The alarm clock startled Barnaby the next morning. The sensation of waking up sighted with noise in the background, with his glasses resting on his nose and the TV still tuned to OBC, disoriented him, but in a minute, he remembered: yesterday, he had been transported to an alternate dimension wehre he and his partner were born women, and no one found that strange at all. As unsettling chill rose up again, Barnaby stood and trudged to the bathroom for a shower, which lacked much water pressure or fine control of temperature, but it had heat, and heat helped.

He emerged from the shower and wiped down the foggy mirror, looking over his shoulder at the black lattice. It stretched across his back from just behind his shoulders, down over his shoulder blades, past his waist, and stopped just at the top of his hipbones. The horrible markings unnerved him, but with no idea what they might mean, all he could do was stand before the mirror and trace the threads of black criss-crossing his skin. After a minute, the futility of his examination dawned on him, so he left the bathroom, dressed, and went downstairs for a second meal at the oh-so-splendid continental breakfast: bagel, or cornflakes?

He picked the cornflakes, and severely regretted it.

The inter-stage express elevator took him to the Gold Stage, where he switched to the monorail and continued to Apollon Media. Without an employee ID, Barnaby had to wait outside the security gate until Saito came down and ushered him through.

"[I'm glad you're here, Barnaby,]" Saito whispered. "[I've been begging for an assistant to be included in my budget, but accounting has always denied me. This is my chance to demonstrate how much I can accomplish with extra help!]"

No pressure. Barnaby thought ruefully, but he said, "I'll do my best, Dr. Saito."

Saito grinned at him with that squeaky little smile that Barnaby had already learned to equate with bad news for himself and Kotetsu. "[That sounds like the Emily I know. Either way, I'm looking forward to your full cooperation.]"

…Oh no.

The layout of Saito's lab was basically the same—something Barnaby was gradually feeling less surprised about—but he had equipped the testing area with some of his favorite nasty weapons: flamethrowers, chainsaws, and Gatling guns with live ammunition, all for the purposes of testing the hero suits to their fullest capacity. Saito reported that he had already compared operational data from Barnaby's suit with his records of Emily's, but he wanted to test the suit's "biological synchronization." Barnaby did not like the sound of that.

"DON'T BOTHER POWERING UP FOR THIS TEST." Saito reassured him over the PA system as Barnaby gathered up the pieces of his hero suit and began to change. "THIS SHOULDN'T TAKE TOO LONG, EITHER."

Barnaby just tugged on his undersuit and unlatched his chest plate, preparing to pull it on. The automated armor chambers usually made this process much easier, but in this universe, those godsend time-savers had been built with much shorter, more female heroes in mind. Recalibrating them would take too long, and no one wanted Emily to be missing long enough to justify the change. Barnaby would just have to make do putting on his armor manually.

Once he fully opened the latches, Barnaby caught a glimpse of something on the inside of his armor. Another black lattice, just like the one on his back, marked the chest plate's interior. He measured it against his palm—about three inches square, not like the sprawling mess on Barnaby's skin. Dropping the plate, Barnaby grabbed one of his gauntlets and found another black mark, also square but smaller than the other. In fact, each individual piece of armor had its own black mark, some of them obvious and others tucked away. How did I not notice this earlier?

"IS THERE A PROBLEM?" Saito asked.

"Oh… No, I don't think so," Barnaby said. "But I just noticed some, well, cosmetic damage to my suit. Is it still safe to test?"

"AH, THE BLACK MARKS. DON'T WORRY, IT'S JUST DISCOLORATION." Saito answered. "I ALREADY TESTED THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY. THE ARMOR IS FINE TO WEAR."

Discoloration… Barnaby picked up his chest plate again and latched it onto his front. It seems like everything that passed through from my universe is marked with this black design. But what does it mean?

