It wasn't a bad dream.

A nightmare would be appropriate.

Especially since I found out someone purposely started that fire in my apartment. Like I said, hindsight was 20/20. So Callaghan noticed that I took the headband, raided my apartment, probably found the broken pieces that I wrapped in a pillowcase and dumped into a box and hide at the farthest corner under my bed. Then set it on fire, either in frustration or to cover his tracks.

Either way, he probably had the parts (thank god I broke it) and god knows how long it'll take him to reverse engineer it. For as talented as Hiro is, Callaghan was not the father of robotics for nothing. He earned this position. Maybe I can't stop his plot from unfolding… but at least I stalled it for much longer.

Still. What am I gonna do?

xXxXx

Haruka sat at the Hamada kitchen table, hands curled around a cup of tea. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed heavily. It had been two weeks since her apartment had burned down and Cass had refused to take no for an answer. So once again, Haruka found herself on the couch in the Hamada Household.

She had carried through the motions of every day on autopilot, numb and still in shock at the whole thing. Vaguely, she registered Cass and Tadashi's worried glances at her, her co-workers repeated similar motions as the days carried.

'How is this my life?' she whined in her head. Being a supporting character was exhausting. It was childish and petty, but she argued she had suffered a shock that most people don't their entire lives. She was allowed to wallow in pity and complain about her situation.

No. That wasn't true. That would make her the child she was acting as.

Haruka took a deep breath once more, and forced herself to focus. There was no use in crying over spilled milk. What was done was done. Her apartment was gone and nothing could be done about it. She simply just had to make do with what life had thrown her way and improvise. Thankfully, Haruka was very good at improvising.

'Alright,' she thought to herself. 'Things are changing, I can't rely on the movie anymore. Well, I could, maybe. If Callaghan really is behind this, then he should still be going for the portal remains and rebuilding it. Breaking the headband should give me some time, but not a whole lot. The man was a robotics genius. Just because Hiro is brilliant, doesn't mean he is the only one and it'll probably be easier because he has all the parts and just needs to recreate it.'

Haruka stared into her cup of tea. 'I also have to consider that Callaghan is not the one behind this. After all, I have yet to see Yokai anywhere, which is not surprising seeing as he's trying to hide. But there was another student in the fire and if Callaghan pulled it off in the movie, the student could do the same. Or they could be working together. Or it really was an unconnected incident and I'm seeing monsters because I expect to, but I highly doubt it,' she thought. 'For simplicity's sake, let's assume it is Callaghan until proved otherwise.'

Haruka drowned the cup of tea down and reached for the pot to pour her another one. She ignored the way her hands trembled. Focus. Focus. 'What do I do?' she asked herself. 'After all, I'm not very strong, physically. It isn't like I can go around stopping Callaghan. But… I can't exactly rely on the Nerd Crew to stop him. Hiro is still in a coma and well… frankly Tadashi is still alive and they don't exactly have a reason for teaming up.'

She hummed, pondering that. Well, it wasn't like Tadashi was the only reason why they teamed up in the first place. It was no doubt the reason why they stuck closer to Hiro, watching out for him in Tadashi's. But, Hiro only came across Callaghan's plan practically by accident. If he didn't have that extra microbot, if Baymax didn't seek out where the microbot was going. So many what-ifs and maybes that the story had relied on.

Outside of the fact that it was a warehouse, Haruka had no idea where to find the warehouse within the city. She didn't exactly remember how Hiro had gotten there in the movie, if the movie had even shown it.

'I guess I'll just have to improvise as it gets thrown at me,' she thought glumly. There was truly nothing else she could do about the situation.

"Haruka!" Tadashi rushed into the room.

Haruka looked up to see Tadashi the most animated since the SFIT Fire. His eyes practically sparkled and he bounced on his feet, grinning like a madman.

"What?" Haruka asked, bemused by his behavior.

"Hiro's awake!"