Starring:
Summary: Hiro borrows Micah's comic books courtsey of Niki; Monica and Cam are excited to meet a comic book hero and want to help his efforts.
Date It Happened: December 8th, 2007
Comic Book Heroes
Sanders-Dawson Residence
Queens
"Micah?" Niki calls out as she flips on the switch that illuminates the foyer, of sorts, of the house in Queens she calls home. Even though she went out to go shopping for Christmas, she doesn't have anything with her that she didn't leave with earlier — except for a Japanese man who can bend space and time. Not exactly on the holiday wish list. "Monica?" … no answer. "Cam?" Worth a shot. "Everyone must be out. Come on in," she says, unzipping her winter coat as she heads toward the hallway.
Hiro follows Niki along into the house, looking around each time a name is called and expecting someone to pop out. But nobody does, so Hiro simply stays in stride with Niki as she leads him towards the hallway. Strangely enough, he is carrying a DVD in his hand which he didn't have during the trip or at the comic store.
"Micah's room is through here," Niki says as she moves down the hall toward one of the bedroom doors. She doesn't seem to notice the mysteriously appearing DVD in Hiro's possession, or at least doesn't notice the fact that it mysteriously disappeared. He must have had it in his coat or something. She opens the door and turns on the light to reveal the colourful jumble of a room that is currently shared by two twelve year old boys. "Let's… see…" She hesitates, looking searchingly around. Comics. Comics. Soon enough, she remembers their last known location and hones in with mom-senses to a box under the bed.
Hiro looks around the room from the doorway, still maintaining much of his politeness and not immediately joining Niki in rifling through all of Micah's things. He does take in his surroundings, however, before saying, "He will not mind if borrow his comic books?"
"I'm home!" Monica's in the door after a day of classes, backpack and laptop bag slung across her like she's a very unfortunate co-ed porter. "Niki, you home?" she yells out. "I gotta finish my English paper, so if it's all the same to you, can we get take-out?"
Cam was, once again, out enjoying the winter weather. (He makes no secret it's his favourite time of year.) He's coming back in the door now, having arrived back at the house about the same time. He's pulling off his coat even before the door's closed behind him. As Monica's calling out to Niki, he just quietly makes his way further inside, heading coincidentally for Micah's room to put his coat away.
"Like I said. It's for a good cause," Niki says as she hauls the box out, stands and sets it on the corner of a desk, which involves nudging a laptop over a few inches. "If he were hear right now, he'd be grinning from ear to ear." She's smiling herself as she says as much. On hearing Monica, she calls out, "In here!" She sifts through a few issues of 9th Wonders! on the top of the organized pile. They're newer, though not quite so new as the ones discovered at the Secret Lair. "Are these what you're looking for?" she hands a few to Hiro.
"Ah yes," Hiro says with a broad grin, taking the comics and looking through them. Some of them he's seen before, of course, but some he has not and that means they could contain very useful information. He begins to flip through, looking for anything useful, "Thank you!"
Monica makes her way to Micah's room, and pauses in the doorway. "Ya know, kids don't like it when you root through their stuff, even if it's Mama privelege - who's this?" she asks, not having had a chance to even put her stuff down as she peers at Hiro.
Cam steps into the room after Niki's call, only to stop in the door as he sees a stranger going through Micah's comics. He blinks, and asks, "What's going on?" He looks up to Monica as she gets to the point a bit faster, but steps further inside to drop his coat off in the area with his stuff, then asks more directly, "Why're you going through Micah's comics?"
Niki hasn't looked so closely at Micah's comics before, but she gives a few contemplative, narrow-eyed stares at the covers now as she looks through them, looking up only to see the arrivals of Monica and Cam. "Monica, this is— " She pauses in a moment of realization: she doesn't even know. She moistens her lips and goes to talk but, instead, opens the comic book that happens to be in her still-gloved hands as if it might provide answers. "He's— " Pictures speak louder than words. She hands the open comic book, its Mendez-drawn panels showing part of Hiro and Ando's journey, to Monica. "I found him at Micah and Cam's favourite comic shop. He needs the comics to…" Niki just looks over at Hiro wordlessly.
Hiro blinks back at Niki and says nothing for a moment, perhaps not entirely registering that he's being silently asked to fill in the blanks. A quick look between her and the new arrivals, however, and he bows to them.
"I am Hiro Nakamura," he says, "I need the comic books to help save the world."
That may sound strange, so he decides to back it up by holding Issue #14 up with the picture of him on the front.
"They tell the future."
Monica mouths the name: Hiro Nakamura. Then her mouth pops open and she points. "Yatta!" she declares, apparently recognizing him, and then sheepishly, palm going to her cheek, "Yeah, I know. Umm." She digs into her backpack, and after a moment's shuffling, produces a plastic boardbacked copy of 9th Wonders #10. She holds it out to Hiro earnestly. "You do that thing where you jump from place to place and go back and forth in time, right?"
