Mikasa was right, but when Hiro stopped to consider the matter seriously he realized that she's never wrong. Wild and crazy, sure, but never wrong. Not in the traditional sense.

The man in black woke up chained to a chair, his helmet missing so it revealed a youthful face. Stands of light brown hair dangled over his eyes and the closer Hiro got to inspecting him the more he realized he looked like Tadashi. Same broad nose, high cheekbones. It twisted something deep inside Hiro's chest.

Hiro squinted at him from his spot propped against the metal table behind where Rufus and Mikasa stood. A bruise had already begun to blossom across the right side of his face, and blood was caked and drying from where Hiro had busted his nose and lip. A long gash, red with infection, was split across his temple and the longer Hiro looked the worst he felt.

He'd done that- to another person.

Tadashi would've been angry if he'd known. At least, Hiro knew, he would be until he realized that the man had tried killing Hiro. That he had become almost frighteningly close to succeeding.

"Maybe you should go rest kid," Mikasa suddenly piped up, uncharacteristically gentle as she turned dark oval eyes towards him.

"I'm fine," Hiro promised when Rufus turned to regard him with a tight expression, face crinkled in that way that meant Hiro wasn't allowed to do whatever they were about to do.

Mikasa just shrugged as she turned back to their prisoner, but Rufus eyes remained. They were bright in careful thought as he regarded Hiro like he would a newborn puppy that had just been kicked in the side. Hiro could feel his control slipping, knowing that at any minute he was going to be sentenced back upstairs.

Then their prisoner groaned and Hiro was all but forgotten.

The head snorted softly, jerking upwards so the caramel colored eyes could regard them each slowly. Deliberately. And Hiro didn't miss how they seemed to linger on him, heavy and bright and more than a little frighteningly.

"I know you," he said slowly, tongue running across the blood marred over his teeth in bright splotches.

"You tried killing me," Hiro replied dryly as Rufus turned to glare at him, commanding him with a simple expression to shut up.

The man grinned, the red now smeared over the usual white, as he sighed, "Nah. Before that. You're that rich guy's kid brother. The crazy one."

Hiro's frown deepened at the mention of his brother, but he kept his mouth shut. Not because he was afraid of what Rufus would've done to him if he didn't but because he knew reacting would be proving the guy right, and the thought of dragging Tadashi down with him made his throat close up in panic.

The apparent death of Hiro was probably too much for his brother, Hiro didn't need to throw in yet another reason for him to suffer.

"You think he's crazy?" Mikasa demanded with a forced laugh and strained smiles as her eyes burned brightly, "Oh boy. Why don't you try me?"

The guy ignored her, eyes seemingly stuck on Hiro as he murmured past bloodied teeth, "Rumors said you were clever, perhaps more so than that good-for-nothing brother of yours. Cute too, which is sort of understating it. Why are the pretty smart ones crazy, I wonder?"

Rufus smashed his face in with the back of his gun. Hiro cried out in protest, moving so he could jump off from his seat and intervene. It was Mikasa who caught his arm, holding him back with a tense expression. She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to.

They were protecting him.

That's all they ever seemed to do.

"This isn't about him," Rufus snarled low and angry as he grabbed the guy's mess of a face and peered down into the bright defiant eyes staring back, "Who sent you? What do you know?"

"No one sent me," the guy managed through cracked teeth as his split lips spread into a bright smile as he added, "and I'm afraid that you haven't gotten the memo, it's always been about him."

"You were the ones who attacked me," Mikasa protested as she moved away from Hiro to glower at their useless captive, Hiro's mind already moving quicker than it probably should.

The pieces fit together, he knew they did, he just had to figure out how.

"Sorry sweetheart but that's incorrect," the man protested and he might've shook his head if his cheeks weren't still grasped in Rufus's iron hold, "It was you who was trespassing. Boss doesn't like that, especially not in nights like this one."

"Why? What's tonight?" Rufus demanded, but Hiro was already moving towards them with a sound of protest.

"It seems little boy wonder's figured it out," the man snorted when Hiro forced himself between the glowering figures so he could glare down at their captive.

Hiro ignored him as he practically ripped the man's shirt underneath his jacket apart. Mikasa squawked indigently as Rufus's strong hand clasped against his shoulder, signaling him to stop. Naturally, Hiro didn't.

The man snorted in laughter as he goaded lewdly, "Kinky. I didn't take you as the bondage type-"

Hiro stopped paying attention to him, eyes fixated on the small tattoo painted across his left side. The design was rather simplistic, two sleeping dragons intertwined together as smoke curled from their nostrils. Meaningless to most people.

Hiro wasn't most people.

A hand caught his forearm, spinning him around, as Mikasa glared down at him and demanded in a cold clipped tone, "Hiro?"

"It's a gang," Hiro explained as he jerked his arm free so he could turn back to their prisoner.

"Duh," Mikasa snapped back, "I still don't see how that's relevant-"

"It's Yama's gang," Hiro interrupted bitingly as he turned a furious expression towards her and added, "He runs the bot fights I used to compete in until," he stopped as his eyebrows furrowed together in frustration because he still can't remember before he finished lamely, "until four years ago."

Mikasa and Rufus seemed to have filled in the blanks as their captive cackled behind them. He leaned forward in his bounds, hands twisting and yanking until the soft flesh was a bright agitated red.

"That's not all Yama does. Come on kid. You really think he becomes the most feared man in all the Underground because of a couple of bot fights?" he demanded, and Hiro couldn't say why the man was pushing him so hard to remember such insignificant things but it had him frowning nevertheless.

