The Accident

Chapter 12- Hiro Visits the Nerd Lab

It was a Friday night, but you and your friends had nothing better to do, so you all agreed to stay late at the lab and hang out, and play around with your projects, since it was a few days from the project due date. Honey Lemon had finally found the right formula for her chemical metal embrittlement, Wasabi's laser was done, Go Go had finished perfecting her mag-lev bike the day before, and your hoverboard was all said and done.

You had fun with the gang, but you couldn't help but notice Tadashi's absence. Where could he be? He always hangs out with you and the gang at the lab.

You stood there next to a shaken Wasabi, as Go Go ricocheted around the lab on your hoverboard.

"Woohoo!" Go Go exclaimed, her hands up in the air. "This is amazing!"

Go Go sped past the double door entrance to the lab just as Tadashi walked in, causing him to scream and hold onto his cap. Fred was laughing his head off like he always does when one of you screamed like a little girl, Wasabi being the most frequent victim of his innocent laughter.

Go Go stopped the board after almost hitting Tadashi, and to your shock and relief, Tadashi wasn't the least bit mad. He just pointed at Go Go and laughed it off. You always liked how easygoing Tadashi was. All of you noticed when a younger boy, who looked around thirteen or fourteen following Tadashi around. Go Go was the first to approach, in an attempt to apologize to Tadashi for nearly knocking him over like a bowling pin.

"It's okay, Go Go, you're forgiven." He laughed.

"Who are you?" She asked, looking over at the boy standing next to Tadashi.

"This is my younger brother, Hiro."

Go Go popped a pink bubble.

"Welcome to the nerd lab." She said in her usual tone.

"Wow. I've never seen electromagnetic suspension on a bike before!" Hiro remarked, placing a hand on one of the thin wheels of the bike hanging in Go Go's work station.

"Zero resistance, faster bike, as I always say." Go Go cracked a smile, before following the brothers over to Wasabi's area, where he was doing some final adjustments on his laser.

"Hey, Wasabi, this is my brother, Hiro."

"Hello, Hiro. Prepare to be amazed." He picked up an apple off the table. "Catch!" He tossed the apple through the laser, and it floated down towards Hiro in transparent, wafer thin slices.

"Whoa! Laser induced plasma?"

"Yup." Wasabi sat at his perfectly organized work table.

"Wow. I could find anything in this mess." Hiro said, picking a small wrench, only to have his hand gently swatted by Wasabi.

"I have a system! A place for everything, everything in its place."

Go Go rolled her eyes. "You have serious OCD."

Wasabi narrowed his eyes, only to start cracking up two seconds later.

Honey Lemon ran around on her yellow platforms as always. She rolled around a giant grey ball.

"Coming through!" She exclaimed, the music from her earbuds blocking out all outside noise.

"Tadashi!" She bent over her huge ball at an awkward angle in order to greet her friend.

"Hey, Honey, this is Hiro, my younger brother."

"OMG! Hiro! I've heard so much about you!" She squealed, a little to loudly, so she could hear herself talk over her blaring music. She hugged him super tightly, before pulling out her earbuds, and dragging the raven haired boy over to her chem lab station.

"That's a whole lot of tungsten carbide." Hiro observed. This kid really knew his stuff. You didn't even know what tungsten carbide was.

"I know right? Four hundred pounds of it! Come here! You're gonna love this!" She swifly moved around her array of tubes, beakers, and bottles, adding a few chemicals at a time. The pink concoction collected in a small spray bottle. Honey placed it on a stand, before pulling out a blow torch.

"Superheat it to five hundred kelvin!" She torched the bottle for a few seconds, before grabbing it again, heading back to the ball of tungsten carbide. She sprayed the pink stuff all over the ball, making it turn pink.

"It's so... pink." Hiro said, smiling a little.

"Here's the best part!" Honey replied, laying an index on the ball. It immediately exploded, sending out a cloud of pink dust. When the dust cleared, Honey's face, lab coat, and shirt were covered in pink. She pulled her glasses up, so she could see.

"Whoa!"

Honey giggled. "Chemical metal embrittlement!" She dusted off her lab coat to the best of her ability.

"Not bad, Honey Lemon!" Tadashi said.

"Honey Lemon? Go Go? Wasabi? Do any of you have real names?" Hiro asked.

"Well, (y/n) and I are the only ones who haven't gotten nicknames from Fred."

You walked over, and introduced yourself. "Hey, Hiro, I'm (y/n)."

"Nice to meet you. So what's your invention?"

You picked up the hoverboard from the table where Go Go left it, and set it on the floor."

"Say 'up'."

"Up." Hiro said, and the board activated.

"Go ahead, step on." you smiled.

Hiro stepped on and the board rose to its one foot high perch.

"Whoa! A hoverboard? I haven't seen one of these yet, but I've always wanted to try and make one!"

"You're in robotics too?"

"Yeah, I love it. Tadashi and I used to build things all the time when we were younger."

You nudged Tadashi with your elbow. "How come you've never told me this?" No reply. He just smiled.

"Okay, lean forward to move, but not too much." You instructed.

Hiro leaned a little bit, and the board moved around.

"Okay, this is COOL!"

Hiro got the controls down easily and rode in circles around you. After a minute, Hiro stopped and hopped off, and the board returned to the floor.

Hiro held out his fist towards you, a huge grin on his face. You bumped his fist with yours, even doing the little explosion afterwards.

"So where's that Fred guy you were mentioning earlier?" Hiro asked Tadashi as soon as all the laughter had died down.

Before the older Hamada could answer, Fred appeard right next to Hiro in his Japanese kaiju mascot suit.

"Right here!" He said, startling Hiro a little.

"Don't be alarmed, this is not my real face and body." Fred assured the teen, while reaching a hand out of his costume to shake his hand. "Name's Fred!"

"Uh... what's your major?'

"I'm not a student, but I am a major science enthusiast." He replied, tipping back the monster head, revealing his real head, and walking over to sit on the one seater nearby.

"I asked Honey for a chemical formula that could turn me into a fire breathing monster at will, but she says it's 'not science'." He said, doing air quotes.

"It's really not." Honey confirmed quietly.

"And I guess the shrink ray I asked Wasabi for 'isn't science' either?"

"Nope."

"Oh I know! How about.. invisible sandwich! Imagine eating a sandwich, but everyone just thinks you're crazy."

He is crazy. You thought, laughing to yourself, because you knew everyone else was thinking it too. There's nothing Fred can't do to get you all laughing.