Cam is a bit more surprised than Monica. He just stares at Hiro a moment, eyes widening. In fact, finding out that not only is Hiro Nakamura a real person but is right here in front of him seems to have the boy speechless a few moments. Finally he grins and says, "This is awesome! Micah will so wish he was home. So you really did all those things, to save New York from being blown up? Or… is that still in the future?"
"That was last year. Kirby Plaza," Niki interjects quietly, and perhaps unexpectedly, since all the attention is on Hiro. She thumbs through the older issues left in the box until one with a particularly fiery cover draws her eye; an exploding man. "Peter…" she says quietly under her breath. It's not as though Niki has an influx of normal days anymore, but this— this has been a weird day in a way that she's not quite used to. She sinks down onto the edge of Micah's bed, her red winter scarf dangling down and curling onto her knees.
Hiro cannot help but be beaming when Monica and Cam recognize him, feeling very much like a celebrity. He nods his head as Niki explains how New York was saved from being blown up. He reaches out to accept issue #10 from Monica, noding his head gratefully as he looks at it and then answers the question.
"Yes. I bend space and time."
Maybe a demonstration is in order? He squeezes his eyes shut, wobbles his cheeks and a split second later he is stepping out of the closet and waving to the group at large. See?
Monica blinks a bit. "What about Peter? He's gonna come to my meeting. At least I think he is." She grins over at Hiro. She loves her ability, but that's just cool. "Mr. Nakamura," she broaches, "I've read the comics - you think we're all this way for a purpose, right?" Her tone is earnest, even hopeful. And she said we. Oops.
Cam blinks as Hiro teleports himself, spinning to look as he comes out of the closet. Then he grins again, "That's so cool! That's so much more amazing than making a little bit of ice." He glances to Monica at her question, a curious look at the wording of her question, but he doesn't ask about it yet.
Like the others, Niki double-takes at the show of Hiro's ability; she looks up sharply at the space he just inhabited a second ago when he's suddenly not there anymore, and watches him step out of the closet. It distracts her from answering Monica's curiosity for a moment, but she just gives her head a little shake and listens quietly for now.
Hiro nods at Monica's question, flipping through issue #10.
"Yes, I do. Every power is very useful."
And then he spots a familiar face on the page and glances up at Monica, giving her a slow look of recognition before whispering, "Saint Joan?"
As dark as her skin is, Monica can manage to blush very well. "Um." Realizing her stuff's all too heavy, she sets down her backpack and laptop bag at her feet. Then sheepishly, "Yeah. But I ain't ever done those things. Yet. Running around like Catwoman in a hoodie. It seemed…" she shrugs, and looks embarrassed. But then, "There's more people who can do things, though. So many! I'm trying to get them together."
Cam blinks, looking to the comic in Hiro's hands and up to Monica again, "That's you?" He grins and says, "This is so cool. Wonder if anybody else I know's been in there." He looks back to Hiro again but doesn't say anything more for the moment.
"Saint Joan?" Niki mimics, looking from Hiro to Monica — the character's moniker means nothing to her, but there's curiosity glinting in her eyes all the same. She stands up from the edge of Micah's bed and slides the box of comics into her arms, stepping to Hiro with it. "I don't know how many you want to borrow," she says with a faint smile, "All this, you and your friend, and … the bomb," AKA Peter, "It's all over. Even the one with us at the Secret Lair… how's it going to help if it's all happened already?"
Hiro seems a little reluctant to weigh in on the idea of getting all the people with powers together, having had some rather bad results with that himself. But still, he cannot help but like the idea and nod his head in response, "There are more people. Many more people."
When Niki speaks, Hiro looks towards her and lifts his shoulders slightly in a shrug, "There may be some things we haven't seen yet. Or answers that are not obvious. We have to look … but I will bring them back as soon as we have."
"Some of them need help." Monica hesitates though, and then, "What are you two talking about?"
Cam looks up to Monica and comments, "Felicity, she works at the university, she's wanting to do the same thing." Total offhand comment, though, as he's then looking back to Hiro, asking, "What are you trying to save the world from this time?"
Hiro's answer sounds solid enough to Niki, who nods easily enough, though she looks a little unsure. She hands over the box of organized comics. Cam's mention of the woman from the skating rink draws a sudden look of surprise, but it's Monica who she answers — or tries to, at least. "There was this comic book at the Secret Lair that we were … in. At the Secret Lair. I dunno. The rest of the comics were on backorder, so I told…" She looks at their guest and smiles now that she knows his name, "Hiro… he could borrow Micah's."
"We don't know yet," Hiro answers Cam's question with the truth, "But we will find out."
When Niki speaks, Hiro remains silent and listens. He nods when she explains what happened at the Secret Lair before looking gratefully at the collection of 9th Wonders! comic books.
