The Modern Four

Chapter 13

Wilbur and Penny bolted up the stairs, hundreds of worse case scenarios rushing through their heads. When they got there, they gasped.

"Oh my god." Penny said, panic, fear, and shock in her voice. She and Wilbur stared in disbelief.

~Before~

Violet and Hiro walked up the stairs in silence. Truth be told, even though they share a friend group, they really didn't know much about each other.

"So..." Hiro started, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Yeah..." Violet mumbled, keeping her head down. Hiro sighed.

"This is...awkward." He said quietly, finally saying what was on both of their minds. Violet nodded.

"Very." She said, and there was a pause in the conversation that usually would be filled by Penny or Wilbur, the chattier two of the bunch. Hiro looked around.

"This house is uh.." He said, trying to start a conversation.

"Creepy?" Violet offered.

Hiro nodded. "Yeah, super creepy. I wonder what it was before.." He trailed off, dusting off an old book that sat on one of the shelves.

Violet frowned, reading the cover. "Connections Home Visitor Log." She read.

Hiro frowned. "What, was this some kind of nursing home? Kinda creepy for one, with all the stuffed animals and dolls and..."

Violet dusted off the remainder of the dust. "Foster home." She frowned, looking up at Hiro. "I guess it must of been that."

"Well, clearly, unless someone stole that from a foster home, which, why would you even want to."

"Shut up." Violet said. Hiro smirked.

"I'd rather not." They continued on, peering into what seemed to be the rooms of the orphaned children that once lived there. Violet looked around one, shaking her head.

"I can't imagine...not having your parents...God.." She looked back at Hiro, who was peering down at his shoelaces as if they were the most amazing things in the world. Violet furrowed her eyebrows. "Hey, Hiro, you okay? Your shoes aren't that cool, dude."

Hiro bit his lip, looking up at Violet. "I uh...can we just move on. We're supposed to be looking for clues, not talking about stuff."

Violet crossed her arms. "No, Hiro, you need to talk to me. What's wrong?"

Hiro put his hood up, not looking Violet in her eyes. "My...my parents died. I-in a car crash. About ten years ago. So yeah, I'm an orphan. No, I don't want to talk about it. There, you happy?" He sniffled, sounding angry. He stormed off down the hallway, and slammed the door to one of the rooms. Violets eyes widened, and she chased after him.

"Hiro! Wait! Hiro!" She came to the only shut door, and knocked softly. "Hiro? Listen, I get if you don't want to talk about it. It was stupid of me to press you on the issue. I have stuff I don't want to talk about either." She glanced down at her hands nervously, half expecting herself to be turning invisible as a result of her pressing the issue with Hiro. She shook her head, leaning up against the door and thinking quietly about Hiro's life. She couldn't imagine not having her parents. How hard that must be. She couldn't help but think that that was the reason that Hiro always seemed so close with Tadashi. Violet sighed, and knocked again. "Listen, Hiro. I'm not as good as a comforter as say, Penny or someone, but I'm here if you need to like, I dunno, talk or something? I mean, I'll listen or whatever." She bit her lip. To be completely honest, she knew she wouldn't be much of a resource to him, but she thought she'd offer, even though she knew he wouldn't take her up on it. The floors behind the door creaked, and the door opened. Hiro looked at Violet, then looked down.

"Can we just, pretend this never happened?" Hiro asked. Violet nodded, twirling a lock of her hair.

"Yes." In her mind, she was thankfully relieved. She wouldn't have really known what to do had Hiro really needed the support. Hiro nodded, and they continued along the hallway.

"It's really quite amazing how this building has managed to sustain itself throughout the years. Most of the time the upper floors would be crumbling. Or at least the roof would be. But I mean, this seems okay." He said, examining a wall. Violet raised an eyebrow.

"Nice job genius, you jinxed us." She said, punching Hiro lightly on the shoulder. He laughed a bit, shaking his head.

"Oh cmon, you don't actually think that." He grinned. "Look, the house is perfectly safe." He said, jumping up and down. There was then a loud CRACK. Hiro gulped, looking up above them. "Perfectly...safe." He muttered, as a large crack formed on the ceiling. Violets eyes widened, as the ceiling gave way and started to fall around them. Violet screamed and began to run, but saw Hiro was frozen where he stood.

"Hiro!" She screamed, running over towards him. A huge piece of the ceiling began to fall at that moment. Time seemed to go in slow motion.

A force field. Violet thought. Just a simple force field will do it. She took a deep breath and began concentrating. Her first attempt fizzled into nothing. Her second attempt suffered from the same fate. Her third, however, grew big enough to protect both her and Hiro. The ceiling piece fell around them, shattering into millions of little pieces. Violet closed her eyes, trying her best to maintain the force field. Hiro stared in disbelief.

"How the-Who the-What the-" he gulped, shaking his head.

"Oh my god." They heard Penny say, and they turned towards her and Wilbur, who both stood slack jawed.

"I can explain." Violet said, lowering her force field.

~Moments later~

After they dug Hiro and Violet out of the rubble and checked them for any abrasions, they all stared expectantly at Violet, who was staring at her hands. She looked up at them and gulped, looking down. Her voice was shaky as she spoke. "I guess it's time to tell you guys. I'm a super."