Max Stoker entered Harold Manning's office with a look that said "If I could get away with murder you'd be dead before you could say 'Freeze' ".
"I see you received my message." Jason's father said. He held a piece of bread in his hands. "Good. Come sit." He gestured to a chair.
Max ignored it and walked straight up to the man behind the desk. "What were you thinking!" He yelled as he threw a concealed dagger at the wall. "Do you want Jason to die!?" Another dagger flew two inches away from the first. "Or would you rather he get pummeled until neither of us can recognize him!?"
Mr. Manning held up his hand. "He hasn't been sent on anymore errands, so I assume you're referring to the Yama incident."
"You know he wants blood."
"And it doesn't really matter who it's from. Yama likes to inflict pain on others because he once had pain inflicted on him." He picked up a butter knife and buttered his bread.
"You don't even care, do you?" Max's voice had lowered. "He could be dying and you wouldn't even care enough to plan his funeral." Disbelief was apparent in his voice.
The butter knife stopped. "No. I would do anything to ensure my son's safety. That is why I called you."
Max raised an eyebrow.
"Jason told me of how you saved him from Mr. Yama."
Max grunted in reply.
"I would like you to watch over him. Make sure he's okay. And above all else, don't let him know what I've asked of you. If he should find out, I'll never hear the end of it."
Max stood in thought for a moment before nodding his head in agreement and exiting the room.
***888***
"Lily, wait!" Hiro called as he ran after the young woman, telling her to stop (which she didn't do) or slow down (she didn't do that either). She eventually ran out of breath and Hiro grabbed her arm and forced her to halt.
Lily calmed down enough to let Hiro speak, but she wouldn't look him in the eye.
"Lily." He began when he'd caught his breath. He wasn't sure what he was going to say. "I... when I said I was ruined I just meant that..." He grabbed her shoulders. "I would like to dad one day, but not now. I'm not even dating! Benny's just-"
"Just what?" Lily lifted her green eyes to meet his and Hiro lowered his own brown ones.
"Benny deserves better than me." He said in a whisper. He let go of her and turned. "I was lucky enough to have Tadashi to raise me, but Benny? Who did he have? I would be a horrible father. Benny would have a better chance living on the street."
"No, he wouldn't." Lily replied. "My dad was a soldier. He was gone for ten years. I hated him for being away. I became a rebel and when he came home I... got myself caught up in something, I thought—wished— I was going to die. I thought no one could help me. And then I was saved. My dad brought me back to humanity. He taught me what it meant to really live." Lily placed a hand on Hiro's chin and guided his eyes to her own. "He also taught me how to build a car." She grinned.
"But what does that have to do with me?" Hiro turned away from her again.
"My dad was gone for ten years. He was out of practice with his kids. But when he came home, he took to parenting like a fish to water."
"I still don't understand."
"All I'm saying is, it's not how long you're there for your kid. It's how much you care for them. I've seen the way you interact with Benny. You'd make a good dad."
Hiro looked up at her. "Thanks."
"But, I didn't come all this way to give you a Daddy Pep Talk. Here." She handed him some paper. "I need you to sign this."
"What is it?" Hiro asked as he read through the documents. "Is this an adoption form?" He asked.
"It's a One Month Trial... Thing." Lily responded.
"Ah. Of course. Why didn't I think of that?" He read the document thought for a moment. "Why do I need to sign this?"
"Because if you don't Benny could be taken away and given back to his father."
"And when the month is done? What then?"
"Then, if all goes right, Benny will go into a good foster home."
Hiro's heart sank. Benny was going to be taken away. This could be the last moments Hiro had with him.
He still wasn't sure about being a dad, but he signed the paper anyway. For Benny.
***888***
Jason walked down the street with another package. He could drive to where he was going. If he had a drivers license (it wasn't his fault he failed the driving test!... Okay, maybe it was). He held onto this package more securely than any of the others. This one was going to an unknown buyer, which meant that he didn't know their face. Which meant he didn't know how they'd react if their property was misplaced.
He turned a corner and ran into four of Yama's
"What's in the pretty package?" A man with one gray eye and an eye patch asked in a deep voice as he yanked it from Jason's grip and violently shook it. Jason prayed whatever was in there wasn't fragile.
