Ummmm Authors note at the bottom!
Disclaimer: I do not own BH6, only the plot
FREDERICKSON MANOR
A coughing fit racked through his sore ribs, igniting a burning sensation within his lungs, causing Hiro's eyes to fly open in a state of terror. His body convulsed as scorching bile worked its way up his throat. Luckily, someone managed to prop Hiro's head up just before he retched up some stale and rancid sea water into a pale.
"There, there, Mr. Hamada. Breathe in through the nose and out from the mouth, nice and easy."
The unfamiliar voice only made Hiro feel more queasy, causing him to retch a few more times. Soft pats were delivered on the small of his back and a glass of water was promptly set down next to the night stand. After Hiro recovered to a functional extent, the unpleasant taste of his stomach acid still coating his tongue and lining his lips, he craned his neck up to see who was speaking to him.
"Who are you?" Hiro questioned in a raspy voice, not recognizing the man kneeling beside him.
"I'm Heathcliff, sir," The man addressed, handing Hiro a towelette that the teen graciously accepted. "I am Mr. Fredrick's butler, sworn housekeeper of the Frederickson Manor. I am aware that you are Tadashi's younger brother and are acquainted with the young master..."
Horribly confused, Hiro didn't understand why or how Fred had his own butler. Also, the Frederickson Manor? Looking about, Hiro noticed that he was in some sort of extravagant bedroom. The quality reminded him of Callaghan's penthouse, except with a more classic, European style instead of complete modernized décor. Hiro couldn't find himself in denial that this is where Fred lived, but saying it was quite a shock was an understatement. While Hiro's mind briefly wondered how he was unaware of Fred's actual lifestyle, the name drove his mind to more important matters.
"Fred!" Hiro exclaimed in a hoarse voice, trying to scramble out of the bed, "Where's Fred? Go-Go? The others? Are they alright? Where are they?"
"Calm down, Mr. Hamada," Heathcliff advised, gently coaxing Hiro back into the bed. "Master Fredrick is resting in his bedroom and the others are all residing in the other guest rooms. You should be pleased to know that they remarkably suffered no injuries, not even minor concussions."
That was... oddly specific. Nonetheless, Hiro let out a huff of relief, flopping back down into the pillow. "That's actually good news. Thank you, Heathcliff."
"My pleasure, sir." Heathcliff beamed– to his fullest extent considering his minuscule facial features. Are you in need of any further assistance?"
"Actually, yeah... how long have I been out?"
"You awoke frequently during our journey here," the butler reminisced, "I suppose you were so out of it that you cannot quite recall. Nevertheless, we only arrived a mere half hour ago. Judging by the fact that everyone is in good health, your friends should awake shortly."
Hiro glanced out the window – that overlooked an impeccable garden with artistic hedging and porcelain statues – and watched as the vibrant, orange sun lowered itself towards the horizon.
Tadashi was still out there. Callaghan had him. They had lost. This was bad. He couldn't sit here and do nothing–
"Hiro!"
Hiro's head snapped towards the direction of his name to see Fred leading Go-Go, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi through the pair of automatic doors.
"Ah, master Fredrick, it's good to see you're awake." Heathcliff welcomed.
Overcome with joy over the sight of his friends (breathing, walking and okay), Hiro leaped from his bed and practically collapsed into Fred's arms, still rather discombobulated.
"Hey, little man..." Fred greeted warmly, his voice less enthusiastic than normal. He appeared to be disheveled in a way that didn't come from an intentional sense of style. In other words, he didn't look all that different, but there was something terribly off with him.
Hiro looked up at the rest of his friends. "You guys are alright!"
Well, they were breathing and conscious, the word alright was a very broad term.
Honey Lemon looked uncannily exhausted. It was remarkable how tall she still was without her heels on, but behind her magenta rimmed glasses were a set of lime green orbs that were alight with a passion for love and life... albeit a little tainted. Pulling her lips into a grin that looked somewhat forced, she placed a tender hand on Hiro's shoulder. "Of course, Hiro, we're happy to see you're alright too."
