It hurt Hiro to see his brother like this. He couldn't imagine everything that Callaghan had done to him.
"Tadashi…please just try to remember…"
"Hiro, stop it."
"My hour's not up. You already know that Callaghan has been lying to you. What's holding you back?"
"I told you, I'm just a machine. What I want doesn't matter."
"That's a lie. Everything they've ever told you in that place is a lie!"
"Shut up!"
"No! I want my brother back! Callaghan took you away from me once, Tadashi. I'm not letting him do it again!"
"Hiro, calm down…" Honey said concernedly.
"I can't calm down! I won't! I…" He looked back at his brother, and tears started rolling down his cheeks. Burying his face in Tadashi's shoulder, he let out a quiet sob. "I miss you…" Instinctively, the older boy wrapped his real arm around his little brother. He seemed bewildered by his own behavior, but still didn't let go. "I need you to come back." Hiro whimpered.
"I can't..." Tadashi's voice was soft; almost human. Almost.
"Callaghan can't stop you from doing anything." GoGo said. "You can be free."
"How?"
"Just stay with us. Don't let Callaghan tell you what to do."
"I can't act without orders. I don't know how."
"We can teach you."
"What's in it for you?"
"We get our friend back."
"You keep using that word. 'Friend.' Why is that so important to you? I've never heard Callaghan use it before. What does it even mean?"
"Well…a friend is somebody you care about and enjoy spending time with. Someone who's always got your back. You would do anything for them, and they'd do the same for you."
"That sounds too good to be true."
"Well, it's not. And we're your friends."
"Why?"
"Because you're a great guy." Honey replied. "And we all love you, Tadashi."
"I don't understand…" A look of confusion and anxiety spread over his face.
"Then, we need you to remember."
"And how will you make that happen?"
"We need something to jog your memory…" Hiro mumbled; his face still buried in his brother's shoulder.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, but I'm not giving up on you." Suddenly, Tadashi's eyes widened.
"W-what did you say?"
"I said I'm not giving up on you." That phrase was so foreign, but so familiar at the same time. A faint blur of a memory flashed through his head, and he stared down at Hiro in silence.
"Tadashi?" Honey asked. "Are you okay?" He still didn't respond for a moment, then looked up; another familiar sentence echoing through his head.
"Look for a new angle…" The others exchanged glances.
"I think he's remembering!" Fred exclaimed. Hiro looked up at his brother in bewilderment.
"There's not a lot…" Tadashi mumbled. "But there's more than before."
"Well, we're not stopping now! Come on!" Hiro leaped out of bed, grabbing his older brother's hand and pulled him to his feet.
"Where are we going?"
"To the café. We're going to make you remember everything." He dragged him out of the room and down the stairs, pointing out nearly every picture on the wall. "See, here's the day we got Mochi, our cat. And there's you with our parents. And that one's us with Aunt Cass. Then over there is our high school graduation, and there's one of you and the gang right after you got into SFIT." They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Hiro pointed to the newest one. "That one's my personal favorite." Tadashi looked at it closely. Unlike the others, this one was a selfie. The entire group was together, all with smiles on their faces, though Hiro looked tense. It was so familiar. Too familiar. "Honey took that right before I presented my microbots at the showcase. After the fire, we thought it would be the last picture ever taken of you."
"We look so happy…" Tadashi mumbled, putting a hand to his head as more memories flooded his mind.
"Because we were together." Honey replied.
"And Hiro was finally doing something productive instead of bot fighting." Wasabi added. "You'd been trying to get him to come to school for ages." Tadashi glanced over at a shelf on the wall, and caught a glimpse of a rather goofy-looking but powerful robot. He'd seen it before, without a doubt. Then, the memory hit him.
"You'd better make this up to Aunt Cass before she eats everything in the café." He said, hanging up his helmet, and tossing his blazer onto the bed.
"For sure." Hiro replied; his eyes glued to his computer screen.
"And I hope you learned your lesson, Bonehead."
"Absolutely." His brother's voice was firm, but his posture and expression made it clear that he was lying.
"You're going bot fighting, aren't you?"
"There's a fight across town. If I book, I can still make it." Hiro started towards the door and grabbed Megabot, but Tadashi took hold of his hood, stopping him in his tracks.
"When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?"
"What? Go to college like you? So people can tell me stuff I already know?"
"Unbelievable."
Tadashi grabbed hold of the robot, then looked back at Hiro.
"This…this was the one you used for the bot fights, wasn't it?"
"Yeah… And it inspired me to make the microbots."
"I remember that…"
"You…you do?"
"Yeah…"
"Then, we're getting closer! You just need one more push!"
"I don't think so." A familiar voice growled behind them. Hiro turned around, and his eyes widened in terror.
"Callaghan…"