“You alright, kid?”Malcolm asked.
He had watched Hiro’s progress, and was also wondering what all Hiro could do. It seemed that his abilities were more varied than simply metal manipulation and moving walls. And was he that way before or after the upgrade?
Hiro sat to take a break, trying to catch his breath. " Sorry. That's all I can do, I'm at my limit.."
“It’s alright. The quicker you learn your limitations, the quicker you’ll be able to push past them,”Malcolm replied, appraising what Hiro had done.
An idea came to Malcolm. With the skeleton, he could work on it and figure out ways to improve it, and thus be able to do the same to Hiro.
Malcolm blinked. Why did he care about improving the kid? He could simply ignore him and work on the skeleton in private, creating a better version of Hiro, without the need for flesh. And yet… he didn’t want to.
Hiro looked up to Malcolm " you want me to cook? You look a little spent.."
Malcolm looked at Hiro, and shrugged. He was exhausted.
“I’ve still got some of the meat from that cat. I can pull it and all the other stuff out,”he offered.
" sure, sounds great.." he said and started a fire with his fingers
Malcolm got out his cookware and the cooler with the meat in it. He set it up and let Hiro take over.
Hiro had at started cooking, the smells coming from the meat was mouth watering as he used his own spices
Malcolm waited patiently, trying not to doze off. The wonderful smell helped keep him awake, and he focused on the scouting bots to give his mind something to focus on.
Hiro finished cooking " here.. " he said softly
“Hmm? Ah, thank you,”Malcolm replied drowsily, taking the plate and starting to eat. He seemed to wake up a bit with the meal in front of him, but not much.
Hiro yawned and ate, afterward he shrunk things back to normal and got them both blankets. He lifted up his blanket " com'er bax" he offered
Malcolm packed everything up, then laid down. He started snoring pretty quickly.
Bax moved over to curl up with Hiro. Though, it stayed out from under the blanket, keeping a lookout.
Hiro slept lightly, waking to any sound
Bax and the other bots kept watch, making sure nothing approached the camp.
Malcolm was the opposite of Hiro, never waking to any of the night’s sounds. His snores varied from almost nonexistent to moderately loud.
Hiro sighed when he woke again at three " come on bax, were going for a walk.."
Bax straightened, climbing up onto his shoulder. One of the other bots followed, an extra bodyguard.
" see anything bax?" He asked
Bax flashed twice. The other bot moved off to scout around Hiro, making sure that Bax didn’t end up missing anything.
Hiro looked around he found a nice place to completely relax. He activated his powers, pushing himself. He hadn't hit red yet, but the ground around him and the water underneath was revolving around him
Bax watched Hiro, seeming absolutely fascinated. The other bot continued to scout.
" cool ain't it buddy?" He asked the bot
Bax flashed once, watching a bit longer, then looked around. It found an old bolt buried a little bit in the ground and stared at it for a long while.
A few minutes later, Bax’s light turned grey and its body color darkened slightly. The bolt started to wiggle, then lifted out of the ground to smack into Bax’s now magnetic body.
Bax’s light returned to blue, though its body stayed that darker shade, and it picked up the bolt, carrying it over to show Hiro.
Hiro chuckled, letting the ground and water down " what this bud? What are you wanting me to do?" He used his connection to see the bots intentions
Bax wanted to show Hiro its new ability. It set the bolt down, backing away a bit. Its light turned grey and the bolt smacked into it again. Bax’s light returned to blue and it lifted the bolt triumphantly.