Pride turning to confusion.

Confusion turning to concern.

Concern turning to fear.

The tip-off that something was wrong was the screams echoing in the air, the people beginning to dash past them, desperate to get away.

Turning their heads, Tadashi and Hiro practically sprinted whether they had the breath in them or not towards the sight; the school...it was engulfed in flame.

The conflagration was a horrific sight, smoke hovering above without leaving, and if it did, it was replaced immediately in the dozens. A horrible amber glow filled the building, getting darker as it went upwards into the sky. It was impossible not to see it, the inferno taking over the institution with each passing second. It was impossible to not hear the terrified screams of fear from those scrambling to try and get out, their desperation filling the air like a sickening fog. Tadashi and Hiro couldn't even hear their panting breath over it all, the smell of smoke filling their nostrils as everything they had just seen; so bright, so alive before - now it was burning to nothing right before their eyes. Even from here, they could still taste the ash that would right now be lying on the floor, new technology still inside rotting away with the flame.

A woman, one of the judges from earlier, stumbled in her heels. It was likely she would have fallen over if Tadashi hadn't managed to catch her, asking her with a voice that worried for everyone; "Are you okay…?" he questioned, just barely audible over the terrified screeching and shrieks of the people surrounding them.

Shaking violently, the woman just barely choked out a reply, "Y...yeah, I'm okay...but Professor Callaghan's still in there!" pointing to burning building behind them.

He knew what he had to do. He couldn't just let somebody die, knowing there was still a chance, some hope of saving them.

He didn't want to see another person die.

Moving ahead, it was then that he felt a strong grip on his arm, a tight one. "Tadashi, no!" Hiro called, looking straight at him.

There was that choice; run inside and try and save his teacher. If he failed, they could both die.

Stay out here. Live with the fact that he'd let somebody die, know that he could have done something yet he didn't.

He couldn't live with himself if that happened.

Just one chance, just one, that Callaghan could make it out.

Letting out a breath, voice shaking slightly, Tadashi looked back at the building as it burned, then back at his brother. "Callaghan's in there. Someone has to help." he choked out, running inside as his fast as his feet could push him, hat flying off and landing on the ground.

His back was turned; so he didn't see Hiro reaching out, picking it up - almost about to follow him inside.

If he made it inside fast enough, they had a chance of both getting out alive; saving anyone trapped inside was what mattered the most to him.

Just some small chance he could help someone, anyone at all.

Stepping inside already brought several layers of sweat down, smoke filling his nostrils and forcing him into a painful coughing fit as it was as he was almost forced to taste the smoke. Covering his mouth with his hand and using his jacket to cover whatever else wasn't, his stinging eyes desperately glancing around for any sign of life, anything.

A level of horrifying surreality struck him down like an anvil once he was inside as he looked around, behind him, to his left, right, and right before his eyes, as he watched a place he had grown familiar with rotting away in the flames. Suddenly, the crackling grew louder, almost like a whistle. Tongues of the fire spurted up, making Tadashi go wide-eyed, practically sprinting as he recognized the sign of it; it must have caught on one of the inventions - it was absorbing heat and it was clearly about to ignite.

Covering his head and his ears, his legs pushed him out of the way, twisting with a crack. His leg stung as a ringing filled his ears - he was right to have gotten out of the way; that was flashover. For a few moments, he felt like he had gone deaf. The impact of it knocked the wind out of him, but he had no choice but to continue as he was in case of another fit, or worse. Torn and tattered bits of metal rained down beside him, still a raging flame. He had to get up, otherwise, it was all too likely to happen.

Suddenly agony shot up his right ankle, where it had twisted and forced him into collapse. But there was no choice, he had to keep moving. It was either run with a sprained ankle...or stay and burn.

As expected, he chose the former.

Now in an area where he actually had some time, Tadashi called out hoarsely, "Professor Callaghan!" hoping to get some form of response and reply.

That was when he felt it; like a snake had just brushed past his already aching leg. His eyes flashed downwards and finally saw another colour other than a horrible flame-filled amber - black.

He had been seeing it for weeks, as he had helped in its production. That sliding across the ground, like a constant clicking.

Hiro's Microbots.

Someone was using the Microbots right now, and that was when he saw the figure up ahead, at the corner of the stage where so many people had once been gathered. It was Professor Callaghan.

