Chapter 22 (Hiro's POV)

"I was wondering when you'd show up again?" I asked calmly, without lowering my guard.

Momakase had helped me before, but something didn't add up about all this. I couldn't be careless…

"I was rather busy, Hamada," she said, stepping out of the shadows. "But I don't like leaving unfinished business…"

"Such as?"

"I think we all know the answer to that, Hiro. Di Amara is targeting you, that should be abundantly clear by now."

"What does she want with him?" Karmi asked with a frown.

Momakase scoffed. "With Hiro, perhaps very little. But the leader of Big Hero 6 is quite valuable to her and her new associate I'd guess. If you haven't already gathered as much, Di Amara is a spiteful woman who cares little for motivations other than revenge."

I nodded. "Not hard to believe."

"But," she went on. "Her alliance with Sphere seems to have shifted her focus. She is agreeing to work with him, which likely means his plot will also meet her ends soon enough. Di Amara was snooping around in certain places upstanding citizens do not go. Using her creator's name no less. I had reason to assume all wasn't as it seemed, and thanks to your investigation at the prison, I now know I was correct."

"Is there anything else you're not telling us?" I asked, glaring at her firmly.

"Facts, no. Assumptions and speculations…well, I'll keep those to myself."

"Try me, I like speculation."

But she shook her head. "Perhaps, but I don't, Hamada. And now that I've told you all that I know for certain, my hands are clean."

"Clean?" Karmi scoffed. "You're a criminal, why are you pretending you care!"

Momakase glared at Karmi with a look that was hard to understand. Some mixture of sadness and…regret? Could it really be possible?

"They say…" she whispered slowly. "Thieves have no honor. But I find the notion distasteful… Crime without meaning isn't what interests me, I do believe in honor. To do otherwise would shame my family's name."

Some part of me wanted to believe her, but I couldn't let go of the past so easily.

"Obake…" I whispered, my voice almost shaking. "You helped him. Everyone could have died because of you. How is that honor?"

I knew what it was like to lose just one person, to feel a cut that never healed. I couldn't imagine the toll of millions…

She seemed to stiffen at my mention of his name. Looking down a shadow cast across her face. "He…was a visionary. A brilliant man who wanted to remake this awful world…" She looked up, her face resolute. "Remake this world that is filled with hatred and suffering."

"By causing more of it!?" I shouted.

She sighed softly, some look of regret mingling with wistfulness. "I have no argument, Hiro Hamada. No logic to refute your words. Just know that I am very grateful to you…"

"For what?"

"Sparing me from the blood of millions. In the allure of Obake's intellect and vision, I for a time, believe him. Believed that honor was on both our sides…"

I didn't know how ever thinking something like that was possible. But I…could believe her sympathy, her regret. It was obvious in her every gesture.

"Is that…" I mumbled. "The debt you still owed me?"

She bowed formally. "Yes, one that sadly, I know now, will never be fully paid…"

We watched her go. Our thoughts were too thick to penetrate the silence. The weight of forgiveness… The price of never affording it… I wondered if it would ever be a lesson I could move on from?

Robert Callaghan.

Bob Aken.

Di Amara.

Tadashi…

I looked at Karmi, struggling to find the words. To express the feelings still haunting me, maybe haunting both of us…

Forgiveness… Why did it feel so far away?

So, impossible to find…?

A few days passed, the work on Baymax's scanner was finally coming together. We were closer than ever to being able to detect the spores before they matured. The prospect of being able to study one of the fresh spores seemed to thrill Karmi beyond what she was able to hide. She was biotech, I shouldn't have been surprised. But the thought of her putting herself at risk to collect a sample, it…worried me. I hadn't bothered to mention how I felt, because I knew how that discussion would go.

Karmi wasn't someone to wait on the sidelines. I didn't blame her, but I still worried all the same. It was a feeling that seemed to be happening a lot lately. Halfway through teaching a class my brain completely spaced out. It was…kind of embarrassing. Granville was always so understanding about how much I had on my plate, but that didn't change how much I wanted to be successful at both halves of my life.

As it was, I wasn't so sure…

"Brooding again, Mr. Hamda?" she asked, with almost a hint of amusement.

I looked up from my desk; both of us alone in the room since all of the students had already left. "I'm actually starting to get good at it…" I half-joked.

"Unlikely," she gently protested as she crossed her arms. For a second, we just stared at each other, not saying anything. It seemed like she was looking for the right thing to say. "Everything okay?" she asked softly. "I hoped that your and Karmi's rather bold dispositions wouldn't make a relationship difficult?"

I smiled a little, thoughts of normal twenty-something problems almost seeming simple. "No, we're fine." I shrugged. "Somehow. It's more the maniacs trying to kill us."

There wasn't anything funny about that, but the stress mixed with the absurdity made me laugh a little. "If you can imagine that?"

"Has Fred fully recovered from his ordeal?"

I nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. Though he's still holding out that that bump on the head might really give him superpowers."

