One more chapter after this.
Hiro looked outside his window at the street below and sighed. Tadashi had mentioned what had happened on campus yesterday afternoon. A gigantic fighter bot made from parts of other fighter bots sounded intriguing.
"I wonder which bot fighter managed to pull off that crazy stunt. They would need to infect hundreds of different fighter bots and then program each of them to work together, which would not be easy considering how many different types of fighter bots there are."
He sighed again and motorized away from the window. He had offered his expertise as a former bot fighter to help figure out who had been controlling the fighter bot, but once more Tadashi shut him out.
The only reason Hiro wasn't down in the café, was that he was supposed to be napping after what had been a drawn out mental therapy session. With Aunt Cass back in his sessions, it was impossible to talk about how he really felt or the reasons behind his recent actions.
Sure, he had told the surface truth about why he did what he did, but he kept the root of the truth deep in his heart. He didn't think anyone would understand where he was coming from.
Knowing he wasn't going to be getting any more sleep, he resigned himself to going downstairs to the café to be a waiter even though he despised it.
When he entered the café, Aunt Cass smiled. "Good to see you up from your nap early. We have a lot of customers who need their orders taken." She gave him a notepad and shooed him to start taking orders.
Hiro motored to the first table, where a couple was talking. He cleared his throat getting their attention. "Welcome to the Lucky Cat Café. May I take your order?"
"Shouldn't you be at school kid?"
"Is your wheelchair supposed to earn you more tips?"
He flushed, but repeat the greeting. Again, he was eyeballed by the customers wondering if this was a joke. He reiterated the greeting once more and they finally ordered some muffins and coffee.
Nodding, he motored over to the next customer, an elderly lady who was reading the paper. "Welcome to the Lucky Cat Café. May I take your order?"
She looked at him and muttered something suspiciously like how the café was going downhill by hiring a ruffian as their waiter. She gave her order for some bagels and tea.
Hiro managed to keep smiling. He went over to the next table where a man with bushy hair and beard, along with glasses, was sitting. He must have been a businessman judging by his clothes.
The customer was listening to an audiobook and paused it when Hiro came to take his order. "Hello, young man. I would like a glazed donut and if it isn't too much trouble, a glass of milk."
"We serve milk sir, I'll be right back with your order."
Hiro brought the orders up to Aunt Cass, who swiftly filled them out. She also handed him extra napkins to give the customers.
Hiro delivered each order and was only thanked by the man with the audiobook. The teenager looked at his aunt pleadingly. She shook her head slightly and pointed to the other tables that needed to be clean.
Wiping down tables was a challenge when you had limited mobility. The teenager was constantly moving an inch closer and then back as he did his best to get all the tables.
Twenty minutes later he was done and went to collect the dishes from the customers that had left. He checked each table for a tip. Once again the only one that left a tip was the man from earlier. He had left ten dollars.
He motored towards the counter and showed his tip to his aunt. "Can you believe I got a ten dollar tip," he told her.
"Strange, why don't you put it in the tip jar for now?" she suggested before getting back to serving customers at the counter.
Hiro did what she asked. It was strange she didn't tell him to put in his pocket for later. Aunt Cass usually let Tadashi and him keep the tips they got when they helped out on the weekends.
Outside, a few blocks away, a disguised Obake was walking home and listening to what was going on in the Lucky Cat Café. With Mini-Max confiscated, he needed another way to keep an eye on his future protégée.
Seeing Hiro in person only increased his desire to have the boy join him and his daughter in their plans. He also knew that Hiro would be more willing to join him and Trina if he gave the boy something he wanted.
"Looks like I'll need to do a few more things before fixing Trina's weak heart."
The day for Hiro's new X-rays to be taken arrived. Ironically, it was the day before the open house at SFIT. Tadashi and the others were busy helping set up everything for the dedication ceremony and getting their projects ready to be displayed.
Baymax was with them helping out as a request for Professor Granville. Everything needed to be perfect for tomorrow and Baymax's strength and eye for detail was just what she needed to accomplish that.
Hiro laid on the table as the x-ray machine was positioned over his leg. It still hurt, but after nearly four months it should be almost completely healed.
"Hold still, we want a perfect image for the doctor," the technician reminded him.
Hiro willed himself to be still as possible. You can do this Hiro. No need to be on edge.