"You're done," Rufus growled before Hiro got a chance to reply, grabbing his arm and shoving him towards the exit, "Go up to your room."

"What're you grounding me?" Hiro squawked incredulously, "Because you're incapable of handling a couple secondhand henchmen?"

"Hiro. Room. Now," Rufus snarled, eyes flashing dangerously and some part of Hiro told him to back off but he didn't.

It was nice to know his temper was still with him, always ready to get him into the next bout of trouble rather it be mysterious disappearances of defying overprotective guardians.

"No," Hiro snapped back before his gaze focused on Mikasa as he accused, "Not when she's going to kill him as soon as I leave because this isn't the lead you've been looking for."

"Why does it even matter?" Mikasa asked- not denying it- as she rested the palm of her hand firmly against the hilt of her sword, "Why does he matter?"

"He's a person Mikasa," Hiro shot back, Tadashi's voice practically screaming inside his head now, before he added in a slightly calmer tone, "and he works for someone who hurts people for a living. Innocent people."

Mikasa frowned as she glanced away, staring down at their captive with an unreadable expression. Rufus shoved at Hiro's chest once more.

"Hiro leave. I was wrong. You weren't ready," he growled but Hiro stood his ground, refusing to give up on this because he knew what Yama was capable of.

"So we're not going to do anything Rufus?" Hiro demanded, and it was because they were so close that he was able to see the way Rufus's eyes flashed in sudden anger.

"We're not vigilantes Hiro! We're not the good guys!" Rufus screamed at him and he'd probably say more if it wasn't for the sudden loud cackling behind them.

Hiro frowned at their captive confusedly.

"That's so sweet. Here, I'll make it simple for all of you," their captive said when he realized all eyes were on him as he tipped his head forward, "No one's stopping anybody. All hail Yama."

Before Hiro got a chance to process what he'd just said he clamped his mouth over the breast pocket of his jacket. Mikasa screamed, moving to intercept him but even she was too slow.

Their prisoner convulsed, eyes rolling back in his skull as white foam dripped from his hanging mouth. Mikasa pressed her fingers against his throat, his limp head rolling back so it smacked against the back of the wooden chair ominously.

"Is he-?" Hiro asked from his place in Rufus's hold, the man's hands clamped on either side of him and were the only things momentarily keeping him upright.

Mikasa released a heavy breath as she bowed her head, bangs obscuring her expression, as she sighed almost sadly, "He's dead."

(•-•)

Hiro was fourteen the first time he ever met Yama- or Little Yama as most people called him with an air of irony- and it was coincidently the first time he'd ever thought that he was going to die.

He wasn't an idiot, he always knew how dangerous bot fights were. Even if he hadn't before Tadashi's constant nagging about it would've tipped him off. He just hadn't cared, confident enough in his skulls to believe that he'd come out on top every time.

True in the robotics aspect.

An actual fight from angry mob bosses was a different story entirely.

He'd been lucky then. Tadashi had had his back, refusing to allow any harm to befall him despite Hiro's constant insistence that he could take care of himself. He wasn't a kid anymore, but then he disappeared and lost a week and could now see things that only seemed to prove that he was insane.

Amongst all of that, Yama and bot fights had all but been forgotten. He withdrew in himself, seeking solace in his silence as he allowed himself to drift with the strange orbs when he thought no one was looking. Then people started looking and noticing and somehow that meant Hiro needed a therapist because he wasn't dealing with trauma in a healthy manner.

College had made that worst, along with Tadashi moving out to continue his life without Hiro but Hiro had somehow made it all work.

Standing there, staring at the lifeless dead body, he wasn't sure how he was going to get past this one.

"Hiro?" someone- he wasn't sure who, doesn't think it matters- pressed as a hand reached out to grasp his shoulder and he jerked away because someone had just died, and he'd let them.

"I need air," he choked out instead, turning on his heel and bolting before either of them got a chance to protest, and he didn't stop until he was standing out by the pier.

Before everything went up in flames he had found comfort there for reasons he couldn't place into sensible words. It made him feel safe, numbing the tight nerves that otherwise never seemed to fade. Now he just felt tired and looking out at the water he felt the drag of the world pull at his shoulders.

An orange and blue orb bounced in front of him, skimming their tails against the water. Hiro fixated on that, sitting down on the edge of the pier so he could watch them dance around. There wasn't any of the tension that he's seen in them since the fire, and it almost looked like everything was okay. Normal.

"I hate everything," he groaned to himself, leaning his head back as he curled his fingers over his face allowing himself to drop in the misery he's felt for two weeks now.

Two weeks and there hasn't been a sign of Dr. Stewart or either the man or woman Hiro had last seen them with. Pellinore was still dead, and the world was convinced Hiro was as well. Aunt Cass and Tadashi thought Hiro was dead and nothing else compared to that soul shattering revelation.

He'd hurt his family in ways he'll never be able to forgive himself for.

Again.

Regaining himself, he scrubbed a heavy hand across his face before leaning his cheek against the knee he pressed against his chest. He blinked, the events of the day sapping what little strength he had left and he knew the man dying was his fault. Pellinore's death had been his fault, and consequently so had been the assassin. His family thought he was dead, and if they didn't find Dr. Stewart soon then Hiro's sure they'd be able to chalk another death under 'Hiro's fault.'

