you gave me wings and I used them

It doesn’t yet dawn on him that with no way to force himself out of the ice, he’s stuck there–at least not fully, not enough so to dampen his spirits–for there must be some instant fix around, some way to get him out before it becomes an issue.

Well, it’s already an issue; what was originally one outraged car horn when he’d first been frozen in the middle of the road–against his will, no less!–is quickly devolving into an absolute cacophony as the queue stretches farther and farther back. But that just makes getting him out that much more of a priority!

She could have at least waited until he was across the road, in any case–nonissue though it may seem to him for now, it’s still not the greatest of situations to be caught in.

“No! My powers faded, remember!? It was the whole reason I retired in the first place!”

Tiger nods his head backwards in an attempt to gesture to his back–and to the logo printed across it, his new signature and selling point, ‘WILDTIGER1minute’. And it’s hardly a bad thing; speedy arrests are preferable, aren’t they? Sure, with the state of his powers, he may not be suited to First League work any more. But in the Second League, a minute is plenty of time! 

Right?

…Ah, whatever. It’s hardly his fault that he suddenly got frozen! And with that problem back in the foreground, he lets out another breath, directing it deliberately with his lips into the cold air, and he imagines it’s smoke.

Muscles ache, fingers twitch–held prisoner in such an awkward position, he can’t help but grow impatient.

“…So, like, how do you unfreeze this stuff?”

“But it wasn’t that bad last time,” Karina responds, although she practically has to yell to be heard over the horns. It’s enough to snap her back to attention, at least, and she’s stepping around Wild Tiger and the ice he’s gotten himself stuck in. As usual, his timing is completely off the mark; had he not interfered, there would be a reason to hold up traffic and she wouldn’t be down 200 points.

( She can see the new logo on the back of his suit from the corner of her eyes as she stands tall and smiles, even in the face of angry commuters. That grounds the situation a little more, if only to make her keenly aware of how much time had passed since she’d last seen him in action-- or, even in person. )

The horns keep blasting and it’s starting to strike her nerves, but the smile she musters doesn’t budge. At least their wait won’t be in vain: after all, a dazzling smile from Blue Rose is worth more than the delay. She can only hope Dragon Kid and traffic control can work quick enough to head off any drivers whom are bold enough to try and maneuver around the accident.

( What can you do in the minute, anyway? Karina finds herself counting the beats--  her catchphrase takes up almost half of that precious time, two or three seconds to charge up any attack or withdraw her gun, more on hotter days when the weather is fighting against her, less when it rains and the stage is practically set for her. It takes much more than a minute to take to the city from a grand entrance out of her transporter--

--it’s impossible. )

It’s kind of depressing, actually, if she lets herself think about it much longer, both how little he did accomplish in one minute and little she could. Not for the first time she notices discordant notes in the time wasted on spectacle and what she could be using it for, but before she can pursue the thought any farther she throws her shoulders back and shifts her weight, forcing the grin wider and chalking up the disarray in her thoughts to how badly Wild Tiger screwed up what should have been routine and replies with her teeth grit.

She says to break out and for a moment all he can do is narrow his eyes–break out? What, does she think he’s strong enough to break out of solid ice–?

…Of course! He’s neglected to use his powers lately (for there’s been no need to) but as of current they remain very much active, and he comes to realise that it’s not such a bad idea after all.

Three.

He stores all the energy he can muster, prepares himself to burst from the predicament he’s been so unfairly thrust into.

Two.

There’s a low noise coming from his throat as he steels himself, pushes every ounce of focus into his muscles–this is going to look awesome…!

One.

And–

…Nothing. His suit’s lights dim, and in a breath’s swiftness he feels himself slow a hundred times over. 

“What? Out of time already?” he says, and it’s not merely surprise nor agitation that surfaces in his tone but a mixture of both–he’d barely just activated his powers, it can’t have been a minute already…!

“Dammit–!”

Instinct would have him punch the ice in which he finds himself trapped were he able to do so–instead all he can manage is hanging his head in a dejected frustration as it becomes clear that he missed his chance.

…Well, it’s nice to see her again, but he’d certainly not pictured it under these circumstances. He sighs.