Once fully armored, Barnaby returned to the main testing bay, where Saito roasted, hacked, whipped, blasted, crushed, and generally assaulted him in the name of science for the entire morning. Barnaby's suit took the abuse easily and prevented any pain, as it had been designed to do, but the whole experience rattled Barnaby's nerves. Once the test was over, Saito explained that had been the whole point. 'Biological synchronization' was the process by which the suit responded to fluxes in Barnaby's heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing, the signs of a fight-or-flight situation, and adjusted its functions accordingly. The test had the added benefit of proving that Barnaby's suit was perfectly calibrated to his own body, literally built exactly for him, no trickery or illusions. His synchronization had been that perfect.

Wonderful.

Barnaby bought lunch in the office cafeteria and brought it back to Saito's lab, where he could do some extra personal research. With a computer terminal at his disposal, he scoured the web for more information about Tigress and Emily, dredging up articles from Hero Monthly, clips of the documentary about Emily's debut ("Oh, Emily? Um, she's a great partner! I think we've got a lot more in common than you'd think." For some reason, Barnaby couldn't help but smile.) and other miscellaneous appearances. From Barnaby's practice at reading Kotetsu's gestures, and his own memories of smiliar events, he saw right through the clenched-teeth teamwork of Tigress and Emily's first few weeks. Something about their tension felt a bit more acidic than the time Barnaby spent with Kotetsu, but then again, stereotypes dictated that women were very skilled in treating those they hated politely while still making their feelings far too clear.

Just after he found the video clip from last season's finale, where Emily Brooks Jr rescued Wild Tigress with a spectacular last-minute leap (Barnaby had to play the clip three times before the information appropriately sunk in; the first two times he was very distracted by Tigress's old suit hugging every curve on her body) Saito returned to the lab.

"[Oh? Curious about your female counterpart?]" Saito asked, drawing closer to the computer screen.

"My and my partner's alternate gender is probably the only difference in this universe, but I'd like to know as much as possible about the effects of that change," Barnaby said.

"[If that's all you need, I can lend out a laptop to you.]"

"Could you?"

"[So long as the unit returns undamaged with no downloaded files.]"

"Dr. Saito, that would be perfect! Thank you very much."

"[See? There are lots of benefits to being my assistant!]" Saito smiled with a squeak. Barnaby had long since perfected the ability to smile without looking nervous, but that moment tested his skill.

With that very generous favor secured, the rest of Barnaby's day was spent in a much more like a traditional intern: cleaning, fetching, photocopying, and organizing. While he couldn't say he enjoyed any of these tasks in particular, he understood Saito's point that it was a grave misuse of his advanced degrees if the head engineer had to do all these menial chores. There was definitely a very necessary post in the engineering department for some kind of intern or assistant. Maybe the Saito back in Barnaby's world faced the same problem. He'd have to remember to make some kind of recommendation to accounting; even if it wasn't his job, his influence as a star hero could make miracles.

That afternoon, in the middle of collating lab reports, Barnaby heard the door swish open and a voice call, "Bunny-boy?"

Barnaby's cheeks suddenly warmed, but he fixed his professional smile onto his face and turned to face Tetsuko. "Yes?"

"Hi!" she stepped into the lab, twisting her hat between her hands. "Um, how's your day been?"

"It's not my usual job, but it's my job nonetheless. I can't complain."

Tetsuko smiled a little. "I'm glad to hear it."

"[Ah, hello, Tigress!]" Saito approached the hero. "[Anything I can help you with?]"

"Actually, I was wondering if I could borrow Bunny-boy," Tetsuko said. "I'm about to head up for training, and I think the other heroes would like a chance to meet him."

Barnaby blinked. That was right, he needed to re-meet the heroes of this world. Rock Bison and Sky High had already seen him, but those weren't quite formal introductions. Everyone had been too concerned about looking for Emily back then, and he couldn't blame them.

"Does everyone know what happened, after the explosion?" Barnaby asked.

"By now, the news has gone around, but I think that's why it's important for them to meet you. Figure out who you actually are."

Barnaby looked to Saito. "It's your decision. May I be excused?"

"[Certainly. Just make sure you're back in time to help me clean up.]"