"Please tell him I am very grateful and will bring them back as soon as possible."
"No, I mean, what's this about a bomb?" Monica looks alarmed. "Someone tell me what's going on."
Cam blinks up to Monica a moment, and then grins, "Did ya only read the one issue? Hiro went to the future and saw New York blown up by a nuclear bomb, and then went through this whole adventure to stop it. Coolest comics I'd ever read." Then he looks back to Hiro and asks, "Will you need some help? I mean, dunno what good making ice'll be in the middle of winter, but I'll help if I can, whatever it is."
"No problem. I'll be sure to tell him," the blonde replies with a warm smile for the time-traveller. Niki shakes her head to Monica. "And hopefully that won't happen again," she says after Cam (thankfully) explains. The ooy's enthusiasm brings out another smile, and she laughs, just lightly, good-naturedly, at Cam. "Not so fast, you. I hear saving the world's dangerous business."
"You should practice," Hiro says to Cam, nodding his head with a knowing smile, "Remember in Issue #14? I used to think I could slow the second hand on a clock. There might be more than making ice."
When Niki speaks, however, he nods his head, "Very dangerous."
Monica looks a little sheepish, and then less enthused. "There's other people who want to save the world." she murmurs, feeling a bit deflated.
Anybody else saying that, Cam would probably be skeptical, but as Hiro does, he brightens and nods quickly, "I'll keep practicing. Thanks." Then he nods to the mention of danger, and shrugs, "So's going to school."
Niki stands back by Micah's computer desk and just looks on the others with an indistinctly concerned expression, brow constantly furrowed ever-so-slightly. She may have told Hiro she wasn't much a hero just awhile ago back in the comic shop, but she nevertheless chimes in quietly, saying, "If you find anything… if there's anything we can do…"
"I will definately let you know," Hiro says, and there is much about the way he says it that indicates he will more than likely be back before too long. After pausing a moment and looking as though he might teleport away, an idea strikes him and he reaches into the pocket of his suit jacket.
"I have a phone number! Here, you can call me on this."
He has it written down on the back of a business card for Compusure. He also hands one to Monica and Cam, both written on the backs of Yamagato business cards for one Kaito Nakamura. Hiro's business cards on a budget.
Monica accepts the card, brightening a little. "Thank you!" she says. "Listen - would you be interested - like I said, there's folks who feel kind of lost about all of this, and we're gonna arrange a kind of umm…support group…" she trails off again. This is Hiro Nakamura. He doesn't need a support group!
But maybe they need him?
Cam takes the card he's given as well, smiling again as he says, "Thanks." He looks at the card and then quickly pockets it, looking back up to Hiro, glancing between Monica and him.
"Thank you," Niki says also, taking one of the cards. She can't help but laugh a bit at her cousin as she wonders outloud, "Did you ever figure out where you're gonna have these meetings? 'Cause our house is … kinda small."
Hiro contemplates the question from Monica for a moment, thinking about that. He doesn't really feel that he needs a support group but, then again, what was Ando for all that time?
"Alright. Let me know when you have meetings and if I can help, I will."
Monica beams at Hiro. "Thank you!" she says, clutching the card. "And um…good luck. Whatever it is you're doing." she adds eagerly.
Cam comments as Monica doesn't answer Niki, "Don't think she knows." Any suggestions are witheld, though, while he looks back to Hiro and says, "Yeah, good luck. And really cool to meet you."
Monica oh's softly. "Actually, I'm looking into a place. But I'm waiting to hear back. I know someone." She looks down at her feet. More blush color. Aww.
Hiro nods his head, taking the comic books into his arms and holding them for a moment. He looks from face to face, a question on his mind but unspoken until …
"I should go now. But keep in contact, yes?"
"Yeah, uhm…" Niki ventures an unsure smile — sincere, all the same. She's expecting Hiro to just … disappear any second now. "Good luck?" What else is she supposed to say?
Monica nods. "Thank you again." she says earnestly. It's not so much Hiro, as his aura, you know? He's kind of a schlub. With REALLY COOL POWERS.
Cam nods quickly to Hiro and says, "Sure!" Then he adds, "Hope those help. Maybe when you bring them back, Micah'll be here to meet you too."
"You're welcome … and I hope so!"
Hiro waves to everybody, carefully balancing the comic collection in the crook of one arm before squeezing his eyes shut and disappearing. Fwoosh. Well, no. No fwoosh. Just teleport noise.
It's sort of like he was never here, now that the room is devoid of the enigmatic Japanese fellow, but the missing comics and the cards are proof enough. Niki just stands there unmoving for a few moments before jarring out of the daze this day has given her. "That was…" she smiles but just— trails off and says with a vaguely shell-shocked tone, "I have to get ready for work." Saving the world one striptease at a time? Probably not what Hiro had in mind…