Chapter Thirty Eight: Begun To Suspect
Hiro couldn't believe he was actually doing this. Part of him knew he'd done this multiple times before, though not quite like this. Instead of rebuilding the microbots, he'd decided to go a completely different route. He was just having a hard time deciding if it was really a good idea or not.
When he'd woken for this incarnation, shortly after dying at the hospital, he'd come to the less than awesome realization that no matter how many times he reincarnated, or whatever it was, he was going to start each timeline over with some kind of malady or other. And this time was no exception. The sad thing was that with each new incarnation, his mind seemed that less organized and able to handle what was going on.
This time around, he'd come to with a really bad case of pneumonia, of call things. Pneumonia! He could have sworn he'd either been vaccinated or had a case as a child. Either way, it sucked to go through it again. His chest had felt tight and he had off and on hot and cold chills. Though the coughing was the worst part. He'd felt like he couldn't get enough air in his lungs, like they were constricted or something.
But, even with all the difficulties associated with the disease, Between Tadashi and Aunt Cass, the two had patiently nursed him back to health. Sadly, it had taken a good two weeks to get back to some semblance of normal, though he was still short of breath at times, even though almost a month had passed.
Having realized the showcase was the triggering incident that took Tadashi away from him, and maybe his microbots as well, he'd opted to go for a different route. Instead, he'd stolen Baymax and recreated their hero gear. Now that he stood at the brink of fully instigating his plan, however, he couldn't help but wonder if he was making a huge mistake.
"Your heart rate has increased dramatically," Baymax said as he turned to observe his companion. They stood just outside the secret military base on Akuma Island, somewhere Hiro wasn't sure he should be. From the get-go, things had been decidedly different than in previous timelines. But he still had to do this. If he could fix the Portal and bring Abigail back, Callaghan wouldn't set the fire that would kill his brother.
Ignoring his robotic companion's warning, Hiro activated the laser cutter he'd brought with him, slicing the bolts on the large steel door. With Baymax's help, they moved it to one side, opening up the inner cavity of the secret base. "So far so good," Hiro breathed as he stepped into the walkway. Even though he knew this was a bad idea, he couldn't help but feel a sense of excited anticipation.
He remembered every step as if ingrained into his mind as he walked down the corridor. He probably should have tried to get the team back together, but hadn't actually been introduced to them this go around. It just hadn't come around. And with Tadashi working on some project for one of his teachers, he'd been too busy to bring him to his lab. That and Hiro hadn't shown any tendency towards a bot fight, probably giving Tadashi a false sense of security.
After a while, Hiro came across the sliding door that revealed the Portal area. He carefully slid it open enough to admit himself and his companion, before sliding it closed behind him. So far so good. He hadn't come across any signs that anyone else was there. Despite that, he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. Something wasn't quite right.
Baymax tilted his head as he watched his young charge. "Hiro?" he inquired softly, not wanting to startle him. It was obvious the teen was tense, his body prepared for instant fight or flight mode. He didn't even need his sensor to detect that. The boy's body language gave it away.
Breathing accelerated, Hiro turned to look towards the two portals, one partially destroyed, the other intact. They were exactly where they should be. He turned towards the control room to his left and headed up the stairs leading to it. Why did he feel things were off? And what was off in the first place?
Upon entering the control room, he realized what it was as he stared in disbelief. Someone had come and gutted the control room. Everything of value was gone. But if all the equipment in there was gone, why was the Portal still there?
A sound, or maybe something out of the corner of his eye, caught his attention and he turned to face the observation window. What was that shadow he'd just seen duck out of sight? Or was it his imagination. "Baymax?" he asked, his tone far from certain.
Baymax had moved to his side, also looking towards the observation window when something started to make a low beeping sound. What was it? He moved to scan the room, trying to determine the cause of the sound. "Oh no," he intoned as he located the cause.
Hiro looked in the direction his companion pointed. A small red light flashed off and on with increasing speed as the noise built up in pitch and intensity. "Please don't tell me that's what I think it is!"
More than a little panicked now, Hiro turned to run for the door. There was nothing inside that room to shield him from the imminent threat. His best hope was to get out of that room and fling himself as far away as possible.
Baymax seemed to have the same idea, only he moved to place himself between his charge and the bomb that continued to emit a high pitched wail that could only mean one thing. They had only a matter of seconds before the thing went to high heaven.