Ten minutes later, the X-rays were finished. Rather than fight with his aunt about letting him change back into his clothes himself, he let Cass just do what she wanted to do so he would be done with it.
Hiro tapped the armrest of his wheelchair intently waiting for Dr. Bodhi to come in. He greatly wanted good news.
Please say I can get my cast off and my leg into a walking boot. Please say I can start hydrotherapy. Please have good news the teenager prayed in his mind.
Dr. Bodhi entered the room and greeted the Hiro. "It's nice to see you again Hiro. How are you feeling today?"
"Extremely anxious. Do you have good news for me?"
The expression on the doctor's face slipped for a second as Hiro's heart sunk. Aunt Cass looked at her nephew before turning to the doctor. "What's wrong Dr. Bodhi?"
Dr. Bodhi brought up the X-rays on his tablet and showed them to Hiro and Aunt Cass. Using his stylus he circled the area around the break. "The break has restarted healing itself which is good. The problem is that because it stopped and started up again the two bones were healing at a different rate.
Normally, we would wait and check again in two months to see if it had healed correctly, but your case is unique Hiro because you were healing at an accelerated rate, only to stop, then restarted very slowly, due to your blood flow to your leg along with the medical nanites leaving the area."
By our projections, the bones will rejoin eventually, but the ends won't be even. Parts of the bone will overlap on top of one another creating a malunited fracture."
Aunt Cass asked how serious this could be. "It is very serious. Hiro, am I correct in saying you're feeling a great deal of aching pain from your leg?"
Hiro nodded his head so Dr. Bodhi continued. "A malunited fracture may heal fully but cause a visible bump beneath the skin where the bone isn't straight. The affected bone can be weak or painful, and it may interfere with the way the affected body part functions.
For example, a malunited fracture in the leg or foot may cause a persistent limp. The area itself would be tendered for a long time."
Hiro started to ask what they could do when Aunt Cass interrupted him and demanded Dr. Bodhi do something at once.
"Ms. Cass, we can do nothing at the moment. If we go in now to shave the bones down, it would take even longer for the bones to heal or they might stop healing again.
We need to let the bones heal on their own. If our projections prove correct then we can do the bone shaving and put Hiro's leg in another cast to help it heal correctly."
"Excuse me, but didn't you already put me in a second cast," the boy genius said gesturing to his purple cast. The original one was white. When they first saw that the bone healing had stopped, they had taken off the old one and made the second one narrower and tighter to help restart the process.
Dr. Bodhi looked sorrowfully at Hiro. "It might take a third cast to heal your bones correctly. I'm sorry Hiro, but it might take up to a year and a half before you can even begin hydrotherapy to relearn how to walk.
A year and a half! On top of the pain I experience daily from the scarred tissue, my hoarse voice, and the depression I'm experiencing? I can't take that! Hiro mentally screamed.
There was a surge of heat and the electricity in the room started to flicker. The machines started to go crazy all over the hospital. Doctors were locked out of computers. Patients' lives were at stake.
Hiro's body went rigid as his mind was overwhelmed by the amount of data appearing before his eyes. Prescriptions, test results, private information. He could hear the intercom system going crazy as code after code after code was shouted across the entire facility.
NO! STOP!
Hiro regained control and undid everything he had inadvertently created. Reality flooded his eyes and he started coughing violently, trying to draw air into his lungs.
"HIRO! HIRO!" Aunt Cass shouted only to be shoved aside by Dr. Bodhi.
"Hiro, can you hear me?" he asked calmly and quietly.
Hiro nodded as he tried again to draw air in. It felt like he was underwater and couldn't get to the top.
"Do you need anything?"
"Friends."
"Friends, which friends?" Dr. Bodhi asked waving a hand to stop Aunt Cass from calling the wrong friends.
"Chat room friends." Was the air always so thin in the hospital? Had he broken his ribs again, because they felt tighter than before?
"Alright. We'll get them. Concentrate on your breathing. Stay in the present."
"Breathing?"
"Count to ten with me. One, two…"
"Three, four, five," Hiro took a deep breath and air finally seem to fill his lungs. "Six, seven, eight, nine, ten." He took another breath and he felt his body return his control.
After a few more deep breathes, Hiro was able to talk coherently. "What happened?"
