When All Q Breaks Loose

Chapter Seven: Not Happy

Hiro made his way to the room he usually used to crash in when staying over at Fred's place. He generally shared it with Wasabi, though the OCD physicist had a clearly drawn out line to separate the two parts of the room, mostly because Hiro wasn't as much of a neat freak as he was.

Wasabi sat on the bed on his side of the room, his back turned to the door when Hiro came in. Everything was perfectly aligned there, down to the smallest item. And his gear was already stored away back in the command center. He'd slipped into the command center while everyone was busy in the medical lounge.

The teen leader paused at the door, not sure what was going on with his friend. After all, he hadn't been there for the conversation between the man and their guests. But it was obvious something was on his mind and he couldn't just sit back and let things fester. "Hey," he called out as he walked over to his side of the room.

Not turning, Wasabi let out a sigh. "You know I'm not happy about this," he said after another long moment of silence.

Hiro paused in the middle of taking off his chest plate. His gauntlets sat on the bed, waiting to be taken back to their customary resting place. He'd figured it would be easier to talk with Wasabi first. "Happy about what exactly?" There were half a dozen things Hiro could think of that would make Wasabi upset.

Finally turning, Wasabi gave his leader a frown as he gestured widely with his arms. "This. All of this. You bringing those strangers here. We don't even know them or anything about them!" He stood with the heat of his words, subconsciously walking over to Hiro and staring pointedly down into his face. "What if they're not what they say they are? Are you willing to take that risk?"

Hiro reminded himself to breathe as he counted to five to calm himself down. Wasabi was decidedly fired up and his inner demons wanted to retaliate, but he knew that would be a bad idea. "I'm sorry you're not comfortable with the situation," he said instead. "To be honest, I'm still not sure about it myself."

That comment seemed to throw Wasabi a bit and he stared at Hiro with his mouth slightly open. But he rallied himself. "Then why did you do it? You're risking everything! They now know who we are under the mask. They know where our base of operations is. The only thing they don't know is how we got to be like this and why."

A few snaps sounded as Hiro unclasped the back and chest plate of his gear, setting the pieces aside. "Not true," he defended. "There are a lot of things they don't know about us. And I plan on keeping it that way until we know more about them and where they come from."

Wasabi rolled his eyes but took a step back. "Do you ever really think things through? Or is it always on a whim for you? I know Tadashi wanted to help people and you've made it your life's mission but—"

Hiro waved him to silence, the air suddenly heavy with the mention of Tadashi's name. It was still a sore subject, and to have Wasabi try and use his brother against him... well, that wasn't acceptable. "Look, I know it's probably stupid and reckless, but isn't that part of what being a super hero is all about? We do the things no one else will do. For example, taking on that madman at the hospital when we were told to stay out of it. Did we listen? No. But we stopped a huge disaster."

"And you almost got yourself killed," Wasabi pointed out, arms crossed over his chest.

The teen sighed again, trying to find the patience he knew he needed. His juvenile side decidedly wanted to lash out irrationally. And even though what Wasabi said hurt, he did have a point. "Yes," he agreed after another long silence. "Yes, I almost got myself killed. And we've all almost gotten ourselves killed who knows how many times. I don't think that's really the point."