The Lonely and The Brave

Chapter 4 - Damaged -

Over the next 2 weeks, Hiro had finally completed his project for the SFIT showcase that would decide if he got in or not. It was mainly himself, Tadashi and Kira working on the microbots since they put them together the quickest, but everyone had contributed at least once, and it had brought them closer to one another.

"Yes!" Hiro grinned as he opened a barrel full of microbots. Tadashi stood next to him, very proud of his little brother. The two fist-bumped, and it made Kira chuckle.

"Well, soon you'll be presenting these to everyone," She said, "You ready to impress everyone?"

"So ready!" Hiro replied, "Thanks for your help these past 2 weeks guys."
He turned and faced the group, "Without you all, I wouldn't have been able to finish without practically collapsing in exhaustion."

"No problemo, Hiro," Kira grinned, leaning her arm on his shoulder, "Now, let's get these microbots to the SFIT showcase!"

Everyone grabbed a barrel while Hiro got his neural transmitter, right when Aunt Cass appeared in the garage.

"Everyone ready?" She asked,

"Sure are!" The group chimed.

"Then let's get going!"

---

The barrels were all set up and it was almost time for Hiro to present his invention. It was around this time that he began to get nervous.

"Hiro?" Kira asked, noticing he was staring down at the neural transmitter in his hands with a blank stare, "Are you okay?" She placed her hand on his shoulder gently, snapping him out of his slight trance.

"Huh..?" He looked up at her, smiling nervously, "O-Oh... Yeah, I'm okay..."

"You're nervous aren't you?"

"Out of my mind..."

She chuckled softly, but soon smiled at him, "Don't be. From what I've seen from those little guys, everyone will love it, okay? Just smile and take a deep breath if needed." He was silent for a moment before nodding. "Right."

"Hiro Hamada to the stage," A voice over the speaker called, signaling it was Hiro's turn to present his invention.
"W-Well..."

"Breathe, Hiro, you'll do fine."

She squeezed his shoulder gently and walked over to the others in the small crowd. Hiro walked up onto the stage with his transmitter on and a microphone. A coupe of people from SFIT walked over to watch Hiro's presentation.

"Uh... Hello," Hiro said, clutching the microphone tightly, "I'm Hiro Hamada... And this," he held up a microbot by itself, "is a microbot."

A man looked uninterested and walked away, followed by a couple of others. Hiro's face showed pure anxiety and looked towards Tadashi, silently asking for help.

"Just stay calm and take a deep breath," Tadashi mouthed, a smile on his face. "And remember to smile!" Kira added, grinning at him. He nodded and took a deep breath.

"I know it doesn't look like much when it's all by itself," He continued, "But, when it joins together with its friends..."

The group all exchanged grins as everyone else watched the barrels tip over and all of the microbots join together in a structure next to Hiro. People soon began gathering around Hiro's stage and his face lot up, letting the microbot in his hand join the others.

"They can create wonderful things," He changed the microbots to look like a hand and made it wave as he pointed to his head, "The neural transmitter I have on sends my thoughts to the microbots and they create whatever I think."