Chapter Fifty One: Reset

Loki contemplated Kally's sleeping form, one hand crossed over his chest, the other at his chin. She'd slept since the moment she'd collapsed in her chair back in the lab, and continued to sleep now that she'd been bodily moved back to her cell. Part of that was due to Loki's influence. Sleep was a great healer. That and it allowed him the ability to split off an apparition to snoop into other areas of the installation while she was out of it.

This Ms. Kendrick was decidedly going to be a problem. He knew she was, beyond a doubt, human. But there was something decidedly off about her as well. Had they somehow modified her body? It was a good possibility, but he'd have to confirm it with the good doctor, if the man felt cooperative on the matter. The god of mischief still wasn't sure about the man's loyalties, but would use what he could find out.

Then there was the matter of the data chip, which he'd secreted into a little pocket inside his clothes. There was a duplicate in the drive, in case anyone thought to notice that small detail. It wouldn't to do allow Kally to get punished for something he'd done, not when he was actually trying to help her.

And then there was trying to figure out more of the lay of the land, in a manner of speaking. This facility wasn't built like the others he'd been in before. That complicated things. But he'd managed to get around some of the more secure areas to what he thought was the main power source behind the temporal displacement. The area had reeked of the teseract, leading him to believe that was the place to be to disable it. He still hadn't figured out where they were keeping the DNA samples for both teens. Chances were good they were dispersed throughout the facility. It would just be their luck.

Kally groaned in her sleep. He'd thoughtfully propped her up against the wall, the pad moved to cushion her back and shoulders. It would be easier on her to sleep that way, instead of on the ground. At the least, it would make it easier for her to get up with less trouble in the morning. But now he needed to leave her for a while and hope no one would do any further harm to her or her companion. He needed to take the data chip back to the normal Midgardian realm and let whatever program she'd devised on it to its thing. He just hoped it would work. She had seemed a little more out of it than usual, even before Ms. Kendrick decided to share her wrath.

"Try to be good," he whispered in Kally's ear, brushing aside a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. He contemplated her closed eyelids a moment longer before unbending his long legs. He had work to do. And while the outside world had more time than they probably needed, those stuck in the void of half dimension did not.


Cass Hamada couldn't help but shudder as the story of her nephew's kidnapping unfolded. This was so far outside of the realm of reality that she wasn't sure if she could believe it or not. But there was Honey Lemon by her side, squeezing her hand in comfort. And when she looked over at the lanky student, she got a silent nod of confirmation.

Tints of light began to show outside the massive wall of windows and the jet lag was catching up with her. She stared at that small bit of light as if it were some kind of lifeline. She could not go down this path again. She'd already lost Tadashi. She couldn't lose Hiro too.

"I think she's in shock," Tony spoke up as he warily watched their uninvited guest. She had all the classic hallmarks of it. "JARVIS, could you have a medic on standby, please?"

"Of course, sir."

Cass sort of whirled around, her head whipping from side to side as she tried to identify the person who had spoken. She hadn't heard the voice before and hearing it now was almost more than she could take. "Who said that?!" Tears leaked out of her eyes as everything began to settle in, the exhaustion, the realization that these guys had no more idea where her nephew was than she did, and that she was completely out of her element.

Honey gave Cass's hand an extra squeeze. "That's just JARVIS," she assured the distraught woman. "He's an artificial intelligence Tony uses as a butler. It took us a while to get used to the idea too."

The café owner leaned back against the couch she sat on, her eyes closed, free hand to her forehead. "I think I feel a little dizzy," she admitted. "I just… Not after Tadashi…"

Natasha and Tony exchanged glances, immediately understanding what the woman meant. "We're doing everything in our power to try and find him," the Black Widow assured. "You're tired and probably should get some rest. We'll let you know if anything happens."

Tony bit the inside of his lip as he contemplated where they could put up the aunt. There technically was one more room with an available bed on the same floor as the students. Well, that would have to do. It wasn't the best room in the building, but they would manage. "I can show you to your room," he offered but flinched slightly when Cass gave him a wild-eyed look. "Or maybe someone else can." He turned to Natasha. "You know which room I'm thinking? Just down the hall from the others?"

Romanoff nodded. The room in question was the one she sometimes used. It had two double beds, but would be more than adequate for their needs. "This way," she beckoned as Cass slowly got to her feet, wobbly at the knees.

Honey watched them leave, concern bright in her eyes. She blinked, realizing the sun really was coming up. GoGo would be waking up soon and would likely wonder where she was. That and the others should know about this most recent development.


To say Hiro felt horrible would be an understatement. He felt like he'd breathed in poison with Ms. Kendrick's last visit. And the way Dr. Bosch was treating him, he almost felt justified in feeling that way. He'd developed a fever, despite the antibiotics he was on. It more than reminded him of that one reincarnation with the appendix and then the almost entire meltdown of his brain. That hadn't been fun at all. But he felt just as hot, just as out of it.

At least the feeding tube stayed out of the picture. He wasn't about to agree to that horrible thing going back down his nasal passages. No sir. Unfortunately, that meant he had to keep up his end of the bargain by forcing himself to eat whenever he was brought something, even if he didn't feel like doing it.

Another drawback to the whole fever thing was that Dr. Bosch was once again threatening to dump him into a tank of water and ice. The threat was more viable this time, mostly because the fever seemed more persistent than the one he'd had before. And the doctor couldn't find any biological cause for it either.

