Hey, guys. I know this is so late, and I am really, really sorry about that. Things have been just ever so slightly crazy. I knew I had a lot of work coming up with my studies, and I thought I'd be okay and that I'd be able to manage it all, but I couldn't. I've literally not stopped for the last like month or so. So, hopefully you'll all forgive me for my tardy chapter. This chapter was actually written in pieces and in conjunction with my presentation on James Joyce's Ulysses, which is why it might seem a little scatterbrained and like there's not much going on. But, trust me, if you've read Ulysses then you'll understand there's a lot more going on here than a chapter of Ulysses.

Hopefully you'll all accept my deepest and most sincere apologies about the lateness of this chapter. I have so much going on at the moment that from now on, I am going to be aiming to upload a new chapter every two weeks on a Sunday, instead of every week. I hope that's okay with everyone else! :)

But, thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/alerted/read these chapters. I am grateful for all of your continued support.

P.S. This is quite a short chapter in comparison to some that have come out recently, it was written in small pieces which made it super hard to really decide what I wanted to do with this chapter, but it'll pick up next week!

Chapter 20

'What are we going to do now?' Gogo asked as she looked at the other occupants in Hiro's hospital room. 'We managed to get everyone out and into safe houses, but they can't stay there forever.'

'I know that,' Wasabi answered. 'But we need to know how Hiro's going to do. What he wants to do.'

'What about the other people we got out? They have literally nowhere to go. We need to get those videos out there, we need the people to realize what exactly is happening out there.'

'I know, but Hiro is a big part of what happened out there. He knows more about those camps than most of the prisoners in there!' Wasabi argued.

'And how? What's different from Hiro's experience than anyone else's?' Gogo asked.

Wasabi turned to all the faces in the room, and went silent. It wasn't his place to say anything, but they all knew that something had happened to Hiro. How could they not have picked up that he knew more than what he was letting on? It was the elephant in the room, and no one wanted to bring up exactly what had happened with Hiro during their escape.

'Tell us, Wasabi. What did they do to Hiro?' Honey Lemon asked. Wasabi turned to Cass who was sitting as close to Hiro as she could physically get, his hand firmly held in her own. But Wasabi could tell, he could practically feel her listening in.

'I don't know.' Wasabi answered eventually.

'What do you mean you don't know? You spent the most time with him!' Gogo shouted.

'I know, I know. I just don't know.' Wasabi told her.

'What can he do? Is he like a real super hero now?' Fred cut in with an underlying excitement.

'I don't know.' Wasabi replied.

'You keep saying that, but somehow I don't believe you.' Gogo said, angrily.

'Why don't we just look at the video feed?' Honey Lemon asked.

'No!' Wasabi shouted quickly.

'Why not?' Fred asked.

'It's not our place to know until Hiro says it is.' Wasabi answered, his palms beginning to sweat with nerves.

'Hiro's our friend, and we can't just sit idly by until he wakes up. What happens if Blake comes back? What happens if he finds us?' Gogo asked.

'We need to be prepared for anything.' Honey Lemon added. 'We'll explain everything to Hiro when he wakes up, but we have hundreds of people waiting on our move, and we need to move quickly.'

Xxxxx

In the end, Wasabi couldn't deny them any further, and no matter how much he pleaded and tried his best to persuade them, he couldn't win. They had been set in their ways, and deep down, Wasabi knew this would be best. Easier. Hiro wouldn't have to go through the trouble of telling them himself.

They had hooked up Wasabi's laptop to the television in Hiro's room, and they were all waiting for Wasabi to begin playing the video. Wasabi was the only one who had access to his video recordings, Wasabi had set up different hard drives and sharing locations to the normal for this.

'Anything you want to say before we start?' Cass asked gently, and Wasabi couldn't bear to look at her. They would finally find out what Hiro had been through and how he had just stood there and let it happen. How he had not helped Hiro, or got things moving any faster.

'I'm sorry. That's what I would like to say.' Wasabi whispered, his eyes fixed on the screen. Wasabi got up from his chair and walked to the television to start the video. He didn't feel like he should say anything more. He couldn't think of anything else to say to make this moment any easier.

