A/N: Okay, big ol' crossover here. Big Hero 6, Avengers (and all the affiliated movies), and Amazing Spiderman. Yeah. Slight AU for TASM2 (Peter managed to sit Harry down for a better explanation of why the venom was a bad idea and they made up), but that's about it, I think? Oh, this is after Iron Man 3 but before Age of Ultron, for fairly important plot reasons.

It's highly suggested that you read All They See Is Treason if you haven't already, as this takes place after it and there's an important plot point explained in it.

Also, based on a few things I noticed in the movie (blooming cherry trees in the city while chasing Baymax, the apparent short break/no break between whatever previous semester and the showcase/the semester Hiro would've first attended, and probably others that I can't remember right now), I'm saying the showcase was in late January/early February, and Hiro activated Baymax in late February. This allows the "it's been a few weeks" comment Aunt Cass has, and is still enough time for him to theoretically catch up before midterms and such. So, I'm having the showcase on January 23rd and placing the majority of this fic in late March.

This becomes important for reasons. Showcase was in 2014, this is 2015.

I'm also saying that the Avengers took place summer 2012 and Iron Man 3 took place Christmas 2013. Tony's been arc reactor-less for about a year, and rebuilding Avengers Tower took a year and a half. Every MCU movie set before Age of Ultron is pretty much the same, aside from TASM2 (yes, I know it's technically Sony, but it's still Marvel, so meh) and Winter Soldier, though mainly just in that, after the events of the movie, Bucky was found and is staying at Steve's place.

There's a section where characters will be speaking Japanese. To avoid having to label each sentence as Japanese or English, I've left Japanese in regular text and English is underlined.

So please don't ask me how

I ended up at my wit's end and breaking down

Pages torn from books we never read

Cause we're plugged into this grid

Don't pull this plug right now

Or then we'd really have to live

It was just supposed to be a normal patrol. In fact, he was more than half done his rounds and ready to head back to help Harry set up a new trial for OsCorp. Peter Parker, better known at this time of day as Spiderman, swung through the air, latching his webs onto the passing skyscrapers as he went. His eyes quickly scanned each alley he passed, zapping out an extra web or two as necessary when he caught someone up to anything less-than-legal.

He was almost done his loop when he heard it.

"Help! Please, someone, help me!"

It was coming from an alleyway just up ahead, a woman's voice, panicked. He shot a web backwards to make the tight turn, landing in a crouch in the dark alley. "Hello?" he called, standing and edging his way further down the alley. "Is someone back here? Friendly neighborhood Spiderman, here to help!"

No matter how far back he went, he just couldn't see anyone. He was just about to give up when something crunched under his foot. He bent down, picking up the device and blinking at it. There were buttons and wires, and when he cautiously tapped on a button, he nearly jumped at the sound.

"Help!" the voice from earlier echoed out, slower and deeper now due to the broken machine. "Please, someeoone, heeelllp meeee!"

The device died in his hand, and with it silent, he finally heard the soft laughter behind him. He stiffened, about to turn, when a new voice spoke up.

"Well, you were certainly easy, Peter."

He whipped his head around, only for it to snap back when something hard smashed against his temple. He fell back, wincing and too stunned to move, as the new voice continued.

"Let's hope the others are more of a challenge."

When I die, will they remember not

What I did, but what I haven't done?

It's not the end that I fear with each breath

It's life that scares me to death

Bruce Banner, admittedly, should have seen this coming. He'd already been kidnapped once while working in India, though that was by SHIELD rather than some lowlifes looking for a payday. These thugs weren't even intelligent.

"Boss really wants this dude alive?" one was complaining. His buddy had rationed out their food earlier, and Goon Number One wasn't too thrilled to see a portion being set aside for their captive.

"Yeah, he does," Goon Two replied gruffly. He was obviously the leader of the three, and had little-to-no patience for dumb questions. "And I ain't goin' against his orders."

Goon One whined. "But we're gonna give him the guy tomorrow, he doesn't need to eat!"

The third member rolled his eyes at that. "Then by all means, you go tell the boss why he's starving!"

Surely paling that quickly was bad for Goon One, but Bruce couldn't bring himself to care. "N—No, thanks!"

"Then shuddup and eat your food."

The three ate quickly before Goon Three came over to Bruce with a can. "This one's yours," he said roughly, shoving it forward.

Bruce huffed. "Thank you, it'd really help if I could actually hold it myself, though." He wiggled his hands, still unable to remove the rope tying them. Of course, he could always "go green" as Tony would say and be gone within seconds, but he'd really rather not let these morons in on exactly who they had captured.

Especially because Tony would never let him live it down.

"Hey, there's the boss now!" Goon One called out. He waved at a figure that was slowly approaching them. "Hey, bossman! We got your guy!"

