, and if he hadn't had the hundred power, the force alone would have been enough to break his hand. He wasn't sure that it hadn't anyway.
His side hit the ground first, thankfully; his fist hurt like almighty fuck and half of his upper torso smelled faintly of steak, so that would have made for a poor landing, not like this one was much better. Kotetsu practically bounced off of the pavement when he came crashing down, and gave an involuntary yell because of it. That was definitely going to hurt in the morning. He'd rolled a metre or two before coming to a halt, wincing into the pavement and feeling every tiny rock that was jamming into his bare flesh, and gave a small pained moan when he felt larger stones practically embed themselves into his burnt chest, piercing the thin layer on top and drawing more blood. Thankfully, once he mustered the willpower to look, the brunette was happy to see that those eerie blue flames could be put out, and apparently, falling three stories did the trick. Kotetsu shakilly sat up, clutching his shoulder gently and giving another pained groan, and immediately felt Bunny's presence beside him and a hand on him.
He tried not to brush it off; his body was numb and felt half asleep, and the pressure felt strange. "Are you Okay?" he was in a panic, Kotetsu could tell that much. Well, it must have been stressful, he guessed, and gave him a small, pained smile, even as a dribble of blood ran down his chin from the flaming punch to the face that he'd gotten from Lunatic for Chirstmas.
"I'm fine." though it was obviously a lie.
The adrenaline from being punched in the face in midair and thrown to the ground after being set on fire was starting to wear off, and his body gave a resonant, painful throb. He doubled over, head between his knees and his partner's hand still on his uninjured half, and gave a short, extremely painful chuckle and a weak smile. "I think."
Bunny swore, stood, and turned, ready to continue pointlessly flinging himself at Lunatic, but Kotetsu quickly gripped his hand, startling him into staying put for a second. At the blonde's confused look, he gave a small grin, "I keep telling you, calm down. This isn't going to get you anywhere."
"But-!"
"I have no desire to fight with you Heroes. I am simply giving muderers what they deserve." In between the pounding blood in his ears, he could hear Lunatic's booming voice intetrrupt whatever Bunny was going to say, but at this point, his conciousness had started to waver a bit and he couldn't really understand most of it, but the end made more sense.
He grunted again, and was half tempted to pinch his own cheek to make him stay more alert. Damn it, body, this was important. "Is that why you kill people? To satisfy..." Kotetsu swooned and almost fell over again, but his grip on Bunny's hand kept his body from meeting the pavement again. "...some sort of personal sense of jusitce?" he mumbled quietly. It was a little slurred, but it was still understandable. Probably.
Shit, were they still holding hands? Kotetsu quickly let go.
"Then...my sense of justice...is arresting idiots like you. You know what you're doing is wrong." He tried to summon up the strength to stand, but his legs wobbled and he almost pitched over, so he figured that staying down was in his best interests.
Thankfully, it didn't seem to matter. He managed to focus on Lunatic's face as the crack that he'd made in his mask widened and a large part fell, revealing pale skin. The villain's hand shot up to cover it, and said some silly closing, cliche line before hopping away, but the damage had been done. Barnaby moved away, removing Kotetsu's ability to remain upright and his head met the concrete again, this time knocking him unconcious.
A/N: Just for reference, 1m=~3ft 3