Blue Rose is very good at saving face when things don’t go exactly as planned: she didn’t invent a marketable way to escape from danger without losing an ounce of her charm just to stand around and gawk every single time a wrench is thrown into her plans. Karina, on the other hand, does everything she can not to jump when Mario’s voice is speaking about the both of them-- mostly on Tiger and his anticlimactic but still unanticipated arrival, but still-- and it becomes very apparent that the cameras have now turned their attention to the both of them.

It isn’t hard to snap back in to character and pout with her hands still fastened to her hips, although recovery takes more time than she would ever admit. The glare she’s giving Wild Tiger is completely genuine; of course the only person that could throw her off during an otherwise completely successful season is him.

( She’ll be happy about his return in time, of course. She’s happy about his return now, despite herself, but right now the frustration of everything else is taking precedence. )

Despite the entire thing being an accident, it’s still hard not to wince at the points deduction she’s going to get an earful about later. Right now, she’s definitely more frustrated than anything else.

Karina’s getting an earful of everyone else, now, everyone speaking at once-- mostly to Tiger or about Tiger, but she can pick out her name and that’s all she responds to, a curt whatever muttered before she addresses Wild Tiger again.

“...Did it always pass by that fast?” is what comes out instead of any of the other, more biting words she has to say. It’s weird to think that his powers have faded at all-- have continued to fade, since the last time they saw each other.

Up ahead where the thieves have fled to he hears the all-too-familiar sound of jet pack propulsion–a short, booming speech, surprised yelling, and then cheering.

Aw, great. Tiger takes a moment to take in a deep breath and let it out again, and it condenses in the biting cold around him. This couldn’t be going any worse…

Wait.

Blue Rose’s rant takes a turn he’d not expected. Her voice carries the same tone as always–scolding, mainly–but it’s what she says that concerns him above all.

“Stole it–!?” The most he can do to process such a claim is to blink, hard–he’d pinch himself if only he could reach. “What, didn’t anyone tell ya? Today’s my first day in the second league! Can’t you un-ice me, or something…!?”

Sky High’s voice carries farther than her vision, although Karina’s still stuck in place, glaring down Wild Tiger and still trying to properly piece everything together. His explanation makes some semblance of sense but it doesn’t properly click; his confusion is only making her confusion worse.

“We weren’t told anything,” Karina snaps back, all but shoving her gun into the holster on her thigh. Of that, at the very least, she’s sure of: no one had mentioned anything in the days prior and it’s difficult to keep secrets in such close quarters, and it wouldn’t surprise her if this sudden appearance was planned from the start.

Although she doubts his plan was to jump right in front of her to go in for the points.

( He hasn’t changed at all. )

The project isn’t exactly news to him - the second league had been informed of the possibility of a collaboration a few weeks prior, though nobody bothered to confirm it until a day ago.  It had been met with what he could only describe as an uproar of excitement from almost everyone present, so that probably explained why the higher ups assumed everybody was on board (either that or they just didn’t care…which was more likely, in any case.)  

As far as Barnaby, though - he wasn’t about to ruffle any feathers over the prospect of real battle, even if the circumstances were less than flattering.  Besides, whether he expressed it or not, he didn’t plan on staying in the second league until the end of his career.  Any impression he could make during this exercise was valuable to him for that reason alone.  

That doesn’t mean he has to be thrilled about the circumstances, though.

The coffee has cooled down just enough to drink without burning himself when he’s called into the other room for the pairing announcements.  He sips what he can on his way over, which ends up being about half of the already small cup, before tossing it into a trash bin just outside of the room where they’re about to begin filming.

She hears footsteps outside the door, and immediately Karina straightens herself, resting a hand on her hip and doing her best to smile despite fatigue setting in. It isn’t fair to write off whoever she’s being paired with so soon; they were chosen by Miss Joubert and presumably the approval of the Justice Bureau, and so no matter what there has to be some potential within the Second League members. Before her partner for the day enters, the smile Karina settles into is genuine. No matter what, this is something she hasn’t done before; her work couldn’t really be considered monotonous, but this is certainly a change that may end up being welcome.

And then the door opens.

And her expression falls with it.

Within her short assessment of the Second League, Karina did not make a special allowance for the two veterans within their ranks-- and why would she? What in the world could they learn when they’d already done the job several times over?