"You were having a panic attack, most likely a reaction to whatever was disrupting the hospital electric grid. It might have triggered something in your subconscious about your treatment by Callaghan," Dr. Bodhi explained not knowing he was far off the mark.
Aunt Cass couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I'm going to call Dr. Jean-Pierre right now to let him know."
"Ms. Cass, please put the phone down." Puzzled she did as the doctor asked. The doctor looked at both family members. "Hiro, I don't know if you'll have any more panic attacks, but I'm going to give you a print out of what you and your family do if it happens again.
Miss Cass, I understand your concern. However, it would be best if Hiro explains what he was feeling the next time he has an appointment. He's the one that it happened to and he's the one who needs to work out how he can handle future attacks."
When Tadashi got home that night with Baymax, Aunt Cass told him about Hiro's panic attack.
"I'm really worried about him Tadashi," she whispered. Her youngest nephew was watching TV while she and Tadashi did the dishes from dinner.
"I know Aunt Cass. It must have been scary to see," Tadashi whispered back to her. "I know that Hiro's had nightmares as his brain tries to figure out what happened to him. Baymax, what do you think we should do?"
The robot, who was putting the dishes away, thought about it for a second before lowering his voice. "Right now, we only know that Hiro has had one panic attack. He could go the rest of his life without a panic attack or he could develop a panic disorder. For now, the best we can do is just observe him and make sure he doesn't experience another one."
Aunt Cass bit her lip. These past few months had caused her more stress than anything else in her life. She was struggling to be a good businesswoman, guardian, and person as she could.
"Do you think it would be best to have Hiro stay home tomorrow instead of going to the dedication and open house?" she asked her oldest nephew and Baymax.
Tadashi stopped drying the dishes and contemplated the question. After the numerous attacks on the school over the last few months the campus was dangerous. Would being inside a new building built over the remains of where Hiro got kidnapped cause a panic attack?
Baymax ran several calculations at once after inputting the new data from Hiro's appointment. Focusing on Hiro's mental health he weighed the pros and cons of having Hiro attend tomorrow's events.
Finally, he concluded. "Attending the dedication and the open house would be good for Hiro's mental health. However, limited exposure to the event should be considered to avoid another panic attack."
"So he shouldn't stay the whole time is what you're saying Baymax?" The robot nodded and the woman turned to her nephew to get his opinion. Tadashi's assessment was the same.
Looking over at Hiro, she saw that he was watching the news. There was a special discussing all the recent attacks on SFIT. Seeing the videos she made up her mind. "Hiro can enjoy the events through live streaming. As much as I want him to go with us, I just don't think it's safe with all the attacks happening at the school."
Both Tadashi and Baymax didn't argue with her. On some level, they agreed it would be better for Hiro to stay home. They would have to find someone to watch him on such short notice, but it could be done.
The next morning, Hiro was super excited. Sure, it was disheartening that dedication of the hall was only using Tadashi's part of the name and it would be difficult to be in the new hall, but this was a chance to see what new technology was out there and have a chance to talk with other gifted young minds.
He saw that his brother wasn't in his bed and that Baymax wasn't charging. "Must be already downstairs. Today's a big day!" He got dressed and rode the platform down to the next floor.
"Aunt Cass! Tadashi! Let's have pancakes for breakfast!" he called out only to realize no one was in the kitchen. Glancing at the clock saw it only ten past eight. Where was his family?
He searched for them in his Aunt's room and checked the bathroom. No one was there. "Maybe their down in the café?"
He rode the platform down to the café and rolled in. There weren't any customers and he didn't see his family. "Where's is everyone?"
Someone cleared their throat from behind him. He turned on a dime and saw a middle-aged gentleman with red hair and glasses standing in the doorway. He wore a tag that read Wood. He had a large bag around one arm.
"Hello, Hiro. I am Mr. Woodrow, but you can call me Wood."
Hiro eyed him and looked around for something to defend himself. Wood saw this and talked to the teenager in a calm voice. "Your aunt called my agency last night."
"What agency?"
"Home Aid Agency. Our agency provides aids for people with medical issues and also help them with doing their daily chores." Seeing the teenager was confused the man continued his explanation. "Your aunt asked us to look after you today."
