Picture Me Without You
Hiro's Journal
Hiro Hamada – Captivity: Day 18 (Assuming the calendar is correctly synchronised)
I've finally managed to access a calendar (Default function available on every PC). Go me. Apparently I was kidnapped 18 days ago. Nice to know though to be honest I no longer know where one day ends and the next begins. The PC's clock tells me it's 2 am in the morning. Doesn't feel like 2 am; though to be fair it's probably accurate. It's bound to be 2 am somewhere in the world and since I have no idea where I am…
Sadly this PC has no access to the Internet or any other source of outside communication.
I'm supposed to be working on the quantum mechanics programmed into the Time Portal my captors are trying to build. They want me to stabilize the time evolution of the quantum states in order to control the exact time and place that the portal links to. Not sure how they expect me achieve that. It would be simple enough if they only wanted to travel a few minutes into the past or the future but apparently a few minutes are not enough. Which brings me to my current problem: The wave packets spread out as time progresses making them exponentially more difficult to predict and pinpoint the further away the timeline gets.
I managed to get them to bring me some chemicals. I told them I wanted to treat the components used to build the portal and they agreed. They refuse to bring me anything that has the potential to be used as an explosive component. There goes that idea. On to plan B or more specifically C or D or whatever the letter is that I'm suppo…
Hiro dropped the customized pen he was using when the door to the lab slid open. Fighting against the panic coursing through him, he casually turned the page he was writing on, hiding the still drying pink ink along with the words it had brought into existence. Pretending to be deep in thought, he lifted another notebook, this one covered in calculations put to paper in black ink, and waited…
A bright blur of color fluttered into his view as a stack of photographs was dropped onto the table. "Consider this incentive." Inquisitor said stepping around the table and into Hiro's direct line of sight.
Hiro went ice cold. The top one was of Aunt Cass. She was serving coffee and donuts to a customer. She looked like she'd aged ten years. Probably because of him. There were several other photographs beneath it, each as brightly colored as the first but Hiro didn't really want to see them.
"Well, aren't you going to look at them?" Inquisitor demanded, when Hiro made no move to pick the stack up.
Hiro placed the notebook in his hands carefully down beside the stack of photographs fighting to appear calm and in control when he and Inquisitor both knew he was anything but. "You said you wouldn't hurt her if I helped you. Are you going back on your word?"
"The deal still stands." Inquisitor replied calmly leaning over the desk and into Hiro's personal space. "I just want to make sure you know exactly what's at stake." The grin on his face was filled with malice and spite. He reached over towards the photographs and spread the stack, revealing the photographs underneath.
'I have detected trembling as well as an increase in your heart rate. Diagnosis: Fear.' Hiro could hear the echo of Baymax in his mind. 'You will be alright, there, there.' Only he really wouldn't be. Lying on the table before him were pictures of all his friends going about their lives. Honey Lemon was carrying a bouquet of flowers in one. Fred and Gogo were pictured in another, leaning over and scowling a tablet. Wasabi was in yet another, pictured walking out of the SFIT labs and a fourth captured the entire gang walking into the Lucky Cat.
"Your friends won't be able to protect your Aunt if we get to them first." Inquisitor taunted, sliding the fourth photograph to the side in order to reveal a fifth.
Hiro had been convinced that there was nothing Inquisitor could show him that would hurt him more. After all, he'd already been captured, electrocuted, starved and beaten. They'd threatened his Aunt, the only family member Hiro still had left and now they were threatening the rest of Hiro's friends. Every aspect of his life had been invaded and he'd been convinced that nothing had been left untouched. He was wrong. Hiro lost all semblance of color and would have thrown up all over the table if not for the fact that that they were still half starving him. The fifth photograph contained everyone he loved. The gang was seated in the café gathered around a table. Aunt Cass was standing off to the side, holding a tray but it was the figure they were looking at that really broke his heart.
Hiro reached out to trace a trembling hand over the photograph, unable to hide the hurt any longer. For standing there, like a ghost, in the shadows of the staircase that led up towards the apartment above the café, was Tadashi. This must be a really old photograph. Hiro stared up at Inquisitor in horror.
Inquisitor grinned, eyes gleaming in malice as he took Hiro's reaction in. "I see we've reached an understanding." Inquisitor moved out of Hiro's personal space and away from the table. "I trust you will apply yourself to the fullest in order to address the problem at hand." And with those words, he left, the sliding door echoing far too loudly in the shocked silence that followed his departure.
Hands still trembling, Hiro picked up the last photograph in order to inspect it more closely. Tadashi looked exactly as he remembered him, the same as he did on the day of the showcase fire which meant the photograph must have been taken around the time they were building his micro-bots. What really struck him as odd though, was the fact that he'd never seen this particular photograph before and he'd gone to a lot of effort to gather all the photographs of his brother that he could find. Which raised the following critical question: Where had Inquisitor gotten the photograph from?
- BH6 - BH6 - BH6 –
A/N: Just so everyone is aware. I am a science expert! I major in the art of B*LLSH*T Science XD. Seriously though, I'm not a science major so please don't pick any of my awesome (read ridiculous) theories apart. Its fanfiction science. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!
RazzlePazzleDooDot: At this point in time it's about more than just the change in wording. According to Tadashi's perspective, he went out to attend his brother's showcase presentation and when he came back everything had changed. His life had been erased. Most of his things are gone, his clothes are gone, he doesn't have an ID document, he can't drive, his friends are acting strange and Hiro has gone missing. It's all a lot to take in. Baymax was his one point of familiarity, the thing he clung to and even though he realized Hiro had made some modifications to Baymax's exterior he was kind of hoping the coding would still be intact. Finding out that that had been changed as well just brought everything to the fore. As for the passcode. You have absolutely no idea how long I struggled to come up with one. I wanted something that would link back to Tadashi. Things that came to mind were - For Tadashi, In honor of Tadashi, In Remembrance of Tadashi. I hated them all. The right idea was there but they just didn't work for me. Over an hour later I thought of the passcode that I eventually used and it was so perfect I just changed it in the chapter and didn't worry about it anymore XD
Alexissenpai: Yeah, poor Tadashi. Everything is catching up to him. He's fighting so hard to ignore the impact of what has just happened to him and to focus on finding Hiro but there are things around him that keep reminding him he doesn't quite fit into the world around him anymore. It's not what he knew and he needs to change and adjust in order to find his place again.
Ern Estine 13624: XD
shooting2stars: Tadashi is fortunate to have his friends but Hiro's lack of presence is seriously starting to affect him. I struggled to find the exact passcod to use. Went through so many terrible options. I was overjoyed when I stumbled on this one. As for the moment of truth. Sorry to dissappoint. I shamelessly took advantage of the opportunity and switched to Hiro's point of view. Tadashi's reaction is coming later and yes, there is a little bit of freaking out involved XD
Guest: I really struggled to pick a passcode. Took me ages to find one that I liked and that expressed what I was going for. I wanted there to be a link to Tadashi. I'm glad there are some people that appreciate the one I eventually picked. Tadashi's reaction to the changes to Baymax go deeper than that. He's not really reacting to Baymax himself. He is reacting to feeling like he doesn't have a place to belong anymore. Everything that used to define him was taken from in in one foul swoop. He now has to redefine who he is. I also loved Fred. He's actually rather fun to write. Thank you so much for the review. Seeing people enjoy what I write makes my day a little better XD