Looking For a New Little Angle

Chapter 1: Fred's Invention

"Imagine eating a sandwich but everybody just thinks you're crazy!"

Hiro laughed at his brother's friends as Tadashi introduced him to everybody. He was amazed by the machines and all the experiences around him. There were even some things that were unknown to him. He was not going to say that out loud, but he had to admit to himself that "Nerd's school" wasn't so bad. And those students were quite funny; mainly Wasabi and Fred. Hiro wondered how people that were so different could be such good friends.

"Hiro."

The young boy turned around and saw Tadashi standing on the door, motioning for Hiro to follow him. Hiro shrugged and followed the elder brother outside the room, walking with him through a corridor. They didn't say a word as Tadashi stopped in front of a door - which Hiro supposed would lead to Tadashi's lab. The younger tilted his head when Tadashi tried to open the door but failed.

"What's wrong?"

"Hum, I think I locked it earlier and I left the key in my motorbike. Why don't you go back to our Nerd's lab while I go get it so I can show you what I've been working on?"

Tadashi tapped Hiro's head before turning around and walking toward the main door. The younger one shook his head and considered following Tadashi outside instead of going back to a room of people he didn't know very well, but in the end he decided to go back to the lab. The students were back to their activities, so focused that none of them seemed to notice that Hiro was back. Except for Fred, that lifted his eyes from the comic he was reading and put it aside when he saw the boy entering the room.

"Hiro! That was fast. What's Tadashi working on?"

"Hey, Fred. Actually I haven't seen it yet. He went outside to get the key of his lab."

"Oh, that's cool. I bet he's working on something very powerful and awesome!" He looked up, then his eyes widened and he smiled as he looked back to Hiro. "Hey, do you want to see something I've been working on?"

"You? I thought you weren't a student."

"Well..." Fred said as he wrapped his arm around Hiro's shoulders and guided him outside the nerd's lab, toward a small room. "I'm not. But there's this guy who agreed to work on something with me and he said it's ready."

"What is it?"

"Come with me!"

Hiro followed a jumpy Fred with a smile on his face. They didn't have to walk much, for Fred's lab was in the next door. It wasn't exactly a lab; it was just a room with a table and several things around it, such as another lizard costume, an old tennis racquet, a pair of shoes and several clothes on the floor. Everything was dusty and Hiro tried to ignore that odd smell. He watched as Fred took off his costume and walked to the table.

"This is what I have been working on!" He said as he grabbed some kind of gun that was lying on the table. It was blue and purple, and small enough to be held with one hand only. Hiro made his best not to roll his eyes. He had seen the gun when he entered the room, but he thought it was a toy. He should have known Fred couldn't be working on anything serious. He decided to play along and approached Fred.

"So... What does your machine do?" Hiro said, grabbing the gun. He was surprised that it was way heavier than it seemed, causing him to use his two hands to hold it. A toy couldn't be that heavy, could it?