Hiro grimaced, seeing right past Honey Lemon's kind facade. He gave her a sympathetic stare in hopes to convey his condolences, but she either refused to acknowledge it or it had gone unnoticed.
Hiro glanced over, "Wasabi?" He called out, praying for a reaction.
Wasabi only bothered to look up for a moment, giving Hiro a curt nod and a short smile before he returned his attention to his toes. It was painfully obvious how rattled he was (who wouldn't be?).
GoGo stepped forwards, "How are you feeling, Hiro?"
"I'm–" Hiro didn't know what he was feeling if he was being honest with himself. He eyed GoGo, not failing to notice that the typically strong and bold woman seemed to be caving in on herself. Her toned muscles seemed to hang limp and her hair was unattractively flat. Purple eye shadow smudged her eyes that looked like they were drowning in countless thoughts and emotions.
The air hanging around the five members was suffocating. It sucked dry any sort of happiness, leaving the victims parched and vacant. Shame, defeat and loss was all that remained.
"Hey, Heathcliff?" Fred interrupted the silence, "Could you give us a moment?"
"Of course, master Fredrick." Heathcliff replied, bowing respectively before leaving the room.
After the doors shut behind Heathcliff, no one dared to make eye contact or so much as make a noise. No words needed to be shared to express the regret and guilt they were all feeling.
"I'm sorry." Hiro gasped weakly. He was at a loss for words just as much as anyone else was.
"Don't apologize." GoGo answered sternly yet softly.
"We can't beat him... not with that." Wasabi confessed timidly.
"We have to," GoGo snapped, sending Wasabi a cold glare, "we can't leave him there."
"What even were those things?" Honey Lemon asked, raising a concerned eyebrow."
Hiro glanced at her from the corner of his eye. He had to tell them that they were his.
"And how do we beat it," Fred added, "it's a battle between an unmovable object and an unstoppable force. How do we gain the upper hand?"
Hiro swallowed. He had to say something.
He opened his mouth and let the words squeak out, "They're mine."
However, his voice was so silent that it went unnoticed.
"I couldn't get a good look at it, is there anything we have to beat it?"
"It was sustainable under water, but they were clearly technologically manufactured."
"I've never seen anything like it before, and there was an unlimited number of them!"
"Callaghan was obviously controlling them, but how?"
Hiro couldn't bear to see his friends in so much turmoil. "They're microbots!" He shouted.
The team turned to the teen, confusion riddled across their faces.
"They're what?"
Hiro ran his fingers through his hair as a dry laugh escaped his lips. "I called them microbots. They're mine."
Their eyes devoured him, starving for the story as they raked over every inch of vulnerability that Hiro was exposing.
At this point, Hiro might as well give them the whole story, but it was such a long time ago and such an insignificant event that Hiro could barely remember the details.
"We had this thing called 'Father and Son' day where I would help Callaghan with his work or spend hours on developing new inventions. He always pushed me to become smart and keep building, but he was never tremendously satisfied with my ideas. I wanted to make something so brilliant that it would knock his socks off... and that's how I got the idea for microbots; modeled after my actual micro-bot I used for bot-fighting. They're nothing more than mind manipulated droids that are the size of a quarter, but the idea was to use them in multitudes. They could be used for building, transportation, and just about anything your imagination could come up with... and that frightened me. If that power got into the wrong hands, the results would be catastrophic. So, I scrapped the idea. I guess Callaghan must have found my blueprints and rough drafts of the experiment."
"But... why?" GoGo inquired almost instantly.
"Yeah," Fred agreed, "why does he want them?"
"And what does he want with Tadashi?" Wasabi said. "He wouldn't just kidnap him out of spite or hurt him... would he?"
"Of course not, Wasabi," Honey Lemon hissed, trying to gesture to the fact of how troubled Hiro looked.
"But, this works for us, doesn't it?" GoGo piped, finding a stick of gum in the depths of her pockets.
"What do you mean?" Hiro replied.
"You know how these things work. What do we need to do to destroy it?" GoGo stated matter-of-factly as she popped the stick of gum in her mouth.
"Hey, what if there is no way to destroy them, GoGo?" Wasabi interjected.