"Superpowers unlikely, brain damage on the other hand…"

I laughed. "Gogo told him he shouldn't worry about that since he can't get something he already has."

Granville smirked. "Cute."

"But anyway," I went on. "I'm just…thinking about a lot of things lately."

"Such as?"

I frowned a little, not really wanting to bring up something that would upset her. But…sometimes it seemed like she could read my mind.

"Your recent dealings with Momakase have made you think a great deal of him haven't they?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, but he's not the only one. Obake, Callaghan, even Karmi's feelings about Di Amara. Grudges… I used to think I was someone who could forgive easily, but since Tadashi…I wasn't so sure?"

"The older we become the more we think about the past, Hiro. About what we regret or remember fondly. In my case, it wasn't Bob that I needed to forgive, it was…myself. A struggle far harder than I had ever expected. But… If my mistake helped to create a villain, then I'm thankful for some small bit of redemption now." She looked at me somewhat sentimentally. "That I to some extent have been able to aid a hero."

I smiled softly. "You didn't need me, Professor Granville. We may make mistakes, but when we're sincere we don't need redemption."

She raised her eyebrows at my statement. "Then perhaps, those whom you need to forgive are indeed worthy of it?"

Callaghan flashed through my mind. Of all the people who had ever hurt me, he was one of the only ones that seemed sorry. Obake, Di Amara, they loved what they did.

But Callaghan…

I frowned. "Then maybe that isn't enough…?"

The silence lingered around us. "Perhaps, Mr. Hamada. But I imagine only time will tell us the answer…"

Time… time to find the answers to our mission. Time to figure out everything going on in my head… It all felt like too much sometimes. But like they always did, the days rushed on. One after another until it was now or never on the spore scanner. We'd come so close to finalizing the project that if it didn't work now it might just be impossible.

"Is this actually going to…"

"Work?" I finished for Gogo as both of us waited for Baymax to respond.

Baymax was quiet, our eyes not leaving him. Then finally…

"Scan is complete. Several signatures were detected."

I sighed in relief. "Looks like nothing is impossible after all…"

"Display the data on the main screen," Gogo instructed as we glanced up at the monitor display at HQ.

I winced. "Baymax, is this really…"

"The city's covered…" Gogo whispered.

Right on cue, Karmi walked in to check on our progress. We'd figured it out, but these results…was it really good news?

"What's all that?" she asked, gesturing toward the monitor.

"Spores apparently…"

Her face shifted between relief that we'd done it and horror at what we'd found. But at least we could go from here.

"This is getting out of hand…" she whispered before shaking her head. "With their ability to divide and replicate themselves they could in theory…" She winced. "Cover the entire world."

"Is that the game?" Gogo wondered out loud. "Take over the world by force? It seems…"

"Too simple," I added. "The life of man is a self-evolving circle… His poem, it…" The pieces felt so close but I couldn't seem to fit them together. "The answer must be in that clue Di gave us, but I still can't make any sense out of it."

"Let's do less poetry and more science," Karmi countered. "I need to get a sample of an immature spore. If we look at this as a medical issue, all we need to do is find a way to kill this virus."

"We could dress up like white blood cells?" I joked, too tired to do anything else.

Karmi rolled her eyes playfully. "Not my first idea, but it might come to that."

"So we just need to isolate a sample?" Gogo confirmed. "Then let's go." She turned to look at the map. "There's a cluster in this area near the docks, that should make it even easier."

"The docks!?" We turned to see Fred strike a pose in the doorway. "What a typically nefarious location for a trap…"

"Why is it a trap?" Karmi asked with a frown.

Gogo rolled her eyes. "Probably because he read it in a comic or something. Anyway, let's just go."

"Because the docks are always a trap. Come on guys, haven't you watched any TV?"

It might have been easy to dismiss Fred, but I kind of agreed. Something felt wrong about all of this. Like we…were following the trail of crumbs Sphere had purposely left. But what choice did we have…?

"It might be, but we have to get that sample." I hated to admit it, but Karmi needed to be the one to do it. I didn't want to take her with us and put her in danger, but…

"Well," Fred said with a smirk. "We should probably leave a message here so Honey Lemon and Wasabi can find it later when we're all captured."

"No one is getting captured!" Gogo snapped. "Besides, you're not going, you're supposed to be resting, remember?

He winked. "Your concern is touching, but I'm totally getting in on this chapter."

Gogo grumbled but didn't argue.

I guess we all figured we could use the help, especially with Karmi to protect. So reluctantly I gave her the go ahead, not that she was waiting for it… She came back with her lab equipment packed and a glint in her eyes. In spite of my worry, she was going to thoroughly enjoy the chance to work alongside Big Hero 6. Pulling down her goggles she smirked like we were all in her latest fic.

"Let's so do this!"

If I was honest, I'd dreamed about a moment like this. Sharing the view of the city with her… From Baymax's back so high up, it almost felt like we could escape all our problems.

"I hope you're not scared of heights?" I asked above the rush of the wind.

I felt her arms tighten around my neck. "A little. But mostly, this is…" I heard her voice smile. "Is amazing."

