Title: Oops
Summary: Tadashi goes behind Hiro's back and inspects Baymax but encounters some... issues.
Notes: The ending is a bit cliched and I'm not very excited with it. I know other authors have covered this particular angle and have done it better. However, it's been a little bit since I posted something for Reclamation and I thought I'd put this out there at least.
"Tadashi," Baymax said sounding almost reproachful, "I am unsure why you feel the need to conduct this inspection without Hiro's knowledge."
Tadashi gave Baymax a sheepish look as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just don't want Hiro to feel as though I'm butting into his work." he explained with an awkward smile.
If Baymax could have raised an eyebrow, Tadashi was sure he would have. "It is my opinion that Hiro would not mind. He is eager to share all his work with you." Baymax informed him.
He gave a shrug. Though Tadashi didn't doubt that Baymax was telling the truth, he didn't quite feel comfortable enough to ask Hiro. Hiro, to be fair, had given him permission to give Baymax a closer look. After being gone three years though, Tadashi felt like he was constantly worrying about overstepping boundaries. Baymax might have been his project at one point but now he was Hiro's. On top of that, Baymax was an integral part of the Big Hero 6 team. He wasn't going to fiddle around or change anything with Baymax's programming. Tadashi just wanted a closer look without feeling as though he had a reason to constantly doubt himself.
Tadashi pulled a heavy duty and long USB cable out from the table in the garage lab. "Alright buddy," he said to Baymax as he pressed the access port open, "I promise not to change anything around. I just want to see what's going on."
"I understand." Baymax said.
As he lifted the USB cable to the access port, Tadashi brushed his fingers over the slots in the port. There were three of them but there was only one red chip in the port. Thanks to his retrograde amnesia his memory had more holes than a sieve; however, he distinctly recalled a green chip. At least he was pretty certain he'd programmed the original healthcare procedures on to a green chip. "Tadashi is something wrong?" asked Baymax.
"Huh," Tadashi snapped out of the thought he'd fallen into. He shook his head, "No, no. It's just that... wasn't your healthcare protocol chip green?"
"Yes," answered Baymax. "The red chip is my karate chip."
To emphasize the point, Baymax demonstrated a downward knife-hand strike. It promptly sent some empty soda bottles clattering to the ground. Tadashi looked down at the fallen bottles and blinked. "Oops." Baymax said.
Alright then. At least he wasn't misremembering anything. However, if the chip in Baymax's access port was his crime fighting chip then where was his healthcare protocol chip? Common sense immediately chimed in and supplied the idea that the programming was hardwired into his internal memory. If that was the case though Tadashi wondered just how big Baymax's hard drive was. Baymax was leaning towards the bottles but Tadashi stopped him. "I'll pick them up later Baymax. Let's just get you plugged in."
Tadashi inserted the USB cord into the access port and turned back to the computer screen. File after file popped. Tadashi opened a few of them and skimmed through. He was aware of Baymax standing behind him and observing his every movement. The little red light that Hiro had installed at some point told him that Baymax was currently running his own scan on Tadashi. "I'm fine Baymax." he assured him as he clicked open Baymax's hard drive file.
"You are excited." Baymax supplied.
"Yeah, a little. Do you realize just how much Hiro has put into you? It's insane." Tadashi told him with a smile as he looked back over his shoulder.
"The upgrades Hiro has given me have made me both a better healthcare companion and superhero but not without occasional problem."
"Well no one's perfect." laughed Tadashi.
Just as he'd guessed, Hiro had programmed Baymax's healthcare protocols into his hard drive. Tadashi found it interesting though that Hiro had backed up said hard drive three or four times within the last week. The backup files themselves were probably on an external hard drive somewhere upstairs in their shared room but the log was right there on the computer screen. Digging back even farther showed that Hiro was fanatical, or paranoid, and backed up Baymax's hard drive an extraneous number of times. It made him raise his eyebrow. "Hey Baymax, why does Hiro back up your hard drive so much? Does your system crash on a regular basis?"
"I believe Hiro backs up my hard drive because it is beneficial to his mental well being." explained Baymax.
