Hiro stormed into the garage, tossing his helmet to the side as he did, not caring that it crashed into some other equipment he had set up in that corner and reducing it to a pile on the ground. He sat himself in his spinning chair and whirled around to face his computer. He began to punch in a series of codes.
"Hiro, your neurotransmitter levels are fluxuating in an alarming way. You appear to be distressed." Baymax clumsily worked his way across the garage to his patient.
"Baymax, I'm fine," said Hiro. He pounded in a few more commands before spinning back around and loosing Baymax's helmet from his head. He then overturned it and began poking at its internals.
"What are you doing?" asked Baymax as Hiro connected a wire to the helmet, placed it on the desk, and pounded in some more commands.
"I'm upgrading your enhanced sensor," said Hiro. He unplugged the helmet and shoved it back onto Baymax's head. "You weren't able to pick up Tadashi, so I figure something must have been wrong with the scanner. I double-checked it all, and you should be able to find him now."
"I already saw Tadashi with my scanners," said Baymax, holding up a finger. "My scanners were fully functioning and operational."
Hiro looked up from his computer. "You saw him?" he asked, standing from his chair. "You saw him, and didn't tell me?"
"You asked me to locate the masked man. You seemed to be undergoing some sort of psychological trauma relating to Tadashi's death. According to my psychological health protocols, I was to break that news to you slowly in a nurturing environment, where you could easily share your feelings."
"Tadashi was dead!" exclaimed Hiro. "He was dead, and you knew he wasn't."
"I made a calculation…"
"Baymax, open data port." Hiro reached out his hand, and waited him to push out the small circle in his chest. It didn't come, and Hiro's eyes flitted to Baymax's optical receptors.
"Your hormone and stress levels indicate anger, and I do not think that you should be making major decisions…"
Baymax's sentence was cut off when Hiro tapped the circle, opening his data port. Two cards stuck out of their slots: one, red and labeled with a skull—the one with Baymax's martial arts programming—and the second, green and labeled in an even handwriting—the one that held the meticulously programmed nursing protocols, created by Tadashi. Hiro pulled the green one out and rolled back in his chair to his computer, where he inserted the card and began clicking.
"Hiro, Tadashi programmed me with…"
"Tadashi is gone."
"Tadashi is here," said Baymax.
"No, he's not—that's what people have been saying, ever since he…" Hiro's voice faltered. "…died. He's not here. He's out there, somewhere, with the microbots. And I need you to find him."
"Will you disable my programming?" asked Baymax. Hiro continued to click though the files on the drive on the computer.
"No," said Hiro. "I'm just rerouting it, taking out some of the protocols and safeguards Tadashi… put in there…" His clicking slowed for a moment before picking up again. He was surprised when he felt a light weight on his shoulder. He turned to see that Baymax had removed the arm pieces of armor and had placed his hand on Hiro.
"Please," said Baymax, "do not remove those programs. Tadashi worked hard putting them in."
"Tadashi isn't here anymore. He's some sort of a villain now—and I need to find him."
"Tadashi is here," said Baymax. Hiro glanced at the windows of the garage, wondering if his brother had followed them back to the Lucky Cat. Then, he realized that Baymax was pointing at his own chest with the arm that wasn't preoccupied with "comforting" Hiro.
Hiro stood and removed the chest piece of Baymax's suit, careful of the still-open data access point. He placed the piece of the suit on the floor of the garage. When he stood again, where Baymax would usually display the one-to-ten pain rating scale, was Tadashi's face. It was a picture from before the explosion: his face was whole, and his eyes were bright. Then, the picture started moving. "Hello! My name's Tadashi Hamada," the recording began. "This is my robotics project—trial one." He reached forward, toward the screen, and Hiro realized that it was Baymax himself who had recorded this video—it was from Baymax's point of view. In the video, inflated vinyl arms rose up and whacked against Tadashi until he was able to shut off the robot. Then, the video was cut short.
Another video started immediately afterward. "This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is my robotics project, trial two…" He reached up and started up Baymax.
"Hello! I am Baymax," said the robot. Tadashi's smile widened until Baymax continued: "Hello! I am Baymax. Hello! I am Baymax. Hello! Hello! Hello!" Tadashi shook his head and pressed the button again, both shutting Baymax down and ending the recording.
Another started up. "Tadashi Hamada. This is my robotics project, trial three…"
"This is my robotics project, trial twenty-four..."
"This is my robotics… sigh… project, trial eighty-seven…"
"Hello," came Baymax's voice from the recording. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."
Tadashi looked up, and his smile stretched across his face. "You work!" he exclaimed. "I mean, of course—finally…" He composed himself and held his arms out. "Baymax, scan me."
In the recording, a thin light ran over Tadashi's body. "Done," said Baymax. "You seem to be in good health." Tadashi pumped his fist into the air and tried to continue talking through his smile.
"Thank you, Baymax," said Tadashi. "Thank you so much—I am satisfied with my care."
The screen on Baymax's chest froze on Tadashi's smiling face. Hiro stared at it, and glanced back to the computer screen. "Tadashi programmed me for a reason,"' said Baymax.
Hiro looked down at his hands and trembled slightly. He reached up, and hit the backspace key a few times, before ejecting Tadashi's memory chip. He held it in shaking hands and inserted it back into Baymax's data port, pushing it shut as he did. He went to back up, but found that he was held to Baymax's chest by his strong, balloon-like arms. He pulled back, but the surrendered himself to the hug. He shook as he began to cry into the large robot's chest. He wrapped his arms around Baymax, and pulled himself into him. "There, there…" said Baymax softly.
They stayed like this until a knocking at the door of the garage interrupted them. Hiro released himself from the hug, wiping his tears away with his arm as he went. "It's probably Aunt Cass," he said, pushing Baymax's armor under the desk. "Put it away, Baymax," he continued, as he went to the door and opened it—
To reveal his team, standing in their normal, street clothes rather than their super suits. "Hiro!" exclaimed Wasabi. "We were worried about you when…"
"When you left us on the island with no way of getting back," finished GoGo, popping a bubble of gum.
"Don't worry," said Fred, "we got a ride back on the family chopper. We were just worried about you, dude."
"I'm sorry, guys—when I saw him, I just kind of…" Hiro paused. "Freaked out."
"We don't blame you at all," said Honey Lemon. "Hiro, we freaked out, too, and I can't even imagine what it must have been like for you…"
"Thank you, Honey Lemon. Thanks to all of you," said Hiro, Baymax joining him at his side. "But Tadashi is still out there, and I know I need to find him—and you do, too. There are too many unanswered questions. But I'm sure we can find out why Tadashi's like he is, and help him—if we work together." He stood back and let what he had said sink in.
"Well," said Fred, bouncing a bit. "What are we waiting for?" He looked to the others, each of them with the beginnings of a grin on their faces. "Let's go!"