"Actually, there is." Hiro corrected. "We'd just have to get to Callaghan and remove the headband that connects his brainwaves to all of the microbots."
"Wait, that's it? We just gotta think up of a strategic plan and we're golden!" Fred cheered.
Hiro could see hope cross their features once more.
He couldn't let his friends loose precious feeling again.
"What else, Hiro?" Honey Lemon spoke, her tone slightly more upbeat now that hope was in sight.
"What else," Hiro lamented, "is that you four are going to stay here while Baymax and I go track down Callaghan."
"Excuse me?" GoGo barked, caught off guard.
"This isn't your fight. It's my brother he has. It's my invention he's using. I won't let you guys get involved... again."
"Are you kidding me right now, Hiro?" Infuriated, GoGo took a threatening step forwards.
"No, I'm not." Hiro responded, "I can't afford Callaghan getting to you guys. I know him better than any of you. I can handle this..." he paused, "I can't loose you guys too."
"We are not having this discussion again." GoGo muttered, scowling at the young boy. "You need us to back you up, Hiro. You're not thinking straight. Don't be stupid and selfish, you know you can't do this alone. Grow up and accept our help. Tadashi needs all of us."
Hiro shook his head, his mind was already made. "You're right, GoGo. We aren't having this discussion again."
With that, Hiro left the room.
SFIT
As soon as Hiro left the mansion, he made a beeline to the university to get his hands on Baymax. The school was still on lock down, but he knew more than one way to get through a locked door, no matter how technologically advanced it was.
Reaching the lab, Hiro felt a buzz from the pocket of is khaki cargo shorts.
Hiro felt a pang of guilt as he discovered that it was a text message from Cass.
Hey sweetie, just want to check in on you, how's things going?
It was hard to imagine that the cafe catastrophe, the battle at the bay, and the help of Heathcliff had only taken a few short hours of a single day.
Tadashi and Hiro had left their home earlier that day and said they would be back for dinner (when they would have brought Callaghan to justice and be, in fact, celebrating dinner in a police station).
Obviously, that fantasy did not come to pass.
Doing great, Cass! Hey, we got wrapped up in some huge project with GoGo and wll be staying over with the group tonight... I know we said we'd be back for dinner, but can u make an exception tonight? I'm sry:(
Oh, alright, but you're missing out on some of my spicy chicken wings! (And you both owe me a night out) You boys have fun, and remind your brother to give you age appropriate drinks and use protection...
AUNT CASS WTF
Love you;)
…
Love u too
Aunt Cass was the best. She didn't deserve to be lied to, but she didn't deserve to suffer through the pain of Hiro's mistake either.
Finding his way towards the lab was actually harder than entering the locked building. Nevertheless, Hiro made his way and was able to unlock Tadashi's office where he found Baymax sitting in his charging station.
It was odd saying "ow" when there was no need to, but Hiro needed to make preparations.
In moments, Baymax inflated to life and stepped out of his compartment and hobbled towards Hiro. Remorsefully, Tadashi had installed a default where Baymax could recognize a patient after meeting them for the first time so that the introduction was skipped.
"Hello, Hiro. How are you?" The robot said, recognizing the younger teen immediately.
"Not great to be honest, Baymax." Hiro grumbled, flopping down in one of Tadashi's spinning stools and gliding over to the laptop in order to sync it up to the 3D printer.
"Why are you not doing great, Hiro?" Baymax innocently solicited, trailing behind Hiro's stool at an adorably pathetic pace.
"We're gonna have to do a little bit of superhero work tonight, buddy." Hiro bitterly sang as he got straight to work on looking through some of Baymax's current suits saved on Tadashi's files.
"Your vitals do not seem to suggest that you are mentally alright, Hiro." Baymax advised, ignoring Hiro's previous comment. "Your heart rate is elevated; causes include anger and anxiety. What seems to be troubling you?"
"None of your business, Baymax." Hiro growled, becoming irritated.
"It is my business, Hiro. I am here to help."
Hiro gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes. "It's fine, leave me alone about it. Can we just focus on your superhero stuff right now?"