He just needed to do something, anything, right. He needed to help someone, instead of hurting them every chance he got and the more he sat around doing nothing the more he draws innocents into something they had no business in.

You can't save everyone Tadashi, he had once told his brother after Hiro had come home and his brother practically went mad with blueprints and inventions that would change the world- have changed the world.

Maybe not, his brother had responded with a faraway gleam in his eye, but I plan on saving as many as I can.

Hiro hadn't understood at the time- had been selfish and reluctant to let all the attention he was receiving go just yet- but now he did. Baymax had helped him understand Tadashi's vision, Tadashi's need to play hero and give everything he had to everyone except himself.

Hiro also knew his brother had been a better person than he ever hoped of being, had ever wanted to be. Now it was Hiro's turn because he was starting to realize this wasn't a fight others were going to win for him. This was a battle he was going to have to undergo himself.

"I thought I might've found you here," Mikasa's soft voice suddenly spoke behind him and Hiro turned so he could watch the older girl close the distance between them.

He tipped his head back to the ocean, one leg clutched to his chest while the other dangled over the side of the pier. Mikasa smiled thinly at that, taking the spot beside his head. She leaned forward, lithe form bent as she clutched her knees tightly; one of her swords clanged at her side as she untangled his rope darts and deposited them in his lap.

He took them without question, wrapping them in place over his arms. He hadn't used them frequently enough to permeantly scar his skin, but he was skilled enough to get them where he wanted to. Tadashi would flip if he knew his little brother had any knowledge of such a dangerous weapon, one that could potentially hurt the user as well as their target.

The ends of Hiro's mouth quirked upwards. Thoughts of Tadashi helped him cope through the worst of it, and he hoped that if he manages to survive to the end of this he'd be able to explain to his brother why he did it.

I wanted to be like you, big brother. That's all I ever wanted.

"Rufus is pissed you took off," Mikasa spoke up, breaking their silence.

Hiro turned to regard her with another look before he turned away and asked, "Is that why you came after me?"

Mikasa released a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping downwards as she admitted softly, "No. I- I want to know what it's like. Not remembering what those people did to you."

"I don't know," Hiro admitted as he pressed the side of his face back against his knee, "I have dreams that I guess are memories. They come and go, but I don't usually remember them in the morning. I just feel…"

"Cold," Mikasa finished, and Hiro had suspected that she understood and knew what he felt like after those nights, but now he knew.

"I don't want anyone else to feel that way," Hiro explained, hands gripping the soft flesh of his calves tightly.

"Really?" Mikasa asked and she sounded genuinely surprised as she continued, "I used to want everyone to feel like how I did. I hated those who didn't, thought they were weak and worthless."

"Well you never had a brother like I did," Hiro murmured, eyes trailing the orbs over the gentle sloshing water.

"Maybe not," Mikasa replied before she rose to her feet stretching her hand out towards him as she added, "but I have you and that's all I really need. Come on, Hamada. Let's do something for once."

Hiro only hesitated for a moment before he accepted the hand and was hefted to his feet. Mikasa beamed at him, eyes shining brightly as she handed him a bright yellow bandana. He took it without saying anything, tying the fabric over his nose so it covered the bottom of his face mirroring Mikasa's look.

Her smile never faltered from behind the bandana as she unsheathed her sword, the edges of it glittering underneath the moonlight and Hiro knew that when Rufus got a hold of them it wouldn't be pretty but he didn't care. His nerves were still bunched tightly together, wounding inside him demanding to be released.

"I'm ready," he told her with a firm nod and heavy swallow, "Let's go work for a change."

(•-•)

They ended up on the other side of the city, running amongst the shadows like ghosts. Occasionally Hiro caught a glimpse of a stray orb, floating along at a steady pace beside them and it was then with them standing in a dark alley that the urge to follow filled him.

"I have a hunch," he told an agitated Mikasa at not finding anybody that needed their help, and Hiro had always known the city was a safe one but it was impossible to be crime free; they just weren't looking in the right places.

She followed without protest, eyes darting around them as if she was searching for the orb but couldn't find it. Hiro had already known that one, though, considering he had been the only one that came out from those cells capable of just that.

Mikasa didn't say anything so Hiro didn't either. He hated whenever one of them demanded what he saw, what the orbs looked like, and he knew it was probably just morbid curiosity but with them didn't come pleasant memories so Hiro often offered as little as possible, which annoyed them to no end he's sure. He's just at the point where he no longer cares.

"Where are we going Hiro?" Mikasa demanded after walking in a long tense silence moments before he stopped, her lithe form colliding into the back of his ungracefully.

The orb was gone, overcome by the harsh lights surrounding them. Hiro didn't recognize the place as slide the pieces together and figure out where they were.

It was one of those few places Tadashi forbad him to ever go, and Hiro was frightened enough of the place to actually listen. On the streets, in the alleyways and amongst all the shadows, he's heard it refer to as the Underground which is dumb because it's not actually under anything.

It's on the very tip of the city, one of the only places no major roads traverse in or out. Fortunate for the tourists that venture around the city like lost birds- never looking for trouble but drawing it to them like magnets. Fortunate in the fact that they won't accidently found themselves in the Underground, unfortunate because people end up there all the time.

And now Hiro was there, staring at the rundown buildings and filth crusted streets with an air of disgust. Beside him he could feel Mikasa's bubbling excitement and he figured, offhandedly, that if life had turned out differently for the both of them then she could've fit herself comfortably in this world.