Very briefly Tadashi wondered why obsessively backing up Baymax's systems was 'beneficial to his mental well being' as it was so put. He quickly dismissed it though for the moment but made a mental note to try and find a way to ask about it without looking too suspicious. Also, where was the healthcare protocol chip now? Another thing he'd find a way to ask Hiro about.
Baymax let Tadashi work without comment or conversation. It was like opening up a piece of himself that he hadn't seen in a long time thanks to his amnesia. Hiro had made a lot of changes to Baymax over the years but underneath those changes was his own foundations. There was no mistaking the programs that he'd written and designed. Everything from the advanced A.I. that allowed Baymax to learn and grow on the fly to the low battery shutdown sequence had Tadashi's fingerprints all over it.
Something sad washed over him. Baymax might have originally been his idea. He might have done the initial building and programming. However, it was Hiro who had continued working on Baymax after he'd disappeared. It was Hiro who had turned Baymax into something that could be used in the real world. It wouldn't be much longer before Baymax would be ready for the professional market for use in hospitals, doctor's offices, and anywhere else he was needed. That was all Hiro. Beneath Tadashi's disappointment, pride welled in him. His otouto was amazing. Hiro and Baymax had helped so many people. Tadashi was just glad he could be a part of that, no matter how small that part was.
Tadashi file surfed for probably about twenty minutes and it was about that time that he came across a file that was labelled "avoid at all costs." He raised his eyebrow. It was thrown beneath five layers of files in Baymax's healthcare protocol system. As far as he could tell though it was supposed to be there. "Hey Baymax? This file that's been marked 'avoid at all costs,' what is it?"
"I am not sure. I can't remember." Baymax admitted. Wow, if only a robot could sound confused.
"What do you mean you can't remember. It's on your hard drive. You should have access to it." Tadashi said as he ran his hand through his hair. It was weird that Baymax couldn't access the file. "Hang on. Let's see if we can figure it out."
He cracked his knuckles and set to work. It wasn't hard to get the file reader opened. As he read and scrolled, Tadashi again found himself raising his eyebrow. The file history made it look as though someone had tried to scrub the file off Baymax's hard drive, failed, and then reloaded it from a previous back up. Okay, so obviously the person who'd tried to delete the file was Hiro but why.
Tadashi misclicked on something. There was a hard mechanical whine from behind him. He whipped around right in time to see Baymax's eye sensors go dim and then black. Then there was another click as the internal fan kicked into overdrive to cool circuits down.
Tadashi's eyes went wide. "Nonononononono!"
He jumped to his feet, sending the chair flying off to the side. Tadashi cursed frantically as he fumbled to Baymax's side. Baymax drooped to the side but he somehow managed to keep him upright. "Baymax? Baymax?" Tadashi yelled as he looked back and forth between the robot and the computer.
The sound that was coming from Baymax as well as the program on the computer told him that Baymax was still functioning. Why he'd suddenly gone unresponsive, though, Tadashi had no idea. He also didn't have any idea what he'd done. All he knew was that he had just caused his brother's robotic pride and joy and crime fighting partner to malfunction. Oh God! He was so dead!
He turned away from Baymax and went for the toolbox laying on the ground beside the table. "Okay, just stay calm. Keep cool. Whatever happened… you can just fix it. You can fix it." he mumbled under his breath as he shifted through tools.
Suddenly, the electronic whirring and whining stopped. Tadashi looked up and around as Baymax straightened stiffly. His eye sensors came back on, blinking a bit but otherwise normal looking. The fan inside cycled off and Tadashi felt himself breath a huge sigh of relief. Baymax's programming must have rebooted itself. Tadashi laughed a little as the knot of stress in his chest slackened. "You alright buddy?" Tadashi called out as he leaned against the table for balance. "You kinda scared me there for a moment."
"Many boys on the cusp of flowering into manhood start to experience changes in their body around thirteen or fourteen years of age." Baymax recited rigidly.
"Wait what?" Tadashi blinked in confusion.
"Changes include minor ones such as developing hair and major ones such as a deepening of the voice." continued Baymax.
"Um, are you trying to give me the birds and the bees talk?" Tadashi asked as his jaw dropped. "Baymax trust me when I say this but I'm kinda beyond this conversation."