"You should have lots of inspiration after this, right?"

"More than you even know…" she mumbled, awe in her voice.

Looking out at the sunset over San Fransokyo, we both got quiet. I thought the view said all we needed to. Somewhere beyond the danger and the worry, it…just felt good to share my life with her. The life I'd hidden for so many years…

But like it always does, reality doesn't respect beautiful moments. Before the night was over, I'd know that for sure…

We landed at the docks; shadows already creeping in between shipping containers. Gogo and Fred hopped out of Baymax's grip as I helped Karmi down from his back.

"So, let's just get this over with…" Gogo whispered as she glanced around us. "I don't have a good feeling about this…"

"Which means," Fred interjected. "That danger must be lurking nearby!"

I sighed. "Please don't say that, don't give the universe any ideas." I turned toward Baymax. "Can you isolate the scan?"

"One moment please," he responded. "Yes, pathogens have been isolated. I am displaying their location now."

Karmi followed his direction, her lab gear in tow. It was impossible not to notice how excited she was. Doing biotech work with her heroes? I got it, but I wasn't quite so relaxed. I didn't want to admit it, but Gogo was right, something felt…wrong. I wanted to ask Baymax to scan for any people around but he was busy with the spores. So I relied on my eyes instead; nervously looking one way and then the other. Was it too cliché to say we were being watched?

I clenched my fists. It wasn't like me to lose my cool, but this was different… With Karmi in danger, everything felt so much worse. Like all the happiness I'd felt in the last few weeks could be turned into agony if something happened. It…just reminded me of Tadashi so much.

Which is why I thought my eyes must be playing tricks on me. There at the far end of one of the piers was a figure. Silhouetted against the last of the setting sun. I narrowed my eyes, but still couldn't make out who they were. Logically I told myself it could have been anyone. Any average person. Besides, they weren't even looking in our direction, we'd be done and gone before they even noticed us.

Except…something seemed to pull me in their direction. Like some familiarity that made me step closer. Who were they?

"I've got it!" I hear Karmi say behind me, but I barely noticed. I was too focused.

"Hiro?" I heard her ask from behind me. "Hiro's what's up?" Gogo added, before noticing the person on the pier. Then they fell silent.

Every ounce of logic told me to just leave, but I couldn't… Like a demon coiled around my stomach, I felt all the blood drain away as the figure at last turned. Standing there, silhouetted by the first dim stars of night, was…

"Y-Yokai…?" I whispered through my shaky breath. But of course, that wasn't my real enemy, no that title belonged to the man below the mask.

"Professor Callaghan!" I screamed into the still air. Whether he was real or some hallucination from my past, I didn't care. Because the regrets, the anger, the pain…was all that I felt. Like poison coursing through every vein, that was all I felt. Rationalizing why, how, he could possibly be here didn't even enter my mind. Presented with the chance to face him outside of those prison walls, I regressed into something I thought I was better than… Someone, I thought I'd outgrown long ago…

Racing toward him I balled my fist.

"Stop!"

"Don't!"

The voices of my friends didn't matter then. Because all at once I felt my fist slamming into his outstretched palm. His fingers closed around my hand with a strength that seemed superhuman.

"Good evening, Hiro Hamada…" he said in a deep, muffled tone.

I winced in pain as he gripped my fist tighter.

"Are you still chasing demons so predictably…?" he whispered, his mask only inches from my face.

"Will you learn to overcome them, or will they consume you?"

My eyes opened wider as a million memories rushed through my mind. From everything Granville had said about forgiveness, to so many moments with Tadashi…

It was my fault now, wasn't it? That I'd been so headstrong. All my friends, Karmi…I'd put them in danger…

He pushed me down to my knees, what sounded like a sick smile in his voice. "Kneel, kneel to your match."

I stared up at him, all my strength gone. Time seemed to crawl to a halt, so I watched speechlessly as one of Gogo's discs flung past me and impacted the side of his kabuki mask. A piece of it crumbled, just enough to reveal some horrid mixture of skin and cybernetics. Enough to see part of his smile.

All at once, he let go of me and stepped into the bay. Everyone rushed to stare into the waters, but he had already disappeared. Silently and without a trace. Nothing to scan, something to find.

Like a ghost…

"Hiro!? Hiro!? Are you alright!?" I heard Karmi's voice but it was hard to focus, the pain in my hand combined with the emotional numbness I felt.

I…

I felt her arms go around me, and all at once, it was like reality had snapped back into place.

"Hiro, say something?!"

"Hiro, your hand requires medical attention," Baymax added urgently.

"He got away…" I finally whispered. "He got away again… And it's…"

I looked into Karmi's eyes; I felt so ashamed. "I let him, it's…my fault. It was always my fault… Tadashi…he…"

I bit my lip as tears suddenly burst from my eyes. Tears I thought were all cried out…

"H-He's gone…"

She didn't say anything, just held me tighter. The strong invincible hero I so wanted her to always believe I was...? He was gone too…

Maybe…he'd never been here at all…?