"I'm sure there's a story I'm missing," Mikasa whispered airily, eyes twinkling like diamonds in the artificial lights.

Not even the stars were brave enough to shine on this place.

Hiro shifted uncomfortably, not sure he was ready to subject himself to this just yet, before he released a heavy breath and practically breathed, "Not really but if we want to find Yama then this would be the place."

He moved forward. A hand caught his arm, effectively stalling all progress Hiro would've made. When he turned to face Mikasa again, her eyes were no longer glittering. They were hard and cold and completely unreadable.

"Hiro-" she started but Hiro was clever enough to hear it for what it really was- a warning.

He jerked his arm free, turning away from her as he replied simply, "I'm not leaving. You can go tell Rufus if you want but this- this is something I've got to do."

A moment later he felt her at his back tense and coil like a viper ready for the kill as she growled lowly, "He'd kill me if I left you here by yourself."

"Then I suppose its anonymous then," Hiro shot back before ripping his arm free and started back towards the building.

Mikasa followed like an overprotective parent afraid to completely release their kid into the free world. Hiro didn't comment, knowing that the majority of that was stemming from her need to ensure that Hiro didn't somehow manage to get himself killed in the process, but this had nothing to do with the cells or fire. This was about him- about what he could've so easily become four years ago, back when everything was so simple.

He supposed it was probably too much to wish for something like that once more. At the very most he can stop these people, and try to go back to the life he left behind in literal flames.

Something twisted in his chest, sharp and prickly like a thorn bush, wounding itself tighter and tighter over his heart at that thought. He'd left his family, let them believe he was dead. Was there a normal after that? Would they even want to see his sorry face after putting them through something as horrible as that?

Hiro didn't know.

Hiro always hated not knowing things, an issue he'll glad blame on the fact that he's been the smartest person in the room since he was four.

Mikasa bumped his shoulder passing him to enter the building first. She didn't look at him, didn't acknowledge him with even a passing glance, only a whisper as she opened the door.

"Stay alive."

A threat as much as a plead. Knowing Mikasa, probably more so but Hiro tried really hard not to ponder that too much because whatever Mikasa was capable of doing to him frightened him a lot more than Yama.

But this was something Hiro needed to do- as much for his sake as all the other unsuspecting civilians living so close to Yama's reign of terror. Civilians like his aunt and brother. His friends.

Hiro swallowed thickly, even as his resolve hardened somewhere in his gut. Mikasa didn't seem to notice, already blending in the women in tight-to-no-clothing-at-all. Hiro started after her, unsettled at being left to his own devices in such a seedy place, but Mikasa caught his gaze and shook her head subtly. Even so, the message was clear.

Spread out. Blend in. Don't do anything dumb.

Hiro swallowed once more before he nodded in affirmation and disappeared in a different crowd. One of men built like mountains and machines as they laughed crudely at things that made his ears blush. More than once his fingers pricked at the ends of his weapon, ensuring himself that it was still there and that he was capable of taking everyone in this room at once.

A false comfort, as neither Mikasa nor Rufus would approve so therefore he'd never follow through with it, but a comfort nevertheless. Even when a hand caught his elbow and spun him around so quickly he became dizzy.

"What're you doing on this side-" the figure stopped short, blinking as Hiro stared back owlishly; then the stranger's icy gaze slid up and down as he obviously assessed Hiro for something he didn't have.

"I'm not a girl," Hiro squeaked- hating at how frightened and embarrassed his voice came out as.

The hand remained where it was, tightening fractionally every once in a while, but the initial look of anger quickly morphed from confusion to something almost animalistic. The blue eyes twinkled with a sort of mischievous mirth Hiro had never picked up on when he was still fourteen.

Now the man might as well be declaring his intentions with a megaphone and sparkly banners.

"Nah. I'd say you're not," the man purred as Hiro's face hardened in a tight glare, "Prettier than most of the ones I've seen around here."

"Careful," Hiro warned as he wrenched his arm free and prayed Mikasa wasn't keeping as close an eye to him as he knew she was, "You'll never know who'll be listening in."

"You think I'm scared of some ugly pig bitch?" the man demanded in slight anger as Hiro puffed himself out as threateningly as he could.

"I would be," a voice chimed behind him only it wasn't Mikasa who wielded the knife that ended up implanted in between the man's shoulder blades though it was definitely feminine.

Hiro blinked as the man's knees buckled under his sudden weight, the knife sliding out with him, before his gaze shifted up at the woman before him. Most of the people that had been previously crowding Hiro moved away, like they were afraid of catching some weird plague. Not that Hiro blamed them considering the tall legged woman wiping the blood off her knife like it was a small annoyance and she hadn't just murdered someone in such a public area.

And Hiro always knew he was short but this woman towered over him, probably would've towered over Honey Lemon, and she appeared to be all muscle. She was dressed in a red robe, tied around the waist and splayed out at the bottom allowing her free reign over her movements. Dark hair was pulled back in a messy bun with mutinous strands falling around her face.

She was perhaps one of the most beautiful women Hiro's ever laid his eyes on. She was also one of the most terrifying, and he didn't appreciate the way she was suddenly staring at him.

"And what do you think you're looking at exactly?" she demanded, voice a lowly growl in her annoyance and Hiro blinked in surprise.

Standing around gawking was perhaps one of the worst ways to blend in. Whoops.

"Please forgive my cousin," a welcomingly familiar voice pleaded as hands clasped his shoulders bending his head into a forced bow, "He's a little… simple. If you know what I mean?"

