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When Death Comes Knocking

Chapter 3

Armor

"Tadashi!" the loud banging against his locked door didn't even jar him from his work as he scanned over the notes that he had been compiling, trying to make sense of what he had seen and heard in that old warehouse. Dark circles hung from his eyes and his hair was undone with messy streaks of oil through it. "Tadashi, if you don't open the door this instant I will break it down!"

Tadashi paused. That wasn't Aunt Cass. His eyes widened as he frantically gathered all of his papers and stuffed then under his bed along with an abandoned pizza box. He didn't even cringe as he picked his way through the garbage and discarded papers that he hadn't bothered to pick up in the last week or two.

"Tadashi! I'm warning you! If you don't-!" Gogo's voice growled from behind the locked, flimsy door and Tadashi yanked it open, a scowl firmly in place.

Gogo cut off and leaned back, wrinkling her nose. All of his friends behind her had a similar reaction to the smell that rolled off of him waves. Of course, he hadn't taken a shower since the incident . . . the smell was sure to linger.

"What do you want?" his voice came out horse and defeated, surprising him. He looked over the group in confusion. Why were they here? Not that he didn't like seeing them or anything but, well, he had things to do and they knew that he didn't like being interrupted when he worked . . .

"Tadashi," Honey Lemon looked on the brink of tears as she looked at his wrinkled appearance, "We came to see if you were ok. School started two weeks ago and, well, we haven't seen you there so . . ."

Why would I go? He nearly growled, but withheld it, Hiro's not going to be there.

"Leave," he demanded, his face hardening.

"But, Tadashi-"

"Leave," he repeated, more forcefully, anger bubbling up inside of him as he clenched his fists until the handle creaked under his white knuckled grip, "I don't want to hear it. I don't care if you say that it's going to be alright because it's not. Hiro is gone and he's not coming back so don't tell me to get over it." The last few words came out wobbly and he was horrified to realize that tears were gathering in his eyes.

"Oh, Tadashi," Honey Lemon's eyes were wide and she looked conflicted, "I . . ."

Tadashi braced himself for the onslaughts of meaningless 'I'm sorry's but, to his surprise he found a pare of arms around him. He blinked as he looked down and saw Honey's bright blond hair buried in his chest. A quick glance upward showed that Gogo, usually emotionless, looked seconds away from following her. If Fred hadn't been in the back he was sure that the superhero geek would have joined in already.

Slowly, Tadashi wrapped his arms around Honey Lemon as she began to sob into his shirt, leaving a wet patch on the grey fabric. At his stunned expression Gogo scowled.

"What, did you think that we were just going to let you sit around and mope!?" she snapped angrily. "Hiro wouldn't want that! His brother is strong; he wouldn't have just given up! So where are you, Tadashi?!"

Honey Lemon's tears decreased but she didn't pull away.

"I . . ." Tadashi didn't know what to say. He glanced over all of them, taking in their worried faces. "I . . ."

"You," Gogo stressed and Honey Lemon pulled away to see his reaction, "are coming with us and we are going out to the memorial."

Tadashi blinked. "What . . ."

"Now."

Five minutes later Tadashi found himself being chased out of his own home, mildly wondering if he was hallucinating.

0~o~0

"And do you remember that time when Hiro set Mega Bot on Fed because he wouldn't stop bugging him for a flamethrower? Priceless!" Honey Lemon said while laughing and holding a warm cup of chocolate milk in her hand.

Tadashi smiled softly as he took a sip of his own chocolate, lost in his memories. They'd just come back from the memorial for his little brother and while he couldn't say that he was content some of his deep set sorrow had cleared. He didn't feel like laughing, but neither was he about to burst into tears.

In the back of his mind the haunting mask remained to taunt him.

"I would have asked for a super-flaming-lizard-suit," Fred grumbled with mirth filled eyes, "But someone kept saying that it was impossible." His words were emphasized by a glare toward Gogo, who simply let her gum pop loudly with a dead look of boredom.

"A super-flaming-lizard-suit is not science, Fred," she drawled emotionlessly.

"Of course it is!" Fred grabbed a random cup of chocolate – his own sadly empty – and chugged it down, ignoring Wasabi's horrified face as his cup became contaminated by Fred Germs, "Haven't you ever seen any of those Science fiction movies?"

"Yah, well, that's not really Science either-"

The conversation continued, no one noticing the way that Tadashi suddenly froze in his seat, cup paused half way to his mouth.

Super-flaming-lizard-suit.

Super-suit.

Super-Hero.

Super powers.

Super villain.

The guy in the mask used Hiro's Microbots to enhance himself, to be able to do things that a normal human couldn't do. And he was using his powers for evil, which according to all of the comics that he'd ever read, made him the bad guy.

And where there are villains, heroes will rise.

Tadashi clenched his cup tightly.

But . . . I'm no superhero. I don't have any extra powers and even if I built a suit to help me I couldn't do anything against an army of Microbots . . . could I?

Quietly Tadashi stood and left, his friends too engrossed in their conversation to see that he'd left. Even Gogo didn't realize he was gone until they were all ready to go home for the night. Silently, she wondered what had made him leave.

Hiro's death changed Tadashi so much . . . and she still wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

0~o~0

Tadashi squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep himself awake as he scribbled down ideas. His desk looked like a miniature tornado had struck it, whipping paper everywhere. Sketches of machine parts, complicated theories, and plans lay crumbled everywhere.

Fire? No, the bots would have to be superheated in order to melt, and I didn't have anything that could do that fast enough to not get caught.

Strength Boost? No, no point. The bots are small, they would simply bend around all attacks.

Water . . . not solid enough.

But what about . . . Ice?

Tadashi paused, his eyes blank as he thought for a moment.

Ice . . . its hard enough to hold the Microbots in place and easy to create. I can also target it at specific points.

His pencil tapped against the surface and a slow smile stretched across his lips, slightly hysterical.

"That . . . that might just work!"

0~o~0

I hope that you all liked it!

On another note, I am going to be leaving FanFiction soon. I will try to finish all of my published stories, but my unposted ideas are up for adoption on my profile if anyone wants to go look at them.

Review? Please?

(Updated: 3/21/17)