All I Know
He wanted to tell his team he couldn't do it. Hiro just didn't have the guts. For three years, him, Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Fred (not to mention, Baymax, his robotic nurse that doubled as a super robot) had been a team, fighting crime in San Frantokyo. Each had their own ability, supplied to them via super suits: flight, speed, explodable tons kin carbine, plasma rays, and... well, things a fire-breathing dinosaur could provide. As a team, they were unbreakable. Hiro couldn't say the same for when they weren't. And that was fine; they were supposed to stick together.
But there had been rumors of illegal experiments going on under King Kandy Inc. . Despite its innocent sounding name, the place made weapons for the government's use. And while they supplied steadily, it was well known that not even the government trusted them. They leader had-had two mental breakdowns, and more were suspected, but were kept under wraps. Not only would the experiments not have been surprising, they would be dangerous too. Therefore, the team had agreed to send Hiro undercover to discover what was really going on. Using some people in higher places, they had gotten Hiro into going undercover as Ame Sakata (1), a genius fresh out of college (which wasn't too far-fetched; only the college part was inaccurate) in need of a job. KK Inc. had reluctantly taken Hiro in, with the help of an employee- Calhoun - that refused to tell the team more than the fact that they needed to get down there and fast. She'd gotten Hiro close enough to whatever had been going on, and Hiro was really beginning to understand why she'd been so urgent.
The underground laboratory set off some red flags. The elevator took forever to reach the level they were going to. Then there was the actual lab. There was nothing natural about it. Almost everyone wore white, the exception being Hiro, who had a mint green watch on. Like the people, the lab was just as white. There were people that stopped him in his entrance.
"ID, please." said a woman in (what did you know) all white, brown hair in an immaculate bun and a dead stare.
Calhoun had told the team that this would happen, so they came prepared. Hiro unclipped the ID card him the pocket of his pants and held it out to the woman. She squinted at the moment at the ID before looking back at Hiro.
"I don't see what you can do that the others couldn't. Especially not a seventeen year old boy. But, I suppose, we are becoming desperate," Hiro looked at warily her for a moment and then the woman continued, "I'm Margret Pines."
The tension in Hiro's shoulders loosened a bit. Calhoun had told them a few names that they could trust, Margret Pines being one of them. Hiro nodded and Margret added.
"I'm sending you in as an observer. You have fifteen minutes with her until they come to finish off the day. From there you have to leave, but there is a one-way glass for other observations. Even with that, I suggest you use those fifteen minutes wisely."
Hiro laughed nervously.
"Sounds great! And cryptic. Mind telling me who "she" is?"
Margret gave Hiro a sharp look.
"They never gave her a name, but she made one up for herself when she was nine. It was the most insane name: Vanellope. They don't allow that sort of thinking types though, so no one ever calls her by it," Margret looked at the door she had led Hiro to. "Poor girl. Could name 1573 multiplied by 4523 in seconds, but doesn't know the sun from the moon."
With that she shoved Hiro into the room, muttering fifteen minutes as she shut the door.
Hiro gulped and turned to the only thing in the room. Raven black hair ending over midway down her back. He could only presume it was "she" because of what Margret had told him; the girl was sitting on the floor, her back facing him.
"It's not time yet."
Hiro nearly jumped at the sound her her voice. It wasn't smooth in any way, shape, or form, but the volume of her voice made it sound like it was.
"Um... time for what?" Hiro asked, nervously.
The girl turned around to reveal small, soft features and hazel eyes, scanning him.
"Who sent you in when you came?"
Hiro stuttered "m"s untile he was able to push out the words "Margret Pines."
The now-officalized Vanellope nodded, tension that Hiro hadn't even noticed before falling from her shoulders. However, her facial features scrunched up.
"When will they understand that I'm a lost cause?" Vanellope shuffled her unpadded foot on the smooth floor, "I've spent my entire life here."
A silence filled the room before Hiro remembered what Margret had said about the time limit.
"So... what do you do here?"
"Other than sit? Five things: Breakfast, schooling, lunch, dinner," Vanellope cast her eyes to the ground, "and torture."
Hiro's mouth grew dry and he was suddenly rendered unable to speak.
Vanellope took a deep breath and looked back up and Hiro.
"Can I see what's on your wrist?" Vanellope asked.
Hiro blinked at Vanellope, trying to convey confusion whilst he worked on gaining his voice again.
Vanellope caught the hint.
"The band. Around your wrist. With the numbers on it."
Hiro looked down and understood that Vanellope was talking about his watch. Still confused, he extended his arm to reveal the watch, in which Vanellope gingerly poked at.
"What color is it?" Vanellope asked Hiro.
Finally forced to speak, Hiro muttered, "Mint."
Vanellope's eyebrows scrunched closer together.