From the smirk the woman gave him she very much knew exactly what Mikasa was hoping to get at. Hiro had to physically tamper down on his rising annoyance, knowing that one ill placed word could blow whatever cover they were trying to settle with.

"You know I don't usually participate in these kinds of things," the woman purred with false delicateness resting her hand against Hiro's cheek even as Mikasa went to jerk him away, "but I think I'd like to make an exception. Just this once."

Mikasa's hands tightened as she scrambled for a way out, but before anybody had a chance to speak a loud booming voice demanded, "Akumu! What do you think you're doing?!"

The woman stepped back evidently unfazed as she met Yama's expectant stare with a droll one of her own. The knife she'd used to impale the man on the ground was gone, and Hiro idly wondered where she kept anything concealed in such a tight-fitting outfit.

"Just a little fun boss," she replied drolly even as Mikasa jerked Hiro towards their exit, though not that the large man was present and obvious in the room Hiro was reluctant to leave.

"I don't pay you or your sisters to have fun," Yama growled angrily before he demanded, "Or did you forget?"

The beginning stages of a smirk danced across the woman's face as she assured, "Not at all boss."

"Mikasa. Stop," Hiro hissed as he jerked his arm free to watch in wide eyed wonder as the pieces collapsed in one collective heap.

"Hiro," Mikasa warned, but Hiro was no longer listening.

"Mikasa," he hissed instead like the stalling idiot he was, "Don't you see? That woman. She's a fujita."

Mikasa didn't look impressed. She didn't even stall in her movements as she forced him further out the room in an attempt to salvage whatever chance they still had. Hiro didn't fight her as much as he could've, still blinking in wide-eyed wonderment.

"Whatever kid. We'll continue this conversation back home," Mikasa snapped at him reaching out to jerk his arm once more.

Hiro allowed her, stumbled slightly on his footing before he finally ripped his attention away from the woman and Yama and the growing crowd of gaping men as Mikasa forced them both out the door and in the cover of the night.

(•_•)

Tadashi watched as Baymax moved around the small room, Mochi propped in his lap happily purring while he slept. Tadashi didn't pay the cat much attention. Mochi was asleep anyways, the stress of losing Hiro wearing on the small family more than any of them would like to acknowledge.

It wasn't like last time. Then they still had hope. Hiro had been taken, but there was always that hope of finding him alive. Now he was just gone, leaving behind thorns and prickles to encase his heart so tight most days he thought it would kill him.

It never did, which seemed like the worst type of punishment to a crime he didn't commit. Wasn't sure there was anything that could warrant this amount of pain. Yet sitting there with Mochi snuggled safe in his lap and Baymax wandering around the small room looking for something that wasn't there, Tadashi felt the closest thing to peace in a long time.

Baymax waddled over to the bed Tadashi was sitting on, black eyes focusing on him for the first time since Tadashi activated him. Tadashi suspected that that was because since activating the robot nobody in the room had moved, and Aunt Cass had stopped checking on him several days ago. Probably because whenever she popped in Tadashi suddenly had the urge to head back to his apartment.

Unfair, he knew, considering she was trying to reach out to the remaining family she had left. Tadashi didn't want that, though. He didn't want comfort or soft consoling words. He wanted Hiro. He wanted his brother.

"Tadashi?" Baymax's robotic voice asked, sounding surprisingly concerned.

Before Hiro's accident he often confided in Tadashi by how Baymax started emoting. Impossible, Tadashi knew, and he didn't hesitate to tell Hiro as much. Now, sitting in Hiro's room on Hiro's bed surrounded by Hiro's things, he couldn't help but feel like his little brother had been right.

Somehow Baymax had learned emotions.

Or the closest thing the robot was capable of.

"I'm fine Baymax," Tadashi brushed off, turning his head from his most prized creation, as he focused instead on long fingers threading strands of Mochi's multicolored fur.

"My sensors do not indicate any signs of you being fine," Baymax chided as he moved so he was practically on top of Tadashi, "Something is upsetting you."

Tadashi shifted, pressing his nose against Mochi's back and inhaling deeply. His actions did nothing to comfort Baymax.

"Tadashi."

"I said I'm fine Baymax," Tadashi snapped, sitting upright and turning to glare heatedly up at his robot; he didn't want pity and he didn't want sympathy.

He wanted Hiro.

Hiro was gone and never coming back.

The thought was enough to break something within Tadashi, the last strand of sanity he had clung to since the fire. Since the funeral.

"Tadashi, my sensors indicate that-" Baymax continued, completely oblivious to Tadashi's growing frustration.

He'd bottled up so much since burying the only thing the fire had left of his brother, and he suddenly found an outlet. Something he would've never tolerated Hiro doing to another being, especially not Baymax, but Hiro had gone somewhere Tadashi couldn't follow, and wasn't that the whole point?

"I do not care what your sensors indicate Baymax!" Tadashi shouted so loud that Mochi woke up and bolted to the other side of the room in shock; Tadashi continued, spinning so he could glare up at Baymax as he added in an angry tone, "I invented you so you could help people! So you could protect them! Protect him-" he felt his voice break off towards the end as he felt his last bit of rage drain from him, slumping on his heels as he murmured softly, "and you failed. Hiro's dead and none of this matters."

"Tadashi-"

"No Baymax," Tadashi protested as he turned away from his robot, "I don't- I want to be alone right now."

"Then why did you activate me?" Baymax asked, head tilting to the side like he was confused.

