Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger & Bunny in any way, shape, or form. I just like to play with the characters.

Summary - Part II of Lunatic and Tiger's talk.

Author's Note - Thank you all for patiently waiting, and no, for little drabbles like this, I'm not evil to leave you hanging for two weeks off of a cliff (longer stories though, hehehehe)

"Hey... come on Kotetsu. I can tell by your eye movement that you've dropped back into lucid dreaming. Thinking of waking up anytime soon old man?"

...there's only one person who calls me that...Bunny? Where am I?

Wherever he was, his eyes felt as though they were crusted together. With cement. Kotetsu struggled, then finally opened them to get a face full of bright lights.

"Ughhh."

He tried to block out the lights but his arm didn't move, so he just groaned again

That smell... hospital?

"Ah, sorry. Forgot about those." It took two eternities too long for the lights to dim. Thankfully, when it did some of the pain was soothed away by the darkness.

"The par-?" Kotetsu began to cough, his throat complaining about the sounds he was demanding of it. For each harsh rattle there was an answering pressure in his chest which only made him cough harder.

"Hey hey hey," soothed Barnaby. "Breathe, just breathe. Here, have some water."

Kotetsu sipped at it, letting out a deep breath when Barnaby moved the cup away.

My throat still feels dry.

"Don't worry about talking just yet, they removed your tube a little earlier today."

There was a sigh from the blonde.

"Thought we almost lost you on that one." He gave a quick smile, pushing his glasses a little bit further up his face.

Trying to hide his emotions.

"If it wasn't for Judge Petrov's quick thinking, we... might have, actually."

All the memories from the park flashed through his mind, leaving Kotestu grabbing at the edge of the bed so that he could get up.

"Yuri?"

"He's fine," Barnaby said quickly. "Much better than you, so stay down. He's got a few bruises here and there, but nothing major. No gunshots to the chest like you."

A grunt of satisfaction was all that Kotetsu could muster as he let himself fall back onto the bed.

Good.

"Them?"

"'Them'?" Barnaby repeated the word, frowning. "Oh, you mean the man and the woman."

A nod.

Ugh, this would be so much easier if I could talk.

"Lunatic came before we could get there." Barnaby winced after looking at Kotetsu's eyes. "We didn't even see him, we just know because of Yuri's eye witness account... and the bodies."

"Who?"

The heart monitor sped up.

Who else died because I wasn't strong enough?

"We're still looking into who it might be. Turns out Lunatic's been busy, and there's at least five pages of people who might want to kill him." Barnaby stood up, patting Kotetsu's hand. "You need to rest though, so I'm going to go call your family. Judge Petrov's in the hallway. He wanted to know the moment you were lucid."

Kotetsu watched as his partner made his way to the door.

"I get the feeling that the judge is grateful, but that probably won't extend to property damage."

There was a laugh at the remark, then a small groan. Barnaby slipped out the door, leaving Kotetsu alone.

Ugh. I feel horrible.

The door opened again, and this time a head of long, wavy grey hair peeked in. Kotetsu winced to see the large amount of blood soaked across the man's outfit.

Is it strange to hope it's mine?

"Good to see you're up..." Judge Petrov finally said, giving a small nod. "Stern Bild would have had a hard time without you."

"What happened?"

"Exactly what I guessed would," said Yuri, leaning against the doorway. "Lunatic showed up while I was trying to keep your blood on the inside of your body, and he fired away. I'm lucky he didn't think to kill me too."

"Maybe he learnt," Kotetsu tried to wet his mouth and swallow. "After Edward."

"Maybe."

Yuri didn't sound too convinced.

I'm not either.

"Thank you."

The words dropped into the building silence and broke it.

"Barnaby... told me you saved me."

"... maybe that was it." Yuri walked over to the window, drawing the curtains. "Saving the life of a Hero excused me from my act of murder."

"... we're not better." Kotetsu's voice sounded like sandpaper, but he continued. "We're not special. We're human. Good and bad."

There was no answer at first.

"Do you think..." the judge coughed. "That Heroes can go bad?"

Hesitation, then a nod.

Where did this topic spring up from?

"Anyone can be bad. Anyone can be good." Kotetsu's voice broke on the last word, and the waves of wheezing began, hard enough to force tears down his face and blur his vision. A cool glass was pressed into his hands, the gulp of water feeling as if he hadn't just drank before.".

"Thank you." Kotetsu cleared his throat, sipping a bit more water.

I feel stronger already

"As I was saying. Our actions are what make us good. Some people do good with bad intentions. Others do bad with good intentions."

Yuri let out a hum.

"I'm not sure I've heard of doing good accidentally."

Kotetsu let out a bark of laughter.

"My daughter. She-" he broke up, clamping his mouth shut.

I gave away my secret!

"...are you okay? You've turned white."

"Um..."

"Is it because you mentioned a daughter?" There was a huff. "I'm going to guess that the family I spoke with earlier is yours. Charming mother, standoffish older brother, worried little girl." Yuri looked at Kotetsu. "Don't worry. I won't say anything about them."

"Barnaby was calling them...?"

Why would he call if they were in the hallway?

"I believe they went down to the cafeteria for something to drink." Yuri paused. "The doctors didn't think you'd wake up for a bit longer yet."

"...oh."

Kotetsu wasn't sure how he should feel about that.

Do I really want him to know about my family?

He studied the man.

He is one of the finest judges for Stern Bild. I'm lucky to be working with him. He sticks to his beliefs as strongly as I stick to mine, and I get the feeling that he'd fight just as hard for them too.