"Professor Callaghan…!" Tadashi called over, his voice dampened by the pungent smoke that made him cough, his ears ringing repeatedly from the explosion. "Wha...what are you doing with Hiro's microbots!?" he questioned.

Callaghan seemed to turn to his student, arms raised. He stopped, in silence, only speaking a few seconds after. "Tadashi!? What are you doing...you're not supposed to be in here, it's too dangerous!"

Some might not have noticed their question going unanswered. But Tadashi most certainly did. "What...who did this...was it you!? Did you set..." he asked again, stepping towards his teacher. As much as he wanted it not to be true, there seemed to be many things pointing to the culprit - who seemed to be right in front of him.

The reasons why, why...was it for the microbots? If it was… "Those...are my brother's." Tadashi's voice came out as a low growl, breathing properly becoming a struggle.

Callaghan only seemed to nod; he knew, they both knew-

"Tadashi, look out…!-" the tip-off was the surprised expression on Callaghan's face, but before he could even ask, the microbots were already acting as his teacher's cover.

Turning around, there was a screech like nails on a chalkboard. The beams from the top of the stage were beginning to collapse all around him. He had to get out of there, and now.

Dragging his foot which had become more of a weight than anything else as the heat made sweat pour down his brow, Tadashi forced himself to try and run - then there was that snap.

He was only able to look upwards as the last beam crashed down towards him, and before he could move out of the way, he cried out in pain as it crushed his spine, the top of his neck, his head. 'N...o…' he thought. His lungs seemed to implode on themselves as his face fell into the cold floor, another pain filling the list, this time to his nose. His shaking hand only briefly touched his nose - and came back red.

It was at this moment that Tadashi Hamada realized that he still wasn't dead, that he had some form of life to cling onto. Hiro and Aunt Cass had to have been outside; he had to reach them, he couldn't hurt them again. He remembered the look in his aunt's eyes when she realized her sister and brother-in-law were dead, the cry she had let out when she saw them crushed inside their car. Hiro had been lucky enough to not remember the incident, he couldn't let him feel that pain.

Using what little strength still left within him, Tadashi tried and tried to pull the beam off of him, desperately wanting to reach the people he cared for so deeply, even though every chance of that happening now seemed to have been put inside the building with him, doomed to burn to nothing but ash.

His ears rang again like a malfunctioning speaker, his skin shuddered yet salty sweat draped his body continuously, making it near impossible to think properly, or see, or do anything but smell and taste the smoke and ash as it drifted in the air, filling his lungs as they grew tighter, something that felt normal like breathing now becoming more of a battle, what would usually be just soft pants now infrequent wheezes that clung to what was left. Something familiar yet abnormal hit him, but it wasn't pain; it was something else. Was it some other type of pain?

Despite the fact everything was alight, he was beginning to see black and nothing else.

Even when he could feel his nails bleed, his hands bruised from how hard he pushed it into the metal as it burned his palm, he realized he barely even pushed the beam off of him, only by a centimetre at most. He had no idea anymore. The rawness in his throat from yelling began to disappear, he couldn't even choke out a word as his head pounded endlessly, even as he coughed repeatedly. As the world finally blurred out, Tadashi finally stopped moving, he was somehow still alive as smoke filled his lungs. Just barely.


Dragging the body out, a man grunted with immeasurable disdain. "Damn it. You could have told me earlier where he was; if he's dead, then we're going to follow if the boss finds out."

A woman smirked at the sight of the unconscious man. A few hours in the medical room could fix him up and then they could begin with proper...training. "He'll be fine. If anything, it'll be easier if he's shut right up."

"And we don't need to worry about anyone looking for him?"

"Of course not. To the public eye, that first explosion killed him. To the public eye; they're both dead."

"And what if they figure us out?"

"...By then, it'll be too late. We'll have our perfect little servant and soldier. That should lighten things up for us since that stupid Aneko botched that 'accident' years ago."

"True, true…"

Stepping into their car with their future soldier, they drove off. Just another ebony car on the highway as the institution burned away.

A beeping on her earpiece detected the woman, who smiled. "Oh, yes. We have him." as the car's technology was hacked into once again, a familiar symbol appearing and disappearing after her answer.