Tadashi didn't like that. Baymax wasn't allowed to be confused. Baymax was supposed to have the tough answers, and the programming to relay them even when no one wanted to hear it.

Worst, Tadashi didn't have an answer.

Not an acceptable one anyways.

"I don't- I'm not- Baymax," Tadashi finally settled, bending his head and hunching his shoulders so he could hide from the robot's piercing gaze.

It wasn't normal. It wasn't what he wanted.

He wanted Hiro.

Hiro was gone.

"Tadashi, I think you need to be around friends," Baymax tried, but Tadashi was tired of the videos and sympathetic letters and the voicemails.

He was just tired.

He felt like a coward.

"Stop Baymax," and this time Tadashi did turn on his robot, surprising Baymax enough that he took several steps back bumping into one of Hiro's shelves.

Harmless.

Except the shelf broke like everything else in Tadashi's life, tipping over so all of his little brother's plastic toys tumbled towards the ground. Tadashi didn't even get a chance to think, his mind already clouding over in the white fuzz of anger and irrationality.

"You clumsy-!"

"Tadashi," Baymax reprimanded, actually reprimanded, but he didn't move as Tadashi knelt to gather the plastic figurines in his arms, "foul language won't help the situation any."

Tadashi swore he could hear something in his brain snap.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Tadashi demanded as he dropped the figurines so he could rise and confront the robot head on, "Hiro's gone Baymax, and he's never coming back so there's not really a reason to keep you around is there? It's not like anybody actually ever wanted you around."

Lies.

All of it.

Baymax was one of the few things that could drive him up the wall, test his patience so completely that he just went over the edge in his fit of anger. Unfortunately for the robot.

Baymax just tipped his head to the side as he repeated, "My sensors indicate-"

"To hell with your sensors Baymax! To hell with you!" Tadashi exclaimed before kneeling back down to gather Hiro's things.

"You are not coping with your grief well," Baymax stated obviously, but all the fight had already drained from Tadashi.

A toy robot- one of Hiro's firsts- slipped out of his arms clattering on the ground noisily back at their feet. Mochi perked up briefly before returned to sleeping; Baymax was just watching him now, waiting for something.

Tadashi didn't bother breaking the silence as he bent back down by his brother's bed to pick up the fallen object. Something- hidden in the shadows underneath Hiro's bed- twitched back at him. Tadashi froze, stared. Waited.

He was still a little young to go insane.

Then again.

It moved once more so- no- not insane.

He reached forward, fingers curling around the burnt fabric of his brother's jacket. The only thing they got to bury. The thing they almost buried but changed their mind at the last moment, deciding to keep it for some inexplicable reason.

"The hell?" Tadashi demanded, brow furrowing as he glared furiously.

"Tadashi," Baymax chided behind him, which Tadashi opted to ignore that time around.

The fabric twitched in his hold, pressing against his palm in a demand for attention. Tadashi shifted his hold, tipping it upside down so a small black object tumbled into his awaiting hand- a very familiar looking object.

"A microbot," Baymax spoke up, black eyes narrowing on it from over Tadashi's shoulder.

Tadashi didn't bother swatting Baymax away, skin crawling at the sight of the delicate object laid in his palm. Small and fragile- insignificant except for the fact that Tadashi knew his brother poured everything he had into it.

Like Tadashi had with Baymax once upon a time.

He enclosed the object back in his fist only this time with the care someone would place on the most precious thing in the world. In many ways it was because, in many ways, it was Hiro.

"Tadashi?" Baymax asked again ruining whatever special moment Tadashi had, again, and why did he activate the stupid thing?

Before he got a chance to speak, to deactivate his creation, something prickled from the inside of his fist. He blinked in surprise, unfolding it enough to realize the microbot was moving.

"I think the fire blew its circuits or something," Tadashi noted out loud as he moved over to his brother's untouched desk, before placing the thing in one of his brother's spare petri dishes.

It immediately clanged against the side, begging for an escape. To be free and probably shatter upon its first contact with the real world.

Like Hiro had several weeks ago.

Gone, in a place Tadashi wouldn't dare follow him to just yet. Not while people still needed him, not while the world still demanded for him to be strong.

Not yet.

Without thinking, he clicked a random key on his brother's desktop computer. It immediately lit up in a hopeful glow, relieved after so many weeks of neglect, and Tadashi blinked when he realized he was staring at his face.

It was an old photograph, something they'd taken ages ago before Tadashi's BAYMAX line became popular, and he was amazed by just how young and happy he looked. Both concepts that seem so utterly foreign to him now.

Aunt Cass had taken them to visit one of her favorite gardens, which turned out to be an almost 200 acre plot of land with boxed fences and elaborate displays crafted completely from landscaping and plants. Over forty displays, Tadashi remembered, each beautiful in its own elaborate way.

Hiro's favorite had been the cherry blossom trees, something about their simplicity he had claimed. Tadashi hadn't remembered agreeing at the moment but staring at the picture taken ages ago he couldn't think of a display better than the cherry blossoms.

He was standing in one of the walkways, eyes closed and smiling like a fool. His head was turned so it was directed towards his brother clinging to his back, Hiro's skinny arms wrapped around Tadashi's throat. Hiro was making the same goofy expression as Tadashi, mouth opened like he was saying something.

Neither brother had known Aunt Cass had taken the moment to take a picture.

Tadashi wasn't sure he'd ever find that type of peace again.

"Tadashi?" Baymax's voice asked from behind him, breaking Tadashi from his momentary lapse in thought.