"You may notice changes to your gen…"
Tadashi's went so wide that they nearly popped out of his skull. "Nope! Not going there! I'm satisfied with my care!"
There was an internal mechanical whir as Baymax stopped his impromptu sex education talk. Of all the things to reboot by default, it had to be that conversation? Seriously? Then he glanced up at the computer screen. He could've smacked his head into the corner of the table. The file that Hiro had tried so hard to scrub was the sex talk. Tadashi paused. It was almost comical. Leave it to a teenager to try delete that programming. Tadashi bit his lip and tried not to laugh. At least Baymax wasn't malfunctioning anymore.
"Many boys on the cusp of flowering into manhood start to experience changes in their body around thirteen or fourteen years of age." Baymax suddenly started again.
Tadashi closed his eyes and pressed his hand to his face. Apparently he'd spoken too soon. "I'm satisfied with my care." he repeated.
Baymax stopped once more… only to start on the same spiel again. Okay, so the deactivation phrase only reset the program. Great. That was great. "I'll just let you run your course then." mumbled Tadashi as he fought back embarrassment.
He pulled himself into the desk chair, intending on allowing Baymax to cycle through. Hopefully he would be back to normal after he got it out of his system. That didn't mean though that Tadashi didn't rub his temples in a mixture of frustration and embarrassment the entire time. He just had to sit there and wait. After that it would all be better.
Except it wasn't. Baymax finished his sex education speech, complete with pictures and diagrams, about ten minutes later. And then he promptly started it over again. Tadashi grimaced, "Oops."
After about the third time Baymax cycled through his speech, Tadashi had had enough. It wasn't the best idea but it was the only one he had at the moment. "Alright Baymax. I'm sorry it's come to this but it's time to try the good ole' fashioned fix it… turning you off and turning you back on."
With a decisive click, Tadashi shut down Baymax's system from the computer. At least Hiro had a million and one backups for Baymax. He opened the most recent one on the computer to reload Baymax. After he was certain that everything was going to be alright and that he hadn't broken Baymax beyond repair, Tadashi turned back to the sex education programming that Hiro had apparently tried to get rid of. With the endless cycle of death that it had sent Baymax into it was little wonder why Hiro had buried and marked it "avoid at all costs."
A sigh escaped his lips. Something like that could be a problem if it ever came up again. A big problem. Without really realizing what he was doing, Tadashi turned back to face the computer and pulled a notepad towards him. Maybe if he started from the programming framework he could create a patch to fix the bug. Hiro would probably understand.
A/N: And there it is... the whole Baymax malfunctions and gives Tadashi the "birds and the bees" talk. Over done I know and honestly it was funnier when I had the idea. Maybe I'll come back to it later? I don't know. Anyways, maybe some Vera and Big Hero 6 interaction next week for all of you who read Scientist?
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and added the story to their alerts and favorites!
Guest (anon review): Thank you for your compliments! I am willing to take requests! I might not be very punctual with getting some of them written and posted but I love getting ideas and prompts! I think I will definitely use your request. Thank you so much!
FireandIce128: Follow up TV series? Thank you! I just really enjoy writing in this AU and I felt like there were a lot of things that I couldn't get to or write during the main story. Oneshot follow ups seem to be the best for continuing on for me right now.
Ember Neutron: Hiro and Vera will definitely grow into a pretty strong friendship. I think all of the members of BH6 would get along fairly well with Vera for various reason. Hiro and Vera though I'm really looking forward to writing more of their dynamic. Part of the next thing I want to post next time will have some Hiro and Vera friendship fluff.
Lionskye: I'm glad you enjoyed "Bugs in the Circuits." Tomadashi bonding was a lot of fun to write. I'm hoping to expand and write some bonding for everyone and Tadashi. As for Marvel Cinematic Universe canon tie-ins, there are just some characters who are too awesome to leave out. Coulson was always one of my favorites.
XXPay4XtraShippingsXX: I wanted to go with something light and fluffy for the first oneshot. I also didn't want to go with something that starred Vera right off the bat. I wanted to keep the focus on Tadashi and co because, as you said, they've been through a lot. I do have some darker oneshots swimming around my head though. Because there's darker stuff that probably needs to be addressed after everything that's happened (both in canon and in Scientist).
