The following article contains spoilers for Tiger & Bunny 2 Episode 19, "You Cannot Make a Crab Walk Straight", now streaming on Netflix, as well as discussion of suicide and self-harm.
Following the whirlwind events of Episode 18 -- in which Mattia was revealed to have betrayed the heroes to Gregory Sunshine -- Kotetsu and Barnby rush to his house. The duo are horrified to find it in flames with Mattia unconscious inside, having eaten a bottleful of sleeping pills.
When Mattia awakes in the hospital, he reveals he has no memory of either his attempted suicide or the exchange he had with the two about not seeing Gregory. When Barnaby wonders if Mattia was being remotely possessed by a NEXT, Mattia confirms he's heard of such an ability before.
Episode 19 Reveals Mattia Was Possessed When Betraying the Heroes
Sure enough, there is a NEXT user with that ability, and it turns out to be Sigourney Rosicky -- Gregory Sunshine's benefactor. Having possessed Mattia in order to throw the heroes off of Gregory's trail, she then tried to kill him to cover her tracks. As Rosicky chews Gregory out for his sloppiness, she gets an update from one of her aides: Little Aurora is on her way to Stern Bild in order to solve the X crisis. If that name sounds familiar to fans, Little Aurora is a mysterious figure whose billboard made repeated appearances throughout Tiger & Bunny 2's first cour.
The billboard advertised Little Aurora's book, Hope, with Aurora herself on the cover clutching her temples. It was a somewhat creepy image without context, exacerbated by how many times the billboard's appearance was used to punctuate sinister scenes such as Fugan and Mugan's attack on Vincent Carl, or Nicolai Brahe discussing his schemes for Ouroboros.
Given the billboard's presence in several Ouroboros-related scenes, it was clear that Tiger & Bunny 2 was drawing a connection between the sinister organization and Aurora. However, this turned out to be something of a misdirect -- as Episode 19 lays out, Little Aurora is a completely benevolent figure, and a paragon in the NEXT community.
Little Aurora's Powers Are Grand - But There's a Significant Catch
Aurora's NEXT powers imbue her with significantly increased intelligence, which she has used in service of several philanthropic causes, with the news claiming her contributions have saved over a billion people. However, her powers come with a catch -- they only activate when she has her eyes closed, and she has kept them shut for 40 years, rendering her functionally blind.
The visual connection between Aurora and Ouroboros isn't a complete subversion, however, as it's clear from Rosicky's reaction that she factors into the organization's plans in some capacity. What that plan entails will have to wait, but the heroes take one step closer to solving it as Kotetsu manages to isolate audio of Rosicky-as-Mattia from some security footage. During a phone conversation with an unknown recipient, Rosicky lets slip of ''Mission A'' -- the same codename as Fugan and Mugan's mission. As Kotetsu and Barnaby contemplate what the common link between the two parties' goals is, they realize that both seek to sow division between NEXTs and non-NEXTs.
On the way to meet up with the other heroes, Kotetsu and Barnaby notice a news report about two notorious robbers on the loose, Lucas Byrne and Henry Lime. In an astronomical coincidence, the heroic duo spot the two robbers in a car beside them and make haste to pursue them.
Tiger & Bunny's Pursuit of Robbers Is Halted By Police
The pursuit is broadcast on Hero TV, and all the other First Leaguers are elated to see Tiger and Bunny back in action. Unfortunately, the police force aren't -- and instead of chasing down Lucas and Henry, they choose to pull over Kotetsu and Barnaby instead.
What's more, the last house Lucas and Henry burgled was Yuri Petrov's. While Petrov himself was at work, the two robbers encountered his mother and her carer, Elena -- with fatal results. While Elena survives the encounter, Petrov is devastated when he arrives at Stern Bild Hospital only to find his mother in the morgue. Stern Bild's Administrator of Justice has kept his vigilante alter ego, Lunatic, at bay throughout Tiger & Bunny 2, but based on his grim reaction to this tragedy, it likely won't be long before he has Lucas and Henry hearing the voice of Thanatos.