Why hadn't he told someone where he was going, Hiro wondered for the briefest of moments as he dove for the still open doorway. Before he could even answer himself, a concussive blast threw him through the air, smashing him against the wall. Heat spread out like an inferno all around him. Except it wasn't just one blast.
His ears registered not one, not two, but three blasts that threw even more devastation his way. Shredded metal tore through Baymax's armor, tearing his vinyl skin to pieces as he tried to shield his number one patient from the worst of it. But it wasn't enough as the flames continued to fly out from the chemical accelerants used in the bombs.
Dark flames roared in a specified radius, not quite reaching halfway to the Portals on the other side of the vast chamber. All the same, the fire roared with an insatiable hunger to consume everything in its path, be it oxygen or flesh.
The first thing Hiro realized, after the pain of slamming into the metal wall registered, was that he couldn't breathe, the oxygen literally snatched from the air by the roiling aftermath of detonation. The next thing he realized was that Baymax had been completely destroyed, fragments of his armor now piercing through him, pinning him to the wall as blood trickled from the wounds before being evaporated by the intense heat. The last thing he felt was the agonizing heat of the flames feeding hungrily on his body as he tilted his head back and tried to scream.
The noise of a hoarse sound that was half shriek half gasp woke James from a fitful slumber. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but with taking care of the young boy and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, he'd worn himself out. But with the strangled sound coming from his detainee''s mouth, he couldn't help but jolt to his senses.
"What?! What is it?!" It took him a moment to realize the sound had come from Hiro's lips as he arched his small back as if in agony. "Not good! Not good!" This was not supposed to be happening! Something was definitely wrong with the little guy, and unless he did something about it, he doubted things would end well.
He still didn't trust going to a hospital. He knew an investigation would be launched. He'd been over that in his mind before. But there was a way around that. If he took the little guy to his parents right now, handed him off to them, they could get him the medical help he obviously needed.
James got to his feet and reached for the cleanest of the blankets in the room. Using it, he wrapped the little boy in it like a burrito, wondering if his move was really a good one. The little tyke was burning up like nobody's business. But it would make transporting him so much easier, especially if he had another accident.
Not bothering to worry about anything else, James hurried to the stairs, his precious burden held tightly in his arms as he all but flew down to the ground level. He almost dropped the boy at the bottom but managed to avoid that little debacle with a little rough handling that was surely better than being dropped. At least the child was no longer screaming, though his breathing was decidedly coming in shorter spurts, like an overused bellows near its limit.
"Come on," he admonished as he raced across the deserted floor. "Hang in there. I'm taking you home, okay? I'm taking you home so just hang in there!"
He had to kick the outside door open with one foot, which sent tinges of pain up his leg, but he ignored it. If he didn't get this kid somewhere where he could get help, he knew he'd regret it for the rest of his life.
The TARDIS shook violently as the two Doctors held onto the control panels. Q continued to cling to the railing, feeling more than a little sick as the space vessel turned, dipped, and whipped around like some mad carnival ride.
"Hold on!" the Doctor with the bow-tie yelled out as he reached for a lever and pulled it down. The ground stopped bolting like a young colt, but the spinning continued. "Almost there!"
The other Doctor looked at the console with total concentration as he held on for dear life. Though used to this, it was still unnerving, especially in a completely different design. "I sure hope you know what you're doing!" he called out.
With a few more drunken lurches, the TARDIS finally came to a standstill. "I'm going to be sick," Q warned as he put one hand to his mouth to stave off the expected vomit. Thankfully, it didn't come as his stomach settled back down to some semblance of normal. "Where have you brought me?" he demanded as he straightened his clothes and hair.
Almost hesitantly, the Doctor with the brown suit coat stepped away from the control panel and made his way to the short corridor leading to the door. "I do hope I got it right this time," he mused as he slowly ascended the two steps leading towards the exit. Following with equal care, the other Doctor was only a few steps behind.
"Won't someone answer me?" Q demanded as he moved to go after them. He marched towards the door as the two Doctors opened it and would have taken a step out had they not held him back.
"You don't want to set foot out there unprotected," the bow-tied Doctor admonished as he stared out. "Not even with the small safety bubble around the TARDIS."
Realizing he'd just been saved from doing something completely stupid, Q also looked out at the view in front of them. Undulating clouds of pastel color moved in slow motion, reminding him of a child's toy constantly being turned to change the overall image. And, interspersed around the whole area were tendrils of what looked to be dark matter. Except when he squinted to get a better view, he realized they were actually cracks slicing through the very fabric of whatever place they'd arrived in.
