Hiro's Hardship (A Welcome To The Madhouse Prequel)

Hiro's Hardship: Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"These 'losers' saved your miserable life, Donk," Shair said, in a sarcastic tone. "I wouldn't have." She rolled her eyes and sniffed, as if to emphasize her point. The three urchins, Mud, Quick, and Shadow, peeked at Donk from a protective position behind Shair, their shining eyes blinking in grimy faces.

Donk glanced over at Shair, a hurt expression on his round face, which he quickly masked over with a glare of murderous intent, aimed at both Hiro and Jude.

"You're de brats hidin' behind de cycle shack! Hey! Didn't you shoot me wit' something?" Donk barked, as he pointed at Hiro.

"I am afraid you must be mistaken," Hiro said. "If I'd have shot you, you would be dead. Since I carried your overweight body down here and saved you from that disintegration beam over there, your death seems unlikely. If you will take notice, you are still breathing."

"What did he say?" Donk asked Shair in an angry voice. "Never mind! You snots get lost or I will t'row you in dat particle beam meself!"

"You will not," Shair said, sternly. "Zero and Jack have joined our group and you can complain all you want, Donk, but we're not listening! They've proven themselves more useful than you, already! They saved your smelly ass and helped us bring you down here. You should be thanking them rather than threatening them!"

"If dat snot hadn't knocked me out, maybe I wouldn't a needed savin' or carryin'! Did yuh t'ink o' dat, Shair?" Donk squawked, still sprawled on the ground. The large boy's gray eyes were nearly popping out of his pale face

Shair sighed theatrically. "Yeah, Donk. I've been cursing Zero's heroics ever since you woke up!"

Donk shot another hateful look at Hiro while Mud, Shadow, and Quick all snickered. Hiro wasn't sure if they were laughing at Donk or if they just thought it was funny every time Shair called Hiro, 'Zero'. Hiro just sighed and then winced, as he got a shot of pain from his backside.

'How long would those darn nanobots take to heal his butt?' he wondered. "What were they doing? Taking a vacation?" Hiro hoped they hadn't stopped functioning yet.

"Just to let you know," Hiro drawled, "I have already been in that particle beam, while saving your life." He turned around slowly, gingerly, to show Donk his backside. Donk was now sitting up on the ground and got a better view than he probably wanted.

"Huh," Shair grunted, the expression on her face one of shared pain. "That looks bad! Turn back around, Zero! Ladies present! We don't need to see anything that ugly!"

"Sorry!" Hiro muttered, his cheeks burning. Shadow and Quick just giggled and pretended to hide their faces. Mud looked bored. Jude looked worried. Hiro wondered if that meant that Shadow and Quick were female. He spun back around and immediately regretted the rapid movement, yelping with the pain.

Donk's eyes narrowed, and he looked up at the moving ramp and then at the disintegrator unit, situated at its end. His face went even paler as he looked back at Hiro with widened eyes.

"Uh. . . . ," he finally murmured. "Guess you really did risk your butt to get me off uh dat conveyor belt! De holes in your cheeks and de back of your head are raw . . . I owe you one, Zero." The large kid looked chastened and shaken.

"That's all right," Hiro said, shaking his head. His cheeks felt fevered. "I'm just glad we are both still alive. Something like this," - he gestured at the disintegrator unit - "shouldn't even exist. Kids could get hurt! There's no safety precautions! No warning signs! No automatic or emergency shut off! It could kill someone!"