Tetsuko grinned and fixed her hat back on her head, straightening the brim. "Great! See you later, Doc!" Barnaby had barely straightened his papers before Tetsuko grabbed his wrist and pulled him away, out into the hallway. It occurred to Barnaby that he should protest such manhandling—and he would never allow Kotetsu to push him around like this—but he just couldn't make himself tell Tetsuko to let him go. After a minute, Tetsuko dropped his wrist on her own, but his sudden inability to speak concerned Barnaby a little.

But he did get a good look at her left hand. A thin, silver wedding band circled her ring finger.

"I wonder what everyone's gonna think of you," Tetsuko wondered aloud. "You're pretty different."

"I can't be too different from Emily. People keep comparing us."

"You think? Do you know what the other heroes think of you?"

"I have an understanding, but we aren't particularly close."

"Really? Then who do you hang out with on your side of things?"

"Kotetsu."

"And?"

"…People who are with Kotetsu. I'll join larger outings if he's going, but otherwise…"

"Oh," Tetsuko's lips twisted a bit, and her forehead wrinkled. "Yeah, that's… that's the same. I guess I thought you might be more outgoing."

"It's not a matter of shyness. I simply never tried very hard to cultivate friendships."

"That's called being shy, Bunny-boy."

They reached the elevator, Tetsuko hit the call button, and the conversation faded. Barnaby tried his best to glance subtly at Tetsuko, observing the finer details of a feminized Kotetsu's appearance. She wore earrings—little round pearls, about the same shade and luster as the buttons on her tie. Her skin looked so smooth, with a soft dusting of makeup, no eyeshadow or blush as far as Barnaby could tell. A few crow's feet at the corner of her eyes appeared to the result of smiling rather than aging. And her fair had a softer look to it, better cared for and more carefully arranged.

"Well… if you're still shy, you can think of it this way," Tetsuko announced, shocking Barnaby from his observations. "This is a fresh chance at a first impression! Even if not much is different, not everyone knows that. You can be yourself and really make friends this time around."

She beamed, like this was The Answer, the way to solve all of Barnaby's friendship troubles. The elevator dinged a second later, and they stepped inside before Barnaby could give the statement any sort of recognition. But, her smile didn't fade—it stayed bright and warm.

You're meddling again. Barnaby thought. But like the wrist-grab before, Barnaby couldn't bring himself to be irritated with her. Something about Tetsuko radiated comfort and security, and as a stranger in this world—

"Alright, Bunny-boy?" Tetsuko said. "Don't worry about this too much. Everything's gonna be fine."

And that's exactly what Kotetsu would have advised in this sort of situation. The sort of thing that would make Barnaby snap at him, call him old, and ignore him. But something about Tetsuko…

"I know," Barnaby said, and in return, he offered her a small grin.

The elevator opened, and the pair continued down the hallway to the locker room. Muscle memory guided Barnaby to turn right for the men's room, but Tetsuko didn't follow him. He did a double-take and realized she had turned left for the women's room, likely on the same instinct that made Barnaby turn right. She was also staring at him, with an expression like something had gone wrong. It took the two of them a minute to figure out what had gone wrong.

Right, they thought, staring at each other. We aren't the same now.

After an awkward nod, the two passed through the gendered doors. Normally, Barnaby would change into workout clothes and prepare for training, but he had no such resources in this universe. He did take a detour and stopped by his locker to twirl the dial and see if it opened. It did, but it was empty. He thought of Kotetsu's half-burned sash from the Lunatic attack at Hero Academy. Had Emily and Tetsuko experienced that event, too? Did Emily decide to hold onto the scrap of sash? Did it give her strength when she felt conflicted?

Shutting the locker, Barnaby continued on to the end of the locker room—the door to the gym. How many heroes were here? He and Kotetsu usually arrived later, in spite of being in the same building as the gym. Lloyds liked to use their proximity to the gym as an excuse to keep them at their desks until their paperwork was done, since all it took was a quick elevator ride to reach the gym. Likely, everyone was already inside, waiting for him.

He took a deep breath—Here goes nothing—and opened the door.