Chapter 28

Karmi stepped out of her final exam and stretched, feeling very relieved. It had been an intense last few weeks, having to study for material she had not specialised in before. But with enough hard work, plus a lot of tutoring from Hiro, she felt that she pulled off a very respectful job. With her academics now done for the next few months, she was looking forward to what the summer would hold, including deepening her relationship with the other girls in Hiro’s life. Or more specifically, his bed. Since they now basically lived together, she had been able to really connect with Megan, but there hadn’t been nearly as many chances to spend time with Honey Lemon or GoGo, something she hoped she’d be able to fix during her time off. She was Hiro’s first girlfriend, and unofficial head of the harem, so she felt it was her job to really get to know Hiro’s other lovers if they wanted to make this unconventional relationship work over the long term.

She hadn’t made it very far down the hall, though, when Professor Granville approached her. “Karmi,” she said, getting the young woman’s attention. Karmi turned to look at her and noticed the rather grim look on the professor’s face. “I’m sorry to have to spoil the start of your holidays, but ... there’s been an attack.”

Karmi rushed into the hospital-like room where Hiro and GoGo were being cared for. Megan and Honey Lemon were there too. After a glance and seeing that they were all okay, she immediately asked, “Where is Trina? Is she okay?”

Hiro got up from his bed and gave Karmi a gentle hug. “She’s still in surgery, but stable. Liv assured us that her life is no longer in jeopardy. Her people have removed all the shrapnel and are currently fixing the damage that one large spike did to her lung. Some combination of cloned organs and skin grafting, or something like that. Biology is your area of expertise, not mine. But we’ve been promised that she’ll be as good as new once they’re done with her.”

Karmi let out a sigh of relief then focused on those in the room. “And you?” she asked, looking at both Hiro and GoGo.

Hiro gave a little shrug. “Just a mild concussion. Took a blow to the head and got knocked out for a bit. I’ll have to take it easy for a while and take some pills, but that’s it.”

GoGo pointed to the bandage over one ear. “Blown eardrum, but as soon as they’re done with Trina, they’ll patch it back up somehow.”

“What about the others?” Karmi asked.

“Wasabi was fine so he left to go help Fred deal with the aftermath, and Noodle Burger Boy was here but he went back to guard the cafe, just in case there was a follow up attack,” Honey Lemon explained. “I was given a clean bill of health too, but wanted to stick around, for obvious reasons.”

“Just a couple of scraped palms and a bit of a bruised back for me,” Megan said once it was her turn, showing off her hands. Then she became more solemn. “Trina totally saved my life. She jumped in front of me just before that robot exploded. That giant shard of metal that got embedded in her chest ... it would have hit me instead. And from what we could tell, it wouldn’t have been my lung that it went through ... but my heart.”

Karmi gasped, then pulled Megan in for a tight hug. “Oh my god! I can’t believe we almost lost you!” she said, tearing up.

Megan began to tear up as well, the near death experience still vivid in her mind. “Yeah, I got pretty lucky. But like I said, Trina saved my life.”

The two girls shared a moment, hugging and softly kissing each other as a few tears silently trickled down their cheeks. GoGo and Honey Lemon joined in on the hug, adding their own love and sympathy to the embrace. Because of their hero work, they had their fair share of close calls so they knew full well what Megan was going through. Before long, though, the door opened up and Liv Amara came in, accompanied by Megan’s father, who was looking rather anxious.

Diego’s eyes immediately fell on his daughter and he rushed over and hugged her even tighter than Karmi had. “Oh thank God you’re safe!” he said. “Fred told me what happened, but I still needed to see it for myself.”

“I’m okay, Dad. Really,” Megan said, though she hugged him back just as tightly. “Trina saved me.”

“Speaking of Trina,” Hiro spoke up, looking at Liv. “How is she?”

The woman gave the group a gentle smile. “She’s perfectly fine. The surgery was successful and she’ll make a complete recovery in time, though I’ll want to keep her here for a few days to make sure the replacement lung is integrating well and that the microstitches are holding. By the time she leaves, any scars will be so small you won’t even be able to tell they’re there.”

“Can we see her?” Megan asked.

Liv nodded. “She’s actually asking for you all. You’ll have to keep it brief though, as her body’s gone through quite the traumatic experience and needs to rest.”

The group quickly but quietly filed into the room where Trina was lying in bed. There was an intravenous hooked up to her arm and some tubes in her nose giving her extra oxygen. She lacked the strength to sit up, but managed to raise a hand and give a little wave. “Hi guys,” she said, though her voice was not much more than a whisper.

Hiro took hold of her hand, holding it gently. “We’re so glad you’re okay. Or will be okay, I guess I should say.”

Trina gave him a weak smile. “Yeah, I got messed up pretty badly back there, didn’t I? You know, ever since I got this body I’ve liked pretty much everything I’ve experienced. But pain? I wouldn’t recommend it.”

