Silly/fun AU time! How about an AU where Hiro has the powers of Viewtiful Joe? His powers include actions that has to do with movie editing, such as Slow (think Matrix), Mach Speed (fast forward), and Replay (where an action of his, whether he is the one dealing or taking damage, is repeated up to 3 times). Btw, to my knowledge, there is no "rewind" power, so no reversing lol. Oh, and he has a sentai suit and poses too lol. One condition is that he needs an audience, live or filmed.
The SFIT showcase would have gone VERY differently. Sure, there’s no rewind, but there was definitely a crowd in the background when he was trying to stop Tadashi, and that Slow action would have come in handy.
But that’s assuming things even got that far. If Hiro had powers like that, he would have been making even more of a killing in the botfighting ring (assuming he can somehow apply those powers to Megabot). He’s raking in so much cash that he’s going to have enough to pay off tuition before he even starts. If anything, it gets boring, and THAT’S why he stops, not because Tadashi asked him to. Except without botfighting and without being convinced to go to class yet, he ends up stuck with nothing to do.
Until he’s walking home late one night and hears a scream. Rushing towards the sound, he finds a large crowd standing around a burning building, with a woman still trapped inside. As cliche as this is, Hiro knows it’s his moment. He’s going to become...a superhero!
(The sentai suit and poses come later though, as he grows into his roll. At first he thinks they’re dorky as hell, and only uses them because they tend to draw the audience he needs for his powers to work, but over time he learns to LOVE being a giant dweeb. To the point Tadashi catches him practicing poses in the mirror at home. Awwwkwaaaaard)