"Oh, does the delivery man not speak?" Another man asked. His muscles bulged so it looked like his shirt was going to tear itself apart. "Did you never learn?" He asked Jason in a voice that sounded like he was talking to a baby. "Do you need your mama to teach you?" He asked and Jason took a swing at him (completely missing) and made a grab for the package. Eyepatch man tackled Jason and turned him around so that his hands were behind his back. Jason struggled against his captor as Muscles made his way forward, balling his hands into fists. He put one hand on Jason's shoulder and pulled the other one back. Jason squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow.
"Hey!" Max threw a book at the Eyepatch's face and rammed the Muscles, causing Jason to almost fall over before catching him. "You okay?" Max asked.
"I thought I was a dead man." Jason looked at his friend thankfully.
"You were." Came the snarky reply. "You're lucky I come this way on my way—Oof!" The last bit was because another man with dark skin had picked up a wooden board and swung it at Max, hitting him squarely in the stomach and causing him to fly backward into Muscles, who picked him up and threw him on the ground.
Max groaned. He'd feel that in the morning. "Is that the best that you can do?" He wheezed.
"If I threw you any harder you would be dead." Muscles said to Max. He pulled a dagger out of who-knows-where and made a stab for Max, who rolled over, and the blade hit the ground. Max swung his legs around, knocking Muscles down (who hit his head), and landed on his feet. "Oh, yeah! Eat dirt, loser!" Max yelled in victory over the fallen man.
Jason, on the other hand, was being crushed between a brick wall and Eyepatch Guy.
"Give up!" Eyepatch was growling. "Give up, and your end will be quick and painless."
"Never!" Jason grabbed the man and pushed him away by putting his feet against the wall and extending his legs.
"Stop, Drop and Roll!" Max called out the protocol for when someone was on fire, nevertheless, Jason dropped to the ground and rolled away. He looked up in time to see a wooden board, probably the same one used against Max, fly towards Eyepatch, who fell down. "Come on!" Max grabbed Jason and pulled him away.
***888***
Hiro entered his aunt's cafe from the back, not wanting to disturb the costumers anymore than he already had. He walked up the steps to the Hamada's living room slowly, having a hunch his friends had decided to wait for him. Sure enough, when his hair peeked over the top stair, Hiro's friends' were there to greet him.
Tadashi had Benny sitting on his lap and as soon as Benny saw Hiro he ran forward, rambling on about how sorry he was, much to the confusion of Hiro (what did he have to be sorry about?), who knelt down and wrapped Benny in a bear hug. Benny didn't know what to do and the action was so foreign to him that the only thing he could do was stop talking and start crying. So, he buried his face in Hiro's shirt and wept. Hiro instinctively held Benny tighter. The moment was perfect. Hiro wished he could stay that way forever.
There was a flash which made Hiro look up to see that Honey Lemon had taken a picture of the scene and was now showing everyone.
"You better send that to me." Go Go said.
"Me too! I'm going to make it my laptop back-round!" Fred commented.
"I want mine on a T-shirt." Tadashi said, only half-kidding.
"Or a billboard." Aunt Cass had come up to grab herself some lunch and saw the whole thing.
"Why do you guys have to torture me like this?" Hiro groaned as he stood.
"Because we're a family." Tadashi said. "And that's what family does."
"Gee, thanks."
"You're welcome, lil' bro."
Hiro rolled his brown eyes and looked at Benny. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah." Benny wiped his eyes. "I'm fine."
"Good." Hiro pulled Benny in for another hug and this time he didn't look up when he saw the flash.
***888***
Lily entered her office and showed the documents to Rachel. "See?" She said. "Piece of cake."
Rachel looked over everything before nodding. "Good." She sighed in relief. "Robby and I are going to a movie later, want to come?"
Lily smiled. Robby was Rachel's husband (Lily was positive there was never a couple more perfect for each other than Robby and Rachel). "You sure I won't be intruding?"
"Of course not. Robby and I enjoy your company. Just..." Rachel hesitated for a moment. "Promise you won't talk during the movie. Robby doesn't like it when you talk."
Lily nodded her agreement. "I promise."
Rachel's eyes narrowed. "I'm serious, Lily. No. Talking."
"I know!" Lily held up her hands in defense. "I promise I won't say a word!"
"You better not."
***888***
Max crawled through a window and landed and his apartment floor with a groan. "That's what I get for helping Jason." Max muttered to himself. He stumbled around until he made it to his bathroom, where he got a really nice look at himself. "I look like I got run over." He commented. He got a washcloth out of a drawer and wet it. "Next time, I'm bringing backup." He decided as he cleaned his head injury.
