Dominion (Futuristic Four)

"I'm Right Here."

It was a long, dark night. Hiro spent the evening huddled behind the Cafe's glass counters and hoping that nobody came downstairs. Aunt Cass entered the room once to check that the door was locked. As she yawned and fiddled with the knob Hiro pressed himself as close to the wall as he could. It worries turned out to be unnecessary. Aunt Cass shambled back upstairs without even looking around the room.

With the threat of discovery past Hiro allowed himself to relax, but he couldn't bring himself to leave. Leaving meant returning to the others empty handed after yelling at them. Leaving meant apologizing to Violet, which was fine, and to Wilbur, which was going to be painful. Leaving meant admitting defeat.

The doorknob rattled.

Hiro's heart hammered in his chest. The sound paused for a moment before resuming, much more vigorously this time. Hiro pictured the stranger struggling to get inside and was grateful for Aunt Cass locking the door where he had forgotten. For now, the door divided Hiro from his would-be attacker. But for how long?

The rattling stopped. The silence was almost more foreboding than when the invader had been trying to break in. What were they planning?

Hiro looked around for a suitable weapon. His hands grasped a wooden rolling pin. It wasn't much, but it was the best he had.

The lock snapped back, a deafening sound in the silence. The door crept open as a shadow glided into the room. Hiro threw the rolling pin with all his might.

"GYAR!"

The startled yelp was followed by a string of threats. Hiro stood as a second shadow materialized behind the first. He could see now that the figures were too short to be the stranger. Besides, he recognized the voice.

"-Hiro's stupid contraptions throwing stupid cooking tools like stupid baseballs hit me in the stupid face-"

"It's just a rolling pin, I'm sure you'll be fine."

Hiro grinned in the darkness before flipping on the light. Wilbur and Penny stood together in the doorway. Wilbur's hands were clenched into fists and pressed against his cheekbone where a bruise was already starting to form.

A silent staring contest ensued.  Penny and Wilbur stared at Hiro (in Wilbur's case with very watery eyes) as Hiro stared back.  Nobody seemed eager to break the silence.

"So is this Hiro?" Wilbur muttered to Penny.  "I can't tell if it's our Hiro or not."

"It's me," Hiro said.  Wilbur and Penny didn't seem entirely convinced.  "The rolling pin was an accident, Wilbur.  Next time don't break into my house."

That seemed to settle it.  Penny shrugged.  "We're here to rescue you.  We figured you probably got yourself into trouble somewhere."

"Where's Violet?"  Hiro couldn't see her behind Wilbur or Penny.  She was the one he really wanted to apologize to, not Wilbur.

"I'm right here," Violet's disembodied voice announced.

"She's stuck being invisible," Penny explained.  "Her powers are acting up again."

"So it turns your clothes invisible too?" Hiro marveled as he stared into the empty space where he assumed Violet was standing.  I wonder what the chemistry behind that is.  Is she changing the chemical makeup of the clothes through touch?  Or is she bending light somehow?

"Uh, it doesn't exactly turn her clothes invisible," Penny explained.  Hiro quickly averted his eyes (not that it mattered, she was invisible anyway) before Violet quickly spoke up.

"I'm wearing my super-suit, dork," she said.  "It can turn invisible alongside me."

"We figured it would be useful having an invisible person with us," Wilbur grunted, still cradling his face.  "Since she was already invisible and stuff."

"Cool."

"Should we get going?" Penny asked, bringing the conversation back around.  Hiro nodded.  He flipped the light back off and they left the Cafe.  The trip back to the hotel room was quiet and brief.  It wasn't until Hiro was in bed and nearly asleep that he realized he hadn't mentioned anything about the stranger.

One crisis at a time, he decided.  I'll tell them after we fix the past.