The Modern Four

Chapter 29

Wilbur, Penny, Hiro, and Violet sat in the backseat, chattering excitedly in hushed tones. Tadashi glanced back at them through the mirror raising an eyebrow. "So, can you give me a hint as to what this whole big surprise is?" He asked. The four of them fell silent, looking at him and unsure of what to say.

"Uh...I dunno...It might spoil the surprise and I really wouldn't like to do that..." Hiro said, biting his nail.

"That's a lie." Tadashi said, raising an eyebrow.

"What! No it's not!" Hiro exclaimed, still biting on his nails.

"Yeah, you're still lying. You have a tell, Hiro. Just gimme a hint. I'm curious." Tadashi said. Hiro sighed.

"Fine, I'll give you a hint. The hint is: it's something sciencey. There, there's your hint. Happy now?" He smirked. Tadashi rolled his eyes.

"You know, I don't have to drive you. I could pull over right now." He said. Hiro sighed, trying to think of a comeback. Violet said something before he could.

"Hiro, stop being an idiot. We can tell him. Hiro made us super suits so we can fight a villain who seems to have a vendetta against Wilbur's dad for some odd reason." She said, looking up at Tadashi. Hiro looked at her with wide eyes, shaking his head. The other two raised an eyebrow, waiting for Tadashi's reaction. Tadashi burst out laughing.

"Yeah, okay, right. And you all have super powers. I get the point, you guys don't want to tell me anything. That's fine, that's fine..." He replied, shaking his head.

Hiro still looked at Violet with shock. He pulled out his phone and sent a message to their group chat that said 'You could've revealed us!'

She looked at her phone and raised an eyebrow. 'No one buys the superhero thing' She replied, making a face. Hiro sighed.

'Yeah, but what if he did? Then what would we do?'

'We'd come up with a fake project. Simple solution.'

'Could you two take this fight to your own messages?' Penny sent a message into the chat.

'Yeah, my phone keeps vibrating and it's getting annoying' Wilbur butted in.

Hiro rolled his eyes. 'Fine, okay.' He said, and put his phone away. Soon as he did, the car pulled up into the university parking lot.

"We're here." Tadashi said, glancing back at everyone. "I'll show you guys to the lab, and then leave, since you want to be all secretive about it." He said, raising an eyebrow. They nodded, filing out of the car. Honey lemon smiled at them, deciding to remain in the car while Tadashi took them in.

"So, I thought you were a senior in high school." Wilbur said, walking up with Tadashi.

"I am," He replied. "But since I'm taking college robotics classes, I get special access to the university's robotic labs. Pretty exciting, huh?" He smirked. Wilbur nodded.

"Huh, I didn't know you could do that. You learn something new every day."

"Oh yeah, there's plenty of classes you could take here. Robotics, advanced math, psych. You name it, we've probably got it."

"Cool." Wilbur said, playing with his ring.

"Yup! Here's the lab guys. This is where I leave you. Hiro probably remembers the way back, so I'm off. Text me when you leave." He said, waving.

Hiro smirked. "Off to go make out with Honey Lemon." He mumbled to his friends, who laughed. Tadashi rolled his eyes.

"Heard that!" He shouted back. The group laughed, heading into the lab.

"Pretty cool in here." Violet said, glancing around at the various experiments.

"Yeah..." Penny said, poking a random experiment.

"C'mon guys, let's stay focused. We don't have too long. There's the testing room." Hiro said, walking to a door.

Wilbur glanced at Violet. "Since when was the leader?" He mumbled to her. She shrugged. The four filed in, looking around at the padded room, and spotting various scorch marks and robotic pieces laying around.

"Well, that's encouraging." Violet mumbled.

Hiro gulped. "Okay guys...let's transform." He said. Wilbur laughed.

"Dude, you make it sound like we're the Transformers or something." He grinned. Hiro rolled his eyes.

"Oh, whatever." He replied, pressing a button on the side of his watch. The other's followed suit, and soon they were transformed into their costumes. "So, let's just start with individual testing. Violet, let's have you go first since we know your's should already work." Hiro said. Violet nodded, quickly turning herself invisible. Soon, she was nowhere to be found. Hiro gave out a whoop, cheering excitedly. The other two blinked, still amazed that their friend could do that. She reappeared in front of them, smiling a rare, big smile.

"I've never been able to fully disappear like that.." She laughed. Hiro grinned.

"Well, now you have the chance." He said, and the two shared a smile. Wilbur rolled his eyes, a little ball of jealousy inside him.

"My turn." He said, taking the attention away from Violet. He took a deep breath and started running. He grinned as he began to go faster and faster, feeling like a cheetah or some other fast animal that his mind couldn't think of because holy cow this is fast. His friends laughed as the watched him run, cheering. Violet even continued to smile. He slowed down and gave Hiro a high five. "Nice job dude. You did good, my man."

Hiro smirked. "I know. Penny, your turn. I'm excited to see how this turns out." He said, smiling at her, and causing her to blush. She laughed.

"Alright, yeah, I'll give it a go." She said, and glanced down at her shoes, unsure of how to turn on the flying mechanisms.

"Just click your heels together, it'll signal to the system to go." Hiro said, and Penny nodded, doing as he told her.

Soon, she was up in the air, laughing excitedly. She'd always wanted to be able to fly, and now she could. Hiro encouraged her to do flips and turns in the air, and she was able to with ease. She cheered, eventually landed, and nearly tripping. "Rough landing." She laughed, and there was no mistaking the joy on her face. She pulled Hiro into a hug, this time making him blush. "That was amazing, thank you, Hiro." She whispered.

"N-no problem." Hiro stuttered back, still red. Wilbur gave a low whistle.

"Hate to break up this little love fest, but Hiro, I think it's your turn." He said. But Hiro didn't get his chance, as right outside the lab they heard a crash, and then a scream. Their eyes widened, and they glanced at each other before nodding and running outside to their first chance of saving the day.