Max jumped when he heard a sound come from the other room. He grabbed a baseball bat and went to investigate. No one else had a key to his apartment. Or, at least, no one else was supposed to have a key. If someone was in his living space, Max wanted to know who it was. "Who's there?" He called out. He heard a noise from his bedroom."I'm warning you! I have a black belt in the art of... Origami!"
"The art of paper folding?" A dark figure stepped into the door frame and spoke in a deep voice, obviously using a voice modulator.
"I was really hoping you wouldn't know what that meant." Max said. He started to back away.
"Oh, don't run." The figure spoke as he made his way toward the window Max had just come through. "I'm not here to harm you. I just came to tell you something."
"What?" Max asked, irritated this guy was in his apartment.
"You can't save him."
"Who?" Max's irritation changed to confusion.
"Jason." The figure replied. "You can't save him. You'd be a fool if you tried."
"I did save him."
"Not when it will matter. He is needed."
"That doesn't even make any sense!" Max grew angry and threw the baseball bat at the figure who seemed to vanish into thin air. Max sunk to the floor. Was it true? Would he be unable to save Jason when it really mattered? Max sat and pondered the figures' words.
***888***
Hiro and Benny exited the theater with Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, Go Go, and Tadashi (Fred had somehow managed to convince everyone to see some new superhero movie).
"Man, that was awesome!" Fred exclaimed. "Even better than... whatever it was Tadashi wanted to watch."
"Yeah." Hiro agreed. "There's no way Tadashi could've chosen better than you." His voice was laced with sarcasm.
"Ha ha." Tadashi ruffled his brother's black hair. "Let's get something to eat and then-"
"Hiro?"
The group turned to see Lily walking away from the concession stand with another woman and a man.
"Hey, look, Hiro, it's your girlfriend." Tadashi teased. Hiro shoved him.
"Oh, so this is Hiro." The other girl said as they came over. "It's soo nice to meet you, Hiro. Lily's told me a lot about-ugh!" Lily elbowed her.
"Groundhogs! I've told her a lot about groundhogs." Hiro could've sworn her face went red.
"I didn't know you knew anything about groundhogs?" Hiro replied.
"Lily, you didn't-" the other woman started.
"Shut up, Rachel." Lily said.
"Dear, I think we should go make sure no one has taken our spots." The man gently pulled Rachel away.
Lily looked awkwardly at the small group. "So... How was your movie?"
"Fantastic!" Fred cried. "I'm Fred!" He shook her hand. "And this is Go Go, Wasabi, Tadashi and Honey Lemon." He pointed to the respective person as he said their names.
"And Jason!" Jason jumped out of nowhere, startling everyone (especially Hiro).
"Jason!" Hiro gasped as a hand flew to his chest. "What the heck, man?" He questioned.
"Sorry, Hiro." Jason couldn't help but laugh at his friend's reaction. "I had no idea you were such a wuss."
"I'm not a wuss. You just startled me."
"Oh, I think we all know I did more than just 'startle' you." Jason looked around and got confirmation from everyone who saw what happened.
"I'm pretty sure he jumped ten feet in the air." Go Go said.
"No," Tadashi said. "It was more like twenty."
"I say fifteen." Lily said.
"You guys do realize this theater's ceiling is only ten feet high, right?" Hiro rolled his eyes.
Jason sighed. "Hiro." He placed his hands on Hiro's shoulders and forced him to look in his eyes. "No one cares how tall the ceiling is."
"I do." Hiro grumbled.
"You don't count." Jason turned to Tadashi. "You must be Hiro's relative. Hiro has told me absolutely nothing about you."
"And you must be Hiro's friend." Tadashi nodded. "Hiro hasn't told me anything about you either."
Hiro rolled his eyes. "Tadashi, this is Jason. Jason, Tadashi."
Jason nodded. "You guys hungry? 'Cause I know a great place to eat."
A/N: So sorry for the long wait! My only excuse (besides having a terrible computer) is that this chapter was super hard for me to write! (I'm not very good at action scenes, but I try any way, for all of you! :D)
Just incase anyone is wondering: Yes, Rachel and Robby did just ditch Lily. No, they're not mean.
Robby actually went to college with the gang, but did his own thing, so none of them recognized him.
Anyway, thank's to all who review! Have a great summer!
Queen
P. S. Review, please!