"Did anyone see you?" a cool voice questioned.

Goon One shrugged. "Couple kids, not like anyone'll believe 'em." He smirked, probably remembering how he'd terrified the two young patients Bruce had been treating at the time of his abduction.

"Really?" the voice murmured. "Pity. I suppose it can't be helped. Makes this part a bit easier on me, though."

And suddenly, three short popping sounds echoed through the area, and the kidnappers all dropped.

The figure, still in enough shadow to conceal his features, tucked away the gun he'd shot them with. "I really do hate to part with money I don't have to, and I can't have this traced back." Then, he pulled something else out, another gun, this one shaped different. "I also can't have your friend break you free. Good night, Dr. Banner."

Another short pop went off, and Bruce's vision went black, the tranquilizer strong enough to even keep the Hulk at bay.

When we built these dreams on sand

How they all slipped through our hands

This might be our only chance

Let's take this one day at a time

I'll hold your hand if you hold mine

The time that we kill keeps us alive

Tony Stark liked to party. This was a well-known, indisputable fact. He often partied too hard, though he'd argue that the party should have kept up with him. Since settling down with Pepper Potts, however, he'd partied a little less.

But only a little.

And so, it really shouldn't have surprised anyone when he was out at a club until some ungodly hour. And sure, maybe he should've stopped drinking two hours ago before everyone started doing shots, but he was invited and it wouldn't do to disappoint fans and miss out on free booze.

So he stayed. And the party raged on, for once keeping up with him, at least for another hour. But now, at early'o'clock on a sleeping-in day, he found himself stumbling around more than he should be, party speeding up while his body forced him to slow down. He'd only experienced this odd phenomenon once before, when he'd been dying slowly from his old power source, but he'd fixed that and didn't even have the reactor stuck in his chest anymore. He gave it up. It wasn't allowed to mess with him at parties anymore. It shouldn't be able to mess with him anymore.

So who was?

Even through the fuzziness brought on by the booze, he could tell that someone had spiked it. That was the only explanation for the wobbliness, the fog in his head, the fact he could only vaguely remember parts of the night.

He'd been drugged, and thoroughly.

For some reason, that cracked him up, and he fell into a wall, laughing hysterically as he slid to the ground. He tried not to think about the dirt and grime he was sitting in, but the fog was doing that for him, replacing the alley streets with a porch in his mind. He was waiting for someone to come, for a chauffeur, for a friend to help him up and into a car and home to puke in the luxury of his own toilet.

Luckily, it didn't take too long for a car to show up. "'Sbou' time," he slurred as the driver's door opened and he fumbled with the handle for the passenger's side. For some reason, it kept wobbling away when he reached for it, but finally, he swung the door open and was about to get in—

When he was suddenly tugged back and tossed into the back seat.

"Wh—Whazzgoinon?" he mumbled, trying to lift his arms or legs or just do something to defend against this sudden, unnecessary attack. Seriously, who cares whether he's in the front or back? He just wanted to get home.

"You're going to go for a little ride, Mr. Stark."

Oh. Oh, that was not a voice he recognized. The last thought Tony had before blacking out was, This can't be good.

Your words won't save me now

I'm at the edge feeling the sweat drip from my brow

"Get a grip on yourself" is what they say

Every hour, every day

Hands over my ears

I've been screaming all these years

Peter Parker had woken up a few days ago in a dank, dingy cell with no windows, no bars, and just a solid door with a slot for food to come in. The slot only opened from the outside, so he couldn't even use that to see where he was, and the "food" was scraps of almost-stale bread and a soaked rag to squeeze water from. No knives, no forks, no plates. Nothing to use to escape, unless he wanted to tie together all the rags for a more permanent escape.

And so, he resigned himself to sitting in his cell, waiting for something, anything to happen and feeling confused that he had been changed into his civvies from his Spiderman costume.

Suddenly, the door swung open. Before he could even manage to look at who was there, something was flung into him. The door slammed shut as he was attempting to shove the whatever-it-was off of him.

He panted for breath, huffing as he finally turned to look at the thing that had been thrown at him.

"T—Tony Stark?!"

The older man groaned, rolling over.

Peter ran a hand through his hair, wide eyes still staring at the billionaire before him. "Holy crap, that's really him…. I'm in a freaking cell with an Avenger!"

"Nn, 'm tryin'a sleep, Pepper…" the man moaned.

Peter chuckled. "You cannot miss this meeting, Tony," he snarked, trying to see how far this would go before the genius caught on.

Tony groaned, sitting up and rubbing at his head. "You'd be singin' a different tune 'fya came with me las'… night… wait." He glanced around, eyes winced half-shut. "Dammit, that wasn't a dream, was it…?"

"Apparently not." Peter waved around at the cell. "Welcome to hell. Meals are sporadic at best and unappetizing."

