[Hello, everyone! I have never been one to leave a cliffhanger for long, seeing as I dislike it when others do it. I hope you like this chapter which, I admit, I wrote rather hastily. Thank you for the support! Please read and review, and don't hesitate to PM me with any questions!]


Fred was doing his best to super-jump, trying to keep up with the villain and his little friend, but being out of breath as it was, and the Sukochi having rockets besides, he was soon gasping for breath on the side of the road, Hiro and the Sukochi long gone. After several seconds of trying to take inventory, for once the happy-go-lucky mascot found himself on the verge of tears. It took several seconds of deep breathing to calm himself down, then finally-why did these things always happen at the most inopportune times?-his com device kicked in.

"Fred?" Wasabi's high-strung voice came in through the receiver. "Fred! Pick up, man!"

The redhead gave himself a few more seconds, then answered. "Yeah? You guys alright?"

"Well, other than GoGo having a broken leg, Baymax not responding, and Hiro... MIA..." Fred winced at the term, but let his partner continue. "Yeah, we're just great," Honey Lemon replied in an uncharacteristically sarcastic tone. Fred winced, but he could see where she was coming from. "Where are you? We need to get GoGo to a hospital, then we're going to go try and find Hiro."

"I was following the guy," Fred began to explain, his voice growing thick as he continued, "But he was too fast—I couldn't keep up, and I was out of breath from when I was knocked into the building. I'm sorry guys, I just..." Fred could hear the note of self-justification, and gave up, giving in to tears, incapable of putting a positive twist on the situation. The team fell completely silent, letting him have his moment, then Wasabi spoke up.

"Man, we're coming to pick you up. Where are you?"

"By the bri-bridge," the mascot stammered, squeezing his eyes shut.

"We're already headed in that direction. We'll be there soon, just don't move, okay?"

"Got it."

By the time they reached the bridge, GoGo's ankle was swollen, at a more natural angle due to some gentle meddling on Honey's behalf, but still very much injured. As stoic as the speed demon pretended to be, however, she was constantly crying out as they went over a bump in the road, or turned too quickly. Wasabi was driving even more cautiously than he usually did, but it wasn't enough.

Fred, already out of his Kaiju suit(which morphed into a neat little backpack with the others'), slid neatly into the car, doing his best not to disturb the incapacitated Mechanical Engineering student lying in the back seat. Thankfully, no one mentioned Fred's breakdown on the coms, only receiving concerned glances from everyone in the vehicle.

When they finally reached the hospital, Fred did his best to help GoGo out of the car, gratefully letting a nurse take her from him before he reached the door, then following them inside with Honey Lemon, letting Wasabi leave to park the car.


The helmet was what saved him. If Hiro had skimped even a little bit on the padding, or if the Sukochi hadn't been holding back, then the young genius would certainly have a crushed skull rather than a simple headache.

Of course, Hiro was fairly certain that, in this particular moment, he would have preferred the crushed skull-anything was better than this blasted headache. His least favorite kind of pain was the kind that was internal. With an injury, you could at least patch it up, watch it get better, and put pressure on it to lessen the pain somewhat, depending on the injury. Not so with a headache or stomachache. All you can do is take medicine and hope for the best.

Currently having no access to any medicine, he was doomed to deal with it.

Hiro had woken up only moments earlier, then immediately wished he hadn't, letting out a sharp cry as a stabbing pain consumed the left side of his head. After a few seconds of this, it subsided somewhat, turning into a dull yet intense ache. He rolled over onto his side, one hand cradling his throbbing skull, when he heard the door to the room creak open. With great effort, Hiro turned his head to look, opening his eyes and wincing at the sudden light.

"You're awake."

"No kidding," Hiro replied, voice raspy. These two words made him feel like a hammer was cracking against the inside of his cranium, but he felt the need to reply. After this statement, however, he closed his mouth and decided that the pain wasn't worth it, and perhaps it would be best to remain silent.