As the three stared out into the void, it became painfully obvious just how many cracks there were. Their expressions went from awe, to horror, to incredulous shock. "I had no idea it was this bad," the blue-clad Doctor admitted as he gently pulled the door closed. "How could we not sense something of this magnitude?"
His companion shook his head as he turned back to the main console. "I don't know," he admitted, sounding more than a little alarmed. "But did you notice that some of the cracks seemed to be getting smaller?"
"Would someone please tell me where we are?" Q demanded once more. "What is this place? And what's going on?"
The bow-tied Doctor turned to face the alien. "This is the space between Time and Space, otherwise known as the Void or the Rift. And what you saw out there should never happen. The universe is tearing itself apart and I have a good idea why."
Looking somewhat pensive, the other Doctor nodded. "Exactly what I'd begun to suspect. So here's what I think. All these cracks in the time space continuum are a result of Hiro's continued jaunts back in time, creating paradox after paradox. And with each one, it sent out tendrils of possibilities that shouldn't have existed."
"Effectively creating a ripple effect," the other Time Lord continued. "Hiro's repeated timelines broke the universe, but it was your energy," and he turned to face Q once more, "that brought it out in the open. Like glass in a tempered frame, it only needed the right force behind it to actually shatter."
Q stared at the two men like they'd lost their minds. "You can't blame this all on me! You saw for yourself, just as I did, that some of those cracks are coming back together. Something out there is reversing this so called shattering of the universe!"
The blue-suited Doctor nodded thoughtfully as he rubbed at his chin. "He's got a point. It does go along with that feeling we had earlier of things shifting. Despite the massive cracks in the very fabric of time, something is healing them."
"The question is what," his companion added as he stared thoughtfully towards the inner parts of the TARDIS. "And how does this all relate back to what's already happened? We already know it was Hiro who, unknowingly, created the initial effects we just witnessed. And it was Q's coming here that solidified them on a visual spectrum. But what is fixing them and why can't we sense what it is?"
Looking more than a little serious, his companion moved back to the control panels. "I don't know but I do suggest leaving this place before something else happens." He pressed a few buttons on the console before the other Doctor joined him.
"Of course you're right," the bow-tied Doctor agreed. "We must return to the others immediately and let them know what's going on. Until this situation is fixed, we can't send anyone back home, regardless of whether or not we return stolen energy to its rightful owner or not." He glanced briefly at Q before throwing the TARDIS back out of the Void.
Deanna couldn't help but look up from the dinner table as some very strong emotions washed over her. Her sudden change in demeanor caused her superior officer to look up as well. Her body tensed at the sudden onslaught and she almost cringed against the force.
"What is it?" Picard questioned, recognizing the expression on her face. He absently put down his fork, still covered with meat and sauce. Something was definitely wrong.
Not immediately answering him, Troi pushed her chair away from the table. "I sense some very powerful emotions drawing near," she admitted.
The others at the table seemed to straighten at her announcement, though Honey Lemon winced at the expression on the older woman's face. "It can't be coming from any of us," she reasoned as she looked around the table. They were all present and accounted for, minus the two Doctors and Q. And Hiro, who would likely remain missing for some time. "Who are you sensing?"
But the counselor shook her head. "I don't know. But I believe there are actually two distinct minds." She put a hand to her temple as if to stem a headache. "Whoever, or whatever it is, I believe it's coming closer."
At that precise moment, Baymax seemed to perk up. "Deanna Troi is correct," he announced as he moved towards the door. "I am still not certain, but I believe they are coming here. One individual is male and has elevated vital signs. I cannot accurately get details on the other individual. Something is interfering with my sensor."
Fred leapt from his chair, pushing away from the table in such a rush that his chair ground against the floor. "Do you think that could be Hiro?" His eyes went wide at the possibility. And, before anyone could say yes or no to that possibility, he had bolted for the main entrance.
"Fred! Wait up!" Wasabi called after his friend. "Where are you going?" He hastily excused himself and went after the mascot, Honey Lemon and GoGo right behind him. It didn't take long for the others to follow suit.
GoGo quickly caught up to her fellow hero, trying to rein him in. "Hey, Fred! Hold up! Just because Baymax sensed someone coming here doesn't mean it's Hiro!"
Her words stopped dead as the doorbell rang, followed by rapid pounding on the door. Almost out of nowhere, Heathcliff appeared to open the door. All eyes turned towards the doorway as he turned the knob and pulled it towards himself.