"Fantastic." Tony rubbed his hands together. "So, how're we breaking out of this place?"

Peter gaped at the man. "S—Seriously? We can't, dude. No bars, no windows, no way out."

Tony scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "I've been in worse situations."

"Really? Without any access to your suit?" Because Peter had noticed the distinct lack of a glowing light on the man's chest.

The billionaire scowled. "…Who says I can't access it?"

"If you could, I think you would've by now."

The man jabbed for a moment at his forearms, glaring when he received no response from his implants. "…Dammit…."

"Yep. So, again, welcome to hell, population us."

When I die, will they remember not

What I did, but what I haven't done

It's not the end that I fear with each breath

It's life that scares me to death

It had been nearly fourteen months since the John Doe was brought in to Santa Rosawa General Hospital. He was in a coma, unclaimed by family or friends, and taking up a bed in their recovery ward. The burns on his arms, legs, and chest were healed, slightly pink scars marking where the worst had been. In just over a year, there had been no sign of his waking.

Until today.

When the nurse walked in to his room to check on him, she saw him sitting up, glancing around the room, obviously confused. Her clipboard clattered to the floor.

Warm brown eyes turned towards her, and the man gave a slight smile. "Sorry," he croaked, voice rough from a year of disuse, "didn't mean to spook you."

She quickly snatched up her clipboard and approached his bedside. "It's no trouble," she assured, clicking a pen to take notes. "I have a few questions I'll need you to answer, if you can."

"Of course."

"Okay, can you tell me your name?"

"Tadashi Hamada." His coma-slowed tongue tripped over the syllables.

The name sounded vaguely familiar, but she noted his answer, crossing out John Doe at the top of his file and replacing his name. "Any family we should notify?"

His eyes went wide. "Oh, Aunt Cass! She's probably eating her way through the café's inventory!"

"That would be Cass Hamada?"

He shook his head. "Ah, no, um, Cassiopeia de Gaia, actually. Maternal aunt. She took my brother and I in after—" He trailed off, eyes widening again before his head whipped around to stare at her, eyes pleading. "My brother! Hiro, is Hiro okay!?"

The nurse raised her hands, palms out, trying to calm him. "I'm sure he's fine, just worried for you. I have a few more questions yet, then I'll go inform your aunt and brother, okay?"

"O—Okay," he murmured, reclining back in the bed once more, "okay."

"What is the last you remember?"

His brow furrowed as he thought back. "Ah, there—there was the showcase, and—and a fire…." He gasped softly, staring up at the ceiling. "I—I ran in, to—to help the professor get out…. My brother, Hiro, he—he tried to stop me." He glanced back at the nurse, worried once more. "Is he here, too? Are you sure he's okay?"

"Yes, I am." The story was sounding more and more familiar to her, and she wrote down what he said before pausing and studying him. Finally, she sighed and asked, "Tadashi, do you know what the date is?"

He blinked at her. "Um, it's… January 24th, right? Unless I was out for more than a day…."

The date was what finally brought all the pieces together, but to make sure…. "What year is it?"

"Uh, 2014?"

She gulped, knowing she'd now have to explain his situation to him. "Mr. Hamada, it's actually March 24th."

His eyes went wide, a hand running through his hair with a wince. "Ah, man, I've only got a couple days to get something for Hiro's birthday…."

"Um, Mr. Hamada?"

He shook his head, glancing back at her. "Sorry, yes?"

"…It's 2015."

When we built these dreams on sand

How they all slipped through our hands

This might be our only chance

Let's take this one day at a time

I'll hold your hand if you hold mine

The time that we kill keeps us alive

"Did you pack Baymax's charger?"

Hiro Hamada huffed at his aunt's incessant questions. "Yes, Aunt Cass!"

"Did you—?"

"I have Baymax's charger, all my tech and their chargers, my clothes for a month rather than just a week since you insist that I don't know what the weather will be or where we'll be going, my passport, my plane tickets, my project journals, and three extra pairs of shoes, which is a little ridiculous since I'll not be wearing any shoes inside Baachan and Jiichan's house, anyway!"

Cass hid a grin at the impatient look on Hiro's face as he tapped his foot and crossed his arms at her. Finally, she gave up and lunged over, hugging him tight. "Oh, my little baby's growing up so fast!"

"Aunt Cass!"

She released him, but held onto his shoulders, still surprised that he was now an inch taller than her. "You behave for your grandparents, okay?"

Hiro smiled back at her. "Don't worry, I'll be on my best behavior."

"And remember that Baymax needs to be in his charger during the flight."

"I know, Aunt Cass."

She tugged him in again. "Last hug," she murmured, "and have a happy birthday, okay?"

He finally reached up to hug her back. "Thanks, I will." They let go, and he kissed her cheek. "I'll miss you, Aunt Cass."

