EXTRA: chapter 13.5 - a quick chapter detailing what happened to Hiro while he was inside the portal rescuing Abigail.

For a moment, Hiro thought he'd died.

The world was black and cold around him, with the only source of light coming from the portal behind him that he had just gone through. There was debris everywhere, drifting through the open space as if drifting through water, and when Hiro moved his limbs it felt the same as if he were swimming.

Thank goodness he could breathe though. The portal had sucked in enough oxygen and air to sustain him for the time being. But he could feel himself getting light headed quickly, and so he fought to push himself forward through the outer-space like pocket of the universe. The technology that he had felt, that hard and cold presence in his brain, was still there, and so he moved toward it. A piece of metal drifted into his side, and Hiro pushed it away as if it were an unruly pet. It drifted back, and he pushed it away again, accidentally sending himself floating in the opposite direction as he did so.

"This is ridiculous." Hiro huffed, pouting as his body floated, blood still dripping down his face but drying quickly in the cooling vacuum he was in. "I need something that can propel me."

And then he saw it.

Something in Hiro's mind seemed to slide into place the moment his eyes fell upon the frozen, drifting pod of advanced technology. It practically sang to him, broken thrusters and darkened windows and all, and suddenly, Hiro's entire world was the goal of getting to that pod. As if it had heard Hiro's wishes, the pod responded to his thoughts. It rocked and rolled in the air, very gently, very weakly, but somehow it managed to begin pushing itself closer to the technopath calling to it.

Hiro, meanwhile, coughed and hacked as his head pounded and his nose bled. "Ugh- Nasty." He choked, his powers growing in strength far too fast for his body to keep up. "I'll be feeling this tomorrow." Hiro grumbled, as the pod moved toward him, the microbot outside the portal continued to spin, and the wires stayed tight around his friends.

Another piece of debris shot from the portal behind Hiro then, and slammed into him and broke Hiro's focus. This piece was far larger than the small annoying bit of metal from earlier had been, and it sent Hiro's small body careening and spinning forwards in the lack of gravity. He slammed against the pod that had been making its steady way toward him, and both him and it were sent by his momentum further away from the portal than the pod had been before.

After a few moments, the pod slowly began to stop spinning, the oxygen that the portal had sucked in providing a mockery of air resistance in the area where it was still abundant. Hiro clenched his eyes shut and huddled against the top of the pod, not wanting to throw up or look further into the dark recesses of the void behind him. When he finally did open his eyes though, he came face to face with a young woman.

The technology of the pod beneath him hummed with happiness as Hiro wiped his hand against the fog and frozen air, clearing the darkly tinted glass so he could look more clearly upon the woman inside. Hiro's brain spun through it's thought process. She looked familiar. She was lost in the portal, and her helmet had a Krei Tech logo stamped on its side. She looked like Callaghan. She was Callaghan's daughter who Callaghan had wanted to avenge. She wasn't dead.

A burst of light pulsed forward from the far off portal, and Hiro looked away from the pod pilot's face to stare in horror at his only escape. He could feel it, the other side of the portal collapsing and destabilizing, and it hurt.

"Alright." Hiro breathed, trying to remain calm. He turned back to the woman in the pod, and tried to pound upon the window and wake her up. "Hey, if you could wake up, Ms. Callaghan, and pilot this thing to safety, that would be really appreciated!" Abigail did not stir, and Hiro choked back a frustrated sound of hopelessness, and pounded harder upon the glass. His knuckles began to ache. "Please! Please wake up. I can't- I can't push myself any further! I can't get us out without your help!"

Hiro could feel Tadashi, calm and confident, letting the wires hold him as he waited for his little brother to return. Hiro wiped the blood from his nose and pressed his forehead against the cold metal beneath him.

"Alright… Okay. Breathe, Hiro." He whispered to himself. "You can do this. Put that big brain of yours to good use."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Hiro directed his mental attention away from the microbot dismantling the portal. He stretched his arms out, wrapping them as much as he could around the top of the pod, flattening his palms against the technology. The thrusters were broken, torn and pulsing rudely, but Hiro growled at them the moment he could feel their pain and they fell quiet for him.

Everything fell quiet. Then, the thrusters burst to life in a roar of fire and sound.

Hiro's head shot up, and he grinned at Abigail Callaghan and at the pod and at the bright twisting portal before him "Yes!" He cheered, fingers trembling against the cold ridges of the metal, body shaking as he tried to hold on as they moved forward toward safety.

That safety began to twist and distort, as the Silent Sparrow gave in to its own hunger and began to invert and break apart. Refusing to give in to dread and panic at the sight of the portal finally beginning to shut, Hiro pushed the weak, half-dead thrusters a bit harder. The portal cracked loudly, grew very bright, and Hiro buried his face against the metal again, trying to find solace in Abigail Callaghan's calmly sleeping expression as he protected his face and eyes from the implosion at the same time.

The moment they passed through the gateway, something in Hiro's mind snapped. He'd pushed himself further than he ever had before, and his body was done listening to his commands. The portal broke and distorted behind him and Abigail as they shot to freedom, and Hiro was unconscious before the pod crash landed into the ground. He never heard Tadashi call his name.

Thank you again for reading!