"I'm fine Baymax," Tadashi replied instantly, clicking one of the video messages his friends had started sending when they realized where he was spending all his time.

Immediately all his friends faced popped up, lined together with shared expressions of concern and sorrow.

They'd all loved Hiro, Tadashi reminded himself. Not like he had- no one could ever understand that, not even Aunt Cass- but they loved and mourned him all the same.

"Hey Tadashi," they greeted in unison before Honey Lemon spoke up, "I hope you're okay. We haven't heard from you in a while now."

"No one has," Wasabi added and though his words sounded judgmental his tone was not.

A good man, excellent in all the ways Tadashi admired. That had been one of the only reasons Tadashi reached out to the larger male. He'd just never thought he'd find Wasabi's antics so amusing.

I once believed Wasabi to be suave, Hiro had once confessed while the brothers had been alone, up until he opened his big mouth.

Tadashi had chided his giggling brother, frowning at him from across their shared room. Even so Tadashi had always agreed with his brother.

"We're not trying to pressure you into anything," Honey Lemon continued earnestly, "We would never try to berate you into doing anything you don't want to do, but you're not alone."

"She's right," Fred agreed seriously, "We're all here for you. Just say the word."

Tadashi sighed despite knowing they were unable to hear him. His forehead suddenly throbbed, gut twisting sickeningly, reminding him what he'd lost- what he'll never be able to recover.

And, almost like she heard him, GoGo snarled, "Just don't do this to yourself Hamada. There was nothing you could've done."

No.

He didn't want to hear that.

He turned the video off, was tempted to shut the computer down altogether but Hiro's face beamed up at him so young and full of life. It hurt.

"Tadashi."

It hurt more to look away.

"What Baymax?" he snapped, turning to glare up at the robot.

Only the robot wasn't looking at him. He wasn't even facing him, and it took Tadashi a moment before he realized why.

Baymax was standing right behind him, like he had once been gazing over his shoulder, but his body had shifted so his front was facing the window. His head was bowed, though, hands folded in front of him like he was holding something.

Tadashi squinted his eyes suspiciously.

Ever since the elder Hamada had presented the robotic caretaker to practically babysit his kid brother (not a kid anymore Tadashi, Hiro's voice protested and Tadashi sadly concluded that- no- he wasn't because his brother was dead) Baymax had adapted a personality of his own. One Tadashi had not hesitated to blame on Hiro's tinkering.

Only he'd looked into the matter, and besides occasionally switching out Baymax's batteries because the robot had a bad habit of overcharging them, and Tadashi really needed to get on solving that particular problem, it was exactly how Tadashi had designed him to be. His personality was just something he'd picked up from caring for Hiro.

Which was nice, Tadashi was happy for them. He really was, and despite what others try telling him the sour knot that'd twist in his stomach was not jealousy. It wasn't.

Now he'd do anything to feel his insides tie together as something sour crawled up his throat as Hiro beamed up at something that wasn't him; Baymax reaching out to pat the boy's head and Hiro would flush with embarrassment but he wouldn't bat the robot's hands away.

Tadashi always got swatted at.

Why would Hiro ever swat at Tadashi and not Baymax? It hadn't made any sense.

Then Tadashi realized that the thing Baymax had cradled in his hands was the Petri dish with the microbot in it. The microbot that was clanging against the glass in agitation, trying to get free. Trying to escape.

"Baymax?" Tadashi asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed because Baymax looked like he was piecing something together that didn't belong together- like a poorly done puzzle.

"Tadashi, I do believe that Hiro's microbot is currently trying to go somewhere," Baymax explained, unmoving.

Tadashi reached over to pluck the Petri dish from the robot's hands, setting it back amongst Hiro's things on his desk. He wondered if robots could mourn and if so how would one go about dealing with it? It should cause a nice distraction for the next couple of days.

"No it's not Baymax. The fire just shorted its circuits," Tadashi waved, stepping around his creation to plop back on his late brother's bed, "I should've never activated you. I'm sorry."

Baymax ignored him.

Of course he ignored him. He had taken to Hiro's personality quickly, probably to help care for the youth. Tadashi hadn't found any fault with it at the time, though now still so soon after his brother's death it just hurt. Everything always hurt.

"Tadashi, I really think-" Baymax protested, yet again, and Tadashi groaned as he rolled over.

"Then follow it and leave me alone."

He wasn't sure why the words left his mouth. He'd never even consider telling Baymax to do something so pointless and potentially dangerous.

"Okay."

Then Baymax was gone, taking the microbot with him.

Tadashi closed his eyes, thankful for the peace, before his brain caught up with the rest of him and he shot upright. His heart hammered inside his ribcage, demanding retribution and freedom from its captivity.

Tadashi yanked on his shoes, pulling over his jacket and rushing down the stairs all at the same time. Aunt Cass was sitting in the living room watching a movie in French, subtitles rolling across the bottom of the screen.

"Tadashi?" she asked sounding surprised and slightly concerned, "What are you-?"

"I'm going out for a while," Tadashi rushed without stopping, "Bye. Love you."

She could only frown at his quick departure, hand half raised in the air as she murmured a confused, "Love you too," before he was out of range.

Night had already fallen several hours ago, but cities never sleep. He hurried down the sidewalk, eyes seeking out one of the few things he had left. He caught a spot of white on the other side of the road and, nononono, Baymax's head was bent down in concentration of the microbot.