She waved as he left, the large white robot following him out.

We came in search of answers

We left empty handed again

Shots fired into the sky

Are now returning

Where the fuck will you hide?

Tadashi spent the next few minutes panicking before the doctor entered and gave him a shot to calm him some. Through the slight fuzziness, Tadashi watched as the man took his vitals, made some notes, and pushed in a wheelchair. He helped the patient into it, then began wheeling him down the halls.

"W—Where're we goin'?" Tadashi slurred, vaguely thinking he probably shouldn't be quite so out of it.

"Have to run some tests."

Yet a confused, quiet part of Tadashi's mind pointed out that tests are done inside and they were now outside.

"This is him?" a voice was murmuring.

"Yes," the doctor answered nervously. "He confirmed when he woke up."

Maybe he was going home now?

"Well? Hand him over."

"I—I don't think—"

"Really? You're going to back out now? Need I remind you, a single phone call and your wife knows about your little affair."

That… that doesn't sound like something someone he'd want to leave with would say….

"She already does. I told her last night."

"I know where your family lives. I know where your children go to school. Give me the kid, or I'll slit your children's throats."

Yeah, definitely did not want to go with this guy. Whoever this guy was. He sounded mean.

But… did he really want to be the reason why the doctor's kids were hurt…?

"Y—You—Why—?"

"Just hand him over. Now."

And suddenly he was being wheeled forward, the doctor whispering to him, "I'm sorry, please know I didn't want this to happen."

He was then wheeled up into a van, chair locked in place, before he heard behind him, "I'll tell your kids that you traded your life for theirs."

"Wha—?"

A soft popping noise cut off whatever the doctor was going to say, shortly followed by a pinch in the back of Tadashi's neck.

As the van took off, Tadashi slumped down, drug knocking him back into unconsciousness.

Hiding from the laughter in the closets of our lives

But the door hinges are squeaking letting in thin shards of light

And now a hand's extending outward

Quiet comfort they invite

Do we dare take what they offer?

Do we step into the light?

"Moshi moshi," Cass cheerfully greeted whomever was calling her, phone wedged between her ear and shoulder as she continued to bake tomorrow's specials. "You've reached Cass at the Lucky Cat Café, how may I help you?" It was a standard response, one she'd taught both her nephews so she wouldn't need to get a second landline for the business. They simply greeted every caller as though they were calling the café. Their friends either didn't care or would interrupt the unnecessary message, and it often discouraged survey-takers or salesmen from bothering them.

"Ah, this is a Ms. de Gaia?" a female voice questioned.

Cass blinked. Not many people were formal with her, given she mostly served regulars and was well-known in the community as mothering to anyone who came in. It usually only took a meeting for strangers to be comfortable calling her Cass or even Aunt Cass. "Um, yes. Who is calling?"

"This is Nurse Aja Rodrigo, from Santa Rosawa General, calling to inform you about your nephew."

The brunette nearly dropped the phone, instead losing her grip on the tray she'd just pulled from the oven. "WHAT!?" she shrieked, clutching the phone desperately. "N—No, I—I just sent Hiro off to the airport, he—he can't be—what the hell happened?!"

"Um, m—ma'am? I'm talking about Tadashi, not Hiro."

The world froze for a moment. Cass was suspended, feeling like she was floating away and staring down at her body. There was no way, no way, that they were talking about Tadashi. He died over a year ago. They—They held a funeral for him. Hiro spent a month barely eating or moving from his grief.

She would not put him through that again if this was a mistake.

"Ma'am?"

Cass shook her head to clear it. "You—I—T—Tadashi died," she mumbled. "How could—? How—?"

"We had a John Doe who arrived at the hospital last year with severe burns and in a coma. He's just woken up, and told us his name is Tadashi Hamada and to contact you, ma'am." There was a slight pause, obviously as a way to allow Cass to process this, then, "Visiting hours are until nine."

"I—I'll be there in an hour," she murmured, grabbing her keys and flipping the "open" sign to "closed".

If Tadashi really was alive, Cass'd hug him to death (and likely pinch his ear for putting them through all this).

If he wasn't and this was some mistake, she'd make her fury known. No hospital would cause her family more heartbreak. Not while she was alive.

When I die, will they remember not

What I did, but what I haven't done

It's not the end that I fear with each breath

It's life that scares me to death

Hiro had managed not to freak out too much on the cramped plane. He had an aisle seat near the middle of the cabin, plenty of leg space, and a couple melatonin pills to help him sleep through most of the eleven and a half hour flight. According to Baymax, these would also, hopefully, help with the jet lag. The last thing he wanted was to spend a day of his trip sleeping rather than seeing the sights and visiting with his grandparents.

