I'm Okay

Chapter One

He realized he made a mistake the second the front doors to the Showcase Hall closed behind him and a piece of ceiling fell from above, blocking most of the way out. He thought for a split second, quickly analyzing the piece of building for anything actually burning, if it weren't he'd pull it away from the door and run back out.

When he didn't see anything on fire, he reached towards it and a second too late found out that while the piece wasn't on fire, it was still very hot to the touch. He pulled his hand away quicker than he ever thought he'd get his hand to move, and cradled it to his chest.

He stumbled away from the hot material and further into the building. His heart was beating hard in his chest, trying to fight it's way out of his ribcage like how he was trying to find his way through the burning building. He wasn't stupid; obviously, he knew where all the emergency doors were, emergency exits and fire extinguishers. He looked through the thick, dark smoke as he tried to map out what exit was closest and safest to run to, forgetting his original reason for running into the building, forgetting all about trying to help his professor.

What was he thinking anyway? Callaghan was a very wise and able man, he's fought in wars overseas, being a military man when he was younger; getting out of a building, one that's practically just one giant room with little obstacles, on fire would be almost nothing of a challenge for the man.

Tadashi on the other hand could barely handle running the mile in high school and wasn't really one for any kind of workout, probably wouldn't get out of the building completely unscathed.

He took off running when he finally found an almost clear path to a side door; jumping over small patches of burning furniture and robot projects. He almost got knocked out when a support beam fell from above, nearly landing on top of him, managing to scrape his left side. He hissed in pain as he stepped back and tripped over a partially melted chair.

"Shit." He lay there for a few seconds, looking at his now bleeding arm. He pushed himself up with his good arm and stood back up.

When he was at his full height again, he looked up and saw Callaghan standing a couple yards away, and Callaghan saw him at the same time.

Brown eyes were hopeful and slightly relieved, yet frightened. Blue eyes were burning with rage hotter and brighter than the fire around them.

"You made a mistake, Tadashi." Was all the teacher said as the older male put on Tadashi's little brother's neurotransmitter and commanded the Microbots to shield himself from the fire.

Focus, Hamada! Tadashi scolded himself as he forced himself to climb over the burning beam, further burning his hand, and made a run for the emergency exit that was now within sight, just behind Callaghan. He began to stumble, beginning to be too weak to actually run, through the flames. When he was just feet away from the door, he reached out for the no doubt scorching hot metal of the push bar.

Just as his fingers brushed up against the handle, something wrapped around his leg and pulled it out from under him. When he hit the ground, it started pulling him away from the door.

"No!" He scrabbled at the floor in a petty attempt to pull himself away from whatever was wrapped around half the length of his leg. "Let go!" He grabbed onto a still standing support pole, and turned to look over his shoulder at what was grabbing him, even though he had a hunch as to what it was.

And unfortunately, he was right.

Microbots.

His professor was keeping him from getting out of a burning building, using his little brother's genius invention.

His genius little brother, the same little brother he just pulled himself from to save a man who needed more saving than Tadashi could offer.

"Let me go!" Tadashi yelled, voice hoarse from the smoke, over the blaring alarms that had yet to be melted by flame and heat. He started trying to pry the little robots off his legs, but he wasn't fazing them.

"You've seen too much, Mister Hamada." Callaghan responded when the younger male was pulled into the protective bubble.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The scared twenty-one year old yelped as more Microbots scurried over his eyes, blinding him, and over his mouth, cutting off anything else he was going to say.

Then everything just stopped; he didn't feel anything, he didn't hear anything.

(-)

He attempted to open his eyes but they were too heavy for him to do so at the moment, so he settled to listening to what was going on around him.

It was almost perfectly quiet except for the low sound of people whispering.

"What was I supposed to do?" A strangely familiar voice yelled in hushed tones. "He saw me take the transmitter, he saw me put it on."

Tadashi was trying so hard to put a name to the voice, but it wasn't coming to him.

"So, what are we going to do?" Another vaguely familiar voice responded. "We're not going to hurt him, right? We both agreed we weren't going to hurt anybody."

There was a pause in a reply from the first person.

"Robert, we said we weren't hurting anyone." The second person reiterated.

"I know, I know." The first voice huffed.

Why did that voice sound so unbelievably familiar in his mind? Why did they both seem to ring a bell? Robert? Did he know a Robert? He started mentally listing names in his head of people he knew of with the name Robert. De Niro, Downey Jr. – no, no, those were actors; there was this kid named Rob Tadashi knew in middle school – but he moved away I wonder what he's up to now. Focus Hamada! Who's Robert? The name was on the tip of his tongue, like a blurry image in front of someone's face, slowly, slowly, slowly getting clearer and sharper. Robert… Last name began with a C, he was pretty sure of it. Callaghan!

Robert Callaghan.

And it all came flying back into his mind. The showcase, the fire, the look Hiro gave Tadashi as he pulled out of his grip, more fire, and Callaghan. Callaghan using Hiro's genius invention; Callaghan using Hiro's genius invention to keep Tadashi from running out and ruining whatever the professor was planning.

"Well, then what are we going to do?" The second voice said, the voice Tadashi still couldn't place. It was familiar, but only faintly so, like maybe Tadashi had only heard the person talk a few times in person or something.

Callaghan didn't respond for a minute, probably thinking. "We should see where this goes. We may need him for something, we never know."

There was a loud noise, sounds of something slamming or falling onto the ground, Tadashi didn't know, his eyes were still closed; but when the noise rang through his head, he let out a pained groan.

The whispering promptly stopped and he could feel the eyes of Callaghan and whoever, burning into him.

Tadashi didn't dare make another sound, or attempt to move. He was honestly too afraid to.

You think you know someone at least a little bit, but then in the blink of an eye, they do a complete 180 and they drop the façade they'd be using for who knows how long.

And then they destroy everything.

(-)

Part of this was something that was loosely touched upon in We're Okay. The flashback nightmares he had in that story are going to be slightly different to what actually happened. If you've ever had something happen then had nightmares about that situation, you probably know what I'm talking about – that the nightmare was a recreation of what happened and your mind can morph things and what not.