"But I'm supposed to be going to the dedication and open house at SFIT today, so why do you need to look after me?" Dread filled his heart as his brain came up with the answer. "They've already left haven't they?"
"Correct. With your unexpected panic attack yesterday, your aunt didn't feel comfortable, allowing you to attend the event. She did say you could watch the event via live stream on your computer."
"This isn't fair. I'm going to the dedication whether they want me to or not." Hiro spun around in his wheelchair and was heading the door when Wood grabbed the back of the chair and turned off the motor.
"WHAT THE HECK?"
Wood stared down at the teenager. "I apologize if this seems unfair to you, but I can't let you leave. My instructions were very specific. You are not allowed to go to the event at SFIT.
You and I are going to spend the day doing your chores and doing your exercises. The dedication is at eleven thirty and the open house is from noon to one. After you have seen the event, we will help start dinner and I'll leave when your family returns."
Hiro couldn't believe this was happening to him again. Being brushed aside and lied to. He was not happy.
With no choice, he allowed Wood to lead him back upstairs grumbling all the way. At that moment, he wanted to be anywhere, but here.
Unbeknownst to Hiro, a plan was already in motion. Thanks to the camera Obake installed, he knew the boy was alone. "Everything is in place. You know what to do Trina."
"I know Father. I'll have Hiro back here before you return from SFIT." She picked up her backpack and hurried to catch the bus. If she was going to pull this off she needed to be as close she could be to the Lucky Cat Café.
She arrived near the café and found a place to hide. She needed to wait until everyone was in position before she started her part of the plan. Finally, at eleven fifteen, she got the call from her father. It was time.
Using her laptop's Wi-Fi, she connected with Mini-Max. The little robot blinked its eyes and got out the closet where Aunt Cass had been keeping him in. He peered out of the woman's bedroom and locked eyes with his target.
Outside, Trina giggled as she pressed enter on her laptop. "Time for Mini-Max to become Mini-Evil!"
The little robot's eyes turned red and gave a soft evil laugh. He tiptoed past the two humans and down into the café. He went to the back and saw all the plates stacked neatly next to the sink. "It's time to get into maximum trouble."
He gleefully pushed the dishes off the shelf and let them crash to the floor. Not stopping there, he went into the pantry and kicked coffee grinds all over the floor.
He advanced into the café and went into the display case so he could chuck the food at the tables. That's when his audio sensors finally heard human footfalls coming down the stairs.
Leaping up into the air, he settled on top of the door frame waiting for his prey. A few seconds later Wood entered the café and couldn't believe what he saw. "What is going on here?"
"Mini-Max is!" The little robot jumped down and kicked the guy in the head. The man fell to the ground and started to shout, only for a dishrag to be shoved into his mouth.
Mini-Max started to tie up the man with a rope. Where he found it was anybody's guess. He plucked the glasses off Wood and cracked the lens so the human couldn't see him properly.
Once he was done with that he dragged the man and shoved him into the utility closet and locked the door. "Now that's what I call an evil deed. Now time to bust out my fellow hero/villain."
Mini-Max flew up the stairs and surprised Hiro who had been waiting in the kitchen like he'd been told. "Mini-Max! How, did you get free?"
"The mighty Trina was concerned for your welfare and awoke me so I might help you escape. Do you wish to come with me and the lady?"
Hiro nodded eagerly. If his family wanted to treat him so poorly then he wouldn't feel bad about leaving them behind for a few days. The two of them left the home and were greeted by Trina outside.
"Hiro, you're okay! I'm so glad to see you." The girl impulsively hugged the boy who returned it and held on to her as if she was his only lifeline.
"It's good to see you as well, Trina. So do you have a plan of where we're going?"
"To my home silly. Let's go!"
It seemed like forever before they finally reached Trina's home. Seeing it up close Hiro let out a whistle. "Wow Trina, you sure have a fancy house. It's gorgeous."
The girl blushed as she led him to the garage on the right "We have an elevator in there, which Father uses to bring in bulky equipment that would be too narrow for the staircase.
If it can hold up to five hundred pounds, with absolute iwis, it can handle all of us."
"Nice use of an SAT word."
Trina blushed again and opened the garage. A lot of scientific equipment was being stored in here. The two teens and one mini robot stepped on the elevator and it carried them into the house.