He shook his head to clear it as the PA announced that they had safely landed and the passengers gave a polite applause. Hiro stood as quick as possible, grabbing his small carry-on bag from under his seat and getting in the growing line to exit the death tra—uh, plane.

Once inside, he angled towards baggage claim, finding his suitcase and pulling to the side to open it and dig out Baymax's charger. With a muttered, "Ow," Baymax inflated before him.

"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion. We appear to have landed in Osaka International Airport," the robot stated in his usual monotone.

Hiro grinned up at him. "That we did, buddy. We've got a couple minutes before the next monorail comes, and we'll pick up the Takarazuka line in Hotarugaike Station." He zipped up his bag, waving for Baymax to follow. "I really want to grab some snacks before we leave, it's about a half hour walk from Ikeda Station to Jiichan's house."

After grabbing some snacks, wherein Hiro fumbled over his Japanese for a moment before slipping fully into his first language, they were aboard the monorail for the short trip over to their connecting station.

"Jiji wa jinja no tonari ni sunderu," Hiro commented to Baymax, only to see the robot tilt its head slightly. "Doushita?"

Baymax blinked. "My Japanese translator is malfunctioning."

"Omae no—? Oh! Ah, s—sorry," Hiro murmured. "Guess I forgot to check that before we came. I'll try to remember to switch to English, but Baachan and Jiichan's English isn't so good. I'll translate for you until I can fix your programming."

"That would be satisfactory."

"Anyway, what I was saying was, Jiichan's house is by a shrine, so they're kinda out from the city." They quickly stepped off the monorail with the other passengers as it stopped at the station. Hiro glanced around briefly before leading the way to their next connection. "It's only two stops on this train, then we have to walk the rest of the way."

Baymax nodded. "This is the half hour walk you mentioned?" At Hiro's affirmative, he added, "Is the way safe?"

Hiro blinked at him. "Safe? Ah, I mean, it's through the edge of the city, but it should be fine?" The teen waved a hand. "Anyway, it's not that long of a walk, and I'm probably exaggerating. It's been a while since our—since I last visited, so I'm probably remembering the time wrong."

"Hiro, are you alright?" Baymax questioned as he noticed the sudden downturn of his patient's lips at his mistake.

"Ah, y—yeah. Just… last time I was here, I was with Tadashi…."

Baymax quickly pulled Hiro into a hug, resting his head on the teen's and patting him. "There, there."

Hiro chuckled, patting the robot's arm. "Thanks, Baymax, I'm good."

And just in time, as their stop was called. The two exited the train, and Hiro glanced around for a moment to get his bearings before starting off.

The first ten minutes of walking was fine, strolling along past shops and eateries, taking their time and window shopping a bit. Then, they slowly crossed over to the edgier side of town, reminding Hiro of the back alleys he used to bot fight in. Hell, one of the locals even looked like the last guy he beat!

Wait….

"Kuso," Hiro hissed as he did a double take at the man. He ducked his head down, digging his shaking hands into his pockets.

"Hiro—?"

"Sssh!" he hushed the robot, picking up his pace just a tad. "That guy back there—don't look!—is called Yama. He's part of the yakuza back in San Fransokyo, and I kinda ticked him off last year…."

"I am sure he has forgiven you," Baymax soothed, voice a few decibels lower than normal.

"Ah, I'm fairly sure he hasn't. Yakuza don't forgive and forget, Baymax. They usually get even."

"That we do."

If the voice hadn't jerked Hiro to a stop, the tug on the back of his hoodie sure did. He yelped as he nearly fell over backwards from the force before he was spun around and pulled upwards to be nose-to-nose with Yama himself.

"Ah, h—hi?" Hiro mumbled, grinning nervously. Baymax was tottering behind, confused because they were speaking Japanese rather than English, but he was starting to realize something bad was going on. "What brings you out here?"

"Got a tip that I could find someone who crossed me here. Turns out it was true."

Hiro's hands fumbled and lost their hold on the large man's arm from where he'd been trying to break free. "A—Ah, ano, now's not really the best time—" He cut off with a gasp as Yama shoved him into a wall.

"You're gonna make time, kid."

A repetitive, quick thudding echoed back from the mouth of the alley, followed by a few cries as Yama's back up suddenly found themselves on the ground. A blur slammed into Yama, knocking Hiro loose.

"Nigero!"

Hiro immediately followed the order, grabbing Baymax's hand to drag him along as he ran from the alley. Once they were a few blocks away, Hiro considered it safe and dropped his hold, leaning against a wall and panting.

"You appear to have overexerted yourself," Baymax commented. "Recommendations are rest, water, and a gradual increase in future exercise to prepare for such exertions."

The teen waved off the robot, huffing a couple more times before pushing off the wall and glancing back. "Daijoubukashira?" he mumbled, worried for the blur that had helped him.

