Universe: Big Hero 6 (movie)
Summary: Hiro decides that he'd rather chance a bot-fight than attend lessons. Tadashi doesn't agree, but the GPS tracker in Hiro's jacket doesn't lead him directly to his brother this time, so some defense is needed.
Note: At long last, I have watched Big Hero 6, and have now entered the exciting world of family and robotics. My cousin and I watched it together, so she helped me with the first part of this first story set in this amazing universe. Enjoy and please review.
Hiro yawned and sat up in bed, automatically looking over at his brother's space where, predictably, Tadashi was up and dressed.
"Come on, Hiro, get dressed and brush your hair! It's such a mess, like always," Tadashi called over, seeing his little brother was awake. Rolling his eyes, Hiro got out of his bed and dutifully began to dress, though ignoring the hair advice, like usual.
Half an hour and a rushed breakfast later, Hiro and Tadashi were ready to go to college and stood by the door being smothered in hugs from Aunt Cass. "Oh, and remember to keep your phones on!" She called after the boys as they headed down the street. They soon came to the doors of the college, and parted with a quick 'bye' to go to their lockers, which were on separate sides of the big building.
As Hiro pulled out of the books he needed for the day's lessons, he heard his phone give its signature 'beep' alert that meant that the internet had detected a close by bot-fight.
"I gotta go! No school for me today!" Hiro whispered elatedly to himself, punching the air in triumph. He put his books back into the locker and closed it, leaning casually against a wall and waiting until the corridor was clear.
As soon as everyone else was in their lessons, Hiro hurried to the closest exit and went out into the weak sunshine, turning his phone off as he went, not wanting to be disturbed or interrupted during the fight. He walked over the bridge, absently remembering playing with Tadashi there when they were kids. Good times, he thought.
Not entirely sure why he was reminiscing, Hiro broke into a run and headed towards the back alleys of Fransokyo where the illegal fights always took place, away from prying eyes and the law - but also away from safety.
He spotted a door which he supposed was leading to glory in bot form. As soon as he entered the room the shouting and swearing from the crowd gathered around the mat in the middle filled Hiro with glee and adrenaline. He walked purposefully towards the centre ring and cleared his throat so people looked around and backed away, letting his through.
"Can I try now?" He asked, using the usual innocent little-boy look that almost always fooled the competitor. And before the referee could say about money, Hiro quickly took a fistful of bills from his pocket and added, "is this enough to play?"
The competing guy - quite tall but about as wide - narrowed his eyes at the kid as Hiro placed his money in the pan and took his seat, crossed legged on the other side of the fighting mat, before putting his bot on the mat, where it slipped down to a sitting position too.
"Very well, boy," the guy said with an evil-sounding laugh. "Ready your petty bot for its destruction."
Hiro used his usual strategy of looking innocent and acting like he had no experience of such an event and didn't know what he was doing. Then he would casually destroy the other robot. This time he chose to have fun with it. He took his jacket off and threw it aside.
"Three... two... one... fight!" Shouted the referee, swinging the umbrella up to signify the start, and the bots began to move towards each other. Hiro let Megabot almost dance around the competing bot, making the guy angry and reckless. Then, as Megabot took a hit, Hiro extended his controller and smirked to himself. "Time for destruction."
Immediately the bot's expression switched from the yellow happy face to the red evil smiling one. Taken aback, the competing guy hesitated, which was easily enough for Megabot to slip past the other bot's lowered guard and simply pull off its head in one smooth movement.
He then continued to squeeze the other bot's limbs off so the body fell to the floor as nothing more than a lump of sparking metal.
"Game over, loser!" Hiro said smugly, taking the money he had won. But, as usual, the other man was uncontrollably angry with this little kid. He stood up quickly, considering his size, and backed Hiro, who had also got up hastily, across the room.
"You break my bot, you get broken by me," growled the man, pushing Hiro against the wall and getting a grip on the kid's shoulders.
Nervously, Hiro met the man's angry little eyes. "Well, you know, I - ah - would love to give up the rest of my day being threatened by you," he said in a bored way, "but frankly I can think of a whole load of things I'd rather be doing."
The guy practically roared in anger and Hiro watched in trepidation as he pulled back a fist to land a punch, probably in the boy's smart mouth. Just as the fist swung towards Hiro, he ducked, hearing the satisfying crunch of punch to wall. The guy released his grip on Hiro in pain, rubbing his injured knuckles.
Hiro took the planned distraction to run like fury for the door. But someone tripped him as he bolted, and he yelped as he fell forward and crashed into a wall before falling to the ground in a crumpled heap, the breath knocked out of him.
He just lay there for a minute, seeing three fuzzy-looking big men advancing on him as everyone else in the room ran for the exits, seeing a beating coming. Shaking his head to bring his full vision back, Hiro unsteadily pushed himself to his feet and used the wall for support as he struggled to stay standing and focus on the thugs.
"Look, guys, can't we just call it even? I hit your bot, you hit me. That's cool, right?"
Clearly not, Hiro decided as one of guys punched him in the stomach, making him double over in pain. Another guy grabbed him from behind and began to drag him outside, ignoring the boy's feeble attempts to stop the progress by pushing his feet on the floor.
Dimly thinking that this was what Tadashi was always warning him about, Hiro almost wished he was having a boring school morning like his brother.