Hiro gasped as he saw the living room. From the way, Trina described her father he thought everything would be Unitarian, but the place was open, the walls were painted in warm colors, and the furniture was made from white wicker.
Trina giggled at Hiro's response. "Not what you were expecting huh? Most of the house is decorated in my mother's preferred style, as a way to remember her. My father's bedroom, office, and the lab are his style."
"Where's the lab?" the boy asked eagerly.
"In a sub-basement under the right garage. We can check it out later when my father gets home. He's out right now meeting with possible investors so he can continue his work."
Hiro nodded. One of the biggest issues with science was receiving enough funding to make any breakthroughs. The world should be more invested in science and not weapons of war.
Since the elevator didn't go to the second or third floor, Trina offered to show him the first floor. Since they were in the living room she showed him her favorite parts of the open space.
She indicated the loveseat next to one of the big windows. "I enjoy feeling the warmth on my skin as I sit there doing whatever I want to do. The trinkets inside the small display case over there is part of my collection."
Hiro took a closer look at the trinkets. There was a diamond bracelet, a rare book, and lastly, a small highly decorative egg. "Where did you get all this stuff? Each trinket is so expensive looking."
"I see them online at for sale websites. I negotiate a hard bargain and eventually I get the item, for a great price. I'm so good, sometimes it's like I'm stealing priceless items from idiots."
She pointed down a hallway adjutant to the living room. "Half bath is on the right. Before we grab a snack in the kitchen, I want to show you the den." She told him to follow her down the hall and went through the doorway to the left.
The room had two armchairs and a coffee table in the middle. But his eyes were drawn to the walls. They were covered with awards. Trophies, ribbons, and plaques everywhere the eye could see.
Trina tapped Hiro's shoulders and pointed behind. Turning around he gasped as he saw a wall of family photos. There were a lot of pictures of Trina. There were a few of Trina's mom that looked to have been painstakingly restored by hand.
Surprisingly there weren't a lot of photos of Trina with her father. "I thought there would be a lot more pictures of you and your father."
Trina shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say, my dad's camera shy. This wall over here is dedicated to all of his achievements," she said pointing to the wall on the right.
Hiro maneuvered closer as Trina started explaining the numerous awards her father had won. "These awards over here are from science and math camps he attended as a child. As you can see he was always in the top three."
Indeed there were dozens of blue ribbons with a few red and yellow ones in between. Hiro was surprised by the next award. A small trophy for participating in a relay race. "Your father was into playing sports?"
Trina rolled her eyes. "Not really. Apparently, my grandfather would only let my father pursue his own interests if he played a sport of some kind during the school year. You'll find trophies for mostly track and field events."
Hiro was pretty sure he knew why. A fit body equaled a fit mind. "What are these plaques for?"
"Mostly scholastic achievements. There's one for winning his junior high school geography bee and then another one for getting one of the top scores in a statewide history exam."
"Excuse me, Mistress Trina, but why is that letter preserved on the wall?" Mini-Max asked. He jumped off Hiro's lap on top of the armchair before pointing to his inquiry.
Hiro's eye lit up like stars. The preserved letter matched the one Hiro had received the night he won the showcase. "Your father got into SFIT?!"
That's when he remembered the full name of the student he had suggested naming the hall after and what Trina had told him about her father. "No way, the Bob Akens that I wanted to name the new exhibition hall after, is your father? Why didn't I make that connection before?"
"Even genius can have a lapse of memory," a male voice said. The teens and robot looked at the door where Obake was standing straight with his hands behind his back. "So you are Hiro, the boy that has metaphysically stolen her heart."
"FATHER!" Trina's face turned a bright shade of red and avoided Hiro's gaze.
Hiro squirmed in his wheelchair and he felt his face blushing a storm. Sure, he had a crush on Trina but to know she felt the same was shocking.
A small smile formed on Obake's face. It wasn't often he had a chance to tease his daughter in front of people. "Apologies, I assumed incorrectly that Trina had admitted her affections for you."
Trina buried her face in her hands and Hiro started tapping his armrest excessively. Meanwhile, Mini-Max looked back and forth between the two teens pondering the colors of their faces.
Obake walked into the room and gazed fondly at his SFIT acceptance letter. "I can still remember the excitement about winning the scholarship. My project in finding inexpensive ways to gather clean energy won over the judges."