"Daijoubu, arigatou."

"IYAAAA!" Hiro leapt nearly a foot off the ground at the reply, spinning on his heel to see a man, about the Nerd Squad's age, leaning against the wall further down. He placed a hand over his heart, hissing in Japanese (partly to keep Baymax from attempting to use his defibrillators again), "Don't sneak up like that!"

"Gomen, gomen," the man chuckled, shaking his head and making his bright red hair flutter about. Golden eyes locked onto Hiro. "You in trouble with the yakuza, ne?"

The teen blushed. "Ah, sorta, I guess? More hustled their leader once without realizing he was yakuza…."

A brow quirked up at that. "Hontou?" The guy obviously didn't believe him.

"Hontou dayo!" Hiro huffed, crossing his arms. "It was all a big mistake!"

"What's this marshmallow-y thing?"

Hiro blinked, realizing the man was now over by Baymax and poking at the vinyl. "Ah, don't!" He shooed the man back a few steps, checking over the area he was poking to assure that there were no tears. "This is Baymax, a healthcare robot."

"Iine," the man breathed. "He can heal people?"

"For the most part, yeah," Hiro answered, shrugging. "There's a few injuries he's not equipped for, but he's programmed with over ten thousand medical procedures and can at least keep someone stable until they either get to a hospital or an ambulance arrives."

"Urayamashii," the man mumbled.

The teen's brow furrowed. "Uh, I guess? I mean, my brother more wanted him to be a precautionary—GUWAA!" Hiro yelped when he looked up and saw the gun aimed at him.

"Please return your weapon to its holster," Baymax requested. He was toddling forward bait before the man turned a second gun on the robot.

"No, Baymax!" Hiro looked back to the man, pleading, "Let him go, he's harmless!"

"I know kara—"

"Shut up, Baymax!" Hiro hissed. He shifted to stand in front of the robot, holding a hand out to the man with the guns. "Look, I—I can deactivate Baymax, he won't be able to alert police or anything, just—just, please, put the guns away!"

The man responded by cocking his weapons.

"Hiro—"

"I am satisfied with my care!"

The robot blinked, but deactivated, head dipping down and eyes dimming in lieu of returning to his charger. The man stowed one of his guns, but kept the other trained on Hiro.

"Get on your knees," he demanded.

Hiro slowly dropped down, keeping his eyes locked on the man. If he could just find an opening, he knew he could disarm the man and possibly get away. Baymax could be reactivated in the fight and help, even.

Sure enough, the man approached, keeping his gun in front of him and getting ready to tie Hiro up, given he'd just pulled some rope from his pocket. As he glanced down to find the end of the rope, Hiro struck, pushing the hand holding the gun to the side and throwing a punch with his free hand.

The gun went off, ricocheting off a wall and into the air. The redhead dodged the punch, ducking and throwing his own as he came up. Hiro jumped back, narrowly missing the blow, and spun to kick out, twisting and jumping over the gun hand as he did and forcing the man to drop the weapon.

It didn't seem to bother him much, though. In fact, it just gave him another free hand to punch with, and he sent it at Hiro's face. The teen blocked it and kicked out again, knowing his leg strength was better than his arm strength. The redhead rolled with the blow, spinning forward to deliver his own kick, throwing the teen into a wall.

Hiro hissed, grabbing at his stomach and side, but somersaulted backwards to avoid a knock-out blow. He kipped up to standing and jumped over another kick, using the momentum to deliver a roundhouse kick. The man was pushed back a bit, and both paused for a second, panting, before Hiro lunged forward into a double U-punch. Both landed, and the redhead was forced back another step, but his hand reached down to his second gun, pulling it on Hiro.

The teen froze, stopping in a back stance as he was readying for another attack. He had an arm up in front of him, the other resting at his hip.

The man chuckled lightly. "You put up a good fight, kid, but—"

"Minna daijoubu?"

Hiro's eyes went wide at the voice, head swiveling to face the entrance to the alley, where a girl a year or two younger than him was rounding the corner. She stopped, her own eyes wide, when she saw the scene before her.

"N—Nani?!"

The redhead was smirking, watching the girl from the corner of his eye before looking to Hiro, threat written plainly on his face.

"No," Hiro breathed.

The gun swung to aim at the girl, hammer pulled back and finger on the trigger. The redhead's eyes were locked on Hiro rather than the terrified bystander.

"Come with me," he said in English, with no distinguishable accent, "or the girl dies."

Either she knew English or understood enough about the situation to realize what was said, because tears began to fall from the girl's eyes, and she slumped down to her knees. The gun moved just slightly, staying trained on the spot right between her eyes.

Hiro glanced over at the girl, knowing the man wasn't bluffing. There was no way he'd manage to either deflect the gun or get to the girl in time.

