They had fucked up. Big time.

Ivan's plan was risky to begin with, yes, and they had known that, but now, the poor kid was in the hospital with some pretty major injuries, though apparently he did managed to find out a few things about the control of the bears. Honestly, probably nothing that Kotetsu himself couldn't have told them if he wasn't so afraid of outing himself. Origami had also apologized profusely for letting slip some crucial information about powers and so forth, but hey, the kid had never been taught how to withstand tortue, it was to be expected. Jake, Kotetsu knew from experience, was rutheless. And now, thanks to him ''not trusting'' his partner, Barnaby was beyond pissed off at him too on top of everything else.

This was turning out to be ridiculously complicated and extremely bad for his blood pressure and general mental health. He was spinning himself around in circles, trying to figure out a way to let them know about Jake's powers without implicating himself in any way shape, or form, and it was proving to be damn near impossible.

He was sitting with the rest of the Heroes minus Keith, who had already lost to the clown, and Anotnio, who was no doubt currently losing. Pale, and shaking somewhat, Kotetsu had already told everyone that he was fine, and just nervous, but even the most oblivious people could tell that there was something other than just nerves going on right now inside Kotetsu's head. Quite frankly, he didn't actually care at this point. What mattered right now was how, exactly, was he going to go about doing this? He couldn't sit by and watch his friends get picked off one by one, not knowing anything about Jake or what he was capable of, but he couldn't exactly throw himself into the fire by revealing everything, either.

Yes, it was selfish. But, it was probably for the best. He was friends with these people, for heaven's sake. He didn't want to lose them, and letting them know that yeah, this guy, that is currently wiping the floor with every last one of you and killed Bunny's parents is my old father figure.Somehow, he didn't think that that would go well.

They had sat and watched both the King of Heroes and the Tank get annihilated on live television, and Kotetsu had done nothing but sit there, watching as if in a trance. He couldn't tell them that Jake could read minds. As far as they knew, he had only just heard of the man as they had. Bunny had reprimanded him for ''jumping to conclusions'' as a front, and they wouldn't belive him anyway if he told them of his other, crucial NEXT power.

"Ahh, Wild Tiger seems to be the next one, Master Jake." he heard Kriem coo, and looked up blandly. "Ooh, look! It says he has something called the hundred power, which boosts any attribute of his and lasts for five minutes at a time." she gestured at the magazine that they had picked up somewhere, highlighting details that were important about the various Heroes. Kotetsu winced. "Sounds familiar, no?"

Jake just gave her a lazy grin and leaned back on his chair. "Very familiar." Jake already knew that either him or Barnaby was the Kotetsu T. Kaburagi that he had worked with as a kid, and Bunny didn't really fit the bill. He no doubt knew exactly who he was, and planned to use it to his advantage.

"Though, it is the dipshit that is always paying damage fines, isn't it? Might as well pick the next one, too." Jake swiped the next Mad Bear off of Kriem's umbrella, and displayed the card to the camera after reading it cheerfully. "Oh, it's Barnaby Brooks Jr., the revenge kid. How adorable. I'll pick these two off one right after the other, since I already know how their powers work." He leered at the camera. "See you in a minute, 'Wild Tiger'." he mocked, before the camera shut down and the screen went black.

The problem with Jake's power was that he was limited to simply hearing thoughts. A persons memories and mind were unaccessable, but the immediate thoughts were like someone had said them out loud. Of course, like everyone else, he could lose control; unstable emotions could cause him to simply ''explode'', and activate by accident, which could overwhealm him easily. Though, when he was controlling his power specifically, Jake could only access one thought process at a time, which could be used to the Heroes' advantage.

Which is of course why he chose to fight them all one on one.

Kotetsu could only hope that he could control himself to not think, or thing about stupid things while they fought, and not about himself or where he was planning to attack. It could get him killed, and he wasn't cool with that. At least he had somewhat of an advantage, then.

He put his hand on Bunny's shoulder and paused before he left. "No matter what you hear them say out there, just trust me, Okay? I wont lose."

"Why should I-"

Kotetsu had already left the room, and didn't pause when the other Heroes called out to him.

"Well, well, look who's here, Kriem." Jake smiled with all of his teeth, looking as crazy as ever. "If it isn't Kotetsu T. Kaburagi in all of his glory."

Kotetsu groaned, putting his face in his hands. Why had he agreed to come here, again? "Please tell me the cameras aren't on yet. I do have a secret identity to protect, after all."

The man grinned, and stuck out his tongue. "Don't worry, this little conversation is just between you, and me." he was probably lying through his teeth, but whatever. Kotetsu wasn't in a position to argue. "Tell me, boy, is this what you've done with your life? Become so soft that you're protecting the people you hated?" he chuckled, to Kotetsu's dismay. "You know, it's really adorable that you're worrying about your secret identity. What happened to that tattoo that I gave you? In such a pretty place, too, I hope you haven't destroyed it."

'Ducks.' Kotetsu forced himself to think, miserably. 'Cabbage, potatoes, fried rice, Bunnies-' shit, no, that was bad. "Gonna have to say, I liked you better with black hair, Jake. The pink doesn't suit your face."

Jake hmmphed and ran a hand over his fur coat. "What would a traitor know about fashion? Did your precious "Bunny" teach you a thing or two?" Blinking, and staring right at Kotetsu, he leered at him. Kotetsu shrank miserably. "Was it before, or after he fucked you like a whore?"