Tadashi was not having a calm school day. Aunt Cass had rung him at break and asked him to go to the store and grab her some stuff for cakes on the way back to the cafe. She had also asked him to pass the message onto Hiro, who didn't have his phone on - which meant Tadashi also had to listen to a 5 minute rant about how she kept telling that kid things and he never listened.
Once he hung up, Tadashi, alarmed by the information and knowing that his brother's phone being turned off was very unlikely to be a good sign, immediately checked the GS on Hiro's jacket and found, with a groan, that his little brother wasn't in school at all, but in the back alleys where boy fighting took place.
So instead of going back into his lab after break, Tadashi slipped out of the college and ran the whole way to town, heading towards the back alleys to find his brother.
Which was why Tadashi was jogging around the stinking dark back of buildings, calling his little brother's name in a loud whisper every so often, definitely not having a calm school day.
Tadashi reached the end of yet another alley and panted as he pulled his phone out of his pocked and checked the GPS. It told him vaguely that Hiro was in a building to his left. Cautiously, he approached the run-down, blackened building and carefully opened the door.
The place was deserted, though remnants of a bot with its limbs pulled off and strewn around the pathetic body lay on a mat in the middle of the room. The only other item there was lying in a heap nearby the mat. Tadashi made towards it, feeling a sense of panic as he picked it up, confirming his suspicion: it was Hiro's jacket.
"Hiro," Tadashi groaned aloud, full-on panic not starting to rise. He looked around the room for clues as he slung the jacket over his shoulder. Spotting a door on the opposite end of the room he had entered from, Tadashi walked towards it, noticing that it was slightly open and swinging a little in a wind.
He quickened his pace over to the door and listened hard for anything going on outside. After a few seconds of nothing, he distinctly heard the sound of a fence rattling and a thump as something hit the ground.
Peering through the crack in the door, Tadashi tried to silently find the source of the sound. It didn't take long. Not far from the building, three shadows were advancing towards a fence, at the bottom of which a fourth, significantly smaller, figure stirred weakly, trying to push itself back up.
Tadashi took in the situation in a moment. The next minute he was striding towards the shadowed group, the thugs of which all looked up at approaching footsteps.
"Oh look, another little hero," the leader sneered, rounding on Tadashi.
Anger coursed through him and he dropped the jacket to the floor as he called lowly, "stay down, Hiro." The fallen figure had began to try to get up when Tadashi had approached and announced himself.
The lead guy growled, "beat it, punk, or you'll get the same," and, not waiting for a reaction, nodded at the two other thugs. They advanced on Tadashi, cracking their knuckles menacingly.
Just as Tadashi was getting ready to fight, a helicopter flew over their heads, its whirling blades cutting the tensioned quiet. The thugs all froze and Hiro took the opportunity of distraction to tackle the leader, bringing him to the ground.
Cursing, the guy kicked Hiro in response, making his yelp in pain and roll away from any more attacks. Tadashi stepped forward towards the thug who was lumbering to his feet, incensed at the fresh attempt of violence on his little brother.
"You'd go if you had any brains," he said coldly, glancing up again as he was struck by an idea. "The police will be here soon."
Before they could decide whether to take his advice and run instead, however, Tadashi suddenly punched one of the henchmen in the face and immediately afterwards kicked the other in the stomach. Clutching their injuries, the two staggered away, glaring at Tadashi, who stared back with fire in his gaze.
After a second, the thugs made up their mind, and the leader sneered at Hiro before hurrying away, the other two following him.
With the threat gone, Tadashi felt the fight go out of him and panic returned. He quickly turned around and dropped to his knees beside his fallen brother.
"Hiro, hey, look at me," Tadashi said urgently, desperation in his voice. Slowly, Hiro raised his head and blinked at his older brother.
"Sorry, 'Dashi," he murmured thickly, swaying as he tried to sit up. Tadashi didn't reply as he helped Hiro sit then gently took his chin in his hand and tipped his little brother's head so he could see the injuries clearly.
It wasn't too bad - there was some blood coming from his nose, which had clearly been punched, and a bruise forming below one eye. Calmed slightly now he was assessing the damage, Tadashi carefully moved his hand to Hiro's shirt and slowly hitched it up a little to check the bruising there. Hiro let him, trying to close his eyes against the pain of the beating.
Tadashi breathed out in a hiss as he took in the bruises blossoming on his little brother's body. Thankfully, none of them were too hot, showing there were no internal injury.
Just as carefully as the rest of his actions, Tadashi pulled Hiro's shirt back down and, overcome by emotion now adrenaline had left, leant forward and gathered his brother in a tight hug. Hiro gasped in pain at first, but soon returned the gesture, grateful as always for the forgiveness, burying his face in his big brother's shoulder.
They eventually broke apart, and Tadashi got to his feet, bending back down to pulled Hiro up too.
"You complete bonehead," Tadashi said softly as Hiro leaned heavily on him with another little gasp of pain. He tried to smile and replied hoarsly, "more exciting than your nerd college."
Tadashi rolled his eyes and held Hiro up with one arm as he used the other to pick up the kid's jacket. "And why on earth did you take this off?" He asked with a sigh, helping Hiro put it back on to cover his now shaking - from pain, shock and cold - form. Hiro just shrugged in reply, wincing as the slight movement pained him.
The older brother sighed again, but rather affectionately this time, and began walking quickly towards the end of the alley and light, his little brother Hiro by his side once again.
Note: I'm thinking about a second chapter of the brothers getting home and Tadashi talking to Hiro as he patches up his injuries. Suggestions? A good idea? Thanks for reading.