It’s made even worse by the fact that, of the two veterans, the one that walks through the door is the one with whom she’s already got a bit of a grudge against. Their last appearance together-- even if it was almost a year ago-- wasn’t exactly the most pleasant of engagements, and they were never close, by any stretch of the imagination.

Ten seconds–if that–is all it takes to make an arrival at the scene, and though two of the perps are already put on hold by the time he reaches them there’s still another two ripe for the picking and he has every intention of making an arrest today. Spacial awareness has never been his forte–never needed to be, if you ask him!–and he makes no attempt to focus anywhere but the pair running away as he closes the distance.

Three… Two…! They’re practically a hair’s length away! His fingers begin to close on the collar in his reach, and–!

His legs stop moving.

It’s a thudded heartbeat, the sensation of time itself coming to a halt–for a moment he truly believes such, until his thoughts catch up with the situation and the suspects continue to retreat. Eyes trail down to the frozen casing around his body, and his head snaps up towards the source of his predicament.

What’d she go and do that for!?

“Hey! What’s the big idea!? I’m not a criminal! I’m Wild Tiger!”

There are a lot of things Karina wants to say-- several of which involve words not acceptable for a live broadcasting-- but at first, nothing comes out, and she’s left standing there, watching the two perpetrators retreating from her view and staring Wild Tiger down from the barrel of her gun, dumbfounded. She’s aware there’s shouting behind her and straight into her ear, but the words sound distant while the rest of her thoughts catch up to her actions.

Thankfully, the stupor doesn’t last long, and embarrassment and anger set in to distract her from the third sensation, the heart beating against her chest and the brief thought that she was actually glad to see him.

( Definitely not like this, though. )

“--What do you mean, what’s the big idea-- what are you doing?! You’re the one that jumped--” Karina stops mid-sentence to scoff, lowering her gun and narrowing her eyes and shaking her head in absolutely disbelief.

Trusting Miss Joubert’s judgment and being thrilled at the prospect of being instrumental to her ideas rarely ever go hand in hand; typically it means waking up much earlier than she would ever rise on her own accord following the heels of a late night of slugging through homework that’s already a day late. She can afford to slouch against the wall for the moment-- well, as much as her costume would allow for-- because no cameras are rolling and she’s alone, albeit waiting.

Be a good example for the rookies, instructions punctuated by that sly sort of grin and distant look Miss Joubert always has when she’s two steps ahead of her heroes on an idea that will make them look good in the long run but in the moment just leads to striking everyone’s nerves. The Second League is her pet project, after all-- the more she makes them look good, the better off she’ll be for the season.

Perfect! He’s nearby, his suit is on, and there are a group of thieves just waiting to be captured. The peace hangs on a fraying thread for each moment he delays, and protecting that peace is a pleasure he’s been missing out on for all too long.

Today is his debut, after all! Or is that the wrong word? It’s not like he’s new to this business–does re-debut work?

…Whatever!

“Wild tiger, on the scene! Better give it up now!”

And he only has one minute, but that’s plenty enough time–Tiger’s powers are activated without a moment’s thought, and he comes thundering towards the criminals with a mighty enthusiasm which hasn’t dwindled one bit in the past ten months.

It’s nothing new, of course-- work never seems to go according to plan, especially when they’re a little understaffed-- but everything seems to go wrong in pairs: there’s four of them cornered in the barricade, and of the four, two of them have enough awareness to jump away before her water’s trajectory can catch them and freeze them in place. In the middle of her own speech, a voice booms from somewhere behind her, eclipsing her words entirely.

Of the two, one is annoying and the other is costing her points the more time she spends in shock, and so she breaks into a run not a second after the other two are caught and their legs frozen in place.

“And just where do you think you’re goi--” Karina’s reloading her gun while on the move, something she’s become very good at doing lately. This time, there’s no way she’s going to miss. The cowards are fleeing but lining up just so, stumbling over one another to leave the other in the lurch until a third party barrels into view from seemingly nowhere and suddenly Wild Tiger is in her line of fire as soon as she pulls the trigger. The realization of what’s happening hits Karina not a moment sooner than ammo breaks and crystallizes.