He had no other choice.

"Fine," he agreed, "I'll go with you."

"Good choice." The man was back to Japanese, and the girl sighed in relief even though the gun had yet to move. A van pulled up to the opposite end of the alley, and the redhead motioned with his head for Hiro to get inside.

The teen followed the directions, too concerned for the girl to attempt an escape. The co-conspirator who'd thrown open the van's side door hopped out just long enough to grab the still-deactivated Baymax and toss the robot inside behind Hiro. The driver quickly tied up the teen's hands, then got back to his seat.

Hiro glared out at the redhead. "I'm in, let her go."

The man walked up to the van door, not wavering his aim. "Wish I could, kid," he whispered, ensuring that the girl couldn't hear what his plan truly was, "but given she's seen my face and I'm trying to lay low—"

BANG

As the newly-made corpse fell backwards, the redhead hissed, "Next time, don't bother fighting, and no one will get hurt."

Then, he gave a slight smirk, turning the gun on his assistant. "Sorry, only room for two back here with the robot."

"Wha—?!"

BANG

The door slammed shut and the van took off, Hiro still staring, wide-eyed, as the image of the two corpses—two people he'd caused to die—burned itself into his mind.

When we built these dreams on sand

How they all slipped through our hands

This might be our only chance

Let's take this one day at a time

I'll hold your hand if you hold mine

The time that we kill keeps us alive

Tadashi moaned, head lolling forward. He was moving for some reason, but in a chair? A wheelchair. And he was really out of it. What the hell had the doctors given him?

A slight chuckle echoed around him, and he realized he was blindfolded.

"Wh—Who's there?" When he received no reply, he then demanded, "Where… where are w—we?"

"Heading to your new home."

"M—My wha—?"

A door creaked open before them, and Tadashi's chair was tipped forward, tossing him into the room. The door slammed shut behind him, and he groaned, trying to roll over or get his feet under him.

"Ah, h—here, I can—"

Tadashi jerked, hissing in pain as it pulled old burn scars, falling back from whoever had spoken. "Wh—Who are you?!"

"My name's Dr. Banner," the man replied. "I was brought here a few days ago. Well, by my estimation, it's been a few days…."

"And… where, exactly, is here?" Tadashi wondered, fumbling with the knot on the blindfold.

"That's currently the million-dollar question." A few steps came closer, the man murmuring, "Here, let me get that blindfold off."

Tadashi instinctively tensed, but relaxed as he realized the man was in the same situation as him and likely just wanted to help. "O—Okay, I guess…."

The blindfold slipped off, and Tadashi blinked up at the older man.

A slight grin crossed the man's face. "There. Now you can see for yourself." He waved around at the small, dank space. "Homey, right?"

Tadashi continued to blink, trying to adjust to the dim lighting, and mumbled, "Nah, this is better."

Banner sighed. "If only it were a little smaller, that'd be perfect," he snarked.

The Asian-American gave a shrug, slowly coming around from whatever he'd been drugged with. "Can't have everything, right?"

Banner shuddered. Maybe claustrophobic? "In any case, meals are few and far between, so rationing's a good idea."

Tadashi smirked over at him. "You have been here awhile, haven't you?"

"I've been in survival situations before."

The young adult winced. "Great…."

"What's your name?" At Tadashi's confused look, Banner added, "Apparently we're gonna be stuck here for a while, I'd like something better to call you than 'kid'."

"Wouldn't be the first time…." Tadashi held out a hand. "T—Tadashi Hamada."

Banner blinked, taking the hand and shaking a bit slowly, distracted. "Hamada…? I know I've heard that name somewhere…."

The college student sighed. "Ever been to San Fransokyo?"

"Right. Your family is rather popular for their robotics work, yes?"

Tadashi rolled his eyes. "A bit, yeah."

Then, Banner frowned. "Wait, there's a building in the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology in your name. You… you died in a fire, or something…?"

Tadashi chuckled. "Yeah, apparently I survived?"

"Right." The man sighed, then seemed to remember something. "Oh, my full name's Bruce Banner, by the way. You gave me yours, only fair."

"Heh, thanks." Tadashi blinked. "Wait… aren't you…?"

"Green part-time?" Bruce smirked, trying not to miss Tony. "Yeah, that'd be me. You can see why I love the cozy setting."

"Yeah, I bet your other half loves it."

The man sighed. "I could've left days ago, but whatever was in the tranq I was hit with is making the Big Guy sleep. And I can't seem to get him up no matter what I do."

Tadashi gaped. "This—This guy, whoever he is, managed to knock out the Hulk?"

"Yeah…. Any chance we can discuss something else?" Bruce was avoiding eye contact, obviously uncomfortable.