"Shut up." he shook, from both fear and outrage. Fuck, why did this always happen? "Shut up, shut up. Now I know you're a liar, you wouldn't say that just to piss me off." he desprately tried to think of anything but that night, and failed miserably. Oh well, if he couldn't get sex off of his brain, maybe he could distract Jake with it?

Unlikely, now that he'd thought that. Fucking balls, why was not thinking so hard?

His communication buzzed, before Agnes' voice cut into his thoughts. "Tiger, are you there? What the hell are you doing right now? Where are you-?"

Jake laughed again, cruelly this time. "Now, what did I tell you? Serves you right for not believing me." Kotetsu didn't respond, and cut the communication with Agnes without warning, her voice trailing off with a fizzle before the line went dead. "What I want to know right now, is if you're actually going to fight me or not."

'No.' "Yes."

"That's a messed up answer, Kotecchan." that and a smile was all the warning he got before Jake slammed his fist into his stomach, and he made a weak, pained sound that sounded a lot like the start of "Don't call me that.". "Kriem, start the cameras."

"Aww, but I wanted to talk to Kotetsu-kun for a while too~" she whined, and Kotetsu grit his teeth, trying not to cry out in pain. "Oh well." there was acrackle of static before he heard her voice being like from a microphone. "Oh dear, it seems that the fight between Kotetsu-kun and Master Jake has already started. How careless of me~"

He grunted quietly, hopping away from Jake when he pulled his fist back to punch him again. "Kriem, you're older than I am, please stop acting like you're twelve." he mumbled, though the camera no doubt picked it up anyway. 'Brussel sprouts.' he thought determinedly. Sticking with food seemed to be a good plan. He dodged another attack, activating his hundred power 'Jake, we don't have to do this, you can just go back to prison-'

"Like hell!" three of the 'barriers' blasted the ground beside him, and Kotetsu leapt away quickly. "I'd kill even you if it meant staying out of that place."

'I don't want to fight you!' He yelled in his mind, pretty much a last ditch effort. He already looked crazy enough, just sitting there and letting Jake have a one-sided conversation with himself. 'Just fucking listen to me, will you?' For his efforts, thanks to his momentary lapse in concentration, he was slammed against a wall and held there by his neck. Careless. "You are a traitor to everything I taught you." the tattoed man hissed venomously, shaking his hand back and forth. His skull was rammed against the stone again, making Kotetsu see stars and flashes of light. "You have betrayed me and Kriem, your fucking family!You are a traitor to Ou-"

Kotetsu, unfocused and gasping, grabbed the arm who's hand was wrapped around his throat and squeezed, causing the man to trail off in pain. "Shut up, damn you!" 'I grew up! I was young, and stupid, and prejudiced against, I had no friends, is it any wonder that I went to you? I left Ouroboros almost twenty years ago! Leave it alone!'

Jake slammed his head against the wall again-'Fuck, why did I leave my helmet behind?'-and then snatched his arm back when Kotetsu squeezed again, harder this time. The brunette slid down the wall, coughing slightly and head throbbing. "...Do you think being a Hero will somehow allow you to atone for your sins?" he leered, leaning in and letting Kotetsu get a good close look at his blue lipstick and abstract tattoos. "Is it to erase the memory of all of the people you-" A fist was slammed into his cocky face before he could finish, making him stagger backwards. "The fuck was that?" the pink-haired man yelled. "What the fuck happened to 'I don't wanna fight you,' hah?"

"I thought I told you to shut up!"

"Wao~" Kriem called, startling Kotetsu and apparently playing commentator. "That's the first hit that anyone has scored on Master Jake so far! And what's all this about 'not wanting to fight' and Kotetsu-kun being a 'traitor', mm? I wonder~." Kotetsu cussed. He'd forgotten about the audience that was watching this.

He looked back at Jake, who ahd apparently recovered from his previous blow already, and then cussed again as he barely dodged a barrier that was tossed at him. "You cocky son of a bitch. Just wait until that fucking power of yours wears out, I will string you up and fucking destroy you!" the older man raged, orange glow intensifying.

"The hell? Did you think that I wasn't going to fight back? Stupid clown." he grinned a bit, though it was mirthless. "Consider it revenge for slamming my head against a wall."

"I am extremely confused." intoned Pao Lin, sitting nervously in the training room. "It's like...we can only hear one side of half the conversation."

Nathan and Karina both nodded. Barnaby said nothing, face not showing any emotion as he watch what was happening to his partner on the screen.

'Power exhausted in ten seconds'

He saw Jake's grin, and leapt away as far as he could. 'This can't be happening.'

"What are you running away for? Scared that I'll bite?"

'six'

Jake was flinging more barriers at him, and he tried to dodge the best he could.

'I'm-'

"Shall I expose you for the traitor you are? You haven't told any of your friends yet have you?" He could hear him purr, much closer now than before.

'three'

'Going to die. I'm sorry-'

'two'

He charged, aiming to knock Jake out, at least, but

'one'

'-Tomoe, Kaede, Bunny. I tried my best.'

"Too bad."

CCCCLIFHANGER. /trollface/

also, added a bit onto the end of 10 that I forgot and that you should go back and read if you haven't already. This will make so much more sense if you do.

As always, I love you guys. Your comments make me mushy inside, in a good way.