Which meant he wasn't looking at where he was going.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

"Baymax!" Tadashi called, rushing across the street headless of the traffic because Baymax was just waddling through the streets of San Fransokyo like some mindless fool.

Who's the more foolish: the fool or the one who follows him?

Tadashi growled at his own voice in his head; no wonder Hiro had been such a rebellious child. If that voice spoke to him like that all the time he'd break the rules too.

"Baymax!" Tadashi called again when he lost sight of his creation, turning in his blind panic where he caught sight of him disappearing inside an alleyway.

An alleyway, like the one he'd been jumped in. Like the one strangers had attacked Baymax and Hiro all because people are selfish and mindless of any sort of consequence their actions may lead too.

"Baymax!" Tadashi screamed as he followed, so blind by his adrenaline and panic that he nearly collided with Baymax's still form.

"It appears the microbot is trying to go inside that abandoned factory," Baymax explained like he knew Tadashi would follow him.

Tadashi glowered, eyes flickering down to Hiro's last creation, when he realized the robot was right. The microbot was no longer banging against the glass, completely motionless.

Eerie.

"Baymax, do you feel that?" Tadashi asked, moving down the alley to where he spotted an opened window.

He knew he shouldn't. Trespassing was a serious crime, and Tadashi wasn't as young as he used to be. There was no way he'd be able to pass as an uninformed citizen. Then again…

Hiro would've done it.

Resolve solidified, Tadashi commanded for Baymax to give him a boost.

"Tadashi, a fall from that height," Baymax protested even as Tadashi already started up him, using his arms to haul himself the rest of the way.

"I know Baymax," Tadashi tutted in aggravation, brows pulled together in an angry sort of scowl.

Why would he ever program his Baymax line to be so… obnoxious?

"Tadashi-" Baymax protested even still, his voice echoing in the silence of outside.

He's going to get them caught. He's going to draw some very unwanted attention to them and get them busted by police or worst.

Tadashi's heard the whispers of Yama's gang trying to regain their power, spreading their territory out throughout the city. Holing themselves in old abandoned buildings like the one Tadashi currently sat inside.

"Give me your hand," Tadashi commanded as he bent through the window arm stretched as far as it can go, "I'll lift you up."

Which was a good plan up until-

"I do believe I'm stuck Tadashi," Baymax informed him dryly, black eyes blinking at him expectantly, "Allow me to let out some air."

"You do that buddy," Tadashi agreed with a nod, "I'm going to have a look around."

He left Baymax in the window, soft whoosing sound of air escaping Baymax's vinyl body following him down the catwalk.

It was quiet, save for his footsteps clicking over the metal grating, and it left a sour taste in his mouth. It was like instinctively he knew what was hiding around the corner.

Which was just ridiculous.

Hiro had always accused him of being paranoid and too many action movies later here he was breaking and entering in a clearly abandoned building. A stunt that would've gotten Hiro into serious trouble had he ever been discovered.

Hiro was gone, though, and for whatever reason his last invention lead him here.

Tadashi wasn't leaving without answers though from a simple glance around he wasn't sure who was going to give them to him.

"Maybe I have gone crazy," he whispered to no one in particular, halting his steps and running a hand through his hair tiredly.

"Tadashi?"

He screamed.

He wasn't proud of it, would never admit that it happened to anyone ever, but it happened. He leapt what felt like five feet in the air, twisting his body as he did so he was staring up at Baymax's unfazed expression.

Why did it seem like his creation suddenly had it out for him?

Tadashi laid the palm of his hand over his heart madly beating against his chest so hard it hurt, he glared up at his robot.

"You almost gave me a heart attack," might even still if this current trend continues along the path Tadashi sees it rolling along.

Another blank look.

Another blink.

"But, Tadashi, you know my hands are equipped with defibrillators," Baymax offered in what he, no doubt, considered comforting.

Tadashi didn't respond. He just glowered, knowing the proffered hands away, when Baymax must've realized what he'd wanted to say.

"The microbot started moving again," the robot announced, holding out the Petri dish once more.

Tadashi took it from him, staring down as he realized the microbot was fluttering madly inside its cage banging against the side with a steady rhythm.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

"What in the world?" Tadashi breathed, turning so he was facing the direction it was so obviously trying to escape too.

Everything in his gut told him to turn and leave the way he came. There was nothing for him here; there never really had been, and he was better off gone.

He stepped forward, Baymax not far behind.

Should've listened to your instinct, a mocking voice buzzed in his head like an obnoxious bug demanding attention.

Tadashi frowned because that voice didn't sound like his. It didn't sound like anyone he knew, and that could never be a good sign, but then they turned the corner and Tadashi froze because the voice had been right.

He should've left while he still had the chance.

Now, with a room full of Hiro's microbots, Tadashi realized this wasn't a coincidence. This wasn't some random incident that just so happened to involve his brother's invention. The universe was hardly so lazy.

And at the center of it all, a man wearing a mask stood.

No, Tadashi's brain denied before rationality could catch up with him, impossible. I refuse.

But he couldn't deny what laid before him so clearly. He couldn't stop his brain from connecting the dots, and he couldn't prevent himself from realizing the fire hadn't been accidental. Someone had set it as a cover- a cover to steal Hiro's microbots.

Which meant Hiro's death hadn't been an accident either. It couldn't have been because the fire wasn't some sort of freak thing that had just happened. It had been meticulously planned for who knew how long, so there was no way Hiro's death could've been a misfortune.

It had been murder.