Chapter 13 (Karmi's POV)

I was tired. So tired…

Every muscle ached, and my eyes threatened to water just from the strain. Because a part of me felt like we were going in circles.

All the demons inside of Hiro were distracting him from everything else. Everyone else…

But…it felt selfish to admit that, even just to myself. But more than ever, I felt like an outsider.

The last few days had been difficult, to put it mildly. My anger at Callaghan for betraying us seemed so simple in comparison to everything Hiro felt. But I didn't know what to say, words didn't seem to make a difference. They never did… Which left us with silence. That same awkward and frustrating silence.

He spent every night scouring the city for clues he never found, and I spent them lying awake. My days were spent either working or staring aimlessly into a coffee cup, all my emotions spent. On this particular morning, I was doing the latter…

I didn't really feel like talking, but all the same, I knew if I went to the Lucky Cat I could expect it. So maybe a part of me did hope someone would notice, that some would break my personal prison of silence.

When I noticed Aunt Cass flip the door sign to closed, I assumed she was going to try and do just that. In truth, she had her own reasons to be hurt over everything that was happening, but she seemed to ignore her own feelings. She was just worried about Hiro, and worried about me…

When she sat down in the seat across from me she didn't say anything at first, just let her eyes trail to the photo of Tadashi that was behind the counter. His legacy was meant to be one of hope. But all it felt like we had were regrets and anger now. For Hiro to be betrayed by Callghan after he went through so much to forgive him… It was almost impossible for him to accept. Yet, he had to…more than that he had to be the one to stop him all over again.

But what would be the cost, and what would be left of him once he had? Maybe it was stupid, but it felt like our future was slipping through my fingers. Why couldn't he let me in, let me help him…?

Somehow it seemed like Aunt Cass heard the silent question because she focused on me suddenly.

"Can I tell you a secret, Karmi?" she whispered softly.

I nodded slightly, not sure what else to do.

"When Hiro was a little boy, he only had one fear." A bittersweet smile slipped across her face.

"Besides spiders…?" I teased weakly. "Because I'm the one who always has to kill them."

She leaned back. "Besides spiders, it was just one thing… Being alone."

I narrowed my eyes, finding it ironic. "Then why is isolation his first choice whenever he's stressed…?"

"Maybe it's because of the very thing you always liked about him?"

I wanted to scoff, but I listened all the same.

"Hiro wants to be courageous, so he keeps meeting his fears head-on. He's so stubborn he thinks he has to. He's a hero, after all. But what he doesn't realize…" Her face softened with emotion. "He's still just a little boy to me… I never expected him to do so much. Of course, I'm proud but… He doesn't realize what we all really wanted from him."

The question echoed inside my mind. What did I really want…?

Aunt Cass traced a finger along the rim of her cup. "Knowing Hiro, he probably thinks he's sparing us from his pain by bottling it all up. When all we really wanted was to share it with him. Isn't that ironic?"

"Then what do we do…?" I whispered.

She reached to touch the top of my hand; her warmth comforting somehow. "Maybe it's as simple as telling him that?"

"But how…? H-How can words alone be enough? Haven't I said them all before?"

She smiled at me. "Yes, probably dozens of times even. But you know Hiro, sometimes he's too stubborn to get things the first few times around." She squeezed my hand, her face filled with all the certainty I didn't feel. "Keep on knocking, he'll let you in, I promise."

A promise…

I'd grown up cynical enough to know that promises could be broken. But all the same, I didn't want to believe things were as bleak as they seemed. Even if my own pride made it hard to make the first move.

But I knew he needed me now.

Even if it was just to save him from himself.

Given how things had been going lately, I was relieved to lose myself in work. There was always something therapeutic about staring through a microscope. Listening to my assistant's latest relationship drama was a little less so… If anything I wanted some much-needed distraction from drama. But at least it wasn't my drama, that was something I guess. Thankfully the chatter only lasted for a few hours. Once the sun set, everyone headed out, leaving me to my work in peace.

But even so, there was a part of my brain still worried about Hiro. A big part of my brain, and the most annoying part of me in general, my heart. Spinning in my chair slowly, I sighed. I knew he was probably pulling another late-night investigation at the prison. Trying to find any clue related to Callaghan he could. He was probably too busy to think about me worrying about him. That really annoyed me, but at the same time…

What if Aunt Cass was right…? What if he did need me now more than ever?

So I typed out a quick text and sent it before I could change my mind. It didn't say anything special just: "Please be careful, I love you."

I knew it was stupid to expect a reply right away, but I just kept sitting there, waiting. Waiting for a text that didn't come. The logic in my head knew it made sense, he was really busy. Of course, he was… But the voice echoing in the back of my head wanted to know if that meant he was too busy for me.