The others gave a little chuckle at that. It was really good to see Trina in good humour in light of her brush with death. “Yeah, that’s true for most people,” Megan said, taking Trina’s hand from Hiro and holding it herself. “Thank you Trina. If you didn’t do what you did, that spike would have killed me. You saved my life.”

“Not to mention myself and Wasabi,” GoGo added. “What you did with those microbots, shielding us from the explosion, you probably saved our lives too.”

“Then the pain was worth it,” Trina said weakly. “But I’m sorry,” she added unexpectedly. “You all got hurt because of me.”

“That’s nonsense,” Honey Lemon said. “You did nothing wrong.”

“But those robots ... they were after me. If I wasn’t around then none of you would have been hurt.”

“No,” Hiro said. “If anything, you getting hurt was our fault. We were the ones who messed up by activating them in the first place and again when we let them get away.”

“But...”

“Stop,” Diego said, addressing the room. “Look, we can play the ‘No, it’s my fault’ game all day long, but in the end it doesn’t really matter. What matters is what people chose to do during the crisis. And Trina? What you did saved a lot of lives. You put yourself in harm’s way to protect others.”

“I wasn’t really thinking about that. About being in harm’s way, I mean,” Trina said.

Diego nodded. “That’s exactly my point. You didn’t think. You acted. Selflessly.”

“Just like how Hiro took that hit for you when he jumped in front of that flower pot,” GoGo said. “It was a very heroic thing to do.”

Diego nodded again. “Which is why, and I think everyone would be in agreement, that because of your actions, when you come back home your probation will officially be over.”

“That’s great!” Megan cheered. “Now that you’ve got total freedom, what’s the first thing you want to do once you get out of here?” she asked excitedly.

“Let’s save the Q and A session for another time,” Liv said, interrupting. “Trina needs her rest. Now that she’s seen that you’re all okay, she can rest easier.”

With that, they all said their goodbyes, with Hiro and Karmi promising to come by again as soon as possible, which would be as soon as Liv would allow it now that their exams were done and they were officially on summer holidays. Megan was a little jealous of that fact, as she still had a whole month to go before her own summer break started. But she also promised to stop by right after school to check in on Trina.

A week later, Trina was released from medical care, fully recovered, and as Liv had promised, there wasn’t even any visible scarring from her impalement. When she returned to the Lucky Cat she was greeted with a huge party, much to her surprise. There were balloons and cake and a big banner that read “Welcome Back, Trina!”, and everyone there congratulated her on her recovery and for her bravery during the robot attack. Many of the regular patrons of the cafe had grown fond of her and had even gotten her some small get-well gifts. To say she was touched was an understatement, and everyone’s heartfelt gratitude produced a strange feeling in her chest that made her want to smile and cry at the same time.

During the party Megan approached Trina. “So, back when you just got out of surgery I asked you a question, but Liv told us to let you rest. Well, now that you’re fully recovered I’ll ask you again. With my dad ending your probation and you being able to do whatever you want, what is it that you want to do?”

Trina thought about that for a moment. “I’m not really sure,” she began. “Honestly, I think I just want to do normal teen stuff. I’ve never been able to do that before.”

“Normal teen stuff? Like what?”

“I honestly don’t know. I’m not exactly a normal teen, after all. I don’t have the same upbringing as you, so I was hoping you could tell me.”

Megan smiled. “Leave it to me! I’m sure I can come up with all sorts of things we can do together. Ever been to the movies? How about the beach? Oh! And Hiro’s birthday is coming up next week so we’re definitely going to have to do something special for that!”

The two girls continued to chat for a bit then when Trina was pulled off to talk with some other people Megan began formulating a plan on how to give Trina the best kind of experience she could think of. She had a pretty good idea of what she ultimately wanted to do, it was just a matter of getting others on board with it. She’d have to start things off slowly and work her way up to the more fun stuff.

First up was a trip to the movies. The night after Trina’s welcome back party, Hiro, Megan, Karmi, and Trina all headed down to the local movie theatre to watch the latest sci-fi movie. They ordered huge buckets of popcorn and drinks and sat down next to each other, with Hiro being flanked by his two girlfriends and Trina sitting on Megan’s other side. The movie was surprisingly well made and Megan was glad that Trina’s first movie going experience was with an actual good movie. But what was more exciting was how she and Karmi could both hold Hiro’s hands and sneak in the occasional kiss with him. They were probably getting some curious glances from anyone sitting behind them as Hiro first kissed Karmi and then turned and kissed Megan, but she didn’t care.

About half way through the movie, Megan started to put her real plan into action. She quietly asked Hiro to switch seats with her. When he asked why, she replied, “You’ve been the centre of attention long enough, and I want to have a turn. Or is it only you who’s allowed to sit next to our girlfriend and kiss her?” The thought of Karmi and Megan making out made Hiro smile and he gladly traded seats. Settling back down, it didn’t take Megan long to do what Hiro had been doing and held hands with both him and Karmi.