"Munt?" Although it came out as a question, it was obvious Vanellope was trying out the word.
Licking his lips, Hiro tried saying it again, more clearly this time.
"Mint."
Vanellope bit at her lip before trying the word again.
"Mint."
Hiro nodded, and added, "Yeah... it's green and blue mixed together... you've never heard of it?"
Vanellope let go of Hiro's wrist and shrugged.
"I've heard of blue and green, just not mint." Vanellope looked completely normal while she said it, like it was fine not to know a color you should have had figured out by the age of 5. Vanellope added one more thing with the tiniest smile Hiro had ever seen. "I like mint."
Hiro suddenly remembered what Margret had said: Could name 1573 multiplied by 4523 in seconds, but doesn't know the sun from the moon.
"What is 278 multiplied by 375?" Hiro blurted. He had to test his theory.
Barely a beat passed before Vanellope answered.
"104,250 (2)."
She didn't even look proud of herself.
Hiro didn't stop though.
"What does the sun look like?"
Vanellope answered at around the same speed.
"The sun is a ball of burning gas-"
Hiro cut her off.
"Yeah, but what does it look like? Like, when you look at it?"
Vanellope's eyebrows scrunched together once again.
"I-it's yellow." The answer came out more like a question then an answer.
Hiro watched her, his eyes wide. This was bad.
"What if I told you it was bright?"
"What if I told you it doesn't matter?" Vanellope snapped. "Listen, thank you for your time, but it's not going to matter. Now just... leave. I know they all watch from that mirror," Vanellope pointed towards the reflective surface towards the right of the room, "And all I want is to just be left alone. And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave it alone."
Hiro didn't feel at all compelled to do as she said, and the last thing Vanellope said meant she could see it in his eyes.
"No one ever lived long enough to save me. Some didn't even want to."
With that Vanellope sat down on the ground and began counting.
"6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."
Hiro had thought that maybe Vanellope had seen enough horror movies and had been trying to reenact them, that is until her numbers hit zero and the door opened, revealing Margret and some other men in doctors scrubs and syringe needles, amongst other materials.
"Time to go, Ame," Margret said tightly. Hiro left the room, looking back at Vanellope with every few steps. She didn't turn around, but her aura of tension had been revived. When he had finally exited the room, Margret slowly led Hiro to the one-way mirror that wasn't all too far away.
Margret spoke quickly, "They change their methods every five years. Momentarily, it is draining her of most of her blood."
It took all of Hiro's will power not to yelp. What good did that do? How was this girl even alive?
But before Hiro could ask any questions, he was in front of the one-way mirror and Margret was already midway into the crowd of white-clad people.
Hiro looked to watch what they were doing. He tried not to think that Vanellope wouldn't like him very much right now (not that he let on that he liked him at all).
Vanellope was standing up, her face completely wiped of expression. Her arms were extended and tubes were being set in the soft part in the middle. Vanellope's facial expression twisted as more and more tubes were placed in her neck and legs. Finally a doctor (if Hiro would call him- or any of them- that) switched on the machine the tubes were attached to and red liquid began to fill it up. Tears were streaming down Vanellope face and, although the room was sound-proofed so that Hiro couldn't hear anything, he knew that she was screaming loudly by the way one of the men in the room shoved a cloth in her mouth. Hiro had never personally watched someone die, and he had never been so glad that he had. Now it was all ruined. Vanellope's already fair skin became paper white and she was now being helped to stay on her feet by a few of the people in the room. Finally it had seemed like Vanellope had lost consciousness.
What Hiro was next made Vanellope's blood-draining look like your average Saturday morning cartoons. Vanellope's limp body erupted into thousands of what Hiro could only explain as cells before they connected into a helpless-looking Vanellope.
Somehow, Calhoun had found Hiro and escorted him to his car. While in the elevator, Calhoun looked at Hiro.
"If you can't do it, back out now."
Hiro snapped out of the trance that watching Vanellope's experiments had given him.
"What?"
"If you don't believe you can- or want to- help that girl, then back out now. We need to get her out, and no lolly gagging." Calhoun said shortly.
Hiro looked at Calhoun with as much energy and strength he could muster.
"I'm in."
For the first time since Hiro had been her, Calhoun smiled.
"Good. Because I think you and your team might be just the thing to get her out."
A/N: The darkness of this chapter is getting to my head. Look: I spent a good amount of time thinking up the plot and writing it. It is 10:30 at night. If you could spent 20 seconds of your life saying that you care about the five hours I put into this, I'd be grateful.
(1) This is mostly to my friends that read this: I RAN OUT OF JAPANESE NAMES!
(2) That's actually the answer, if you're wondering. Also, I will be referring back to Vanellope's cluelessness about life.