Shifting my sight I looked out the large glass windows in my lab. From up here, the city looked just as beautiful as it always had, and yet, it also seemed empty. A sense of foreboding lingered around me that I couldn't shake. Not just about Hiro and me, but the city in general.

What was Callaghan really after…? Why was he working with Enkei? Where did he even meet her given he was in prison for so many years?

Those were just some of the questions swarming inside my mind like bees.

I glanced back at my phone in one last act of desperation before getting back to work. Thankfully, I was mostly just logging a few results on a couple of long-term experiments. Nothing I could mess up by being too absentminded. After a while, I got lost in the rhythm and let my mind nearly empty. I knew zoning out wasn't fixing anything, but at the moment I didn't know if I could fix anything.

The battle inside of Hiro or the one threatening to rage in the city. I didn't like feeling powerless, but…

I looked at my phone again, some part of me cut when I still didn't see his reply. Maybe Hiro needed his space, maybe he didn't, but I knew one thing for sure. I needed to feel like anything but an outsider.

I traced my fingers around my wedding ring, feeling every contour of the circle.

I wasn't afraid of what we might face, I just wanted us to face it together…

Closing my eyes I finally let myself feel vulnerable, as vulnerable as I really was. Sitting there alone I thought I could drop my barriers. As dumb as it sounds, maybe even cry. But all those barriers shot back up as I suddenly heard a noise behind me. I spun around just in time to see Momakase dropping down from an open-air vent.

Switching to high alert I jumped to my feet. She'd helped us out before, but trust wasn't something I gave easily, it was something the two of us had in common actually. Still, she might have something useful to tell.

So I relaxed my guard a bit and focused on her. "Hiro isn't here right now."

"Obviously, this is your place of employment, not his."

"You wanted to see me?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Indeed I do," she said simply before walking past me and placing a small glass slide on my desk.

"What's that?"

"That's precisely what I'm hoping you'll be able to answer. The obvious answer is that it's one of Krei Tech's neural implants, but I'm seldom satisfied with obvious answers."

"Where did you get one of his chips?" I asked a little dubiously. "Was it…stolen from one of Krei's wherehouses?"

She smiled, seeming amused. "Would you prefer I told you I cut it out of someone's brain?"

I smirked; her cynical sense of humor was relatable after years of living in this crazy city. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

"Fair enough. Now, on to business. True to my word, I intended to tell you if anything strange related to Enkei came to my attention. It has."

I frowned, that same feeling of dread growing. "What happened?"

"Makoto Watashi, the originator of these implants was seen together with both Enkei and Callaghan. The entire lot of them were seen slipping into 'The Hydra.' It's one of the grimiest establishments in the lower part of the city. It would make the bar you and Hiro stumbled into look like a cheerful cafe. Of course, I attempted to follow them, but when I entered, they all had vanished."

"How does someone just vanish?"

"There are many rumors of secret subterranean passages that intersect with the building in question. It's possible they used one of them. But whatever the case, I thought it wise to take a look at these new stupid toys of Krei's. For what reason other than a nefarious one, would Watashi be meeting with the likes of Enkei and Callaghan?"

"You're right…" I mumbled as I quickly loaded the slide into place and took a look.

Everything seemed normal, or as normalas a brain chip could be anyway… But I had a hunch, like some sort of gut instinct. Without explaining, I lit a small Bunsen burner and held the slide over it, far enough away that it was safe from the flame.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"It's just a hunch, but I wanted to simulate what happens if we warm the chip. In essence, recreating one of the conditions of a living body."

"You believe it could be heat-activated?"

"I don't know what I believe," I admitted honestly. "But flames, which could be interpreted as heat, was a repeated theme of Enkei's crimes."

After a few more seconds of warming, I returned the slide to the microscope. At first, nothing seemed any different. For a second, I was disappointed we'd hit a dead end again. But that disappointment turned to horror as I saw small points on the chip flicker to life. Infinitely small spherical drones emerged from newly visible openings within the chip. Then they swarmed and joined together building a clear lattice structure of some sort.

"Look at this!" I shouted as I gestured her over.

Peering through the lens she watched the drones at work for a few long moments, before glancing back up at me.

"Nanotechnology? Hidden within the chips no less? And better still…to what end?"

I couldn't answer that question, but both our minds seemed to be going to the same dark places.

Momakase paused as her features sobered in realization. "Doesn't this seem rather… familiar?"

More than familiar, it felt like I'd woken up in the same nightmare again. The realization coiled itself around my chest until I could hardly breathe.

"I have to tell Hiro!" I shouted as I brushed past her.

As I fled the building the only noise I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears.

Blood and the feeling of dread growing with each step…