"Yeah, sure." Tadashi sighed, staring through a wall as he vaguely remembered the nurse at the hospital. "Y'know, I had just barely woken up when I got snatched." He glanced over at Bruce. "I was in a coma, apparently, but I woke up and was conscious enough to tell them who to contact." He groaned, burying his head in his hands. "Ah, man, Aunt Cass is gonna freak…."

"That you're alive? Or that you're gone again?"

The younger man rolled his eyes. "Given there's basically no proof I was even there since they had me listed as a John Doe? She probably will think there was some mix up and she was contacted by mistake."

"Ouch," Bruce winced in sympathy. "Is she your only family? I thought there was another of you robotics prodigies."

"That'd be my knucklehead of an otouto."

"Right, um, H—Heno? Or something like that?"

"Not bad," Tadashi allowed, "but it's Hiro." He sighed, staring up at the ceiling and running a hand through his hair. "Man, I really hope he hasn't reverted to his old hobby…."

"Oh? What'd he do?"

Tadashi flinched, having forgotten the man was there for a moment, and sheepishly grinned up at him. "Ah, b—bot fighting?"

Bruce blinked. "…Must've been fairly easy for him, what with his intelligence and proficiency for robotics. But, aren't a lot of gangs and yakuza involved in bot fights?"

"Now you see my dilemma."

"Big brother complex, hm?" He recognized the signs from Thor. Even when Loki was being a bag of cats and trying to destroy the world, the blond Asgardian still wanted to help him. "Or, overprotective brother complex, I should say."

Tadashi's gaze dropped to the floor, hands fiddling in his lap. "…Considering our parents died when he was practically a baby…."

"Hey." Bruce laid a hand on Tadashi's shoulder, causing the young man to look up at him. "I never said it was a bad thing."

The college student gave a slight, nervous chuckle. "Touché."

"Keep talking," Bruce said, grinning when he saw the younger man loosening up some. "I'm sure you've got lots of stories about him."

Now, the chuckle was a bit lighter. "Well, there was this one time when he tried to put rocket boots on our cat—"

When we built these dreams on sand

How they all sift through our hands

This might be our only chance

Let's take this one day at a time

I'll hold your hand if you hold mine

The time that we kill keeps us alive

A/N: Um. Yeah. I wanted to end on a slightly happy note, I guess? And I didn't like having Hiro's last scene as the end of the chapter. Anyways, yeah, chapter story, ridiculous amount of Japanese, which should be fairly self-explanatory, but if not, translations are below.

So, Hiro's birthday is March 28th in this universe. This means that, for him to have graduated at 13 and be 14 in the movie, he was out of school for about a year and a half. Also, he would've turned 15 just after the movie. This makes him 15-going-on-16 here, having done a full year now of college. Won't Tadashi be proud?

Santa Rosawa is a play on Santa Rosa and Fujisawa (chosen mostly because it made the best mash-up that I could find). Santa Rosa really is about an hour from San Francisco.

The monorail and train/speedline mentioned in Hiro's long scene are real, and are what one would take when heading to certain parts of Ikeda from the Osaka International Airport. There really are a couple shrines in a forest-y area in Ikeda, and I have Hiro's grandparents living a short distance away from the Atago shrine and Satsukiyama Park. I've not been to the area (or Japan, or San Francisco) at all, so I'm relying heavily on Google Maps for all info on the walk and such. Hiro'd actually gotten to the last little stretch before he hit the forest when he got kidnapped, so he was within five minutes of being safe and sound. Poor kid.

Baymax did not activate at Hiro's hiss because of some tweaking Hiro did to his activation. In the movie, it seemed to only be at the word 'Ow', and Hiro probably expanded that some, but at the same time, he wouldn't want any little noise to activate Baymax unnecessarily.

Tadashi's survival and the reason why he was in Santa Rosawa will be explained in the next couple chapters.

IMPORTANT: I wanna know whether you guys would prefer longer chapters (6-10K words) or shorter chapters (2-5K words) for this story. I can do either, but longer chapters may take a little longer to update, and shorter chapters would likely only be two or three scenes per chapter. Please let me know, it'll help me finish plotting out the story and get chapters out fairly regularly.

Japanese translations -

Jiji wa jinja no tonari ni sunderu - Grandpa lives by a shrine

Doushita? - What? What's wrong?

Omae no—? - Your—?

Kuso - damn

Ano - um

Nigero! - run away!

Daijoubukashira? - Do you think he's okay?

Daijoubu, arigatou - Fine, thanks

Gomen, gomen - sorry, sorry

Hontou? - really?

Hontou dayo! - I'm serious!

Iine - awesome

Urayamashii - That's lucky

Minna daijoubu? - Hello, is everyone alright?

Nani?! - what?!

Super big thanks to Savannah Silverstone for help with the Japanese!

Anyway, thanks for reading, please review!