"Dad!" The door banged open, startling both men. Kotetsu began to cough again, and Yuri quickly refilled the glass, handing it over again.

"Um, sorry." Kaede twisted her hands together and scuffed at the floor.

Growing up so fast but she's still so cute!

"Nothing to worry about Kaede-chan." Yuri patted her on the shoulder. "Since it seems you're in good hands again, Kotestu, I shall leave you. Until the next time I see you in the my courtroom."

Kotetsu nodded, giving the man a smile as he left the room.

"What happened this time dad?!" asked Kaede, huffing and narrowing her eyes. "You said you were going to be careful!"

"I was," protested Kotetsu, one hand up in surrender. "This one wasn't my fault."

"You say that every time we visit you here," added Muramasa from the doorway. "Mom's talking to the doctors, if you were wondering."

Kinda was.

"Thanks."

"How do you, when you're a Hero, get shot by accident?" asked Kaede.

Memories of every time he'd thrown himself in front of a bullet, or a villain had shot at him flashed through his mind.

"Easier than you'd think," muttered Kotetsu, offering a hand to his daughter.

"But... this?" She shook her head. "You've been shot before, I rewatched your episodes of Hero TV, your power takes care of it."

Aww, she watched the old episodes looking for me?

Kotetsu grinned at the thought of Kaede cheering for him, then sighed.

Ugh. I hate to bring the creep up, but...

"Kaede-chan, do you remember those collars? The ones Rotwang made the other Heroes wear?" Kotetsu felt a sudden sympathy for his teammates. He'd worn his for less time and had hated every second.

"The ones the stopped their powers?" She nodded, her eyes narrowing. Kotetsu wouldn't have taken a bet that she was remembering the events with Maverick. "Yeah. I remember them. I was so worried he was gonna blow everyone up."

I still wish you hadn't been put in that position...

"What about them?" asked Muramasa.

"Yeah..." Kotetsu scratched his nose. "They put one on me. So my powers didn't work when I got shot."

Next to the window, blossoms in a vase sprouted green flames.

Green?!

"Whoa whoa whoa!" shouted Kaede, backing away from the flaming flowers. Masamura snatched Kotetsu's glass and splashed the rest of the water on it, thankfully killing the fire.

Kaede huddled in the corner, starting at her hands in horror.

"Copy my power," said Kotetsu in a firm voice, holding out his hand again; this time Kaede didn't hesitate. She grasped it like a drowning person would a lifesaver.

That color... could she really have run into Lunatic?

"Who did you recently touch?"

"I don't remember," she said, not letting go. Tears welled up in her eyes. "When Barnaby told us you were awake, I ran here. I'm sure I bumped into a lot of people."

"You did," commented Masamura. "I had to keep apologizing for you, which is why I was a bit behind."

There was a knock on the doorframe.

"Can I come in too?"

"Barnaby!" Kaede ran over to him and hugged him burying her face in his side. He looked at Kotetsu, who pointed to the windowsill.

"What did I miss?"

"Kaede picked up someone else's next power," said Masamura. "Green flames."

Barnaby hugged the girl tighter.

And that's why he makes a good partner.

"Lunatic... did help you earlier," Barnaby said in a slow and halting voice. "The collar had been melted off."

Kotetsu's hands reached up to rub around his neck.

I don't feel any scars.

"There were no marks on you, just on the metal."

"How precisely can he control those flames?" Kotetsu wondered aloud.

Enough to melt metal, but leave skin untouched?

"We've seen recordings that the walls have only burnt enough to let him in. Also, think about his cape."

Kotetsu nodded, flexing his right hand into a fist.

Ugh... just thinking about Lunatic makes me want to punch him.

"Right... Barnaby, let's see if we can get a list of people who're in the hospital right now. Contact Judge Petrov, since I don't think they'll just give us the names. As an impartial, official part of the city's administration, he should be able to get access."

"How are you going to explain it?" asked Masamura. "You can't mention Kaede-chan."

Absolutely not. I want her to keep her 'real' power a secret. Let everyone else think she has magnetism and super strength.

Kotetsu nodded.

"I don't think we'll have to. What if we just mention the flowers?"

"That could work," said Barnaby, running a hand down Kaede's hair. "No need for names, just the fact that there were green flames."

"I'm sure Yuri will be able to help us in our investigation," said Kotetsu, eyes shining with excitement. "And then maybe we'll finally be able to capture Lunatic!"

Yuri's gotta help us!

"Only," interrupted Barnaby's voice, "if you stay in your bed and heal. I'll do all the leg work." He patted Kaede on the top of the head. "How about you help me by keeping a close eye on your dad?"

"Sure!" She gave him another hug, then ran back over to her dad. Kotetsu grabbed her around the waist and gave her a huge hug.

"Muramasa rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to go find mom. Since you'll still be eating hospital food, maybe we'll all go out for fried rice."

Jeeeeerrrrrkkkk!

Kotetsu adopted a teary-eyed pleading look.

"You wouldn't."

"Maybe you'll stop landing yourself in the hospital." There was a pause before he left the room. "Um... look, little brother. Glad you're still around." He didn't wait for an answer, stepping out into hallway to be lost in the conversations and noises out there.

Thanks Masabaka.

"What he said," added Barnaby, shaking his head and smiling. "Good to have you back partner. It would have been horrible to lose you."

Thanks Bunny. It's good to still be here.

Kotetsu let out a soft sigh and hugged Kaede tighter.

Letter from the Soup - F for Fallacy

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