Dominion (Futuristic Four)

"Mad People Do Silly Stuff."

Showtime.  Game day.  Hiro could think of a million names for describing what was about to happen, but none of them properly covered the fact that they were about to change the world and he wasn't invited.

"You're a big part of this presentation," Wilbur reminded him for the millionth time. "You can't see yourself or the world is going to explode!"

"I saw myself already and nothing happened."

"Sure, you saw your past self, but your past self didn't see you and recognize you for what you were. You got lucky, that's all."

"So what am I supposed to do? Sit here?"

"Yes."

There was no way Hiro was going to be happy with that. He couldn't just sit back and watch while the others worked on restoring his memories. Wilbur should have thought about that. So really it was his fault that Hiro was sneaking out like this.

At least, that's what Hiro told himself as he stood in the chaos of the science presentations. He hoped desperately that he wouldn't run into Wilbur or Penny. Violet would be harder to avoid. She was still invisible. But if he didn't find them, he wouldn't know what to do to help.

"Excuse me, sir," Hiro said as he tapped a man's shoulder. The man glanced down. "Have you seen my friends anywhere? One is a guy about this tall with weird spiked hair and the other is a girl with red hair."

"Sorry, kid." The man turned back to watch what was happening onstage. Hiro glanced back into the crowd. Like finding a needle in a haystack.

His eyes fell on something unusual happening in the crowd. It was like a bubble of air was pushing its way through, separating people in a clear and easy to follow path. It was Violet. It had to be. Without much hesitation Hiro followed.

Violet's trail wound through the crowd before meeting up with Wilbur and Penny at the back of the room. They kept glancing anxiously over their shoulders as if expecting some danger to show up. Hiro stayed out of sight as he listened to Violet's report.

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary," she began, "but Doctor Callaghan isn't here."

"But he's supposed to see Hiro's invention so he can steal it and become a super villain," Wilbur muttered.  "Why wouldn't he be here?"

Doctor Callaghan was a super villain?  This was the first Hiro was hearing about it.  But how did Tadashi's death play into all this?  Did Callaghan kill him?

"Well, he's not here," Violet announced.  "I checked the whole place twice."

"We need to find him.  Anybody know where the old goat lives?  I only knew where his jail was."

"Maybe we could look it up," Penny suggested.

"Unless we want to risk involving Hiro with the whole duplicate thing going on," Wilbur agreed. He rolled his eyes. "Honestly, there's only so many Hiros I can handle at once."

Hiro backed away. He knew where to find Doctor Callaghan. He could tell the others right now. But if he did they would just tell him to go back home and deal with the problem themselves.

Without a word he turned and melted into the crowd. It was hero time.

The walk to Doctor Callaghan's apartment was a short one. Hiro had been there once before, for a celebration Tadashi had been invited to. It was a simple building. Doctor Callaghan lived alone. Hiro had never even heard him mention any family. He supposed Callaghan preferred it that way. Peace and quiet. Hiro knocked on the door.

"Doctor Callaghan?" he called. There was no response from the other side of the door. But there was a response from behind him.

"HIRO! What are you doing?"

Hiro spun back around to face the speaker. Violet stood behind him. Well, half of Violet. Or maybe more of a quarter? Only her head and hands were visible.

"You followed me?" He tried to look stern and stifle the growing jitters inside of him.

"I saw you watching us."

"I was getting Doctor Callaghan. I just wanted to help."  The last time Violet had followed him flashed into his mind.  "Oh, Violet, about the whole superpowers thing and me yelling at you, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine.  Really.  You were just mad.  Mad people do silly stuff."

They both chuckled a little over that.  Hiro cleared his throat.  "You know you're mostly invisible, right?"

"Yeah."  Violet shrugged, or at least Hiro assumed that was what she was doing.  "My feet aren't cooperating, so my super suit is stuck invisible.  It'll probably wear off eventually."

"But you were turning invisible fine this morning.  It didn't look like you had any problems at all."

"I'm fine.  Getting better at it every day."  She glanced at the door.  "Callaghan might be in there.  We might have to break and find him."

Hiro nodded. She gave him a pointed look.

"You might have to break in and find him," she clarified.

"But you're the one who can turn invisible!"

"Not right now. Besides, he trusts you more. Please, Hiro?"

How can I say no to that? Hiro tried the door, found it unlocked, and stepped inside.