"What'cha up to?" Hiro propped his elbows on the metal table Happy was working at, leaning his chin on his arms and watching whatever she was doing. Something to do with a wheel.
"I'm fixing this wheel," she said. "Our van blew the tire out and damaged the rim a week ago, so I'm trying to straighten it out instead of having to pay out the cash for another rim."
"If you use this, you'll have better luck," Hiro grabbed a tool and handed it to her. She gave him a dubious glance, not sure how a fourteen year old could be smarter than her in mechanics, but took it from him. "So how long do I have to stay around this joint?"
"As long as necessary," Happy said absentmindedly, plopping her face shield down and meticulously soldering a bit of the rim that had cracked. Hiro watched as, just like he'd expected, she hammered out the rim back to its original shape, using the torch and some solder. She flipped the guard up and grinned at the teen. "That worked well. Good job, kid." "For that...do you think you could do me a favor?" he grinned toothily, exposing his tooth gap in what he hoped to be a charming manner.
"No. I don't do favors," Happy said. "You're staying right here, kid."
He groaned and threw his hands up. "What am I supposed to be doing, exactly? Fessing up to something I didn't do?"
"No...helping us figure out why you were accused of doing something you didn't do." Walter stuffed his hands in his pockets and stood beside him, watching the kid's body language. He scooted away from Walter and rolled his eyes.
"I might be smart, but I'm not psychic and I haven't figured out telepathy. Yet," he smirked.
"Telepathy's impossible. Keep trying, kid," Toby yelled from where he sat on the computer.
"Yeah, whatever." Hiro shrugged and turned his attention back to Walter. "You and I both know that letting me go on the streets again would be best. I'm not helping anyone, and the system won't want me. I can take care of myself."
"We're going to do a blood test to make sure there's no living relatives before anything else happens. And we have to keep you here, to make sure that the fire wasn't arson. If someone wanted to kill your brother, then they'll want to kill you, too." Walter said.
"At this rate, the probability of the accident being arson is seventy-nine point thirty-one percent; however, most arsonists don't take into account that people are in the buildings they're trying to burn down. However, it is prudent to keep you safe. Plus, it's better than being in the system." Sylvester piped up.
"Well...why don't you get on the case, then?"
"We have to wait for our boss. He'll want to talk to you, and then we'll go from there." Walter said. "I promise, we'll figure things out."
Just as Walter said this, Gallo came in the building.
"Annnd there's Mister Tardy to the Party," Hiro exclaimed sarcastically.
"Don't start with me, kid," Gallo warned.
"Oh, I'm not starting with you. I've been harassing these guys since you left last night!" Hiro folded his arms, pleased with his own snark.
Gallo gave him a dark look, and Walter quickly stepped between them. "Listen, Hiro. Gallo helped me when I was younger, and he'll help you. But if you don't stop being such a little...sarcastic individual...he's going to either punch you square in the face or taze you. You obviously want neither of those things to happen, right? So I'd suggest compliance."
Hiro shrugged and narrowed his eyes, but followed Gallo wordlessly to the upstairs of Scorpion's headquarters. Toby headed up with them as well, in order to observe Hiro.
He sat down and set a bunch of blueprints out on a table. "Alright, kid. I'm going to hook you up to a polygraph machine and ask you some questions. Obviously, you're going to answer them truthfully. If not, I'll know, and Toby will know too." he started hooking Hiro up with wires that all connected to a machine, and then asked his first question. "Your name is Hiro Hamada. Yes or no?"
"Yes. Duh." Hiro snorted.
"Knock it off. You are fourteen years old and are a boy prodigy."
"Yes and yes." he was officially bored with this. How were these questions going to help with anything?
"Have you ever seen these blueprints?" Gallo asked.
Hiro's brown eyes flickered to the papers on the table. "Nope. What are they from?"
"Professor Callaghan's personal blueprints from the college," Gallo said. "Are you sure you have never seen these?"
"Yes. I am sure I've never seen them before in my life." Hiro sat back in his chair.
"He's telling the truth. He's relaxed - he's not on edge, sweating or letting his eyes dart back and forth," Toby said.
"Okay. And you were not involved in the death of your brother, Tadashi Hamada."
"No!" Hiro jumped up. "Why-why...why would I kill my own brother?" his voice cracked, and he wanted to slap Gallo.
"Calm down," he pointed to the chair.
"You just asked a fourteen year old if he killed his own brother, Gallo. It's a natural response to overreact to an accusation, or even the suggestion, of something like that." Toby piped up.
"Yeah. What the shrink said. Why would I even do that? It's illogical-"
"It's law for me to ask that. Covering all bases," Gallo talked over him. "Now...I'm assuming you did not set the college ablaze, either?"
Hiro snorted. "No."
"And you've never seen the blueprints. Did your brother want to see them?"
Hiro shook his head. "No. He's a creator and nurturer type. I'm a creator and destroyer. He was trying to invent good things, and I bot-fighting equipment. Those are bots for bot-fighting, so obviously, Tadashi was never involved in stealing blueprints like that. Plus, he's got a big enough brain that he doesn't need to use someone else's. Or...he didn't. Past tense." he added harshly.
"Okay. You invented your own bots, then?"
"Yes."
"Why were they so close in structure to Callaghan's designs?"
"I don't know. I'm that good, I guess," Hiro propped his feet up on the table and smirked.
"Enough of the cockiness," Gallo said. "Then why did he accuse you of stealing his blueprints?"
"Callaghan said I was using his designs? Whoa. How did he even know..." Hiro trailed off, but then shot out of his chair, ripping the wires off of him and racing for the door. "I know. I know who that guy was! Come on!"
"What guy?" Toby asked, grabbing his hat and rushing after the teen.
"The-the guy in the alley two weeks ago! He frequents the bot-fight rings and I always beat him. He has a similar bot design, but I made some slick modifications that make mine more durable and lethal. He always wears a Kabuki mask and his street name is Yokai . I-I bet it's Callaghan! No, I can straight-up guarantee it's him! Come on, you have to get me back to my bots. There's a big bot-fight going down tonight. I bet he'll be there - I can be, what do you call it, bait? You guys can be waiting to take him down just around the corner and...boom, there you go! Question him!" Hiro blathered on excitedly.