The film started with Hiro in his chair, strapped and calm, and Wasabi watched as if it was something he had not seen himself. It was like he was numb and unable to take his eyes off the screen. He could feel the other people in the room, he could feel them shrinking in horror, he could feel their sadness, but all Wasabi could feel was numb. He would not do Hiro any disservice by breaking down now, he had survived for so long now, and he would not break at this moment.

He would stand, and he would take this head on, because Hiro had taught him how to live, and how to move on and how to deal with the situation that was before him.

'I can't watch anymore.' Cass said, walking up to the video and stopping it. 'What kind of monster would do that?'

'Blake would do that.' Wasabi answered.

'Why did you just stand there? Why didn't you help him sooner?' Cass asked, tears streaming down her face. Wasabi flinched thinking of everything Blake had told him, everything Hiro had told him.

'Because of Blake, and because of Hiro. Blake told me he would kill Hiro if anything was ever said, and Hiro. He pleaded with me not to say anything, at first I didn't understand why this needed to be a secret, or why I went in there, why they chose me. But, now, I know Hiro knew what they were doing to him. He knew what the outcome would be, and he didn't want to put us in any danger.' Wasabi explained.

'But why Hiro? Why would Blake do this to Hiro?' Honey Lemon asked.

'I don't know. That's something you'd have to ask Hiro. They all left me in the dark other than to bring me in to watch that.' Wasabi answered honestly.

'Well, the only thing we can do is to wait for him to wake up and for Hiro to tell us exactly how he ended up in that situation.' Gogo answered.

Wasabi looked over to Fred, who was sat on his char, his eyes glued to the screen.

'What's wrong, Fred?' Wasabi asked.

'Maybe Hiro can do more than that wacky mind stuff. Maybe they've turned him into like the Wolverine or something?' He answered eventually, turning to look at Wasabi, and for the first time in a long time, Wasabi saw excitement in his eyes.

Wasabi would have laughed, but as if on cue, Hiro's heart monitor started beating frantically. His breathing hitched, and he started making choking noises.

All of them ran to his bedside, whilst Cass ran to the door screaming for help.

'Hiro? You have to pull through this. Don't you dare die on us.' Wasabi warned.

'Woman up.' Gogo added, grabbing a hold of his hand in an uncharacteristic sign on affection.

'You will survive this, Hiro. I know it.' Honey Lemon added as nurses pulled them from his bedside.

Xxxxx

When is he going to wake up?

Come on, Hiro, please wake up!

Did you really think you could escape me, Hiro? I know everything about you. I know all your secrets, and I know where you are. Don't think you are safe for even a second, because I will come and get you. We're not done with you just yet.

Hiro? Can you hear me? Hiro?

They're calling for you, Hiro. But how do you know it's really them? How do you know it's not just me waiting for you? How do you know that I haven't already gotten to you? You can't escape me, you know that, and eventually, everyone else will know it, too.

Hiro groaned, his heart racing. He was confused. He was afraid. He didn't want to wake up and find out that they had failed and he was still with Blake. He tried thinking back to what he remembered, but he couldn't remember the escape. He remembered voices, pain and darkness. He didn't know what had happened, and now he couldn't guarantee that he ever even escaped.

'Hiro?' Hiro knew that voice, but he didn't want to believe that she was here. He didn't want to believe that Blake could have captured her as well. 'Hiro? Hey, honey, stay with us.'

'Aunt Cass?' Hiro asked, his voice groggy from disuse. Slowly, he started to open his eyes to meet the excited eyes of his friends and Aunt Cass.

'Thank God, Hiro. We were so worried!' Honey Lemon explained.

'Yeah, man. We thought we'd lost you for a moment there.' Wasabi added.

'Dude, you were awesome, by the way. You'll have to show me how you did those levitating techniques, man.' Fred added.

'What?' Hiro asked quickly, looking at everyone in the room. This couldn't be real, they couldn't know.

Did you really think I'd let you escape that easily? I'm actually kind of offended, Hiro.