It had to be because of that woman. There was no other explanation. At least that's what logic said because he was doing somewhat decently up until she'd come in with what felt like a vengeance. He barely remembered talking to Loki after he'd had his little panic attack. What had he said to him? Hiro couldn't really remember. Maybe it was because of the fever. Either way, he felt more and more like he was in that past reality than in the current one and time no longer seemed to make any sense at all.

Hiro opened his eyes, shadows leaning over him. Were they removing the leads from the machine and plugging them back into that portable thing again? What was going on? Oh crap. Were they really going to do this? Here and now? Oh man was this going to suck! Wait, why did the room look different than it had before? Had they moved him to a different one while he was out it?

He felt arms slide underneath his back and legs. Then there was a dizzying moment when he was practically swung around in the arms of whoever was holding him. He closed his eyes again so he wouldn't have to see the world streak by, which was probably for the best as he was carried towards who knew what fate. At the same time, he thought he felt someone firmly press either a finger or something similar into the back of his neck, his body and mind going limp against his will.

The next thing Hiro knew, he was being set into a tub of what felt like absolutely freezing cold water. His body immediately began shivering as if his life depended on it. The only plus was that he wasn't naked. But the gown he wore was soon soaked through. Sadly, he couldn't even try to fold his arms across his chest due to the stupid brace on his one arm, not that it would have helped. Every muscle in his body seemed to have seized up with the cold and his teeth chattered. He couldn't move his legs due to the pain.

"I-I th-thought you w-were j-joking!" Hiro stuttered, his eyes wide open as he stared up into Dr. Bosch's face. He could see several medics to either side of him adding in even more ice to the already frigid water. Anything else he might have added was cut off as his teeth chattered hard enough to threaten his tongue.

Despite the cold, his limbs soon stopped shaking like he was having a seizure and the pounding he'd initially felt in his chest slackened off to a more sedate, almost tepid pace. His eyes went wide as he realized what was happening. His body was trying to either shut down or go into a state of hibernation and his brain was not happy with this outcome. But, the longer he lay in the cold water, the less his brain seemed inclined to function, now moving sluggishly through any thought processes. And he didn't like it one bit.

Hiro could feel himself slipping into a state not unlike when he'd had that super duper serum given to him by Tadashi, who had gotten it from the Doctor. And that was so not cool. He could feel his body essentially going through a hard reset, a very risky move on Dr. Bosch's part, he thought. But there wasn't anything he could do about it. Hopefully this go around wouldn't result in the crazy mood swings he'd had to re-experience when reintegrating his memories to save the universe. And then it didn't matter what he thought as his mind completely drifted and his eyes closed once more.

"Take him out," Dr. Bosch ordered as he checked Hiro's vitals on the tablet he had at hand. At his orders, the two medics lifted Hiro up out of the water, one on either side, and slid him onto a padded table where they began removing his clothes and started rubbing him down with towels. "That's it, get the blood flowing again."

He'd known it was a risk, but it was one he'd felt more than willing to take, all things considered. After ruling out any infections as cause for Hiro's high fever, he'd had to look at other reasons. And the one that best fit the bill was a fever brought on by an overload in Hiro's synapses, or psychogenic fever. As Hiro wasn't exactly in any state where he could get out the cause through talking, Dr. Bosch had opted for the next, albeit risky, alternative treatment, shock.

The water they'd used hadn't actually been as cold as it probably felt to the teen. They'd started with a tub half full of water set to about sixty to seventy degrees Fahrenheit. It was when they'd added the ice to the bath that Hiro had woken with a start, his body realizing it was in an environment much colder than it was used to.

From there, he'd monitored the boy's vitals closely, keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't pass the threshold that meant hypothermia. They wanted to shock his system into a reboot, not freeze him to death. And it looked like they'd achieved the desired results as he noted how the two medics now had a re-gowned Hiro bundled up in warmed blankets. They weren't too warm, but enough to help his body recover at a decent rate from the cold bath. Too fast and it could cause just as much harm as allowing him to get too cold would have caused.

"We're going to keep him back here for a while," the doctor decided. It would probably be best to let the teen rest for a while. They could bring in the monitors and reattach the leads so he didn't have to worry about displacing the portable pack. His bed was already there, which had made transport, along with the overall decision, a bit easier. It wouldn't do to have Ms. Kendrick burst in and complicate the process with more unnecessary vibes, which were likely what had caused the problem in the first place. If Dr. Bosch had his way, he'd ban her from the sick room.

One medic went back to the outer room to fetch the monitoring equipment while the other checked the IV line, which they'd kept connected, even after dunking the decision for drastic measures had been made. The line had stayed attached to the catheter the entire time. And even though his body had slowed down, the somewhat warmed liquid coming down the tube had probably helped keep the possibility of Hiro's getting too cold at bay.

Dr. Bosch moved out of the way as the medic came back in with the monitors, which he helped situate. "I need one of you to stay with him at all times and report immediately if there is the slightest change in his condition," he instructed. The medic who had left Hiro alone when Loki first appeared had been properly reprimanded. And though that matter was over, he didn't want to have a repeat performance. Chances were good Hiro would take some time to come back out of this. Hard resets were never neat or easy.

He took a moment to make sure his tablet was synced up with the monitors before taking it back to his office. The device needed a recharge. He'd have to bring out the spare, making sure it was synced as well. Hopefully this wouldn't set things back too much. He still had no idea when Loki planned to make his move, or how long it would take in the normal world. But there was one thing he needed to check up on. No one had yet reported the incident with Kally and Ms. Kendrick and he needed to check in on her to make sure there were no further issues to deal with. That and he'd need her in the lab when Hiro woke up. He wasn't sure he wanted to deal with the consequences of the teen waking to an unfamiliar face until he was sure the reset had worked.