His face started to glow startling Hiro who nearly fell out of his chair if Trina hadn't caught him. "What the heck is going on with your face?"
"It's a side effect of my accident. It was my first attempt to create an energy amplifier and it went wrong."
The object in Professor Granville's safe must have been the remains of his energy amplified. "Were you trying again with your wife when the accident happened?"
"Not exactly," Obake replied as his eyes drifted to the photo wall. He looked at the picture of him and his wife on their wedding day. How he missed her. "Because my energy amplifier didn't work, I thought instead of creating a source of power that would never have to be renewed because it wouldn't end.
My hubris cost my family a lot more than Trina's let on. Trina, do you want to show Hiro the truth?"
Trina nodded and Obake told them they were going to head to his sub-basement to show Hiro his lab and the truth. Cautious, Hiro reached out with his mind searching for something to connect too.
His vision showed him Trina's email account was open. Using his technopathy he mentally wrote a short email and sent it to his computer. With that taken care of, he held on tightly to Mini-Max as they descended into the sub-basement.
What he saw astounded and frightened him. It was a medical lab. There was a clean room set aside for medical tests. There were smaller versions of hospital machines. What drew his eyes was two long tubes filled with reddish-pink liquid.
Trina clasped her hand around Hiro's. "I know you're scared and this lab must be giving you nightmares, but please let me explain."
Hesitantly, she reached up to the scar on her face and pressed down on it hard. Hiro heard a faint click and he nearly lost it as his crush pulled the skin away to reveal a partial robotic skull.
"Trina, you're a…." Hiro was turning green when Obake stepped forward and rest his hands on his daughter's shoulders.
"My daughter is not a robot nor an android. She's a cyborg, like her username implies."
Taking several deep breaths, the teenager tried his best to calm down. He could see the part of Trina's face that hadn't been pulled away, twist into pure anguish.
The little robot decided to speak up on Hiro's behalf. "I am as confused as my comrade. Perhaps, a full explanation would help?"
Trina tried to speak, but nothing was coming out of her mouth. She had really hoped it would not be necessary to reveal what had happened to her. In the end, she went over to a computer console and brought up a video.
According to the time stamp, it was exactly a week from when she said she was released from the hospital. Though her appearance suggested she would still be there.
Trina was covered in third-degree burns, her hair completely gone. Her injured leg hung limply and her arm that had been reattached now had gangrene all over it. She was barely breathing through a trach in her neck. The monitors she was hooked up to barely registered any sign of life.
Suddenly, Obake appeared in front of the camera in full surgical gear. "This recording is being made if the worst case scenario comes true and I lose my daughter.
The camera focused on his daughter and the strange tube behind her. "Six months ago, despite all of our precautions, our prototype for perpetual energy source, exploded leveling out home.
I lost my beloved Andrea and Trina has been in a medically induced coma since her initial surgery to repair her leg and reattach her arm. I recovered from my injuries, but two weeks ago the doctors informed me that Trina would not recover and I should let her go."
His face glowed as smashed his fist against the counter with the camera on it. "I would not let them murder my last link to Andrea. So I brought Trina home and am now about to test Andrea's newly rebuilt regeneration tube."
In the background of the video, the computer screen showed the blueprints and the details on what the machine was supposed to do and how it was supposed to work.
Trina's mom had been inspired by sci-fi movies where they placed an injured person in a tank of fluid and when they came out they were almost completely healed.
Her design recreated the womb, placing the patient in an artificial amniotic sac filled with an artificial placenta. The placenta absorbed the reddish-pink liquid which was actually liquefied stem cells and other nutrients needed to survive.
She believed if she could replicate the effects of pregnancy, the body could rebuild itself back to the point of birth.
"Andrea's initial trials showed positive results, but she never had a chance to test it on a human. Our daughter will be the first human to test the regeneration tube. Using my expertise in robotics, I have created a liquid metal that will bind to certain structures in her body.
This metal will not only strengthen her skeletal system but will allow attaching advanced prosthetic equipment on her damaged limbs without fear of rejection."
The video showed Trina being put inside the tank. Nearly a month later, she emerged. Her burns were gone, she was breathing on her own, and parts of her limbs were a mix of skin and living metal.