"Will it make you feel better if we work on upgrading my suit, Hiro?"
"Yes," Hiro sighed, "it will make me feel much better, Baymax. Right now, I need you to locate Callaghan's location. Chart any possible routes starting from the abandoned shoreline southeast of here."
Doing as he was told, Baymax's chest lit up with maps and data on Callaghan.
"Hiro, are we going after Callaghan?"
"Yes."
"Will the rest of the team be joining us."
Hesitating, Hiro swiveled his seat to face Baymax who had finally approached the desk.
"... No." Hiro finally answered.
"Not even Tadashi?"
"Callaghan has Tadashi." Hiro stated vehemently. "We're rescuing him."
Baymax pointed an educated finger in the air, but his tone was condescending. "You can't do this alone, Hiro. You require assistance."
Hiro tried to sound assertive. "I can do it with your help, Baymax. I know what I'm doing." He really doesn't.
"Your mental state does not suggest that you know what you are doing. You are hurt and enraged. Symptoms of such emotion can cause irrational behavior which can lead to regrettable acts."
Hiro flew out of his seat. "I don't care if I'm hurt or enraged!" He really is in so much pain.
"It is alright to express your emotions, Hiro. Discussing troubling matters can significantly benefit your –"
"My brother was kidnapped by Callaghan, Baymax! Figure out why I'm so upset you stupid robot! Who knows what Callaghan is doing to him? It's all so stupid!"
Hiro couldn't finish his sentence. He didn't want to finish his sentence.
He finally gave into the overwhelming dread that was clawing, tugging, squeezing his heart. Tears burst from his eyes as Hiro buried his face in his hands. Sniffles and sobs escaped Hiro's lips as he cowered within himself, his whines echoing throughout the room.
Sure enough, a pair of huge arms protectively encased Hiro's thin frame.
"Let me go, Baymax," Hiro wailed, slapping the robot that contended with embracing Hiro.
Seeing as hitting the robot wasn't doing any good, Hiro let out a cry and buried his face into Baymax's cushion of a stomach.
"Why is this happening?" Hiro's muffled voice shrieked.
"I want Tadashi... I just want him! I want my brother..."
"Tadashi is here." Baymax calmly responded.
"No, no, no! Stop! Shut up! Callaghan has him!"
"Tadashi is here." The robot repeated. This time, his chest screen illuminated.
Blinking past the tears, Hiro stared at what Baymax was trying to show him.
"This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is the first test of my robotics project."
Hiro vigorously wipes his tears away.
It's him, and he's wonderful.
Hiro laughs as he watches his brother's hilarious and painfully devastating failures, and he finds himself longingly caressing the screen with his fingertips.
One after the other, Baymax lets Tadashi down, but Tadashi persevered.
There were even snippets of Baymax sitting in on the team as they discussed new upgrades for their suits or got a little bit tipsy where everyone urged Tadashi and GoGo to kiss one another. So many videos of his brother's life that he missed. So many treasured moments that he never got to experience. But it's still beautiful. They're all there and supportive of him. They're like a family. They mean so much to one another.
Hiro lost track of time, but by the eighty-fourth clip, Tadashi finally succeeds, and Hiro feels proud.
"I wish Hiro was here to see you, buddy."
He's staring right at him.
"We'll find him. Together. We'll all be one happy family. I'll make sure of it... I just wish he was here with me now... but that's it, buddy. Thank you... thank you so much... I'm satisfied with my care."
Hiro hugs Baymax, his cheek pressed against the screen.
And everything is okay...
Until a pair of hands lock firmly around his neck.
AN: Hey guys I am so sorry. As you all know I am about 2 weeks back I went out of town for my great-grandmother's birthday. Saw so much family I haven't seen in years, and met a lot of my younger cousins. Which is a lot more awkward when you finally fit into the adult side of the family. Then I was supposed to update the day I got back but I just did not feel well by the time we were home and a soon as I got back I started a new job its been a bit overwhelming Monday was the first day I've really gotten to detox from all the mayhem. I promise I'll get back to regular scheduling this Friday.
Please forgive me guys.
Duskmuse fading with the rising moon, Out!