The Sukochi didn't speak, then, after a few seconds of silence, he left—leaving the door open. Obviously, this hadn't gone unnoticed, and while he was gone, Hiro forced himself to his feet... only to collapse(crying out as he did so) before he had even stood up completely. Suddenly incapable of moving, Hiro lay sprawled on the floor, waiting.

He's taunting me. He knows that I can't move without being in extreme pain, so he's teasing me by giving me a means of escape. He's just going to leave me here, isn't he? So that he can laugh?

However, within a few moments, the man returned with a cart—the kind that one might find at a hardware store. Seeing Hiro on the ground, he sighed, shaking his head, and knelt down beside him.

"Now, what was that supposed to accomplish?"

"You left the door open," Hiro muttered, his cheek pressed to the concrete floor. "What did you expect?"

"I expected you to be smart enough to not make a run for it while you have a major head injury," the Sukochi replied, amused. "I left the door open so that I could bring a few things in without having to open the door every time."

This said, the villain slid his hands under Hiro's limp form, lifting him off the ground and onto the bed—which was only a few feet away. He stared at him for a few seconds in silence, which Hiro took to mean Try not to injure yourself this time.

Satisfied that Hiro was no longer in danger of hitting his head against the ground or something, the Sukochi left the room, returning with a small, square, plastic table. A few trips later(with which he brought a folding chair, an additional pillow, and a first aid kit), he left again to bring in a glass of water and a bottle of pills. Finally, he shut the door, effectively cutting off the light accosting Hiro's eyes.

"I have a gift for you."

"I don't really want it, thank you," Hiro murmured, shutting his eyes.

Even though Hiro couldn't see the Sukochi's face, he could have sworn that the man was rolling his eyes. "They're painkillers. I've had a few hits to the skull as well, and they're not fun."

Taking a few moments to brace himself, he began forcing himself into a sitting position. As he spoke, Hiro winced. "How... How do I know it's not poison or something?"

The man's voice was laced with exasperation, and he thrust the hand with the pills in it towards the injured teenager. "Why would I go to the trouble of bringing you here just to poison you?"

"Good point." Unwilling to go much longer without some relief, the young genius accepted the pills when they were handed to him without further comment. Almost instantly, the throbbing began to subside, until he was finally able to form coherent thoughts.

"Is that better?"

"Much... Why are you doing this?"

The Sukochi tilted his head slightly. "You're going to have to be a little more specific. Why am I doing what?"

"Well," Hiro began, his voice growing stronger with every second, "Why are you trying to recreate my neuro-cranial transmitter?"

The Sukochi let out a sharp bark of laughter, harsh and cold. "Are you still on that? I thought you were smarter than this, Hiro. I'm not."

"You're not what?" The college student's eyes narrowed in confusion, then opened wide as the man continued.

"I'm not recreating your neuro-cranial transmitter, Hiro. That was just to get you in the right place at the right time."

"But Duncan..." Hiro's voice broke as he remembered the policewoman's final moments, and he closed his eyes to fight off tears. "You killed her. You killed her so that you could steal the chip."

"No, I didn't. I killed her to get a message across," the Sukochi said quietly. "You really think I needed your transmitter? Get real. What I really needed... was you."

"You killed an innocent woman to get to me."

"Don't flatter yourself," the masked figure replied, voice hardening. "You're just another stepping stone to get to my real destination. With you here, your team will be focused on finding you—misleading them from my actual target."

"And what is that?" His voice was hard and furious, and Hiro forced the tears back, so that he could look the man in his eyes—which he couldn't see due to the red glass.

Unperturbed, the Sukochi continued as if Hiro had asked in a light, conversational tone. "Why, San Fransokyo Prison, of course."


[Well, this was shorter than I expected it would be. Oh well. Thank you for reading, if you have any questions, once again, please PM me! Thank you so much for your continued support!]