The video ended and Trina finally spoke. "It took another week to fully regain consciousness. The mix of biomechanics and biology didn't unite as successfully as father hoped.
It's why I have to still go to physical therapy and we've been traveling off and on." She twirled her fingers in her hair showing she was anxious.
Her father hugged her tightly. "If you want the best results, you need to find others who are willing to push beyond limits set up by others. Genius shouldn't be stifled."
Hiro didn't know what to think about all this. The girl he liked was a cyborg and her father had used an untested medical device in a last-ditch attempt to save her.
He was hurt she didn't trust him with her secret. Then again, wasn't he hiding his abilities to protect himself? "I have a secret too. I wasn't sure I could trust you."
He demonstrated his technopathy by taking control of the lights and make the elevator go up and down without touching them. Father and daughter looked very impressed by his abilities.
"Impressive, young man. You certainly have found a silver lining for yourself."
It felt good to be appreciated once again. He motored closer to regeneration tubes and touched the glass. He could hardly believe that after spending a month in this device Trina's life had been saved, even though it had cost her part of her humanity.
He looked back at his crush. She was staring at the tube apprehensively. Concerned, he asked her what was bothering her. "Is the regeneration tube scaring you?"
Trina nodded. "It did save my life and I've been in it more than once now. The first time was shortly after my artificial limbs were put on and the second was to help fix my organs. Only my heart refused to heal."
She gestured to the cleanroom and Hiro moved closer to peer in. Inside, there was an operating table and all the equipment for open-heart surgery. Trina pointed to what appeared to be a metallic, two-sided, clasp shaped like the human heart.
"You're going to have your surgery here? Why not go to the hospital and have trained surgeons perform the procedure? That's the responsible thing to do and you're less likely to die!" Hiro pointed out.
Mini-Max also appeared confused. "My companion is right. Unless your father is a trained surgeon, you should be in the hospital for such delicate surgery."
Obake rolled his eyes upon hearing this. "Why should we go to a hospital when they were going to let Trina die? Once they discovered what was done to save her life I would be arrested and my rights terminated.
Trina would become a ward of the state and can you imagine what the rest of her life would be like? Living in a hospital and being experimented on as they try to comprehend the genius behind this miracle? What kind of life would that be?"
A horrible life. That's what would have happened to me if Tadashi hadn't stepped in. Oh, who am I trying to kid? That's my life right now! The only difference is I'm at home and not locked away in a hospital room.
The teenager's mind raced as he thought over a possible way to make everything in his life go back to normal. The chance to be himself again. Normally, he wouldn't even take a risk like this, but he had been pushed to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.
"Do you think the regeneration tube could help me?" he asked softly. He hugged his little robot tightly and looked up at Obake with clear determination. "Do you think the regeneration tube will work on me?"
Obake hid his pleasure as Hiro unknowingly walked right into his trap. "Perhaps. I would need your medical records and time to adjust the settings on the tube to work with your precise biology. I don't know how long you would be inside the tube."
Trina bit her lip before asking if Hiro was sure he wanted to try this. "You're a minor and if you do this without a guardian's permission we could all end up in legal trouble."
Hiro's eyes hardened. "I've never been surer of anything in my life. I want this."
"Excellent. Trina, why don't you assist Hiro in getting all his medical records? I'll prepare everything down here for the both of you." He watched the two teenagers and little robot return to the elevator and back up to the house.
He then turned to the opposite wall and walked over to a blank section. Pressing a hidden button a panel popped out of the wall. He pressed his hand against it. Then an eye scanner popped out and he pressed his eyes against it.
A small mike popped out of the wall and he spoke into it saying his name. Lastly, there was a DNA sampler which took a drop of blood. The wall slid away to reveal a door leading to a descending staircase.
He walked down the winding steps until he got to his true lab. The villains he had hired were waiting for him. "Impressive work at the school. I was able to procure the final item needed for my plan."
He indicated to the table where the Garb2Energy machine lay. The heroes had inadvertently invented something that would help him remake the city in his image.
"I still don't understand how a science project is going to help with your plan," Globby stated.
Obake ran his hands along the side of the machine. "Believe me, once this device is reconstructed on a grander scale, I'll have all the energy needed to replicate Lenore Shimamoto's work on a larger scale.
By this time tomorrow, San Fransokyo will be a distant memory."